So Far Down

As I should have done a few days ago, here is my NaNonovel as I have it so far. As with the rules of NaNoWriMo, I have not edited this. Editing is for December.

So Far Down – A NaNoWriMo Novel

“Mom, come on!”

Throwing the wide, square cap on the sofa for what was maybe the fifth time in ten minutes, Amory paced back to the foot of the staircase, from which floated down sounds of her mother’s continued dressing regimen.

A series of thumps reached her ears, and growling in exasperation, the teen stomped back to the living room, nearly twisting her ankle in the dressy heels she wore.

“Mom, I’m going to be late!” Amory cried, throwing herself quite ungracefully into the nearest armchair. Her dark brown hair, which had been pressed and curled for the occasion, bounced obnoxiously on her shoulders.

“You won’t be late, honey,” Roslyn said, appearing in the doorway. Her mother looked incredible; something Amory wasn’t ashamed to admit to herself. Her shoulder length black hair hung straight and glossy, perfectly complimenting the powder blue pencil leg dress she insisted on buying earlier that afternoon. For a woman approaching fifty at what seemed to Amory at breakneck speed, she her mother somehow managed to look ten years younger than she was.

Not that Amory could appreciate this at the moment.

“You’re going to a graduation, not an awards show, you realize?” Amory asked, snatching up her cap and stalking towards the door. “If those diamonds were any bigger they’d probably rip themselves right out of your ear.”

Behind her, the elder woman smiled. “Do I detect a hint of anger, darling?”

“I’m going to miss the march because of your incessant need to upstage everyone. Of course I’m angry!” Amory yelled from halfway down the driveway.

Theirs was a street filled with people who drove nice cars and had evenly manicured lawns, smiled at everyone and had weekly potluck dinners. The neighbors also took up regular backstabbing, rumor spreading and husband-switching, with the same amount of enthusiasm. When her father died of cancer four years ago, the housewives that lived nearest her house had seemed about as devastated as her mother. At the time, she had assumed that everyone should be as heartbroken as she and her mother; her father was dead. The sun should be blacked out and the entire world plunged into chaos. Then, she thought they were grieving for a lost friend; now, she knew better.

Mrs. Horowitz (oh, how the name fit so well) peeked over at them from where she had been bending over something in her yard. Seeing Amory’s gown, her face lit up. “Amory, darling! I can’t believe how much you’ve grown.” She sashayed over, large, artificial hips swinging from side to side in the tight denim cutoffs she wore. “I remember when you were nothing but a little baby, riding on your daddy’s shoulders.” She gave what Amory assumed was supposed to be a soft, sympathetic smile and sighed. “He would have been so proud of you.”

It was a well-kept secret (meaning the whole neighborhood knew) that Richard Pierce had died of lung cancer while sitting half-naked in the Horowitz’s bed. The woman hadn’t been able to come out of her house for a month for shame, and the fact that Amory’s mother would very well have killed her. Amory was too young to understand what was going on then, and when she had, it had taken her about a month to wrap her head around it.

Amory took pains to paste an appropriately grateful expression on her face. The woman’s fake Southern accent grated on her nerves, on top of her already bad day, and she really, really wanted to get to her graduation.

“Thanks, Mrs. H. I’m sure he is,” she mumbled, turning away to pull open the car door. “Mom’s already made me late, so….see you,” she said, giving a tiny wave.

“See you later, cupcake,” the woman cried, waving a handkerchief at her like an old western heroine. From four feet away. As Amory sank into the front seat, the blond woman turned, and gave her mother a wide smile.

“She’s a beautiful girl, Roslyn.”

Mrs. Pierce gave the woman a smile just as fake as the cheer she used when she spoke. “Oh, thank you so much. She gets it from her daddy.”

A flicker of guilt flashed in the other woman’s eyes, and her smile fell. “Look, Roslyn – “

“Good-bye, Beatrice.”

As Mrs. Horowitz went back to her house, abandoning the weird metal contraption she had been tinkering with for the moment, Amory’s mother slid into the driver’s seat, and swore.

“That was impressive,” Amory said dully. “I didn’t think you knew those kinds of words.”

Her mother scowled, and pulled out the driveway. “I never want to hear that kind of language come out of your mouth, you hear me young lady?”

‘Yeah, sure, whatever,” Amory sighed.

Twenty minutes later they pulled into the parking lot of the Auditorium. The large, white banner displaying “Kingston Prepatory Magnet’s Class of 2010” completely covered the building’s own sign. During the drive, Amory had been growing more anxious by the minute, but as her mother pulled into the parking lot she forgot all about being late, and was completely confused.

“It’s already over?” she asked aloud.

“I highly doubt that, honey. It’s barely seven.”

Students and parents flooded the lot in droves, some standing in groups and others off by themselves, taking in the scene. All around, shiny blue robes flashed in the sunlight, as kids talked and laughed and generally acted as if they didn’t have a care in the world.

“Amory!”

Spinning around, she saw her best friend running towards her. Well, ex-best friend, but the boy didn’t know it yet. At six foot four, Darren was all long legs and arms, his robes hanging too short on his long frame. “Hey, you made it,” he said, puffing to a stop near her. He grinned over her shoulder, where her mother was standing. “Hey Mrs. P.”

“Where’s Kathrin?” Amory didn’t smile. She hadn’t smiled at Darren in more than three months. The boy either was too dimwitted to notice or was pretending he didn’t. Either way it only served to piss her off more.

“She’s around here, somewhere,” he said, giving a blissful sigh. It was sickening. “Did you hear? They’ve postponed the ceremony,” he said, unzipping his gown and slipping his hands into his pockets. “Rumor has it the guest speaker was found in his hotel room a few hours ago with his throat ripped out.”

“Ew.” Was all Amory could say. Where did people get these things? She blamed horror movies, all of them. “So they’re looking for someone else to give a speech? Why don’t they just let Mr. Carre do it?”

Darren laughed. “Ammie, really, no one likes Mr. Carres’ speeches. The man never knows when to shut up; we’d be here all night.”

Choosing to ignore the boy’s slight against her favorite teacher, Amory turned to her mother. “You knew they’d postponed starting the Ceremony and you let me freak out all this time?”

Mom smiled. “You would have freaked out even if I had told you. I didn’t think it mattered.” She shifted her coat in her arms, and looked around. “Maybe you should take off your gown, sweetheart? It’s a bit hot out.”

Amory stared hard at her mother for a moment. She was right, really. Amory would have spent the time wondering if they were ever going to be able to find a replacement speaker and if they would even had a graduation ceremony at all. Much like she was now. She just didn’t like that her mother knew her so well. Yes, the woman was her mother, but that didn’t mean she had the right to easily know what was going through her head, or what had the potential to go through her head. It was unnerving.

“Maybe I should,” she murmured. Handing the slippery blue fabric to her mother, Amory started badly when a piercing whistle sounded behind her.

“Amory Pierce, if I’d known you looked like that under those ridiculous baggy things you wore, I swear I’d have been much nicer to you in school.”

There, standing next to Darren who looked a bit star struck himself, was Kory Petterson, the school’s resident bad boy/soccer captain and debate team leader; also known as the school’s hottest heartthrob of the Hottest Three. Amory didn’t pay it much attention, but the wall of the last stall of the third floor girl’s bathroom declared that Kory, and two other seniors were the hottest guys in school, and, therefore, should be drooled over. Amory disagreed.

“Thanks, Kory,” she said, folding her arms. “Too bad I can’t say the same about you; still look like that stuff we saw at the chemical plant last year.”

Kory flushed, and gave a cocky smile. “You can say what you want, ‘Mory, but your eyes say something different.”

“Yeah, sure.” She rolled her eyes and spun around. “Come on, Mom. Let’s get out of the sun.”

A warm arm wound itself across her bare shoulders. “I think he likes you,” he mother said, humor coloring her voice.

“Mom, don’t,” Amory said, shooting the woman a glare.

“What?” the woman asked, obviously finding the situation more amusing than was necessary. “He’s cute.

“He’s a pig!” Amory exclaimed. “Didn’t you hear what he said? How can he insult someone and then turn around and expect them to want you?”

Her mother chuckled, and pulled her closer. “You’re father was just like that when I met him.”

Amory stared up at the woman incredulously. Roslyn looked around, feigning interest in the trees they stopped under. “It’s amazing what a broken jaw can do for someone,” she commented.

“You broke his jaw?” Amory laughed. Her mother shrugged one elegant shoulder. “I can’t believe you! All this time you lecture me about being ladylike and not resorting to violence and you broke my dad’s jaw!”

“Well to be fair, I had only known him for about five minutes at the time.”

Amory threw her head back and laughed. It felt like she was discovering a whole different side to her mother. “Oh my goodness,” she giggled. “First you swear, then you admit that you have a history of violence. That’s too shocking revelations in one day; you aren’t going to die on me, are you?”

“Silly girl, of course not.” Her mother pulled her closer, and Amory let her head rest on the nearest shoulder. Letting out a tiny sigh, she let herself relax. This was her mom. The woman had all but taken on the whole world when her father had passed, and seemed to be doing a darn good job of it too. Just because Amory found out some things about her didn’t mean the woman would suddenly disappear on her. The woman was stronger than that.

