• “Was starting to think you wouldn’t show.” Helen smiled at me, opening the door to her mansion a bit wider, just enough to allow me to slink inside before shutting it and bolting the door.
    Helen fit the usual description of a vampire. Beautiful obviously, with mid-back length black hair, addictive gray eyes, and full lips. Her skin seemed to radiate light it was so pale. Her only variation rested on her collarbone where she had had a skull swallowing a cross tattooed on her flesh. She’d had others done, but she’d simply cut them off. For the time being, the skull was her favorite.
    “Hmm, hang on.” Helen walked around me and grabbed my hand in her long fingers, her nails passing along the skin. “Ah, that’s where that scent was coming from.” Extending one of my fingers, she slipped it into her mouth and sucked the remaining blood off of it. I pulled back, rolling my eyes as she grimaced, whipping her lips with the back of her hand and sticking out her tongue.
    “Uh, F phase, Ruth?” She scowled at me. “I thought you had better taste.”
    “It was an emergency, Helen. Nothing more.” Seeing fellow vampires in the back rooms, I headed that way, Helen on my heels.
    “Ooh, really? Who pissed you off?”
    “Dylon. He attacked Amy.” Helen paused as a boy vampire approached us, a small smile plastered on his face.
    “Amy... Amy... Oh, that human, half-sister of yours. Why do you protect her? I would have just let him drain her dry. Not worth the trouble if you ask me.” Helen offered comfortably. I rolled my eyes.
    “Which is why I didn’t.” I spat, letting the vampire kiss my hand. His eyes never left mine.
    Helen groaned in annoyance. She was an Aristocrat meaning she came from one Pureblood parent and one half breed parent and as such, she was below me on the social pyramid. Boys seeking to improve their status in society flocked to me and, to make it worse, I was approaching my eighteenth birthday (in vampire years). As such, my time to mate was drawing nearer and the attention boys paid me would be rising at a rapid pace until then. Helen was jealous, in short.
    “Bonjour, my lady.” He spoke, his accent and attitude suddenly bringing an image of a snake to my mind. I smirked.
    “Bonjour, monsieur. Ca va?” His eyes widened and I leaned down, so my head was level with his bent one. “If you don’t speak French, don’t fake it.” Helen giggled and we stalked away, leaving the boy still in his bent position, hand grasping the air where my hand had been.
    “So, back to that Amy bite- sorry, bit-” I paused to roll my eyes at her, “why didn’t you just let Dylon take a bite out of her? Little sip and it would have been all better.”
    “Dylon was in the F phase. He would have killed her.” Helen chuckled.
    “Big loss. Whatever will the Christian population do without their little star?” Helen let out a girlish laugh and I giggled in my throat.
    “Frank would throw a fit if I just let him.” Helen sighed, leaning against the counter in her kitchen and filling up a glass from the punch bowl. She swirled the red liquid with her finger and my eyes traveled around the crowded mansion.
    Helen’s mansion was a three thousand year old palace from the vampire empires of the past. From the outside, it stood a good five stories tall, but when traveling within, it seemed much larger. Stairs went on for hours. Windows showed the same view a twenty minute walk away from the last. All in all, her home had gained the reputation of haunted and this fact, if nothing else, increased her party status.
    The house itself boasted ancient relics from the former inhabitants, vampire royals and nobles. Portraits of long gone family members watched you from the walls. The lush red carpet surged through the house, twisting and turning like a vein. White walls led to an odd contrast between that and the visitors. Black on white with not a gray to be seen. While gold was occasionally splattered around for fashion purposes, the house sparkled white, black, and red. A vampire’s favorite colors.
    The celebration Helen was hosting was for her mother, Catherina, who had just given birth to twins (an extremely rare occasion in my kind), Madison and Taylor. Don’t act like a foolish human. My kind don’t all have names like Elizabeth and Alexander. Our names can be exactly the same as yours and, just to make tracing us even harder, we change it frequently. When a name began to bore us, we changed it, informing everyone and ignoring those that called us by our previous. It was a ritual my kind enjoyed and practiced frequently.
    “You sure it’s Frank and not...Lianell?” I rose an eyebrow at Helen who shrugged and took a sip, “Just a thought. Never mind, I guess.”
    “Why would Lianell care if I let Dylon drink from Amy?” She shrugged. “Lianell doesn’t scare me, Helen.”
    “Oh, of course not. He’s only the only other Pureblood in the country, but I can see why he wouldn’t intimidate you. After all, you’re a Pureblood as well...” I smirked at her, turning my back on the others, unafraid and comfortable.
