Intro: Hero

The winter wind was cold. The frozen ground pressed harshly against my cheek as I hit the ground hard. I shivered violently as snow soaked into the thin jacket I had yanked on before the watch I shared with my sister Anastasia. Somewhere as if through a thick tunnel I could hear my Anastasia screaming my name but I was too tired to call back to her.

Anastasia started screaming for help now but we both knew it was too late. My training and even her more advanced training meant next to nothing when faced with a pureblood vampire. We were both dead. Changed in an instant from predator to prey.

Pain burned bright and hot in my neck where he had bit me before 'Stasia had attacked him. Blood soaked into the collar of my jacket as I began to go numb not just from the cold but from blood loss. My vision spiraled into black and my hearing was beginning to fade into a rushing sound but I still heard the sound of Anastasia's footsteps running away as she realized fighting was worse than useless. The I heard the awful sound of her neck cracking. My sister was dead. I passed out then; the pain inside and out too much for my body.

Chapter One: Lucian

Sloppy. That one word described what tonight had been. The older girl lay discarded like a useless rag doll on the snowy ground, her neck broken. The younger one was passed out shivering on the ground, her black hair flaring in a damp halo around her pale face. They were both hunters but the younger one was weak, pathetic. She hadn't even put up a fight.

Still she had the extra gene that would allow her to become a full fledged vampire instead of some half changed zombie wandering around and thirsting for blood. I sighed heavily as I considered her. She had potential but she was still weak and probably always would be.

I heard approaching footsteps and glanced up. Another one? Tonight was about to get longer.Sarah Anne.

I pulled the name out of her mind without any effort. She was a human, not a hunter. And not any threat to me.I looked over her with her brown braid and green eyes but noticed nothing unusual about her. She was too busy looking at the two girls to notice that I was studying her.

"What have you done?" she asked, her voice trembling with rage and fear.

"Killed one. The other will be dead to you soon," I told her flatly, watching rage cross her face. Humans and hunters were so fueled by their emotions. It made them weak and easy to manipulate. Vampires like I learned how to ignore our emotions which made us the perfect hunters.

"No," the girl said, her voice cracking with horror. "Leave her alone." I knelt slowly next to the dark haired girl and pressed my lips tauntingly against the tender fang marks on her neck. The dark haired girl moaned in pain at the pressure and Sarah Anne lost all color in her face for a moment. It came back a moment later as the brilliant red mark of anger. "No!" she snapped. "Leave Hero alone."

I watched as heat shimmered around her in waves as her eyes blazed with anger. So this Sarah Anne was a gifted human. That explained why she was with hunters. Too bad. She still stood no chance against me. Sarah Anne stalked toward me and I bit down on the dark haired girl's throat. She cried out and I saw heat blazing around the other's hands as she continued foreword.

"You're killing her," I warned Sarah Anne and she froze, facing paling again some. I heard yelling from the massive farm house a few yards away and knew I had to get out of here before I was swarmed by hunters. Sarah Anne glanced behind her and I was struck by the realization that she was trying to stall me. Clever human. I picked up the dark haired girl and began to slowly back away.

"Stop," Sarah Anne ordered, trying to stop me. She had started coming my way when my next sentence stopped her.

"If you ever want to see your friend alive and in one piece again you will let me leave without a fuss." Sarah Anne's eyes went wide with horror and she lost what little color she had left. I turned and ran down the path into the woods, confidant that the human wouldn't follow.

Chapter Two:Sarah Anne

Horror was racing through me as I knelt next to Anastasia sobbing uselessly. Kaleen and Tommy came racing down the frosty drive but they were already too late. The vampire had taken Hero and was going to change her or kill her like her had Anastasia. And I hadn't been able to stop him. I had just stood there like an idiot and let him take Hero away.

"What's wrong?" Kaleen asked, her voice honeyed with concern as Tommy scanned the area for more vampires.

"I just let him... I just let the leech take her," I sobbed.

"You did the best you could," Kaleen reassured me.

At the same time Tommy asked, "Hero?" I nodded and sobbed harder. I couldn't believe I had just let a vampire take away my best friend. Kaleen said something softly to Tommy and he nodded. "You couldn't have done anything else," he reassured me. "Their attacker was a pureblood." I still couldn't force myself to stop crying. This was all my fault. Kaleen, who could read minds if she was touching someone, tried to comfort me but I pushed her away.

"It isn't your fault. We're going to get Sarah Anne back," she soothed, not at all upset by me shrugging her away.

