Hey guys, so I thought I'd tell you the basis for this story... four chapters in. Oops. I basically thought 'what would I do if I imprinted?' and kind of went from there, so some of Anna's character traits are based on mine (including some of the bad ones!) such as her cynicism (especially of love), hating PDA (Public Displays of Affection) and not really wasting words, as well as some other stuff which will be revealed later. So I thought- obviously I would not believe in love at first sight until I was persuaded... then, who knows? So, yeah, chapter 1 came to me in a dream (as do all my story ideas) and I went from there. I am totally in love with Luc, but Anna isn't... yet.

So anyway, thanks for all the reviews, they are so encouraging and I know I'm being repetitive, but they are! I already had most of this chapter written and I'm sorry again not that much happens as it's a plot revealing/ setting up chapter, but I think an exciting chapter will be on the way soon. Sorry for going on, I'll shut up. Here is:

Chapter 4

I woke up the next morning feeling refreshed. I didn't have to adjust or climb out of sleep like it was a mountain, I was immediately alert. I found my hand wrapped in something warm. I opened my eyes to see that I had apparently grabbed Luc's hand at some point during the night. I lifted my head and saw his resting near my stomach. It looked very uncomfortable and I wondered why he had stayed.

I studied him, enjoying the opportunity to see him without him watching me. I looked with envy at his long lashes and saw that he had lightly tanned skin and golden-brown hair. He was tall, probably over 6 feet, and was fairly muscly. Not too much to look unnatural for a guy of around my age, I guessed, but still- he was hot. At that moment, he stirred, interrupting my observations. He opened his hazel eyes and looked at me wordlessly. I quickly pulled my hand out from his and cleared my throat, suddenly conscious of how dirty and dishevelled I must have looked. I ran my hands through my long hair, trying to tame it a bit and blushed when I felt his eyes on me.

"You stayed?" I asked him, sitting up slowly.

"I… uh, yeah, sorry." He muttered, sitting up in his chair and biting his lip. I knew that without this imprint thing, he would never have given me the time of day. I was just a boring 18 year old who looked about 15, with boring medium length wavy mousey brown hair, boring blue-grey-green eyes and short, skinny frame, whereas he was… well, hot.

I took a deep breath. "Look, I don't even know you." I began. "And I'm supposed to be with you for the rest of my life, because we're soul mates or something? I guess I have to believe some of it, like the whole withdrawals thing, but people just don't fall in love at first sight." I sighed. I wasn't as angry, but I was still sceptical. "It just doesn't exist. Love is about personality," I continued, "and how can you fall in love with someone without even knowing their personality? I don't, I can't believe it, but… I guess you do have some explaining to do." I finished.

"Okay," he replied cautiously. "How about you drop by for breakfast?" he asked me. I agreed and he told me where his house was, then left with a smile and a "see you later".

I took a shower and headed downstairs, dropping my sheets in the wash on my way, then brushed my teeth and had another check in the mirror before I left, feeling very self-conscious. I stepped up to the driveway of their house, which, even in this rich neighbourhood in Surrey, was huge. It even had gates with ornate designs on it! I pressed the button to open the gates and walked slowly to the door. Just as I was gathering enough courage to knock, it swung open and Maggie stood there, smiling.

"Hi there!" she welcomed me enthusiastically, beckoning me in.

"So Caleb and I are staying here until the Reunification, then we is going back to college in Tennessee," she told me excitedly as we walked to the kitchen. "Luc is here from France for a year; he's staying the summer vacation with us and then going to a British university," she explained.

I opened my mouth, but before I could speak, Maggie answered my unasked question and told me about the Reunification week where all the Aces in the world met up in London. She was something called the Visionary, who was supposed to be a leader to their people. "Apparently, I can tell people what to do because I've got this mark on my neck," she laughed. "But the Council, who make all the rules for Aces, they are very resistant to change," she said, becoming more serious. "You see, because Aces were using their powers for selfish purposes, the imprints, which give us our powers once we ascend, stopped. Caleb and I were the first to imprint for a long time, and the majority of imprints that have happened since are with humans. You see, I was a human," she said, glancing at Caleb.

