Danyelle’s POV

After Reece and I had gathered all of the cameras in Ms. Gross’s house Aiden drove us back to their house. Sitting in a 2007 Shelby Ford Mustang made me feel a little uncomfortable. If my brother found out that I was in this car he would probably yell at me. See him and my dad were all about the old classic cars. For example Vic drove a Gateway Convertible 1969 Mustang and dad used to have the 1958 Chevrolet Impala convertible. They were all about the older the car the better. It was drilled into me until even I believed it.

As soon as we pulled into their driveway I practically fell out of the car and ran as far away from it as I could. I made it all the way to the front door before Reece called me back.

“Danyelle, where are you going?” She yelled from the car.

Slowly I turned around and smiled at her. “Uh... to the bathroom.”

“Liar, get back here and help me unload the cameras.”

I sighed as I made my way back to the car and helped her carry the cameras inside. Aiden stuck his hands in his pockets and followed the two of us in. I glanced over my shoulder at him and noticed that he wasn’t even looking at me; instead he was looking at the ground as he walked. I was getting a little concerned about him. The entire car ride he hadn’t spoken single word and now he wouldn’t even look at me.

“Alright let’s get this footage up to my room so I can edit it all.” Reece instructed.

I nodded and followed her into her up to her room. Reece started whistling happily as she carefully unpacked each camera and hooked it up to her computer to download it. In the meantime, I laid back on her bed and thought about Aiden. He seemed like a completely different person from this morning. When I had first met him he seemed to just spark up the room with energy and laughter, but now he just seemed… I don’t know mad maybe.

“Hey Reece,”

“Ah ha! So the mole really is a fake.” She laughed at the discovery and turned to look at me to see if I found the news just as amusing.

I smiled back at her. “Looks like we hit the jack pot.”

“Hell yeah we did.” She spun around in her chair and started typing violently on her computer. “Now what was it that you were saying?”

I sat up on her bed. “What’s up with your brother?”

Her typing stopped for a second then she took a deep breath and started back up again. “What do you mean?”

“Well this morning he was all energetic and now he’s just …depressing.”

Reece snorted at the remark. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard Aiden and depressing in the same sentence before.”

I blushed and what I had just said. “Well you know what I mean.”

“Yeah I don’t know what’s eating him.” She looked over her shoulder at me and smiled devilishly. “Tell you what how about you go downstairs and wait for me.”

“But I’m supposed to help you edit the footage.”

She flicked her wrist at me. “I only have one computer so it’s not like we can both edit it at the same time.”

I folded my hand across my chest and pouted. “You just want me to go sit back on the couch again don’t you?”

She laughed into the screen of her computer. “Yep.”

I sighed dramatically but didn’t argue. Reece was right I couldn’t really help her edit the footage right now and I was probably distracting her anyway, but that didn’t mean I had to like sitting on the couch. I left the room went back downstairs then turned into the living. That’s when I noticed Aiden. I froze at the living room entrance and just stared at him. He was lying on the couch with his forearm covering his eyes. To someone else it might have looked like he was just tired but I knew better than that. Vic used to do things like that whenever he got headaches from not drinking blood.

Quietly, so I wouldn’t disrupt him, I made my way over to the couch and leaned my hip against the arm rest next to his feet.

“You okay?” I whispered.

The muscle in his arm twitched. He inhaled deeply before he dropped his arm and looked at me. “I was just tired that’s all.” Reassuringly he smiled at me.

Vic had given me the same smile before so I knew it was a lie. I wasn’t the kind of person to let things drop so easily so I smiled innocently back at him and started to walk away. “Well then I’ll let you get back to your nap.” For me this was the moment of truth. If he called me back over to him then that would mean that he liked me enough to discuss what was wrong, but if he didn’t then that would mean that he didn’t like me and I would have to get over him.

“Wait.” I stopped a few steps away from the couch with my heart pounding in my chest. Slowly I turned and looked at him. He was sitting there with a desperate look in his eyes. “Please come back.”

A light blush rose to my cheeks as I made my way back over to him. He patted the cushion next to him when I reached the couch. I took the seat.

“So are you going to tell me what’s going on?” I questioned.

The smile that touched his lips this time was genuine and it warmed my heart to see it back. “You just don’t give up do you?”

