Suzanna has known about vampires since the second grade, when Leo her very best friend in the whole wide world told her in confidence that his daddy was a werewolf and his mommy was a vampire. And then they went home from school and Leo's parents showed up at her parents' house and said they were just here to bring Leo over for a playdate ha ha ha, and his mom Nessie had brought Leo into the living room to play with her and had crouched down and told her all about the vampire world. And then she smiled and patted her fondly on the head and whispered, "If you tell anyone, then your bones will never be found." And she slid off into the dining room in that liquid way she had and told Mrs. Richardson she was awfully sorry, she'd totally forgotten that Leo had a doctor's appointment, and she'd try to bring him back some other time.

Suzanna was afraid of Mrs. Verona after that, but she wasn't afraid of vampires. She loved vampires. She wanted to turn the second she turned eighteen and could get away from her stupid parents and this stupid town and not get attention from the stupid cops. She waited with bated breath for her eighteenth birthday. Leo waited with her, though she knew he was afraid that when she was a vampire and he smelled like wet dog all the time she'd drop him like a used tissue. She told him she'd never do that because if she hurt him then his mother would hound her to the ends of the earth with a wolfpack by her side. He acknowledged the point.

And then, the month before her eighteenth birthday, the fierce urge to turn in her still-beating heart and a plane ticket to Italy in her purse, Tessa showed up and it all went to hell.

Tessa took her out for coffee and told her she'd just been passing through, but when she noticed how utterly beautiful Suzanna was she couldn't look away. She told Suzanna that she was dangerous, that she should stay away, but that she could never resist. Suzanna licked it up with a spoon. Then she made a mistake.

She said, "Yeah, you're a vampire, right? My friend's mom is a vampire. I'm turning next month, I'm taking a trip to Italy to see the Volturi and do the whole "hey Aro how's it going here's my memories" thing. Which is, like, mandatory? I think?"

How exactly was she supposed to know that Tessa was under the impression she was Aro's archenemy? How was she supposed to know that Tessa was super paranoid and thought him seeing her in Suzanna's memories would make him scour the continent on some crazy womanhunt? And how the Hell was she supposed to know that she had fucking mind control powers?

Okay, it wasn't actually mind control. Just sort of, "this lady is crazy hot and you should totally do what she says" hypnotic thing. But it was still freaky as shit. And it made something inside her say hell fucking no and her brain pulled some kind of trigger and BAM, Tessa was minus one head. And while she was lurching around like some crazy-ass zombie looking for the pieces and the coffee shop was losing its collective shit, Suzanna was puking and having the worst migraine of her fucking life and stumbling out into the street looking for Leo.

He was near enough she could find him, and she found him and said, "We have to go right fucking now."

And he said "where do we have to go?"

And she said "away."

And now they're away and Tessa's looking for them and it's a week to her birthday and she is not having fun.

Suzanna has known about vampires since the second grade, when Leo her very best friend in the whole wide world told her in confidence that his daddy was a werewolf and his mommy was a vampire. And then they went home from school and Leo's parents showed up at her parents' house and said they were just here to bring Leo over for a playdate ha ha ha, and his mom Nessie had brought Leo into the living room to play with her and had crouched down and told her all about the vampire world. And then she smiled and patted her fondly on the head and whispered, "If you tell anyone, then your bones will never be found." And she slid off into the dining room in that liquid way she had and told Mrs. Richardson she was awfully sorry, she'd totally forgotten that Leo had a doctor's appointment, and she'd try to bring him back some other time.

Suzanna was afraid of Mrs. Verona after that, but she wasn't afraid of vampires. She loved vampires. She wanted to turn the second she turned eighteen and could get away from her stupid parents and this stupid town and not get attention from the stupid cops. She waited with bated breath for her eighteenth birthday. Leo waited with her, though she knew he was afraid that when she was a vampire and he smelled like wet dog all the time she'd drop him like a used tissue. She told him she'd never do that because if she hurt him then his mother would hound her to the ends of the earth with a wolfpack by her side. He acknowledged the point.

And then, the month before her eighteenth birthday, the fierce urge to turn in her still-beating heart and a plane ticket to Italy in her purse, Tessa showed up and it all went to hell.

Tessa took her out for coffee and told her she'd just been passing through, but when she noticed how utterly beautiful Suzanna was she couldn't look away. She told Suzanna that she was dangerous, that she should stay away, but that she could never resist. Suzanna licked it up with a spoon. Then she made a mistake.

She said, "Yeah, you're a vampire, right? My friend's mom is a vampire. I'm turning next month, I'm taking a trip to Italy to see the Volturi and do the whole "hey Aro how's it going here's my memories" thing. Which is, like, mandatory? I think?"

How exactly was she supposed to know that Tessa was under the impression she was Aro's archenemy? How was she supposed to know that Tessa was super paranoid and thought him seeing her in Suzanna's memories would make him scour the continent on some crazy womanhunt? And how the Hell was she supposed to know that she had fucking mind control powers?

Okay, it wasn't actually mind control. Just sort of, "this lady is crazy hot and you should totally do what she says" hypnotic thing. But it was still freaky as shit. And it made something inside her say hell fucking no and her brain pulled some kind of trigger and BAM, Tessa was minus one head. And while she was lurching around like some crazy-ass zombie looking for the pieces and the coffee shop was losing its collective shit, Suzanna was puking and having the worst migraine of her fucking life and stumbling out into the street looking for Leo.

He was near enough she could find him, and she found him and said, "We have to go right fucking now."

And he said "where do we have to go?"

And she said "away."

And now they're away and Tessa's looking for them and it's a week to her birthday and she is not having fun.