Chapter 1

The bell jolted me awake. I wiped my hand across my mouth to make sure I hadn’t been drooling. I could only hope that I didn’t snore. The sound of a throat clearing right next to me made me jump. I looked up to see my physics teacher, Mr. Holmes, standing next to my chair.

“Sorry,” I said, feeling only a little guilty .

“Work late last night?”

“Yeah, I didn’t mean to fall asleep.”

“Well, try not to let it happen too often, okay? If your grades fall, I’ll have to actually do something.”

“It wont, I promise.”

“Good, now run along, and don’t forget there’s a test on Monday.”

“I won’t.”

I gathered my books, put them in my bag, and headed to my locker. It’s amazing that he’s my favorite teacher. His voice could put someone on speed to sleep. It if wasn’t for the fact that I knew he had to take anger management classes, I’d wonder what was wrong with him. But it made sense that he would keep his voice low and even, to help keep himself from blowing up at hundreds of teenagers everyday. I was just putting my last book up, when a voice startled me out of my thoughts.

“Aren‘t you ready yet?” My best friend, Alexis asked “It’s Friday, you know that if I stay in this school for too long, I break out in hives.” She gave a mock shudder and I laughed.

“Yeah, just let me finish here. Go ahead and meet me at the car.” I replied. I tossed her my keys and she squealed, jumping up and down like a five year old.

“Seriously?” She asked, like she thought I was pulling a prank on her.

“Yeah, but just start it, no test driving.” I answered with a warning tone, and a complimentary glare. She threw her arms around my neck and giggled.

“Okay, you’re forgiven, but don’t take too long. Or I‘m leaving without you.” She spun on her four inch heels and swished away.

I never understood her fascination for high heels. She was already five foot eight without them. But she said that it made her non-existent butt not so non-existent. I thought she looked just right the way she was though. She was skinny, but not too skinny. I believe her body type would be considered willowy. She had platinum blonde hair that reached the bottom of her shoulder blades, and the brightest blue eyes I’d ever seen. She overcompensated her narrow hips with an exaggerated swing, and constantly tried to acquire a tan, but I thought she was beautiful.

I finished organizing my locker and stuffed in my bag. I didn’t have any homework, and if I ever tried to study I would fail. It was just easier to leave my bag at school for the weekend, that way I wouldn’t forget it on Monday.

When I got to the parking lot, I didn’t have to remember where I parked. The music blasting across the lot told me exactly where my car was. I took my time walking over, enjoying the cool September breeze. When I got close enough, I could see Lexi head banging to the rock song that everyone in a five mile radius could hear.

She didn’t notice me as I crept up to the driver’s side window, and when I tapped on it she jumped looking guilty. She ducked her head in a sheepish manner, and turned the radio down. I watched as she slid over to the passenger seat and unlocked the doors. I climbed in, and readjusted the seat so I could reach the pedals.

I was a good two to three inches shorter than Lexi when she wore tennis shoes. So if she ever drove I had to readjust everything before I could go anywhere. I turned the radio to something a little more moderate, and fastened my seat belt. I looked at Lexi expectantly until she sighed and did the same.

“I don’t understand why you’re so insistent on this whole safety thing. You know that if we ever crashed, it would be the other people that were hurt. We would miraculously walk away without a scratch.” I rolled my eyes.

“You never know. Besides we wouldn’t recover from a beheading.” She gave a dramatic sigh. Much more dramatic than I thought was necessary.

“God you’re so paranoid. I blame your parents.” She said with an air of tragedy.

“Whatever. So you still going tonight?” I asked, knowing it would change the subject.

“Hell yeah! I can’t wait to go out and get my dance on! God I love being eighteen.” She said, with a shimmy of her lack of hips. She had her hair curled today, along with a skirt that my mom would kill me, if I even thought about wearing anything remotely like it. But it showed off her long legs, which she thought was her best asset.

“Yeah, like we didn’t have fake ID’s when we weren’t.” I replied laughing.

“Well yeah, but now we don’t have to worry about getting kicked out.”

“Like Sam would kick us out, but I suppose you have a point. Do you know if the girls are coming?”

“Well, I talked to Courtney and Ash, and they‘re in, of course, but we’ll have to wait till night fall to see if Jess is going. It’s a wonder we ever manage to get her out of the house, she’s so damn shy.”

