Chapter One
Bella

"He's not coming, Alice," I said, to my companion, who was staring intently out the door of the diner, almost as if she was waiting for someone. In fact, she was. Alice's eyes darted to my face and she frowned.

"He will come," she said. It was my turn to frown.

"Alice, we've been in this stupid city for almost a week. We've sat in this diner from the time it opens until it closes. He hasn't showed up yet, he's not coming," I said firmly, staring out the window. I had a vague idea of what the person we were waiting for looked like, but only Alice would know for sure if he was around.

"He'll be here," said Alice, turning to look out the door again. "I haven't seen a change, I would have seen it if he had made a decision that would lead him away from here."

I rolled my eyes. "You don't know him, Alice," I reminded her. "How do you expect to keep tabs on a person you've never met?"

"Your future hasn't changed, either, Bella," she said, shaking her head. "I still see you with him. I'm quite certain that if he'd made the wrong choice somewhere along the line I'd see it affect your future."

I didn't have an argument for that. I sighed and turned my stool around, my back now facing the door. I glanced at the clock for what felt like the hundredth time that day. The diner opened at six a.m. every morning closed and ten at night. It was nine-thirty. If he was going to show tonight, he had about thirty minutes to do so.

I crossed my arms and leaned forward on my elbows. I turned and glanced over my shoulder, I couldn't help but cringe. It had started to rain about twenty minutes ago, I wasn't a fan of the rain and wasn't looking forward to walking back to our hotel in it. There was a far better reason why I hated the rain than the fact it made me looked like a drowned rat after walking in it for some time.

I closed my eyes as I remembered the night I'd ended up finding Alice as if it had happened yesterday, not nearly twenty years ago. If 'finding' was even the correct word. It had been raining that night when I was crossing the street, trying to get home before my parents realized I wasn't in bed. That's when some jackass in his car had literally come out of nowhere and well, I didn't exactly make it home. I would have ended up in the morgue if Alice hadn't showed up.

Despite the fact that she hadn't been a vampire very long herself, only about three or four years, when she'd found me exactly where she'd seen me in one of her visions, she'd taken a chance and changed me anyway. It probably helped her that she had seen me like her, but it was still quite the risk. I'd been with her ever since.

I very well could have gone on my own way, but I never felt the need to. I didn't feel that I owed her a debt or anything, it was just you sort of feel an obligation of loyalty to the person who saved your life. It was about a month ago when Alice had a vision of the two of us meeting another vampire in this diner. She'd been bursting at the seams with excitment as she divulged information to me. Soulmate, was the word she'd used when describing him to me. Not for herself though, no, this one was for me.

She'd given me the simplest of descriptions, height, hair and eye color and basic idea of what he looked like. She'd also mentioned many very distinguishing facial features. From the sounds of it, his entire body was covered in thousands upon thousands of scars. Any injury or tiny imperfection was healed when a person was changed, so he hadn't had them as a human. Our venom was the only thing that could scar our skin. I shuddered at the thought had how he'd gotten them.

I felt a sharp jab in my ribs. My eyes flew open and I turned and glare at Alice. She turned her head and grinned at me before reaching down and spinning my stool around to face the door just as it opened, the bell jingling announcing the newcomer's entrance. There would only be one reason why Alice would demand that I pay attention to someone walking into the diner.

I turned my head and saw an extremley attractive man, despite the amount of scars that covered his face, neck, and throat, standing in the doorway of the diner, his damp blond hair falling into his dark eyes. I didn't need to glance at Alice for confirmation, I knew this was the person we'd spent nearly seven days waiting for. Alice hopped off her stool and walked over to him, crossing her arms over her chest.

He looked down at her, surprised. He probably hadn't expected to run into any other vampires, let alone have one of them approach him. He looked at her through wary eyes, uncertain what she was going to do or say. Alice merely grinned up at him.

"You've kept us waiting a long time," she said, gesturing to me over her shoulder. He stared at her in confusion before his eyes followed where her hand was pointing. I leaned back on my elbows and smiled at him. His eyes flickered between us for a moment before he politely ducked his head in an apology.

"I'm sorry, ma'am," his voice was deep and smooth, with a slight southern twang to it. I instantly liked the sound.

I slipped off my stool and walked over to them. I slid my hands into the pockets of my jacket as I got a better look at him. I'd seen other males of our kind, all being very good looking, but there was something about this one that was different. I couldn't put my finger on what that was, but there was just that spark I hadn't felt around anyone else. Maybe Alice wasn't so crazy after all.