CHAPTER 12

I looked into Rory's eyes. I had no idea what to do but I knew that I wasn't just going to stand there and let myself die, that was just what Kirsten wanted.

Think Cassie, think. What can I do to render a vampire distracted? I knew that there wasn't a way that I could fight him. And I definitely didn't want to hurt him.

I could taste the blood saturating my mouth from the cut.

That was it! Blood. If I could get enough blood from my lip and put it in some type of glass, maybe he would become preoccupied by that and I would be able to escape.

The problem was that this was an empty house and I doubted that there was any type of cup here. But maybe…

"I need to go to the bathroom." I blurted out. He bared his teeth. "Look, Kirsten if you're in there which I know you are, just think of this as a last wish to use the bathroom." I said, using all of my years of acting to properly portray a person with a full bladder.

"Fine Cassie, just go." Rory said after a few minutes of contemplation. "But don't be stupid and try to escape. Remember I'm a thousand times faster than you and could catch you easily."

"I know." I answered monotonously, I had already accounted for this though.

He moved to the side of where I was cornered in the closet and let me pass. He followed close on my tail. I peeked in rooms to find the bathroom, and when I did I stepped in and closed the door. I was counting that Kirsten couldn't see what Rory's power could see what I was about to do.

I locked the bathroom door and looked at myself in the mirror. I took a deep breath to prepare myself for what I was about to do. I pushed down my bottom lip and looked at the thin line of a cut that was just barely oozing blood.

I lifted my finger and placed my fingernail on one side of the inside of my lip. I applied pressure until I saw and felt the skin break. I then ran my fingernail along the length of my lip until it was gushing blood. I was sure that I had never been in so much pain but didn't cry out in fear. I knew that this was my only chance.

I then closed my mouth and bit lightly on the unbroken skin as to push the blood out. I was starting to feel dizzy. I put in the stopper for the sink and then spit the mouthful of blood into the sink. I then did it again. There was a knock on the bathroom door.

"One second." I said.

I quickly walked to the bathtub. I got up on the edge of it and opened the window. I looked out, there was another knock. I looked up to make sure that the sun was still shining. It was. I pulled myself out the window and landed hard on the ground.

I took off running down the street but still heard the sound of the door being knocked down.

Now I could only hope that my plan would work. I stopped and turned around to face the house though I was still a good distance away. Nothing happened for a few minutes and I was hoping that the time was being taken to drink the blood in the sink.

My stomach did a flip at what I had just done. I had just (hopefully) escaped a vampire.

The door started to open from the house; I took a step back just in case I did need to run. I turned to look at the neighboring houses windows. I could see a few people sitting in their living rooms and I felt a bit safer.

Rory stood in the door way, I could faintly make out the rim of blood around his mouth. Kirsten stood behind him. They both stood back a bit from the door, to stay out of the incoming sunlight.

I knew that my plan had worked.

I had distracted Rory long enough with the blood to let me get out of the house, and when he had drank it, it made it impossible for him to go into the sunlight without exposing himself.

I took a step forward but felt woozy. I took another step forward and dropped to the ground unconscious. I guess I had lost a little too much blood.

My eyes fluttered open. Where was I?

"Cassie?" an older man's voice said. I turned my head to see who it was. It was a man clad in a white coat with blue scrubs under.

I looked down terrified. I took in the gurney, the white washed walls, and the immaculate room. I was in a hospital.

"Why am I here? What happened? Who are you?" the words came out of my mouth faster than I thought possible.

"Slow down" the man said holding up his hands. "I'm Dr. Cloverman; you're in the Marin county hospital. As for why you are here you passed out in the middle of a street. You were very lucky; you had passed out from loss of blood and some of your friends parents found you. We will need to talk to you about how you lost so much blood, but we can save that for later. Now I think that you have quite a few visitors."

Dr. Cloverman left the room and I sat in bed. Who had found me?

The door opened. My eyes widened and I sucked in a deep breath ready to scream as loud as I could.

Rory had just come in through the door.

I knew my eyes were wide, my expression must have hinted that I was about to scream, because he rushed over to me and clamped his hand over my mouth. I did scream and I struggled against his hold on me, but it didn't do anything. Suddenly in through the door walked the other Havens. I looked to them with panicked eyes for help but they merely laughed and closed the door.

"Relax Cassie, everything is fine. That is really Rory." Damien said.

