Another set of headlights flashed into the driveway.
"Who is that?" Jack's kidding air vanished in an instant as they all stiffened in preparation for what was to come.
"That's my sister, Jess; she rode up with her boyfriend. You probably remember Jess." She turned back toward Isabelle, her face eager as she looked at her hopefully. "She remembers you."
Isabelle vaguely remembered Jess. The last time she'd seen her, she'd been eight years old. Jess had been a pudgy blonde, with blue eyes, and a zeal for mischief. They'd been fast friends then, as Jess had been the only girl for Isabelle to play with at the time, Abby and Vicky being newborns. To her surprise, Isabelle suddenly found herself looking forward to seeing her again. Jess was so much fun when they were younger, and it would be good to have someone other than her sisters for a change.
"Oh wonderful," Jack muttered. "I'm going to get the others."
"I think you should," Ethan said.
They all turned as car doors opened and slammed shut. Isabelle's brow furrowed as the night air suddenly shifted and stirred. She glanced worriedly at her brothers; their casual postures vanished as they scanned the night. Ethan scented the air for the source of the sudden disturbance. Isabelle turned her attention back to the car. Two people stood in front of it; the shadows of the night hid them.
"Do you feel that?" she whispered.
"Yes," Ethan's eyes narrowed.
Aiden and Ian stepped forward, their bodies tense, and their eyes locked on the shadows.
"What is that?" Ian inquired.
Isabelle didn't know, but it radiated through the inside of her, shaking her to the core. Something was off; something wasn't right. It wasn’t a scary feeling, but it upset her nonetheless. There was something in those shadows she'd never felt before, something she didn't understand.
"What are you guys talking about?" Delia demanded.
"Isabelle, go inside," Ethan commanded.
Isabelle shot him a nasty look as her jaw clenched and her hands fisted at her sides. She wasn't going anywhere if it meant leaving them alone with whatever the strange presence was. "No."
"Come on." A girl's voice, Jess's, cut through the air.
Isabelle could tell she was pulling on the man's hand beside her, but he wasn't moving.
"Stop."
The command, issued in a deep, husky voice, stopped Jess's movements. It also caused a bolt of amazement, and something else, something she didn't recognize, to jolt through Isabelle.
"Stefan," Jess said impatiently.
Isabelle strained to see through the shadows. Her night vision was exceptional, and she could make out a small, thin girl with light blonde hair standing in front of the car. Her hand was on the arm of the man next to her. Isabelle's gaze sharpened on him. His shoulders were broad, his build large and muscular, and his hair the color of the night surrounding him. The disturbance in the air came from him.
"It's him," Ethan whispered.
"Yes," Aiden agreed, his voice barely audible.
"Huh?" Delia asked.
They all ignored her as they focused their attention on the strange man hidden within the shadows. Isabelle could barely make out the planes of his face and the firm set of his jaw. He looked as cold as concrete, and he was as still as stone. His eyes were the color of onyx and focused on them.
"Come on, Stefan!" Jess pulled on his arm again.
He shrugged off her grasp as the shadows enfolded him within their embrace. Isabelle's heart leapt into her throat. She suddenly knew what was off, what he was.
"Like knows like!" she gasped.
"What?" Delia asked in confusion, as she took a quick step away from Isabelle and her siblings.
"Shit," Ethan's stance became even more rigid as his hands fisted at his sides. Her brothers grouped closer.
"You people are strange," Delia said as her eyes traveled fearfully over them. "I want to see my mom."
"What do we do?" Aiden whispered.
There was a shifting among the shadows, a small bristling as the man moved ever so slightly. "I wouldn't do anything," he informed them coldly.
Jess had called him Stefan, Isabelle remembered as she took an instinctive step closer to her brothers. There was something about his voice, something strange, but not unpleasant as it enveloped her like a warm cloak. It did something inside of her, caused something to stir and shift in a way she’d never experienced.
"Ethan," she whispered fearfully.
Ethan stepped forward to shield her more.
The man, Stefan, laughed faintly as he finally started to move forward. "I'm not going to harm you."
Another shiver slid through Isabelle at the sound of his voice. The shadows parted around him as he moved into the light. Isabelle's breath froze in her lungs; the world seemed to rock on its axis as her eyes locked on him. The angles of his perfectly sculpted face were highlighted by the light playing off his strong face.
His gaze traveled over her brothers before settling on her. His eyes were as black as onyx and just as cold. They penetrated through her, racking her bones as they seemed to steal straight into her soul. He was the only thing she could see and feel.
Everything else disappeared.
Then his gaze moved from hers, breaking the brief connection. Isabelle felt an incredible sense of loss as the breath rushed out of her, and the world slammed into place. With a startled cry, she turned and shoved her way past Aiden and Ian as she fled into the sanctuary of her house.
Stefan couldn't move as his gaze locked on a pair of pure violet eyes. The young woman stared at him with a deer in the headlights look. Her hair was the color of chocolate, with subtle gold streaks running through its shimmering depths. It curled around her beautiful, delicate face before spilling down her back in thick waves. Her nose was small and narrow; her tiny nostrils flared as she gawked at him.
She was tall and slender, with the elegant grace innate to their kind, but with her, he knew it
