“Yep, I’ll be there” I spoke into my phone.
“Please, be there on time, sweetheart” my mother’s voice came through the other end. “I know how you can get.”
She didn’t though. She had no idea why I did the things I did. “Don’t worry I will. I’ll even come home early and help you with the decorations for the party, if you want?” I was willing to do anything to cheer up my mother at the moment.
She had been less than impressed when I’d rung a few minutes ago and explained that I was, yet again, staying the night at Erin’s. With my sister’s party tomorrow, I knew she had expected me to help her out and I hated to let her down. But it wasn’t like I had a choice, I sighed, I never had a choice.
I glanced over to see Logan leaning against the hood of my car again, watching me like someone watching a science project. His face was the same expression he normally wore when he looked at me. Hard, cold and even confused. He was perfectly still and his eyes burned me. So much so that I had to look away.
Turning around, I took a breath and tried to reassure my mother that I would be there, and on time too. “I cross my heart promise. I will be there, ready and on time.”
“Okay, well good” she sighed “Have fun.”
“I will” I said hanging up. “Bye.” I felt bad, sick even. Lying to her always tore my heart up; even though I knew I had to do it.
I stood with my eyes closed for a second, before walking back over to where Logan stood. I leaned up against my car, next to him. I didn’t look at him. “I hate lying to her” I blurted. It didn’t matter that I was speaking to Logan it was killing me and I had to say it to someone, anyone.
“I know. I could see.” He didn’t look at me, only straight ahead, into the distance. “It’s something you have to do. You should know that.”
“I do” I sighed. “That doesn’t mean I have to like it”
He turned to look at me, his face troubled.
“What?”

“Nothing” he shook his head, before looking over his shoulders at Claudia’s and Greg’s approaching figures. “Look, there’s something I want to say” he said quietly.
I listened, waiting for him to continue.
“It’s no secret that we don’t get along. You hate my guts, I hate yours and because of that, we clash. The problem is that tracking down Micah is too important to let our personal grudges come between succeeding in our mission or not. We can’t let that interfere with us vanquishing him.”
“So?”
“So I think we should call a truce, more or less. We work together without any extra problems. We focus on what we have to do and nothing else.” He looked at me expectantly.
“That’s what I wanted from the start” I muttered.
“Fine, then that’s what we’ll do” He looked relieved, then his face changed and he looked uncomfortable.
“Was there something else?” I could hear Claudia’s laugh coming this way, so I didn’t know how much more time we’d have to speak privately.
“Yes, about the other night” He surprised me by taking a step forward, so that we were leaning close together.
“When you insulted me” Yes, I remembered that night and I didn’t think bringing it up was going to help our newly formed truce.
His lips twitched. “Before that.” He looked outright uncomfortable. “If you hadn’t pulled me back, out of the way of that vampire when you did. Well, I’m sure he would have killed me. Anyway, I wanted to,” he cleared his throat, still looking uncomfortable “thank you.”
“Oh, okay.” I bit my lip “it wasn’t a big deal, you saved my life afterwards anyway.”
“That may be so, but you still weren’t forced to act to begin with.”
“Neither were you.” I pointed out.
His face was hard and his eyes narrowed. “I don’t like having to owe anybody anything.” His hands were clenched into fists at his sides.

I started to respond, but before I could get a word out, Claudia and Greg appeared.
“Hey, did you sort out everything with your parents?” she asked, squeezing in between Logan.
I nodded. “I have to be there at 9am to help set up though.”
“Parents” was all she muttered, shaking her head. She gave me a small smile but I still saw sadness behind her eyes.
Family and birthday parties always hit home for Claudia. When she was 16, walking home from a friend’s party, she had been struck by a car. The driver was speeding and was distracted, therefore didn’t see her.
He was also a vampire.
Knowing it was his fault she would die, and driven by guilt, he had turned her. However he lived alone and had no desire to have a companion, but he had friends in the covenant. He introduced Claudia to them. They welcomed her with open arms and she forged a place within the Death Walkers. But, like most vampires Claudia had also turned her back and walked away from her family.
She always told me that it was the right thing for her to do and that she didn’t regret it. Yet sometimes I saw something in her. Something that made me wonder if, given the choice again, she would still make the same decision. It was a lot to give up and maybe that was why I held on so tightly to my old, human life. The truth was that it wasn’t who I was anymore, but I still felt compelled to keep it. It was still a part of me.
Coming back from my thoughts, I turned towards Logan who was in a deep conversation with Greg. “Do you really have a present for me or was that just something you said?” I asked, peering around Claudia.
He looked up at my question and gave me a slow, knowing smile. A smile that, even though I’d never admit it, made my heart flutter.
It was Claudia who answered. “He doesn’t but we have a surprise for you back at the Manor.” She caught my arm and started leading me to the car. “Let’s go. I really want to get back.”

