People stared in the halls as I walked down to lunch with Damian. They whispered to their friends, thinking I wouldn't notice. Didn't they know it was rude to stare? I half-smiled at those who made eye contact with me, and they quickly turned away. It didn't matter they were talking; it wasn't like it wasn't completely obvious now.

Damian and I were dating.

He smiled down at me, our entwined hands gently swinging with every stride. People continued to stare.

"We're pretty popular," he mused, squeezing my hand.

"Welcome to high school," I muttered, looking at the ground as I faintly blushed. "News travels quick."

We suddenly came to a halt and I looked up to see a very angry looking blonde.

"Hello, Dustin," Damian greeted Dustin politely.

"Yeah, whatever," Dustin spat, he glared at me. "Can we talk? Alone?" he added, sending a glare at Damian.

"Umm..." I bit my lip, hesitating. I sighed. I would have to talk to him at some point. "Yeah."

Damian smirked and quickly kissed me on the forehead. "I'll see you in a little bit then."

"Bye," I mumbled, staring intently at a floor tile as my face heated up again.

Dustin shook his head, turning and heading down the now nearly empty hallway. I trudged after him, frowning. The lunch bell rang as we arrived in a deserted hall. I stopped a few feet away from Dustin.

"Care to explain?" Dustin asked, disgust in his voice.

"Explain what, Dustin?" I replied flatly. There was no reason for him to use that tone.

"Why you are going out with that bloodsucker!"

I rolled my eyes. "Let's be mature about this, Dustin."

"He's dangerous!"

"You are too!" I pointed out accusingly. "You carry around a gun, and have fighting skills. Damian just has strength."

"At least I won't suck out your blood and kill you!"

I glared at him. "When they feed," I started, lowering my voice. "They don't kill who they feed off of."

"Unless they lose control," Dustin snorted.

"I don't see the problem here!"

"The problem is you going out with him!" Dustin cried, throwing his arms up. "Why?"

"Why? Hmm, maybe because I like him?" I responded, mockingly.

"But-"

"No buts, Dustin," I said harshly.

Dustin's gaze hardened. "I bet they haven't told you this yet, but you will have to be, you know, become one of them."

"Yes, I know already," I snapped. "Damian has enough courtesy to tell me something so life changing."

"So you're going to become a vampire?" Dustin nearly shouted.

I sent him a harsh look and he cleared his throat.

"You know what I'm saying, don't you?" he asked, his voice considerably quieter.

"Are you saying you're going to kill me if I become a vampire?" I said, clenching my jaw.

Dustin looked shock and his gaze softened. "What? Of course not!"

"That's what you were implying!" I accused, crossing my arms over my chest.

Dustin rubbed his neck and sighed. "No I wasn't. Sorry, I'm just a little surprised."

I softened my look. "It's okay."

"I'm not going to hate you if that's the path you've chosen. Even though it's not the best," he added with a frown.

"I don't want to forget about Damian and his family," I told Dustin with a frown.

Dustin sighed. "Well I can't be mad at you for that. But if Damian or any of his family try something on you, I won't hesitate to find some reason to put them on my list."

"Dustin," I groaned walking over to him and pushing his shoulder. "Let's try to keep violence out of this.

Dustin grinned and shrugged. "Hey, I'm just saying."

"Yeah. Well, thanks for caring."

"Anytime, Maddie, anytime," he responded, wrapping an arm around my shoulder. "Let's get back to lunch now."

"Agreed," I responded, turning us in the direction of the cafeteria. "And promise me you won't start any arguments with Damian."

"I can't promise that," Dustin responded.

"Dustin."

He laughed. "I'm just joking. I'll try not to. But sometimes he just gets on my nerves."

"Because that takes so much to do." I rolled my eyes at him.

"Shut up."

**************************************

"You don't have work today, right?" Damian asked, frowning at me, his face only inches away from mine.

"Nope," I responded, blushing faintly at how close we were in the car.

Ayden glanced at us through the rearview mirror. "You two please don't get lovey-dovey in the car."

"Yeah," Dustin muttered moodily, sitting as close to the door, and as far away from us, as he could manage.

I frowned at both of them, turning red. "W-we're not! What are you talking about?"

Damian chuckled, slipping an arm around my shoulder and nuzzling his head into the crook of my neck. "Don't be jealous, Ayden."

Ayden rolled his eyes. "I'm not. No offense, Maddie."

"None taking," I responded, still blushing furiously.

"I need a boy friend," Callie complained from the front seat. "How did Damian manage to land a girlfriend so fast?"

"Fast?" Ayden snorted. "It's been three months. That's not fast."

Damian scowled. "Shut up. I wouldn't be talking, Ayden."

