The outcasts

Chapter one: Rune

Always hiding.
Always watching them walk by, ignoring the dangers that wandered in their midst.
She sat among them, shrouded in black, soaking up what little warmth could be found in the cold days of winter.
Rune leaned against the wall, shivering against the cold. The large brick wall of the store behind her would have cast a long shadow over her if there had been sunlight, but now, it protected her from the snow that fell in thick flurries. At her feet was a small cup with a few coins in it, and in her gloved hands she held a cardboard sign that read: Homeless. Anything helps.
There were few who turned to face the wind to look at her. Those who did were too occupied with keeping warm to look underneath her long hood. Rune’s eyes were sunken, and her face was pale. But no red flushed to her cheeks in the cold. It was as though she had no blood at all.
“Mommy! Mommy, look, a vampire!”
Rune jerked her head up in alarm to see a little boy pointing at her. The mother quickly hushed him and glanced apologetically at Rune, who nodded back without another word. She could understand the boy’s assumption. The lack of understanding, for a start. Also, the fact that her eyes had perpetual dark circles under them, and her eyes were a coal black, and she had no color in her face, and her teeth…
How could she forget her teeth? Her pointed fangs were prominent enough that she could feel them, but not too long that anyone would suspect anything out of the ordinary. Her fangs were retractable, so that they looked like a normal person’s canines.
Rune sniffed the air. She could smell the blood pumping in the heart of every person that passed her way. Once, that smell had stirred a barbaric desire inside of her, but now, she smelled the blood and felt only a longing for blood of her own, once again.
Rune tried to relax, but the words that they boy had spoken kept her alert. Those listening would have thought it was the foolish words of a boy, but others would not be so unknowing. She scanned the crowds, and then she saw him.
His blond hair was rumpled, and the snow that had settled in it showed he had been watching her for quite some time. The cold seemed to have little effect on him, and his black eyes stared directly at her. He was dressed in a black shirt and black jeans. As she watched, he slowly grinned, his smile stretching farther until she could clearly see his pure white teeth. Then, as she watched, his canines lowered slightly, so slightly only someone with exceptional vision such as her would see. She grabbed the cup, which had gathered coins from several people who were ashamed with the child’s performance. The sign was tucked under one arm, and she set off at a brisk pace. Even with the stomping of feet all around her, she could distinguish the pace of the blond man, following her.
She headed for the woods. They were the only place of safety. Her pace quickened to a sprint, and she gained several yards before she reached the forest. There was no sound.
Quickly, she stuffed the sign and cup into a hollow and threw off her cape and stuffed it in the hollow as well. Underneath, she wore a long-sleeved black shirt and black pants, similar to the one the blond man wore.
From a few feet away, she heard a twig snap under a foot. It would have been barely distinguishable, but in the silence of the woods, it sounded like a gunshot. Rune was off before the sound could finish echoing.
She heard the man behind her. Her supernatural speed would be no match for a human, but the man was not human. Her sprint matched that of a deer, while the man behind her had the speed of a cat.
Rune hopped sideways between a gap of trees and kept on running. She heard the man grunt as he struggled to fit through the tree. Thinking quickly, Rune leapt straight upwards and grabbed a tree limb that hung ten feet above the ground. She hoisted herself up and crouched. The chase had not disturbed the wildlife, and Rune watched as a rabbit hopped under her. She grabbed a branch and hurled it behind the rabbit. A twig caught the rabbit on the flank and it spooked, fleeing into the woods as the man appeared. Instantly he located the sound of the rabbit, and ran in its direction.
Rune laughed, and leaned against the branch, closing her eyes and listening to the silence of the woods.
“Gotcha!”
Rune instantly jerked away from the man and fell off the branch. His hand shot out and grabbed hers, and she let him lift her up into the branches of the tree.
“You thought the bunny would fool me?” The man grinned, shaking his head. “I’ve only fallen for that trick once.”
Rune grinned back. “It was worth a try. I hoped that you wouldn’t notice that I suddenly smelled like a rabbit.”
“Rune, I’ve smelled your scent for years. I could distinguish it from the thousand other scents of the crowd. Face it, you smell more like a deer than a rabbit.”
“Well, I just ate a couple of hours ago,” said Rune. “How about you, Edwin?”
“Nah,” said Edwin, leaning back. “Not for a couple of days. I haven’t had the chance.”
“Because you were looking for me?”
“Of course. That’s our game. You sneak out, and I try to find you. Once I do, you stop begging and we spend the rest of our time in the woods.”
“With your wolf-like instincts, I’m surprised you didn’t find me sooner.”
“The wolf stalks the deer for many hours before striking.”
“Thought you’d take me by surprise, did you?”
“Somewhat like that.” Edwin bared his fangs, growling playfully. Rune growled back, and they both laughed. Edwin’s arm was around Rune’s shoulders, keeping her from falling off the tree.
“I wonder if there are any more like us,” Rune whispered. She shivered in the darkening air, and Edwin pulled her cloak out of his pocket. How he had managed to fit it in there was a mystery.
“Thought it might get dark,” he said as he spread the cloak over both of them.
“Are there any like us?”
“More than you can imagine,” Edwin said. “Most of them travel in packs, so the ones like us are called outcasts.”
“I was sure it was just the two of us,” Rune said. “We don’t seem to run across any.”
“They migrate, just like us,” explained Edwin. “Most live in the darkest parts of the world, but others move from place to place,”
“Wherever it’s coldest,” Rune finished for him. He glanced over at her.
“Do you remember the times…you know…before…”
Rune sighed. “Only when I close my eyes.”
That night, she dreamed about her death.

