If there is in this world, a well attested account, it is that of the vampires. Nothing is lacking: official reports, affidavits of well known people, of surgeons, of priests, of magistrates; the judicial proof is most complete. And with all that, who is there that believes in vampires?

"He's looking at you again."

"Well, don't look back!" I snapped, biting into my pie a little harder than I should have, spraying gravy and sauce everywhere.

"Are you nuts, Ella?" Jessie ogled at me. "Eddie Collins is the best looking guy in school!"

Mike sniffed. "I'm trying hard not to look insulted."

"Just... don't look. Pretend you don't see. That asshole."

Jessie sighed. "Whatever."

Winter seemed to sneak up on us all, so one moment we were trying our hardest not to melt, and the next we were watching icicles form on the tips of our noses.

Unlike my old home, it didn't snow in Fawkes, but it became so bitterly cold that if you stood in the same place for too long, you would literally be frozen to the spot. Black ice slicked every tarred surface, and it was practically impossible to reach the front of the school without taking a dive at least once. I knew this because I was the first person to pick myself off the asphalt of the parking lot, my ego more bruised than my butt.

Apparently my catlike reflexes only engaged when they felt like it.

You probably think vampires aren't affected by the cold. I knew I used to think that, but the fact is, we are. Pretty bad, actually. We get sluggish and dim, slowing down to the pace where normal people start to wonder what the hell is wrong with us. Why? As a vampire is dead, we're essentially cold-blooded. This means that if we could, we'd pass the day happily sunning ourselves on rocks like lizards to heat ourselves up. The blood still needs to move about the body a bit, so it doesn't congeal in our veins and our extremities don't drop off.

I've seen this happen before. It's not pleasant.

So there I was, soldiering along, and the only person who knew what was wrong with me I was expecting to jump out at me from behind the next tree with a stake. Hugging my parka tight around me, I reluctantly left the heated warmth of my car, making sure to plant my feet firmly on the ground before I stood up. A few cars down from me, I could make out Eddie leaning against his truck, sharing an animated conversation with Alice, which seemed to involve much laughing and hand-waving. In a way, I was unbelievably jealous of what they had. The world was in black and white for the Collins, and I missed the definite line between good and evil.

I wondered why he hadn't told his sister about me yet.

I was standing in front of my open car door, staring out into the distance, when I picked up the sound of a high pitched screeching, a sound which became alarmingly louder in a small amount of time. My eyes fell back to earth and my mouth fell open.

Streaking across the parking lot was a dented old egg-yellow van. The driver was leaning on the horn to get people out of the way while he wrestled uselessly with the controls.

I watched the vehicle skidding across the ice heading in my direction, but for some reason I had been rendered immobile.

They say a vampire can only be killed in certain ways, but I wasn't entirely confident with testing out that theory.

"Get out of the way, you moron!" It was Eddie's voice, and it somehow reached me over the roar. I blinked.

At the very last possible moment, I made a dive and rolled, hands over my head, as the driver wrenched the wheel away from me. From the spot where I was on my hands and knees, the events of a microsecond unfolded in slow motion.

The van spun completely out of control, and began to careen wildly toward Eddie's truck. Acting on pure instinct, Eddie grabbed his sister by the shoulders and roughly pushed her out of the way. Alice reached out her hand to help him.

Eddie slipped on the ice.

I watched the van bearing down on him, not moving. My eyes were cold and calculating.

If Eddie Collins dies today, I'm safe again.

I was on my feet in seconds. Before I had time to too closely analyse my actions, I launched myself across several car bonnets, my ass swiftly becoming soggy. When I seized Eddie's collar, he looked at me like he'd seen a ghost.

The front of the van smashed into the side of the truck's cabin, showering us both with glass. For a moment I thought that was it, and then I looked up and saw the back end of the van rushing up to meet us. Eddie and I both swore. Closing my eyes, I turned my back to the oncoming vehicle, begging that this would work. I could feel Eddie's breath on my face.

"What are you trying to prove?" He breathed.

And then the van hit us. Again.

