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  Gaspard followed the sounds of crackling leaves and barely audible whimpers to a clearing on the edge of the forest. His heart stopped beating as he sank behind a bush for cover. There were three people standing over a motionless Elijh in the center of the clearing. Two men: one tall and oddly skinny with hair that was a dirty blonde color. The other male had hair of gold that was spiked, and looked slightly older than the smaller one. Also, there was a very attractive black haired woman in red. One man was keeping watch while the other two were on top of Elijh, biting and sucking his neck. Their faces were covered with blood- Elijh's blood, Gaspard suddenly realized.

  Gaspard watched in shock-unable to move. He gulped, and the taller man keeping watch turned his head in Gaspard's direction faster than a blink of an eye. Reflexively, Gaspard took a tiny step back. A stick crunched underneath his boot, bringing all three strangers to an alarm. He crouched down lower behind the bush letting the strangers escape his view. He heard a few hissing sounds and then all of a sudden-nothing.

  Gaspard kept as still as he could and quickly ran through possibilities in his head of what was going on. He could think of nothing to explain who or what these bizarre people were. Only thing that kept flashing through his mind were images of Elijh lying unmoving on the ground just a few feet away from where he sat. What if...what if he is...? No! Gaspard pushed those unbearable thoughts away before he could start to panic.

  After waiting a few moments, unsure if they were gone or not, Gaspard reluctantly turned himself around to look back through a slit in the bushes.

  Nothing. Not even the slightest movement or sound. Elijh was no longer lying down on the ground before his eyes and no bloodthirsty beings surrounding him. Where did they go? Gaspard thought in a sudden panic. He slowly got up and looked around in a circle before he took a step back. But before he could leave, he had to go over to the spot where he last saw them.

  Regaining his courage, Gaspard crept over to the clearing, and crouched down where he thought he last saw his friend. Besides a few torn leaves, he could find no evidence of them being there. He looked around the area one more time before standing to his feet. He began to think maybe he just fell asleep in the stables and dreamed them all. "This is crazy," he said to himself.

  As he was walking back from where he came, a small drop of a dark red liquid on a leaf came to his attention. Hesitantly, he bent down to pick it up. Tears filled his eyes as he held it in his hands.

  "Hello." A ghostlike voice said behind him. Gaspard dropped the leaf and grabbed a nearby branch lying next to his feet. He quickly swung around and pointed the meager weapon at the eccentric figure now in front of him.

  The figure wore a dark hooded cloak that obscured most of his features. He slowly pulled down the hood revealing his face. His eyes were a dusky green with a hint of red that stood out in this pallid night. The only other light was coming from the half moon high in the sky that was hidden mostly by passing clouds and trees. His skin was pale and colorless, making his golden hair look as if it was shining. This stranger was the man who was keeping watch. Realizing this, Gaspard warily thought of the other two, wondering where they were.

  "Who... Who are you," he stuttered, "and what have you done with Elijh?" Not taking his eyes off of him as he asked.

  "That is none of your concern. You wouldn't want to know anyway."

  "What do you want?"

  "Why don't you put the stick down, boy. It won't do any good."

  "No."

  "Then I suggest you run."

  Just as Gaspard was about to ask why, he heard hissing noises from above. Slowly, he looked up. Two dark figures dropped from the trees soundlessly to the ground on either side of him. Their lips were outlined in blood and sharp, white fangs were exposed each time they opened their mouths to hiss. They looked at him hungrily, and with a pleading urge to leap on him at any moment-just waiting for the exact words of command. Obviously, the man in the center was of higher authority, and perhaps the leader or supervisor of the attack.

  Gaspard looked back and forth from the three, knowing there was no possible way to escape from them.

  "I don't see you running." He smirked a little sadly. "You could have had a head start." His faint smile turned to a frown. "Get him," looking down as he spoke to the assailants.

  At the commandment, they screeched in excitement making Gaspard startle. He dropped the branch and put his hands over his ears. They leaped from the ground towards him. He turned around and ran as fast as he could deeper into the woods. He didn't want to bring them to the mansion and put Jocelyn in danger. So he thought he could lose them in the forest, and then head back when it was clear-if he lived.

