Young Writers Society

Tom Gray

Night shift at the gas station just down the road from the fifth street blood bank wasn't as thrilling as one may think. All of fifth was avoided by the general population; with the frequency of vampire visits to one of the only remaining banks people didn't like to risk it.

Tom leaned back in his chair with his feet propped up against the register, watching the nearest corner of the bank out the window. Peter and Clare would be going by soon, but he hadn't seen them yet. It made him uncomfortable.

The electronic chime rang as someone entered the gas station door. Tom turned his gaze to them, an eyebrow raised. "What do you want?"

*Can be anyone *

John Ryder

After dropping the blood off at the Von Rays I'd continued to investigate a few of the vampire killings and assaults in the area. A girl had been sampled at a house in the suburbs only 3 miles away from the Von rays. We'd got some finger prints and even a bit of DNA from a hair but it would be a few days to get them run through. Next we had a report of an attempted assault possibly murder. Two males one in his twenty's one still in his late teens it had been real easy to identify them since another vamp had come along and had stopped them. Not before having a conversation with them using their names multiple times. These were normally the type of things the local police would handle but with the fed in town the VMS had to make even more of an effort. So arresting someone made us look good. Joey had picked up three other officers at the station and was heading over to the female who had interveined house to arrest her. I had picked up another vampire , who like me because of his condition had been pushed through the ranks. I pulled up at the kirb and parked my black bmw. Me and Conroy Both checked that are guns were loaded and cocked before getting out of the car.

I stepped out of the car and walked down the street, it was about 1pm and a bad time for vampires to be out leaving fifth street empty apart from the cars driving up to park in the underground parking lot of the bloodbank. I walked over to homeless vampire , homeless vamps were nicknamed leeches and were hated by most vampires as well as humans, When I flashed my badge he flinched.

"please I haven't killed anyone honest" He said pulling grey coat over his face even more than he usually would this time of day.

"I'm not going to arrest you I just want to know were Uncle Dracula's gas station is?" I asked the leech pulled the coat down from his face.

"just down the road sirs" He said, I nodded and drooped a tenner into his hands. Me and Conroy continued down fifth street as we walked past a club, called the Lost boys, a group of men shouted out at us.

"hello officers" One of them said sarcasticly. We both Stopped and looked at the group of vamps they were sitting in the shade of the door but bite marks were visible around their neck were they'd been bitten for their induction into one of the bigger vampire street gangs. They looked like they were from BloodBrothers. Their was a smell of something very illegal coming form inside the club. The club was probably a Blood party club a mixture of dancing ,strippers, sex and blood drinking. While it was highly illegal I didn't have the man power to arrest all those vamp and it would probably end in a blood bath which ironicly I could probably have in the club if I wanted to. Anyway the club kept some of the more violent vamp drinking blood and they had the right equipment meaning the foolish young girls that worked in them rarely died.

"anything illegal going on in their" I asked knowing the answer full well.

"come one officer you know you'd like it I could get you a girl with tits like this" He said throwing his hands out in front of him. If Joey was with me I would of though about grabing the smartass and beating him around a little bit but Conroy was well know for having an itchy trigger finger and I didn't want to go down in a hail of bullets, not for something so stupid anyway, So Nodded and walked down the street with Conroy.

As we aproached the store I told Conroy to go round the back and cut him off if he tried to run. I walked into the gas station.

"what do you want?" The clerck said, it was him Tom, I nodded nicely and looked round the shopgoing over to the magazine rack. I picked up one of the vampire magazines from the top shelf and looked inside.

"you, you ever look at any of this stuff" I asked Tom shook his head

"I'm not really into top shelf things" Tom answered

"hm, Vampire girls huh the new big thing" I said putting the magazine back.

"sir is their anything you actually want" Tom asked.

"yeah, you" I said pulling out my gun and pointing it at him

"your under arrest, hands up" I shouted Tom did what I asked but flinched a little bit when Conroy kicked the door in an starting waving his gin about. I put my gun back in my pocket walked over to Tom and cuffed him.

"should I read him your right or should you" I asked Conroy who was still sweeping the area.