I shook my head and smiled. “Never.”

His laugh was rich with warmth and humor, so much so that it made my skin prickle. This was the Aiden that I liked. “Alright I’ll tell you.” He scooted closer to me and placed his arm behind me along the back of the couch. “You see I’m not really a nighttime person. As soon as that sun goes down I get agitated at everything and everybody.”

I leaned back into the couch until I felt his arm touching the back of my neck. I know it was a little daring but something in him aroused the predator inside of me and I was really starting to like this newfound boldness. “What’s wrong with the night?”

The tone of his voice became serious. “Nothing good ever comes in the dark.”

I shook my head at him. “That’s not true.”

Confused by my reply he question, “Oh? What good comes from it then?”

“You can see the stars.” I didn’t think that it was a shocking answer but it caught him off guard.

“I suppose you’re right.”

I smiled up at him. “Haven’t you heard? Girls are always right.”

He laughed at that. “Oh really? Then tell me what I’m thinking about doing next?”

Surprised by his question I fumbled for a moment before I came up with something. “You’re going to look at the stars with me.”

Aiden grabbed my hand and led me outside. Sparks flew up my arm from the contact between us. His hand was so warm and hard against mine that the contrast between them made my stomach jump. We reached his car all too soon, after he hoped up on the hood he reached back for my hand and pulled me up after him then released me. The hood popped under his weight as he leaned back against the windshield. He stared over at me with a wolfish grin.

“It’s okay you can lay down next to me. I don’t bite much.”

I scooted up a little more and laid down beside him. “Was I really right in that you wanted to come out here?”

He folded his hands behind his head and looked up at the night sky. “A little bit yeah.”

“But…”

He smirked. “But I would have done anything you said.”

A warm feeling spread throughout my chest at that. If he kept this up I was going to fall in love with him for sure. I looked back up at the beautiful night sky. It was a clear and peaceful night which just made it absolutely perfect. In the distance the star twinkled and danced across the night sky.

“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”

“Yeah,” I felt a tug on a few strands of my hair and found them grasped in his hand. He looked deep into my eyes as he spoke. “Absolutely gorgeous.”

My face instantly turned red at the compliment. I felt myself coughing slightly as if to try to cover up how flustered I was. I turned and looked back at the night sky. Aiden laughed next to me on the hood. Angered by how his amusement had come from me being embarrassed I found myself glaring at him.

“W-What!” I yelled more than asked.

He smiled over at me. “You’re just way to cute.” I sat up on the hood to yell at him for calling me cute when the air around us seemed to change.

Aiden jumped off the hood and glared at the men who approached us. Slowly I slid off the hood and had to squint my eyes to see who it was. It ended up being Aiden’s friends from earlier. I found myself smiling after I knew who it was almost like I had won something. However Aiden was not smiling. His stance was still firm and something else radiated off of him. Was it anger? I really couldn’t tell but either way I found myself worried by it. Gently I touched my hand to his bicep.

“Aiden, should I go inside?” I whispered to him. His gaze didn’t even waver from the approaching men so I took his silence as a ‘yes’. Without hesitating a moment longer I made my way towards the house. I kept my pace as normal as I could but felt as if I was walking to fast. All I had to do was look at the house and I would be there soon enough. I inhaled deeply to calm my nerves and kept going until I was half way there.

“Danyelle!” I turned my head slightly at hearing my name from one of his friends and jumped at his nearness. I remembered his name being Tyler. He laid his hand on my shoulder firmly and rubbed his thumb affectionately against my skin. “Did you miss me?” Even though he was only touching my shoulder it felt as if he was touching something else. The action reminded me of Trevor harassing me. Angered by this unwanted contact I jerked my shoulder away and punched him in the nose. Who the hell was he to touch me anyway?

Unprepared for the sudden attack he didn’t have time to dodge it and took the hit full on. He yelped as blood gushed out of his nose and started dripping down his shirt. His hands were already covering his nose so I couldn’t see how much damage I had done but the blood satisfied me enough.

Aiden’s friends were suddenly there beside their fallen comrade. Instead of trying to help though they just stared at him and then started to laugh. Aiden stood a few feet away completely awestruck at it all. I could feel my face heat up at what I had just done. Was it wrong to hit him? I mean I didn’t think it would be this bad.