Around them, the crowd began to filter towards the auditorium. Some of the students began chanting the schools alma mater, and Amory rolled her eyes. How is it that none of these idiots had had the same high school experience as she had? They joined the crowd and were soon at the doors. There was a short, balding man smiling at everyone who passed him. His eyes landed on her mother, and in one instant everything changed.

In what seemed like slow motion the man lunged, his form changing shape midair. Where a stylish gray suit had been a second ago was replaced with nasty, matted fur that stood on end. His face twisted into an elongated caricature of a face, large yellowing teeth snapping shut around the coat that her mother had thrown up in front of her.

And suddenly she was running.

 Her mother had her hand clamped on her arm and was running faster than she had ever seen the woman move in her life. Amory wasn’t complaining. Over the sounds of retreating screams and the sharp ‘clacks’ of their heels hitting the even tar of the parking lot as they raced towards their car, came the lusty growl of the beast  that was chasing them.  Suddenly the thing gave a howl that couldn’t sound anything other than triumphant, and it wasn’t till Amory plowed into her mother’s back that she understood why.

Standing in front of them, blocking the way to the car were four werewolves. Heart racing, she spun around, only to see three others had joined the first beast , who had reverted back to his human form.

“Roslyn Pierce.” He said, locking his fingers over his large round belly. “I must say, it took us quite a while to track you down. Very good work.”

“Why are you doing this?” her mother asked, pushing her behind her, nearer the trees that marked the edge of the property.

“Mom, what are you doing!” Amory hissed. She couldn’t believe her mother was trying to reason with a werewolf. Never mind that werewolves didn’t even exist, and that one had just tried to eat her mum for dinner. Amory stepped backwards, tugging her mother with her. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Such a smart girl, Roslyn. You’ve done well.” The little bald man kept talking in the slightly mocking manner, the other wolves growling low in their throats. “Richard would be so proud.”

By this time Amory’s heart was hammering in her chest, and every sound seemed to be a thousand times louder than usual. She didn’t need that guest speaker turned werewolf to be taunting her mother with her father’s death. “Don’t talk about my father, you animal,” she snapped.

“I wouldn’t normally, sweetheart, honest,” the man said, placing a hand over his heart. “But seeing as he’s the cause of all this, I believe I don’t have that option.”

“Amory!”

Flying out of the building at full tilt was Darren, his gown flapping behind him wildly in the wind. The world seemed to still all on its own. Amory saw several of the wolves turn around, and the largest of the group turned and gave her a wicked grin. And then he took off.

“Darren, no!” Amory screamed, wrenching away from her mother and racing after the four legged beast.

“Amory, come back here!”

But Roslyn’s words were lost in the wind that rushed past Amory’s ears, in the racing thud-thud of her heartbeat, lost in the fear that crowded Amory’s world as she ran. Somehow she knew she would die. She knew it. The horrible creature that wasn’t supposed to be real could turn around and rip her to shreds at any moment and she could be dead, but none of it mattered. All that mattered to her at the moment was getting to Darrne before the werewolf did.

Darren stood, frozen, only feet away from the auditorium doors, his face a mask of horror. “Darrne get back inside!” she screamed. The words seemed to come from deep in her stomach, rushing through her body to tear themselves out of her throat. The stupid boy wouldn’t move! The wolf gave another howl and leapt, and in that instant, Amory’s heart stopped.

And nothing could have prepared her for Darren to fall to the ground, laughing, and for the huge beast to act like an overgrown dog, wagging its tail and licking the boy’s face as he tried to get away.

She pulled herself to an abrupt halt. This was….wrong. This was very, very wrong. Darren looked up at her, and smiled.

“What? You didn’t expect my dad to kill his own son, did you?”

Her breath caught. How could that be? Darren was her friend, she knew Darren’s dad. He wasn’t some, some

“Monster,” she whispered.

Darren grinned, and his teeth were inch long fangs. “Got me.”

Growling behind her snapped her out of her daze, and Amory spun around, only to see wolves closing in on both she and her mother.

“I’m terribly sorry for destroying your evening,” the bald werewolf spoke. “And, truly, you’ve both been most kind to this burdened gentleman. But I regret to inform you that this night has come to an end, for you at least.” His veneer of cordiality fell as swiftly as he changed. The only warning Amory had of what was going to happen next was the half growled “Get them” he said before he was covered with fur.

Instantly, a werewolf lunged. She heard her mother scream for her to run, and then the world went silent. There was only the werewolf flying at her, its mouth wide open, sharp fangs dripping with gloopy saliva, beady yellow eyes filled with hatred and the desire to kill.

There was a rush of a cool breeze that blew her skirt back, the ‘slink’ of metal against metal and then a thud. When her eyes opened, Amory came face to face with the back of someone’s head. A male someone’s head.

“Hello, boys,” the figure said, sickly carved knife still drawn, held down by his side. “Hope I’m not interrupting anything.” His head turned, as he took in all the wolves frozen in their advance. “I do hope you weren’t about to do what I think you were about to do,” he said, shaking a finger at them mockingly. “Because that would be a very bad thing to do.”

The menacing growl the wolves gave as one only seemed to amuse the stranger more. Amory didn’t know just what was happening, but anything that kept those things from ripping out her throat was a good thing.

“Now, I’m going to ask you boys nicely,” he said, reaching back with the knife to scratch his back. “Go back to your pack, and leave the girl alone.” Amory watched in shock as the blade barely touched his shirt before slicing through it, and the skin beneath.  She made an involuntarily noise of horror as thick, dark blood welled up along the gash. But before the blood had a chance to drip, his skin was already knitting itself back together, pulling the life substance back into the body in front of her.

Amory didn’t know whether to be frightened, disgusted or amazed. This person was obviously not human, yet he was protecting her. Somehow her world had gone from relatively simple to downright bizarre in little over twenty minutes.

A sudden cry had her spinning around. Her mother was wounded, but fighting, blood dripping down the side of her face, down her arms, and pooling beneath her feet where a wolf had latched onto her ankle. That wolf lay limp, its eyes unseeing, and two others lay nearby, one of which was sliced in half.

“I told you to get her out of here!” her mother screamed; right before the slammed the heel of the shoe she was holding into the werewolf that had just leapt at her.

The sword-weilding stranger raised his hands in defense. “I’m going, I’m going! Keep your undies on!” he shouted back. He turned all the way around and Amory stared into the oddest colored eyes she had ever seen. “Shall we, mademoiselle?” he asked, offering a hand like a proper gentleman.

Dazedly, Amory took it, absently noting that his grip was bordering on the side of painful. In the next instant she realized why.

In two steps, he had them four feet away from where they were standing, and another werewolf had been cut in two. He held the blade up, palm open. “My offer is still open,” he said in a singsong voice. “But, like, only for the next five seconds.” The remaining werewolves growled and advanced as one. “No takers? All-righty then.”

And then they were running again. Amory’s brain unfroze enough for her to ask a few simple questions.

“Wait! Where are you taking me?” She didn’t get an answer, but a werewolf howled from behind her, and she urged herself to go faster.

Her hand was locked in an iron grip as he pulled her across the street and into the forest. Sharp branches and thorns ripped at her skin and clothes, and still he didn’t answer or slow down. “I said who are you!” She said, struggling against his hold. “I’m not going anywhere with you until I know your name.”

“Do you realize that there’s a pack of werewolves out for your blood?” he asked calmly, dodging around another tree.

“That doesn’t give you the right to kidnap me!” Amory screamed. “Let me go! I have to go back for my mother!”

“Well, yes, I’m sure that will work out just splendidly for you,” he said snarkily, yanking her along behind him as she tried to pull free.

“I can’t just leave her there! She could be dead any – “

“She is dead, actually.”

“What!” She grabbed on to a passing branch and held tight, bringing them up short. “No! We have to go back; she’s my mother! I can’t just let her die.”

“So, what? You want to die with her?” he said, fighting to pry her fingers from the branch. “That’s real smart, actually. You hear all that howling? They’re calling for others. Instead of the measly group we left, there could be hundreds of them coming this way. I should just let you go, and I would, honest.” He loosed her fingers, only to get an elbow to his stomach in return. He didn’t seem at all fazed by it, and it only fueled her frustration. “The thing is, I can’t so keep moving, yea?”

“Why won’t you just tell me your name?” she cried, not caring where the tears that suddenly slid down her cheeks came from. “I just, I just don’t understand what’s going on.”

They stopped, and Amory was turned all the way around. “My name is Kael, and right now, you need to trust me.”

His eyes bored into hers, and for a minute Amory couldn’t move. His eyes seemed so clear, so honest. She really didn’t have a reason not to trust him. He’d been helping her this far. And her mother…. She drew in a shaky breath. Her mother was gone, never ever coming back.

She was all alone. The truth hit her like a ton of bricks, and Amory sobbed, stepping forward to bury her face in Kael’s chest. It meant more than she could understand when he wrapped his arms around her. She stood there, crying out all her confusion, fear, anger and regret, not knowing anything other than she had something to hold onto for that one moment. She held onto Kael and cried, and paid no attention when his hold tightened till she was almost melded to his body. She shifted to wrap her arms around him, and they were gone.

