iii

Part One: A man like me

103 years earlier ~ New York (1917)

"Avery come on we have to hurry." Ryan yelled at her friend whose head was ringing. Avery's vision was blurry and he could hear everything inside his body changing along with his heart that was thumping at an impossibly fast rate.

"Ryan, I-I'm not gonna make i-" He cut himself off falling to his knees and blood shot out of his mouth, black blood. Ryan turned away from him trying to resist the urge as the smell of his blood was now in the air.

"Come on Ryan, pull yourself together." She said to herself and what she was asking of herself was usually impossible, she never learned to control herself in her short 8 years of turning. Her maker had disappeared and left her for dead.

Ryan lived those 8 years draining everybody she came in contact with except Avery. He had been so nice to her that she refrained from hurting him for the 2 years they've known each other, but when he kissed her she couldn't control herself and nearly killed him leading to her loving him so much she put him into transition.

"Ryan, p-please tell me what's going on. Why do am I feeling like this?" Avery was dying from his lack of blood consumption directly from the human body, and Ryan thought to give him blood she had in a bottle would be fine because she didn't fully know how the process worked. This was her first turn, she was now a sire.

They were too far from civilization, Avery lived deep in the woods with no car and Ryan was too weak to run far. She turned to her friend and hugged him, and she just cried as she held him. He was going to die, the only person she had ever cared about and it was on her account.

"Hey, are you two alright?" Ryan suddenly cried harder at the sound of the voice, she turned towards the man who held a gun that he usually hunted in these woods with. "No my friend was shot and I'm too small to lift him. Could you please help me?" Ryan in her days learned to be a good actor.

"Yeah, of course, I have a cottage west from here so we can take my car." The man offered genuinely concerned trying to get a look at the wound as he inched closer to them. When he got close enough Ryan used the last of her energy to snatch the weapon and buttstock the man in the face instantly knocking him out.

She could here Avery wheezing, and his eyes rolling. He was even bleeding from the ears as his body was failing to win its fight against the venom. Ryan quickly bit the man's wrist and put it towards Avery's chapped lips.

"Drink, quickly." She urged and he could barely hear her but as if it were an instinct, he drank from the man. He quickly began to feel himself getting better and was now strong enough to move on his own snatching the man from Ryan's grip and into his own.

"Alright, Avery slow down-" She went to reach for the man and Avery growled and barred his fangs at her as if she were a stranger.

She swallowed thickly leaving him be and he went back to drinking until the man was drained completely. Just like she used to do, but for some reason, she wanted to teach him better than what she taught herself. Now that she was his sire he would listen to her once the transition was done, once he drained his first body.

She now had fear of him exposing himself so she promised herself that she would never let it happen because if anyone hurt him she'd rip off their head the first chance she got.

-

Present

Part Two: I am not afraid

Jazlyn rang the doorbell before walking back down the stairs and waiting for someone to answer. Jack came to the door opening it and seeing the beautiful girl. "Who are you?" He asked and tilted his head to the side with a sly smirk seeing her as lunch. She was expecting someone familiar to answer the door.

Tarah had convinced her sister to try to be friends with the vampires, and Jazz realized that she didn't like the idea of them being her enemies. She soon realized she was quite rude to both Bonnie and Jed.

"Hi my name is Jazlyn, I was wondering if I could speak to Bonnie." She asked nicely and he was taken back by her question.

Jack rudely walked away from the door, "Which one of us is people person again?" He asked but nobody responded so he went back and stepped downstairs until he was a footstep away from her chuckling the entire way down. "And what do you want with her?" He asked and suddenly Anais was at the door watching what was happening going unnoticed.

"I didn't mean to disturb you, um she told us to come over whenever. My sister and I just moved in across the street." She then said and this made Jack frown, "Bonnie's not home right now, sor-"

"Jazlyn?" Bonnie whispered and her head snapped to the voice seeing both Ana and Bonnie with a small smile on her lips. "I apologize for my friend's rudeness, please come in."

