Orignally, there was a really nice Author's Note that went with this chapter, but I accidentally deleted it and I'm not even sure if it got posted in the first place. Grrrrr.....Anyway, I think it went something like this: "This is my first fanfic...be nice....review...enjoy....yada yada yada"

Disclaimer: I don't remember what I put here either. I think it went something like this: I DO NOT, HAVE NEVER, OR WILL EVER OWN EVERNIGHT.

I was standing, staring out a window in the late great Professor Ravenwood's house, watching as that old crone Bethany's car pulled away. I sighed and clenched my fists. I hated watching one of those…things get away. Not that I had any choice. Nope, I had to act civil and pretend to be clueless in order to infiltrate Evernight Academy. Even though it killed me to admit it, Eduardo was right (for once):

If the vampires were suddenly letting humans into their precious school, somebody needed to find out why. And that somebody was me. And yes, you did read that right. Vampires.

Yes, there are really vampires in the world. Don't get too excited, they don't sparkle in the sun and not one of them revere human life. God, those books disgust me. There is no such thing as a good or beautiful vampire, and none of them would ever fall for a human.

At least, that's what I thought back then.

I'm Lucas Ross, vampire hunter. I'm part of an organization dedicated to wiping out them and things like them called Black Cross. Just like my mother, and her father, and his father, and his father--well, you get the point. Just like my dad. Part of a Legacy, whether I like it or not.

Sometimes that legacy really sucked. I'd never been to school before, never had any regular friends, and whenever I would start to get close to anybody our cell would have to move and I'd never see that person again; so no real girlfriend, either.

So there I was, brooding by a window when I heard two voices shout behind me, "Happy 19th Birthday, Lucas!"

"Huh?" I whirled around. Two people were standing there, holding a chocolate cupcake with a lit candle sticking out of it. They were a pretty strange pair, too; a tiny old Asian man with bifocals standing next to a black girl twice his height wearing a hoodie and a crooked grin. But they were my closest friends. "It's not my birthday."

"No," The girl, Dana, began, "But you'll be starting Evernight on the actual day, so we decided to celebrate a week early."

"Nineteen is an extremely important birthday." Mr. Wantanabe informed us solemnly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"Seriously? Because when I turned nineteen, you just patted my back and gave me the same fortune cookie crap that you gave me the year before that, and the year before that, and the year before that,"

"Another year in this life is another step toward the next one." Mr. Wantanabe interrupted wistfully before she could go any farther. He looked sad, and I wondered why.

Dana looked calculating, and I wondered about that, too. But for totally different reasons. "You are absolutely right, as usual. This is an extremely important birthday for our boy, since those Evernight vamps will probably make it the last he ever has."

"Shut up." I growled and shoved her. She shoved me back and we both laughed. But there was an edge to our laughter, or at least to mine. There was always that any birthday could be your last when you were part of Black Cross. Is it nice, I wondered for only the millionth time, to be able to watch someone you care about walk away without part of you thinking that that might be the last time you ever see them? Like Dad…

"How much you wanna bet?" Dana's voice brought me down to earth a bang.

"What are you talking about?"

"How much you wanna bet on that? Fifty bucks out of pocket says you'll have to leave before finals." Mr. Wantanabe rolled his eyes, but I winced. Ouch. Out of pocket meant our own money, not the Black Cross's. Technically, we weren't supposed to have any of our own money and what we did have was only to be used if it helped the Black Cross. However, I'd been hording whatever loose change I could get my hands on since I was four years old, and that's not much. If I lost the bet I would lose more than half of it.

"If I lose the bet, then I'll probably be dead and you won't be able to collect."

She shrugged. "If that happens, I'll settle for a moral victory. But it won't. You'll make it out. You're a good hunter, just a lousy detective."

"Wow Dana, thanks for the support." I said sarcastically. Although it did make me feel better, in a weird sort of way. I stuck my hand out. "You're on."

"Teenagers." I heard Mr. Wantanabe sigh while Dana and I shook hands. "Oh Lucas, we almost forgot!" He held the cupcake up to my face. "Make a wish."

I thought for a second, and then blew, hard. The candle went out instantly and they both cheered. "What'd you wish for?" Dana asked eagerly.

"That you wouldn't get to pissed off about me taking your money like this." She tried to punch me, and I barely managed to duck. Mr. Wantanabe shook his head but laughed along with us.

Later, after Dana had eaten more of my birthday cupcake than I did, I thought about what I really wished for. It was silly, stupid, and I was glad I hadn't told them. I had wished for something that was mine; that truly belonged to me. Something precious and beautiful completely my own.

I was really, really glad that I didn't tell them. It made me sound like a girl, even in my own head. Still…

It's seems sort of ironic, looking back. How was I supposed top know that life was going to give me just that very soon.