Chapter two: The dream

“You’re late for school!” Her father chided her as Ada hurriedly swallowed cereal. Some of the milk spilled down her white shirt, but Ada dabbed at the spot with a napkin.
“Bye, Dad!” Ada called as she grabbed her backpack and ran out the door, leaving the bowl with some of the milk at the bottom that her spoon couldn’t reach.
Ada swung onto her bike and pedaled towards the school as fast as she could. The sun rose into the sky, and Ada was forced to slow down and angle her head away from the light.
She turned the corner and saw her school, far away. She urged her bike faster, almost knocking over a man with his dog. The dog barked and strained against the leash, but the man was firm, and the dog gave up and turned away.
Ada was closer to the school.
She was almost there when it blew.
The rest of the dream was a haze of screaming and running and falling, and pain.
Ada scrambled away. The bike and backpack were gone, and cars were honking, and people were running, like animals from a forest fire. Several had whipped out their phones, and Ada could hear the distant sound of sirens. Her head spun, and a searing pain made her cry out. She looked down at her side, which she realized she had been holding. Her white shirt was quickly staining with red that oozed through her fingers.
Ada felt the world spin, and she ran for the woods, stumbling as she went.
She was lost, and wandering. The eeriness of the woods scared her, and Ada collapsed.
“Hello?”
Ada looked up to see a blond-haired boy looking down at her. His eyes quickly flitted from her face to her side, and back up again.
“You’re dying,” he said, matter-of-factly. “What’s your name?”
“A-Ada,” she gasped.
“Well, Ada,” the boy said, “I’m Edwin. Tell me, do you want to live?”
Ada nodded, tears streaking down her face.
“Are you sure? The only way I know to save you is to make you like me, and there’s no way to get you to a doctor in time. Look at me, and tell me you’re sure.”
Ada looked into his face, and a glint of white caught her eye. She stared at his teeth, and saw the fangs and realized what he was. She hesitated, but nodded.
“I don’t want to do this,” he said. As he placed a hand on her forehead, she lost all consciousness and died.
It was light.
Ada jumped to her feet, startled at her agility. The sunlight reached through the gaps in the leaves, creating a pattern on the ground. Ada knew instantly that she was different. Her skin was pale, her mind was quick, she was perfect-too perfect. She had grown to exactly six feet, and her jeans felt tight. Her shirt barely fit, and there was dried blood on it. She lifted the shirt slightly to examine her side. There was no wound, nor evidence of there ever being one. Even though Ada knew that she was very much alive, there was a dead feeling about her.
“So, you’re awake.”
Ada turned. Edwin was there, with a black shirt and pants in his arm.
“Thought you might need some new clothes,” he said, as he tossed them to her. Ada caught them out of the air and tucked them against her chest. “What am I?”
“You don’t know?” Edwin smiled. “You’re like me, a vampire. That means that, technically, Ada’s dead. You’re someone different. Which means you need to change everything about you. Including your name.”
Ada ducked behind a bush, and Edwin got the hint and turned away. “I’ve spent centuries studying names and their meanings. If you wanted a name that means something, I can tell you. That’s my job, to help new people.”
“What does my name mean?” Ada asked.
“It means happy.”
“Is there a name for miserable?” Ada questioned as she pulled the black shirt over her head. It fitted perfectly.
“Not that I know of.”
“I don’t know what my name should be.” Ada stepped out from behind the bush, and Edwin turned around. He sat down and leaned against a tree, and Ada-or whoever she was now- leaned against a tree opposite to his so she could face him.
“We can figure this out by talking to each other,” Edwin said. “Tell me, what do you think about your new life?”
“It’s-it’s strange and unexpected. But also…”
“Yes?”
“Shameful. I’ve heard about vampires ever since my childhood, and now I’m one of them. It’s a secret that I cannot say to anyone else. Except maybe you.”
“Secrets,” Edwin muttered. “Razi, Najwa, Raz, Rune, and that’s pretty much all I can think of.”
“Razi, Raz, or Rune? Najwa is out, it sounds too foreign. Come to think of it, so does Razi and Raz.”
“Well then,” Edwin said, standing up and extending his hand to help her. “Welcome to my world, Rune.”
Rune grabbed his hand in hers, and he pulled her to her feet. “What do we do now?”
Edwin smiled when she said we. “We do what our kind does best,” he said. “Survive.”
Rune awoke with the sunrise. Edwin had left, which was no surprise since he always woke first. As the sunlight reached her through the trees, Rune hurriedly grabbed her cloak and scurried down the tree and into the darkness of the woods. There was nothing wrong with light. It was just something that a vampire instinctively feared, much like a human would fear the dark. In the light, you were too vulnerable. Anyone who happened to walk by would notice her pale face, permanent dark circles, skinny frame, and little bulges above her lips where her fangs were hidden.
Today, Rune decided, as she headed towards the town, tonight I’m going to do something special. I’m going to see Daddy.

