The Prophecy
Change

If you saw what I saw that night,you’d do almost anything to get away safely. You might steal a car and driveaway, you might replace your way to the nearest police station, or you might calla friend to come and get you. But not me. I did exactly what my husband told meto: with the image of our daughter’s death lingering in my mind, I ran. I ranfor what seemed to be hours, though it could have been minutes. I dodged houseafter house, tree after tree, falling occasionally as women do when they’rerunning for their lives. But as scared I was, I was sad from the awareness thatI was glad I was gone.

As I was running, I felt like I wassuffocating; the blackness around me was rough and terrifying. I was runningwithout sight, with only the sound of crunching grass and leaves beneath my feet.I didn’t know where I would go or even where I was, but I knew I wasn’t in myhouse and those men were not behind me and that gave me a quick chance tobreathe. What I would do when I got wherever I was going, I didn’t know. I justwanted to get away from those two men.

I thought of running to my parents.They were always there for me when I needed them. Or I could go to a friend’shouse, but I didn’t want to endanger them as obviously I had done to my ownhusband and daughter. Maybe I could run to the police. But how could theyprotect me from…a Vampire? How could anyone? They would think that I’m crazyand they’d just pin the murders on me. Maybe jail was the safest place for me;at least I would have somebody watching over me twenty-four hours a day. No, Icouldn’t think like that, I had to keep running. I had to replace a place to makesense of all that happened.

I reached an orchard that seemed togo on for miles. From where I was standing, I couldn’t see where it ended. Itreminded me of a distant mountain that you could never reach. The moon wasbright that night. The rain clouds had past, but I could still smell it in thegrass beneath my feet. The stars shone so bright – it seemed like there weremillions of them – it looked like they were helping the moon light up the sky.The trees were heavy with leaves that I could get lost in. They hung in everydirection and were a good place for someone to hide.

I ran until my legs couldn’t runany longer. I started to feel something change inside my body, as if it werestarting from the inside and pushing its way out. Something was happening to meand I didn’t know what. My legs were weak and I felt like I could collapse atany moment. My breathing was so fast, I couldn’t catch it, and my body wasshaking. Could this really be happeningto me? I thought. Was it allsomething I made up in my mind? Was my subconscious making me feel this way?Did vampires really exist?

I tried to remember the vampire storiesand movies that I had read and watched in my childhood, to help me think whatmight happen to me. Would it hurt like a snake’s venom going through my veins?Would I feel myself die and then be reborn? Would it hurt? Or would I feel atpeace? Would my life flash before my eyes for me to watch it play like an oldrerun? I didn’t know what would happen to me. But I did know that I was scaredand I was alone. I was about to experience something foreign unusualand I didn’t know how I was going toreact to it.

I found an old tree to lay against;I felt faint and I knew it was time to rest. The tree looked like it had beenstanding there for almost a hundred years. The clouds started to advance,tracing across the dark sky, darting in front of the moon momentarily, casting longshadows in the blackness. It was almost quiet; all that could be heard was thelocus playing in the tree.

I placed my hand on the old bark itwas hard and scratched my palm. As I lay down, I didn’t feel pain, or fireburning in my veins; instead I felt a sense ofcalm going through me. I could feel the air on my face and I could almost tastethe grass around me. I could feel something cold move through me like a diseasemoving through my veins. Like tranquility rushing through my veins, it feltlike an ice-cold stream of water. And yet, I was enchantingly warm. I knew Iwas becoming immortal.

Is it true? That there arenon-mortals among us trying to live as neighbors? Most people don’t want tobelieve it – or they chose to ignore it. But I was beginning to live it. Rightthen, in that moment, I was experiencing something that people thought onlyhappened in books.

Icould hear the bugs crawling on the ground and the leaves swaying in the trees.It was like the creatures and trees around me knew something was happening,something they didn’t evenunderstand, and they were making their way away from me as fast as they could. I felt like I needed to sleep. My eyelids werefeeling heavy so I closed my eyes and drifted off to the horror of my dreams.

