Call of the Night (Chapter 1)

<center><b><u>Chapter 1</u></b></center>
<center><b>The Death of A Hero</b></center>




At midnight, the annual sacrifice of a vampire to Shujin would be the entertainment.

Kind of like a buffet. One worthless vampire of the tribe would be chosen by the rest for sacrifice.


They were picked for all kinds of things, such as bad performance for Shujin, disobeying him, minimal intelligence or strength, et c. If chosen to be sacrificed, they would be sent to Oblivion, the final resting place. As vampires and vampiresses, they are known to never die. But there is one exception, which humans do not know of. They can only be killed if their master, Shujin, attempts to kill them. They will then be sent to Oblivion, a vampire's Hell. It is the last place any of them wished to end up in. Only their Shujin and the Shujin of other tribes could send a vampire or a vampiress to Oblivion. Shujin of other tribes had that privilege and few others, but their Shujin had the most privileges and abilities. He was the top of the hierarchy and had the last say in everything. For he was the Shujin of Kompon No, or The Ultimate Tribe. He could do whatever he pleased, with no complaints issued toward him. That did not mean his followers thought him an excellent leader. No, they were just too afraid to make any complaints.


Bright red, orange and yellow lights decorated the village center in exciting designs. Some lower-class vampiresses not allowed in the sacrificial deliberation were instead put to work decorating the village center, setting up instruments and collecting food from the forest for the night's events. Apple pie held its scent arrogantly in the air, blasting wisps of its smell to everyone who passed. Everyone was in a content mood, smiling as others walked past. It was a festive, happy time. For most of them, at least. Because after the deliberation, they would celebrate until midnight, at which time the sacrifice would be given to Shujin.


A loud gong clanged in the distance. 2 times. 3 times. Soon she would be late; the gong had been the warning. She had been standing in the center, but now darted off to the East. It started to drizzle, but with a loud clap of thunder, it was suddenly pouring. She quickly pulled her black hood over her head and fastened her cloak. She started to sprint toward the Deliberation Hall, her feet splashing in the rain as she went.


She reached the Deliberation Hall not a minute later, and stood in front of it, gazing up to the top. It was a large, red and yellow tent, where loud voices and music were protruding from.

She reached out her long, thin hand, separated a crack in the middle and entered the tent, sheltered from the rain.


She squinted through the darkness inside. There was only one small, yellow lamp hanging from the ceiling above the middle of the tent. It was shining down on only one thing. A large, stone, circular stage, which would be the focus of attention. The small tufts of grass sticking out from the dirt were slightly damp, and the rest of the ground was dirt.

There were hundreds of stands surrounding the stage, with thousands of vampires and vampiresses sitting in them.

There was a long, white, see-through curtain in the back of the tent, which she proceeded to now after lowering her hood and unfastening her cloak.


She swung the curtain aside and went in the small auxiliary room.

It was where the 6 sacrificial candidates were preparing for their battles. There was more light back here than there had been in the main part of the tent.

There were only 2 chairs, both of which were occupied by candidates. The other 4 were standing.

"Melissa!"

Someone yelled her name, and she spun around to see who it was.

"Darius!

Are you okay?" She asked feverishly as he hugged her.

"Never mind me, what about you? Are you scared?"

"Of course I'm scared. I don't want anything to happen to you. It's my fault you're in here anyway."

"How is it your fault?"

"How is it not? You wanted to get me out of this so you went and stole from Shujin so they'd send you in instead!"

"Don't take the blame for it. Obviously I wanted to help you. It was my choice."

"Darius...."

"Listen, if I die---"

"You're NOT going to die!"

She almost screamed these words, causing some of the other candidates to stare. She ignored them.

"I said if. If I die, take care of Alexandria."

"Of course I will," She said impatiently.

"And one more thing...take this," he pulled out a small, sapphire necklace from his pocket. He put the necklace on her and smiled. It was beautiful.

It had a pure gold chain, shimmering in the bright sunlight, making it seem to glow around her olive skinned neck. The chain intersected at a heavy, diamond shaped sapphire. But Melissa didn't smile. She merely stood gawking at it.

"How did you get this? It looks really expensive."

"Well, that's because it is. I stole it from Shujin's son when I murdered him."

