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"What were you like when you were younger?"

I sighed. "Well, when I was nine I was the red headed ugly girl." He chuckled. "Don't laugh, I'm serious. No guy ever looked at me until I turned fifteen. My chest blew out a bit, I grew taller, my red hair went silky and wavy and my skin became clear. This made some heads turn."

"I bet you weren't ugly as a child."

I laughed. "If you saw my young photo's you'd understand."

"Then I can't wait to meet your parents and see them." He grinned.

"I am going to force my parents not to show you any photographs if I can help it."

Michael set the bowl of spaghetti bolognese in front of me. He leaned forward toward me on the island and smirked in front of me. "Maybe I'll use my excellent skills of persuasion."

"If you compel my parents so help me--"

He pecked my lips to silence me. "I'm not going to compel your parents, Evie. I'm just going to persuade them because I'm absolutely adorable."

"Says who?" I teased.

He chuckled. "Hurry up and eat your human food so you can get home."

"Trying to get rid of me already?"

He smiled. "Anything but. I want you back before dark. Even though you refuse to listen to me and not come tonight I still want you back before it gets dark."

I nodded and spun my fork into the pasta. "So what's the plan?"

"You'll go home."

I waited for the rest but he turned his back and started washing up. "What else?" I took a mouthful of pasta into my mouth.

"What do you mean what else?"

I narrowed my eyes at his back. "Michael."

"Fine. I'll follow you back but not in my car. I'll take the back way with John. Katherine and Sam are already at the house. You'll go with them and we'll meet you at the end of your road near the forest. If Sam and Kate are right, then the man or woman that has been following you will be somewhere in the forest."

"So by you not coming with me now, they won't suspect us coming into the forest like they did last night?"

"Exactly. We have the element of surprise. However, Sam and Kate may have tipped it off."

"How so?"

"Witches as powerful as them two are easy to spot out of a crowd. Especially Katherine. If these Vampires are older than I suspect, and I hope I'm wrong, then they can pick a witch out of a crowd as easy as taking a brick out of a haystack."

"That was some weird analogy."

He glanced at me and smiled. "My dad used to say it."

I took another mouthful before saying, "What was your dad like?"

There was a very, very long pause and I feared he wouldn't tell me. But then he turned around and said, "I don't remember that much about my father or my mother."

I finished the bowl up quickly as he finished washing the saucepans and spoons when I hesitantly asked, "How did they die?"

There was a flicker off sadness and anger in his eyes and I immediately regretted asking.

"I'm--" I went to apologise but he interrupted.

"Don't be sorry. It's fine. I've told the story a million times before and it was a very long time ago. I'd turned eight September 1907. I remember it being a spectacular birthday... For the oh-hundreds that is." He smiled briefly before frowning. "It was October 15th in Shrewsbury, England. There was a railway crash and eighteen people died. My parents being two of them. They believed the driver dozed off. The driver didn't die though, no. The passengers did."

His hands curled into shakings fists at his sides. He looked like he was in a far off place. His eyes were darkening and his pupils were expanding.

I stood up, rounded the table and brought my hands to his face. "Mike--"

"That driver got what was coming to him."

"Michael..."

His eyes focused on me briefly before his eyes slowly returned back to normal. His eyes went glassy and he sighed.

"What happened to the driver?" I asked as I scraped my thumbs across his cheekbones.

He shook his head briskly. "Don't worry about it. It was during a dark time."

I frowned. Maybe he wasn't ready to talk about it. Or maybe he wouldn't talk about it ever.

"Was this after you turned?"

He nodded slowly.

"Sam told me you... Were different back then. That how you are now, you weren't back then."

"Sam's right but he shouldn't have been the one to tell you." His eyes narrowed.

"Alright." I sighed out. "I'm going to get my bag so we can go."

"I promise when we come back I'll tell you what I can remember from it."

I smiled. "I'm not forcing you to."

"No, but I want to. I want you to know everything about me. From the day and year I was born up until this day and age." He enveloped me in a warm hug before kissing my forehead. "I don't want secrets with you, Evie."