I was left to ponder what exactly, had her so excited. She was bouncing in her seat the entire drive back to the Manor. She flipped the visor down in the car and started to examine her reflection in the mirror.
Its rubbish, the stories that say vampires have no reflections. Claudia I don’t think would survive if she wasn’t able to check her appearance from time to time.
“I’ve had enough of the hunters and I don’t think I’m the only one” she said, giving me a meaningful look. “Greg’s okay, he makes me laugh. Did you know he grew up on a hippy commune?” she asked, trying not to laugh. “Some of the stories he’s told me,” she broke off and looked at me again “you’d love them.”
I nodded but said nothing, letting her continue as I knew she would.
“Quintenn told me yesterday that apparently, Alana doesn’t think the deal they gave us is as cut and dry as they lead us to believe. He said she thinks that when this whole Micah thing is over that they are still going to force us to work with them”
“Really?” I asked. That surprised me. I couldn’t imagine the hunters putting up with a group of vampires when they no longer had too.
As I pulled onto the freeway, I glanced at the car behind me in the rear view mirror. I could see that Logan was driving and Greg was talking diligently to him in the front seat. “I thought they wanted nothing more than to get rid of us.” I looked at Claudia.
She shrugged. “That’s what we all thought too, but the way Frank’s been acting, well it suggests more.”

I nodded. I hadn’t had much contact with Frank Morgan. He was intimidating and very cold. Not in the same way as Logan. No his was more stab you in the back cold and I got the feeling that if, push came to shove he’d happily push us off a cliff. I didn’t trust him at all. Even though I hated to admit it, in a fight I did trust Logan, Greg and a few of the other hunters to have my back. But not Frank, no not in the slightest.
Hitting my blinker, I slowed to take the next exit, still thinking about the hunters. We’d been working with them for more than a month now. Sometimes they would leave for a few days or a week, tracking and hunting Micah on their own. They contacted us when they required us. Lately we had been needed more, aside from the last week, and as I pulled into the driveway of the Manor I saw that the lawn was flooded with cars. One, I noticed quickly, was Alana's.
I thought about Logan and Claudia’s arrival at my school and realised that they must have some new Intel. That was the only reason why we would have to come here so quickly.
Knowing that the garage would surely be full, I pulled into a vacant spot on the grass and parked. We jumped out and joined Ben, who had been waiting outside the front door of the Manor.
Logan and Greg were already entering, not waiting and apparently feeling way too comfortable here.

I wasn’t sure where it was that Claudia and Ben were leading me but I followed them anyway, figuring that I’d know soon enough. We walked in silence and occasionally Claudia looked back over her shoulder at me, smiling excitedly.
I noticed that the halls were buzzing, people were talking excitedly and as we entered the gym I found out why.
The entire Council was here. The vampire council, built up of the highest respected and most powerful vampires, dictated our rules and how we lived our peaceful existence together. This was important if they had travelled from all over to be here.
The room was filled with hunters also. More than usual and as I quickly counted the numbers I realised that both groups had called in reinforcements.
The council members stood to one side of the room, with their body guards close to them. Alana, I could see, was talking to Frank and it appeared to me to be a very heated discussion.
Claudia stopped just inside the room to wait for me, her smile beaming. I didn’t need to ask what my surprise was anymore. I knew. Happiness overwhelmed me before I even saw her.
Standing across the room, talking to a hunter I saw: Callie.