"YOU MURDERED HIM?!" Melissa screamed, shocked.

Now all the candidates, and, more importantly, the guards, were watching her and Darius closely.

"Shhhh! When I went to rob Shujin, his son found me. I didn't have a choice," Darius responded, lowering his voice to a whisper, "After I killed him, I saw this necklace in his hand. He may have been planning to give it to one of the Blonde Maidens, I'm not sure."

"Darius, you really shouldn't have done that. You could have gotten away easily, I'm sure he wouldn't know who you were."

"Melissa, drop it."

"But--"

"Drop it."

"Candidates!" Called a voice from the other half of the tent. "Please proceed into the main hall immediately!"

A few guards came and escorted Darius and the other candidates before Melissa could say goodbye. Another guard pulled her by her elbow out to the main hall and told her to find a seat, which she did.

She sat near the stone stage in the middle, on a purple pillow situated on one of the stands. She turned her neck around and watched the 6 candidates proceed up to the middle of the tent. Following them in pairs of 2 were 6 Blonde Maidens, throwing white and purple flowers onto the ground.



The candidates climbed the steps and arranged themselves in a shadowed area of the stage. The Blonde Maidens sat in front of the stage, and the reason they had laid out the flowers came strutting down the walkway.

A tall man with slicked-back, oily black hair stood in front of the 6 candidates with a microphone in his hand.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. My name is James Kreuger, and I shall be your announcer this 'eve. Now, as you all know, this is a competition between 6 candidates to see who shall be sacrificed tonight for our master, Shujin. Behind me I have 6 candidates, all of whom are considered worthless and eligible to die. As I call out their names, they shall step forth.

"Harold Asher!" A very thin man with bright blue eyes and light, wavy blonde hair. Everyone knew he was a dunce and pathetic. Barely a competitor, and that's why he was being sent in for deliberation.

The same idea held true for the next man, this time a brunette, named Damien Bond. Each of them got little cheers and many boos.

"Anissa Fulwiler!" Was the name of the only girl there, who happened to be one of Melissa's best friends in the village. She was thin, and tall, with long, dull, tangly dark blonde hair that came down to almost her waist. She had just turned 20. She wasn't very strong, but she was intelligent, and that's what won her most battles.

She was a candidate for defiance of Shujin. He had tried to make her murder her aunt, who was a human, but she would not do it. So he offered her up for death.

Melissa didn't want Anissa to be killed, but if it was a choice between her and Darius, she knew who she would pick.

The crowd clapped politely for her.

"Antonio Ianuzzi!" A tall, rather attractive brunette man stepped up from the shadows. He looked somber and sad, but what was he supposed to look like at this moment? He was being sent into deliberation for stealing, just as Darius had. He was smart, like Darius, and strong, too.

"Gregory Krensky!" Gregory was a tall, fat man. He was very strong, but very stupid. He was being sent into deliberation for being such an idiot on missions. He received the loudest cheer yet.

"And last but certainly not least, Darius McGriever!" Called James Kreuger.

Darius stepped up, not looking at anyone but Melissa. It might've been the last time she ever saw his smooth skin, his deep, brown eyes or jet black hair. She tried to capture that last moment in perfection. All the other voices in the tent seemed to disappear, as if they were the only two people there that mattered.

"These 6 candidates will be split up in twos. They will compete against each other in 3 tasks. The winner of each competition will be free to go. The losers, you shall vote out of for whom you think should be sacrificed. The pairs are as follows: Anissa Fulwiler and Antonio Ianuzzi, Damien Bond and Harold Asher, and Darius McGriever and Gregory Krensky."

Now Melissa was scared, because Darius had to fight Gregory, who was much bigger than him. Kreuger called Anissa and Antonio up first.

This was a disappointment for Melissa, because she wanted Anissa to come out of this alive, too, but Anissa had a huge disadvantage going first. The 2nd and 3rd teams would have time to watch the tasks and would already know what to do, but Anissa was stepping in with nothing, as well as Antonio. There were 3 tall rings suddenly standing before them, with a red and white target at the end of them.

"The candidates' first task shall be to stand before these 3 rings," the rings ignited with fire at these words, "and try to throw a saber through them, NOT touching the rings, and hit the target at the end. The one who reaches closest to the target wins. Antonio shall go first."

