You guys probably all got emails that I updated this last night, Monday, and some of you even got to read it for the short while it was up. I was half asleep when I realized that I wanted to change something big, so I deleted the chapter before too many people could read it. But it's this chapter except something was changed. I'll tell you about it at the end. :D

Logan was wide awake at midnight that night. He had been in Hector's old room, thinking about Hector, hoping to God his brother's ghost wouldn't come forward and be angry at him. This room was right next door to James' room, Logan's old room, and his heightened senses allowed him to hear everything going on next door when the door burst open at about 12:14 that night.

James was peacefully asleep, sprawled out in his bed, when his father slung the door open and let light poor in. James was startled awake as a deep "JAMES!" boomed.

His father stood there, blonde hair greased back in a leather jacket, fists clenched.

"Daaad," he grumbled, looking at the clock to see the time.

"You missed dinner AGAIN?" his father boomed, flipping on the lights.

"And so did you! You were at work again!" James argued, sitting up.

"Were you with those gay-ass friends of yours again?"

"What? They're not gay."

"Why don't you ever go out with GIRLS? It's a Friday night!"

"I wanted to hang out with my friends. Besides- there're no girls that I WANT to go out with."

"If you keep this up, you'll be a cock-sucker like your uncle."

"What's wrong with that?" James asked, getting up strongly. His father, equal to him in height, landed a simple slap across the face, his son's head snapping to the side.

"Are you a faggot?" Mr. Diamond growled dangerously.

"So what if I am?" James challenged, getting another, harder, slap.

Logan listened with horror as his friend got beaten by his own father in the other room. Mr. Mitchell, his own father, would never do that to Logan or Hector- only once was Logan slapped across the face, and that was from his mother. Now he wondered if he should go in there and stop the hitting. He decided against it, thinking it wouldn't do much harm and he shouldn't interfere- it was none of his business.

The noises almost made him want to cry. Mr. Diamond was not drunk. He was just THAT angry that his son may be gay. James' body hit the floor like a sack of potatoes, but Mr. Diamond did not stop. He kicked James a few times and kept yelling.

Finally Logan heard the door slam and Mr. Diamond storm away. He quietly sneaked from his room and into James', horrified to see James in a ball on the floor, sobbing.

Logan approached and sat on his knees before his new friend.

"James?" he whispered, but just then James propped himself up on an elbow and coughed hard, blood spattering on the carpet. He weakly dragged himself to slump his head down in Logan's lap miserably, like a dying dog. His hair was messy and his lip was split. His eyes was starting to bruise and Logan knew that below his shirt was a field of starting bruises.

"It's never been this bad," James said weakly. He had never had a friend that he could cry in front of or lay his head in his lap. It was strange that Logan was this type of friend, and James had only known him for a few hours.

Logan just stared as James struggled for breath.

"He- he kicked me something bad in the ribs," James rasped. "He has steal-toe boots."

"Should I get your mom?" Logan asked.

"She doesn't give a shit," James said, shaking his head weakly.

"I think you collapsed a lung, though."

"What's that mean?"

"It means you're gonna keep coughing up blood until you die," Logan said softly.

"What?" James tried to sit up, failed and flopped back down, holding his ribs. "Help me!"

"I'll take you to the hospital," Logan said, getting up. James struggled to his feet and supported himself on Logan's shoulders.

"We'll take my old lady's car," James said.

James was struggling to stay awake, because that was what Logan told him to do. They drove to the hospital, but honestly he didn't think he would make it all the way there. James was lying across the back seat and had already sputtered up blood twice on the floor, struggling to keep his eyes open. His body hurt like hell- he knew he probably didn't look all that pretty right now- and his lungs were on fire. Every breath was labored. He didn't know exactly what a collapsed lung meant, but he felt like he was dying and he wanted Logan there. Logan was smart and soothing- he could help James out here. James had no idea why he trusted Logan so much, but he would trust Logan with his life. Little did he know, it would only be a matter of time.

James hadn't noticed himself falling asleep until it was too late.

Logan looked over the seat and poked James, seeing if maybe he could get James to walk in, since he couldn't get anyone's attention to help him.

"James," he called, poking the boy. James didn't respond, so Logan shook him, still getting no response. Logan pulled the driver's seat forward and got into the back seat, seeing that James was only slightly breathing.

James was dying. Logan had specifically told him not to fall asleep, because something bad would happen. You know, like death.

"James, you have to wake up," Logan said frantically, shaking the limp boy. It was no use- James' heart continued to slow and his breathing only got more ragged.