  Gaspard focused on putting one leg in front of the other with a wolf-like speed as he raced through the trees, while jumping over fallen trunks and small streams as he went. He knew almost every inch of the forest around the mansion and hoped that that knowledge would prove to his benefit. He could still hear the hissing and swift movements of the two who were chasing him. Fighting the urge to look back, he pressed forward and made a few sharp turns to try and confuse them. Though, he somehow knew it would be of no use. The attackers were gaining on him no matter how fast he ran.

  He was growing tired and didn't know how much longer he could keep playing this game of cat and mouse. He saw a clearing up ahead and ran towards it. By the time he reached it, he couldn't hear their piercing screeches and hisses anymore. He rested momentarily in the small, odd-shaped clearing, putting his hands to his knees and bent down to catch his breath. Not taking any chances, his short rest came to an end as he began to run full-speed deeper into the forest.

  When he couldn't take the suspense of not knowing exactly where his predators were anymore, he took a quick look behind him- a huge mistake. He tripped over a tree root that had grown out of the ground and fell face-down, sliding across sticks and leaves. He winced as he felt sharp sticks scrape his chest and then warm blood seep through his shirt. He heard a distant cackle as he picked himself up and started again, holding his injured side as he ran. The smell of his blood attracted them and they were now right back on his trail. He couldn't tell exactly where they were. Though, he knew they were closing in on him.

  Gaspard came to a rocky mountain that was too steep to climb. To his sides: thick brush and thorny vines entangled around the trees leaving no sign of an entrance. He spun around and searched with his eyes but couldn't see anything but trees. It was too dark to find movement with human sight. The moon was now a forearm's length from where it used to be and the light from it was blocked by the hill.

  A rustling sound in the leaves of the trees caught his attention. He turned back to face the mountain and quickly felt around for a large rock so he could attempt to climb. There was no way he would be able to avoid them if he tried going back into the forest now.

  As Gaspard stepped up on a stone he finally found sticking out of the mountain, someone attacked him with great force from his side, knocking him to the ground. He heard and felt the bones in his left shoulder crunch as he landed heavily on his back. He groaned in agony at the pain of the fracture, but didn't think any more of it while he was busy struggling with his attacker. His heart beat rapidly as the pale but darkly dressed figure on top of him easily over powered him and pressed his arms harshly to the ground. The last thing he saw was the moonlight glint off sharp, white fangs moving in closer to him. He felt them puncture his neck and tried to scream but couldn't. His body went numb and then his vision went pitch black.

  Chapter 6 Eternal

  Gaspard stirred awake, opening and closing his eyelids, slowly

  several times. But he could not clear the blurriness from his vision. He saw two figures standing over him, their features clouded by his unstable sight. He heard whispers, but was unsure if they were really just talking in regular tone because his ears were buzzing with a loud noise.

  "He lives. Get Lucas." A deep voice said, as he motioned to the other.

  "P
lease, tell me I'm dead," mumbled Gaspard. He slowly moved his hands over his eyes.

  "Not quite," said a mysterious voice to his left, sounding a little amused. This wasn't the same man's voice who he heard speaking moments earlier.

  "Where am I?" He moaned.

  "Welcome to my castle." Lucas stretched out his arms indicating the room and beyond it, with a smirk on his face. "You are in my realms of command. I am Lucas, leader of the vampires in all of northern France. Bide by my rules and of course, the Vampire Laws and everyone should get along quite nicely, I believe."

  Gaspard was about to protest there was no such thing, when his neck started to tingle. He touched the side of his neck and felt two holes where his pulse used to be strong. Suddenly, everything that happened before he blacked out flashed before his eyes, backwards. First, a striking pain, running through the forest, the three strangers standing over a body, then "Elijh!" he called out, half in his mind.

  "Ah, good!" Lucas clasped his hands together. "Your memory is coming back to you."

