And This Time, I'm Not Leaving Without You

My name is Priyanka Swan, I’m seventeen years old, however tomorrow is my eighteenth birthday.

Not a lot has happened since last time you heard from me. No slayer or vampire has been in contact with me. Even Dimitri.

Eight months. Eight long and horrible months. Without him…

Jasper.

“Pree, so as I was thinking… tomorrow is your birthday and since it is a school night, we should do something anyways!” My best friend Julie says as we enter first class of the year, English. It was the first day of school of my last year.

Somehow, turning eighteen didn’t seem to excite me. Slayers stopped aging at eighteen. I hated this, ‘slayer’ curse.

Most people would love the immortality. I didn’t. It came with a price. Serving humans in killing vampires and possibly other supernatural creatures.

I’m pretty sure, I was in more trouble now, the last incident and me not even helping out the council. I was surprised the committee or the council had not found me.

“How about we all have a sleepover at her house?” Jo piped up.

Julie nods her head, “What do you think? I can drive us all to school in the morning.”

I consider it, but I felt something strange. Like something was coming for me. Maybe the council? And that wouldn’t be a pretty site.

“I don’t think my mom would allow it… how about the weekend?” I asked. If I was still alive.

Confusion and anger spread in Julie, however it stopped and was followed by calm and understanding. She just nods and does her work.

Lunch was a bore, nothing interesting. Gym and Math was the last two periods.

And it was the same for the next day. There was a lot of people wishing me happy birthday at school. My friends said that they all had my gift for me at my sleepover on Friday.

---

At home I had supper with my parents. They just ordered pizza and watched classic cartoons after that. My mom made me a carrot cake and we all ate it in silence, watching a cartoon.

What they bought me for my birthday was a new Laptop and an iPhone. I was happy and we activated the phone. After that, they went to bed.

It was 9:34 pm, I just finished doing my homework and putting all the numbers I knew in my new phone.

I was on my new laptop checking my Facebook messages and wall comments when I heard a noise. It was quick and then I felt a presence.

“Happy birthday.”

I spin around quickly. It was Darien.

I was about to knock him out when he grabs my arms and holds me down.

“I am not here to harm you, Pree. I just wanted to see how you were and give you a birthday present,” He says and lets me go. He pulls out a long box.

“What is it?” I ask.

He sighs and gives it to me, “Well, open it.”

I opened it. It was a beautiful silver and red stake.

He smiles and says, “Hey, its better than getting splinters right?”

I frown at him. “What are you doing here? And I haven’t been killing anything, anyways. I don’t need it.” I try to hand it back to him, but he refuses.

“Just keep it, Pree. You never know if you might need to use it. You’re eighteen now, you’re a full slayer. The Council wants to give you another chance, they see that you are very strong. If you refuse-they did not send me to kill you-they will send another, more stronger slayer after you. Or worse, they might bring out the dogs,” He laughs at the last bit.

“The what?” I start.
He sighs again, “The wolves. They assist us in vampire killings and such cases where a slayer does something illegal. They are excellent trackers and fighters.”

“Okay,” I simply say.

“What?” Darien was really confused.

“What, you didn’t hear me? I’m joining. But on one condition. I want to finish high school. I don’t want slaying be in the way-”

He laughs, “Of course! May I ask why?”

I shrugged, “I don’t want to be killed? And its only natural if I join.” I roll my eyes.

“You know, I like you better without your vampire posse,’ He says, yet another joke.

I shoot him death glares. “What is with all these jokes?”

He just says, “I’ll be back in a few days, I’m going to tell them the good news.”

--

The week dragged on. It was Friday night and as I waited for my friends arrived, my parents confronted me.

“Pree, your mother and I are leaving for a few days for business. We want to know if you will be okay?” My father says as he brings his and my mothers luggage to the door area.

“Sure,” I say and help him with his last bag.

My mother turns to me and smiles, “I know you will, we’re leaving tomorrow morning, so we wont see you when you wake up. We’re going to our bedroom now, so we wont disturb you and your friends.”
They both hug me as my father says, “No funny business tonight and tomorrow, and no boys please.”

I nod and watch them walk down the hall to their room.

The night went on. My friends arrived around six thirty and we watched horror movies and talked about boys. They were all apparently in a relationship. They wanted to set me up with a guy. I told them I wanted to get through high school before I go out with a guy. I was just still in love with Jasper.

I painted Alex’s nails as Jo gushed about her boyfriend Max.

“Being in love is such a good feeling. It makes you so happy,” Laura says as she paints Julie’s nails.

“We’ve all talked about being in love for the first time,” Julie says and looks at me. I tense.

She continues, “But, Pree hasn’t told us about being in love. Have you ever?”

I stutter and say, “N-no, I haven’t.”

“No way! Pree, I can tell if your lying. You are totally lying right now.” She moves away from Laura.

She grabs my hands and asks, “So…his name?”

“Jasper,” I whispered.