    “Are we jealous, Helen?” She leaned in, flashing fangs at me, smiling and meeting my mocking jest.
    “There’s no reason to be, Ruth. I still get all the guys.” And with that, she stood up and, hips shaking back and forth, sauntered over to a group of boys gathering around the blood placed on a table across the room. They immediately began offering her drinks and I rolled my eyes, moaning. She was such a flirt. I twisted around to pour myself a glass
    “Jealous, Ruth?” A smooth voice asked at my back and I laid down my glass, mouth still dry.
    “Am I turning green or something ‘cause-” I froze, turning around and facing the speaker. My mouth shut tight and I spun back around, letting my hair whip at Lianell’s face. He grimaced.
    “Still as feisty as usual, I see.” Why now? I kept my eyes focused on the counter, hands clenched before me.
    “Still as big of an annoyance as before I see.” I mocked.
    “Still sour over our little argument? That was months ago, Ruth. You should learn to let things go.” I spun around, nails digging into my flesh.
    “You threatened my sister-”
    “She’s an insult to your family as well as any Pureblood’s. A pureblood human born from a Pureblood mother. It’s repulsive, a genetic anomaly. It should have been killed upon birth.”
    “That ‘it’ is my sister.”
    “More from title then blood.”
    I smacked him, hit him with all the rage and frustration I felt towards him and my own similar feelings. His head snapped to one side and he stumbled. The crowd around us paused for a moment. Any vampiric fight, particularly one between two Purebloods, posed an extreme threat to anyone within a ten foot radius. The vampires at this party knew better then to push their luck. They’d all seen Lianell and me fight. We still held scars.
    “How dare you?!” I screamed at him. Blood relation was sacred among my kind. To say she wasn’t my blood sister ranked among the worst, most disgusting insults Lianell ever flung at me. I’d be damned before I let him get away with it unscathed.
    “Ruth!” Helen shoved through the crowd, standing between the two of us, placing a hand on my shoulder as she spotted my predator stance. “That’s enough.”
    “If you ever dare say that to me again, I’ll rip off your head and drink every last drop.” I threatened Lianell over her shoulder. If worse came to worse, I could force her away. She wasn’t stronger then me.
    “Ruth, relax.” Helen pleaded, the muscles in her arms straining from the effort of keeping us separated. Three other Aristocrats grasped Lianell as he clawed at the air in front of him. Sparks erupted in mid air where our telepathic shots met one another. Some of the more sensitive vampires backed away, their skin tingling with the electricity.
    “No, he has no right to insult my family that way. Amy is as much my sister by blood as Sasha is yours Helen!” The whole room froze though the Aristocrats kept their hands on Lianell. Helen gaped at me and then spun on Lianell, letting go of me.
    “Did you say Amy wasn’t her blood sister?” Helen asked, eyes filled with fury and disgust.
    “Yes.” Lianell answered unafraid. In an instant, Helen flittered before him and kneed him in the stomach. As he crumbled, she bent down to growl in his ear. Her voice reached my ears clearly, yet still managed to retain it’s threatening tone.
    “Get out of my home...” She paused and we all knew what was coming. “You...you are no longer welcome here.”
    Lianell’s head shot up, but it was far too late. He rose to his feet like a doll lifted by a child and flew towards the door which opened to invite him outside. It slammed shut behind him and no one moved for a moment. We allowed Helen to collect herself and when she finally stood up, it was with a smile on her face.
    “Hey, it’s a party! Why aren’t we partying?” The music kicked back into life and Helen glided over to the blood bowl, filling herself a large glass and swallowing it down.
    “Helen.” I took the cup and lowered it from her lips. “Take it easy.” Her hand quickly took back the cup and finished what was left in it.
    “It’s a party, Ruth.” She attempted to reason. Her act of friendship had lessened the rage in my stomach. Lianell was gone. That’s all that mattered.
    “That doesn’t mean you need to get drunk off of-” I hesitated, an odd pressure in the back of my mind. I turned as the front door opened and five vampires strolled in, a human in-between them. The human girl’s eyes widened as she spotted us, but she didn’t stop. Her heartbeat pounded in my ears as she passed and came to a halt in front of Helen.
    “What is this?” Helen asked the boys. I didn’t recognize them.
    “This is Agatha. She wants to speak with Ruth.” Helen rose her eyebrows at me and I stepped forwards, pushing the vampire guards away.
    “If you want to speak, you’ll do so without the protection and covering...” I scanned her mind, “Rina. Your sister’s name is Agatha. Not yours.” If possible, her eyes opened even farther, but she shook it off. Brave human girl. She couldn’t have been older then fourteen.