I stopped struggling and Rory lifted his hand off of my mouth.

"How do I know?" I asked timidly.

"Why would we tell you that that was him if it wasn't?" Triston asked as if insulted.

I looked down embarrassed. "I don't know" I said. "What happened? Where's Kirsten?" I asked.

Some of them looked away not able to meet my eyes. But it was Jill who spoke up.

"Well, we had to get rid of her, Kirsten that is. You won't have to worry anymore. She is officially…dead." For some reason when she said this I didn't really care. I wasn't hurt that my best friend was dead or that it had been because of my new friends.

Maybe it was because she was supposed to have already been dead, but more likely it was that her attempt to kill me severed any liking of her that I had left. Yes, I thought, I would definitely bet it was the latter.

"Okay, what happened after I passed out?" I asked.

"You mean after your miraculous stunt that only you would think of." Elyse said. It made me happy that she had somewhat warmed up to me.

"Who knew that inside that head of yours there was actually a very smart brain?" Triston joked. I scowled at him but it hurt my bottom lip.

"Ouch." I said quietly.

"Well when you were with Jill and Triston had come back to the house for a bit, Kirsten let go of her hold on Rory. Instead of her using Rory she switched to get hold of Jill. She wanted to get you out of the hotel." Melanie was saying. "That gave Rory enough time to tell us exactly what was going on but then Kirsten took hold again and he left. Moments later we got a call from Jill saying what happened. We started searching for you. Finally one of us found your scent and followed you. We found you passed out in the middle of the street and rushed you here after leaving the kids to deal with Kirsten."

"I'm still somewhat confused." I said.

"About what?" Jill asked.

"A lot, but mainly with what I'm going to tell my mom and dad. It's not like I can tell them the truth."

The family exchanged looks, I hated not knowing things and I always seemed to be a step behind with them.

"Cassie, we think you and Rory need to talk about things, your mother is on her way and Rory needs to explain to you what you are going to tell her."

"Fine." I said nervously, it felt like it was a bad thing that I was going to have to say.

They al slowly filed out of the room. Leaving Rory and I there. I sat up and Rory sat on the gurney/bed next to me. "So what am I going to tell them?" I asked him.

He took my hand in his own icy one. I looked into his eyes which were a startling shade of blue. I hoped that my mother wouldn't notice and I wondered how long they would stay like that.

"As you were saying, we can't exactly say what really happened so we have a story." He started slowly, his golden hair disheveled in front of his eyes.

"And it is…?" I said getting antsy.

"We have decided that you should tell your mother and the doctors that you went to San Anselmo to get away because you were still grieving Kirsten, and that the cut on your lip was from you cutting." He finished quietly.

"WHAT?!?!" I said. "Hell no! There is no way that I am going to tell people that I was cutting because I was grieving Kirsten! Not only is that totally not something that I would do, but I don't want people thinking that I'm a cutter!" I said completely repulsed by the even idea.

"Unless you have a better idea." He said. I didn't so I kept my mouth shut. "Please." Rory said again. "For me and my family."

Great now I would have to.

"Fine." I whispered. He kissed my head and I felt my face go red hot. He smiled.

"I'd kiss your lips but it's a bit too much temptation, especially now that I've had a sample drink." He said

"Hah." I said sarcastically.

"So what else are you confused about?" he asked.

"Well, how come she only came after me and not my dad? Isn't he the one she was mad at for being changed?" I asked.

His forehead creased in thought.

"Cassie, your dad is a very powerful vampire. More powerful than you would probably expect. Do you remember when we told you about the Volturi?" I nodded slowly. "Well he works for them."

"Why?" I asked. I didn't see my dad as a person to work for people who were so horrible. "Wait, but what about his job as an archeologist?" I asked.

"It was completely fake." Rory answered.

"But…but that doesn't make any sense."

"Why?"

"Because I've met some of his colleagues." I said. Rory's eyes widened in fear. "What?" I asked.

"Can you explain what his colleagues looked like?"

"Err, one was really old. Slightly balding with white hair and skin that was nearly as pale. There was another named…Marcus, I think. He had dark hair. There were a few others who I didn't know though."

"Cassie, you've met the Volturi." He said quietly. My chest tightened.

"They didn't seem that bad." I said. They had been nice enough when I had met them.

"If they were why they were able to be around me?"