"Was?" I asked, surprised.

"Yes. Once we ascend, we get our powers, and become true Virtuoso," she explained. "Before Aces imprint, they're basically just human, with the capacity to have a significant. And the whole tattoo thing," she smiled, unconsciously rubbing hers. I looked at the simple half-moon, with Caleb's name around the outside of it. There was also an infinity symbol in the middle, so was slightly different to Luc's. Maggie blushed when I wondered about the differences and exchanged a glance with Caleb, who smirked at her.

"Um, I think I'll leave Luc to explain the names," she told me, smiling a little. "As for the infinity symbol, we're not quite sure yet…" She sighed, and Caleb rubbed the back of her neck to calm her. I guessed that the touch did more than just heal withdrawals- it looked like it calmed each other down. It made sense, considering how I felt this morning, having slept all night holding Luc's hand. I studied the two of them surreptitiously. They looked into each other's eyes as if they were having a conversation- then I realised, they probably were. In their heads. Weird. Maggie glanced at me and smiled at that thought.

Caleb leaned in for a kiss, and I looked away just as Luc walked in, running a hand through his damp hair. His eyes immediately found mine, and we stared at each other for longer than was polite, but I couldn't look away.

The spell was broken when, from the corner of my eye, I saw Maggie smiling knowingly at Caleb. I shook my head to clear it and caught another glance of Caleb smirking at us. Blushing, I looked at the table, where breakfast was sitting. My stomach rumbled loudly and I smiled bashfully.

"Help yourself!" Maggie laughed, grabbing a bun from a pile of them and stuffing it in her mouth as quickly as politely possible and making a contented noise.

"What are they?" I asked her. They looked amazing.

"Honey buns!" Caleb replied or her, since her mouth was full to bursting. She swallowed and looked at me incredulously.

"You've never had a honey bun?!" she asked, looking extremely sad for me. "Poor you," she shook her head. I took one and tried it, taking a slightly smaller bite than Maggie. It was nice, but I wouldn't be able to eat many at a time as they were very sweet.

"Coffee? Or… tea?" Caleb asked from the kitchen counter.

"Tea, thanks," I told him, and Maggie smiled.

"So is it actually true you English drink tea all the time?" she asked, surprised, and I nodded, smiling.

"Yep, some of the stereotypes are certainly true!" I laughed. "You should see my dad- he drinks about 10 cups a day!" Caleb handed my cup over and I added a splash of milk, sitting down next to Luc. "Now if my cousin Kyle was here," he told me, smirking, "he'd say something really inappropriate like, 'how does he not need to pee the whole time?'" We all laughed and, stealing a glance at Luc, I saw he held sadness in his eyes, like he wasn't used to smiling and laughing. But, he looked hot smiling and laughing. I bit my lip, blushing again, especially since Maggie could hear everything I was thinking, and commanded myself sternly to stop. I was blushing too much this morning.

As the laughter faded, Maggie exchanged a glance with Caleb and turned serious eyes to me.

"So now you've been filled in with the Ace stuff, we need to talk about Marcus," she stated simply. I swallowed as tendrils of leftover fear clawed at me and shivered, remembering his dark eyes alive with malice. Luc looked at me with concern, and I realised he must have felt my heart speeding up with fear. He made no move to touch me, although I could tell he wanted to, badly. Again, that made my heart melt, knowing that he was refraining from making me, and probably himself, feel better by touching me and giving me that calm when he was unsure if I wanted him to. I smiled at him, and it was his selflessness, not my selfishness, that led me to lightly brush his hand, resting on the table top. The rush of clam that filled my veins was heady and my heart felt like it jumped in my chest as I met his eyes again. The corners of his mouth turned up as he felt it in his own chest and, once again, I blushed as I looked at the floor. Damit, why did I blush so easily? I couldn't believe I had all but forgotten the attack because of me imprinting and the following stupidity which led to my harming not only myself, but Luc as well. I shook my head at my idiocy and sighed, wishing I had at least listened to Luc.