Logan hesitated. He didn't want to be responsible for a young man's death. Sure- HE hadn't beaten James nearly to death, but he also did nothing to stop the blows and he hadn't been able to get James into the hospital. There was nothing the doctors could do now anyway… Only Logan could save James- he could turn him. Logan had to bite his lip in thought, though… If he did this, James would have to leave home forever. But wasn't that for the best? If his father was beating him and his mother didn't care, wasn't it best that James DID leave?

Logan no longer had any time to think, as James' heart beats slowed dangerously. He grabbed James' hand and held a beefy arm up before him. Logan groaned to himself- he had never done this before- and bent quickly to bite into James' bicep and allow his venom to enter James.

Having never turned anyone before, Logan pulled away and waited for any reaction, not getting any. He didn't know if something was supposed to happen right away, but just to be safe, he struck again in James' upper arm, then wrist.

He stared at James for a second in horror. He had no idea if it worked or not, but James had stopped breathing and his heart didn't beat anymore.

Logan was silent. He supposed if it worked, he would have a vampire James tomorrow. If it didn't, there was nothing to be done now.

Logan didn't think it was a good idea to take James back inside. If he woke up, it would be in the middle of the day and his family would notice that he hadn't woken up.

He supposed the Diamonds would just think that Logan had either killed him or kidnapped him. There would be a warrant out for Logan's head on a stake and maybe people would look for him, but by then Logan would have taken James far away and they will have hidden for a while.

The only problem was that to complete the transition, James would need the blood of a relative. He considered the possibility of James getting that aspect from Logan's blood, since he had fed from Delilah and the maker's blood never leaves. Because James would need blood from his mom or dad, Logan couldn't take him too far away.

Logan knew he only had a few hours to figure this out before people started waking up. There was no chance of James waking up- he was transitioning or dead.

He figured his only bet was the stables. There were no horses there and it had obviously not even been entered for years. There was an upstairs to the stable, where hay was kept, and that would be perfect. Then James would wake up and he could get the blood from his mom or dad to complete the transition and they could leave. Or, if he was dead, Logan would leave him there.

He figured that if James' dad had beaten him almost to death and his mom didn't care about it, they wouldn't be too affected by their son's disappearance. He would leave them a note so they wouldn't come looking.

He was starving and weak, but he easily picked James up bridal style, kicked the door closed, and carried him the long trip to the stable. He was right- there were no horses and the doors were nearly rusted closed, so it would be safe. Getting James up the stairs was the hard part- he didn't want to drop him.

He hoped that James did wake up as a vampire. Sure- it meant that Logan would have to teach him everything he needed to know and probably leave him afterward, but at least James wasn't dead.
Maybe they would have some fun together. And if James WAS dead, Logan would probably turn in the body and tell Mrs. Diamond the whole story and run away and hide, in case she wanted him killed.

Finally- one last step. Logan made his way back to the house, leapt to the roof and into James' window, and found some paper and a pen. In his neat and small cursive handwriting, he wrote this:

Mr. and Mrs. Diamond,

I have taken your son with me on my trip, not against his will. After receiving a serious beating from his father, he was practically begging me to bring him along. He was seriously injured, and I took him to the but he is okay and with me. He does not wish to see you anymore, but I will keep him safe. Let this be a lesson to you- James is a nice boy and should have been loved better.

Sincerely,

Logan

P.S. I like what you have done with the house.

He added the last part to maybe seem friendlier and make them less mad, but he didn't know if it would work. He packed up some of James' things in a backpack he found- some clothes and hygiene products- and of course his leather jacket. This way James would have things when he woke up, and if he died, Logan would have things. And with the note being left and his things being gone, the Diamonds would not come after them.

Logan wasn't physically tired after the feat, but he was starving. He still had a little bit of darkness left, so he set out for a meal.

Okay. It's sexy time. No more waiting. I'm done with waiting, too. ;D

Oh, and the original chapter had Logan not having super vamp strength and having a hard time dragging James to the stable. But then I decided I wanted them to be strong, so I changed it.

Do you love it so far?! I love the shorter chapters, from an author's standpoint, because I don't have to worry so much about coming up with all these events. And when I read, I personally prefer short chapters, cause I'm lazy and it makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something. I hate reading my own stuff just cause I just blab on and on for 3,000 words, but people say they like that and I like writing, so I do it. :)

So anyway. The next chapter's gonna have some cute James in it, some sexy vamp James, some romance maybe? ;) ;) Oh, and as usual, some sexy vamp Logan.