"Not you too," Amy said. Jayden had told them about how he believed his parents might be vampires too as soon as we got to Amy's house. "Am I the only normal one on this street?"

  "No. It's nothing like that," Jazmine said. "Not like your parents, Robyn. I just fear she is…I don't know, going crazy?"

  "She'll fit right in then," I said, chuckling.

  Jazmine didn't seem to find it amusing. She stared at the church rising on a small hill in the distance. We parked between a row of trees and decided to walk the rest of the way. Lots of people—if you could call them people—were emerging from the parking lot, walking toward the church entrance, the pastor greeting all of them at the door.

  "Are they all vampires?" Amy asked me, a slight shiver in her voice. She grabbed my arm.

  Jayden walked behind us, holding Melanie by the chain. She was letting out a low growl from the back of her throat.

  "I have a feeling they might be," I said.

  We stopped and watched as several others approached the entrance. "That's a lot of vampires," Jazmine said, gulping. "Aren't they supposed to be afraid of crosses or something like that?"

  "Apparently, not this type of vampires," I said.

  I stared at the church in front of us, then back at Melanie, who suddenly didn't seem very threatening at all. At least not enough to deal with all these vampires.

  "You sure you want to do this?" Jazmine asked me. "We can still turn back. It's not too late."

  I nodded, biting my lip, thinking about the poor people who were about to be devoured in a feast for vampires.

  "I have to. I can't possibly live with myself if we turn back now."

  Chapter Eighteen

  The door to the church was closed when everyone had come inside. We all stood by the trees and looked at the old building, not quite knowing what to do. Light was glowing from the windows onto the snow outside.

  We walked up to one of the windows and peeked inside. What we saw looked mostly like a ball, a party, where people stood in groups, chatting with each other, making polite small-talk, all wearing clothes worthy of a cocktail party.

  "So, is this sort of a party…for vampires?" Jazmine asked.

  No one answered her question. Jayden stood close to me. I could feel the warmth from his body. There were days when I wished I had done as he suggested and run away when I found out what my parents were. He said he would protect me, but I didn't dare to. I was scared. But at least I would have been with him somehow. And he wouldn't have been with…her. I looked at Jazmine standing on the other side of me, peeking inside, gasping lightly as someone was brought in. I turned to look as well. A man with a terrified look on his face was carried inside the church room by two men wearing suits, and then something happened inside the church, something that made all of us pull back. A sort of loud scream emerged from all the spectators as the man was presented to them. The look in their eyes changed, fangs popped out everywhere, fangs and claws and snarling sounds emerged from them as one of them stepped forward, encouraged by the others.

  It was Adrian.

  The pastor said something to him, but we couldn't hear what it was, then he pointed at the terrified man who had been forced to his knees. Adrian then snarled and jumped the man, turning into this bat-like creature with wings and everything, sinking his fangs deep into the poor man's skin.

  I shrieked and clasped my mouth as I watched my brother suck blood from the poor man, who screamed for his life till the color disappeared from his face and his eyes turned white. In a matter of seconds, Adrian sucked all the blood out of him and the deflated version of the man fell lifeless to the ground.

  All the vampires broke into a loud cheer.

  Seconds later, five more humans were brought in. Just at the sight of them, all the vampires turned into the bat-like skinny creatures, then attacked them.

  "Oh, dear God," Amy said and pulled away from the window.

  Suddenly, all their eyes were on me. I could tell how appalled they were. Jayden was standing behind me.

  "This is not who Robyn is," he said. "These are her parents and her brother, but not her. We are not who our parents are. We don't get to choose our own family, remember?"

  Amy swallowed and nodded. "Of course not."

  "Jazmine?" Jayden said.

  She shook her head and stepped back, away from me. "I…I just need…time…"

  "It's okay," I said to Jayden. "It's a lot to take in."

  "No," he said. "We are your friends. We should be supportive of Robyn no matter what."

