The Changing

Prologue

MY LIFE HAS ALWAYS BEEN MISERABLE, AND FULL OF nothingness. Nobody ever really cared about me. I was unloved, and I never belonged anywhere. Not at home, and not at school. People always stayed away from me, like I was some kind of disease. And they looked at me like I was the most hideous thing that they have ever seen.
But ever since the first day of my new life, I felt like I belonged, and I was welcomed. Especially…wanted. Even though I was more alone than ever, and I was so much more different from my kind. I’m not even sure that I am the same species as them.
Even though I’m the Freak of my kind, there is something at home that keeps me going. Somebody, that I love and who loves me back, waiting for me to return home.
Chapter One

ANOTHER INFAMOUS DAY OF ERIN FOSTER’S LIFE, IN DENVER, Colorado, to put down in the books, I thought to myself.
My life could not get any worse than it is now. It’s lunch, and guess what? I’m sitting by myself. Again. Surprise, surprise. It’s nothing new, and I like the quiet.
My whole life, people have always avoided me. I guess it’s instinctual. It’s always been like that ever since my mom died.
People never really knew how to treat me after her death. They thought that I was going crazy, because I saw the whole thing. When I tried telling the police what happened, they wouldn’t listen. It was his word against mine. And, honestly, who would believe a five-year-old? Especially with what I was saying, I was convicting my own father for murder. And somehow, he got some dumbass idiot to confess for it. My dad probably paid him off. The police were convinced that I probably confused the guy with my dad, because they were the same size and all.
To this day, everyone still thinks I’m crazy, because I refuse to let it go. And my dad fears that. He’s also cocky about it, because no one will listen.
My dad and I don’t really get along well. Okay, fine. We have never been nice to each other since my mom’s death. Every time we do talk, it’s either sarcastic remarks, or shouting and yelling at each other.
The one thing that scares me about my dad, and the one reason why I avoid going home as much as possible, is that he is an abusive drunk.

Every time I see him, he’s always got a beer in his hand or somewhere by him. He can go through a twenty-four pack in about two days. And when he’s that drunk, well…let’s just say it gets really bad. Every day, I always have a new battle wound. Weather it would be bruises, cuts that are soon going to be scares, or even broken bones. Sometimes, on my very unlucky days, I get all three. And on my really lucky nights, by the time I get home, he’s already passed out drunk.
What my dad does for a job, even a drunk monkey could do it. Oh man, I forgot. My dad is a drunk monkey, only stupider. He’s the manager at Wal-Mart. I am not sure how he was able to reach manger, but somehow he did. He probably paid them off.
But my job is so much better than Wal-Mart. I work at one of my favorite places on the planet. Barnes & Noble. I could live in that place if I wanted to, especially with Starbucks right next door. In fact, I actually have lived in Barnes & Noble a couple of times. It was only for one night, though, and only when one of my favorite night guards was working. His name is Bob, Bob Hawkins. Some people call him The Hawk, which is kind of funny considering that he’s half-blind. He barely sees anything from his left eye. So if you stole anything when you were standing by his left side, he probably wouldn’t see it. But all in all, he’s a sweet guy. He watches out for me, and I thank him for that.
By the time the final bell rings, I run out of class, so the teacher wouldn’t hold me after to talk to me about my grades.
I don’t even try in school, because, honestly, I don’t even think I’ll make it to graduation. So what’s the point of trying if you’re never going to be able to do anything.
I could run away if I wanted to, but I’ve actually already tried. I made it down to Arizona once, but, of course, he found me. He made everything so much worse that day.
Everyday after school, I always workout in the gym/wait room. I can beat all of the wrestlers that hang out there. I’m never going to leave myself defenseless like I did when I was five. Ever since I started school, I’ve been training.
Our gym has everything, punching bags, treadmills, olipticals, and all different types of wait benches. You can definitely get a workout here. Gym has always been my favorite class. I was always top of my class, girls and boys. But, yet, I’m still invisible and avoidable.

While I was using the punching bag, some new guy came in. He was getting a tour from our school councilor, Patty Newberg. She never tells people to use Ms. Newberg, because it reminds her that she’s single.
This guy was semi-cute. He had short, blond, spiky hair, and brown eyes. I’m not even going to try to get myself noticed by this guy, but it wouldn’t hurt to show him who runs this place.
I got some perfect punches and high spin kicks in when he was looking in my direction.
"You guys have a girl on your wrestling team?" he asked. I guess it would make sense for him to ask that. All of the wrestlers were in here.
"We wish!" Brett Hanson said. Clearly he knows not to mess with me. "We tried to get her to. She’s the best one here. She can kick all of our asses." I had to laugh at that.
I got another high kick in.
"Your team must suck if a girl can do that to you." New Kid said.
"Shh! Don’t let her hear you say that. Not unless you want a broken nose, or a broken arm and rib." Brett said, clearly trying to save this kid’s life.
"I’d like to see her try," New Kid said. Ooh, a challenge, I thought. I stopped punching and started to walk over when Brett started talking, "You’d loose in one second. She’s been training like that since the first grade. Except now she uses daggers. She gets them from this one Chinese store. Every time you see somebody with an injury here, you’ll know that she’s the one who caused it. Teachers don’t do anything about it anymore. She’s a lost cause, right Newberg?"
"Yep. She’s been in my office for over a thousand times this year. People just gave up on her." Newberg sounded sad about that. She was done talking by the time I got there.

I looked the new kid up and down. "You got a problem with me?" I asked. "And I believe I just heard a challenge."
"Yes, you did. So what?" New Kid said.
"You got guts kid. You know you really should listen to what he just said. Everything you just heard is true. What’s your name?" I asked.
"Quinn, why?" He said.
"I just like to know the names of the people I’m about to kill. C’mon. It’s about time I have a little fun." I said with my killing face on.
"Wait," Newberg said, holding both her hands up. "Erin, he hasn’t even gone to this school yet!"
"Fine." I said, "I’ll let you have one day of normality. Then after that, you are on my hit list." I walked away, pulled out my daggers, and started using them on a dummy.
"Nice knowing ya kid." I heard Brett say, "Waiting just makes her even angrier."

When I finally got home, my dad was passed out on the chair with the TV on. I just went straight down to my room and went to sleep.

I was five again, and my mom and I were in the kitchen, washing dishes. Daddy wasn’t home yet, and Mommy was getting worried.
Finally the front door slammed open. Then Daddy came into the kitchen, but he didn’t look like my Daddy. His eyes were red, and he was stumbling over his own feet.
Mommy picked me up and ran me down to my room. "Sweetie, you need to stay here, no matter what you hear, okay?" Mommy asked.
I just nodded, too scared to speak. Then Mommy left and I heard her go upstairs. I waited for about two minutes and snuck back up to follow Mommy.
I would never forget what I saw that night. Daddy was pushing Mommy around, and hitting her. He slammed her into a wall, and pulled something shiny out. A knife, a really sharp knife.
Then Daddy did something that I never thought possible before. He stabbed Mommy in the stomach and pulled it back out. Mommy just dropped to the floor, and I started screaming. That was when Daddy saw me.
He started coming toward me, but I ran straight over to Mommy.
Just before Mommy closed her eyes for good, she whispered, "I promise I’ll get you out of here." Then she was gone.
When I started crying even more, Daddy got a hold of a fist full of my hair, and dragged me down the steps. He threw me in my room, slammed the door, and locked it behind him.

I jumped awake, grabbing a dagger with me.
That one night my whole perspective of the world had changed. I couldn’t trust anyone. That one night, I didn’t see Daddy as Daddy anymore. Instead, I saw him as a monster. A monster who murdered my mother, and didn’t get blamed for it.
That one night, I realized that nobody could help me. I was on my own, so I had to deal with it on my own. I trained myself to be a fighter.
It was four o’clock in the morning, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. So I decided to go train before school started. Good thing we had showers in our locker rooms.
I packed my gym bag full of everything that I needed and left. My dad was still sleeping in the chair, so that meant I had to push my car out of the driveway.
When I was walking into the gym, somebody was there practicing. It was Quinn. Man, he really needs to work on his technique, I thought.
He stopped when he noticed me standing there.
"Scared?" He asked.
I had to laugh, "You wish," I said, "Nobody scares me when it comes to fighting. I’m the master here."
"Yeah, right. Like I’m going to believe that. There has to be somebody here who can beat you. Otherwise, how do you explain the scars and bruises?" he said.
"You know what?" I said through my teeth, "Once I beat you, you better learn your place. And just because I’m a girl, doesn’t mean that you can win."
I started using my punching bag, and Quinn was watching, open mouthed, when he thought that I couldn’t see him.
By the time I was done with my shower the five-minute bell rang, and I went to go to my locker.
Unlucky me, I had history with Quinn. At least tomorrow during lunch he was going down.
During lunch today, though, I went outside, not hungry. I didn’t want to hear any of the lunch room chatter. But then Quinn decided to grace me with his presence. "Nervous?" he asked.
"Of you? You’ve got to be kidding, right? I’ve seen your technique, it sucks by the way," I said.
"Whatever. Hey, you know what I’ve noticed?" He asked.
"No, what could you have possibly have noticed in this boring school that we call Denver High?" I said with heavy sarcasm.