I dreamt there were flashing lightsall around me, like lightning, that lit up images of my husband and daughterscreaming at me. The images were flickering on and off like a light switch. Iwas running through nothing to get to them; I was running as fast I could toget to them, but something was stopping me. No matter how fast I ran, Icouldn’t catch up to them. No matter how loudly I yelled, they never reacted.In the slow motion of my dreams, I was running with nowhere to go, slowlyenough for anybody to reach me. I reached out, but I couldn’t touch them.

During one bright bolt oflightening, I saw that Michael was holding Sierra with a horrified look on hisface, yelling for me to run. But I couldn’t move: that image stopped me. Mylegs felt like weights that were too heavy for me to lift; it was as if theywere sunk in cement that was drying fast. I was forced to stand there,powerless, and watch my family scream for me when there was nothing I could do.I tried to scream to them but I couldn’t.Everything I wanted to say was erased from my mind and all I could do wasclose my mouth and watch.

My body wanted to fall over butsome mysterious force was holding it up. Then, without warning, I saweverything that had ever happened to me in my life projected before me. I sawMother Rose reading to me, her smiling face looking down on me. Then I saw myparents adopting me and I could feel how happy they were when they brought mehome. I saw my wedding day: the preparations I took getting into my weddingdress and Michael’s smiling face as I walked down the aisle. I saw Sierra beingborn; I could feel her in my arms. I saw our first night in our house, when theonly light we had was from a candle. And finally, I saw Sierra’s first bike ride.She never fell off once. I was overwhelmed with feeling as I could only watch.I couldn’t touch or help or even speak.

I didn’t sleep well that night. Ihad never experienced such vivid dreams before and to tell the truth, it scaredthe hell out of me. The constant whooshing of the wind through the treeswouldn’t fade into the background; the noise was as annoying as wind chimes.When I finally did wake up, the sun had just started to rise and I could stillfeel the tears on my face.

It was supposed to be cold thatday. I only knew that because I had watched the news the day before. But I feltneither cold nor heat. The wind was blowing, but I no longer felt it on myface. Only a few clouds hovered in the sky, but I didn’t feel the sun on myskin. I couldn’t feel any evidence of the weather anywhere on my body; I feltlike I was numb to any feeling.

I pushed myself up from the groundand almost fell over. I brought my hands up to look at them, turning them overonce and then twice, my skin that was once tan was now a chalky white. As Imoved, my shirt collar fell off my shoulder; I had to pull my sleeve up and mypants up a couple of inches higher. My body was slimmer than it was before Iclosed my eyes. What was going on? How could I have lost weight over night whenI couldn’t do it throughout the years? Could this truly be happening tome?

I turned in a circle, feeling thechanges in my body. I happened to notice the sun as it started to peak its waythrough the branches of the trees,lightingup the shadows, and I began to panic. It was higher in the sky now and the rayswere creeping upon me. What was going to happen to me? Was I going to burn toash or would I just explode? Was this the beginning of the end?

Everything inside of me told me tobe scared. But everyone I have ever loved was now gone. Not only my husband anddaughter: now I could never see my parents or friends again or else I mightendanger them. Since there was nothing left for me to hang on to, why should Ibe scared? Why not just keep the loving memories I have from my past? I almostpushed myself off of the tree and walked slowly to the middle of the orchard,keeping my eye on the sky.

I put my hands down at my side withmy palms facing the sun. I could feel the wind blowing through my hair but Ihad no feeling on my face. I narrowed my eyes on the sun and once I had itlocked on, I closed them. If I was going to burn, I wanted to face the light. Iwanted to feel the burning of the rays going through my body, starting with myfingertips. I wanted to feel the fire rage in my veins. I wanted all of thisconfusion to be over so I could take my place with my husband and daughter upin Heaven. Would they even be waiting for me on that bed of clouds just as thesisters had told me?

I stood there for a few minutes, althoughit felt like hours, waiting for the sun to completely rise, waiting for my bodyto burn, hoping that the light breeze would carry my ashes up to Heaven. Butnothing happened; I was just standing in the middle of an orchard looking likea complete fool. Feeling bewildered, I didn’t understand, and wondered, What the hell am I? Could it be thatevery movie and every book was totally wrong? That sunlight really had noeffect on vampires? I shuddered to even think that word. Wasn’t that supposed to be what kills them?

