Chapter One

If there were a 'top three' moments of my life, they were this: The short amount of time I got to spend with my grandmother, watching my best friend drive his Mustang into an empty grave, and falling in love with a mortal. In that order.

I was a vampire, yet I didn't always fit in with my own kind. While other normal children played outside during the day, I was asleep in a coffin buried in a dark room. Their sippy cups were filled with juice; mine was filled with blood. My parents loved to mingle, with both vampires and humans. Other vampire families, like the Maxwells, believed in sticking to our own kind. I didn't really fit in with either.

I remember when I was small, one of the few times I tried to play with the other kids in my village, it hadn't gone well.

One kid had pointed at me and shrieked, "Alexander has fangs! What a freak!" He ran away.

All I'd done was smile at him, but it was enough to scare away other children. My mother had to teach me how to smile and talk in a way that hid my fangs.

My best friend, Sebastian, was a vampire. His family and mine were close friends. He was a firm believer in never hiding who he was. I always admired him for that.

One night, we were hanging out at the cemetery. Sebastian had invited along some vampire girls, hoping to mingle. Maria was Sebastian's love interest at the time, and her friend who had tagged along, was named was Victoria. I had been hoping to date Victoria, until my family had to pack up and leave the U.S. We traveled a lot because of my father's work, though no matter where we went, we always eventually returned back home to Romania.

Long story short, Sebastian had wanted to impress the girl, and he thought the best way to do so was through his car. When he took a turn around a tombstone too sharply, he had to veer sideways to avoid tipping over, and, well, he nosedived into an empty grave.

I still don't let him live it down.

By the time I was fourteen, I'd had my second encounter with the Maxwells' daughter Luna.

"We'll be out pretty late tonight, but don't hesitate to call us if you need anything," my mother told Luna, smiling.

Luna had her bony pale arms around my little sister's shoulders. "I will! Don't you worry, we'll have a blast!"

Stormy giggled.

Luna was one year older than I was, and human. When she and her twin brother, Jagger, were born, Jagger was born a vampire. Luna was not. Her parents think it was due to a gene in her family that ran back a few generations.

During the day she went to school, hung out with friends, and at night, she spent time with her vampire family before going to bed, having to stick to a human schedule. Some nights on the weekends she stayed up all night as a babysitter for my sister. I felt sorry for her. It must not be easy to live two different lives.

"You stay out of trouble, Alexander," Luna said, giggling at me and batting her eyelashes. Of the very few times I encountered Luna, she was always quick to flirt with me.

I just awkwardly smiled back.