LEGEND OF THE VAMPIRE #2-FireBlood

1. NEW SCIENCE LESSON
My name’s Nikki Blackman, and I’m fifteen years old. Today was just a normal day, a Monday when I had to go to Redwood High and do some crappy IB work. It was weird to think that a person like me could be part of the smart group, for I have to admit, I lose control easily, threw angry tantrums, screamed like crazy at the people I hated in my family, and acted crazy and naughty with my friends at school. They too, weren’t nerds, our class was just like any normal teen in high school, but the only difference was their knowledge and good grades. I probably was considered a bad girl by most people, for I was mean and said whatever I wanted, and did whatever I wanted, though my attitude to people my age wasn’t the kind of attitude that people feared and tried to avoid, but the popular, crazy, cool attitude that attracted people into following me around. I did laugh a lot with my friends, and chatted endlessly and noisily with boys. But at home, whenever my annoying little eleven year old cousin, Kenneth, was around, he always started things with me, and I fought back a little too violently however I wanted. And also, my dad, who was so used to punishing me for being mean and naughty, actually started staring things with me as well. Since he was used to punishing me, he started snapping at me for the littlest things, so I started annoying him easily on purpose, and gave him a hard time when he tried punishing me. With my older brother, Edward, we taunted and teased each other, even physically as well, but when we did things like that to each other, we always laughed and had fun, knowing we were only like that to each other because we loved each other. my mother was more calm and I got along with her well, and Kenneth’s older sister, Lynn, was cool to me and we got along like friends.
So I was reluctantly stomping down the stairs, carrying my backpack. It was a shoulder backpack, and it had words written in white saying, “Drama Queen.” I really didn’t like it, and before, I used to have another black backpack that had words written in red saying, “Don’t play games with bitches that know how to play ‘em betta,” and had a hand giving off the finger. But my science teacher, Ms. Fletcher, didn’t like it and made me bring a different backpack to school.
Luckily, Kenneth wasn’t here, so I wasn’t extra grumpy this morning. I wore a black short sleeved sweater that was open so my black and white striped shirt could be seen. I had black tight pants and my dark black hair was up in two high ponytails. I wore dark eyeliner, heavy around my eyes, so that I looked extra scary when I glared or widened my eyes. I always wore dark eyeliner to school, and very few friends have seen me without it. Some people said I looked cool, for I looked like a crazy rock star since my hair was up in two high ponytails and had dark eyeliner on m eyes. But not everyone liked me. Some of the more organized and less popular people didn’t like me, for they thought I was mean and self-centered. Oh yeah, and I also wore my lip piercing under the corner of my lip, for the school now allowed us to wear lip piercings. I guess they’ve finally realized how stupid and corny it was for them to not allow piercings to be worn to school.
I stomped to the kitchen with a grumpy look on my face. Edward was by the counter, texting on his phone.
I hit him on the back. “You’re driving me today,” I said sourly.
“Whatever,” he muttered, not looking at me.
I gave him a sly smile. “Hey, you’ve got a few more months before you leave Redwood High for good, ya know.”
“Hmm. Good riddance. I won’t have to see you around anymore, and I’ll get my own place in college.”
“Yep. I’m only gonna miss Lynn and Cassandra though,” I shrugged.
He drove me to school, and we chatted, getting into a slight argument when we said mean things each other and laughed while we did it.
When we finally arrived at Redwood High, Edward gave me a sideways smile. “So, you gonna look for your boyfriend first?”
I punched him on the shoulder.
“Ow,” he said with no expression. “Well are you? You’ve got pictures of him all over your Facebook.”
I gave a sarcastic smile back. “Yeah, I might look for him.” Over time, I had managed to get many pictures of Dalton and me together, and he was all over my Facebook. “But I have to see Jessie for something first.” Dalton Jones was a punk, always getting in trouble and messing around with everyone, disrupting the people around him in class. He was my science partner, and the two of us began to chat and laugh with each other like crazy since the two of us were so alike in a way. I began to have a huge crush on him, and was surprised to find out that he liked me as well. He even dressed like me before, wearing dark clothes and eyeliner, and got a lip piercing. He was popular, and the two of us together were like double the mess since we were both loud and popular with everyone, and got into trouble as well. But the most surprising thing about him was that he was….… a vampire.
Last year, there had been some new kids at our school, and my class only got one of them. His name was Lewis Dafoe, and he was twice the hotness of Dalton, not to mention more than twice the danger. He was mysterious and quiet, though when he got to know people (which really didn’t take long since all the girls were extremely crazy about him), he was actually pretty cool. But his secret was kept hidden, his secret that he was really a vampire as well, and was murdering people around the school for his thirst. Since he knew I liked Dalton, and that I was always keeping my eye on him and knew that he was a vampire, he tried to make me believe that he was the one behind all the murder in the school. But eventually, Ms. Fletcher, who was sharp-eyed as well, told me that she too, knew Dalton was a vampire, as well as Lewis and his strange group of friends, Jessica, Louise, Shawn, Justin, and Delaney, that he hung out with.
Ms. Fletcher’s father used to be a priest, until he was bitten by a vampire named Leonardo, and turned into a vampire himself, passing on the blood to Ms. Fletcher.
But Leonardo was a vampire who had worked with Lewis and his friends, for Leonardo wanted revenge on Ms. Fletcher. Her father, Theodore, had been a priest from sixty-five years ago, and had killed a group of vampires with religious materials. Leonardo was the only one in that group to have escaped. He raised Lewis and his friends to be strong like him, though Lewis made the most powerful and ambitious one of all. He was the one who thought of the idea to enter Ms. Fletcher’s school and kill the people there, for she was the daughter of the person who got rid of all Leonardo’s friends. Lewis had turned Dalton into a vampire, though he never told Dalton what he and the others were really behind. He only turned him into one so he could use him in case people started blaming.
But when Dalton turned his back on Lewis and saved me, we managed to escape Lewis, Leonardo, and the others’ chase and I had managed to shoot Lewis and kill him. I really wasn’t proud of that, though.
Ever since then, everyone just thought the police shot Lewis, and that he was the murderer, but they just didn’t know how he really murdered the people. No one but me, Dalton, Ms. Fletcher, Jessie, Analiese, Ashton, Jeremy, Lynn, and Father Theodore knew about Lewis, Dalton, and the other vampires. Unfortunately, Leonardo had escaped again before he could be defeated. But Louise, Jessica, Delaney, and the twins swore to behave and murder no one if we just kept their secret. So they lived off of animal blood, and got on with their lives with the people in our classes.
Edward and I both got out of the car and shouted good-byes to each other as we parted.
I met up with my best friend, Jessie Hales, who was obnoxiously laughing loudly with Jenny and Analiese. Jessie had long purple hair, and she was like me in a way, though the opposite of me as well. She was girly, giggly, and a little dumb, though she was also known for getting angry easily and being rude to people she didn’t like. I expressed my feelings strongly, and so did Jessie, though her attitude was vain and selfish, and most people were annoyed by her vain attitude. I really hated people who were giggly and vain, but the reason why Jessie and I were best friends was a mystery.
Jenny was a preppy, friendly girl, a real chatty talker, and she knew Lynn well, so the two of us were good friends as well. She got along with everyone; she had a plucky, sassy, friendly attitude, though I knew deep down inside, she was like me when she got angry.
Analiese was like my friend-enemy, for she was the opposite of me. She was organized and clean, and always wanted to do the right thing. She had a strong attitude when she believed in something, and it was fun to tease with her. So instead of being one of those people who hated me, she and I became friends that teased and bugged at each other, saying whatever we felt like to each other, only to let each other know we were good friends at heart, though I did get a little too carried away when I did it with her that she could get annoyed for real with me at times.
“Sup, Nikki,” said Jenny sassily, giving me a sideways smile. Her lips were sparkly, for she always used lip gloss.
“Hey, where’d your brother go? I was gonna show him this picture!” Jessie was giggling and looking around with a naughty smile in her face. She had her cell phone in her hand.
“Probably getting wasted in the back with his weird friends,” I huffed, smiling. “He met some weird jerk a few weeks ago, so he’s always acting stupid with him.”
The four of us walked together to Ms. Fletcher’s class before the bell rang, chatting and laughing noisily together. Jessie was on my left side, Jenny on my right, and Analiese on Jessie’s left.
We were just laughing until I looked ahead and saw Dalton, Nate, William, and Anthony a few yards away in front of us, chatting and laughing obnoxiously as well, and walking our way. Dalton was in the same position as I was, with Nate by hi right side, and William on his left, and Anthony at Nate’s right side. Everyone around me and everyone around Dalton were unaware that we were blissfully walking towards each other, except for me, and eventually Dalton, who stopped laughing and looked ahead, staring right back at me as we were getting a little closer, and the two of us stared as we were walking towards each other with our friends laughing at our sides.
As we were a few feet away from each other, the two of us smiled at each other, and walked faster, and met with each other, side by side. And before we knew it, we were walking away from everyone, happily with each other. Little did I know though, that Jessie, Jenny, Analiese, and Nate, William, and Anthony were staring after us as we walked away together from them.
“So! I notice you’re not wearing eyeliner anymore,” I said sassily. “You getting tired of being me?”
“Nah, I’m getting tired of Louise always laughing in my face and teasing at me,” he said, smiling naughtily. I always admired his facial expressions, whether he smiled, looked annoyed, or frowned. He had green eyes, like mine, and they always had a naughty glint in them, and his smile always had that naughty hint in it, and always made me feel giddy. “Stupid female dog! Always digging her claws in my hair and telling me I’m just a retarded version of you.”
I shrugged. “You really were, actually,” I laughed. “But I liked it like that. Gabriel never dressed like me.” Gabriel was my boyfriend before Dalton, and he really was great to me. He had a trustworthy, caring personality with me, as well as an outgoing talkative one with his friends, but he knew about my crush on Dalton, so he wanted a break up so I wouldn’t have to feel so confused whether to dump him and go out with Dalton, or stay with him and say no to Dalton. I never spoke to him again since then.
Dalton snickered. “And Joshua already looks gay in his makeup and stupid clothes.” Joshua was my ex-boyfriend before Gabriel, and he wasn’t as nice as Gabriel, though he was more of my type, and we had fun for almost a year, until we went to Jessie’s party and he started drinking and screwed up his brain to act like a moron and hit on other girls. Now, he was like a gangster with his long hair spiked up in a tall Mohawk and pants hanging down. Dalton used to wear his pants down and show his boxers, until Ms. Fletcher stopped him of course.
When the bell rang for class, we entered Ms. Fletcher’s class and we sat in our seats. We change seats for the other half of the school term, so Dalton and I were at the front of the room, in the middle row, and right in front of Ms. Fletcher’s overhead.
Dalton rolled his eyes. “Dude, we’re sitting in front of Ms. Fletcher!” He sounded annoyed.
Nate snickered. “Ooh, have fun.”
I gave a sideways smile, looking at the new seating chart on the window. “I bet I know why she did that.” I looked away, rolling my eyes as I entered the room, annoyed as well. Dalton and I did chat a lot when we weren’t supposed to and Ms. Fletcher noticed everything, so this time, she must’ve made us as close to her as possible so she can tease us in front of the class more.
“You guys should be where I can keep an eye on you,” she said sassily, winking at us.
I gave a smirk back and sat down. Dalton didn’t meet her gaze and just dropped his backpack next to me. I was on the right again.
Ms. Fletcher was a fun, outgoing, enthusiastic teacher, and everyone enjoyed her. There was always some little thing the students disliked about the other teachers, but everyone enjoyed Ms. Fletcher’s personality. But Ms. Fletcher was also strict and sharp-eyed, and she would get any student in trouble if she had to. Last year, I used to dislike Ms. Fletcher since she was always after me for every little thing, and every time I had to speak to her, she would respond in a sarcastic tone and treat me like I didn’t know anything. But eventually, she found out that I knew Dalton was a vampire, so she reminded me some more important information I didn’t know, and became more like a friend to me. She was my favorite teacher now, like everyone else’s. I wasn’t too sure how Dalton felt about her, for she used to always get him into trouble, though she treated him with a more serious strict personality rather than a sarcastic babyish one the way she did to me.
“Alrighty! So this is our other half of the year, and pretty soon, before you know it, you guys will be moving on to the next school year,” said Ms. Fletcher enthusiastically.
“Hey, don’t we get a replacement for Mrs. Lockard next year?” Jeremy said aloud.
Ms. Fletcher raised her eyes. “Yes, you do. You guys get to have computer class instead of art next year. You will be having Mrs. Trefong.”
I heard Jessie groan quietly from the back of the room. “Ugh! I hate that teacher!” And she started muttering things to Ashton right next to her.
Ms. Fletcher flashed a glance at Jessie and said, “Well, she’s a pretty cool teacher, you’ll like when you get to know her.”
“Why?” Muttered Dalton with his forehead resting on his hands, looking bored. “It’s computer class, computers are no fun if you can’t go on the internet.”
We spent the rest of the day going over our new subject for science, and Ms. Fletcher had a look on her face, as if she were holding back a laugh. “Okay,” she said carefully, smiling, “we have come to the time in the school year when we have to learn about the human genitals.”
Everyone started muttering and snickering, and Dalton and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows. “Oh, gosh, this should be exciting,” he snickered.
“Yes,” said Ms. Fletcher. “We are going to learn about sex organs and how……… a baby is created. And yes, I am going to be saying disgusting words during the assignments.” The class giggled.
Dalton looked at me, a naughty smile on his face. “Dude! It’s so bad Lewis isn’t around to learn about this!”
I grimaced. “Why? I bet he already knows all about it; he’s freakin’ over a hundred years old!”
Dalton snickered loudly. “I know! But it would be funny because girls will be all excited about-”
“Yeah! I know what you mean!” I laughed, turning away, blushing.
“Alright, shhh,” said Ms. Fletcher, quieting the class down, though she was looking at us. “So….as IB students, I trust that you aren’t gonna be distracted so much about this…..and not do anything of this yourselves!” She gave us a naughty smile, looking at all of us.
Dalton looked behind him and laughed. “Nate’s all like, ‘hell no, I’m paying attention now!’”
I looked behind and I saw Nate laughing with Analiese, who had a disgusted look on her face as she laughed.
“Okay!” Ms. Fletcher announced loudly. “So! We are going to be starting our notes on the material, and please don’t make it too out of control as I already will make it.”
The class started laughing and I looked at Dalton wincing. “That sounded weird,” I said.
Ms. Fletcher looked at me and giggled. Then she faced the class. “You know I get crazy when we do boring things like notes! Seriously! Alright, number one.” She turned on her overhead and started taking notes as we copied them down. We wrote down some pretty weird words, and did a lot of laughing as Ms. Fletcher described each word with humorous meaning, and Dalton and I constantly added more disgusting meaning to the words, laughing obnoxiously with each other. Ms. Fletcher had to tell us in the middle of class to calm down.
We left the classroom noisily and made our way next door to Mrs. Lockard’s class.
“Nate! You were giving Analiese looks when she told us the definition of STD!” Dalton laughed.
“I can’t believe she actually told us what that is!” I laughed with Jessie. “I mean, I already knew, but still! Seriously! She told us anyway, and it wasn’t even part of our notes!”
Jessie was giggling out of control, leaning on James’s shoulder as she walked. “I know! Dude, I was laughing so hard! Ashton hit me on the shoulder like twenty times!”
I screamed as I felt a push on my back. I whipped around and glared at Jeremy.
“Dude! You and Dalton were having so much fun writing the notes!” He said in a teasing voice. Jeremy and I were always taunting at each other, but we weren’t enemies, though we didn’t exactly like each other either. Jeremy was a high, hyper, loudmouthed, obnoxious boy who was Ashton’s best friend. He was hotheaded, and always shouted out his feelings, and he and I were always talking at each other.
“Yeah? I bet you were thinking of Delaney the whole time!” I shot back, giving him a sly look.
“Yeah, Jeremy!” Dalton faced him. “You were one of the loudest in the class-”
“No! Jessie was, trust me!” Ashton said, raising his eyebrows. “She wouldn’t stop laughing, and she said some pretty grossed things and laughed harder.”
“Alright! Alright! Quiet down, don’t speak!” Came Mrs. Lockard’s impatient voice. We were all laughing so hard we forgot that we were in art. Mrs. Lockard was a short teacher, and she was always snapping at us, though when she yelled, she had a hint of sarcasm in her voice that she was just being friendly. Everyone enjoyed her class since it was like a class to socialize a lot when we worked.
I sat at a table with Analiese next to me, Dalton in front of me, and Jenny next to him. It was a really talkative table with all of us, for Analiese and I were always teasing at each other, Jenny who talked a lot with everyone, and Dalton, who talked and messed around with anyone, along with him and I being very close to each other. We annoyed Mrs. Lockard every day, and what surprised me was that she never made us switch seats.
I sat with Dalton in all my classes except history. I had him as a science partner, and in front of me in art, behind me in math since we were in rows instead of tables, and in language arts, he was next to me again. Since we were together now, we were extra noisy and talkative. I wouldn’t be surprised when one of the teachers finally moved us.
During lunch, we were all joking and laughing noisily about what we had learned in science.
Suddenly, Ashton winced. “Hey,” he muttered to me. “The bloodsuckers are coming.”
I looked over in the distance and saw the former allies of Lewis slowly making their way towards us. They still looked so strange without Lewis with them. He was their leader, and they all looked up to him, though Louise was the only girl to crush on him. Delaney was too straightforward and liked Justin, and Jessica only liked him as a friend and a leader. Every other normal person in the class that was a girl crushed on Lewis.
They were all still naughty and strange when they hung out with us, though they were still popular with us and everyone bonded with them like great friends, but at least they did keep their promise and didn’t kill anyone and lived on animal blood, and since they didn’t have a particular place they stuck to live in, they just roamed around and spent the night wherever they wanted like stray animals. Those of us who knew they were vampires referred to them as “the Outsiders” but we never called them that in front of them.
Jessica looked almost like Jessie. She had long hair that was purple, but with a hint of red in it, and it looked more red violet. She had side bangs and more narrowed brown eyes than Jessie’s blue alerted eyes. And she was more laid back and sneaky than loudmouthed, blabbering Jessie.
Louise had the craziest hair I’ve ever seen after Lewis’s. Lewis had his hair sticking out like long points jutting out on both corners of the top of his head, and had his hair pointing down on both corners of the bottom of his head. In a shadow, his head was like an X with a circle in the middle. Louise’s hair had three layers, and at the end of each layer it curled up. Her hair was light brown and pretty long, it passed her shoulder and was a little above her waste. She had a hot pink bow behind her head and she had bangs on her forehead. She always dressed with a tight shirt and a skirt with long striped socks up to her knees and she wore stockings sometimes. She had a snotty, crazy attitude, and always chatted and laughed with everyone. She was loud, mean, and obnoxious, and she laughed a lot. She, Jessie, and I were the noisiest group of people whenever she came to hang out with just us. She was crazily laughing right now with the twins, Shawn and Justin.
The twins were hot, though I liked Shawn better since his eyes were cuter than Justin’s, for Justin’s eyes were more squinted. They were cool to talk to, and they got along best with Nate, William, and Anthony.
Delaney was quiet and mysterious, though whenever she was with her friends or with us, she actually had quite a cool, sly attitude. She never smiled much, she always had her eyes narrowed or looking tired. She had dark blue hair, and it was always over both her shoulders, curving up a little at the ends. She had bangs on both sides of her head. And she was stick thin in the tight clothes she always wore, for her body had absolutely no shape, almost no curves on the hips, and her long legs and arms were like thin lines. She was even worse than me, for I was the stick thin type, a little too thin, but looking at Delaney, I felt a little healthy-looking.
Actually, all the Outsiders were stick thin like I was. Louise, Jessica, and Delaney all looked like stick figure Barbie dolls when they walked together, along with the twins Shawn and Justin two short guys with normal-looking arms and a little bit of abs, but then there were their legs, which were hard to see in their sagging pants.
I sighed and muttered to Ashton, “Hey, I still miss Lewis, believe it or not. I really hate myself for killing him sometimes.”
“What’s that?” Dalton turned to face me with a sideways expression. “You liked him back? You thought he was sexy?”
“Of course!” I said indignantly in his face, looking at him sassily.
Ashton chuckled. “I bet every girl was thinking about him during science.”
Even though Lewis had crazy hair, even that made him look so hot, and even his purple eyeliner was cool on him. He was like Delaney, he was quiet and mysterious, except around friends, he was more cool and talkative. He dressed with a long dark purple coat every day, that went all the way down to his feet.
I saw that they were headed to the bathrooms.
Ashton snickered. “Wonder what they’re gonna do in there.”
Ashton had been a good friend of mine, and he was cool; he was responsible and great to talk to, unlike Jeremy, who was always self-centered and high.



Later that evening when it was twilight, I took the Twilight Rose from atop my drawers, and set it by the windowsill where the moon could shine on it when it was fully out.
I sighed and logged out of my Facebook account. I was just chatting with Jessie and she had invited me to see a movie with her, Dalton, Jeremy, and Ashton. What surprised me was that she didn’t invite any girls besides me. She said Jenny was too busy with her mom since she was a model, and she hated Analiese so she didn’t invite her.
“What about Louise?” I asked when I met her at the theaters. “Or Jessica and Delaney?”
Jessie made a face. “Nah, Delaney’s too proper, Louise I can’t stand, and Jessica’s a slut.”
I snickered. “Thought you were like Louise’s friend since you guys always crack up with each other.”
“Yeah, but she’s annoying over all, seriously!” Said Jessie indignantly.
“You know, you are too, Jessie,” said Jeremy flatly.
She grimaced and gave him a push. “Shut up! Part of the reason why I didn’t invite Delaney was because I didn’t want you two having fun with each other!”
“Is James sick?” I asked.
“Yeah, he left home after lunch anyway, so he can’t come,” said Jessie. “It’ll just be us tonight.”















2. THE STRIP CLUB
We got tickets to see a horror film, and Jeremy hogged up both popcorn bags, and got into a play fight with Dalton, and both fell off their chairs, almost falling on the people in front of us.
When we left the theaters, we hung by the bathroom.
Jeremy as cracking up. “Dude, I think I need to throw up now-” he suddenly disappeared in the bathrooms.
Dalton laughed after him. “That’s what you get for eating almost two medium popcorn bags!”
Suddenly, we heard a yell from the bathroom.
“Jeremy?” I called flatly.
“What? Did you pee all over your pants?” Called Jessie in a giggly voice.
“No, I’m not going there,” said Jeremy in a casual voice.
I winced. “Is he talking to someone?” I came closer to the men’s restroom and peeked in.
“Gonna push you in there….” Said a deep, naughty voice.
I whipped around as I felt fingers poking at my shoulder….and faced Joshua.
“Pervert! What the hell are you doing here?!” I screamed.
He laughed obnoxiously to see me scream. “I dunno. They invited me!”
I turned to see that Jeremy was coming out of the bathroom with Jessica, Louise, Delaney, and the twins.
Jessie and the others came to join me. Jessie gave Joshua a kick on the leg.
“Ow!” He yelled angrily and spun around to face her. “Bitch!” He yelled in her face.
“Man whore!” She shot back sassily and smacked his face slightly.
“What the heck?” he winced. She started laughing at him and turned to the vampires.
“Hey, what’re you doing here? Were you actually watching a movie, or were you raping people for their blood?” She asked loudly.
I whipped around and flashed her a look, for Joshua was here and no one was supposed to know about them being vampires.
“Yeah, Louise,” said Joshua, smirking. “You look beat. Did you have too much fun?”
Louise’s hair was frizzy and her bow was tilting. She threw her empty soda can at Joshua’s head. “No!” She replied sassily. “We were just at the strip club down the street!”
“Yeah,” said Jessica, giving her a sideways smile. “She got wasted so we had to hide her in the bathrooms here. The one at the strip club had too many people partying in there.”
“Ugh! I was so drunk!” Louise groaned, smiling tiredly. “I felt like I made out with a guy that already had STD!”
We all gave her a wince. Shawn snickered and muttered something to Justin.
“Hey, there’s a strip club?” Said Jessie excitedly. She turned to me. “Hey, wanna go? The movie was pretty short, and we have time before your parents expect you back.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Yeah, you’re so stupid! You think just because it’s still early we can go to a strip club? We’ll be there until one in the morning!”
“No, we won’t drink, I promise!” She said pleadingly. “I wanna go! I haven’t been to a strip club in ages!”
“There’s a band performing there,” said Jessica hopefully. “And there are rock stars playing. They’re totally hot.”
Louise was rubbing her eyes, smearing her eyeliner all around her eyes. “Did I make out with any of them?” She said tiredly.
“No, you didn’t,” said Delaney quietly. She turned to us. “Nikki, you love rock concerts, don’t you? These guys dress just like you, and they’re songs are awesome.”
“Yeah, they’re called the Black Tears,” said Justin.
Jeremy took Delaney’s hand and gave her a naughty smile. “Hey, if she wants to look for someone who dresses like her, she can turn to Dalton.”
“I guess I can come for a little,” I shrugged. I turned to Dalton and Ashton. “You guys coming?”
“Sure,” said Dalton with a bored look on his face.
“Nah,” said Ashton hesitantly. “I gotta go home and finish my-”
“Yeah, Ashton’s coming!” Said Jeremy loudly. “He’s coming or I’m gonna T.P. his house tonight.” He gave him a sly look.
Ashton gave him an annoyed expression and rolled his eyes.
Joshua pinched my side. “I’m comin’ too.” He said cleverly.
I frowned and gave him a punch on the shoulder as I walked with Jessie to the exit. The vampires followed us with Dalton, Ashton and Jeremy.
“Hey, I have a question,” said Jessie, turning to the vampires. “Why would you guys keep her in the men’s restroom?”
“So she can snap out of it easier,” said Delaney, smiling slyly. “When she gets drunk like that, she needs to open her eyes completely when she recovers so she’s not as drowsy as a sloth.”
Dalton rolled his eyes. “Why? If she’s drowsy you should keep her that way.” He muttered.
Louise took the back of his sweater and pulled it over his head. “Shut up,” she said in a bored tone.
Jessie started laughing at him and I grimaced, pushing him towards Louise as he angrily pulled off his sweater, glaring at Louise. The two started arguing, though they laughed as they snapped at each other. The vampires always treated Dalton however they wanted, whether they wanted to tease him or annoy him, for they knew they were stronger than he was, and that they could easily push him off if he struck back at them.
“Heyy! Wait up!” Called a loud voice. We turned as Joshua came running towards us, calling us an inappropriate name.
“Oh great,” I muttered to Jessie.
“Hey, Nikki!” Joshua spanked me from behind and I whipped around, kicking his foot.
“What!” I snapped.
“You ain’t drinking anything?”
“No, not tonight,” I said sassily. “But you can.”
“Yeah, Joshua,” said Dalton naughtily. “You and I can drink all we want. They can behave.”
Joshua and Dalton got into a conversation when they laughed and discussed dirty things, and Jessie and I just ignored them. When I was going out with Gabriel, Joshua used to taunt at him for being a better and nicer boyfriend, and now, with Dalton, he did less taunting and more teasing since he was better than he was but not as nicer, though Dalton fought back and ended up messing around with each other.



The strip club was crowded, and there was a stage where people were hanging out all over. Jessie was looking around, smiling sassily at all the noisy guys. I heard Joshua yell in the back and a guy dropped his glass of beer next to Joshua. Dalton suddenly ran up to me with a naughty smile on his face.
“I hate drunken skanks,” he muttered.
Jessie sighed and looked behind her. “Oh crap, we just lost everyone.”
I looked and saw Louise jump at a guy sitting at a bar, staring at the female bartender. They crashed onto the ground noisily.
“Eh, the vampires will be alright,” I said. But I looked around the noisy place again. “It’s Ashton and Jeremy we should keep an eye on. Jeremy’s gonna lose his head and go out of control and Ashton can’t take care of himself with people like this.”
“Eh, yeah, yeah, forget it, let’s sit,” said Joshua, pushing me over to the empty bar.
Dalton sat on my right. “Ew, there’s gum on my highchair.”
Jessie sat down next to me and put her head down on the table. “Uhhh, where are the Black Tears? They’re so hot! I used to keep a poster of them in my bedroom!”
I gave her a sideways look. “Wanna find them? I bet they’re getting ready in the backstage.”
Jessie suddenly shot her head up, looking excited. “Yeah! I bet they’re changing! Ooh, let’s go!” She suddenly got up from her highchair.
I was just about to come with her until I heard a crash to the left and all of a sudden, girls started screaming. Jessie, Dalton, Joshua and I turned to the entrance on the left and suddenly, Jessie let out a short gasp of surprise.
There, standing at the doorway where the door had crashed down in front of him, was a tall…..man wearing a low cut jacket over a low cut shirt, and black tight pants. He looked like Nate, except for the fact he looked like a girl in the low-cut shirt……..and his hair. Oh gosh, his hair passed his shoulders a few inches, and he had another layer above that went down his shoulder. His hair was a light brown with some darker brown around it. He had eyeliner on his eyelids, and he was strutting up to a group of screaming girls in a swaggering motion.
I was staring wide-eyed as he leaned on the counter and started talking to the girls. I noticed Jessica was one of them.
“OMG,” said Jessie indignantly. “Huh! Holy crap!”
“Dude, check out the gay wad,” snickered Dalton.
“Eyy! You! Yeah you! Sexy lady! Get yo ass over here!” Joshua shouted to the strange guy across the room.
“Joshua!” I snapped, raising my eyebrows at the guy as he turned his gaze towards us.
“Shh! Watch!” Joshua had a naughty smile on his face.
The strange tall man winked at the girls and made his way towards us, walking like a girl.
Jessie squealed in my ear. “Oooh, he winked! So…..”
“Shut up! I bet he’s gay anyway!” I hissed through clenched teeth, though I was feeling attracted to the strange but sexy….even though he looked like he was a girl.
“You call?” He asked Joshua in a sweet voice, though it was a man’s voice as well.
Jessie, Dalton, and I looked at each other, holding our laughs.
“Yeah!” Said Joshua indignantly, smiling naughtily, but then winced. “Wait, you’re a guy? Oh crud!” He looked at Dalton and started laughing. “I thought this dude was a lady! Damn, I was about spank his ass, man!”
“Oh, shut up, you knew, Joshua!” I said aloud.
“Oh, come off it, I hate people like you,” the man rolled his eyes. “You know, you don’t have to pretend like you think I’m a woman if you really do like me.”
Dalton laughed. “Oh, gosh! What, do you like him back or something?” He had a taunting tone to his voice.
The guy gave him a sassy smile. He had his head tilted to the side. “No,” he said sassily. “It’s just that he was all over me, so I told him he could be himself.”
Joshua cracked up in obnoxious laughter and Dalton raised his eyebrows, giving him a sideways smile. “Yeah? You would except it if I kissed you?”
The guy smiled at him and stood by his side, bending down to out an arm around his shoulder say in his ear, “Oh, I really would except that if that were really you! It’s really just the inside that counts!”
I put a hand on my mouth in surprise, ready to break out in laughter like Joshua. Dalton had his eyes wide, with a sideways smile, looking a little scared.
“Okaaay,” said Dalton, turning to the guy. “But you’d have to do it first.”
The guy sighed and rolled his eyes. He stood up and took his arm off his shoulder.
“Well then!” He strutted over to the table where the girls were. We all looked at each other and giggled loudly as the guy moved his butt like a girl when he strutted over to the table, picking up a tray of beer. As he made his way back to us in his girl-walk, the girls behind stared at his ass.
He handed Dalton a beer. “People like you really need to drink.”
Dalton snickered. “Whatever! I bet you’re looking for a girl anyway!” he took a sip from out of the beer.
Joshua laughed. “Ha!
Jessie couldn’t take it, and before I could break out into laughter, Jessie screamed and ran passed me over to the guy’s side. “Eeee-yaaah! Hey, I like you for who you are!!!! You actually look good in girls’ style! You do!” She started twirling his hair.
“Hehe, and you look good in boys’ style,” said the guy nicely.
Jessie suddenly stood straight. “What?!”
Dalton and I started cracking up and Joshua joined in, laughing like a moron.
“Hey, Jessie! He looks like a girl more than you do!” Joshua spanked her butt.
Jessie flinched, but she kept her eyes on the guy, wide-eyed.
“Hah, just messin’ with ya, babe,” said the guy, grinning and giving Jessie’s cheek a tap with his two fingers. “You look hot.”
Jessie’s lips twitched at the corner. “R-really?”
“Yeah,” he looked into her eyes, narrowing his mischievously.
I looked at Dalton and rolled my eyes, smiling.
“Yeah, kiss him Jessie! I bet it’s really a girl!” I said out loud.
“Or is Jessie really a guy?” Dalton added, laughing.
Jessie whipped her head, glaring at Dalton. The guy turned to me and raised his eyebrows.
My heart beat as he walked up to me. “Hey, do I know you from somewhere?” He was squinting his eyes at me, studying me.
I winced, though I couldn’t quite make my wince clear. I was too attracted to his hotness. His eyes were dark and beautiful. “Uh, no?” I said in a sour tone.
Then the guy shook his head. “Whatever, never mind.” He suddenly gave me a wicked smile, looking into my eyes. “Sorry, you must remind me of someone because you’re so sexy.” He raised his eyebrows and winked at me.
I was biting my lip, and my lip piercing started to sting. I felt so out of the world. I felt like I could die. I gave a sassy smile. “Really? I think the same of you.” I said sassily, and not helping myself, and reached my arms out and wrapped them around his neck, pulling him to me to a hug, and he played along, pushing me back against the counter as I hugged him.
I felt so excited and giddy, but I suddenly snapped out of it as I saw Dalton over his shoulder. He was looking at me with a wide-eyed wince, Jessie was staring at me with an angry expression, and Joshua had his eyebrows raised with a naughty smile at me.
“Um-” I pushed him away from me as he was just about to kiss me. “Sorry, I- uh, I was…um, I-”
“She already has a boyfriend, dude,” Dalton said in an annoyed tone, rolling his eyes.
“Yeah, me!” Joshua yelled getting up.
“Oh, shut up, you butt rape!” I shouted snottily to Joshua. I turned back to the guy, who was wincing at me. “Hehe, yeah, I’m already-”
Suddenly, Dalton kicked hard at the guy’s side with his leg stretched out that he flew all the way across the strip club almost like a blur, crashing into a bar a few yards away, breaking the table. The some people in the crowd turned and gasped at him.
“Oooh,” I heard Joshua mutter.
I stared with my mouth open, and turned to Dalton, flinching from his evil expression on his face. His eyes were wide and angry, staring right into the man, and he was up from his chair, with his hands balled into fists.
“Dalton…..” I breathed.
“Shut up,” He snapped so fiercely, I narrowed my eyes at him, feeling scared. He kept his gaze on the guy as he immediately shot up.
The guy returned Dalton’s furious gaze. “Oh you-” He started stomping over to him.
Suddenly, the lights flashed off and the stage lit up. There was a loud blow from a horn, and a voice in the microphone shouted, “Alright all you bad boys and girls! Git ready for the Black Tears!” And the crowd immediately started going wild. A group of about seven tall boys dressed in tight black appeared with guitars as the crowd screamed.
Jessie and I would’ve screamed as well, but we were to focused, looking around for the strange guy.
“Um, where did he go?” Said Jessie loudly as the rock music started playing. She was looking around the dark room. It was dark except for the flashings in front of the stage, and the area we were sitting in was shadowy with some flashy lights.
I stood up and faced Dalton. “Hey, we should go now, come on.” I took his cold hand in his black glove.
“He can’t hurt me,” he pulled his hand away from me.
I frowned at him. “Yeah? I’m sure he can’t, but I don’t want you having to hurt somebody anyway.”
“Why not? You love him?!” Dalton faced me, his eyes bearing into mine with anger. He suddenly walked towards me, making me back away as he angrily stomped towards my face, yelling, “Why don’t you just kiss him, huh?! Yeah, why don’t you just make out with him right now, get it over with, and then stay with him till you’re forty? Go ahead, I don’t care! Just ‘cause he’s a human being and I’m not, so he could suit you!”
I angrily pushed him hard back against the counter, and he banged against the end and fell down, hitting his head on the highchairs that fell on him.
Jessie stared at him with surprise. Joshua had a naughty smile.
I was breathing hard, angered by what crap he had just said, but then gasped. No matter how mad I got, I didn’t want to have Dalton breaking up with me. I ran over to him.
“Dalton, I’m sorry-”
He shot up, his hand on his forehead, wincing, and he took a highchair and threw it on the floor, breaking it to large pieces. He didn’t look at me as he walked quickly to the other opening on the other side of the room, yanking the door off its hinges as he opened it and left.
Joshua, Jessie and I stared after him.
Joshua snickered. “Wow, nice. Nikki, he is a lot like you when he gets mad! Except he does less yelling!”
“Dude, we really should go,” said Jessie, smiling with her eyebrows raised.
“Yeah,” I said tartly, walking to the entrance where the door was already broken as well. They followed me and laughed together.
“Dude! I so can’t believe Dalton kicked that guy’s ass like that across the room!” Laughed Joshua. “Was that really him? I think he might’ve been possessed or something!”
Jessie laughed. “Probably from that drink that super hot guy gave him!”
Joshua snickered. “Seriously, how could you bitches have a crush on someone like that? Huh, Nikki?” He gave me a slight kick in the butt from behind. “Seriously, I bet he’s not even a guy. He was complimenting my feelings for him!” He started laughing obnoxiously.
“Oh, shut up, he was super hot for a moment….and he still is! Oooh, I so wanna…..” Jessie was squealing with her teeth clenched.
I cussed. “Where the hell did Dalton go? I bet he’s off to break that guy’s neck I bet.”
“Yeah, he would do that,” Joshua snickered.
“Eh, what are we gonna do about the vampires?” Said Jessie, looking back with a red face from laughing. “Ah, who cares, they can find their own way.”
We headed back home, laughing noisily about the strange guy, though deep down, I had a strange feeling about him. It was the same feeling I had when I suspected Dalton of being a vampire. But no, this guy was no vampire, his hands were actually pretty warm when he touched me. I bit my tongue and smiled, feeling giddy when he was actually about to kiss me. But then I frowned, knowing I had pissed and hurt Dalton.










3. ANDREW FLORES
The next week at school, I was too afraid to approach Dalton, but he seemed like he had forgotten about most of it, for he was messing around with Nate, William, and Anthony. They were obnoxiously laughing with each other, and pushing each other around. I stared at Nate’s boxers as his pants were slipping off.
Analiese, who was waiting by the science door by herself, was standing against the wall nearby. The four of them all bumped to her side.
“Hey-!” She yelled, wincing at them. They took no notice of her and pushed each other away from her, laughing crazily, calling each other names.
“The hell you freaks doing!” I yelled, walking faster to them. “You trying to jump at each other?”
“No, William’s asking out Jenny!” Nate laughed, pushing him on the shoulder.
William winced. “No I’m not!”
“Oh yeah, you are!” Laughed Dalton. “You said so! You so did!”
“Yeah, you said since Lewis isn’t around anymore, you can ask her out!” Anthony added.
“Yeah, whatever,” I rolled my eyes. Of course Jenny was going to get another boyfriend. She was so talkative with everybody, and dramatic and sassy with guys. “Hey, Dalton? You’re not mad about that weirdo at the strip club, are you?” I didn’t care if there were people like Nate, William, and Anthony around.
“Nah, I’m not,” he said coolly, keeping his naughty smile.
“You guys went to a strip club?!” Nate looked at him.
“Did you perform?” William sneered.
“Yeah, and some gay wad walked up to us and flirted with Nikki and Jessie!” Dalton scoffed, smirking. He always blurted out his problems, no matter how mad he was about them.
“Yeah he was gay,” I started snickering. “He even said to Joshua, ‘if you really do like me, you don’t have to hide your feelings.’”
“Omigosh, you guys met someone like that?” Analiese was wincing at me.
“Yep,” I said. “Dalton kicked his ass though.”
“Yeah right, as if,” Nate laughed. “What’d you do? Kiss him then kiss Nikki?”
“No, he kinda got physical,” said a sassy, giggly voice. Louise was strutting up to us. “Didn’t you, Dalton?” She messed up his hair.
Dalton rolled his eyes and gave her a sideways smile. “Yeah, I kinda sent him flying. I just didn’t know why someone as gay as him would wanna kiss Nikki.”
“Yeah, and I don’t know why anyone would want to kiss Nikki,” Analiese said teasingly.
I whipped my head to her, ready to shoot a taunting reply back, but Anthony interrupted.
“Yeah, you would!” He snickered.
“Ahahaha,” Louise said sarcastically and slowly. She turned to me and smiled. “We’re going to see him tonight again, okay?”
I winced. “What?! Why?”
“Oh great, hell no,” Dalton turned away.
“Oh hell yeah we are,” Louise gave a slight kick at Dalton’s foot with her long leg. “We are gonna see him! I know where he lives. Delaney, Jessica, and I all met with him afterwards, and he’s pretty cool…..for a gay guy. He lives around Full Moon Street, actually. His name is Andrew Flores. And he’s expecting me, Jessica, and Delaney. And we’re bringing you two.”
“Can I come?” William asked slyly.
Louise looked at him. “Oh sure, you’re interested in meeting a gay guy?”
Nate snickered at him. “Sure William….” He said sarcastically.
“Why us?” Said Dalton, giving Lewis an annoyed glare with his eyes wide. “I don’t wanna see a guy like him. Not interested. Jessie can go.”
Louise huffed angrily and pulled him by the back of the scruff to her face. “Listen, you dumbutt!” She hissed. “I sensed a Twilight Rose in his house when he showed us his place! I think he could be up to something, you know.”
I turned around and saw that Nate, William, and Anthony were laughing with Analiese, so I turned and said in a low voice to Louise, “He’s no vampire, is he? His hands ain’t cold.”
Louise pushed Dalton away from her face and faced me with a stuck up expression and shrugged. “I really don’t know. You know, there was actually something about his blood…..I couldn’t really sense it. Neither could Delaney and Jessica. His blood…it smelled….stale. It had no scent to it.”
Dalton snickered. “What the heck?”
I raised my eyebrows and gave her a clever expression. “Ooh, I wish I could smell his blood. He’s smokin.’”
Louise giggled. “There really is no scent to it!” She winced. “It’s weird. That’s kinda why I want to investigate his house. He doesn’t know we’re vampires of course, you know.”
I shrugged. “Whatever. We’re going, okay?” I gave a slight slap on where Dalton was holding his shoulder.
He didn’t look at me. He stared straight ahead, his eyes expressionless, like he zoned out. “Whatever.” He said dryly.
“Hey, what about Shawn and Justin?” I turned to Louise. “They’re not coming?”
Louise gave a sideways smile. “Nah, they really hate Andrew Flores.”
Dalton muttered cusses under his breath. “What the hell! I hate him too! Why should I come?”
Louise smiled innocently at him. “I just wanted to torture you, kid. And plus, he would expect Nikki, so you really should be there to protect her.”
“Yeah, whatever. He’ll recognize me though,” said Dalton.
“Hey, is Jessie coming?” I asked. “She would love to see him again. He’ll be fine with her.”
Louise sighed. “Oh sure, Jessie can come. She’s with Delaney and Jessica and the twins right now, actually, so yeah, she can come.” Then she muttered a word about Jessie.
When we were in science, Ms. Fletcher was talking to us about our lab, which involved our lesson, Dalton was staring straight ahead again, not laughing along with the class, focused in his own thoughts, with that expressionless lost look on his face again. I stared at him.
“Hey, I bet Andrew Jones doesn’t know he’s got a Twilight Rose?” I said to him.
“I don’t know,” he shook his head. But of course, we couldn’t chat much with Ms. Fletcher around, especially if she was right in front of us. She flashed me a glance, so I turned and pretended to pay attention. Andrew Jones was on my mind. He was flawless. Despite his gay attitude and outfit, he was hot and cute. He did look hot in that low-cut shirt and tight pants. He was almost as flawless as........Lewis. Wow, I can’t believe I said that. Lewis was the sexiest and hottest I’ve ever seen, though Andrew Flores could be the third, right after Dalton, who would always come after Lewis as second.
When school was over, I walked with Jessie and Dalton to meet with Louise, Delaney, and Jessica in front of Ms. Fletcher’s classroom. The door was open as usual for students to come in after school.
“Hey, do you guys wanna talk to Ms. Fletcher about this weirdo?” I asked as we came up to them.
Louise turned to me with a sideways look. “We don’t talk to Ms. Fletcher.” She said simply. “But you guys can. We’re not very fond of the fact that some teacher in school knows our stupid secret.”
“But Ms. Fletcher’s not just some teacher in school,” chuckled a voice. Ashton was coming over. “She’ll know any secret, whether it’s because she connects with it or not.”
Louise glared at Ashton and then turned to us. “Okay, let’s go. He wants to meet us at that park across the street from this school. C’mon.”
“Who?” Ashton was by my side now.
I rolled my eyes. “Nobody, you retard, go away.” I gave him a slight push.
“No way. Who are you guys meeting with?” Ashton winced.
Delaney was biting her nails, eying Ashton. “No one you’d be interested in.” She said quietly.
“Unless you’re gay,” Jessie giggled, blurting it out. I flashed her a glare.
“Oh! I know! You’re meeting that girl from the strip club!” Ashton laughed.
“A guy,” Jessica sneered, rolling her eyes.
“I know, but he was sooo a girl,” Ashton was laughing and he narrowed his eyes. “I’m coming with you. This I’ve gotta see.”
I gave Ashton a look. “What? You gay?”
“No! I just wanna laugh at his personality!”
“Hey, let’s just go now, kay?” Said Louise impatiently. “Nikki and Jessie aren’t the only ones who just want to see Andrew Flores.”
Jessie squealed. “Oh, yeah! I love him soo much already!”
“He can come,” Jessica shrugged, smiling at Ashton, messing his dark black hair with her sharp fingernails of her gloves.
“Just don’t bring Jeremy,” said Delaney sourly, sideways smiling.
We walked over to the park across the street from the school. We told Ashton about how Andrew Flores had a Twilight Rose in his house, and that his blood had no scent to it so that they could tell whether he was a vampire or a human.
“We will befriend him,” Jessica began, “when he takes us to his house, keep a sharp eye out for anything weird. Like drops of blood or something.” She winked.
“And we’re gonna do a bit of experimenting,” said Delaney coolly. “Someone’s going to have to draw a drop of blood and we’ll see Flores’s reaction.”
Jessie groaned. “I ain’t doin’ that.”
“You guys can drop blood!” I turned to meet Delaney’s piercing blue gaze. “Why not use your own? Oh right, it’s probably not as tempting I guess.”
Jessica chuckled. “Whatever. You go ahead and do it, you seem emo enough for that.”
I winced. “I’m not emo! Well…I guess I could be, but-”
“Hey,” Delaney was looking at me coolly. “Just because you’re not always crying and that you’re not quiet doesn’t mean you’re not emo. You just seem like you wouldn’t care about hurting yourself.”
Ashton snickered.
I shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll see what I can do.”
When we arrived at the park, we looked around for Andrew Flores.
“Hey, there you are!” Came a happy voice. We saw Andrew coming over to us from his shiny silver Mercedes.
Jessie gasped. “Holy crap, he’s a rich boy!”
He had a white shirt with purple splotches all over, as well as the tight pants. The shirt was low cut again. I couldn’t help cracking an obvious smile at him.
“Hi, love!” Jessie called, waving her hand wildly.
“Oh, hey! It’s Jessie! And Nikki!” Andrew said gleefully, smiling as he made his way to us. He came up to us and sighed. “So the twins aren’t here? Tsk, that’s too bad. Anyway, I missed all of you, ya know. You really had me going for the first few seconds we met each other.” He rolled eyes and pinched the end of the longer layer of hair.
Jessie and I looked at each other with blushes, and Jessie suddenly screamed and threw herself towards Andrew, and hugged him hard, nearly making him fall over.
“Oh my gosh!!! You’re like the hotter version of James! Longer hair, longer legs, more girly blue eyes-”
I cracked up and smacked her back. “Are you going lesbian or what, Jessie?!”
Louise giggled and bumped her hip at Andrew, who looked a little confused as Jessie clung onto him hardly. “Well….we can mess around at your house some more, kay? That’s why we came here, right?”
Andrew gave a shy laugh and patted Jessie’s head and carefully pushed her away from him. “Yeah, right. Hehe, I really have no girlfriend right now, so I’d like to get to know you all!”
He suddenly noticed Dalton and Ashton snickering with each other, and he narrowed his eyes. “Well! I surely wouldn’t have recognized you without getting a kick in the face.”
Ashton looked at Dalton and smirked.
Dalton gave a naughty smile. “Hey, I’m fine with you, ‘cause I first thought you were gay anyway, but why are you such a womanizer all of a sudden?” He looked at Ashton and started laughing. “Seriously!” Then he whispered loud enough for Andrew to hear, “I think he’s bi.”
Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Nope! I ain’t bi, I’ll be honest ‘bout that, but I’d like to have a girlfriend in my life when I feel like it. But I do prefer most guys.”
Dalton’s mouth dropped open and he looked at me in disbelief. “What the hell?! If you go with both, you are bi, whether you like one better than the other or not. Geez! The hell-” he started cussing, laughing in disbelief. I couldn’t help laughing and giving Andrew a dirty look.
“You’re a whore,” I shook my head, giving a sideways look.
Andrew looked at me and his annoyed look turned into a sassy smile that made my heart pound. “Yeah, I know that! I really never had a crush on a girl before, but I know I crush on guys, so yeah, I know I ain’t bi.”
Jessica walked behind him and snickered. “Yet.” She said for him, and Delaney gave him a slight slash on the back over his shirt with her sharp claws.
“We going now?” Delaney muttered.
“Yeah, let’s go.” Louise grabbed Andrew’s arm and yanked him away from Jessie and walked towards the car.
“Whoaaa,” said Andrew, almost tripping as Louise pulled him along.
I had my eyebrows raised, not knowing whether to feel disgusted or in love. One thing was for sure- I was in disbelief. “OMG, such a hot retard!” I said indignantly to Jessie. “I seriously have no idea why I like him!”
“Uhhh! Me neither! But damn, I just…..” Jessie was squealing and clenching her teeth.
Dalton snickered. “You guys are freaks.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me with him to the Mercedes.
We laughed like crazy as Andrew drove us home, even though he did mention some strange retarded things that we teased him about. And he was actually a pretty awesome guy. Despite his gay attitude, he was good at humoring us for every little thing we said, and he made us laugh a lot. He acted like an idiot, though part of it really was just him trying to make us laugh. Louise sat next to him in the front, and the rest of us behind without seatbelts, leaning forward and talking with him. Dalton always talked a lot with people whether he liked them or not, so he became like Andrew’s hated person that he laughed with and talked to anyway. Jessie was always laughing loudly and she seemed to bug Andrew for a little bit, and Dalton even told her to shut up a few times, though she snapped rudely at him. I was very crazy and talkative with him, and he was crazy and talkative back to me, though in a more goofy way. I was sassy to him and taunted him for any retarded thing he said. Louise was just like Jessie; she laughed and talked with him a lot, though the way she was to him didn’t get him annoyed like he got with Jessie. Jessica talked a lot as well, and she acted like a sassy girl to him like she always did to guys she had a thing for. Even Delaney was chatty. She was naughty and talkative behind that quiet, mysterious look on her face she always had. Ashton and Dalton just acted like boys to Andrew and Dalton was his rude, loud self with someone like Andrew. It seemed a little sad that we were only trying to befriend him so we can keep more in touch with him easier and keep an eye on anything that has to do with vampire. I really was suspicious that he had no scent to his blood and that he had a Twilight Rose, but I still enjoyed being with him and really didn’t want to be like a stalker to him.
When we reached his house, we all got out laughing and I looked up at the house he lived in. It was at the end of a culdasac, and it stood tall and huge, with the top of the roof looking like it was going to peek in the cloudy gray sky above. It made me notice how it looked like it was going to rain.
“Whoa, your house is huge!” I said dramatically.
“Kinda reminds me of that haunted mansion on the other side of Full Moon Street,” murmured Delaney, giving him a sassy look, flicking his shoulder.
“Haha, I’ve been to that mansion by myself before,” I said roughly.
“Yeah, but my house is way better than that cruddy mansion,” said Andrew, walking up the stairs to the front door.
Jessie squealed as she stared at him, and I laughed loudly.
“Hey, Andrew! You walk up the stairs like a girl!” I called.
“Thank you!” He said nicely.
Ashton laughed. “How does a girl walk up the stairs?”
Dalton blinked. “I dunno. Walk up the stairs, Jessie.”
“Oh shut up! You show him!” She snapped.
“Alright, alright, calm down, people. Let’s hang out a little here, and then we can….er….I dunno. Go to the movies?” Andrew smiled as we all gathered around the front door.
I frowned. “No way we were just at the movies last Friday.”
“Let’s go to that mall area that’s not too far from here,” said Louise. “It’s huge!”
“Whatev’,” shrugged Andrew. He rang the doorbell, which had a nice tinkling noise.
The front door slowly opened, and……I dropped my mouth open in disbelief. Jessie gave a slight shocking quiet scream. There, standing by the front door………… was Leonardo.
“Ahhh!” I yelled and pointed at him. “You-! What the hell?!”
“Is something wrong?” Andrew blinked as he noticed our surprised faces. Even Jessica, Louise, and Delaney.
“Oh, hell yeah, something’s wrong!” Dalton’s eyes were wide. “How do you know that guy?”
“Huh? Well-” Andrew turned to Leonardo, who had his eyes narrowed at us. There was no doubt that I could recognize that evil glint in his piercing eyes.
“It’s fine, no has to worry,” Leonardo said deeply and carefully. “He found me. He ran me over one night just a few weeks ago, so he took me home to help me get better and recover. I’m still recovering at the moment, just that my back is still a little achy.”
Andrew breathed. “Oh, it just hurts to think about that horrible accident! I still apologize like crazy whenever I think about what I did. Do you need any more icepacks?”
Leonardo gave him the eye, and I stared at Leonardo with a wincing expression. Of course, he hadn’t been killed when Andrew ran him over. He was a vampire, as Andrew didn’t know. Or did he?
“Right,” I said, eying Leonardo. “So what will you do when you’re recovered?”
Leonardo turned his glare to me, and cracked an evil smile. “Hey, Nikki,” he said sassily.
“Hey,” I gave a bright smile, and immediately changed it to a bored expression.
“Why don’t we talk about this inside?” Leonardo said nicely. He didn’t blink as he kept his smile at me. “Looks like it’s about to rain. Come in.” He opened the door and we hesitated before entering. He kept his gaze on all of us as we passed by and came inside. From the corner of my eye, I saw his expression change back into a glare as he locked eyes with Dalton. He tapped Delaney’s shoulder and she stayed with him by the front door.
“Dang, your house is awesome,” I said quietly. “I feel like I’m going to fall asleep with this smell and atmosphere though.”
The mansion he lived in was tall, though not wide like the haunted one on the other side of Full Moon Street.
Andrew sighed. “Huh! Well! What was that all about? You guys know him or something?”
We weren’t expecting this to happen, so I turned to Andrew, ready to tell him that he was just some enemy we’ve had in the past, not too long ago, but then he suddenly stepped up to him.
“Oh yes, I know these guys,” he flashed me a sly look. Why the heck was he always looking at me? “See, I’m Delaney’s father. But while I was gone on a business trip to the Arctic, they thought I wasn’t going to come back until the end of this year, so they’re just surprised to see me.”
I winced. What a lie. Why would we act so surprised and horrified when we saw him? I expected him to have lied a lot better.
Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Oh well. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you I had guests coming over. But let’s just get along, shall we? Delaney, your father’s back very early, so we could all be thankful. So wanna go to that mall together? All of us and have some fun?”
Dalton met Andrew’s gaze. “Sure. If it’s actually gonna be fun.”
“Alrighty then! Let’s go!” He held out a hand to Jessie, who was focused on Leonardo with a pale face. But she suddenly snapped out of it and brimmed with happiness as she took his hand and walked out the door.
Leonardo watched them as they passed by. He rolled his eyes. “Gay idiots.” He muttered.
I turned to him. “You planning on doing anything to him?”
He smiled at me. “I don’t know. Not yet anyway. He’s too much of a…..magnet with not only girls.” He gave Dalton a teasing look.
Dalton met his gaze. “What the hell? I only came because Nikki came.”
“Sure,” he teased in a flat tone. He turned and put an arm around Jessica and Delaney and looked at me. “We should all follow him now.”
Dalton called him a word and followed after him. I gave him an edgy look as we followed behind Leonardo.
“Hey, you, what did you really do?” Louise came up to him.
He looked at her. “What did I just say?”
“No seriously. Tell us,” she insisted.
“You did go to the arctic though, didn’t you?” I said.
He met my gaze. “Yeah, I did.”
“But it was no business trip,” Dalton added.
“Nope. Not exactly,” Leonardo turned to look forward, obviously not wanting to answer. I guess we only had to find out ourselves soon.
I saw that he looked quite different without his long black cape. He wore a black sweater with a hood, and his pants were black and baggy. Lewis wore tight pants, though his long coat covered the back since it reached all the way down to his heels. I bet I would’ve been much more scared if I met with Lewis again. One reason was because he loved me, and that I was the one who killed him easily. I still regret it sometimes though. I can’t believe myself for doing it so easily. Dalton understood my feelings, and I was grateful for that. I looked and saw that he was chattering with Leonardo as we got in the car. Of course, he acted himself to everyone whether he liked them or not, for he was punkish and naughty anyway. I actually found myself chatting a lot as well with Leonardo as we drove, I too, was myself with anyone, but I was thinking about everything as well. We really should tell Ms. Fletcher about this. Everyone seemed to act like they were enjoying themselves as we traveled along in the mall, and Andrew did get us spiced up a little.
“Hey, so how old are you?” I asked Andrew after we got out of the Victoria’s Secret.
“Ehhh, forty-five at the moment,” he sighed. “Nah! I’m kidding! I’m like thirty one.”
“He’s nineteen,” Leonardo sighed, rolling his eyes. “Seriously. Check his license and birth certificate.”
“How old are you?” Andrew asked sassily.
“You really shouldn’t ask a girl her age,” Louise said sassily.
“My birthday will be coming up in another few months in April, and I’ll be sixteen,” I replied sassily.
Before we left, Dalton, Jessie, and I all walked home together, and the vampires met with us in front of our house. It was almost dark, and after Andrew and Leonardo left, I could feel Leonardo’s stare threw those dark shady windows.
I whipped around to the others. “OMG! Why the hell is Leonardo there? Could he somehow be working with Andrew perhaps?”
“I know! He scared the hell outta me, I thought he was going to come out and bite me!” Jessie huffed.
“Hey, we need to see him more often,” said Louise. “He could be up to something with Leonardo. Because I don’t think Leonardo would keep him alive after a few weeks. What does he do for blood? He would kill him the moment he got thirsty. I still don’t think Andrew’s got human blood, but I can’t be sure he’s a vampire either.”
“Maybe he’s got alien blood,” said Dalton. “He seems like an alien to me.”
“What exactly are we going to do?” I said roughly, looking at the ground. “He doesn’t go to our school, so we can’t keep an eye on him as much.”
“I got his number!” Squealed Jessie, taking out a fragment of a paper. “He gave it to me when he walked me to the bathrooms!”
I gasped. “Really? Let me see!”
“No way! He told me not to give it away to any of you guys!” Jessie winced. “He must think I’m special!”
Jessica reached for the fragment. “Come on, Jessie! He really didn’t like you in the car you know.”
“Give it!” Louise tried to grab at the fragment as Jessie quickly snatched it away.
“No!” Jessie snapped.
Louise showed her teeth and hissed with a scary face, and Jessie pushed her away and threw the fragment at her to the ground, wincing. She called her a name as Louise picked the fragment and we gathered around to see his number.
“Ooh boy,” I giggled and took out my phone.
“You’re all bitches,” Jessie said flatly.
Ashton sighed. “I think we should tell Ms. Fletcher about this since she’s good at figuring things out.”
Jessica, Louise, and Delaney glared at him. “Oh? Like we’re not good at figuring things out?” Jessica said nicely, narrowing her eyes.
Ashton winced. “Do you guys, like, hate Ms. Fletcher or what?”
“No, we just don’t prefer teachers knowing about our secret when they are no use to anything anyway,” said Delaney. “The only thing she’s good for is exposing us and killing us with her priest friends and Theodore.”
“Well, I’m still telling them also,” I said carefully. “She could have some knowledge of why Andrew’s blood is so senseless. Wait, does he even have blood?”
“Yeah, he has blood,” said Jessica. “It’s just that none of us can smell it.”
“Really?” Dalton winced in confusion. “I sure smelled it. And no kidding, he is a human, believe it or not.”
I raised my eyebrows at him, but then narrowed them. “No, you didn’t smell it, you retard,” I chuckled.
“Yeah, but we should meet with him again this Friday,” Jessica said. She then looked at me seriously. “And bring Aurora’s necklace with you.”