Before I could contemplate any moreabout who or what I was, I heard footsteps in the distance. I stood completelystill, afraid to move. I didn’t want to make a sound. Maybe whatever it waswould go away on its own. The two men couldn’t have found me; not yet. I didn’tknow how long I ran, but I know that I had lost them. This orchard was soneglected that even the weeds were sprouting new weeds. There was no wayanybody could have found me.

The footsteps landed hard as theyhit the ground and there were many of them at once. For a woman that wouldusually be scared of the unknown, I was surprisingly calm. I stood there toawait whatever fate had in store for me. As the footsteps got closer, the soundgot louder, and with every step I started to make out the shape of what wascoming toward me in the distance. It stood very tall and lean and was abeautiful shade of brown that sparkled in the sunlight. It was a horse thatunexpectedly caught my eye. It had to be tame, because it wasn’t afraid of me.From the way it was walking towards me, it seemed to want someone’s attention.

But just at that moment, an impulsegrabbed hold of me and I felt an urge – not to pet it or to ride it – but tohunt it. This feeling was deep inside and it wasn’t friendly; it was a wickedthirst. It made me weak in the knees and it made my upper body shake. My mouthbegan to water and my eyes filled up with hate. My body began to react before Icould think about it and tell it not to proceed. I started toward the beautifulhorse, intending to go slowly so as not to scare it away, but in the time ittakes to blink I was at its side, breaking its poor neck. I bent down and putmy mouth on its neck and started to drink its blood. I couldn’t understand whatI was doing or why I was doing it. I felt like I was floating above my ownbody, watching what was happening. I was even yelling for me to stop, but thatpart of me wouldn’t listen. And although I felt awful, the blood tasted so sweetand warm that I couldn’t stop. For every drink that went down my throat I gotan extraordinary shivergoing through my veins. As the blood settled in my body I felt empowered andstrong. I never felt more satisfied than I did at that moment.

I got up and looked down at thepoor dead animal. He didn’t shake or twitch; not one breath could be heard. Icouldn’t move. I was saddened that his life had to end to satisfy my thirst. Iwiped off the blood that dripped down from my mouth and as I turned to walkedaway I couldn’t help but think at least it wasn’t a human whose life Itook.

I didn’t want to stay in one spotfor too long. I started to walk slowly through the orchard and I found myselfconcentrating on all the things around me. I ran my hand along the trees as Iwalked past them. When my finger tips touched a tree’s outer bark, I didn’tjust feel it. I could feel all the way through it, through its years, all theway into its inner core. With just one touch, I could tell how old the treewas. I looked up at the leaves; how beautiful they were. It was like I waslooking at them for the very first time, like I’ve never seen these thingsbefore. The colors of all the leaves were vibrant; somany different colors, orange, green, and yellow – they all looked different.It was like I was looking at things in high definition. I could even see theleaf veins designs of those high above me. Then I noticed that my hearing hadimproved. I could hear cars driving by, even though the road was miles away.

I was alone. My body was completelydifferent than what I was use to. And the fact that I just drank the blood of ahorse would make anybody a little uneasy. But strangely enough, I felt light onmy feet, like nobody could hurt me. Why be afraid? I didn’t fear the path thatwas ahead of me. I didn’t know where I was heading or who or what I might seewhen I got there, but I didn’t care. I was more alert. Instead of knowing asecond too late if a person was coming up behind me, I knew I would know milesbefore. I could hear conversations that were taking place in cars as they drovepast. I stood there for a second to listen; I closed my eyes and breathedslowly in and out, concentrating. A woman was yelling at her husband because hewore the wrong sweater to her parents’ house and she was embarrassed. I couldeven feel her anger toward him. Another car passed. A mother sings to her childthe familiar lullaby, ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’, so she could fall asleep. Icould feel the small child’s heart at rest. Another car passed. A teenagersmoking a cigarette before he got home, listening to ‘Crazy Train’ blaring fromhis radio. It almost made me want to dance.