Aiden noticed my worried expression and walked over to me smiling. When he was next to me he placed his hand on the same shoulder as the other guy and laughed. “Nice hook.”

Unsure of how I should react I nodded. Aiden turned me and directed me back into the house. “No seriously if you hadn’t of hit Tyler I would have.”

I smiled up at his praise. “Well then he should thank me.”

“What for?”

I sat back down on the couch in the living room. “Because you probably hit harder.” His deep rich laugh echoed through the room. Aiden’s friends suddenly swarmed into the living but he was quick to take a seat next to me. His friend Jason, the one that had been giving Reece some hot looks, stood at the armrest next to me almost in a protective manner. I think his name was Roger was leaning against the other armrest next to Aiden with his arms crossed over his chest. The rest of the gang took up seats on the floor and all of them were smiling at me.

“Danyelle these are my friends, do you remember who everyone is?” Aiden’s asked.

I looked passed him and pointed. “Roger right?”

He peeked out of the corner of his eye at me and nodded. I smiled, one name down. I looked at the rest of the group. I pointed to the red haired guy first. “He’s Kevin.”

He pretended to flip his short hair over his should when he smiled at me.

I pointed to the youngest looking one next. “That’s Leroy.”

He popped up off the ground with his fists on his hips. “Leroy Jenkins!”

The dark haired one next to him punched his knee. “Will you shut up and sit.”

Leroy yelped at the sudden pain but then glared down at the other guy. “You’re not the boss of me Kyle!”

Kevin crawled over to Kyle and patted his leg. “It’s okay Kyle you can be the boss of me.”

All the guys scooted away from Kevin. I laughed at them and their different attitudes. The way that they all acted around each other reminded me more of a family than a group of friends. The whole group started to yell at Kevin suddenly and I found myself smiling. It was then that I noticed that two of them were missing. One of them was the guy that I had just punched, Tyler, and the other one I remembered having shaggy blonde hair. I leaned over to Aiden and whispered in his ear.

“Where are the other two?”

He smiled gently over at me. “Joey is in the kitchen with Tyler trying to get his nose to stop bleeding.”

I blushed slightly. “I didn’t know I hit him that hard. I’m sorry.”

Aiden wrapped his arm around my waist and scooted me closer to him. The heat of him caressed my skin until I was feverous. He leaned in to my ear and whispered gently his hot breath sent shivers down my spine.

“Don’t apologize he overstepped his boundaries touching something that belonged to me. If he does it again his nose won’t be the only thing that’s bleeding.”

Questionable I looked over to him. “Belongs to you?”

“I’m a very possessive man Danyelle, your mine.” My heart was pounding against my ribs so loudly that I swear he could hear. “Is that understood Tyler?”

I jumped a little at the name and turned around to see Tyler and Joey standing next to Jason. Tyler’s nose was swollen and bruised along the bridge. Dried blood hung out of his nostrils as his eyes burned into me. “Yes sir.”

Aiden dismissed Tyler with a nod and leaned back against the couch. It was only then that I noticed that the entire group was quietly seated on the floor waiting for him to say something.

What the hell?

Aiden sat up straight on the couch and scanned the room with a sense of authority. He opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted when Reece ran into the room.

“Danyelle I’m done editing!” She hopped over the back of the couch and squeezed herself in between Jason and me. There wasn’t a lot of room there so I ended up being pushed up against Aiden. He didn’t really seem to mind so much though.

Reece looked over at me with a smile. Aiden noticed that my attention was now on Reece so he picked me up and moved me to the other side of him. His arms were wrapped around me possessively as he glared playfully at his sister. “Mine!”

“I thought we talked about creeping out the guest, Aiden.”

Aiden ran his hand down my face. “My precious!”

“Alright Smeagol, let’s let the pretty girl go now and walk away.”

Aiden yelled dramatically, “You’re not the boss of me!” then laughed.

Reece laughs, “No but mom’s going to be home any minute.”

He glared at his sister. “You lie!”

“Do I Aiden, do I?”

“I don’t think she’s lying Aiden.” I looked over at Kyle to see him pressed up against the far wall trembling.

Aiden looked over at his petrified friend. “Coward!”

“Is she really going to be here soon? I’d kind of like to meet her.” I spoke.

Horrified by what I had just said Aiden grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “Are you crazy?”