"They were able to be around you because we can control ourselves. It is very strange that you have met them though. They rarely come out to the public." He sighed. "I think your mother is coming. He got off the bed and walked out of the room moments before my mother and the doctor came in.

"Oh Cassandra!" my mother called. As she rushed over and hugged me.

"Hi mom." I said as nicely as I could.

"I was so worried. You don't even know. Getting the call that my baby wasn't at school. And then you didn't come home!"

"Mrs. Sunnel, please sit down I need to talk to your daughter. You may stay but I do need to talk with her." Dr. Cloverman said. This was it, I thought, this is where I would lose all respect from my mother and anyone who knew me.

"Cassie can you tell me what happened and why you lost so much blood?"

"Yes." I said.

"Go on." He told me. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes; I couldn't bear to look at them.

"Since Kirsten died I have been having some trouble dealing. I just couldn't bear to be at school so I left I took the bus down to san Anselmo and was there for a while. That was when I cut for the first time." I heard an intake of breath from my mother and the doctor. "I cut the inside of my lip a few more times in the next two days and I was walking around the other day and I guess I just passed out from blood loss."

"Hmm." The doctor said writing something on a clipboard. "Mrs. Sunnel if you could please come with me, it seems that we have some things to discuss."

"Oh, umm yes." She said standing shakily. They walked out. I exhaled deeply and closed my eyes. I couldn't take it back, it was already done.

Rory slipped back in the door.

"Thank you" he whispered hugging me softly. His body next to mine felt good.

"What's going to happen now?" I asked.

"I think they might put you in a rehab program for three days or so. They'll probably monitor your behavior, seeing as you don't really cut that should be easy." He said.

"How's my mom?" I asked hoping he could use his power to find the answer.

"She's just confused; she thought that you were dealing fine."

"Oh" I said. "Will everybody at school know?"

"Probably not, though your teachers and counselor might."

"Umm, Rory?" I asked.

"Yes?" he asked.

"I have another question."

"You seem to have plenty, don't you?" I smiled to him at his remark.

"You know how I've been having these dreams. Well some of them have been coming true. Like with the Kirsten dream. And the other day I had a dream of when Kirsten came to the library; except she wasn't there it was just me looking stupid and scared. But I know that it was right after Kirsten came. Why do you think that I am having these dreams?" I asked. He looked as if he was about to answer but the doctor and my mother came back into the room.

"What are you doing here?" Dr. Cloverman asked. "Who are you?"

"Sorry Dr. Cloverman," I said "he is my boyfriend."

"Hmm." He said eyeing us skeptically. "Well we are going to need you to leave." He directed his talking towards Rory. Rory turned to me and whispered in my ear.

"I love you." He said quietly so that the others couldn't hear. Then he walked out the door. I loved his words but they had registered something else in my brain that made me feel worried.

"Cassie," the doctor began. "Your mother and I have decided to put you in a clinic for other people who have your…problem."

"Alright." I said calmly because I had already been told that this was going to happen.

"I'm going home to pack a bag of clothes for you, your going to be there for a couple days." She said.

"Fine." She kissed my cheek and walked out the door. I turned toward Dr. Cloverman. "What am I going to be doing at the clinic?"

"You'll have your meals and you will have workshops. I believe that they have groups that you will meet with a few times a day."

"That's all?" that was all I would do for the next three days?

"I'm not sure." He said looking at his clipboard and walking out but then he poked his head back in, "you have some more visitors coming in."

The Havens walked back in. I smiled to all of them against the pain of my lip.

They didn't answer my question about my dreams though. But I was okay with just talking. Before they left though they all came up to me in turn.

"You're such a strong girl and Rory is lucky to have you." Damien told me.

"Because of you I will never let the fridge go un-stocked." Melanie told me.

"I'm sorry that I ever told you to leave us alone. I guess I'm selfish because I do not want you to leave." Elyse told me.

"I promise that I will never be such a bitch again unless I'm being controlled."

"Jill!" Melanie said warningly.

"What I'm 68 I think I should be allowed to swear." Jill retorted, and then moved aside for Triston.

"I lost my other little sister, don't think I'm going to lose you." He said. His words brought tears to my eyes, he thought of me as his little sister. He moved aside and Rory stepped up to me.

"I love you" he told me.

"I love you more." I told him we both smiled. And he and his family walked out.

I sat with my head resting against the pillow.

Rory had said he loved me, but it's easy to lie.