*sorry this is sos long and has a bit of bad language in it idea just kept coming to me*

Alexander Von Ray

I left sisters room to let her sleep. I myself was even a bit tired. I'd not slept since when? I didn't get any sleep the night before because Isabella was coughing and sick. So that makes, when, two nights ago? Two days without sleep. Ridiculos.

"I'm so tired," I said to particulary no one. Bell was sleep so there was no harm in taking a break for a night. Hell, I could sleep like the dead if I wanted. But I had to wake Bella up for feeding. I'd wake up in time for that. Yeah, that would be good enough. I drug myself into my room and started lazily peeling off my clothes and throwing them into the back corner. I'd stripped down to nothing but my boxers and didn't even have enough energy to brush my teeth and wash my face before collapsing into bed.

The sheets were so soft and comphy I couldn't stay awake even if I wanted to- and I didn't want to.

Dmitri Collins

Dmitri injected himself in the neck and felt the same pain as the serum entered his bloodstream. His body was still reeling from the dose he had injected himself with barely two hours before. It was one of the reasons why he never publically released the serum to other vampires. Although, the silvery substance managed to rid the body of blood-lust, it was extremely painful, and needed to be injected into the body every two hours in order for it to last. Dmitri was well aware that for a vampire to inject themselves so many times a day was neither practical nor possible.

That was why a cure or a viable human blood-alternative was so crucial.

Suddenly, his thoughts were interrupted by his mother’s voice.

“Dmitri,” she said, knocking on the bathroom door. “I heard screaming, is everything alright?”

Dmitri quickly ran his fingers through his hair and straightened his face before opening the door.

“Everything’s fine,” he replied, passing her and heading to the hallway to grab his jacket. “I should be getting back to the campus.”

His mother looked at him, the same way she always did when the subject of Dmitri staying in the university campus instead of the family mansion was brought up.

“Why don’t you stay the night?” she asked warmly, though she already knew what the response would be. "It'll do you some good to get out of the university for a while..."

“No, mother,” Dmitri replied bluntly, giving a sideways glance to his step-father who was in the living room helping himself to a glass of brandy. “I’ll see you next week. Good night.”

He planted a kiss on her head and left the house without another word. The truth was that it pained him just as much as it pained his mother that he couldn’t stay and look after her, but staying under the same roof as his step-father was not an option. His irritating anti-vampire sentiments would interfere with Dmitri’s ambitions, and that was something that Dmitri couldn’t afford to let happen.

Just as he approached Fifth Street, Dmitri realised that he needed to stock up on plasters, he had used the last one at his parents after injecting himself with the serum. Sighing in frustration, he headed down the street and into the only place open at this time of the night, the gas station.

“John,” Dmitri nodded, seeing his brown-haired friend handcuff a man who looked to be an employee at the store. “Still making arrests, I see...”

“Oh, you know me, D, just doing my bit to keep the streets clean,” John smirked as he tightened the cuffs around the employee’s wrists.

“You and me both,” said Dmitri.

“I’m guessing you still haven’t found a human blood-alternative yet?” John said, pointing at the plaster on Dmitri’s neck.

“No,” admitted Dmitri. "But I'm working on it."

Isabella Von Ray (Read about the vampire clubs and thought it would be great to elaborate on that idea. Like I said, Isabella is terribly naive. This really comes out in this post. Sorry about the length.)

The moonlight light filtered in through the window as it would for many nights to come. Everyone in the house was asleep, finially if I might add. Even Alexander who I was sure would be staying awake to look after me. Even he has to nap sometime. I was all ready to go on my moonlight adventure. I was wearing a pair of black jean pants, black leather boots, a grey shirt that said "bite me" which was a gift from one of my cousins as a joke, and a black leather cut off jacket. Taking a deep breath, I quickly downed two vials of blood and shoved another in my coat pocket. I felt more energized than I probably ever would in my life. After sticking another vial in my pocket just in case I becaome weary, I grabbed a few bills from my dresser and started out the door. Slowly, I made my way down the hall and descended the stairs. The door creaked a bit when I opened it, but that was really the only problem I'd come across in my escape.

The night air was cool and relaxing and there was a gentle breeze blowing. Inhaling deeply, I took the first steps of the night, heading nowhere and everywhere at the same time.

