1.

Inhumanly glowing golden eyes lurked from the shadows, waiting, observing and studying their prey, waiting for the perfect moment to attack, going for the kill...

"Hey! Stop being so dreamy and watch were you're going!"

My breath caught in my throat, suddenly noticing how the car kept skidding from a side to another on the still wet asphalt from the last night's rain. My foot instantly jumped off of the gas pedal, only now noticing Andrea's visibly distressed expression as her nails roughly dug in the edges of her seat, breathing fast and hard.

I was clearly too distracted to focus, my mind continuously revolving around that recurring and absolutely horrifying dream.

One week and I was already so tired of it all...the same nightmare repeating over and over again in my head, the sleepless nights...

I didn't know what was going on with me anymore.

All I knew was that it started precisely a week ago, and that it turned my whole life upside down...

"You know what? if you're not able to properly drive today, just pull over and let me do it, because I definitely don't want to end up in an E.R, ok?" She practically bellowed at me as I was once again unconsciously pressing on that damned pedal, the car now moving at an insanely high speed again.

"Oh god!"

I instantly took my foot away once again, scared as hell as I gradually pressed on the brake and made the car slow down until it reached the legal limit again, giving my sister an apologetic smile.

"I'm sorry, ok? I promise I'll pay more attention..." I quietly said, reassuringly touching her hand resting on her lap before I averted my attention back to the road, this time forcing myself to fully focus and ignore those horrid images still trying to snake their way before my mind's eyes.

Whew...this is going to be a long-ass day....

*

Golden eyes, sharp teeth-

Fuck!

I tightly closed my eyes, struggling to rid my mind of those nasty images as I momentarily rested my forehead against the steering wheel.

Focus, Carrie, focus.

Taking a deep breath, I readied myself for another damned day of school and finally got out of the car, getting my backpack from the backseat then locked the car as my sister had gotten out as well.

However, before I could make another move a sudden cold chill crept up my spine, followed by the strange sensation of being watched.

I slowly turned around, attentively scanning through the heavily crowded parking lot for anything weird when my gaze accidentally collided with a pair of vividly-colored eyes heavily watching me from a few cars away.

There was a very tall and visibly built dude, watching me like a hawk stalking its prey as he stood right next to a black and expensive-looking car, his attire and jet black tousled hair matching his vehicle as he wore a black leather jacket and jeans, looking like the epitome of freaking death.

What the fuck?

For some strange reason my breath caught up within my throat, feeling so oddly intimidated as the stranger kept holding my gaze, his light-colored eyes slowly trailing over my figure before raising to meet my own again.

"He's back..."

"The demon is back..."

I could hear chant-like faint whispers all around me as my gaze still remained locked with his...until something -or more like someone- collided into me, effectively startling the living daylights out of me.

"Carr-bear!" Kayla's screeching voice rang in my ear, making me involuntarily cringe and throw her a nasty glower as she tightly hugged my arm.

"You fucking psycho you scared me," I annoyingly muttered at one of my two best friends, receiving an eye-roll whilst my sister let out a chuckle before moving closer to air-kiss her cheeks.

"Well yeah, since you were obviously too busy to check out that hot piece of ass to notice me," She retorted with a stupid smile plastered all over her face as she turned to throw the strange dude a glance before returning her gaze on me.

I threw her a nasty look, lightly shaking my head since I wasn't in the mood to argue with her today anyway.

Nope. Too tired for that...

"Who is that anyway? Is he a new teacher or something?" I inquisitively asked as my gaze rather stealthily trailed back to him, just in time to notice him finally moving from behind the other side of his car and carelessly fling his backpack over his broad shoulder, all the while the whole school population kept staring at him as if he were a some sort of scary yet attractive devil.

"Oh right, you never got to know him because he left right before you guys moved here," I heard Kayla say as I continued to watch him slowly walk through the crowded parking lot, everybody quickly moving away from his path and avoiding him as if he had the plague.

"Oh, you guys are checking out Nathan Darkhart? He used to go to school here with us," I suddenly heard my other best friend Jessica speak, quickly turning my head to watch her approach us and give my sister air-kisses before moving to greet me as well.

"He what? That's a freaking student?" I incredulously asked as I gave him another once-over, finding it so hard to believe as my gaze trailed over his incredibly tall and bulked-up form again.

"Yeah, he was in the same classroom with Jess before he..." Kayla suddenly trailed off after a weird glance from Jessica, making me give them a curious look.

"Before he what?"

"He looks so much bigger though, doesn't he?" Jessica quickly said, blatantly ignoring me as she linked her arm with Andrea's while Kayla linked her arm with mine, coaxing us to start walking towards the school's entrance, trailing just a few meters away from the subject of our discussion.

"Puberty must've hit him like a motherfucking truck,"

"Like a motherfucking truck indeed. When did he become so freaking hot? I mean, he was really cute back then but damn...he looks like a fucking wet dream now," They kept blabbering as we entered the school building together and walked towards our lockers, my gaze however trailing after him until he disappeared behind a set of double doors.

What an odd dude...

I involuntarily shivered as I thought about that piercing gaze of his for a moment, deciding to just ignore it and go on about with my day as I opened my locker and threw my backpack in, taking only the stuff I needed for my first period after checking myself in the mirror attached to my locker door.

No visible bags under my eyes...Good.

I gathered my stuff close to my chest and closed my locker door at the same time the girls did.

"Well, see you guys later then," Kayla told Jessica and I since she and my sister were a year younger than us, linking her arm with Andrea's before they left for their first period.

Jess and I walked to our first period as well, casually talking about random things until we got to our classroom and I pushed against the door with strength and confidence, surprised to notice that the class was already full and the teacher was already inside as well.

"Miss Fey, miss DeLuca, just in time,"

"Hurry up now girls and take a seat," Mr. Heeley invited us with a placid smile, gesturing towards the crowded classroom, my mood however plummeting as I lastly noticed that there were only two empty seats left, one right next to fucking Josh Mendez -whom I hated with a freaking passion, don't ask- the other one being right next to none other than Death's son, a.k.a Nathan Darkhart, his intense gaze already trained on me.

Fuck-no!

I mentally whined as I watched Jess practically run straight towards that empty seat next to Josh, leaving me with only one option.

"Today, miss DeLuca," I faintly heard Mr. Heeley say as I lastly willed my legs to move and walked towards that empty seat next to him, for some odd reason finding myself so uncharacteristically intimidated by his imposing presence and burning gaze.

What the hell was happening? Who was this guy? What was up with him and why was he staring at me like that?

I nervously placed my manual and notebook over my desk, consciously avoiding to look at him as I pulled my chair a little bit further away from his and smoothed out my pleated skirt, carefully taking a seat afterwards.

"Afraid I'm going to bite you, miss DeLuca?"

My heart jumped at the sudden hearing of that deep voice coming from right next to me, involuntarily startling as my head turned to look at him and meet those vivid green eyes, casually noticing their unnerving depth as he looked right back into my blue ones.

"Umm no, I-"

"Good. You should be,"