Whatever that was, Amory hated it. She pulled away from Kael sharply, swaying dangerously. “What the hell was that?” she cried, trying to keep her balance. “What the hell are you and what exactly is going on here?” then she grimaced, and clutched her stomach. “I might be sick.”

“No you won’t. At least not till we’re in the house.”

“What?” She looked up and around her. “This is my house,” she mumbled.

“Yeah,” Kael said, steering her towards the front door. “Let’s get inside before the neighbors start looking, ok?”

She stumbled up the driveway, head still a bit foggy and not quite caring what was going on around her. “I don’t have a key,” she remembered. “Never needed one.”

“Ok then,” Kael said, trying to keep a cool head. “Is there a back door, or something?”

Amory nodded, and let the way. As they passed the Horowitz’s back door, she felt Kael stiffen, before he more or less dragged her towards her own back door. Not missing a beat, he smashed through the small glass window, reached in, and unlocked the door. Once inside, he pulled the curtain back a bit, and peeked out at the house. “Do you know who lives there?” he asked in a hushed voice.

“Just the Horowitzs,” Amory answered, fiddling with the duck-shaped potholder her mother adored. “They’re pretty much ok, really. Why?”

“One of them’s a Hunter?” Kael said, walking backward until he reached her. Gripping her hand in his, he pushed her towards the stairs. “We’ve got to make this quick. Those wolves are still after us; I only bought us some time. You’ve got to change. Be quick, okay?”

Amory was confused. “What’s a hunter? And why are you so freaked out?” In the ten minutes she’d known him, Kael had not seemed the one to be easily rattled. He had stood up to a group of werewolves like he was buying grocery. To see him so worked up over her slightly whorish neighbor was giving her all kinds of bad feelings.

‘I’ll tell you as soon as you get out of that dress,” he said, spinning around to pin her with his eyes. “Unless you can run in heels..."
Amory huffed, and stomped up the stairs.

Kael grimaced, and walked into the living room. It had been a long time since he had been inside a house. It was nice, for a house; he assumed they were well off, whoever they were. All he knew about the people that lived here was that werewolves had tried to kill them, and the resulting danger had called, no screamed at him to do something about it. From two thousand miles away.

There was thumping upstairs as he considered the situation. The only possible way someone in danger could call to a Vampire like himself, if there hadn’t been any blood letting, was a Blood Debt. As he was a turned vampire rather than a birth vampire, the only one who could have had a Debt and have it affect him was his Sire. Who was dead. But who had he owed the Debt to?

It was something to ask Amory when she came downstairs. Speaking of which…

He slipped out of the living room and bounded up the stairs. Figuring that the only closed door would belong to the teenage girl who was most likely sulking, Kael knocked once, then walked in.

“Hey!” A flower-shaped pillow came flying towards his head. “You can’t come in here! This is a no-boy zone!”

“Would you stop fooling around?” Kael asked, flinging the pillow to land on the end of her bed. “I only bought us some time. We’re not camping out here.”

Amory folded her arms from where she sat perched on her bed. “I heard you the first time,” she snapped.

“Then will you get off your butt so we can get moving?”he cried, in exasperation.

“I’m not going anywhere with you, pervert!”

“And that suits me just fine, Amory.”

She had one split second to spin and look behind her before Kael had grabbed her arm and was headed for the window. Behind them, Darren’s dad had morphed back into his hairy form, and had leapt across the bed.

Kael swore, and spun to put himself between Amory and the wolf. Now closer to the window, Amory saw at least thirty werewolves down in her back yard, circling the door, standing to peek in windows….. She swallowed hard, and clutched at the back of Kael’s jacket.

“Now do you see why I wanted you to hurry?” he asked, pulling the long, heavy blade from its hidden sheath.

The werewolf growled, and Amory took an involuntary step back. “Stay close to me,” Kael hissed, grabbing at her blindly. He knew they were in a very, very bad situation. That one wolf had managed to get inside meant that more were in already or were likely to be very soon. Normally he’d think a bunch of criminals would all do the smart thing, and work with their advantage, but the werewolf gene made the mind less prone to sensible thought. Even though they could all turn back into their human forms, for whatever reason they chose to stay wolf, and wait till they both ran from the house screaming. Not about to happen.

“C-can’t you just zap us out of here like you did earlier?” Amory asked, far too frightened to remember to be angry.

“Not for another two days.” He slid into a crouch, nearly eye to eye with the wolf that was slowly advancing on them. “Doggie want a bone?” he asked in a sickly sweet voice. “ Doggie want a treat? Do you? Do you boy?”

She couldn’t believe it. “Do you seriously expect that to work?” Amory asked, incredulous. The werewolf was literally drooling on her rug, his eyes filled with hatred. Her mind idly wondered how long it would take for those teeth to rip through her arm, right before the beast lunged.

In one smooth move, Kael had her held tight against him as he rolled away from the window, one arm raised to slice the wolf in half right before it went soaring through the glass, taking her flimsy curtains with it.

Kael looked down at her from where he was propped up on an elbow on her bed. “It turned out even better than I planned!” he chirped.

“Get off me!” Amory snapped, shoving at his chest. He obligingly rolled over and helped her out of bed. “How do we get out of here?”

“Out the front, I guess,” Kael murmured, stashing the blade away again. “I don’t suppose there’s another car just lying around here, somewhere?”

“No, but my dad’s old motorbike is in the garage.”

Kael gave her a wide grin. “Show me.”

The garage was the emptiest garage Kael had ever seen. There were four giant boxes sitting in a corner, and the rest of the spare room was bare. There wasn’t even an oil stain on the cement floor. But there, leaning against a wall, sat an old, slightly rusted motorbike. Or what had passed for one maybe a century ago.

“You don’t have to look so disappointed,” Amory scolded him. “I told you it was old.”

“Babe, you said old, not ancient.”He ran his hands through his hair, considering his options. Their options. But it was hard when he kept getting that uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. “Has that Mrs. Horowitz ever been over here?”

Amory shrugged. “I dunno, maybe. Why? Shouldn’t we be leaving?”

From the house, they heard the sounds of breaking glass. Kael was at the door immediately, locking it and pulling a few boxes over to hold it closed. Amory knew from experience that those boxes were heavy, but Kael moved them like they were filled with air.

More glass broke, and Amory whimpered. “You’re going to be okay, Amory,” Kael said, coming up behind her and taking her by the shoulders. “You and me have got plans for the future, and they can’t come through if you’re dead.”

He sat on the bike, and pulled her down in front of him. “If I’m dead?” she asked, mostly to pretend to ignore the awkwardness of the situation. Her back was pressed flat against his chest, something she had never experienced before. “What about you? Won’t you die too?”

He pulled her unnecessarily closer and started the bike up. “I’m already dead,” he said, right before they went crashing through the garage door.

It took a minute for the werewolves to realize what had just happened, and in that minute Kael pushed the old motorbike to its limits. Even so, they couldn’t out run the shower of wooden bullets that hit them before they even reached the next street.

“LET HER GO, YOU MONSTER!” a woman screamed. Amory’s eyes widened in shock.

“Mrs. Horowitz?” she whispered, peering around Kael’s arm to stare in amazement. The woman was riding in an open top Jeep, one hand on the wheel and the other holding what looked like a gun out of an army movie. “She’s finally gone crazy.”

“She’s not crazy,” Kael snapped as they banked a corner. “I told you, the woman is a Hunter.”

“You still haven’t told me what that means,” Amory cried, holding on for dear life as they took another corner, and turned into on-coming traffic.

“She’s what you’d call a bounty Hunter. She hunts everything fairies, werewolves, vampires; anything that’s abnormal from a human standpoint is something she wants, something she gets paid to bring in.”

Amory shook her head, trying to wrap her brain around everything that happened so far that night. Around them the sun was beginning to set, the sky a curious mixture of pink, orange and blue.  She could almost forget that there was a crazy woman trying to shoot them off the road, werewolves out for her blood, and that Kael was weaving in and out of cars on the street going in the opposite direction. She could almost forget that today was the day she was supposed to have graduated from school, the day her mother died. Almost.

There was a defeaning boom, followed a second later by the road behind them erupting into a shower of asphalt. The impact sent the bike feet into the air, shaking Kael’s grip on the handles. Amory screamed as they fell, landing hard on the uneven surface. Before she could get her breath back, Kael had them rolling away, and for one painful moment she were dragged along the road. Kael shifted, and Amory was up off the rushing ground, yet still in a prone position.

They were under a truck. A large one, judging by the number of wheels in her line of sight. She craned her neck and gazed up at Kael, momentarily lost for words. Where she was sure she was a bit bruised and had a few cuts on her arms and maybe her legs, Kael looked as if he had been used as a playtoy for a raging bull. Amory realized that he had taken the brunt of the fall, and the blast, shielding her from injury. She wanted to punch him. Punch him, and then maybe smother him a bit.  She couldn’t understand it. Why couldn’t he just let them both fall? He’d already been protecting her from the werewolves, he didn’t have to put himself through so much, really.

