Summary:

When Stella Morgan meets some rather interesting new friends in summer school, she doesn't think too much of it. There's something weird about her best friend's boyfriend, and what's worse is that there's starting to be something off about her. The only one who understands her is her twin brother, Ethan, but when circumstances change and there's a noticeable divide amongst some of Whitechapel's habitants, she's faced with the most difficult decision she's ever had to make: Being selfish for the first time in her life in order to ensure the safety of herself and her loved ones, while throwing the entire rest of the town under the bus, or fighting her most alluring temptation yet in hopes that together they could stop a massacre from breaking lose and throwing the town and everything it's ever known for a loop. All she knew was, she was way too young to be facing these types of decisions…But hey, she didn't choose this life. It chose her.

Looking back, there were so many signs. So many times when they should've stopped, stayed in their own lane. Worried about their own lives for a change. But now it was too late, and not only them- but the entire town of WhiteChapel was paying for it. Here she was facing the biggest ultimatum of her life, looking back at how she got here. Truth be told, it all started that summer.

The summer before her freshman year, right before her and her brother started high school. When she and her friends met him.

Chapter one: Introductions

"Hey Stella, I didn't know you'd be here!" She heard someone say from above her.

Looking up from where she sat in the cafeteria, she sees Erica walking up to her, dusk themed binder in hand with a wide smile adorning her face.

Erica was a junior, a few years older then Stella was- but she was head of the dusk fan club, one of the clubs amongst the group of people who were going to summer school to help organize the dusk advanced screening happening come fall.

"Yeah, the journalism club wants to include it in the school paper. It's something to write about, plus Principal Hicks thought it would be a good way to advertise the event and make everyone more excited about it. I'm just here to gather some info so I can get started, since no one else wanted to. I guess all the work just gets thrown on the newbies." Stella explained, smiling to the blonde as she situated herself next to her.

"That's such a smart idea! I didn't know you were into Dusk! Want me to save you a ticket? They're not for sale yet but we suspect they'll sell fast with all the hype." Erica offered, gesturing to the cafeteria full of people there just to make the screening come about.

"Oh uh- Not really, I'm sort of just here for the paper. It sounds cool, but that seat should probably go to someone who really wants it."

Stella didn't have the heart to tell her that she'd seen the prior Dusk movies and hated them. Not only were they extremely unrealistic, but she never much romanticized the whole vampire thing. Who would want to live forever? Maybe she was being pessimistic, but Stella felt like life at large was enough in and of itself, she couldn't imagine having to deal with it for eternity.

"What?! How could you not like Dusk? It's literally all everyone is talking about, and for good reason! It's the best thing that's ever happened to me." Erica said, mouth hanging open in shock while she held her hand over her chest in mock hurt.

"What's the best thing that's ever happened to you?" Another voice said, slightly in the distance.

"Can you believe she doesn't like Dusk? The second book changed my life!" Erica said, looking between Stella and the newcomer as the girl seated herself across from them.

Stella knew Erica because they'd both been a part of the same summer school tutoring program together, but she'd never met her friend.

She was short, with long dark brown hair and tan skin. She was really pretty, much prettier then the average popular girl you'd see running around. At least in Stella's opinion. She was the type of girl Ethan and Benny would drool over.

Rolling her eyes playfully at her friend's dramatics, the girl turned her attention to Stella before sticking her hand out "I don't think we've met before, I'm Sarah."

"Yeah, we haven't. I'm Stella."

"Stella, this is my best friend. We're actually organizing the screening together." Erica explained, pushing her glasses up to keep them falling from her face.

Erica might've been older then Stella, but she wasn't exactly popular. In fact, every time Stella saw her around town she was always getting pushed around or teased in some way. She felt bad for her, one of the many reasons she chose to be nice to her. Stella had seen it happen time and time again to her twin brother and his friends, so in a way she felt like she had to. She wasn't exactly popular herself, although she was never formally bullied.

"Speaking of the screening, did you hear that the drama club wants to help us organize it? A bunch of seniors in the club are coming to help, apparently they wanna include some performance before the screening, and hold a raffle for the door prize and stuff. Isn't that so cool? Sarah, did you know Jesse planned on doing that? Why wouldn't you tell me?" Erica said, getting all giddy as she side-eyed the group of boys standing by the entrance of the room.

They all wore mostly black, with sunglasses on even though they were inside, and stayed mostly excluded from the rest of the room.

"Is that them? Why are they wearing sunglasses? It's not even that bright in here." Stella asked, having not been too familiar with the group.

Stella was more of a loner. She had a couple of acquaintances, but for the most part she kept to herself, and she liked it that way. The more you kept your head down, the less likely you were to be involved in drama, and that lifestyle worked just fine for her. Hence why she wasn't caught up with the status quo that was the Wc High social scene. That, and the middle schoolers and high schoolers didn't mingle much.

"Anyways, I saved you two seats, Jesse's coming right?"