Ayden shrugged and smirked. "Whatever."

Damian sighed and returned his attention to me. "Okay. Tonight I'll be away, so make sure if anything happens you call Ayden, Callie and Dustin straight away. After that be sure to call me. And don't leave your house."

"Okay," I responded, frowning slightly. "You don't think those vampires will come after me, do you?"

"I think there's a high chance they might," Ayden responded with a frown before Damian could. "I'm sure you know, but they'll want you to join their clan."

I frowned. I did know. But it just didn't seem possible that they would actually seek me out and force me to join them, so I thought that this protectiveness over me was a little crazy.

We pulled to a stop in front of my house and Damian got out of the car allowing me to slide out of the seat and out the door.

"Um, see you tomorrow," I said shyly, looking at the ground.

Damian chuckled and lifted my chin up. He placed a quick kiss on my lips and I blushed furiously. "Bye, Maddie."

Dustin made a choking sound and I shot him a dirty look. He rolled his eyes and walked towards his house. I waved to Ayden and Callie and said goodbye to Damian again before heading up my lawn and into the house.

"Will?" I called, kicking off my shoes. "Are you home?"

It was silent and I frowned, confused. If he wasn't home, why was the door unlocked? I shrugged and locked the door behind me. I went into the kitchen to grab a snack and noticed a note on the table from Will.

I began reading it and slowly began to frown.

Dear Maddie,

Sorry this is sudden, but I got called out on a job. I can't refuse right now since I need the money to buy a new car. There's food money on the counter. Use for food only. I should be back in three days. Keep all the doors and windows locked, there's been a series of recent murders growing closer. Have Dustin stay with you, or stay with him if you can.

Love,

Will.

The frown on my face was now evident as I re-read the note again. He left me alone, when there were murderers on the loose? I rolled my eyes. Good brother he was. I glanced at the counter to find the food money was indeed there. I sighed and crumpled up the note, throwing in it in the trash.

I hadn't heard of the murders at all. I walked into the living room and found a stack of newspapers on the table. I began to flip through them, looking for anything about murders in the headlines. I came to one and read through it, but it was in a few towns over and they had already found the murderer.

I turned around and stepped towards the couch but slipped on something and fell, nearly clocking my head on the side of the desk. I scowled and pulled myself up into a sitting position to see what I slipped on. It was today's newspaper. The headline caught my attention. Mystery Murders in Massachusetts. I scrambled to pick it up and quickly read down the column.

I found a part that caught my attention and began to read aloud; "A recent series of murders happening in the small town of Sandwich, Cape Cod has got police confused and determined. Sarah Foley, a nineteen-year-old college student, was found dead in a side ally in Hyannis recently. The cause of death is unknown, but may be due to anemia."

It went on to talk about two similar murders near my small town of Sandwich. I put the paper down, feeling my heart beating hard and loud. Murders around here? But we rarely had anything go wrong except maybe an accident at sea or a maybe a robbery and stuff like that but never murders.

I shoved the paper under the couch and scowled. Will was an idiot. Why would he even mention something as scary as that when he was leaving! I stalked off to my room, looking around cautiously. I was so going to rip him when he got home.

I plopped myself down in my chair behind my desk and turned on my laptop. I turned on my iTunes and put it on shuffle, and kept the volume low. I sung along quietly when one of my favorite songs came on. Facebook easily distracted me.

After about an hour my phone rang. I jumped in surprise and than slid across the room on my chair to grab the phone.

"Hello?" I asked into the receiver.

"Maddie, hey!" a breathless voice breathed into the receiver.

"Emmett? What's wrong?" I asked, feeling my heartbeat increase by the sound of his voice.

"Nothing, don't sound so worried," he laughed. "I just need a favor."

"What? Why?"

"Could you take my shift tonight? My mom's caught up at work and I have to watch my little sister."

"Why are you out of breath?"

"Exercising," he told me.

"Oh. Well..." I hesitated. I had told Damian I wasn't working tonight, but Emmett really needed a replacement.

"Please Maddie!"

I sighed. I couldn't say no if he begged. "Yeah, yeah. I got it no problem. What are your hours?"

"Great! Thank you so much! I'm working five to close."

"Who else is working?"

"No one, sorry," Emmett returned with a sigh. "I was all by myself."

I shrugged but than remembered he couldn't see me. "It's no problem." I glanced at the clock and gawked. "But you couldn't have called me earlier!" It was already 4: 20pm!

"Sorry, sorry!" he apologized. "Look, I have to go, thank you again!"

"Apparently so do I!" I returned, grabbing my work outfit from the dirty hamper. I sniffed it. Smelled fine to me.

"Bye, Maddie!" he said and I hit the end button on the phone and tossed it onto my bed.