Antonio going first was already bad news for Anissa, for the games were played in a unique way.

The first player for the first task is not chosen randomly. The crowd had voted earlier on who would go first. They vote for the person they already think will win, which shows that none of them really believed in Anissa's ability, which could make her lose the ambition to win if she had no support from the audience.

This was bad because a candidate going 2nd in the 1st task always loses the love of the crowd, which has to make bets on the deliberation before the 2nd task. If the candidate loses the love of the crowd and the match, they always have a huge chance of being offered up for sacrifice, which the crowd also votes for.

Antonio went in front of the rings and chose a saber from the bag of them standing close to the 1st ring. He stood back, and lunged the saber without even thinking about how to throw it. It hit the 3rd ring and kind of flipped over, landing about a half of a foot away from the center of the target. The crowd cheered for him but grew cold as Anissa stepped up to the rings. She carefully chose a saber, one that was pretty short and had a triangular pyramid shape. She paused in front of the rings in a reverie.

She then chucked it very hard and very fast, landing it dead center on the target, causing the crowd to clap very halfheartedly. But Melissa, one of the few who did, stood up and cheered loudly.

Anissa smiled at her.

"In this next task, these walls will be used," Kreuger pointed to a set of 3 walls. The 1st one was short, the 2nd was the tallest, and the 3rd was in the middle of the 2. "The candidates will have to jump over each wall. The rules are simple. The candidate who makes it across all 3 walls, without falling, with the fastest time will win this challenge. Anissa shall go first. When you hear the horn, Anissa, you may start."

The crowd was restless now, scared if Anissa might come out the victor. Whoever wins 2 out of 3 would win the game. Anissa proceeded to the walls, and, when the loud horn signaled her to start, she quickly climbed over the 1st wall.

The 2nd wall she had a bit of trouble with. It took her almost 15 seconds to clamber over it. By the 3rd wall, she was exhausted and it took a bit longer than the 1st wall to climb over. But eventually she made it with an okay time of 23 seconds.

Antonio was next as the small cheer from the crowd subsided. Antonio easily made it over the 1st wall, and took a few deep breaths before climbing up the next wall. Instead of using energy to climb down from the 2nd wall, he let himself drop, landing on his feet. He was then able to finish the 3rd wall easily with a time of only 16 seconds. The crowd's cheers were phenomenal for Antonio, who had won easily.

"Everyone, look above you and you shall see the final task for the candidates. First one to touch the ground, loses. 'Nuff said."

The final task was always the same. The candidates would fight each other on a suspended beam in a different environment. In this envoirnment, a sudden wind would come through and start to wobble the beam, which would make it difficult for the candidates to balance on.

Anissa and Antonio were raised up to the beam, which was 50 feet above the ground. The wind had calmed down until they reached the top, where it started to blow again, and the fight immediately commenced.

They both pulled out their sabers, but Antonio was the first to charge. He aimed at her chest but she got down and latched onto the beam. He almost ran over her but caught himself. She was still lying below him, trapped. He raised the saber and went to attack, but, scared, Anissa let go and rolled off the beam and fell to the ground, where she was caught on a gigantic trampoline.



"And Antonio wins this match!" Kreuger screamed, pleasing the crowd very much indeed. Melissa didn't clap even once.

"And now we will have Harold and Damien. This ought to be...entertaining."

Everyone laughed at this, as they knew Harold and Damien were both pathetically weak and stupid, therefore a match with Harold and Damien was very unlikely to be entertaining, but rather boring.


"Damien shall go first." Damien picked a very short saber, the idiot. It wouldn't go very fast through the rings, therefore it was likely to lose altitude halfway through and fall, letting him lose.

Melissa's thoughts were correct. The saber did lose speed, and fell on the second ring. The crowd booed and Kreuger thrust Harold at the rings, leaving Damien looking pathetic and defeated, as he was.

Harold was just as bad. He did, however, choose a decent saber to throw. It was long and thin, looking very agile and speedy. But poor Harold had a very bad aim. It bounced off the first ring and almost hit Damien, who ran screaming like a little girl, in the eye.