4. NIGHTMARE
I spent the rest of my time on the computer before going to bed. I chatted with Andrew on Facebook since he had just given us his Facebook account. At the same time, I was googling “creatures with scentless blood,” since I didn’t know what to say for Andrew. I came to some links, but none of them had much of anything I meant. But I did see the last link say, “Creatures of the Dead.” I clicked it anyway just to be curious, and read the article. I rolled my eyes and grimaced as I read some B.S. about zombies and ghosts.
There was one part of the paragraph that said, “There are certain souls on earth that walk around like normal living human beings, though they are really dead and passed away, and they either have no blood, or their blood is just dried up and dead as well. Some, such as zombies.” I narrowed my eyes and slightly laughed. Andrew was no zombie, I was not going to believe in that. I may have believed vampires existed, and maybe even ghosts, but not zombies. I scrolled to the bottom of the article, and came to where it said, “See more about demons.” I clicked on where it said demons, and before reading the page, I responded to Andrew in the chat box. Even online he was retard and funny.
I came back to the article, and winced in surprise at the dark, bloody background that almost scared me. It looked so dangerous and horrifying. There were scary horror faces with their mouths hanging open like dead monsters. There was also blood splattered behind the white-printed words. The rest of the background was dark black. I read the first paragraph, and winced.
Some believed that the devil walks the earth in the body of another living creature. It was once said that a human may become possessed, or have the devil trapped inside their body, and can go on doing evil, demonic things that are inhuman, such as snarling in a devilish, real way, or even talking different in a deep, evil voice.
I had to chuckle at that. It reminded me of Leonardo, who had a deep scary voice. Lewis, on the other hand, did have a deep voice, though it sounded musical and sexy. Though, at the same time, he could also make it sound more evil than Leonardo likes he has done later on.
As I read on, I was transfixed as I read,
When a body is possessed with a demon trapped inside, the body can go on living forever, for the demon is immortal. Though, the body can die after a certain time, and the demon can still keep it alive if still inside.
A way to free the demon from a body, is to chase it out with a certain verse from the Bible, and when the demon is freed from the body, the body itself can either die like it’s supposed to after a long time, or it can go on living as the person it was before the demon got in.
Well, I thought to myself. That’s a pretty interesting story. Maybe I’d like to copy it to a message and send it to Jessie right now.
But then I gasped as I read,
If a demon is trapped in the body of a human, and the human body dies after a period of time, the demon can still live on inside, so that the body still appears to be alive. Though, the blood in the body dies with the person as well.
For a moment, I looked up from the article, and stared straight ahead, to where there was an awesome poster hung on the wall of one of my favorite bands. But I was zoned out. There was no way Andrew could be……..the article did say that the demon still lives on in the body.....but the body could already be dead after a while, as well as the blood.
No wonder it’s scentless to the vampires, I thought. If this article seriously was true, Andrew could be dead with a demon trapped inside him.
I flinched in surprise as the chat box on Facebook made a popping noise and I saw that Andrew had sent me a message:
“Hey, u awake there, ponytails?”
I stared at the message for a moment, and then responded:
“Ya, just surfing the net at the same time ;)”
Then I typed,
“So u liv by urself? Wheres the rest of ur family?”
He responded, “Oh, I’m a college student so ya, I have my family at home, but im always in college. I go to Winston University.”
“Cool I might be going there.”
When he didn’t answer for about a minute or two, I was beginning to think whether he could be going into his demonic phase, acting all possessed and crazy like the devil’s trapped in him at the moment, and then suddenly the chat box popped open again.
“Oh really? Sweeeet! How bout louise, Jessica, and everyone else? and ashton? Hes actually pretty hot XD.”
I rolled my eyes and laughed rudely. I chatted with him until eleven, and then went to bed.
I always slept in a black nightgown, or my dad’s large shirt with some short-shorts. I had five black nightgowns from different places, and tonight, I slept in the satin one.
I lay there for a moment, thinking about what I had just read. The article about demons had really disturbed me, and I really did wonder whether Andrew could be a demon. I didn’t want to think of him the way I had thought of Dalton, whether he was a vampire or not, so I had to talk about this the next day. Could Andrew really have a demon in that stupidly dressed body of his? And could he have really been dead for who knows how long with the demon living inside of him and keeping him alive? It seemed impossible at the same time since a person with the demon inside of them would actually fake it that they’re normal, but it could probably be possible. And what if Leonardo knew about that? Maybe that could be why he didn’t kill him……
I also remembered what I read about how a person gets the devil trapped inside of them. It starts out when someone sacrifices a virgin in a pendulum sort of thing over the devil sign, under the full moon. After chanting a ritual to the devil, they kill the virgin for the devil, and if the person really wasn’t a virgin, the devil gets trapped in that body and the body must kill other bodies to keep the ritual alive. Scary, I thought. But Andrew was no girl……hopefully. Weren’t only girls supposed to be sacrificed during the ritual? No, he really was no girl. I felt nothing on his shirt when he gave me a hug.
I sighed and went to sleep.


It wasn’t until late in the night that I woke up at three in the morning from a bang outside. I tiredly blinked my eyes open, and looked to my right to my window. It sounded as if one of our trash cans were knocked over or something. The Twilight Rose glimmered in the full moon light, and after staring at it for a few seconds, I fell back asleep.
But about five minutes later or so, I heard a slight rumble. Too lazy to open my eyes, I winced and cursed silently. But then, I recognized the sound as the sound of my windowsill being lifted up, and suddenly, I felt the moonlight being blocked. I snapped my eyes open instantly, and looked up into the tall, dark shadow of Leonardo. I opened my mouth to scream, but his hand was too quick, and he covered my mouth instantly.
“Shh,” he whispered with an amused chuckle. “Save your screaming for later, honey.” His cold hand froze my whole face. It felt much colder than Dalton’s hand right now.
Suddenly, Jack, who had come to sleep by my bedside, started barking loudly, and growling.
Leonardo whipped his head to Jack, and as he locked eyes with him, Jack started to whimper.
“Hmph. You know, Nate’s always admired that dog of yours,” he said, taking his hand off.
“Nate?” I said indignantly, wincing.
In a split of a second, I was rushed out the room from my window, and I felt Leonardo hold me as he dropped to the ground, and ran hard against the wind. Within a few seconds, we were inside a familiar place by a large window.
I gasped as he dropped me to the ground with Jack next to me as well. I recognized the place as the haunted mansion on Full Moon street. We were in a room I’ve never been in before, though the strange, dusty and bloody scent and windows made me realize we were in the haunted mansion. There was a large window on the ceiling, and the full moon shone through the open slit in the middle, lighting up the shadows.
“What the hell?!” I screamed, jumping up.
“Lie back down, little girl,” cooed a smooth, sly female voice that sounded like Delaney’s.
I frowned and turned, but it wasn’t Delaney, for I could tell through the shadows that the hair was curly and hung over her back instead of over her shoulders like Delaney always had hers like. The female suddenly appeared thorough the shadows under the moonlight and revealed her striking face, with dark eyeliner over her wide, evil blue eyes, curly blondish hair, and blood red lipstick.
She pushed me with her cold hands to the floor.
“Oww! Dammit, BITCH!” I screamed, falling onto some handle bar on my hip.
Suddenly, cold hands wrapped around my arms, and before I knew it, my wrists were tied to the floor, as well as my ankles, and I was lying down, facing up at the full moon.
I screamed, remembering the devil sacrifice. “AHHH! NOO!! PLEASE DON’T KILL ME! What do you want from me, I’ll do anything!” I was so scared I couldn’t think, even though I already knew what Leonardo wanted from me.
Leonardo’s shadowed came over to my side, as well as the slut who knocked me over, and to my other side, a few more people gathered at my side. There were six of them, all pretty tall, except for the two on at the end who were the same height as each other. I choked a gasp in horror. Were they Jessica, Louise, Delaney, and the twins?! Had they really betrayed everyone? And there were six. Who was the other freak? It couldn’t be Dalton, for they were all quite tall.
“Where’s the necklace?” Leonardo asked sternly.
I looked up at his shadow, though I couldn’t see his face clearly in the shadows.
“I-I can’t give that to you!” I yelled. “You…..you can take me. But leave Dalton and everyone else alone!” From a distance, I heard Jack barking across the room, and the sound of chains tugging. They must’ve had him tied up.
“Oh, it’s a shame you wouldn’t give up another one of your accessories to someone who really needs it more,” said the female voice.
I winced. “What the hell are you talking about? That’s Jessie!”
“You know, I will let you go if you just give me the damn necklace, Nikki,” said Leonardo sweetly.
“No way! I can’t give that to you! Just take me right now if you want to! But leave everyone else alone!”
Leonardo laughed. “Ha! Sorry, can’t keep that promise. I’ll just have to go through this process with each of them one by one every full moon until someone gives me the necklace!”
“What are you going to do to Jack?!” I cried as I heard him barking again. “Lemme go!”
“Alright, let’s do this!” Leonardo yelled, and he walked away, when the room suddenly lit up from the torches all around the walls.
I screamed and struggled as I saw a scary, devilish monster head sticking out from the wall, though it was only a statue.
“Nooo! NOOO!” I yelled. “Let me go, please! I’ll do anything!” I shouted more pleadingly.
“Sorry Nikki,” said a smart-alecky voice in a sorry sounding tone. I gasped and turned as I recognized the voice.
“Nate!” I hissed through clenched teeth, staring wide-eyed up at him in horror.
He was wearing black tight pants like he always wore, but along with a leather black sweater and a wristband with sharp points around his wrist. His hair was spiked, though this time, it was it a more neatly spiked in a neat line, and he had black eyeliner on. He looked bad and so different than the goofy, smart-ass jock he was at school. He was looking at me down with a sorry expression on his face, though it was hard to see since it wasn’t like him to look sorry as he felt, as well as him having the eyeliner.
“It wasn’t my choice,” he said quietly. “Sorry.”
“What the hell- are you a vampire?!” I screamed.
“No, he isn’t,” said the blond slyly, putting an arm around his shoulder. “He’s with us because we found him with the necklace.”
“The necklace?!” I winced. “What- oh! You stole it when you came to my house with Dalton, didn’t you?!”
Nate said nothing. He was meeting my gaze.
The blond next to him chuckled. “He stole it, and then forgot where he had put it. So it’s not really you we’re mad at, he did say he had opened the necklace and poured out the blood from the gem.”
I gasped and looked at Nate, who was staring at the ground with a reluctant expression.
The girl chuckled. “Silly boy, you had no idea how important that drop of blood was. Now you have to pay. We wanted to know where he had put it, but since he had no idea where the necklace itself was, we made him a deal. Either he joins us and find it since he lost the damn thing himself, or let us kill over anger.”
I blinked. Nate knew nothing about our incident, or the truth about Dalton and the others being vampires, but I guess, now he did. And he was on their side for ruining the necklace to help them along. But how were they going to get Aurora’s blood without it concealed in the necklace? “So why are you sacrificing me?”
“We can explain that later,” said Leonardo deeply. “Let’s start the ritual.” The vampires , along with Nate, all gathered around me, holding hands. “Everyone must chant! Those who don’t shall be sentenced to death!”
And the room was filled with the chanting of just Leonardo, Nate, the girl, and the five other people who looked like vampires as well- thankfully I saw that they weren’t Jessica, Louise, Delaney, and the twins. The room rumbled from the horrible chanting, and even though I didn’t understand a word they were saying, the way they sounded sent a shiver down my spine, for they spoke with such dread and desire, with a cooing, sarcastic evil tone to it as well.
I let out a pleading scream. “Please, no! I’m really not a virgin!” I started to feel tears swell in my eyes.
They stopped the chanting. “Oh? Is that so?” Leonardo looked at me with a raised eyebrow. Then he cracked his evil smile. “Maybe we can be fine with that.”
I was keeping my horrified gaze at Nate, who cast me a reluctant look, and then turned away. “But-”
Leonardo interrupted me as he began to finish the chanting, and the others continued along with him, and as I screamed and struggled, they got louder, until finally, Leonardo yelled out the last strange words, and pulled out a dagger from his back and I screamed as it came down to my heart with a sharp, quick plunge.
Everything went black, and then suddenly, I jolted up with a start, my eyes wide in horror as I found I was in my dark, shadowy room in bed again. I was breathing hard, and I fell back on my pillow again, panting.
After a few minutes of breathing, I looked around. That was probably a worse nightmare than when I dreamed I was married to Joshua……maybe. I looked to my left and saw Jack looking at me from my bedside, his tail wagging, though he wasn’t panting.
“Jack….” I whispered. “I was dreaming, wasn’t I?”
The big lab gave a low whimper and kept his gaze at me. I guess I must’ve scared him with my horrified sleep talking. I was too scared, too scared to even get out of bed, though I didn’t want to go back to sleep and get caught up in the same dream again. How could have I dreamed such a thing? The information I had just learned about demons must be getting to my head. I stayed wide-eyed and awake for a while, until I fell back asleep. I don’t know how I had managed to fall asleep after a dream like that, but I did.













5. CRAVING
The next morning, I had to drive in the car with Edward. He teased me, and I snapped back and teased him, though with a less mean tone.
In the car, he looked at me and smirked. “You’re pretty pathetic this morning. What the hell do you mean when you say that at least I’m bi and will never get a girlfriend?”
I narrowed my eyes. “You didn’t hear me talking in my sleep last night, did you?”
“No, I didn’t hear anything,” he said. “But you did leave your window open.”
I whipped my head to him and winced. “What?”
“Your window was open,” he said carefully, as if I was too stupid to understand. “I checked your room, and I found to window open, all the way up, as if you had forgotten to close it-”
“Yeah, okay cool, shut up. Whatever. Dad will close it,” I looked away, and bit my tongue. I couldn’t discuss my dream with Edward, for he didn’t know anything about the vampires. Only Lynn, Ms. Fletcher, Ashton, Analiese, Jeremy, and Jessie were the only ones who knew about the secrets.
I opened my door and sighed. “Bye, Edward.” I said dramatically, giving him a sassy smile.
He gave me a smirk and slammed his door, walking away from me over to a group of noisy guys.
I hopped out of the car, and let out a surprised scream. “Ow-!” I yelled a cuss word in pain. My hip hurt like hell, and I felt like my right leg was going to break off…..as if I had bumped it…..
No, it couldn’t be. That was all a dream, and I must’ve done something in my sleep to hurt my hip. Whatever I did, my right hip hurt like crazy when I walked, and I looked like an old lady limping. I looked around, made sure no one was giving me any weird looks.
Suddenly, Jessie was at my side. “Sup! Andrew’s hot, did you see his pictures of him on Facebook?”
I laughed. “Yeah, he’s such a retard. Hey, so are William and Jenny going out? They’ve been messing with each other before she asked out Lewis. And just the other day, Jenny said something about William being cute when he’s bored.”
Jessie winced and shrugged. “IDK. People have been talking some about it, but I think she’ll end up asking him out. She sticks with people too closely.”
I was just thinking about telling Jessie my dream until she started laughing.
“Why the heck are you walking like that?” She giggled, giving me a snotty smile. “You look like you’re-”
“Hey! There’s Jenny! And she’s with William! Let’s go!” I interrupted and pointed over to where Jenny was Jessica, Delaney, William, and….Nate.
I blinked as I saw him. Everyone looked at me as I called, and Nate still kept his naughty grin on his face as he looked at me. Of course it was a dream. He wouldn’t be on Leonardo’s side, along with a couple of other weirdo vampires I had made up in my dream.
Jessie and I ran up to them and Jessie immediately was at Jenny’s side, talking to her in a low, naughty tone, saying William’s name a couple times. I gave William a sideways smile, who was looking over at Jessie with a raised eyebrow.
“Are you gonna ask her out?” I said.
He looked at me and slightly laughed. “I dunno. She can ask me out if she wants to.”
Nate hit his shoulder. “You’re scared! You like her, you know it!”
“Yeah, just ‘cause she’s braver at doing stuff like that than you,” I said to him.
“You should do it yourself and surprise her,” said Jessica, giving him a sly look.
He smiled crookedly, looking over to where Jessie and Jenny had walked a few feet away, talking and laughing. “Eh……not yet. Nate’s gotta ask out Louise.”
I gave him a grimace. “WTF? Where the hell did that come from?” I looked at Nate, feeling like everything was just normal with all this stuff at school, and I almost forgot about what Nate did in my dreams.
Nate cracked up and turned away. “Shut up! She’s on my team in P.E.! She’s so rough and she’s always aiming for me when we play soccer! That’s why we’re always talking so much.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes. “Jessie sucks at all P.E. sports! She’s so retarded.”
“Hey, where’s Dalton by the way?” Said Delaney in an soft, innocent tone. “Ever since you two dated, you were together like-”
“Dalton’s screwing with Louise and Jeremy,” Nate interrupted in his smart-alecky tone. “They’re talking about Andrew and laughing a lot like morons.”
“I wanna talk about Andrew,” I said in an upcoming tone.
Nate grimaced at me. “Dude! That guy’s ugly! What a freak! I can’t tell if he’s gay or bi!”
“Well, I’m glad to know you aren’t gay like I thought,” said Jessica, poking his shoulder.
I was about to add a comment along with her, but then my expression faded. How did Nate know about Andrew……? Oh yeah, stupid me, of course Dalton must’ve told about him.
“Dude! Did you hear what he said to Joshua?!” I said, laughing.
William looked at me with a smile. “Psh! Did he go gay for him?”
“No! he freakin’ asked…..” I went on talking with everyone until the bell rang for science and we lined up along the science door, waiting for Ms. Fletcher.
I was still talking and laughing loudly with William.
“She’s talkin’ about you, look at her,” I said sassily, smiling over to where Jessie and Jenny stood at the end of the line, still chatting away.
William kept his sideways expression at them. “Psh, let them talk. It’s only Jessie.” He turned away.
I winced at him. “What do you mean, only Jessie?”
“Well, she talks about everybody, you know that!” He laughed. “Everyone’s used to it by now.”
“Nah, not really,” I shrugged. “Jeremy and lots of people can’t stand her, as much as they talk to her a lot. I can’t stand her either, but she’s still cool to me.”
“She’s probably telling Jenny to ask me out anyway right now,” he said. “I’ll wait and see what happens.”
“Whatever,” I shrugged. “Just don’t wait too long. She’ll find another guy!” I took out my phone as it vibrated from a text message.
“Damn! It’s Andrew!” I yelled, though I had an excited smile to my face.
William looked at the message. “Ooh, what’s he saying?”
Sup hun? Im right by ur school rite now :) wanna sneak out and see me 4 a bit? XXOO
William snickered. “Hey, I dare you to show that to Dalton.”
I nudged my elbow at him. “No way! You heard what he did to him before. Stupid Andrew.” I texted back:
Sry id rather stay in science class at the moment. We’re studying sex cells o.0
I shut my phone as Ashton was approaching me.
“Hey Nikki, I spoke to Ms. Fletcher about Andrew,” he said urgently, and then blinked at William as he noticed he was looking at him as well.
William grimaced. “What the heck? Why would you wanna tell Ms. Fletcher about Andrew?”
“Probably ‘cause we’re studying sex cells today and Andrew just happens to be a gay wad,” I said quickly, shrugging. I gave a sassy smile. “What did she say?”
He gave a slight wince, not knowing why I would ask him in front of William, but I was just purposely being a hussy to him right now. And not because my hip kept bothering me every time I walked.
Ms. Fletcher arrived and sighed. “Sorry I’m late, guys. Alrighty! I bet you’re excited to be learning about you know what!” She said, raising her eyebrows. The class all started chattering excitedly and laughing with one another.
We entered the class and learned our lesson, and had another crazy time in science. Dalton and I did a lot of talking and laughing, and we turned around to where Jeremy and Analiese sat behind us, and kept talking like crazy. Jeremy threw his pencil sharpener at me, so I kept it and threw my pencil at his face. Ms. Fletcher told us to calm down or I’d see her in detention.
By lunch, we were sitting together, joking about Andrew.
“He texted me this morning, asking me to ditch class and see him in front of the building! I told him I’d rather be in science,” I said.
Jessie raised her eyebrows at me. “Why?! You should’ve gone with him!”
“Nah, maybe I would’ve ditched some other class, but not science.” I saw that I had already finished my lunch, but I was still hungry. I took some of Jessie’s fries without asking. She was too busy laughing.
Suddenly, I noticed something and winced. I looked at Dalton. “Hey!” I hit his back, for he was leaning over the table, yelling and messing around with Ashton and Jeremy, trying to grab at their binders. “Hey, guess what.”
He turned to me.
“I’m not sore anymore all of a sudden,” I said simply. “It’s weird, but I can walk normal again.” “That’s cool. What the hell did you dream about anyway?”
“Dude, I dreamed about Nate being with Leonardo and along with some vampires I’ve never seen before,” I was wincing hysterically as I told him. “Stupid huh? I was just looking up demons on the internet and found some pretty weird stuff that stuck to my head I guess.”
“What the heck? Why would you want to search demons?” Jeremy was giving me a rude face.
I frowned back at him. “Why were you searching pictures of Andrew?”
“What?!”
I started laughing. “Seriously! I saw your comments on each of his pictures! You commented on every picture on his profile.”
“Wait, you think Andrew could be a devil or something?” Dalton snickered in a low voice.
I gave him a sideways smile. “No, it’s just that it did say if your body has the devil trapped in it, your body itself can die after a period of time, though the devil still keeps it alive since the devil is immortal. And that once the body is dead, you’re not able to smell the dead blood in it, even though the devil keeps it alive.”
Dalton’s expression slightly winced, and then he laughed. “Nah, I don’t think that’s true.”
“Hey, lemme guess. You had a dream they did the devil ritual thingy on you,” said a naughty voice.
I turned and saw that Anthony was sitting in front of us.
I winced at him in surprise. “Psh, yeah!” I said simply. Hopefully he thought we were being hysterical about Andrew being a devil.
I realized I was still hungry. I saw Anthony holding something long and reddish.
“What the heck is that?”
“Jeremy’s sausage,” snickered Anthony. “Shh, he doesn’t know I stole it.”
I made a disgusted face. “Gross! Jeremy eats a lot, but he never brings something like that!” I so wasn’t a fan of most meats, though I wasn’t exactly vegetarian.
But as I stared at it, I felt myself craving even more. I looked over and saw Jessie laughing with everyone else to the right. Jeremy took James’s hot cheetoes.
“Dude, Jeremy! That’s like your seventh bag!” Analiese said indignantly.
I stared at him. I felt like I could eat more than seven bags right now, though for the strangest reason, I was craving meat. Jeremy ate like a pig almost every day, but he wasn’t even very average. He was actually pretty thin, like he always was. Nate, Dalton, and Anthony were the same way as well, though Dalton as a vampire never ate anything anymore, and I didn’t know much about William eating a lot.
But I felt myself throbbing with hunger, and then before I knew it, I found myself snatching the sausage out of Anthony’s hand and yelled out, “Hey, Jeremy! I dare you to have an eating contest with me!”
Jeremy turned to me and winced. “What the- with you?”
“Oh, Nikki eats a lot when she feels like to, trust me,” said Jenny sassily, winking at me.
“Yeah, Jeremy. Let’s see who can eat the most calories before the bell rings,” I said, giving him a smirk.
Jessie winced at both of us. “What the heck, Nikki? are you seriously doing it with a sausage?”
I shrugged. “It’s probably got more calories than ten bags of chips.”
“Okay, whatever!” Jeremy sat next to me, pushing Dalton aside.
Dalton nudged him roughly back, bumping him into me, making me bite my tongue, and finding myself wanting to chew it up.
“How much calories have you eaten?” I asked.
“Eh……” Jeremy counted quietly for a second. “I don’t really know, but probably about a thousand just at lunch right now.”
I smirked at him. Everyone was watching us. “I’ve got a thousand and a hundred. What now?”
And we started, everyone watching us and giving us any of their leftovers they didn’t want.
Nate watched us, cracking up. “This is gonna be good! I’ve always wanted to see one of them throw up!”
By the time the bell had rung, I had eaten the entire sausage, and a bunch of other stuff that I couldn’t keep track of.
“I’m not even full!” I stood up and stomped after Jessie and the others.
“Yeah, me neither,” said Jeremy, running after me. “Wanna do it after school again?”
“Yeah, do it after school again!” Nate turned around. “That was awesome! I think Nikki actually beat you!”
“No she didn’t!” Jeremy looked over to Ashton. “Ashton! Who won?”
Ashton shrugged. “I’d say both of you could beat anyone else anyway.”
“Dude, you were supposed to keep track!” Jeremy gave him a slap on the shoulder.
“It doesn’t matter!” I yelled, feeling grumpy and hungry again. “I’ll do it after school again!”
“Geez, Nikki,” Analiese was wincing at me. “Why are you eating so much all of a sudden?”
“Shut up! I eat a lot when I want to!” I snapped, not meeting her gaze.
Dalton laughed. “Yeah, but you never it meat like sausage!”
Behind me, there was an obnoxious laugh from Joshua. “Dude, did you hit puberty, or something?”
I turned and gave him a kick at the leg. “No, I’m just in the mood to challenge Jeremy, that’s all.” I said roughly.
I clenched my teeth as I walked right behind Jessie, Nate, William, Anthony, and Jenny, looking at the ground with narrowed eyes. I was getting hungrier every second.
Dalton was looking at me. “You okay?”
“Yes I’m fine!” I hissed through clenched teeth. I knew I could eat a lot like Nate and Jeremy, for I’ve always been a pretty stick thin figure, almost as tall as Nate, but why was I wanting to do it so much all of a sudden?
“Hey, Nikki!” Jessie turned around, her face red from laughing. “Nate’s gonna do the contest with you and Jeremy!”
I shot my head up, feeling my face burning with rage and hunger. I was staring at Nate straight in the eyes, and from the way his naughty smile changed into a slight wince at me, I realized I must be glaring a look of hatred at him.
“Umm……Nikki? You okay?” Jenny said in a concerned tone. “Your face is burning red.”
“Yeah, you sure you’re not ready to throw up?” Dalton added, naughtily smiling at me.
“Hey, if you do, you’re disqualified as if you didn’t eat anything at all,” said Jeremy.
I whipped to him and pushed him hard against the wall………very hard. I mean, hard like the way Dalton had kicked Andrew across the bar, except the wall was right next to him, so he didn’t hit as badly.
But he grunted and fell down, and Jessie, Jenny, Analiese, Nate, William, Dalton, Ashton, Anthony, and Joshua all stopped and stared down at him in surprise.
I was clenching my teeth so hard, I thought they would fall off. I suddenly realized how hard I had pushed him and I widened my eyes, though they were still in a glare. I suddenly turned back and dashed away, stomping hardly and running as fast as I can.
I didn’t know where I was going, but in a split of a second, I found myself in front of the school building. I was panting hard, and then I realized how fast I had gotten all the way here. I shot my head up, and gasped. Was I a……vampire? I was thirsting for…meat or maybe even blood….and I felt stronger and faster than I had ever been.
And then I choked my next gasp. What if it’s worse? What if that wasn’t a dream last night? What if I really had the devil ritual done on me, and I had become……..the devil? I wasn’t a virgin ever since I went out with Joshua. No…..it couldn’t be. I couldn’t have the demon possessed in me.
I walked slowly forwards. I was in front of the school building. Suddenly, I saw a guy coming up towards me in the distance on a bicycle. I suddenly had the most horrible idea in my head…..but I was so hungry. I came up to him and he stopped.
“Hey,” I said coolly, giving him a slight smile.
He winced. “Hey,” he replied. “Do I know you from somewhere? You seem kinda familiar.”
I shrugged and started slowly walking around him in circles. “I dunno. Do you go here?”
“No, my brother Damien does.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I know him. He’s friends with Edward.”
“Oh! Edward! Yeah, I know you! You’re his crazy sister Nikki! I’ve seen you before I think. I go to Winston College, and I’ve heard my brother talk weird things about you.”
Winston College. That was the college where Andrew went to.
“Cool,” I said sassily. Then I eyed him. “You’re passing by, right?”
“I’m late for college. Yeah, I’m passing by. Winston College isn’t far from here.”
“Oh. Okay,” I replied. I stopped by his right side and looked him straight in the eye. “No one knows you’re coming, right?” I said evilly.
He hesitated and slowly shook his head. “No, no one knows.”
“Well,” I said through clenched teeth. “In that case….” I suddenly pushed him off his bike harder than I’ve ever pushed anyone off their bikes, and leaped into the air like an animal, landing onto his body and tearing it to shreds, his last scream sounding out for a second. Before I knew it, he looked like a bloody mess, like how a zebra looked like when a lion had just left it as carcass. I looked down, feeling a thrill of exhilaration and evilness sweep through me…..like an evilness I had never felt before.
Suddenly, I stopped breathing and felt myself back into my normal self. I was horrified as I stared at the dead body. How could I have done that?! I knew I always made myself evil around certain people, but never this kind of evil. I wiped my lips and felt a whole lot of sticky blood splotched around my mouth, as well as the front of my clothes. I let out a scream of horror and anger and pulled down my high ponytails, throwing myself to the ground and rolling around in a fit, screaming and crying out madness.
“You knew you just did that, didn’t you?” Came a soothing innocent voice.
“What?!” I shot up and faced Andrew. He had an understanding look of sorrow on his face. “You! What are you-?”
“I saw you,” he said solemnly. “You really are evil.”
I widened my eyes and then frowned. “No, that wasn’t my fault! I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with me!” I suddenly grabbed at his shoulders and pulled him to me. “Andrew!” I hissed ragingly. “I’m the demon, right? I have the freakin’ demon possessed in me, and that wasn’t a dream! Right?!”
“Hey, hey, calm down little girl!” he said teasingly, though he had a slight look of worry in his smile. “How am I supposed to know that?”
“I don’t know! But that really wasn’t a dream of the ritual, I didn’t just dream up some random vampires and that……Nate really was with Leonardo!” I suddenly pushed him away from me to the ground as hard as I can with incredible strength. I glared down at him as he winced in pain. “Andrew! Tell me something. Are you…..”
“Hey, hey!” He shot up. “I really don’t know what’s gotten into you, but I promise I will figure it out later. I’m sorry you had to discover this about yourself, but what’s done is done. But promise me, I will find out later. Meet me after school.”
“Why after school?!” I screamed. “I’m gonna freakin’ kill more people!”
“Only if you’re hungry, the demon inside you will strike,” he said understandingly. “But right now, I’m craving as well. You done with that body?”
I stared at him in horror and glanced at the dead body. “Of course!”
“M’kay then,” he smiled at me. “I’ll take care of it.”
I winced and then walked away, not in the mood to be nosy.
But as I reached a classroom door, I looked back, and widened my eyes in horror at what I saw. Andrew had crouched down at the dead body, his mouth pressed to the hole in the throat where blood was leaking out, his sharp teeth revealed.


6. THE PLAY
I suddenly turned around and walked faster with a look of horror on my face. So Andrew really was a vampire. I had to tell everyone else about this, but what could I say about me having the demon in me?
I had to wash up all this blood. I went to the bathroom and washed my arms and face, and took off my black short-sleeved sweater. Luckily, I had worn it closed this time. Underneath was a spaghetti strapped shirt that was all black with a pattern of sparkles curving around. Crap, we weren’t allowed to wear spaghetti straps. And if I turned my sweater inside out, I would look stupid. Oh well. If I got in trouble, I’d rather get out of school and stay away from everybody….until I got hungry.
I cursed under my breath and decided to pretend I had left my sweater in my P.E. room….I couldn’t think of a good excuse right now.
I was just passing by a group of noisy boys I recognized as some of Joshua’s friends. The short guy on the right passed by me and whacked my arm with a necklace.
I whipped my head to him with a naughty smile and gave his back a hard shove, knocking him to the ground hard.
“Ah! Bitch!” He yelled with a hint of laughter.
I guess there were some things to be proud of since I had incredible strength. But nevertheless, I really would rather not. I was more than just a mean person at school.
I guessed we were in math right now, so I stomped up the door to math class. I gasped in surprise as I felt something drop in front of me. It was a red drop, and it made a small splash on the ground.
I looked up and saw that there was a black cat staring down at me from the roof of the building. It had……bright blood red eyes as it stared down at me with a glare, and it hissed at me, opening its mouth, showing a mouthful of sharp teeth with blood dripping from them.
I winced in horror and clenched my fists. I slowly took a step to the door, keeping an eye on the cat as it kept its piercing angry eyes on me. It hissed as I got closer, but maybe it was because it knew I had the devil in me and that I was….different. But something about this cat seemed different as well. It was the size of a regular black house cat, but its teeth were huge and sharp like a tiger’s. I couldn’t help but think it had bitten someone with those bloody teeth.
I swung the door open and stepped into class, not meeting anyone’s gaze as I kept my sweater to my side where no one would notice it much.
I sat next to Ashton and hid my sweater in my backpack. Dalton cast me a glance before I sat in front of him, and then looked back down to a paper he had. I winced. Okay, so what was his problem? Whenever he looked at me, he always had my favorite expression of his with a naughty smile as well as admiration in his eyes. His gaze looked somewhat troubled, and then I looked down at my backpack. It couldn’t be the blood on my sweater that’s setting him up. He had been living on animal blood like the Outsiders did, so he wasn’t thirsting anymore, so what was his problem? Did he sense my blood and realize something has changed about me? Could he tell just by the blood that I was the devil? I thought back to when Andrew had suddenly shown up after I had killed the college student. He must be a vampire, and he seemed to have realized what I was before I had exactly told him. But still, I had to tell Dalton first.
“Hey, where were you?” Whispered Ashton, wincing at me.
I met his gaze. “I had to throw up in the bathroom.” I lied. “Don’t tell Jeremy.”
“I won’t,” he said quickly.
“Hey, where is he?” I looked around. The classroom was quiet, and everyone seemed to be working on something with their history textbooks out.
“Over there, talking to Mr. Valentino,” said Ashton.
I looked over and saw that he seemed fine as he stood in front of Mrs. Palmer’s desk.
“Hehe, nothing kills him, seriously,” snickered Anthony. “He got hit in the head by a baseball when he was five, and he lived.”
Analiese glanced at him. “Psh, maybe that’s why he’s so dumb and moronic.”
Mr. Valentino came over to my desk and handed me a paper. “Next time you need to come with a pass okay? We’re taking the test now.”
I nodded and took the paper.
When math was over, I got up to face Dalton and ask him something, but he was already about to talk to me as well.
“Hey, what really happened to you?” He said loudly, as if he wasn’t too concerned.
We started walking out the door.
“Uh….” Looked around to make sure no one was ready to come up to us. “Okay, you won’t believe this, but Andrew really is a vampire.”
He winced. “What?” He slightly laughed. “Are you sure? Is that what all the blood is about all over your sweater?”
I bit my lip visibly. “Well, yeah. But…you know that dream I had last night?”
“The crazy one with Leonardo and the devil ritual?” He chuckled, keeping his naughty smart-ass expression.
I returned his gaze. “Yeah,” I said sassily. “Turns out it really is true!” Then, more quietly and seriously I added, “No lie, I seriously have the devil in me. Did you see the way I killed….I mean……hurt Jeremy?”
Dalton looked at me for a moment, and then laughed. “Yeah, like you’re always doing to him? I didn’t see much difference that time, except you weren’t laughing rudely at him like you usually do when you strike people.”
I rolled my eyes and gave him a small slap on the shoulder. “Well, I guess you didn’t sense anything different about me like I thought you would! And seriously, when I strike people physically, I know I do it harder than I should, but not to the point when I nearly kill them literally.”
Dalton winced at me. “What? You were planning to kill him? Psh! Who doesn’t want to kill Jeremy?”
I gave him an angry look with wide eyes, and raised my hand as if I were going to hit him really hard, and he laughed and backed sideways.
“Nah, I’m kidding!” He yelled, laughing. “So what did you do when you ran away like that? I know you didn’t throw up.”
I looked at him and laughed. “I already told you, you ass! I found out how I was a demon. Seriously, I-”
“You killed someone…..didn’t you?” Dalton actually sounded serious this time.
I blinked. “Yes.” I said quietly. “I was still hungry as ever, and when some college student biked pass by, I……I couldn’t stop myself from craving….human flesh.”
Dalton looked at me understandingly for a moment, and then chuckled. “Now you know how I felt!”
“Yeah, except it’s flesh I’m feeding on, not blood!” I said indignantly. “Seriously, I’ve got to find a way to stop this.”
“Oh, damn. That might mean Nate really could be siding with Leonardo.” Muttered Dalton.
“Exactly. What should we do? If we were to talk to him, we would have to explain everything else and exploit all our secrets to him. And he may not even know everything, or even be part of it.”
“Well……how else would you have gotten the demon inside of you besides that dream? Oh yeah, did you know that if the demon escapes one person’s body it can come into another person’s body if the verse they said to them wasn’t strong enough to keep the devil away for good.”
I met Dalton’s eyes. “You know about this stuff?”
Dalton blinked at me. “A little. Not much that I can explain though. But you should try having someone say a verse to you to get rid of that demon. I can’t be near you when that happens since I’m prone to that stuff as well.”
I looked down. We were almost to the language arts class. “Whatever. But I have to do it as fast as I can. I really don’t wanna stay like this for another second.”
“Ask Ms. Fletcher!” Said Dalton. She could probably know the right verse to get rid of that demon. But hey, I did hear that the longer you stay like this, the easier it is for the demon to control the rest of your mind, so that you will feel more evil by the minute, even when you’re not hungry. I’ll tell you if you’re acting strange and that the evil really is taking over you.”
“Why? I wouldn’t care anyway.”
“Nikki! Dalton! Why you walking so slow?! Come on!” Jessie yelled in the back of the line.
“Oh, yeah, shut up, Jessie, I can run faster than you!” Dalton yelled back, speeding up with me. “And so can Nikki!” He added indignantly.
“Psh!” I hissed to him, snickering. I wondered how I was going to tell Jessie what was happening to me….or if I should tell her anyway.
We entered language arts, and I sat on my seat with a sigh, in front of Nate, who was turned around and laughing obnoxiously with Jeremy behind him.
Nate turned around as he noticed me. “Sup, Nikki! Jeremy has a broken spine because of you!”
I winced and gave Jeremy a sassy smile as he turned to us. “No you don’t! You walk better than Sam does!”
“What the heck?” Jessie winced at me.
“You know how Sam walks!” I said. “Like he’s got a hump on his back.”
Nate laughed. “Ha! I know; he’s like Michael Jackson waking up in the morning with makeup!”
“No!” Jeremy said loudly. “That’s Nikki!”
“Oh shut the-” I shouted, throwing a red pen on my desk at him.
“Alright! Can everyone quiet down!” Announced Mrs. Estelle. The class quieted down and I felt the pen hit my forehead and a snicker from Nate. I noticed Mrs. Estelle was wearing lipstick today.
I whipped my head to Jeremy just before he turned around and sat down. I shot the pen as hard as I can with the point pointing at his back, and since it moved so fast, it hit him hard in the back with the pointy end. He flinched and put his hand behind his back.
“Ahh!” He gasped quietly.
“Ooh, owned!” Dalton whispered.
“Nikki? Don’t be throwing things across the room,” said Mrs. Estelle, giving me a sideways look, which meant a warning.
“He threw it at me first,” I said in a shrugging tone.
“She threw it at me first!” Jeremy laughed, throwing his hands up in the air and snickering with his table.
“Alright, please take out your planners and write down your homework quickly; there’s something important I’m gonna tell you.” Mrs. Estelle announced to the class.
As soon as the class started talking as they took out their planners to write down the homework on the board.
I eyed Jeremy playfully even though he wasn’t looking at me, muttering silently under my breath.
“It’s coming,” snickered Dalton. He was giving me a naughty look. “The devil’s taking over you already.”
“Shut up!” I laughed, playfully kicking his foot under the table. I glanced at Nate and Jessie in front of us and saw that they were laughing with each other and Nate giving Jessie teasing comments every now and then, and they obviously didn’t suspect a thing….yet. I blinked at Nate, wondering what he really did know.
“Alright!” Mrs. Estelle announced as we quieted down. “We are going to be performing a play on June the 4th.”
The class all murmured loudly to one another excitedly.
“The week before we go on break!” Said Nate out loud.
“Yes, it’s on a Friday, and it’s the week before your last week of school,” said Mrs. Estelle, smiling. “But we’re going to have a little bit more than a month to get ready for the play. It’s going to be a play on Phantom of the Opera, and today, we are not going to start practicing, but we’re gonna go over the story, and the characters, and decide what characters each of you wanna be.”
Jessie cast me a quick disgusted glance, and raised her hand. “Do we have to have a part?”
Mrs. Estelle gave her a serious look and said seriously, but with expression, “Yes. Everyone has to play a part in the play. There are about twenty or so characters, and plus, there are some not-so-important characters, such as the horsemen, the delivery people, and if you’re not so comfortable playing a big part, you can play as one of the supporting characters with less screen time, or just a quick character.”
Mrs. Estelle passed us out packets with the title, “Phantom of the Opera” written in front.
“Damn, these are huge packets!” Said Dalton.
“Alright,” said Mrs. Estelle. “I’ve done this play every year with all my freshmen, and for those of you who had siblings here as freshmen, I bet you remember them doing some kind of huge play on this.” Yep, I did remember Edward and Lynn having to do this play. Haha, Edward had to play Erik, the phantom, and Lynn played Christine Daae. “But the only thing different thing about this is that this year, you guys are going to be performing at Winston College’s multipurpose room. Their multi is huge and perfect for performing a play like this.”
Jessie and I couldn’t help flinching and looking surprised, and Jessie actually gave out a surprised “Oh!” and Dalton just snickered.
Nate just gave us a casual look, not understanding what got us so suddenly uptight.
Mrs. Estelle noticed our expressions. “What? What’s wrong?” She slightly smiled.
“Nothing!” I smiled back. “That place just rang a bell.”
Mrs. Estelle kept her gaze at us for another second, and then looked at the class again. “Okay then. Alright! With your table group, decide three characters you want to be and then pick one that you’re most likely want to act.”
When the class started talking, Nate sat up in his chair. “Guess what? Joshua’s been hitting on Jenny! I bet he’s trying to get you jealous!” He pointed at me.
I winced and then laughed. “Okaaay? So what do I care? I really won’t be jealous of any girlfriend he has!”
“Dude, William better ask out Jenny soon!” Jessie said in an annoyed tone. “That bastard is so not going to have someone like her for his girlfriend!”
Dalton laughed with a wince. “What the heck! Jenny would say no to Joshua anyway! She’s got her eye on William and the both of them are too talkative to each other than she is with Joshua! Geez.”
I shrugged. “I’ll so kill her if she does say yes, though. Jenny I will kill, not Joshua.”
“Yeah, I really hate Jenny,” said Dalton, with a sideways smile on his face.
“It’s just that if she says yes to Joshua, then I’m killing her.” I said.
Jessie laughed. “Dude! Why not both of them? Joshua’s such a douche, seriously!”
I blinked and dared to bring this up. “Hey, if we’re gonna perform at Winston College, we’re gonna-”
“Oh yeah, that’s right!” Nate was smiling. “You guys will see that stripper boy again.”
Jessie pushed his shoulder. “Shut up! He’s hot!” She laughed.
Nate kept his smart-ass smile on her. “You will be expecting him to watch you guys.” He said teasingly.
I hope he really didn’t know the real reason why we feared Winston College. Andrew was a vampire, and now I was starting to have concerns about what he was really up to. Of course, he could just be some random vampire on the street, with nothing to do with Lewis or Leonardo…….but no, it actually was more likely for him to be a vampire on Leonardo’s side.
I volunteered to play Christine Daae, or a maid that barely had any show time. Dalton just tried out for a horseman, but he also volunteered to play Erik.


When school was over, I walked with Dalton, laughing and holding his hand, with Jessie walking with us, though I was looking forward to talking to Nate. How was I supposed to tell him my dream? Or Leonardo? I haven’t even told Jessie yet, and I didn’t want to speak since Jenny had just come up to us.
Jenny sighed. “Soooo, would it be right to ask out William now?”
“Yeah, before Joshua asks you out,” I laughed. “Seriously! Nate tells me that he wants to make me jealous!”
Jenny gave an indignant wince. “What the hell?! Why would he think you would be jealous?”
Dalton laughed. “I know! After that Andrew guy also!”
“Oh, shut up!” I gave Dalton a playful push with my hand that held his.
Jessie squealed. “Ooooh! I sooo wanna get with that Andrew!”
Ahead of us, we saw Delaney, Shawn, and Justin hanging by the wall on the other side of the way to Ms. Fletcher’s class, and we joined them, laughing and talking, and Dalton being an ass to the vampires, though they reacted back even worse to him.
I turned around, and then caught Nate walking passed us in the distance….alone. I blinked. Without thinking why, I snuck away and followed after him.
He was headed over to the lunch area, and as I looked to my left, I held my gasp as I saw someone in the distance. It was Andrew Flores, twirling his hair like a girl, smiling brighter as Nate made his way to him.
“Sup, Nate?” He said nicely.
Nate snickered and muttered something to him and handed him something. The two of them started talking in low voices that I couldn’t hear them from this distance, though they were naughtily smiling at each other as if Andrew was one of Nate’s closest friends.
Suddenly, there was a ferocious hiss at my right side, and I whipped over, facing down at the same black cat from earlier. It glared up at me with its reddish-brownish eyeballs, and hissed again, its long sharp fangs now clean and white. It started to give a low snarling “mrrroooooowww,” loud enough to be heard from a short distance. I puckered my lips in surprise and looked over to see that Andrew and Nate were still talking.
“Shut up!” I hissed back, though it took a step towards me, crouching as if ready to spring, and snarled even louder and bristling its jet black fur.
I gave it a sharp glare, and snuck back away from the area before they noticed I was there. Hopefully Andrew hadn’t sensed my blood.


















