Jonah had stopped for the night. We were parked on the side of the road, not a very bright idea, and I was sleeping for a bit, until the roar of a truck woke me up and I couldn't fall asleep. When I looked over to the driver's seat, Jonah wasn't there. I was about to panic. But then I turned around in my seat and saw him lying down on the back of his truck, looking up at the sky. I opened the door to step out, and then chilly air ran up my legs and gave my goosebumps all over my arms. I dug around in my backpack and found a throw blanket. I put it around my shoulders and exited the car. I stood there, by the back of the truck, looking at Jonah. For a second, I forgot he was a vampire. He turned his head towards me and I jumped.

"You should go to sleep," Jonah says. I could barely hear him, though, because of all the cars whizzing by.

"I can't sleep now."

"Well, do you want to come watch the stars with me or do you want to go back inside and try to get some sleep?"

I looked from Jonah to the passenger's seat, and I answered him by climbing over the metal wall and laying down next to him. That's when I saw blankets under and on top of Jonah. Even though I have a blanket, Jonah pulls some of his over me and I scooch a bit closer to him. But not too close. I know my distance. Besides, I can't flirt with him, can I? He's a vampire, and I'm a mere human. Our kind don't mix, right? I mean, I wouldn't mind flirting with him, but it's best to keep feelings aside for now. Because what if something happens to one of us along the way?

"You like the stars?" he asked, nudging me with his hand.

"I don't actually look at the stars when I go camping. The only times I've gone camping is to help my dad find vam-" I stop talking. And I can tell Jonah's holding his breath. He's waiting for me to finish my sentence, but he knows what I was going to say. "I don't actually help. I only come along because I'm afraid something will happen to him. Up until six days ago, I thought vampires didn't exist at all. That my dad was obsessed with the thought of there actually being vampires. I swear to you I didn't help him do anything."

"It's - - fine. I just didn't expect your father to be a vampire hunter. The last vampire hunter that was searching for my uncle was Van Helsing."

"Wait - - he's real?"

"Was real. Dracula killed him."

I gulp and let out the breath I was holding. I feel myself getting comfortable, well, at least from my torso down is comfy. My head feels like it's on a rock. I guess Jonah reads my mind and I feel his arm snaking under my neck and I adjust myself. I notice that I'm really close to him, with my ear resting on the small far side of his chest and my legs hooking through his. Are we . . . cuddling? I asked myself in my head.

"Yeah," Jonah answered. "I guess we are."

"Dammit, Jonah! Can you please not read my mind?"

"Sorry! The mind-reading thing gets stronger when there's skin contact."

"But you're wearing a long-sleeved - -" and then I see it. Jonah's shirtless. Shit. Shit. Shit.

"I took my shirt off a few minutes ago. It got a bit too hot under these blankets and I didn't feel like taking the blankets off. So I took off my shirt. I hope you don't mind."

"Oh. N-no. I don't mind."

We laid there for a while, looking up at the stars and talking. And then I dozed off, but then I woke up barely a minute later, and found that Jonah was sound asleep. His free hand was placed over his stomach, heaving up and down, following the up-and-down movement of his lungs as he breathed. I saw the ring, the ring that the vampire known as Solomon wants. Along with the other ring that I have no idea if it's actually at some auction in the United States. But I need my parents back. I can't let them die in the hands of the one thing they've been hunting. Yes, they. My father wasn't the only one obsessed with vampires. My mother did the research, while my father went out and searched for them. It's pretty ironic, actually. For them to die in the hands of a vampire.

Shit, what would they think about Jonah? Given that he's a vampire and the nephew of Dracula. I shove that thought out of my mind. I can't be thinking about that stuff. Not now. All I can focus on at the moment is finding that ring and getting my parents back. It shouldn't be that hard, should it? Just get the ring, get out, find Solomon's lair, get through the other possible vampire agents, and waltz out with my parent by my side. But what will happen to Jonah afterwards? When my parents find out he's a vampire? I immediately thought of myself telling them Jonah's a vampire, and for them to take out a wooden stake out of no where and stab it in his heart. I got goosebumps all over.

"It won't happen," Jonah mutters, half asleep. "Your parents won't kill me. Solomon won't, either. I won't let anything happen to either one of us."

Yeah, Jonah read my mind, but his words comforted me, it soothed my mind and relaxed me a bit. That night, I didn't sleep at all. Just those few hours of sleep I got before a truck woke me up, that's it. When the sun came up, it raced across Jonah's legs, and when it hit his eyes, he woke up. I must admit, Jonah's pretty warm for a vampire. Maybe it's because we're both sharing my - or our - body heat. Does Jonah have body heat? Because, you know, vampires' hearts don't beat like our human hearts do. Do they even have a pulse at all? I can save that question for later on, when Jonah is actually alert. Right now, he's hopped out of his truck - still shirtless - and weaving his way through the woods beside us. I continued to lay flat on my back, until a few cars past, because I don't anyone thinking that we had something going on last night. Which we didn't. We just . . . I guess . . . cuddled? Nothing romantic, nothing sexual.

Before I knew it, Jonah was back by my side, with something in his hand. "A wallet," he said holding it out to me. "I stole it from some hiker. He's still looking for it." He opened it up and took out the money, shoved it in his pocket, and closed it back up. "I'll be back." He walked towards the woods, and when I blinked, he was gone. I stood up, and carefully threw my legs around the side of the truck, and slipped my way down until I touched the ground. I gathered all the blankets, folded them nicely and put them under a plastic cover that Jonah had for his truck just in case it started to rain. As I reach for the handle to open the passenger's seat door, I hear Jonah.

"ELORA!" he screams. "GET IN!" I turn around, having no idea why he's screaming, and then I see a bald-headed man with a read and black plaid shirt, long, dirty pants and sturdy boots running behind Jonah. Oh, and there was a gun in the man's hand. I rushed inside Jonah's truck, turned the keys, and jumped in my seat when I saw Jonah slide across the front of his truck, open the door and slip inside. He stepped on the gas pedal and we were off. The bald-headed man yelled something, and I know Jonah understood, because he was chuckling.

"What did you do?" I asked him.

"He saw me put his wallet back and his dog started barking. I was in a tent where I'd found the wallet and i thought that was his wife or something. Well, it was his daughter, and when I came out of the tent, he saw me. And, you know, I was shirtless, so you could only imagine what he was thinking when he saw me get out of her tent."

I start laughing and shaking my head. "He thought you were sleeping with his daughter?"

"I guess so."

"Must've been something, alright."

Jonah patted his pockets with one hand, and then pointed to the glove box. "Elora, check my glove box." And I did. There were two passports. When I opened them up, I saw Jonah's picture, and all his information. And the other one - - that one was mine.

"How'd you - -" I started, but stopped, looking at all my information. It was all legitimately correct.

"I have connections," he added with a smile.

"Where to first?" I asked.

"Hmmm. . . well we have to get the ring first, just to get it over with. So after we get the ring back, we have two weeks to go wherever we want to do whatever we please. How's that for a vacation?" Jonah had a smile on his face, I could tell he was excited. He must've never gone out of Rome, Italy. Now he will get the chance to, and I'm thinking that he has a whole plan building up in that head of his.

With a grin, he said, "United States, here we come!"