I must have blacked out for a second but I snapped back to consciousness fairly quickly. There was an unbelievable pressure bearing down on my spine where the metal alloy of the van had folded around me. I wriggled my shoulders, popping out of the wreck, which groaned. My next thought turned to punctured petrol tanks and massive explosions, and I anxiously tugged at Eddie's jacket.

He was groggy, and there was blood in his eyes, but the two of us still managed to crawl under his truck and out the other side.

"Ella! Eddie!" The principal was bending over us, looking anxious. Jessie was on her phone, talking urgently to someone. The school staff shepherded us all away from the carpark as firemen ascertained that neither the tank of the truck nor the tank of the van were about to ignite, and then an ambulance trundled up the front entrance.

Even though Eddie and I insisted we were fine, we were bundled off to the local hospital, along with the poor guy that Mike and his mates had managed to drag from behind the wheel. If I had thought Eddie had been in a bad mood before, then this turn took my completely by surprise. There was a downright homicidal glint in those amazing blue eyes and each word he said to me was filled with barely contained hatred.

I withdrew into myself.

My dad and Eddie's adoptive father were waiting for us. Eddie's bad mood evaporated the very moment Doctor Carl Collins told him sternly to act his age.

Dr Collins was tall and blonde and very easy on the eyes. He was only young, but moved about the small hospital like a consummate professional. He also seemed friendly, which was a plus. Still, my stomach squicked uncomfortably. Vampire hunters, I kept reminding myself.

Finally Chuck intervened and told Dr Collins that if he couldn't find anything to keep me on, he was going to take me home.

That night was the first time I really thought of Eddie. I knew with utmost certainty that he didn't hate me, per se, but what I was. And that in turn got me thinking on the subject. Why did Eddie hate vampires so much?

I fell into a restless slumber, and had the weirdest dream. I was running through the lands on the edge of the reservation, moving with a grim determination and at a speed that I had not thought possible.

However, I woke up before I found out whether I was being pursued, or the pursuer.

Everyone treated me like a hero when I next turned up at school, though I wasn't sure I deserved it. I kept a watch for Eddie, but that day neither he nor his family turned up for classes. I made a mental note to keep an eye on the papers for any sudden disappearances.

Somehow I was roped into a pre-emptive dress shopping spree for the prom. Even though Chuck assured me he was fine with me going, and that I might even have fun, the whole notion weirded me out. I'd always been the tomboy, the one rolling about in the mud with grazed knees. I hadn't even worn a dress to my cousin's wedding.

So after the main event was mostly over and I had added my two cents to the opinions Jessie and Angel had already formed about their frocks, I mentioned that I'd spotted a bookstore on the way down and I'd find my way to the restaurant later.

I had no intention of doing any shopping that night, instead I walked down the street, hands in my pockets, the streetlights getting progressively dimmer and further apart. I needed some air, something to wash Fawkes away for even a little while.

But really, what I wanted was something I could hit. Over and over.

I knew I was being followed before they knew I knew. My night vision and hearing had been finely tuned before I became a vampire. I caught fragments of images radiating off them, and all that did was make me angry.

"Hi, sweetie." The first Big Ugly said. I didn't dignify that with a remark. In the city, I had bigger and meaner guys cowering in the corner the moment I entered the room. Still, best not to tempt fate.

I could smell blood and pain on him.

"Why are you out here all alone, sugar?" His breath was rancid.

"Just waiting for you, handsome." I said sweetly. And then I brought my knee up into his groin.

"Ahhh..."

"Was it good for you, too?" I whispered fiercely as he fell to his knees.

It bothered me, how much I enjoyed kicking these perverts' butts. I was about to sucker-punch one of them in the throat when suddenly I was bathed in two pools of light. A car had stopped in the middle of the street, and we all froze, stuck in a bizarre pantomime.

Someone tall with great hair stepped out the driver's side door and shielded his eyes against the light.

"Ella?"

"Hi, Eddie." I said somewhat sheepishly.

"What the hell are you doing?" He demanded.

"What the hell are you doing?" I retorted.

"Let that guy go." He said firmly, and I did. My would-be molester limped away from me as fast as he could, gathering together his mates and making a waddle for it.