But even as she watched, his skin began knitting itself, the dirty blood drying quickly and falling off his face. The arm around her shifted, and Amory supposed a bone had just been reset.

“Why are you protecting me?” she whispered. Dark eyes pierced into hers.

“Because I have to.”

It was completely dark out when Kael rolled them out from under the truck. They were on a residential road near a wide expanse of forest, and no other cars approached in the time it took to get their bearings and straighten up. There was gravel and dirt stuck in Amory’s hair, and her jeans had a fresh rip in them. So did her skin.

“You’re bleeding,” Kael frowned.

“Where are we?” Amory ignored the question. There was a bit more than a trace of fear in her voice. She was out alone with a man she barely knew, in a place she didn’t recognize, with no money, no cell phone, and no way to protect herself: nothing. There wasn’t any better way to sound, she figured. As a matter of fact, she thought she was doing quite well, considering the situation.

Kael stood, head cocked to the side as if he were listening for something. “We’re close,” he said at length. He motioned for her to follow him, and set off towards the forest.

Amory didn’t know just what they were close to, but couldn’t bring herself to ask. There was just too much to process, and not enough time. Right then she felt as if she were living a dream, and that she would wake up in the morning and it would all be over.

Unfortunately she knew that wasn’t the case, and trotted obediently after the young Vampire.

“Where are we going?” she asked, after they had been walking in silence for a while.

“The Coven I was brought into. I have to consult with my elders. If we’re lucky they might grant you sanctuary.” He looked back at her. “For a price.”

Amory didn’t like the sound of that at all. “What price?” she asked, rushing up to grab his arm, even as they continued walking.

Kael shrugged, and studied a pile of moss. “Last person who offered sanctuary offered his services to the Elders.”

“What kind of services?”

“Shhhh!” he hissed, pulling her close and putting a hand over her mouth. “Werewolves have incredible hearing, you’re supposed to know this!”

She yanked his hand from her mouth. “I’m sorry, but I never took Werewolf 101,” she hissed around the lump in her throat, pushing away from him.

“Just come on,” Kael murmured low in his throat, and pulled her along behind him.

An hour later, Amory started crying again. Kael rolled his eyes, but did put his arm around her shoulders. It was the least he could do, considering the situation. Besides, it wasn’t like Amory wasn’t pleasant, mostly. She was pleasant to look at, pleasant to touch……He was pretty sure she would be pleasant to kiss…..and taste, but he quickly diverted his brain away from those thoughts. They would only earn him a jab in the stomach, or maybe another slap.

He felt when they passed the border, and allowed himself to relax. His senses had been continually on high alert as he slowly hurried the distraught girl along. There was no way they had lost the werewolves for good, and with so many of them on the hunt, even a half second of warning would be useful.

Now, he set himself on the least painful looking rock and pulled Amory down with him.  She had stopped sobbing, and instead her breath hitched every now and again, and tears slid unheeded down her cheeks. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she had been chewing on her bottom lip. Kael tucked her head under his chin, absently nudging the offended lip from its torture. It was swollen, its pink flesh shining purple in the moonlight. He tried not to think about it, and settled for keeping the girl warm.

The night was chilly, even for him. He could still feel heat and cold, just like he could still eat and walk about in daylight, something he hadn’t thought possible. But then, he hadn’t thought it was possible to be turned into a vampire either.

He sat there, holding Amory close, and trying to ignore the feeling growing in his chest. He didn’t even want to name it. It was nothing special, it wasn’t. Amory was just some girl he had to protect because his Sire let some human save his sorry hide. There was nothing more. Nothing.

A soft ‘snap’ sounded behind them. Kael jumped up and spun, only to come face to face with the business end of a crossbow.

“You had better have a good reason to be in these parts, stranger.” The speaker, and crossbow holder, stood well over six feet, broad shouldered and menacing. And Kael couldn’t even see his face. Amory had been confused with the sudden movements, but now stood behind him, clutchin at his jacket for dear life. Kael was not amused.

“You’d better have a good reason to be pointing that thing at your youngest brother, you prick,” he said, annoyed.

The weapon didn’t budge. “I do, actually. Mortals aren’t allowed here, Kael, you know this.” The voice was deep, and slow. It always reminded Kael a bit of that crinkly foreheaded guy on Star Track. Trek. Whatever. Or of Forest Gump. Not that he would ever tell Kamaan this, that is.

“Special circumstances, K Man. I need to see the elders.”

Kamaan shifted, and then the crossbow was pressed to his temple. Amory burst into tears.

“You’re scaring her, Kamaan. Could you – “

“No one sees the elders, ever. You have ten minutes – “

“Look, cut the crap, alright. This is important. I’ve got a Blood – “

“ – to get off this land before – “

“Kael, please let’s just – “

“No, I’m not going to let this idiot stop –“

Kamaan shifted till the arrow was in Amory’s face, and fired.

He was dead before the shot ever left the gun. Amory lay on the ground, wide-eyed and shaking. It seemed to take forever for Kamaan to fall, and when he did, his torso rolling a few feet away from his legs, she turned and threw up. Kael winced, and hurried over. Of course she could stomach the death of a few dozen werewolves, but as soon as something vaguely resembling a human got chopped to bits, she was sick. He gave what definitely was a long suffering sigh as he helped her to her feet, and was annoyed that she clung to him like some kind of human monkey. He was.

He avoided looking at Kamaan’s mangled body. It was something he couldn’t process at the moment. Sure, the man had been older than him by nearly four centuries, but to the Parents they were all Children. Kael had been the last Childe turned in the past five centuries, and Kamaan and the others had made sure he knew it. For someone who had been an only child at his original birth, he had taken remarkably well to being the youngest of thirteen older vampires.

He sighed, and pulled Amory away from the scene. There would be consequences enough when the Elders realized one of their own was dead. As a matter of fact, continuing towards the Coven was basically signing his own death warrant. But he couldn’t just leave. Besides the fact that the place was his home, he was now, irrevocably, responsible for Amory. Not that he knew how, exactly, but he thought he had the general idea. And the girl was helpless in a fight. Granted, there weren’t many black girls he knew that would take on a werewolf….. Not many girls at all, really.

“We have got to get you in fighting shape, babe,” he said into her hair.

“What?” Amory asked, looking up at him in confusion.

“You heard me. This ‘hide-behind-the-fearsome-vampire’ thing isn’t going to work out. We’ve got to teach you to handle a weapon.”

Amory pulled away from him. ‘Like your knife?”

“It’s not a ‘knife’,” he protested, stabbing the blade back into its sheath. “It’s a custom made Khukuri melee weapon.”

She stared at him a minute, then folded her arms. “It’s a knife.”

Kael growled, and motioned for her to come with him. “Whatever. Knives don’t just slice three hundred pound vampires in half.”

Amory whimpered. “Don’t talk about that.”

“Fine,” he said, his tone softer. “But this is exactly what I meant. There are things out here trying to kill you. Most of them won’t give you the chance to turn around and puke your guts out.” He looked down at her, and resisted the urge to smile. “Cute barf face, by the way.”

She glared at him, and he gave her a cheeky grin in return.

“You said that, that guy was your brother?” They had been walking in silence for about ten minutes. Kael had been paying attention to the terrain, watching out for swamps and hostile vegetation, because Amory would not have been able to see it; disadvantage of not having night vision.  His gaze darkened as he thought about Kamaan, and the sudden, all-consuming desire to eliminate the treat he had become to Amory.

“Yea,” he said hoarsely. “The eldest.”

A hand slipped into his, and squeezed. He didn’t look up. “That must have been hard.”

“I killed my brother in cold blood.” For someone I barely know. “It’s like I ripped out a piece of my soul.”

Then why’d you do it?” she asked softly.

He was almost afraid to answer. “For you.”

Amory sniffled, then suddenly pulled away. She moved to stand in front of him, halting his movements.

“If you’re going to go all Edward Cullen on me and declare that you love me but desire my blood or some other nonsense, could you just let me know?” She ran a hand through her hair, and crossly folded her arms. “Because, frankly, this ‘knight-in-shining-armor’ thing is starting to give me the willies, and if you’re going to keep doing this, we might have a problem.”

Kael raised his eyebrows. “Oh really now. A problem; that sounds original. And just what are you going to do about it miss – “

A shriek, a pain-filled, grieving shriek of disbelief and outrage filled the air. Kael froze, and turned towards the sound. Eyes wide, he grabbed for Amory’s arm, and ran.

“Hey! What are we doing?” Amory screamed.

“We’re running, can’t you see? Keep up!”

“But what are we running from?” Sharp twigs and branches slapped at them both as they ran, deeper into the forest. But Kael wasn’t headed for the Coven. He needed to find the border and get the hell of Coven land.

Another scream sounded, this one closer to them and promising vengeance, and Kael urged himself faster. Amory was barely keeping up, and hadn’t the energy to protest. All she could do was move move move move. Just keep moving, and hope she wouldn’t fall flat on her face.

