Sorry for taking so long updating. My hiatus still stands, but I'm updating for two reasons: 1.) The 17th is this baby's first year anniversary (thanks a LOT for the support and love :)) and 2.) Today is Restless Dreaming Spirit;'s birthday :) So, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Michel's Perspective and Restless Dreaming Spirit! Hope you enjoy this chapter everyone. Tell me what you think, eh?

There, he said it.

He almost expected her to be okay. she did look shocked, but she surprised him when she collapsed.

He had to grab her to prevent her from falling.

"She fainted," Luke said.

"Yea, I got that when she started to fall. Go meet Anne and tell her I'll be right up," Michel said calmly.

"What if her human is there?" Luke asked, as if he was looking forward to it.

"You tell them that I'll be there soon. And don't try anything. We don't know if that guy knows anything."

Luke began to walk to their destination, and Michel could hear him grumbling. He caught uptight and paranoid, but he kept his eyes on Kerry.

What would happen now, he wondered. Would she change her mind? She wasn't one to stick to things when she found new information, like the time Marsala told her her family was alive, well, and free. She changed sides quickly. It was typical for anyone—humans and vampires—to do what was best for survival. Or would she stick to this plan? He had to exterminate those vampire hunters. That was a fact.

"They sure are recruiting them younger every time," Michel complained under his breath. He sighed and began to carry Kerry towards the direction Luke walked, deviating from the route whenever there was a steep hill he had to climb.

This is getting me nowhere, he began to think. Now he began to think about Plan B, something he was ignoring for too long: Is Kerry going to have to die too. Too many vampires were involved in this, and if he let her go, it wouldn't just be rumors anymore. Vampires would know he let her go, and any surfacing vampire hunters would be tacked on her. Did he want that? Other vampires would look for her, and that would end his need to have to finish her off himself, but he wouldn't be able to live with the guilt.

Guilt was something he was never able to live with well.

Danger makes people so unthinkable things, Master Brine told him once. Those words were so true back then as they are now. He let Kerry live after she became a double agent because she took him to a closet. He didn't kill her when he woke up, nor did he turn her to keep her from possibly hunting him down and kill him. Why? Because he almost died when he got shot, even more when the sun hit him. He had rather hope that she would keep her word than to eliminate any doubt. Danger. What a key element to do unthinkable things. It makes you reconsider a moment's priorities…

He couldn't keep thinking about it anymore. It was too tempting, and anyway, if she became a vampire because of a desperate act, she might regret it later, or could get killed by vampire hunters. What then?

"Mike, hurry up," Luke said, sounding impatient and worried. That was never a good sign.

He also didn't like how forced he sounded. He opened his mouth to say something, but he closed it again. Did they get captured? If so, he could have the advantage with the element of surprise. But they couldn't know he knew. "I'm hurrying. She passed out and I'm carrying her," he said as impersonally as possible.

He kneeled on one knee, and tried to wake Kerry up as quietly as he could.

"Kerry," he whispered, right into her ear. She moved a little, but nothing more. "Kerry, please wake up," he said softly. She hissed a little, and held on to Michel tightly.

"You sprained your ankle, didn't you?" he said, using a very quiet voice.

She only nodded. "Why are you whispering? Where's Luke?" she whispered anyways.

Again, he put his lips to her ear, "I think vampire hunters caught them right now. They must have been waiting here for hours, letting the swamp cover their scent, and attacked once Luke got there."

She pulled back to look at him. "Are you going to kill those hunters?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation. They stared at each other for a couple seconds, and then he said, "Can you pretend you fainted right now?"

"Why?"

"So that they don't think you came willingly to be turned or something like that."

She pursed her lips, something he had never seen her do. "They'll probably try to attack me anyway, to make sure I'm not 'one of them,'" she said, her conflicting feelings probably starting to get the best of her.

"One of them is your best friend, the other, your lab partner, and the other, your best friend's boyfriend. I very much doubt they would kill you without a second thought." He stood up, helping her get up too.

"Gee, thanks, that makes me feel much better."

"Luke called out to me not even a minute ago, can you play your part? It will go a lot more smoothly," he looked at her exasperatedly.

"Fine," she said, and quickly went limp. He unzipped her jacket, and she tried to resist. "Trust me," he said, pulling back her hand, "It's not what you think. They just can't see it bulging out of your outside pocket," he said.

"Can't see wha—?" she stopped, her eyes huge upon seeing the gun.

"This time, use it on a vampire hunter," he said meaningfully, "Just in case they do try to kill you…again." He smiled, but it probably came out wolfish anyways, so he quickly hid it, and carried Kerry again.

"I'll be there in a minute, just going to put her down," he said loudly, though not too loudly, just enough that the vampire hunters would figure he is trying to talk to Luke, but not loud enough to disturb anything.

"Yea, well," Luke said slightly on edge, "Take your time. We have all night."