"Where to first," I said to myself. I chewed my lip in thought and listened to the sound of the heels of my boots clicking against the pavement. "I heard that place Lost Boys was a big party place." I stopped and tried to remember who I heard talking about that place. I gave up and started off walking again. "I think it was down this way..."

- - -

Music blasted from the large club. Outside were a group of men dressed in leather and buckles with bite marks on each of their necks though it was quite obvious they were all vampires. Shrugging, I started off towards the group and smiled nicely.

"Is this the Lost Boys club," I asked nicely. They all turned my way and smiled slyly. The one who I was guessing was the leader, walked forward and threw a fag he was smoking to the ground.

"It is," he said, his voice was rough. I gave a small excited squeal and clicked my heels together.

"Great! Is it fun?" He and the rest of his group laughed and he brushed his oily black hair out of his face.

"Fun? Of course it's fun! Have you not ever heard of this place?" I bit my lip in thought again before shaking my head 'no'.

"This is my first time actually being out," I admitted. He made his face resemble a mock look of sympathy.

"Pity," he sighed. "Let me show you around, doll. The names Randy but all call me Rip."

"Okay, Rip," I said. He put his arm around me and led me inside. The place reeked of bad blood and achol. There were half naked girls everywhere! On the floor, on the stage, on the bar, on the men, on other half naked girls.

"What's your name, darlin'," he screamed at me from over the music. I looked up at him before quickly looking back down again.

"Isabella," I said to him, having to stand on my tip-toes and whisper in his ear so he could hear me. Nodding, he led me to the bar and sat me down.

"What's your type," he asked. It took me a moment before I realized he meant my blood type.

"O-," I replied.

" Rare," he said absently.

"Do you have it," I asked, a hint of panic in my voice.

"Oh, we have everything," he exclaimed. "We even have blood type E-."

"I've never heard of that."

"Excatly. Darcy," he called at one of the workers. Her hair was blood red and pulled back into two pigtails. She turned around at the sound of her name and came, literally, bouncing over.

"What can I get cha, Rip?"

"An O- for the lady," he said, pulling me closer to him. She popped her gum and smiled at me.

"Haven't seen her around before."

"She's new," he said to her before turning to face me. "You'll be coming around soon, right, Bella?" Darcy handed me a tall glass of O- and I took it in one hand before sipping it cautiously. It seemed all right.

"Why not," I said to Rip, smiling brightly.

"That's what I like to hear," he yelled out over the music and, without warning, pulled me to the dance floor.

Tom Gray

"Excuse me fellas," Tom said through gritted teeth as the cuffs were tightened around his wrists. "But I believe I have a customer." He nodded his head towards the young vampire that had just walked in, talking to the cop like a friend.

"I'll take care of it," John Ryder, the ever-friendly cop said sternly.

Tom stepped quickly in front of him, cutting him off. "Sorry, company rules," he said. "Only employees allowed behind the register."

John stared him down for a few minutes before releasing him from the cuffs and allowing him behind the counter. "Make it quick, you're still under arrest."

Tom smiled politely and stepped behind the register. "So, a human blood-alternative?" Tom asked, making conversation. He was lucky the cop seemed to have a soft spot for the kid, but of course anything that kept murderous vampires on the straight and narrow was probably a relief to him.

"Yes, I've been working on it for some time," the vampire said.

Tom nodded thoughtfully. "How interesting."

"Hurry it up, Gray," John said. "We're getting other calls."

"To pick up actual criminals who have committed actual crimes?" Tom asked as he handed over the young guys change. "You know it's better to arrest actual criminals rather than innocent gas station attendants."

"We've been over this, Tom, you're guilty," John said. "You have a record, we have witnesses, you're going to have to come with me."

"Ah," Tom said. "But you don't even know my side of the story. Ever think that I was catching up with some friends in that alleyway, and Miss Alice simply misconstrued my intentions? I thought cops were smarter than to make a silly mistake like that."

John grabbed Tom by the collar of his shirt and dragged him around the counter. "You don't need to make this any harder on yourself, Tom." John's cop-partner slapped the cuffs back on Tom's wrists.

Tom grinned widely, showing off his long, sharp canines. "Officer Ryder, I was the first vampire. Don't you think I could cover my tracks a little better than that?"