  Jazmine nodded. "Of course."

  I could tell she found it hard. It was no wonder. I did too. It was one thing to suspect them of being vampires, but to actually see it. It shook me to the core. Watching my parents turn into these…monsters and do…that? It was simply too much, too disgusting. All my life, I thought I had known who they were, who my family was when in reality I had no idea. I had absolutely no freakin' idea.

  "Where is Melanie?" Amy asked.

  We all turned around and spotted her standing a little back from us. She was growling loudly, her face was strained, and she was pulling at the chains on her neck.

  "Maybe seeing the other vampires suck blood has made her crave it too," Jazmine said and stepped backward, her face torn in fear. "She's gonna suck our blood, isn't she? She's gonna kill us all."

  "No, Melanie, no," Amy said and stepped forward, but it was too late.

  Melanie pulled forcefully at the chains and they shattered, looking like they exploded, scattering into small pieces everywhere.

  We all gaped at her, fearing for what came next. Thousands of images rushed through our minds, but not one of them matched what really happened.

  "Melanie?" Amy asked.

  Melanie growled loudly, standing on all fours, her claws digging into the soil. Her fangs poked out in her suddenly very hairy face. Then she leaped through the air and crashed through the window.

  Chapter Nineteen

  "What have we done?"

  We stared at Melanie as she disappeared through the window, glass shattering everywhere. Jazmine was the only one who spoke.

  "We should never have brought her here. Now she's going to be one of them. She's gonna be a bloodsucking vampire like the rest of them."

  "I…don't think…that's what is going to happen," Amy said.

  As the vampire party realized what was happening, they all turned and looked at Melanie as she burst in amongst them, landing on her feet.

  "Say…are we absolutely sure she’s a vampire?" Jayden asked.

  I stared at Melanie as she growled at the vampires who hissed at her. Then one pointed at her and yelled.

  "WOLF!"

  Our eyes met briefly before we turned to look. What went down inside the church was so surreal I had a hard time believing it. Melanie snarled and growled at the vampires, and much to my surprise, they all seemed to be scared of her. They recoiled as she approached the humans on the floor. The vampires hissed and fizzed, but they stayed away from her.

  Melanie stopped when she reached the humans, then turned to look back at us, and I realized she was now a full-blown wolf. I was startled, to say the least. Melanie growled at the pastor, who also pulled back from the humans. Two of them were still alive and hadn't been bitten yet. They whimpered and stared at Melanie. The pastor moved quickly. As Melanie turned her back on him, he went for the pointy iron cross by the altar, pulled it down, then plunged towards her.

  "Melanie!" I screamed so loud it echoed through the entire church. Several faces turned to look, including my mom. We all hid beneath the window, but I felt unsure whether she saw me. I peeked up again, but my mom was gone along with my dad and brother.

  Meanwhile, Melanie had heard my scream and turned around just in time to move, so the cross wouldn't pierce her. The cross ended up in the wall, the pastor still holding onto the other end of it. Melanie growled, then approached him, lifted her claw into the air, then ripped him open in one quick movement. The pastor let out a loud, terrifying shriek and was thrown against the wall by the force of her stroke, whereupon Melanie leaped at him and sunk her teeth into his throat.

  A gasp went through the vampire crowd. The pastor gurgled and choked, then lifted his hand and looked at it while it turned to dust. Slowly, his body simply dissolved till it was nothing but a pile of dust on the tiles beneath, which the wind soon grabbed and blew away, out the door where the vampires had started to flee.

  The remaining vampires panicked. Some screamed, turned into bats, and flew out the shattered window above us, while others hurried out the door, shrieking loudly, and drove away in their cars.

  Within ten seconds, they were all gone, and so was Melanie.

  Chapter Twenty

  "Where did she go?"

  We had finally dared to walk inside the church. Dead bodies were on the ground, completely sucked dry, whereas the two that were left had already escaped.