I decided to keep walking the paththat I was already on. There were so many turns that led in too many differentdirections, I just couldn’t choose. Unfortunately, I got myself deeper into theorchard I was focusing too much on experiencing all the new sounds and sights Ihad gotten myself lost. I came across a house that seemed to come out ofnowhere. It was old-looking; not one of the new houses that were cropping upall over the place. It had to have been there for years. It was a white,three-story country house with blue trim that was chipping and fading, with awhite picket fence surrounding the yard. It had a quaint porch with a couple ofrocking chairs and a metal swing. I walked through the lush green grass thatcircled around the house but that stayed confined within the fence. I walkedslowly up to the door, looking at every place somebody or something could hide,putting my new abilities to good use, trying to be careful. I reached the door,pausing to look around. It was silent. There wasn’t even a bird in the sky. Icouldn’t hear a human anywhere, so I knocked. I waited a few minutes but no oneanswered. I looked around and didn’t see anybody. So I tried the old roundcopper doorknob. The door was open.

I walked in slowly; peeking aroundthe door first just to make sure nobody was hiding. When I walked in, I noticedthat the interior was very different from the outside; it was day and night.The outside took me back to a time when I was a child and I would stay up latewith my mother to watch the 1938 movie ‘Bringing up Baby.’ But the insidereminded me of photos of celebrity homes in People magazine. Everything lookedlike it had been purchased from a Pottery Barn catalog and placed in its spotby a home decorator. I looked over my shoulder at the kitchen and noticed itwas painted dark brown with black cabinets and dark cherry wood handles. Thefloor was almost like dark stone wood. The appliances were stainless steel, andin the middle of the room hung pots and pans. I realized I didn’t have time totour the house, although I wanted to admire its beauty. I had to hurry beforesomebody saw I had invaded their home.

I walked up the first flight ofstairs. I held onto the gold banister hoping I wouldn’t miss a step. I wasn’treally concentrating on where I was going; I couldn’t keep my eyes off all thebeautiful things around me. The walls leading upstairs were lined with familypictures. Some were from a long time ago, judging from the wear and tear. Therest were likely recent. When I reached the top, I came across what looked likea teenage girl’s room. It faced out over the back yard. It had dark woodenfloors with light pink walls, a flat ceiling, and perfectly dressed windowswith purple lace curtains. The bed was neatly made and in the middle of thepillows was an old stuffed bear that looked like it was saved from herchildhood. I thought of Sierra; she would have loved this room when she gotolder. I thought how maybe she would put her neatly framed artwork on the wallsand flowers on every shelf, like a successful artist.

Just then, I felt something deepinside me, a force that was stronger than anything I’d felt before, telling meI needed to move on. I hurried over to the dresser, dug through the drawers andfound a pair of jeans. I hoped they would fit considering I didn’t know whatsize I was. I moved to her closet for a shirt and a pair of boots. Anythingwould be better than the over-sized clothes I had been wearing.

I found the bathroom at the nextopened door in the hallway; I thought it would be a good idea to wash off thehorse’s blood. The bathroom was just as modern as the rest of the house. Thetop half of the walls were painted a sage green and the bottom half was white,bordered with white wood panels. The sink stood alone and the tub and showerwere separate. When I got into the shower, I couldn’t feel the warmth of the waterand I knew I had it on hot, because the steam was rising. Why couldn’t I feelthe heat? I washed my hair and my body, trying to hurry. I wanted to feel thecomfort only a shower can provide. I yearned for the feeling of the waterdraining off the day and the embrace of being clean. But I received nothing.

When I was done, I wrapped thetowel around me and went to the mirror. The mirror was long, oval-shaped andlined in silver. I ran my hand over the glass to remove the steam; I wanted tosee my reflection. To my surprise, I had one. I was confused. In all of themovies I’ve watched and the books I’ve read, vampires didn’t have reflections.It was a reminder of what they really were: something evil, something thatcouldn’t be seen. Even so, the reflection didn’t look like the woman I saw inthe mirror yesterday. My face was mystical in its beauty. I didn’t have onewrinkle or one bag under my eye. My body was firmer and skinnier. My hair,which was once brown and stringy, was now a golden brown, and fuller. And myeyes were not brown anymore. The eyes that looked back at me, I’d seen before.These eyes were the same as the man Gerviase, who slaughtered my family. Theywhere a light shade of blue that seemed to glow.

