Yeah! I've uploaded three new chapters because I won't be able to upload this upcoming week. Hopefully though you'll get another update next Sunday :) Happy reading and don't forget to VOTE so we can get the story RANKED

...°...

Chase looks to Alice and nods at her, and she comes closer to me, taking my hands in hers. She squeezes softly and looks straight into my eyes before closing them. I know then. She wants me to read her mind. I close my eyes as well and search for that cord that will lead me to her thoughts. Then, I find it and grasp onto it with all of my might, feeling myself getting sucked into her head. It's a memory. But I'm inside of Alice's body as she looks onto the scene. It's her younger self in a familiar room that was in our parent's house, our first home. Our childhood home.

The only light in the gloomy room protrudes from a single burning candle, casting dim reflections on their faces. I can't quite decipher their features at first, so instinctively I feel my muscles moving forwards by themselves. As much as I tell my body to stop, it keeps on crawling, as if I don't have any control over it.

"She will bring us to them, her blood will attract them..." A powerful deep voice booms against the walls and the manly figure then takes the woman's hands and speaks slowly and steadily to her, keeping his hard eyes on her, from fear that she will let their secret slip. But she nods and gets pulled into his arms, sobbing into his shoulder. My father.

"She's just a little girl... she's our daughter!" The woman that I know to be my dear mother lets out another wail and my heart starts beating rapidly in my chest, threatening to jump out. They couldn't be talking about me, as Emma? Could they?

"Emma will understand. It will be quick... it is a sacrifice, but a sacrifice that we have to make in order to maintain balance. If she grows up, she will become a danger to herself, but also to everyone around her. She will threaten the very existence of our people." He sighs and passes a hand through his hair, muttering something undistinguishable under his breath."She must die." This seems to set the woman off even more but I'm too distracted to notice them anymore. My parents were going to sacrifice me? Their own daughter? For what? Were they really just going to leave me to whatever danger they were planning to lure into our childhood home before their sudden death? But what is that danger? What deadly secret could they possibly have been keeping me from?

I bite back the tears as a flaming anger consumes me. Unable to take anymore, I crawl out, still inside of Alice's body as quietly as I can, shutting of the rest of their haunting voices.

...°...

The same wild feeling of beating drums hammering in my chest keeps my eyes glazed over as I struggle to free myself from the grip that I have over Alice's mind. She lets out a scream of pain and takes her head in her hands, ignoring Chase's panicked movements around her. At last, I let go and am flung to the ground, knocking over the chair in the process. Alice looks up at me with wide eyes and I feel too ashamed for hurting her like that without control as the first tear slides down her cheek. I ache to hold her but I'm too paralysed to move, too stunned to speak. But mostly, the same excrutiating agony that I felt in my heart when my parents' words resonated over and over in my head as if someone was pressing on a replay button, just for the joy of watching me suffer: She must die, She must die, She must die...

I let out an ear-piercing scream and press my knees hard to my chest, feeling the betrayal like a stab in my heart. My parents and I certainly didn't have the best relationship compared to their beloved Alice, but would they really have gone to the point of killing me? But why would Alice ever have kept something like that from me? My own sister that I thought I knew and trusted so much?

I hear Alice's feet shuffle across the floor as she crawls over besides me, enveloping her comforting warm arms around me. "I'm sorry Em, I'm so so sorry..." She whispers in my hair, stroking it down again and again. With my forehead pressed against my knees, my eyes glaze over, wide open, starring into nothing in particular. This should be another situation for a person to cry. The loss and heart-breaking betrayal should be enough to set at least a tiny emotion off. Shouldn't it? Then why can't I feel tears splattering my face wet? Why can't I feel that envying feeling of watery eye? Why can't I for once feel like a normal human?

"Why...?" I breathe out abruptly. Alice thinks that the question is destined for her, and for a completely different purpose. But it's actually meant for myself. However, she takes it her own way and begins her explanation.

"You must know that they were killed by a vampire. Don't you?" I nod, even though my mind is set somewhere else entirely. I can't think straight, I just lean in and half-listen to every word she says. Their cool, collected faces still flash from time to time in my head, like ghosts that refuse to move on, to leave me alone. After everything they've prepared to ensure my death, how can they even expect the slightest bit of love from me in return? They have never been the people that I thought them to be. The people in my happy memories that I cherished and looked up to were fake. They were planning to send me to my death... Their own daughter's death.

"I figured as much..." She mutters to herself, smiling gratefully at Chase's firm hand on her shoulder who looks down at her with so much love in his eyes, encouraging her to continue speaking. "But you saw that vampire right after their bodies were found." She has my attention. I rip my thoughts from their faces in my mind and look at her with confusion clear on my pale face. Paler than usual may I add. "I hired the detective. He killed them both and because he was leading the investigation, no one ever suspected him. He seemed completely clear of any crimes. But then again, he was a vampire... he must have compelled them or something..."

-Wait." I cut her off sharply, and she raises an eyebrow, eyeing me suspiciously. "You hired the detective? You knew about vampires but didn't care to tell me?" She shakes her head wildly, trying to get my attention back on her.

"No, no, no, I mean... yes, but not quite... Nevermind..." She groans in her hands but looks up, giving me a slight smile. "After I knew that our parents were planning on using you as bait for - my guess is now - vampires, I was desperate to protect you Em... the detective had been watching me and for some reason he knew what was going on, so he offered me the choice of getting rid of them, none of my involvement needed. I was so heartbroken, so vulnerable, I didn't trust anyone, I was so focused on keeping you safe... so I accepted." She finishes, wiping away a tear that has fallen from one of her gleaming eyes in the process. I am too shocked to speak. "You have to understand... I was only protecting you. They would have given you to vampires to die. Why? I have no idea..." She stands up with a broken expression as I softly remove her hands from me. I need to have some time for myself to think. Chase takes her in his arms and leads her out of the room as she wobbles unsteadily on her legs, leaving me listening after her distant sobs, muffled by his shoulder.

-Emma?" I spin around and hit a familiar face in the process, who falls back with shock plastered all over his handsome face. "Whoa... calm down, what the hell?"

In other situations I may have laughed at Jay's current position, splattered over the floor in a hilarious angle, but one thought is still engraved in my head, keeping me from moving on. His brown golden eyes suddenly fill with concern and scan me over for any injuries but I brush away his reassuring words, keeping my gaze fixed outside of the window, into the sky that has seemingly darkened during my time in here.

"My parents-" I turn to him, my lip trembling from the hate in my words, "...they were going to kill me, Jay."