"Really?" I asked, taking a deep, shuddering breath and brushing away my tears.

"Really," Kaleen promised. "Right Tommy?"

"Right," Tommy said with a firm nod. "We're not going to let some leech just walk away with our friend. We'll fine her Sarah Anne."

"Let's take Anastasia's body back to the house and I'll call Dominik," Kaleen said. "He and his wolves will do some hunting for us while it's still dark."

I took another deep shuddering breath and brushed away the last of my tears. With Kaleen's arm slipped around my shoulders we made our way up the winding drive that led to the old farmhouse. We were going to find Hero. Kaleen and Tommy had never failed since I knew them. My hope partially restored there was a bit of a spring in my step as we entered the house.

Chapter Three: Lucian

The slim girl in my arms was shivering violently as I made my through the last few feet of snowy woods to my hideout. Her body wasn't made to deal with the cold like mine was. Humans and hunters were weak that way. I slid silently into the ancient abandoned shed and used a hand to brush molding hay off the old trap door. I pulled the cellar door open and descended the rotting steps with practiced ease, shutting the door behind me.

My eyes adjusted instantly to the gloom; one of the perks of being a pureblood vampire. I lay the girl down on my makeshift bed in a corner of the room and climbed back up the stairs to latch the door. I climbed back down then and flopped in a musty armchair on the opposite side of the room.

I had moved the ancient furniture in here a few years ago and it had served me well. I glanced over at the dark haired girl, checking to make sure she was still breathing.

Even though the room was warm and well insulated from the cold weather outside she was still shivering in her damp clothing. I sighed softly and stood, walking over to her and sliding the damp jacket off her shoulders, tossing it to the floor. I slipped off her soaked jeans and her over shirt. The tank top was dry though so I left it. I tossed her wet clothing to one side and wrapped her in a blanket before slumping back on the chair.

Hunter blood was different than human blood. My body had to transform it into vampire blood and hunter blood made this process longer than human blood. I felt my eyes begin to drift shut and mentally slapped myself. Too much hunter blood could put a vampire out for hours; thus the vampires can't come out in daylight myth. Even so it was too late to do anything about that. All I could do was drift off to sleep and hope I wasn't out too long.

Chapter Four:Hero

I woke up disoriented in the dark. The first thing I noticed that I was almost warm now and I had been freezing and wet when I passed out. My eyes were struggle to adjust to the lack of light so I sat up slowly, feeling the blanket slid off my skin to land in a puddle on my lap. My eyes slowly began to adjust to the dim lighting and I looked around. I was in some kind of old fashioned root cellar and my captor was passed out from Anastasia and I's blood in an ancient armchair on the other end of the room. The only exit was a set of rotting stairs leading up indefinitely.

Since my captor was still passed out from the effects of hunter blood I could escape. I couldn't have been more wrong. "Good evening, or rather good morning," a cool voice said and I yelped. The vampire was sitting up in the chair now, expression as smug as the cat that had caught the elusive mouse. He had probably been awake and watching me the whole time. He raised and eyebrow and looked over me, giving me the impression that I was missing something.

"As pretty as you are I suggest you cover up," he said smugly after a moment. I looked at myself and then yelped again, yanking the blanket back to my shoulders. All I was wearing was my panties and tank top. All the rest of my clothing was gone. I looked over at him and saw he was smirking, amused by my reaction.

"Bastard," I hissed at him and the good humor vanished. He vanished too into the shadows and I froze, stunned. That was when he grabbed me from behind and yanked me over against his chest. I twisted and thrashed frantically but he held me as easily as someone would hold a squirming kitten. "Let go of me," I snapped, the still burning fury keeping my voice from shaking with fear. His response was simple.

He removed his hands from underneath my arms and over my shoulders only to hook one around my waist and use the other to tilt my chin back. His lips brushed my neck tauntingly. I trembled, fear making my heartbeat race. The memory of his last bite only made my tremors worse.

"Now what did you have to say?" he asked, his voice sickeningly close to me.

"Nothing," I forced out, my voice shaking with terror.

"I'm sure there was something," he said, his arm tightening around my waist slightly. A sudden thought made me shudder violently and my stomach churned.

"D-did...did you," I stammered, unable to finish my question.

"No," he said, his cold and closed. "I didn't touch you that." Any amusement there before was gone. His arm around my waist and under my chin vanished and I was free, in a way. In an instant he was in front of me, eyes dark. "Taking you would be like taking a baby." There was a sort of cold amusement in his voice then that made me shudder. I pulled the blanket tighter around me and watched him warily. He was a pureblood vampire and not bound to his word like a made one. I didn't trust him.

