Sorry for the delay in updating! I've been busy trying to sort stuff for my holiday, less than a week to go and then I can go somewhere hot and sunny! (hopefully!)

Enjoy :)

Mia awoke with a jolt, sitting bolt upright in her bed. A sheen of sweat covered her forehead and her body shook. It wasn't the scenario of the dream itself that had bothered her; she was used to nightmares. It was the fact that the contorted face with the bared fangs and red veined eyes had belonged to none other than her sister, Ashley.

It had been a few days since she had first dreamt about Ashley, and Mia's dreams had been haunting her nightly. It wasn't just her sister who featured in them, however. More often than not Kol would also make an appearance. It didn't make any sense to her; after all, she had only met the guy twice. Why was he on her mind so much?

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Mia pushed herself away from her desk where she had been attempting to catch up on her coursework. She may have had a legitimate excuse for being so far behind, but that wouldn't stop her from failing the year if she didn't get back on track. Her parents wouldn't have wanted that. But then they wouldn't have wanted her to accept their deaths so easily either, she thought guiltily. She couldn't help it; she never had been one to dwell on things that couldn't be changed. People died; that was just what happened. Mia wasn't scared of dying. The way she saw it, you could live 10 years or 100 years, and both would seem like the blink of an eye in the end. The important thing was to enjoy it while it lasted, and that didn't involve sitting around wallowing in guilt and loss.

A message tone in the background tore Mia from her thoughts. It was a text from Kate.

Hey, sure you're still up for tonight? Xx

Of course, she had said she would go to the party tonight. It was one of the girls' 21st birthday and word on the street was she'd bought in a ridiculous amount of alcohol. Mia didn't particularly like the girl, in fact she wasn't even sure what her name was, but it was exactly what she needed at the moment; a distraction.

Sending a quick reply to Kate, Mia grabbed a black dress and her favourite heels from her wardrobe and hurriedly changed into them. A few lashings of eyeliner and mascara and she had the smoky eyed, just rolled out of bed look down to a tee. Right now she didn't really care if she looked perfect or not; finding someone to hook up with wasn't high on her agenda. All she wanted to do was get drunk. Despite this, Mia couldn't help but wonder whether Kol would be at the party... she wouldn't mind hooking up with him.

She shook her head, trying to rid herself of her thoughts. Where did that come from? She didn't even know the guy; yeah, he was definitely something to look at, but for all she knew he might be some psycho serial killer. Quickly stuffing her phone and keys into her bag, Mia hurried off to meet Kate.

The party wasn't so much a party as a flat full of drunk, mostly underage students taking full advantage of the free booze. Bass pounded through the building and the girl hosting the party could be heard almost proudly telling her friends that they had had five noise complaints already that night.

Of the few people Mia knew who were there, she had successfully managed to lose every single one of them. Her thoughts were hazy from the shots of tequila her and Kate had downed when they arrived, and she felt as if time were moving at half speed. She went to take a sip from her cup of whatever it was that she was drinking- she had no idea and didn't really care anymore- and realising it was empty, went to grab another from the kitchen.

As she turned around from the counter, Mia gasped and nearly dropped the new cup of drink. Her sister's eyes stared back at her from the opposite side of the crowded hallway. Mia blinked, and she was gone. For almost a full 30 seconds, she stood staring at the spot where she could've sworn she had seen Ashley. Then her brain sprung into action and Mia tried to claw her way through the crowd, earning her glares from other girls as she pushed her way between them and the guys they were so desperately trying to chat up. Most of them weren't even worth looking twice at; yes, they may look nice enough but they were only ever after one thing. Suddenly Mia caught sight of her sister's blonde waves just ahead of her; rushing towards her sister she grabbed her shoulder and spun her round, only to be faced with a rather scared-looking girl who looked at Mia with a bemused expression.

"Can I help you with something?"

Mia stared at the girl for a few seconds. "Sorry, I thought you were someone else", she apologised, almost as confused as the poor girl she had just chased after. Perhaps she had been seeing things. Maybe she had just had too much to drink. Mia quickly turned round only to walk right into someone, causing them to knock their drink all over themselves.

"Oh god, I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was-" Mia cut her apology short as she looked up and noticed the face of the man she had just bumped into. "Kol."

Mia blushed as her thoughts from earlier flooded back to her. Kol, who had initially planned on draining the stupid human for ruining his shirt, quickly shifted from rage to amusement as he noticed who had knocked into him.

"Mia, fancy seeing you here. And here I thought you didn't seem like the partying type", Kol quipped, cocking his head at her.

The alcohol seemed to have given Mia a sort of confidence she didn't usually possess. Feeling rather bold, she put on her best attempt at a flirtatious smile. "Well, it's not really like you know me. We have only met twice", she replied. Feeling eyes on her, she glanced past Kol's shoulder to see several girls sending daggers her way. "I think me talking to you is upsetting your girlfriends." She smirked back at Kol, who looked slightly incredulous.

"They're not my girlfriends", he laughed, looking over his shoulders at the girls who quickly looked away embarrassed when they realised they'd been caught staring. "And you're right, I don't know you, but I'd like to." He looked back at Mia with a seemingly sincere expression.

She met his gaze and for a few seconds they just looked at each other, until Mia could no longer stand the intensity of his eyes. She felt like he was looking right into her soul, and there was something else there too, a hint of something dark in his eyes that she couldn't quite put her finger on. But she couldn't believe it, was this incredibly handsome guy actually interested in her?

The sound of his voice pulled her from her reverie.

"We can start by getting another drink, since I'm wearing mine", Kol continued.

The next thing Mia knew, she felt his hand on the small of her back as he steered her through the crowds of students back towards the kitchen.

I will try and knock out another couple of chapters before I head off on holiday. Hope you're all enjoying the story so far! xx