Quinn just acted like I never said anything. "That nobody notices you, or they just don’t bother to see you." He said.
"Your point?" I asked.
"Doesn’t it get lonely?" He asked.
"Ha! Lonely! My god, newcomers. Sooner you'll learn. I like to be alone. That way nobody bothers me, and besides, I don’t have to worry about getting stabbed in the back or thinking somebody is not really who they are."
"There’s something else, isn’t there? Something that you’re not telling anyone." He said.
"Either you’re right or wrong, but you won’t find out, now will you?" I said.
"Yes, I will. I’m going to do a little research."
"See, that’s another reason why I keep myself so distant. That way people like you wont have anything to find. Plus, if you ask people, they’re just going to make up stories." I said. Then I left for the next class.
During fourth block, I fell into a dreamless sleep, thank god. I don’t know what I would do if I started screaming in the middle of the class.
After school, I had to work today. Not that I’m complaining, I just hope that Bob is working today.
When I got to the mall, I got a Starbucks first thing. Barnes & Noble was kind of busy today. A new book must have come out today, that’s usually was happens on days like this.
I checked into my shift, and went over to one of the most packed registers. The one employee working over there gave me a thankful look. I just smiled. I didn’t get a break at all today, too many people around.

Best part of the day, closing time.
"Hey Bob," I said, when he passed.
"Oh, hey kiddo. How’s it going?" Bob asked.
"Okay, I guess. No fighting today," I said. Bob was the only person who knew me more than other people. But I still didn’t tell him too much.
"Thank the Lord!" He said, jokingly.
"Hey, do you mind if I crash here tonight? I’m a little tired and don’t know if I can make it home," I said, using one of my many excuses.
"No problem," he said.
"Thanks, owe ya big," I called after him. All I heard was his laughter.
I grabbed a book from one of the shelves, and got comfy in a couch. I read till I fell asleep.
I was having another nightmare from one of my memories.

It was the first night I started my training. My dad was furious that I came home late. At first he started yelling at me, wondering where I was. I just told him that I’ve been at school the whole time, which I have been.
Then one thing led to another. I started screaming at him, then he slapped me. That got to me. I slapped, and punched him back whenever he hit me.
That’s what got him started. He pulled out his knife, the same shiny one he used to kill my mom with. Then he grabbed my arm and drew a deep line from my shoulder all the way down to my wrist on my right arm. He did it very slowly with the tip of the knife, so I would scream through every second of it. I couldn’t move, because the pain captivated me.

I woke up with a scream. Luckily Bob didn’t come.
From that moment on, I’ve always had that scar from shoulder, all the way down to my wrist, and I try to hide it as much as possible.
I looked down at my watch. Again, four o’clock. Well, I thought, might as well get going.

Chapter Two

BY THE TIME I WAS READY FOR SCHOOL, I HAD AN HOUR TO burn. The media center was open, I decided to go check my e-mail.
All of my mail is usually junk, but somebody actually wrote me this time. It said:
Erin, I promised you a way out, and I think I’ve found it. When I promised you, I meant it. I’ll explain all in due time, but soon you can get away from him.
-M.

Okay, who the hell is this? I thought, What did they mean by a promise? And who is the him that they’re talking about?
I tried to find out who e-mailed this to me, but there was no return address. If I clicked reply and tried to send something back, the stupid computer would say that I didn’t put in an e-mail address.
But then the five-minute bell rang, and I had to go.
When I was in history, Quinn was actually not talking to me. Thank God! But then I heard what he was talking about, ME.
"So what do you know about Erin?" He asked Rashell, some stupid blonde.
"Who?" She asked.
"Erin? Erin Foster?" Quinn said, clearly getting annoyed. Apparently he’s been getting a lot of that. I had to laugh at his face.
"Um…sorry, I don’t know who that is." Rashell said, then she left.
I walked over by Quinn, and asked, "Having fun?"
He gave me an angry look, and I laughed again.
"Do you know how hard it is to find stuff out about you? It’s really hard!" He said.
I smiled, "I know, I try to keep it that way. What’d you find out so far?"
"Only that you’re mean, and everyone, even the teachers, are afraid to talk about you. Oh, and you owe some girl some money to pay off her nose job." Quinn said, with a weird look on his face.
"Ha, ha. Lola, right?" I asked, still laughing.
"Yeah, I think so. Did you really damage it beyond repair?"
"No. She just didn’t fix it before it healed broken." I said. "I try not to do that much damage…in school." I said, then I walked away to go find Lola. The teacher didn’t even object to me leaving without permission.

Lola was in the hall with some friends. This is going to be too easy. I need a little bit of a challenge.
"Hello Lola." I said.
"Erin! What do you want?" Lola asked.
"I heard that you think I owe you money for your own problems." I said.
"I never meant it. I’m sorry. Please, just leave my face out of this." She was begging now.
"Just leave us alone, or I’ll go and get the teacher and-," said a girl I didn’t recognize. Lola broke her off with a, "Shh!"
"Teacher? You must be new, Honey, teachers can’t stop me. I’m above them. And anyway, they’re all too scared. I’m invincible at this school." I said, and Lola was just nodding in agreement with me. "Fine, you can go. We’ll just call this a warning." Then they left running.
Instead of going back to class, I went to the gym. They had a class going on right now, but kids were smart enough to get out of my way. Same with the teachers. No one would bother me, plus, I needed the practice before lunch today. Today is the day Quinn and I face off. Everyone is feeling sorry for him. They all know that he’s on my hit list.
Lucky me, the class was all new seventh-graders. They’ve heard the "rumors," but they don’t believe them. They also don’t know that it’s me that they heard about.
There was a kid using my punching bag. Time for him to get lost, I thought.
"Hey, this is my punching bag. So move!" I said.
"I don’t see your name on it." He said. Oh, great, a smart allelic.
I smiled, "You wanna bet." I pointed to my name carved on the top.
"Yeah, right. Erin Foster. Some kid just did that to try and scare us. And isn’t he supposed to be a boy?" he said.
"Fine," I said, "I’ll fight you for it. After all, I’m just a girl. It’s, like, impossible for me to win." I was twisting a piece of hair around my finger to add some effect.

He agreed with a wicked smile on his face. I waited for him to try to punch me first. I grabbed his wrist, pulled him toward me and spun him around, so he was facing the same way as me. Then I put his arm behind his back. By this time, everyone in the gym was watching. I kicked his knees out from under him, so he was kneeling.
"Does this mean I win, or do you need a broken bone?" I asked.
All he said was "Who are you?"
"I told you, I’m Erin Foster. Next time you hear about me beating someone up, you better believe it." I said, with as much seriousness I could fit into my voice.
"Fine, it’s all yours," he said. Then under his breath, "I can’t believe I got beat up by a girl."
"Hey, consider yourself lucky. I’m saving all the pain for somebody else, today." Then he left.
I was training until the bell rang. Lunch would be it’s busiest half way through, and I love my audience. Plus, it would make Quinn more nervous.
When I got there, he was waiting in the doors.
"Sorry I’m late, I was in the gym." I said with fake sincerity in my voice.
"It’s okay," he said, "I was just thinking that we should make this a little more interesting."
"Like, how?" I asked. I was intrigued.
"We should make a deal. If I win, you tell me everything about you that I want to know," he said.
"Okay, but, when I win, you leave me alone for good. You can’t even look in my direction. No more talking about me. Is that a deal?" I said.
"Okay, deal." Then we shook hands, and it started.

I dodged and blocked every hit he tried to get on me. I already gave him a bloody lip. People were starting to gather around. Fights always got people interested, especially when it involved me.
"Looks like you finally met your match," Quinn said, getting cocky.
"Not quite." I side kicked him in the ribs, then I jumped and spun, and kicked him in the shoulder. I avoided his head and neck, because it would either kill him or paralyze him. Quinn fell to the floor. "Guess that means I win. No surprise there." I said.
Teachers were running towards Quinn, and everybody was getting out of my way. I went outside and got to my car.
I didn’t want to go home, but I didn’t want to go back inside. So I decided to just go to the park.
I left the parking lot in a daze. I was thinking about the past, and I remembered my mom’s last words to me, "I promise I’ll get you out of here." And then I remembered the e-mail and made the connection. But there was no way anyone would have known about that. Not even my dad, he was too far away to hear it.
When I got to the park, I went straight to the swings. But I still don’t know who M is, I thought, Unless . . . Something interrupted my train of thought. I saw someone walk behind the trees.
"Hello?" I called, getting up, "Anyone there?" I started walking over, when the bushes rustled.
That was when he stepped out. He was pale-white and had emo style, jet-black hair. He was about six feet tall, and had the most beautiful light blue eyes that I have ever seen. They were almost hypnotic. And of course, he was drop dead gorgeous.
"Who are you?" I asked when I found my voice.
"I’m Matt Danvers, you?" he asked.

