"Um, twenty. Why?"

"You're underage. Come on. I'll get you out of here."

He tugs me through a wooded area, forcing me to quicken my pace. He stays quiet and alert, checking from side to side with each step. I can't help but admire the view he's giving me, letting me walk behind him. I'm so pathetic.

Before I know it, we've hit the sidewalk of the streets.

"That was one hell of a short cut. I wish I had known about it on the way there."

He turns to me, stopping our retreat and shakes his head.

"Don't go through those woods without me. It's crazy dangerous, especially at night. Two of the girls that are missing went in one night, and they were never seen again."

I smile a little at his protective tone.

"And you think you can protect me?" I ask, delighting in the warm feeling his words have given me.

"I know I can," he says with that damn heart-stopping grin before pulling me again.

Our fingers stay interlocked as we head down the sidewalk, and then I frown when I see my house coming into view.

"Do you think the cops will be at your house?"

"Probably," he chuckles out. "We've had so many parties interrupted by them that it's just common for us to get the blame. It'll be fine though. We're all legal adults."

"Oh," I say somewhat disappointedly.

I was hoping for an excuse to invite him in without looking like a lusting, hormonal fool. Something about him makes my blood stir with primal need. I wanted to feel those perfectly smooth lips on my skin, devouring me.

"Your eyes," he murmurs softly. "Wow."

Oh shit.

I quickly look away, praying my eyes die down. Fucking mood stone eyes.

"It's like they were turning different colors," he says with a touch of suspicion.

I laugh dismissively, trying to downplay the slip up. "Turning on the smooth talk?"

Out of all the immortals, my eyes are the only ones to do this. No one in my family knows why, and I hate it. Every emotion I have comes through almost too clearly when it gets too strong. I was definitely feeling a strong emotion - desire.

"Not at all," he says with a smile as he walks me to my front door. "I suppose I'll see you tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I ask, feeling my eyes fully back to normal.

"At the diner."

"Oh... yeah."

"I'm going to vote they make this your new uniform," he says with a devious grin while motioning to my showy dress.

I let out a small laugh, but then I'm trapped in his eyes as he props up against my door and stares at me. It's like time has slowed, and I'm considering risking everything and pulling him inside.

"Are you going in?" he asks, his smile growing.

My cheeks flush, and I look down at my feet.

"Yeah. Sorry. Bye," I mumble as I wiggle my keys in the lock.

When my door opens, I step inside and turn to see him again just as he walks off my porch. I really thought he was going to at least try to kiss me.

"You know where I live if you need me for anything," he says with his back turned.

"Actually, I don't," I say, smiling, and he turns to face me before I continue. "You said you lived two houses down, but you didn't say in which direction."

He smiles this time, and then he shrugs before walking back toward me. He gets dangerously close, letting his breath find my lips for a split second, and then he pulls back with my phone in his hand.

I was so enthralled and entranced by his near kiss that I never felt him pulling my phone out of my hand. My breaths are heavy now, and then I hear a phone ringing - the sound coming from his pocket. He smirks as it quits and hands me back my phone.

"Now you've got my number. It's up to you whether or not you want to program it."

He starts walking away again, and I prop up while murmuring, "That goes both ways."

He turns around with his phone in his hand and waves it in front of him.

"Already done."

My heart flips over, and then the shadows swallow him as he disappears into the woods again.

Oh damn.

Obviously, I program his number in my phone before I even shut the damn door. I glance around one last time before stepping inside, but something catches my eye before I can lock up.

There's a tall, lean figure in the distance across the street, and I hear the breaths growing rasp as a second figure goes limp in his arms. Though they're in the shadows and between two houses, I can still somewhat make out what's going on, horrified by the reality I had hoped I wouldn't run into.

Night stalker.

Without any regard for my own safety, I throw off my heels and take off running, throwing my arms out to release my attack, and impacting him with my invisible force. The feeding figure flies backwards, thudding against a house, and an alarm sounds as a window shatters.

Lights from several of the houses around us flash on in response to the loud wails. The lights cast a bright glow on the scene of the crime, and I hear a hissing noise as the dark figure disappears into the shadows to avoid sight. I rush over to the collapsed body on the ground, and my heartbeat charges fiercely as I slip her blond hair to the side to see the marks of proof on her neck.

Definitely a night stalker. Changers have larger fangs, leaving bigger bite marks. Lycans and Were are beasts who only feed in changed form, and that was a man's silhouette.

A guy rushes out of a house with his boxers and robe on - his white, hairy belly bouncing as he charges toward us with a bat. He stumbles to a halt and turns pale when he sees the barely breathing girl's head cradled in my arms.

"Call an ambulance!" I scream. "She's dying!"