7. UNEXPECTED VISITOR
A few weeks passed by, and I actually haven’t been getting hungry lately. There really was no verse we could find on the internet that would work to let the devil out. I haven’t had the chance to speak with Ms. Fletcher after school about it since I was always caught up with my classmates. Word was going on that William was trying to avoid Jenny, for he wouldn’t talk to her much anymore, and he was always most talkative with Dalton now.
One day, I had the house to myself for the weekend, and instead of throwing a party on the Friday that everyone left, I only invited Dalton and the Outsiders over since I didn’t want to end up getting hungry and killing anybody.
“Psh, you know, a devil will kill any human soul, including mine,” said Dalton teasingly.
“Yeah, well, you guys aren’t humans, and plus, you all can run as fast as I can if I try to chase you,” I shrugged.
After a few hours of hanging out and messing around on the computer, I told Dalton about Nate and Andrew when the Outsiders went downstairs.
“Are you sure Nate’s just not really gay and was just having a private meeting with him?” Dalton laughed rudely.
“No! I saw him give him something!” I laughed. “It wasn’t a ring, I know that, okay?”
Dalton blinked. “Maybe we should start keeping an eye on him and spying on him to see what else he’s up to. If he really is on Leonardo’s side, we’re gonna have to know exactly what he’s doing.”
I looked at Dalton in the eye. “You know, today in history, Jessica told me Delaney’s watching Nate’s every move. She’s really spying on him and sneaking around his house as well.”
Dalton raised his eyebrows. “Stalker….I bet she’ll have fun doing that to Nate!”
I laughed. “Shut up! She thinks Nate’s ugly, okay? You know that! As much as they laugh with each other and as much as Nate teases her, she thinks he’s ugly.”
Dalton rolled his eyes. “Then why would she volunteer to spy on him?”
“Because she’s the quietest. Louise and the twins are already too talkative with Nate at school, and Jessica…..well, don’t let her know that I’m tellin’ you this, but Jessica has a thing for Nate ever since William’s birthday party several months ago.”
“Ohhh….no kidding? She likes him?” Dalton’s expression lit up into a naughtier smile.
I nudged him. “Don’t tell anyone I told you that! She only told me and Delaney.”
Dalton kept his eyebrows raised in a naughty expression. “Okay then. Wow, now there’s two reasons why I can’t look at Nate the same way again now.”
“Hey, after I saw him with Andrew, this weird black cat showed up and pretty much chased me away.”
“A cat?”
“Yeah, it was the same cat I saw after I saw Andrew sucking the blood from the guy I killed. And there was something strange about this cat! It had huge sharp fangs and reddish eyes. And I think it’s following me around.”
Dalton winced. “Well, Jack isn’t scared of any cat anyway, whether it’s got unusual fangs or not.”
And just right after he mentioned Jack, Jack suddenly barked from downstairs, and there was a loud knock at the door, more like banging than knocking.
Dalton and I looked at each other and winced.
“What kind of asshole knocks on the door like that…..” Dalton got up and opened the door to get out of my room, and I followed him down the stairs. Jack continued to bark louder at the door.
“Jack!” I hissed. “Be quiet!”
Suddenly Jack stood on his hind legs and pressed his front paws against the door and barked louder, nearly growling.
“Don’t answer it!” Dalton muttered. “They’re knocking so hard; I bet it’s someone-”
But I had already opened the door as Jack dropped onto all fours again, and I faced a strange-looking lady, who looked like she was in her twenties, though her hair was a wavy dirty blonde, and had streaks of fake red hairs streamed from around her head. She had heavy eyeliner and a little bit of black lipstick on and she wore hot pink gloves with sharp claws at the nails. I recognized her with horror as the girl in my nightmare, the one who had pushed me over.
“Hello…..Dalton,” she murmured in her girly, snotty voice that I recognized as well.
I gave a quick glance to Dalton and I saw that he had the same look of wide-eyed surprise as he saw her, and I faced the girl for half a second, and then let out a loud high scream.
I immediately slammed the door closed and Dalton muttered a surprise cuss and backed away, but before the door could shut all the way, the girl pushed the door open, her strength equal to mine as we both fought to close and open the door. Dalton came over to help me shut the door, but then the girl groaned.
“Ugghh! To hell with it!” And she quickly threw herself at the door like a blur, and dashed into the house, knocking us over as she got the door open.
Dalton shot up like a blur. I winced and put a hand on the back of my head where I had bumped it, then I shot up, glaring at the girl. Jack looked up at her and gave a small whimper and took a step back.
“What the-!” I began in confusion and then she whipped around to return my gaze.
“They’re here, aren’t they?!” She hissed dangerously, biting her black lip with her sharp teeth revealed.
I rolled my eyes. “Uh! Who?!”
“The Outsiders,” she snapped through clenched teeth. “Don’t lie to me, I can-”
“You’re the girl……in my nightmare, aren’t you?” I interrupted, shaking my head in disbelief. “You’re the bitch you pushed me over…..what the hell do you want from us? I told you I was no virgin.”
“Wait a second!” Dalton looked at me with a confused frown. “You mean she was the one in your dreams?!” He sounded shocked.
I blinked. “Yeah, but I guess it really was no dream.”
“Oh my gosh- she’s the-” Dalton’s eyes were wide and full of horror, and the blondie stepped in front of him with a smirk on her face.
“That’s right. Couldn’t help not recognizing you with those crazy ponytails, dark clothes, and heavy eyeliner,” she said sarcastically.
“Thank you,” I replied edgily with the same sarcasm. At least my eyeliner wasn’t messy like hers.
“Whoa, what the hell?” Came Shawn’s surprised voice. I saw that the Outsiders were coming over. They all suddenly had surprised looks of horror on their faces.
Louise let out a scream. “Ahh! Dammit, what does she want now?!” Surprisingly, she actually sounded annoyed and disgusted than terrified like the others.
I frowned. “So you all know her? Who is she?! What does she want?”
“Dude, no way. It’s her,” said Justin, keeping his unblinking eyes on her.
“Oh shut up, Justin,” she snapped in a snotty tone. “You know I haven’t been interested in you in years.”
“Yeah?” Jessica said sweetly. “Is it someone new this time?”
Louise elbowed her arm with a furious glare on her face. “Shut up!” Then she met the girl’s gaze with a narrowed look of hatred. “Just tell this hussy to back her ass off before I smack her sick ugly face.”
The girl just laughed. “Ha! I see none of you freaks have changed.” She gave me a wink and turned to Dalton. “How about our Dalton here? Is he growing to be as retarded as you all?”
“Apparently yeah,” Dalton shrugged, not looking scared anymore.
I rolled my eyes and couldn’t help slightly laughing. “Is she just another reunion with an old enemy from school, or she some dangerous monster from my dream? Someone tell me something.”
“It’s a monster,” muttered Shawn.
The girl whipped to him and smacked him to the floor with a lightning-fast swat of her arm.
Delaney rolled her eyes and sighed. “Nikki, this is my sister. And yes, she is someone dangerous.”
The girl faced me with a sly smile. “That’s right, sweetheart. I am Rosaline Sapphire. I possess a special power that no other vampire has,” she twirled her fake red streak of red hair. “I have the power to transform into any creature on earth that I want.” She stared into my eyes for a second with a wicked grin and winked.
I suddenly widened my eyes. Her eyes- they were a reddish brown, as I finally noticed under all that messy dark eyeliner. And her teeth I saw, were long and sharp, and looked the same as……the black cat I had met a few times.”You-you’re that cat I kept on meeting.”
“Yeah, you can say that,” she shrugged, smiling. “But like I said, I can morph into any creature in the world that I want to be. I’m not always the cat.”
“Yeah, she’s a smelly skunk or a crazy, ugly ape,” Dalton snickered to Shawn as he got up.
Rosaline puckered her lips and raised her arm to swat at Dalton, but as he flinched and slightly ducked, Rosaline smiled. “I’m not gonna hurt you just yet, sweetie. I’ve got a bone to pick with you too. Anyways, Nikki, I was born with Leonardo and my mother, Aurora. I should tell you that I was the only one in my family to hold this power of morphing, no one else. Delaney can’t turn into any animal but her own self.” She flashed her sister a sassy gaze. Delaney just kept her narrowed gaze on her, her blue piercing eyes piercing at Rosaline. “I understand you have had a nightmare, haven’t you?” she raised her eyebrows at me.
“Yeah,” I winced. “Did you guys, like, want me to turn into the devil? Was that why you killed me anyway?”
“Ah, you got that right! You see, I had the same problem as you. I had the demon in my body.” She gave me a wink. “Years ago, when I was just growing up, right when I reached year fifty, I met some humans who tricked me into hopping in a ride with them, though they wanted to try out the devil thingy on me. It was a shame, for I shouldn’t have lied to those boys that I was virgin, for when they tried to kill me, it didn’t work, so….yeah. I got the demon possessed in me.”
“But you’re a vampire,” I said roughly. “You wouldn’t have died from their stab anyway.”
“Oh, but they still did the ritual anyway. So after that, the demon took over me to harm humans more, though it was quite hysterical since I killed them for flesh, as well as to suck out the leftover blood remaining. But eventually, I became more evil than I usually was, and the other vampires couldn’t stand me. I couldn’t stand them either, so I fled all the way to the North Pole where I rested in the coffin of our greatest ancestor, Resmeralda, the first vampire to ever walk the earth.”
I winced. “First vampire to walk the earth?” I said sourly. “I thought it was Dracula.”
“Nah, he’s famous, but no one ever said he was the first vampire to walk the earth. No, Resmeralda was the first to walk the earth, and yes, Delaney and I are descendents of her. And no, Leonardo is not a descendent of Resmeralda. Aurora is, but not Leonardo. That’s why Aurora has the magic blood in her. She was one of Resmeralda’s descendents to be lucky enough to get her magic blood passed on to her. She was the only one to have it passed to her.” By magic blood, I remembered that it was the blood in Aurora’s necklace, the blood that had the power to bring back a dead vampire to life, as well as turn a live one back into human.
Rosaline continued. She walked around Dalton in circles, eying him with a naughty twinkling smile to her eyes. “But then Leonardo called me up one night, and opened up my coffin. He took me to join a ritual with him and a group of other vampires. They were going to do the devil ritual to a certain human female, and he wanted me to join. Well, unfortunately, after the ritual, some douche idiot uttered the verse that goes against the devil’s power and frees it from the soul. Guess who that idiot was? Your friend Nate.”
I flinched. “Nate?!” I screamed.
Even Dalton and the Outsiders looked surprised.
“What?! Nate knows the freakin’ verse?!” Dalton gasped.
“Oh, don’t take it personally!” Rosaline snapped. “He was reading it from a script, which I bet he lost already. It’s not like he’s that smart enough to memorize it. Anyway, the point is, is that I’m here to get the devil back inside of me. I need that demon in my soul. You’ve got it in you, though Leonardo planned that. He wanted you to be possessed by the demon so you can be one of us instead of ruining our plans against us. He thinks you would make a great ally on our side, so that was why he wanted you to become possessed with the demon.”
I winced and then rolled my eyes. “Wow, great. Thanks for the info.”
Rosaline chuckled and smiled sweetly. “Nikki, you’re such a fool. Did you really think Leonardo wouldn’t know that you weren’t a virgin?” She rolled her eyes and puckered her lips. “Anyway, I’m not leaving until I get the demon back inside my body. And also, I’m here to make sure you stay away from Natey at school.”
“What?” I winced.
“You know, pretty soon, Nate will tell you the verse to free you from the devil, since he was there at your ritual, and I was making sure you were staying away from Nate as much as possible.”
Dalton snickered. “Why expose yourself all of a sudden? Now you’ll be kept an eye on as well.”
Rosaline whipped her head to him and smiled innocently. “Well, I was disguised as a cat for a while, and Nikki, I really did do much more spying on you more than you know.”
I pulled my left ponytail down hard with anger and dropped my mouth open, glaring at her. “What- you-!” Before I was about to spit a mouthful of cusses at her, she interrupted just in time.
“Oh! Before you call me a stalker, I only meant I watched you in school, and if Nate was no where seen around you, I left you alone. But I got bored of being unknown and it was tiring to be sneaking around so much without fully exposing myself like I did to you that time you saw him with Andrew. I wanted to keep an eye on you without having to hide myself all the time.” She turned to the Outsiders. “You freaks know that I like attention.” Delaney rolled her eyes. Rosaline turned back to me.
“So….apparently you’re just here to make sure I keep away from Nate by being a bitch and distracting him from me?” I said flatly.
Rosaline twirled her hair again. “Yeah, you can put it that way. And plus, from the way I’ve been watching you, you seem pretty interesting to talk to anyway. I really didn’t want to be mean to you and just scare you away from getting closer to Nate like I did when I was a cat, so I’m just gonna hang around and spend time with Nate instead and make sure he’s keeping away from you. Anyway, we could still be friends at the same time anyway.” She gave me an innocent smile.
I gave her a grimace. “Oh, hell that! Like I would care to-”
“Hey, slut!” Louise’s angry voice came out in a pissed off yell. “There’s no way you’re butting in and spending time around Nate! I swear I’m telling the teachers that you’re just a prostitute pretending to be a student on campus if you show up at school next Monday!”
Rosaline’s expression turned into her fierce glare again and looked Louise in the eye. “Would the teachers really believe you? You think it’s that simple just to kick me off of campus? You’re still the same hussy I knew many years ago.” Rosaline turned to me. “You know, she and I used to be friends, believe it or not, and then when Louise wanted to ask out Lewis, I was always there to butt in and stop her with my flirting at Lewis. Trust me, if you think no one’s good enough to flirt with a guy like Lewis, you’re right, because I’m the only one who can. I did interest him well, seriously.” At the mention of Lewis’s name, my blood ran cold, though at the same time, I felt sorrow and regret.
Louise huffed. “Psh! That still didn’t get him to want to go out with you.”
“Oh, but it didn’t make it any better to have him want to go out with you either.” She turned back to me. “Trust me, Nikki. I really am good with flirting. Just watch me.”
Dalton rolled his eyes. “Awesome.” He said sarcastically.
I turned away from Rosaline. “Yeah, you can leave now. My parents will be coming back.”
“Oh? But are they not coming back until Sunday night?” She said innocently. “Don’t you want to hang out for a while?”
“Psh!” I grimaced a sassy expression. “Not on my life! Sheesh, get out of here! Wait till school to stalk me around!”
“Yeah!” Louise stomped up to her and faced her. The both of them were the same height exactly, so I guess Rosaline was half an inch or so taller than Delaney. “You really better not expose any other secrets around here, or I’ll have your ass naked in public in front of Joshua and all the other guys out there!”
Rosaline winced and laughed. “Okay then! Please make sure Nate’s with them! He’s such a hottie.” Dalton winced and held back a laugh. Rosaline sighed. “Anyway, I was also here to invite Justin to the movies with me.” She gave Justin her sweet smile.
I saw Jessica give a sideways smile and roll her eyes, and Delaney glare fiercely. “Oh great, so you’ve got a thing for Justin now?” She said in an annoyed tone, her piercing blue eyes getting sharper and sharper.
“Psh, don’t get your blue hair all worked over me, sis, he’s the one who likes me until I left! You know you’ve been missin’ me, haven’t you, Justin?” Rosaline grinned her long sharp teeth at Justin.
Justin stared blankly at her for a moment and muttered a strange answer. Shawn and Dalton snickered at him.
“C’mon! It’s not like you’re taken or anything, right?” Rosaline put her hot-pink gloved hand on his shoulder.
Justin didn’t meet her gaze. He looked at Delaney. “I’m going……is that okay?”
“No, it’s not,” Delaney replied, looking at him with her piercing gaze. “But sure, you can go.”
“I won’t ask her out, I promise,” he said.
Rosaline rolled her eyes and took his hand. “Of course you won’t ask me out, you dummy!” She pulled him over to the front door. “I’m planning to go out with someone else anyway! At least for a time being.”
Dalton rolled his eyes. “I wonder who that could be,” he remarked sarcastically.
Rosaline swung the front door open. She looked back at us with a wicked smile. “Bye Dalton.” She winked at him. “Bye Nikki.” She narrowed her eyes as she kept her smile on. Then she rushed away like a blur, along with Justin.
I huffed and slammed my front door shut. I looked at Delaney. “Why would you let her just go out with Justin? Seriously! He even asked, so you really should’ve said no!”
Delaney shrugged, still looking angry. “Whatever it takes to get that slut out of this house. And plus, I trust Justin not to fall for her.” It was true, Delaney and Justin did love each other, though Delaney was an unusual type of person, and she believed stuff like dating would just eventually ruin people’s feelings for each other. She was strange to me, but I still thought she was pretty cool.
Shawn snickered. “Hey, if she can catch Lewis, she can catch anybody.”
“Yeah, not to mention Nate,” Jessica chuckled. Then she suddenly looked angry. “Seriously though, none of us but Louise could ever stand her when she used to live with us.”
Louise whipped around and glared at Jessica, clenching her sharp teeth. “What do you mean?! I sooo can’t stand the thought or a single strand of hair on that ugly piece of-”
“You used to,” Shawn interrupted.
“Shut up!” Screamed Louise, raising her arm at Shawn as if to whack him to the floor just like Rosaline did. Shawn flinched, but Louise turned back around. “I swear I’m not afraid to literally kill her. She even deserves it. She wants to have the demon in her soul, she wants to be the devil!”
I looked back at my front door with narrowed eyes. “So that freak really liked Lewis as well, didn’t she?”
Jessica chuckled. “Yeah, but he will never like her.”
I laughed and rolled my eyes. Lewis would never fall for a girl, though he did love Jessica and he did fall for me a little, which was very rare. I felt lightheaded to think about it.
“Hey Nikki, there’s something I should’ve told you a long time ago,” Dalton nudged my side. “I really didn’t think it was important to mention, but I guess now it kind of is. Remember that night at the IB winter dance near the beginning of the school year? Me, Nate, William, and Anthony had to miss it because we wanted to follow Lewis and the Outsiders to the same strip club we met that jackass Andrew. There, we met Rosaline, and she was actually performing, and when she caught us, there really was not much use turning back. She met up with Delaney and everybody, and that was when I first met her. Dude, she treated me like a baby! She was all over me and treating me nicely like I was going to break easily! She scares me, but I was myself to her anyway.”
Louise huffed. “Yeah, I bet she likes you also!” She said rudely.
I clenched my teeth. “As if!” I rolled my eyes, looking pissed. “No way I’m letting that bitch interfere with anything else besides just trying to keep Nate away.”
“Me neither!” Louise yelled, playing with her sharp fingers rapidly with anger. “I swear…..” she muttered curses about Rosaline.
Jessica gave me a sympathetic look. “Sorry, Nikki. But knowing Rosaline, I bet she’s gonna be doing more than what she says she’ll be doing. I’m sure she’s going to cause more unneeded trouble than she already is causing. Don’t be surprised when something weird happens later on in the week.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I know. But we’re just going to have to get through to Nate anyway. I seriously have to get out of this demon soul before I kill somebody and have it take over me for real.”
Shawn laughed. “The best time to do that is right now! She’s with Justin.”
“Hey, Delaney?” I turned over to where Delaney was staring out the window, where it was already dark outside by now. She turned her calm but piercing blue gaze to me. “Rosaline doesn’t know you’re spying on Nate. So she’s still going to keep an eye on me at school, along with you keeping an eye on Nate as well. Since she doesn’t know that, you can probably see how the two are doing with each other.”
“Exactly,” replied Delaney, already knowing. “It’s pretty obvious she’s gonna make him fall for her, and plus, once she asks him out, it’s gonna be harder to get to Nate.”
“What have you seen Nate do so far?” I asked.
“Actually, he’s actually done nothing at all. It’s been kinda boring to just watch him be his stupid self with William, Anthony, Dalton, and other people all day, but hey. When you saw him talking to Andrew, he had given a script.”
I gasped.
Delaney was thinking the same thing. “Yeah, I bet it was the verse. But I heard he had the verse marked in his Bible at home, in case he lost the script. Andrew took it anyway, though.”
“I bet Andrew really is up to something with Leonardo,” I said. “Why else would he be sticking with him for so long?”
Jessica was shaking her head, staring blankly. Her lips were puckered, so I bet she was angry. “You know, I have to go. I really can’t stand that Rosaline’s gonna be asking out Nate.” She made her way to the front door and slowly opened it.
Shawn sighed. “She’s pissed,” he said to me. “I’m used to that look.”
“She likes Nate,” I blurted out, watching her go.
“Oh dammit, Nikki! You’re a trustworthy person!” Dalton laughed, nudging me.
“It’s alright, I won’t make a big deal out of this,” chuckled Shawn. “We probably should run with her. She just needs a nice long run to shake the stress away.”
“Fine,” I sighed as he made his way to the door with Louise and Delaney following after with crossed arms.
“See you, Nikki,” said Delaney, not turning back.
Louise turned around to give Dalton a naughty smile. “I bet you can just stay here and have fun with the devil.” She messed his hair up.
“Ow! You scratched me, you freakin’-!” Dalton yelled and shook his hair.
Louise laughed and left, shutting the door behind her.
Dalton dropped on the sofa. “Seriously, I so don’t wanna go to school next Monday.”
I rolled my eyes and sat by his side. “Me neither.” I said roughly. And then an idea popped in my head. “We should tell Ms. Fletcher!”
“No, we shouldn’t,” said Dalton quickly. “She’s just gonna make it worse.”
I winced. “What? What are you talking about? She’ll find a way to kick Rosaline’s butt off of campus!”
Dalton gave me a sideways look. “You want her getting mad at Ms. Fletcher and killing her in revenge? Besides, we’ll find our own way to get to Nate.”
I winced. “Wait…..if you guys missed the IB dance to go see a strip club with Lewis and you met Rosaline….” I thought for a moment and then gasped. I remembered how Lewis, Nate, William, Anthony, and Dalton had entered the dance room later on, along with a blonde girl in a bikini who was flirting with Dalton. “OMG….Rosaline was that one girl I saw with you guys at the dance room.”
“Yep. She just couldn’t stop following me and Lewis. But when the dance was over, we had to take her back to her coffin. I couldn’t help but sneak away since she was getting a little tipsy to leave us.”
“That was when I nearly ran you over,” I said with a sideways smile.
“You probably should’ve,” sighed Dalton. “It would’ve been better if I had just died earlier before I even became a vampire and got caught up in this mess.”
I dropped my mouth open and nudged him harshly. “Don’t say that! I would’ve killed myself as well if you were dead.”
Dalton laughed. “Hey, since Rosaline likes me as well, I can try flirting with her to distract her from Nate! Seriously, she likes my style just the way you do!”
My expression suddenly turned in to a ferocious glare and I clenched my teeth. “Don’t remind me that.” I said dangerously and grabbed the end of the leather sofa and slightly ripped it.
Dalton raised his eyebrows and gave me his naughty smile. “It’s for the best, you know. And it’s only gonna be for a month or so. Rosaline’s planning on keeping the demon inside of your soul until it takes over you and you’re at the point when you totally want to keep it. That’s why she’s here to keep you away from Nate, who has the solution to freeing you. But if I can falter their relationship, we can sneak around and ask Nate.”
I puckered my lips. “Well, we have to hurry. I don’t know how long it will take until I give in and have the demon take care of me.”
Dalton spent the night at my house, as well as for the weekend. As he lay next to me, I sighed.
“You know, it feels strange,” I said. “You being a vampire, and me being the devil. Awkward, huh?”
“Psh! Sometimes I wish we could just be a couple of normal human beings!”
I sighed again and thought about everything. Nate knew the way to free the devil from my body. He had it marked in his Bible, and we had to talk to him about it, and ask him. But with Rosaline around to distract him, it was impossible. Not only can she flirt and date him, but she could also….turn him into a vampire and make it impossible for him to give us the verse, as well as poisoning his mind to get him on her side completely. And she was going to continue with this until she knew the demon had taken over me. Not to mention she was going to get her demon back next full moon when she got the chance, and then when the demon had really taken over my soul, I would be on Leonardo’s side, and help them get the blood of Aurora to grant Leonardo immortality as a vampire.


8. THE LEGEND OF THE BLOODFIRE
I woke up with a drowsy reluctance to find that I’m actually still alive to make it out of bed and get to school. I cursed under my breath before lazily rolling out of bed. It was one of those days when you feel so useless to get out of bed, knowing that the rest of the day is either going to be dull and useless, or when the rest of the day will just treat you like crap.
I looked out the window and saw it was a normal gray cloudy day today. I realized Dalton wasn’t next to me anymore, for my parents had come home Sunday evening. I yelled an angry cuss word.
“Ooh, I’m telling! You said a bad word!” Came Kenneth’s annoying voice from outside my door. He gave a bang and ran away.
I yelled a cuss word even worse at Kenneth and stomped over to my closet and yanked some random clothes off the hanger, breaking the hanger. I yelled in anger. I hated hangers. They always pissed me off whenever I had a hard time getting the damn clothes off of them.
I swung my door open harshly, banging it at Edward.
“Ow! The hell’s wrong with you, Nikki?! Dammit!” He yelled.
I laughed. “Nothing! I just really hate school today. Feel free to see who’s coming to see me at lunch or during passing period.” I made my way to the stairs.
A pair of small pants was thrown at me. I yanked them off my head. “Idiot!” I yelled roughly at Edward. They were Kenneth’s pants and I had no idea how long they had been lying around. I threw them back at his face and ran down the stairs.
When I entered school grounds, Jessie and James ran over to me and Edward as we got out of the car. I would bet Jessie heard about the news of Rosaline and everything, and passed it on to everyone else.
“Nikki! Guess who’s going out with Nate? That random slut who’s sisters with Delaney!” Jessie yelled dramatically.
I shrugged. “I already knew that. And she’s staying here until who knows how long.”
“Wait, what?” Edward said in confusion. “Who’s going out with Nate? Is it Jenny?”
“No, you idiot!” I nudged his elbow as we walked together to Ms. Fletcher’s class. “Delaney’s stupid sister, Rosaline. You don’t know her.”
“Delaney has a sister?” Edward chuckled. “Is she hot like her?”
“No!” Said Jessie sassily. “I really don’t find anything hot about her! Even if I were a guy.”
“Psh, how would you know?” Teased James in a flat tone. “She’s pretty much just a blonde , girly version of Nikki.”
I cast James a grimace. “No way! She’s so-”
“Ugh! There she is!” Jessie scoffed, pointing over ahead to where Nate, William, Anthony, Jenny, Analiese, the Outsiders, and Dalton were crowded around in a noisy mob, laughing with Nate as he stood next to Rosaline, who held his hand with an evil twinkle in her reddish-brown eyes.
“Whoa,” Edward said in awe.
I looked at him, raising my eyebrows at his blank expression as he stared over at Rosaline with his eyes expressionless.
“See? Please don’t bother asking questions, you really shouldn’t know,” I said.
“She’s hot,” said Edward.
Jessie whipped her head to him. “What?! Hell no! Look at her eyeliner! It makes her look like some drunk prostitute! Her outfit is even more slutty than Jessica’s!”
James snickered. “Jessica is nothing compared to her! A low-cut shirt and sexy jeans are nothing slutty like Rosaline’s tight pants, hot pink leather jacket open to show her one-strap even lower-cut pink and white striped shirt!”
I narrowed my eyes and scoffed. “Psh, she looks nothing like I did when I dressed like that to Dalton.” I had once dressed even worse than that when I was crazily in love with Dalton. The only thing that made me look worse and more inappropriate was that I wore know jacket to cover my shirt, and that everything was patterned black and white to made me look more like some girl from the strip club or the modeling stage.
Jessie laughed rudely in agreement. “Yeah, and you looked better with the eyeliner. They look like messy splotches on her eyes.”
“Hey! Hey, Rosaline! Did you ask him out yet?” I called, making my way over to her and the group.
Rosaline stopped her laughing and met my sassy expression. She smiled sweetly again. “Oh, yes! You know, Nate remembers me from last year when he-”
“Yeah, yeah I know,” I interrupted. “I saw you as well, I remember.”
“Hey, so what about William? Did you ask out Jenny yet?” Jessie came over with Edward and James.
Analiese laughed. “They’re together right now! William finally asked her out. Isn’t that sweet?”
“Oh yeah, I forgot about Jenny’s text,” I muttered, remembering how she had texted me Sunday night that William asked her out. I’ve been thinking so much about other things I forgot about that.
Nate laughed with a naughty expression. “You should see William’s face! He’s always so red and blushing now.”
Dalton snickered. “Dude, he looks retarded! And Jenny’s turning into Jessie.” He gave Jessie a naughty look.
Jessie winced. “What the hell does that mean?”
Andrew sighed. “Oh dear, I sure don’t think she’s that bad yet. She’s just a little crazy and out of her mind right now, I can understand that.”
We spent the rest of the few minutes before the bell rang to class, talking about Jenny and William’s relationship, as well as Nate and Rosaline’s. But about one-third of us didn’t know what was behind their relationship. Anthony and Edward didn’t know anything about Dalton and the Outsiders being vampires to start with, so they could know nothing about Rosaline’s plan, and neither did William and Jenny know. Nate just didn’t know what Rosaline was planning on doing with him just yet. For all everyone else knew, Rosaline was just here to have fun with Nate since she was a girlfriend he met from the strip club, and that Andrew was a friend of hers who came to hang out with us as well. Everyone seemed to treat them like they would treat a wild friend, though deep down, those of us who knew what they were up to kept an eye on them both whenever they showed up.
When the bell rang for science, I dropped my backpack down next to me, cursing under my breath. Before Dalton was next to me, Ashton came over and stood to my right.
“Hey, should we tell Ms. Fletcher about Andrew and Rosaline?” He muttered.
I met his concerned gaze. “She could make it worse…..I really don’t know. If Rosaline couldn’t mess with her plan the way she wants to because she’s kicked out, she could just take the short cut and it would be worse.”
Ashton looked up. “Yeah, your right. She could just sneak over to Nate and turn him into…a vampire.”
“Not to mention, she or her father don’t even know the verse against devils, so she really wouldn’t help this time….sadly,” I rolled my eyes. “Just make sure people like Jeremy keeps his mouth shut around those who have no idea what the hell is going on! Okay?”
“Right, I’m making sure.”
Dalton yelled and suddenly fell onto Ashton, knocking him over sideways.
“Ow, you-” Ashton sputtered, giving a sideways look.
“Dammit, Nate! You’re the one with a disgusting girlfriend, you dumbass!” Dalton yelled with a naughty smile on his face as he looked back at Nate, who had his back sassing grin on his face.
Ashton pushed him away and walked away. Dalton called him a name for fun and sat down next to me.
“Dalton!” Ms. Fletcher was suddenly at the overhead and was looking at him with raised eyebrows. “Not in my class, okay?”
“Sorry,” he said simply, still keeping his naughty expression on his face.
I gave Ms. Fletcher a glance, feeling a quick pang of sorrow that she couldn’t be help to us right now. Ms. Fletcher met my gaze right away and smiled.
“Good morning, Nikki,” she said pleasantly.
“Morning,” I said, sounding flatter than I thought.
I saw that Ms. Fletcher was wearing a light amount of makeup, at least only on her eyelids, which had a slight bluish color with a little bit of eyeliner. What really bothered me, was that she curled her long blonde hair today, so that it looked wavier and she almost reminded me of Rosaline.
While we worked on a molecule lab Dalton was staring out the window.
“Hey, I wonder if they’re watching us through any openings we can’t see, or that Rosaline’s pretending to be one of those animals Ms. Fletcher keeps over there,” said Dalton.
I blinked at the row of animals Ms. Fletcher kept. She had bugs, to snakes, to rodents, and a tank of three turtles. I couldn’t help suspecting them of being an unknown spy.
I huffed. “I bet Rosaline’s the snake staring at us right now.”
“Yeah,” snickered Dalton and held up a fist with his middle finger slightly up.
I gave his hand a small hit. “Don’t do that!” I laughed. At least he didn’t do it all the way.
He laughed. “Don’t you find it creepy that it’s got red eyes just like Rosaline? And it’s a yellowish color with brown streaks?”
I laughed. “Ms. Fletcher’s scaring me since her hair’s wavy today and she’s wearing makeup and looking like Rosaline.”
“You know, Rosaline used to have black hair,” said Dalton.
I winced. “Really? Gee, I really can’t imagine that real well. She looks perfect with dirty blonde hair.”
“Nah, her hair used to be almost as black as yours. Actually, more like Ashton’s. She used to have it dark black, and wavy.”
“I’m glad my hair is naturally straight,” I scoffed. “I so would hate to resemble her.”
“Yeah, that’s why when she becomes a cat, her fur is jet-black. Her hair was naturally black, until she changed it many years ago, right after the devil took over her.” He gave me a naughty smile. “And you really don’t look much like her anyway. Despite the naturally long and black hair and the makeup, Rosaline’s got smaller eyes that are more piercing like Delaney’s. It’s just the makeup that makes them look bigger.”
Plus, I don’t wear lipstick. “Psh, yeah. Now I’m not looking forward to lunch since she’s gonna be showing up again. Stupid Edward likes that freak.”
“Yeah, Jeremy does also! He was just talking about her with Ashton and Gabriel!” Dalton called him a name under his breath.
Our lab was on molecules and carbon and hydrogen atoms. We had to build a structure with carbon atoms coming out of the hydrogen atoms, and we used clay balls to represent the atoms and connected them together with toothpicks.
I suddenly poked myself on accident. “Ow,” I said simply, looking at my finger. “I poked myself.” I saw that it started to bleed.
Dalton blinked and his eyes focused on my finger for a moment, and I looked at him and wiped it on my pants. “It’s nothing, sorry.”
He looked away. “Your blood does smell different than normal since you’ve got the demon in you.” He said quietly.
I sighed. “Well, it’s not my fault.” I brought my finger slowly to my mouth, and sucked the blood. “You know, I can’t kill myself. Nothing can kill me; I really have no weakness but the Bible.”
Dalton shrugged, not meeting my gaze.
I showed him my finger. There was no scratch or blood. “See? I’m healed right away. That was why my hip didn’t hurt too long the first time I had the demon in me.”
“Hey, that reminds me,” said Dalton quietly. “You know Resmeralda the first vampire to walk the earth? Her blood…..I’ll tell you about it at lunch.”
I winced. “We’re not gonna have privacy there, you know that.”
“Yeah, well, Jeremy’s right behind us,” snickered Dalton, looking behind as Jeremy sat down in his chair next to Analiese with a sigh.
“I cut myself again,” said Jeremy, showing his hand with a bandage in the middle.
“Hey, Jeremy!” Dalton said, looking at the bandage. “I dare you to put one of those thumbtacks on Nate’s chair. He won’t notice it, seriously!”
Jeremy returned his naughty gaze, and then winced. “Why? You mad at him for going out with that Rosaline?”
I rolled my eyes. “No, you douche! It’s just because he’s Nate, and he just wants to mess with him.”
“Hey, Nikki,” said Analiese quietly. “Does Rosaline know about Delaney spying on Nate?”
“Nope,” I said. “I sure hope not.”
“Ooh,” muttered Jeremy, raising his eyebrows. “And Rosaline’s spying on you? how many stalkers are at this school? What if someone’s spying on me?”
Dalton snickered. “Don’t worry, Jeremy. No one wants to spy on you.”
“Analiese does!” I said, giving Analiese a sassy smile.
Analiese dropped her mouth open with a frown. “Shut up, Nikki! You did spying yourself-”
“You can’t ask him out now, he’s happy with Delaney!” I interrupted before she could mention the time I did spying on Dalton, taking pictures of him behind his back that proved he was a vampire.
Dalton laughed. “Dude, why’s Delaney going out with Jeremy if she likes Justin?”
“I know, she’s weird,” said Analiese quietly, looking down with a frown.
Dalton looked at me. “Seriously! And she’s not letting Justin go out with Rosaline!”
“Ha! Justin was fine with her going out with me!” Said Jeremy proudly. “She likes me, you know. Why else would she even think about asking me out in front of Justin in the first place?”
“Psh, obviously no one’s happy about Rosaline going out with anybody since she’s a bitch!” Said Dalton out loud.
“Alright!” Ms. Fletcher was suddenly at the front. “The ten minute bell just rang so if we can clean up and put all the modeling clay in the back?”
As soon as the class started moving around and Jeremy and Analiese got up and took their stuff to the back, Ms. Fletcher looked at me and Dalton before we left.
“Nikki? Dalton? Were you guys getting enough done?” She looked concerned at us.
“Yeah,” I said simply, meeting her gaze.
“Okay, then,” she looked away and wrote on a piece of paper on the overhead.
I blinked at her and took the stuff back.
“She’s watching us…..” said Dalton, giving me a naughty smile.
When the bell rang and we left the class, I held Dalton’s hand and walked with Jessie, Analiese, and Jeremy over to art next door.
“Hey! Look!” Jessie pointed behind us where Rosaline was standing in front of Nate. His back was turned to us.
“Psh! Let’s go and break it up in front of them!” Snickered Jeremy.
“I bet she’s poisoning his mind little by little every time she’s with him,” I said, eying them.
Jessie rolled her eyes. “It may be Delaney’s job to keep an eye on them, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to butt in either!”
Rosaline noticed we were staring at her, and she flashed me a snotty look with her tongue sticking out between her sharp fangs.
I smiled and raised my eyebrows, giving her a sassy expression.
Nate slightly turned his head, though he didn’t completely look at us.
As soon as Rosaline turned back to him, she smiled and said something, and then the two of them hugged each other. She cast me another wicked smile over his shoulder and whispered something in Nate’s ear, keeping her eyes on me, and then she immediately let go of Nate and leaped up to the roof like a blur, disappearing.
“Oh! Well she thinks she’s so sexy, she can shove her ass in front of my face!” Said Jessie rudely. “Seriously! She’s not a girl with makeup, it’s makeup with a girl!”
“Hey, Nate!” Dalton shouted.
Analiese gave him a poke on the shoulder. “Don’t call him over!” She hissed.
Nate turned with a tired look on his face. It looked strange for him to look so tired, for he was always laughing with a smart-ass expression on his face.
He slowly made his way to us, though he didn’t stop as he passed by.
“She says Nikki looks jealous of us,” was all he said, and he didn’t meet any of our gazes as he passed us. We watched him as he went into Ms. Lockard’s classroom.
“Yeah? What else did she say?” Dalton called after him, and then called him a cuss word under his breath when there was no response.
I stayed rigid until lunch. I wasn’t able to focus very much in P.E. or history, and during the passing periods, I kept my pace with William and Jenny, for they were the ones Nate stuck to the most, along with Anthony and Dalton. I noticed that Nate was sort of like his normal goofy self around William, Jenny, and Anthony, though he wasn’t as talkative and hyped up as he usually was.
During lunch, Andrew was the first to show up. He met with Joshua again, and it was extra noisy. Andrew acted like his weird self with everybody, and most of us acted like it was a normal lunchtime when we chatted and laughed a lot.
William and Jenny were sitting together.
“Aw, you two look soooo cute together!” Louise squealed, giving them sassy smiles and messing up William’s curly hair.
“Put your arm around her, William, come on,” I was standing behind him and I gave him a poke on the back.
“Of course, she’s perfect,” he said smoothly and leaned closer to her and put his arm around her shoulder.
“Aww, you’re so sweet,” she said in her sassy tone, brimming with a smile at him.
Dalton turned and pushed the both of them together. “Kiss now.”
Jenny pushed his arm off of her. She turned and gave him a grimace. “Not in front of you!” She grabbed the hat Dalton was holding.
“Hey! That’s Jeremy’s!” Dalton gave her a slight push.
“Awesome,” she said and put in on William’s head. I laughed at him.
“Argh! Damn you, Jenny!” Dalton yelled. “Jenny, you’re a bitch!”
William whipped around and grimaced at him. “What?!” He gave Dalton a swat at his pants.
Dalton met his gaze and said aloud, “Jenny’s a bitch! A slut! A hoe!”
Jenny whipped around and gave him a smile and turned her head over to William and whispered something in his ear.
I was starting to wonder about when Rosaline was going to show up. What if she was already here? What if she was with Nate somewhere private? I looked around and saw that I couldn’t find Nate anywhere…or Delaney.
But then I caught Nate standing by the entrance to the inside of the cafeteria. He was texting on his phone, and he was alone. It was strange to see him alone since he was always with either Anthony or William. But I guess since William was with Jenny, Dalton and I with them, and Anthony busy with the mob right next to me, it was probably the best time for him to be talking with his girlfriend on his phone.
I snuck around the mob and made my way over to him.
He looked up. “Sup, Nikki,” he said in a bored tone.
“Sup,” I replied simply. “You’re texting Rosaline?”
“No, it’s Delaney. She says she was just with Rosaline at the front of the school with Justin, and they were just talking about Delaney breaking up with Jeremy.”
I widened my eyes. “What?! Why?!”
Nate shrugged. “Dunno. Ask Delaney. She won’t answer me why. I texted her the same message like five times.”
Of course I was going to ask Delaney. She must be up to something.
“So is Rosaline coming now?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he answered, closing his phone. He met my gaze. “You’re still not craving?”
I blinked at him. “Eh…not yet anyway.”
Suddenly, Rosaline rushed up to his right side like a blur. She put her arm around him. The only thing different about her was that she was wearing braids and her shirt wasn’t low-cut anymore. She wore a red headband over her braids this time.
She gave me a smile. “Sup? I wasn’t that stupid to think I would be so noticeable to everyone else in this school if I were wearing my old outfit.”
I raised my eyebrows at her and smiled sarcastically and sighed. “Yeah, I did notice the other students around here staring at you and giving you looks when you were here earlier.”
“Oh really?” She gave a sideways smile. “I really don’t mean to impress more than just one person.” She gave Nate a kiss on the cheek.
I couldn’t help widening my eyes and cracking a smile with my mouth dropped open. “Yeah! I know that. Have fun! Do you really enjoy your new girlfriend?” I turned to Nate with a sassy expression.
He was smiling slightly with a slight hint of shyness in his eyes. “Sure,” he said quietly, blushing. He met Rosaline’s piercing eyes and his expression suddenly lightened up. “She’s too sexy for me, though!” And he grabbed her and gave her a kiss on the mouth as she squealed in surprise at his sudden grasp.
“Oh, dayum!” I yelled, laughing as the both of them started kissing like a lovey-dovey couple, moving around and kissing over and over like they were going to make out. I smiled in surprise as I watched them with humor.
“Holy crap! Nate, you’re gonna get messy with all that lipstick she has!” Came Dalton’s surprised rude voice. He was suddenly at my side, staring at the two of them with wide surprised eyes and smiling with awe.
Suddenly, Delaney and Justin appeared like a blur from the other side of the school building, and looked at Nate and Rosaline. Delaney crossed her arms and gave a sideways look.
“Not surprised,” she muttered as the two of them bumped into the wall behind them as they made out.
Dalton laughed out loud. “Hey, be careful, Nate! Seriously!”
I gasped and suddenly remembered. “Oh, shoot! Nate!”
Nate whipped his head around. “Oh, come on! Like she would be that foolish with me!”
Rosaline gave a smile. “Yeah! I don’t bite when I don’t want to!”
I bit my tongue. Suddenly, Dalton took my hand and pulled me away, laughing.
“Seriously! Nate’s a douche.” He called him another bad word with a rude tone.
I looked back. They stopped kissing and were chatting with Delaney and Justin now.
“Hey, I have to tell you something I was gonna tell you in science,” said Dalton urgently.
“Hey, she didn’t really just turn him into a vampire, did she?!” I said a little too loudly.
Dalton met my wild expression and smiled. “Nah, she didn’t.”
“How can you be sure?”
“Well first, that red stuff around Nate’s lips was just her lipstick smeared all over. And plus, she had her fangs sucked in that time. She wasn’t craving that time like I was.”
I looked down. “Nate told me that Delaney and Justin were just talking with Rosaline about having Delaney break up with Jeremy. Do you think Delaney’s getting mad because she’s going out with Jeremy, though she still likes Justin at the same time? And now that Rosaline’s here, Justin in love with her, so Delaney’s thinking of going out with him before he asks Rosaline out?”
Dalton rolled his eyes. “Whatever. I guess so. It’s just so stupid that she’s here to ruin everything,” and Dalton ended his statement, calling Rosaline a rude, disgusting word.
I whipped my head to him and dropped my mouth open. I laughed and gave him a push. “Whatever! Just what exactly were you going to tell me?”
Dalton and I sat on the steps by a classroom and Dalton threw a pebble as hard as he can away from us.
“There’s this legend of Resmeralda,” Dalton began, “that she was the first vampire to ever walk the earth. She was killed when she was upon a glacier in the middle of the North Pole sea, for there had been a cross buried under the snow, and her blood dissolved into the snow. Years later, a native came upon the small island she had died on, and even though her body had been long gone, he still found the cross, and examined the snow, and found that her blood had dissolved into it.
“He took a pile of snow into his cave, threw the snow into the firewood along with the cross, and uttered a strange ritual….and afterwards, he was surprised to find that it didn’t melt. See, after the ritual the native uttered, Resmeralda’s blood was given the power to resist sunlight and the cross, therefore, possessing immortality. And Leonardo, Lewis, and the Outsiders all wanted to have that power, but they couldn’t perform the entire thing without having someone get killed by the cross.”
I blinked. “So……apparently, when you take a drop of vampire blood, throw it into the fire along with a cross, and say a ritual, the blood becomes powerful against the sun and the cross?”
“Yeah, but you need to say the ritual and have the cross burned with the blood, so that way, the blood can be granted the power. But you can’t just use any vampire’s blood. Resmeralda’s blood had a special power to it, and only her blood had the power to be granted immortality if you did the ritual with it. Same thing goes for Delaney, Rosaline, and Aurora. They were lucky enough to have that blood passed on to their generation.”
I winced. “So isn’t it just simple for Rosaline to just cut herself, drop her blood into the fire, say the ritual, and then drink her own blood?”
Dalton chuckled. “You’re forgetting the cross. The cross has to be burned with the blood in order for it to get the power to resist it. That way she can get full immortality. But you know vampires can’t be anywhere near crosses.”
“Oh….so that’s why…..” I looked down. “She has Nate. She can get him to do the whole thing for her. He can throw the cross in with her blood and say the ritual without killing himself. Sheesh, no wonder she hasn’t turned him into a vampire yet.”
“Psh, there had to be some reason why she didn’t bite him back there, right when she had the chance,” he said, smirking. “But anyway, Leonardo really wants that power of immortality. He had to find some way to get through the ritual without killing anyone with the cross.”
“You know,” I said slowly, “I think that was what Lewis was planning with me. He did love me, and I bet he was trying to get me on his side one day, so that I could perform the ritual for all of you.”
“Probably,” muttered Dalton. “But none of the Outsiders are after that now….I hope. Hopefully they really are on our side.”
“Well, what does their quest for immortality have to do with keeping me a devil?” I said indignantly. “Seriously, Rosaline could just get Nate on her side and do the damn ritual without worrying about the demon being in my soul or not! What a waste of-”
“She really needs you on their side, you know,” said Dalton, looking at me with a slight smile to his face. “You really caused trouble for them.”
I grimaced. “What the hell have I done…..? Oh yeah…..I killed Lewis.” I looked away as I remembered the dreadful thought.
“Yeah,” laughed Dalton. “And if it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t have turned my back and tried my best to fight back.”
I met his eyes. Dalton did have a crush on me, and I had a crush on him, though I knew he was a vampire. Since Lewis could see that, he used Dalton to cover up all the murdering he had done at school since I had thought Dalton was the only vampire back then.
“You were the first one to find out I was a vampire,” said Dalton. “And because of that, you ruined their scheme.”
I rolled my eyes. “No, I wasn’t, Ms. Fletcher knew before I did! She was actually the one to tell me Lewis was a vampire as well.”
Dalton raised his eyebrows and frowned. “Oh, psh! Well, Ms. Fletcher was also the cause for Lewis coming here!” He said rudely. “Seriously, Lewis was here just for revenge. Ms. Fletcher just happened to be the daughter of the dude who wiped out the other vampires, so Lewis was only here to lay revenge! But you were the one who ruined it all just by crushing on me. If you didn’t like me, you wouldn’t have known I was a vampire, and Ms. Fletcher wouldn’t have done anything by herself. She didn’t even start acting until she found out you knew.”
“Okay, okay, I know,” I said, giving him a playful nudge as he embarrassed me a little by reminding me of how I had crushed on him. “I guess Rosaline’s here to use Nate, but at the same time, keep me out of her way by making sure the demon stays in my body.” I cursed and turned to Dalton. “And didn’t she used to have the demon in her as well?”
“Huh, yeah she did,” Dalton met my eyes carefully. “Hey, there’s something I have to tell you…..I probably should’ve told you earlier but I didn’t think it was really important. But do you remember the IB winter dance near the beginning of the year?”
“Yeah,” I replied, listening carefully.
“Well, Nate, William, Anthony, and I wanted to come with Lewis to a strip club he was going to, and that was why we didn’t show up to the dance. And we had met Rosaline there. She was performing, until she had noticed us and wouldn’t take her hands off Lewis, as well as noticing me for the first time, and she was all over me as well. She wouldn’t stop following us.”
I widened my eyes and gasped. “No kidding, she was…..that blonde girl I saw flirting with you.”
“Yep,” he said with a sideways smile. “Lewis and the Outsiders had to take her back to her coffin when the dance was over, and she bugged the hell out of me so much, I had to sneak away from them.”
“And that was when I nearly ran you over,” I said quietly, remembering what had happened.
Dalton looked away. “Yeah, you probably should’ve run me over. Everything would be just fine if I weren’t around; just look at everything. Because of me, Leonardo’s pissed at all of us.”
I whipped my head to him and gave him a slight push. “Don’t say that! If you were ever killed, I seriously would never go on! Besides, it’s my fault for crushing on you in the first place, and finding everything out behind Lewis.”
“Nah, it’s my fault for being around to have you fall for,” he said halfheartedly. “And plus, we’re not making anything better like we thought we would. Rosaline’s here, and she’s working with Leonardo to get at the blood of Aurora. And since Nate lost the necklace, she’ll just have to go with hers or Delaney’s blood.”
I gave him a hard stare. “You’re worth it, seriously. If they were to kill you at any point, they know I would kill myself. That’s why you’re just as valuable to Leonardo as I am. They just need to get me out of their way somehow, they don’t just have to keep the devil in me until I join their side, they can just kill you to make me weaker and kill myself.”
Dalton met my gaze and laughed. “Yeah, you’re that stupid and emo to just give up like that, I know.”
I grimaced. “Shut up!” I laughed. “I’m not kidding, I really would be affected deeply, you know that.”
We were silent for a moment, and then Dalton suddenly turned to me with a naughty look. “Hey, there is something we can do. If Rosaline’s trying to flirt with Nate and poison his mind to get him on Leonardo’s side to perform the ritual for them, I can do the flirting with her and distract her from getting Nate too attached to her.”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Seriously! You see the way she acts around me. She really does have some sort of crush on me, so it could be kind of easy. Just try not to get jealous or pissed out of your mind, you know I’m not really flirting with her for real.”
I cracked a sideways smile. “You’ve got a point there, you can try to keep her away from Nate by flirting around with her.”
“And you can flirt with Nate.”
I gave a confused look. “What?!”
“It makes sense,” Dalton shrugged. “You keep him away from her as well.”
“Yeah, but……. it’s just that Nate may be a wild animal on the outside, but deep down, he’s really a loyal person.” I looked at my shoes. “Nate’s not some jerky cheater who would let himself fall for other girls easily when he’s already got a girlfriend, as much as he seems like he would. He really wouldn’t do something like that, so he probably wouldn’t keep his eyes on me very often.” Nate was goofy, carefree, and a little obnoxious, but he wasn’t a jerk. He was purposely loud and annoying, but he wasn’t a bad person.
Dalton rolled his eyes. “Fine. You can tell Jessica to flirt with him. She likes him. She’ll be happy to do it.”
I thought for a moment. “No! Jessica may overdo it! We don’t want Rosaline to see that we’re trying to tear them apart. We just want it to ‘accidently’ happen.”
Dalton gave me a naughty stare. “I know.”
I grimaced at him and rolled my eyes. “Fine! I’ll flirt with him, but I’m telling Jessica, just so she wouldn’t get pissed off at me as well. She’s already fuming at Rosaline for going out with Nate.”
“Go ahead and tell her. We only have to keep this up until you somehow get Nate to tell you the verse to free you. And it won’t be too long since we want the demon out as soon as possible. We have to act quickly before they get too attached to each other.”
The bell suddenly rang and we got up and walked to math together.
“You know, I still wonder what Andrew’s up to,” I said. “He was with Nate privately, so
“Oh wow, look at Nate and Rosaline holding hands,” scoffed Dalton. He called the pair a bad word.
I saw Andrew at Nate’s side and laughed. “Hey, Andrew!” I sped up and Dalton and I caught up with them. “Andrew, shouldn’t you be dressed differently so no teachers recognize you?”
Andrew turned to me with a smiley expression. “Oh no, ponytails, there’s nothing wrong with someone gay on campus, but they are against people who look like hookers on campus.”
“No, not really, or else Nikki would’ve been suspended a thousand times,” said Nate with a goofy look on his face, sounding enthusiastic.
“Probably,” I shrugged, giving him a sideways smile.
We continued talking until we reached math. On Fridays, Mr. Valentino has us sitting wherever we wanted unless the bell rang and someone wasn’t in a seat. But for the rest of the week, we had to sit in our assigned seats. When we were seniors, we would get the privilege to get free seating except for Monday. But anyways, at least Nate was in front of Ashton, who sat across from me to my left.
I sighed and bit my tongue for two reasons. One was the stress I had from having to work our plan to keep Rosaline from hypnotizing Nate, and the other…..I was starting to feel a craving again.








9. THE POSSESSED
My cravings didn’t get any wore until the end of this week. By Friday, I woke up with crankiness and felt too weak and angry that I could just randomly tear the whole house down. With a sickening rage, a leaped out of bed and let out an angry scream, throwing my old CD player at the wall, breaking it to pieces and leaving a dent in the wall. I was breathing hard, and I could barely see through the raging blurriness in my eyes under the strands of my dark hair. I swung my door open as hard as I can, crashing it so hard against the wall that the door broke off its hinges and there was a huge crack on the wall.
I whipped to the door as it fell to the floor, and screamed, throwing it hard to the floor downstairs. Below, Jack came over to look up at me with a tired look to his face.
I narrowed my eyes evilly at him, and let out a realistic, monster-like hiss that sounded nothing like a human’s angry hiss, but a savage hiss that sounded like a real animal.
Jack barked at me, and whimpered. I crouched like an animal, and then leaped on top the banisters, and jumped all the way to the downstairs floor, landing on my feet with a crouch, staring Jack right into the eyes and snarling evilly.
Jack whimpered and immediately turned and fled.
I opened my mouth widely and snarled loudly, feeling fangs grow in my mouth, growing longer than a vampire’s, that I felt it nearly touch my bottom lips. I felt a burning rage swelling up inside of me, and I felt like I was totally powerful and unstoppable.
“Nikki?”
I suddenly snapped out of it at the sound of Edward’s voice. I closed my mouth and felt the teeth shrink and disappear. I quickly shot up from my crouch and looked up at Edward with raised eyebrows.
“Yeah?” I said casually, though I felt my heart beating faster than it has ever beaten before. I couldn’t believe what I was just about to do, and I hoped Edward really didn’t see anything.
Edward was looking down at me with a raised eyebrow. He snickered. “You okay? You threw up blood.”
I whipped my head, looking down at the floor and saw that there were three drops of dark red blood in front of my feet. Did I just drool that?
I held my gasp. “Ew……darn it, I guess I did. Oh well, I’ll clean it up. Seriously, I probably shouldn’t have……drunken wine before going to bed.”
I went to get a paper towel, trying to look normal as possible.
Edward followed me and chuckled. “You’re such a retard. I’m not surprised, though. You always do extremely crazy things when you’re pissed off. Everyone knows that.”
I narrowed my eyes without turning to look at him and said in a sassy tone, “Yeah, I guess you can blame yourself and Kenneth for letting me grow up that way.” I bit my tongue and widened my eyes in horror as I felt the urge to leap right at him right now, and tear him apart and feeding on his flesh. I haven’t murdered anyone since that fist college student.
After I cleaned up the drops, I grabbed my backpack and rushed out the door. “See ya,” I called, and shut the door behind me. I had to get out of there as fast as I could. Maybe I really shouldn’t come to school today. I was craving….and I didn’t want to hurt anyone.
But I had to make sure Rosaline……didn’t hurt….Dalton. At the thought of Rosaline, hatred and evilness spread all over me and I felt the rage throbbing in my veins again, and I narrowed my eyes into evil slits, grew my long fangs and clenched them, and felt my face burn through the cool breeze that swept against me and blew my high ponytails.
I arrived at school, feeling a burning rage of evil anger, and made my way to Ms. Fletcher’s door.
Dalton suddenly came up to me. “Hey, Nikki- whooaaaa!” His naughty smile suddenly turned into a wide-eyed look of horror as he met my eyes. He took a step back. “Nikki, don’t you know how….evil you look right now?” He said in a quiet voice.
I was breathing hard and staring right into his eyes with a burning rage over me, and I clenched my fists and muttered a quick reply, “No.”
He kept his surprised eyes on me. “Nikki….your eyes are blood red and….different.” He suddenly put his cold bare hand on my cheek. He wore no gloves right now. “Damn, you’re burning like hell.”
At the touch of his cold pale hands, I flinched and I felt my twisted and burning face suddenly cool down, and not just from the coldness of his hands, but just from him touching me. My expression suddenly looked and felt less evil and devilish and more like my own face, with a heavy amount of dark eyeliner, and looked like my every day mean expression, though mean in an expressive and outgoing way.
Except I looked tired and surprised at the same time. “What…what happened? I seriously felt like I just died for a moment, and then came back all of a sudden.”
Dalton took his hand off my cheek. “No….it’s slowly taking over you, I can sense it in your blood.” He said, looking worried now.
I looked over his shoulder where there was a small group of people at Ms. Fletcher’s door.
“Where’s Nate? And Rosaline?”
Dalton rolled his eyes. “Nate’s not here yet. And neither are Rosaline and Andrew. What a surprise.”
“Well…..is Delaney here? Or is she following them?”
“I think she’s following them, but, I’m guessing they’re at the Winston College,” said Dalton. “We’re going there to practice the play today.”
“Oh,” I said halfheartedly. That meant we could be seeing Andrew the entire time we were in language arts. It was his college, after all, and of course, Rosaline could wander around with him there like she wanted to in here.
We joined the small group. Jenny and William were talking away with everyone, as well as each other, and Jessie, Jessica, Shawn, and Ashton were the only others who we could actually talk to about Andrew and Rosaline at the college.
Everyone who knew about the Outsiders’ secret knew about my problem now, and the plan Dalton and I had come up with. While Jenny and William got into one of their tight conversations when they were only talking to each other and deliberately ignored everyone else, we started talking quietly.
“Ugh! Rosaline’s gonna be there also! Darn it!” Jessie stomped her foot. “I wanna see Andrew privately at his own college, and then….uh!”
Jessica gave her a sly look and then suddenly changed into an angry, narrowed expression. “She won’t be a bother on that part. She’ll be too busy with Nate, you know that.”
“Has anyone had a chance to even talk to Nate about the verse to free the demon?” Asked Ashton.
“No,” said Dalton with an annoyed look on his face. “Nate’s being an asshole, he won’t stop laughing and bitching over Rosaline.”
Jessie gave an annoyed look. “Yeah, I know! I thought it was her flirting with him, not him flirting with her!”
I was staring over Shawn’s shoulder to where William and Jenny were slowly walking away from us, and passed Anthony, Jeremy, and several other people without even flashing them a glance.
I scoffed. They were a cute couple, but they were kind of going too far. “Huh! William and Jenny are worse. Jenny won’t even talk to us anymore! Lucky they aren’t doing it for the same reason Rosaline’s doing it.”
Jessie rolled her eyes. “Seriously, I’m starting to hate Jenny.”
Shawn snickered. “Well, Delaney’s had a chance to speak with Nate. She asked him how much longer could he stand to be with Rosaline, and he said until his own death they’ll part, since she’s the one who could never die.”
I rolled my eyes. “That’s just awesome.”
Shawn raised his eyebrows. “But no kidding, Nate even asked if Delaney could turn him into a vampire so he could live forever with Rosaline.”
Dalton’s eyes widened. “She should’ve! That way he won’t be able to perform the ritual!”
Shawn gave him a sideways look and shook his head. “Delaney’s not stupid like you. She knows Rosaline could just trick someone else into joining their side, and plus, if Nate’s a vampire, he wouldn’t share the verse with you, for it would kill him.”
I looked down and said, “I’ll talk to Nate. I’m the one who’s supposed to be flirting with him anyway.”
Jessica giggled. “Man, Dalton. You’re that dumb?”
Dalton gave her a naughty look. “Probably.” He shrugged, meeting her gaze. “Why?”
“I don’t think Nikki should be anywhere near Nate right now,” she said in her sly voice, smiling cleverly. “She’s craving, and she could attack anyone at the moment, not to mention a pervert like Nate.”
Shawn gasped and smiled at Dalton. “Yeah, Dalton.”
Dalton winced and then gave a naughty smile. “Who cares? Nate’s being a jerk, so he probably deserves to have someone kill him.”
Jessie laughed. “You’re so mean!”
I was looking straight ahead, barely listening to their conversation, though I was burning rage to strike at Nate. I felt my blood burning again, with hatred and evil, and everything around me seemed to spin with blurriness and I felt like I was going to explode with power and monstrous anger.
“Nikki! Hey!” Jessie nudged me and immediately took a step back.
I snapped out of it again and looked at the ground and whipped my fuming face to her, staring into her eyes with a narrowed, piercing expression. I had my teeth clenched, and I was panting.
“Y-you okay?” Jessie managed to ask.
Shawn snickered. “Awesome, I wanna see you attack someone! Especially Jessie!”
I whipped my head to face him, and I immediately leaped at him, pinning him to the ground with a quick scream of anger.
“Ahhh!!!! Shut uuup!!!!” I yelled, clenching my teeth as the fangs grew larger and sharper.
Shawn looked up at me with a look of terror in his eyes, and then he was gone.
I looked up and saw that he was standing a few feet away from me, looking like he was about to run away.
“I’m….sorry…” he apologized.
I looked down and clenched my fists. “Uhhh!” I gave the ground a bang and shot myself up, panting as I looked down, squinting. I tried to calm myself down. I felt hotter than ever.
I slowly turned to the others, who were all staring at me with a hint of disbelief in their eyes, though I had my gaze kept on Dalton.
Jessica suddenly returned her sly smile, narrowing her eyes. “You don’t have to stress yourself by being around Nate today. I’ll be glad to do it myself. You really shouldn’t be taking risks.”
Dalton stared back at me. “She’s right, Nikki. The more you crave around people, the easier it is for the evil to take over you. That’s especially what Rosaline wants.”
I stood there for another second, and looked away. “I have to go,” I muttered, and I immediately walked away, not looking back.
I found myself headed to the bathrooms, and I locked myself in the biggest stall. I dropped on the floor, and groaned in anger. I could almost feel the evil taking right over me, with my craving getting worse every second. I was trying my best to fight it, to keep me from killing anyone, and I tried harder than I ever could, that I felt like I was going to explode.
“Ahhrrrrgghhh!!!” I yelled angrily, squeezing my eyes and pulling my ponytails hard.
Suddenly, the bell rang and I flinched at the sound. I immediately shot up and banged the door out of my way, running over to class and dropping in my seat as quick as I can. I was panting, and Dalton came over to my side, laughing.
He stopped as soon as he saw me. “You okay?” He sat down.
I scratched my chair. “No.” I answered tartly, not meeting his gaze. “No, I am not fine. Dalton! I’m going to kill someone! I know it!” I hissed through clenched teeth, grabbing his shoulders and looking him in the eye.
“Of course you will!” He hissed back, his eyes full of worry now. “You have to satisfy yourself! If you just keep yourself from doing what you absolutely need to do, it will take over you!”
“Are you saying I have to kill people?!” I whispered savagely, feeling the hunger swelling up inside of me already.
“No, I have an idea,” he said urgently. “I don’t know if it will work, but try finding some birds out there that you can feed on. It’s still flesh, just not human flesh.”
“What if it doesn’t work?! The reason why I must feed on humans is to keep the devil alive! The devil kills mainly humans!”
“Nikki!” Analiese was leaning over her table behind us. “It could at least stop part of the cravings at least!” She said in a low voice.
I huffed loudly in anger. “Fine!” I said through clenched teeth. “Dammit! I feel like I’m going to explode! I’ll try animal flesh, though.”
“Right,” Dalton cracked a sideways smile and then winced in pain. “Okay! You can take your hands off me, Nikki- ow!” He yelled aloud now, and flinched away from my grasp on his shoulders. Jeremy snickered.
I panted. “I’m sorry,” I said through clenched teeth, looking at him in disbelief. “Did-did I hurt you badly?”
“I’ll be fine,” he said simply. He was rubbing his shoulder, and he gave me a smirk. “Sheesh, I can hurt you just as hard if I wanted to!” He said teasingly.
I grimaced. ”Shut up! I didn’t mean to! I’m sorry!” I whipped my head around the classroom, fighting the urge to just jump out and tear someone apart. The classroom was still talking, and some people hadn’t arrived yet.
I looked at Dalton. “Listen, I have to go now!” I hissed. I turned to Analiese and Jeremy behind us. “Don’t tell anyone where I am.”
“Sure,” Dalton laughed. “Just be careful. You’re lucky people are already scared of you just the way you are anyway.”
“When will you be back?” Asked Jeremy.
“I don’t know! Probably until next class. I have to eat something now!” I immediately shot up from my chair and rushed out the door, not looking back to see if Ms. Fletcher saw me.
I ran over to the entrance to campus to go to the park just across the school where there were a load of birds always hanging around.
Just then, I shot passed someone I recognized. I stopped and whipped around to see that Nate had just passed me, and he was walking fast with a black jacket on, and his hands in the pockets.
Right at that point, it started to rain. Thunder clapped and the sky above was completely shady gray. The rain was close to pouring within seconds, and when I saw that Nate didn’t turn around to notice me, I turned back around to head to the park, but then flinched with gasped of horror.
There, standing with a yard or so away from me on the sidewalk, was Leonardo. He looked so much like his self now, with the long black cape blowing in the wind behind him. He was staring at me with a smirk.
“Hello, Nikki,” he said slyly.
I narrowed my eyes. I clenched my teeth and pressed on, but he suddenly was up to my face, blocking my way.
“Get outta my face!” I screamed, feeling my fangs grow longer as I clenched them angrily.
“Oh, I won’t be long,” he said innocently. “I just want to ask you a few questions. I haven’t seen you for a while now, though I’ve heard about you and everyone else from Andrew.”
I raised my eyebrows and wiped a strand of wet hair from my eyes. What could Andrew have told him? Andrew knew nothing about our plan to keep Rosaline from hitting on Nate too much…hopefully.
“He tells me there’s a vampire named Rosaline dating that Nate at your school, am I right?” he was looking at me with a smiling expression.
“Yeah,” I replied, narrowing my eyes at him. “No one trusts her, you know that, right?”
He chuckled. “Well, of course. Hehe, you know, Andrew really doesn’t know what’s going on, Nikki. He may be taking me in to care for me and all, but he has no idea about our past, or anything about Lewis, Dalton, or the Outsiders. Why haven’t I killed him, you wonder? I know he’s a vampire as well, despite his senseless blood. I did see him prey on blood himself, as well.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re planning on something with him, I know it. Why else would he be following us around? I saw him with Nate the other day!”
Leonardo shrugged. “What does that mean? You have no proof that he’s working with us. I just want to let you know that he’s got absolutely nothing to do with me.” He gave me a cold stare. “There’s no use with him anyway. He’s got no use to be on our side, and Rosaline’s too disgusted to flirt with him to get him on our side. And I really have no interest to have someone like him to work with us, I doubt he would even be interested. He seems too goody-goody. If he weren’t a vampire, I would’ve sucked the blood out of his freakin’ annoying girlish body, but since he’s not a human, and I’ve got no damn Twilight Rose, I’m stuck living with him. I’m staying only for his house, not for him. His house has got a cold, nice feeling to it that’s just perfect for vampires, so I’m staying only for that.”
I winced. “So….he’s letting you stay? Does he know you’re a vampire?” I didn’t know if I was getting the truth anyway, but I wanted to hear his answer.
“Andrew knows I’m a vampire, yes, duh,” he said teasingly. “He found that out soon enough. My blood isn’t like his.
“But anyway, all I’m trying to tell you, is that Andrew has nothing to do with us. He’s probably just with you weirdoes because he likes Louise, or Jessie, or you, or whoever the hell is following him around at school.”
I crossed my arms, giving a sideways look. “That sounds true, but I don’t believe you all the way. What was he doing with Nate?”
Leonardo sighed. “I don’t think he was doing anything. I think the question should be more like, what was Nate doing with Andrew?”
I raised my eyebrows.
“Just letting you know, Andrew has nothing to do with us. But if you see him with Nate anytime, it could be that Nate’s trying to get him to side with us, and I’m fine if Andrew does somehow help us. I would love any kind of help, I’ll be honest about that. I just really don’t want to spend my time following that gay-ass around, he bugs the hell outta me. If Nate wants him on our side, he can try. It’s just that Andrew knows nothing about us, and I haven’t told him anything.”
I blinked a drop of rain on my eye. “But Nate might tell,” I muttered.
“Yes, he could, but Rosaline’s making sure he’s not doing anything too foolish,” said Leonardo, cracking an evil smile. “Just telling you, I haven’t told Andrew anything, and he knows nothing…..yet.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. I didn’t know whether I believed him or not.
Leonardo chuckled evilly. “That’s all I wanted to tell you…….ponytails.”
I flinched at his comment. That was what Andrew always called me.
Leonardo tapped my cheek with the back of his cold bare hand. “Have fun now.”
And he shot passed me like a blur, leaving me staring ahead, expressionless for a moment, until I felt my head burn with hunger again.
“Ahhh!” I screamed, yelling out a cuss word with anger, pulling at my soggy hair and rushed madly down the sidewalk, continuing towards the park.
I cussed in my head, and stared around the park through angry, red eyes. Because of the stupid rain, there may not be much out here.
Then I caught sight of a flock of a dozen pigeons all wandering near the bathroom area where there was a roof over them, covering the rain.
Instantly, I rushed at them with a terrible monstrous hiss of fury, feeling my face change into an evil possessed-like demon face, and before I knew it, there was a bloody mess all over in front of me and all over my face and the front of my clothes as well as feather everywhere. Not a trace of the birds were found.
I felt the blood pumping in my ears, and felt the evil about to explode from my veins.
And then a voice came to my head that spoke my name. “Nikki…..” was all I heard. But the sound of the voice sounded like….Dalton’s. I hissed a gasp and spat out a gross puddle of blood and fell to my knees, panting with rage, feeling the evil take over me, feeling like I was about to thrash and have a seizure. But at the sound of Dalton’s voice made me stop. I fought back and tried to keep the evil from getting to me. I groaned and yelled angrily with confusion, and then found myself rushing to a puddle by the street, and rolling all over until I felt like I was going to freeze to death. But then I jumped up and felt alright again. Of course, I couldn’t kill myself or feel pain for long. But at least the cold wetness helped me wake up and open my eyes a little, and feel like I was back in my own body.
I squeezed my eyes shut with frustration and rushed to my house.