Peter Harving
With his hands shoved in his coat pockets, Peter walked quietly beside Clare, his gaze fixed on the sidewalk in front of him. He didn't need a babysitter, and wasn't taking kindly to having company.

"You know Tom," Clare said. "He's difficult."

"He'd just hate to lose his errand boy," Peter muttered.

"Uh-oh," Clare said, stopping and grabbing Peter by his coat sleeve. She pointed ahead towards the blood bank. A cop car sat across the street, and one of the more regular under-covers - a goody-two-shoes vampire by the same of Seline - hung out in front of the building. "I don't like the look of this."

Peter sighed. "Tom's done something," he grumbled. "And now they'll want to take me in too."

"Come on," Clare said. "We'll duck into the Lost Boys club for a while, you can get some blood there."

Peter nodded and followed her in, passing the gang that hung around out front. The club was pretty sketch, but at least it was safe from cops. So much illegal activity went on in there that it would take an army to bring everyone in.

sorry jok. i'm only 12, and i've never done anything bad to be angled up with cops, so no, i don't know.

I'm going to go ahead a ignore you post dragon for all the right reasons. where are you? are you at the gas station or are you at your job? Who's the fat cop, Conroy's 19 and slim and so is Ryder who's 22. If your talking about the cops that came round to wherever Alice works that's fine because Joey, who I said was going to get her, is a bit fat but why would Joey have Tom Ryder arrested him. Another thing I don't know if you've ever dealt with cops but they don't accept bullshit excuses like he's got autism cause his dad beat him. If it was bad enough that he would try to attack people then the cops would take him away anyway to put him a mental hospital. These are the mistakes with your post that I saw while reading it. It's poorley though out incosiderate post like these that kill storybooks and this idea is to good to get killed 4 pages in
I'll let Lauren decide if we roll with your post but I think I've made some pretty valid points.
jok101 FTW

Delilah Holmes

It had been an average day at work and as Dee arrived at her small apartment, she hung her keys up by the door, kicked off her shoes and double checked each bolt. There were three. You could never be too careful in this day and age. In fact, it was hard to be careful enough. Delilah dumped her bag on the counter and opened the fridge but stared with empty eyes at the food. She used to love cooking. That was something she was vaguely aware of missing but for the last four years, it had been take-away, ready meals and anything that took zero effort to make. Tonight she settled for a quick sandwich and sat down to watch the news.

The first ten minutes drawled by with little recognition but as the paper-thin woman turned to a new topic, Dee's back stiffened and she stared at the screen in horror. Another one. Blood sucked out through the jugular vein, just like... Annie. Delilah's hands clamped themselves into fists and then she rummaged crazily for the remote, trying not to listen, trying not to hear the woman's dreadful words and finally- click. The television went black. Dee sat, deflated in her chair and blinked back the tears. Another one. The police might want to cross examine her again, they'd be trawling over Annie's naked torso and her latest request to bury her little sister would be denied. On a more intelligent level, Dee understood the need to keep Annie on ice. There was a killer out there, still active, still hurting people. But. On an emotional level, Delilah wanted more than an empty coffin buried at the graveyard.

The phone was ringing. Dee swallowed hard and said, "Hello. Heh- hello," testing her voice before reaching for the receiver on the table beside her chair. "Hello?"

"Are you home, honey?" The voice was male and it made her angry to hear that tone from him. Her dad. A man who had never called her honey when she was young enough to care, had never taken the time to kiss his daughter's on the head.

"I'm home." Her tone was cold and unrelenting.

"I thought we could have dinner - say tomorrow evening - wouldn't that be nice?"

"I'm working until eight." It was a lie of course. Delilah never worked later than six so she wouldn't have to drive home in the dark. Her dad probably knew it too.

"Great. I'll pick you up straight after, still got the old apartment?" Dee glanced across to the fireplace where a large picture hung. Two girls grinning out of the frame and the words, 'Home Sweet Home' in cheesy, brightly coloured print. Dee had lived in the same, two bedroom, apartment since she was eighteen. She didn't want to ever leave.

"Yes."

"Half eight then, sweetie?"

"Half eight. Bye dad."

"Okay, buh-bye now, b-" Delilah hung up and set the phone back down. Standing slowly, Dee dragged herself upstairs and undressed for bed, climbing in under the covers and staring out through her window. The curtains were open. Delilah believed in being able to see what was coming instead of hiding in the dark and so she lay and stared until her eyelids were heavy with sleep and she drifted off.