I scowled as I grabbed a jacket and threw it on, grabbing a scarf, hat, and a pair gloves. I hastened to put them on while carrying my work clothes and hurrying down the stairs. I had forty minutes to walk to work. I slipped my shoes on and was out the door.

The cold, frosty, air bit at my face as the wind whipped my hair behind me. I looked at the darkening sky and hurried towards the ice cream shop.

I looked over my shoulder and frowned at Damian's house. I knew I should have told him I was going to work tonight, but I didn't want to ruin his plans. It was nearly impossible that anything bad was going to happen tonight though. It wouldn't matter if I went one night of work without his protection, right?

I arrived at the ice cream shop just before five and waved to Sarah as she was coming out the back.

"Hi Sarah," I greeted her, pulling off my winter jacket.

"Hi. Are you in for Emmett?" she asked as she clocked out while I clocked in.

I nodded. "Yeah, it was sudden."

She chuckled as she put on her jacket. "It's been empty all day so it should be easy for the rest of the night. I wish I could stay, but I'm dead tired, so I'll see you later."

"Kay, see you," I responded, watching her walk out the door.

The shop stayed empty as the darkness set in. I sat listening to the radio while staring into space. The clicking of the clock made me want to fall asleep from time to time and I had to force myself to stay awake. Why were we even open in the winter?

At eight o'clock the bell rang and I looked up to see a young man with messy light brown hair walk in. It felt like every guy besides Dustin had brown hair in this town. He looked to be around my age.

"Welcome!" I greeted him as he came up to the counter.

The young man smiled at me and I smiled back. He was very handsome and I had to avert my eyes to keep from staring at him. He had an unnatural attractiveness to him. He looked at the menu for a few seconds before ordering a hot chocolate.

"Is that all?" I asked, looking down at the register.

"For now," he responded, another smile on his face. "I'm waiting for someone."

"Oh," I responded, turning to the drink machine. I grabbed a cup and put it under the nozzle and pressed the little red button. The hot chocolate poured into the cup. "Do you want whipped cream?"

"No, thank you," the guy responded.

I nodded and put a cap on the hot chocolate and brought it over to him. "$1.58."

He pulled out two ones and gave them to me. I stuck them in the register and gave him the chance, which he put in the tip jar along with another dollar.

"Thank you," I said, smiling at him again.

"Yup," he responded, walking over to a table near the window and sitting down, picking up one of the newspapers on the table.

Time passed quickly and the man stayed, still waiting for who ever he was waiting for. I frowned, wondering if he got stood up. I began to mop the floors with fifteen minutes until closing.

"Are you still waiting for someone?" I asked, pausing with my mopping.

The guy nodded, frowning slightly. "Yeah, I don't know where he is though."

He? I thought he'd be waiting for his girlfriend. I shrugged and continued to mop the floor. It wasn't my business to pry into stranger's social matters. When I was finished I put the mop and bucket away, tossing off my work apron.

The guy was still sitting there, looking amused now as he pulled out his cell phone.

"Um, we are closing now," I told him.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he responded, standing up. "I guess I'll go."

"I'm sorry your friend never showed up," I apologized, frowning at him.

"It's okay," he said. "I'll go now, goodbye."

"Goodbye."

I watched as he headed towards the door. I turned to go back to the storage room to get the keys to lock up the shop. I heard the jingle of the bells that told me that the mam had left the shop. I went to the key holder and frowned when I noticed the keys weren't there. I looked in the next slot, thinking Sarah had misplaced them.

"Looking for these?"

I jumped and twisted around to see the man from before smirking and dangling the keys in front of me.

"How'd you get those?" I demanded, frowning at him. "Why are you even back here? I told you we were closed-"

The man scowled. "You idiot. I didn't come here to meet some guy. I came here to meet you."

"Me?"

"Yeah," the man said coming closer, a scowl on his face. "I wanted to meet the girl that caused my brother his life."

I took a step back, tripping over a box. I caught myself before I fell and pressed myself against the wall, glaring at the man. "What are you talking about? I didn't kill anyone!"

The man snickered. "I never said you killed him. I said you were the cause." The man put one hand on either side of my head and leaned closer to me.

I turned my head but he grabbed it and forced me to look him straight in the face.

"Do I look familiar?" he whispered.

For the first time, I looked into his eyes. They were gold... with black specks into them. I stared at them wonderingly before I gasped as I realized where I had seen them before.

"I believe your friend Dustin murdered my brother?" he growled, his face hardening. "And I want revenge."

YEAH! Let's get this plot moving! Hold on tight readers, because we are starting the roller coaster of plot. At this point of this story, I'm thinking "I just want to be done!" lol. But there's still a good 10-15 chapters left. We'll see...

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