"Apparently you don’t go to my school, otherwise you would already know," he gave me a questioning look. "Erin Foster, most infamous person at my school. They fear me." I said. I made the last part sound like an awesome thing.
"What do you mean?" He asked.
"Let’s just say, you don’t want to get in my way." I said, "So, where are you from?"
"Arizona."
"Then what are you doing over here?" I asked.
"I was actually looking for someone."
"Well, good luck with that," I said, just about to leave.
"Do you know where I could find someone that used to go by Dragonfly?" He asked, just before I completely turned. I froze where I was. My mom used to call me that all of the time before she died.
"What do you want with her?" I asked.
"I’m here to help her with something," he said.
"Well, you’re too late. She’s already gone."
"Do you know were I could find her?"
"I’m sorry, but she died a long time ago." I said, turning away again.
"No she didn’t, cause I’m staring at her right now." Matt said.
"If you knew it was me, then why did you ask?" I said.
"Just wanted to make sure."
"I don’t go by that anymore, so technically, she doesn’t exist." I looked down at my watch. It was already past four o’clock. "Shit. I’ve got to go." Just when I was about to walk away, he grabbed my wrist. I spun around and kicked him, but he caught my ankle just inches away from his face.
"Let go of me!" I yelled. He was still holding my leg and arm, so I jumped up and spun sideways over him to get free. I landed two feet away from him, and I got in my fighting stance, ready for whatever comes.

Matt just looked at me, surprised. "I wasn’t expecting this from you." He said.
"I had to learn how to fight to stay alive. Like I said, Dragonfly died when I was five. She was too weak. She couldn’t survive." I said, not lowering my arms.
"Oh, come on. It can’t be that bad."
"You have no idea. It’s way worse than anything that you’ve had to endure, I’m sure."
"What? Your mom ground you? Your dad yell at you? Am I getting close?" He asked.
He was really getting on my nerves, "You know? You are so lucky right now. I really have to go." This time I actually made it to my car.
When I got home, my dad was up and . . . pacing? That was new for him.
"Finally. Where have you been? Never mind. What happened today at school? Somebody called me asking about you, and then I got parents on another line, complaining about you. What happened?" he said looking really mad.
"Oh, you know, the usual." I said.
"Dammit girl! Stop being stupid!" Wow. He sounded . . . worried about something. Oh my god, I thought, he thinks somebody actually believed me. It is so payback time.
"Well, let’s see. We got a new kid. I told him everything. He believed me, and he said he was going to call the cops. You’ve got until five." I said, totally playing it.
"You are such a fucking liar!" and just like that, he cut me in the face. If that scarred he is so dead.
I was just about to punch, but he got me in the ribs and just like that, I was five years old again.
"Get out of my face!" he yelled.
I ran down to my room. I punched my wall leaving a dent. "God! What happened?" I said to myself.

I looked in the mirror at the cut on my face. It wasn’t deep enough to scar, but it was going to be a red line for a few days.
I kept looking in the mirror, first at my big round eyes. They were a jade green. Then at my long black hair, that went down to the middle of my back. I had full, red lips, and a medium sized nose. Just by looking at my face you wouldn’t think that I have gone through everything that happened in my life. And you wouldn’t think that I knew how to fight.
I looked down at my ribs. They weren’t broken, but they hurt. I was probably going to get a huge bruise there, though.
When I got back to my room, after I was done cleaning the blood off my face, Matt was sitting on my bed.
"What the hell?!" I yelled. "How did you get in here?"
"The window," he said, as if it were a normal thing.
I waited for him to say more, but he was just looking at me. "Then, why are you here?" I said loosing my patience.
"Somebody told me to come here and help you."
"Who?" I was really annoyed with his short answers.
"Someone of great importance."
"Well, I don’t need your help." I said.
"Clearly," he was looking at my cut, "That looks like it hurts, by the way."
"It’s nothing. I don’t even feel it." I just gave up on him. He wasn’t being any help. I just sat down on my bed next to him.
"I’m surprised that you didn’t even get him. Especially with the way you acted earlier with me." He said.
"Sorry about that. It’s . . . a reflex, I guess you could say." I said.
"Why is that?" He asked.
"I don’t know. I guess I just feel like I’m five years old again. That same innocent, little girl, who saw something that nobody ever, should see. Ever since then, I’ve been trying to forget it, but I just can’t." And for the first time, in a long time, I started crying.
I’ve been fighting these tears for the longest time that they finally caught up with me. I couldn’t stop crying. It felt like hours before I finally fell asleep. Matt never left my side that night. He just sat there holding me, and I fell asleep in his arms.

When I woke up, it was already nine o’clock. Oh well, I wasn’t planning on going to school today, anyway. Matt was sitting in the chair on the other side of the room.
Oh god, I thought, did last night really happen? I broke down in front of a guy I knew nothing about!
I just wanted to stay there and make him think I died in my sleep, but he probably already knew that I was awake, so I sat up.
"Okay, before we talk about anything, I need to take my shower." I said, "Just stay here, and don’t touch anything."
On my stomach you could see a huge black bruise forming. It covered half of my stomach.
After my shower, I just let my long black hair air dry. I put on a black tank top and jeans, making sure my hair covered the x on my back. But I wanted him to see the long scar on my right arm, so he knew what he was getting himself into. But first, I was going to make him talk.
I walked back into my room, grabbed my laptop, and sat down in the corner of my bed that was against the wall. I had to check my e-mail first. When he was about to talk, I just held up one finger.
I had a new message from the same person who sent the last e-mail.
Erin-
Matt is there to help you. Trust him with all of your heart, my little dragonfly. He is there for when I no longer can help you. I’ll explain more another time. Remember, trust him.
-M.

Oh my god! I know, I know who M is, I thought. "Okay, you have to tell me who you really are."
"What do you want to know?" He asked.
"How about what you really are, because I know my mom and she wouldn’t send anyone human to help me."
Matt looked surprised and amazed at the same time. "Yes, this girl does have brains. Now close your mouth before you get drool on my floor." I said.
"When did you figure it out?" Matt asked.
"Just now. So are you going to tell me or what?" I said. Just then, my computer beeped. I left it on my e-mail. It said:

I better explain.

Then there was this white shimmery light in my room. A figure started to appear, and then you could see her. At first, she was translucent, then she became solid.
"Holy shit!" I screamed.
"Watch your mouth." The woman said.
It was a good thing that I was already sitting down, otherwise I would have passed out.
"Now, come here and give your mother a hug." She said.
"Holy shi- . . . crap." I said.
"I can see that this is going to take awhile. Honey, you knew it was me sending the e-mails. What happened?" Mom said.
"It was just a guess! And it’s different when you just appear out of thin air!" I was going into hysterics now. "And if you could just appear like that, why didn’t you ever come back?"
"Because, I only promised you a way out. Besides, this isn’t my world anymore. I don’t belong here like you do." She said.
"Is there anything else that I should know about?" I asked, not really sure if I wanted to.
"Um . . . well, you were right about Matt not being human." Mom said.
"Great. I knew there was something different. No human could have blocked that kick fast enough." I said.
"Well, you see, Matt is a . . . a vampire." She tried to say it as slowly as she could.
"Holy SHIT!" I screamed again, and my mom just gave me a look. "You’re kidding me, right?"
"No, honey. Look, Dragonfly, I know it’s hard to take in, but you have to. It’s your only way out." Mom said.
"God, I have such a headache," I said under my breath. "Wait, then how does he fit into all of this?" I asked, pointing over at Matt.
"Well . . . he’s your new guardian." Mom said.
"My what?" I said.
"Your guardian." She said again.
"O-okay," I said slowly, "But why wait till now?"
"You’ve always had a guardian, you just didn’t know about it. Remember your first grade teacher, Ms. Hardwick?" She asked.
"Yeah, she was the one who got me training at first. What about h- Oh, My, God. She was my guardian, too." I said, disbelieving.

My mom just nodded. "She wasn’t the only one, and when she disappeared, more came to help you."
"Wait, how did she disappear?" I asked.
"Your father. He’s been killing all of your guardians that we sent out."
"Who’s we?" I asked getting so confused.
"Your past guardians who look down here to make sure that you’re all right. They’re all up there with me."
"Of course," I said quietly.
My mom smiled, "But we couldn’t risk anymore humans to get killed by him, so we had to find someone indestructible, naturally it would be a vampire."
"The one thing I still don’t get," I said, "is why I would need a guardian in the first place."
"You’re not ready to hear that answer yet. Anyway, you’ve had enough information shoved down your throat for one day. Just know that Matt is here to protect you, and to help you when I no longer can." She said.
"Again, what do you mean by that?" I asked.
"I’ll tell you later when you are ready." She said.
There was a loud bang upstairs. Dad, who else.
"Erin! Where the fuck are you?!" My dad yelled.
"Now I know where you got your swearing problem from." Mom said.
"Hey, it’s not my fault. The person who you grow up around has the most influence on you. So if you want to blame someone, blame him." I said.
"You know what?" She said, "I think I’ll go and do just that."
"Mom, I-"
"Don’t worry, Dragonfly. I’ll be okay. He can’t hurt me, I’m already dead."
"Fine, just make sure you give him a heart attack while you’re at it."
"Will do." Then she left.
I could hear them upstairs, "Alan, remember me?" My mom said.
"Holy Shit! You’re supposed to be dead. I killed you for a reason, so I could get to her. So I could use her power." This got me listening really hard. Power? What power? Matt was just watching my face.
"You don’t know, do you?" Matt asked.
"Know what? What aren’t you telling me?" I asked.
He just shook his head, and then we heard a loud thud from upstairs. Dad. Mom must have gotten to him.
Mom came back down, "Erin, I have to go. I’ll be back sometime tomorrow, and don’t worry about your father. He won’t be bothering you for a while." Then she looked at Matt before she left, and he nodded, like they were having some silent conversation. Just like that, she was gone.