"Yea, yea," he said back. Luke had only been caught twice, and for someone who has been a vampire that long, it is quite a feat. But when he did get caught, there was a slight edge Michel could always pick up. When they were safe, and he thought back on what happened, he would laugh at Luke's sarcasm.

We're not safe yet, he told himself.

"Stay here," he told Kerry, "If you hear things get out of hand, you run, and drive to where we picked Luke up, and throw off this," he said as he handed her an envelope.

In it contained a letter explaining where they were, what they were going to do, and asking for help in case something went wrong. There was also a plan of what is to happen for both scenarios, but he didn't go into much detail.

"What if the vampires get me?" she asked.

"You're going to be driving my car. No one will mess with you because of that. And you're not going to stick around."

"What about the vampire hunters?"

He looked her straight in the eyes this time, preparing for a lie. "They won't want to deal with you. They want to deal with us, vampires. Actually," he said after a break, "Go now. Do you have a cell phone?"

"Yes," she said, sounding more like it was a question than an answer.

"Give it to me. I'll call you and tell you if you don't have to drop it off after all."

She gave him her number, and he didn't bother writing it down. He would remember it just fine.

"Alright," he said as he got up, "Go halfway back. We basically went in a straight line. There are some steep hills, so watch your steps."

Kerry sighed. "Good luck Ethan," as she walked back slowly, quietly to where the car was parked.

He stared at Kerry's retreating back, and remembered when she left Marsala's home two years ago.

People always say that a way someone walks says a lot about them, and how they are feeling. He remembered Kerry walking slowly two years ago, as though she were tired, cautious, trying to understand the new concept of life those past three days had given her.

Now, she walked quickly, with a mission, a walk that made Michel almost smile mischievously for two reasons: the odds were starting to get to his favor, and jeans sure have gotten tighter, giving him a nice view.

Before he could forget his friends might –were—be in danger, he turned around, and said, "Alright, so what is goin—" barely managing that before he was hit with baseball bat right behind his head. He had expected it to hurt, but he didn't know it would hurt that bad. The knock even made him see lights, and darkness around the edges of his sight.

He groaned, and felt the back of his head. He felt a bit of blood, and now, he didn't bother to get up. They would hit him again, and he might really be knocked out.

"Vampire," he heard a male say. He didn't open his eyes, but tightened his jaw as he realized it was, indeed, Kerry's friends.

"Hunter," he grunted out, "What a pleasant surprise."

The vampire hunter turned him around, and before Michel could act, the hunter showed him a stake. "Careful vampire, we wouldn't want me to freak out and you no longer exist, right?"

"If you want me to keep living, I'm guessing you want something from me?" Vampire names. It's always vampire names.

"Names of your victims," the young vampire hunter said.

"No vampire names?" Michel asked sarcastically.

He felt the bat bash his back. He winced in pain, but didn't scream. From the hit, it didn't feel like a young vampire hunter did this.

"There was a girl with you and the other vampire. Apparently, you wanted her alive," said the young vampire hunter. Now that Michel was safely and tightly tied, the vampire hunter sat cross-legged right in front of him. Michel also sat down cross-legged, deciding that he would still live, regardless of any threats they might claim.

"Yes there was a girl with me and my fellow friend. What of her? Is she your girlfriend?" Michel asked lightly, knowing that they might not have anything, but college boys thought that any girl being nice to him was an act of flirtation.

"No, but she is my friend. And I don't like it when things like you mess with my friends."

He leaned in closer. "Too late."

The vampire hunter looked up, and nodded. Once again, Michel was hit on his back. He inhaled a deep breath, debating whether to keep messing with the vampire hunter's head.

"What did you do to her?" the vampire hunter stood up, grabbed Michel's collar, and nearly pulled him off the ground. "Did you hurt her? Because if you hurt her—"

Michel cut him off. "I didn't hurt her. Not the way you mean at least. With me, pleasure and pain are one, vampire hunter." He smiled, pushing in a hint of excitement.

The vampire hunter punched him in the face. It didn't hurt as bad as the bat, but then again, people could lose bats, but not fists.

"Drag him to the car, along with the other ones," the vampire hunter told the person in the back

"I'm proud of you son," Michel heard the person behind him say.

The father grabbed Michel roughly, and pulled him to a big ice cream truck. He opened one door, and quickly shoved him inside.

Anne, Luke, and Seth were sitting in the back, neither of them hurt. Luke took one good look at Michel, and whistled quietly. "Ya sassed 'em?"

"I want them to know I sassed them, that way they know I didn't do anything to her," he explained in a quiet voice.

He sat up, waiting for the momentary dizziness to stop.

He heard two older voices talking in the front of the truck, and three younger voices right outside. One of them was a girl's, and the other sounded awfully familiar.

"We'll find her, and talk to her," he heard the girl say.

"Do it quick, and ask her if he did anything to her," the vampire hunter said.

"I can't believe this is happening," he heard the familiar male voice say, "I can't believe it. I talked to them."