    “I have a request to make of you.” She whispered, having gained the attention of every vampire in the room. She was lucky. If I hadn’t shown an interest in her, she’d have been dead by now.
    “Then make it.” I had no intention of granting whatever she desired. Humans didn’t have my sympathy in their petty problems.
    Rina took a deep breath, hands shaking. The top layer of her teeth dug into the skin of her lips as she stepped forwards an inch. Sweat collected on her palms and her breathing quickened. Whatever she was about to ask had been troubling her for some time now. I attempted to steal the information I wanted from her mind...and hit a wall. Where had she learned to defend her mind from my kind?
    “I...Agatha...” One more deep breath and the fear vanished, replaced by determination. “You’re a Pureblood correct?” I rose an eyebrow and looked to her bodyguards.
    “You told her tales of our kind?” They shook their heads and a quick scan revealed that they told the truth. “How do you know such stories?”
    “Does it matter?” I smirked running my hand along her neck and circling her.
    “Perhaps.” I whispered in her ear. Chills ran up her spine, but she forced them down.
    “You’re a Pureblood?” I shrugged.
    “Maybe, maybe not. Tell me why you want to know.”
    She took another breath, raspy as if it was fighting past her teeth and lips and she lifted her hands to her neck. I admired her smooth brown hair as her hands disappeared behind it and her green eyes held a fierceness I didn’t associate with her kind. The outfit she wore seemed to reek of private high school girl. The blue skirt stopped above her knees and the tie on top of her white button up shirt laid loose. She had pulled at it on her way here. She hadn’t been home since last night. She’d run away. During her moment of movement, I’d managed to obtain this information before she recoiled and built up her shields once more. Regaining her composure, she continued with her plan...and lowered the collar of her shirt, exposing her throat to fifty plus vampires who gazed at it hungrily. Comprehension dawned on my face and I scowled.
    “So that’s it huh? You want to be like me, like the vampires in here? Do you have any idea what this life’s like? Do you really think you could handle it, killing humans who were once your friends, living off blood and pain?” I grimaced, disgusted. “Get out my sight. I don’t deal with groupies.”
    Her vampire guardians reached for her, but her sudden movement caused me to raise an eyebrow. When they reached for her, she grasped one’s hand and shoulder before flinging him forwards. He came crashing to the floor, the air slipping past his lips as his eyes widened. Every vampire in the room froze more out of astonishment then anything.
    “How embarrassing.” A girl in the crowd mumbled, hands on her hips. Many others nodded and a few chuckled. Rina officially took over my interest. I smirked.
    “Hm...let’s see.” Still grinning, I began to pace her. She waited until I left her line of vision before turning, but it revealed something important. Despite her obvious strength, she still didn’t want me at her back. The walls around her mind remained unflinching. Yes, she was extremely strong.
    “I’m not asking much.” She insisted and a couple vampires chuckled.
    “No not much, I suppose.” I agreed and the laughter died. “I assume you came here knowing I was a Pureblood.” She nodded. “How did you know about my blood line or that Helen was throwing a party? And how did you convince these guards to allow you entrance?” The vampires at her side looked away from my gaze, cringing backwards into the shadows and leaving her unprotected. A look of fear flashed across her face, but it quickly disappeared.
    “I-I offered-”
    “What? Blood?” The guards recoiled from the disgust in my voice.
    “No, I offered to spare their lives.” She spat, infuriated. “They accompanied me to protect you. There are two dead vampires down the walkway, if you’d like to test the truth in my words.”
    “Your dare kill on my lands?” Helen growled, inching forwards. I held up a hand and she stopped. I smirked.
    “A hunter...You’re a vampire hunter.”
    Her shields shook as I concluded the truth and I chose that instant to dive into her mind and latch on, draining the knowledge that I wanted. She staggered back as I let go and the vampires around us waited anxiously. Hunter blood was extremely sweet and the mere mention of it drove my kind to the edge of thirst control.
    “Your sister, Agatha, was a hunter as well until a Pureblood decided she’d upset him too many times. He attacked her and changed her, knowing that punishment was worse then death. Agatha, nearly driven mad with a thirst she refused to quench, confided herself to a cell where she kept the vampires she interrogated. She handed you a key and forced you to swear to never release her, for she feared she would hurt you when the hunger became too much. For days, you watched your sister slip into madness, rage bubbling within you. Then, it hit you. It was Lianell who changed your sister. If you couldn’t help her as a human, then perhaps you could as one of my kind. And as Lianell despises me and I, him, who better to change you then me? I won’t deny myself partially flattered. However, you’re motives are too just, too pure. I won’t change you. Speak to Lianell if that’s your desire.”