"I don't want secrets too." I mumbled against his shoulder. "However, my biggest secret is when I got a ferry over to Rhode Island for a party when I seventeen without permission."

He laughed. "That's a big secret."

"Don't tell my parents." I winked ask I pulled back and walked upstairs.

I packed my overnight bag and dressed into my dark blue jeans and faded salmon coloured long sleeve shirt. I shrugged on my navy green coat and slipped my converse on.

Michael had already put his navy blue sweat pants and a grey t-shirt on a while ago. He picked up his jacket and followed me outside. The sun was still up just about but it would soon be setting.

"I'll see you in a few," He smiled at me. "Any chance I can change your mind?"

I shook my head with a grin. "Nope. And don't even try to persuade me." I backed up when he tried to come forward. "I know your ways of persuasion, Reeves."

He sent me a wink. "I could have you melting in my hand within seconds."

"And I'm not denying that you can." I stepped forward and gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll see you later."

I drove back to the house without any interruptions or anything running out in front of me. I was very excited about the fact Michael would be telling me his story though. I had been vaguely curious since I found out but it hadn't been on my kind for a while.

When I walked into the house, I walked straight upstairs not before saying hi to Damien and Luke in the living room. I opened my bedroom door and scowled. "For crying out loud, Katherine."

She smiled from the chair and closed my laptop screen. "What? The door was open?"

"I know for a fact it wasn't. Hello, Sam."

He waved from his seat on my bed.

"Who needs locks anyway? What use are they?"

"To uphold privacy!" I half yelled as I shut the door. "You shouldn't have come in. Damn, I wish I was right about you being a vampire. Then I would have thought twice about inviting you in."

"Ouch." She winked. "That was a good one though, I'll give you that."

Sam chuckled from my bed. I scowled at him and pulled his feet off. "Could you get any ruder?"

"Calm down, I was going to take my shoes off in a minute." He kicked them off. "Anything else? My shirt? My pants? You name it and it's done."

I laughed and lifted my fist to hit him in the arm when Kate said, "It's almost dark. Stop behaving like two year olds. Evie, grab something that has your scent on it like a hat or something?"

I picked up my grey beanie hat and handed it to her. "Why?"

"We're just going to spread your scent around some areas. You walking in there alone is enough but we want to leave something."

Sam sighed. "Gran said not to overwork the scent, Kate."

"When do we ever listen to gran, Samuel?"

He shrugged and sat up. "We usually do."

"When we were nine and eleven." She scoffed. She picked up her coat and shrugged it on. "Now come on and get ready, John and Mike are already outside waiting."

I glanced out the window to watch the sun set completely.

Here we go.

Sam and Kate followed me downstairs. My heart was trying to beat out of my chest. I wasn't that scared I was just nervous. Being out with two vampires and two witches was what made me less scared. Wow, I didn't think I'd ever say that sentence.

"Hey you three, where you off to?"

All of us turned our heads toward Laura who had come out of the kitchen with a cup of either tea or coffee.

"Sam's house." Kate said simply.

"Alright have fun." She winked at me and I blinked. What was she implying? She looked up at Sam and then at me.

Ohh.

"Oh, Laura no we're not--"

He curled his glove covered hands around my upper arms. "Come on, honey let's get going."

"But--!!"

Kate laughed as we exited the house. Great. I'm going to get teased about that forever now. And knowing Kate, she'd play along.

We walked silently down the small hill toward the dead end near the house. I could practically feel the atmosphere change around Samuel and Kate. They'd turned serious. John and Michael were stood near the edge waiting for us. While Kate, Sam and I were in coats, they were merely in thin jackets. Could vampires not feel the cold, I'm guessing? I wonder...

"Plan?" Sam said.

John smiled at me as a hello before saying, "We're splitting off. Michael you'll go with Kate. Sam and I will go with Evie. Before you both complain," Michael and I had both went to protest but John silenced us. "If these vampires are following you both then we don't think you two should be together."

I sighed. "Fine."

John turned to a fuming Michael and waited. They both stared at each other for what seemed like forever. But then Michael's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Fine."