By the time I returned to school, I was in different clothes that were clean and showed know signs of what I had just done. I didn’t bother to blow dry my hair.
Luckily, when I returned to school, I found that I had arrived just in time for passing period, and I saw my classmates headed toward art. I wonder what Ms. Fletcher would say when she saw me again. I was sure she did notice me in her class before the bell rang. I caught sight of Dalton laughing with Jessie and the Outsiders, along with Jeremy. I was just about to catch up and call out to him, but the throbbing in my head bothered me and I felt the evil in my head.
And then suddenly…..
“Kill….kill…..”
I gasped and jumped back, nearly bumping into a pair of punk boys who passed behind me. Those words…..did I just hear them? Was I hearing things? I certainly didn’t think that.
“Kill ‘em…….kill ‘em!....murderer…….” the thoughts in my head….they were voices……that sounded so devilish and demon-like. And I was fighting the urge to obey them.
“Hey, Nikki!” Jessie’s voice suddenly made me jump and face her concerned uptight expression. “Where were you? You freakin’ disappeared before class even started.”
Analiese and Dalton joined her side.
“Are you okay?” Analiese asked.
I narrowed my eyes, clenching my teeth, and then returned a normal expression. “Y-yeah, I’m fine….I think…”
“Ms. Fletcher saw you run out,” said Dalton, raising his eyebrows. “She asked the class if everyone knew she was okay. I told her you were fine.”
I flashed him a sassy look. “Nice, I bet she suspects me now.”
He returned my sassy smile. “Yeah? What did you expect me to say? That you had to go to the bathroom because of PMS or something?” Jessie giggled.
I jerked my head, giving him a raised look. “Sure!” I said indignantly. “Anything to keep her from knowing anything yet! Let’s go, I think I’m not as hungry as I was before.”
Jessie gave me a grimace. “You think? I’m scared of you even more now.”
I shrugged at her. “You scare me to.” I said sarcastically.
Luckily, I went through the rest of the day just perfectly well, though at lunch, I absolutely had no appetite to buy anything. I spent my time around all my friends, but I kept my eye on Nate and Rosaline, and Andrew, who hung around the Outsiders…..or more like the Outsiders hung out around them. It was actually kinda funny to think about how almost everyone had a reason to hate on Rosaline. I hated her for trying to butt her fake nasty face in to keep me where she wanted to be, Louise especially showed her hate and disgust for her because the two were like long-time enemies since Rosaline used to always steal Lewis from her, Jessica was mad at her since she was starting to crush on Nate before she came along, and Delaney was just her sister, and so there wasn’t much to say about that. But Justin liked her, and I guess it was good for him to follow them around as well and keep his eye on Rosaline.
Dalton was especially doing what he planned to do, as well as what he does best. He did tease Nate and Rosaline rudely, to get their attention to tease back at him, as well as catch Rosaline’s eye. Andrew was just his weird, crazy self, and I had to admit he was pretty awesome and retarded to hang out with, though I didn’t forget what Leonardo had told me about him.
I was at Dalton’s side most of the time, so I did tease at them, though not the way to get them annoyed and tease me back, but to get their attention and talk with me.
Finally, we reached language arts.
“Oh joy,” said Nate, with a sideways smile on his face. “We’re practicing the play today.”
Dalton cussed. “I’m first up to play Erik.”
“Hey, we’re practicing at the Winston College, right?” Said Jessie, her eyebrows excitedly raised.
“Yep,” I said. “Andrew said he couldn’t wait to see us there.”
Jessie squealed. “Ooooh! Yes! I can’t wait to see him too, oh my gosh!”
Dalton snickered. “Psh, he hates you, you know.”
“No he doesn’t! he hates you!” Jessie snapped.
Nate laughed. “Nah, don’t worry Jessie. He hates you, but I think he does hate Dalton more.” He flashed both of them smart-ass expressions.
“Alright, we are going to take a quick walk just around the corner of this street,” announced Mrs. Estelle. “It’s about a five minute walk to Winston; it’s not that far, so we’ll have a chance to try out our play over at their auditorium.”
I bit my tongue, flashing Nate a quick glance. He seemed calm right now, like his usual goofy self, as if there was nothing wrong going on, but I still had to talk to him. I had to ask him about the verse. There would be no doubt that Rosaline would await us there, but I still would have to ask him.
By the time we got to the auditorium at the large Winston College, I was starting to feel hungry again. I fought back hard to control it, and to act like nothing was wrong.
“Whoa, this school is huge,” muttered Dalton.
Jessie sighed. “Ugh, I can’t wait until high school’s over. And it sucks that Louise, Delaney, and the twins can’t be with us here. Louise is always good at backing us off from Rosaline.”
Dalton snickered. “Nah, Louise backs up only herself.”
We entered the auditorium and Mrs. Estelle called up some students to help her with some of the effects and noises in the background before we practiced.
Dalton, Jessie, and I were all the way in the back of the class.
I was clenching my teeth. “Dammit, I’m craving again.”
Jessie raised her eyebrows and took a step back. “Don’t eat me, I ain’t done nothing to you yet.”
Dalton laughed. “Oh yeah, sure! You two are like cat-fighting sisters sometimes, sheesh!”
“Yeah, for fun!” Jessie shot back.
“Shut up! I’m serious!” I hissed savagely, clenching my fists.
Dalton gave me a concerned look. “Crap, there really isn’t much to do. Unless you feed on some more animals, it’s either satisfy your hunger, or let it take over you like Rosaline wants. I think there are some rabbits all the way at the end of Full Moon street. That’s where I get my blood sometimes.”
I pulled my hair. “Ugh! It’s not going to work for long! Unless I kill every rabbit there is, I probably won’t be as satisfied as I would be if I ate human flesh!”
“Eat Joshua,” suggested Jessie.
“Hey, why are you guys all the way over there?” Anthony was coming over to us.
I flashed him a glare. “No reason,” I said through clenched teeth. He knew nothing about us being vampires or demons yet, so I tried to keep myself as casual as I can.
“Hey, wait a second,” Dalton winced. “Where’s Nate?”
Anthony shrugged. “I was looking for them. I thought they both disappeared with you guys as well, to find Rosaline and Andrew.”
I looked up. “They probably did! Where are they? I have to see Andrew.”
“I saw Andrew walk pass the door backstage,” said Anthony. “But I didn’t see Rosaline or Nate.”
I raised my eyebrows as I tried to see in the distance where the class was getting ready with the props and music.
“Aright! Can I have everybody gather backstage? We’re going to start the practice now!” Called Mrs. Estelle.
“Psh, sounds fun,” muttered Dalton sarcastically. “I’m not trying out for Erik today. Ashton is up first.”
We walked up to the stage and gathered with the rest of the class backstage.
Jenny was up to play Christine first, so I stayed back with Jessie, Dalton, Anthony, and Jeremy.
I saw that the backstage door was shut.
Jessie was laughing with everyone as the practice began at the front of the stage.
I nudged Dalton. “Hey, I’m gonna find Nate. I have to ask him for the verse as soon as I can!” I hissed.
Dalton met my eyes. “You sure that you want to ask him? You’re craving like crazy, and I can feel it. It really wouldn’t be the best thing to just end up devouring him.”
I stared back hardly into his eyes, feeling my fangs grow longer as I clenched them hard. “You’re right,” I replied, looking away and pressing my back hard against the wall. “I’m pissed at him as well, so I can’t even sit next to him. If we were in language class right now, I think I would’ve killed him already.”
Dalton looked around. “You probably shouldn’t be here as well,” he chuckled. “I see the way you look at some people with those crazed demon eyes.”
I nudged him, puckering my lips in frustration.
William appeared from the front of the stage through the curtains, and joined us backstage.
“So how’d you do?” Said Dalton with a naughty tone.
William smiled. “I play Christine’s father, so I guess I did pretty well.”
“You should play Erik! That way if Jenny gets the part, of Christine, it would be a perfect match!” Jessie giggled.
“Hey, Nikki,” Analiese made her way to me. She had that serious look in her eyes like she knew what was going on.
I rolled my eyes. “What do you want?!”
“Before you eat me, I think you should find Andrew and talk to him,” suggested Analiese.
Dalton looked at her and winced. “What? Why?”
I sighed. “Hey…..I met Leonardo while I was at the park,” I said quietly. “He told me Andrew had nothing to do with him, and that he wanted me to know that. He sounded so serious also. He said that if I had ever seen him talking to Nate or Rosaline, it could be that they are the ones trying to get him on their side instead of him getting them on their side.”
Analiese winced. “You expect that to be the truth? There could be something big Leonardo has with Andrew, and he’s only trying his best to get you to ignore it.”
I didn’t meet her gaze. “Yeah, but….we haven’t even seen Andrew do anything except talk with Nate privately once or twice. Not even Delaney tells us that she’s seen Andrew do anything weird with Nate and Rosaline. The reason why Leonardo hasn’t killed him is because he’s not a human to suck the blood from, and he’s got no Twilight Roses to poison him.”
Dalton rolled his eyes. “I bet that asshole’s just here to get some homies. I don’t know whether it’s guys or girls, though.”
“Well, Nikki could ask him,” said Analiese. “She knows how to be persisting and tricky to get answers the right way.”
“Yeah, sure whatever,” I said grumpily, scratching my fingers against the wall as I leaned hard at it. “Just get someone to talk to Nate about the verse as soon as possible, dammit! I’m seriously gonna kill someone!”
I gave a punch at Jessie’s shoulder.
She turned and flinched. “Oww!” She winced. “You freak- what was that for?!”
“I need you to talk to Nate, Jessie. Please!” I looked into her eyes evilly, feeling it take over me. “Whether he’s hiding with Rosaline somewhere around here, I don’t care! But please try to get him to tell you the verse!”
“You know, I bet Jessica’s doing that right now since she disappeared with Nate,” said Dalton. He gave a glance at Anthony, who was laughing with Nate and Jeremy to be paying attention.
“It doesn’t matter!” Jessie said with an annoyed tone. “I just wanna find Nate and smack him! That jerk! Going out with Rosaline! What the hell? I’ll find him and get him to tell the verse.” She gave me an agreeing look.
“Whatever, just get this stupid demon outta me!” I yanked at my ponytails and immediately flung the back door open, and exited the backstage and the entire auditorium, rushing through the halls at a fast walking pace, looking around for Andrew. I heard Jessie and Dalton’s voices behind me as they looked for Nate.
As I rushed through the hallways, I tried my best to fight the throbbing rage in me to just jump out and rip someone to shreds. I could smell the blood of certain people, but darn it, Andrew had no scent to his blood. I just had to run around like a fly, looking for him.
Suddenly, I tripped over a textbook in the middle of a locker room, and I fell to my knees. I cussed loudly, and swiped at the ground with such rage and fury, I had caused cracks in the hard floor. I hung my head, and squeezed my eyes shut, crying in frustration and fighting the evil at the same time. Why me? Why did the devil have to enter me? Wasn’t I already mean enough? As my normal self, I was hotheaded at home and struck at my dad or Kenneth violently, and at school, I was loud, crazy, and popular. The last thing I needed was the devil to enter my soul to make it ten times worse. And right now, I was heating up with rage as the evil flowed through me, as well as my own self crying and fighting back at it at the same time.




10. FLIRT
I was on my knees for about ten minutes. I felt my hot tears drip down my cheeks and hit the floor and just ripped.
Suddenly, I heard footsteps approaching me. “Nikki?”
I whipped my head up, and saw that Nate was standing there, looking at me with a surprised look in his eyes. I saw a small sliver of cut on the left side of his neck.
I clenched my teeth, and looked down, glaring. “What do you want?” I said angrily, standing up, keeping my eyes on the broken floorboard.
“Uh…nothing,” he took a step back. “I was just with Jessica,” he added with a little more humor to his voice.
I looked up at him. He didn’t meet my gaze, but he had a slight smile to his face.
“Really?” I said sassily, tilting my head slightly. “What were you talking about? I thought you were with Rosaline.”
“Nah…..she told me she had to…….well Jessica told me that she’s got feelings for me, and-”
“Wait,” I said sternly, rolling my eyes. “Sheesh, you’re bad at secrets. Tell me what Rosaline did! I want to know what she’s up to.”
Nate met my gaze with his troubled green eyes.
“You know I know about her and everything that you know,” I said, looking him straight in the eye. “Did she leave with Leonardo? Was she up to some secret plan you don’t want me to know about? What was she doing? Tell me everything you can tell me. It’s not like I’m forcing you to give out any secret plans. Just tell me what you’re doing.”
“No, she had to leave for her class, that’s all,” he shrugged. “She’s pretending to be…part of the college since she wants to stick with Andrew.”
I raised my eyebrows. What could Rosaline want with Andrew? I remembered how Leonardo had told me about Andrew having nothing to do with them.
Nate gave me a naughty smile. “Guess what? Andrew told me he’s finally decided on whom to ask out.”
“Cool, is it Louise? She’s the only one single at the single at the moment with no intention to ask out anyone else. But anyway, let me ask you something first,” I walked up to him, so that we were only three inches away. I looked him in the eye. “You know it, don’t you?” I said quietly and seriously.
He winced, slightly cracking a sideways smile. “Know what?”
“The verse,” as I said it, I felt the evil creeping up to me, flourishing throughout my body and biting at me to jump out and devour human flesh. I clenched my fists and gritted my teeth as I fought back the urge. I stared Nate evilly in the eye. “You know the verse. Don’t you? Don’t lie to me.”
He shifted his eyes away from my glare, looking uneasy. “Yeah,” then he met my gaze with a clever smile. “I’ve got it memorized in my head.”
I held my breath as I felt blood swell up in my throat, giving me a taste of flesh. “That’s great,” I said soothingly, clenching my teeth. “You know, it’s the best time to say it aloud to me right now. I’m craving like crazy right now, just to let you know.”
Nate suddenly raised his eyebrows and looked slightly scared.
Suddenly I flinched and pulled at my ponytails, letting out a quick, angry yell. “Ugghhhh!” I groaned angrily, stomping my foot, grabbing at my head and pulling myself down.
Nate took a step back. “You okay? I’ll say the verse right now!”
“Say it! Say it!” I screamed. “Say it now! I’ll kill you, I’m gonna kill you!” I felt like a maniac. I flinched and tugged roughly at my hair, stomping my feet, looking like I was throwing a tantrum. The demon was taking over me, and I fought the rage to just jump out and devour at Nate. This must’ve been the way Dalton felt when he was a thirsting vampire.
“Okay! But wait!” Nate said urgently.
“Uhhh! Wait for what, you idiot?!” I met his eyes and glared like a devil. I could feel my eyes turn red with evil and my teeth grow sharper. “Just say it! Forget Rosaline! If you don’t say it, I’ll kill you and it would be pointless for her not to have you around anyway! JUST SAY IT!”
“No! I…..I can’t……I’m a vampire!” He said in disbelief, with a horrified expression.
I lifted my head and looked him in the eye with disbelief.
Nate pointed to the sliver on the side of his neck. “See this?” He cried. “Jessica just bit me earlier, because she promised me a relationship! I had promised her I would dump Rosaline soon enough! I’m sorry!”
I stared into his scared eyes for another second, and then hissed, narrowing my eyes into entire evilness. I was tired of all this crap and misunderstanding. I was furious and pissed off with rage from both evilness and from my own heart. I suddenly ripped off half of my short-sleeved sweater, as well as part of my shirt underneath, and leaped at Nate with a loud, monstrous hiss, and hit him against the wall at the end of the line of lockers.
“I can still devour you whether you’re human or not!” I screamed crazily and grew my fangs to their sharpest.
“Nikki-!” Nate shouted. “I’ll tell you where it is at my house! I know the exact page and where everything is! Just-”
Suddenly, the door to the left of us flung open and hit my back hard, pushing me closer to Nate. I whipped around in anger, and saw that Jessie and Andrew had fallen to the ground in front of the door, both hugging each other, and their faces pressed together in a tight kiss.
They took no notice of us at first, but when they rolled over and Andrew was on the bottom, he opened his eyes and widened them as he saw me and Nate. He suddenly pushed Jessie off of him.
“Ahh! What the hell?” Andrew cried, rising up like a blur.
“Ugh! Hey-” Jessie got up and then widened her eyes as she noticed me.
I narrowed my eyes with rage, my head throbbing with anger.
“Nikki! She’s not a vampire, I swear!” Andrew said. “I can explain-”
“Oh!!!! SHUT UP!” I screamed. “Just what exactly are you up to, huh? All I want is to be freed from this hell of a soul, so I can figure things out much easier!”
“Nikki!” Jessie cried with horror. “He found me wandering around, and he asked me out! I was so happy!”
“Yeah, see?” Said Nate with raised eyebrows. “It’s not Louise.”
I glared at Jessie, scaring her visibly, as I turned my eyes into a bleeding red devilish look. Jessie backed away and I instantly spun around and gave Nate a ferocious bite at the shoulder, tearing his shoulder like a blur, splattering blood all over my face as he gave a quick yell of pain.
“Oh dear,” gasped Andrew.
“Nikki, no!” Shouted a horrified voice, and before I could whip my head over, something flung at my left side, knocking me over a few yards away from Nate. I tumbled head over heels, and landed standing on my feet as I stared with wide, raging demon eyes at Dalton, who stared back at me with horror. “Nikki-” he began, but I instantly spat a hiss and fled, turning around and ran through the hallways without thinking.
Little did I know what they talked about after I left.
“Ooohhhh,” whistled Andrew. “Ya know, maybe you should’ve risked saying the verse to free her. Someone’s gonna die now.”
Nate was staring down the hallway I had ran down, expressionless as he kneeled down, holding onto his bleeding shoulder. “Probably,” he muttered, sounding breathless.
“You bastards,” muttered Dalton savagely. He whipped around and faced Jessie and Andrew. “This never would’ve happened if you talked with Nate before she did!” He glared at Jessie, wide-eyed.
Jessie widened her eyes and frowned. “Hey! Andrew was the one who appeared out of nowhere to ask me out! After that, I couldn’t help being so focused on him I forgot about what to say to Nate!”
“Bitch!” Dalton yelled angrily, throwing aside a pair of keys he had been carrying, hitting a locker and causing a hole. “It’s your fault! If you just focused on what you were supposed to tell Nate, Nikki wouldn’t have found him!”
“What was the point?!” Jessie snapped back, rolling her eyes. “He was a vampire anyway!”
“No, not before you met Andrew and started chatting with him! He didn’t have that sliver cut across his neck!”
“Um, like, where is Nate? He disappeared!” Andrew said, looking around.
Dalton saw that there was a small puddle of blood by the wall he had been standing at, but there was no sign of him. Dalton rolled his eyes. “Who cares? He won’t get killed by Nikki now, we know that.”
Andrew gave a hysteric gasp. “But Rosaline! What if she finds out he’s a vampire? Ohhhh, she’ll be happy when she finds out about that. Oh dear, what do we do?”
Dalton looked at Andrew with a confused look in his eyes. “Oh great, so you really do know what Leonardo and Rosaline are up to, right?”
Andrew gave an uneasy chuckle. “Jessie told me.”
Jessie flinched and then looked ashamed of herself. “Well……when I blurted out your plan to flirt with Nate, he had no idea anyway, so I told him.”
“You told Andrew our plan?!” Yelled Dalton, glaring at Jessie, his fangs growing sharp.
Jessie glared back at Dalton. “He had no idea about any of it anyway!”
Andrew stepped between them. “Whoa, whoa! It’s alright, I’m not that kind of blabbermouth to give off secrets. I was shocked to find out what Leonardo was up to, honest! And this whole time I trusted Rosaline! I really had no idea behind her relationship with Nate, and you guys trying to stop it from getting any farther.”
Dalton gave Andrew a look of hatred. “Shut up, asshole. Thanks to Jessie, you know everything, as well as our plan. Who cares now? Who cares where Nate’s gone? If Rosaline kills him, who cares? He’s no use now.”
Jessie gave him a look of horror. “What?! He can still tell us where to look for the verse, you idiot! And don’t talk to Andrew like that! He honestly never would turn us in, and he really has nothing to do with Leonardo!”
“Oh yeah?” Dalton still kept his glare at Andrew. “Prove it. But I think Jessie will find out she’s made a mistake to dump James for a backstabber like you.”
Andrew dropped his mouth open and Dalton turned his back and walked away with a fast pace, not looking back.


I ended up killing a random college student wandering in the halls of the college. I made sure I cleaned up the blood and threw the bones in a dumpster outside at the back of the school, and I had washed my face and took off my sweater, though the left side had already been ripped with part of the shirt underneath. I had never felt so satisfied after that, though the anger in me didn’t go away. I was still mad and frustrated. What had exactly happened? It all happened so quickly, and since I was craving so badly, my mind was spinning with frustration I couldn’t think straight. I dropped to the ground, sitting against the dumpster, closing my eyes to think about it. The cool breeze ruffled my ponytails, which were hung down instead of high up now, for I had pulled at them so much.
Nate was a vampire. Jessica had bitten him. But yet, she promised him to be her boyfriend and break up with Rosaline soon. And Nate had agreed. He really agreed to break up with Rosaline? But why? Had Jessica really opened his eyes and stopped him from falling for Rosaline so fast? And what would happen if Rosaline found out?
Then I remembered Jessie and Andrew. They were going out. What if that was part of something Andrew was up to? What if he tried to poison her mind, the way Rosaline was trying to poison Nate’s mind? Great, if Nate really had been freed from Rosaline now that he promised Jessica and even accepted her to turn him into a vampire, then Jessie was the next thing we had to worry about if Andrew was trying to do the same as Rosaline.


The next week, I entered the front of the school with a reluctant, droopy look in my eyes. I used extra eyeliner to cover the slight tired circles under my eyes, and I looked like some kind of witch.
I caught some of my classmates in the distance. Jenny and William were walking up the steps together.
“Nikki!”
I turned to see Dalton rushing up to me, running as fast as a normal human. He had a tired look on his face, as well as annoyance.
I turned away, trying to look for Jessie. “What?” I replied tartly, not looking at him.
“Guess what Delaney saw the other night?” He said urgently.
I rolled my eyes. “Did she see Jessie and Andrew making out like a pair of retards? Or was it Nate and Jessica?”
“No! Delaney saw Leonardo talking with the principal! He was talking about volunteering for a substitute, or a supervisor! I bet Leonardo’s trying to make sure nothing’s going wrong with Rosaline’s plan and everything.”
I widened my eyes and then rolled them. “Wow! As if Rosaline needs anymore help! Sheesh! Doesn’t he have Andrew to keep an eye on things behind Rosaline’s back?”
“You know, I think Leonardo could’ve been telling you the truth when he said that Andrew had nothing to do with anything,” said Dalton carefully. “You see, Jessie told Andrew everything about what Leonardo was doing, as well as our plan to stop it. I don’t know why, but it’s because she’s a retarded bitch.”
“Jessie told him?!” I screamed. “Damn her! What the hell was she thinking?! Great, now-”
“No, but Leonardo’s volunteering to come to this school anyway. If Andrew really were part of his scheme and really was trying to protect Rosaline from anyone who tried to backstab her plan, he wouldn’t need to come here himself and see what’s going on. And now that Andrew knows our plan, he would have to start keeping an eye on us himself, and Leonardo wouldn’t have to butt in and come over.”
I gave Dalton a sideways look. “You could be right, but that doesn’t mean we can fully trust him now.”
“I know, I didn’t say that,” said Dalton. “But I wonder what Rosaline’s gonna do when Nate breaks up with her.”
I looked away and shook my head. “Whatever. Where’s Jessica? I gotta find her.”
Dalton and I entered the school and caught Jessica with Andrew, Delaney, and the twins, Shawn and Justin.
I rushed up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. She was laughing and she turned around to meet my gaze.
“Sup Nikki,” she said sassily.
I tilted my head to the left to let her know it was private, even though I knew the twins and Delaney knew about it.
We took a few steps away from the chatty group.
“Why did you turn Nate into a vampire? Who’s gonna free me now?” I hissed.
“Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve only done that until he breaks up with Rosaline, so that when she gets pissed with him, she won’t kill him before he gets a chance to give you the verse.”
I gave a slight laugh. “Ha! Well, he better break up with her as fast as he can, before I start going crazy again! Seriously, what’s the point with breaking up with Rosaline anyway? He could just free me before breaking up with Rosaline.”
Jessica leaned her head closer to me, looking me in the eyes. “I want him to make sure he keeps his promise to ask me out as well, you know. If I left him as a human, he could have a harder time breaking up with Rosaline since he would be forced to decide whether to turn his back on her and give the verse, or stick with her and say the ritual to give her and Leonardo immortality. Now that he’s a vampire, bitten by me, he knows he won’t serve for Rosaline anymore, so now he’s just got to tell you where to find the verse….and break up with that stuck-up wannabe.”
I raised my eyebrows. “You’ve got a clever point there, but I still think it would’ve been better to just have someone tell him to give out the verse without having him turn into a vampire.”
Jessica chuckled slyly. “It wouldn’t have been that easy. Trust me, I had such a crush on him, I could almost read his thoughts and smell his feelings. He was giving into Rosaline faster than you thought. It wouldn’t have been easy for Jessie to just come up and ask him for it. That’s why I bit him to make sure he kept his promise to me, to free you.”
I laughed, giving her a naughty smile. “How did you get him to agree with you?”
Jessica raised her eyebrows with a sideways smile. “You wanna know?”
I kept my naughty expression.
“I gave him a kiss on the lips, that’s all. I got him alone so I could sweet talk and tell him with emotion how I felt about him. Then I slowly gave him a kiss.”
I laughed. “Yeah, Nate’s that kind of guy to fall for things like that. Especially since it came from you.”
Jessica chuckled. “I know. I bet you could’ve done the same as well, and have him fall for you, but you probably shouldn’t do that at the moment. You’re even worse than a vampire right now.” She winked. “And I wasn’t craving that time.”
I rolled my eyes playfully. “Whatever. Hopefully Nate’s gonna tell me soon enough.”
“Hey, he’s still kind of edgy, I can feel it,” Jessica reminded me. “Even though he’s gonna keep his promise, he’s still hesitant about telling you, and betraying Rosaline. Don’t just expect him to give it away just like that. And Rosaline’s still following him around.”
“Yeah, I know,” I shrugged.
“Dalton!” Called a high-pitched female voice.
I whipped my head to glare at Rosaline, strutting up to Dalton who was messing around with Shawn and Justin.
Dalton turned to meet Rosaline’s bubbly expression.
I rolled my eyes as they started blabbering.
Jessica nudged me. “Hey, your plan is working, at least. And you know what? I’ve seen the way Nate’s been looking at you from across the room during the classes.” Then she added with clenched teeth, “I think he’s starting to fall for you a little.”
I met her gaze, raising my eyebrows. “Yeah, I guess that’s an eye opener. I’ll stop if you want,” I said sassily. “I probably don’t need to do that anymore. He’s already gonna tell me soon enough anyway.”
“Oh no, keep it up, I’m fine with it,” said Jessica simply. “Rosaline’s still around, don’t forget that. She can still get him to change his mind and wait longer to tell you and then…..”
“Yeah, I guess,” I shrugged. “I’m pissed at him right now, but I’ll keep it up, I can do things like that.”
I thought about what Jessica had told me, and I kept up my flirting with Nate. During lunch, I showed my anger for him, though at the same time, I laughed and flirted with him.
I saw that Rosaline was starting to follow Dalton around now. During lunch, Dalton sat by William’s side while he had Jenny on his other side, and Rosaline suddenly came over to interrupt his messing around with William and Jenny.
When lunch was over, we made our way to math class, and I walked with Jessie and Andrew. Jessie had explained to me during lunch her relationship with Andrew, and that when they saw a movie together over the weekends, she had a great time. I had fun with Andrew as well, and saw that he was trying to improve my trust in him, and I still didn’t forget I had a small crush on his sexy looks.
Dalton suddenly ran up to us.
“Hey, guess what! Rosaline’s inviting you and me to the movies!” He looked at me with his eyes wide, and he was smiling naughtily.
Jessie and I turned to him.
“What?!” I winced. “What’s that all about? Is she trying to get me jealous now, or something?”
“No! Well…..maybe she is, but that’s a good thing! She’s actually falling for me! Seriously, during P.E., she wouldn’t stop jumping after me, and she kept laughing and stealing the soccer ball from me, it was annoying! But I still played along and made sure it was getting better.”
Andrew laughed. “Oh, cool! Perhaps she’ll forget about Nate! Did she invite him to the movies?”
Dalton raised his eyebrows. “No, actually, she didn’t!” He laughed. “But still, you should come on Friday anyway, to join us for the movies.” He said, smiling at me. “Just so you could be there for me.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled back. “Sure, whatever.”
Jessie sighed happily and held Andrew’s hand. “I had a great time at the movies!”
Suddenly, James appeared at Andrew’s side.
Andrew flinched. “Whoa, man! You scared me, geez!”
“Yeah?” James smiled, raising his eyebrows. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Sup, James,” I flashed him a sassy smile. I kinda felt bad for him. I wonder how he took it when Jessie dumped him….or more like cheated on him first.
“Sup,” he said simply. “Hey, Jessie! Joshua’s calling you a bisexual whore for going out with Andrew!”
“Yeah? Didn’t he call Nikki something worse?” Said Jessie.
Dalton snickered. “Yeah, he called her a-”
I elbowed him. “Idiot! Shut up! Don’t say it!” I started laughing naughtily at the phrase Joshua had used at me a long time ago when I had first went out with Gabriel. The thought of Gabriel made me feel strange, but I felt no regret since I was perfectly fine now, on that part at least. I haven’t spoken to him since he broke up with me, which was quite strange since I talked like crazy to anybody, including Joshua. Even though he was my first ex-boyfriend, but I messed around with him every day, talking back at every insult he called me.
“Oh, who cares what he calls her?” Andrew sighed. “She’s perfect the way she is.” He gave her a hug as she made an uneasy expression. James started laughing loudly with me and Dalton.
When we entered math class, a tall old man stood at the front.
“Oh, great, we have a sub today,” muttered Dalton.
Whenever we had subs in math class, we had to work on a worksheet of some sort, with a tricky puzzle to complete.
The sub was nice enough to let us sit wherever we wanted, as long as we were still working at the same time.
I joined Jessie and William, who were at the back of the room at the last row.
Dalton sat in front of me, Jessie to my left with William in front of her, and James came over to sit behind me. Nate came over to sit behind her, laughing with Anthony as Anthony saw behind him.
I smelled that Nate still had his wound on his shoulder, though it was pretty dried up now, and starting to heal quickly.
James poked Jessie on the back with his pencil. She flinched and made a face at him.
“So Andrew really isn’t gay?” James said sweetly.
She gave a small smack on his hand. “Shut up! You’re the gay one now!”
“Psh! Yeah, look at his hair!” Dalton teased. “It’s blue and like a girl’s!”
I messed up Dalton’s hair. “You’re not too far from looking like one either!”
Nate laughed. “Yeah, Dalton! I think you’d make a good twin of Rosaline if you wore her kind of makeup and grew your hair longer!”
I flashed Nate a grimace. “What the hell?”
Jessie giggled. “Yeah, no offense Nikki, but I think if Dalton’s eyes shrunk a little, he’d resemble Rosaline more.”
“Hey, you know who you look like?” Dalton said to me with a teasing smile. “You look more like William! You both have dark black hair and your eyes are almost the same size.”
William winced. “Nah, she kinda looks like Ashton.”
I rolled my eyes. “Shut up, I look nothing like either of you. And why aren’t you sitting next to Jenny?”
“’Cause I’m sitting next to him,” laughed Dalton. “He thinks I’m more important to him than his girlfriend!”
Nate laughed loudly. “No way! Jenny’s over there, talking about clothes with Analiese and Jessica!”
Anthony snickered. “I bet she’s the only girl who likes Rosaline.”
Nate gave Anthony a sideways smile. “Nah, I think she’s just trying to jack her style with her outfit, Jenny’s like that.”
I gave him a raised look. “Yeah, but I wouldn’t think Rosaline would pay much attention to someone like Jenny. There really isn’t a reason for her to.”
Jessie turned and smiled sweetly at Nate.
Nate met my gaze. He smiled sarcastically, tilting his head to the side. “Yeah, but don’t feel left out. She hasn’t been paying as much attention to you lately because I told her to go easier.”
Dalton snickered.
I shrugged. “As if she was bothering me that badly.”
“Nate,” Dalton rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you just kiss her again? That was so sick the first time you did it, and you should do it again!”
William looked at him and grimaced.
“It was!” Dalton said to him, raising his eyebrows. “Seriously! They kiss like tigers! Like they’re trying to bite and kill at each other!”
“Nah, I can’t now,” said Nate with a flat tone.
I winced at him. “Really? Why not?”
Nate smiled at me. “Because I love you Nikki.”
I kept my expression still, though I felt my heart rise and skip a beat.
Nate raised his eyebrows. “I love you Nikki. I love you so much, I can kiss you in front of the entire class and make out with you in Dalton’s closet.”
I rolled my eyes and felt stupid. “Oh shut up!” I said roughly. “You’re an asshole.” I couldn’t help sounding amused at the same time I felt annoyed.
Jessie broke out into giggles. “Do it! I’d like to see that!”
Anthony laughed. “Yeah, Dalton won’t get jealous! He didn’t even hear that since he was too busy messing around with William!”
I whipped my head to where Dalton and William were laughing, as Dalton tried grabbing at his worksheet and reaching out with his pencil to scribble on it.
I rolled my eyes and faced Nate.
“Nikki, I love you!” Nate said again with a simple tone.
I gave him a kick at his leg. “Thank you. I love you too.” I said sarcastically. I turned around to work on my worksheet. I knew he was just jerking around again.
James sighed. “And I love Louise.” James really hated Louise. It was obvious he could never stand her loud, girly, mean, and conceited attitude. I was surprised he didn’t hate me that way, but probably because I didn’t have the girly personality to me. Jessie was girly and mean sometimes, but she was more sensitive and less violent than Louise.
Nate kept his gaze on me. “Nikki, I love you,” he kept saying. “I love you Nikki!”
Dalton turned around with a wide-eyed wince. “Shut up, Nate!” And he added an inappropriate comment at him.
“No, Nikki, really! I love you!” Nate gasped, smiling. “I love you, Nikki!”
I whipped around and kicked at his leg again, but this time he jerked away and I missed.
“Whoops! Haha, you missed!” He teased.
He flinched when I gave his desk a hard kick and almost tipped it over.
I turned around and watched Dalton and William messing around, stealing at each other’s stuff and acting childish.
I wondered whether Nate was really meaning part of what he said. I remembered how Jessica had told me the way he’d been looking at me during classes, and how he was trying to follow me around at lunch earlier, and pretty much did more talking to me than I did at him.
There was a tap on my shoulder and I heard Nate say, “Nikki, I love you.”
I dropped my hand on my desk, making a loud bang.
Nate snickered and looked at Anthony. “Seriously! I’m just waiting for her to smack me or something, I’m surprised it didn’t happen yet!”
I turned with a calm smile on my face, and then suddenly changed into an angry expression, raising my hand as if I were going to whack him, and then I stopped. “Nah, just kidding.” I turned around. “I would never hurt you.” I said sarcastically.
Dalton snickered, knowing I was referring to the wound on his shoulder.
“Nate, I’m gonna kill you after school,” Dalton said savagely, though he had a naughty smile to his face.
Nate kept his calm sideways smile on his face. “Oh yeah? What are you going to do?”
Dalton laughed. “I’m serious! I know how to kill you! you’re pissing me off!”
James cracked a smile. “You sure didn’t show it.”
Dalton frowned at him. “Shut up, James.”
I gave Dalton a look. “No, that’s fine, I can kill him, you know that.”
“Hey, Nikki!” James said. “Aren’t you mad at Dalton as well? He didn’t even back you up against Nate!”
Jessie laughed. “Shut up! I think he likes William!”
Dalton gave Jessie a wince with a look of hatred and turned to me. “Do you still have that rose at your house?” He said aloud.
I huffed. “I said I’ll do it, okay?”
“Oooh, you getting tired of him, Nikki?” Nate said sweetly. “I can be your next husband.”
I whipped my head with a grimace, about to spat an insult, but then Dalton suddenly rose from his chair with a wicked sideways look on his face. “You’re dead,” he said through clenched teeth, reached out his arms, his hands looking like they were ready to clasp in a strangle, and he jumped at Nate.
But suddenly Nate snickered and sat back in his seat, and Dalton bumped into his desk and knocked it over, falling on top of it.
Jessie, William, James, and Anthony immediately started laughing, and when I saw that Dalton had a hint of a sideways smile at his face, as well as embarrassment, I couldn’t help laughing along. The rest of the class noticed him fallen on the tipped over desk and started laughing.
“Dammit, Nate! You bastard!” Dalton shouted rudely, though he still had a naughty smile.
The sub turned and winced over to Dalton. “What’s going on?”
Nate was laughing. “He fell! Geez, Dalton. Smart!”
I laughed and gave him my hand. “Are you okay?” I was still laughing.
Dalton yanked at my hand and gave Nate a naughty look as he got up. He called him a swear word and sat back in front of me.
Nate laughed and pulled his desk back up.
Jessie was red with laughter. “Omigosh! You looked so stupid, Dalton!”
The sub came over to our area. “Hey, what’s your name?” He tapped on Dalton’s shoulder.
“His name is William,” said Nate.
But Dalton had already said his name and the sub gave him a red slip. “Take this to the office and write your name here.”
Dalton sighed and rolled his eyes and took the slip.
“Bye, Dalton!” Nate called out before Dalton left the classroom.
I rolled my eyes and gave Nate a sideways smile as he started laughing with Anthony.
“You know he wasn’t kidding when he said he knows how to kill you,” I reminded sassily.
Nate looked at me with a sarcastic smile. “Yeah, I know. But I still love you, Nikki. Nothing can change that.” Jessie laughed out loud.
I threw a pencil and hit the corner of Nate’s eye. “Ha! Then let me treat you like garbage, see if you can take that!” I laughed.
“Okay, you guys are going to have to move,” said the sub seriously. “Or you’re all following him to the office. I’ve already got your names written down, and what you guys were doing, so don’t cause any more trouble.”
As soon as we got up to move, Jessie followed me and muttered loudly, “Aw, why does he have to move us? What a jerk.”
















11. NIGHT OUT
When math class was finally over, I looked around for Nate. I saw him walking with Anthony and William, laughing loudly, and then suddenly they spotted Jessie with Andrew in the distance.
Andrew and William started calling out to them, and Nate slowly walked after them with a tired frown.
“Aw, come on, what’s so cool about him? He’s human now, he’s actually got a girlfriend,” he complained.
I made my way up to him. “Hey,” I said tartly.
He turned and lit up his expression as he met my gaze.
“So are you planning on dumping Rosaline or not?” I said simply, raising my eyebrows.
Nate gave a sideways smile and shrugged. “Don’t know yet. I really don’t know what to do after I dump her.”
I frowned. “What do you mean?”
“No, I meant I didn’t know what to do after I do all….you know,” he said with more understanding. “I can still tell you where to find that verse in the Bible, though, but I don’t know what would happen after that’s over with.”
I nodded. “You’re not sure whether to ask out Jessica?”
He nodded, not meeting my gaze.
“You made a promise with her!” I said. “You should ask her out! I would’ve thought someone like you would feel lucky to have someone like Jessica as your girlfriend.”
Nate laughed. “No! She’s a hell of a sexy chick, I can’t wait for that!” Then he added more quietly, “It’s just that I don’t know what Rosaline would think.”
I crossed my arms and gave him an understanding look. “Hey, I’ve got a Twilight Rose, if you never knew. If she comes near you afterwards, I can always strike her with it.”
Then I had a better idea. “Hey! Ms. Fletcher can have her father come over again to get rid of Rosaline. Remember, she knows almost everything we know.” It felt weird to suddenly remember that Ms. Fletcher hadn’t been part of anything going on lately, for she had been a real help for us before.
Nate looked a little more hopeful. “Yeah, you’re right.”
“So tell me where to find that verse, and I’ll have Jessie, or anyone read it to free me, and then we can get rid of Rosaline from doing anymore evil things.”
Nate met my gaze and sighed. “Fine….but you know……”
I rolled my eyes. “What?! What now? What’s stopping us now?”
Nate snickered. “Nothing! It’s just that you looked really sexy when you were possessed by that demon at Winston College.”
I widened my eyes and winced. “What?!”
“No, really,” he said seriously, looking me in the eye, smiling. “You looked hot all mad and devilish.”
I suddenly remembered how I had ripped part of my shirt off- not all the way, but part of it. I narrowed my eyes at Nate.
“I’ll still tell you, though,” he chuckled. “I know you can do that without the devil in you anyway.”
“Na-ate!” Called a voice in the distance.
“Oh, crap,” muttered Nate.
I turned I cussed under my breath as I saw Rosaline coming over with Dalton slowly following at her side. I made an unhappy expression at her as she came over.
She smiled at me. “Hi, Nikki.” She rested her arm on Nate’s shoulder and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “So what’s been going on? I saw Dalton at the office.” She flashed Dalton a wink. “Why was he mad at Nate?”
I shrugged, raising my eyebrows at her. “Maybe because Nate was being Nate.”
Dalton snickered. “Yeah, that’s what I said.”
“Oh, come on,” said Rosaline roughly. “Don’t think I don’t know what’s going on behind my back. What happened?”
Suddenly the bell rang.
“Oh, wow, we’re late,” said Nate flatly, turning to leave.
“Oh, no,” Rosaline grabbed his hood and pulled him back. “No one’s going anywhere until I find out what’s going on.”
I rolled my eyes. “What do you mean? I already told you! Sheesh, just-”
“No,” Rosaline interrupted, looking scary when she was serious. “I know something’s up, but I don’t know exactly what. I can feel it, you know. Don’t think I’m some stupid blonde who has no idea what’s happening, I can feel it.” and she let go of Nate and walked away.
Dalton and Nate watched her go while I was looking at the ground with a frown, trying to think.
“Hey, did Rosaline invite you to the movies with us?” I looked at Nate.
“What? No,” he replied, still staring after Rosaline. “Why? She invited you guys to a movie?”
Dalton looked at him. “Yeah, she invited me, and told me to bring Nikki along. She didn’t say anything about you.”
Nate winced. “Huh, okay then. I guess I’ll ask her about that.”
I gave him a look. “You sure you wanna come? I bet she won’t pay as much attention to you anyway. She has been paying attention to Dalton lately, in case you haven’t noticed.”
“Yeah, if you haven’t been noticing the way she kept pressing the back of my neck because it’s my pressure point,” said Dalton with a naughty smile.
“Oh no, I’ve noticed,” said Nate simply, meeting Dalton’s gaze with a smile. “But I’m gonna ask anyway. It will be strange that she’s going to the movies without me when we’re still together.”
I shrugged. “Fine, go ahead. But when are you gonna tell me where the verse is? Tell me now! As soon as you can!”
“It’s a long process to explain, but you have to go on page 798 in the Bible and read the third verse around that page. It’s about six sentences long.”
“Great! Thank you, Nate!” I felt so relieved now, though the demon in me felt angry and scared. But I still gave him a grateful smile. “Finally, I’m free. I’ll tell Jessie to find her Bible and read it to me.”
Dalton sighed. “Hey, Nate? Does that mean…you’re turning your back on Rosaline?”
Nate looked away. “She never had wanting to betray in the first place, though I was going to do it anyway since I had no choice. But I was still looking forward to saving you from the devil. Just tell Jessie as soon as you can.”


“Really? Awesome! He finally told you?” Jessie gasped. We were rehearsing the play at our own auditorium, and this time I was trying out for Christine’s part, and Dalton was trying out for Erik. I was waiting in the back stage for my part to come up again.
“Yep. But we should get Ms. Fletcher to kill off Rosaline. Unless I can use the cross pinned to my wall, we need another cross.”
“Or you can just use the Twilight Rose. I’ll shoot Rosaline in the head, and you can insert the Twilight Rose.” Jessie gave an excited smile.
“We’ll think of something,” I shrugged. “Right now, I just want to get rid of this spirit so I can work with it better. Come to my house later on and read that verse to me.”
“Oh….I can’t. Rosaline invited me, Andrew, and the Outsiders to go shopping with her and Nate tonight.” Said Jessie quietly.
“Well…hey! If you can, try to sneak in the theaters with us on Friday, and meet me secretly so you can read that verse to me! But try and read it whenever you’ve got any free time.”
Jessie met my gaze. “Right. I promise I’ll be there to free you on move night.”


By Friday, I was sitting with Dalton and Rosaline at lunch as I felt uptight about going to the movies with Rosaline.
I whipped my head to face Rosaline. “So! Nate’s not coming, or what?”
She turned and gave me a smile. “He really wouldn’t be interested in a romance movie, do you think? IDK, I wouldn’t let him come if he didn’t want to, but he’s more than welcome to.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I asked if he’s coming or not. Is he coming?”
Rosaline raised her eyebrows. “No, there’s your answer. Happy now?”
I gave her a sideways smile. “Nope, not at all.”
Behind me, Andrew and Jessie held hands. Andrew giggled and pinched my side. “Ponytails is never happy.”
I took a water bottle in front of me and squeezed it hard. “Yeah, Dalton’s not paying attention to me anymore for some reason!” I said aloud indignantly, trying to sound pissed at the way Rosaline was admiring him for flirting with her.
Andrew let out a girly laugh. “Yeah! He’s gone gay for William!”
I winced and faced Dalton at my right. He was laughing obnoxiously with William at his side.
I heard Jenny sigh. “William’s cheating on me, you know.”
Analiese was sitting in front of her and she gave a troubled wince.
“Yeah, he’s with Dalton,” said Jenny.
Analiese laughed. “Ohhh, okay, I thought you meant he was really with someone else, I almost wondered if you were really okay with this relationship.”
“Oh yeah, shut up, Jenny!” Yelled Dalton with a naughty smile. “You’re just jealous!” He added with a sarcastic tone.
William gave him a wince. “What the- no way!” He gave him a slight shove on the shoulder and I gave Dalton a shove on his other shoulder.
“You’re a jerk,” I said tartly. I was trying my best to act agitated in front of Rosaline so she can admire Dalton even more, though I was puzzled on why Dalton would be focusing on William all of a sudden instead of Rosaline.
“Wow, are we having fun?” Ashton came over to sit by Analiese, giving William and Dalton sideways looks.
Dalton gave Ashton a smirk. “Not exactly.”
“I think Dalton’s making William uncomfortable,” said Analiese.
“Shut up, Analiese, you make Jeremy uncomfortable,” said Dalton spitefully, looking annoyed now.
I snickered. “Yeah, you look too organized and innocent for a wild guy like Jeremy.” I said rudely.
Analiese opened her mouth and frown. “Hey, Jeremy’s not a bad guy who likes bad girls like you either! He’s just wild and hyper with an annoying selfish personality, that’s all!”
“Don’t forget to add that you think he’s hot,” I said sassily, laughing.
Jessie laughed out loud behind me, and then suddenly looked serious and upset. “Hey,” she said sourly, poking Rosaline on the back. “I ain’t invited to your stupid movie party, right?”
Rosaline turned and gave Jessie an obvious annoyed look. “No! Of course not, bitch. Why would I invite someone like you?”
Andrew was picking his pure white teeth with a toothpick. “Oh…..because I would come too?”
Rosaline laughed. “Well, I really don’t like you as much anyway to come.” She turned around and faced me with a happy expression. “Nah, it’s just gonna be me, you, Dalton, and Nate if he would like to come.”
I faced her for a moment. “Awesome,” I said in a bored tone. I wondered what she was really planning; Dalton and I would have to keep our eyes open.
I saw Nate and Anthony hanging out with the Outsiders, and Jeremy was with them. I remembered how Jeremy and Delaney were thinking of breaking up since Delaney was starting to feel angry about the way Justin was crushing on Rosaline. They were all laughing about something, but I didn’t bother to find out what it was. I bit my tongue, feeling strangely agitated for no apparent reason. This whole thing going on with Rosaline, everything she was doing, it was getting to my head and pissing me off. I took the squished water bottle and twisted it broken easily.