John Ryder

"Officer Ryder, I was the first vampire don't you think I could cover my tracks better than that?" Tom said flashing a charming grin.

"I would but it seems I'm mistaken" I replied pulling him gently round so he was facing the door. I grabbed the middle of the cuffs and pulled them backwards and up, putting his arms at an akward angle, Conroy went first opening the door for us.

"Come on Officer Ryder their's got to be bigger fish to fry than me" Tom pleaded as we walked outside. It was night and fifth street was in full swing. Most of the noise coming from inside The Lost Boys. I was disturbed to see that their were three police cruisers on the opposite side of the road.

"What the fuck?" I whispered to myself as a group of drunk vamp teens waddled past heading toward the bloodbank. While the party at the lost boys was going strong the mood was considerable dampened with the police cruisers sitting across the street.

I approached the Police cruisers and a detective from VMS got out of his car.

"Sir, We've been trying to call you" He said

"Whats going on?" I asked stepping past the police boundry line.

"he's struck again but this time he's left a note" The detective said knowing he had me hooked. I handed Tom over to the detective and walked down the dark alleyway. I heard a van pulling up and a few seconds later the monotone voice of reporter explained what the van was doing here.

"Here" Conroy, who had come ahead, said handing me a brown envelope. It distracted me only for a second until I saw the body. It was female late teens probably about 19 she was half naked and deathly pale with the blood sucked out of her.

"Sir we've got a witness that says the man that went down the alley with the girl came out after ten minutes and walked back into the lost boys club. We've got the placed looked down tight no ones getting out." A young Police man said.

"We can't go in though we'll cause a panic since were cops" I replied. Then it hit me. I walked over to Tom and un-cuffed him.

"Are you letting me go?" Tom asked.

"Sort of" I replied opening the trunk of the police cruiser closest to me and pulling out a small handgun.

" Their's a psyco in that club over their, he's killed twelve women and one man, you go in in their and find him and I'll let you off the hook" I said.

"you up for it?" .

*You got the names mixed up DWF - I think that you followed on from my post earlier but I had gotten confused and named Lauren's characters incorrectly! (It's been changed now)

~Clare~
Even though I was the one who'd suggested it, I wasn't comfortable walking into the Lost Boys. I was so obviously human, and everyone around me could tell - I kept waiting for someone to pounce on my throat.

I followed Peter as he made his way to the bar to sit down, and I tensed visibly as I saw the vials of blood scattered along the counter. A deep breath inwards, then I took a seat next to Peter. He seemed just as uncertain about my prescence here as I did, but there wasn't much we could do now. An awkward silence reigned for the next five minutes as I stiffly stared into the distance, though the silence was hardly surprising given Peter's temperament. It was hard enough to get him to reply when prompted, let alone out of his own will.

I turned idly, glancing around the club with wary eyes. In the centre of the dancefloor, a young pretty girl was dancing with ... I forgot his name, but his reputation was all I needed to know. It had been more than once that I'd heard stories from Alice about him ... things I didn't really like to know. I supressed a shiver, then continued my sweep of the room. A disbelieving smile crossed my expression as I noticed something I hadn't been expecting.

"Look who's here," I nodded to Peter, gesturing to the entrance, and the teenager rolled his eyes in an exasperated fashion as Tom sauntered over with a triumphant smirk on his face.

[OC: Sorry it's short but I need to go to bed D:]

It's alright, Dragon. We're all inexperienced in some way, and we all make some mistakes. Jok had some valid points, and we all need to work together here and help each other along. Dragon, feel free to have Alice join us in Lost Boys and we'll bring you in.

Tom Gray and Peter Harving

"You up for it?" Officer Ryder asked. He obviously wasn't pleased to be giving Tom this chance, but it was his only option.

Tom shrugged, rubbing his freed wrists with his hands. "I don't know, Officer," he said. "What's in it for me?"

Ryder groaned and pressed his thumb and pointer finger on the bridge of his nose. "If you do this, Tom, then I'll let you walk tonight. But don't get to thinking this is a regular thing."

Tom smirked and held his hand out to the officer. "It's a deal, Officer."