He settled back into the armchair lazily and watched me with a calculating look on his face. "We leave at sunset," he told me. "It'll be harder for your friends to find us that way." I curled up on the bed miserably knowing he was right. If I wanted to escape I was on my own. Slowly terror and blood loss overwhelmed me and I slipped into a restless nightmare sleep.

Chapter Five:Hero

I pulled myself out of sleep when I was picked up again, still wrapped in the blanket. I struggled but it was no use; he was to strong to be thrown off by my thrashing. Cold night air stung my face and the winter wind seemed to howl. Moments later I realized it wasn't the wind I was hearing; it was actual howling. The hunter group I lived with had werewolf friends. They were coming to help. Any relief I felt however was short lived.

Without even pausing my captor slid smoothly into a tree and jumped from one to the other, leaving no scent trail on the ground. We flew from tree to tree, leaving the wolves and my hopes behind, until he landed smoothly on the frozen ground.

He took off across the land again and I knew any chance of rescue was gone now. Pursuing him was hopeless. My captor was simply too fast and far too clever to be caught. My friends would never find me in time. I really was completely on my own.

A few chilling hours later we entered a mansion like house and I was set down on the cold tile floor. Vampires felt neither hot nor cold so naturally the house was freezing but elegant. The cold sank deep into my bare legs and I was shivering so hard I could barely stand as I glanced at the massive front door. The door was only a few feet away but I knew I would never make it. I simply wasn't fast enough.

I heard someone come into the room and turned my head, thinking my captor was back. The figure coming towards me was a male vampire but not the one who had captured me. I was swaying slightly where I stood as the other vampire looked over me and smirked. I felt a shiver of sick fear in my stomach that only got worse as he covered my mouth, pinning me against the wall and slipping a hand underneath my shirt. I felt sick in the pit of my stomach as I struggled, trying to squirm away from his groping hand.

Then I heard a vicious snarl and the other vampire jerked away from me rapidly. I sank to the ground, shivering, as my captor grabbed the other vampire and tossed him from the room with one quick, vicious movement. He snatched me up then before I could even protest and carried me up the massive, carpeted stairs and into a room. I was tossed down on a bed and left alone, the door clicking shut and locked behind him. I was too tired by then to care as I slipped into a blessedly dreamless sleep.

Chapter Six:Lucian

I stalked furiously back down the stairs and Andrew flinched when he saw me. "What were you thinking?" I snarled at him and instantly his lip curled.

"You can't tell me what to do," he snarled back. I moved faster than he had expected and he backed away as I all but appeared out of thin air right in front of him.

"It is my house," I growled. "And I want you out by midnight tomorrow night."

"But-" Andrew began to protest nervously.

"Midnight," I warned him and he nodded shakily, hurrying away.

I took a moment to calm myself and then climbed back up the stairs to slip into the girl's room. She was asleep already, still shivering and I picked her up, taking the now damp blanket off or her and slipping her under the thicker covers of the bed. She was pretty with a slim, curvy frame and wide eyes framed with dark lashes when they were open but she was also only a child. And Andrew was a complete monster.

I sat down next to her and she whimpered in her sleep, trying to slid away from me. I grabbed her wrist, pinning her where she was and she struggled for a moment before going still. I could change her now while she was sleeping but that would ruin the fun of having her fight uselessly while I ripped away her mental shields and used my blood to make her into the monster she feared. Besides not all those that were changed in their sleep made it and she was weak.

She slept in relative peace for an hour or so before she woke, dark lashes fluttering slightly in the dim light of a candle I had lit to one side before opening completely. She sat up quickly and tried to jerk away from me but once again I grabbed her wrist and kept her there. I tried to catch her eyes with mine to establish mental contact but she refused to look at me, instead trying to pry my cold fingers off her wrist.

I slipped a hand under her chin and forced her to look at me but she quickly closed her eyes and I growled. Hunters did always have to make things difficult. She flinched and tried to pull away. This time I released her and she fell over backwards with a cry of surprise. Her eyes flew open and met mine as she let out a cry of despair. Only to find she was suddenly saved by Marcus, Andrew's brother, calling "Lucian!" His voice echoed up from downstairs and I growled, standing up in one fluid motion. I stalked out of the room and locked it behind me without a backwards glance. I would deal with the girl later. Right now I had to deal with Andrew's whiny ways and his snarling creator.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 26.09.2011

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