Lynn volunteered to drive me to the movies.
I was just in my room, texting Jessie about how I felt about going to the movies when there was a bang at my door.
“Wait! I’ll be right there, geez!” I screamed grumpily. I really hated it when people rushed you for something you weren’t even exactly looking forward for.
The door banged again and it swung open. Kenneth stood there with my flash drive in his hand.
I whipped my head towards him with a glare. “What the HELL?! Get outta my room, you little retard!” I shot up and snatched my flash drive from his hand.
He laughed. “Ethan and I saw your pictures with Dalton! You two look so adorable together!” He had his friend, Ethan over right now.
“Thank you,” I said sassily and gave him a dangerous look, feeling the fangs growing. Why did mom and dad have to invite Kenneth over at the moment when I had the stupid devil in me? “Now get outta my room!”
Ethan came over, laughing. “Nikki and Dalton! Sitting in a tree!”
I screamed a racist phrase at Ethan and slammed my door.
Cussing, I checked my flash drive to see if they had messed with anything, and then widened my eyes in horror. The essay I had written for stupid history class was gone. “WHAT THE HELL, YOU DELETED MY ESSAY!!!” I screamed in furious rage, feeling the demon explode in me at once and felt myself transform in my demon-like body with red crazy eyes and sharp fangs. I heard them laugh loudly outside my door and I let out a loud, monstrous hiss. I crashed out my door and immediately knocked Kenneth aside, bumping him hard into Ethan, yelling loud cusses at them, along with swearing and threatening to kill them.
They stared up at me with horror, not getting up, until I heard Lynn’s voice from downstairs.
“Nikki? Are you ready?” She sounded concerned.
I would’ve literally eaten them and ripped them to shreds if I hadn’t remembered about fighting back at this demon. I couldn’t let it take over me, no matter what. No matter what, I would regret any mistake I would’ve done later on.
“Geez, Nikki, I’m telling dad,” said Kenneth in his babyish tattling voice.
That voice always annoyed the crap out of me. I faced him with an evil glare, and then leaped at him, tumbling head over heels across the halls, hissing and spitting as he cried in terror.
“Nikki!” Lynn’s horrified voice was right at my side. She was up the stairs and standing with horror as she saw the look on my face, and me crouching over Kenneth, looking like a wild animal ready to pounce on its prey. “Nikki! Don’t!” She hissed through clenched teeth. “Let’s go! Your parents are outside!”
She immediately grabbed my arm and yanked me with her down the stairs. I could barely hear Kenneth’s crying as the rage and evil thudded and echoed in my ears. I was more than just pissed.
In the car, I was breathing hard, looking extremely agitated and devilish. Lynn looked troubled. She did know about my demon spirit trapped inside of me, for I had texted her about it, and explained it to her during school a while back. She didn’t say anything to me, and she kept casting me troubled looks from the corner of her eye.
“You know, I can smell fear, you know,” I said roughly. “You’re just gonna make it worse.”
Lynn bit her lip. “Nikki….are you sure you wanna go to the movies with Rosaline? I don’t see what’s the point, she could be trying to plan something.”
“Yeah, that’s why we’re coming there to figure it out!” I spat, glaring at her with red blazing eyes. “Dalton and I will watch her every move, and then make sure we control our trust with her. We aren’t dumber than her, you know.”
Lynn looked away from me. “Whatever. Just try not to hurt yourself.”
I narrowed my eyes at her. “What are you? Mom? I’ll hurt myself, or anybody I feel like to! You know me!”
Lynn rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m just telling you.” She said calmly, looking troubled. Under her breath, she muttered, “At least none of the people you’re with are humans to easily kill.”
I whipped my head to her with a glare.
Lynn didn’t meet my gaze. “Just throwing it out. You can still kill them, just not as easily.”
I bit my lip, feeling my face burn with intense anger, and then Lynn stopped the car. “Alright, we’re here. Now please get your demonic body outta my car.”
Suddenly, a face appeared at my window. “Nikki? Hey, it’s Nikki!”
I turned and faced Gabriel. I rolled down my window and suddenly felt a strange nausea through all my anger, for we hadn’t spoken since we broke up.
“Oh! Great, I forgot it’s a Friday and a hell of a crowd will be at the movies!” I yelled angrily. “JUST GET OUTTA MY FACE!”
“No, Nikki….” he sounded pleading. “It’s just…….I heard you were coming here with Rosaline and…..Dalton, so I was wondering-”
I looked into his calm, sorry eyes, knowing he was regretting ever breaking up with me. But I felt no pang of sorrow whatsoever. “No! I am NOT going to let you watch a movie with us, you son of a-”
“No, I was just wondering if you were able to just…well, hang out with me together for a little. Just you and me,” he spoke carefully and he looked into my eyes apologetically.
I didn’t feel a single feeling for him but anger and irritation, plus, the aching rage throbbing in my ears.
“Urrrrr…….DON’T PATRONIZE ME!” I gave my window a punch with my fist, and broke it to pieces as easily as smashing an insect.
Gabriel jumped back in surprise as the window broke to sharp pieces, and I heard Lynn gasp.
“Dude! This is my car, you idiot! What the hell?!” She sounded more angry than surprised.
I was surprised myself. I suddenly snapped out of it and felt lightheaded. “I…..I’m sorry,” I muttered through clenched teeth, looking at my feet.
“I….I’ll leave you alone then,” said Gabriel quietly, looking embarrassed and regretful. He looked down and walked away.
I was panting slower now, feeling a whole bunch of emotions all at once. Anger, irritation, sorrow, frustration, I felt like I was going to explode.
“I’ll pay for it, I promise,” I murmured, not meeting Lynn’s gaze.
Lynn rolled her eyes. “Yeah, whatever. I’m certainly not fixing it, and I’m not gonna wait too long. Now get out, seriously, geez.”
I huffed, smacking my seat hardly and swung the door open, slamming it behind me as I stomped away to the theaters.
“Hey!” Lynn called from her car. “I’m not gonna pick you up! I’m sure you can find your own way home anyway, or attack Edward in his car! I’ve got a presentation at Winston College later on!” And I heard her drive away.
I whipped around, glaring after her with evil demon eyes. I stood there for a moment, looking like a crazed, pissed off slut.
“Nikki!”
I suddenly gasped in surprise and snapped out of it as I heard Dalton’s voice. I turned and faced him with tired eyes. “Dalton…..” I wasn’t feeling good now.
He looked scared, I could tell in his eyes that he understood my feelings and felt scared for me.
“You okay? Nate showed up. He decided to come.”
I sighed. “Oh wow, so I guess the moment with just you me, and Rosaline would be over. I was expecting to see how it would be like with just the three of us.”
“He-ey!” Called Rosaline, standing at the front door of the theater, waving her hand at us. I saw that Nate was by her side, looking tired, though he still kept a tired looking sideways smile on his face as he held Rosaline’s hand.
I looked at Dalton. “Dalton, something’s strange. I’m not hungry, but I’m feeling totally pissed at everything.”
Dalton gave a sideways smile. “Aren’t you always?”
I huffed, looking at him seriously, feeling a sharp pang of annoyance. “Seriously! I mean more than I normally am! I think Kenneth’s just setting me up even worse now.”
“No, I think-” Dalton began, but suddenly, Rosaline and Nate, being vampires, were already right behind us before we could hear their steps.
“Hey, Nikki!” Said Rosaline, smiling at me with raised eyebrows. “You ready? We already paid for it. We’re seeing Lost Love, a romance movie.”
Nate snickered. “Psh, wow……exciting.” He rolled his eyes, looking tired.
Rosaline gave his hand a squeeze. “Oh shut up, you really didn’t have to come if you didn’t want to.”
“Yeah, Nate, leave right now if you like,” said Dalton, giving him a naughty look.
We entered the theater, and the smell of popcorn that always lingered around the theaters almost calmed me down, until Rosaline sighed next to me.
“Oh, I’m sorry if Jessie and Andrew weren’t invited, Nikki,” she said sweetly. “But you know, I bet they’re coming to the movies anyway since it’s a Friday night!”
I rolled my eyes and said tartly, “Yeah, they already went to the movies last weekend. And there’s nothing good to see right now anyway.”
“You guys gonna buy popcorn?” Said Nate tiredly, raising his eyebrows in a bored expression.
Rosaline rolled her eyes, giving him a naughty smile. “Sure, we’ll have popcorn. I’m sure there’s nothing wrong with vampires eating popcorn, or drinking soda.” There was sarcasm in her voice.
“Sheesh, just say no,” muttered Dalton, staring out the window.
Rosaline flashed a glance at him and then raised her eyebrows. “But I’ve got a much better drink for all of us! I’m sure Nikki would like some as well.” I didn’t notice she was carrying four tall soda cups of……blood in her arms.
I widened my eyes. “Wait a second…..why the heck didn’t I scent that?”
Dalton looked at me. “Really? You didn’t even notice it? Rosaline brought us all blood to sip on while watching the movie. It’s awesome!”
I winced. “So you smelled it already? Why didn’t I smell anything?”
Rosaline winced at me and then shrugged. “Hmph, I dunno! It’s just regular blood from a deer we found in the woods.”
“No, it’s Andrew’s blood, you couldn’t smell it,” said Nate flatly in a bored voice.
Rosaline laughed and rolled her eyes. “Sure, yeah, I could smell it still, it was the deer we just killed not too long ago. You want some or not?”
I winced and narrowed my eyes. “No thanks,” I said sourly. “It won’t help with my cravings later on, so no.”
Dalton snatched a cup from Rosaline. “You sure? It might help a tiny bit.”
“Yeah, so why bother?”
“Alright then, whatever!” Rosaline handed Nate a cup of blood. “Let’s see that damn lovey-dovey movie now.”
Rosaline took Nate’s hand and pulled his hand with her to the hall of the movie rooms, chattering with him with an annoyed look on her face.
Dalton snickered and muttered something rude. “Seriously, she’s probably getting tired of him. He knows what she’s up to, so he’s more hesitant and careful around her, and I guess she’s having a hard time trying to convince him. Not to mention I’m around to catch her eye!”
I wasn’t meeting Dalton’s gaze. I kept feeling my eyes burn over and over again, and I felt like killing someone for no reason.
Dalton noticed me and his expression faded. “Hey….you did tell Jessie to meet you here behind Rosaline’s back so she can free you, right?”
I huffed, biting my tongue in frustration. “Yeah, smart right? Stupid Jessie couldn’t meet with me with her Bible any other time of the week since she couldn’t find it, so now she promised to meet me here today and free me. Perfect time since Rosaline’s around.”
“You sure she’s coming?”
“Yes!” I hissed savagely, feeling up tight and irritated. “She texted me earlier! She found her Bible and now she’s meeting me here……she’ll text me when she’s here! Ugh! She better come soon! I think the evil’s already taking over me now!” I tugged at my ponytails and clenched my teeth angrily, cursing under my breath.
“Your eyes are actually bleeding,” said Dalton calmly, lifting a bare finger to my right eyelid, slowly wiping off blood that was leaking out from underneath.
I felt a chill run through me as he touched me. It cooled down the bubbling, hot rage that was burning in me. I suddenly calmed down, and felt like my normal self for a moment as I met Dalton’s eyes. He looked so different when his eyes were calm and understanding instead of arrogant, angry, or naughty.
“Hey….why don’t you wear your gloves anymore?” I asked quietly.
Dalton gave a slight smile. “Why? You want me to? They weren’t any special anyway. They didn’t even have sharp fingernails like the Outsiders’ gloves.”
“Hey! You two coming?” Called Rosaline’s impatient voice. “I promise we can make out when the movie’s over!”
Nate snickered and Dalton whipped his head to her, smiling with surprise. “Shut up! You said that too loud!”
Rosaline looked at him and giggled. “C’mon! Hurry up!”
We watched the movie, “Lost Love,” which turned out to be about a girl’s boyfriend who was killed in a car accident, and then she is engaged with another guy. It was confusing, but I couldn’t focus very well. I was shaking with frustration and irritation next to Dalton, and he kept casting me promising looks when Rosaline wasn’t looking. It turned out that Rosaline spent most of the movie time messing with Dalton and giggling loudly, disturbing the other people around them, including Nate.
“Ow! What the-” Dalton hissed.
Rosaline giggled. “You touch me inappropriately, I touch you inappropriately!”
“Psh! You pulled me forward and my elbow slipped on your thigh, which isn’t an inappropriate place to touch!” Dalton shot back, fidgeting and snickering with Rosaline.
I was sitting there, leaning forward, rubbing the sides of my head with my fingers, and then suddenly flinched, feeling a hot explosion in my head, and then took a second to realize why. I felt hot and angry. Did Rosaline just touch Dalton? I felt my eyes water with bloody anger again, as it dripped down to the corner of my lip. I tasted the hot blood, tasting the evil and demonic feeling again.
“Sheesh, shut up you two, you makin’ out or something?” Came Nate’s bored voice from the other side of Rosaline.
“Dude, we’re gonna get kicked out of the theaters again,” snickered Dalton, giving me a smile, reminding me of when Jessie and I had gotten drunk and were kicked out of the theaters for rioting so much.
I didn’t meet his gaze. I was feeling angry like I wanted to kill for no apparent reason. I hated Rosaline. She was pissing me off. I wanted to rip her to shreds till she couldn’t take anymore and died.
I was breathing hard, clenching my teeth and shaking, and then started growling and snarling in my breathing, sounding like a monster was going to jump out of me.
“Nikki…..” Dalton muttered to me with concern in his tone.
Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my pocket and I gasped. I pulled it out and saw that Jessie had texted:
Im here in the girl’s bathroom.
I looked up and then turned to Dalton. “I have to go,” I muttered through clenched teeth, looking him in his scared, troubled eyes. He nodded, knowing what I was talking about.
I shot a quick glance at Rosaline, who was lightly laughing with Nate now, and got up, creeping away to my left to the exit. I took one look behind me, my eyes narrowed and blazing with red, bloody anger, piercing not at Rosaline, but into Dalton. I’m watching you. Don’t think I can easily tolerate your stupid flirting for her. You better NOT have the slightest feelings for her.
I suddenly felt a strange feeling of……worry, though the feeling didn’t come from me. It came from Dalton, but I felt it. I remembered Jessica telling me about how a strong enough love for someone can get you to even feel their feelings when you needed to. That’s right, Dalton. I can feel your little feelings. Don’t think you can hide your slightest thoughts about Rosaline from me. The angry thought ran through my head over and over again until I could hear it as a devil voice. I flinched and hurried out.
I saw that the movie theater seemed pretty empty now, with barely any people around. I didn’t bother to look at the time now, for I felt a burning power inside of me, and I could barely get rid of it now. I could barely think back at how brutal I had been with Kenneth and Gabriel, and that I had felt no sympathy for either of them. I was enjoying what I was doing to them. Just like how a bully enjoys. I never enjoyed the mean things I did to people when I was angry with them. I did mean things to people normally, if I was pissed, but I never felt proud about it and smiled with bullying satisfaction. But this time, I felt no sympathy when I had hurt Kenneth and Gabriel, and felt an addiction to what I was doing, feeling the evil take over me and make me want to do more. I had to find Jessie. Finally, I had to get this stupid spirit out of me.
I was just going to text Jessie and ask her where the heck she was, until I heard familiar laughing.
I looked up and saw Andrew, spinning around in front of Jessie the Outsiders, and Jeremy.
“Seriously! I’d looove to see if she would do that in front of Sam!” Andrew giggled.
Crap! Darn it, Jessie! Why did you have to bring a whole crowd of people with you?
Justin laughed and then looked around. “Hey, Rosaline was seeing ‘Lost Love,’ wasn’t she?”
Jeremy laughed loudly. “Yeah! Go and make out with her in front of Nate! I dare you to! She probably doesn’t give a crap about him now!”
“No! Shut up!” Justin snapped. “I just wanna see what she thinks of me.”
Delaney rolled her eyes. “For crying out loud….” Her voice trailed away into muttering curses. I guess I knew why Jessie brought these people over to the theaters.
Jeremy gave a teasing smile. “Come on! She likes Dalton, who’s possibly gone gay for William! I wonder how Nikki feels also!”
I bit my tongue, and then Jessie looked up, locking eyes with me from a distance. I narrowed my eyes at her dangerously, and startled her, reminding her to hurry up and help me.
Jessie nudged Andrew. “Hey, you go find Rosaline with everyone, I’ll go and….you know.” Of course, Andrew had to know everything now that he was her boyfriend.
Andrew nodded and tapped her nose, smiling sweetly. “Be careful! Get that demon outta ponytails for me! I miss her real personality!”
“Psh, like there was much of a difference,” muttered Jeremy.
Jessie gave Andrew a kiss and then rushed away to exit the theaters. As soon as the rest of them disappeared into the hallways, passing me without noticing me hiding behind a bushy tree in a corner, I rushed up to the exit, looking out the doors for Jessie. I saw her running back with a book in her hands.
I suddenly felt my heart pump with fear, for the devil in me feared the Bible and its powers against it.
I choked on blood, and backed away, nearly tipping over.
“Nikki! In the girls’ bathroom! Let’s hurry!” Hissed Jessie urgently, taking me by the arm.
We started hurrying towards the restrooms. “Ugh, I’m gonna kill you…” I muttered sickly, feeling nauseous.
“Oh come on! Not just yet!” She pushed me into the ladies’ restroom. “Huh! No one here? Alright! Let’s get this over with!”
“Yeah, please,” I groaned, bending slightly forward, wheezing in pain.
Jessie stared at me with wide eyes for a moment. “You know, I think the Bible’s presence is enough to defeat you. Maybe we should just stay like this?”
“Argh! No! just hurry up and read the verse!” I yowled, my face shooting up and glaring at hers with a crazed, demonic, wide-eyed rage.
“Okay! Okay!” Jessie opened up to a page she had marked and her eyes flickered around the page. “There!” She started chanting a verse with such shaky, fast talking, that I had no idea what she was saying, though I felt myself automatically squirming and flinching.
“Ugggghhh!” I groaned, spinning around and dropping hard to the ground, thrashing around like a fish. “NOOOOOOO!!!”
At the same time, Dalton’s feelings were throbbing through me, and he was feeling a different kind of nausea in him.
He suddenly stopped drinking his cup. He stood there silent for a moment, and then turned to everyone else. He said nothing and slowly rose up.
“Hey, where you going?” Andrew noticed him walking towards the exit, his arms crossed and wrapped around himself, like he was cold.
Dalton didn’t look back. “To…the bathroom…” he murmured. He exited the theaters, feeling nauseous.
Dalton was making his way to the restrooms, and then suddenly stopped and flinched, his eyes wide with horror. He could hear Jessie starting the strange chant in the restroom.
“Ah!” He flinched and dropped to his knees, still feeling the nausea from his drink, as well as the pain from the chant Jessie was reading. Something was in his drink, he thought. Rosaline had done something to the blood in the cup. She was trying to poison him…..and possibly Nate. But whatever was in Nate’s cup must’ve been something different than what was in his cup, for the blood Nate drank didn’t make him feel strange……yet.
Dalton gasped and felt his head throb and throb with pain. At first he felt pain all over through him. Then it was irritation. Then it was anger. And then…….anger with evil. He suddenly stopped his heavy breathing and shot away.
I was dying in the bathroom. “Urrrrr……” I was moaning, and then suddenly, I shot up with a fierce monstrous glare at Jessie. “STOP!” I yelled in a horrible demon voice and leaped at Jessie, pinning her to the floor.
She gasped and stopped reading, giving me one terrified expression, and continued reading the verse. She read louder and louder, making me feel worse and worse, and I felt the verse coming to an end, and I screamed, throwing myself back against the wall, feeling the evil drained out of my body one by one…….
“Ahhh!” Jessie’s high scream interrupted her loud reading at the verse, and she lay there, silent and unmoving, the Bible laid open on her chest.
“Jessie?!” I whimpered loudly in my normal voice, feeling my heart beat like crazy, not knowing whether the demon was still in me or not. I saw that a trickle of blood appeared from Jessie’s hand, for a Twilight Rose lay there, as if someone had thrown it across her hand, and cut her badly. I raised my eyebrows at how sharp the end of the stem was. Who the heck had thrown that?
I suddenly flinched my head as I noticed that Dalton was standing there, a few feet away at the entrance to the bathroom. He was staring at me with cold, unblinking green eyes. His face was expressionless and straight, though something about his eyes seemed…different.
“D-Dalton!” I gasped. Had he thrown the Rose at her?
As I met his gaze, I was startled to feel a sharp pang of fear, for something about Dalton didn’t seem right. He stood there, his green eyes staring hardly into me, and then he let off a crooked smile at the corner of his lip.
I widened my eyes, gasped, and then fainted.


12. BEHIND THE AURA
The next thing I knew when I woke up, was that I was being carried like a baby, and the wind was slightly cooler than normal. I opened my eyes, and then shot my head up. Who was carrying me? The hands were wrapped in strange gloves. They had no sharp end, but this time they had short sharp teeth pricking out on the wrists. I screamed with anger and easily struggled off, falling onto the hard street. I shot up, glaring with rage…into the eyes of Dalton. The moon was full again, and it shoe on his cold white face.
“Dalton!” I yelled.
He said nothing, but stared at me like a statue. His expression looked dead again, and something about his eyes didn’t seem right.
I narrowed my eyes, not knowing what to do.
Dalton suddenly cracked a crooked smile. “Come on, Nikki. I’ll take you home.” He lifted his right arm and reached for me.
I frowned and immediately smacked it roughly away from me.
“What’s going on?! What happened to you? Something’s not right! I can feel it in your head,” I snapped.
Dalton looked puzzled. “Nothing’s wrong, Nikki, what’s the matter? I think you’re just confused since Jessie didn’t free you correctly like she should’ve.”
I gasped. “Wait! So is the demon still trapped inside of me?!”
Dalton smiled coldly. “Of course, she didn’t say the whole thing yet. It wasn’t enough for the demon to escape. But you’ll be alright. Trust me.” Dalton’s eyes suddenly grew into a narrower expression, and his fangs grew sharper, and he stared into me with blood-hungry, naughty, evil monstrous eyes.
I huffed, glaring back at him. “No! No, you’re not Dalton! Who are you? What happened to you?!” I took a step back.
Dalton grabbed the top of my shoulders. I could feel his cold hands through his strange new gloves. His narrower eyes stared evilly into mine with a wicked smile. If his hair just grew black, he would’ve never looked more like Leonardo.
I gasped, still glaring at him. “Are you……. Leonardo?”
Dalton’s eyebrows raised. “Oh? Why of course not. I’m still your rotten little boyfriend, Dalton. Except now I’m more like you.” His smile grew more evil and his face leaned closer to mine, and his fangs grew longer.
“Ahh! No! Get away from me!” I twisted away from his chilling grasp.
The next week at school, I felt awkward when I woke up. As I entered campus, my mind was spinning. Dalton’s last words echoed in my head. Now I’m more like you. Had he become the devil like me? I had been too scared to look deeper into him. I gasped as I caught him walking alone up to campus, his head looking down, and the sides of his face covered by his hair. He didn’t wear those strange gloves with the sharp teeth on the wrists.
I was nervous to approach him. I decided to look into his thoughts right now. I closed my eyes and held my breath, focusing my entire mind on Dalton. I felt a chilling sense of nausea again, except I knew it came from him and not from me. I felt weak and frail, ready to fall over and end my life.
I opened my eyes. Dalton was at the top of the steps, leaning against the bars, on his phone.
I sighed and made my way up to him.
He looked up and met my gaze as I approached him.
“Hey,” he muttered, looking back down at his phone again. His eyes seemed to almost have dark circles under them and his eyes still seemed…..different. They looked lost and something about them didn’t seem right.
“Hey,” I muttered back. “Are you okay? I…..what happened to you back at the movies? You seemed….possessed. Did the devil enter you?”
“No, the devil didn’t enter me,” he answered quickly with a serious tone. “That verse was meant to banish the spirit forever, and anyway, the verse wasn’t finished to even have the devil escape you. I’m just tired from that blood Rosaline offered.”
I looked at him seriously. “I think she must’ve poisoned you. There’s no doubt about that.”
“I know she did!” Dalton snapped, shutting his phone angrily. “And I think I know what it does! It’s making me go blood-crazy! Last night, I was craving to suck the blood from the neighborhood girls down the street.” He suddenly met my gaze with a glare. “Nikki, Jessie’s not dead, but she’s unconscious and barely alive.”
I gasped and took a step back. “What?! What did you- did you…?”
“I couldn’t help myself,” he said evilly, cracking a smile. “She was so mouthwatering at the moment, and I was craving like crazy.” Then he added with a little humor to his voice, “And her blood tasted much more exciting than when I last bit that bitch.”
I felt a chill run through me as I remembered how Dalton had once bitten Jessie just enough to give her a little vampire blood. But now I was more terrified than before. Dalton was staring at me with an evil smile to his face. He took a step forward to me. “And you know what?” He looked into my eyes. “I think you would’ve tasted better if you weren’t mixed with that demon in your body.” He was walking towards me, and I narrowed my eyes, backing away until I bumped my back against the wall.
I rolled my eyes at him. “What? You scared or something?” I said tiredly.
Dalton’s eyebrows raised, keeping his naughty smirk, as if he was expecting a challenge. “Oh? I just meant your blood’s not as appealing with the devil mixed in and stuff. When you were yourself, your blood was more addicting and mouthwatering than anyone else’s….to me at least. See, the Outsiders thirsted for you like any other vampire would thirst for blood. But to me, I was so in love with you, that your blood was extra……..delicious to me. Nice of me to have held my rage to just jump out and suck the life from your sexy, hot-”
I punched him on the right shoulder, making him flinch and clutch his arm for that was the one place he had been shot as a human, right before Lewis had turned him into a vampire. I was looking him in the eye with a sassy smile.
“You know, Lewis loved me, though I bet it was almost as hard for him to hold it,” I said naughtily.
Dalton’s smirk grew more evil. “Really? It wasn’t so hard for Lewis. He really did want to suck the life out of you, or turn you into a vampire if you were lucky. He wasn’t trying to avoid it. He really was thinking when to bite into you when he had the chance. But I was trying to avoid sinking a single tooth in you. I know you hate life as much as I do and you know how miserable I am deep down to be a stupid, useless, immortal vampire.” He suddenly grabbed my shoulders again and I felt my heart skip a beat. He looked at me with a wicked, hungry smile. This time, I was both transfixed and terrified of his smile. “But biting you right now won’t make a difference whether you’ve still got the devil inside of you, doesn’t it?”
I winced, grabbing his wrists as he pressed harder on my shoulders. “What the hell are you talking about? Are you going to turn me into a vampire?!”
Dalton’s eyebrows raised again. “It doesn’t matter whether you’ve still got the demon in you, doesn’t it?”
“No, get away from me!” I screamed, instantly kicking my foot out to give him a sharp kick on the shin, and dashing away from his grasp. I whipped around, stopping to glare at Dalton with red demon eyes again, feeling my agitation and fear turn into pure evil again. He was giving me a cold stare, and I couldn’t tell whether he was angry for having me strike at him like that, or he was humored to see me under control of the demon again. “There’s something wrong with you, Dalton! The blood’s poisoned your mind and now you’re craving dangerously!”
Dalton gave me a sideways smile. “You’re extremely sexy when you look all devilish and monster-like. I can enjoy your anger even more now.”
I felt my fangs instantly grow in as I remembered with a dread that Nate had said the same thing. I gave him a ferocious hiss and dashed away.
I felt so emotional. I saw that most of my classmates were crowded around Ms. Fletcher’s door, chatting noisily. I saw that Louise, Jessica, Delaney, Shawn, Jeremy, and Nate were all laughing obnoxiously, talking something about Dalton.
“He was so retarded! Did you see the way he talked to Ms. Fletcher about his detention tomorrow?” Nate laughed. “He almost yelled at Ms. Fletcher that it was Nikki’s phone that went off and not his.”
Louise let out a rude laugh. “The look on his face when he came out, OMG!”
Delaney had her arms crossed. “Psh, why would he blame it on his girlfriend just so he would avoid getting in trouble anyway?”
Jessica raised her eyebrows. “’Cause he’s a jerk, that’s why.” She said sassily.
Jeremy snickered. “Yeah, he killed his first two girlfriends!”
I would’ve felt the urge to stick up for Dalton, though at the same time, be my expressive self with everyone, but this time, I didn’t say anything. I wouldn’t make fun of him whether I was mad at him or not, but I wouldn’t stick up for him since I was mad at him anyway. But I knew it wasn’t all his fault, so I thought twice about telling them everything and about the way he was acting from the blood.
“Hey, Nikki!” Came Analiese’s voice from behind.
I turned to meet her gaze with a tired “whatever” expression. I guess it would be better talk to her at the moment instead of people who were rudely back talking about Dalton.
“Hey, I saw you and Dalton back there,” she said urgently, her light green eyes looking concerned.
“Stalker,” I said, giving her a tired sideways smile.
She huffed. “I saw you two from the bus. What happened? Is he mad at you or something? Has Rosaline screwed up his mind or something?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Yeah, his mind’s screwed up, you can say that.” I said simply.
Analiese sighed. “Tell me what happened.”
I winced. “Why? What good are you going to do about it?”
“I just thought I ought to know since I know about everything else,” she said, irritated.
“Well, we went to the movies last Friday- me, Dalton, Rosaline, and Nate, and Rosaline gave Dalton, Nate, and herself a cup of blood to drink while watching the movie. And Jessie came over with her Bible to free the demon from me. Right when she was almost done, Dalton appeared and shot a Twilight Rose, piercing her hand with the sharp end of the stem, and somehow, she fell unconscious. The look in Dalton’s eyes since then…..” I looked at the ground, biting my tongue. “…..the blood in his drink must’ve poisoned his mind to make him crave for blood…..dangerously. It’s taking over him and making him go crazy to suck the blood out from anyone.”
Analiese gasped. “And what about Nate? What was in his blood?”
I sighed. “I bet he didn’t get the same as Dalton, for he’s still himself. But I bet there was something in his blood. Rosaline wouldn’t just let him go like that, I bet she was planning on something with him.”
Analiese’s eyes were wide. “What’s Dalton going to do now? He’s gonna kill someone. Just like he was blamed for before when Lewis was here, only this time, it will be true that he was the one behind all the murder! I think he’s gone after someone right now.”
I snickered. “He’s gonna come for you, I hope.”
“Shut up!” Analiese turned away.
“He can’t kill me at the moment, I’m still possessed with the demon, and I’m more powerful than him,” I said dryly.
“Well……what could be a cure for him? Will he be this way forever?”
I shrugged, frowning. “Probably long enough until he ends up killing any human here that knows about the Outsiders’ secrets and about all the vampires. That’s obviously the whole reason Rosaline poisoned him in the first place.”
Analiese looked at me seriously. “We really should tell Ms. Fletcher! She or her father could have any knowledge about how to stop Dalton’s craving.”
“Or we could ask the Outsiders,” I suggested, looking at my long, fake black nails. “They’ve got a lotta useful knowledge, you know.”
Analiese groaned quietly. “Mmm…I don’t wanna ask the Outsiders. I don’t really like them, and I still don’t trust them.”
I gave Analiese a sharp look. “What? What’s not to trust about them? They obviously want nothing to do with Rosaline, they all can’t stand her! Well….except for Justin. But the rest of them, they all really want her dead as much as we do.”
“They probably don’t want to have to do with her, but they probably might still be looking for the same thing she and Leonardo are looking for. They could still be interested in immortality.” Said Analiese.
I rolled my eyes. “Well, they still know we could expose their secret for being vampires if they do turn their backs on us.” I huffed and turned my back on her. “Darn, I wish I could just……”
“Maybe I can help,” came a sweet, kindly voice.
I looked up and raised my eyebrows as I met Andrew’s gaze. He was standing in front of me, dressed in a purple striped shirt that hung down under his neck and revealed part of his chest. He had smooth skin, even shining in the cloudy days we always had.
“I do know a secret to stop Dalton’s craving for blood,” he said nicely, smiling into my eyes.
“Really?” I gave him a sideways look. “Are you sure you know what you’re doing, though?”
“Oh, of course!” He snapped. He gave me a happier smile. “Meet me at my house today after school. don’t worry, Leonardo won’t be there. It’s just going to be you and me……unless Legs wants to come.”
I winced. “Legs?”
“That Jessie chick,” he said humorously. “She’s got nice legs when she wears those short-shorts almost every day.”
Analiese laughed behind me. “Oh yeah, awesome, you’ve got your eye on her now, don’t you? I thought you were trying to avoid her.”
Andrew sighed. “Well, it’s hard not to miss those long legs when she’s always around you, right Ponytails?” He raised his eyebrows at me.
I rolled my eyes, giving a sassy smile. “Sure…..yeah, like I don’t wear shorts either.”
“Meh, you don’t wear them often enough like Jessie does. It’s always something tight. You know, Rosaline says you’re nothing but an unattractive stick figure in your outfits, just like Delaney.” Andrew gave me a raised look.
I grimaced. “Um yeah, like, Rosaline’s got some missing curves herself, sheesh.”
“She’s not missing as much as you, Nikki,” laughed Analiese.
“Whatever, just what is your idea anyway?” I turned to Andrew. “It better work, I hope you’re not tricking me into-”
“Oh no, it involves some blood I’ve been secretly keeping in my attic. I’m not getting it out right now. Just promise to come over, okay, Ponytails?” He tapped my cheek. The chill of his fingers sent a chill run through my spine.
“Oh, please,” I rolled my eyes. “I know you’re just trying to do something. I really don’t trust you all the way, you know. I’ll ask the Outsiders for anything useful, and I’ll think about coming over, kay?”
Andrew’s eyebrows raised and a he gave a sad look. “Aw…..come on, hun, you have to come to my place if you want to know my idea.”
I snickered. “Whatever, I’ll find the Outsiders,” I turned, giving Analiese a raised look as I passed her.
Suddenly, Ashton ran up to me. “Hey, Nikki! Guess what?” He sounded urgent and the look on his face was surprised. “Nate’s not a vampire anymore!”
I let out a loud gasp. “What?!” I hissed.
“Well, actually, he still is, but by next full moon, he’ll be a human again,” said Ashton more calmly. “The blood in his cup was Rosaline’s blood…..and you know her blood has the power to turn him back into human.”
I dropped my mouth open in shock. Of course, Rosaline’s blood didn’t have the power of immortality unless someone performed the ritual, but it could still have the power to bring a dead vampire back to life, or turn one back to human.
“So….Nate’s got about a month before he’s a human again,” I said quietly.
“Yep. He just told me about how the taste of the blood lingered in his mouth until it tasted like Rosaline’s blood, and he found out.”
I raised my eyebrows. “So that’s how Rosaline poisoned him.” I gasped. “There’s no doubt she’ll know it’s Jessica who turned him into a vampire.”
Ashton sighed. “Well, Nate didn’t break up with Rosaline in time. Even if he did, she still would’ve been after him. Anyways, is Jessie not here today?”
I said nothing for a moment. “Dalton told me…”
“Oh yeah, I heard,” said Ashton, nodding. “I saw him in the boys’ bathroom just a minute ago. He had his head pressed against the wall, or something.”
I shook my head. “We’ve got to do something about him as well. I didn’t even get a chance to free the demon from me yet. Once I’m free, we could get back at Rosaline much easier.”
In science, Dalton dropped on his chair next to me with a frustrated sigh. I could feel the tension building up in his head. It was like a volcano, urging to heat and suddenly blow up. He flashed me a glance with his eyes wide and looking tense, and then turned away, scooting in his desk.
I bit my tongue and slowly turned my gaze from him.
“Nikki,” he muttered.
“Yeah?”
“I’m…I’m sorry about the way I’m acting. I’m not possessed to act this way, I….just can’t help myself. I’ve been urging to just jump out and kill any human in my way. Especially you.” He met my gaze with a serious look.
“Well….that’s what the blood does to you. I guess we were pretty stupid not to think Rosaline would be up to something when she offered you the drink,” I sighed. “Andrew’s taking me to his house after school to show me something that can cure you.”
“What?!” Dalton hissed. “No, don’t trust Andrew. We still can’t be positive about him. Ashton already told me he’s planning to chase Rosaline out with the cross this Friday. He’s still thinking about Andrew.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Well, Rosaline’s not leaving Nate’s side yet. She’s still living with the Outsiders or following Nate around. I’d like to see Ashton try to get her alone with him or any humans so he can kill her.”
By the time we were in P.E., Dalton was feeling even worse. All through art and science, Dalton looked so stressed out that I was scared for him to just suddenly leap at me and bite me.
He sat down on his P.E. number with his face looker paler than normal.
Mr. Albrecht came up to take attendance. “Jessie Hale and Jenny Chales absent today?” He said in his strong, firm voice.
Dalton huffed. “Jenny’s here, she just left to get something at the office.” He said loudly.
Mr. Albrecht said nothing and wrote in his attendance sheet.
“What the hell, she’s here,” Dalton muttered, cursing under his breath.
“Jenny’s here!” I yelled to Mr. Albrecht in a tired voice. He didn’t look up.
“Albrecht!” Dalton yelled angrily. “She’s here!”
Jenny suddenly appeared at Mr. Albrecht’s side.
Louise giggled next to us. “Wow, now he knows.”
“Dumbass! I said it like five times!” Dalton muttered.
“Alright, now, go get dressed!” Mr. Albrecht ordered us. As soon as we got up to dress in the locker rooms, a whistle was heard.
“Hey!” Mrs. Eckman yelled. “Everybody wait a minute and sit back down!”
“Aw, what the f’ck do you want?!” Dalton cursed, looking tired and pissed as we all sat back down on our numbers. I felt him feel filled with rage and irritation.
As we all sat down on our numbers again, Mrs. Eckman came up to the front of all the classes. “Alright! I’ve been getting complaints from the principal that there have been fights going on after school. Now, I know that you guys in particular, you guys are in the smart class and as IB kids who get good grades, you guys tend to have a somewhat better personality to control.” She spoke with her old but stern voice, staring hard at everyone through her dark sunglasses. She was like Mr. Albrecht in a way, only Mr. Albrecht showed more humor and most of us thought he was pretty cool despite the facts he yelled a lot. “I, myself, trust you all that you probably have nothing to do with these fights. But Mr. McTasney, he tells me, ‘oh, I bet those IB kids are part of these fights as well as anyone could be.’”
I turned and gave Dalton a wince. I haven’t heard of any fights between any of us….yet.
“What the hell?” Dalton whispered, eying the P.E. teachers with a glare.
Mrs. Eckman continued. “But I don’t suspect you guys, even though I probably should. So I’m just lettin’ you off with a warning. Make sure you don’t start fights with each other or anyone else. Got that?”
There was a loud murmur from the classes and some people nodded their heads.
Mr. Albrecht came back up to us. “Alright, now get dressed.”
“Thank you!” Hissed Dalton. He cussed quietly as he made his way with the group to the boys’ locker room.
I flinched, feeling a sense of dread suddenly spark through me. Dalton could’ve leaped out and killed the P.E. teachers if he hadn’t controlled himself. I could feel how terribly hard he had kept his temper from getting any farther than how he was right now.


By the time we were in history, I could feel the rage burning up in Dalton each minute. He sat down with his head throbbing with evil thoughts. He….almost felt like me when I craved. It was almost just as bad.
Jessie had arrived suddenly, looking pale and like she was in some sort of trance. She had a bandage wrapped around her wrist where the Twilight Rose had slashed her. The look in her eyes looked tired and terrified at the same time as she handed her late slip to Mrs. Palmer.
Dalton sat with his back turned from Jessie, his head lowered and his hands in his lap. His hair fell on both sides of his head so I couldn’t see his face. But the tension building up in him got higher and higher by the second. Everywhere around him were feelings- blood, thirst, and evil. He fought as hard as he could to keep him from just leaping out and attacking anybody.
Kill…kill………kill……
I flinched in my seat. Those voices….they weren’t from my own head this time. They were from….Dalton’s. Could I actually hear his thoughts? I guess my feelings for him even brought me to become strong enough to even read the strongest of his thoughts.
“You okay Nikki?” Ashton was wincing at me.
Anthony snickered. “No, she’s got anger problems that work that way.”
I shook my head. “Y-yeah, I’m fine.” I cast a glance at Jessica, who was eying me with a creepy, understanding look.
“Alright, can everyone get out their workbook questions from last night?” Announced Mrs. Palmer.
I watched Dalton before I got mine out. He just sat there, not moving an inch as Jessie started chatting noisily with Sam in front of her.
“Nikki?” Mrs. Palmer was suddenly behind me with her sheet and pen. “Did you do your homework?” “Uh….yeah,” I replied hastily, snatching out my history notebook and finding the page I did last night for homework. I hadn’t restated the questions like I was supposed to, but hopefully she wouldn’t keep her eye out that sharp today.
“Did you restate the questions?” She asked, looking at my page.
I bit my tongue. “Um…no,” I was too distracted to lie to her face.
“Ok, you can see me for detention after school today,” she said nicely, though her face looked serious as she marked my name on her sheet.
I yelled a cuss word in my head. I had to see Andrew after school today!
I whipped my head to her, biting my tongue and holding back an evil glare. “Can I have it tomorrow? I have to go somewhere today.”
“Okay, I’ll call your parents and let them know,” she said firmly.
I didn’t want her calling my parents. They would ask me what I was up to today. “Oh, wait, no! I can make it today actually.”
“Alright then, I’ll see you. Make sure you restate the questions or I’ll mark it late as well,” and she turned away to look at the next table’s work.
“Bitch,” I muttered, eying her, my eyes turning red. What pissed me off about Mrs. Palmer was that she always told us what to do in such a sweet, soft voice, and gave us punishments with a nice, calm tone. Whatever the hell she wanted to punish us for, it wouldn’t matter if she yelled at us anyway, and we would still be punished the same way.
Anthony snickered, looking at me then at Mrs. Palmer. “I didn’t restate the questions,” he muttered. “She didn’t ask me.”
“Oh wow, that’s awesome for you,” I said roughly, giving him a sideways smile.
“I’ve got detention here as well from last Friday,” sighed Jessica, scratching the end of her desk with the sharp end of her purple glove. “I was caught texting Rosaline during class about Nate.”
“Really?” Ashton said, sounding tired. “What were you talking about?”
I kept my gaze on Mrs. Palmer as she made her way to Dalton, who still sat in the same position at his seat.
“Dalton? Do you have your homework with you?”
Dalton didn’t move. “I didn’t do it,” he replied with a stern tone to his voice.
Mrs. Palmer raised her eyebrows at him. “Would you like your detention today?”
Dalton whipped around, looking up at Mrs. Palmer with a look in his eyes that frightened the heck out of me. His eyes were still their same size and color in his glare, but something about the glow that flashed in his eyes didn’t seem him. “I didn’t do it, and I’m not serving any detention.”
Mrs. Palmer crossed her arms. “Do you want to make it multiple days of detention with that attitude?”
“I said I’m not serving any damn detention!” He shot up from his chair, looking at Mrs. Palmer in the eye. Mrs. Palmer was quite short, probably not much taller than five feet. Dalton looked so tall next to her, as he stared her down with horrible, glaring eyes. I could feel the tension in his head.
I saw some heads turn to look at him, and I heard a snicker from Nate and Jeremy.
Away with her blood….kill her…..her blood…
The strange evil voices rang in his head again, and I could hear them. He let out a yell and suddenly covered both his ears with his hands in the new gloves. He had his back turned to Mrs. Palmer as he sat back down in his chair.
“Dalton, would you like to see the office and calm down? Or should I just give you detention anyway?” Mrs. Palmer sounded annoyed now in her voice.
Jessica snickered, finding it funny to hear Mrs. Palmer’s smooth voice sound mad. Her voice really was like Snow White’s actually.
“I’ll serve your freakin’ detention,” he muttered savagely, not meeting her gaze.
I raised my eyebrows. I looked at Jessica. Guess I’ll be seeing them both in detention today after school.
“Ok then, please do your work next time,” said Mrs. Palmer nicely, keeping her eye on him as she walked away to the next table.
I had to snicker. If Mrs. Palmer had any idea of what was coming to her from Dalton, she would’ve been a lot more cautious with what she said to him.
“Yeah?” I heard Dalton mutter through an angry voice as he glared at Mrs. Palmer when she turned. “Why don’t you just pull your freakin’……” his voice trailed off into inappropriate cuss words as his head filled up with evilness at Mrs. Palmer.
I gasped quietly. The feelings in his head even hurt me and made me hate Mrs. Palmer more with extreme annoyance and irritation.
Dalton was clutching his hands together, fighting back the rage to suck the bloody life out of Mrs. Palmer. I saw that his teeth were growing in and out, ready to sink into her blood.
“Dang,” Ashton said in a low voice, raising his eyebrows at Dalton.
The class quieted down as Mrs. Palmer came up to the front of the classroom and turned off the lights.
“Alright, I’ve got two power point presentations to show you, so make sure you’re paying attention. You will be completing a sheet so please pay attention,” she announced.
“Oh my gosh, these are sooo boring,” I murmured, keeping my eye on Dalton as his eyes looked wild and angry as he rolled them with annoyance.
Jessie giggled next to him. “Civil War crap again! Lincoln’ debate is pointless!”
The entire history period would’ve been dull and boring since all we did was just listen to Mrs. Palmer’s blabbering about the Civil War crap and the inventions used in the war.
Ashton sighed in the middle of her presentation. “This is so boring……”
I cast a glance over at Dalton, who had his head lowered, and his hands pressing against the sides of his forehead. He was muttering to himself, and I could feel the classroom heating up with his rage, a feeling that no one but me could feel. It was overwhelming.
As soon as the ten minute bell rang, Mrs. Palmer announced our homework. “Alright, I’ve got an acrostic poem for you all to complete, and your homework tonight is to right down your ideas for the words- “Inaugural Address,” as well as finishing up the last of that civil war timeline that’s due tomorrow.”
I winced. Didn’t we already have enough to do on the stupid timeline, and now she’s giving us another project that’s due the next day?
Ashton and I flashed frowns at each other.
“What the hell? She’s giving us more homework?!” I hissed angrily.
Jessica sighed. “Typical Mrs. Palmer. What a fag.” She had her phone under her desk again, texting.
Finally, the bell rang for lunch, and Dalton immediately snatched his stuff and was out the door in a flash. Some kids stared after him, and Mrs. Palmer winced at him.
“What’s with him? I’ve got to call his parents and make sure he’s alright,” she shook her head.
I came up to her. “No, he’s fine!” I said hastily. “He’s just stressed because….he’s got a headache from P.E. and he’s not feeling very well. I can convince him to go to the office!” I felt stupid to tell a lie like this.
Mrs. Palmer looked at me uncertainly. “Well, if he’s got a headache, he’s got to tell me about it.”
“Y-yeah, he said it was bothering him too much when P.E. was over, so…..” I looked away.
“Well, make sure he gets to the office and that the next time I see him, he doesn’t act like that again.” She said seriously in her soft voice, managing to give me a smile.
I cracked a slight smile back, and then left the room, rolling my eyes at Mrs. Palmer’s attitude. I couldn’t stand her most of the time. All she did was try to act all sweet like the nicest teacher in the world, though it was obvious she was trying to hide how much work she was going to make us do all the time. And since she always tried to sound all nice and sweet, it was even more annoying when her mean side came up.
“Where the heck’s Dalton?” I said aloud, looking around as I caught up with Jessie, Jenny, Louise, and Jessica.
“Probably gone off to puke his rage in the bathroom again,” shrugged Jessica.
Louise giggled. “It’s probably the girls’ bathroom again.”
Jenny winced. “What? What are you talking about?”
I bit my lip and looked at her. She had no idea about Dalton and the Outsiders being vampires, as well as Rosaline and Andrew. “He was sick, so he’s probably in the bathroom right now,” I said simply. “Didn’t you see the look on his face in history? He looked like he was going to barf.”
Jessie widened her eyes with excitement. “I know! He was scaring me! I thought he was going to explode into a monster or something!”
“Really? That would be Nikki, though, wouldn’t it?” A sassy voice came from behind.
We stopped and turned to see Andrew strutting up to us in his girly manner, his long hair in a ponytail.
Jenny dropped her mouth open. “OMG, Andrew!”
Andrew sighed happily. “Don’t worry, she’s not here right now!” I saw that he was finally alone without Rosaline. “Now what’s the matter with that little Dalton of yours? I saw him run off to the other side of the hills passed this school. he seemed to be in a lot of pain.”
Jessie squealed and ran to his side, giving him a hug on the shoulder. “Ooh, I missed you, it’s been two class periods since I’ve seen you!”
I flashed a glance at Jenny, who was smiling with her arms crossed at Jessie and Andrew. We couldn’t discuss much with her around.
I saw that William was passing by with Nate, Anthony, Jeremy, and Ashton.
“Hey, Jenny!” Called William. Jenny immediately caught up to his side and joined the noisy laughter with them.
I clenched my teeth. If there were no problems with Dalton or myself at the moment, I would be the one hanging out with the rowdy boys as well, but instead, I had to try and deal with the demon in me, as well as the blood overpowering Dalton’s mind now.
Louise sighed, giving Andrew a sassy smile. “Well, it seems that at the movies, Dalton got a taste of a certain type of blood Rosaline offered him, and now it’s taken over his mind.”
Andrew gasped, looking surprised. “Oh dear, I’ve heard about that already. So he misbehaved in history, didn’t he?”
I gave a sarcastic laugh. “Psh, yeah. He would’ve murdered Mrs. Palmer if he hadn’t controlled his temper.”
Jessica nodded. “Well, I’ve heard of that type of blood before. It’s all human blood, mixed with a potion from the roots of the Twilight Rose, so that when a vampire drinks it, they get a taste of human blood and the potion from the Twilight Rose’s roots gets them addicted to the taste, so that it lingers and they crave it almost forever.”
“Ugh…” Jessie gave a disgusted face, holding on tighter to Andrew. “To think I was sitting right next to that freak!”
“Oh, no one’s going to harm your blood but me, my dear,” Andrew cooed, grinning sweetly at Jessie, tapping her nose.
I rolled my eyes at them. “How do we get rid of it, though?”
Jessica sighed. “Well, there’s one way I know, but it requires death. Dalton must suck the life out of someone, as well as get a taste of the blossom concealed in the petals of the Twilight Rose. There’s blood in the petals of the Twilight Rose if you rip them apart, and that blood can stop the extreme craving for human blood. But he’s got to have it mixed with the right amount of human blood, or else it won’t work. He’s actually going to have to drink as much as there is to keep one alive.”
Everyone stood quiet for a moment, not knowing what to do.
Andrew suddenly smiled. “Huh! That’s one way you can do it! But remember, Nikki, I’ve got a plan myself! Come to my house anytime and I can show you how to take care of everything.”
Louise grunted. “Uh! Oh please! What now? Another one of your stupid ideas? Please, I’ll come as well, just to see how bad it turns out!”
“Ah, ah, ah,” Andrew held up a finger and shook his head. “I only asked for Nikki to come over since Dalton’s her boyfriend. I don’t need anyone else coming over.”
I winced and laughed. “Yeah? Why not?”
Jessie’s expression faded. “Hey! I can’t come?”
“Nope, I’m sorry, but not right now. I’ve got to show Nikki alone,” he said reassuringly.
Louise huffed. “What’s so secretive about your stupid plan? I bet it’s not even worth it.”
“Oh, it will be worth it!” Andrew said happily, flashing me a wink. “Trust me.”
I raised my eyebrows, feeling strange. “Ok then, whatever. I guess I’ll see you after detention with Mrs. Palmer.”
Jessie sighed. “Fine then. Whatever your plan is, I sure hope it works.”
Andrew chuckled, giving Jessica a look. “Yeah, I really wouldn’t want to have him killing anyone in cold blood just for the sake of his selfish little life.”