I shook off the memories ofGerviase and I hurried to put on my newly stolen clothes. I wrapped my hair ina ponytail and started down the stairs. I wished I could stay. This place wasquiet and nobody was around for miles. Running just didn’t seem like somethingI should do. That’s not the life I wantedfor myself, not even in this new life, I thought to myself. When I reached the middle of thestairs, I heard the footsteps of two people outside. They walked slowly just asI did when I walked onto the property. I started to panic. What if they werethe owners of the house? How would I explain why I was in their home? Wouldthey or could they even understand? But something didn’t seem right, I didn’thear talking all I could hear were loud and hard footsteps.

Normally, I would panic under thesecircumstances, confusion would wrap its hands around my mind and I would run indifferent directions. I knew that this was not the time for that. I had tothink clearly. I ran back up the stairs, past each open door and came upon awindow looking over the front yard. I stopped to look out the window and I sawthe same two men that broke into my house the night before, walking up theporch. Nothing had changed about them, not even the clothes they wore. Theystill looked like the same brutal men that killed my family. With that thought,I began to feel afraid. I had to think and I had to do it fast. My time wasrunning out. They were almost to the door.

I stayed at the window for a briefmoment, watching their moves, the way they walked, the way their hands movedalong with their feet. They moved like trained killers. I noticed they lookedat each other without saying a word; it was like they knew what the other wasthinking. They knew what the other was going to do. It had to be from trainingof some kind. I knew the only thing left for me to do was get to the thirdfloor and jump out a window. As I ran up the last flight of stairs, I stoppedat a little door at the end of the hallway. It was rounded on top with roundedtrimming. It stood out from the others for two reasons: because of its size,and because it was the only door that was hand-carvedand painted brown.

I could hear the two men downstairsripping the front door off of its hinges. It wouldn’t be long until they foundme. I opened the door to the attic as slowly and quietly as I could. I pausedfor only a moment to look around. The room reminded me of my parents’ home.There was old furniture sitting around collecting dust,children’s toys that nobody wanted to play with, other toys thatdated back to the early 1900s, and pictures that were as old as some of thetoys. There were boxes scattered everywhere, probably filled with old memories.

I stared around the room lookingfor a way out and I found a window that I just might be able to fit through. Itwas a medium-sized, round, stained-glass window with what I could only think ofas an old angel as its picture. I pushed my way through the clutter andapproached the little window. I dreaded the thought that I would be the one toruin such a piece of art but this was the only way. I thought it would take mea couple of tries to break it, but it smashed into a thousand pieces with oneblow. I looked at the shattered window, millions of once beautifully stainedpieces of glass laid on the outside roof. I was stunned at my power. But thenoise I made was loud enough to alert the two vampires downstairs who wereentering every room just to replace me. I could hear them getting close.

I crawled out onto the eve, lookingbehind me to see how much time I had, but the few minutes I thought I had justturned into a few seconds. Gerviase and Alexander were already in the atticsmashing things around just to get to me. How did they get here so fast?

“You have no where to go, Trinity!”Gerviase yelled, almost taunting me. His eyes were mean and his voice waspersistent. The way he threw things around, I could see that he had no remorse,no emotion, just anger. It was that will that he used to get closer to me.

I didn’t want to jump; I held onto the brokenwindow frame and looked around. There was nothing left for me to do. Even if Iwas already dead, I didn’t want to fully die. Not yet. There was a reason why Ichanged, and why I was here, and I needed to replace that out before I took myplace in Heaven. I closed my eyes and thought of my husband and daughter, andtook my last step off the three-story house. I fell through the air quicklycutting through the breeze like a knife. I was anticipating breaking a bone butI landed on my feet as if I were a cat. I stood up and looked over my shoulderat the two vampires who were looking out the window. I didn’t have time to stand there in shock; Ijust started to run. But as I took off, I could hear Alexander say to Gerviase,

“Do you think she knows or do youthink she makes this up as she goes along?”

What was he talking about? Do youthink she knows what? I thought as I ran. In the little time I’ve had on myown, what could I have figured out? Did they really think I was that smart? Iwanted nothing more than to know what was happening, to know why my family had to die, why I had to getbitten, and how all the movies and books about vampires were true, that theyreally did exist.

