CHAPTER ONE

It's a late September night as Nyx stares at the lake outside her family's vacation house. Most of the light around her is coming from the moon and stars in the sky above, which is a mostly welcome thing for the teenage girl. She remembers so many Summer nights spent out on this very dock with her family, sometimes her friends as well.

Though her parents weren't fond of the idea of them swimming in the lake at night, she and her friends liked to come out near the water just to be together. They'd spend hours talking and laughing, making memories that her sister would write all about the next morning in her diary. She can't count the late nights that spilled into early mornings, listening to the bickering and teasing that they all joined in. This lake house used to be her favorite place in the whole world.

Now it feels like an enormous reminder of all the things that she's lost.

Her parents are gone, and with them the part of her that believed anything was possible. A bit ironic considering the largest secret of the world she unwillingly discovered not long after their untimely death.

The relationships she still has feel as though they're forever altered. She and her twin sister aren't as close as they used to be, and she has no idea how to talk to her younger brother anymore. Her best friend felt a million miles away even when she was standing right beside her. And her boyfriend — ex-boyfriend, now — hurt her in a way that's sure to shape more of her future than she's willing to admit.

She's seventeen, but feels like she's looking back on her life as though she's seventy. Perhaps that's simply how life changes when tragedy happens, and everything you thought you knew is suddenly wrong. Very, very wrong.

Nyx used to love the nighttime — the end of a long, sometimes eventful day. She used to love the dark, found comfort in it even. Now she fears what might be hiding in it. She much prefers the morning now, there's less that can hide in the light of day. Threats are visible, easily seen. There seems to be less to fear when the lights are on.

The silence around her is interrupted by the shrill of her phone ringing in the back pocket of her faded blue-jeans. Hesitating a moment, she decides to at least see who's calling her — there could be an update on the current situation that brought her to seek a moment alone in the first place. Her dark eyes find the caller ID, and she sighs as she contemplates not answering.

The brunette brings the phone to her ear just before the call can go to voicemail. "Hey, Vic."

The girl on the other end takes a deep breath. "Gotta be honest, I wasn't sure you'd even want to hear from me." She says, her voice low. "I figured you hated me after what Elena told you."

"You mean, that you — my best friend since birth — have been screwing my ex, who I only dated for most of my life?" Nyx questions. "Now why would I be angry?"

"I deserve that."

"Matt called, said that you were in the hospital." She tells her, looking down at the toes of her black combat boots. "How are you?"

"In pain. They won't give me any drugs with an o in it." Vicki tells her, attempting a joke.

"Yeah. That's 'cause they're doctors, not enablers." She says. "They don't fuel the habits of junkies."

"Ouch." She chuckles. "I've actually missed you berating me for my poor life choices... I don't suppose you plan on coming home anytime soon? See how I'm doing... Kick my ass for being the worst friend on the planet?"

"I can't, Vic." She shakes her head as she closes her eyes. "I just don't want to be in the town where... I see them everywhere I look, and it's killing me. It'll only be worse there."

"And you don't want to see me...or—"

"No." Nyx admits as she picks up her head and takes a deep breath, looking back out at the water in front of her. "I don't... I love you, and I know that I will forgive you, eventually, but right now, I just..."

"I understand." She nods, and then it's silent between them for a moment.

"So, when are they releasing you from the hospital?" The younger of the two asks.

"Tomorrow, I think. I'm not really sure." Vicki says. "Matt talks to the doctors more than I do. I'm supposed to just be resting...staying hydrated and sleeping."

"Right. 'Course." She nods. "Any idea what attacked you?"

"I mean..." She pauses as she thinks about it. "An animal. What else could it have been?"

"Something small, since it's just the one bite on your neck." Nyx says. "Good thing too. I'd hate for you to die before I get to kick your ass."

The older girl laughs on the other end of the phone, but the sound suddenly turns pained. "Aw, man... You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

"Happy accident."

Vicki groans. "I gotta go. Nurse No-Fun is here to give me my next dosage, and they're gonna knock me out." She tells her. "I'll talk to you again soon, I hope... And you can tell me all about that handsome new man in your life."

"He and I are just friends, Vic. He's been helping me."

"Mhm. I still want details." She says. "Alright, I gotta go. Love you."

"Love you too." Nyx says before hanging up the phone, then she shuts it. Her dark eyes land on the little symbol telling her that she has an unread message, and she shakes her head.

She knows exactly who the message is from — the same person she's been avoiding for months now. She understands why he keeps trying to get in touch with her, she just wishes that he'd take the hint, and give her some much needed space instead of calling and texting far too often.

The teenager stuffs her phone back into her pocket and then takes a deep breath. She turns around and heads back up the dock, the sound of her boots on the wood echoes around her.