“It‘s not her fault that creep basically ruined her life. I wish I could find him and stake the bastard.”

“Wow, someone has her fangs out today.”

“Yeah, well, the asshole deserves it.“ I turned onto her road and stopped in front of her house.

“Okay, well I’ll see in a couple hours. Say hi to your mom for me.”

“Sure thing, see ya.”

I pulled away from the curb, and drove the four blocks to my house with ease. When I got to my driveway, I pulled the parking brake and climbed out. Maybe Lexi was right and I was too cautious. I stood there and admired my car for a couple of minutes. Something I did on occasion. I just couldn’t get used to the amazingness of it. A brand new, sleek, black Mustang. It was without a doubt the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I made a mental note to thank my parents again for my early graduation present.

I headed into the house using the side door as usual, and was surprised to see my mom at the refrigerator, putting the juice away. She doesn’t usually get home till at least five, and it was only three thirty.

“Hey Mom, get to sue anyone interesting today?” She worked as a lawyer where she got to sue big corporations for stiffing their employees, and the occasional client that they screwed over. She was currently trying to work her way up to being a partner. A new goal, since apparently she felt the firm was losing sight of it’s original goals. Which were to help the down trodden, and teach the corporations that they weren’t above the law.

We had lived in Massachusetts before, where she worked in a smaller firm. It handled mostly petty stuff, but my mom was a natural, and got offered the job with the firm she worked at now. That’s why we moved to New York when I was five. Or at least that’s the reason we tell anyone if they ask.

“No, it was a boring day. I spent most of it twiddling my thumbs, so I took off early. I was just thinking about getting rid of the skylight in the dining room. What do you think?”

I walked around her to the fridge, and started getting things out to make a sandwich. We had higher metabolisms than most people, so we were constantly eating. It kept us from getting over weight, but it was hell on the food bill.

“Dad wouldn’t be happy about that. He likes it because of the whole safety thing. You know extra exit and all that.”

“Yeah, but I think I bring him around to it.”

“I don’t know, I kinda like it.”

“Hmmm, I’ll think on it. So it‘s Friday, you and your friends going to the club tonight?”

“Of course, we wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Well, don’t forget to drink your fill before you leave. You don’t want to get weak at a club like that.”

“Yes, Mom I know. I’ll make sure to get all of the nourishment I need, don’t worry.”

“Hey! A mom has the right to worry about her daughter. Thank you very much.”

“Okay, I’m gonna go up to my room to get ready for tonight.”

“All right Hon, just be careful.”

“We will.” I finally managed to escape up to my room, with my sandwich. I sat down on my bed with a sigh of relief. My mom had been reminding me to make sure I drink enough blood all my life. You’d think she’d realize that I’ve got it down by now.

Growing up a vampire you tend to acquire a lot of habits. I sighed again, and finished off my snack. Then started going through my closet, to figure out what I was going to wear. I decided I was in the mood for more dancing than socializing. So I started hunting around for my cutest pair of jeans. I finally found them hidden in a basket of clean clothes. I threw them on, then spent another five minutes rummaging through my closet, before finally deciding on my black cameo, with a black mesh top over it.

I was dressed and hunting for my comfortable tennis shoes, when my phone started going off. I dug it out of my other pair of jeans, and saw it was my other best friend, Jess. I hadn’t realized it was dark out.

“Hey.” I answered.

“What’s up?”

“Not much, you going with us tonight?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t I?”

“No reason. I was just making sure you had enough blood. You know, to sustain you through the night and all that.”

“Oh, are you worried about the poor little bitten vampire?” She answered jokingly. She was the only bitten vampire I was friends with. Not that I had a problem with them, it’s just that most bitten vampires weren’t too social. I didn’t blame them. Being turned as opposed to being born is probably a traumatizing experience. I grew up in this life style, and I was able to carry on a relatively normal life. Jess could only be out at night, where as, I could walk around during the day.

“Hey! I was only trying to be nice. Besides, I‘m obligated. If I didn’t ask, my mom would probably try to drown me. Anyway, you’ve got an hour to get your ass ready, and over here.”

“Alright, I’ll be there.”

“See ya then.”

“Yep, bye”

“Bye.” We hung up, and I finished hunting for my shoes. Finally finding them shoved under my bed.