"Since Harold's did not even pass through, Damien has won and will go first in the next competition." Said Kreuger unexcitedly.

Melissa actually thought she heard somebody yawn.

Damien and Harold had the same 2nd task as Anissa and Antonio. Damien stared up at the walls for a quick minute before starting. He looked very nervous. He made it over the first wall with some difficulty, his foot getting caught on it on his way down. On the 2nd wall, the tallest one, the clumsy little idiot did a face plant after his foot got stuck again, and had to be carried out of the way by the guards so that Harold could try.


He did okay on the 1st wall, but when he went towards the 2nd, he couldn't make it up. He struggled to pull his body above the wall, but just couldn't do it and gave up by jumping off the wall.

"Harold lost 2 out of 3, and therefore the next competition is not required. Bring out Gregory and Darius!"

It was as if someone had lit a firecracker under the audience when Kreuger spoke these words, they cheered so loudly. But most of what they were yelling was not cheers.

Most of it was rude comments being yelled to Darius for killing Shujin's son and stealing. Everyone hated him now.

The way Damien walked off that stage was sad. He looked as if he had a triumphant win instead of a pathetic one and seemed to think that the crowd was cheering for him.

Gregory and Darius had the same first two tasks as the other 2 pairs. Darius won the rings by about an inch. Gregory did better on the walls than Darius because he was tall and it would be easier for him to fling himself over them.



Then, on the final task, the wind really started to pick up once they got up to the beam. Neither of them bothered to take out their sabres yet, but Gregory did try to punch Darius in the face a few times.



Finally, Darius jumped up in the air and grabbed onto a rope above the beam as it shook beneath him, and Gregory had to catch his balance. While Gregory was preoccupied with that, Darius went behind him and kicked him square in the back.

Gregory bent over from the force of the kick, and Darius then took the opportunity to kick him off the side. Gregory fell off and landed with a very heavy fall on the trampoline.

Darius jumped down and landed next to him as the guards went to take Gregory away with Harold and Anissa, but Kreuger held up his hand to stop them.

"And Gregory wins!"

The crowd, who did not seem surprised, cheered loudly, as if they'd all won the lottery.



"What?! You cheated!" Melissa screamed.

"Somebody shut her up." Said Kreuger coolly.

He then turned back to the crowd and said, "You will receive a ballot, on which you shall vote for either Darius, Anissa or Harold to be sacrificed tonight. Please just write the name of whomever."



Before Melissa could protest anymore, she felt a tapping on her shoulder, and turned around to find a guard holding a small piece of paper and an even smaller pencil, staring closely at her.

She took it, scribbled down Harold's name and rushed to the stage to place her vote in the small ballot box on top of the stool that Kreuger was now placing in the middle of the stage.

She threw her vote in and furiously went to see Kreuger.

She pulled him around by his collar and stood an inch from his face, screaming, "You cheated! You know that Darius won fair and square!"

"No, he did not. The rules were to either stay on the beam and fight or fall off and lose. He didn't fall, but he did jump off and hold onto that rope and started to cheat. Therefore, he loses. Now please get out of my way."

"No! Change it, now! Tell them!"

"They wouldn't take it very well, now would they? They all hate your worthless scum of a boyfriend and you should, too, he stole from your master and killed your master's only son."

"His son of a harlot, you mean."

"What's the difference? It's his son! Shujin does what he pleases, when he pleases, now don't worry your pretty little head about it. You'd best get back to your house to prepare for tonight."

Melissa stormed off without a goodbye, and walked out of the tent. She made her way from the east to the west, were the housing was.

She found her and her roommate's home and plopped down on her bed, silently crying.

The house she was in now was small, with only one bedroom/dining room/living room/kitchen and one bathroom, which she and her roommate shared. There was a tiny table for 3 near a bowl of water and a stone oven. They had their own beds, a nightstand each, their own closets and 1 floor length mirror in between their beds.

About 20 minutes later, Melissa heard the rickety wooden door being pushed open, and turned around to see Krista, Anissa's little sister, who also happened to be Melissa's roommate. Neither of them said anything, but Krista sat down next to Melissa on her bed.

Krista wasn't that much younger than Anissa, only 17, and Melissa was 19. Darius was just a bit older, 22.

"Are you scared?" Krista asked.