Chapter three: Discovery

Rune knew where her own house was. It was a small yellow house, with a tiny backyard. In the backyard stood a tree house and a tiny playground. The single swing creaked as it swung in the wind. There was a wooden fence that separated the house from simply opening into the forest. Rune could see it clearly. She ran at full speed, jumped, swung on a branch, and landed lightly on top of the fence. Balancing on it, she peered into the window and saw her father, still fast asleep. It was a Saturday, and Rune knew as well as anyone that Markus-her father- never missed an opportunity to sleep in.
Slowly, Rune approached the playground. It hadn’t been used for six years. She placed a hand on the swing, and on an impulse, sat down on it. She remembered asking her dad to put it high up in the air so she would have to jump on it. Now, her feet touched the ground. Rune tried to connect herself back with the old life. Rune always kept hair ties on her arm, always black ones. She pulled one off and tied her hair back in the ponytail that she had always worn during the days of her youth.
She swung, ignoring the loud creak of the hinges that threatened to break. Should she tell Dad? Every time she saw him, sad, and lonely, Rune always felt guilt. To erase that guilt, she often did things for him. For example, she never forgot his birthday. She would spend the entire year collecting money for his birthday and Christmas. She would leave a present, with a tag that read: For: Markus. From: someone who loves you.
She had always hung around to see his reaction. Every time he read the tag, he would smile, and tears would form at the corners of his eyes. Every year she reminded him that there was someone who cared for him.
“Ada?”
Rune snapped out of her thoughts and saw Markus, his face pressed against the window. She thought of several words that should not be spoken aloud, and catapulted herself out of the swing and onto the very top of the playground, out of the view of the window. She jumped onto the roof as the door to the backyard opened, and Markus ran out, dressed only in his pajama pants.
“Ada!” He called out. Rune ducked behind the slope as he turned around. “Ada, where are you? Ada!”
Rune could tell he was attracting attention, and if there was one thing a vampire hated more than light, it was crowds. She ran down the slope of the roof and jumped clean over Markus’ head. He looked up and watched as she jumped clean over the fence, rolled, and continued to run.
“Ada!” He yelled, scrambling over the fence. “Ada!”
Rune was much faster than he was, but she didn’t want him to get lost. She climbed a tree, and stayed motionless as he passed underneath her. He paused. The wildlife was doing their part in confusing him. There was a rustle of leaves as a fox calmly walked around a bush. Markus rushed toward the noise.
A branch snapped. Charles ran toward it.
All the while, Rune followed him. Sometimes, she would distract him herself, if he was unsure, throwing sticks at tree trunks. Then, she noticed Edwin. He was unaware of Markus, and Markus was unaware of him. Edwin was stalking a rabbit, creeping slowly closer. The rabbit, scared by Markus’ tromp, raced away just as Edwin was about to pounce. Edwin, mistaking Markus’ footsteps for Runes, waited for her, crossing his arms.
Rune swung down from the branches, grabbed him around the legs, and threw him into the air. Caught off guard, he gave a small yelp, and Markus leapt into view to see Rune disappear behind a tree trunk.
“Ada!” He yelled, racing to where Rune had been. Rune had leapt through the trees, and Edwin, safely dangling by one hand twelve feet above Markus, grabbed her by the middle and hoisted her onto the branch. Rune helped him up, and they watched as Markus raced around the clearing, calling for her.
Edwin raised his eyebrows at her, and she knew him well enough to know what he was thinking. You went back there again?
Yes, Rune nodded, unashamed.
Edwin’s eyebrows knitted into a scowl. You are in so much trouble.
What are you going to do? Rune mentally said, smirking.
Edwin ground his teeth. I’ll think of something.
“Ada! I know you’re there!” Markus cried. “Tell me you’re there! Please,” he said, breaking down and falling to his knees while Edwin and Rune watched him, their faces devoid of expression.
After what seemed like hours, Markus pulled himself together, and turned to go home. It was then he realized he didn’t know where home was. Edwin mouthed I’ll be back, and disappeared. A few moments later he reappeared with a black blindfold. Rune, understanding what he meant, pointed at herself. Edwin handed the blindfold to her, and she lightly dropped to the ground, behind Markus, so silently he didn’t know she was there. With one quick movement, she pulled the blindfold over his eyes. He yelled in surprise as Rune knotted it firmly behind his head. He tried to turn, but Rune grabbed him by the seat of his pants and jumped into a tree, speeding through the branches.
Markus screamed all the way, but Rune was careful that he wouldn’t get hurt. They arrived at the house, and Rune landed over the fence, whipped off the blindfold, and jumped over the fence before he could turn.
In her haste, she didn’t jump high enough, and her foot caught in the fence. She tumbled onto the ground, and Markus stared down at her.
“Ada,” he said.
“I’m not Ada,” Rune said, as she got to her feet. She picked up her shoe, which had fallen off when it got caught in the fence. She never kept her eyes off of him.
“But you look just like her!”
“Ada’s dead. She’s been dead for six years.” Rune winced as she said the words.
“But you are Ada. Ada, listen to me. You must have lost your memory in the explosion. You’re Ada. Listen to me.” Markus tried to grab her shoulders, but Rune stepped back. Markus was surprised at how quickly she moved, and his hands felt empty air.
“I know who I was, Da-Markus.” Rune chided herself for her mistake. “I’m not Ada.”
“You just said Dad!” Markus said. “It is you, Ada!”
“No!” Rune said, fiercely. “I was Ada. But Ada died. I’m no longer Ada anymore.”
“Who are you, then? What are you? Why are you so pale?” Markus asked.
Rune glanced into the trees. She barely saw Edwin’s outline. He knew what she was asking, and shook his head.
Rune turned to the man who had once been her father. “I-I cannot tell you.” She stepped away. “Don’t go looking for me.”
“Ada!” Markus yelled, but Rune was gone.
Edwin handed her a piece of paper and a pencil. “Do you want to leave a note or something?”
Rune took the items. “Yes.”
Markus looked out at the forest, wondering if he had dreamed it all. A flash of white caught his eye, and he looked up. A piece of paper slowly drifted down towards him, and he snagged it out of the air and read it.
To Markus:
I’m sorry I can’t tell you. Just forget I ever existed, okay? I’ll never forget you, but it would be easier if you forgot me. You won’t have any proof I’m still alive. It will be better for you, if you didn’t know who I am.
I am Rune, a secret. And I cannot share my secret with you. I’m sorry.
From: Someone who loves you.
Markus gasped. He scanned the note, memorizing it. At last, he folded it and walked towards the house, as if in a trance.
There was a rush of wind, and a tug at the note. Markus whirled around. There was no one, and the note was gone. You won’t have any proof I’m still alive.
Markus got back into bed, but he couldn’t get back to sleep. It was noon, and as he got to his feet, he decided he would find her. Put her face in the newspapers, on the list of missing children. Whatever it took. He had to find Ada again.

