Uncommon Beings

Live like there's no tomorrow! That's the motto Annie lived by and used to encourage her best friend to stop waiting for their cancer to finally kill them. Jasmine and Annie have been best friends since their parents enrolled them in a cancer research program when they were little. Though the treatments have been grueling, and both have suffered multiple setbacks, they have surpassed the life expectancy rate for their type of cancer. Now adults, Annie wants out of the program so she can try to have some semblance of a normal life as long as she can. Jasmine has come to accept that "surviving cancer" is all that they are meant to do and therefore does not understand why Annie would just give up. She wants desperately to convince her best friend to reenter the program, but how can she when she herself does not believe there's anything in life worth fighting for?Derrick lost the love of his life in a vicious attack years ago. He abandoned his family, his life and his feelings in order to cope with the losing Antanasia. Now back, at least physically, with his family, he still struggles to deal with his emotions. He spends his days existing by running Canyon, Corp., and avoiding any quality time with his family. Derrick doesn't understand why his family will not just let him be. He believed just being present would make them happier than being gone again. For him, a life of feelings or emotions was worse than death. And death for a vampire does not come easily.When Jasmine and Derrick met, they knew instantly there was a connection. Jasmine tried to ignore it because all she wanted to do was save her best friend. Derrick was against feeling anything, yet no matter how hard he tried, he could not keep her out of his mind. Once he learned of her cancer, he was shocked that he only felt more compelled to be with her. He knew vampires could cure a lot of things, but cancer was not one of them. He questioned why he would want to fall for someone so frail and risk the chance of more pain when he eventually lost her.Personal struggles, mixed with a past long thought dead, are more than enough to prevent these two from being together. Jasmine struggles to understand her feelings for Derrick. Guilt, fascination, fear and excitement, are on endless repetition in her mind and heart. She comes to understand what Annie has been preaching to her all these years, but it may be too late. Derrick yearns to understand why after all these years, this fragile, little human would be the one to awaken emotions he buried decades ago. He will need his family if his relationship with Jasmine is to survive, but believes he may have done too much damage to receive any of their help.