When Melissa didn't respond, she continued. "I am. Someone I love might die too tonight--"

"Krista, stop it, the whole damn village loves your sister, but they hate Darius! No one cares if Harold lives or dies so they'd vote for Darius over both of them now will you leave me alone?! He's gonna die tonight and I know it! And you pretending to think that Anissa might die isn't helping any!"

"Fine," Said Krista, getting up to leave. "But just know this. They don't hate Darius, they're afraid of Shujin. You know just as well as I do that if Darius had stolen from anyone but Shujin, everyone would probably vote for Harold. Shujin forced them to be afraid, and to hate Darius. Shujin forced Kreuger to make up any excuse he could to let Gregory win. You know that so quit acting stupid. I'll be back soon."

Melissa knew she was right, but didn't say anything. She was too busy thinking about Darius. She knew what she had to do, it was the right thing. But it was horrible....

She reached under her bed to find a small, black chalkboard and a small purple bag. She took off the necklace Darius had just given her and held it in her hand. She opened the purple bag, and took out a light blue powder inside, which she sprinkled onto the chalkboard, waving the sapphire on the necklace above it.

She was charming the necklace.

It took only 5 minutes. She quickly hid her things under her bed before anyone saw and started to get ready, when Krista walked back in.

Melissa opened her closet and started to lay clothes out on her bed to choose from.

The sacrifice was a formal event, so she would be wearing a dress.

She smiled at her collection of beautiful silks, satins and furs. She was one of the richest in their entire village, and every girl there wanted to be her. She didn't blame them.

If someone else had been her...Well, she'd do a few unspeakable things to get her hands on the mass of clothes, jewelry, make up and money that she owned. Even this wreck of a house was considered expensive. Krista was lucky enough to be living with her.

She did not gain all of this property on her own. No, that would be impossible. It was because of her 3 husbands.

Even though she was only 19, it was possible to be married in their village as young as 13. Once a girl was married, their husband would pay for half of their wife's expenses, as well as any desires she might have during their marriage, such as for jewelry, make up and clothes. Amongst the 3 husbands, Melissa also had a daughter, Alexandria, who was 4. Alexandria was living in an orphanage on earth, far away from the hell she and Darius were residing in. Alexandria was not Darius' daughter; she was Melissa's 2nd husband's daughter.

Her first husband she had when she was 13, and the marriage did not last very long because he was chosen for sacrifice just a few months later. He was the son of a general, and was therefore rather wealthy. Her 2nd husband she wed on the eve of her 15th birthday. She didn't marry him out of love, but because she was pregnant to him with Alexandria, who she had a few months after the marriage. He happened to be a thief, and that's how she got money from him. She left this 2nd husband after he started abusing her for an even wealthier man when she was 17. Right before she married her 3rd husband, however, she sent Alexandria away for safety.

This man was 26 and was Shujin's cousin and head of another vampire tribe somewhere south of Kompon No, making him the wealthiest so far. This was an arranged marriage by Shujin, who thought it would be best for one of the few vampiresses he taught on his own to marry intois family.

She left him when she was 18 for Darius, and now she was to be married to him. This was why Shujin disliked Darius more than anyone else in the village; He couldn't believe that a peasant like Darius could snatch away a wife of his own cousin, who was royalty. Darius was too loaw-class for him.


She picked a long, orange-red silk dress to wear. It had some dark yellow and green tinges, with a sash wrapped to the left shoulder and the right hip, the same color as the dress. There was a large gold design at the hip where the sash met, drawing attention to itself. She wore this with gold slippers.

She had a large stash of jewelry, as well, in her nightstand and in a case in her closet. Onyx, pearl, gold, diamond, enamel, jade, anything imaginable, and it was all hers. She took a large, gold butterfly barrette for her hair, which she left straight. She put 3 gold bracelets on each wrist and a seashell anklet on her left foot. She also picked out a few onyx and jade rings, along with the engagement ring Darius had given her last month. Darius may not have been very wealthy, but he would be her best husband by far.

She put on a pearl necklace, which had small rose quartz gems in between each pearl, which she wore along with her sapphire necklace gift from Darius. Lastly, she chose large, gold, hoop earrings.