  "Did any of you see where she went?" Amy looked desperately around the church, while I checked the dead bodies to make sure they weren't still alive. Everyone shook their heads. None of us had seen her leave. We were too busy staring at the pastor, who had completely dissolved after being bitten by Melanie, the wolf.

  We heard whimpering voices yell in some language I didn't understand and rushed to a room behind the altar, where we found about ten more people, staring at us with terrified eyes. Jayden helped me open the iron gates holding them in with a set of keys we found hanging on a wall. We let them out and soon they, too, scattered into the night. One woman sat by the body of one of the dead men, whimpered slightly, then clenched her fist at us and said something that sounded like a curse before she, too, ran into the night.

  It was hard to say how I felt. I was happy to have been able to liberate all those people and deliver them from this terrible fate, but still, I felt so sorry for those that didn't make it, the ones that were now lying on the ground, dead. Jayden came up next to me.

  "What do we do with them?" I asked.

  Jayden ran a hand through his thick hair.

  "Do you think we should call your dad?"

  He bit his lip. I thought about what he had told me earlier about him believing his parents might also be vampires. Could we trust them? I used to think so. I used to love his parents, but suddenly I wasn't so sure anymore.

  "I say we call nine-one-one anonymously and then get the heck out of here," Amy said coming up next to us.

  "How do you call the police anonymously from a cellphone?" I asked. "Can't they just track the caller or something?"

  Amy looked at me. "You might have a point."

  "The church might have a landline in the back," Jayden said.

  We all looked at him, then nodded. We rushed to the back, where we found a small office that seemed to have belonged to the pastor, then stared at the landline on the desk.

  "Who is going to do it?" Jazmine asked.

  I looked at her. Had her eyes changed color? Didn't they used to be brown? Now they seemed almost yellow. I shook the thought.

  "I'll do it," I said.

  Jayden grabbed my hand and stopped me. "No. I'll do it. We can't risk your parents finding out. Which reminds me, we might need to get you back very fast."

  I took in a deep breath. I really didn't want to go back. They had to know that I wasn't in my bed by now and then what would they do to me? Had they seen me standing by the window of the church? Had they heard me yell? I felt unsure.

  Jayden grabbed the phone and made the call. Then we rushed back to Amy's truck and drove back home to Shadow Hills, the sound of a wolf howling at the moon echoing in the night.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Jayden and Jazmine walked me home from Amy's house. We didn't say much. Jazmine grabbed Jayden's hand in hers, and they held hands for a few feet when he let go of hers. He walked me up the driveway. The ladder was still leaned up against the house in the yard. I wished I could go up that way, but my mom had locked the window earlier. I had to use the front door. Luckily, we had a key in the flowerpot that I could use.

  I found it and put it in the lock. Jayden stepped forward. "Are you sure you want to go home?" he asked, speaking in a whisper.

  "It's for the best," Jazmine said, pulling his hand.

  Jayden sighed. "I don't like it. You're not safe in there."

  "It's her parents," Jazmine said. "What can they do to her? Ground her?"

  "You saw them tonight," Jayden said, growling slightly as he spoke to her. "They are vicious bloodsucking monsters. There’s no saying what they might do to her."

  "Easy, now," Jazmine said and pulled back. "I was only trying to make you feel better."

  Something was going on between the two of them and it made me feel terrible. I feared it had to do with me. Jayden had always been so protective of me and I feared it was making her jealous.

  "I'm gonna be okay," I said.

  Jayden looked into my eyes. "Are you sure?"

  I forced a smile to hide how terrified I was. "Yes. Don't worry about me."

  He looked torn. "Maybe I should stay out here till you get to your room. You can signal me from your window. Let me know that you're all right."

  Jazmine approached him from behind. "Sounds like a good idea," she said.

  I nodded. "Okay."