I wasn’t running like I once did. Iremember being in school and having to run a mile. Stupid thing to do inschool. It was set up for the school to know which one of us was healthier thanthe other, but it also showed us classmates who was more athletic. Some kidscould do the mile in three minutes; others in five. As for me: I didn’t roundthe corner until way after thirteen minutes. When I finally stopped, I had apain in my side and an overbearing thirst for water. But now here I was,running as fast as cars could drive, maybe faster. I could give the bestathlete a run for his money. This time I wasn’t running to meet some timelimit. This time I was running for my life. Yet I couldn’t worry about myspeed; I could hear the racing sound of somebody’s feet right behind me. The man yelled for me to stop, but Ikept going.

I ran without looking where I wasgoing or seeing what was in front of me. I knew I was running to the best of myability because everything around me was a blur. I kept telling myself that ifI could lose him, I would be okay. I ran back to the thick of the orchard hopingI could hide between the trees. Unfortunately, my speed wasn’t fast enough tolose him. I heard him gaining on me, and then I could hear all the crushingleaves that he left beneath his feet. Panic rose in the pit of my stomach. Ididn’t want to be caught yet. He jumped up and flew into my back, knocking medown to the hard ground. We rolled a couple of feet and smashed into a tree. Myinstincts told me to twist around and kick him off of me and that’s when I sawthe full power I actually had. He flew in the air but stopped himself before hehit another tree. He landed on his feet with one hand on the ground. He lookedup at me. It was Alexander.

“Trinity, I don’t want to hurt you.He’ll be here soon. Do as I say!”

I started to feel a rage that I’venever felt before inside of me. It was stomach-turning, blood-boiling rage.“Who the hell are you? What did you do to me?”

“I will answer all your questions,but you must trust me. Now stay put!” He stopped and looked to his side,placing his finger on his mouth. “Shhh! He’s here.”

I looked to the side, almost inslow motion; Gerviase was walking leisurely toward us. He walked with apurpose, with poise and with confidence. He wasn’t out of breath and his feetbarely seemed to touch the ground. He looked as if he were the leader of thissmall group of vampires and nothing anybody could say would change hisrank.

“Lookie what we have here! Do Ismell betrayal before me?” He asked calmly as he looked at Alexander.

“No, Sir.” Alexander said quicklyas he stood up straight. He reminded me of a soldier standing before hissergeant waiting for his orders. That’s when I knew I was right.

I was scared and didn’t know what Ishould do. I took a few steps back until the tree behind me stopped my path. Ihad no place to run; every direction I could take would be blocked in a blinkof an eye. The two vampires stared at each other in a short silence. Again itseemed like they could read each other’s thoughts and know each other’sactions. I was waiting for Alexander to bow down at Gerviase’s feet.

“Why didn’t you carry out yourduty, Alexander?” Gerviase asked as he started to circle Alexander. “She is tobe destroyed!” Gerviase stopped for a moment then suddenly he ran up to me,staring into my eyes. It felt like he was staring right through me. I felt likehe could see every thought I had, every memory I kept hidden. I grabbed thetree behind me, wishing I could pick it up and throw it at him. My kneesstarted to shake. “Do you know who you are, my darling?” He asked callously.

“Gerviase! Leave her be!” Alexanderyelled without permission to speak. He took a step forward.

“You dare speak that way to me!”Gerviase looked at Alexander, than at me. “So this is betrayal.” He looked backto Alexander. “We have our orders!”

“Orders from who?!” I said, tryingto fight my urge to run, despite what Alexander said to me. I wanted to stay;maybe I would hear something useful, something that would explain why this wasall happening to me.

“Gerviase, she obviously doesn’t knowor understand this! There’s no need to do this.” Alexander pleaded.

“All the more reason she’s a threatAlexander!”

I couldn’t stand listening to themwhen I didn’t understand what they were talking about. I was in the monasteryall over again overhearing the nuns talking about my past, things that made nosense to me. I interrupted the argument once more. “Would somebody please justtell me what’s going on!”

The pair stopped and both lookedover at me. Gerviase put his hands on my cheeks to draw me closer to him. “Sosweet and innocent, yet, now so deadly. You’ll never know the powers that youhold.”