13. VAMPIRE CATS
I kept my mind focused on Dalton all through detention with Mrs. Palmer. He was throbbing with uncomfortable anger.
Suddenly, I flinched and dropped the pile of papers I carried, as I suddenly witnessed a strange flashing thought.
Dalton and Jessie were at the front of the movie theaters one chilly night, and Dalton had leapt onto Jessie, sucking the blood right out of her neck until she lay there- completely lifeless. Dalton let her body go, dropping it to the ground and glared with satisfaction, the moonlight shining on his pure white face, making the blood dripping from his mouth glow with a bright red.
I choked a gasp, recognizing the horrible night. It was just several months ago that it had happened. Jessie had given Dalton a huge smack on the face, angering him that he couldn’t keep himself from giving her a bite that only gave her part vampire blood. But the dreadful thought that had just come to my mind frightened me. The thought had just hit me out of nowhere, as random as having a desk crash in the middle of class.
“Nikki? Are you alright?” Mrs. Palmer was wincing at me from her desk.
I realized the papers I had dropped. “Oh….yeah,” I hastily picked them all up. I gave Mrs. Palmer a normal looking glance, and started passing out the papers.
“After you pass out those papers, you may read silently for twenty more minutes,” said Mrs. Palmer.
I gave a glance to where Dalton sat at his table, a small chapter book in his hands. I knew the sudden thought had come out of his head. Wow, I thought. I guess I could read the strongest of his thoughts as well. I saw him pressing his fingers against the sides of his head, trying to keep his stress down as much as possible. He had his fangs growing in and out over and over again, and his hair covered the front of his face as he lowered his head down.
I turned away from him…..and then another hit me.
Mrs. Palmer lay behind her desk, a terrible bloody scar on her neck. And then the thought stopped.
Dalton was thinking thoughts of evil against anyone that angered him, or anyone that he craved. I bit my tongue. He hadn’t even given me one look whatsoever since the beginning of this detention. Was he trying to avoid me for some reason? That thought, I couldn’t read.
When detention was finally over, I followed Dalton to the front of the school before looking for Andrew.
“Dalton!” I yelled.
He whipped around, an evil redness filled his eyes and I jumped back, wincing with horror.
“Leave me alone!” He yelled with rage. “You have no idea how I feel right now! I don’t care if this is as bad as your craving for human flesh, this is different! Just go away!”
“Nikki! Dalton!” Jessie’s voice came from a distance. She ran up to my side, giving Dalton a raised expression. “So! A little conflict between you two, huh?”
I was suddenly hit by the thought of an evil rage and anger from Dalton, and he suddenly rushed away like a blur.
I gave Jessie a raised look. “He could’ve literally killed you to shreds, you know. You have no idea how stressed he is right now.”
Jessie sighed and rolled her eyes. “I can imagine. So you’re going to Andrew’s place for some B.S. on how to save him? You could just do Jessica’s plan. Let him suck blood from Analiese, or Kenneth!”
I looked away. “No….I at least want to find out Andrew’s idea and see if it’s worth it for anything.”
“Well, hurry up! Dalton’s craving problem isn’t something to keep waiting until the right solution comes to you. It has to be solved ASAP!” Jessie gave a huff. “And I would really like to see Andrew as well. He’s my boyfriend you know.” She gave me a sideways smile.
I didn’t return it. I blinked heavily. “Whatever. Dalton’s my boyfriend, and he’s the one with the problem.”
Jessie scoffed, smiling sassily. “You know, if you never had any interest for that moron, you probably wouldn’t give a damn whether he was in this kind of state or not.”
I frowned. “If I never had any interest for him, I wouldn’t have even found out about all this vampire stuff! I’ll see you later, kay?” I turned, ready to leave.
Jessie gave a dramatic sigh. “Fine. Text me!”
I nodded, giving a sideways smile. But before I left, I lowered my voice and said, “Hey, I was too focused with Dalton and Rosaline during lunch, I didn’t ask you this. What really happened to you after Dalton threw that Rose across your wrist?”
Jessie raised her eyebrows and then chuckled. “Oh yeah, that.” She looked at her bandaged wrist and then suddenly her eyes grew into an expressionless trance.
I winced and waved my hand in front of her face. “Jess? He-llo?”
She blinked and looked tired. “I woke up at Andrew’s house and…..um……” She spoke softly and tiredly now. “…..he told me to sleep while he….took care of me.”
I winced and turned directly towards her. “Took care of you? What did he do?”
Jessie shook her head, not meeting my gaze. “I don’t know. I just woke up next morning with this bandage……and I felt sooooo exhausted.” She gave a slight dreamy smile and looked at me. “I did asked him what he did, but he only told me he used a special potion to keep the blossom from mixing with my blood too much. Oh…..I felt very tired at the moment. Like I was hyperventilating or something.”
I chuckled, still feeling confused and concerned. “Well, whatever. You’re probably not even gonna give me any details about what happened to you with Andrew, nor do you even know much. I’ll try to find out from him myself. See ya.”
Jessie was in her lost state again, staring passed me, her blue eyes expressionless. She suddenly shuddered and met my gaze again. “Oh…..yeah, see ya.” Then she added with more of her expressive attitude, “Have fun with my boyfriend without me!”
I laughed. “Okay!” I turned and walked as fast as I could to where Andrew told me he was going to wait for me by the park down the street.
My mind was racing as fast as I made my way to the park. Andrew had taken Jessie to his house after she had passed out at the movies. He had “recovered” her somehow with some sort of potion. Who knows what kind of stuff he could’ve used? What would’ve happened if the blossom from the Twilight Rose really did mix in with Jessie’s blood?
I stopped in my tracks, my heart racing as I caught Andrew standing in front of his car, talking with Rosaline at his side. They were speaking in low voices, and Rosaline had her wicked smile on her face, and Andrew with his eyebrows raised, and sideways smiling.
I didn’t know whether to show myself or not, for Rosaline shouldn’t know anything about trying to help out Dalton.
It wasn’t long before she started walking away, blowing a kiss before dashing like a blur.
I rolled my eyes and dashed up to Andrew in the split of a second, raising my eyebrows at him.
“Oh! Hey! Wow, didn’t scent you coming!” He gasped in surprise.
I chuckled slyly. “Yeah, same for me. So! You gonna help me help Dalton or what? What did Rosaline want?”
Andrew sighed. “Oh dear, she was just making sure I was behaving myself and not cheating on Jessie. It doesn’t really matter, so c’mon! Let’s get you in my house again, ponytails!”
Andrew drove me to his street in a happy mood. “So has Dalton always been that way before you went out with him? Has he always been conceited and arrogant?”
“Yep, he and I used to just be typical classmates, and we already knew each other pretty well, considering we almost had the same personality. But I didn’t start falling for him until…..he spent the night with me.” I cracked a smile, remembering the strange but wonderful night he had stayed behind at my house and slept over when my dad wasn’t around.
“Hehe, he’s quite the troublemaker, isn’t he?”
I raised my eyebrows. “Yeah, but you know, he’s actually pretty generous deep down inside. He may always act like a jerk around everyone, and act like he thinks he’s all that, but it’s only because he’s got problems outside of school. I can tell he’s actually a good kid when he’s alone with me in a good mood when he feels satisfied and happy.” I turned to Andrew. I didn’t know why I would be telling him all the specific details, but I guess it was because I was worried on how he was going to deal with this blood-crazy craving all over again.
“So what happened to Jessie that night she was attacked by the Rose?” I asked him quickly before he could say anymore.
Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Oh? I scented her there, so I rescued her before the entire blossom mixed in with her blood. Fortunately, she had only part vampire blood in her, and wasn’t a full-blood vampire so it didn’t kill her too quickly. But I had to bandage the wound and give it some medicine before it could get infected. Trust me. If that wound gets the slightest infection, it’s gonna be a huge problem for her. You, Dalton and Rosaline are already enough to deal with, don’t ya think?” He smiled happily at me.
“Ha! Of course, but what exactly did you use?” I knew he might not even tell me the entire truth anyway, but I wanted to hear what he could tell me.
Andrew shrugged. “Oh, just some rare medicines to keep her blood from mixing. It’s really none of your business, sweetie.”
I huffed. “Fine, whatever.” I saw that we were just approaching the last house of the cul-de-sac.
Andrew huffed a sigh. “Here we are!” He stopped the car and looked at me with an excited expression. “By the way, Ponytails, how’s it going with that devil? I’m so sorry that your own boyfriend had to ruin your chance of becoming freed. You were so close that time!”
I frowned and gave a slight laugh. “People were starting to think the devil was beginning to take over me and turn me into a meaner eviler person, but I think my strong worries for Dalton are starting to calm me down from being so angry with others.”
“Oh, that’s good to hear!” Andrew sounded relieved. “You can always have Jessie try again as soon as possible. Just ‘cause she’s wounded doesn’t mean she can’t still help you! Now c’mon!”
Andrew jumped out of the car and I stepped out cautiously. I gave his large house a cold stare.
“Now don’t you worry, my dear,” I kept myself from flinching as Andrew put his arm around my shoulder. He kept his smile on me. “Leonardo’s not here at the moment. We have the house all to ourselves.”
I laughed, trying to hide my discomfort. “Yeah, I wonder where he is, though.” I felt both scared and giddy as Andrew had his arm around me like this. I guess he didn’t know how to handle any relationships well since this wasn’t how you should treat someone when you already had a girlfriend or boyfriend.
“Oh, I wonder where he is also,” sighed Andrew. “He never tells me much except that he’s off hunting.”
I felt lightheaded next to Andrew. He was tall, about a half an inch or so over six feet, and his arm felt chilly through his satin white sleeve. I suddenly noticed how much he reminded me of Lewis, for being so tall and handsome, despite the fact that Andrew was a gay or bisexual idiot with blondish long hair that went a few inches passed his shoulders. The makeup he wore was more sloppy and upcoming than Lewis’s emo-looking purple eyeliner.
Andrew gave a dramatic sigh. “But ya know, you can’t really talk to a guy like Leonardo unless he’s got any kind of interest in you.”
Suddenly, there was a rustle in the bushes to the left of his house. The large hill that was at the left suddenly looked creepy and menacing to me as the gray clouds gathered at the top and a low rumble sounded. The bushes rustled away and I saw the grass move as if a creature were running away in hiding.
“Crud!” I gasped, purposely clutching onto Andrew’s cold hands.
“Ooh,” said Andrew, eying the bushes as they rustled in the distance.
“Something’s watching us, I can feel it,” I shuddered. Half of me acted this way just to get Andrew into comforting me more since I thoroughly enjoyed the way he spoke and treated me when I was scared.
“No, someone,” he said, sounding slightly snappy. He was eying the bushes. He held a hand in front of me. “Hang on, sweetheart, I’ll check it out.”
Before I could say anything, he rushed passed his house and disappeared behind a tall bush.
I winced. “What the heck…….” Thunder boomed, though no rain came down. I flinched and suddenly felt very chilly. I made my way up the steps to his house, and saw that the door was actually open to a crack. I immediately pushed it open and shut it behind me.
I huffed, muttering under my breath in frustration, and then looked around. Something about his house seemed different. It was quite darker and gray shadows covered some areas, and it smelled of dust, as if no one had been around for a few weeks. I winced, and then flinched again from the clap of thunder outside, and then cussed angrily at myself for being so sensitive.
It started rain outside, and in a second, it was pouring hard. The house was starting to feel creepy now- it almost reminded me of the haunted mansion on Full Moon Street.
I started walking forwards, looking around, since I liked to check things out whether I was allowed to or not. This house seemed very empty, no pictures hung on the wall or on the tables, or anything. The hard floor felt cold and dusty.
I ran my finger over the end of the banister. It was very dirty. Obviously, no one must’ve been here for a while.
I winced. Andrew must have been somewhere else for the past few weeks or so since we last came to his house. I didn’t remember the place looking and smelling this old.
I looked up the stairs and narrowed my eyes. It was pitch dark up there, though I was still curious. I promised myself just to take one look and then come back down. I did have some nice feelings for Andrew that kept me from being rude to stalk around his place without permission. I slowly made my way up.
Unlike the mansion, the stairs felt nice and comfy, almost like William’s stairs, and they didn’t creak. I suddenly was at the step right before the top, until suddenly, there was a loud ring that made me jump and scream, scaring the hell out of me. I suddenly realized quickly that it was just the sound of my phone receiving a text message, and I gasped, breathing hard as I snatched it out and saw that Jessie had texted me saying:
So ya havin fun yet? :/
I shut my phone harshly, squeezing it with anger, muttering “Damn!” under my breath. My heart was still pounding with surprise.
I suddenly noticed a sharp pinch at my heel. I lifted my foot, and then realized I had stepped on a sharp piece of glass when I had jumped in surprise. My heel was starting to drip a little bit of blood. I winced, noticing that there were sharp pieces of glass scattered around at the top of the stairs.
Suddenly, I heard a little noise.
Meow.
I shot up and looked into the darkness, frowning. Did Andrew keep cats in his house? He never mentioned anything about them.
Meow.
The noise was pitiful, as if it came from a young kitten or a weak, hungry cat.
I turned around and let out a quick, choking gasp as I saw a green-eyed Siamese cat standing there, looking up back at me with its head slightly tilted. Its tail was long and skinny, and its fur looked short and smooth. In the dark, it seemed to have whitish-yellowish fur with a black patch on the face and the end of the tail. I started to feel a little relieved, realizing that it was only a cat. And I loved cats. The only thing that crept me out was that its eyes were the shiniest green I had ever seen as they looked back up at me with curiosity.
I stood there for a second, looking at the cat, not knowing what to do. Then I managed to crack a slight smile, chuckling a little. “Uh….hey, you….” I started to take a step downstairs, until the cat suddenly came over and rubbed its side against my leg, purring softly.
I smiled and bent down. “Andrew wouldn’t mind having me pet you? Wouldn’t he?” I said sweetly, scratching the back of its ears, which were the softest ears I’ve ever felt.
The cat meowed again, sounding happy.
I saw that there was no collar around its neck.
“So what could your name be? Do you really belong to Andrew?” I raised my eyes at the cat, smiling.
Suddenly, something whacked at my head, and I screamed as I was knocked down the stairs, grunting and yelling as I tumbled down and landed at the bottom on my side.
I yelled a cuss word, for I had really hurt my hipbone, and then suddenly looked back up the stairs to see the Siamese cat looking at me from the top with its glowing green eyes, and then hurt a deep hiss and a growl.
I gasped and struggled up, and narrowed my eyes as suddenly, a blur flashed out of the darkness from the top of the stairs, and leapt at my face, knocking me against the wall before I could even get a glimpse at what the heck it was.
I screamed loudly, grabbing the arms that were holding my face against the wall, and threw it off. I gasped as I saw that I had thrown off a large cat. It fell to the floor and I noticed quickly how huge this cat was. It looked like a Siamese cat with a pointier snout and more fur at the end of its cheeks, though it was about the size of the average husky. It had a lean body as it rose back up with a hiss of fury, revealing fangs as sharp and the size of a mountain lion’s.
I gasped again and screamed in terror as it let out a raging mrrroowwwwww!!!! And crouched to leap at me again.
“Hey!” There was a bang at the door and Andrew stood in the rain, wet and……handsome as he stood there, looking serious. “Felinious! No!” He clapped his hands loudly at the large cat as he made his way up to me.
The cat let out a hiss at Andrew and meowed angrily at him, its fur bristling and its bushy tail swaying.
“Geez! What the hell is that?!” I cried, staring wide-eyed with horror at……Felinious.
Andrew let out his joyful laughs. “Oh-ho-oh! That’s my skilled pet, Felinious! She’s magnificent, isn’t she? But she is still Siamese.”
“Psh! I don’t believe you! Either it’s some kind of cat species I’ve never heard of before, or you just gave it some drugs or medicine that made it grow to the size of a wildcat.”
Andrew giggled. “My dear, Felinious is just different, that’s all. But I love her, and she loves me. She just needs to behave herself around other people.”
Felonious was still bristling with rage at me, its gleaming green eyes were just as shiny as the other normal looking Siamese, but more pissed off and angry looking as it glared at me, spitting with fury.
Andrew turned on the lights so that it didn’t look so dark and murky inside. I could clearly see now that Felinious had fluffy white fur with a dark patch on her face and the end of her bushy tail. She was tall and lean, almost like a mountain lion, and she was kind of beautiful, despite the evil look she kept on me, and her teeth were huge and the sharpest I’d seen on a house cat.
“Okay, this is no regular house cat,” I said, shaking my head, raising my eyebrows. “I don’t know why you’re trying to hide it, but I know something’s totally different with this one.”
Andrew laughed. “Fine then! It’s your fault you attracted her, anyway.”
I winced at him. “What? Me?”
“Yep! That cut on your heel, my cats must’ve scented it.”
The other Siamese I had first met was suddenly rubbing its back against my leg again, purring happily.
“Hehe, that’s Felinious’s kitten,” said Andrew. “She’s a lot more pleasant around guests than Felinious, but there’s a reason why I call her Sassamese.”
I smiled at the cat, and grimaced at Andrew. “Sassamese? You come up with some pretty interesting names. But they scented my blood?”
“Yep,” Andrew gave me a sly smile. “They love blood, you know.”
I widened my eyes and lifted up my foot, looking at the bloody mess on my heel. Sassamese arched her neck to lick at it.
I gasped. “No way.”
“Yep,” Andrew said again, coming over to scratch the back of Felinious’s ears to calm the angry cat down.
I looked at Andrew with shock. “Your cats……they’re vampires aren’t they?”
Felinious flattened her ears and let out a cranky-sounding meow as she glared at me with her sharp vampire-like fangs dripping with blood.
I took a closer look at Sassamese a I put my foot down, and saw her yawn, showing a mouthful of super sharp teeth, and fangs like vampires.
Andrew started laughing. “Oh, look at your face! haha! You really were scared, weren’t you, Ponytails?”
I slowly changed my expression to a sassy smile. “Shut up, I’m not scared, just surprised. I’ve always loved cats.”
“You? You love cats? Even though they back-sass, spit, randomly jump at you, and do whatever the hell they want around the house? Obviously, you’ve never had a cat before, dearie,” he started laughing.
“Lynn’s got a cat!” I gave him a raised look. “He’s awesome. I play with him every time I come there! And plus-”
“Oh, I just can’t imagine you dealing with cats!” Andrew interrupted. “Especially my cats. You don’t want to see them play-fighting with other cats. Right Felinious, ma girl?” He gave Felinious a hearty kick on her side with his knee, almost knocking her over.
Mrrow! Felinious meowed in surprise and then instantly hissed and leaped at Andrew like a blur, banging him to the ground with a loud thump.
I gasped and took a step back. “Andrew!”
Sassamese let out a satisfied meow and sat next to me, licking her paw.
Andrew was instantly up, with Felinious on his shoulders. “Whoaaaa!” He chuckled. The large cat was holding on tightly, glaring at Andrew and meowing angrily as it repeatedly swiped the back of his neck with her paws.
“Oh-!” I would’ve screamed in horror if I didn’t realize that she had her claws sheathed. There was no doubt she could have claws sharper than she normally should have since she was a vampire cat.
“Alright, alright! Felinious, get offa me!” Andrew tried pulling her off but Felinious only gave a sharp shake and nipped at Andrew’s hand with a loud screech.
“Ouch! Dammit, I’m serious!” Andrew sounded angry now. He used all his vampire strength and pulled Felionious off his shoulders. The back of his hair was messy from Felinious’s swiping. “Get outta here! Now!”
Felinious gave a snotty mrroww and stalked away. Before she disappeared behind a corner, she turned and glared at Sassamese, giving a sharp hiss. Sassamese stopped grooming herself and elegantly made her way towards Felinious, her tail held high.
Felinious shot me another evil stare and hissed quietly, fur bristling, keeping her gleaming eyes on me as she disappeared around the corner. Sassamese turned and gave me a cute innocent look with her head slightly tilted, and then dashed after her mother.
I blinked, and then rolled my eyes, smiling, and muttering to myself.
Andrew laughed. “Oh, Felinious won’t kill you, trust me.” Then his face grew serious. “She really wants to though, but trust me. As much as she would like to kill many people out of hunger or random hatred, she wouldn’t do it I told her not to. That’s why she just attacks the heck out of you, but she won’t kill you if I’m here to tell her not to.”
I shrugged. “I guess she’s like me then.”
Andrew laughed. “Really? You wouldn’t kill someone if you were told not to?”
“Maybe if someone like you or Dalton told me not to. If it were someone like my dad telling me not to, I probably wouldn’t listen,” I gave him a sassy look. Then I frowned, straightening my jacket. “Stupid old cat……” I muttered curses.
Andrew sighed happily. “Don’t worry about them. And I think Sassamese actually likes you there, Ponytails. It’s not often she shows that kind of interest to guests.”
“Really?” I said, straightening my earrings.
“Yeah, Sassamese is very stuck-up, you know. When people are around, she’ll show herself, but she’ll just groom and strut around, rudely turning away from people when they try to pet her for being such a good cat they think she really is. And she purposely pees where she wants to, just to get me angry. I know it’s on purpose because she has that smiling glint in her eyes!” Andrew huffed. “The little brat.”
I laughed. “Well, I can already tell Sassamese isn’t even half as bad as Felinious.”
“You don’t wanna know about how I put up with Felinious.”
Andrew suddenly made his way towards me, scaring me again with that random creepy smile. “Now why don’t we get started on why you’re here in the first place?”






14. STALKER
“So what happened back there when you chased after the thing in the bushes?” I asked as he led me upstairs. Andrew had his hands around m waist as we slowly walked upstairs, which made me feel uncomfortable and giddy at the same time.
Andrew sighed happily. “Oh, it was just some rabbit about to sneak into my backyard. I’ve planted a pretty awesome garden out there, and I wouldn’t mind having to suck the blood out of some little animal just to save a much more valuable garden.”
I gave Andrew my disgusted expression. “Wow, how rude of you to murder an innocent animal over some dumb old garden.” I laughed roughly.
“Oh, I’m a real monster when I want to be,” Andrew gave me a grin.
I winced and gave a smirk. “You’re starting to creep me out.” I slightly gave his hand a swat. “And get your hands off me! You have a girlfriend, if you still remember, you freak.”
Andrew huffed. “Huh! Well! Fine then! I know you enjoy it!” He raised his eyebrows twice with a smile.
“Shut up!” I laughed. “I’m telling Jessie! I swear, I’m gonna be a bitch to you like that!”
Andrew shrugged, still smiling. “Not surprised about that, Ponytails.”
“You shouldn’t call me Ponytails anymore since you’ve got a girlfriend!” I said dramatically. “Geez! You really don’t know how to handle relationships, do you? I bet this is your first time!”
“Dalton’s only your third time,” said Andrew.
I grimaced. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Well, I would’ve expected someone like you to be the kind of chick who dates a bunch of different guys from time to time! But I’m surprised you’ve only had three!”
I frowned. “Dude, Ashton wanted to go out with me in fourth grade, but his parents didn’t like me at all. He had his crush on me for the rest of the years, until seventh grade when I started dating Joshua.”
“Ooh, I thought he still liked you, you know,” said Andrew in a giggly tone.
“Ha! You kidding? Ashton talks to me a lot, but he obviously thinks I’m just a hussy just like everyone else thinks. He’s actually the one who has the strongest feelings against me!”
“Well, that’s good, ‘cause Ashton’s pretty hot to me.”
I gave his shoulder a push. “You’re such a retard!”
Andrew laughed slyly.
We were at the top of the stairs and Andrew licked the top of his lips. “Ah, now let’s tell you ‘bout that potion as quick as we can before Leonardo finds that you’re here.”
Andrew was leading me to the top of his attic, and as I walked through the halls of his house, I noticed that most of the tables and counters were empty and nothing was hung on the walls.
“I take it you don’t like hanging stuff or setting anything for decoration,” I said. “You sure don’t have a lot of stuff around this big place.”
“Oh, I know,” sighed Andrew. “I keep everything on my computer and my cell phone.
“Ah! Here we are!” We stopped as we came to where a ladder led up to an opening, high up in the ceiling.
“Whoa, your ceiling’s very high up,” I said, raising my eyebrows as I looked up. The ceiling was about another story high. “You could really use another story in that huge space between here.”
“Eh, whatever. I like my open spaces just the way they are. C’mon,” he took my hand but I squeezed his and yanked my hand away from him with a sassy look.
“Don’t take my hand! I don’t want it anyway! Both of us aren’t single.”
Andrew sighed and rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Ponytails, sheesh.” He stepped in front of me and started climbing.
I huffed, sideways smiling. “Psh, of course, I forgot! Ladies first, go ahead.”
Andrew whipped his head to me with a grimace. “What?! So you’re calling yourself a guy?”
I shrugged. “You act more of a girl than I do!”
Andrew rolled his eyes and smiled before he turned away to climb.
“Whoa, it’s dark hell up here!” I yelled, scaring Felinious, who unexpectedly screamed a rough, angry screech and flung at me out of nowhere in the darkness.
“Ahhhh!” I screamed, grabbing the large cat as she clung to my head, hissing in rage.
“Hey, hey! Felinious! Cut it out!” I couldn’t see Andrew’s hand in the pitch black darkness as he swatted Felinious harshly.
Felinious, being a vampire as well, was still strong enough to cling onto me without letting herself get knocked off, so she just screamed in anger and lunged at Andrew. The two tumbled away in the darkness.
“Argh!!! Andrew!!!!” I shot up, not able to see anything. “Stupid CAT!” I screamed angrily, yanking on my messed up ponytail on the right side.
The lights suddenly flickered on, revealing a huge area with a bunch of boxes neatly gathered around here and there.
Felinious suddenly landed in front of me on her feet in crouch, facing Andrew a few feet away from her. She spit and let out a ferocious hiss.
Andrew raised his eyebrows at her and held up a finger. “Nope, get outta here now.”
Felinious started snarling in her cranky tone and started shaking, bristling angrily.
Andrew clapped his hands at her. “Go have your fit downstairs!” He suddenly held up a stick that seemed to look like a match……except that I noticed blood on the top.
Felinious’s ears shot up and she swised her tail angrily before dashing out of the attic.
I watched her go with an evil look in my eyes, remembering I was the devil and feeling the sense of evil run through me again.
“Sorry, ‘bout that,” said Andrew, snapping me out of it. “Stupid cats never learn to stay out of certain places. They aren’t allowed up here since I don’t want them messing with some of my stuff.”
“Psh, your fault for keeping the ladder where they could get into,” I said.
I looked around. “You really are a neat freak.”
“Yep, I know!” Andrew smiled and bent over to pull out a tall glass of thick reddish-blackish liquid.
“Ooh, gross,” I winced. The liquid was thick, and I could see redness swirling slowly around the black liquid.
Andrew snickered. “Now come over here. This is a special potion mixed with the Twilight Rose’s blossom, along with human blood. It’s as simple as having Dalton take a sip from it to cure him. The reason why I brought you here was so I was seen walking around with something that smells so strong. If you’re a vampire, this stuff is one of the strongest scents you can smell. It stings your nose when you smell it too close.” Andrew blinked rapidly a couple times and rubbed his nose. “Wooh! Just being this close to it makes my nose bleed! Anyway, this is blossom and human blood mixed together. Dalton will be cured once he tastes the foul taste of the Twilight Rose’s blossom along with human blood.”
“Hey, the Twilight Rose kills vampires!” I remembered. “How does mixing human blood keep that from happening?”
“Human blood keeps vampires alive?” Andrew sounded like I should’ve known. “Duh, I don’t know why the Outsiders weren’t smart enough to think that up. Instead, Jessica thought up some stupid idea that would have Dalton murdering a poor puny human.”
I blinked at the potion. “Ew, looks gross. Do you really think Dalton could actually listen to me and drink that? He’s got evil in him now, and he doesn’t seem like he’ll be wanting to listen to me any longer.”
Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Oh? Well, I’d try my best if I were you. I can help you if you want. As much as I hate the stench, I can try to convince him to take this. Or…..” Andrew took a shot injector that was atop one of his boxes. “……we could inject him with this. I could put the potion in this injector and then give him a little shot.”
“Ooh, give me that!” I snatched the injector. “I’d love to give Dalton a poke. It’s much easier that way.”
“Alrighty!” Andrew gave me a sassy look. “Go give your boyfriend a little shot. Either way, he’s going to experience the taste of human blood with the rotten Twilight Rose potion. I can help you with another injector I have.”
I managed to give a nice smile to Andrew. “Thanks.”
“Oh, by the way,” Andrew brought his face just a few inches from mine. “Don’t be telling the Outsiders of this plan. Try to stay away from them as much as possible so that they won’t smell the potion. Why? Because they don’t think the idea of drinking the Twilight Rose’s blossom in any way could do anything but kill you. They think it would kill Dalton anyway. And especially if they knew the idea came from me, they certainly wouldn’t let you do that. But trust me, I can drink this stuff right now and stay alive!” Andrew snatched the potion and kept his beautiful dark brown eyes on me as he slowly took a sip.
I raised my eyebrows at him. “Awesome. Thanks for telling me.”
“No problem, hun! Just don’t be tellin’ Jessie about how I treated you.”
I blinked uneasily for a second and sighed. I looked in his eyes. “Hey…….I….uh, I kinda used to think that you were somehow plotting with Leonardo and Rosaline, but I guess….you aren’t that bad. I hope so, anyway.”
Andrew raised his eyebrows. “Me? Plotting with Leonardo?” Andrew winced. “What’s he trying to plot? I had no idea what the hell he’s always up to almost every night he goes missing, and I don’t bother questioning him. He doesn’t treat me very nicely anyway.”
I bit my tongue, not wanting to give out everything about him, for Jessie already blurted everything out anyway. “Yeah, whatever. I’m going home.” I turned around uneasily, fighting the power to just pull him closer and kiss him. I slowly made my way down the ladder, feeling Andrew’s gaze follow me.
When I was downstairs, Andrew was at the top, staring down at me.
“See ya, Ponytails. Hey! Especially keep away from Rosaline!”
I turned and gave him a grimace. “Duh! I know that! You stay away from her also!”
Andrew sighed. “I really have, she’s not following me around as much anymore, now that she’s got Nate and Dalton following her around! It’s really nice to have that slut leave you alone after all her bitching.”
“Oh! Don’t get me started, I’d wish that over anything!”
Andrew gave me an innocent smile. “Even Dalton?”
I frowned. “Shut up! Don’t ask me questions like that.”
Andrew snickered. He caught up to me at the bottom of the stairs. “Hey, is your ankle okay?”
I saw Sassamese rise up from lying in front of the front door and make her way over to me, meowing happily.
“Haha, it’s fine. I can use my own bandages at home,” I said, smiling at Sassamese. “Are there any other vampire cats out there I should keep an eye out for? Or any other crazy vampire animal?”
“Hehe, unless a vampire’s bitten into the animal, then no. The only reason why Felinious and Sassamese are part vampires is because I bit into them myself. And since cats have nine lives and the strength to not easily be killed, they can survive the process of turning into a vampire from a vampire bite if it’s done correctly. Other animals like dogs, I’m not very sure if they can take the lightest bite from a vampire.”
“Aw, I wanted you to turn Jack into an immortal vampire so he can live forever and run like the wind,” I laughed, nudging him.
“Eh….I’m a cat person. I’m sorry, but I just don’t like doggies very much,” he smiled and tapped my nose.
“Oh! Well, that offends me! Whoever doesn’t like dogs just sucks eggs,” I said jokingly.
“Then I guess that’s what I do,” shrugged Andrew.
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, of course you do. See you later,” I started walking towards the front door.
“Hey, I’m glad you wore shorts today!” Andrew called before I left. “You don’t look too much like Jessie, but you’re still hot!”
I frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“Oh, like I said before! Rosaline says you’re not very attractive since your body’s got no shape! You’re model-thin, like Delaney!”
I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, sure, whatever! It’s not like I force myself to be that way!”
I gave Sassamese and scratch behind the ears before I opened the door and walked away.
Andrew cut in front of me. “I still have to drive you, you know.” He said sassily.
I gave him a push on his abs, and then widened my eyes. “Whoa, your abs are hard!”
Andrew raised his eyebrows. “What? You just noticed?”
I still had my eyes widened. “Well, your arms are too long to look buffer, but it’s just that I didn’t know how hard your abs are!” My head was pounding with the idea of asking him to show me how awesome he looked with his shirt off.
Andrew shrugged. “It wouldn’t be embarrassing for me to take my shirt off right here.” It was like he read my thoughts.
“Um, no thanks,” I said quickly, getting inside his car with an excited smile. “I’ve got my own boyfriend to take care of. I miss looking at him.”
Andrew started cracking up. “Really?! There’s not much to look at, Dalton’s scrawny, and he doesn’t even have abs!”
“Well, he’s not as scrawny as Shawn and Justin!”
“Hey, they have a little bit of abs, at least, but Dalton doesn’t have any!” He hopped in next to me and started driving.
“Well, Dalton’s just hotter than they are, that’s all. And he’s hotter than you also,” I said sassily.
Andrew chuckled, shaking his head.
“I mean it!” I laughed, though I was starting to feel uneasy again.
“Yeah, whatever you say, Ponytails. My girlfriend’s too awesome for me to break up anyway.”


I arrived to science class with the injector in the pocket of my black sweater. I saw that Dalton’s seat was empty. I muttered curses under my breath, for it was one of those days when I was hating life and everything around me for no particular reason.
“What’s that my love?” Came a sharp, sarcastic voice that made me flinch.
“Whoa! Dalton!” I said snappishly in surprise. He looked so bad today. He wore his black sweater open and his hood on, and he had a lip piercing with dark eyeliner over his eyes again. His pants sagged as usual. He looked so ghetto.
I winced. “What the heck? Why are you dressed like-”
“Like you?” He interrupted, keeping his evil smirk on his face that was starting to creep me out. “Please don’t think that I would plan on dressing like you and copying all your crazy styles, I’m just dressed this way because I feel like to. Got a problem with that?”
I rolled my eyes and gave an annoyed huff. “No,” I replied tartly. “I was just going to ask why you look so ghetto like you’re one of those guys who think they’re all bad and cool.”
Dalton’s smirk stayed on his face as he raised his eyebrows. “Oh? Do I look ghetto to you? You’re not satisfied with what I choose and the way I am?”
“This isn’t the way you are, you man whore,” I said sourly, giving him my evil glare.
“Alrighty! Can everyone please sit down?” Announced Ms. Fletcher. She gave Dalton and I a glance as we stood there, staring at each other, Dalton with his stupid smirk, and me looking cranky and annoyed.
I whipped around and took my seat quickly before Ms. Fletcher could make some stupid comment to us. Dalton sat down next to me more quietly, snickering.
“Dalton, can you please take your hood off? You know we’re not supposed to wear hoods in class,” said Ms. Fletcher.
Dalton didn’t meet her gaze as he slowly pushed back his hood, muttering under his breath, still sideways smiling.
Ms. Fletcher raised her eyebrows with a look of annoyance in her eyes and then turned to the class. “Alright! We are going to start a lab that deals with plant cells.” As she continued talking, Dalton was playing with the zipper at the end of his jacket, keeping that scary, evil smirk on his face. I noticed how dirty his cheeks were, and as I looked closer, I noticed that he had a slight cut at the corner of his lip.
By the time we were at P.E., Dalton was still in his strange carefree mood with that creepy look in his eyes. He didn’t cuss off the P.E. teachers under his breath like he did regularly.
He jumped in his P.E. spot right behind me.
“Whoa, you scared me again,” I said tiredly.
“Yeah? I meant to do that,” he said sarcastically, chuckling creepily.
He sneezed loudly with emotion, and Mr. Albrecht shook his head at him. He had his sunglasses on, so I couldn’t tell his expression, though I was sure he was annoyed again.
I snickered.
“What? I had to sneeze!” Said Dalton, wincing with a sideways smile.
“He just hates you, that’s all,” I said.
“Psh! I had to sneeze! What the heck?”
The P.E. teachers made us walk the track since it had been raining the other night and the grass was too wet to play on.
For the first time, I kept away from Dalton, Nate, and William. Anthony happened to be walking with me, Jessie, Louise, Delaney, Ashton, and Jeremy, but Nate was with William and Jenny, and I couldn’t find Dalton anywhere.
“He was creeping me out in art,” I rolled my eyes. “He wouldn’t stop staring at me with that stupid smile and he kept butting in every time I tried talking with Jenny or Analiese.”
Jessie snickered. “I thought you loved his ugly smile!”
“I did,” I shrugged.
“Sup, Ponytails,” said a sarcastic, girly voice.
“Ugh!” I flinched. I whipped around, expecting to see Andrew, but I wasn’t surprised when it was Dalton.
“Ew! For a second, you seriously almost sounded like Andrew!” Louise made a face.
Dalton raised his eyebrows and shrugged. He winked at me. “Surprised to see me? Did I scare you?”
I huffed. “You didn’t exactly scare me, but you are scaring me now at the moment.”
Jessie snickered and gave his shoulder a push. “Weirdo. Stay away from us, seriously.” She turned to Jessica and pointed her left finger at him, the one with the bandage wrapped around her wrist. “He tried to kill me, you know!”
Dalton whacked her arm away from him. “You’re getting me thirsty again, Jess.”
“Ow! You freak!” Jessie smiled, grabbing her wrist.
“You know, Ponytails-” Dalton came up to my side and his shoulder touched mine, but I immediately stepped aside from him.
“Whoa,” whistled Jeremy, his eyes looking intent at us.
“Please don’t call me Ponytails,” I said sourly. “And don’t look at me like that.”
“Oh…….why not?” He said pleadingly. His eyes became soft. “I’m your boyfriend, aren’t I?”
Jessie snickered.
“Um, yeah!” I said, widening my eyes. “If you want to stay together!”
“Nikki, you really would break up with him?” Said Jessica cleverly.
“Ooh! I’d like to see that!” Jeremy said.
Dalton sighed. “Fine then. If being your boyfriend means no flirting or comforting around you, then I best be going.”
He gave me a sideways smile and I looked at him with a disappointed expression. “You’re not comforting me by acting like such a man whore, you dumbass.”
“Well then, see ya later, sweetie,” and Dalton dashed away like a blur.
Jessie, Louise, Delaney, Jessica, Ashton, and Jeremy stared after him with funny expressions, but I continued walking with them on the track without even glancing.
“Dude, that was creepy,” said Ashton.
“Oh my gosh! Nikki, break up with him!” Said Jeremy. “That would be the day! I so would love to see the look on his face, especially now that he’s in this moronic state!”
“Shut up,” I said firmly, giving him a slight rough push on his shoulder.
“You know, you did ask Andrew for his way of curing him,” said Delaney with no expression to her quiet voice. “Is it reasonable?”
“Yeah! What did he tell you?” Said Jessie more excitedly.
I remembered how I wasn’t supposed to tell the Outsiders anything about the plan and the injector I had in my pocket. So I said, “Nah, I didn’t really think it would work. I barely remember what he even said, but I didn’t even bother doing it anyway.”
Louise sighed. “Yeah, whatever! But we’ve got to do something about Dalton! Rosaline and Nate are actually starting to falter, believe it or not!”
I met Louise’s gaze. “Really?” I sure hope Dalton was doing a good job into distracting Rosaline, but I wasn’t sure if I could trust him as much now. What if he over did it?
Delaney bit her lip, her piercing blue eyes looking straight ahead. “You have Dalton to thank for that. He’s the jerk that seems to be flirting with her.”
I felt that sense of evil pinch me again and my eyes narrowed into red devilish slits. “Oh really?” I said calmly. “Well, if he’s enjoying his time flirting with that whore, I hope he keeps in mind that he’s doing it to get rid of her, and that he won’t be enjoying it forever.” Jessie laughed. “He acts the same way to her as he just did to you! And Rosaline loves it!”
“Yeah, ‘cause Nate isn’t that much of a ghetto stud!” Said Jeremy.
For the rest of P.E. and passing period, the Outsiders, Jessie, and most of everyone else talked about how they could free Dalton from his craving state. Apparently, Dalton was craving a lot crazier than the others thought, for I did focus a little on his thoughts, though every time I did, they always hit me back with a power that seemed to block me from reading his feelings. He must be craving blood all around him like crazy that it drove him mad to act this way. And it scared me. Not only was I scared of his sarcastic behavior, but I was also scared for him. I did miss being the real girlfriend I was to him, and I was surprised that I could still have a feeling like that inside of me, for I also felt the devil take over me little by little every day. I really needed Jessie to read that verse to me again, so I could be freed and then cope with trying to fight off Rosaline with everyone else. Dalton was always there to help me out…….until he became possessed by the drink from Rosaline. Nate at least said he wouldn’t side with her, though we still couldn’t be sure if he would really keep that promise. The Outsiders obviously wanted Rosaline driven out, but they couldn’t do anything, for whatever was her weakness would be their weakness.
I talked along with what everyone else was talking about, pretending like I was trying to think up ideas for Dalton, trying to hide that I really was planning on doing what Andrew told me to do, and inject Dalton with that potion when I got the chance.


“Ugh, can’t you just do it yourself and walk up to a church or something?” Jessie was complaining.
“Psh! You can’t expect a demon like me to actually commit suicide that way. I’m terrified of churches unless someone else volunteered to push me there unexpectedly.” I said with a slight chuckle. Jessie and I were walking to her house so she could read the Bible verse to me again. She and I were sharing earphones and listening to her iPod. The clouds were gray over the whitish sky.
Jessie let out a groan. “But I almost died trying to read something to you! And you scared the heck out of me when it tried to escape! Why don’t you ask Ashton or someone else to do it?” Jessie gave me a smile, trying to be difficult in a playful way.
I rolled my eyes and smirked. “Nah, you’re the one I choose to be risky and save me.”
“Oh! Tell Joshua to do it!” Jessie laughed. “Risk his life!”
“Ha! Like I would actually want him to see me possessed!”
Jessie let out a sigh. “My wrist is getting that aching again!” She said dramatically.
I raised my eyebrows. “Really? Was it worse than when Dalton bit you?”
Jessie blinked, still smiling. “Eh……..”
Suddenly I felt something freezing cold fall on my right shoulder and I screamed my loudest, grabbing whatever it was, and pulling it in front of me, realizing I had flipped Dalton over.
I stared down at him with a mad-surprised expression. “You asshole!” I yelled.
“Whoa, geez Nikki! You screamed bloody murder!” Said Jessie, taking off her earphone.
Dalton stood up in a flash, looking at me with his evil, sarcastic smirk. He had his dark black sweater closed, and he wore the hood. He still had the eyeliner and lip piercing. “Yeah, like a real demonic fiend almost.” He added slyly.
“What the hell- your hands are more freezing than ever!” I yelled angrily, snatching the earphone out of my ear and glaring at Dalton.
Dalton kept his expression as he raised his eyebrows. “I’m too thirsty at the moment…..” He stepped closer to me. “…….and I just happen to pass by two humans alone walking down the sidewalk where I was roaming around by myself.”
My eyes became narrowed red slits again. “I’m not a human at the moment.” I said fiercely.
Dalton snickered. “Psh! ‘Course you’re not!” His smile became narrower. “I like it that way.”
“Why? So you can suck her and suck her without killing her?” Said Jessie drastically with a tired expression at Dalton.
Dalton met her gaze. “Exactly. But you don’t have to worry. I’m actually craving Nikki’s blood more than your human blood.”
“I ain’t exactly all human blood either,” said Jessie.
“Whatever!” I said snappishly. “Just get the hell out of here, Dalton. We’re going to Jessie’s house and we don’t want you coming over anymore.”
“Aw….you’re really hurting my feelings, Nikki,” Dalton said sarcastically, looking sad, slowly circling around me as he kept his clever green gaze on me. “You know, all I’m trying to do is keep you from Jessie’s house.”
I winced. “What?”
In an instant, Dalton grabbed my shoulders and had me almost nose to nose in front of his face. I let out a quick surprise gasp and looked into his glaring eyes with an angry, horrified expression. His eyes had never been more angry and scary looking. I heard Jessie let out a gasp and flinch next to us.
“You stay away from that Bible verse, you got that?” Dalton hissed through clenched teeth. “I’m not letting you escape this, Nikki. You know why? You’re incredibly sexy to me this way. You have no idea, but you’re hot as the burning, killing sun to me, and I want to suck your blood up with you in this state.”
Before I could shoot a sharp objecting reply, his lips pressed against mine and I immediately struggle and muffled a scream, before I even felt the fangs sink into my gums.
“Ugh! Nikki!” Jessie’s yell was pleading and frightened.
I tried to push him roughly away from me, but he was almost just as strong. I felt so pissed, I could melt from the heat rising in me.
So instead of struggling away, I softened in his kiss, and kissed with him, and then sunk my own fangs in.
Dalton’s eyes immediately grew wide, and he started struggling away, but I had my fangs deep in his mouth, and my eyes blazed into their red devilish slits, and I let a low grumble in my throat that turned into a loud shrieking cry like an animal as I opened my mouth to let him go and push him hard to the ground, skidding ten feet away from me on his side.
He shot up like a blur and faced me with a wide-eyed expression, looking a bit scared for once, and his hood had fallen off, revealing his hair that had darkened a little, as I noticed.
“Hey, Dalton, your hair-” Jessie started quietly, and then whipped over to face me with a scared expression that turned into a look of horror.
I was crouched like an animal ready to leap, with a devilish scowl on my face and fangs long and sharp as a tiger’s. My hair was down, for I had shaken my head ever so hard when I had let Dalton go, and had shaken off my high ponytails. My long black hair blew around me in the wind as I scowled at Dalton in the most devilish expression, crouching.
Dalton stared at me in awe for a moment, and then rushed away like a blur.
Jessie suddenly came out of her front door with the Bible in her hands. I hadn’t even noticed her leave, nor had I noticed her just appear. But I did notice the Bible in her hands.
“You ready?” She asked, looking wide-eyed and scared still.
I shook with rage and fear at the sight of the Bible and let out a hiss and fled.


The next thing I knew, was that I was lying in the middle of the street. I slowly rose up and realized how dark and murky the sky was. The moon was full and shining and I read the street name on the pole that said, “Full Moon Street.”
“How the heck did I get here?” I muttered grumpily. I bit my lip…and then gasped in horror at the taste of dry blood. Had I killed somebody?! I hardly remembered anything that happened after Dalton showed up to stop me and Jessie. Of course I must have eaten someone again. There was blood splattered all over me and my clothes. I narrowed my eyes, and then let out a scream of frustration, running down the street to my house.
I started walking at a fast pace when I wasn’t in Full Moon Street anymore. I felt hot tears of pain and anger streaming down my cheeks.
Suddenly, I stopped in my tracks and felt my heart lurch. I turned to my right and saw that I was right next to Dalton’s house. This was his mother’s house, though I saw no car on the driveway, and that I knew his mom was always gone during the weekdays. But I sensed Dalton’s presence in the house, stronger than I could sense anyone else’s. I couldn’t help creeping over and leaning on his wall under his bedroom window, listening to his thoughts.
Dalton was dreaming. It was a vivid, but intense dream, and I could tell how entranced and hypnotized he was in it. Everything was burning hot all around him. He had a black robe on instead of his sweater, so he was extra warm. He wore a hood over his head as he walked down the heated hallway. He seemed to be in a deathly, evil place that I knew about instantly. He felt strange and weakened, being a cold-skinned vampire in a black hot robe in a heated area. Though for some reason, he was excited and strengthened for what awaited him.
He entered a room that instantly gave me the feeling of death, hatred, and pure evil. There was fire burning at the end of the room across from Dalton, and a crouched figure awaited him in front of it. Dalton lifted his head up and slowly pulled his hood back, and smiled evilly at the figure.
She had long black hair with green eyes, though they were surrounded by thick black eyeliner……..just like me. And there was no doubt that it was me. She was dressed in black bikini-like clothing, with rags hanging down from it. Her shoes were sharp high heels, and her nails were long and sharp, painted black. Her legs and forearms wore see-through black stockings and she held a pitchfork in her left hand, and she had a dark red tail with an arrow at the end. She also had two dark red devil ears on the corners of her head.
Dalton uttered a strange, evil-sounding word, and the fires rose behind her, and I tilted my head to one side, arching my neck, keeping my narrowed gaze on him.
Then everything went black and my head felt like something had punched it. “Uh!” I gasped, shutting my eyes. I was no longer in Dalton’s thoughts.
I stood there, feeling lightheaded and melancholy for a few minutes. Dalton dreamed of me. He dreamed of me as his terrible devil wife. I felt a strange disappointment. I had to get rid of this evil soul trapped in me as soon as I can. But I had to free Dalton first. He wasn’t going to let me free myself easily.













15. SCIENCE CAMP
The next week, Ms. Fletcher was talking more and more about science camp. We were going up to the Mountains at some camp called Camp Mooreland, and it was a week away. We were going to spend four days and three nights there.
“Ugh, seriously. This better not be anything like nerd camp,” complained Jessie during lunch, sitting next to Andrew.
I was eying Dalton at the table behind us. He was sitting next to William with Jenny on William’s other side. Dalton was obnoxiously laughing with him, while Jenny looked annoyed.
“Sheesh, what a jerk,” I said viciously through clenched teeth. “Look at the way he lets his shoulders touch William’s. And what does William do? Nothing!”
Jeremy and James sat with us and James just blinked at them. “Eh, it’s pretty obvious Dalton’s gone gay now. Sorry, Nikki.” He said flatly and sarcastically.
I hit him on the shoulder. “Shut up!” I couldn’t help chuckling a little. James’s behavior always made me laugh a little. “I’m going over there to make them more uncomfortable!” I was still pissed. It was already enough for Dalton to flirt over Rosaline.
I sat in front of Dalton, William, and Jenny. Ashton was sitting at Dalton’s other side, scooted a foot away, looking bored as he watched them.
“So!” I said innocently. People always thought me scary whenever I was being sarcastic. I was keeping my gaze on Dalton. “You having fun? Where’s Rosaline?”
Dalton looked at me without changing his happy, naughty expression. “I dunno! With Nate somewhere! What do you want?”
I shrugged. “Nothin.’ I just want to know what you want, sitting next to William and treating him like your favorite person.”
Jenny laughed sweetly. “It doesn’t bother me at least. It just gets a little irritating, that’s all. I’ve always hated Dalton anyway.”
“Psh! Yeah, I’m making your boyfriend feel uncomfortable now!” Said Dalton indignantly.
“Nah, I’m not scared of you,” said William with a sideways smile, giving Dalton’s shoulder a slight push.
Dalton gave William a harder shove and they both started shouldering each other.
“Ugh! Stop it, you-” Jenny lifted a hand to swat William, but then she dropped her mouth open as Dalton smiled and put his arm around him.
Instantly, I flinched and gave a wide-eyed wince. “What the-!” I let out a cuss word.
“Omigosh! Dalton, you-” Jenny started cracking up.
William kept his laid back sideways smile as he took Dalton’s hand on his shoulder, and threw it off, giving him another rough push on the shoulder.
“Aw!” Laughed Dalton. “You enjoyed it, I can tell!”
“Psh! No way,” William rolled his eyes and put his own arm around Jenny, who was giving him a withering glance.
“Dalton,” I said casually. I called him a foul name.
“Nikki! Isn’t he making you mad?” Jenny was looking at me, smiling with raised eyebrows.
I returned Jenny’s expression. “No,” I said sweetly. “He’s only pissing me off to the point when I could literally let it out.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Snickered William, giving me a clever look. I remembered that both William and Jenny had no idea what was concealed inside of me.
“Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie,” said Dalton casually. “But I can’t help for who I am.” He said in a sarcastic tone. He gave me a withering smile as he scooted to his right and put his arm around Ashton.
Ashton slowly blinked and started hitting Dalton’s arm with his empty water bottle until Dalton laughed and let go.
“Ooh…..Dalton,” William gave Dalton a raised look.
That did it for me. Instantly, I grabbed Dalton’s bony wrist, and twisted his arm almost all the way around, my sharp black nails digging into his cold skin as I held on tight as ever.
“Nikki- ow, ow! OWWW! AHHH!” He yelled in pain, though he still had a trace of laughter as he tried pulling his arm away from me.
William and Jenny watched me with surprised expressions as I rose to my feet, pulling Dalton up on top of the table and looked down at him with wild, fierce eyes and my lips puckered. I felt hot as fire and I felt my hotness warming up Dalton.
“Ow, okay Nikki! Don’t- ow! That hurts! Ow!” Dalton sounded serious now, and I saw his eyes starting to water.
Jenny was noticing Dalton’s expression as well. “Ooh,” she muttered, looking a little shocked.
I pulled him up to my face and muttered fiercely in his ear, “Wanna stick together? I’d be glad to! Just make sure you accept who I really am…… forever.” I heated myself up even more until Dalton was burning. Then I whacked him down against the table with a hard force, making the table shake and catching the Outsiders’ attention, who were just sitting a few feet away to the left of Jenny. I whipped around and stalked away, not looking back.
The Outsiders, Jenny, William, and Ashton watched me go with shocked looks on their faces.
“Um….” William started uneasily. He raised his eyebrows at my long legs in the black tights I wore today, and then looked at Jenny. “Was it just me, or was she almost floating?”
Ashton winced. “What do you mean? She was floating? Yeah I think you’re seeing things.” He must’ve been trying to defend our secret. I really was hovering an inch or two above the ground when I rose up.
William shook his head, looking unsure. “I dunno, it just almost looked as if her feet were slightly above the ground for a moment.”
“Why would you be staring at her feet?” Said Louise sassily, her sharp ends of her glove pressed together.
William chuckled. “I don’t know.”
Dalton jumped backwards off the table, landing to the ground on his knees, holding onto his left forearm, where I had left a scary looking mark where my nails had dug in. His head was down, and his slightly darker blonde hair hung down the front of his head.
“You okay, Dalton?” Jenny asked.
Louise whipped around. “Aw….poor baby. Did she make you cry?”
Delaney turned to look at him. “You’re so mean, Louise.” She said casually.
Louise laughed and rolled her eyes and got up. She stepped over to Dalton and bent down next to him, messing his hair. “Hey, wanna sit with us? She’s not gonna want to see you for the rest of the day.”
“No, I’m fine,” he muttered, not meeting her gaze as he got up and turned around.
“Whoa, Dalton. You’re not bleeding,” said William, wincing.
“Yeah, I know! He’s not!” Said Shawn, sarcastically enthusiastic.
Dalton was already walking away. He disappeared behind the wall and didn’t show up for the rest of the day.


Science camp was coming in three days. Time went by as fast as my next hunger for human flesh. I was packing my crap into a black luggage, muttering curses under my breath, feeling lightheaded with anger and frustration. I was mad at Dalton. I was hateful towards Rosaline. I was frustrated with my stupid problem. And I was pissed at the way Kenneth had stolen my hairbrush earlier just a few moments ago. Luckily, dad had taken him away to punish him himself before I could strike him dead.
After packing my stuff, I sat down on my swivel chair, halfheartedly spinning slowly to left and to the right, alone in my thoughts. The computer was on in front of me, and I was logged on to my Facebook account, but I wasn’t doing anything. Recently, I’ve been posting up nasty comments on my wall, righting whatever the hell I wanted in the words I wanted. I’ve been getting replied from friends about it as well, most of them teasing me about it.
I thought about what the heck we were supposed to do. Jessie had to get her Bible in as soon as she can, before Rosaline could stop her. It wouldn’t be long until the spirit would take over me fully, so we had to act fast. Dalton was following me around often now, stalking me and pissing me off whenever we got close to freeing me, and just earlier today he was banging at my door and yelling at my window until my dad forced him to leave. Obviously, he was in the state of enjoying me as a demon, and he was making sure I was being kept that way.
Suddenly there was a pop noise from the computer, and I saw that Andrew’s chatbox had opened up on Facebook.
“Hey :D sup there ponytails?”
I replied back:
“Nothin. Just flaming mad n rdy to explode literally.”
Andrew replied:
“ooh, wanna com over and let me calm you down?”
I winced. What could he possibly do to calm down my hunger? He was hot, and I really was falling for him, but not even something like that could satisfy my problem.
But then he replied,
“oops, nvm, sum1 at the door, prbly Rosaline >< see ya.”
And he was offline.


Science camp was today. Finally. We were heading to the mountains to a private camp called Camp Mooreland. For some reason, I woke up gloomy and calm, instead of upset and cranky. I felt lightheaded. Jack was in my room, staring at me, his tail slightly swinging from side to side. Luckily, I haven’t seen him often lately so that he would growl and treat me like the evil spirit roaming in his house, so I was thankful that he wasn’t growling at me at the moment. Maybe my spirit had just suddenly left me just like that?
“Hey, Jack….”
I was wrong. Jack immediately started barking loudly and his tail was wagging fiercely as he let out angry, excited growls and snarls as he barked at me with obvious madness in his eyes. I felt the evil lighten inside me again.
“Oh, shut up, you stupid dog,” I muttered evilly.
Jack stopped barking and immediately left my room to go downstairs as he heard Kenneth’s call.
It was very early, I realized. I arrived at the school with my crap packed up, and as soon as I got there, I was automatically searching for any sign of Rosaline.
“Nikki!” Came a high, gleeful voice.
I whipped around with red in my eyes, as I faced Andrew.
“Hey there, girl. Ready for a trip? Four days away from your family and with your classmates! Exciting, huh?”
“Sure, whatever,” I said snappishly. I looked in his attracting blue eyes, and was suddenly reminded of how I used to admire another special someone for their sexy eyes. I immediately felt pissed again, and was about to tell Andrew about what had happened with me and Dalton that cloudy day when Jessie and I were walking to her house to have her free me. But then I thought up something else. What if Andrew could free me?
I huffed and gave Andrew an evil look. “Stick by my side while I’m looking for Dalton, will you?”
Before he could answer, I had already taken his hand and started making my way to Ms. Fletcher’s classroom where most of the classes were waiting.
“Ooh, girl,” said Andrew smoothly. “I’m still dating Jessie, remember?”
I squeezed his hand and then let go. “Of course you are, pervert. I just wanted to piss Dalton off, that’s all.”
Andrew sighed. “I’m sorry. But they wouldn’t let me on the bus. They have no idea who I am. I’d love to go with you on your field trip, but I just can’t. Please try to take care without me.” He tapped my nose with a smile and he walked away.
When we noisily got into the bus, I was looking around frantically for a decent place to sit. I didn’t want to sit next to Dalton, for he would just set me up and make things worse on the bus. No doubt Rosaline would be following us up to the mountains.
Jessie was next to James, chatting and arguing away. Jenny was next to William, and both were talking to Nate and Anthony, who sat right behind them. I flashed a glance to where Gabriel and Sam sat, though I looked away immediately. Analiese was across from Jenny and William, chatting with them, but I didn’t want to sit next to Analiese. I didn’t want to get away with my torturing her and let the evil out of me when she got me annoyed as well.
“Dammit, the Outsiders are on the other damn bus,” I cursed under my breath, my face turning red.
“Move, Nikki!” I felt a push from behind, and whipped around to glare at Jeremy, who pushed me out of the way to sit next to Ashton.
“Asshole!” I cuffed his head, though this time, I was relieved it was him who got me mad instead of Dalton.
I noticed Jessica sitting across from them. Jessica! Of course, she was the only Outsider I shared a bus with. I bit my tongue and harshly dropped down to the sit next to her.
She gave me a clever smile and looked away.
I turned my wild gaze to her. I must look crazy next to her, like an angry, dark, goth teenager next to a slutty, sexy-type vampire girl who was probably fifty years older than she looked. “So why aren’t you sitting next to Nate?” I asked in a testy voice.
“Oh, I knew you would need someone to sit next to,” she replied. “Dalton wouldn’t be the best choice right now.”
Dalton was the last one to arrive in the bus. He looked like he had been in a hurry to get here. His eyes looked wide and tired, with a hint of faded darkness underneath, and his back sweater was slipping off one side of his shoulder. He made his way across the bus, and gave a wicked sideways smile as he saw me.
“Hey there, Nikki,” he said in a sly voice.
I blinked heavily. “Sup, you bastard.”
He bumped into my other side, trying to sit next to my right.
“Agh! What the hell?! Get away from me, you-”
“I’m your boyfriend, aren’t I?” He said sarcastically. “It should be a requirement for you to sit next to me.”
“Dalton? Find a seat! We’re not going to waste time just to sit down on this bus, we have to go!” Ms. Fletcher’s sudden snappy tone made Dalton slightly flinch and he narrowed his eyes at me playfully and sat down in the seat in front of Ashton and Jeremy.
“You dick-head,” I snapped at him with a glare.
He smiled and turned.
On the bus ride, Jessica told me of an ancient log house not too far from Camp Mooreland, where a strange lady lived. Some say she was a psychic, but also a very religious and intelligent lady.
“I looked it up online,” said Jessica. “Maybe she can help you.”
“Psh! If we can find a way to keep Dalton out of my face.”
Dalton slowly turned his head to smile at me. Then he made smooching noises with his lips, loud enough to make Jeremy look up and laugh hysterically.
I glared back at him, holding up my long, skinny middle finger out at him. Smooching noises have always pissed me off.
“Haaa,” said Jeremy, watching as Dalton winced and slowly turned away.
The bus ride took about an hour to finally reach Camp Mooreland, which turned out to be a cloudy, quiet, and creepy place. There was what looked like a small cabin area where several people arranged a camp for schools, and it seemed as if there was already a class spending the week.
“Oh great!” I huffed to Jessica. “They look like elementary whores! I thought we’d have this place all to ourselves!”
Jessica chuckled. “Want us to take care of it?”
I gave her a sly look. “No,” I said sweetly. “I can take care of them myself if I want to.”
I gasped and flinched as an ice cold hand touched my shoulder.
“Dalton!” I yelled a little too loudly. Everyone on the bus but Jeremy looked at me.
“Nikki!” Ms. Fletcher said indignantly, looking at me with raised eyebrows. I met her gaze for a moment then turned to Dalton, who was looking at me with hungry, dazed green eyes.
“You’re lucky the cabins in here separate the boys from the girls,” he chuckled creepily.
I smacked his hand off my shoulder roughly, making his eyes grow wide. “Go suck on Rosaline! Her blood is probably more interesting than mine!”
“Ooh,” said Nate with interest, coming over to give Dalton a poke. “Looks like you’re going to have fun for five days straight.” He gave me a narrowed smile.
I smiled back. “Yeah, me too. Especially when Rosaline decides to show up later.”
“Yeah, Nate,” said Jessica sassily. “Where is she?”
Nate tilted his head, giving her his goofy, rude smile. “She’s not here of course, because I’m in love with Nikki.”
Dalton immediately rolled his eyes with annoyance, but I shot out a reply first. “Oh gosh! Not this damn B.S. again!” I folded my arms, though I couldn’t help showing my humor. Nate was back to his old, annoying and cocky self.
“Oh, shut up. You called Nikki a tenacious prostitute just yesterday!” Jessica huffed, looking annoyed.
Nate poked her thin cheek. “C’mon don’t be jealous. I love you too.” He kept his wild smile on his face.
I was starting to feel overwhelmed at the thought of having to spend five days at this place with a craving, and Dalton’s constant stalking.
