Reece smacked Aiden upside the head and pulled me off of the couch while he was rubbing his head. “I think that’s a great idea Danyelle. Mom actually pulled in a couple of minutes ago so I’ll introduce you.”

I couldn’t keep up with Reece fast enough and ended up being dragged to the kitchen. There sitting at the table was a gorgeous woman. It was obvious where Aiden had gotten his looks from. They both shared the same tanned skin tone, umber eye color, luscious black hair. Everything about this woman however screamed elegances and class while Aiden was more of a hot charming funny mix up. Her beautiful eyes were focused on us as soon as we entered the room and suddenly her beauty felt overwhelming. Who was I, a meager human, to share the same room as her?

“Mom, I’m glad you’re home. This here is my new co-anchor and best friend Danyelle.” Reece quickly introduced us as she propelled me in front of her. I stumbled over to her mom in a very ungraceful manner.

I attempted to cover up my clumsiness by smiling it off but it didn’t really work. “An unbalanced friend you have here Reece. You should take up some yoga sweetie it really helps with that.”

Embarrassment blew through my body so fast that I got a headache. “It’s a flaw that makes up who I am though so I can’t say I mind it.”

Reece’s mom smiled over at me approvingly. “Very true.” She then gestured me over to a seat at the table.

I was suddenly overwhelmed with acceptance so much so that I skipped over to the seat.

Reece’s mom laughed at my childish behavior. “So tell me Danyelle, what brings you to our lovely home?”

“She’s helping me editing some footage.” Reece chimed in.

“Not really, you told me to sit on the couch so I wouldn’t break anything.” I pouted. “But I was mostly hanging out with Aiden and his group of friends.”

She placed her elbow on the table then rested her chin on her hand. “Oh? How does my son treat you?”

My face grew red at the question. It’s not like I could tell her that he was possessive or anything. She saw my flustered reaction and giggled. “He’s his father’s son alright.”

Did she mean Reece’s dad or his biological father?

“I was talking about Reece’s father yes.” I really needed to figure out how to hide my emotions better because this woman was reading me like an open book. She noticed my confused expression and felt obligated to answer. “Aiden didn’t even get the chance to know his biological father, because he left us at a very young age.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I spoke.

She dismissed the comment with a flick of her wrist. “Oh please, my husband Charlie has made Aiden more of a man than his real father ever could have. Besides I don’t mind it’s made both of us who we are today.”

Both of us laughed slightly at the comment but stopped when Aiden stomped into the kitchen. Without even hesitating he lifted me up out of the chair and held me against his chest.

“Mine.” He growled out at his mother. I felt my back stiffen at his tone. A moment ago he had been fine but now he was back on the defense again. I rested my cheek against his firm chest. Some girls might not like his possessive tone he had but to me it made my blood hum.

“Alright Aiden now put the poor girl down.” His mother’s tone had become masked. It was no longer held any warmth to it but rather a cold and firm tone.

Defiantly Aiden held me a moment longer and it probably would have been even longer than that if Reece hadn’t ended up being an impatiently person.

“Do what mom says Aiden.” She elbowed him in the ribs.

Slowly Aiden did what he was told and as soon as my feet touched the ground Reece whisked me away. I looked over my shoulder as Aiden took my seat at the table. His features and stance radiated off anger and displeasure. It made the air around them crackle with tension.

That man,

As soon as we were safely tucked away in Reece’s room she started bouncing around.

“What’s up with you?”

Excited that I had asked she grabbed my shoulders and shook me. “I know what our next project can be!”

My mind was far away from the news casting world so it took me a moment to decipher what she was talking about. “Oh?”

“We can unravel the secrets of the vampire world.”

I was surprised by her sudden comment. “But it will never be broadcasted.”

She rolled her eyes. “One day the human world will know of their existence and when that day comes there will be a lot of questions. Which myths are true and which are false? Luckily I will have all the answers.”

“You know Vanessa isn’t going to give everything away-

“Who says I’m going after Vanessa?” She smiled wickedly.

“Vic is just learning though he doesn’t know-

“Danyelle,” She interrupted. “I’m going to introduce you to the world of experimentation.”

She leaned over secretively and whispered some of her plans into my ear. A moment later I was smiling along with her.

This was going to be good.