Her make up was a different story. A vampiress' make up was very unique. They had 3 different sticks for applying the make up. One was for their face powder, which Melissa always made a light tan.

She put it under her chin, some on her neck and around her cheeks. The 2nd stick was for lipstick, of which she picked a dark red color. The 3rd and final stick was to add accents to the eyebrows and eyelashes. She picked a light, chestnut color and added small flares to the ends of her brows and lashes. During special occasions like these, a vampiress must paint an animal on some visible part of her body. Melissa always chose a blue, green and purple butterfly. This time, she placed it on her right ankle, which was still visible, since her dress only came halfway down her legs.

She had only a half hour before the sacrifice, now. It was 11:30, and the sacrifice would be at midnight. She stepped outside of her house to see Krista standing there, waiting for her.

She looked very pretty tonight.

She was wearing a long, dark blue, satin dress (borrowed from Melissa, as Krista could not afford satin), with dark blue sandals. She had on fake gold jewelry, with her hair swept into a high ponytail. She had painted a ferocious-looking tiger on her right cheek as her animal.

They met up with some of their friends in the village and proceeded to the center, where the sacrifice would take place.

In the middle of the center was a roaring fire. Instrumentalists were playing songs to one side of the fire, while the choir was chanting ritual songs. The ground was littered with berries, pearl stones and the heads of flowers.

Children were dancing around the fire as the food was served on tables surrounding the fire in a very cramped fashion.

It took a while for Melissa, Krista and their 3 friends to find room at a table. Unfortunately, Melissa got seated next to a short old man who kept moving closer to her every chance he got.

Melissa, however, wasn't eating or dancing or celebrating in any way; she was too worried about Darius.

A half hour later, Shujin came from the east, escorted by 12 guards. He was wearing a long, purple robe He started greeting friends that he knew in the village, passing Melissa with only a silent glance. She returned nothing more than a scowl. The other royals and important people in the village all greeted Melissa, as they knew her from her 3rd marriage. Shujin took his place at a podium set up for him so that everyone could see him.



"Good evening, friends, and welcome to yet another sacrifice here in Kompon No. You all voted earlier on who out of the 3 you would like to watch me devour tonight, and here they are! Bring out the 3 lucky candidates!"

Half of the crowd was cheering, but half looked sick with worry, wondering whether their friend or family member was about to be killed. Darius, Anissa and Harold were pulled out in a large cage, big enough for all 6 candidates and more to fit inside. Melissa held her breath as James Kreuger came in front of Shujin, and pointed his finger at the sky.

A large amount of purple sparks flew at the night sky, which was littered with stars. The sparks formed together, creating the image of a name:



Darius McGriever



"No!" Melissa screamed over the crowd, who did not seem surprised or sad at all, probably because of Shujin scaring them. But Melissa wasn't afraid of him; if she turned down his cousin in marriage it would be just as easy to turn down Shujin himself. "This is fixed, you're lying! Darius shouldn't even be here!"

"Somebody shut her up," Shujin said wearily.

Melissa tried to run to the cage, not caring at all about what Shujin would do to her if she did, but before she could reach it a guard pulled her to one side and held her still.

She saw the cage creak open and closed her eyes, clasped her hands over her ears so she wouldn't hear what happened next.

About 2 minutes passed and she didn't know what was going on.

But then someone took her hands away from her ears and started to pull her toward her table.

Too many people were talking again now to tell what was going on.

Melissa hoped with every cell in her body that the person pulling her away from the guard was Darius.

But when she opened her eyes, it was merely Anissa, who had been released from the cage by now, as well as Harold.

Melissa looked in Anissa's eyes, conveying a message she understood perfectly.

Anissa nodded, and Melissa burst into tears.

After she was done with a quick cry, she pulled herself together and noticed that they were starting to clear up the center.

She turned quickly to Krista and Anissa and said, "All right, listen. When it's over tonight, I want you both to take this sapphire necklace I have on, and take the blue notebook from underneath my bed. In there, it will explain everything."

"Wait, when what's over?" Anissa asked, looking sympathetic.


"You'll know what I mean in a second." And without another word, she stood and went over to Shujin.


"May I have a word with you, master?" She said the word 'master' in such a sarcastic tone, everyone then stared with bated breath.