Looking up, Stella made eye contact with a tall boy, with dark brown hair that seemed to be slightly gelled up. He was one of the only ones without sunglasses, although he still wore a long black trench coat. The only skin peeking out besides his face were his hands, that only slightly stuck out from his sleeves.

"They're kind of weird, don't you think? Hoodies, jackets, and sunglasses inside." Stella said, holding eye contact with the guy as she spoke.

As soon as the words left her lips, the boy's lips quirked upward into a smirk, almost as if he'd heard what she had said. "Who's that one?" Stella said, gesturing to the same boy.

"That's Jesse Black. He's a senior, and he's head of the drama club. He also happens to be Sarah's boyfriend.'" Erica explained, drawing out her words while she smiled teasingly at Sarah.

"Ahh. Makes sense." Stella said, turning her attention back to Sarah. Of course a girl like her would be with someone like him.

It also explained why he was staring in their direction in the first place. Under any other circumstances, she would have sworn he'd heard what they were saying.

And unbeknownst to her, he did.

"Why did you say we had to do this again, Jess? The last thing I want is to be stuck dealing with duskers for the rest of my summer." Westley said, sitting between Jesse and Gord while the others all sat across from them.

"We've been over this before. That theater holds over 200 people per screening, and if we help organize the premier then we can control the whole operation from the inside. No one gets in or out. It's extremely important that everything goes to plan, so we must plan ahead." Jesse explains, finalty in his voice as he spoke.

He's been searching for a way to bring his followers back for years, and now that he's finally found a way, he can't risk fucking it up.

"Well if that's the case you better talk to Sarah's little nerd friend now, before we get closer to the premier date." Gord said, ever the loyal right hand man.

"I know, but Sarah's there. She's still utterly naive to the whole thing, and I don't plan on negotiating anything with Erica. I can't risk Sarah seeing something she shouldn't before she's turned, and her seeing me charm her best friend would put a serious dent in my plans." Jesse explained, taking a sip from his coffee cup which indeed did not have coffee in it.

The only way he made redoing high school at all bearable was glamoring anyone who inconvenienced him, and being kept on a near constant blood supply.

Not because of a control issue, he grew out of that centuries ago.

More of a boredom issue.

Adjusting his hearing to tune in to what the girls were saying, he couldn't help but be amused, as he overheard Erica describe him to her friends. Maybe this would prove easier than he thought after all - no vampire charming needed.

"They're kind of weird don't you think? Hoodies, jackets and sunglasses inside." The Brunette in the middle said, turned to face them as she observed Jesse and his group.

And that only sweetened the punch. Whoever this girl was, she either had some serious intuition, or she was just more observant than her rather oblivious peers. It was always fun when they figured it out on their own.

"Who's that?" Jesse said, nodding to the unknown brunette.

He kept a close eye on Sarah, and he knew her social life enough to know that this girl was a new face.

Wes was the eyes and ears of the group, his job was to stay as well informed on any outside forces as possible. He dealt with the majority of Jesse's human dealings, taking on the more tedious tasks.

"That's Stella Morgan I believe. She's starting out this year, and she's working on the student newspaper. Since she's a rising freshman I haven't gathered much, but I know she has a brother and that he's gonna be a freshman too. She's pretty quiet, keeps to herself. And, most importantly for me, she's single." He explained, a smug smile growing on his face as he stated the last bit.

Chuckling, Gord leaned over and turned his head as if to get a better look at her "Mmm, I'd love to take a bite out of that."

Shaking his head at their antics, Jesse took a moment to take the girl in. Brown wavy hair, small frame, and green eyes from what he could see. Now, his interest was peaked.

"And you said her brother's a freshman too? Are they twins, then?" He pushed on, purely out of curiosity.

"Yeah, Ethan Morgan. He's a total geek. Scrawny kid. I've seen him around, he walks her here with his little nerd friends sometimes."

Morgan. It had been centuries since he'd heard that name. Surely it couldn't be a coincidence, and with the looks of her, he felt it wasn't.

"No way Jess. You get to have Sarah, give one of us a shot for a change, huh?" Gord said, shoving his leader and friend lightly, turning back to stare at the girls.

Chuckling, Jesse fails to give up any information on the real reason he was as intrigued as he was- he would wait on that until he was positive she was who he thought she was.

"Anyways, why haven't you turned Sarah yet? You've been dating for what..a year now? That's the most attached I've seen you be with a girl since I met you- and we're going on ten years now." Gord asked, looking back at the table of girls again, before raising his eyebrow expectantly at Jesse.

Truth be told, Jesse was very picky with who he let get close. For a few years after losing his flock he went solo, never getting too close to anyone. He spent his days paranoid, and swore vengeance. A few centuries later he went on to have a few romantic flings, but being still young and naive led to disappointment after disappointment, especially with humans being so fragile and dying so easily. When you're over 200 years old the trauma tends to build up- and so here he was. He tried giving humans a chance but truth be told he liked everyone better when they were a vampire, and in his eyes either you were in his life to stay, or you weren't in his life at all.