I grabbed my ID and money, then shoved them in my pocket. Most of my friends made fun of me, because I didn’t carry a purse. I had just finished tying my shoes, when I heard the door bell ring, and my mom answering it. My friends stomped up the stairs to my room. They probably weren’t actually stomping. Enhanced hearing kind of came with the whole vampire package. I was officially ready when Lexi, Ashley, and Courtney burst through my bedroom door.

“Hey chicka, you ready yet?” Courtney asked, as she plopped down on my bed, pulling her black mini skirt down. Her hair was a bright red today, she dyed it about every week.

“Yeah, I’m ready, we’re just waiting for Jess.”

“Oh good she’s coming? I was a little worried she might not make it.” Ash said. She’s the only human who knew that Lexi, Jess, and I were vampires.

“She better hurry up.” Lexi said dramatically “I’ve been needing this all week.”

“Give her a break Lexi, you know we got a head start.”

“What’s up with that anyway?” Courtney complained “I mean, I get that she has to go to that screwed up private school, but why does she have to take extra classes? It’s crap.”

We all murmured our agreements a little uncomfortably. The private school was the cover story for Jess, we tell people that she goes to a nearby private school. We had to add in the extra classes, to explain why she never showed up until after the sun set. Right on cue we heard the door bell ring, and Jess saying hi to my mom. She made her way up to my room, dressed in a tight pair of roper jeans and regular t-shirt.

“We have got to take you shopping.” Lexi told her, with her most tragic tone.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing?”

“Your kidding right?” Courtney replied.

“Hey! She’s wearing jeans.” Jess said, indignantly pointing to me.

“At least her jeans are a cute black with designs on it.” Ashley put in.

“Plus, her shirt is actually stylish.” Courtney added, for good measure.

I decided it was time to keep the peace. I went to my closet, and pulled out a tight midnight blue t-shirt with a v-neck. I handed it to her and she rolled her eyes.

“Put it on, it’ll look really cute on you.”

“Fine.” she said exasperated. She pulled off her shirt, and slipped mine on.

“Okay, so are we ready?” I asked, grabbing my favorite leather jacket.

“Oh Yeah!”

“Let’s go.”

“Finally.”

“Sure.”

We all filed out of my room and down the stairs. Ash and Courtney went to the front door, while the rest of us went through the swinging door into the kitchen. My mom was already standing at the counter, with three packets of blood laying in front of her. She handed one to each of us, and smiled as we said our thank you’s. We drained our packets as quickly as we could, and chugged some water, so it wouldn‘t show on our breath. I kissed my mom on the cheek, and we went back to the other two.

We always walked to the club. It was just simpler, and honestly a lot safer. We didn’t drink, but a lot of other people did, and it was safer not to try to share the road with them. We’d been going to the same club for two years now. Every single Friday. It was kind of our ritual since we got to high school, and it was apparent that we didn’t generally hang out with the same kinds of people. We had all been best friends since kindergarten, and didn’t want to grow apart. So we found a way to spend at least one night a week together.

“Why do you guys always have to go to the kitchen right before we leave?” Courtney asked. She didn’t know our secret. And it was a lot harder than you’d think to keep it from her, for so many years. It wasn’t that we didn’t trust her. It was just safer for her if she didn’t know. If the wrong vampire found out that she knew we existed, it would end very badly for her.

“To give us some privacy for our forbidden love.” Ashley replied, blowing sloppy kisses at her. We all laughed, including Courtney, who was a well known homophobe. The rest of us just looked at each other with unease and a touch of relief. Ashley had saved the day again. It was nice to have a human friend who can cover for you like that.

We continued on our way to the club, hoping not to have to avoid anymore questions. It was only about a twenty minute walk It usually didn’t bother us as long as it wasn’t freezing out. We got lucky, tonight was one of the last warm ones of the year, before we started getting winter weather.

We got about three blocks from my house, when we saw a woman with a little girl. She was arguing with a man, who must have been her husband. The little girl couldn’t have been more than six years old, and she was playing with a little stray kitten. The kitten started walking toward the street, but the little girl followed. I expected the mom to stop, say something, or stop her, but she wasn’t paying any attention. She was totally focused on the man she was arguing with. We were still about ten yards from them, when the little girl started crossing the street, chasing the kitten. The parents still hadn’t noticed, and I was fixing to yell at them and get their attention. Then a car full of teenagers came speeding around the corner.