"You may. A woman as powerful as you in this society has some say. Now what do you want?"

"To teach you a lesson for what you've done tonight."

"Tonight? This happens every month, you dolt, and you've just decided to say something about it now?"

"Well, the other times you weren't killing off my fiancés. Unless you count a few years ago when you killed my first husband, remember that?"

"Yes, he wasn't that bad of choice on your half. Oh, and you know Leo? Yes, remember him, your second husband? Who do you think possessed him to do those horrible things to you? Made you divorce him, come crying to me and go right into the arms of my cousin, who had his eyes on you for quite some time. Do you not see my beautiful but ruined plans? If you married my cousin, which you did, then, in time, I would be able to merge this tribe and his, bribe him with your hand in marriage and a considerable amount of money to step down from the throne, and then I would be even more powerful and wealthy than I am now by gaining both tribes under my rule."

"You're sick! You're crazy! All of that trouble just for a bit of extra money and respect?! Don't you already get enough of that?!"

"Oh, but there is more to it than that, dear Melissa. You see, when you chose that pathetic Darius, I wanted to get him out of the picture. I just needed an excuse. And that came up when that damned thief decided to steal from me and murder my own son! That gave me excuse enough, and tonight you will take my cousin's hand, in marriage, in front of everyone here."

"No! I had one reason for what I'm about to do tonight and you just gave me a million other. I will never let you gain any more power than you already have. And this sacrifice, what's the point? Respect to you? You don't deserve the respect! If you really want to seem more powerful, then you'll gain the love and support of the people by not killing off their loved ones for sport! If you do that, they'll respect you a hundred times more than they would if you took over your brother's tribe. And in turn, you would get the money. All you have to do is not kill your own kind."

Shujin paused for a moment, as if he was actually thinking about what Melissa said. "Anything else?" He asked quietly, after a while, stroking his chin.

"Yes. I'd like the chance to teach you a painful lesson tonight, Shujin."

"Is that a threat?" He asked, standing up straight.

"Yes, I believe it is." She responded calmly.

"Fine. You may go prepare for a fight. Here, in the center. Right after we clean up. You have approximately 10 minutes until then."

~*~*~


"You're going to get killed, Melissa!" Anissa yelled once the three of them were back in Melissa and Krista's house. "What is wrong with you?!"

"Don't you think I know that?! You both know I'm a seer; I obviously have more reasons than Darius as to why I'm choosing to do this tonight. Now, here's the notebook I was telling you both about." She pulled the notebook from under her bed and handed it to Krista. "And take this necklace after it's over. The charm is meant to work that way. All you both have to do is take the necklace and read what's in the notebook. You'll understand. I'm sorry, but it has to be this way." She said this as she changed into a more appropriate outfit for battling; khaki shorts, tall, brown boots, a white shirt and a dark, khaki jacket.

She then put on a utility belt and threw her hair into a ponytail, taking off all of her jewelry except for the sapphire necklace that Darius had given her. "Oh, and after tonight...You can both have all my jewelry, clothes and make up."

Krista's eyes grew as big as full moons and turned in the direction of Melissa's closet at these words.


"All right, we'd better go now." Melissa said goodbye in a hurry, trying to look calm as she walked out of the house to face her own death.

Shujin was waiting in the cleaned up center, surrounded by hundreds of vampires and vampiresses who were eager to watch the fight.

"What fun...I get to now destroy one of the lucky few who were taught by me. I remember how you were one of the worst I'd ever taught."


"That's strange...Because I recall you telling me I was the best you'd ever taught."


"That's enough out of you, let's get this over with."

Before Melissa could have any chance to respond, Shujin whipped out a bow and arrow and shot it faster than blinking.

It scraped the side of Melissa's right arm, but luckily didn't do much damage. She winced as she tried to hide the pain from her face. She would tend to it, but there wasn't any time, she had to react quickly, or he would simply attack her again. She threw one of the potions from her utility belt to the ground in front of her, and once it burst open, she became invisible to everyone around her.

She ran behind Shujin quietly and started to choke him.

Human, but effective.


Shujin slowly pried her fingers apart, and transformed into a bat, immune to being choked.

