Once again, I decided to go in a different direction. I wanted to give the characters more of an edge. I also deleted a lot of cliches from my outline. The story just seemed too dry. I wanted to do something different. I altered the prologue a bit, so if you read it earlier than Jan. 12th, '09, please take a second to read the new one.

Chapter Playlist:

Mutiliation is the Most Sincere Form of Flattery - Marilyn Manson

Love Remains the Same - Gavin Degraw (the official Evie/Jake theme song, IMO)

Evie Cullen wasn't finished. The room was completely trashed. Tables were overturned, chairs had all their legs ripped from them, streamers were torched, walls were drenched with graffiti, but there was still one thing to do.

The sign in the center of the stage, tall and looming, needed some serious revision.

Mayor Kirk's disgusting smile dominated half of the sign, and the words "The Vampires will Burn" marked the other half. Evie smirked and clicked her tongue in mock disapproval. She stomped up the steps and onto the stage, stopping one foot short of where the sign was erected. A few swipes of lime green spray paint left the sign reading "The Vampires will Burn you alive." with a crooked arrow pointing towards the mayor's plastic face. Evie dropped the paint, turned and yanked the microphone that was already set up for Mayor Kirk from it's anchor, and pitched it halfway across the gymnasium. She smirked when the mic hit the concrete with a sharp crack and electrical sparks began shooting from the broken instrument.

"My work here is done."

The eerie silence was then broken by a set of hands clapping. Evie turned and scowled at the man who greeted her.

Mayor Matthew Kirk, the founder and leader of Citizens Against the Undead. leaned against the side entrance from the school's main hallway. His short, stocky frame caught the moonlight from the nearby windows and cast a long shadow across the gold-tinted floors. "I see one of our Children of Satan has decided to help us decorate. I love it. Really helps to drive our opinion of your kind home."

"You think so?" Evie's voice echoed off of the four walls that surrounded them. Her arms barely tensed, but her bright-green eyes darkened with thirst and rage. There was nothing she wanted more than to rip his heart through his throat and leave him to bleed dry on the floor. But somewhere in the back of her mind, her grandfather Carlisle's voice held her back.

She had to keep her cool. She wasn't evil. She couldn't give in to bloodlust, or she and possibly her entire family would pay the consequences.

"I doubt it will earn any respect for your existance, Vampire." he spat the word from his lips as if it were a sour grape. "I suggest you leave now, and tell the rest of your coven that we will continue these meetings and our practices until this town and every other town is clean of your filth."

Evie couldn't help but snort at his weak, flabby build. As if she should fear him! As if she should fear any of his "citizens", for that matter! She slowed her movement down so he could follow her every step, and began to advance toward him. She heard his heart pick up speed, and grinned widely. "I think, that you should tell YOUR coven..." she growled through her clenched teeth as she crushed her black leather boots into the concrete with every step, leaving a trail of deep prints behind, "that we're not going anywhere."

"Evie?"

She and the mayor spun in the direction of the call, and Evie gasped when she recognized it as Jacob's voice. She grabbed Mayor Kirk by the collar and yanked him towards her. She pressed her forehead to his and glared into his terrified, brown eyes. "This isn't over. See you in your nightmares, bastard."

Evie then shoved him back against the doorway, not caring if she used too much force. His pained cry that followed the impact of his shoulder against the frame suggested a break, but she made no attempt to care. She had to get to Jacob now.

The mayor opened his eyes to find the gym empty and the back door wide open.

Outside of the school, a tall, dark-haired man paced back and forth. As he moved from one side of the walkway to the other, his form morphed from that of a man to the form of a giant, brown wolf. A gasp made the wolf prick his ears forward. The wolf barked, seemingly relieved, and began to bound towards the tall, willowy figure that was walking towards him.

"Jacob!" Evie hissed, horrified at his transformation in the middle of a public place. "Turn back before somebody sees you!"

The wolf stopped, cocked his head to one side, then shrugged. A half-second later, he stood before her in human form. "Better?" Jacob asked Evie with a playful smirk.

If Evie could blush, she definitely would have. She held up her arms to block his lower anatomy from her view. "Okay okay, change back. But you have to get out of sight."

Jacob's shoulders shook with laughter that changed into raspy yips as he shifted back into wolf form. Instead of taking off, he stood where he was as if waiting for something else to happen.

Evie sighed. "You want me to ride on your back? Very inconspicuous, Jake."

Jacob whined.

"Okay okay. God, just please don't do that!" Evie griped. She hated to hear Jacob whine. It brought her close to tears every time he did it. Unfortunately, he knew this and used the whine frequently to get his way.

After Evie climbed onto Jacob's back, he took off into the surrounding woods. He moved quickly, though not quite as fast as she could. They had held several races since her transformation had turned her into a vampire, so she could prove her dominance in that area fairly. However, because half of her was human, Evie's transformation had not been full. Her strength did not come as close to the strength that the rest of her family members possessed. Luckily, her bloodlust was also not as intense. It had only taken her a few months to desensitize herself to the smell of blood, which meant that her family had not been rooted in one place for very long.

Ever since Evie could remember, her family had been nomadic. Her father, Edward, had uprooted them after she had been born and her mother had disappeared from the face of the earth. As long as she could remember, they had been hunting for her, tracing every clue they could lay their hands on. At first, Evie had been hopeful about finding her mother. She used to fantasize about the moment she would finally meet her. She envisioned herself running towards her, being scooped up into a big hug, finally speaking to her, hearing her voice, recognizing her smell... but year after year of her arms remaining empty, she had given up. All she had left of her mother was a flat, two-dimensional image and a dream that had haunted her until her transformation. Not even the dream had been comforting. It had only been screaming, terror, blood....

We're home, Evie.

Evie, startled by Jacob's voice in her mind, snapped out of her daydreaming. She opened her eyes and looked at the scene around her. White house with blue roof, two-stories tall, set in a circular field surrounded by trees. White picket fence, Alice's flowers covering every square inch of their yard. Just a temporary shell. Just a house.

She then looked at Jake, who was still staring at her with worried eyes. Their gazes locked.

There, now she was home.

Stop thinking about that dream, honey. It just makes you sad.

It had thrilled Edward in the beginning, when Evie first read Jacob's mind. However, it was revealed seconds later that she couldn't hear anyone else. Carlisle's theory was that Evie had inherited the trait from Edward, but it had been changed through her unique relationship with Jacob. Edward still blamed the imprint for limiting Evie's gift, but Evie secretly thought that he was angry for also inheriting her mother's gift, which now shielded her thoughts from everyone but Jacob as well. There were times after that though where her telepathic connection with Jacob would prove to become an annoyance.

Like now.

"Jake, I'm fine. Now turn back." Evie assured him. She reached into her backpack and handed him a bundle, which he grabbed in his mouth, and pushed him away.

The front door opened minutes later as Jake emerged from behind the fence, fully dressed. Edward stomped across the yard and grabbed the strap of Evie's backpack. He spoke through a clenched jaw, grinding out one syllable at a time.

"What... Did.... You.... DO?!?!"