They started honking their horn, but the little girl froze in fear. I took off running, without thinking about all of the witnesses. Being a vampire I was very quick on my feet. I reached her right before the car, and pulled her out of the way. The car continued down the road, without so much as a tap on the brakes. The kids were probably too scared to stop. I came to my senses just in time to hear her mom screaming. She must have noticed where her daughter was, when she heard the horn. I carried the little girl over to her mom, and handed her over . My friends were just catching up, as she finished blubbering. Courtney looked at me with a mixture of awe and confusion.

“Wow! You should be on the track team or something. I’ve never seen anybody move that fast.” She said.

“Yeah, must have been adrenaline or something.” I replied. As we continued walking to the club, I exchanged worried glances with Ash and Lexi. I knew we were thinking the exact same thing. I hope nobody else noticed. Jess must have been thinking along the same lines, because she kept glancing up and down the street.

Chapter 2

We finally got to the club, and I gave a quiet sigh of relief. The place was crowded, and the music was blasting. Bodies were pressed together on the dance floor, and I thanked god my parents had never bothered to come here. If they had they would have never let me out of the house. It was just the thing we needed to lighten our mood.

We danced for about an hour, before we got too thirsty to continue. We finally decided to grab a table, and I gladly relinquished my jacket. It was my turn to get the drinks, so I headed up to the bar. The bartender was busy, so I resigned myself to wait until he noticed me.

A moment later I felt someone standing unusually close on my right. I turned to not so politely ask the stranger to step out of my personal space. The words died on my lips as I took in the sinfully hot guy. I mean seriously, he was tall about six foot one or two, with a linebackers body that was all muscle. Which his black led zeplin shirt showed off well. His black hair fell in front of his dark green eyes, that seemed to shine from the inside. Almost as if they had a light of their own.

I tested his scent to see if he was a vampire, and was surprised to see he was a hundred percent human. He looked at me, and smiled with a hundred watt smile that immediately put me on the defensive. It was the type of smile that was meant to pick up girls. And I didn’t do one night stands. Especially not with humans, that was just asking for trouble. He looked to be about nineteen, but honestly he could have ranged anywhere between seventeen to twenty three.

“Hey.“ He with a cocky smile. Yeah, he knew he was hot, and had no problem using it to his advantage.

“Hey.” I replied. “Yo Sam! A little help over here?” I yelled, deciding to get the bartenders attention after all. Sam looked over at me, and smiled as I waved my money in his direction.

“So, come here often?” I turned back to him, to see him putting a little more effort into being disarming.

“On occasion.” I replied absently, hoping he would get the hint. Sam was the bartender and owner of the club. Nothing happened without him knowing about it. He knew we were using fake ID’s to get in for the past couple years, but we never tried to drink, and we didn’t cause trouble, so he didn’t mind. He also looked after us. There were many times that one of us would get into a tight spot with some guy, and he was always there to make sure we didn’t have to use drastic measures to get ourselves out of it.

“Jaide, what‘ll it be this time?”

“The usual.”

“What, you’re still not twenty-one yet? Couldn’t you at least try to buy something you‘re not supposed to have? You guys are the most boring rebellious teenagers I‘ve ever seen.”

“You know I’m only eighteen” I said laughing.

“Yeah, which is interesting. Considering you’ve been coming here every Friday for the past two years.”

“Shhh.“

“All right, well here you are.” he said, handing me the bottles of water. I tried to hand him my money, but he waived me off.

“On the house. But just this once.”

“Thanks Sam. See ya.”

“Yeah yeah, it‘s not like you won‘t be back next week.”

“Of course.” I replied with a smile. I turned and gave the guy an absent nod, before continuing back to my friends.

He returned my nod looking slightly disgruntled, and I made my way back to our table. All of the girls were staring at me, and I knew they had watched the entire thing. They all gave me confused looks, and I just shrugged in response. I didn’t feel like letting one overconfident guy ruin my night.

We spent the next couple of hours dancing, and laughing. Just having a good time. But by midnight we finally decided to call it a night. Lexi called a cab. We all could have walked, but Courtney lived the farthest away, and didn’t want to. Lexi and Ash decided to share the cab, complaining about being tired. I still had energy to burn, so me and Jess started walking. She only lived about three blocks down from me, but I still lived closer. We made it to my door, but I hesitated before going in.