“Come on, c’mon, c’mon, c’mon!” Kael hissed, wishing the girl could move faster. But she was a fudging human and they weren’t built for speed. He growled, and pulled to an abrupt stop.

Amory crashed into him, and he took the opportunity to grab her face, pressed their lips together and breath out.

She sputtered, predictably, panting and choking and pushing him away with her feeble little arms. “Stop it,” he snapped, pushing them away roughly. “Breath in.”

She didn’t listen. He resorted to pressing her nose closed with his thumbs and forcing the air into her, and when she took the first breath, breathing in more. He was taking a risk here, a risk that could very well spell death for them both. But there wasn’t time to stop and think about the consequences. All he knew was that they needed to be gone now, and dammit he would do whatever it took to get it done.

They stood there, for what seemed like an eternity. Amory couldn’t wrap her mind around the concept. Kale was breathing for her. It should have been completely gross and violating but it wasn’t. It was the most incredible feeling she had ever felt in her life. She wasn’t sure if it was the temperature, the fact that this was technically her first kiss or the adrenaline running through her veins, but Amory was both lightheaded and hyper aware of everything going on around her. She could hear the trees rustling in the wind, feel Kael at every point their bodies touched, she could feel his chest rise and fall as he breath in, out…in…..out… her heart raced and she felt like she could rip up a tree and tear it to shreds. There was nothing but Kael and then everything snapped into focus and all she wanted to do was

“Run,” Kael rasped, fighting the lightheaded feeling seeping through him. He grabbed Amory’s hand and sprinted. He didn’t know what he was feeling more, relief that she was actually able to keep up with his vampire speed, or the desire to kick himself for not kissing her when he had the chance. Yes, they were running for their lives, but that didn’t change the fact that one did not lock lips with a cute girl to exchange air. He skirted a giant tree that marked the halfway point, and grinned a self-satisfied grin.

That was promptly swiped off his face.

A screaming vampire leapt out of the tree cover, hurtling itself to land on Amory’s back, dragging her to the forest ground. Kael was after them immediately, fighting off the woman who had somehow turned Amory’s back into shreds. But the girl was giving as good as she got. Someone sliced into his thigh, and Kael growled, feeling his fangs descend from his gums. The dull, heady feeling was starting to creep through his veins again, locking him into the ‘kill, kill, kill’ state of mind. He separated the two, and Amory rolled away and into a crouch. Before either of them could move there was a rushing of wind around them, and suddenly they weren’t alone.

Nearly seventy Coven members stood around them, fangs bared and claws extended. Kael knelt, one hand fisted in the shirt of the young woman who had attacked them, and gaze around at him. He was in deep, deep doodie.

“Kael Orson,” one vampire intoned. In the dark the group seemed to perpetuate it was difficult to see who had spoken. Kael, however, knew who had. He had attracted the attention of the Elders. Oh Goodie.

He stood, moving to position himself in front of Amory. “Elder Dragan, May the Mother smile upon thee.”

The Elder shook his head. “What have you done, Childe?”

Kael forced himself to remain standing upright, when all of his training, his very being screamed for him to prostrate himself. “Followed my Blood, Elder,” he said, careful to keep his tone respectful. “I could do nothing else.”

There was a rustling through the crowd at this statement, though the ten elders remained stoic, unmovable. At length the tittering gave way to eerie silence, and Elder Dragan responded. “Explain.”

At this, Kael swallowed nervously. All he had were assumptions and suppositions, and the heady feeling that was humming at the ready in his stomach even now. “I think my Sire, Orpheus, may have sworn a Blood Debt to this girl’s family.”

“You think,” another Elder asked. It was clear that whatever Kael said after this point was moot in this man’s eyes. He was already wrong.

“Yes, Elder. I have no concrete proof, other than the Call I felt earlier this evening that lead me far outside our region, the same call that overtook me not too long ago.”

Dragan straightened, if possible. “So it was you that killed my son.” It was not a question, yet Kael knew an answer was mandatory. He dropped his eyes.  Behind him, Amory stopped breathing.

 “Yes, Elder.”

The area was silent, even the trees having somehow sensed the tension of the situation. “You killed your own brother over some…..mortal, Kael Orson?” A woman asked. Elder Yuta was a short woman whose wide, flat features never gave way to a smile. She had always given him the impression that she would like to gut him like a fish, then eat him like one.

“Please, Elder,” he pleaded. “It was not my choice.”

“And what of the girl? Does she not bear some responsibility – “

“No, she hasn’t done anything – “

“She reaks of us – “

“What have you done?”

“Leave her out of this, please.”

“Blood-traitor!”

“Should be put down, I say.”

“Kael, maybe we should – “

“ENOUGH!” Silence fell on them like a blanket. All eyes rested on Elder Dragan, who stood above them looking as powerful as every one of his seventeen hundred years. “I believe you, Kael Orson, son of Orpheus the Trickster.”

He nearly wept with relief. Dropping to his knees, he managed a “Thank you, Elder.” The crowd was still each waiting to hear what else the Elders might say. Surely the matter hadn’t been put to rest as yet.

And suddenly the Elder moved, gliding from his spot in the formation to appear before Kael, bending low and gripping him by the neck, and lifting him from the ground to hang in mid-air. “I have also decided that you must die, Childe.”

“NO!” Amory screamed.

“Someone shut her up,” Dragan snarled.

“’Mory, run,” Kael gasped. She stared at him in horror, even as vampires glided towards her on silent feet, radiating mavolence. “Go!”

She spun, and fled. Heart hammering in her chest, Amory moved faster than she had ever thought possible, passing trees and huge ugly boulders as a blur in the night. It was the adrenaline, she decided. Combined with vampire breath it gave her a bit of an advantage. But not much.

A screaming, snarling, biting, scratching thing crashed into her newly-healed back, and Amory felt rage bubble up from somewhere. She was sick of things trying to kill her. Sick of it. With a snarl, she reached back and yanked the bloodsucker off of her, throwing her to the ground with enough force to snap its neck. Before she could make more than a step forward, another one was on her. Then another one, and another. Soon there were so many Amory couldn’t think straight over the pain and the screeching cries of murder. Terrified beyond thought, Amory screamed.

He couldn’t see when Amory ran, but he could hear it. At least half of the gathering ran after her. Dread settled like lead in his stomach. He’d failed, and now Amory was going to die a horrible death. His mind wavered, the world around him sinking into eerie black and white for the briefest second before he wrenched himself back to sanity. No, he would not fight back. Elder Dragan had passed judgement. He would not struggle, he would not resist, he would not fight. He would ignore the humming in his veins.

But Amory…

Amory was dead, he was sure of it. There was no way she had survived, even with the extra speed he gave her. There were too many vampires, and they were all out for blood.

His blood. Amory was His.

But was she? She might have been. But she was dead now. They would have killed her quickly, since she was mortal, and a trespasser. Amory was gone.

You would know…

Would he? Kael wasn’t sure. He wasn’t sure about anything but that he was about to die.

“You know the old ways, Kael Orson,” Dragan said, still holding him aloft.

Kael closed his eyes, as he had been taught. He did know the old ways. Eyes closed, head bowed, no matter what the circumstance, hands clasped at the waist… He arranged himself appropriately, forcing himself to concentrate on the Elder, waiting for the blow…

“Kael Orson, you disrespect me even in the hour of your death?” The question was soft and silky, ice cold, yet hot as burning coals. He didn’t know what to do? He could not open his eyes less he worsen his fate, yet if the Elder said he had done something wrong…

“Elder?” he ventured, cautiously.

“Your canines, Childe,” the Elder chastised, giving him a little shake. “Surely you will retract them before I lose my patience?”

He tentatively touched a tooth with his tongue. How could he retract them? He was basically fighting the instinct to rip the Elder to shreds. Why couldn’t they understand that? ‘Sir, I – “

A scream, high-pitched and filled with terror sounded through the air, and it was enough.

Kael twisted, breaking Dragan’s hold on him with one hand and plunging his arm deep into the ancient body to grip the elder’s still heart with the other. As he fell to the ground he let the dead organ drop, as the vampires around them converged on him.  The world sank into stark contrast and kael howled, his blood singing for him to kill, kill, kill.

Someone jumped at him and he reached for them, ripping the head off and slamming the body into another. He fought for what felt like hours, slashing and biting and tearing till he had a clear path to the trees, and he took it.

In the eternity that passed after Amory screamed and when the first set of teeth sank into her arm, she did nothing but fight. Twisting, turning, biting, kicking, fighting everyone and everything that came at her because she couldn’t die, she couldn’t die, she couldn’t die. Dying was bad, it wasn’t something she wanted and if she died then it would put all of Kael’s hard work to waste and Kael was good and Kael. She snarled, and ripped her arm away before smashing her fist into the ugly face that thought she was some nutritional supplement. Amory screamed again, more anger than fear this time and kicked at something that was trying to get into her pants. She was bleeding, she knew, and it was driving the vampires mad. Their faces stretched and elongated in grotesque fashions till they didn’t even look human. If she never understood anything ever again, she was glad she finally understood why Stephanie Meyers chose to make Edward sparkle: the real things were freaking hideous.