    “I will not beg that monster!”
    “How is any of my kind any different!”
    The hunter fell silent, eyes falling to the floor and those in the room watched anxiously. The hunger in their eyes caused a slight desire to defend the girl to rise in my mind, but it was Helen’s house. Regardless of my Pureblood status, should she allow the others to feed off her, I had no right to interfere. What was this girl thinking? She’d get herself killed and then her sister would be far beyond help. Foolish human. A rustle of clothing and my eyes shot to the back where a vampire stood staring desperately at the vein throbbing in the hunter’s neck. I gave her two minutes before her eyes turned red and the thirst became too much. Killing needlessly wasn’t in my code. Even if I wouldn’t change this human, I couldn’t just let her be devoured. Even a hunter deserved better treatment...Perhaps, particularly a hunter.
    “What is this?” A voice asked from the stairway and we all spun to face the vampire woman standing in a flowing black gown at the landing, a baby sleeping contently in her nimble arms. She glared at us all, her black hair pulled back into a ponytail that rose high on her head before cascading down her back. Helen watched me from her mother’s eyes and the hunter looked petrified. Catherina had a reputation for being extremely cruel to those who trespassed on her territory and, judging by the hunter’s expression, she knew who she was looking at.
    “Mother.” Helen stammered and she hurried forwards, bowing quickly at her mother. Catherina looked down at her daughter, the baby held even tighter in her hands as she met eyes with the hunter who quickly touched a blade tucked into her pocket. All eyes traveled to it for an instant. Had the vampires who’d brought her here not bothered to remove her weapons? Were they that foolish... or just that frightened? That was worse. Foolishness remained a forgivable offense. Everyone committed a ludicrous act in their lifetime. After all, my kind could live forever as far as we knew. With hunters and accidents, none of my kind had managed to die of old age. A vampire’s life ended either with a knife or because of their own foolishness, occasionally both.
    “Why is a hunter in my house?” Her voice stayed calm and controlled, but the fire rising beneath the tone sent a few of those behind me stumbling, visibly shaken.
    One even had the nerve to vanish, flittering (teleporting basically) to a less hazardous spot. I could have done the same, but it would have been rude and Helen wouldn’t have ignored the shot at her honor. Being a vampire meant being strong, but being able to control your strength. Killer instincts of a wild wolf with the mental stability of a human. The combo that made my kind so deadly and magnetic all at the same instant.
    A young vampire woman descended the stairs, a frail look about her as she came. Sasha possessed all the strength as my kind, but with one major mutation. Aristocratic blood flowed through her veins, but she’d been born weak, lucky to make it through her first minutes of life. Her fangs never grew out to their full length, her eyes held on to a green tinge which refused to give into the cloud gray of all vampires and even her hair didn’t follow her blood line. The black hair encircling her shallow face looked as if she had combed it with an silver dipped brush. A silent Taylor rested wrapped tightly in a blanket in her thin arms, head buried in the chest of her older sister.
    Helen gazed up at her descending sibling, a look of sadness etched on her face. Sasha’s weakness always stung Helen as it did all her blood line. Though they loved her, she was an obligation, a potential danger should someone attempt to kidnap her for Sasha lacked the skills to defend herself. For that reason, more then her illness, Sasha had never left the confines of the home, rarely even her own room.
    The dark blue T-shirt she had pulled on nearly swallowed her thin frame and the black leggings reaching down to her bare ankles only worsened the effect. Her body craved both blood and human food. In every sense Sasha was half human, partial threat, entire insult. Having an entirely human daughter would have been hard enough on Catherina, but to be cursed with one who seemed unable to decide where she belonged stabbed at her wavering patience. Upon Sasha’s birth, rumors had been circulating that Catherina had attempted to kill the baby in her cradle. Taylor yawned, flashing sprouting fangs amongst the teeth arising along her gum line. Black hair already made itself apparent on the very top of her head. She matched her twin sister, Madison, to the tiniest detail.
    “Sasha, go back up stairs.” Helen ordered, but her words echoed more of a plead then command.
    The distant look on her sister’s face didn’t flinch. Her eyes retained their half closed position. Throughout my encounters with Sasha, I’d always questioned her. Something about her graceful movements, her gentle touch, all suggested what I honestly found myself thinking late into the night: did Sasha see things the rest of us lacked the capacity to witness?