  "Where is he?" Gaspard managed to ask without slurring. He now could clearly see the huge, pale figure in front of him. This man, if he was even classified as that, was tall and very muscular. His eyes were dark, barely light enough to say they were blue. His hair was dirty blond and tied neatly back into a ponytail. He was dressed in red and black robes. To Gaspard, he looked like some kind of character in a theatrical play.

  The expression on Lucas' face was thoughtful as he appeared to ponder Gaspard’s question. He just loved to be dramatic, and what more of a perfect chance then now to do so?

  "Ah, well I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I’m afraid your friend is dead." He held up his hand to Gaspard to stop him from speaking, Lucas hated to be interrupted. "You see, my friends here invited him for dinner and well, he was just too delicious to give up." He spoke calmly, motioning to three vampires as he spoke of their dinner engagement, a smirk upon his face. Gaspard followed his motion to the three silent beings standing close behind Lucas. Two of them grinned widely as he observed them, but the golden haired male dressed in dark green robes, frowned and looked away.

  Returning his attention to Lucas but still watching the three vampires from the corner of his eye, Gaspard gazed at him in confusion. "I don't understand. You mean, you ate him?" Gaspard reluctantly asked, sitting up. He thought of Elijh- always happy and willing to do anything for him. Gaspard's eyes started to water as he tried to consider the thought of never seeing his best friend again.

  "I suppose you could call it that, yes. But, drank him would be more precise."

  "But why spare my life," he demanded, "when you took away the closest person I had to call family?" His neck and head started to ache and the room seemed to spin.

  From what he could make out, the room he was in appeared to be some sort of common room. There were large, overly stuffed chairs, a few paces away in the middle of the room. Large bookcases covers the walls, a tapestry or painting in-between every other book case. In the far right corner was a large spiral staircase leading the floor above.

  There were a total of three doors in this room, but they were all closed. The room had an eerie feel to it- Gaspard hated it. It was too dark, too desolate. How he wished he could leave this place and go outside, into the sunlight, into the trees he loved so much.

  "He was," Lucas pondered for a word, "ah, expendable." He said with a flickering movement of his hand. "Besides, we are your family now." Lucas smirked.

  "Go to hell," spat Gaspard in such a hateful tone that his words even made Lucas flinch.

  "Been there," he chuckled, "It’s actually a pleasant place for one such as us." He mused over this quite a bit. How naïve Gaspard was.

  At that, Gaspard jumped off the table. But as soon as his feet touched the floor, he fell down and bellowed in pain while clutching his back. "Why does my back feel like it has been stabbed a thousand times?" He groaned through clenched teeth.

  "That is the paralysis wearing off from your bite. You'd best to lie down a little longer."

  "What? Staying here in this God forsaken place is the last thing I want to do." He slowly stood up on his feet.

  "That decision isn't for you to make." Lucas' smirk turned into a grim line, and his eyes looked as if they sparked, then turned darker. Gaspard squinted at them in wonder, but decided it was just a trick of the faint light in the room.

  "Oh really? Then try to stop me," Gaspard challenged.

  Faster than he could think, Lucas leaped on Gaspard from where he stood and graved his torn shirt, holding him in the air. The ravenous vampire then slammed him up against the wall sending more striking pains to his back. Gaspard groaned in agony from the impact.

  "Do not underestimate me, boy!" Lucas screamed in his face. "I am your creator, you cannot over power me. If it wasn't for me, you would still be a worthless human, poor and without a family." Gaspard looked away to his right, unable to respond. Lucas shook him violently and shouted, "Look at me in the face and show your master some respect for giving you eternal life! Which now, I deem you hardly seem worthy of it."

  As if breaking out of a trance, Gaspard slowly returned his gaze to Lucas and starred him dangerously in the eyes. Lucas frowned as he saw sparks begin to flash, before his eyes turned from a pale blue to a deep purple.

  "I will never submit to a monster," he spat venomously in Lucas' face. The small audience of vampires gasped and hissed at the threatening words Gaspard spoke with no regret- just pure hatred.

