Today was especially painful. I have experienced more pain in the 15 minutes since I woke up than I have experienced in my entire lifetime. Today is the one 1 year anniversary of when Mason left me. Every day since then has been hard, but today I could barely handle. I was laying in my bed, staring at the picture I had of me and Mason on a boat ride in Central Park, laughing and hugging each other. I had taped it to my ceiling the minute I got home from Transylvania that night.

The only person right now that could possibly understand my pain was Justin. He had lost his vampire girlfriend Juliet, on the same night. About six months ago, I had made my best friend Harper look like Juliet so that she could tell Justin that it was time for him to move on. He had been hurting from losing Juliet because it was the night before her birthday. I had kept a secret from Justin though.

The next night, when Justin had gone out on a date with a girl named Sarah (the night of Juliet's 2,194th birthday), I had been spying on Justin from a boat in the middle of the lake.

Justin had taken Sarah on a boat ride in Central Park and taken her to a little island in the middle of the lake. I recalled the night almost perfectly. I had sat in my little boat, floating around with a pair of binoculars in my hand. I had been interested to see how Justin would react on his 1st date with another girl since the incident. When Justin and Sarah had slipped on some mud and were laughing and holding hands, something on the rocks behind them caught my eye.

I was a VERY old lady, watching them and smiling a sad smile. I almost gagged on the soda I was sipping on. It was Juliet. Justin never saw her and I had the feeling she didn't want him to. Juliet then caught my eye and waved. She motioned towards the city and I knew she meant for me to meet her at the sub station. After 30 minutes of travel, I walked into the restaurant to find the old lady sitting at the 1 table that was isolated from the rest. I walked over and sat down.

"Hi, Alex. It's great to see you." Juliet's voice cracked when she talked. It sounded so different than her former sweet voice.

"Juliet. What are you doing here?" I was surprised to see her here. After what had happened, happened, Justin and I both just assumed that she was dead. I mean, after Mason had scratched her, she had lost her vampire powers she had turned to her real age. No one can live for over 2,000 years these days.

"I wanted to see you. And I had to be sure that Justin was moving on." She smiled that sad smile.

"How are you here? I mean, how are you still alive?" I asked with curiosity.

She smiled once again. "After Mason scratched me, I lost my vampire powers."

I knew that much. "We all knew that. I mean, look at you."

"Thanks, Alex. Well, since I am still alive, I had I hunch that I just lost my eternal youth, not my immortality. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that my parents gave me a soul when I was reborn as a vampire. But I'm still not sure." Juliet looked thoughtful and depressed. I didn't have to be a mind reader to know that she was thinking about Justin.

"That's great, Juliet. But…" I was afraid to ask the question, afraid that I was just going to end up getting hurt more.

"I know your question. Is Mason with me? No, Alex. I'm sorry, but he's not."

"Oh."

"Alex, I'm sorry but I have to go. Please don't tell Justin that I was here. He has to move on." Juliet got up to leave.

"Okay, Juliet. I won't tell him, on 1 condition. If you see Mason, please tell him that I love and miss him." If I could never see him again, at least he could know that I was still thinking about him.

"I will. Goodbye, Alex." Juliet hobbled out the door, leaving me staring behind her.

I knocked on Justin's bedroom door, hoping with all my heart that he was in there.

"Come in," croaked a voice.

I creaked open the door to find Justin laying on his bed, looking at the photo album he had made. It was filled completely with pictures of him and Juliet.

"Are you okay?" I asked warily.

"Never. I miss her so much." He had permanent tear tracks staining his cheeks and new ones were following the predetermined paths.

"I know," I said, my heart re-breaking. "I miss Mason too."

"I was thinking Alex, and I'm gonna go back to Transylvania today. It just seems right." He looked determined, like he had already made up his mind.

"Can I come too?" He was right. To go back there, a year after it had happened just seemed right.

"Of course you can, Alex. But you do realize that we are not going to try to find them right?" Justin looked unsure of that last part.

"I know, Justin. Now let's go. Now." I was determined now.

"Okay. Let's go." In a flash, we were back there.

This ancient Transylvanian castle courtyard was the place that I had visited twice before, neither of which were happy occasions. And since then, I had only visited it in my deepest, darkest nightmares. Justin and I walked over to the circular bench in the center of the space and sat down next to each other.

"Justin…I have a confession to make. Do you remember when I turned Harper into Juliet to tell you to move on?" He nodded yes, so I continued. "Well, the next night when you were on your date with Sarah on that island, I saw…Juliet." I waited for Justin's reaction.

He was gaping at me with his mouth open. "You…saw…Juliet? Why haven't you told me this?" He looked shocked and hurt.

"After that, we talked for a while, and she asked me not to tell you that she was there. She said she had to be sure that you were moving on."

Justin was smiling in a sad way. The smile seemed familiar to me. It was the same smile that had been on Juliet's face the night we had talked. "She is the most amazing girl in the world. She will always be my one and only true love, and I don't think I will ever get over her."

Just as Justin finished saying that, two figures walked into the courtyard. Justin and I stared into the faces, one human and one canine, and smiled identical grins.