Chapter Three

"OKAY, WHAT AREN’T YOU GUYS TELLING ME?" I ASKED.
"Nothing that you need to worry about right now. We’ll explain more tomorrow." Matt said.
"But what did she say to you before she left?" Matt made a face that said ‘You seriously saw that?’ "And yes, I saw that! I’m not blind! And what powers were they-" Matt cut me off.
"Tomorrow. I promise." He said it like he actually meant it. Just then, my stomach started growling. "When was the last time you ate?" he asked.
"Um . . . I skipped lunch yesterday to kick some guys ass, and the lunch before that, so . . . lunch, two days ago." I made it sound like a question.
"Come on. We better get you something to eat before you pass out." That was different. I wasn’t used to having people take care of me.
"No, I’m fine. I’ve gone with out eating for five days straight before. I’ll be fine." I said, trying to make my world feel normal again.
"But then your blood won’t taste as good." He said jokingly, but I still took it as a threat.
I froze, but then scowled up at him, "Try anything, and I will kick your ass. I seriously will stake you."
He started to laugh, "As if you could. It would probably break on impact. Nothing can hurt me. Except my own kind. They only way to kill vampires is to rip us up and burn us."
"What about the whole sunlight thing, then?" I asked.
"Myth, sunlight doesn’t affect us. Oh, and we don’t sleep in coffins, either. We actually can’t sleep."
"What about the . . . fangs?" I asked.
"These?" He said, then he pointed to his canines, which just instantly grew two inches longer. I stared, wide-eyed, as they went back to normal size. "Cool, huh?" he said.
"Not really," I had to find my voice before I could speak, "Anyway, I have to go to work today. So . . . later."

When I was turning away, he grabbed my wrist; "You’re not going anywhere. I promised your mom I would keep you safe."
"For your information, I don’t need a protector. In case you haven’t noticed, I can take care of myself." He just shook his head.
"Well, can I at least go to the gym? Nobody will bother me there." I said.
"Fine, but I’m coming with you." Matt said, and I rolled my eyes.
"Whatever, just don’t bother me. I need to be able to concentrate. And act like you don’t know me. My rep is just how I like it, thank you very much."
"What? Everybody afraid of you?" Matt gave me an ‘Are you serious?’ look.
"Exactly," I said. Then we walked out the door. Matt wouldn’t let me leave eyesight unless I was in the locker room. God, he’s taking bodyguard too seriously. I definitely have to file a complaint.
I got into a couple of fights. Matt would always drag me away before I knocked them out. One of the times I actually kicked him in the face. Serves him right.
"Are you always like this?" He asked after dragging me away for the seventh time.
Some girl passed and said, "Sometimes worse. You should see how she is at school. She’s completely ruthless. No one dares to get in her way, not even the teachers."
"Back off!" I yelled at her, and she ran away, scared to death.
"I’ve never seen you like this before, Erin. It’s kind of scaring me." Matt sounded worried.
"Well, no one said that you had to watch." I said back with acid in my voice.
Matt actually looked frightened. Not from me, but for me. Nobody has ever looked like that at me before. And then I realized that it was sympathy, and I hated it. I didn’t need anyone’s sympathy, and I certainly did I not want it. I just got mad all over again, and I had to fight.

Fighting was always the only way I could release my anger. It was my venting style. I drain all of my anger through energy. That’s how I’ve always done it, and it always works.
I walked past Matt, and pulled out my ipod. I set it to all of Linkin Park songs. One Step Closer . . . perfect. It describes all of my anger.
I got all of my hits to go along with the beat, so it sounded like it was part of the song. An evil smile was creeping on my face, and Matt just gave me a questioning look. I got a perfect spinning kick in just as the song ended.
Nobody bothered me for the rest of the day, because they could tell that I was pissed. I was just paying attention to the music. Nothing else existed. It was just me, the punching bag, and the music.
Somebody grabbed my shoulder, and I spun and kicked, aiming for the head. Just inches away from contact, a hand grabbed my ankle. Dammit! I thought, It’s Matt.
I pulled out my earphones, "What?" I was yelling.
"Do you always have to try and kick me every time I touch you?" Matt asked.
"Yes, I do. I don’t like anybody touching me. Now let go!" I said yanking my leg away. "What do you want?"
"Just letting you know that they’re locking up." He said, "We better get you home."
"I don’t need a babysitter. Why don’t you just leave?"
"Sorry, I’m under strict orders." Then he pointed up, and I knew what he meant. My mom. Why did she think I needed a bodyguard for? I can take care of myself. Wasn’t she watching all of these years? And why now? I’m seventeen, and I’ll be eighteen in September. I’ll be able to leave for good in four and a half months. So why now?
We walked to the car in silence, and then that was when all hell broke loose.
My dad was speeding down the street to the parking lot.
"Get out of here," I told Matt, but he wasn’t moving. I looked up at him, and for a second I was bedazzled. But I got my anger back quickly. "Go! Now!" I yelled at him, "I can take care of myself!"
"Fine." He said, clearly not happy, "But if anything goes bad, I’m coming back." And I know that was a promise he was going to keep. In a blink of an eye, he was gone. He just disappeared.

My dad slammed his brakes when he was in front of me. He stopped just inches away from my legs. He got out of his car, and slammed the door. He wore that same monster face when he killed my mother.
At that moment, I wasn’t five anymore. I realized that I was stronger than I thought. I could feel like a tingling feeling running up and down my arms, and into my fingertips.
Instead of yelling at me first, he came running after me. He was starting with a punch, and I dodged it just by inches. I kicked him in the gut, and I heard all of his air coming out of his lungs.
He wasn’t used to me winning, so he pulled out his knife. Now this wasn’t a fair fight. He kicked my legs out from under me, and I fell to the ground. He put his hand around my neck and put the tip of the blade under my chin.
In that moment, something happened. The power in my veins increased, and somehow, I knew what I needed to do. I half-fisted my hands and let the power take over me. Then all the glass from the windows on all of the cars around us shattered, and came flying toward my dad. They just left minor cuts on him, but it was enough to distract him so I could get up.
He didn’t try to attack me again. Instead, he looked at me and… smiled?
"You’re ready." Was all he said, then he left in his car.
I felt really weak, and my vision was getting blurry. When Matt came back, he was smiling, too.
"What was that?" I asked breathless. Then everything went black. The last thing that I remembered was Matt catching me before I hit the ground.

  

When I woke up, I couldn’t remember anything that had happened. How long was I out for?
I was looking around my room for Matt, when I realized that this wasn’t my room. It was... Where was I?
I really need to find Matt, I thought, and quick.
I jumped out of bed way too fast. The room started spinning, and my legs felt like jelly. I fell back on the bed. I was way too tired to move, so I had to wait for Matt to come to me.
As if he had just heard me, Matt came in the room.
"Hey, you’re finally awake." He said.
"Yeah, where the hell am I?" I asked, almost yelled.
He sighed. Apparently he didn’t miss my yelling at all. "In a cottage, in the middle of nowhere. It was your mom’s. We didn’t think that it was safe for you to go back to your house since your dad knows."
Every detail was starting to come back to me now. The fight, the car windows, the glass, and . . . fainting. "How long was I out for?" I asked.
"About two days," He shrugged, "It’s no big deal. After all you did use a lot of power for your first time."
"Wait. So you’re saying that I broke all of the windows form the cars and threw it at my dad? Me?" I was more confused than ever.
Matt just laughed, "Yes, you did." I stared in wonder. I had no idea I could do that.
"You also used your magic for something else." He pointed out.
"What?"
"Your fighting." As soon as he said that, I remembered the tingling sensation through my veins just before my dad punched. When I dodged my dad’s fist. That must have been when I used it before the cars. "Oh. My. God." I whispered.
"C’mon. We’ve got to get you something to eat. It’s been, what? Five days since you last ate?" He said. Then he helped me up and over to the kitchen. And, sure enough, my mom was sitting right there.
"I am so proud of you!" My mom was very excited, and for what reason? I did not know.
"Mom, you’ve got some serious explaining to do." I said.
Matt helped me into a chair. I put my hands to my temples. Man, this whole power thing gave me a headache. But I wasn’t sure if it was from using power, or just the idea of me having power.