Kate started into the forest with a slight skip by herself while Sam and John waited at the side. Michael brought me in for a hug. "If John is an ass, then tell me."

"Ha ha." John said from the side.

"Be safe."

"Don't die." I replied.

"I promise." He pressed his lips to my forehead and left me with Sam and John.

"Come on you love struck teenager lets get going."

I smiled at John and looped my arm through his. "Shut up Jonathan."

He remained quiet at his name.

"Ah ha! Your full name is the key."

"I don't really like my full name. Even when I was younger."

"How old are you?"

He glanced down at me. "My real age or my appearance age?"

"Both." I replied. We both stepped over a huge log and resumed walking in a straight line.

"I'm twenty four. And my real age is one hundred and fifty-six." He grinned.

Sam chuckled quietly as he continued to walk further away from us and touch random objects like trees and rocks. His gloves were off now as he went onto skim whatever he walked past.

"You're older than Michael?"

He nodded. "Yep. We met a few years after he turned. At first he tried to get rid of me but I knew he was a soul not worth losing. So... I fixed him."

"Fixed?"

"I worked on him drinking animal blood, worked on his emotions, worked on his craving. After a long while he was fine. Ask him about it."

"There is so much I have to ask him about." I mumbled but he heard.

"Yes, you do."

John split from me when he caught something's scent. We were quite deep in by now. I sat down in front of the tree and leant back. I watched Sam touch a few trees and then shut his eyes. When I asked about it, he just said it's like touching a person but there are a few differences. He could only get a sense of what was around but not everything like he could with people.

John had strayed off a moment but came back. It felt like we were here for ages.

"I found another scent but it's only slightly less prominent."

"Meaning they were here a while ago," Sam finished. "Let's check it out. Evie can you walk anymore?"

I shrugged. I was pretty tired now; we'd been out for a while.

"You can stay for a minute. We won't be any longer than that, I promise." Sam said. "If something happens which I highly doubt with two vampires and two witches in here, then just shout okay?"

"Are you sure we should just leave her here?" John asked.

"I'll be fine." I interrupted Sam before he could start as I crossed my legs. "Just don't take too long."

They glanced at each other before walking off to my right. Well, not before Sam said, "Don't tell Michael we left you here or he'll murder us."

I laughed. Even though the forest looked dark and totally mysterious it was slightly relaxing. I glanced around the forest. It was completely empty, completely silent and calm. I couldn't feel that charged atmosphere like before. Maybe they weren't in the forest tonight.

I stood up and wiped down my jeans. So we're basically wasting our time. I shook my hair out briefly and started forward. I made sure not to move from the area. I wanted to see what Sam was touching. I pressed a hand to one of the trees. So weird that he could do those things.

I ran a hand through my hair again pulling out the knots and turned around.

Was I expecting to see what I did?

No.

My heart jumped into my throat as I gasped.

Bright cloudy grey eyes were in my line of vision. I backed away from the man but he only followed with each step until my back hit the tree. A strong and powerful sweet smell filled my nose and floated around my head; I just knew that this was no human.

I opened my mouth to scream or shout but his large hand covered my mouth. Not too forcefully but enough to stop me. He brought a finger up to his mouth in a shh motion and looked to his right. I followed his gaze and watched a fair distance away as Sam and John passed.

I begged for them to turn and look.

"Where was this vamp going?" I barely heard Sam say.

"I don't know." John returned.

"Well, wherever they're going, hurry up. We shouldn't leave Evie there for too long."

John and Sam went out of sight and I brought my gaze back to the man in front of me. I couldn't distinguish his smell. It was too powerful, too strong... Too sweet. It reminded me of toffee or... Caramel...

He let go of my mouth very slowly but didn't step back. He remained towered over me. My body was shaking with pure fear. My legs were threatening to fail me.

I looked at the male's messy blond hair and remembered that night in the parking lot. That man had blond hair too.

His black t-shirt was ripped at the collar and his jeans were over worn.

I wanted to speak so badly but the fear was choking me. He was just standing there staring. He wasn't moving or attempting to move he was just... Staring.

I needed to say something. Either kill me already or leave. I needed to. I was completely frightened to my very core.