“Hey, you have enough blood to last you awhile?” I asked hesitantly. Jess was easy going, but she hated being treated like she couldn’t take care of herself.

“Yes, I have enough. I’ll be fine, you don’t have to worry about the neighborhood charity case.” She answered, but smiled to take the sting out of her words.

“Hey, cut me some slack my mom would kill me if I didn’t ask.”

“I know, I also know that you‘ve been using her as an excuse to check on me.”

“You still coming over tomorrow night?” I decided the best way to counter her accusation was with ignorance and a subject change.

“Yeah, it’s not like I have anything else to do.” She answered, with a smile she often used to humor me.

“Okay, see you then. Good night.”

“Night.” I watched her walk down the street a little ways, before going inside.

“Hey Mom, hey Dad, I’m home.” I said, as I dropped my house key on the table next to the front door. One of the perks to have super senses is that you never have to yell. We could carry on a perfectly normal conversation from opposite ends of the house.

“Hey sweet heart, we’re in the living room.” My dad answered. I walked into the room, and saw them curled up on the couch together. I sat down in the recliner to see them watching a screwed up episode of Robot Chicken. Then again, all of Robot Chicken is screwed up.

I was extremely nervous. I had to tell them about the incident with the little girl. I felt good about what I did. The car would have killed her, but it’s also a prime example of what I’m not supposed to do. In order for us to blend in with humans we had to adopt their limitations. And a human wouldn’t have made it there in time to save her. I didn’t and never would regret doing it, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t going to end badly for me.

So there I was sitting in the recliner, fidgeting. Ultimately putting off the inevitable, when my dad looked at me.

“What’s up?” He asked suddenly, making me jump.

“Nothing, why?” I asked, hoping to stall for a few minutes longer.

“You only fidget when there’s something bothering you.” Well crap, what ever happened to parents never understanding their teenage kids? I couldn’t put it off any longer, so I took a deep breathe, and prepared for the worst.

About five minutes later they were sitting there staring at me in complete silence. They stayed that way for so long they had me squirming in my seat.

“You know you should have been more careful,“ My mom finally said.

“What was I supposed to do, just let a little girl die?” I asked defensively.

“Honey, its not that we’re not proud of you, but we can’t risk being exposed.” My dad said.

“It’s not like you guys haven’t done it.”

“That is not fair!” My mom snapped. Now a smart person would have just stopped, and admitted defeat. Unfortunately, it appears I am not that smart.

“Oh, come on! Dad can save a man from getting mugged, but I can’t save a six year old girl from getting run over by a car?”

“Me saving that man is the reason we had to move here to begin with. I know it sounds cruel, but sometimes you just have to let fate take it’s course.”

“I couldn’t just stand there and let her die! She was only like six years old for god’s sake!” I answered defensively.

“We know, but I don’t think it would be wise for you to go out anymore. At least for the next couple of weeks.”

“I agree with your mother. It’s too risky.”

“But nobody saw me except Courtney, and she believes it was just adrenaline. I don’t think she even believes what she saw anyway. The mother didn’t even notice.” I whined.

“No buts, its final. You’re to go to school and come straight home. No more Friday nights for a while.” My mom said in her no nonsense tone. Which meant the argument was over. Any complaints I had would fall of deaf ears. When mom gets that tone there is no arguing with her. I got up and stormed upstairs, taking great care to make every step a stomp. I save someone’s life, and I get grounded. Yep, that’s the life of a teenage vampire for you.

I went into my room, and plopped down on my bed face first. I laid there and wallowed in self pity for about five minutes, before I decided I had wallowed for long enough.

I grabbed my pajamas and went into the bathroom. I loved our house. It was three bedrooms, and mine and the master bedroom each had a bathroom connected to it. Naturally we all could hear everything that was said or done, but my dad redid the basement for me. It provided the perfect place for me and my friends to hang out whenever we wanted.

I ran the hot water for a little while before getting in. I took an extra long, extra hot shower this time. It was kind of my way of rebelling by using more water than was necessary, and making sure that anyone else who wanted any hot water had to wait. Petty I know, but I couldn’t help myself.

When I got out I towel dried my hair, and put my pajamas on. After I climbed into bed, I checked my phone to make sure I had turned my alarm off. I noticed that I missed a call from Jess, but I figured I‘d just call her back tomorrow night. I put my phone down on the table, and rolled over. I went to sleep, wondering what I was going to do for the next few weeks stuck at home.