    Upon reaching the landing, Sasha weaved around her mother, eyes fixed upon the hunter standing anxiously to my left, eyes wary of the odd girl approaching her. Sasha lowered Taylor into Helen’s arms and continued towards me. Helen goggled at the sleeping infant before turning to Catherina who only met her flabbergasted expression with a shrug before watching her second daughter, protecting her from a distance.
    Sasha stopped before the hunter, head tilted slightly to one side and arms bent at a miniscule angle at her sides. She tilted ever so slightly forwards, moving her head to each side, examining the hunter with a distinct look of intrigue. She froze one second, head parallel with her shoulder and we all waited patiently. Sasha rarely spoke, but when she did she had something important to say. What she lacked in physical strength, she made up for with an inexplicable talent to receive previously unknown information from subjects. The air in the home suddenly felt overpowering, pressing down on me, hot and thick. I brushed a strand of hair from my eyes, wishing for a hair clip and then a peculiar thing happened. Head still tilted to one side, Sasha smiled, just a small smile that barely curved the corners of her mouth, but a smile all the same. Why was she smiling at a hunter?
    Just as quickly as it had come, the smile vanished and the feebleness returned to her as she stood up straight, reaching for her left elbow with her right hand, a defensive move exhibited by those afraid of what they’d seen. I debated confronting the hunter, but I doubted she knew what she’d just done. Sasha turned on her heel and faced me instead, eyes darting downwards the instant after they met mine. I kept my shields up, in no mood to be probed by her, but she didn’t attempt to infiltrate my thoughts. What was she up to?
    “Sasha...” Catherina broke through the silence, firm and determined to end the strange interaction, strange even by my kind’s standards. “Please go up stairs to your room darling and take the twins with you.” The twins...What would it be like to grow up under that title? Two people combined into one, never individuals?
    Sasha nodded and took Taylor and Madison from her family, her peaceful countenance restored. One child in each arm, she took to the stairs one step at a time, rising slowly into the forbidden upstairs, reserved strictly for family and close friends. Helen had only allowed me up twice and both times, for only a moment. Tradition rung through as the reason behind it all. Allowing other vampires into the living quarters of your home was strictly frowned upon. How others viewed you mattered greatly amongst my kind. Social status and appearance, two key factors to surviving long in my world.
    Sasha’s foot paused on the last step before she’d have disappeared into the world above and she stepped back, bending down to peak under the ceiling. She quickly made eye contact before taking a tiny breath and speaking directly to me.
    “Good evening, Lady Tilani. I do hope you enjoy my home. Please enjoy the party and let me know what you do with Ruth. I’d very much like to know.” Not exactly the most eloquent speech, but she caused a stir to ripple through those below her. Her voice held the same fire as her mother, but where Catherina clung to fierceness, the flame in Sasha rung out more of a sense of warmth and caring. I nodded, unaccustomed to her speaking, but having heard it enough to react accordingly.
    “Of course, Sasha. May you have a pleasant evening.” I bowed courteously and the smile returned on Sasha’s face. She continued on her way and upon hearing a door shut above our heads, Catherina continued as if nothing had changed, as if she hadn’t brought Madison down with her and that her hands had always been free.
    “Why is a hunter in my house?” She repeated, infuriated.
    No one answered her for a moment, fearful of her retaliation and rage. Helen opened her mouth to speak, but, after nothing slipped from her throat, shut it once more, a sheepish look flitting across her eyes. Her mother scared her just as much if not more as the rest of us. Despite the trepidation screaming in my head, I spoke up.
    “She came to see to me, miss Elvinas.” My voice threatened to crack under the strain of being forced up my wind pipe and Catherina’s sneering surely didn’t help, but I was a Pureblood. Weakness had not been implanted into my childhood. Despite her age that towered over my own, I still held rank. If anyone should be cringing, it was her, not me.
    “You? What does a hunter want with you besides your head?” She spat and two more vampires flittered away, terrified and sensing the rising tension.
    “Nothing that concerns you Catherina. If you’d like me to remove her from your home, all you have to do is ask.” The disrespect concealed in my words managed to become apparent to Catherina, but apologizing rendered no positives for either of us.
    “If you’d be so kind.” Catherina responded through clenched teeth and I jerked my head at the hunter who found herself in the clutches of five vampires desperate to protect their own hides by following the stronger of the two competitor’s orders.
    “Etu likarat namweh ishtak.” May good fortune smile upon your daughters and yourself. With one more quick bow, I departed the home, proceeding down the walkway, the other vampires in tow along with the hunter.