My mom set a bottle of Advil down in front of me, and I snatched it up quickly. I was about to take three, but I decided that it wasn’t worth the fight. Just before my mom took the Advil back, she set a plate of pancakes, eggs, and bacon on the table. Then she said, "Eat first, questions later." I dug in without arguing.
"So, what’s the deal with these…powers?" I asked, "When did I get them?"
"Dragonfly, you were born with them," Mom said.
"What?!" I squeaked.
"I better start from the beginning." She said. "You’ve always had a great destiny ahead of you. Since the day you were born, I knew what you were going to become, and . . . unfortunately, your father did, too. He was always trying to figure out ways to use you for his own benefit. But during that time, I wasn’t just your mother, but also your guardian. And I wouldn’t allow it. So, he got rid of me, or so he thought. You were never truly told about your birthright. When I died, I took it over for you, until the time came when you were ready to accept your throne.
"You see, I’m not a regular angel, at least for the time being. Before I died, I made two promises to you that I swore to keep. One, when you were born. I promised to protect you from any danger, and the second, just before I died. I promised to find you a way out. Both of which apply together. Because of those promises, they left me Earth bound, which meant only one thing. I had to temporarily take your place so I could do those things. My power will never be as strong as yours, since you are the real Vampire Goddess."
I thought my heart stopped beating for a minute, and I realized that I wasn’t breathing. "I’m a what?!" I said in barely a whisper.
"I know it’s hard to take in at first, but you are the rightful heir to the throne, by blood. It has skipped four generations of my bloodline, and went straight to you. Probably because you are the strongest woman I have seen in my family. And your powers are much greater than those before you. You are the Vampire Goddess, and you will be for al eternity if you choose to except your title."
I was hyperventilating now.

"You have power like no other. Human and vampire alike. The power of all four elements. No one can control you, you control them. You have the power to talk into people’s minds, and read their thoughts. You can teleport from place to place. You are stronger and faster than anything in the world. You are the one and only Vampire Goddess-"
"STOP SAYING THAT!!!" I screamed. My mom looked surprised, but Matt looked like he saw it coming. "My life is already fucked up enough without your help! So stop adding to it!"
When I got up, my chair fell down to the floor, I ran outside, slamming the door behind me. I had no idea where I was, or even where my car was, so I ran into the nearest hiding place that I could find. The woods.
The trees didn’t let that much sunlight in, so it was perfect. I kept running, until I thought I was in deep enough that they wouldn’t find me. I saw a cave and went in. I needed dark, and I needed quiet.
I was pissed off and scared at the same time. Pissed off, because, if it was all true, then I should have known about it a long time ago. Scared, because I was starting to believe that they were telling the truth. I could not handle this. It was too much for me. And why now? Out of all the time in the world, why did it have to be now? I was too angry to cry, and I was too upset to fight. I was stuck in a nightmare. My own personal hell. And I had no clue what to do.
My head started spinning, and the tingling sensation was spreading through me again. I could feel power emanating from my heart. All of a sudden, there was fire surrounding me. I jumped to my feet, but I was trapped. There was no way out, and I was feeling light headed again.
I was pressed up against the wall of the cave, and I was so scared. There was no way that I wanted to die like this. I was just about to scream, but flames started covering my arms. It didn’t hurt; all I could feel was warmth.
Fire must not hurt me, I thought. I was getting calmer, and the fire started getting smaller. It was no longer on my arms. Once you got used to the fire surrounding you, it was kind of relaxing. I sat down against the wall, watching the flames dance through the air.
My head was swimming. I couldn’t think straight, and my vision was getting blurry. It took me a couple minutes to realize that I was crying.
Everything in my life always went wrong. First with my mom, then my dad. Now this. And worst of all, I think I was falling in love. Completely head over heels. And I was scared. Every time I let someone in, something bad always happens to them. I knew that Matt was basically indestructible, but I didn’t want to test it. I also didn’t know how he felt.

"Erin!" Matt yelled, as if he was on queue
I didn’t yell back, instead I made the flames grow bigger. I wanted to be alone, and I didn’t want him to see me cry again. Matt wouldn’t dare to walk through the flames. It would be to his death. That was the only way to kill a vampire, after all. I didn’t know how I knew that. It was just an instinct.
"Erin!" Matt called into the cave.
"GO AWAY!!" I screamed.
"I’m not leaving till you come out."
"Well, then it looks like you’ll be waiting for very long time."
"I can wait." He said, then it sounded like he sat down.
I kept a barrier of flames toward the entrance, so he couldn’t get through. It was quiet for about two hours before Matt spoke again.
"You know, you’re going to have to go to sleep sometime, right?" He asked.
"How do you know that I didn’t fall asleep yet?" I asked.
"Because if you did, your fire would have been extinguished. And as soon as they were out, I would have gotten you out of the cave and brought you back." He said.
That just made me mad. I made the flames rise and go closer to him, and I made a mini earthquake by him. All he did was laugh.
"Using magic like that just drains you faster." He said. And he was right; I was getting more and more tired by the minute. My fire went down by itself. He was right again. I can’t control my magic in my sleep. Why did everything have to be so complicated?
I was loosing my grasp on trying to stay awake, but I wasn’t going down without a fight. The flames were only six inches tall, but Matt still didn’t try to go over them, just in case.
The cave was getting more and more uncomfortable the longer I stayed there. And I was just too tired to do anything. I couldn’t believe what I was about to do.
I lowered the flames slowly, and waited for Matt to come in. I felt so much better after I let go of the magic. I was sitting up with my knees to my chest and my arms wrapped around my legs, when he came in. I wasn’t going to let him take be back. Instead, I was going to do something that I never do, unless I always win. I was going to make a deal with him.

I wasn’t going to leave this cave, but I also wasn’t going to sleep on the cold, hard floor.
"Okay, something’s up," Matt said, looking suspiciously at me, "You’re not asleep, but you lowered your only defense against me. What do you want?"
"You know me so well." I said sarcastically.
"Erin." Matt said with a stern look on his face. He looked kind of cute like that. Oh, god, Erin. Stop thinking like that, I told myself.
"I’m not going back there." I said. I was gaining some of my energy back.
"Why not? Are you trying to run away from who you are? Who you were meant to be?" Matt asked, accusingly.
I sighed, "No. But I can’t go back there. At least, not right now. I can’t handle it, not yet."
He looked me in the eyes for the longest time, then he finally spoke, "Fine, but you’re going to be stuck with me for awhile longer."
That’s okay with me, I thought, I won’t mind at all. Then I said, "Whatever. I’m just really tired, so if you don’t mind." Then I remembered my car. Ha! I could sleep in there. It sure as hell would be a lot more comfortable than this. "Hey, where’s my car at?"
"Over by the house. Where do you think you’re going?"
"Where does it look like I’m going? To get my car, duh." I said.
Before I could get even close to the entrance of the cave, Matt had both of his arms around my waist. "You’re not going anywhere. You need to get some sleep. We can get it later." He said. Then he pulled me down to the floor with him.
I just found my voice, "Why are you so pushy?"
"Because it’s the only way to get you to do anything." He said.
I was scowling in the dark, "I hate you." I said with as much venom I could put in my voice.
He just silently laughed, "I know." He whispered it in my ear, and it sent chills down my spine. Why did he have to torture me so much? Life is just cruel to me.
My eyelids were growing heavier and heavier. I couldn’t keep my eyes open anymore. Before I knew it, I was out like a rock.
I was having another nightmare of a past nightmare.

It was just two years ago. The last time that I ever gotten detention. I beat up a kid for calling me a bitch. I gave him a broken arm, bloody nose, black eye, swollen lips, a few broken ribs, and a sprained ankle. They called my dad, and he had to hire an attorney to keep me out of juvie. My dad had to pay a ton of money for that attorney, and he made me pay for it later.
We won the case, but sometimes I wished that we had lost. The day after the trial, it started. He made me stay home from school for two weeks. He was always careful not to break any bones. Mostly, he just used his knife, and most of the damage went to my back. I have over twenty scars on my back and shoulder blades. And there was one that I remembered specifically.
It was the very last one that he did, and it took forever to heal. It was a x across my whole back. I remembered everything that happened like it was yesterday.
He grabbed me on my upper arm and threw me into the wall, front first. He pushed my face into the wall, pinning me there. I was trying to scream, but tears surrounded it, so nothing came out. He cut the back of my shirt open, so it was out of the way.
He started at the top of my right shoulder blade, and pressed to leave a mark in my bones. He went all the way down to the left side of my hip, pressing hard the whole time. I was screaming bloody murder.
When he was done with the other side, I just laid on the floor crying. I couldn’t move, and I was hoping that I would just bleed to death, but now I know why I didn’t. I wasn’t meant to die. Since I wasn’t moving, my dad came back over and went over the x again. It hurt so much more, and I was screaming even louder.

I woke up screaming.
"Erin. Shh, it’s okay." Matt said in a gentle voice. I was crying now. I couldn’t control the tears that were coming out.
I was leaning against Matt, and he was rocking me back and forth.
"Shh, it’s okay," he kept repeating it until I started to calm down.
When I was done crying, I pulled away from Matt, and folded up into the smallest ball I could fit into.
"Erin, you’ve got to tell me what that screaming was about." He said.
I shook my head, "No." I said.
"You have to, Erin." He said.
"No!" I yelled, "I am not going to relive it a third time!"
"Wait," he sounded confused. "What do you mean a third time?"
"I mean, it really happened two years ago!" I said, trying to keep the tears back again.
"What really happened?" he asked. Again, with the pushiness.
"You’re going to make me show you, aren’t you?" I asked. He just waited.
I sighed, and stood up. I had him stand, too. I turned around, and lifted the back of my shirt up.
"Holy Shit." I heard him whisper. I think it was the first time that I actually heard him swear. It was kind of cute.
I pulled my shirt back down, and walked back over to the wall and sat down. I curled back up into my little ball, and looked up at him. I could see the worst thing that anybody could ever look at me with in his eyes. And I hated it so much. Sympathy.
"Erin, I’m-" he started to say but I cut him off. "No, listen. I don’t want your sympathy. Every time people look at me, that is all I ever see in their eyes. Anyway, there isn’t anything that anyone could have done for me. It was two years ago. So stop feeling sorry for me. I don’t need it, and plus, I hate it."