  I put my hand on the handle and pushed the door open, slowly, quietly, making sure not to make a sound. I looked back one last time before entering, my eyes locking with Jayden's worried eyes. In the distance, I could hear sirens approaching the church, but the sound was drowned out as I closed the door with a click. I locked it, then took my shoes off and placed them in the cabinet, in line with the others, making sure you couldn't tell they had been in use. I closed the cabinet door, carefully, then walked to the stairs and tiptoed up, stopping to listen every time the stairs made a creak. But there was no sound, nothing coming from my parents’ bedroom either as I passed their door, feeling the cold breeze coming from it, telling me they were definitely in there. But were they sleeping? Were they waiting for me to come home?

  I entered my room and closed the door carefully behind me, relieved not to find my mother waiting for me there. There were still a few hours till sunrise. I could get a couple of hours of sleep.

  Remembering my promise to Jayden, I walked to the window and waved at him and Jazmine. They smiled and waved back, then turned around and walked away. I watched them for a few seconds, jealous of their hand-holding and of the fact that she got to kiss him goodnight.

  When I turned back, I looked into the glowing green eyes of my mother.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  "Mom?

  My heart sank. I couldn't breathe. She stood still for an eerily long time, staring at me. I wasn't sure she was even breathing. Did vampires breathe? I knew they didn't have a pulse, but I was pretty sure my mom still breathed air just like she also ate food; well, some wouldn't call it food, but she did eat.

  "Why are you up?"

  I swallowed, trying to remove the knot of fear growing in my throat. "I…I…what do you mean?"

  Her eyes were scrutinizing me, piercing straight through me. She went to the window and looked out. I exhaled, knowing she probably would see Jayden.

  "Mom, listen…I…"

  "Something happened tonight," she said. "At the church."

  Oh, dear God. She knows I was there, doesn’t she?

  She stared at me like she was waiting for some sort of reaction. I wasn't much of an actress, but I tried to act surprised anyway.

  "Oh. Like what exactly?"

  "It was a tragedy. Something bad. Say…were you looking at them? At Jayden and that girl?"

  I nodded. "Yes. I heard them, then…"

  She looked at my PJs. I was suddenly so relieved that I hadn't changed before running out with Jayden. I had just put a jacket over me.

  "Guess it must be hard to have to see them together, huh?"

  Sympathy? From my mother? What's going on here? Who are you and what did you do to my real mom?

  "No…I…."

  She grabbed my chin and pulled it up. "But you're too good for that boy. I have always told you that you were. You have another destiny far better than him."

  "I don't even like him anymore, Mom. It's over."

  She let go of my chin. "You should be in bed, Robyn. Enough of this nightly waking up. You are young. You need sleep to grow strong."

  She pulled the curtains to keep out all the moonlight. Then she let her nail rest on my nose.

  "I’m glad you're not like them, running out after midnight. That’s how you get yourself in trouble. That’s how you get yourself killed by that wolf out there. Your dad and your brother and I were almost killed by it tonight. Vicious beast, that one."

  "At the church?" I asked.

  She paused. Her eyes rested on mine for an uncomfortably long time. "Yes."

  I faked a yawn. It wasn't hard; I was actually very tired. "I think I'll go back to sleep then," I said.

  "Yes, you do that. Tomorrow is school, remember? Home-school. Lucky you, huh?"

  I gave a strained smile and nodded. "Lucky me."

  She chuckled and turned to leave, then stopped with a hand resting on the door handle. She turned her head like an owl and looked back at me.

  "Say, you weren't at the church tonight, were you?"

  I couldn't breathe. My eyes grew wide as I thought like crazy what to respond.

  She continued. "I thought I heard your voice and…" Mom shook her head. No, you wouldn't defy me like that. Not my Robbie. No, it was someone else…right?"

  I nodded, biting my lip. She smiled.

  "Good."

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Jayden couldn't fall asleep. He couldn't find rest. He was awake when he heard his brother return from wherever he went at night and, for a second, he wondered if he too had been present at the church tonight, but he hadn't seen him there.