A heavy something smashed into her stomach, sending her to the floor, gasping for breath. They were on her immediately, cutting and biting and snarling. The short, flat-faced Elder appeared suddenly, sitting on her chest, fangs bared and smiling smugly. She raised her clawed arm high, and all the others froze. Amory couldn’t breathe. Just before the rushing arm grazed her neck, something flew through the trees, and ripped the woman away.

Kael had never like Elder Yuta, which was why he took great pleasure in ripping out her throat with his bare hands. He jumped up, snarling, daring the others to approach him. But they were backing off, all of them, backing away slowly as if he were a dangerous monster hell bent on ripping them to shreds.

Which he was, truly. But so were they.

Amory struggled to sit up, fighting to get air into her lungs while her back screamed bloody murder. She coughed, and Kael turned to look at her. Vampires around them turned and fled, but she wasn’t paying them the least bit of attention. All she could focus on was the black eyes staring intently at her from a face covered in crude, dark swirling patterns. She didn’t know what it was but it was definitely not her Kael. She took a deep breath and screamed.

Kael winced, and rushed forward. Amory screamed more, and scrabbled back. “What the hell is wrong with you?” he snapped. His voice came out raspy sounding and deep, and he added it to the list of things he had to be confused about tonight. The remaining vampires scattered, leaving them alone in the cool night air. Amory was still staring at him like he was about to rip her to shreds, which, considering what he had just done to two Elders of the House of Carven Boan, was a pretty safe assumption.

Except that she was his, and he couldn’t hurt her if he tried.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, ears still alert for any approaching danger. “Calm down, Amory.” But she whimpered, and moved further away. And suddenly he understood.

Amory was afraid of him. It was like a wave of icy cold water had just been poured down his back. His blood hushed, his head cleared, and in three seconds he was on his knees.

Her heart felt like it would give out at any minute. What the hell had happened to him? “Kael?” she asked voice trembling. Was he still him? Would he change back to normal, now that the other vampires had left?

In short order she found out, as he crawled over to her the minute she said his name. And like a movie effect, his features morphed back into the face she had known for the last few hours: thick, slightly arched eyebrows set over deep brown-blue eyes, his short nose smooth and unwrinkled like it had always been. She gazed at his lips, and shuddered. Those lips had been on hers, pressed, connected, but never, never kissing. She locked gazes with him again, and leaned forward.

“’Mory?” Kael breathed. Surely she wasn’t…

“My back, it’s… ” her voice gave out, she awayed once more and the world went black.

Sunrise found them crossing a highway some seven thousand miles away. Kael had an arm around a half asleep Amory’s waist, and her head rested on his shoulders. They hadn’t spoken since before they left the forest, not even when Kael more or less forced Amory into his jacket.  She didn’t resist him, per se, she was far too exhausted to do that. The town they had just walked into seemed pleasant enough, in the early morning sunlight. He tugged her behind a dirty strip mall, and ran a hand over his face.

Things had become a whole lot complicated.

In the hour before he’d convinced Amory that they needed to move and move now, she had relaxed enough to explain just why she had been so scared of him. And what she said had made his blood freeze in his veins.

Completely black eyes, and pasty white skin covered in black swirling patterns. He didn’t need to know that his hands had somehow regressed from a full five fingers down to only three.

Kael closed his eyes and breathed. He was Forsaken. He didn’t know just how he was going to deal with it. He felt like ripping his hair out and killing some trees or something. This could not be happening to him. It was just …..just too much!

Amory shifted, and pressed her face into his neck. He let out the breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding, then forced himself to breathe some more. He just needed to clear his head. Just clear his head and think, he just needed to think.

“You’re hyperventilating.”

His eyes snapped open, only to see Amory gazing at him in concern. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and she looked like she hadn’t seen a bathtub in weeks. Still he found her gaze comforting. If she was concerned about him even the tiniest bit, then everything couldn’t be as bad as it seemed. Right?

“Are you alright?” she asked. He couldn’t answer. Kael’s eyes closed of their own accord and he gripped his hair. It was just too much.

“I can’t – “ His head felt like it was going to implode, his hands were shaking ad all he could think about was being Forsaken, cast out from his entire family for a girl he didn’t even know, a girl he knew he was bound and connected to for the rest of their lives, something he didn’t mind in the least but couldn’t even fully wrap his mind around.

She shifted against him, and he hadn’t the heart to care, really, just what she was doing, till he felt her press against him, and her arms wrap around his neck. “What are you doing?” he gasped.

“Hugging you,” Amory said into his chest.

He tried to shrug her off, and failed. “Why?”

Amory pressed herself closer to him, and took a deep breath. He tried not to think about her chest pressed against his. “You need one,” she murmured.

“Huh,” he said softly, resting his chin atop her head. “Imagine that.”

Motels cost money. It was a fact of life. Not one that Kael believed in, unfortunately for the motel owners. Kael had smashed a window and steeled inside, disabling the security cameras along the way. It smelt of cigarette smoke and cheap air freshener, dusty rugs and must. Amory had wrinkled her nose sleepily, and hurried to open the one window in the room.

Ten minutes later he left the place, headed for the local shopping center. Amory outright refused to wear the same shirt again. Frankly, he didn’t blame her. Not only had the thing been ripped to shreds on more than one occasion, it was covered with blood, saliva and even a few bits of vomit, not to mention the dirt from all that rolling around on the ground.

He had been kicked out, almost literally, to go shopping while Amory took a shower. Not that he minded. He figured he could use the time to think.

Not that he really felt like thinking. He felt like bashing his head into a wall, yes, pulling a knife and bleeding himself dry, yes, but not thinking. Thinking was hardly going to help the situation he had stumbled into.

He didn’t want to think about how easy it had been, how right it had felt to slice his friend, his brother in half just because he had threatened Amory. Thinking about Kamaan made him think about Amory, and Amory made him think about the Blood Debt he was paying, and that made him think about killing Elder Dragan….. it was a cycle he knew wasn’t going anywhere.

But it wasn’t like he couldn’t think about Amory, either. The girl was quickly becoming a permanent fixture in his mind. He couldn’t believe she’d hugged him. He didn’t know the last person to give him a hug. Physical familiarity wasn’t something encouraged at the Coven. And it had felt….nice. Sweet. Like there was someone in this with him. Though, of course she was in it with him, since they were practically in this because of her.

But that wasn’t fair. It wasn’t Amory’s fault. And he had a feeling it wasn’t completely her father’s fault either. Orpheus had been an avid joker, getting his fun wherever he could. For all Kael knew, Amory’s dad could have been minding his own business and Orpheus had just run into him, screaming about some rabid dog or something. He shook his head, and pushed his way into a store. It didn’t make much sense thinking about it. What was done was done.

And wasn’t that just the point? What was done was done. There was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t go back in time; he couldn’t change what had happened, or why he had done what he had done. It was finished. There was no use crying over spilled milk.

The ‘shopping’ was completed quickly. Kael raced around the empty store, not caring where the cashier was or what she would think about the small pile of hangers left at her station. She was supposed to be tending the store, not in back doing whatever it was she was doing. He slipped into another store, picked up a few more things and left while the store clerk dealt with another customer. He ducked into a side alley, changed his shirt and stuffed his jacket into the bag, and headed back to the motel.

He was two feet from the door when he smelt the blood.

He was inside in less than a second, bags thrown away from him as he stood, eyes narrowed to slits and nostrils flared, trying to find exactly where the scent was coming from. The bathroom. Kael growled. It wasn’t unusual for the scent of blood to come from a bathroom occupied by a teen-aged girl, he knew that. But this wasn’t woman blood, this was living blood. He rushed to the bathroom door, and flung it open.

Amory lay in the tub, eyes unfocused and wrists, covered in wide, uneven slashes of pain, running freely.

Kael swore, and picked her up. Out in the main room, he set her on the bed, and climbed on top of her, his knees on either side of her stomach. Not wasting any time he grabbed her head, pressed their lips together and breathed, forcing the breath down her throat and into her lungs. His brain seemed frozen, and he was having trouble drawing breath, but he breathed, forced his brain to concentrate and his lungs to cooperate and pulled in a huge gulp of air and breathed out into the slack lips of the one person who was even remotely close to his.

It seemed to take forever, Kael breathing in and out, pushing life into the slack figure under him, but finally Amory’s eyelids fluttered, her hands feebly twitched on their unblemished wrists. Kael pulled, back to sit on his haunches, eyes intently watching her face as she blinked once, twice, then a flutter of half blinks that brought her eyes into focus just as they settled on him.

“Kael?”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he shouted at her, ignoring the way her voice sounded so frail and broken. “What the hell do you think this is? You don’t get to die! You don’t get to take the cowardly road out. I’ve been busting my ass all night trying to keep you alive! You don’t get to throw that away!”

Amory sat there, pressed into the flat pillows, not really feeling anything. “My mom’s dead, Ka – “

“Yes!” he screamed, gesticulating so wildly he shook the bed. “She died to keep you safe! You don’t get to ignore that.”

“She died because of me, Kael. Can’t you see? Why can’t you understand this?”