Chapter four: Moving

The last thing Rune needed was people looking for her.
“You should not have done that. You should not have done that,” Edwin said, pacing around her.
“I didn’t mean for him to find me,” she said.
“You just sat there while he talked to you! You could have run!”
“I don’t know why I didn’t. It was just like I couldn’t.”
Edwin growled, not bothering to sheath his fangs. “We have to leave.”
“I’m not leaving the city. I need to watch over my dad.”
“We’re not leaving the city,” Edwin said patiently. “We need to find another place to live. Where do you suggest?”
“If my dad is looking for me,” Rune said, tapping at her chin and smiling, “where would be the last place for him to search for me?”
“In Africa?”
“No,” Rune said, trying to explain what she was thinking through her eyes.
“Oh,” said Edwin. “You mean, we’re going to live in his own house?”
“That’s right,” Rune said, smiling. “Markus never goes into my tree house anymore. It’s the perfect place. No windows or anything. There is a trapdoor in the ceiling so I can climb higher into the tree.”
“How can such a young one be so smart?”
“I’m eighteen.”
“And I stopped counting after the first few centuries. Face it, I’m older than you are by at least an eon. You’re young compared to me.”
“How long is an eon?”
“No idea.”
They approached the house, careful to leave no trace by racing through the trees. Rune glimpsed something and grabbed Edwin’s hand.
“Look,” she hissed.
The street was full with reporters. Markus stood in the middle of them, with a microphone held to his lips. Even though they were far away, the two vampires could hear him clearly.
“I saw her, clear as anything. She said she wasn’t Ada, that she was someone different. There was something different about her, too. She was pale, pale as anything. And the way she moved, it was-unrealistic. But she’s alive, and she’s out there.”
“There you have it,” said the reporter, pulling the microphone back. “A man has found his daughter is alive. But where is she? And why is she hiding? Stay tuned for more details.”
Rune turned away.
“Rune,” Edwin said, grabbing her arm. “They’ll be gone in a few hours.”
“I told him not to go searching for me,” she said. “I didn’t know he would go this far.”
“He’s unpredictable, that’s for sure,” Edwin said. While the crowd was distracted with Markus, Edwin and Rune jumped into the tree, opened the trapdoor to the tree house, and climbed inside.
Inside, there was a plush red rug and a beanbag. A bookshelf was on the other end of the tree house, stacked with dusty books.
Edwin curled up in the corner with a book, gesturing for Rune to take the beanbag. She picked out one of the favorite books: The Lost Warrior.
As she read, the sun slipped farther down. Edwin took a pocketknife out and fashioned a peephole. The reporters left, and day turned into night. Rune would have kept reading, since she could see just as well in the dark as in the light, but Edwin insisted she sleep.
“Go on,” he said. “You need it.”
So Rune curled up in the beanbag and fell asleep. She had no dreams that night, only a nightmare.
“Ada!”
Charles was chasing her through the forest, calling for her. She ran and ran, but he seemed to match her, stride by stride.
“And here we have Markus, chasing his daughter, trying to bring her back. What secrets is she hiding? Stay tuned for details,” the reporter’s voice echoed over her head.
“Ada! Come back!”
She ran into Edwin, who turned to Markus. Markus stopped short, his brown hair messy. Edwin growled, exposing his fangs. Markus growled as well.
“And in an unexpected turn of events, Ada’s boyfriend has turned out to be a ferocious vampire!”
“He’s not my boyfriend!” Rune shouted into the empty air.
“Is Ada a vampire as well? Why does she deny her obvious love?”
Rune glanced at the sky, mouth open in horror. She nervously glanced at Edwin, to see if she heard, but he wasn’t moving. He was morphing into his spirit animal.
All people have spirits they can relate to. However, vampires acquire the talents of their spirit animal upon being bitten. Edwin was a black panther, quick and stealthy. Markus reached into his pocket and brought out a knife, waving it at the cat.
With a flick of his paw, Edwin knocked the knife out of Markus’ hand and it fell onto the dirt. Markus backed away, and Edwin crouched, his eyes gleaming. Rune cried “No!” And the cat sprung, aiming for the throat.
The dream changed abruptly.
It was dark, and the darkness shouldn’t have scared Rune, but it did. She looked around for someone, something. There was nothing.
Click.
Rune turned around quickly. She recognized that sound.
Click.
Another sound, from another direction.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Five clicks. Five pairs of fangs, fully unsheathed and clicking against the teeth. She could see their outlines, five of them.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
They circled closer. One of them opened its mouth and hissed.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Rune woke with a start. Edwin was sleepy, growling in his sleep. Rune sat up, and stretched, which hurt because of the uncomfortable position she had been sleeping in.
Click.
Rune spun around. She had heard the noise as clear as in her dream.
Click.
Rune rushed to the peephole, but could see nothing.
Click.
The sound came from above her.
Click.
“Edwin,” she said. “Edwin, wake up.”
“Huh?” He said, opening his eyes. “Hey. You’re up earlier than I am. That’s a start.”
“Edwin, listen.”
Click.
Edwin’s eyes opened fully. He rushed to the trapdoor and knocked on it. There was the sound of feet crunching on the grass outside.
Edwin opened the trapdoor and helped me out.
We stood on the roof of the tree house, staring down at the people below us.
Five vampires smiled up at them, teeth unsheathed. They looked hungry.