"Woman's crazy. Woman's freaking nuts!"

"Shit, man, let's get out of here!"

I slowly walked toward Eddie as he stood stock still. I could see a neat row of stitches cutting through his eyebrow where he had been sliced by flying glass. It looked painful, but I surmised that he was used to physical pain. I stopped just in front of him. In the darkness, his eyes seemed just as black as gthe first time I saw him. "Hi." I said.

"Hi."

"Those guys, they were going to..." I began, suddenly filled with a need to explain.

"I know." He said. His features suddenly looked faintly amused. "I think you've taught them a very important lesson about defenceless girls." He looked at me a moment longer. "Do you need a lift?"

Taken by surprise, I accepted. "Aren't you a bit concerned about getting into a car with Vampirella?"

Eddie merely cocked an eyebrow, and his answer was logical. "If you bite me, you have no ride."

"True." I conceded, rubbing my neck.

We were almost at the restaurant where I was supposed to meet the girls when my phone buzzed in my pocket.

"Hi, Jess. What? Ew, that's disgusting. You two all right? No, that's cool. Hold on a minute,"

"Problem?" Eddie enquired.

"Bad clams." I said. "They're at the doctor's. Jessie's mum and dad are gonna pick them up, drive the other car home." I paused. "Can I have a ride home? I need a yes or no in twelve seconds."

"Well, um..."

"Nine."

He looked flustered. "I... guess."

I turned back to my mobile. "No, I'm right. Your dad hasn't got to pick me up. Yeah, see you soon."

"Do you always talk this much?" Eddie demanded as I hung up the phone.

I quirked an eyebrow. "We've got a looong hour stretching before us, cowboy. You haven't seen nothing yet."

Eddie heaved a massive sigh.

Fifteen minutes later, and we were already verbally sparring like we'd known each other forever. Though I noticed Eddie's smiles were too fixed, his laughs a little too forced. He was still guarded, and I wasn't sure that I'd be able to make him ever see vampires in a different light.

"So what's with the mind reading?" He asked casually.

I was hanging my arm out the window, feeling the cold air slip through my fingers. "How do you mean?" I asked absently.

"Just anyone?"

"Mostly."

"Me?"

I turned to look at him, my brows lowering. "How can I read your mind, when you can't even read your mind?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ed, you're incredibly hot, but you're also incredibly indecisive." I said sternly. "Anyway, most people... shout out what they're thinking." I tried to explain. "You're more careful."

"That's good?"

"It makes you interesting."

"Interesting. I can live with interesting."

"My turn." I said. "What happened to your parents? Your real ones?" This question had been burning in my mind for a long time.

Eddie immediately became reserved once more. "They died. When I was still a kid. Carl and Esme were my godparents, so they took me in."

"That was good of them." I said softly.

"Yes." He said. "How old are you?"

"Seventeen and nine months." I responded immediately.

"For how long?"

"Nine months." I said. "I don't really know what happened." I confessed for the first time. "It was a few months ago, at this frat party. I got drunk. I mean really drunk. The next thing I know, I can do a Superman with a bus."

"That's messed up."

"You're supposed to be the big vamp expert." I pointed out.

"Vampires don't wither in the sun." Eddie confessed. "Sleeping in coffins is out..."

"Actually, I did once know a guy..."

"Do you sleep?"

"I don't need to sleep. But it passes the time."

"Breathing?"

"Ditto." I said. I glanced sideways. "It surprises me that you don't seem to be worried about my diet."

"You smell faintly of copper and you've got animal hair on your shirt. Officer Swain doesn't own any animals." He said matter-of-factly.

"Why haven't you killed me?"

We were at my house sooner than I had hoped. He gave me a little grin and parroted my earlier words back to me.

"Because you're interesting."

I opened the door and was about to slide out when Eddie's hand caught my wrist. His long fingers were delightfully warm against my cooling skin.

"Get out of town." He told me solemnly.

"What?" I was completely bemused. "Why?"

"Because I like you, Ella." His face was deadly serious. "You're different."

I stood staring after him, watching his taillights fade off into the distance.