"You know vampires, Alex. They deceive. My dad and his friend are taking them to a storage center. You guys might as well get some rest, and we can meet there."

"You're going too?"

"Yea," the vampire hunter said tiredly, "I have a bio exam tomorrow, and she didn't show up at the café to study."

"Alright. I don't know what to tell Kerry."

"What did she tell you about him?"

"That they met before, and his little sister was kidnapped, just like she was, and they bonded, but he had to go or something," she said in one breathe, her voice obvious that she didn't believe the story anymore.

"He may have influenced her. Tell her, then, that his sister is having nightmares because it's getting closer to the anniversary of her kidnapping or something."

"Hey, he's got what you got, Mike," Luke whispered sarcastically.

"No, I would have said that I was found by the kidnappers and taken the day before I was supposed to go to court to testify against them. It would have been 20 years for the kidnappers in jail, and they wouldn't stand the thought." He leaned on the door, wondering how far Kerry got. When he heard the young people leave, he knew they were going to see if the body of the girl Michel had talked about earlier was still there. He knew it wouldn't be, and he figured they would think she woke up and left the area.

He didn't expect them to go charging into the truck, and ask him, "Where do you have her?"

For once in his life, a plan didn't come to him in the heat of the moment. He had to think a couple seconds before saying, "I have her hidden somewhere. And unless you let us go, she is going to die."

The young vampire hunter punched him again. "You're going to take us there if you want to live."

"She's special to you all. You will want to know where she is. You won't do anything to me…Jamie."

The vampire hunter grew surprised. "How did you…?"

"I've known about you all along. I needed an advantage. Now, let us go, if you want the girl alive. And trust me; more people will disappear if you don't do as I say."

Jamie seemed to think for a minute. Then, "No, I won't do what you want. Think about it this way: for every one of my friends and humans that die, one of your vampires will too."

"We'll start with the Southerner, because he's the one that came with you, and I'm sure he is a good friend—brother even."

Jamie's father went to the back, and pulled out a revolver and placed it on Luke's forehead. Luke only closed his eyes, waiting for his death.

"Wait," Michel said. He looked at Jamie right in the eye, "Let's make this into a game."

"I don't play games with the likes of you, vampire," he said vehemently.

"But you are. I just sent someone to tell the entire vampire community in Rochester and Buffalo to keep a watch out for my fellow friends and me. If they don't see us physically, your friends, the ones that are living in my home, are going to be taken, one by one."

Jamie's breathe got caught, and he was obviously reevaluating the situation. He took a deep breath, and asked, "What do you want?"

Michel smiled. Things were finally going his way tonight.

He started to practice his exceptional hearing, trying to figure out what caused a single rustle, who was shuffling his feet without seeing, who was clicking the safety off of his gun. Once he figured he had acute listening skills warmed up, he asked Jamie, and the other vampire hunters, "Ever played Russian Roulette?"

Michel is a daredevil! Been feeling a little more optimistic lately, but it could just be the happiness of how much love my story has been getting. Thank you all :)

---I go to New York durign the week of July 13-19 to visit family and to go to my Summer Orientation! Because the 17th falls there, my dear buddy MyButterfly364 will be posting this for me. Go read her story as a thanks, no?---

So, Restless Dreaming Spirit read the chapters she missed, and she told me: I should update the 15th just because it's her birthday. I shall. So, here it was :)

So, because of the whole college thing, I won't be able to update as frequently as I used to, but rest assured, I WILL post :) And of course, I WILL keep reading all the amazing CotN fanfics that may come up in the near future. As well as any D'sB stories, and/or AWTE stories, and/or AHM stoties, and any VVVelde stories that may come up :)

SPECIAL thanks to:

Angelkrow666: I'm glad you were able to see his actions! I always feel he is showing too much of himself, and I have to tell myself a million times that it's because it's HIS head...glad you see it that way! (And hey, you better be writing more of your story. It's getting damn good, and I wanna see an update when I get back from Summer Orientation :)

MythStar Black Dragon: I'm glad you didn't see it coming :)

Isabella Marie Cullen: They most definitely will be going to the station, that I promise you :) She will meet the vampire family, and her secret will be revealed, that one huge secret you told me she should have ;) Your (and Angelkrow666's) suggestions sure have helped me make this story as suspenseful as possible). By the way, you will have to tell me what site you posted that Vampire Knight story. I would love to read it :)

courtingu: So, the whole Kerry/Michel thing is getting giggly. This chapter is definitely longer than what I usually have, so I hope you enjoy this :)

Queen dun: I hope you're still reading this story! It means a lot to me :)

vampymichel: First of all, I love your name. Second of all...I wish you were him. Thirdly: I will never stop writing :) Hope you're enjoying the story this far.

dee: And I love love love that you're reading and liking :)

Natteralwaysbetter: I'm glad you enjoyed it. I will keep updating no worries :)

So, I don't know how many smiley faces I have up there, but you guys do, indeed, make me happy happy happy.

Review!