As she makes her way up to the house, she sees a figure sitting on the steps. It used to bother her that he seems to hover, but she gets it now. He keeps her in view for the same reason that she now hates the dark — you never know when danger could be near, lurking in a nearby shadow or around some corner just out of sight. But he's not hovering, he's just careful. He's certainly the most vigilant person that she's ever met, even more so than her father was.

Rather than walking past him like she often does, the brunette opts for sitting down beside him on the porch. She pulls her feet up to the step under the one that her butt's on, and she rests her arms on her knees. They sit in silence for a moment, and then he offers her the beer in his hand.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asks as she reaches over and wraps her fingers around the neck of the bottle. He knows that something's been bothering her, he just doesn't know what.

"I wouldn't even know where to start." She holds the beer bottle to her lips and takes one swallow, then another.

"Who called you?"

"Vicki."

"The druggie." He nods as she hands the bottle back to him. "She okay?"

"No. She's stupid." The brunette says as she pushes her dark hair away from her face. "She's in the hospital. I guess she decided that it'd be a good idea to go for a walk in the middle of the night, alone, in the middle of the woods... She was attacked by an animal."

"That right?" He looks at her, and she takes a deep breath.

"Sounds like a vampire." She tells him as she crosses her arms and leans forward to rest them on her knees. "Something bit her neck, she lost a lot of blood, sounded uncertain when I asked what attacked her. She was admitted late last night, goes home tomorrow."

"And you're just now telling me about this?" He sighs as he stands up.

"Sorry." She mumbles as she looks at the dirt in front of her.

Nyx sits there, lost in thought for a few minutes after he goes back inside the house. She tugs down the long sleeves of her shirt as he walks past her, duffle bag slung over his shoulder as he heads for his shiny, black Chevy Impala. She stares at his back as he loads the trunk, her dark eyes on the utility jacket that he now has on over his red flannel.

"Hey, Dean?" She calls as he starts for the driver's seat, causing him to turn back to look at her.

"Yeah?" He assumes that she's going to tell him not to say anything about knowing her when he makes it into Mystic Falls.

"Don't die." She says, taking him by surprise.

"I'll check in with you." He tells her, and she nods. "Keep inside, lock the door. I'll be back soon."

"Am I allowed to go swimming, Dad?" She makes the snide comment as she stands up and turns for the front door.

"No."

"Bite me." She mutters as she makes her way into the house. Only after he hears the click of the deadbolt locking into place does he then climb into the car and drive off.

He's gone for a week.

—

"You wanna hear something funny?" Nyx asks as Dean walks past her into the kitchen. She's sitting at the counter, pushing her salad around with her fork.

"I could always use a good laugh." He says as he grabs a water bottle from the refrigerator.

"Well, it's not so much funny ha ha, as it is...ironic." Her voice is a bit monotone as she speaks, and he turns to look at her.

"What's the matter?"

"Elena no longer approves of you...or of me being around you." She tells him, and his eyebrows furrow as he walks over to stand across from her.

"The hell did I do to piss her off? I've never even met her."

"Nothing... She knows that you're a hunter, and that you've been training me." The brunette sets her fork down as she looks at him. "Apparently the guy she's been dating is a vampire, and the one that you couldn't find last month is his older brother. He's been trying to get a handle on the situation, but that clearly hasn't been going very well... I don't actually know how she found out about you." Her eyebrows furrow as she thinks it over.

"She's dating a vampire?" Dean questions.

"She broke up with him, but supposedly he's not like his brother. She says that he feeds on animals instead of humans. Is that a real thing?" She asks, and he shrugs as he shakes his head.

"I'm going back."

"Please don't." She turns on the barstool, and he raises his eyebrows as he turns to face her.

"What?"

"The brother?" She starts, and he nods. "He... He turned Vicki." She tells him, and he sighs.

"Nyx..."

"I understand that your world is very...black and white, cut and dry. If it has fangs or claws, it dies." She says, and he nods. "But in my world, she's still my best friend, the same girl that I've known my whole life... Life with her is messy and complicated, but I've known her literally since the day that I was born... Please, just let this one— Let Mystic Falls go."

"You're asking me to let vampires live."

"I'm asking you not to kill my best friend or the guy who's promised to help her live the way that he does." Nyx says as she looks up into his bright green eyes. "Look, I honestly don't know if you and I would actually be considered friends, and I know I annoy you more than anything, but... If any part of you has come to care about me at all in the past few months, then can we please just leave Virginia and put some distance between us and them? I don't wanna be here anymore."

He pauses for a second as he looks away from her, and then he nods. "Go pack your things." He tells her, and she stands up to toss out the bit of salad that she didn't finish. "We're leaving before my better judgment kicks in, and I drive back there."

Half an hour later, they're on a road that leads in the opposite direction of Mystic Falls. She knows it's hard for him to walk away from a hunt, so she doesn't say anything as he drives down the open road. Instead, she leans back and listens to the rock music that fills the car.