Chapter Five: The Pents

“Oh,” said one of the females, disappointed. “It’s just others. Does no one walk out into the streets at night in this town?”
“Excuse me,” said a tall brown haired one who, Rune suspected by the way they all looked at him, was the leader. “We did not mean to trespass onto your territory, but do you know where we can find food? We’ve been traveling for so long, and we’re very hungry.”
“Well, there is the forest,” Rune commented. She peered at the leader. He looked vaguely familiar, which bothered her.
“You mean there’s a camp?” A red headed young boy said, excited.
“No,” Edwin said. “But there are plenty of rabbits and birds.”
“Rabbits and birds?” The female asked. Her hair was a pure blond that almost shone in the darkness. “We’ve never figured out how, and humans smell much tastier.”
“But I can tell you from experience that humans do not taste half as good as fresh young rabbit,” Edwin grinned as he spoke.
“Really?” Interested, the leader stepped forward. “Allow me to introduce my family. We are called the Pents, since there are five of us. And what about you?”
“I am Edwin, and this is Rune.”
“Are you-well, you know- together?”
Both of them would have blushed if they had any blood to rise to their face. “No,” Edwin said. “Not yet.”
Rune glanced at him. What did he mean by not yet?
Two dark-haired twin girls stared at her. They looked uncomfortable, and stood several feet away from the rest of their family.
“We will teach you how to hunt the wildlife,” Edwin was saying to the leader. “But you must be very careful. People are searching the woods for Rune, who was seen and mistaken for her mortal self.”
“That is not an unusual situation. Why, I was forced to run after I was seen by my mortal sister.”
“What are your names?”
“One moment, please.” The leader turned and spoke in huddled whispers to each of the group members separately, except for the twins. After what seemed like a long discussion, the leader straightened and faced Edwin.
“We do not tell strangers our real names,” the leader growled. “You may call me Jack. The blond-haired one is Reyna, the red-head is Ned, and the twins are Leah and Sadie.”
“Follow me,” Edwin said, turning to the woods.
“No.” Leah and Sadie bared their fangs. “We do not take orders from inferiors.”
This made Edwin mad. “I’m sorry,” he said through gritted teeth. “Follow me, please.”
He said the word please with a hint of menace. The twins snarled.
“Break it up,” Jack barked.
“Yeah,” Reyna said. “Who are you calling inferiors? You’re the newborns. You are the inferiors.”
“Shut up!” Leah screamed.
“Temper,” Ned commented.
At this, Sadie broke. She lunged at Ned, screeching in fury.
The lights flickered on.
The vampires froze.
Every eye turned towards the door as Markus walked out.
“You came back?” He said, staring at me. Then he saw the Pents, and Edwin. Sadie’s teeth were still bared to their full extent.
He was still staring when Leah sprung, her eyes fixed on his neck.

Chapter six: Trick

Markus died the next day. No one was allowed to see the inside of the coffin. They might notice how sunken his skin was, how pale, how empty.
Rune didn’t want to look. She wanted to remember his face when he was alive, not dead.
After they had pulled Leah off him, Markus fell to the ground. There was so much chaos Rune didn’t know what was happening. Jack swept him up into his arms as though he weighed nothing (which he probably did, now that there was no blood in him.) and tried to keep him alive by converting him. Rune was never told how humans were converted into vampires, and she wasn’t sure she wanted to know, since Reyna and Ned had followed him in there, and when they went out, they were clutching their stomachs. Ned vomited in a nearby bush.
Leah and Sadie ran, and nobody could find them. They were fast, and they seemed to flit through the trees like ravens. At last, the Pents-now renamed the Trios- gave up. But they refused to leave.
“They killed him.” Rune shook. Edwin sat beside her on the dirt. They were in Markus’ backyard. They hadn’t left the backyard and forest since the funeral. Only five people were there: Jack, Reyna, Ned, Rune, and Edwin. To the rest of the world, Markus had mysteriously disappeared. People suspected he had gone off searching for his daughter. There were very few who believed that Markus wasn’t crazy.
“We’ll find them,” Edwin said.
“I know.” Rune got to her feet, suddenly realizing. “I know! I’ve been so stupid!”
“What?”
“Where would be the last place they would expect us to look?”
“You don’t mean-”
“Shhh!”
Edwin and Rune ran towards the forest. They stopped and looked up at the tree house. No one could see them through the peephole.
“One,” Rune whispered.
“Two,” Edwin responded.
“Three!” They leapt onto the tree house, flung open the trapdoor, and crawled in.
There was an earsplitting crack, and one side of the tree house was gone, leaving a twin-sized hole. Edwin and Rune leapt through and saw them, running as fast as they could go.
With a snarl, Rune pushed ahead of Edwin. She ran as fast as she could, her legs a blur on the ground. She was going so fast it was a challenge to not run into any trees. She slowly gained on the twins, who split up, running in opposite directions.
Rune thought for a second, and then went after Leah. She was the one that had killed Markus. She was the one that should die.
Rune saw panic in Leah’s eyes as she glanced back to see if she was the one being chased. In that one second it took to look back, she slammed into a tree.
Not willing to give up, Leah jumped and began to run above the ground. Rune chased her from below, catching up to her more quickly. Leah may be fast, but the forest was unknown to her, where Rune knew almost every stone and tree.
Leah jumped sideways and disappeared. Rune followed her and saw that she was in the same clearing that Edwin had chased her through. Rune let her eyes flit up for a fraction of a second. Leah was in the branches, motionless. Rune stalked away, and under the cover of the trees, skirted around and climbed up a large tree until she was behind Leah.
Leah let out a large breath and grinned.
“Gotcha!”
Leah shrieked as Rune grabbed her and pushed her off the branch. Leah fell face first into the dirt and there was a crunch as her nose snapped. White liquid that substituted for blood streamed onto the ground, which refused to soak in the unearthly substance.
Rune held her to the ground as she struggled, snarling and screaming. Rune tightened her hold around Leah’s neck, digging her fingers into the skin-
“Rune, stop!”
Jack slammed into her, knocking her clear off her feet. She slammed into a tree and sat, dazed, as Reyna, Ned, Sadie, and Edwin burst in behind them. Sadie helped Leah to her feet. Leah scowled at Rune as she rubbed her bleeding neck.
Rune lunged for Leah again, but Reyna grabbed one arm and Ned held the other. They forced her back against the tree. No matter how hard Rune thrashed, Ned and Reyna didn’t budge.
“Murderer!” She screamed.
“Listen to me,” Jack said, as he walked up to her. Rune growled at him. Edwin stood off to the side, unsure of what to do.
“She killed him!” Rune yelled, spitting her words like a snake, but Jack didn’t flinch. “She killed him!”
“No. Your father is alive.”
Rune stopped struggling. “He’s alive?”
“Of course. Do you think I have so little control over my family that I would let him die? It was a test, of course. I was intrigued when I first met you. You were skilled, that was obvious. So I wanted to put your skills to the test. Leah had once been a bodybuilder in her human days, so she had a large advantage. So I had to push your skills to the limit. If it were simply a challenge, you would give up too easily. Now,” Jake said, turning to Leah and smiling. “Why don’t you bring Markus here, so Rune can see he’s alive?”
“Umm…sir?” Leah said, trembling.
“Yes?” Jake said, smiling pleasantly. Rune had seen that smile before, she knew it.
“Well, he isn’t…. erm… alive. You told me t-”
“You did kill him!” Jake shouted, cutting her off mid-sentence. “How dare you!” And Leah was on the run again, with everyone but Sadie and Rune chasing after her.
Sadie was staring at the place they had been in shock. Rune walked over to her. Sadie turned and they sat down on the ground.
“What did she mean by ‘you told me…”
“She was going to say, ‘you told me to kill him.”
“What?”