Kael pressed his hands into his eyes, making little bursts of light dance around on his eyelids. “You idiot” he hissed. “Your mother would have died anyway.”

She stared at him in disbelief. “How can you say that?”

Kael heaved a sigh, and choked back a scream. How the hell was he supposed to do this! His hands fisted in the sheets beneath his knees of his own accord, and because it would take more energy than he possessed to look into Amory’s eyes, he spoke to her stomach instead.

“I think your dad may have rescued a vampire from a werewolf at one point. The werewolves have sworn vengeance, and since your dad is already dead…..”

They were quiet for a moment, no sounds except the occasional car passing outside and Amory’s breathing breaking the silence.

“I thought that was just a story.”

Kael looked up, confusion, and a bit of wariness, clear in his eyes. “What?”

“My dad told me a story like that once, when I was little,” Amory murmured. “I didn’t think he was serious, he said he was just trying to scare me…” She trailed off, eyes gazing into the unfathomable void that was Kael’s shirt.

So he was right. He hung he head, and took a breath, forcing the tension in his body to get the hell out. He had to get a better grip on his head. They couldn’t afford any distractions, not when there was so much riding on his concentration. Speaking of which…

“You can’t do this again.” He had startled her, both in the speed of his actions and the strength of his grip on her wrists. “I am a vampire. Beyond that, I am Forsaken. Let me tell you what that means.” His grip tightened, and he pulled her closer to his face. “I have nothing now. I have no family, no Coven, no Elders to protect me from humans or myself.” He took a trembling breath, and shook her, frustrated with her lack of response. “I am nothing, do you understand? If a Hunter were to barge in here now and blow my head off, there would be no vengeful clan hunting them down for all eternity. I’ve killed my own Blood, so now I have no Blood, got it? Not only am I completely alone, but there’s nothing stopping me from ripping into your skin and sucking you dry and I do not need the temptation of you swinging all your blood in my face!” And that was really the heart of the matter, the thing that scared him witless. He could handle being on his own. He was a big boy; in many ways he had felt like that even when living in the Coven. He knew what it was to have no one to turn to, had known since his relatives turned his back on him. It was familiar; he could deal with it.

He could not deal with the potential danger he posed to Amory. The fact that he could snap at any moment and harm the girl sent sharp, tingly, contradictory waves of emotions through him. He couldn’t harm Amory because then he would be worse than Forsaken, worse than the living dead, and he didn’t think he could handle the heartbreak.

He blinked, and his head cleared long enough for him to see the expression on Amory’s face. Not that he could figure out what it was. He pushed her arms away from him roughly, and bounded off the bed. Grabbing one of the bags he’d thrown aside after his shopping trip, Kael stormed into the bathroom, and slammed the door.

Amory let her eyes slide closed. There were so many emotions flowing through her she couldn’t properly feel any of them. Mostly there was regret, but regret for just what was confusing. She regretted her mother’s death, true, but Kael had explained a bit, and it seemed as if she and her mother had always been living on borrowed time. Suddenly things made perfect sense; why she was never allowed to go to a sleepover, why her mother put up with Mrs. Horowitz every attempt to be friends…..why she had been forced into archery lessons for an entire year, even though she never really did anything in them. Her mother had bought her a beautiful, sleek wooden bow, and had bought, traded and searched like a mad-woman to find Amory the biggest selection of carved arrows in the district. She had thrown the set across the room when her mother had given it to her, and it had made its home under her bed for seven years, but it was as good as new. She’d grabbed the thing after changing her clothes, and stuffed it into a tube bag. It had been the only thing she had taken from her house. She couldn’t decide whether to be sad or relieved.

She regretted trying to kill herself. Now that she’d calmed down she could see that it really was a dumb thing to do. Problems didn’t get solved by taking your own life; all that really did was create more problems for the people she’d leave behind. And Kael didn’t deserve that. He didn’t. She had thought that she couldn’t live with the guilt. Everything had felt like it was piling on top of her head, sitting on her chest, suffocating her, everything was her fault and she couldn’t do anything right and did she really think that she could do this? She had expected to die, had wanted to die, because for the first time in her life she had problems.

She regretted making Kael angry, scared, and disappointed, whatever he was now. She regretted that look in his eyes. She regretted putting him in the position she had, and wished there was something she could do to fix it.

Fifteen minutes later Kael stumped out of the bathroom, hair still dripping wet and a t-shirt slung over his shoulder. Amory watched him circle the space they shared from where she lay curled in a ball on the bed. He didn’t look angry, per se, more like irritated, mixed with something else she couldn’t quite put her finger on. Her heart was hammering in her throat, and she couldn’t quite shake what he’d said out of her head. “ – there’s nothing stopping me from ripping into your throat and sucking you dry…”

Only that wasn’t true. Kael shifted, kicking the wall beneath the room’s only window and tugged his shirt on, hiding the tanned skin still covered in smoky curling patterns. Kael had been lying; there was something stopping him. There had always been something stopping him.

Kael faced the window, arms braced on each side and forehead pressed to the glass, the sunshine bathing his skin in it’s golden glow. He wasn’t ok with everything, and really was not ok with Amory at the moment, but he figured if he just forced himself to breathe….. He didn’t need to, hadn’t needed to breathe since he’d died, but every now and again it helped, the normal, deliberate action of taking a breath somehow made him feel better, like he could control something, even if it was just breathing.

Warm, dark arms wound themselves around his torso, a warm, living body pressed against his back and a head came to rest between his shoulder blades. He sighed, and leaned his head back till it barely grazed the top of her head.

“You’re supposed to be resting, ‘Mory,” he said softly.

“You lied,” she murmured back, pressing her palm against his stomach.

His grip on the window tightened compulsively, and he fought to keep his irritation down. “How’d I do that?”

“You said there was nothing stopping you from killing me.” Kael flinched, pulling away as if burned. He turned and glared at her with a dangerous glint in his eye, one that Amory completely ignored. “There was always you.”

‘What the he – “

“You are the reason you haven’t bitten me yet,” Amory said, stepping closer and blocking him in. “You could have in the forest after those other vampire left but you didn’t, you could have again today, but you didn’t You helped me get better, both times.”

“You don’t get it – “ he tried.

“No, you don’t get it, Kael. The only reason you haven’t bitten me yet is because that’s not you. You’re not that kind of person. You’re not going to snap and start draining innocent people just because you did something to get kicked out of your Coven.” She stared at him a minute, taking in his unconvinced eyes, and sighed. “You’re not a monster, Kael, and I won’t let you think you are.”

For a minute, they just stood there, gazing at each other. Then, Kael closed his eyes. “Just go to bed, Amory.”

A warm hand took his, and gave a little tug. “Come with me.”

Obediently, because he knew there was no other way, Kael followed her to the bed, and climbed in behind her. She tucked herself close to him, and he responded by putting his chin on top of her head. They lay there for a while, only Amory’s breathing breaking the quiet. And then she spoke.

“I never said ‘Thank you’.”

His arm tightened around her briefly, and he let himself relax. “No thanks necessary.” Amory didn’t respond, but wrapped an arm around his waist.

They drifted to sleep, and passed the day away.

It was a gunshot that woke them up.

Kael sprang up, knife drawn and raised before the sound of the shot had even dissipated. He stood in a crouch, eyes locked on the pudgy man standing in the doorway, shotgun cocked and ready to fire. His blood hummed in his body, and he watched as the man’s face drained of all color as his fangs descended far below his bottom lip.

“Sweet mother of – “

Kael growled, his vision beginning to blur, and stepped forward. He didn’t know what Amory was doing, and he didn’t care. All he knew was that this man, this mortal was a threat to his Blood. He growled again, and the man whimpered.

While Kael had jumped up ready to fight, Amory had been a bit disoriented. Still, she scrabbled from the bed and grabbed for her pack, and had an arrow notched and aimed before her eyes cleared enough to see what she was aiming at.  She took one look at the terrified man standing in the door, and summed up the situation.

“Sir,” she said in what she hoped was a soothing tone, despite her trembling voice. “I need you to drop the gun.”

“V-v-vampire!” the man stuttered, hands trembling so badly the rifle fairly jumped in them. Kael hissed, bending to a lower crouch even as his hands started to change.

“Yeah, I know,” Amory said, keeping her tone light. “And he thinks you’re a threat. Drop the gun.”

“N-no!” The man said, and Amory knew he was bordering on the edge of hysteria. He stared at Kael with wide terrified eyes, and she knew if she didn’t diffuse the situation now, there would be blood. Lots of it.

“Hey!” she said, sharply enough to get his attention. When his eyes locked with hers, she gave him her best glare. “Drop. The. Gun. He thinks you’re a threat to me. If you don’t drop that gun, he’s going to rip your throat out through your nose and paint the walls with your insides, got it?”

Kael roared, and took another step forward. The gun hit the floor with a clang, and Amory moved to kick it away. “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it?” she said cheerily. She turned to Kael, who was watching them both through squinted eyes, and willed her heart to slow down. “It’s ok, Kael. He’s ok, not a threat anymore, see?” The vampire seemed to ignore her, mostly, but did lower his knife to thigh level. It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

The sky beyond the door was black, the streetlights and motel lights illuminating the area. Amory gently nudged the man out the way, closing the door softly and pushing him into a seat. “Well,” she said, her voice dripping with false cheer, “Let’s get down to business, shall we?”