He didn’t say anything for a while. Then he came over by me, and knelt right in front of me, so we were at eye level. His face was just inches from mine. "Erin," he said. He was waiting for me to look up at him before he continued.
"What?" I finally said, looking into his eyes. I saw something in his eyes that didn’t make any sense. I’ve never seen that look before.
"You don’t have to go through this alone." He said. Then he put his hand was on my face, leaned forward, and kissed me.
Oh. My. God. I thought. I had no idea what was going on. I was so confused. Somehow, this made me lose control of my magic. I could feel it slipping through my veins, and the first thing that I felt coming was fire.
I pulled away, and slid back about five feet, just in case.
"Erin, I-" Matt was cut of by the fire that came to life around me.
"Sorry about that," I said, "I guess it’s kind hard to control my magic when something like that is happening."
He smiled, "I guess we’ll have to be more careful about that then, won’t we?" he said. Then he pulled me back over to him. This time, I was the one who started the kiss, and it lasted longer than the first one. But, eventually my powers did get messed up. The earth started shaking below us first, and that was our queue to stop. Then fire was bursting everywhere, but I made sure that none of it got close to Matt.
He started laughing. "I think I’ll take this as a compliment, for the reason your power is messed up." He said.
"Usually my power doesn’t get out of hand unless I’m angry." I said. Matt just scowled at me, and I smiled back.
I yawned. It was still night, or at least I thought it was. It was hard to tell in these woods. I was leaning against Matt, and he was tracing part of the long scar on my right arm. He had a sad look in his eyes.
"Hey, what’s wrong?" I asked.
"Can you honestly ask that?" Matt said.
I just looked up at him, confused.
He sighed, "You’re like a walking dartboard to him. It’s just hard to see you like this."
"Okay, first of all," I said, "I’m nobody’s dartboard." He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "And second, he can’t hurt me anymore."
"I know." He said. Then he kissed my forehead. "Get some sleep, and try not to have anymore nightmares. That scared the shit out of me." I gave him a surprised look. "I know. I’ve been hanging around you too much." He said, smiling.
"Glad my presence had a good impact on you," I said, "That goodie-goodie routine was getting annoying."
He rolled his eyes, "Go to sleep." He said, pushy, yet again.
Before I knew it, I was out. I woke up once from my sleep. It felt like there was wind on my face, but I wasn’t up long enough to find out.
Chapter Four

MY DREAMS WERE FILLED WITH NON-REALITY. THEY WERE about what my life would have been like without these powers. What it would be like if I had a normal family and friends . . . What it would be like without Matt. But, somehow, I couldn’t see that life. It was impossible, even though I was living that life up until a couple days ago. It was really strange. I don’t know what’s going to happen to me if Matt decides to leave.
I was starting to wake up, and I realized that there were stone arms wrapped around me. And I wasn’t on the cave floor anymore. I don’t even think I’m in the cave anymore.
When I opened my eyes, I realized that I was in the cottage room again. The same place that I made Matt promise not to bring me back to. I told him that I wasn’t ready to face her again. If I saw my mom before I was ready, I might just blow up the whole place.
I sent a message to Matt telepathically, ‘You better have a good explanation for why I’m back here!’
"Okay, don’t get mad, please." Matt said out loud, "Just let me explain." We were both getting up to look at each other, and so I could scowl at him.
"Matt, you promised me that you weren’t going to drag me back here." I said, with a little bit of whining.
"No," he said, "You promised you that I wasn’t going to drag you back here. There’s a huge difference." I just gave him my angriest look, then said, "But I told you I wasn’t ready to talk to her again."
"I know, but that won’t be a problem. She’s not coming back down till you’re ready for her to."
"Really?"
"Yeah, so I figured it would be okay to stay here. It beats that cave, right?"
"Fine, but if I see her before I’m ready, I’m out. Got it?"
"Yeah, works for me."
"Good." I said, then I left for the shower.

When I was done, I ate something to keep Matt off my back. Then I went out to practice with my powers. I wanted to see everything that I could do. It just felt so natural to me. Matt was watching, and every time I brought up fire, he would get really nervous, and take a few steps back. I always had to laugh at him for it.
"Do you actually think that I’m going to hurt you with this?" I asked after the twentieth time that he backed away.
"No, I trust you completely. It’s that I don’t trust." He said, pointing to the fire that I had on my hands.
I turned around to face him, and rolled my eyes. I extinguished my fire so he would stop worrying, and walked over to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, "Stop worrying so much. It seems like that’s all you do." I said.
"I am worrying too much, aren’t I?" he said.
"Yes, you are, and for no reason, too." He smiled down at me, then sighed, "It’s kind of hard not to, you know. I know that you can fight for yourself and all, but it’s kind of difficult to watch it."
"I’ve been fighting for myself since I was five. There’s no need to worry. Like I said before, I’m not same innocent little girl anymore. I had to get rid of her in order to survive." I said getting kind of angry. I had to calm down, or I was going to set something on fire, because fire was controlled by anger. That was how I got it started, and if I lost control over my emotions, then I couldn’t control any of my powers. Especially, fire.
I walked away from him, and put my hands to my temples. Why is this so hard? I thought.
"Where are my car keys?" I asked.
"Why?" He said.
"I have to go to the gym, and blow off some steam." I said, then he pulled them out of his pocket.
"Just try not to set anything on fire." He threw them to me.
"No guarantees," I said and walked out the door, slamming it shut behind me.
It was a long drive back to the school. I wonder why Matt brought me to a place so out of the way? I thought. But I didn’t worry about that right now. All I wanted, all I needed was a distraction from reality. I was surprised that Matt just let me leave. I would have thought that he would have come with me to protect me. God, I hated it when he would treat me like a baby.

When I got to the school, it was disserted. What was today, anyway? I looked on my phone, it said Sunday. No wonder why. Gym was always closed on Sundays. Great, I thought, So I came all the way out here for nothing?! Well, since I was here, I might as well grab a couple of thing from home. Like my daggers, I hated it when I left those things there.
When I pulled up, I could see my dad’s car in the driveway. Great, I’m going to have to face him now. I guess it would be okay if I set him on fire, though. Nobody would miss him, and he deserves it.
I got out of my car, and slammed the door. My dad was already waiting by the front door with a smug look on his face, like he knew I was coming.
"About time you come back home." He said.
"I’m not here to stay," I said, "I just came by to pick up a few of my things. You really must be an idiot if you thought that I was going to stay."
I could tell that he was getting pissed, but he didn’t come at me. He’s finally getting smart, I thought, He must know that I could set his ass on fire right now.
He let me pass him, and I went straight down to my room. My daggers were right where I left them. I could see the hilts underneath my pillow.
My dad followed me down to my room. I looked up at him, "What do you want?"
He smiled, and closed the door behind him; I didn’t like the look on his face.
"What I want, or more of what I need is you to do me a little favor." He said.
"You must be out of your mind if you think that I would do anything for you." I said, with venom in my voice. He just laughed.
"Oh, but you’re going to have to. That is, if you want your little boyfriend to live." He said.

This time, it was my turn to laugh. "As if you could hurt him. I thought you would have figured it out already, but I guess I over estimated you. Matt is indestructible, in case you haven’t noticed; he’s a vampire. He would be able to kill you before you could even try to hurt him."
"See that’s where you are wrong. I’m immune to all vampires. They can’t touch me." He said. I stared at him in disbelief. He kept going, "I’m even immune to you. Well, as long as I’m wearing this amulet." I was shaking my head. I couldn’t believe it, I wouldn’t. "That’s not possible. Nobody is immune to me. There isn’t anything that can stop me." I said.
"That may be true, if I didn’t make this. It has a lot of your blood mixed into the metal. That’s what gave it the reddish tint. Each drop of blood comes from your scars. It took me the longest time to make."
"It still doesn’t make sense, how it would make you immune to vampires." I said.
"Your power gives you your immunity, which just so happens to lie in your blood. Does that answer your question?" he said.
I didn’t believe a single word that he said. I couldn’t. "You forgot one thing though," I said, "I can still fight!"
I set my fists on fire, and started punching him. The fire didn’t leave any marks or burns on him. I tried to set him on fire, but nothing happened. "Impossible," I whispered. He smiled, and pulled out his knife. It was a good thing that my bed was behind me. I reached back, under my pillow, and grabbed both of my daggers.
My dad looked surprised. He never knew that I had them. I had a little more advantage than he did. I was more skilled with my daggers than he was with his knife. And I had two of them.
"Payback time." I said and gave him a few cuts on his face and arms.

