CHAPTER 1:
FOUR YEARS AGO . . .
I'm so tired. I don't know if I even want to try anymore. Is living worth all this misery? I've been hiding out in this abandoned house for the past 2 days. My loved ones are dead. Along with fatigue, hunger and despair, I feel anger. It's been building up in me since the night this all began. The bastards have been after me ever since. Maybe I should just let them catch me. I deserve it anyways.
Three weeks ago, everything was normal. I had two loving parents and an older brother. Now they are all dead. I had friends and a carefree life. I just finished the 8th grade and was looking forward to starting high school in the fall. Now, I wander from hiding place to hiding place, hoping and wishing at the same time that they'll find me. I don't want to die, but I'm so tired of being scared that a part of me just wishes they would get it over with.
It all started when I decided to sneak out one night to go to a party, my first high school party. I met a guy there, a cute guy. He told me his name was Jonathan and that he was seventeen, three years older than me. He told me he wanted to walk me home and in my stupidity, I thought I was the luckiest girl alive. His two other friends, Daniel and Cyrus walked with us. Instead of a kiss goodnight, I got something else. I got a bloodbath. My entire family massacred. I managed to get away. I didn't realize until later that they let me get away. I ran to my aunt's house, only to have them follow and kill her too. Again, I ran away and since then, I haven't stopped running. Until now. I'm tired of running. They find me every few nights, only to play with me some more.
I can't go to friends for help, because I don't want get them killed. I went into the police station the first day and they treated me like I was insane. I haven't been back since.
I just want it to end. Just then, I hear from outside, "Catalina, come out and playeeeeee."
I say nothing. I just sit there huddled in the corner.
"Catalina come and out and playeeeeee. We know you're in there. We can smell you."
Suddenly, the window across the room shatters and in jump the three murderers.
"Hey little girl," says Jonathan. "Why aren't you running?'
I say nothing, just stare at him.
"Aw man! She's giving up! No fun!" says Cyrus.
"Well, if she isn't going to play anymore, we'll just finish her off," says Daniel.
In seconds, they are all three in front of me and they have me pinned up against the wall. Cyrus says, "time to die little cow." His fangs are bared and I don't even blink. It's not as if I haven't see them before. I figured out that they were vampires right after I watched them rip out the throats of my family.
Cyrus is about to do the same to my throat when his face turns into one of shock. He looks down at his chest and I see a pointy piece of wood sticking out. He says, "fuck!" and then bursts into flames. His grip on me loosens and I crumble to the floor.
Jonathan yells, "hunters!" and him and Daniel take off down the hallway towards the back of the house.
I have my head down on the ground and can hear more people enter the room through the broken window. I can hear the stomping of running footsteps out the back door after Jonathan and Daniel.
I see two booted feet standing in front of me now. I look up to a boy a few years older than me. He says, "are you alright?"
All I say is, "no."
FOUR YEARS LATER . . .
I'm running through an alley after Jaden again. "You're never gonna catch me Catalina, unless I want you to." Cocky ass vampire. Jaden and I have been playing this game for almost two years. While I'm out hunting, he shows up, I chase him. He laughs at me. Sometimes I catch him, sometimes I don't. Whenever I do catch him, he manages to deflect all my attempts to kill him. He laughs some more.
He runs around a corner. I, of course, follow, stake in one hand, silver dagger in the other. As I round the corner, he manages to get the drop on me and grabs me from behind. He has his arms wrapped around me and my arms are locked in his grip. I try doing a backwards head-butt. He evades it.
"I missed you, Catalina," he says. "Where've you been lately?"
"Fuck you Jaden," I tell him. "I've been planning your death."
"What did I ever do to you, my little Kitty Cat? All I've ever wanted to do is take you out on a proper date, just one date. All you want to do is kill me. I'm just a boy, who likes a girl," he says.
"You are not a boy! You are a filthy, murdering vampire!" All he does is laugh and kiss the side of my neck.
"I love your spirit, Catalina Truman. But I can see that once again, I am getting nowhere with you, so I'll bid you goodnight. Until we meet again." With that, he grabs my weapons, throws them down the alley and takes off back the way we came.
"Creep," I mutter. Jaden always exhausts me, both physically and mentally. One of these days, I'm going to stake his ass and shut him up for good. I walk back to where I parked my Honda earlier tonight and climb in. I stash my weapons under my seat and drive home.
When I pull up in front of the house, I punch in the code to the gate and drive up the driveway. I drive through the wrap-around driveway and park in front of the doors going into the house. I enter the house and walk through the foyer to the front living room. I may as well get this over with.
When I walk in, no one is paying attention. I say, "hey guys." They all turn around.
Noah walks up to me, "Where the hell have you been Cat? You better not have been out hunting alone again. We have these rules for a reason. A dangerous reason. You risk too much."
"I really don't need any shit from you right now, Noah." I tell him. Ever since the night Noah and the others saved me from certain death, Noah acts like he's my father. He's only two years older than me, hardly old enough to be an authority figure. It's bad enough he made me wait until I was sixteen to start hunting, now he also wants to dictate how I hunt.
"Uh-oh, she must have had a run-in with Jaden again. Noah, I'd back off man. You know how she is after one of those." Colin says.
"Shut up Colin," Noah says, then he puts his hands on both my cheeks and looks me directly in the eyes. "Cat, why can't you understand? We just don't want anything to happen to you. Any of us would be happy to hunt with you. Why do you insist on going alone?"
I get lost in the warmth in his eyes for an instant, then blink it away. "I can't deal with this right now, Noah. I'm going upstairs to take a shower." He gives me a frustrated look, but takes his hands off my face and turns away.
I go up the stairs two at a time and go into my bedroom. When I shut the door, I strip off my boots, black jeans and black long sleeve shirt. I take my hair out of its pony tail, grab a towel and robe and head to the bathroom.
Once I'm under the water, I lean my head against the tile and think. It's been four years and the ones who killed my family are still out there. I've killed dozens of vampires, but can't seem to find the ones that I want to kill most.
Noah is constantly on my back, worrying about me. Lately, he's been looking at me kind of funny. I can't figure out what his problem is. The game Jaden keeps playing is getting old. I need to figure out something new. A new plan on killing Jaden and a way to find and kill both Jonathan and Daniel.