Chapter 1 - A New Adventure Begins

Alone in the dark a young girl sat trying not to cry. It would make her have another coughing fit. She sat out on the steps of her back deck watching the clear starry night sky. The cold winter air wasn't good for her cold, but the cool air took the heat from her skin and the crisp clean air soothed her lungs. She was sick and didn't feel well and that always made her temper short. This time she was angry because she had woken up at two in the morning to do her laundry when no one should have been in her way, but one of the other renters in the house was up and doing her laundry. Then the woman had the nerve to yell at the girl for not getting her clothes clean. That started the fight. The girl yelled that she shouldn't even have to wash her clothes, that she was an adult and should be capable of doing her own chores. Just because they all lived in the same apartment house did not mean the girl, or her siblings, were responsible for all the chores. The woman got angry and told the girl she was just a selfish, spoiled, little beast that needed to learn her place and be grateful that she was even alive. So angry she couldn't speak the girl had come out to her winter refuge. The moon was full and soothing as it made all the snow around her glisten.

The sound of footsteps on the deck behind her made her growl slightly. They were too light to be her mother's, but too heavy to be one of her siblings. They had to belong to her father. He had just moved back in from years of work abroad. He couldn't seem to understand why she fought with everyone so much and always tried to calm her down. The girl didn't want to talk. It was two o’clock in the bloody morning. Everyone was meant to be in bed so she could be alone. Committed to sitting still, she ignored the footsteps as they got closer.

A hand, unfamiliar to the girl clamped itself around her mouth. It was colder than the night air around her and white like a ghost. Another hand grabbed her under the shoulder and roughly yanked her to her feet.

With a sharp gasp of surprise, the girl’s first thought said that she was being attacked by a stalker, rapist, werewolf, creeper, vampire, bad-guy, and bit hard into the cold white hand over her mouth. With a yell of pain, the hands let her go. Bolting with fear and panic the girl flew off the deck and started to make her way to the woods behind her home. She had a den hidden in the trees and could hide there.

Looking back to see if she was being pursued, she saw nothing. Turning back around, she ran into a man. He had coppery thin hair, pale skin, and dark baggy clothes. He grabbed her left wrist with his piercing, cold, grip, and smiled maliciously.

"Did you enjoy that, little girl?" He asked in a falsely sweet voice. "I always do, but my prey usually doesn't make the first bite."

Looking into his face with fear, the girl saw that the man had fangs! There was no way that he was...

"Oh, but I am," the man said with a sinister chuckle. "Not as dumb as you look, kitten. I'm really going to enjoy myself; I didn't take you for a fighter." Reaching out to caress her face he added, "We're going to have a little fun while I play with you, before I kill you."

The girl flinched and tried to pull away. The man only laughed, but the girl felt his grasp slacken. Taking advantage of his inattention, the girl tried to pull her hand free and run away. Laughing even harder the man yanked her arm back sharply, making it snap sickeningly out of place. This time the girl couldn't hold the scream in. It rent the air shrill and full of pain. After falling to her knees, the man pulled her back up like a rag doll.

"Come now doll, fleeing will only get you hurt worse. All I want is to play... Unless you wish me to break you before I eat you. It's been a while since I broke any one bit by bit."

A strange anger swelled up inside the girl as the man mocked her. She was no easy prey. Her pet-name was Wolfie. She wasn't about to be murdered or taken advantage of without a fight. Using her free arm, she grabbed a hand full of his hoodie at the shoulder for support as she used all of her might to ram her knee into her attacker.

"You want to play, doll," she yelled as she attacked, "play with this!"

Taken by surprise, the assailant wasn’t prepared for the attack and yelled in pain again as he dropped her and doubled over. Hitting the deep, soft snow, the girl tried to get up and run before the man could recover. Unfortunately, she no more than stood herself up before one of his strong hands reached out and grabbed a scalp full of her hair. Whimpering, she tried to pull free, but he was too strong for her. As he made her face him, fear began to set in at a new level. His eyes were glowing red with anger and blood lust, he had sharp needle like fangs as he snarled at her, and she could see his nails grown out like claws on his other hand as it came closer to her throat.

"Think you're clever, do you?" He seethed as he raked his nails across her collar bone as he pulled down the collar of her hoodie. His other hand forced her to bend her head sideways so that her neck was completely exposed to the winter air. "Well, news for you, that hurt and put me out of the mood, so I'm going to kill you very slowly."

After he hissed those last words in her ear, he bit painfully down on her throat. She screamed and hit and pulled and kicked and fought with all her strength as she felt the monster attacking her pull the blood right out of her body and into his mouth. Slowly the pain didn't bother her as much as the lead like feeling in her arms and legs did. Slowly her mind grew thick and muddled and she began to feel sleepy and heavy. Was this what blood loss felt like? The monster that had attacked her let her go and continued to gloat, but she understood nothing but the word death. Was she dying? No, no, she couldn't die here. She had no fear of death. However, if she was to die, she wanted to die either nobly in the protection of others or in her sleep, peacefully, when her time came. Tortured and murdered from some sicko was not an option. As she thought this out, her legs could no longer support her weight and she fell on her attacker. He held her as he laughed at her death. She would show him. All she needed was her blood back. Biting down hard and hugging his arm tightly the girl somehow tore the monster’s flesh and started to take her blood back. It was warm, but tasted foul. She wanted to run, to throw up, but something in side of her wouldn't. The monster was cursing her and tried to pull her off, but for several of moments, he couldn't. The need to survive helped the girl hold on just long enough to get warmth back in her body, for her mind to clear, for feeling in her body to return. The last one she could've gone a bit longer without. Pain from her wounds and injured arm made her grip slacken and the man was able to pull her off by her hair. What was with this guy and her hair? She whimpered and grunted in pain as he lifted her off the ground by her hair and then threw her away into the snow. This time she didn't run. This time she knew she had to attack head on, she had to stop him. An idea formed, but would it work?

