Running Through Ghosts

Chapter 1

I threw a glance behind me, my well adjusted eyes just catching sight of the guards chasing me before I rounded one of the tall spires. I smirked as I turned my head back round and sped up.They were good, but I was totally winning. I covered the next 300 yards in seconds, my feet barely glancing off the slate.

Finally I reached the end of the roof. I lanuched myself of the edge, the wind rushing around me, catching my hair as I rushed towards the ground. I bent my knees just before impact, and the shock of the hard ground made me freeze for a split second before I continued running. The wind whipped my long hair into my face, but I didn't need to see anymore. The woods were just ahead, and they couldn't track me once I disappeared inside. 

It was pitch black, and bitterly cold which didn't do much to make me feel happier about the mission, but the fact that I had managed to get in and out almost undetected, not to mention get away with no wounds was a major bonus. I couln't help but let a grin spread across my face. I had done it. I had actually fucking pulled it off. 

"Yes!" I said it as quietly as I could, but I couldn't disguise the happiness in my voice. Or stop myself from punching the air. No one else would have got this job done, even Caleb said so. Which is why he sent me on the mission. Not Serena, not any of the Noctis Umbras. I liked to think it wasn't just because of my ancestry but because of my skill. And, it must be said, sass. I laughed at the thought of him writing down in the report, under 'reasons for selection', sassiness. Ah, the council would be thrilled. But as much as they didn't like me, and they really didn't like me, they still couldn't deny that I had pulled it off. With the aforementioned sass. 

Which is why, as I lept from tree to tree, I couldn't help but do a victory dance.

It was around five minutes later that I finally spotted my gorgeous (and well deserved) Mercedes SLK 300 convertible. It had been a seventeenth birthday gift from Caleb and I adored it. I mean if I could marry it, I would. My baby was a sleek, shiny black piece of state of the art engineering. He always said he would never actually get in it with me because I drove too fast and too recklessly.

Pfftt. I could handle it. Besides, there was nothing more satisfying then doing 150mph on an open road with My Chemical Romance blaring from my speakers and the top down. Nothing. Not even chocolate was as good. Though admittedly, it was a close second. A really close second.

I dropped down next to it, not even out of breath I was estatic to note, and felt the comforting crunch of leaves beneath my feet. It was almost winter, and the skeleton trees were slowly releasing their death grip on the auburn leaves. The forest looked stunning, all the tall trees in various states of death and hibernation, the floor carpeted in hues of every colour, from deep red to lightest yellow. 

I was transfixed for a few seconds, just staring, at all of the woods when I heard shouts from behind me. 

'Shit!' I exclaimed, grabbing the door handle and sliding into the car. My good mood was thoroughly gone. I leaned back into the soft leather as I accelerated. Hard. The trees whipped past and the road at the other side of the woods came closer. I edged my foot down even more, the adrenaline singing in my veins like liquid fire. I burst out onto the gravelled road, spinning the wheel to the left as hard as I could to avoid going straight across the four lanes, and just managed the make it work.

"I hate car chases." I muttered, quickly glancing in my rearveiw mirror to make sure I wasn't being followed. Well ok, it wasn't exactly a car chase, but I was in my car and those eight guys had been chasing me. I'd been an idiot back there though, because everyone knew a mission wasn't over until you were home. But I'd been a tiny bit hubristic and had kinda forgotten that. Ok, so I had completely forgotten.

But in my defense, I'd still managed to pull it off. And I was pretty damn lucky to have avoided bullets, because there was no mistaking the guns they'd been toting around.They were seriously armed. Being vampires too, whatever they aimed those at they were unlikely to miss. The thought of all those bullets ripping through me gave me shudders, I hated it when they had better guns than I did. It felt unfair somehow. Which was not what I should have been thinking about, as I let the tension in my shoulders fade as I carried on up the motorway.

I shouldn't have lost focus like that. It was stupid. I shook my head as I fiddled with the radio, trying to get some signal. After ten minutes I was forced to give up on the stupid thing. It would seem that along with vampires, this godforsaken, backwoods hellhole, (I really hate small towns), also had the added problem of shitty signal.

Why anyone would want to live here was beyond me. I mean seriously. Take New York for example; it's amazing. There is twenty four hour takeout everywhere. There is signal. It's pretty. Why not live there? But no, instead people choose to live in desolate ghost towns like this one. I rolled my eyes. 

So I gave on on the whole radio idea, instead putting in a CD and turning up loud enough to drown out my erratic heartbeat. I wasn't scared still, but it was a close call and I knew better. Being caught was not something I would ever want. I was around eighty miles away by now, which was good. It meant that a) I was closer to home and b) I could find somewhere to stop.

I needed to get changed, switch the plates and devour some bacon before I was fit to go home. Which is exactly what I was planning on doing. Finding a twenty four hour diner really was my top priority at this moment. And judging by the noises now emitting from my stomach, it agreed, whole heartedly.