Chapter Seven: Friend or Foe?

“Leah is the strongest in the group. Jake is worried that Leah would take over as the leader. He devised a plan to get rid of her and find a replacement at the same time.”
“So Markus is dead?”
“I’m afraid so. Jake told her to, and, well, you can’t disobey an order from a leader unless there are at least two people on your side. Reyna and Ned don’t know anything about this.”
“What if I refuse to join?”
“He’ll probably kill you and blame it on me,” Sadie answered. She looked surprisingly calm for someone who knew her fate was sealed. “I’m the only one who knows the truth, so he’ll kill me anyways.”
“Then why didn’t he just tell Leah?”
“He needed the both of us, one as an instigator and the other as the one to lose control. He told us to try and create a fight.”
“Why didn’t you follow Leah?”
“She’s quick. She has a chance of escaping.”
As she said the words, there was a shrill scream, and then silence. Sadie froze.
“Then again, maybe Jake is faster than I thought.”
“He’ll come for you next,” Rune said.
“And then kill you,” Sadie responded. “He needs to have no witnesses.”
“He looks familiar to me,” Rune said. “As though I once knew him.”
“Maybe you knew him in your human years,” Sadie said. She stood up, and extended a hand to Rune to help her up, too. “Well, I have to leave. Jack will be here any moment now.”
There was a rustle in the leaves. Sadie sniffed the air. “He’s here.”
Rune began to speak quickly into Sadie’s ear. “If he tries to kill me, throw things into the bushes. Make it seem like there are lots of things just out of sight.”
Sadie nodded, trembling. Then Jake burst from the bushes. Sadie ducked, and Jake hit Rune instead, sending her flying. She slammed into a tree, and the impact sent the air out of her lungs. She gasped as several bones cracked, and Jake turned to Sadie.
“No one can stop me from killing you, too,” he said, grabbing her arm. “The others are finishing off your sister.”
Rune tried to get to her feet, but both her legs were broken. She gasped and slid back down to the forest floor.
“Wait!” She cried, holding out her uninjured arm. “Stop! I know who you are.”
Jack stopped. “How?” He asked.
Rune could remember. She could remember quite clearly.
“Stop it!” He cried, grabbing her arm. “I’m sorry!”
“I trusted you!” Ada screamed, pulling her arm free. “We were friends. You promised I wouldn’t get hurt!” She pulled up her pant leg, which was sticky with blood, as though to prove her point.
“I didn’t know it would fall!” He cried, as Ada ran away. “I didn’t know the boards were rotting!”
“You were the one that told me the unfinished house was safe!”
“I’d been in there dozens of times! I didn’t think it would fall apart now!”
“You don’t think; that’s the problem! I’m going home.” Ada limped away as fast as she could, with the boy running after her.
“Ada! Ada, wait!”
Ada ran out into the street, dodging cars. The people shouted at her and honked their horns, but she didn’t care.
“A-”
The blaring horns masked the noise. People jumped out of their cars, gathering into a circle. Several whipped out their phones and punched numbers into them. Ada couldn’t see him. She tried to make sense of the confusion. Then the sirens sounded, and the ambulance pulled in. Ada turned, terrified out of her wits, and ran as fast as her leg would let her.
The wound was deep, and Ada had to be hospitalized. When she was let out, the first thing she did was visit the grave of her friend.
“I’m sorry,” she sobbed to the cold stone. “It’s my fault. It’s all my fault.”
The ground soaked in her tears. “My fault,” she whispered. “My fault.”
“My fault,” Rune whispered. “It was my fault. I’m sorry, Jared. I’m sorry.”
“How do you-”
“That’s why I didn’t remember you. I kept you locked away in my memory, pretending you didn’t exist. You couldn’t have expected the house to fall apart.”
Jared’s lips parted, and she could barely her him whisper her name. “Ada?”
He let go of Sadie’s arm, and in a few short steps, was next to her, helping her to her feet. “I thought you died! I looked for you in the ruins of the school, calling your name, but there was nothing! Oh, Ada, do you know how I felt? I left the city, because I couldn’t stand to be there.”
“How did it blow up in the first place?” Rune asked.
“Terrorist attack, the news believes,” Jared said, waving his hand. “Don’t know if it’s true or not. I’ve missed you so much,” he said, crushing her in a giant hug. Rune winced at the pain in her ribs, and Jared stepped back.
“I’m so, so, sorry, Ada,” he said.
“You promised I wouldn’t get hurt,” Rune said. Jared grimaced at the words. “I’m sorry,” Rune said, resting her head on his arm. “It was my fault. I shouldn’t have run away.”
“No,” Jared said. “It was my fault. Everything. I shouldn’t have taken you there, I shouldn’t have become the man I was, I shouldn’t have killed your father, I shouldn’t have killed Leah, everyone is dying because of me!”
“Stop it!” Rune ordered. “It may have been your fault, but the past is gone. It’s no use now. The only thing you can do is make up for it.”
“How?” Jared asked, running his fingers through his hair. “How can I ask forgiveness of you two?” He turned to Sadie. “I’m so, so sorry,” he said. “I don’t think you could forgive me, could you?”
Sadie was expressionless. “Never,” she whispered.
Jared smiled weakly. “That’s the girl I know.”