He flew high above her and she then turned into a bat herself. He flew away from her, far over the trees of the forest in the north, to which she followed him rigorously, gaining speed but knowing not to go to close to him, or he would realize that she was on his trail.


He was weaving in and out of the canopies of the trees, making himself difficult for Melissa to follow, but she managed and noticed him landing in a small clearing far from the center. Melissa followed, and transformed back into a human, standing about 15 feet away from Shujin, staring at him as he was just regaining his human form, and straightening up, shocked to see Melissa smirking at him in the distance.

Melissa took out 2 of her boomerangs from her belt and chucked them at Shujin. Both of them missed, but one did a ricochet off a tree and hit him in the back. She could tell he was in pain even though he tried to keep a straight face. He looked back up at her, contemplating his next move. She stood there, too, somewhat out of breath, but concentrated on the fight.

He raised his pointer, white, twisted finger, and, with every step he took closer to Melissa, she was lifted up into the air and carried further back into the forest. She didn't seem to have any control over her own body anymore. She tried to move her fingers, but they wouldn't budge. She tried to close her eyes, but they would not shut. It was as if she was floating along through the air in an awake sort of death. She opened her mouth to scream, until she realized that her mouth would not consent to her commands; It remained closed. Shujin carried her to a small lake and lowered her in, still using his finger to guide her, and pushed her down. She felt her feet touch the water, break through the surface, and became panicy, even though these emotions did not reflect on her face. She was slowly turning as she was lowered into the lake, water filling up her boots and stinging her unprotected skin with an icy stroke against her legs. She felt like one of those ballerinas, that spun around for children in a box, playing calm, happy music. The only music suited to this situation, was a single, long, melancholic tone. She could feel the water reach her waist, and realized exactly what was about to occur. Her spin to turmoil seemed to pick up speed, and she could now feel the water's loving touch on her neck, as if from a mother, who was caring by doing for us what we are meant to understand. "Remember that you are dust, and into dust you shall return." This was meant to happen. The water was just being a caring mother, helping her out. By this time, the crowd had found their way to the lake and was watching in awe, as small, purple ripples of death formed around Melissa's last strand of black hair, which was then pulled under the lake, with the rest of her body.

She was able to move once she got underneath the water, but Shujin was still pushing her further below. It all depended on her strength, if she was able to break through the surface of the water and fight Shujin, or if his powers continued to prevent her from rising. "Remeber that you are dust and into dust you shall return." This was meant to happen, she had no right to prevent it....


Soon, the water stopped moving and Melissa seemed to have stopped struggling. Everyone was suddenly quiet, a few stragglers still rushing in from the center. The tiny lake did not move, not one ripple spoke through the silence or stillness of the entire village. Even the wind guessed that something was wrong, and came to a hault everywhere. A single breath was not heard, a single animal was not seen, a single eye was not closed, all too busy staring at the surface of the lake.

Everyone was startled and woken from this eerie silence a few minutes later, as Anissa and Krista broke out of the throng of gaunt vampires and rushed to the lake, so fast, they almost tripped. Anissa dropped to the hard ground on her knees, but didn't care about the pain as she reached into the water and pulled Melissa out by her collar before she sunk too far down to reach. Then, Krista was able to pull Melissa's sapphire necklace from around her dead neck, through her dead, wet hair. Even though people were moving closer to view Melissa's dead body, not one of them spoke a word.

Shujin's eyes were still, and one could not see his emotions through them. He looked even paler than usual, and could not stop fidgeting. His mouth opened a couple times, but usually closed quickly. He finally began to speak slowly and softly, as if not completely sure about his next choice of words. "Get away, all of you. And know that this will be the last sacrifice performed while I am in reign of this tribe. At least Melissa did one good thing while she was here. I will only send one of you to Oblivion from now on if you displease me."

Some of the crowd started to complain, and came back to life. Mainly the bloodthirsty ones. Other people were still standing there, blankly, staring at Melissa's body and looking disgusted at the others' reactions to Shujin's words. They only stopped shouting when Shujin announced that they were displeasing him.

Anissa did not react in either of those ways, but just glared at Shujin with hatred in her watery eyes as Krista shakily lowered Melissa back into the water, her black hair floating along eerily as she sunk lower and lower, until she disappeared completely.