A/N: Thanks to the people who reviewed! Here's chap two, sorry it's kind of short, too. I had to do what I could for the vamp's description, as I couldn't find it in AAR's books. Make sure you push the review button at the bottom to tell me what you think!

-Dusk

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that is recognizably AAR's.

He says his name is Jager, and even in the night's shadows, I can tell that he is beautiful, in the masculine sense of the word. he has dark, smooth skin: maybe caramel colored, although it's hard to see for sure; he won't step into the light. His straight hair just brushes his shoulders and is jet black. But his eyes are what I notice most: eyes aren't supposed to be disorienting and the pure color of a gemstone, but I swear his are. Such a deep emerald green they seem bottomless, and I'm afraid to look into them.

Yet I am intrigued, despite my fears and my subdued mood.

I stand up and lean against the streetlight pole, crossing my arms over my chest. (This is an uncomfortable habit I have that came from an attempt to hide my despised beauty.) "Hello," I say, my voice slightly guarded. Well, whose wouldn't be? It's almost one o'clock in the morning--I don't usually expect company at this hour.

He doesn't smile, doesn't offer a hand or nod. Just looks at me for a moment, as if assessing me, but the mood around him is light; genial. I relax because he doesn't frighten me anymore.

Except for his eyes. Those frighten me.

"There's no need to look scared," he tells me now, his voice good-natured. He smiles and his teeth are stark white.

"I didn't think I did," I reply. My head is buzzing slightly from the bourbon and suddenly I'm exhausted. Maybe I'll actually be able to sleep now...

But this Jager wasn't simply passing by on a walk through the neighborhood. He walks over to me, and the light illuminates him to show his features to be even better looking than they were in the dark. "Will you walk with me, Emmie?" he asks, and I start at the fact that he knows my name.

"Relax," he continues. "I won't bite. Yet."

I can't tell if he's joking or not, but then he smiles again, and suddenly I find myself nodding in answer to his question. I like this stranger, despite his endless eyes and strange sense of humor.

He steps onto the sidewalk and I follow, falling in step beside him as we make our way down the length of the street I live on. I glance over at Jager and notice how comfortable he seems, how much at ease he is in his own body, and I am suddenly, irrationally jealous of him. I hate my body, how it stops anyone from seeing the person that's inside of this cage I occupy; yet Jager is completely satisfied with his.

"Now what makes you think that?" Jager questions, a smile tugging at the corners of his perfect mouth. "Who says no one sees the person that you are?"

I jump, but not only because he's been silent until now. "Did I...say that aloud?" I inquire carefully.

This time, Jager laughs openly. "No," he says, turning to me with amusement in his beautiful eyes. "You didn't."

My confusion shows on my face. "Then how--" I stop and shake my head. "Never mind."

I don't think I want to know how he somehow knew what I was thinking, but for some reason, the idea doesn't seem strange to me. Still, I want to change the subject, to step away from my uneasiness.

My mind drifts back to the first thing he said to me, and I repeat the question, this time directed at him: "What are you doing out so late?"

He chuckles as if the question came from the mouth of a naïve child. "Why do you walk around in the middle of the day?" he counters.

This is an odd answer, and it causes me to stop dead in my tracks.

"Emmie," Jager calls, turning around to look at me. "Come on."

I don't move; he stops smiling.

"Emmie." Why is his voice suddenly so hard? "Why aren't you walking?"

I shake my head. "You're scaring me," I whisper honestly. "I don't even know you."

"I'm not going to hurt you," he assures me, and his expression in the darkness is unreadable.

How do I know he's sincere? "Because I keep my word," he says in answer to my silent question, as if he can't help but respond to my thoughts.

He steps toward me and reaches out a hand to let my dark gold locks slide through his fingers. I try not to flinch and wonder instead if he is just like all those other boys, the ones who can't get past my pale, flawless skin; high cheekbones; my waist-length hair, and indigo eyes.

"It must be hard to be alone in this world," Jager murmurs, his eyes on mine. I don't want to look into them, but he's caught my gaze and I can't look away. "I'd be glad to help you, Emmie. To bring you out of your cage."

I don't know if he means giving me a way to die, or being the one that will actually care about me and make me happy again. Like when I was a small child.

Either way, I want him to stay.

"I'd like that," I whisper, and don't pull away when he takes my hand. We start walking again, slow, deliberate steps down the length of the sidewalk. I can hear my flip-flops smacking against my heels, but Jager's steps are silent. Not there.

"I know you would," he says, and smiles.