"Wh--what--" My voice was shaking hard and I couldn't even finish.

His hand lifted and I shut my eyes readying for it. Well, this would be an interesting death. I never thought a death like this was possible until last week. Maybe I could get it written on my gravestone. 'Killed by a Vampire.' Amazing. But then again, how would I get them to write it on my gravestone if i was dead? Dammit.

As I felt one large hand circle around my neck, my blank mind focused on Michael. What would he say? What would he do if he found me drained? Would he turn back to dangerous self he was back in the 20's? What if I survived this and he saw the bite mark this vampire'd left? Would he still go mad?

But as I took a last steadying breath I was very, very surprised when his other hand moved my hair back very gingerly from my shoulder and then went to my fringe to skim his finger across my scar.

I opened my eyes slowly and blinked. What was going on here? What was this vampire doing? I didn't understand... His perfect face contorted with an emotion I thought vampires like this weren't capable of:

Sadness.

My mind had gone completely blank. His smell was what was filling my mind and senses now. Every part of me was shuddering with fear and yet there was a very, very small part of me was completely under his spell.

I opened my mouth once again but this time to ask what he wanted when there was a very quiet snap in the wood. His head whipped toward it. He glanced at me one last time before backing up and disappearing into the trees.

I stood there shocked and frozen.

I didn't even notice someone was talking to me...

That was, until a hand whipped across my face.

"OW!! Jesus!!" I groaned, gritted my teeth and held my cheek. I looked up to see who slapped me. "Katherine!" I growled.

"You were standing there for ages! Didn't you hear us speaking to you?" She defended.

"No, but that was completely unnecessary!" I yelled at her. I looked around at the whole group and realised that John and Michael weren't here. "Where are the others?"

Sam was in the back looking completely guilty.

"John chased Michael to try and stop him."

"Stop him?"

"They said you reek of them, Evie. Did you see the vampire?"

I let out a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah but what do you mean stop him?"

"This is why Sam shouldn't have suggested leaving you. Michael is trailing the scent like a tracker on drugs. He's pissed that the a vampire got that close to you."

"No, he didn't do anything---"

"He?" Kate interrupted. "Why didn't I see them coming? Did you see the other one?"

I shook my head. "No. But-"

"Alright, let's get you home." She grabbed my arm and started to pull me.

"No, Katherine--"

"What?"

"The vampire, he--"

"Here we go." She stopped in front of me.

I thought about telling her. She wouldn't believe me. She would probably just laugh. I'd just tell Michael.

"Nothing."

She waited a moment before nodding and slipping her hand into mine. "Okay."

We made it back to the house in twenty minutes, taking a small detours when Sam felt something but otherwise, hurrying back to the edge of my house.

Kate said that Laura and the guys had thankfully and luckily gone out to dinner so when we got in, the place was empty.

I sat down in the kitchen and put my head in my hands. I was still shaking violently from the encounter with that mysterious man. If that was the vampire everyone was looking for, why didn't he just kill me?

Why didn't he just do what he did to every other human in this city and kill me?

A glass lightly hitting the table caught my attention. I opened my eyes to see a glass of water and then a plate of Oreos.

"Drink and eat something. If you throw up then that's understandable."

I took a hesitant sip of water and a small bite but that's it. I looked up at Sam's sad face and caught his eyes. "It's okay, Sam."

"Michael is going to kill me, you know."

"No, he won't because it's not your fault. I was tired, I'm glad I stayed because that way I found out what the guy looks like."

"What does he look like?"

I took a moment to think about it...

But all that came to mind was his knowing grey eyes...

I shook my head to clear it. "He has bright grey eyes, he's a light blond short hair, and he's quite lean, very tall... He has this scar in between his neck and shoulder that looks like a faint bite mark. His nose is straight... His jaw hard and masculine... he looked..."

"How much of him did you inhale?" Kate's hands grabbed my face to look me in the eyes. "You're a bit misty eyed. Did you know vampires that drink human blood are more alluring compared to a vampire that drinks animal blood? They're scent to bring in humans is stronger; more