I knocked him down and put my daggers pressed against his neck. I could easily decapitate him right now.
When I wasn’t paying attention to his knife, he got me in the side. It wasn’t deep enough to damage any organs, but it was still deep enough to scar and bleed like crazy. I pressed my hand against it so it wouldn’t bleed as much, and jumped up. I grabbed the sheaths for my daggers and ran out to my car.
I was loosing a lot of blood and my head was starting to spin. I had to stay conscious until I got back to the cottage.
I didn’t know how I did it, but I managed to drive the forty-five minutes back. When I pulled up to the house, I honked the horn. I was loosing my grip and sinking into darkness.
When I saw Matt coming, I opened my car door and tried to get up.
"What happened?" Matt asked. I could tell he was worried, and wanted an explanation, but he would have to wait.
"I need to talk to my mom." I said.
"But-" he was starting to say, but I cut him off, "No! Now!" My consciousness was ebbing away, and my head felt like it was going to explode. Everything was spinning and was making me feel sick.
Matt helped me inside and said me down on the couch, and then my mom showed up.
"What happened?" She asked, but by the way she sounded, it sounded like she already knew.
"I don’t know, you tell me! I didn’t even know he could do that! Did you?" I said.
"Actually, I did." My mom said, quietly.
"Okay, hold up." Matt said, "What’s going on? Who can do what, now?"
I sighed, and looked up at my mom before I spoke, "My dad is immune to my powers."
"When did you see you dad? I thought you were at the gym." He said.
"You’re failing to see the point here, Matt." I sighed again.
"Sorry," he said, "Are you absolutely sure about it?"
"Yeah, otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to get a scratch on me." I drew an intake of breath when I moved. God, this hurts, I thought.
"You okay?" Matt asked getting worried, "Do you need me to kill him for you?" He sounded like he liked that idea.
"No, you can’t," I said through my teeth. I was trying so hard not to scream.
"Why not?" He sounded confused.
"Because you won’t be able to hurt him. No vampire can. Since your bite can’t hurt me cause of my blood, it can’t hurt him. He wears my blood on that medallion of his. He mixed it in the metal." I said.
"He may be immune to my bite, but I can still rip him limb form limb." He said, not liking the immunity as much as I did.
"No, you can’t. He would just kill you before you get a hold of him. He knows your weakness." I said. Hopefully he will listen to me, for this one time.

The towel I was holding to my wound was soaked through. I needed this thing to get closed up, and fast. Blackness was coming over me fast. I could barely see through it. It was like this dark gray film was placed over my eyes, and my head was spinning. It was a good thing that I was already sitting down or I would have fallen over.
My mom knelt down to check the cut. "We better get this thing closed up," she said, "She’s loosing it." She left to get the first aid kit.
That was when Matt first noticed my daggers. He unfastened the sheaths from my belt and held them up. "This is what you went back for?" He asked.
"Yeah. You have no idea how many times that those things have saved my ass. Including tonight. They cost me a lot, too. Four thousand dollars each." I made it sound like he just asked me the stupidest and obvious question on the face of the earth.
He examined them. They had blood red sheaths, and the handles were blood red, too. The blades had engravings of a dragon on them. The dragons had fire coming out of their mouths. The fire was made out of red rubies that were cut flat. They looked has if the blade was stained red there, but you could tell that they were rubies. The dagger was as long as your forearm. That way they were easier to hide.
"I’m never going anywhere without those ever again." I said.
"That’s probably a good idea." Matt agreed.
My mom came back with a huge first aid kit. She got to work immediately. She had to use stitches, because it was deeper than I thought. It was a good thing that I was halfway gone, otherwise they would have hurt like hell.
About an hour later, she was finally finished. "Try not to move much," she said, "You don’t want to rip your stitches out. It would just get worse."
"Great, just what I love to do. Sit here for a couple of days, and do nothing." I said with a lot of sarcasm.
She acted like I didn’t say anything. "I’ll come back to check on you tomorrow. You should be fine with Matt here." Then she was gone before I could say anything else.
Matt sat down next to me, "There’s something that your not telling me, isn’t there." It was a statement, not a question.
"No, there’s nothing that you need to worry about." I said.
I couldn’t tell him that my dad was planning to use him against me. I just couldn’t. Matt would probably do something stupid, and go face my dad. I can’t believe that I’m going to admit this, but my dad may be mortal, but he’s no idiot when it comes to this stuff. He’s always been three steps ahead of my mom and me. He’s been ready since I was born. Now all I had to do was figure out what he wanted.
"You know, there’s nothing to worry about." Matt said, breaking me out of my reverie. My face must have looked worried, and I almost said, "It’s not me that I’m worried about," but I didn’t. I didn’t want him to start worrying, yet again.

I fell asleep on the couch. I didn’t want to risk moving. Matt offered to carry me to the bed, but I hated that idea. Mostly, because I wasn’t used to be taken care of. I always took care of myself.
I woke up in the middle of the night, from the pain of my cut. Matt must have gone out hunting, because he wasn’t around.
I just laid on the couch, starring up at the ceiling. I was trying to think of a way to beat my father. I kept replaying our conversation over and over in my head, but I couldn’t think of anything.
I heard something crash from inside the kitchen. I reached over to grab my daggers from the coffee table, which was in front of the couch, and sat up. Oh, screw the stitches, I thought. I was debating whether or not to get up because of them.
I walked slowly to the kitchen doorway. I had my daggers ready, just in case. Then I heard footsteps coming towards me. I pressed my back against the wall, by the doorway. They walked up to the doorway, and I could see their face.
I pressed one dagger to his throat and the other pointed at his stomach. He flipped on the light.
"Quinn?!" I said surprised, "What are you doing here?"
"Erin! God, I’ve been looking for you everywhere! What happened to you? You haven’t been to school for, like, weeks." He said, "You look like shit."
I forgot that I haven’t changed out of my shirt with all of the blood on it. "Yeah, I feel like it, too." I lowered my daggers. "Why do you care, anyway? I thought that everybody would be ecstatic that I was gone."
"They are, believe me. Especially, Lola. She can rule the school now, without you bothering her." I smiled at that.
"That still doesn’t answer my question," I said, "Why do you care?"
"Because you went missing. Does your dad even know where you are?"
"No, thank the lord, and you better not tell him, unless you want to be hospitalized for a year. Believe me, I can make that happen. How did you find me anyway?" I said.
"I saw your car out front," he said, "And I got nervous when I saw all of the blood."
"And you just so happened to be this far away from Denver, because…" I said.
"Okay, you caught me. I followed you here when you past the mall. I was just getting off of work, and you were going really fast."
"How long have you been here for?" I asked, getting nervous. How much did he hear?
"Ten minutes, I swear." He said. I could tell that he was telling the truth. "I lost you on the way coming in."
"Fine, your safe… for now." I said and walked back to the couch.
"So are you going to tell me what happened?" He followed me.
"Nope."
"Why not?"
"Because then, I would have to tell you everything, and I don’t have that kind of time. Even if I did, I couldn’t tell you anything."
"Don’t you trust me?"

I laughed, "Quinn, there is only one person on this earth that I can trust, and he’s not here at the moment." I said.
"He. Oh, I get it, your dad." Quinn said.
"My god, No! Especially not him. He’s the least trustable person on this earth." I said, disgusted.
"Then who?"
"None of your business." I said, "You know, you sound a little jealous."
He didn’t say anything. I tried so hard not to laugh, but I failed.
"Okay, Quinn. Get this through your head. Not going to happen. Unless you want your ass to get kicked again." He just nodded. "You better get your ass out of here. I need to get some sleep."
"Can’t I come back?" He asked.
"No." I said.
"Why not?"
"Because if you can find me, then that means that other people can find me. And I’m not willing to take that chance." I said.
"Fine." Then he left.
I waited for Matt to get back. I needed to talk to him. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait that long.
He walked in through the front door. Then he looked over toward the couch, and noticed that I was awake. He walked over to me, and sat down.
"Hey, I didn’t think that you would be awake." He said.
I nodded, and just stared down at my hands.
"What’s wrong?" He asked.
"Somebody snuck into the house." I said, like it was normal.
"What?!" he said.
"I already took care of it. It was just some kid from school. He was the one that I beat up the day that I met you." I said.
"He’s not going to say anything, right? Otherwise, I can do something about that.
I smiled, but otherwise ignored his last comment. "No, not unless he wants to be hospitalized. Anyway, he doesn’t know anything, accept where I’m hiding. We should be fine." I said.
"Okay," Matt sighed, "You should go back to sleep." Then he got up.

