5.

When Jace pushes me out onto the porch ten minutes later, I finally realize how bright the afternoon is. There's a storm on the horizon, but right now the sun shines down strong, enough the brighten the forest we came through the night before.

"I thought vampires are—"

"Supposed to burn in the sun?" he says, finishing my question. I turn around to see him slip a pair of aviators on, making his skin look so pale against his dark hair and coat. "Humans just made that up to feel safer."

"So it's not true?"

"Not entirely," Jace says. "We don't see as well on days like this—our vision is basically reduced to a humans—but it's tolerable. And we also don't linger in direct sunlight. It's uncomfortable for short periods of time and it makes our thirst stronger, but nothing more."

"What would happen if you were direct sunlight all day? You're saying it would only be 'uncomfortable?'"

Jace's jaw clenches and I know there's something he's not telling me. But since I'm going to be dead anyway, he probably figures it doesn't matter what he tells me. "Sunlight weakens us," he says. "If it weren't for you, I would only travel during the night. We're nocturnal. But as it is, I would like to get this done as quickly as possible. Which means we need to find a car."

He grabs my arm and leads me down the steps, but instead of heading for the forest again, we start down the driveway. I pull my arm away and say, "I can walk fine by myself."

"You knows what happens if you try to run," he warns.

But that doesn't mean I won't stop thinking about it. I just need to be patient and wait for the right time. When we reach the bottom of the driveway, Jace turns right and we walk along the side of the road, with nothing but trees in sight. I glance over at him, with the sun still shining bright. His jaw is set tight and his hands are buried deep into his pockets, like it's a cold day and he's trying to ward out the season.

We walk like that for a half hour until I finally say, "Where are we going?"

"There's a train station in Richmond," he says. "From there, we'll be going north."

I stop. "We're walking to Richmond?"

"It's not much farther," he says, stopping a looking back. "Three hours at the most."

"I thought you said the sun weakens you."

"I'm fine," he says tightly. "I'm sure we'll find a car on the way."

I start walking and say, "We could always hitchhike."

Even as I say it, I hear a car coming from behind us. I stick out my thumb just as Jace says, "We aren't—what do you think you're doing?" He grabs my arm, stopping me in my tracks. But my thumb is still up and the car is slowing down.

"Getting us a ride." I have no idea why I was trying to make our trip quicker, even if it meant me dying sooner, but I didn't feel like walking for hours when we could be there sooner.

The car is slowing down, ready to pull off the road. As I drop my thumb, Jace pulls me closer and whispers in my ear, "I will not hesitate to kill."

I shy away, repressing a shiver. But I turn towards the car with a smile, seeing an older man behind the wheel. He rolls down his window and leans across the seat. "You kids need a ride?"

"We would love one, yes. Thank you."

Before I can claim the front seat for myself, Jace takes it—reminding me he'll be close enough to do something if I give us away. The man's life is in my hands, and his death could be an arm's reach away. And he doesn't even know it.

I slide into the backseat and buckle myself in, something Jace doesn't bother doing.

"Thank you for giving us a ride," Jace says, surprising me by his politeness.

The older man doesn't seem taken back at all by Jace. Not by his pale, smooth skin, or the fact he's wearing a jacket in the summer. To me, it's nothing but obvious.

"Not a problem," he says, turning down the radio. "There's nothing around here for miles."

"Our car broke down a few miles back," he lies easily. "We just need to get to the city and we'll be fine."

"That's not a problem. The doctor man makes me come in every few weeks for check up. I had a heart attack a few months back and he's paranoid I'll have another." I look at him worriedly, and he sees me in the rearview mirror and laughs. "It was nothing, really. Just one of those things doctors like to worry about. And plus—"

He keeps going and I stop listening, nodding whenever he looks back to pretend I am. Jace's body is stiff in front of me, and I briefly wonder if it's hard for him to sit so close to a human. I never thought of it before, not even when he was close to me.

I tear my eyes away and look out the window, barely believing this is happening to me. I finally have time to think about my parents, and wonder how long it took them to realize I was gone. Will I be one of those missing girls on the nightly news? Thought about for a week and totally forgotten within a month.

My stomach feels sick again and I look back at Jace. If it weren't for him, I'd still be at home. Safe and going to school. I would be graduating in a month. Instead he's leading me to my death for being apart of a world I didn't know existed.