"You know this little human?" Jack sneered, and Jazlyn flinched at his words. "Actually, this was a bad idea." Jazz says turning on her heel only for Jack to grip her elbow harshly causing her to make a painful noise that drew the attention of the others.

"That's enough!" Arry had beat everyone else outside with his arms crossed and giving Jack a disapproving look. Jack never broke the look of disgust on his face at her but he let go immediately.

"No worries Arry, I just forget my own strength sometimes." he turned towards the others with a fake smile on his face, now realizing the entire house now stood out on the porch watching the altercation.

They all smelled Jazz's fear and she didn't know if she should stay or run, after all, she had the eyes of 10 vampires on her. Jed was out with Tarah again.

"She's cute." Dominique called out breaking the silence with a flirtatious smile on her face. "She's human." Anais, her sister interjected and Markos rolled his eyes.

"Sorry for our friend, he's always been a bit tense." Bonnie says with a light laugh at the end but Jazz couldn't find it funny at all.

"I uh, I didn't mean to bother you all. I'm sorry." Jazz said feeling very uncomfortable, she felt like they wanted to hurt her. After all what was stopping them?

"This is Jazlyn, everyone. Jazlyn this is; Markos, Ryan, Dominique, and Avery." Isaiah pointed out everyone she hadn't yet met and they all gave her either a wave or a smile. She waved shyly before looking towards Arry who gave her a small smile.

"Bonnie I came to take you guys up on your offer for dinner, but I just wanted to ask if I was allowed to invite my cousins-", "Yes! I mean, yeah, of course, you can." Isaiah answered for Bonnie quickly but Arry didn't seem fond of the idea.

As beautiful as he thought Jazlyn was, he didn't want her to become comfortable with him or the others. He didn't trust his peers, he knew who some of them were deep down.

"This is madness." Anais groaned and Edward placed his large hand over her mouth and shushed her.

"Yeah, that's a wonderful idea! How about tonight?" Edward asks and Jazz nods still hesitant of the idea. "What do you like to eat? We don't eat human food much but we still have tastebuds. How about steak?" Bonnie says.

"We're vegan actually. I hope that isn't an issue, I'm sure Marci and Wes would enjoy steak." Jazlyn says.

"It's no issue, Jed and Arry can cook anything." Ryan bumped in giving Jazz a genuine smile.

"Okay everyone can go about their business now, I wanna have a word with Jazlyn." Arry says. Jazz couldn't decipher his tone, and his face was stoic and everyone listened except for Isaiah and Bonnie. Jack was the first to storm off and Anais was the last to leave giving Jazz glare.

Arry looked to his brother who was unphased as he stood on the porch staring off into the distance. He rolled his eyes seeing that he didn't plan on leaving.

"How is your hand?" he asked and that surprised her considering he seemed a bit angry a second ago.

"I uh, it's fine. It healed all the way through." she says looking up at his eyes and nearly gasping at how beautiful they were. "S'good, but look, I don't want things to be awkward between us. I was just being nice, but I notice how tense you get around me or all of us rather." Arry stated bluntly and Jazz swallowed dryly a little embarrassed.

"Yeah of course, I'm sorry um... I just never came in such close contact with a vampire before. Now I live across the street from 11." She says quietly and Arry smirks at her making her bite the inside of her cheek.

"We don't all live here, it's just our safe house. It's actually Jed's but most of us sleep here anyway." Arry explains and Jazz nodded in understanding.

"But on the other hand, you should stay away." Jazz was surprised and a little hurt by his sudden words since she finally gained the courage to come out of her shell and was shot down.

"You said you didn't trust me the night we met and you're right not to. I wouldn't intentionally hurt you but my friends can be.... deceiving. You don't know them as I do, our kind can flip on you the second we get hungry. You could be looking at death in the face one day." Arry says noticing the change in her usual curly hair, she was wearing a wig.

"I've already seen death." Jazz surprised not only Arry but herself with her response. She then walked off.

"I like her." Isaiah says and Arry stared off at her ass as she walked away internally groaning. "That's why I want her to stay away." Arry sighed feeling the front of his jeans tighten.