Chapter Eight: The Conclusion

Edwin and Leah burst through the trees. “There he is!” Leah cried, pointing with a trembling finger. Jared whirled around as Edwin leapt for him.
“No!” Rune yelled, lunging forward. She collided with Edwin and they both fell.
“Ow!”
“Rune! Are you alright?” Just then, Reyna and Ned appeared. “Grab him!” Edwin ordered, and they hastened to obey. They grabbed him by the arms and forced him to his knees.
“You knocked her down and left too quickly,” Ned growled. “Leah told us everything.”
“I’m…sorry…” Jared gasped. “I…was…different…then…”
“Oh, so you just change your entire life in a few minutes and expect us to believe it?” Reyna snarled.
“Stop it!” Rune and Sadie both shouted.
“Let him go,” Sadie ordered. “He was wrong. I know that. But if someone realizes his or her wrong, shouldn’t we extend the hand of forgiveness? In these few minutes, I saw someone change a cold heart into a warm one, by a simple sentence. A few minutes ago, I would have helped you kill him with my own hands, but to see him now…” She looked up into the stars. “I told him that I could never forgive him for the death of my sister, but my sister is alive, and I am willing to let the past be the past: To learn from the mistakes made, and to not judge by those mistakes.”
“An impressive speech,” Reyna growled, but she looked less unsure off herself.
“She speaks the truth,” Rune said, as Edwin helped her to her feet. “When I was human, he was my friend. I thought he had died, so I tried to forget him by using every way I could: Throwing away pictures of him, visiting psychiatrists, never visiting his grave, until I could almost believe that I had made him up.”
“Alright,” Ned huffed. “So what do we do with Jake?”
“Call…me…Jared…”
“Let him go! Can’t you see you’re hurting him?”
Reyna and Ned glowered, but them let him go, hovering next to him and watching him as a hawk would with a baby.
“So, what do we do with Jared?” Ned asked.
“Kill him,” Leah snarled.
“No!” Sadie yelled. “We’ll take a vote.” She grabbed a stick and drew a line in the dirt. “The left side is for the ones who want him to die, the right is for those who want him to live.”
Leah was the first to respond. “I say he dies.”
Sadie scratched a tally mark on the right side of the line.
“I say he dies,” Reyna said.
“I say he lives,” Sadie shot back, scratching her tally mark into the ground.
“He should live,” Rune wheezed, trying to ignore the pain in her broken bones.
There were two tally marks on either side. Only Ned and Edwin were left.
“I choose to go with Reyna,” Ned stuttered.
Edwin pulled Rune close. “And I choose to go with Rune.”
There were three marks on either side.
“There is no one else who can vote,” Ned commented. “It’s a tie.”
“No,” Rune murmured. The vampires turned toward her. “There is still one that hasn’t chosen yet.”
“You don’t mean-” Reyna exclaimed.
“No! That is out of the question!” Leah barked.
“There is no other choice, really.” Edwin gently lowered Rune to the ground, setting her against a tree. Then he turned to Jared. “Well?”
Jared licked his cracked lips. “I…I choose neither.”
“Well, what a lot of good that is!” Leah exploded, waving her arms like a windmill. “Oh, I have a choice between life and death, how about neither? How does that work?”
“I can’t go unpunished,” Jared said. “But I’m scared to die, no one really wants to die if they have something worth living for.”
“What do you have that’s worth living for?” Sadie asked, curiously.
“I have a friend. So my punishment is separation from Ada. I promise that you will not see this face.”
“Fair enough,” Reyna commented.
“What?” Rune looked up at Jared. “Please, no. Please stay. I lost you once and it nearly broke me.”
“I lost you once and it did break me,” Jared whispered. “This will hurt me much more than it hurts you, believe me.” Jared turned to Leah. “I was scared of you becoming too powerful, and taking over my place. I was blinded by power, I realize that now.” He straightened, once more a leader. “Kneel.”
Leah obeyed, and Jared placed his right hand over her shoulder. “By the power in me, I henceforth proclaim Leah as your leader. All duties and responsibilities shall be passed on to her. Repeat these words: I do solemnly swear that the power bestowed upon me shall not be used for unmoral purposes.”
“I do solemnly swear that the power bestowed upon me shall not be used for unmoral purposes,” Leah repeated. Rune could see that she was trembling slightly. Whether from fear or excitement, Rune couldn’t tell.
“You may rise.”
As Leah got to her feet, a whole new kind of attitude seemed to settle on her. She stood up straighter, her shoulders back. Jared kneeled before her. Then, following his example, Ned got to his knees. Edwin kneeled as well. Rune was sitting, and she couldn’t kneel because her legs were broken, but she was at about the same height as everyone else, so Rune figured she was okay.
Reyna followed afterwards, though somewhat reluctantly. At last, only Sadie and Leah were left standing. There were several minutes where the two twins seemed to be mindspeaking to each other. Then Sadie stepped forward.
“By the power in me,” Leah said, placing her hand of Sadie’s head, “I pronounce Sadie as my second in command. Should anything happen to me, she will take my place as leader.” Sadie bent her knees slightly, so that the only one taller than her was Leah.
“You may rise.”
As everyone but Rune got to their feet, Leah turned to her. “Rune,” she said. “I am very sorry for the loss of your father. If there is anything that I can do to help you, tell me, and I swear upon my own power as chief that I will have it carried out to the best of my ability.”
Rune felt a lump swell in her throat. Leah was taking a very risky move. Rune could ask for anything. She could ask for everything. But as she looked around and saw the people around her, she realized that she already had everything. These people were like a family to her. Maybe that was why the death of Markus didn’t hurt quite so much.
“I just have three things,” Rune said. Leah tensed slightly, but she nodded. “First, I need to get these bones healed,” she told Leah. Leah smiled. “Second, I would like it if your clan were to stay here.” Leah laughed. “No complaints there,” she joked.
“And third, I ask to keep in touch with Jared.”
Leah’s smile disappeared. “That is not within my power.”
“But it is in mine,” Jared said. He was sitting cross-legged on the floor. “I promised that you would not see this face. I didn’t clarify. We can keep in touch, send each other notes and such.”
“Very well,” Leah addressed them. “We must leave. A clan of four is just above the minimum for a clan. We need more recruitments.”
“I suggest finding dying humans and converting them, rather than actual vampires. Most of the vampires travel in packs, it’s hard to separate them,” Jared suggested.
Leah nodded, and then she walked away, side by side with Sadie. Reyna and Ned followed behind them. None of them turned to look back.
“Well,” Jared muttered as he stood up, “I suppose I’d better be going too.”
“I’ll never see you again, will I?”
Jared bent down until he was at eye level with Rune. “You might never see me again, but I’ll always be there.”
Rune wanted to cry. But she looked up into his face, dry eyed, and said, “Goodbye, then.”
They shook hands, and Jared smiled. Then he turned and ran away.
“Come on,” Edwin said, scooping her up into his arms. “We’d best get your legs fixed.”
Rune nodded. “Yes, I suppose we must.”

