Victoria shook her head as Alex began, letting her hair fall slightly over her face as her vision blurred from tears she tried to suppress. Then came his “but.” She inhaled as he paused, her head tilting up ever so slightly.
	She fingered her pendant when he spoke of his fear of finding out who he was. Rather, [i]what[/i] he was. But that was a fear she understood to an extent. Even though he knew about her ability, she had still not told him for fear of pushing him away, that the way he looked and thought of her would change. And he was someone she could not bear to lose.
	She blinked at him in surprise when he fell to his knees.
	Victoria let a silence fall between them. Taking a few deep breaths, she sunk to the floor with her knees against her chest, her hand ever on the pendant. After a moment, she took another deep breath and took the pendant from around her neck, caressing it in her palms.
	“Like your heart’s saying one thing, but your head another?” Her voice came in little more than a whisper. She exhaled slowly. “I’ve told you that my parents died in a car accident. A hit-and-run. With no witnesses. At least, that’s what all the reports say. But...” She faltered. “But that was just the easiest thing for them to put. The only truth in it is that their car stalled and they called my Uncle Frank for help.” She took another deep breath, her distant, watery focus on the pendant in her hands. When she spoke again, she only hoped Alex’s sensitive ears could hear her. “It was just after dark. They noticed someone at the side of the road, and my dad got out to help. But it wasn’t a human. When...” she took a shaky breath, “when things went bad, my mom got out to try to help fend it off, but they didn’t stand a chance. I was in the backseat. The only reason that vampire didn’t... didn’t kill me, too, was because my uncle pulled up and fired a few of his ‘special rounds’ at it. I’ve tried to forget it, to block it out, but...” She shook her head.
	She took another deep breath, closed one hand around the encased rose, and wiped an escaped tear with the other. “You were the best thing that happened to me, Alex. When we weren’t together, I was thinking about the next time we would be. You’re... you were more than just my best friend to me, but...” She closed her eyes and bent her head slightly. She fingered the chain of the necklace and swallowed hard against a lump forming in her throat. “As different as you are, you’re... you’re still a [i]vampire.[/i]”