Chapter 3

When I woke up the next morning I felt great. My favorite time of the week was the weekends. I love to wake up slowly, and stretch before getting up. I got dressed in my most comfortable pair of jeans, and my black spaghetti strap shirt. My hair was always kept in a braid to keep it out of my way. I was about to go down stairs when I remembered the night before.

My mood fell at top speed. It still irked me how unfair the whole thing was. I knew I was behaving a like a spoiled brat, but I didn’t care. I value my freedom, and didn‘t like it being taken away, especially because I saved someone‘s life. I continued on my way downstairs, fully prepared to give my parents the cold shoulder.

It seemed my parents felt at least a little remorse. Considering my mom made all of my favorite breakfast foods. Everything was already set out on the dining room table. However, I wouldn’t be swayed so easily. I kept my resolve and made my plate silently.

“Good morning.” My mom said, as she sat down, putting my dad’s plate in front of him. She settled down with her own plate. She very rarely ever did things like that for my dad, so it’s special when she does. It’s usually fend for yourself in my house. We ate our meals as a family, even sitting in our formal dining room. My mom usually made breakfast, my dad made lunch, and we all took turns making dinner. But we made our own plates, and got our own drinks.

I stuck to my plan of cold shouldering them, and started eating in silence. We may eat together like a traditional family, but it was more so that we had some actual family time. We usually all went about our lives, which tended to take us in different directions. If we didn’t eat together, we might not see each other for days at a time. We didn’t say grace, as religion was kind of sketchy considering we were vampires. Generally, we just didn’t try to limit ourselves, or become too close minded. Especially since most religions would condemn us to hell, and that just didn’t sound very appealing. So we left the condition of our souls up to fate and karma.

“Still mad?” My dad asked. I glared at him then turned back to my plate. Yeah, I was sulking.

“Alright, your mom and I talked about it.” He stated and I looked up, hardly daring to hope. “We both agree that it’s a little extreme for us to ground you for saving someone’s life. What would that say for our parenting skills, right?”

“So what does that mean?” I asked cautiously.

“Hey look at that, she can speak.“ My dad said in a joking manner.

“Yeah yeah, so am I grounded or what?“ I asked impatient.

“Well your not grounded.” My mom put in, and I held my breath waiting for the other shoe to drop. “But you still have to exercise extreme caution. So one of us will be driving you and your friends where ever you want to go, and picking you up whenever you’re done. That way we can keep an eye on things, and you don’t lose all of your freedom. Fair?”

“Are you kidding? Of course!” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Any other time they made a punishment it stuck. A presidential order couldn’t make them change their minds.

It wasn’t complete freedom, but it was a hell of a lot better than nothing at all. And just that quick my mood skyrocketed. We went back to eating breakfast, but this time in a comfortable silence.

We were about halfway through, and someone knocked on the door to the kitchen. We froze for a millisecond, then looked at each other. Nobody knocked on that door. Even my friends knocked on the front door. It was actually a house rule, no guest came into or out of the house except by the front door. It was a cautionary measure. My dad got up to answer it, motioning for us to move to the other side of the kitchen. Out of sight, but still close enough to provide backup. He opened the door and the guy, from the club the night before, was standing there.

If I was right, he was just as surprised to see us as we were to see him. It left me confused on so many levels, and for so many reasons. For some unknown reason, the first was that he was wearing the same clothes from the night before. The second was how he knew where I lived. And the third, why he looked so shocked to see us, when he knocked on our door.

“What are you doing here?” I asked, stepping into view. He jumped when I appeared, and stammered.

“You know each other?” My dad asked looking at me.

“I saw him last night at the club. I don‘t know his name.”

“Ookay” My mom said, drawing out the word, and exchanging a worried look with my dad. Strangers didn’t just show up at our door. We even have a sign in our front yard saying no solicitors. We can’t take the risk of someone seeing something they shouldn’t, we may not feed from people, but we still drink blood.

My dad reached forward, lightening quick, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and pulling him inside. An instant later I understood why. There were people circling the perimeter of the house. A lot of people. Trying very hard not to make any noise.