Falling asleep wasn’t really hard for me to do. I was lonely up for two hours, and I was already beat. I was out in less than a minute.
When I woke up, my mom was sitting on the chair next to me.
She was shaking her head at me. "You are so lucky!" She said, angrily.
"What did I do?" I said, not scared, but aggravated.
"You were so close to ripping your stitches out, that’s what. I warned you not to. What did you do? A few jumping jacks? Sit-ups? What?" She said.
"I take it, that Matt didn’t tell you what happened last night." I said.
"What do you mean, what happened?"
"Somebody broke into the house last night while Matt was out hunting."
"I don’t know, you tell me. Because, apparently, you were the one searching me while I was asleep." I said. Now it was my turn to get angry.
"I’m sorry, Dragonfly. I just wanted to make sure." She saw Matt slip into the kitchen. "I’ll be right back, okay?"
I just nodded. I knew what she was going to do, and I felt sorry for Matt, but, honestly, how could I stop a ghost? She’s already dead.
I could hear them shouting in the kitchen. They just kept going at it.
"How could you leave her alone?!" Mom said.
"She can take care of herself! She’s been doing that for all of these years!" Matt said. Finally he gets it! I thought, and smiled a little, but then it disappeared right away when I heard my mom.
"No, she hasn’t, guardians have! And, so far, you’re the worst one! Honestly, do you think that she can actually protect herself? Yeah, sure, she kicks ass at school, but she got a million scars from home. And when you leave her alone, things like last night will happen again and again." My mom kept yelling like there was no tomorrow.

I finally got sick of it. I got up, and walked into the kitchen.
"Mom, that’s enough! You seriously think that I can’t take care of myself? Your precious guardians never did anything for me, except make my life worse. Here’s a question for you, Mom. Where were your precious guardians each time that I got each scar, huh? Where were they every single time that I was home? If you really don’t have any faith in me, then why are you even bothering to help me in the first place?! Especially with everything going on in the first place! As long as my dad wears that amulet he is immune-" I cut off suddenly, and I got a smile on my face. "Holy shit!!"
"Erin, are you okay?" Matt and my mom asked at the same time.
I ignored them. I finally figured out how to beat my dad. I can’t believe that I haven’t seen it before. I’m so stupid! The amulet was tied on with leather strings, and all I needed to do was cut it off. Then I can blow up his ass.
"I need my daggers!" I ran out to the living room, but they were gone. "Where are they?!"
"You’re not going to get them back until you are fully healed." My mom said. Great, now she starts acting like a mother! I thought.
"No, you don’t understand. That could take weeks. I need to go NOW!!!" I said.
"Erin, what’s gotten into you?" Matt asked.
"You want to know? I finally figured out a way to kick my dad’s ass. With fire even." I said, smiling even bigger.
"But I thought that he was immune?" Matt asked, clearly confused.
"He is…for the moment." I said, "But I need to go now!"
"No! You need to heal first!" Mom said.
"Ugh!!!" I screamed. I stomped over to the bedroom and slammed the door behind me, and locked it. I fell onto the bed and just stared up at the ceiling. I wonder…I thought. I got an idea; it was worth a shot. I was going to try to heal myself.
I sat up in the middle of the bed and focused. I could feel the power emanating from my heart, and going down towards my wound. It got tingly, then it was gone.
I lifted up my shirt, and looked at the spot where the stitches should have been. All that was left was a sliver scar.
"YES!!!" I screamed.
"Erin, what’s going on in there?" My mom asked. Wouldn’t you like to know? I thought.
I opened the door. "I’m healed!"
"Impossible!" She said. I showed her the scar, and she had to look at the other side just in case. "I never thought that you could heal yourself. I’ve never heard of it." She breathed.
"Looks like you don’t have to worry about me anymore Mom. I’m going to go take my shower. When I get out, I want my daggers back on that coffee table by the time I get out." And I left for the shower.

Chapter Five

I WAS DRIVING DOWN THE HIGHWAY AS FAST AS I COULD GO. I just wanted to get this over with. Both of my daggers were tied to my belt, and I was ready for I fight. I had enough anger in me to kick some asses. I knew exactly what I was going to do. I had a plan.
My dad may be indestructible at the moment, but I was indestructible for life. I knew how to heal myself, and it doesn’t take long either.
I know that Matt is worried about me, I could tell when I left. I just hope he’s not following me. Just in case, I started searching for his mind with mine. I found him running a mile away, following my trail.
I entered his head, and started talking to him. ‘Matt, stop following me!’ I said.
‘Erin, are you trying to kill yourself?’ He asked.
I laughed, ‘You really don’t have any faith in me, do you? I know what I’m doing. I have a plan. He won’t be able to get a scratch on me. And if he does, I heal now.’ I said.
‘You said that last time, and you come back half bleeding to death.’ He sounded worried.
‘Matt, you’ve just got to trust me. Go back to the house, and wait for me there. I’ll be back shortly, okay?’ I said, hopefully he would listen to me.
‘Fine. I’ll go back, but I won’t like it.’ He stopped running and turned around.
I left his head. Finally somebody actually listens to me. Even though I’m going to be like the…goddess of vampires, they don’t really listen very well, I thought.
I was just getting into Denver. There was a lot of traffic, and it felt like all eyes were turned towards me. I forgot that people easily recognized my car.
When I stopped at a red light, I was right in front, and I saw somebody on the other side staring at me. They looked frightened, and I realized that it was Brett Hanson.
Just to have a little fun, I pulled out one of my daggers and rolled down my window. I stuck my dagger out the window to show it off. When Brett saw it, his eyes widened and he stepped on the gas, running the red light.
I started laughing, and I drove away, not caring if the light was still red or not. Cops were never around when you broke the rules.
I was just pulling up to my dad’s house, when I saw that he was waiting just outside the door.

He must’ve known I was coming. Question is, how? I thought. I got out of the car, and made sure that my daggers were hidden. Then I walked up to him.
"Ready for round two?" I said, smiling.
"Either your stupid, or you are ready to make the deal. Which is it?" he said.
"I’m listening," I said, just as an excuse so he wouldn’t know that I found a way to kill him, a very obvious way.
"Then let’s go inside, shall we?" he said.
"After you," I didn’t trust him behind me. He walked in and went straight to the fridge to grab a beer, no surprise there.
I went to the couch and sat down, making sure that my daggers weren’t showing.
"So, you’re actually ready to hear what I want? Finally decided that I you can’t hurt me?" He said as he was walking over to the chair, and sat across from me.
"I just figured that it wouldn’t hurt to keep my options open. I mean, considering the facts that I’m unbeatable to everyone, and your sort of unbeatable to me." I said.
He laughed, "Only ‘sort of’ unbeatable to you? Really?" he acted like he was hurt by that, "And about you being unbeatable to everyone, I would like to disagree with you on that. You can still get hurt by sharp objects and bleed to death." He smiled.
"Yeah, that may be true, but I can heal myself. So, no matter how many times that you try to stab me, I’ll just heal right away." I said, matter-of-factly.
"I don’t believe you." He said.
"Really? Guess I’m just going to have to show you," I said. I pulled out one of my daggers, and cut a line across my left arm. I wiped my blade on my dad’s shirt, and put my dagger back. Blood was dripping on to the carpet.
"You stupid girl," my dad said.
"Just shut up and watch." I snapped at him.
I concentrated on the cut, and felt my magic spread through my arm. Within seconds, it was completely gone.
"What the fuck?" He said under his breath. Then said louder, "This should definitely get me more money!"
That surprised me, "What money?" I asked.
He looked at me, "This is the deal, you let me bring you to the Romans and I leave your boyfriend alone. What do you say?"
"Romans?" I asked, totally confused.
"The Romans are the people that you will have to look after. They’re vampires."
"What do they want with me?"
"To control you," he made a face that said, "Duh, what did you think they wanted?"
"I don’t think so." I said, and I drew both of my daggers out. He was too slow to reach for his knife. I grazed one of the blades against his neck to cut the necklace off. It fell to the floor with a thunk.
"You bitch!!! You were planing that all along, weren’t you?" he yelled.
"Of course! You didn’t that I was going to give up without a fight, did you? Oh, and by the way, no one controls me. I control myself, and all vamps. They don’t control me." I put my daggers away, and surrounded him in a million flames. In a few minutes, he was charred to death.

I went searching around the house for more information on the Romans, but all I could find was the place and time of when he was supposed to meet with them. I grabbed it, and went back out to my car.
Just before I got in, I saw Quinn hiding in the bushes.
"How long have you been sitting there?" I asked.
"Long enough," he sounded scared.
"What the hell does that mean?" I asked.
"I saw what you did, without even touching him. How is that possible?" he asked.
"Okay, get your ass in my car. You’ve seen too much." I said.
"Are you going to kill me?" He asked.
"I don’t know. It depends if you actually listen to me, and do what I tell you to. And right now, you’re not doing a really good job." I said.
He got up and walked over to the passenger side of my car.
"The door’s unlocked," I said.
We were about halfway back to the cottage when Quinn finally spoke again, "So can you really heal yourself?" He asked.
"I take it that you saw more than I thought. How much did you hear?" I said.
"The whole thing," he said softly, "But I couldn’t understand any of it. You guys must have been speaking in code or something. That would be the only way for it to make sense. I mean, seriously, you guys were talking about vampires. That’s so not real."
I started laughing, and shook my head.
"What’s so funny?" he asked.
"Nothing. You’ll just have to wait to find out." I said.
"I have another question."
"Shoot."
"How did you set him on fire without even moving? Is that even possible?" He asked.
"What do you think? You just saw the whole thing with your own eyes."