16. VOICES
“All right! I wanna introduce myself as Hailey Stern,” a redheaded young lady stepped forward to greet our classes in front of the bus stop on the field. The sky was as cloudy as can be, and the field looked uninviting. There were four camp leaders in front of us, standing in a row, two ladies on the left and two guys on the right. “You guys can call me Miss Hailey though!” Said the redhead.
Jessie snickered rudely. “Why? Because her last name makes her sound like a bitch?”
I rolled my eyes, though I wasn’t feeling randomly angry at the moment. For some reason, the atmosphere of this place calmed me down a little.
“This here’s Elisa,” Miss Hailey introduced the blonde next to her, “and here’s Michael and Armin.” The shorter guy, Michael, waved at us with a smile and the taller one, Armin, stepped forward. “Hey, wassup Redwood High!”
“Wassawwp!” Nate replied as if talking to one of his friends.
“You all will be having the heck of a fun time if you’re put in my group! I’ll let you guys do whatever you want. I can tolerate your screaming and messing around.”
Jeremy laughed aloud. “Do you allow drinking?”
“Nah, not that kind of teen partying,” said Armin with a wry smile.
I scoffed, wincing at Armin. “What a wannabe.”
Jessie shrugged. “At least he’s kinda cute.”
“I’m telling Andrew,” said James aloud, giving Jessie a squint from the side of his eyes.
Jessie whipped her head to him, smiling. “Go ahead! I tell him what guys I think are cute all the time! And he doesn’t mind, he agrees!”
I laughed. “Does he agree that James is cute?”
“Oh, shut up, Nikki!” James snapped in a flat voice. “She probably didn’t bother in asking him.” He looked away, flipping his long hair.
“Alright!” Announced Hailey. “Let’s get you all into your groups! I’m sure your teacher has already decided on which groups you’ll be put into?”
Ms. Fletcher nodded. “Yep. I have the groups listed on these two papers right here. I barely got to print it out on the bus since I was running late.”
It turned out I was in Armin’s group, which didn’t bug me since he seemed the least smart out of all of them. Fortunately, Dalton was put in Miss Hailey’s group with Joshua, Jeremy, Analiese, and all the other people that I would obviously get in trouble with. Jessie was in Elisa’s group, and the only closest people I had in my group were Louise, Delaney, Nate, and James.
But before getting together with our groups, the cabin leaders started showing us our cabin rooms, and luckily, we were allowed to pick our roommates.
Of course, I was with Jessie, Jenny, and Louise. There were only two bunk beds in each room, and two rooms in each cabin, so next door to us were Analiese, Delaney, and Jessica.
The rest of the day went by pretty slow, for all we did was just travel around the woods with our groups, getting to know the place. At least I was kept awake by Nate’s constant teasing at me and his stupid clowning around with witty, stuck-up James. Louise, of course, couldn’t keep herself from ignoring us, so she disrupted the group a lot too. Nate even pushed me into a dried mud puddle, and I pushed him back into a prickly bush. At least Armin got to know the basics of how to handle a class like ours.
Our meals were served in the café lodge, though I didn’t eat anything for lunch, for I knew if I started eating anything, I would be tempted to go on doing so for the people around me. Dalton had been surprisingly quiet during lunch, and that was the only time I saw him that day until after dinner.
We met in the café lodge, and they served chicken enchiladas for dinner. There was also a salad bar that was available at any mealtime. There was a lot to talk about, and some of us enjoyed our cabin leaders and the area, and I was thankful for the way Armin tolerated me and Nate attacking each other a lot. He actually got involved too.
“Dude! He called me a faggot!” Nate laughed as we sat on the sidewalks in front of the café lodge. The sun was setting, but since there hadn’t been a sun out all day, the sky looked dark gray and starting to get shadowy.
“Oh yeah, like anyone could refuse to call you that, Nate!” I gave him a slight push.
Suddenly, I heard a loud laugh from Jessie. I saw that she was sitting on a log in front of the woods with Andrew at her side, and his arms wrapped around her. Dalton was in front of them, and from the look on his face, it seemed like he was in the middle of bugging them.
“Dude! Andrew, give me back my cookie, you dick!” He yelled with a naughty smile. Andrew seemed to be holding a quarter of what looked like a chocolate chip cookie.
I stood up and made my way over to them, feeling hotheaded by Dalton’s presence.
“Ooh, what could Dalton want with a cookie?” Said Nate skeptically, following me.
“Yeah, Dalton!” I yelled as I was by his side. “What are you up to this time? Feeling hungry all of a sudden?”
Dalton turned to me with a wince. “In a way!” He said in a sneering tone. He whipped his head back to Andrew and Jessie, who were laughing as they kept Dalton from getting at his piece of cookie.
“Seriously, Andrew. If you don’t give it to me, I’ll buy another one!” Dalton snapped, running to the back of the log behind Jessie and Andrew, trying to get at the cookie.
“Oop! Oh no you don’t!” Andrew held the cookie in front of him, hidden in his purple sweater.
“Loser!” Jessie gave Dalton a push and pressed closer to Andrew’s right side, keeping Dalton from reaching around.
“Hey!” Dalton leaped on Andrew’s back, wrapping his arms around his back, reaching for the cookie.
I rolled my eyes and Nate snickered.
“Whoa, there Dalton!” Nate laughed.
“Give it to me!” Yelled Dalton.
Andrew looked tiredly annoyed now. “Um, can you please get off of me and my freakin’ girlfriend?”
I cracked up. “Ha! That sounded cheesy!”
Dalton was bumping into Jessie a lot as he was over Andrew, and Jessie was starting to look happily uncomfortable.
“Fine then!” And Dalton stormed off.
I winced. “Okay, what the heck did Dalton want with a cookie?”
“Yeah, he’s still vampire right?” Said Nate in a cocky voice.
“Psh, yeah! Of course!” Andrew huffed. “And he’s the only guy who’s not hot to me, even though he’s vampire!”
Jessie elbowed Andrew as Nate and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows.
Jessie gave me an indignant look. “He says eating stops his cravings for blood a little. You should try it! Maybe it works on you, does it?”
“Hello?! Of course I’ve tried it! I’ve tried anything!” I replied snottily. “It’s getting out by the end of this camp trip! You better have brought your Bible to read.”
That night, I couldn’t sleep. And since I didn’t want to risk getting pissed off in three more hours of laying awake, waiting for sleep to come, I stomped out of bed and slammed the door behind me, not caring if I disturbed anyone else sleeping soundly in the cabin. I took a walk outside, hoping it would calm me down.
I didn’t know what kind of crazy things were going through my head as I stomped along the forest trail, not paying attention to the dark surroundings around me.
It was pitch black. The moon was barely a sliver in the sky, and there were numerous amounts of stars in the sky. I wasn’t exactly a city girl; I did enjoy the peace and quiet of nature, despite my bratty personality of wanting to do whatever the heck I wanted. I wasn’t scared of the strange noises of animals in the night around me as I walked on.
By the time I had calmed down, there was a rustle in the bushes behind me. I stopped and slowly turned around. I could barely see the distance. But I had a strange feeling of someone following me. It was the same feeling when Joshua was my stalker for a while. I could always sense him nearby, watching me, without even getting to see him. I bit my tongue, feeling the urge to just dash back to the cabins where it was safe. But instantly, the thought of Dalton being there made me hesitate. I wasn’t going to deal with a creepy, sick-minded vampire.
Suddenly, a rabbit jumped out of the bushes towards me, landing in front of my feet, and then dashed away down the trail as fast as its feet could take it.
Before I could whip my head to face what had scared it, a dark figure leaped out of the bushes, and pinned me to the ground, making me grunt and scream in terror. With my demonized strength, I threw it off immediately, making the figure hit the ground hard and roll away. But it shot up like a blur, and dashed back at me, grabbing my shoulders. It pushed me into a tree, colliding me with such a strong force, I almost felt weakened and defeated for a second.
I immediately realized how cold the grip was. It felt like human hands- cold, bony hands that felt a lot like Dalton’s or one of the Outsiders’. No question it was a vampire. For a moment, I pictured Dalton murdering me and devouring my blood, leaving the demon spirit to leave my dead body and take over him. But then I grabbed the forearms of the vampire, and hissed a fierce, angry breath of hotness, warming up the vampire until it flinched and let go of me, falling to the ground.
I glared down at it, narrowing my eyes. It was dressed all over in a black robe, and it had a hood on, which covered its entire face as it lay on its side. The robe was a thin, wrinkled black, or at least I think it was black, for I couldn’t see clearly in the super dark night.
I was just about to pounce on the vampire and attack it badly for scaring me, but then, it lifted its head and faced me. The hood was off, and its hair seemed to be like a guy’s, in a mess, but I couldn’t even make out the face or anything to see who it looked like, but a dark, shadowy figure. It immediately leaped at me again, except this time it shoved passed me and disappeared into the forest.
I was knocked to the ground again, this time on my side, and I shot up and cursed under my breath, feeling strange. My left side of my neck felt hot, and I put my hand over it, gasping as I felt a wetness that I knew was definitely blood. The vampire had bitten me. I felt a strange feeling inside me now. My head started throbbing. Was it possible for me to become a vampire and a demon at the same time? Of course it was. Rosaline used to be like that.
I suddenly choked a gasp as the bite on my neck stung like crazy, until my head seemed to be aching like crazy, until everything went black.
A vision whirred in my head. I saw Dalton sitting in a dark corner of a strange alley I had never been to before. His head was lowered and his arms hung by his side, as if he had passed out. Then I caught a vision of me and Dalton looking into each other’s eyes, with me free of the demon spirit. We kissed.
Slowly, my eyes blinked open. I was in a strange room that smelled of a strange cinnamon scent, except this scent smelled stale and dying. But the vision was still playing in my mind and I felt strangely lightheaded.
“Ugh….what the hell?” I groaned. My limbs felt stiff. I felt as if I had woken up to a new world or something, like in the movies. “Who am I? Do I remember anything?”
“Quiet, child. You shouldn’t have lost any memory, as far as I’m concerned,” spoke a strange, dry voice of a lady.
I gasped and I would’ve sat up, looking wildly around me, except I felt so weak that I could barely turn my head to my right, facing a woman sitting in a chair just a few yards away. She had the darkest black hair I’ve ever seen, even darker than mine when it was wet, and it was in two braids over her shoulders, reaching all the way to the floor at her feet. She was dressed in a black ragged dress, and she wore little makeup, just eyeliner and lipstick, though her eyeliner was very dark and made her dark eyes looking piercing and fierce. Her lips were tiny, like a Japanese lady’s. Her makeup was very distinctive, for her face was as white as snow. She didn’t seem young, but she didn’t seem old.
“Y-you…who the heck are you?” I questioned. “Are you some kind of vampire?”
She stood from her chair. She was actually very tall, like six feet or something, and she was very thin and skinny, almost like me or the Outsiders. “I’m no vampire,” she replied tartly, in her dry tone. Her voice seemed monotone and a little crackly like she was sick or coughing. “I am a healer. I saw you fight off that last vampire in the woods just an hour ago. I brought you back here to heal you. as I expected, you seemed to be in a more surprising state than you should’ve been.”
I winced as I struggled to pull myself up. I clung on to my legs, and forced myself to sit up, not wanting to feel like a lame victim lying in bed while some weirdo lectured me on what the heck was going on. “What do you mean? Do you mean the bite I got?” I realized my neck still felt warm on the left side where it had been bitten.
“No,” replied the lady, giving me a narrowed look, walking over to me and sitting on a chair right beside the bed I was in. “You were…..possessed in a way that kept you from the harm you would’ve gotten from that bite. Might I remind you….that vampire isn’t just an ordinary vampire that bit you.”
I frowned and shook my head, suddenly realizing that she was talking to me about vampires. “Wait….so you, too, know that vampires really do exist? You’ve been acquainted with them before? Who was that guy?!”
“Calm down, geez,” the lady rolled her dark eyes and turned her gaze away from me, staring into the fireplace I noticed was lit. “See, I’ve lived a good enough number of years to learn how to heal a victim from the poison that the vampires possess when they bite. I’ve used…..spells, you can say, to heal you from that bite…..and your dangerous spirit lying inside of you.”
I couldn’t believe my ears. I stared at this strange lady with my eyes wide open. “You-?! You mean….you freed me from the demon?!”
“For the first time……I discovered that with a mix of my medicines, I could develop a way to save you from that other spirit that was controlling you, and then save your real self from the bite.”
I suppose that meant yes. I suddenly felt so relieved and proud. I wanted to thank this bitchy lady a hundred times. “Oh my…..wow! Thank you so much! You don’t know how-”
“But!” The lady cut me off, glaring into my eyes. “You have already been discovered. That vampire who bit you, he knows what you’ve been through and everything your body’s done now that he’s bitten you. That vampire’s got a strange ability that lets him read certain things about people after biting into them.”
I winced. “Um, so you mean he knows everything I’ve been through in my life, and what’s happened to me?”
“He only knows certain things like….who you’ve kissed and……what you’re prone to. After tasting your blood, he was able to read that you had the devil inside of you, and that you weren’t prone to becoming a vampire as easily. He also knows about anyone you have kissed, and he can track them down by reading what he has tasted from your blood.”
Thoughts flashed through my mind. He could know about Dalton now, as well as Gabriel, Joshua, and even Ashton and Jeremy, who I had kissed in the second grade when we were just messing around. “Is that bad? What would he want with my past kisses? Or me?”
The lady sighed. “Nikki,” she said my name seriously, surprisingly already knowing it. “I should tell you a story of my past, which will explain what has just happened to you right now. Then you can realize how what had just happened will affect you in the future…..which may not even be far away.”
I winced visibly, thinking this lady strange but I let her go on.
“My name’s Naomi Grom. Long ago, I had married a husband who was everything of my dreams. Rich, good-looking, supportive, and dedicated. His name was Stephen Grom. We lived in a mansion not too far from the city in England, and for a couple years, our lives were going by perfectly.
“One day, a consumption overcame the entire area, and Stephen caught it. He started coughing up loads of blood, and he became very ill. I tried my best to take care of him, though I knew his life was ebbing away minute by minute, day by day. The doctor couldn’t do anything about it. That was why anyone who caught it in town would die within a day or two.
“That night, I felt the urge to visit my stepsister. She was a gypsy, and she told me to find a strange tiny bottle in my grandmother’s room. She said if I wanted so badly to have Stephen cured, I would have to use the bottle that would forever cure him, though a there would be a huge consequence if I saved him that way. I asked her of the consequence would be bad, but she was quite the cocky hussy- she and I never really liked each other anyways- and she only told me that I’d have to see for myself if the consequence would be a bad result or not.” Naomi narrowed her eyes into the fireplace, as if glaring at her step-sister. “Well, I was a hothead towards her as well. I left her place with an angry and despairing heart, wanting to save my husband so badly, I decided to use the potion on him anyway. If she wouldn’t bother to warn me of how terrible the result would be, then it probably wasn’t that bad. I found the tiny bottle, and saw a label attached to it. It was the directions to use the medicine and correctly cure….a consumption sickness. So I followed it, using the borage leaves and herbs it required me to mix, and to my loving relief, Stephen was cured the next day. The pale sickly look on his face was gone and his mouth wasn’t dirty with dry blood anymore. He was as good as new, with a face bright and lively as it was before the sickness.”
I nodded. “So what was the curse afterwards?”
Naomi stared into my eyes with her piercing gaze. “Curse you call it huh?” She replied fiercely.
I shrugged. “I’m guessing something bad happened since there’s always some price to pay, and if this story leads to why that vampire’s bitten me.”
Naomi kept her gaze. “Well, it was a curse all right. Stephen started giving me these weird looks, and he started acting all strange around me, like he was afraid to be around me or do anything like touch me. He was so edgy, and apparently…..his face was a little too pale, and one night, when I mentioned to him how edgy he was, and asked about our future and ever having kids, he confessed what I had in mind. He was craving for my blood, and had even bit into our neighbor next door one day. He sounded so ashamed of himself when he told me. He said he couldn’t stop, until he finally realized…he had killed him.”
I raised my eyebrows. “That’s scary,” I said with disgust. “Huh! You probably wouldn’t want to live next door to a vampire neighbor.”
Naomi gave me a narrowed look and went on. “He told me he craves to do the same to me every moment, whether I’m around or not. He’s scared to kill me and see what a monster he really was. I told him that he was no monster, and that I still loved him no matter what he was. But I was angry at the same time. My damn fool of a stepsister didn’t even bother warning me that this was what the curse was.”
I frowned. “You should’ve let Stephen bite her neck, get her back for not letting you know that Stephen would have to become a vampire to stay alive. It would’ve been a good lesson, too. She pays for her mistake of letting you keep Stephen alive as a vampire, only to come back and bite her back for letting that happen.”
“Not even my stupid stepsister should pay a price like that!” Naomi’s voice sounded scary when she snapped. She glared at me and I glared back.
“Sheesh, I didn’t mean it, you know that,” I said sourly.
“Well, afterwards, it got even worse. My father caught consumption when we were over at a ball with him and our family. Stephen wasn’t even there, for he didn’t want to risk chances of biting someone. But my father just suddenly dropped to the ground and started coughing up huge amounts of blood, startling everybody around him. I stayed over at his house to care for him, and I dared not to use the potion. If he was going to live to be a miserable vampire like Stephen, he was probably better off dying. But I was at his side anyway.
“I bumped into my sister one night when I was out for a walk to clear my thoughts of my father and Stephen. I yelled at her face, cursing her for what she let me do. That’s when she made things worse by telling me another part of the terrible curse. She told me in her sassy voice, that there was nothing to worry about, but that if Stephen were to be kept alive at all, other people would have to suffer from the consumption. People that I loved around me were going to keep catching consumption as long as Stephen was alive. The only thing that was a bit of a relief was that if Stephen was alive and a vampire, those who caught consumption would eventually become vampires as well. But if Stephen were to become human again, those who caught the consumption would have to die off all together to keep him alive as a human. I spat at my sister and thought it might as well just be better if Stephen just stayed a vampire so that the other people that I cared for wouldn’t have to die off from the sickness.
“So there it was. Every few days, I was tortured with a family member or a friend that lived in the same town, catching consumption, coughing horribly and throwing up blood, but then becoming vampires afterwards. Stephen decided we couldn’t live like this anymore. If there was anyone around us that we loved, they would have to suffer from the sickness and become a cold-hearted bloodsucker. So far, it had been my father, my uncle, my two cousins, and my aunt. Stephen told it was best for him to leave and find somewhere to live so that those we cared for wouldn’t have to suffer around him. As long as Stephen kept his distance from our friends and families, they wouldn’t have to catch the sickness at all. So Stephen left and went to a place where he would never find someone to love or care for again. He went to the frozen wasteland in the North Pole, where he lived as a lonely vampire, though he promised he would return someday to visit me.
“The rest of my family that were already vampires all decided to leave as well. I, myself, wanted to get out of town to a place where I could be alone, for I missed Stephen terribly. I moved here, up in the mountains, and my family lives just a distance away around here. I decided to study psychics, and become a gypsy like my stepsister. Of course, I didn’t want to be a terrible deceiver like she was, and taunt people with my knowledge of their future and curse. But I studied healing techniques, and learned how to use potions I like to call spells. I also learned to tell the future and read people’s auras.”
“Hmm,” I said with wonder. “So you’re a gypsy? I thought you were bitten by Stephen and became a vampire since your face is so white.” I spoke in a careful voice, not wanting to offend Naomi again for no reason. “I mean that in a good way. I find it awesome for people to have total white skin and actually be a real human being.”
“Hmph….you don’t have to like it. It’s terrible to look anything like a damn old vampire. I hate them with such a hate……I would have the world destroyed to end the life of all vampires forever.”
She spoke with such a tone that I felt a chill run through my bones. It felt kind of nice to feel a chill after being stuck with the hot, devil spirit inside of me.
“Well, that would be…..different,” I said with a slight chuckle. If vampires had never been in the world, and if Dalton had never been a vampire, things really would have been different. “So have you seen Stephen since then?”
Naomi lifted her head, her eyes not looking at me, but passed me, focused on something distant. “No,” she said dryly. “But a few days ago, I did receive a dream in which I spoke to Stephen in the arctic, and he told me he had developed a strange ability that allows him to read people’s pasts by tasting their blood.”
I winced. “So….was that Stephen that bit my neck?”
Naomi said nothing, but her piercing serious eyes seemed to focus right through me.
I felt my warm neck. I had a bunch of questions run through my head I didn’t want to ask her out loud. Why was he here? What did he want? Why did he bite me?
“Why he bit you, I’m still trying to wonder,” said Naomi, recovering her firm gaze. “I must look into your future and read your aura to make connections. But I must do that another time. I’ve wasted my strength trying to heal you. You must come back…..tomorrow sometime. Don’t tell anyone of your visits to me.”
I winced. “You probably already know my vampire boyfriend’s become a stalker to me and it may be hard to come see you.”
Naomi said nothing for a moment as she stared into the fire. She sighed. “You know, my stepsister did have a cure to let Stephen become a human again. I always wonder which choice was more worth it. To let Stephen live on as a vampire, or let him become human again, even though I would have to sacrifice those around me who I care for. But even if he were human now, he would still have to hide in the arctic so that no one will get hurt. He might as well just be dead.”
I blinked. “Your stepsister had a medicine to turn him back to human?”
Naomi nodded. “It was the blood of her mother……..whom apparently was a vampire as well.”
My heart lifted at this. “Aurora’s blood,” I muttered with wonder. Then I gasped quietly. “Wait a minute. You said this blood was the blood of your stepsister’s mother?”
“My step-mother, yes. So you’ve heard of Aurora, I see.”
“Well, heck yeah I’ve heard of Aurora!” I almost raised my voice. “I know Delaney and Rosaline were her daughters, and Leonardo was her husband!”
Naomi’s expression turned into a glare of hatred and her teeth made a weird clicking noise as she clenched them together. “My stepsister. Rosaline Fox. You know her, don’t you?”
Her voice was scary, and I met her gaze. “Yeah I know her.” I said hastily. “She really is your stepsister? And Leonardo’s your stepfather?”
Naomi shot up from her chair, scaring the crap out of me with her sudden fierce look. “Shut up,” she growled. “I’ve never exactly met my stepfather Leonardo, but after my own father and I fled with our family to this place all the way from England, I had a vision that my step-mother remarried a man like him. Or actually a vampire.”
I narrowed my eyes, getting out of the bed and standing on my feet. I still felt strangely weak, but better than when I had woken up. “You need to tell me more about yourself.” I said seriously, looking her in the eye. “You have some connection with Rosaline. You might be able to help us some way.”
Suddenly the house shook and the lights flickered in the house. I gasped and flinched, expecting an earthquake, but Naomi stood there tall and still, her eyes looking into me.
“Leave my place,” she hissed through gritted teeth. “Leave my place at once. I will not tell you more than you need to know at the moment.”
“But you haven’t told me more than I know!” I shouted. “You should tell me a little more about your family. Maybe you have connections with the Outsiders! Or the Mordrin family! Maybe even….Lewis!” The thought of Lewis was like déjà vu to me. He was like a clinging memory that made me feel strange when I remembered him.
Naomi widened her eyes for a moment, and then she narrowed them again and clenched her fists, cracking her knuckles. “Get out. You don’t know what I mean to do when I’m angry. Come back tomorrow if you want to know more. For now, I don’t even know myself what Stephen is up to at the moment. I will try to find out. But for now, leave.”
Naomi’s eyes suddenly turned into a green glinting color, which scared me since she had obvious, distinctive dark brown-black eyes.
I rolled my eyes and whipped around, leaving her house, which was a one-story house that wasn’t a cabin like all the other houses up here.
As I made my way back to my cabin, thoughts of Naomi’s story flashed through my head. I would have to come back tomorrow. Whenever I got the chance, I was bound to come back. She might know something about Rosaline and help us defeat her. She could help Dalton, maybe.




17. THE CLANS
I was dead tired next morning. We were with our cabin leaders and our groups, and each group had gone to a different part of the forest to start these team-building activities. I had trouble keeping my eyes open and found myself drifting off to sleep even while walking. First, we had breakfast in the café lodge. They were serving pancakes and we were able to choose a bagel or cereal to go along as well. I was so tired I fell asleep standing in line to get served.
“Hee-hee, look at Nikki!” Snickered Nate, pointing at me.
James turned. “You look like a zombie,” he called in a bored voice.
I flashed them both a tired frown. “Shut up,” I replied. “I really couldn’t sleep last night…”
Louise was suddenly at my side. “Ooh, really? Afraid you might eat people in your sleep?”
That woke me up with a start. I just remembered! I had no devil inside of me anymore!
“Ooh!” I squealed like a little girl, jumping up. “Hey! Hey! Guess what!” I hissed to the people around me. But Nate and James were already at the front, and the cabin leaders served each of them two pancakes and they left, in a middle of a chat, not noticing me.
“Ugh! Whatever then,” I shrugged.
I sat down with Jessie, Ashton, Jeremy, Analiese, and Dalton, though his seat was empty and he hadn’t touched anything on his plate. Instead, he was by the window, staring out into the gray sky, not moving.
“So how did you get the devil outta you?” Jessie hissed excitedly. “That’s so awesome!” Then she gasped. “But what’s Rosaline gonna do?”
“Who cares!” Jeremy scoffed, grimacing at me. “As long as Nikki is Nikki, we don’t need to worry about an extra evil inside of her. She can deal with Rosaline whether she’s her real self or the devil! There’s still no difference!”
I gave him a sassy smile and then turned to Jessie. “Well, I can’t tell you yet. All I can say is that I met someone last night who cured me. I’m going to be sure to visit them again sometime as soon as I can before I can tell you everything.”
“Huh! Sounds a little bogus that you can’t tell us why,” complimented Jessie. “But oh well! Now we just got to deal with Rosaline. It’ll be much easier now that you’re free.”
It might not be…..after what Naomi had told me. I thought silently. If Naomi said that Rosaline used to be a gypsy and she could use certain spells and predict the future, then Rosaline could be dangerous enough to be watching us at this very moment, without her presence. And a feeling deep down inside me told me that Stephen would have something to do with her as well. I just had to find out more from Naomi.
“Hey, well look at Dalton,” said Analiese. “He’s been pretty calm so far. I mean, he’s not poking after you and treating you like he’s Joshua or something.”
“Yeah, I know,” said Ashton confoundedly. “He actually was really quiet this morning. He was awake with a wide, dazed look in his eyes, like he was deep in thought.” He laughed. “A little peculiar for him.”
I scoffed. “Well, I doubt that will last.”
“You guys still goin’ out?” Asked Jeremy, stuffing a big piece of his pancake in his mouth.
I shrugged, glaring at Dalton as he stared out the window with his back turned to us. “I’m not asking for a break-up yet, unless he asks for it.”
We went out with our teams to do our team-building activities. I could hardly keep up with the group as we walked along the path, and I almost slipped off the slope when we hiked.
Finally, Armin let us settle in a center around a big tree stump. There were logs to our right.
While he was talking to us in his cheery, goofy voice, I couldn’t help burying my head in my arms on top of my knees and falling directly asleep as if I were in boring Mrs. Palmer’s class.
Louise poked at me with her sharp fingernail. “Hey, sleepyhead. Still recovering from being back to a normal human again?” She said in her teasing voice.
I frowned and slowly lifted my head up. “I feel no different. Just that I’m not craving human insides anymore and that I can’t express my anger in a literal devilish way anymore.”
Louise giggled. “Well, I bet Andrew would be proud. Don’t you miss him? Jessie sure does. She blabbered all morning about her dream about him last night.”
“Oh really?” I said flatly. “Guess I was too tired to notice even that.”
Suddenly, there was a rustle behind us.
Louise whipped her head around. “Was that a snake?” She licked her fangs. “I love snakes. They’re so creepy and cunning. A lot like us, huh?”
I blinked tiredly. Louise was always comparing the strangest things with a pretty funny connection. She had a weird imagination.
The rustle sounded again, but I didn’t look back.
Louise gasped. “No wait! That was a person!”
I let out a quick chuckle. “Dalton?” I said sarcastically.
“No, I’m serious,” her voice was serious. “Nikki, look.”
I turned to face a prickly thorn bush behind us, but as I looked, something dashed out from behind, scuttling away like a blur, though it was a low blur.
I blinked my eyes a couple times and shook my head. “What-”
“I swear that was a person!” She hissed. “I saw a face staring at us!”
I suddenly remembered Stephen.
“All right all you little teen creepers!” Armin suddenly raised his voice. “So you know what to do!”
Everyone around us was getting up.
Louise huffed. “Shoot,” she muttered. “Hey! Nate! What are we doing?” She got up and stood by Nate’s side.
“Scavenger hunt,” replied Nate. “Just look for any red things that Armin’s hidden around here earlier.”
“Ummmm okay?” Louise said quizzically. “Just any old red thing?”
James sighed. “He said look for anything red, like plants or blood, and bring it back to him. Sheesh, get your head outta the clouds, Louise.”
Louise ignored him. “Whatever. Come on, let’s go!” She took my arm and pulled me with her into the woods.
I followed sleepily along, my eyes half open. “Hey, can we please STOP?!” My voice got louder until I just sounded like my normal angry self.
Louise stopped and gave me an irritated look. “You might as well tell why you’re so sleepy if you’re going to complain about it.” She said testily. “And anyways, I’m just out looking for that creature that was watching us behind the bushes. At first I thought it was some kind of black bird since I saw a mop of black curls. But then I saw human eyes.”
My eyes weren’t focusing and they were closing and opening up towards different parts of the woods. Suddenly, I caught something moving behind a group of tall plants and cactus.
“Hey! Is that it?” I picked up a stone and hurled it towards the cactus to where I saw some sort of short figure behind.
“Ow! Hey! What the shizz?” Yelled a strange, high-pitched flat voice.
Louise flinched and my eyes widened. “Whooaa, that a person there?” She called.
The low figure rose up and then sure enough, a person, a teenage dude dressed in funny looking brown and black patterned pants and leather jacket, appeared with a raised look on his face.
I flinched with Louise. “Heck yeah, it’s a person,” I said in a tired, dry voice. I thought I almost sounded just like Naomi when she was getting angry.
Louise giggled. “Hey, I like your hair! I really thought it was a bird or something when it stuck out of the bushes!”
Yeah, his hair was strange, like black stiff curls, but it wasn’t too surprising since I could see he was a little bit of a black person.
The dude shrugged, still with a raised look, though now it looked lazy and kind of friendly. “’Dis my hair since I was dis small,” he said, cupping his hands to a small round shape.
Louise made a snort. “You were that small before?”
He gave a lazy shrug again, and started chewing something that seemed like gum. Then his eyes suddenly widened at Louise. “Well, hey missy, what ‘bout you?” His voice was both high pitched and flat, so it gave me quite a humor whenever he spoke. “Lookie your hair. It’s all layered and curled like some fake-ass wig!”
I raised my eyebrows slowly and tiredly, not feeling like saying anything back for Louise. She dropped her mouth open in offense.
The guy turned his lazy, smiley gaze at me. “Ay, girl!” He greeted, as if noticing me the first time. “Ah-like your ponytails!”
I nodded with a half smile. “Thanks. You should see it this morning.”
Louise huffed. “Yeah, anyways, who the heck are you?” She strutted up to him with a smile. “I bet you had a reason for spying on us? Is this your first time watching us?”
“I’m L.Z,” he replied in a simple, high voice.
I winced. “Elzie?”
“Nah! El-zee as in L and Z. Stands for Lucky Zipper.” He made a squeak with his teeth as he gave me a weird grin.
I raised my eyebrows. I would’ve laughed out loud with Louise if I wasn’t so tired. This guy was strange. From his voice to his name, he was like some ghetto jock.
“Wow, nice name,” I complimented, walking to Louise’s side.
“I betchya you ain’t got no better names.”
“No,” Louise said sweetly, tilting her head and smiling. She strutted around him, as if to flirt. “Mah name’s Katrina Elizabeth Meriwether. Too fancy for me.”
L.Z., chewing his gum, stared down at her long bony legs as she spoke and walked around him.
“Shut up,” I teased. “Her name’s Louise. I’m Nikki. Why the hell are you here?”
L.Z. gave me a lazy, sideways smile. “Because I live here,” he replied in his high, flat voice. “There no landowners or neighbors to come up to me and tell me what to do. Imma be like, ‘bitches, I’m L.Z.! Imma do whatev’ I want!’”
Louise and I looked at each other with confused looks.
Louise gave him a slight nudge. “Well, imma be tellin’ ya what to do then,” she teased.
“We gonna make your life hell,” I laughed, meeting his gaze with a humored look.
L.Z. let out a crazy sounding, “Puh-HAHH!” And gave a really huge stomp with his foot. “Aww, you gals are sorry-spoken! You have no idea what the shiz!”
“The heck are you talking about?” I said in a challenging voice, giving him a clever look.
L.Z. looked at us and heaved, ready to tell us something, but then his eyes glanced up at the sky.
He let out a long, choked breath. “Holy shit dude!” He yelled.
Louise and I looked up. “What?” Cried Louise.
I saw nothing but a black bat flapping over us in the sky, taking no notice.
But apparently, L.Z. flipped out and scared the crap out of us.
“Holy shit dude!” He yelled again before jumping up to the top of the tree next to him, disappearing upwards with a blurry flash.
“Whoa, what the-?!” Louise yelled as she and I almost fell over as he jumped up with such force that it nearly knocked us over.
“Hey, L.Z!” I shouted, looking up at the tree.
“You ain’t goin’ home nowhere you-” L.Z. was swiping at the bat with his bare hands, scaring it as he rapidly snatched after it, each snatch like a flash.
I gave Louise a look of horror. “So! L.Z. apparently…….”
“Ow, dang it!” Yelled L.Z. “It got away!”
I looked up and the bat was suddenly gone.
L.Z. dashed away from tree to tree, yelling out something strange in his funny voice.
“Hey, come back here!” Screamed Louise.
I took her hand and she immediately took me with her, dashing after this…….strange person who was actually a vampire supposedly.
The woods became a little crowded and trees around us seemed to be getting taller, trapping us.
Louise was slowing down in a human’s jog.
I was panting and it was starting to irritate the heck out of me. “Dang, I really could use my ability to run fast right now!”
Suddenly, Louise grunted and we collided into something. I yelled in annoyance as I landed on my back on the dirty ground.
There were strange, angry voices whirling around me, and for a moment, I couldn’t tell whether it was in my head or for real.
“Hey, let me go! Butthead!” Louise screamed in her pissed off voice.
I guess it wasn’t in my head.
I opened my eyes to see a dark blur of dark figures moving around in front of us. They were yelling, though I couldn’t make out what they were all saying.
A cold hand grabbed my arm.
I gasped and reacted with a start, flinching and shaking my arm out of the grip, and slashing my hands all around me, striking at anyone in my way.
“Argh! Damn you, freakin’…..” a hard-edged, cranky female voice growled. I felt a cold hand grab my head with sharp claws sinking in.
I shot up instantly, grabbing the cold hand and twisting it around and flipping the arm over as if I had taken karate lessons before. “The hell with you!” I screamed angrily, seeing the dark figure fall over.
To my side, Louise suddenly fell over at my heels with a twisted look of frustration on her face. She immediately shot up, but before she could fully stand up, another figure leaped at her, knocking her back down with a blur.
It was a guy, I could make out the shape of the head, though it was so shadowy that all around me seemed like a mix of figures leaping around towards us and Louise.
For the first in such a long time, I felt defenseless. I had no power against these attackers who were probably all vampires. Louise herself probably couldn’t defeat all these vampires by herself.
“Louise!” I screamed. “Let’s just escape! We have to run!”
I heard her scream back at me, but I couldn’t make out what it was after I felt an immense push that made my fall to my side. As I hit the ground, I fell on the side where my neck had been bitten. Suddenly, my head started heating up like crazy again, and then I felt that aching thump in my head, making everything around me spin until my eyes closed for the second time.

I blinked my eyes open, finding myself lying on a rock in what seemed like a wide cave. I muttered under my breath as I struggled to sit up. My ponytails were sagging and looking all messed up.
“Louise…..” I groaned crankily, rubbing my eyes. My neck was still feeling a little warm but not as nauseating as before.
Suddenly, there was a pitiful meowww that sounded nearby. I whipped my head to my right. I widened my eyes and gasped in surprise.
“Sassamese!” I hissed, feeling excited and startled to see Andrew’s perky little vampire cat, approaching me from behind the rock I was atop.
She leaped onto my lap and started purring, looking into my eyes with a glinting, piercing green.
“Oh, what in the heck are you doing here, you nosy furball,” I scratched her ears and she gave a happy purr, twirling her tail in the air with pleasure. She laid on her back and meowed sweetly for me for stroke her side.
I chuckled. “I’d love to sit here and spoil you, but I gotta find Louise and get out of here.”
“Oh no, you’re not going anywhere,” spoke a sharp, loud male voice.
I winced at the tone and looked behind me, facing an older looking teenage guy with short, slick brown hair and a raised look on his face that told me he was not going to be put down easily.
“Who the heck are you?” I said rudely, giving a face to this stupid stranger.
“Oh, I’m just here to make sure you’re kept from dispersing farther into our territory,” replied the guy quickly and snappishly. His voice was sharp and reminded me of a strict, demanding male teacher.
I gave him a sideways look. “Really? Is that all? Because if you really don’t want me in your territory, all I want to do is happily leave and go back to-”
“Go back to where? Where did you come from? Why were you here? You think we’re just going to let you come in and then leave just like that? We want explanations, you know.”
“Oh my gosh! We were looking for a friend and got lost down here!” I raised my voice , getting irritated. “Geez! What’s to say your territory? Are you a savage, living off of intruders that happen to come across your damn territory?”
His eyes grew wide and angry. “Oh, I’m a savage all right!” He yelled back, sounding scary, stomping over to me with loud steps, cracking his knuckles. “If you think that, go ahead and think how weak I would be to just beat the crap outta you and that girl you were with!”
I rolled my eyes and sighed. “Oh wow, so now you’re showing me tough guy,” I muttered, giving Sassamese a chuckle. She was gazing at the guy with an annoyed hiss. He was pretty well built, with some muscle on his arms.
“I could easily snap the both of you like the twigs you guys are!”He yelled angrily.
“Hanson! Cut it out!” Snapped a familiar voice.
I turned to see a tall figure come in through the entrance of the cave. It was Naomi.
“Naomi, I was guarding her like you told me to, and I made sure she stayed until you came back,” the guy walked up to Naomi with his head high, meeting her gaze with a satisfied look.
“I told you to guard her, not bitch at her, dammit!” Naomi threw a piece of a stick to the ground with anger. “Now get outta here and find your clan.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he nodded and disappeared to the right of the cave.
I took Sassamese in my hands and walked up to Naomi, who kept her stern gaze on me.
“Hey, who the hell was that? And you said he had a clan?” I asked, wincing in the guy’s direction.
“That was Riley Hanson,” said Naomi in a snappy tone. “And he’s more vampire than you think.”
I shook my head. “What? You’re saying he’s a vampire-?”
“There are clans of vampires around here, Nikki,” she grabbed my arms and took me with her out of the cave and into the woods.
“Are they descendants from your family?”
“Before I get into that, I must tell you that, apparently, we found a wandering little creature that smelled from your group of campers, drifting off all alone in the woods, and approaching one of the clans’ territories.”
I met Naomi’s gaze. Sassamese meowed and rubbed her head against my arm, thoroughly enjoying herself being carried by me. She was such a conceited, spoiled little cat and enjoyed it that way.
Naomi went on. “This one seemed like he knew where he was going, though. Not like you and Louise, following one of the members, L.Z., into the territory. This one seemed to be looking forward, and I could tell in his mind he knew what he was doing.”
“Who was it?” I questioned quickly. “What did he look like?”
Naomi’s skin on her face suddenly turned a darker color than it already was. She seemed suddenly disturbed. “You know him well, Nikki. And I’m afraid I know him well also, maybe a little too well. He was a pale white boy in a black sweater, and had swaying dirty blonde hair.”
“Dalton!” I gasped, looking away from Naomi and staring out in front of me, my eyes dazed.
“Ugh….” Naomi made a low growling noise.
“Was it Dalton?” I looked at her. “He’s a vampire too.”
“I know that!” She hissed, her face a reddish color now, looking fierce. “He was a dazed, lost vampire, though he clearly was following his instincts to come into the forest, directly into our territory! The clan of vampires that attacked you earlier had gotten hold of him and he told them everything.”
I narrowed my eyes. “What do you mean by everything? Did he tell them who he was?”
“He told them he was craving blood too much and wanted to escape the dirty thoughts for a moment. He found the woods very comforting and nauseating, and it cleared his head and calmed him down to wander farther in, where he sensed more of his kind in. When they asked him who had poisoned him to crave blood so much, the answer rang a bell through all of them, and concerned them much more.”
I groaned. “Damn you, Dalton. So now they know he’s been through things with Rosaline. Great, he’s probably told them more about who else was involved.”
“Exactly,” Naomi said in monotone. “Nikki, are you still going out with Dalton?”
I looked down. Sassamese looked up at me and met my gaze with a sweet, happy look on her face. “Currently,” I answered dryly. “But I dunno how long it will last. What has he told you about me?”
Naomi pointed with a sharp, ugly fingernail towards the big house in front of us. “This is where the clan of Riley Hanson lives. They can tell you what they know.”
As we approached the house, I raised my eyebrows. “Pretty nice looking house for a home in the woods.” I stroked Sassamese some more. “And by the way, how the heck did Sassamese get here?”
Naomi looked at the cat and narrowed her eyes. Sassamese returned her gaze with a small hiss.
“That I don’t know,” she replied tartly. “Maybe she followed you up here? I don’t know! I don’t have time staring into the past of a cat, I gotta get back to my lodge.”
I stopped and faced Naomi. “You’re not coming in with me?”
“Why should I? This isn’t my clan. I’ve got no clan. I barely respect Riley Hanson to treat him like a neighbor.”
“Hey, I don’t wanna meet a bunch of unknown vampires by myself!”
“Louise is in there,” she said. “And she’s gotten to know some of the vampires pretty well already. You go do the same.”
I rolled my eyes. I faced the front door. It was a nice wooden furnishing, and seemed both new and ancient.
For a moment, I was nervous to meet a clan of……vampires. The Outsiders were the only vampires I actually tolerated, but even they used to be my enemy before as well.
I turned to ask Naomi about how friendly this clan could be. “Hey, Naomi-”
But she was gone. I didn’t even see her in a distance, walking away.
I narrowed my eyes. “Creeper,” I muttered.
I knocked the door. There was no answer for almost twenty seconds. I knocked harder and there was still no answer.
I winced and pressed a button to the side for a doorbell. It made a creepy, faint musical noise, and the front door slowly opened.
I braced myself for a decent, unafraid look on my face, but then it faded as I met the gaze of the strangest face I’ve ever seen.
She was a female, with dark, shiny, blazing red hair in two ponytails over her shoulders, though the one on the left side was half the length of the other one, looking unevenly cut off. Her eyes were a strange, translucent blue color, with the left eye marked over with a red X mark. On her right cheek there was another X mark, though this one was black. She had small lips, and her expression betrayed an unhappy personality. She was about my height, maybe half an inch shorter.
“Oh…..it’s you,” she murmured in a smooth, quiet voice.
“Yeah, it’s me? Haha, I’m Nikki, I’m just here to explain who I am, but first I need to know what you guys know about me.”
“Hey! Hey, is that Nikki?” Louise’s voice sounded from inside. She appeared a distance behind the strange vampire girl. “Oh, Nikki! Hey, you let her in, she ain’t no one you should have a reason to pick on. I’m the one who wanted to follow your crappy-ass vampire member.”
“Oh now, you da heck you callin’ crappy-ass?” Came L.Z.’s funny voice. He was sitting on a couch inside. “I betcha yur ass would sag your jeans better than any guy’s!” He stared at Louise’s ass as she walked up to me with her back turned to him. He had a raised expression at the way her skinny legs seemed like they were going to break when she walked.
“No one’s here yet,” said the vampire girl, her eyes gazing into mine with a strange expression, unblinking. Was she blind? Her eyes seemed distant and unhappy at the same time as she met my gaze. “It’s just me and L.Z. The others went out hunting and will be back shortly. You come in and I can tell you what we know.” Her tone was hushed and mysterious, as if she was distracted and emo.
“Okay then,” I said quietly, stepping inside.
“Oh, hey wassup, Nikki?” L.Z. waved a hand from where he sat back on the couch.
“Sup, L.Z.,” I replied, sitting in front of him, giving him a sideways smile.
The vampire girl shut the door slowly, and stood still for a moment. I looked at her and winced.
“Hey, you think she’s absent-minded?” Louise sat down next to me. “Take a look at your boyfriend over there, he’s seemed to gone down farther than you can in a rabbit’s hole.”
I immediately looked over to where Louise pointed to a corner in the living room where Dalton sat on a chair, facing the window, his back turned to us.
“Dalton?” I couldn’t help calling out his name.
He didn’t turn around or move a muscle.
“So he doesn’t even respond to you either,” the vampire girl’s voice sounded almost like a scoff. She sat down on the couch in front of me, next to L.Z.
“Man, I would blow a trumpet in that boy’s ears, if I had one,” said L.Z.
“What’s with him now?” I muttered, narrowing my eyes as I stared over to Dalton.
“I bet I can tell you,” the red-haired girl’s voice suddenly sounded stern and hissy. She was looking at me with a look of narrowed look of anger. “My name’s Diana Meredith Rose….call me Dia. And I used to be Dalton’s girlfriend, back when he was a vampire.”

18. WHAT LIES PASS THE PAST
“Back in the 15th century, I was born with my parents in a city of Rome. They were both vampires. But shortly after I was born, they were killed and I was an orphan.”
Dia was speaking, and I was listening with a glare on my face, my heart beating like a tantrum.
“I was looked after by my neighbors, Naomi and Stephen, who both adopted me since they were good friends with my parents. You may have heard already, from Naomi that she had fled here after the suffering from the consumption curses. She doesn’t like to speak of her life at this point. It was rough. My parents were good friends of Naomi’s that have suffered from the consumption that changed them into vampires. Before Naomi fled to this place and left Stephen, she and Stephen came to Italy, where no one they knew lived there. They couldn’t bear to separate yet. But unfortunately, they befriended my parents and they were cursed with consumption.
“But after I was orphaned, Naomi decided to look after me. She felt lonely after having Stephen leave her when he found that my parents died. I was very young, and she had an older child herself already, about three years older than me, and old enough to be my brother. Before Stephen left, he and Naomi had a child born, and he turned out to be a vampire without consumption, for he was already loved before he was brought to life. His name was Dalton.”
I cast a glance over to where Dalton was still staring out into space in front of the gloomy scene on the window.
“Dalton was like a brother to me. We were very close. And as I grew older, I could tell he was getting attached to me and seeing more in me than just an adopted little sister that needed to be looked after. And I, too, was beginning to feel a feeling a sense of nauseous admiration in him.”
I fought back the burning feeling of anger inside me that felt so much like the devil. The way she spoke of her feelings for him was tearing my feelings deeply. But I kept my mouth shut and listened, since for once, I was actually too angry to speak.
Sassamese was lying at my feet, awake as if listening to the story.
Dia went on. “When I was about fourteen, and Dalton seventeen, we started treating each other differently than before. We weren’t as playful and rude to each other as much anymore. It wasn’t long until we became a couple.”
Louise made a low emphasizing hum, but didn’t meet my gaze.
Dia kept her narrowed gaze at me, meeting my look of hatred without blinking. I did the same. “Then one day, he came.” She spoke with fury. “Dalton and I were returning home from our date night, and we saw a strange man in black. Apparently, he was Naomi’s new step-father, married to her step-mother after she fled.”
Leonardo, I thought silently. Naomi had told me how her stepmother remarried Leonardo after she had left.
“They were arguing- Naomi and her stepfather, Leonardo Mordrin,” said Dia. “Leonardo was calling Naomi a coward for fleeing her home and the ones she loved. He was angry that there were less vampires around him, now that they were fleeing and Naomi had left.”
But Leonardo’s been a vampire his whole life, I thought. He has always wanted a strong control of vampires, so it made sense for him to want to have Naomi or Stephen around to keep causing the consumption.
“He was telling how cowardly she was to not accept becoming a vampire so that she could tolerate her beloved husband. He tried convincing her to let him bite her so that she could be a vampire and Stephen could live with her again.
“Naomi was just learning to be a gypsy back then, and she could already read in his evil mind what he had done since she had left. She found out how he had made connections with her stepsister, and she had accepted his bite to become a vampire. The two of them were working together to seek immortality and power for vampires. Rosaline had gone through an evil summoning process in which she had obtained the evil spirit of the devil in her. She had lost all her gypsy power afterwards, and could no longer perform spells or psychics. Leonardo needed a sacrifice of a sibyl….which is a woman who can tell fortunes and the future. He needed their blood to mix with Aurora’s all the way up at the arctic, for a sibyl’s blood is very powerful indeed. If mixed with vampire blood like Aurora’s, then the blood can dissolve into the earth.
“Well, Naomi refused to give up her blood. She sent Leonardo away, and cast a curse on him that kept his blood from mixing and changing. That way, he would never obtain the immortal blood and become immortal and undefeated like he strived to. He left with a burning anger, and swore to Naomi she wouldn’t see the last of him.”
I had to raise my eyebrows and that. I never knew Leonardo was….blocked from ever obtaining the immortal blood from Aurora. I could only imagine him killing Naomi for revenge, or at least killing someone Naomi loved- like Dalton.
“You may think he got back at her by killing Dalton…..” murmured Dia. “But no. Leonardo ventured into the arctic, feeling shattered to pieces. He forgot all about revenge, and became melancholy and downhearted. A few months later, he decided to share his anger by training the fiercest vampires he ever had. He met a clan, and looked after a group of young vampires. One of his young vampires in training, about Dalton’s age at the time, was his best apprentice. Leonardo only shared him his secret of never being able to become immortal, his best apprentice felt a sense of fury, and the longing to avenge his master.
“This student ventured back into Italy, and hid in Naomi’s room where she kept her medicines and spells. The lights were off, and he was waiting for Naomi to come in so he could bite her throat, and kill her. Someone did come in soon. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Naomi. I was suffering from a cold, and Naomi was nowhere around the house, so Dalton had offered to sneak in her room- which he knew was forbidden anyway- and find something to cure me. Leonardo’s student pounced upon him, and killed him with a bite.”
Louise made a small gasp. “Oh……I- I think……I remember being raised by Leonardo. It was me, Jessica, Delaney, the twins, and…..Lewis who Leonardo raised to become strong allies to help him find immortality.”
“You said Lewis was his best student?” I spoke up at this point. I was looking at Dia with a tart expression. “So…. Lewis killed Dalton…? For Leonardo?”
Louise raised her eyebrows. “You didn’t tell me this part. And I never knew Leonardo had no way to obtain immortality, or that Lewis had killed Dalton before.”
Dia blinked slowly. “Leonardo’s secrets lie with Lewis, for he was his trusted, favorite student. I only know this from Naomi’s knowledge of reading the past of Dalton. I was……extremely surprised in a way…..to see that Dalton is really alive again.”
My expression suddenly turned into a scowl. This stupid witch-face was speaking with a distant tone when she mentioned Dalton.
Louise was biting her nail. “Ugh……did Lewis ever know that Dalton was reborn again? Did Dalton look anything like he did like several hundred years ago?”
Dia bit her lip, her eyes staring in front of her, looking distant. “I have no idea about Lewis. Only what Dalton’s been through with him at your school.” She met Louise’s gaze. “You and your group of vampires that worked with Lewis were at that school to prey on students as revenge for Father Theodore for killing off the vampires Leonardo and you guys used to know when you moved here….am I right?”
Louise rolled her eyes and nodded. “Yeah, we did move to the stupid mansion and killed people there.”
“Well….if you want to know about Lewis, you should ask Naomi,” murmured Dia. “But he’s dead now…..so I don’t know how much you can find out.”
I said nothing. I was thinking this whole thing over. And the part she mentioned about vampire blood dissolving to earth? If I wasn’t so pissed to the limit, I would’ve asked what the hell happens when the stupid vampire blood dissolves into the stupid earth.
Dia answered my thoughts anyway. “You don’t know about a vampire’s blood dissolving into earth yet…..”
“Well, we haven’t actually covered every single detail like that since it wasn’t worth very much for her to know before,” said Louise logically.
“Well…..when a vampire dies, its aura is kept in its blood, and the blood dissolves into the earth, and if it reaches the core, its aura can rise back up again, and become reborn in another living thing, so that the true spirit of the dead vampire can live another life again, reborn and unaware of its former life.” Dia turned to fix her mysterious gaze at Dalton. “Dalton’s aura apparently dissolved into the earth……and later became reborn again with a pair of parent vampires.”
“That’s why vampires must die on ice or snow,” added Louise. “That way, their blood won’t dissolve into the earth, and will instead be frozen forever by the snow. Thankfully, Aurora died in the arctic where her aura would rise again and live to create more immortal vampires.”
“But wasn’t Dalton human for a few years?” L.Z. asked in a lazy voice. “If he was reborn, he would’ve been a spunky li’l vampire again.”
Louise gave L.Z. a look as if he should’ve been smart enough to know.
Dia’s expression remained calm and narrowed. “Not Dalton. He shared part of Naomi’s sibyl blood, and a sibyl blood has strange powers to it, since it allows the sibyls themselves to perform certain spells like a true sibyl. Not even I am quite sure why Dalton was reborn as a human though.”
“Huh!” Louise raised her eyebrows. “And why he was born with human parents.”
Dia gave Louise a sterner look. “Actually, Dalton really was born with vampire parents again.”
I snapped into shock at this. “What?!”
L.Z. muttered something in his high voice, hiding back a laughing expression.
“Dalton must’ve been….adopted or something if he’s been living with humans……” Dia’s clear gray eyes rolled to where Dalton sat. “I’m no sibyl or psychic, so I can’t tell his past. You’d have to ask Naomi for that. Apparently…..Dalton does have vampire parents somewhere else, though something must’ve happened to them that cause them to give him up for adoption of…humans.”
I stared blankly at Dia, my wide eyes expressionless. I didn’t know what to say. All I could wonder was…….who is Dalton? What’s his secret of who he really is…..or was?
Louise was looking intent as well. “Dia’s already told me about this. And she only knows about what’s happened to Dalton since Lewis came to our school. Everything else is probably just fragments from what Naomi tells her.”
Yeah, Naomi sure hasn’t told me enough, compared to everything I had just learned. She obviously had lots of secrets on her mind.
I was biting my tongue. “So….” I muttered angrily, giving Dia a glare.
Dia held my gaze with piercing, unblinking eyes. Clearly, she felt the same for me as I felt about her.
I didn’t care though. “I bet you missed Dalton?” I said in a simple voice. “Bet you never thought he would ever have feelings for someone else, even if he relived a second life?”
Suddenly, Dia’s red hair changed into a darker red, more like the color of dark blood.
L.Z. gave me a lazy look. “Be careful, girl. Dia will tend to catch fire when she’s upset, rather than yell her anger at you.”
Louise snickered. “The opposite of Nikki,” she muttered.
“Oh, like I care what she does when she’s angry,” I hissed, whipping my head to face down at my clutching hands. I wanted to explode my anger and confusion about the vampire I still had feelings for, but for some reason, I just couldn’t bring myself to raise my voice.
It was awkwardly silent for a moment. Dia wasn’t meeting my glare, though her eyes were piercing and narrowed as she stared straight in front of her, her hair seeming to turn darker every few seconds. The room seemed to be pulsing with hatred between me and Dia.
And then L.Z. suddenly broke it. He stretched and yawned loudly. “Well! Imma be lookin’ for the rest of our clan! Im gettin’ thirsty for some good moose blood, so hopefully they caught a moose or sometin’.”
Louise quickly stood up. “Ugh! Yeah, I could suck a whole bear now, all we had this morning were some dry pancakes, and of course I don’t like anything dry.”
She and L.Z. headed towards the front door. “You ain’t part of our clan,” he said to her in a spunky tone. “You aint sharin’ nothin’ with us.”
“Shut up! Riley welcomed me in your clan much better than he welcomed you,” she shot back sassily.
Dia and I were gazing into each other’s eyes for a moment.
“You do what you want,” Dia murmured. “Riley Hanson is our leader, and he chooses what’s to happen to you afterwards.” She rose up and stalked to the door.
I didn’t watch her go. I was alone in my thoughts for a moment, until suddenly, I realized everyone had left, and I was the only one in the house with Dalton still as a statue.
I picked at my nails in frustration.
“She was my first love,” muttered a voice that sounded like it hasn’t been used in a long time.
I turned to see that Dalton’s eyes still stuck to the window, though his mouth was slightly open.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “And you forgot all about her?”
Dalton didn’t say anything for a few seconds. “Didn’t remember a thing,” he replied. “When a vampire’s aura is reborn again, they don’t remember a single piece of evidence that relates back in their old life. Not a trace….which is why I’m confused why I suddenly remember my old family now.”
I rose up and made my way to stand by his right side.
“I don’t know how it even rings a bell. I should have no memory of Naomi and Stephen…..or even Dia. No matter how important anything was, it was just natural and impossible for the second life to know anything about the life before. But why did I feel it then? Why did I feel it, the moment I stepped foot in these woods? Why did this place bring such nausea of memories so that when I was told of my past, I suddenly remembered it like I would remember a childhood memory?” He spoke with such a longing in his tone, sounding distant and lost. His eyes were their green, beautiful gaze again, and I no longer saw mockery or evil in them again. Instead, they were dazed and confused. But I couldn’t help admiring of how cute he was starting to look again.
I stared out into the window again, not knowing what to say. Just mentioning Dia’s name made me feel sick. The sky was a thick gray, glaring back at me with the chance of rain to come.
Dalton spoke again. “I had to tell the vampires about me……Dia recognized me instantly. I could see it in her eyes. I didn’t recognize her all the way yet, though her presence was like the strongest sense of déjà vu out of everyone else. Some of the older vampires in the clan recognized me as Naomi’s long-ago son, and they demanded answers from me. Naomi cured me from my terrible craving for blood, though I think I would’ve done fine without it since the nauseating feeling of memories were washing away all my other feelings harshly.”
I bit my lip. “You should see Naomi again,” I said. “She should look into your past and find out who your parents are - your vampire parents.”
Dalton slowly shook his head. “It’s not as simple as that. Naomi can’t just read any kind of past or future. Her psychics have to do with mind-reading, and I have to have some sort of memory of my parents in order for them to show up in her mind. At the moment, I still don’t recall my vampire parents, so she can’t read something from me that I haven’t read yet.”
I suddenly squeezed my eyes and frowned. “Who cares? I don’t see how this has to do with our problems. All we have to do is stop Rosaline and Leonardo from their desire for immortality. We don’t need shitty stories that have to do with other vampires to help us.”
“What the heck are you talking about?!” Dalton’s voice was suddenly demanding, and he rose up from his chair, facing me with shocked, wide eyes. “This can have a lot to do with how to stop them! Don’t you see how much Naomi has to do with Rosaline? And how much the vampires of this clan know about her? Naomi can tell us lots! We probably need her most of all to help us find out more to defeat Rosaline and Leonardo!”
“I didn’t say anything about Naomi,” I snapped in a menacing tone.
Dalton stared at me, his eyes looking disbelieved and scared.
Suddenly, the door flung open and two females stood with dark shades, with a blonde haired man at their side.
The middle one was a brunette with long thin hair and the girl to her right was pale white with long, thin, jet black hair.
When they both took off their shades, I realized the black-haired one was Japanese.
“Oh, it’s just you!” Huffed the brunette. “Nikki Blackman, is it? I recognized your scent from our fight earlier today.”
I met her gaze and shrugged. “Not my fault we followed L.Z. into the woods. He was chasing some sort of bat?”
“Ugh, the bat,” the Japanese girl rolled her eyes. “L.Z. is always after anything we rarely see every day.”
“Yeah, just make sure you don’t just go wandering into our territory,” said the brunette snappishly. “You don’t know who might hurt you. If I never knew you were Dalton’s current girlfriend, you would’ve been killed.”
“You mean if we never knew,” said the male, who looked older and middle aged. He looked at me with a smile. “I’m Paul Hartman, Naomi’s uncle. This is Desiree Shire,” he introduced the brunette, “and this is Valerie San.” The Japanese nodded slightly. She had a really thin face.
“Hey, Dalton!” Called Desiree in her sharp voice. “You feelin’ better?”
Dalton met her gaze and cracked a sideways smile. “I’m glad to hear you didn’t kill Nikki.” He said quietly.
I couldn’t help twitching a smile at the corner of my lip. “Oh, shut up you jerkface.” I gave him a nudge.
Suddenly, Riley Hanson appeared from the left side behind the front door. “You and your vampire friends really need to leave. I want to see you later, and I don’t want more people entering our territory. It’s already been long enough as it is. But! Later on in the evening, I do want to see you and Dalton only. Got it?”
I frowned directly at Riley, disliking him all over again. I grabbed Dalton’s cold hand. “Psh, you can’t tell me what to do.” I started walking passed him, pulling Dalton along with me, and then Riley suddenly grabbed my shoulder. I flinched and whipped around to glare at him.
“You better come here, or we’ll get you ourselves,” he said demandingly.
I rolled my eyes.
Dalton snickered. “What? You going to disguise as bats and kidnap us?”
“Dalton, you shut up,” he ordered him, giving him a look.
I gave Riley a raised eyebrow, but before I could say anything, Louise’s voice called from a distance.
“Hey! You guys come back to camp with me! We’ve been gone for almost four hours!”
I let out a surprised shout as Dalton suddenly dashed up to her, pulling me with him.
“We’ll tell ‘em, this was your idea, that you wanted to follow a bat into the woods,” said Dalton naughtily.
“Psh, that freak L.Z. flipped out when he saw that bat,” I laughed as we headed away. “I wonder what’s behind that.”
“Hey! Don’t forget your kitty!” Desiree shouted after us.
I turned at the sound of Sassamese’s hissing meow as she ran after us, leaping onto my shoulder as quick as a vampire.
“Oh, wow, I almost forgot about you,” I scratched Sassamese behind her ears.
“Whoa, hey! How the heck did Andrew’s stupid cat get here?” Dalton exclaimed.
Sassamese glared at Dalton and hissed.
I sighed. “I really have no idea. If I remember, I’ll ask Naomi maybe. But I’m pretty sure she followed me here.”



