I walked down to the kitchen to get some breakfast. For some odd reason I was starving! I pulled out the milk from the fridge and took out a glass of milk. Her dad was sitting at the table eating a waffle and reading the paper.

"Did you read this?" my dad held up the newspaper. "There have been a string of murders right here in Seattle."

"Murders?"

My dad was being shockingly cavalier about this "Yup, there have been two bodies and four people missing."

"How are they being killed?" I began pouring some milk in a glass.

My dad looked down at the paper. "Uh...it looks like their having their jugulars cut or bitten."

I dropped the carton of milk causing it to spill everywhere and make a loud SPLAT!

"Bitten?" I whispered to myself. "She's back, Maya is back."

"What was that Lils?" my dad got up to see where the SPLAT! had come from. "Lily there's milk everywhere!"

I couldn't hear him shouting at me I couldn't hear anything except my heart beat uncontrollably. Thumpthump...thumpthump...It was going a thousand times fast. I didn't know what to do; how to unfreeze myself from this motionless state. I wanted to scream or curl up in a ball under the covers to hide from the vengeful vampire stalking me. Now she was killing innocents! People all over Seattle were dying because of me! Talk about guilt, I had to be one of the worst people alive.

"Lily? Lily! Say something for god's sake!" my dad snapped me out of the trance.

"I gotta go, Oliver is probably outside waiting for me." I grabbed my bag and ran out the door like I was running for dear life.

Sure enough, my refuge (Oliver) was standing right outside waiting for me by his car. He saw the distraught look that painted my face and immediantly put his arms around me pulling me close to his body. I started to feel safe again.

"Lils, what's wrong?"

I trembled and the words came out shaky "Maya is back in Seattle."

Oliver turned to stone, it was like I was holding a statue. He looked down at me and pulled my face up to his so that I could feel his breath against my lips. "I'm going to do whatever it takes to make you safe Lily. Do you hear me? Nothing is going to hurt you."

"It's not me I'm worried about. She's already killing innocent people." I tried to spit out the next set of words "What if she kills you too?" I felt a tear stream down my cheek "I can't lose you, not again."

Oliver pressed his lips against mine then looked at me "Nothing is going to happen to you or me, I promise you with all I have, you and I are going to be alright."

I nodded my head and kissed his again. "Let's just get to school ok?"

Oliver nodded and opened the door for me. I slid in and wiped away any tears that had fallen down my cheek. Oliver got in and we drove off to school.

When we got to school I saw Sarah and Rico but no sign of Jake or Miley. I was now officially panicking. Did they go after Maya? Are they ok? I was spasing out but I didn't care. Where was Jake and Miley?!

"Where are they?" I half shouted at Sarah and Rico.

Rico laughed at my "tough guy" act I was pulling then he put a hand on my shoulder. "Relax Lil, they're hunting."

"Hunting?" I sighed with relief. "Good."

"Try not to pee your pants Truscott."

Oliver shot her a narrow stare. "Where did you think they were Lil?"

I turned to him "I thought they..."

"Went after Maya? Do you think we're idiots or something Lily?" Sarah continued to be difficult.

"No I just-"

"Sarah, today's not the day for PMS ok?" Rico snapped.

Sarah rolled her eyes and I tried not to giggle at Sarah's 'burn'.

"PMS hasn't been an issue for me in ninety years."

"Ok, that was more than I needed to know." Oliver cringed.

I gave Sarah a snide look, or at least tried to "I'll see you guys around."

"See ya Lil." Rico said.

It was hard seeing Rico in high school now. Even though he had passed junior high he still only looked like he was still only twelve or thirteen years old, which he still was..sort of.

"Why is she still so hateful towards me? I thought it was maybe because I said something or did something but shouldn't she be passed it?"

Oliver smiled his crooked smile. "She's jealous of you Lils."

I stopped were I was so I could process what Oliver had just said to me. Sarah jealous of me? That couldn't be it, could it?

"After I became a vampire, Robbie Ray turned Sarah into a vampire hoping that she would be for me what Miley is to Jake."

If I ever felt intimidated by Sarah before, now I was deathly afraid of her. She and Oliver, my Oliver, had a 'thing'. I could understand if he had a thing with some other vampire anywhere else but Sarah! The breathtakingly beautiful vampire? Talk about tough shoes to fill.

"So, um, you two had a...a thing."

Oliver laughed hysterically. "God no! Robbie hoped I would fall for her and take her as my mate but I wasn't remotely interested in her. She was far from my type. I'm more interested in the klutzy blondes who blush a lot."

Of course after hearing that I blushed a fiery red and Oliver smiled. "That's why she's jealous? Does she have a thing for you?"

"No, she has no feelings for me in that way but she's jealous because she can't see why I was attracted to you and not her. And there's the other reason."

"Other reason?"

Oliver looked at me than looked away. "You should talk to Sarah about that one."

I nodded and continued walking to class with Oliver. As I walked through the school I say at least a dozen people reading the same story in the paper about all the brutal murders happening right here in Seattle. Try as I might, I couldn't get the image of Maya killing innocent women, children, fathers, or mothers to get to me. I was the cause of this bloodbath and there was nothing I could do because I knew that when she did catch me and kill me like she planned, the city still wouldn't be safe because she had no intention of stopping the massacre.

Sneak Preview:

"I'm here." I said walking closer to my shirtless best friend.

"You're here."

"We need to talk."

Jackson nodded "Yeah we do."

I took a deep breath and let the words in my head just fall out. "I miss you Jackson, I miss you so much."

He took two steps closer to me and wrapped his arms around me. His body was burning as it was pressed against mine but it felt good, better than good, great.

He whispered in my ear "I miss you too Lily."