I squinted my eyes and tried tobrush his hands off of me by moving my face. His touch was revolting to me. Buthe just smiled. He found it amusing that I was sickened by him – by even thefaintest touch from him. Alex stood there maybe afraid to say any more, but hisbody language told me he wasn’t going to give up, not without a fight. He stoodthere waiting for his moment.

Gerviase took a step back andstarted to take a defensive stance, crouching as if to move in and hurt or evenkill me. But little did he know I was ready. I wanted this confusing nightmareto be over. I wanted to be reunited with my family in Heaven. Before Gerviasecould react, Alexander flew over to him and knocked him to the ground. I movedaway. Gerviase got up quickly; they both paused for a moment, staring eachother up and down, then they flew into each other baring their teeth andgrabbing each other’s neck. You could hear their growls for miles. They threweach other off of one another.

The two vampires edged slowlytoward one another. I found myself in the middle of a competition to determinewhich vampire would be the strongest, like two dogs fighting for their territory.A few feet away from Alexander, Gerviase was staring at me. His top hat thatonce was securely on his head was now laying on the ground yards away from me.His eyes were now black and I could tell he thirsted for me in the way his lipsbarely touched each other. Every time he looked at me, I could see himtwitch. If there was a plan of attack,Alexander had foiled it. Now he didn’t know what to do, I could only hope thathe was as perplexed as I was.

“She doesn’t have to die,Gerviase.” Alexander warned; his eyes fixed on the other vampire. “We don’thave to do this my old friend.”

Alexander slid his feet to the sideto compensate for Gerviase’s moves, and stood in front of me. There was atwo-foot space between them now. Gerviase’s eyes were empty, his jaw tightenedas he took a defensive position. The only thought he had was to get to me, asif he was the hunter and I was his deer. He tensed his upper body to preparefor the attack.

I stood there powerless not knowingwhat to do. If I ran, maybe I would get away again, maybe not, but I would losemy chance to replace out the truth. Why was I so important? Why did my family haveto die? If I stayed, Alexander might lose and we both would die, and I wouldnever learn the truth. The decision wasn’t as difficult as one might think. Ihad already prepared myself to die. So if Alexander lost, so would I.

I heard them snarling as Gerviasedarted for Alexander. Alexander had the upper hand this time. He waited like amother, with arms extended, waiting for her child to walk to her. He grabbedGerviase as if grabbing a chair and hurled him off into the distance. Hequickly gripped my hand and we both started to run. I didn’t try to break free.This was my chance.

My head was spinning from the rapidchanges of direction in our journey. We would follow one path then he wouldturn us in the other direction. Maybe it was to throw off Gerviase in case hewas still following us. We glided through the bright thick leaves of theorchard too fast to be seen. As we ran past the trees, they swayed back andforth. To a normal person, we were traveling at a bullet’s speed, but to me itfelt ordinary. It felt like I had been doing it my whole life. We went on andon but we never gasped for breath, as if the running took no effort. I was tooterrified to keep my eyes open. I was being dragged by a killer to adestination I didn’t know.

We found a place to hide for awhilethat would bring us peace, if only for a minute. We were in the country now.How long had we been running? I knew that there wasn’t a place like this in Arizona – not sobeautiful, so calm or as green. I was used to looking at desert and sand, notgrass and forest.

The sun was starting to set as the luminous pinks andpurples in the sky were trying to shine through the thick of clouds. It wantedto rain so badly. It was a sunset that I would havespent time enjoying if had I been with my husband and daughter. It was a sunsetthat only pictures were made of. But by the time we came to a stop, the sceniccolors started to diminish and the clouds were overtaking the beauty of thesky, turning it into a storm of black and grey. It felt like a sign that thiswas going to be how my life would stay: dark, cold, and depressing.

We came upon an old abandoned house. It was a one-storyhouse with all of its windows either broken or cracked. The wood looked like itwould fall apart with one touch. The dull brown paint on the trim was barelyvisible due to all the cracks in the wood. Trees and shrubs had grown unhinderedall around the house, providing no easy path. We walked up to the front door,which was hanging by one bolt. A red sign with black pen handwriting was nailedinto the wood. It read:

CONDEMNED