I remembered what we were talking about and turned back to Maggie, who was leaning against the counter against Caleb, who was sitting on it.

"Who is he?" I asked her, scared again. She sighed.

"Marcus Watson is… supposed to be dead," she told me. My eyes widened.

"He was part of the Watson clan. They were the rival clan in Tennessee and… well, they were evil, basically. You see, every clan stopped imprinting for a long time- they got taken away because of the horrible things so many of us were doing. We were the fist to imprint for ages, unusually because I was a human, and because we were way under the normal imprint age of about 24. Turns out I was special because of me being the Visionary as well, although I'm still trying to work out what that means.

"Marcus and the Watsons captured me and tried to stop us at every turn. Well, to cut a long story short, last Reunification I stripped the whole Watson family of everything- their imprints, abilities, tattoos, everything that made them Virtuoso. But Marcus wanted revenge, so he shot me on our honeymoon. Caleb went after him; Marcus got shot, not by Caleb- by his cousin. I was sure he was dead, otherwise- how could I have been healed? See, Marcus fed us his blood, meaning we couldn't heal each other, because he was human and we had his human blood, but when he was dead, Caleb healed me. So I don't know how he can be alive…" she finished, looking worried and upset.

Caleb put his hand on the back of her neck and leaned down to kiss her to calm her down. I was not one for public displays of affection and I also realised that this was a personal moment for them, so I looked away and closed my eyes. My own fear was choking me, rising up my throat as the memories of Marcus's hand in my hair, dragging me, resurfaced. This time, it was Luc who reached out to me and rested a hand on my tightly clenched knuckles, giving me a dose of calm and lessening my fear. I smiled at him gratefully and rested my other hand over his, preventing him from lifting it away. That didn't mean I was just going to roll over and accept that I was going to be in love with this man for the rest of my life, but I couldn't deny the attraction between us, and for now, I needed him and sensed he needed me.

The moment was interrupted by Maggie, who got up and picked her phone up from the table.
"We need to go and make some calls," she told me, grabbing Caleb's hand. "Are you okay with her?" he asked Luc. I wondered at that, then realised that it must be to protect me- Marcus had gone for me before and could do again. They left to go call whoever and I realised that my hands were still sandwiching his hand. Blushing, (again- stupid pale complexion!) I looked at him wordlessly, and he watched me. We were both comfortable with silence and the awkwardness that was present with Maggie and Caleb in the room (not that it was them- it was me, just being self-conscious) disappeared. I smiled, then I realised I had no idea how old he was. He could be my age, or older. He seemed to sense my curiosity, because he smiled. "Ask," he told me, simply. I swallowed. Why was I nervous? Was it because he was way above my league and possibly thought I was some immature little girl that he was now saddled with? "stop." he told me sternly, sensing these emotions and thoughts in my head. He moved his chair closer and took both my hands in his.

"I am the same age as you- 18. You're not just some 'little girl' and I am not 'stuck' with you. I chose you, remember? Just as you chose me." He sighed and closed his eyes for a second. I stared at him for a few seconds and swallowed. I chose him.

"Well… I chose well then," I told him, smiling. That sparkle was in his eyes again, and he stood up and offered me his arm.

"Care for a tour, my lady?" he asked, mock seriously. I stood up with a haughty expression.
"Well, only if it is the VIP tour," I told him in a ridiculously posh voice.

"Well, of course," he tried to do a posh English accent and failed miserably. I sniffed and muttered "a commoner and French," loudly. His lips twitched, and I burst into laughter. I took his arm and we went for the tour.

I had to break up this chapter so it does end in a slightly random place. I'm on a roll at the moment so chapter 5 will hopefully be up soon, but I've got my plan sorted so I have slightly more of an idea of what I'm doing now! Please leave comments, sorry for repeating.