This being said, not just anyone could be a vampire. You had to be special to join their family, a blood bond thicker than any human connection could possibly be. And although he cared deeply for her and wanted what was best for her, he just wasn't too sure about Sarah yet. All of the signs were pointing towards go, but intuitively he felt like something was off. And so, she was still human. For now.

"I don't know, I'm not too sure how I feel about it. She's really headstrong and stubborn, and the last thing I need right now is to deal with a rogue fledgling running around. I'm thinking of waiting to turn her until after everything's said and done, but we'll see. We still have time." Jesse explained, shrugging nonchalantly as he studied the girls.

Sighing, he gets up and gestures for everyone to follow.

He guessed he would have to do this the hard way, no vampire abilities involved.

It would be worth it though, because it only worked to serve the bigger picture, where he nor any other vampires in Whitechapel would have to hide what they were.

"Ladies, how are we doing today?" Jesse said, flashing them a charming smile as he and his boys approached their table.

"Good!" Erica said, a flustered smile on her face as she giggled uncontrollably and looked down, unable to keep eye contact.

"Hey." Jesse said, this time looking down at Sarah directly, leaning down to give her a quick kiss.

"Hey." She responded, her eyes never leaving his.

It was obvious to Stella that she was really into him and he her, their sexual tension was almost unmatched.

"And who's this?" Jesse asked, gesturing to Stella who looked almost stunned that he even bothered to acknowledge her specifically.

"Oh uh- Jesse this is Stella. She's here because she's writing about the Dusk premier in the school newspaper. Stella, this is Jesse, my boyfriend." Sarah introduced, flustered at having to be so forward about their relationship in front of so many people.

"Stella, what a nice name. It's nice to meet you." Jesse said, offering her his hand to shake.

Upon contact, Stella felt a strange feeling overcome her as her vision clouded over. She gasped quietly as she felt herself getting pulled from reality and into some alternate one. Every image blurred together almost at once.

There were flashes, but in between them she could make out very few images- almost like how she saw things in dreams.

There were fangs, with screams and hissing noises echoing in her mind. Then there was an open book, with every word blurred and only two words she was able to make out. A name. Horace Black.

In an instant, just as quick as it had begun, it was over.

She pulled her hand back, feeling as if she'd just been stung by a bee or hit with ice cold water.

Coming to, she looked around to see everyone staring at her confusedly. Realizing that they must've all seen what just happened, she quickly stumbled over her words for a cover "Uh, woah. Your hand is really cold." She said as she giggled nervously.

Instantly the energy lightened, and Sarah, luckily, butted in and took the attention away from her. "Right? I tell him that all the time."

Although everyone else had seemed to let it go, his eyes lingered on her in a way that made her feel on edge, like he knew something everyone else didn't. Like he didn't believe her.

"Sorry about that. I run pretty cold." He explained, dropping his hand to his side.

"Well anyways, I actually came over here to speak to Erica. I wanted to correspond about the Drama club's involvement with the Dusk premier, and I was wondering if now was a good time to discuss?" He asked, wanting to sound professional, as if he actually cared about the premier itself. In a way he did, just not in the way everyone perceived.

"Oh! Um, actually we're having a meeting tomorrow at 12:00, if you wanna talk then? You could come, put in your input, and we can discuss everything more intimately afterwards?" She offered, once again adjusting the glasses on her face. You could tell she really cared, not just about this, but about everything.

That's what was so sad, it was always the compassionate souls that got stomped on all over.

"Sounds perfect." Jesse said, flashing her another one of his infamous cool guy smiles, before walking away and taking his drama club friends with him.

"Sarah, your boyfriend is so cool. You're so lucky." Erica said, leaning her head on her hand and dreamingly staring at them as they walked away.

Stella had to disagree on this one. Sarah's boyfriend was weird.

Authors note:

Hi! I hope you liked the first chapter:) The first three are going to kind of be a prelude to the movie, mostly because I wanted to provide a backstory for Sarah, Jesse, the drama club etc. and also wanted to set the stage for Stella already knowing them. So you won't be seeing much of the usual main characters until that starts- and regardless the storyline is more so going to follow Stella since she's the main character.

With that being said, I hope that you grow to like Stellas character and want to see as much of her as you do the usual mbav characters you already know and love.

Also, just a little warning (although you've probably already seen), but there will be cursing in this story as well as some other mature themes. I just don't feel like it's realistic for them to be in high school, half of them seniors who are actually centuries old, and not utter a single curse word. I'll also be writing the movie taking the uncut version into account, which is also partially why I feel like it's ok to add to the mature themes. If you don't like that, this might not be for you (and that's totally ok)!

Thanks for reading, and please feel free to comment, and let me know of any feedback you have:)

xoxo