I had told Bree I would wait for her and her friend, Diego, for twenty-four hours.


After we had parted ways, I ran until I had crossed the border into Canada. I didn't need to hunt at the moment, so I scaled the closest tree and settled in to wait. It hadn't taken me but an hour or so to reach my hide-out as I had high-tailed it the whole way.


When they hadn't shown up after two hours I thought they might have lost my trail. But as time passed and still neither of them showed, I knew. They were dead. Either they got caught up in the fight with the other coven or Riley had caught them running away and killed them himself - or he had taken them to her.


I shuddered at the thought.


I waited the full twenty-four hours anyway. Because I had said I would.


When time was up I closed my eyes and sighed. I couldn't help but think that if I had been there I might have saved Bree and her friend...


Out of nowhere I heard a loud crash. I instantly moved into a defensive crouch and turned up the "volume" of my repulsion. I scanned the area but only saw a mountain lion struggling with its prey. Relaxing, I returned to my thoughts. I wasn't exactly sure what to do now, or where to go. This was the first time I had been on my own. As a vampire, I mean.


I might as well get a move on, I thought. I scaled down the tree slowly and therefore quietly, as I wasn't in a hurry. I jumped to the ground from the lowest branch. My feet landed with a small thud.


Behind me I heard a fierce, snarling growl. Assuming it was the mountain lion I turned without worry to take care of the problem if necessary. But the sight that greeted me was shocking. It was a vampire! I could smell her scent now. And to my astonishment, she was crouched defensively in front of the lion! I was baffled by her action.


She glared at me. I stared at her. There was something different about her, but I couldn't pin point anything specific. Other than her bizarre behavior about the animal I mean.


Eventually she relaxed her tense position and stood. She was only a few inches shorter than me, so now we stared directly into each other's eyes. That's when it hit me. The difference was her eyes. They were golden!


Then she did something truly strange. She proceeded to feed on the mountain lion without ever taking her eyes off mine...