Others rush out, and within seconds, I hear the whooping sounds of help on the way. I only pray no one saw my release of power. The council will string me up if they did.

Chapter Three.

"Are you crazy, Alyssa?" Mom scolds through the phone.

No, just really unlucky.

"He was killing her. What was I supposed to do?"

No good deed goes unpunished. Calypso Coldwell punishes me for every good deed I do.

"It's not your place to get involved. Night stalkers kill to live. You can't go painting yourself a target by interrupting their meal."

"He was feeding in the open. If anything, he painted himself a target. Besides, they don't have to kill in order to live, they just need blood. They don't have to pick young, pretty girls, but they choose to. I simply reminded him that they're not the only ones in the damn universe, and some of us don't approve of killing."

She groans, exasperation in her long, drawn-out breath. "Alyssa, you're still incredibly vulnerable right now. Going after a feeding night stalker is suicide. That's it. I'm coming to stay with you."

"You can't, Mom. They need you in Tibet for the ceremonies. You're the priestess. I'm fine. I can handle myself, and he never saw my face. Don't worry."

"Then I'm calling Frankie to follow you."

"If Frankie starts following me, I'm going to be on edge. His favorite pastime is scaring the shit out of me. Definitely not."

She sighs loudly, her mind searching for a way to keep me safe. I tuck the phone closer to me as I walk up to the diner.

"Look, I've got to head into work right now. I'll be fine. Don't worry. You do need to say something to the night... um... their council about openly eating dinner... if you know what I mean."

"Oh believe me, I will."

I nod, as if she can see me, and then I hang up the phone before she has time to reprimand me more. I'm the only person in the world who gets in trouble for saving a life.

Sheesh.

"Thanks for staying late again, Alyssa," Mary, another waitress murmurs as she strips off her apron.

"It's fine. It's dead in here anyway. I should be able to handle it by myself."

I have one customer who is simply here for the Wifi. He's about my age with black hair, tattoos peeking up from his shirt collar, and a piercing on his right eyebrow. I've studied him too much, since it's a little dull in here tonight.

I've barely seen his face though. He's kept his back to us since he arrived an hour ago.

Mary smiles, offering me a farewell-wave, and heads out to throw her arms around a beefed up guy who is leaning against his car. I smirk as they entangle in a rather showy kiss, and then I flip on my phone to pick up reading my book where I left off.

"Need anything?" I ask the guy who has no interest in spending a dime in the diner.

"No, still fine," he chirps.

I hear the door open, and I look up to see a tan guy with onyx, glistening hair, as he walks in. His eerie smile sends shivers down my spine, and I glance over to see the human in the corner shiver too.

Looking back, I see his glowing blue eyes spark and flicker before dying back down to a deep brown.

Shit. Vampire.

Swallowing hard, I murmur, "Can I help you?"

He smiles bigger, malice burning in his eyes as he sits down at the bar directly in front of me.

"What time do you close?"

"Um, an hour."

"Ah. Then I'll take some coffee while I wait."

I get sick as he stares at me, and I slowly back up, refusing to pull my eyes away. He knows who I am, and I know who he is. He's the night stalker from last night.

"You shouldn't be in here right now. You know what I am," I almost whisper.

"You shouldn't have meddled in my meal and then sent the council after me," he growls.

I narrow my eyes as I place the cup of coffee in front of him, and then I do my best to act composed and in control.

"You shouldn't have been in the open. You risk us all when you kill like that," I murmur in a nearly muted tone.

The sparks in his eyes ignite more fiercely as he smirks all the more - the devil's air in his breath.

"Well, I was famished, and there she was - drunk and alone."

"That's not how things work and you know it."

"Neither is interrupting one's kill. You're just lucky no one wants a damn war."

I laugh a little louder than I meant to, and he glares at me.

"No one would start a war over this shit," I daringly release through my mocking laughter. "You're a speck in a world far larger than you. Interrupting your brazen, open kill was nothing but warranted in the eyes of everyone's councils. I pray someone caught it on tape, and then they'll exterminate you."

He shakes his head, smiling more. "If they saw me, they saw you. You might want to recant that last little bit."

My feigned confidence doesn't waver, and I keep the conversation below the register a human can hear. "The force I used was invisible. You had a girl bent backwards with your fangs dug in. All they'll see is you mysteriously flying backwards and me screaming for help as I rush to her body. Believe me, I've ran through it a time or two."

He snarls, his eyes sparking blue again and his fangs slip free.

"How about I just pick up with you where I left off with her?"

He smirks as he stands, acting as though he's about to prove he hasn't just made an empty threat. But then the door sounds out as new customers arrive, halting him from trying anything.