I have a growing hate for him, I realize. Slowly replacing that fear.

We ride awhile longer until the older man starts asking Jace questions. He wasn't lying when he didn't like to socialize with humans. When Jace glances over at him, he looks like at wants to eat him, even though his eyes are still hidden by his sunglasses.

"Have you ever had a problem with doctor telling you something like that?" the older man asks.

Jace looks over and says tightly, "No."

"Nah, I guess a young kid like you wouldn't."

Right then I wonder how old Jace really is. In all the myths I've heard, vampires live for hundreds, and maybe thousands, of years. Of course he only looks to be about twenty-years-old, but now I want to know his real age.

I shake my head and return my attention to the trees passing by, reminding myself I shouldn't care about any of that. I don't want to get to know him. He's my enemy. He's the reason I'm going to die.

About another half hour of the man droning on, filling a silence that was never there, he announces he needs to pull over for gas. I see the bathrooms on the outside of the gas station, and when I get out to use them, Jace is already there, slipping his hand around my wrist.

"What do you think you're doing?" he mutters.

The older man pumps gas, not looking in out direction, but I can't tell if he's listening to us.

"I need to use the bathroom," I say. I walk forward and he lets me, keeping his eyes on me until I lock myself inside.

It's the first time I've been alone since he took me, and it's almost overwhelming. I have no way to in contact with anyone, and even if I could, I have no idea where we are or where we're going. My only hope is for someone to recognize me from the news—if I'm even on there.

Given everything that has happened, I don't look too horrible when I glance in the mirror. There are slight bags under my eyes, and my hair is in need of a shower, but I'm surprised it's not worse.

The moment I step out of the bathroom, a cold hand grabs my arm from behind and pushes me around to the back of the building.

"What are you doing?" I hiss. "And would you please not grab my arm every time you need me to go somewhere, because it's getting kind of—"

"Stop talking," he says, pushing my back against the building. I can make out his eyes through the sunglasses he's still wearing. He's staring at the wall about a foot to my left, like he's listening for something. And because he's so close to me again, I have to push that fear down. If I let, it would control me. "Damn it," he mutters.

"What is it?"

"We have to get out of here."

Jace pulls me after him, heading for the woods behind the gas station.

"What about our ride?"

"I told him to go on without us. I don't want someone innocent to get hurt."

I give him a confused look and say, "I didn't know you had a heart."

He shoots me a look I can't decipher. But he doesn't say anything else, just pulling me deeper into the woods. It can't be more then two minutes when he suddenly stops, looking behind us. And before I can ask or do anything, he pushes me back against a tree, standing closely in front of me, like he's trying to protect me from something invisible.

At first I don't feel anything, or hear anything for that matter.

Then it comes all at once.

Fear drips into my veins, too strong for me to push away. And even though the day is hot and I can see the sun through the branches, I'm suddenly cold. It takes everything for me not to shake. It's the same feeling I had in the field.

Over Jace's shoulder, I see two men walking towards us, coming from the deeper shadows of the forest. They make two pale forms in the shadows. Though neither of them wear sunglasses.

They're the two vampires Jace was in the field with last night. The ones who killed that girl. The larger of the two—Drake, who found the girl in the first place—stares at me from over Jace's shoulder. It's enough to make me want to hide. They're both dressed similar to Jace, though neither of them have a jacket like his. Just anything to protect their skin from the sunlight.

Jace is the first to speak. "Peter. Drake."

Peter smiles a fake smile. "Jace. Did you really think you could get rid of us that easily? I've heard even newborns can tell better lies than that." He tsks. "You should know better."

"I suppose I underestimated how smart you both are," he says. "After all, it did take you this long to find me."

A deep growl comes from Drake, but Peter just smiles again. "We let you play your little game, now why don't you let us help you. We could all benefit from this."

Peter finally looks at me, right in the eye.

"You know it doesn't work like that," Jace says. "You'll sooner kill me than turn her in together." Then he says in a firmer voice, "This is mine."

Peter's smile slowly fades. "If you want to play like that . . . so be it. Don't say I didn't warn you."

As they start to turn away, I can't help but notice Drake's look he gives us. It's nothing but amusement.