Thank you for all the fav's, follow's and especially reviews. Some time has passed, and a lot has happened in the world, between last chapter and this one. I hope you'll like Alice and the "new" story from now on. All kinds of inputs and feedback is more than welcome.

To lenna and Anon (guest reviewers): I don't know if I can answer directly to your reviews anywhere, so I'll just do it here...

Lenna: I hope this turn will work for you, even though you are skeptic. Personally I think vervain would have been a bit too easy ;-) And the story was a bit boring to write, so I chose to make it work with this idea I've had for some time. Please tell me what you think...

Anon: Thank you very much. This is only a short chapter, but I'll see if I can't squeeze another one out tonight :-D

Enjoy!

It came as a shock to humanity, when vampires stepped forward and revealed their true nature. Alice could clearly remember how aunt Maggie had called out for her and her uncle to come watch the news.

After a couple of years, society had learned to deal with it, bloodbars on every corner, and an opportunity for humans to earn easy money by letting them self become blood donors. You just had to go to one of the donor centrals, get some of your blood tapped, and you would walk away richer.

When it happened Alice had just graduated law school as a civil-rights attorney. She felt a weird draw towards the vampires, and she jumped at the new opportunity to make a career of vampire cases, of which there were plenty.

Alice sighed and leaned back in her chair. At 27 she was tall and slender, and she wore her jet black hair as always, cropped to her shoulders. She had switched her glasses for lenses, which made her deep blue eyes seem even more intense.

The desk in front of her was piled with case papers.
Those Salvatores really knew how to get themselves into trouble. Well the oldest did, anyway. She couldn't even count how many times she'd gotten him through some loophole in the new vampire laws. He'd killed, compelled, and destroyed almost without pause for the two years she'd been handling the Salvatores.
They were some kind of elite in the vampire society, and from what Alice had gathered the Salvatores had been one of the main players in the Revelation.

Just the thought of Damon Salvatore sent shivers down her spine. He always seemed so intense, and the way he looked at her made her uneasy. She was glad that he was always accompanied by his younger brother Stefan, who seemed to be the one running things.

Alice stretched and got to her feet. She would finish off the rest of her things tomorrow. She had promised Lori to attend the fundraiser she was throwing tonight.

As Alice waved goodbye to the clerk at the front desk, before heading home to change, she didn't notice the shadow that was following her.

She walked down the street, absorbed in her thoughts. She didn't look forward to the fundraiser. Lori would probably be stressed out as usual, and Katja would be impossible to be around as soon as she noticed that yet again Alice had failed to bring a date.
absent-mindedly she cut across the street, and walked down the alley that led to her flat.

She was halfway there when she noticed the shadow behind her. She picked up her pace, trying to seem casual about it. Faking a glance at her watch.

Shit.

She almost made it. But just before she reached the door, a hand grabbed her by the arm. She whirled around, her pepper spray, spiked with vervain, raised. But she didn't get to press it. He was too fast, pinning her against the wall, gripping her by the wrists.

As she hit the wall, she had all air pressed out of her, and she gasped to regain her breath.
The vampire in front of her was tall and a wild mane of black hair surrounded his head, but his looks were completely ruined by his face. Dark strains spread from his eyes and he bared his fangs. A pang of recognition ran through her, only to disappear immediately. She was about to scream, but her voice got stuck when he bit down on her neck. The spray dropped from her hand and clattered to the ground, rolling out of view.

The pain was excruciating. Burning white-hot throughout her whole body.

Just as Alice was sure she was gonna die, the vampire finally stopped. He took a step back letting her go, and she slumped down on the pavement in a heap.
Slowly the lines around his eyes disappeared and he looked down at her with hazel eyes. Again she felt like she should know this guy, but the name kept escaping her.
He smiled.

"Mmmh... Tasty, just like I remembered. You really are something, love."

Alice struggled against the blackness that threatened to fill her vision. But she still managed to snap back at him.
"Screw you!"

He just laughed, "You haven't changed that much, I see."

Still laughing he turned away from her.

"Untill next time then... Alice..."

And then he was gone.