"You stupid, little, beast! Did you think that would save you? Well, it won't, killing fanglings is even more enjoyable than human cattle and it’s tastier!" the man raged as he looked at his bite mark and waited for it to heal. Once it had, he began his way back to the girl.

The girl had pulled a Chinese firecracker and a lighter from the pocket of her hoodie. She had meant to light them to play with if the night air hadn't been enough to disperse her gloom earlier. "Don't you touch me! Don't come a step closer or I’ll use this!"

The man laughed, "That's a child's toy, what do you think you can do with that?"

It hurt to use both arms, but the girl lit the firecracker. As it sparkled and hissed, she narrated, "True one alone is just fire powder and shiny paper that flashes pretty colors. But I like Chinese firecrackers over American sparklers because they're wood at the center, not metal. So," the girl reached into her pocket and pulled out two dozen more firecrackers, "one won't hurt you, but what about two dozen of his friends? Think it would be like a flaming stake?"

The man froze. Fear danced across his face for a moment, before his eyes shimmered like a diamond under light, or a pond under the clear full moon sky. "Hey, I was only playing. I wasn’t really going to hurt you."

"You weren't?" the girl asked innocently as her mind blanked and her eyes reflected the same shimmering light the monster’s eyes had.

"Not at all, how about we makeup with a kiss," the man cooed as he knelt to embrace the girl.

Charmed by the monster she nodded her head yes and sat there as he got closer. Luckily, she had already lit one of her firecrackers and it was burning down to the end of its sick. The emerald flame licked her hand, snapping her out of her trance. The other firecrackers had already begun to burn from the first one. Lifting her hand high, the girl declared that she would not die, and plunged the stems of her firecrackers into the heart of her attacker. He howled in agony as he fell back on his knees and clawed at the splinters of flaming wood in his chest. It was too late; the emerald and turquoise flames had already begun to spread over his body. Crawling away the girl fled to the space under the deck steps, yards away from her burning enemy. She watched in terrified horror as he burned to death, wailing, and screeching in pain as his body broke down into ash. The girl couldn't believe that she drank blood, or had killed someone. This all had to be a dream. However, the dull intense, nauseating ache in her left arm told her, this wasn’t a dream.

It only seemed to take minutes for the burning to stop. But if the stories she had heard were true, old vampires burn quickly. Older vampires burn quickly! Older vampires had friends, allies, or minions that might want to hurt her for killing him! She had to run, and not just for her sake. She may not get along with her family, but she didn't want them hurt by something she had done. Running back into her house on deft feet, the girl used her good arm to dump out her school bag on her bed. There would be no need for school any more. Racing in her closet she grabbed a random hand full of shirts, two pairs of jeans off the floor, and grabbed her brush off the dresser. Scanning the room, she thought of what else she would need. She would need to leave a note, saying she was fed up with life and added some hurtful things only a teenager would say. It was believable, and then perhaps they wouldn't come looking for her. She wished she could have her lion doll, but he had been stolen and destroyed by other tenants months ago.

Sighing in defeat the girl left her house key and the note on her bed. Returning to the back yard, she took a moment by the ashes of her attacker.

"I'm leaving now. It was just bad luck on your part dude. A fight to the death and a kill or be killed situation." she paused unsure of what to say as a fresh powder of snow began to fall. Bending down, she grabbed a hand full of his ashes and threw them into the wind. "I scatter your ashes respectfully, so no hard feelings, okay? No haunting me or my family."

With that said the girl walked away into the woods behind her house. As she walked, she thought of where to go. Sadly, she wouldn't be forgotten easily. If she ran to Canada, could she escape the cops? That was a good start. Also, in some stories, vampires did not do well in the cold, so the further north she went the better, right? Canada was also so very wild and had lots of back-country, places she could hide and survive without even being noticed. The more she thought on it the more it seemed logical. Looking up she realized the moon was gone. The snow was coming down harder and harder. It didn't matter, she could find north later. The fresh snow would cover her tracks and the remains of her attacker. The most important thing right now was distance.

Her mind cleared as she walked. It was just one step after the other for hours, until weariness overcame her. The snow was deep enough to dig in, so she found a big strong tree and dug into the snow by its roots. In another story she had read about a man taped in a blizzard and he survived by digging into the snow to trap his body heat. It was cold, but the girl was so tired that she fell asleep any way. After sleep she walked until she needed sleep, then she walked again. Several weeks went by in this fashion. Time stopped existing in her world as all she did was sleep and walk. Avoiding people, she wasn't even sure how close or how far from her goal she was. Laughing at herself she probably wasn't even out of Kansas yet.