  Lucas chuckled, wickedly. Gaspard caught a glimpse of pointy, livid fangs growing larger by the second each time he opened his mouth.

  "Well, I have news for you," Lucas bared his teeth- no, fangs, and then moved in closer to Gaspard. "I am not the only monster here." He smirked at Gaspard's horrified expression knowing that he, too, was now a monster finally comprehended.

  Almost as fast as his smirk appeared, it vanished. "But you will pay for those words." Before he could reply, Lucas punched him heavily in the face and then threw him across the room single handedly.

  Gaspard crashed into the table he was laying on just a few moments before, and then tumbled into the wall farthest from where his attacker was. Lucas looked down at his right hand and touched the rings one by one, moving them back into place. Then leaped in the air over to where Gaspard sat in anguish.

  As he was leaning down, Gaspard felt a warm serge go through his body like someone lit a fire inside of him. His limbs started to tingle and then every inch of him went numb. Though, not a cold numbnessbut an elicit heat.

  Recovering from the blow faster than anyone could think possible, Gaspard got up on to his feet and faced him without even a hint a fear for the furious vampire.

  Noticing this, Lucas grew angrier and walked closer to him. A small amount of blood started to trickle from Gaspard's mouth from where the strike hit his face. Lucas grinned at the sight of it. "Ah, he bleeds!" he chuckled, "Let’s add a little blood to the other side of your pretty face as well, shall we?" He brought back his left fist and thrust it towards his head. Lucas frowned in confusion when his fist suddenly stopped half way to its target in mid-air. He looked at his arm and saw with a surprise that Gaspard's hand was grasped tightly around it. He heard a sizzling sound and smelt the burning of flesh. In sudden realization, Lucas yanked back his arm from Gaspard's grip and roared in pain, fangs clashing. "You burned me!" he screamed while clutching his scolded forearm. He rolled up his sleeve to look at the damage. His blistering, red wound stood out tremendously on his pale skin.

  Gaspard, coming out of some sort of mental trance, took a step back, stunned at what he had done.

  "I'm... I'm sorry! I didn't know I could... I didn't mean too..." he broke off, looking curiously at his hands- not a single mark on them he thought, shocked. He felt his strength leave him again. The heat that flowed through his body was now gone as well. He desperately wished his random power surges would last longer and to know how to control them. As far as he
knew, he had no chance against the more experienced vampire what-so-ever.

  "Save it, boy!" Lucas hissed. He looked once again at his injured arm and said, "Extraordinary."

  It seemed to Gaspard, that his anger was quickly replaced by amazement. Though, just as he assumed, Lucas' attention returned to him before he could even think of an explanation of what had happened. He was already getting used to the rapid mood changes this vigorous vampire had.

  "If you are wondering why you can't control your abilities for more than a few moments, it’s because it takes twenty-four hours before the venom completes your blood stream. I suppose you can say you are only half vampire at the moment. You can still bleed, but the amount lessons with each hour that passes. Which means I can teach you a lesson before your abilities fully develop." He gave him an evil grin and then ordered, "Hold him," as he motioned to two other male vampires that entered the room when they heard the encounter with the table.

  These men were dressed in identical gray suites with their hair slicked back. Gaspard thought they must be guards. He noticed that everyone seemed to be afraid of Lucas and only followed orders out of fear. They somehow seemed familiar to him. But before he could ponder anymore, the vampire-guards quickly took a hold of Gaspard's arms- making sure they didn't touch where his skin was bare- and turned him around to face the wall.

  As they swung him around, Lucas noticed something on his neck glint off the torch that dimly lit the room. "Wait!" he commanded, and the guards turned him back around to face him. Lucas swiftly moved closer to Gaspard. "Oh, what's this?" he said as he ripped open Gaspard's shirt more, revealing a silver pendant of a half moon and half sun. His eyes brightened with interest as he looked intently at it. He started to reach for it, but Gaspard growled making him stop half way. Lucas chuckled. "Calm down, I just want to look at it. May I?" he asked, sarcastically.