And I Have Felt the Pain of Losing Who You Are

Part 3

Shawn watched Camila, wondering what his leader was thinking. He thought about the human, and what she had done to Camila. It had been a month since the Holy Trinity (the whole school called them that) had arrived to Palmetto. Everyone knew Normani and Dinah were together, but no one got near Lauren, because they all feared Dinah. He knew vampires were protective of their family, their mates. He wondered if there was a reason for Dinah's protectiveness over her mate and daughter.

He watched Dinah, Normani, and Lauren enter the cafeteria. Dinah and Normani were walking in front of her. They were whispering things to each other, things that would make him blush if he was still human. He turned his attention to the human, and noticed the sadness in her eyes. She looked at their table, and her broken eyes connected with Camila's dark eyes.

Camila stared back, no emotion on her face. She didn't move, as she watched Lauren look away. The green-eyed human sat down with her vampire parents, and stared at her food. She had a faraway look on her face. Shawn wondered what the human was thinking about.

Her mothers looked at her with concern. Shawn rubbed his face, thinking about his past. He knew what it felt like being raised by a vampire. He assumed Lauren had been with her parents longer, and he hoped it didn't end up the same as it did for him. He looked at his mate, who was creating a smiley face with the peas on her plate. He kissed the side of her head, hoping for her innocents to last.

-

"Hi," a soft voice said. Lauren looked up and saw a brunette vampire standing in front of her. She felt a sting of disappointment, but pushed it away. They were in the library; both of them had study hall at the moment. Lauren always sat alone during the period and Lucy would just watch her.

"Lucy Vives, right?" Lauren questioned, as she sat up.

"Lucy Mendes, but Vives to the other humans. Is this seat taken?" she asked, pointing to the chair next to the blond.

Lauren shook her head and moved her bag from the chair. She watched as Lucy sat down on the chair.

Lucy looked at the paper in front of Lauren. It was a drawing of a man, a young man. "You're really good."

Lauren blushed and twirled a pencil in her hand. "Thank you."

"Who is he?"

Lauren opened her mouth to answer, before closing it. She frowned, not knowing what to say. She said the first thing that popped into her head, "I don't really know."

"It's a real good drawing of a stranger."

"I feel like I know who he is, I just can't remember. It's like a blurred image, and there is a wall in my head that keeps me from seeing him," she responded, staring at the drawing.

Lucy didn't answer, she didn't know what Lauren was saying. She decided to change the subject. Lucy smiled, "Can you draw me? I want something to give to Shawn."

"Won't Camila get mad?"

Lucy frowned. She knew Camila didn't want anyone to have contact with the three new students. Lucy was breaking her leader's wishes.

"I want to be your friend. Shawn and I both want to be your friend," Lucy answered, and smiled as Lauren smiled. Lauren took out a new paper and started to draw Lucy.

The two talked about Lucy and her life. How she was born on January 11th, 1979. How a home invasion caused her death a few days after her fifteenth birthday. She talked about how Shawn had been visiting her and changed her. She talked about how much she had to fight her hunger, and she hadn't been around the public for long.