“I don’t know who you are, or what your doing here.” My dad whispered to him. “But if you want to live through the day, stay close.” He looked up at the skylight, and before he could say anything, I jumped up onto the table to open it. My dad threw the guy through, which wasn’t difficult, then motioned that it was my turn. I jumped up through the opening, landing on my feet. He was sprawled there, on the roof, gasping for air. The impact would have knocked the air out of him, but he was otherwise unharmed. He looked up at me, and it was obvious that he was scared shitless.

“What‘s your name?” I asked in a whisper, just as my mom landed next to me, immediately followed by my dad.

“Devon.” He stuttered, I nodded at him. My mom and dad snuck over to the edge of the roof, to look over.

“Well Devon, this may be a shock, but we’re not going to hurt you. You need to stay close, and stay quiet. Your going to see some things that you might not like.“ He stared at me with fear and shock, something I expected, as least I didn’t have to think about him as ‘that guy’ anymore.

I joined my parents at the edge of the roof, and sucked in a hiss of breath. There were men surrounding our house. Not just men, but men with machine guns, and what looked like tazers. There were at least fifty of them, and they looked like they were in some kind of uniform. Uniforms in the shape of full body armor, they were even in camouflage.

We looked at each other, then backed away from the ledge silently, before any of them got smart enough to look up. We surveyed the surrounding landscape, and saw the city in the distance. We had hundreds of escape plans, set up for just such an occasion, and this was number fifty three.

We needed to make it into the inner city. That way we could blend into the crowd, and wait until they gave up. Since we couldn’t reach our cars, we had to get there on foot. We just had to make it to the tall buildings. We should be home free after that. It was an easy sprint for us, not so much for a human. But it was our only chance. My dad walked over to Devon, still crouched in the center of the roof, looking like he was about to throw up.

“We’re are going to have to make a run for the city. We can make it there in a matter of minutes, but you can’t, so I’m going to have to carry you. I’m sure your pride will recover from it. Don’t panic and don’t fight me, everything’s going to be fine. Just remember not to make a sound, and save any questions for the end of the ride.” He whispered to him.

We could hear him, but there was no way the men on the ground could. My dad picked him up, and threw him over his shoulder in a fireman carry. We took an instant to look at each other, then took off across the roof as one. This was something we had practiced many times over the years. We jumped at the last second, and landed effortlessly on our neighbor’s roof, without making a sound.

We were about three houses over, when we heard a shout coming from our house. They had realized we weren’t in the house, and was beginning their search. It was only a matter of seconds before they realized we were jumping roofs. We picked up our speed, reaching our limits quickly.

In a few minutes we had reached the city, but we could still hear them in hot pursuit. This wasn’t making any sense. We were miles from our house, they should have given up by now. Either they really wanted us dead, or they wanted to capture us for some reason. The thought made me shudder.

We finally reached the city, and looked at all of the buildings surrounding us. We were in one of the older districts, so most of the ones closest to us were pretty run down. Most of them had alleys running between them, but we couldn’t risk being cornered on the ground. A cornered vampire is very dangerous, and we couldn’t risk the fall out for that.

So we had to stay above the people who were chasing us. We ricocheted up the closest three story building, only stopping when we reached the top. Once there, we paused to listen, and as we thought they were still after us. We took off across the roof of the building, but had to drop to the ground after all. There weren’t any other buildings close enough to reach from the roof. Even for us. Keeping to the back streets, we kept running, my dad in the lead.

We heard the vehicles of our enemies a couple of miles back, but no matter how fast we were moving, they were still gaining ground. Whoever these guys were, they were quick and relentless. They shouldn’t have been able to track us so well. With every step I took, the more scared I became.

We reached a ten story building that was a little more run down than the others. It had ledges on each floor, about five feet wide, but it was also ten stories tall. My dad stopped next to it, turning to us and motioning for us to go up.

My mom went first, so Dad could toss Devon up to her. Me and my dad followed quickly after her, and we all started jumping up from ledge to ledge. We could have jumped up two or three, even with Devon, but we had to take them one at a time to conserve our energy. First grabbing onto the ledge, and then pulling ourselves up. My mom and dad playing catch with Devon, in order to move quicker.

We had made it to the third ledge, when we heard a loud whooshing sound, coming from behind us. We

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Bildmaterialien: The wonderful Illistration was done by Nina Kari
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 13.01.2012
ISBN: 978-3-7309-7380-6

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