Epilogue

A small candle flickered, providing light in the pitch-black room. Rune didn’t need the candle. It was for someone else.
She picked up her pen and began writing.
“Dear Edwin,” she began, “it has been a long time since you returned. I would be worried except for the fact that you send letters daily. Our homing pigeons are becoming exhausted.
“Little Carys is growing quickly. It is nice to have a child, even if it is not my own. She continues to grow like a weed, and is as strong as one, too.
“Jared comes by occasionally. He still keeps to the oath he made several years ago, and his face, once clear in my mind, is now distant and fuzzy. Carys hates Jared, she can’t stand him. Whenever she sees him, she screams so hard the windows break. Just the other day he wiggled his fingers over her crib and she bit them so hard it bled. Jared laughed, and left to put something on his fingers. She refuses to call him Jared, and simply calls him Faceless.
“I miss you so,” she wrote. There was a noise outside her window. “I know you’re busy, getting rid of those nasty vampires, but sometimes I wish you came home. Carys keeps on tugging at me and saying, “Where’s daddy? Where’s daddy?” Oh, and did you hear? Reyna and Ned got engaged! Ned always seemed so nervous around Reyna, but Jared’s been helping him, and I think they’ll be fine. Write back as soon as possible. With love, your wife Reyna.”
Reyna folded the note and tied it with string. She walked over to a pigeon that stood patiently on its perch, tied the string to its leg, and tossed it out the window. Then she sat down, holding the candle, and waited.
“I saw the light.”
Rune jerked her head up, snapping out of her doze. Jared was climbing through the window.
“Why don’t you ever use the door?” She complained.
“Because the house is rigged to throw anyone who steps on the doormat twenty feet, that’s why,” Jared said. His head was covered with a black hood, so she couldn’t see his face.
“I need someone to try it on,” Rune pleaded.
“Doors are boring. Windows are much more fun. By the way, I have something important to tell you.”
“What is it?” Rune asked.
“Well, Leah has been very nice to me lately. I said you would not see this face. She said that I hadn’t put a time limit. Of course, I knew that. Do you know what that means?”
“You could choose to take the hood off whenever you wanted,” She breathed. “A hundred years of wearing that hood and you can finally take it off, oh Jared! This is wonderful!”
“Exactly one hundred years,” Jared grinned. “Now, do you remember much about my face?”
“Barely,” Rune said.
“What’s the color of my hair?”
“Brown.”
“The color of my eyes?”
“No idea.”
Jared whipped off his hood. “For your information, my eyes are-”
“Green, yes I can see them.”
“That feels good,” he said, fanning his face. “Do you know how stuffy it is in there?” Rune tried not to flinch as her brain went crazy trying to understand how a person who wears a mask for a thousand years has a face. He looked strange without his mask, yet another part of her brain said that this was completely normal.
“Mama?”
Carys walked in, holding a stuffed white teddy bear. She was around five or six years old. Rune opened her arms and Carys ran into them. Then she saw Jared, and her mouth opened in a scream, but no sound came out.
“Faceless has a face,” she said matter-of-factly.
“Yes he does,” Rune answered as she hugged Carys.
“Does that mean-does that mean that he has a face?” Carys asked, looking very confused.
“Yes,” Jared scooped Carys into his arms. Carys giggled, no longer afraid of Jared. He tossed her up into the air, and she laughed out loud.
“Ahem,” Rune interrupted them. “It’s time for Carys to be in bed.”
“Oh, right.” Jared said, setting Carys on the floor. Carys ran of to her bed.
“How’s Edwin?” Jared asked, sitting down on the floor.
“Not too good. The non-vegetarian vampires are getting out of hand, being more and more careless. The good news is that the ones he can convince to stop drinking human blood usually join Leah’s family. The bad news is that the ones he can’t convince usually don’t like being carted off to the council without a fight. He got a nasty scar on his neck from some large guy in England.”
Jared winced. “That sounds rough. When is he coming home?”
“In a week or so. He spends half the year at his job, which gives us enough for the other six months.”
“You love him, don’t you?”
“No, we’re just married because you two are my only options.” Rune snorted. “Of course I love him.”
“That’s good,” Jared muttered. “I just wish I had someone who loved me as much.”
“Jared. Just because I’m married doesn’t mean I don’t love you. In a different way, of course.”
“Yes, but I wish there was someone who loved me as a-well, a lover.” Jared blushed.
“Your perfect girl will come one day, Jared. You just have to wait. After all, it’s not like you’re getting any older.”
Jared shrugged. “That’s true. I wonder, how many years will it be until Carys is fully grown?” He gave her an impish grin and wiggled her eyebrows.
“Jared Oswald!” Rune scolded. “I am not going to have my life as a stupid Twilight rip-off!”
“I was kidding,” Jared laughed. “Just kidding.”