“Who are you?” The question came from Kael, and seemed to frighten the man worse than before.

Amory stepped in, making ‘shush’ing motions as she pushed the vampire towards the bed. “What my fanged friend is trying to say is, who are you and why’d you come barging in here with a gun?”

The man stared at her with his wide eyes, before they flit to stare at Kael. Amory moved with him, blocking his view and giving him a smile when he stopped. At length, Kael growled from behind her, and the man licked his lips.  “I-I’m the owner,” he said hoarsely.

"Crap," Kael said from behind her. She turned to glare at him, then focused her attention on the man before them.

"I can see how that would give you the right to barge in here," Amory began. "And I'm terribly sorry we've trespassed like this, but the thing is, we've got no money, we-we're not from around here - "

"The thing is, what's the big idea, huh?" Kael snapped, nudging Amory out of his way as he came to stand in front of the once again trembling man. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking, sir? Really?" He spun wildly, pointing towards the bed with his knife. "What if we had been busy on that bed? What would you have done then, huh?" His vision had cleared, and his canines had retracted a bit, but his blood still hummed quietly in his body. This man was a threat, no matter how terrified he was.

And the motel owner was terrified, his eyes frantically jumping between Kael's face and the thigh length blade he was waving around.

"Kael!" she said, grabbing his arm and standing on her tip toes to reach his ear. "This is already really bad, ok?" she hissed. "Let's not make it worse."

"Well, that's kinda hard, don't you think? He's about to wet himself no matter what we do," Kael shot back.

Amory shot him a withering look, and turned back to the portly man. "Is there any way we can smooth this over without calling in the authorities, maybe, sir?"

Behind her, Kael snorted, and gathered their things together. "Fat chance that," he mumbled. He gripped Amory's tube bag, holding it up to his face as he looked at it curiously. He was impressed, vaguely. She could, apparently, shoot an arrow. Or, at least she made it look like she could. She had notched the thing with her eyes half open, so maybe she wasn't as hopeless as he thought she was.

Behind him, the man was babbling away, stuttering over his words in fear. And Kael couldn't really blame him; he knew he made a pretty fearsome sight, even before his shiny new tattoos. He sighed, and ran a hand over his face. Just when they had faded enough for him to go outside.....

"Come on, 'Mory," he said, slinging the pack over his shoulder. "We've got to see a guy about some silver arrows."

He headed towards the door, hooking the girl's arm along the way, even as she tried to calm the man down enough for him to say more than a few words. "Ok, that was rude!" she said, slapping at him and trying to pull away.

"Yeah," he conceded,, "but it was necessary. You'd have been there all night, and he still would have been too petrified to do anything but sit there and gape like an idiot."

Amory walked with him in silence for a while, before his grip loosened enough for her to yank her arm away. "Do you have to be so mean all the time?" she asked, disgust lacing her voice.

"I'm not sure. I'll schedule a nice day in my calendar, and get back to you, yeah?"

She stomped ahead of him, mumbling some unflattering things under her breath. Kael smiled as he watched her go, not worried in the least. He figured he should be, considering it couldn't possibly take the werewolves this long to track them down, and that that Horowitz woman was no doubt not far behind. But he couldn't bring himself to care at the moment. Everything was......well, not good, but as entertaining as they were going to get for a long time. With so much hanging over their heads, it was good to not feel anything, even if it only lasted a few minutes.

"Hey, head a bit to the left, alright?" he called after his still fuming companion. He would be paying for this later, he was sure. Amory spun around and sent him a glare he could see even in the dark of the trees standing over them. "You have beautiful eyes, do you know that?" he asked jovially, reaching her and falling into step. "They really shine in the moonlight," he said, giving her a winning smile.

Amory's eyes narrowed further. "You are infuriating."

"I know," he chirped. "get it from my mum."

They walked on in silence, or as silent as was possible with Kael breaking into song, whistle, or dance every few minutes. A professional mind doctor would probably tell him this suppression of deep emotions was unhealthy, but he liked to think that with his three and a half centuries on the planet he knew more about it than some shrink. Not that he would ever say that to a shrink, ever. It was perfect evidence to have him shipped off to an asylum, and then where would Amory be?

Dead, that's where.

"Will you shut up?" said girl asked, a bit of amusement coloring her voice. He looked over, surprised, to see her fighting a smile as they passed under a thin patch of tree leaves, the moonlight filtering through to dapple her skin and hair. She was beautiful.

"I'm sorry," he murmured, his mouth going dry. "I didn't realize I was speaking aloud."

"Yeah, you were always dim-headed like that."

Kael spun, reflexively pushing Amory behind him, even as she drew an arrow and notched it. The thin young man behind them smiled, showing off his fangs.

"I never thought I'd see the day when one of the Boar turns its back on the House." He shook his head in exaggerated sorrow. "Why'd it have to be you, Kael? Why it have to be you?"

His hard, derisive laughter bubbled up and filled the space they had been boxed into. Around them, people emerged out of the shadows, forming a rough circle around them. Amory spun where she was, holding her bow ready to strike.

"Is the circle some kind of secret fascination with you people or something?" she asked. Kael could almost grin, if his good mood hadn't been rapidly waning; her voice didn't even tremble once! It was something he had to make sure they celebrated later, once they got the hell out of the mess they were in.

His eyes met the cold gray ones of his old tormentor, and Kael felt a tingle of apprehension. Raegan was an unmerciful twat, one who had taken great pleasure in beating him up or just generally making him miserable for as long as Kael had been a member of the Coven. Add the fact that he had been the youngest, and therefore the preferred  of all the Children before Kael's entrance to the fact that he was Elder Yuta's favorite pupil, and you had all the motivation a young vampire would need to make his life hell.

But things were different now. Kael was alone. There was no one to run to, no one to curb the sadistic little freak when he got too rough.

"Kael?"

The sound of her voice jolted him from his thoughts, and a hard, cold weight settled in his stomach. Amory. How the hell could he protect her from Raegan and his minions. "Still here, Ams," he said softly. He could feel the edge of her arrow holder pressing int his back, and felt a tiny ray of hope spring up in his chest. "You any good with that thing?" he asked, trying to sound casual.

"You think I'm going to tell you ‘no’?" she asked incredulously. Kael almost laughed and would have, if his stomach hadn't fallen to somewhere beneath his feet. If Amory could think he sounded like an idiot even now then it couldn't be as serious as he was making it seem.

"What's the matter, Kael?" Raegan taunted. "No retorts, no snarky comments on where I should go stuff myself, really? What," he said, walking forward till he reached the light. "Are you scared?"

Kael didn't answer, except to pull the kukri blade from its hidden sheath. There wasn't much he could say. he wished his heart was still beating, since that would explain why his hands were trembling and his knees felt weak. flashes of him being mercilessly beat on and ridiculed by the idiot standing in front of him raced through his mind, and no matter what he tried, he couldn't think of anything else.

Around her, the assembled vampires stood in their circle, as silent as the dead, which she supposed they were, so it kind of fit. But they just stood there, and it was starting to freak her out. And Kael wasn't being his usual obnoxious self, and that frightened her more than anything. She met the dead eyes of the girl standing directly opposite her, and smirked. Rule one of winning, as taught by her father: always smile; it confuses the enemy.

"How about you just stand aside, Kael?" the first vampire said from somewhere behind her. That Kael wasn't even moving worried her more than anything. And that vampire's voice was really starting to work in her nerves. "Take a seat and watch me bleed your little human dry, why don't you?"

"Kael, do me a favor and shut him up?" she asked in a sickly sweet voice.

Raehan’s cold laughter sounded again, and Amory grit her teeth. “She’s cute,” she heard him say. “where’d you get her?”

Kael flinched. He didn’t want to, but it happened. Reagan looked at him with those cold eyes, frigid amusement burning in their light. He hated him. Kael hated him and hated how he made him feel. Amory tensed behind him, and his skin tingled. This time, he wasn’t going to get beat up. This time was going to be different.

“I’d say the same place your dad found your mom,” Kael said, fingering the handle of his blade, “but this girl’s not some low class cribhouse whore.”

“I thought cribhouse whores were the definition of low class?” Amory murmured.

“No, no, dear. There’s a difference.”

“Very good,” Raegan clapped. “That was almost insulting. Its like you’re not even scared of me anymore. I think ‘ve lost my touch.” In one instant he blurred and reappeared in front of Kael, his fist smashing into his chest. “That’s not going to work.”

Blood seeped from the wound as Kael reeled, stumbled away from where he stood back to back with Amory. Around him, the silent vampires moved, converging on them in a creepy wave of black. As he watched, Amory let loose an arrow, and had another notched before the first had time to sink into an oncoming chest. His vision faded, swinging back and forth to black and white and blanking out completely. He blinked, just in time to see Reagan wrap an arm around Amory’s waist from behind, sick smirk on his face, before the world went black.