"You can't do anything! Don't go in there! They're gone!"

-No!" I scream, but I know that it's absolutely no use. They're gone for good. They'll never come back. They've left this world, they've left Alice, they've left... me. Without any notice. How could we have prepared for this? I guess we would never have been fully prepared to lose them anyway. But this has come so suddenly, so shockingly, and it's even harder to imagine their deaths than to actually process it. I still can't believe it. But I have to. Because that's the stone-cold reality.

The bodybags are being carried away and I bite back my tears that will never fall again, never. I need to be strong, to stay strong. I can't be weak, I need to do this for for them, so they'll be proud of me, for Alice, so that she'll give me the unconditional love that keeps us standing. We can't go on without each other.

"Ms Sanders?" I look up and stare at the detective's tanned face. He can't be more than in his twenties. I know that I'm too young to be thinking about boys, or men for a fact, but I can't disapprove to the fact that he looks surprisingly hot. It's as if his skin has been smoothed down with crystals; tons of little sparkles decorate his skin in a stunning way. His voice is accentuated, and I can detect a slight Southern accent. His brown eyes look filled with boredom and he looks like he hates this job. Why would he chose to do this then? It's as if it isn't even an eleven-year-old girl standing in front of him, a girl who hasn't just lost her parents, who has a fifteen-year old sister who's struggling for us not to be separated into different homes. He's unaware of the present time.

"Your parents died because of a tragic loss of blood. Two puncture wounds were found on the side of both of their necks." His eyes close for a moment but he opens them again before I can think twice about it. "You are feeling sad." He points out. Is he serious? Of course I'm sad! I hold back a frustrated groan in order not to scare him away.

I try to look for that familiar corde that will lead me on the path into his head, I need to know the truth about their deaths. I need to know, even though it'll haunt me for the rest of my life. I cling on to the little hope that remains and look around in the air around him. There should be something, anything, that I could cling on to. Instead, I start waving through the empty space frantically, desperately searching for the only lead that can help me solve out their departure. Nothing.

"Why!?" I scream to his face, and for a moment he looks startled and his eyes sparkle with an emotion that I can't quite decifer.

-You wouldn't believe me if I told you." He turns around and stalks off, leaving me staring after him with shock and fear. He knew? How could he know? He can't, he musn't, it's impossible...

...°...

"No! Don't go! Don't leave me! Please..." I wave my hands around, searching for something to hold onto and my eyes shoot open, staring straight into a scared face. His black eyes look shocked but he quickly recovers with an amused smirk, changing his beautiful features completely. "H - Hunter?" I whisper with confusion. What's he doing here? I thought he hated me...

"Hi princess." He coos, and I shove him playfully on the arm. He regards my gesture as if it was a completely foreign thing to him and I slap myself mentally. He wouldn't understand any sign of affection would he? I clear my throat and shift my gaze uncomfortably, feeling his stare at the side of my head.

"What happened?" He questions, is usual cold demeanour shifting back into place.

-I blacked out." I state, not feeling the energy or the urge to explain.

-You know that that's not enough for me princess.

-Don't call me that." I snap and he cocks an eyebrow curiously. I try my best to send him a deadly glare, but seeing his satisfied reaction, it obviously doesn't work.

"Feighsty." He comments with dark amusement, "Did the blackout change you that much? Did you dream about me? Is that the problem," He presses on further, and I look away blushing furiously and shaking my head to contradict him, "You're pushing your emotions back for me aren't you? Jay would be disappointed." His last words freeze me from the inside and I stare at him with anger.

"Don't speak of a subject that you don't know anything about." I reply harshly. His eyes glisten.

-Sounds just like him. Why can't you just accept that?" He asks calmly, though I can detect some annoyance somewhere behind that facade. It sounds just like a rhetorical question so I don't answer. I fumble with the pillows scattered around me and try to sit up. He pushes me back down.

"Don't even think about it. You can't move. That's what Lily said.

-Why does she owe you Hunter?" I blurt out. He shakes his head and looks away, owning an annoyed grunt. "I'm sick of the secrets being kept from me! I'm not a child! I'm as involved in all of this as you guys are!"

"Some matters don't concern you Emma, why can't you just accept that and keep your nosy head out of it?" He snaps back, and I jerk back, stupefied. His eyes soften and he reaches towards me but that harshness snaps me back to realisation. The two puncture wounds. Them searching for Alice and I.

It all clicks back into place. The only question is... why?

"You! One of you killed them! You killed them!" I rock back and forth, with wide eyes and he looks back at me with the same surprised expression, "Don't touch me!" I scream as his hand extends towards me, "They're gone! The two puncture wounds! I should have known, I should have known, oh my God, I should have known..." I can feel the sanity slowly slipping out of me, but I don't question it because of the harsh reality hitting me like a truck. It all makes sense, it all makes sense...

"Emma!? What the hell? What are you talking about?" He becomes more and more agitated and the anger is clear in his eyes; his scar glistens the same electrifying blue but I'm too shocked to pay much attention. "Just listen! Please! I don't know what you're talking about!"

"Hunter. Get out." Hunter's head snaps towards the source of the voice and I'm still rocking back and forth, thinking through a plan that will bring Alice and I away from here. Should we bring Chase? He's her beloved but we can't risk it, we can't, we can't risk it... Oh no we can't risk it... would the window be too dangerous? Should I jump? Should we? I don't know, but it's too dangerous to stay here... It's too dangerous, too dangerous...

"Emma. Stop." The soft but commanding voice brings me out of my thoughts and I look up at his captivating brown eyes with the gold circling his pupils, keeping my gaze completely locked with his. "I need you to leave us alone Hunter."

"You can't command me! I'm your Maker!" Hunter roars back with unredeemed anger. Jay stiffens and his jaw twitches as he clenches his fists. "Emma is my priority. You must know that. Now, get out." Hunter intakes a sharp breath and he growls, stepping towards Jay. But realisation seems to hit him because he thinks twice about it before turning around and vanishing. I'm getting sick of them doing that. It's giving me a bigger head ache than I need.

"Emma. You need to listen to me... please." Jay turns back to me and says softy, reaching towards me to brush a finger down my cheek tentatively. I'm frozen under his touch, but then the thought of one of them killing my parents has me jerking out of his reach.

I don't reply and rip my gaze from his hold, staring out into nothing in particular, anything but him and the addiction that he is for me deep inside. But he can't know that, not after what his kind did to my parents. They never did anything bad. They were good people... We didn't exactly have the closest relationship because Alice would always be their favourite child, leaving me to be the crazy mind-reading scary kid. But I still loved them, I had to, they were my parents, weren't you suppose to love your parents no matter what they did to you? Alice had no idea what had been going on, but that didn't change anything. Even if she did, they were the only thing that had kept us from being separated. Without them, we wouldn't have been together for as long as we had. And we still were.

"I don't have anything to say to you, vampire." I spit, and a small part of me instantly regrets it, seeing his hurt expression, but I shove it to the back of my head, locking my emotion into a tiny chest before locking it and throwing away the key that was my capability for love. I can't love him, it's impossible. His kind killed my parents, it's as clear to me now. I might be going crazy, or at least walking closer and closer to the brink of insanity, but that truth overshadows it all and has me forgetting all about the possibility of forming friendships with any of them. How could I have been so stupid?

How could I have let my guard down?

...°...

Anyways... I'm really trying to get some chapters up as soon as possible because I feel like we're nearing a very high point of the story but you'll see that in some chapters further into the story. I don't know how long it's going to be, but I'm sort of writing as the inspiration comes to me (even though I DO know how it's going to end ;) !) :-)

-Sophia, xoxo