19. WATCHER IN THE WOODS
By the time we returned to camp, it was already lunchtime, and our camp leaders didn’t do much more than question us over and over again on what happened to us and where exactly did we go. We just told them we got lost in the woods and couldn’t help venturing farther in.
They served pizza. I couldn’t remember the last time I had a pizza. It felt like such a long time since I had eaten food rather than people’s flesh.
Dalton and the Outsiders kept to their empty plates and glass of water.
When lunch was over, we had half an hour of free time before going to our own camp groups for more exploring and team-building activities. There was a volleyball court and a soccer field for us, or some of us just hung out around the area to chill. The weather was still gloomy, but a little warmer than earlier.
I sat with Jessie and Dalton on a log by the soccer field, holding Dalton’s hand for the first time in what seemed like forever. The Outsiders were playing soccer with Nate, William, Anthony, James, Ashton, and Jeremy. It was amusing to see them play something that involved strength and running. Of course, in front of James, they didn’t want to expose their secret, so they kept to a normally fast person’s pace instead of a supersonic vampire.
I couldn’t help telling Jessie about what had happened earlier this morning. She was my best friend, and if she already knew about everything else, it was probably important for her to know more about what Dalton and I had just learned. I had already told Nate and everyone else earlier, while Jessie was busy arguing with Louise at her table during lunch. I had made sure Ms. Fletcher wasn’t anywhere near us so that she could hear, for as far as I knew, she had no idea what I had gone through as a devil, and knew nothing about Rosaline…..yet.
Jessie was struck. She stared at Dalton with wide eyes. “No way! You had a life before this one?!”
“Shh! Shut up, Jessie! Not so loud!” I gave her a nudge.
“And you were a vampire as well?” She still kept her same loud tone. Then she looked embarrassed and lowered her voice. “Oh my gosh…..and your real mother is a gypsy?”
Dalton laughed. “She’s a super tall, hot gypsy lady more than my human mother would ever be!”
I whipped my head to face Dalton, and give him a wince. How could he say that? But I saw that he was just kidding.
“Nah, her name’s Naomi, and she’s the bitchiest vampire I’ve met,” said Dalton quietly, still keeping a naughty smile on his face.
I laughed. “No, that would be Rosaline.”
“Hey! So she’s related to Rosaline!” Jessie said with a gleam in her eyes. She gave Dalton a nudge. “That would make Rosaline your step-auntie!”
“Oh, shut up!” Dalton spat. “I’m not related to Rosaline in any way. her being Naomi’s stepsister has nothing to do with her sharing the same blood as me….thankfully.”
“But you happen to share the blood of a sibyl,” I said with a laugh. I was thankful that when Dalton was telling Jessie of his past, he didn’t mention anything about Dia while I was around. “Don’t you remember that Leonardo wanted to use Naomi’s blood to mix with the snow on the island Aurora died on, so that her blood can finally dissolve into the earth, and be able to rise up in new vampires with both the ability for immortality and to have their blood dissolve into the core no matter where they die?”
Dalton nodded. “The sibyl’s blood would allow a vampire to dissolve through the snow and let their aura relive as another creature, and that creature could be anything.”
Jessie giggled. “You could’ve come back alive as a cat.”
“Speaking of cat, where’s that stupid creature that supposedly followed you here?” Dalton asked me.
“I left Sassamese sleeping in my room. After I told my cabin mates about what happened they let me keep her. And our cabin leader just told me that there are stray cats around here from time to time, so it’s fine for now until I leave.”
Jessie sighed. “Sassamese is such a sweetie.”
Dalton scoffed. “Huh! Heck no, Sassamese is not a sweetie!”
“Heck yeah she is!” I said edgily.
“Not to me! I hate that cat! She’s a little bitch!” Dalton shot back, giving me a naughty look.
I widened my eyes and gave him a playful glare.
“Sassamese is a stupid little bitch!” He went on. “A piece of shizzy furball!”
I squeezed his hand tight. “Oh, I should just kill you!”
“Eek! Did you hear that?” Jessie whipped around to face behind her.
“No,” said Dalton tartly.
“It sounded like a mouse!”
“Yeah, like you won’t be hearing mice or anything worse in the wild,” said Dalton rolling his eyes. “This is the woods, Jessie, in case you never knew.”
“Oh shut up and get back to your moronic shocked state!” Jessie snapped. “You were better the few moments you were quiet.”
“Hey, maybe it’s L.Z. spying on us,” I said, getting up to face the bushes behind us. I picked up a rock and hurled it towards the nearest bush.
Suddenly, a dark, fluttering shape popped out of the bushes and squeaked, and it wasn’t until after Jessie let out a funny sounding scream that I figured it was another bat.
“Hey! That bat!” Shouted Dalton.
“That bat?” I looked at him. When had he met a bat before?
“Ew! Kill it! It’s a disgusting rodent that can fly!” Yelled Jessie through clenched teeth.
Suddenly, a large, lithe shape dashed in front of it and pinned the bat to the ground.
I gasped. “Whoa! Felinious!” I exclaimed.
Behind her was Sassamese, meowing and watching her mother fight the bat with sweet, satisfied eyes.
“Hey, wait! That bat’s fighting back!” I realized the bat was just as strong as Felinious, who was about fifteen times its size. But every time it was pinned to the ground, it heaved itself up and fought back at the angry, hissing Felinious.
Suddenly, the bat whacked Felinious’s face and sent her flying a yard away. The bat suddenly hid itself in its wings, and then seemed to grow bigger, until it was a tall, human figure in a black suit.
“Xander!” Dalton cried.
The newly transformed human was a guy, Xander, was a tall, skinny Indian-looking guy with shiny black hair. He seemed to be around eighteen to twenty years old.
“Geez, you do nothing when this freakin’ beast attacks me,” said Xander, giving Dalton a sideways smile.
I sighed and rolled my eyes. “Oh great! Another weird inhabitant in the woods! I take it you have something to do with the vampire clans that live here?”
Xander met my gaze. “Course, I’m Naomi’s assistant,” he said with a shrug. “I’m Xander Hope. I’m a Transform Vampire, which means I can transform into another being whenever the moon is a new moon, or a full moon.”
“Transform vampire?” I repeated.
Dalton looked at me and nodded. “They’re pretty rare. They have the blood to transform into anything. Bats, cats, wolves, anything they want- but only when the moon’s new or full. If not, they can only transform into vampire bats, like what Xander can do at the moment.”
Jessie groaned. “Oh great! I’m never going to trust a bat when I see one now!”
She suddenly screamed when she noticed that Felinious was purring at her leg. It was amusing, seeing the big, fierce cat look so happy next to someone like Jessie.
Dalton laughed. Jessie gave him a sly look. “Yeah, she tends to love it when I’m around. Whenever I go to Andrew’s she’s always so nice to me.”
Xander spit. “Whatever! I’ve been watchin’ you guys,” he said, giving me a devious smile.
I returned his gaze. “Really? What did you see? All we did all day since we came back from Riley’s clan was just gossip and hang out. Interested in stuff like that?”
“Nah, I meant I’ve been watching you guys since you all got here.”
My gaze dropped and I frowned. “Oh,” I said tartly. “Good for you. I bet you-”
“I’ve especially been keeping an eye on Dalton here,” he interrupted me, pointing at Dalton and smiling. “He’s pretty interesting to spy on. I recognized him from Naomi’s visions she’s shared with me, and I was like, ‘heck…..that looks just like her son she lost over hundreds of years ago.’ So I continued to spy on you guys some more, after telling Naomi, who wanted to know more about you.”
I turned to Dalton. “Have you even talked to Naomi yet? You were in such a trance, you didn’t notice anybody that was important to you.”
“Of course I did,” he replied with an innocent smile. “I woke up when you came.”
I didn’t let the happy, relieved feeling inside me show, so I just frowned and nudged him. “Seriously, if you think Naomi’s that important, you should talk to her soon.”
“Ow! Felinious! That’s my hair!” Jessie complained. We turned to see that Felinious was playfully cuffing at Jessie’s long hair, though she did in a way that showed friendship and not meaning to yank it all off. But Jessie wasn’t seeing the bright side of letting a cat as mean as Felinious become playful with her.
“Don’t! Get away from me!” Jessie snapped, pushing Felinious down as she tried to leap in her arms.
Felinious snorted, and meowed angrily at being hit. She suddenly lunged herself at Jessie and backed away in a flash. Jessie fell to the ground.
We all laughed.
“It loves you, Jessie!” Xander teased.
“She loves her,” I corrected Xander in a sassy tone.
“Shut up! I’m going back to my cabin!” Jessie got up and angrily brushed herself.
“Hey! Anyways….” Xander lowered his voice and bent over to us, hiding himself from being seen by the others who noticed Jessie. “I want you guys to come with me when you have your next free time, kay? In the meantime, Riley’s clan and Naomi will discuss what is to be done. They realize you guys are in need of what to do with Rosaline.”
I nodded. “She’s waiting for the full moon since that’s the night I’m apparently supposed to give in to the devil, and she can fully have me on her side. But she’ll be pissed when she finds that I’m not possessed by it anymore.”
“Oh really? You sure? I was thinking there was still some of it left in you,” he said teasingly. “Nah, but still. Just expect me to be popping out of nowhere throughout the day, for I will be reminding you little things going on in the woods that you guys are missing out on.”
“What are we going to miss out on?” I hissed. “Are the clans really that serious about discussing Dalton and me?”
“Yep,” Dalton answered my question. “And they’re interested in the Outsiders also. And Nate. And Andrew.”
“Andrew’s not even here,” Jessie said, bending over to join.
Xander gave her a raised look. “How do you know?”
Jessie narrowed her eyes. “He’s no stalking transforming vampire like you!”
“Yeah, but why are his cats here?” Xander said questioningly, eying Felinious tearing angrily at the grass and Sassamese licking her paws proudly. “Seems a little out of place for his cats to have followed you all the way up here without having him follow their scent and appear to take them back by now.”
I realized what Xander was saying was pretty logical. Andrew wasn’t a slacker to his cats. If he has been putting up with Felinious’s bitching and constant cantankerous attitude, he must really care about them.
I gasped. “Unless something’s happened to Andrew,” I murmured.
“Yeah, Leonardo’s been missing for a while in his house,” Dalton added.
“We need to see you two later on,” said Xander seriously. “Naomi must look into your auras, and read what’s behind your mind. She can find out what’s happened to them.”
“Will she be able to tell the future?” Jessie asked excitedly.
Xander gave her a wry look. Then he looked back at Dalton with a sideways smile.
“See ya later,” he said.
“Hey! I asked a question!” Jessie snapped out loud.
“Shh! Not so loud!” Said Xander sarcastically. “You’ll get Felinious excited and she’ll rape you!”
I laughed out loud. “Xander, go to hell! You’ve wasted our time. We should’ve been back at our cabins getting ready ten minutes ago!”
By the time Xander had left, we got ready in our cabin groups.
Before Dalton and I parted, we were alone and holding hands together.
“Hey,” I said coolly. “See you later.”
“Yeah,” Dalton replied simply, not meeting my gaze for a moment. Then he turned and gave me a slight, understanding smile. “See ya.”
And then it struck me. I was totally unprepared for it, but he had leaned his head over to give me a quick kiss, and I had responded totally late and actually didn’t get to kiss back at the same time.
I was about to give a confused statement, but it came out in small chokes, and before I knew it, he was already running back to his own cabin.
I stood there, stunned. Dalton had gave me a kiss good-bye! Of course, we had learned to give each other good-bye kisses, and this one was not our first. But eventually, after about a month or so, it got weird having to kiss each other good-bye since it had to be quick without having to let each other enjoy the moment, and both of us were kind of failing to kiss each other right. So we had just stopped and just gave each other hugs before we would part. But that---- that was the first in a long time that he had given me a quick kiss. It felt just as amazing as a long, romantic one.
I could’ve just screamed out my happiness if Jessie hadn’t approached me from behind, with the Outsiders following her.
“So! How are your feelings for Dalton now?” Jessie asked.
I whipped my head to her with a stunned smile. “He just kissed me!”
“Oh! He’s never kissed you before?” Shawn said in a sour tone, smiling.
“No!” I snapped. “I mean, he kissed me…good-bye! We never kiss good-bye, it’s always long, romantic kisses when no one’s looking, but he actually gave me a real good-bye just now!”
Jessica chortled. “Did it work this time?”
I huffed, giving her a sassy smile. She always knew about how couples were towards each other, and seemed to know everything from accidently kissing the wrong way, to what a couple could really feel about each other.
“No, I was late,” I said sweetly.
Everyone laughed. “That’s a fail, Nikki!” Shawn snickered.
“He was too quick,” I said, keeping a smile on my face. “He probably wanted to get it over with.”
We spent the rest of the day doing team-building activities. Xander kept his word. He was appearing as a bat whenever my group was surrounded by trees. He would wave his wings at me and give me the scariest faces that I couldn’t tell whether it was a smile or a glare. I would return them with a narrowed look or give him another stupid looking face back, until he made me feel like a retard. There was nothing more I wanted to do than just grab him by the wings, and slaughter him with my real, un-possessed human power.
It wasn’t long until Nate, Louise, and Delaney noticed what I was doing, for Nate was still back to his constant “I love you Nikki” teasing, and said that now that Dalton was himself again, he could finally have proper reactions from Dalton himself to hate on Nate.
At least James didn’t notice him. I told Nate, Delaney, and Louise all about how we had met Xander earlier, and that he needed to see Dalton and I again later on.
By the time our team building activities were over, and we had played a good amount of team games with our groups, we all met at the café lodge for dinner at 5:00. They were serving baked chicken and rice, or beans if we were vegetarian.
I was in line, chatting away with Jessie about our day with my team and Xander’s annoying spying on us. Jessie told how Xander had appeared once to throw a pinecone at her head from a tree where nobody could see him, and she had looked stupid when she yelled a name at him as he was safely hidden in the trees.
I was next in line to be served. But suddenly, I noticed that the cabin leader serving the chicken looked terrifyingly familiar. Asian face and jet-black hair….
“Valerie?” I hissed.
Valerie met my gaze and narrowed her eyes. “Shh!” She hissed back.
“Wha-what are you doing here?” I couldn’t help questioning. I kept my voice low, though only Jessie had her gaze fixed on us.
She winced. “Um, who is she?”
Valerie’s expression was urgent. “No one knows who I am here! I’ll tell you later!” She dropped me a chicken breast on my plate and then focused on serving the rest behind me.
Whatever then. I sat at a noisy table with Dalton, Nate, Jessica, Ashton, Jeremy, and Jessie, even though I knew it was kind of stupid to sit with Dalton and Nate at the same time now.
When dinner was over, we had an hour of free time before our night hikes. Dalton and I were alone behind the lodge.
“Before we see the clan,” I said to him, “what should we say to them? should we really tell them everything?”
“Well, I told them pretty much everything,” shrugged Dalton. “They know everything about Rosaline, from her current relationships to her purpose and plan of being here. What we should tell them, is whatever we know if they ask us any questions.”
“Hey yo, Nikki and Dalton!” Called Justin’s voice.
We turned to see Shawn and Justin approaching from the other side of the lodge.
“You two makin’ out? Or are you going to see those hobo vampire clans yet?” Shawn said.
“Oh great! Do you guys want to come?” I shouted over to them. “’Cause you’re more than welcome to meet Riley Hanson, who will probably hate you guys as much as he hates me.”
Dalton snickered. “As much as he hates everyone!”
“Oh, we’re coming with you,” Delaney’s calm, mysterious voice startled me from behind us. “I’m interested myself to see Naomi after such a long time.”
“You knew her?” Dalton asked.
“She was my step-sister too,” she said with a shrug, her blue eyes looking serious and in their usual focused daze. “It’s just that I never met her and knew her as well as Rosaline had.”
“Well, we’re going right now,” I said, looking into the dark forest and shivering. “We have to see them as soon as possible.”
Jessica, Louise, Jessie, and Nate were behind Delaney, with Jessie was arguing with Louise. Nate stepped to Delaney’s side. “Hey, you said she was tall.”
I gave him a wry look. “Yeah, Nate. Taller than you.”
“Naomi?” Dalton suddenly laughed. “She probably is. Nate, you’re not even six feet yet!”
“I’m 5’9,” said Nate sassily. “I bet eventually, I can get taller than her. She’s too old to grow anymore!”
“Are we going to leave or what?” Jessie huffed. “It’s getting cold out here, and I wanna be back for the night hike.”
“You don’t have to come, Jessie,” Dalton said. “The clan knows nothing about you and they won’t need to know anything.”
“They know she’s going out with Andrew,” I pointed out. “She might as well come just in case.”
So we all set out in the woods. I was scared. If Naomi could tell our future, then it was possible for it to be changed…..could it?

















20. THE CLAN
Xander met up with us deeper in the woods.
“Hey! Why’d you bring her?” He pointed at Jessie.
Jessie scowled. “Because I’m important, that’s why,” she replied simply.
He took us to an open area that was like a clearing in the middle of the woods.
“This is where Riley’s clan hangs out most of the day when there is no sunlight. But right now, everyone’s inside,” Xander explained.
“Hey! That Asian lady that’s Jessica’s cabin leader, is she a vampire or something?” Jessie asked me.
I raised my eyebrows. “She’s Valerie San. We met her before we left.”
I was going to make sure I asked her what she was doing when I found her later tonight.
The house inside was filled with about ten or so vampires sitting around the couches in a low conversation with each other, and I recognized some. There was L.Z., Desiree, stupid Riley, Paul, Valerie……and Dia. I cursed at her in my head and then focused my attention to Riley, who was making his way up to us.
His face was a proud, stern look with his head held high. He pissed me off just by looking at him.
Xander sighed. “Did Naomi leave again? Oh well. I brought them anyway.”
“Naomi will be back,” said Riley in his serious, demanding tone. “In the meantime, why don’t we introduce ourselves? I’m Riley Hanson.” He met my gaze and gave me a quick nod.
“I know you’ve already met Desiree and Valerie,” he nodded to the two vampires sitting next to each other, eying me with focus. “They were newborns just about your ages. And that’s Naomi’s uncle Paul and her aunt Lola. Those two are the elders over there, and they are Naomi’s father, and grandmother. Her father is Roger, and her grandfather is Damien.”
“Sup peoples!” Shawn said.
Riley gave him a stern look. “Please have a seat, all of you.”
I gave Riley a visible wince before sitting next to L.Z. at the couch in the right hand corner.
“Hey! You’re one of the camp leaders for our classes,” I said to Valerie. “What are you up to?”
Valerie met my gaze. “Currently, I am trying to make sure these camp leaders don’t stray onto our territories and discover us. Up to this point, none of those people over there have any idea about the clans that live deeper into the woods. I am pretty much a spy.”
“Oh, geez!” Jessie huffed. “Spies everywhere! Do you transform into a bat also?”
“No,” replied Valerie sourly. “I’m not a transform vampire.”
“I’m the only one around these areas,” said Xander. Everyone turned to look at him in his vampire bat form, sitting on Naomi’s shoulder by the bottom of the staircase.
“Naomi!” Dalton called. “There you are.” He was looking at Naomi with a hint of a dazed look. I saw that he was sitting in front of Dia, who was facing towards him, though her eyes focused on something in her mind, staring into nothing.
Naomi wrinkled her nose. “I need to see Nikki and Dalton alone. The rest of you can wait.”
Jessica raised an eyebrow. “Does she mean us?”
“If I need to, I will take a look into the Outsiders’ auras,” replied Naomi, walking over to lay a hand on my shoulder. “As of tonight, I shall look at the destiny of Rosaline through Nikki and Dalton.”
I looked at Dalton, who had already risen up.
L.Z. was picking at his teeth as he was eying Louise again. “Man, you Outsiders say you used to be with that legendary Lewis?”
“Yep,” said Jessica, smiling. “He and I were together once. A loooong time ago.”
The whole room started getting into a talkative conversation with the Outsiders, and even Jessie and Nate were interacting with the clan members. Riley seemed to be talking along, though his expression looked raised and edgy around the strange, long-lost Outsiders. Apparently, the clan knew about Lewis and the Outsiders back when Leonardo was active into starting up conflicts with them when they all used to live in Italy or the North Pole.
Only Dia remained quiet, sitting on the couch with her hands in her lap, her eyes unblinking and focused as a statue.
I glanced at Dalton and saw that he was staring at Dia as well with an expressionless look in his eyes.
Naomi took us to her room in the basement of the house. “I’ve got my own room in this house as well, so I will see into your auras with my sight in here.”
Her room was a strange medium-sized area with shelves of medicine bottles and some books. It was like a small library.
“So has the clan been passing on stories about Lewis since his life at the North Pole?” Asked Dalton.
“Not stories,” replied Naomi edgily. “Lewis and the Outsiders have done a number of stealing and ruthless things to the clans up north, and some vampires, such as L.Z. himself, have come here to escape the constant happenings that the Outsiders were causing.”
“Hey, don’t forget me,” muttered Xander. “I escaped that terrible place where they were setting traps on my former clan. I became a loner.”
I laughed. “Really? Did Justin try pulling a trigger up your butt?”
Naomi sat at her desk with Xander set at the left side. “I don’t see why you trust those mangy bloodsuckers.” Her voice was filled with venom and she glared at me.
I winced. “I never said I trusted them!”
Dalton gave a slight laugh. “Trust the Outsiders? Really? Come on, I thought you were smart enough not to think that.”
Naomi met his gaze and held it with her piercing eyes for a moment. “Just watch your backs whenever they are around. I wouldn’t be surprised if one of them turned out to be a spy for Leonardo and Rosaline.”
I sat down next to Dalton on the bench in front of Naomi’s desk.
“Just what exactly are you going to do to us?” I questioned. “Is the ritual going to have any bad effects on us in the future?”
“Only knowledge,” replied Naomi, her hands clasped together.
Dalton looked around. “So…..where’s your crystal ball?”
Naomi let out a sharp, quick laugh. “Ha! I use no crystal ball. A real gypsy just needs to read auras to tell people their future. A gypsy ball only confuses me with reflections.” Then her gaze darkened and she glared at Dalton. “You have been my son before,” she said darkly.
Dalton’s eyes were suddenly vague with a hint of a scared look in them. He said nothing.
“Your current parents are somewhere else. Your vampire parents, you have no memory of them. I currently cannot tell where they are if I could trace any memory of them in your head. For now, they are nothing but a lost, missing fragment that has been erased and forgotten. Give me you right hand, and I shall read the color of your aura, and I will read your surrounding thoughts of who you are.”
Dalton was frozen for a moment.
“Dalton?” I muttered quietly, hoping he was all right.
He suddenly blinked and lifted up his right hand slowly to set in on the desk in front of him.
Naomi took his hand, and her eyes bore into it, studying without bending her head down or leaning towards it. Xander and I watched her carefully.
After about four minutes, in what seemed like the longest time, Naomi gave his hand back to him and let out a small breath.
“What….happened?” I asked.
Naomi’s eyes were blank, staring out into her own world. “You really are my long-lost son. Your aura is as icy-blue as it was since you were born.” She breathed, her sharp, dry voice sounding different when she spoke smoothly and breathlessly. “Oh my…..I’ve missed you my whole life. You really are Dalton. Your blood…..when Lewis bit you……you transformed into a vampire a second time. Before Lewis bit you…..he recognized you as the vampire he had killed long ago. He was shocked. To find you alive and reborn, he knew it would be you. He knew you were the one.”
Naomi paused and held her breath. Dalton’s eyes were dazed and his face seemed paler than the moon.
“What do you mean the one?” I asked when nobody questioned.
Naomi clenched her teeth and replied, “There was a prophecy, more than hundreds of years old. Aurora would be avenged, and her remaining blood trapped in the frozen snow, would be brought back to life if she could only die on earth. I’m sure you have already heard of what Leonardo was striving for. He knew that there was still Delaney, for she held her mother’s blood of immortality. Delaney herself can resist the sunlight and everything a regular vampire couldn’t, but in order for her blood to take on newborn vampires, she would have to die and let her aura reach the core. Therefore, her aura would enter the newborn vampires and they would share blood of immortality. But of course, Leonardo wouldn’t harm his daughter. But he also knew of the prophecy that would prevent his desire for Aurora’s immortality. It stated- there will be one cold-blood, born on the night of the lunar eclipsed, blessed with the tainted blood. The one with the tainted blood would allow Aurora’s blood to vanish, and never come back.”
I widened my eyes. “So the ‘tainted blood’ must mix with Aurora’s so that it can never come back again?”
“That’s the prophecy.” She faced Dalton. “You were born on the lunar eclipse. You shared the tainted blood of a gypsy. Since you were born, I knew you had to do with the prophecy. I never told anyone a thing, but I still knew. I was determined you would one day fulfill the prophecy and end Leonardo’s desire for power. But then…..you were killed. I lost all hope. I thought the prophecy failed.”
“But…..I was reborn,” muttered Dalton.
“Exactly,” spoke Naomi. “You still have a chance to fulfill the prophecy….but…” Naomi’s eyes suddenly narrowed and she clenched her teeth. “The prophecy requires a first-born aura.”
“What the heck does that mean?” Xander asked, listening intently.
“Dalton’s aura is second-born. He was born a second time,” hissed Naomi. “His blood isn’t anymore use to dissolve the essence of Aurora. Only the one born on a lunar eclipse with the tainted blood can free the essence of Aurora to prevent any use or rebirth with it. Ugh……for a second I had hope…..that you still had a chance…but then I remembered another part of the prophecy.” Naomi cursed under her breath.
I stared blankly at Naomi. “But why did Lewis turn him to a vampire if he knew he was the one?”
“Lewis knew Dalton didn’t have another chance since he was reborn. But he knew he still shared the blood of a sibyl. Remember that Leonardo needed the blood of a sibyl to die in the essence of Aurora so that it can dissolve her immortality to earth and to be reborn again. The sibyl’s blood alone can do that. The sibyl’s blood born on a lunar eclipse is different- it would be the chosen one of the prophecy. Lewis……had some sort of plan…..that he would turn Dalton into a vampire so that he could join his side and help him find the chosen one.”
Xander nodded. “I remember now. According to the prophecy, there’s still another chosen one out there.”
“Really?” Said Dalton.
“Of course,” snapped Naomi. “Prophecies hardly fail. When you died, I just thought that you really weren’t the chosen one and that there’s someone else out there who possesses it.”
“But wait,” I was confused. “How did Lewis know the chosen one would be at our school? I thought he was just there to get revenge on Ms. Fletcher for her father killing off Leonardo’s vampires.”
Naomi stared into my eyes. “That, too. But when he found out Dalton was the long ago chosen one that had been reborn, he knew he would have some connection with the other chosen one.” Naomi huffed. “I don’t know, it’s all confusing.”
I raised my eyebrows. “Damn right it’s confusing. I didn’t realize how much we didn’t know yet! I thought everything Ms. Fletcher told me was enough.”
Naomi gave me a wry smile. “Ms. Fletcher wasn’t even close. Here, give me your hand. Perhaps I may find a thing or two about you.”
I bit my tongue and held my right hand out. She held my hand in hers, studying closely and her eyes seeming to go into a dreamlike daze.
About a few minutes later, she dropped my hand and muttered something in surprise under her breath. “Nikki………you possess the aura of……..your aura, it has been disrupted once before.”
I nodded. “I was possessed by the demon for a while.”
“Yes. But you overcame it. I knew it since the moment I healed you. Your spirit was too strong to be taken over by the devil. If it wasn’t as strong as it is, you would’ve been fully under the devil’s power within an entire moon cycle. Your aura……it’s a black color. Blacker than your hair. Blacker than any black aura I’ve ever read.”
I felt a chill run through my bones at the sound of her words and her voice.
“Nikki, I think your aura has the power to withstand anything.”
“What does that mean for her?” Dalton sat up seriously.
“I…..think you may even be…..well, if Dalton were to bit you, he could share his tainted blood with you, and you alone could let it dissolve into the essence of Aurora.”
I held my breath.
“So Nikki’s the chosen one?” Dalton voiced my thoughts in surprise.
Naomi glared at him. “Not exactly!” Naomi hissed angrily, making Dalton sit back. “I meant her aura is strong, and can be enough for you to bite her and share your blood with her, so that she can use it to dissolve Aurora’s.”
“But Dalton was reborn!” I said.
“Not you,” said Naomi. “If you had the blood, you could use it yourself. I really think you can. But! Before you jump to conclusions, I must tell you, the demon spirit has weakened your aura. I doubt that with all that power to withstand all that time against the evil spirit, it has been weakened and destroyed to do withstand anything else.”
My shoulders slunk. Dalton muttered something under his breath.
“But you can strengthen it up again,” said Naomi hopefully and firmly. “All auras can be strengthened again.”
Xander nodded. “Hehe, Naomi may have not told you this, but her aura has the same color as Nikki’s. It was dark black, and stronger than any other black aura she has read.”
“Really!” I gave Naomi a wry look.
Naomi snorted. “Shut up. If mine was still as strong, I would’ve asked Dalton to bite me already. But my aura isn’t as strong as it used to be.”
I nodded, understanding her. Naomi looked so frail right now, and she seemed to have grieved over so much, from parting with her true love, to losing her own, special son. I could only imagine her spirit falling, and her aura becoming weaker.
Dalton sighed. “What should we do?”
Naomi was staring at her hands in her lap. “Well….you really should let Nikki possess the power if you want Leonardo and Rosaline to be stopped. I must think more about the prophecy, and look deeper into what could happen if Nikki herself contained your power. For now, please leave me be. Tell the Outsiders I shall look at them tomorrow afternoon.”
Dalton and I looked at each other and then got up.
“Thanks, Naomi,” I said quietly.
Naomi said nothing. Her eyes were a lost, narrowed gaze. She was starting to scare me again.
Dalton and I left, holding our hands.


21. PIECE BY PIECE
The next morning, Dalton and I were taking a walk in the woods before breakfast at the lodge.
“Dalton…you would bite me if you really had to, right? If it was for the good of all vampires and humans?” I asked carefully, holding his hand.
Dalton didn’t answer for a moment. He sighed. “If it wouldn’t hurt you in any way, then maybe yes. I really can’t believe who I was before I was born human.”
“Lewis must’ve been planning to kill you a second time after you betrayed him,” I said.
Dalton nodded. “I wish we could’ve learned a little more about Lewis when he was around.”
“You know, we really should tell Ms. Fletcher all this,” I said urgently. “I mean, all this stuff we’ve been through since Rosaline came, why didn’t we tell her? I bet she could’ve given us a handful of advice.”
“Do you think she had any idea about auras and the prophecy?” Said Dalton. “I don’t see what she could’ve done if she didn’t know what Naomi knew.”
There was a rustle in the bushes. “Actually, Ms. Fletcher does know a thing about the prophecy.” Said a voice.
I recognized it. “Xander?” I said tiredly.
Xander appeared from the bushes, in human form.
“How do you know?” Dalton gave him a look.
“Dia and I were both spying on you guys when you first arrived. She could tell that Ms. Fletcher seemed to have basic knowledge about the prophecy, but nothing else about what Naomi’s told you,” replied Xander. He gave me a sideways smile. “Dia’s what you call an illusion vampire. She has the ability to appear as an illusion to people. Sometimes she can make people see her there when she really isn’t, and sometimes she can be there with you without having anyone notice her presence.”
I rolled my eyes. “Stalker,” I muttered quietly. “What? Is she watching me now?”
Dalton laughed a little. “Relax, she isn’t watching you.”
“How do you know?” Xander teased.
“Because Dia has no interest in her,” replied Dalton with an irritated look on his face. “But she may be watching me, I bet.”
I changed the subject. “Did you already tell everyone else about what we’ve learned?”
“No,” replied Dalton. “But I’m going to. And I think we should tell Ms. Fletcher everything sometime as well.”
Before our team building activities, we had half an hour of free-time.
We found Xander, L.Z., and Naomi hanging around behind the empty cabin at the end. Naomi was standing with her back towards us, facing Nate.
Dalton and I noticed them.
Xander was sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs. He nodded at us when we approached.
Naomi turned to face me with a serious look in her eyes.
“Have you read anyone else’s auras?” I asked.
“Nikki……Lewis is out there….somewhere,” she muttered with a grave tone.
I felt my heart lurch and I was speechless for a moment.
“Was he reborn?” Dalton asked suddenly.
“No……he was never killed,” replied Naomi. “You may have stuck the deadly Twilight Rose in his heart…..but Nate…….his aura tells me that he was somehow met Lewis before. Though it’s still kind of vague.”
I whipped my head to face Nate, who was looking pale and tiredly shocked. “Have you really met Lewis?”
“No, I never did meet Lewis,” Nate replied quickly and snappishly. “I swear, if I ever did encounter Lewis, I would remember it and tell you, though I don’t remember a thing about seeing Lewis ever again. I don’t see how she even traced it in my memory.”
“Well, there has to be some reason,” said Xander. “Naomi just doesn’t see things you totally don’t have anything in mind about.”
“I was looking into his aura and focused on his memory of the night Nikki got sacrificed,” explained Naomi.
I felt strange, remembering the one night I had thought was a dream- the night I got sacrificed and met Nate in the dark room with Rosaline.
Dalton spoke with a confused look in his eyes. “Nate, who was exactly with Rosaline that night of the sacrifice?”
“No one but Rosaline in particular,” said Nate quietly, looking down. “But…..before meeting with Rosaline and the others to sacrifice Nikki, I did encounter Andrew. He questioned me on what was a doing with a Bible in my hands. I was really planning on using it to stop Rosaline from doing the ritual, but now that Andrew had seen me, I couldn’t explain myself. I closed the book, and then…..Andrew…..he suddenly collapsed to the ground, just like that.”
Dalton and I looked at each other. “Okay?” I winced.
Nate shook his head. “I don’t know….he just…..collapsed as soon as I had closed the book. I was too scared and foolish to do anything about it…so I left him there.”
L.Z. laughed. “Puh-HAH! Coward!”
Naomi gave him a kick on the side.
“Well, I don’t see what Andrew has to do with Naomi finding out about Lewis in your aura,” I said.
Naomi sighed. “There was something I saw about Lewis.”
“Did you see the Outsiders yet?” Asked Dalton.
Naomi met his gaze with a glare. “Well…..this morning, Jessica was with Nate this morning, and the both of them were out all by themselves not too long after dawn. They were both alone, and I was rude enough to interrupt their moment to get a hold of at least Nate’s aura. After looking into his, I decided I might as well see into Jessica’s and see what I could find. Well, apparently, I found the same trace of Lewis in her aura, even though she says she doesn’t remember a thing. Now….when I looked into Jessica’s, that’s when I figured something must have happened to Lewis….something that she knew herself, but has kept it a secret all this time.”
I felt my heart beat. “Um…..I would think the Outsiders wouldn’t like you giving out any of their secrets.”
“It’s super important,” hissed Naomi. “It’s something they never shared with you about Lewis.” Naomi’s eyes seemed to grow even sharper. “Lewis was possessed by the devil……just like Rosaline used to be.”
I thought I didn’t hear her right. For a second, I wasn’t as shocked as I expected to be.
But then Dalton gasped. “Lewis was a vampire devil?”
Naomi kept her gaze. “His vampire spirit may have died when you killed him, though the devil spirit kept him alive. He isn’t defeated. He’s out there…..and somehow, Nate’s already met him.”
I widened my eyes. “Well……Lewis himself is really dead. It’s just the devil spirit inside him, keeping him alive. Lewis isnt exactly himself, even though he may still be around.”
“Well, then what explains my vision of him in Nate? If he really was dead and had no spirit but the demon inside of him, he would have no aura for me to read. He must’ve somehow found a way to become alive again, with the devil spirit. Somehow, the demon inside of him must’ve found someway to bring his real spirit back to life.”
Nate’s head shot up. “I did lose the necklace of Aurora a while back. That was the whole reason Leonardo was angry with me, and forced me to join forces with them. Remember, Nikki? I stole it from your house and lost it.”
Dalton snorted. “You lousy idiot,” there was a slight chuckle in his tone. “I bet Lewis could’ve used that to bring his spirit back to life.”
“Exactly,” I muttered. “Aurora’s blood also can bring a vampire back to life.”
“Well, whatever he did,” spoke Naomi, “he’s alive out there somewhere, and somehow you guys have already met him.”
L.Z. looked up from lying down. “Maybe he’s in disguise! He could’ve been that wacko guy with the bluish hair that has a constipated voice.”
I grimaced at him. “James? He has no constipated voice!”
“When he yells he does,” replied L.Z. “I saw him the otha day, he was like, ‘Jessie don’t let Felinious sniff yo self! You give her a kick in da face!’”
Naomi gave a huff. “Anyways……I want you guys to start thinking about the journey you must take if you want to stop Leonardo and Rosaline….and Lewis if he’s still out there. Nikki, it’s pretty much up to you. If you let Dalton bite you, you will possess the blood of the chosen one that will rid Aurora’s blood forever.”
I looked into Dalton’s eyes. They had a clear, green understanding look.
“Am I the only one he must bite?” I asked.
“Dalton can’t just bite anyone to give the tainted blood,” said Naomi. “Because your aura is strong and has resisted even the demon itself, you are officially the only one he can bite in order for you to possess the same power he had. After the demon spirit, your aura has been both weakened and become stronger. It is still weak right now, though if you wait for it to become stronger, it can be as powerful as ever to rightfully be able to share the blood of the chosen one.”
“How long does she have to wait?” Dalton asked, not meeting Naomi’s gaze.
“Depends. It may take weeks, even months.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, that’s way too long. Leonardo and Rosaline could get to the immortal blood before I can even stop them.”
“Well, you guys can plan ahead,” said Xander, giving us an emphasized look. “How ‘bout getting your asses out of everyone’s way, and start making the journey to the arctic? It takes months just to get there, and by the time, you may already be ready.”
“Shut up, Xander!” Dalton gave him a sideways smile. “If I could take anyone to the north pole to leave them stranded there, I so would choose you!”
“We should think about it,” I replied, hiding my scared feelings by sounding snappy. “But thanks for telling us.” I took hold of Dalton’s hand and gave Nate a look to leave with us.
Naomi narrowed her eyes at me. “Hmm. You know, I’m really interested to look into the aura of that Andrew boy you guys are always talking about. Perhaps he has something behind those gay, innocent looks of his.”
L.Z. laughed. “People tell me I’m gay! I really haven’t figured it out yet! ‘Cause I really never had a crush on a girl yet!”
We all gave L.Z. weird looks.
“Oh? You liked guys?” I asked.
“I’ll see you all later,” Naomi’s stern voice interrupted before he could reply. She put her hand on Xander’s head and he rose up lazily.
“Yeah, see ya, Nikki, Dalton. And Nate.” He gave Nate a narrowed, playful look.
Nate returned his gaze, but said nothing.
“Hey, by the way,” said Dalton, “what happened to Jessica? Why isn’t she still here with Nate?”
Nate gave Dalton a smile. “She was starting to hate being around Naomi, and I could tell she was getting upset that our little time together was ruined. So she left back to her cabin just a few minutes before you guys showed up.”
I huffed. “I’m going to talk to Jessica. I can’t believe the Outsiders kept such a secret.”
Xander gave a sarcastic gasp. “That’s why you don’t trust slutty vampires like them!”
I nodded. We started heading back towards the camp. Even though there was another handful of information we had learned, we barely talked much about it as we headed towards the café lodge.
Later on in the day, when we were in another one of our free-times, we discussed everything with anybody who knew about what was going on. Jessica had already told the Outsiders that their secret was out, and now everyone knew Lewis had been a devil.
I was shocked myself. It was affecting me even more later on. To think Lewis…a dangerously, extremely hot guy, was a vampire and possessed with the devil in him. It was strange.
“I think we should tell Ms. Fletcher everything by the time we get back from camp,” said Jessie, staring out into the gray sky. “I just feel much safer when someone like her knows.”
“Yeah,” said Dalton, slowly ripping at the grass with frustration. “And we won’t see Naomi very often after we leave also.”
Analiese sighed. “I’d really love to meet the clan though. They seem pretty interesting.”
Dalton laughed. “Riley’s a jerk. Seriously.”
I rolled my eyes. “Who is he in relation to Naomi anyway?”
“I think he’s her cousin, but I’m not too sure,” said Dalton.
Me, Dalton, Jessie, and Analiese were sitting a few inches away from the chatty Outsiders and Nate, Ashton, and Jeremy.
I turned to Delaney. “Hey! You guys aren’t ashamed or anything now that your secret’s out, right?”
Delaney turned to meet me gaze with narrowed, icy blue eyes. “No,” she muttered in her quiet voice. “We only kept it from you guys since we thought it would have nothing to do with anything else that was going on, and that it would just start more confusion.”
Jessica turned to meet my gaze. “And if I were you, I would really agree to taking that journey soon. I wouldn’t care if Lewis was stopped for eternity.”
I gave her a slight frown. “Yeah….we’re still thinking about it.”


In the last few days of science camp, we spent our days doing team activities. We got to bond with our cabin leaders pretty well, for Armin was a spontaneous, entertaining young guy and even got Delaney to enjoy him. Some of us bonded with our leaders like friends.
But from time to time, some of us would sneak off to hang out with the clan. Since I would continuously see Valerie with her own group that included Jessica and Jessie, she and I got to know each other, and she would even bug me to sneak away from everyone else just so she and I could have a more comfortable time to talk to each other.
I still didn’t like Riley, and it was plain obvious that he didn’t like me. He was so demanding and aloof, that the only thing I enjoyed about him was how much of a bitch I was around him. Dalton didn’t exactly show his dislike towards him by being sassy and weird around him like I did, though he was naughty and an annoyance to Riley, just like L.Z. was.
Felinious and Sassamese were always wandering around in the woods, though they kept close to our camp where they could keep in contact us. Felinious was obvious not an indoor cat, and she would’ve destroyed the whole cabin up if Jessie hadn’t complained about keeping her out of the house. So the two vampire cats stayed in the wild and almost any time we had free time, they would come running to me. Well, Sassamese would always run at my side, and Felinious developed a strange liking for Jessie and always pounced on her, scaring her and teasing her with her uncooperative behavior to control herself around Jessie.
I had once suggested to Naomi to look into their auras and figure out why they were here in the first place, and if she could read Andrew’s aura in them somewhere. Naomi had refused. She said she hated vampires that weren’t part of her family, and has always disliked cats. I called her a wuss, for she even said herself that she was curious to know anything about Andrew, yet she didn’t want to look into his own cats for him. She was just strange and stubborn.
Often, Dalton and I didn’t really get to spend romantic moments with each other in the woods, for Dalton was always paying visits to Naomi, spending more alone time with her than me. It didn’t bother me too much, for Naomi was his first real mother, and I understood her feelings to be more acquainted with him now that he’s relived his life again. Naomi even reminded me that a vampire’s aura can only be given a second chance to live, for if their aura dissolves a second time, it would be too weak to rise again and start another life.
On the last day, we were getting ready to leave. After breakfast, we were going to perform our skits we had been working on with our groups all week. Each skit was performed by two groups, and each two groups had a theme to perform. My group was with Hailey’s group, and we got the theme of nature travels. We had to perform some kind of skit relating to people traveling in any natural environment, and Nate, James, and Dalton all decided to work together and perform scuba diving.
They were the last group to go. Before they performed, James stepped up and introduced their skit.
“We did a piece of crap on scuba diving, and Nate and I are going to be scuba divers, while Dalton’s a shark.” He turned away tiredly as some people snickered at his tone.
James and Nate both walked around, acting like they were swimming under water.
Dalton was holding back a laugh as he suddenly jumped from behind a tree, and pounced on James’s side, knocking him over and falling on top of his side as they both landed on the ground. Dalton was shaking and biting, and it looked wrong when he was on the floor.
Jessie, Jenny, Louise, Jessica, and I all broke out into a loud laughter at both of them.
“Dalton!” I yelled, though I couldn’t say what I wanted to shout, for I was too busy cracking up.
Dalton had already walked away, leaving James lying on his side as if he were dead, though I could see James smiling and holding back an embarrassed laugh.
Jessica giggled. “Oh my gosh, what was he doing to James?!”
I heard a rustle in the bushes behind me, though when I turned, I saw no trace of anyone. But I bit my tongue, knowing someone from the clan was watching us, and it was most likely Xander.
Nate was acting like he was swimming away, and from the humored, raised smile on his face, it looked as if he was expecting Dalton to do the same to him.
Dalton immediately leaped at Nate’s back, falling on top of him on the ground and acting like he was trying to bite at him.
Everyone broke out laughing again.
“Dalton, you creeper!” Yelled Jenny’s voice.
Jessie was turning red. “I remember that Dalton was probably gay when he was possessed with the taste of blood!”
I was laughing, though deep down, I was suspicious of Dalton’s feelings. I stopped laughing as soon as Dalton got off of Nate, and their skit was over. Dalton was looking strangely worn out through his naughty smile on his face as everyone complimented him on his act.
The cabin leaders helped us pack up our stuff to leave. After most of us said our good-byes to our cabin leaders, I had snuck off to pay one more visit to Naomi. I knew I had seen Xander watching us, and maybe another vampire or two.
“Nikki,” spoke a voice from behind. I turned and saw Dia, standing there with her longer red ponytail on the right side slightly blowing in the wind while the shorter one remained stiff.
I narrowed my eyes and slunk my shoulders. “Oh,” I said with a hard edge to my tone. “It’s you.”
Dia’s calm, studying expression didn’t change. Her eyes were as mysterious as the moon. “You’re leaving aren’t you….?”
I turned away. “Where’s Naomi? I wanted to ask her one more thing before we don’t get to see her often.”
Dia slowly blinked. “You could still read Dalton’s feelings, can’t you?”
I met her gaze. “Well…….in a way. I did feel his unease every time he came back from visiting Naomi. I never asked him what he had done, but I think I felt his feelings. I guess I still have the ability to do that, even though the devil is gone from me.”
“It’s because you love him…..” she replied without changing her expression. “I felt the same love once before…a long time ago, a feeling that I felt for him so strongly that I could almost predict the right feelings he felt, and felt them for myself.”
“I suppose that feeling for you is kind of gone now, is it?” I questioned. Why else would she bring that up if she didn’t want to confess something?
“For now, yes,” she murmured darkly. “But keep in mind, Nikki, that I was his first true love. I truly felt that feeling in him in his first life. I am an illusion vampire, and I can still watch over him without him suspecting my presence.”
“Yeah, I bet you’d want to suffer the feelings you’d feel when you see him having a good time without remembering a moment with you, wouldn’t you?”
“No….I’d rather not. But I can. I’m just telling you, Nikki, keep your eyes open. I want him to be safe, even though he doesn’t feel the same feelings for me as he used to. Keep him from Leonardo’s grasp. I know you can do that, Nikki. You know it too.”
Before I could reply, the chilliest breeze blew passed me, and I looked away towards the direction it blew, holding back the shivers it gave me. I faced the front of me once more, and saw that Dia was gone---vanished…..in the thin air.
Dalton was coming towards me from my right side.
“Are you looking for Naomi?” He asked, grabbing hold of my hand softly.
I sighed. “I just wanted to ask her if she’s planning on keeping in some kind of contact with us.”
“Of course I am, dammit,” said a grumpy voice. Naomi was approaching us with Xander in his human form at her side. Riley and his clan were just behind them. “It would take lots of energy to keep travelling from here to your hometown and back, so I’ve decided to send you letters. We have no cell phone service here, so I won’t be wasting my time texting or doing all that other crap over the phone, so be sure to expect mail from me.”
Dalton nodded. “I’ll be keeping an eye out.”
“Nikki, please think deeply about the journey,” said Riley seriously. “It can cost you lives of all vampires and humans.”
“Yes,” added Naomi. “Make your choice. No one’s telling you what to do, so it’s up to you.”
I rolled my eyes. “Whatever. I bet once Rosaline finds that I’m freed, she’ll be pissed out of her mind, so of course I won’t forget about it that easily.”
“Good-bye,” Naomi said unexpectedly, giving me a hug. “And take care.”
She looked at Dalton and hugged him, giving him a small, quick kiss on the cheek. “Please take care of yourself,” she muttered quietly.
Dalton didn’t reply, but he gave her a look that showed understanding.
The bus suddenly turned on, and Dalton and I headed back, sitting back on the bus together.











22. UNEXPECTATIONS
After coming back from camp, the school days went by quickly. We were almost done with freshmen year, and in language arts, we focused more and more on the Phantom of the Opera play.
Andrew was back, and he acted as if nothing had changed since we had left. He was still his weird, happy self.
But what had stunned us most of all was Rosaline. There was no trace of her since we got back. Not even a sign. She didn’t even show up to give us a taunt or anything. Even Andrew didn’t know what had happened to her.
“The last time I saw her was right after you guys had left. She had driven away in her car, heading towards her house, though she just disappeared afterwards,” Andrew had told us.
Of course, Dalton, Nate, the Outsiders, I, and everyone else who knew about Rosaline felt a sense of dread coming soon, for her disappearance was nothing to feel relieved about. She had gone without a reason, so there was obviously something going on.
Felinious and Sassamese came back and were given back to Andrew again. Jessie was relieved to have the rambunctious Felinious out of her hands. When we had returned them, Andrew was so happily relieved and excited that he gave Jessie and I both kisses on the cheeks.
“Oh my goodness! I was so worried about these two! I say, these guys just disappear without a trace and I can never find them afterwards. I was thinking they had followed you, but for a second, I thought Rosaline would’ve taken them. But thank you so much!”


It was a week before the last day of the year. Everyone was excited, though at the same time, we were nervous about Rosaline.
Dalton and I decided we would plan the journey after telling Ms. Fletcher, for she would give us the best advice out of anyone else who knew.
But tonight was the night of the play. We were at Winston College, and we were all behind the curtains, ready to perform in front of our parents and the huge crowd that had come to see our play.
I was standing with Dalton, Jenny, Analiese, and James. “Huh! To think we would still be at this play after four days of science camp. I already forgot my lines after I came back.”
“Shut up! You’re making it worse for me to memorize my parts,” snapped James. “I never wanted to be part of the act anyway.”
“Hey! Where’s Jessica? Isn’t she part of the first scene?” Jenny asked, looking around. “She should be here by now.”
I sighed. “She said she was going to get a ride with Nate.” I looked at the clock on the wall. It was 7:16. The play would start in a few more minutes, and they still haven’t arrived here.
I huffed and walked away to the corner where the entrance to the backstage was.
Before I even opened the door, it opened itself and Nate and Jessica popped in, holding hands.
“Oh hey, Nikki,” said Jessica coolly.
Nate was looking happy and careless again. “Yeah, she was just doing a little something with me.”
I widened my eyes and laughed rudely. “A-hah! What the heck did you do to him?” I gave Jessica a naughty look.
She winked and gave Nate a kiss on the lips in front of me.
I rolled my eyes, smiling. “Please, you guys are horrible kissers.”
“Oh no,” said Jessica, smiling back at me. “Now he can do this with humans as well.”
I winced and my gaze suddenly dropped. “What?”
Nate laughed. “I love you, Nikki.”
I gasped. “Whoa! You didn’t?! Nate! Are you----?”
“We had Delaney with us,” said Nate with a stupid smile on his face. “And she was emo enough to cut herself and use her blood for me to taste.”
“So you’re no vampire anymore?” I gasped.
“Why you so scared?” Said Nate. “Is Rosaline going to give me a spanky for betraying her?”
I laughed and almost smacked him in the face. “Shut up! I’m not scared about anything! I’m just surprised you would actually want to become human again.”
“Of course he wants to be human again,” shrugged Jessica. “We’re breaking up.”
I stopped laughing. “Really?”
“It was too much,” shrugged Jessica. “I only wanted Nate to stop siding with Rosaline, and I was afraid a foolish guy like him would betray us. I did like him at the time, so I thought, why not? If I could go out with him, it would also save him from sticking with Rosaline forever. But then after a while, I just got tired of him.”
I grimaced visibly at Jessica. She was such a hussy. Not even I was that bad when it came to choosing and sticking with boyfriends. But Nate didn’t even look offended anyways. “Okay then!” I laughed. “Good for you two.” I turned to head back and listen to the play.
“Hey! But wait, Nikki! I still love you!” Called Nate before I shut the door in his face.
The play was almost finished. I had done my dreamy part with Dalton, and I was so happy and relieved to have done it for the last time when he was himself again and not the crazed idiot he was when he was possessed with blood cravings.
I was looking around for Jessie, for she had just played her part so well before the last scene. I wanted to make fun of her for screwing up her lines without having the audience notice.
“Have you seen Jessie?” I asked Shawn and Justin, who were snickering with each other by the exit.
“Huh?” Shawn looked up at me. “She went into the college through this door, but we ain’t lettin’ you come through.”
I frowned, about to give a sassy reply, and then they both laughed.
“Nah, just kiddin’,” Shawn got up and moved.
“Thank you,” I said sarcastically, giving them sideways smiles before exiting the door.
After I had closed the door behind me, Jessie was suddenly running back towards me, her feet stomping hard and her head looking down.
“Hey! Jessie!” I shouted, stopping her. “What happened? Where were you?”
Jessie lifted her head up and met my gaze with reddish eyes, looking like she had been crying. Except her expression looked more upset than sad.
I guessed what she had been doing before she replied. “Did you see Andrew?”
Jessie looked down and rubbed her left eye. “Yes,” she muttered angrily. “He broke up with me.”
I dropped my mouth open, though I really wasn’t as surprised as I looked. Andrew was bi, so it was probably hard for him. “What? Aw, no. That sucks. And on the night of our play?!”
“He’s a jerk,” she cursed under her breath and opened the door to leave me.
“Hey, wait!”
She ignored me and shut the door behind her.
I winced and shook my head. “Fine then,” I muttered. I guess I better talk to Andrew if she didn’t want to talk to me. I still should try to make her feel better anyways.
I slowly walked through the hallways of the college. I looked around, looking anywhere for Jessie could have been for Andrew.
“What the heck am I doing,” I muttered angrily. I was wandering around here aimlessly. This was a huge college to be looking around for someone.
I turned to head back, until I caught something red on the floor.
Blood!
I observed it carefully, and it probably was blood. I felt my heart quicken as I realized there was a trail of it leading the other way to the hallway next to the one I had come from.
Curiously, I followed it. It suddenly stopped at the men’s restroom. I stopped, too, and stared. Maybe I should head back and get Dalton or some guy to come with me and check inside. Not because I was too scared to just peek into the men’s bathroom, but because I was scared of being so alone in this quiet building.
I turned to head back, and then gasped. I saw Andrew in front of me, bending over to drink water from a drinking fountain.
“Andrew!” I hissed.
He lifted his head and met my gaze, wiping his lips with his sleeve. His eyes were clouded and he looked calm and upset.
“Hello, Nikki,” his voice had a strange, low tone to it.
“What happened? Why’d you break up with Jessie?”
“Must you always have to know every little thing that’s none of your business?” He said a little snappishly.
I winced. “Well, I’m just curious. And what’s with all this blood?”
He raised his eyebrows. “I’m a vampire, aren’t I? I must kill someone to live. And don’t worry. The body’s in the dumpster. I was just washing my hands and rinsing my mouth from all that blood. I’ve been so thirsty lately.”
I sighed. “Now that’s just scary. You’d just be murdering any random person around here. I thought you said you would hunt animals!”
Andrew’s eyes suddenly narrowed. “Well, ever since you came back from your demonized self, I have been craving your blood more, thinking what it would be like to suck your own blood without knowing there’s any trace of evil in it.”
I gave him a sly look. “Oh really? Well, thank you for killing someone else instead of killing me.” I said sarcastically.
Andrew chuckled. “Seems as if there’s still a little bit of a devil inside of you, eh? I guess the spirit may have left, but that probably wouldn’t make a difference to who you really are.”
I winced visibly. His eyes were starting to creep me out. They were narrowed, and his expression was studying me intently.
Suddenly, my heart quickened. He reminded me so much of someone else at the moment. I slowly held back a gasp and widened my eyes a little. I gazed into his dark, attracting eyes. The way he stood in front of me---six foot-two with a tall, thin body. Eyes glinting and sexy as can be. The intent, dark look in his focused mysterious eyes. The super long hair…….
“You’re Lewis, aren’t you?” I breathed.
Andrew gave a small, sideways smile from the side of his lip. He grabbed a purple cape sitting on the fountain that I hadn’t noticed. “It’s nice to have you see me for who I really am inside, rather than just a fake.” He put his cape on, looking more like Lewis than ever. I swear, all he needed was to put his hair up into those jutting spikes at the corner of his head, and he would be him.
I backed away. “Naomi was right…..no wonder she could tell you were still here.” Now it all made sense. She had seen Lewis in our auras because we had been with him this whole time. There was no such thing as Andrew.
Lewis chuckled. “Oh, Naomi. If only she saw more clearly. Come on, Nikki. Aren’t you happy to see me?” He was walking towards me, taking four steps before standing right in front of me. He reached an arm to lean on the wall behind me as he gazed down into my eyes. I was lost in his gaze for a moment. I stood there, breathless.
Suddenly, I snapped out of it and dropped to the ground, nearly fainting. But I was still conscious enough to get up and face Lewis from the side. He looked at me with intent, hungry eyes.
“No,” I muttered. “I can’t be.” I ran away as fast as my long legs could take me, not looking back.