Inside the club, Tom spotted Peter and Clare sitting at the bar. He cursed; what was Peter thinking bringing a human into the Lost Boys club? She was obviously human. Even if she didn't look it, she was staring around awkwardly like she didn't belong.

He walked over to them, keeping a smile on his face. "Peter, never thought you were one to like these kinds of places," he said as he slumped onto the barstool next to him.

"I'm not," Peter said. "The Bank was swarming with cops." He swirled the remaining blood around in his cup, not looking at Tom. "What are you doing here?"

"Some official police business," Tom said. He called over the bartender and ordered a tall glass of AB, knocking it back as soon as he handed it over.

"Avoiding the cops again?" Peter asked.

Tom shook his head. "Not this time, Pete," he said. "I'm playing for the other side tonight. Go ahead and get Clare out of here, you shouldn't have brought her around in the first place."

Peter gaped at him. "You're the one who told her to come along!" he shouted, jumping up from the barstool. "She wouldn't be here if you trusted me to survive going to the bank on my own!"

Tom pushed down on Peter's shoulders, putting him back on the stool. "Just take her home, and then you go back to the house." He turned and walked away into the crowd of people dancing.

Peter clenched his fist around his glass, breathing deeply to steady himself. "Let's go," he growled.

Tom scanned the crowd dancing for a few minutes, looking out for the guy John Ryder had described. There were vampires everywhere, and all of them looked either drunk or crazy, most of the males matching the description close enough to fit. The one person that caught his eye, though, was a teenage girl being passed between the club owner and several other vamps with bad reputations.

He watched her, laughing at his imagine scenarios that brought his naive girl into a place like this. He watched her stumble around, and watched the frightened look in her eye as she went from dangerous man to even more dangerous man on the dancefloor. He watched until she was spun into the arms of a vampire that matched Ryder's description perfectly.

"Oh, god," Tom said quietly. He pushed his way through the crowd toward the pair, hoping Peter had the sense to get Clare out of the club. There weren't many ways a confrontation between vampires could go but badly.

Isabella

"I want to sit down now," I whispered to Rip. "M-my head hurts and everything's fuzzy." He looked down at my and raised and eyebrow.

"No, stay," he insisted, pulling me closer. I placed my hands on his chest and tried my best to push him away.

"I can hardly see and...it's hard to stand. I-I have to go." He "awwed" at me and pulled my harder, my cheek slammed into his hard chest.

"You must be tired. Just close your eyes a bit, I'll watch over you." I groaned against his firm arms caging me in. I wanted so badly to just close my eyes and sleep. I was so tired and weak. I shouldn't be though! I'd just had three hefty drinks of O-! Everything was fine when I walked over here. Everything was fine when I met Rip. Everything was fine until... Until when?

"I don't wanna," I whined, sounding a bit childish. Everything was fine until I... until after I drank that drink. He couldn't have done anything to it... Could he? I mean, I was sitting right there!

"Shh," he whispered into my ear. "Don't fight it." Fight what?! My knees got weak and I helplessly slumped into him.

"Let me go," I mumbled. "Let...me..." My head slumped against his chest and it took too much out of me to even groan or scream. Faintly, in the distance, I could hear someone approach and start talking - no, yelling - at Rip.

"Hand over the girl and put your hands in the air!" At least, that's what I think he said. Everything was so blurry and fuzzy. Like that static that comes on the tele when there's a bad thunderstorm. I hit the floor, well, maybe not the floor but I hit something. It didn't hurt, I was so darn numb. Now I was being lifted, rather quickly I might add. The person was bulky and reeked of sweat and achol. They were running with me now, carrying me away. I could feel the cold wind hitting my face, but even that sense was slowly slipping away. Am I being vampire-napped? No, I couldn't be. That type of stuff only happens in movies. No! Don't sleep now, Isabella. You have to stay awake. You have..to..stay...

So, if I'm not totally dull, Isabella has just been vampirenapped. Right?

Alexander Von Ray

The sheets were twisted around my body, as if someone had tried to tie me up in the middle of the night. Yawning, I glanced out of the window and saw that it was fairly dark outside. What time was it? I glanced over at the digtal clock on my bedside table, it read 3:45 AM.
"Not that long before the sun rises," I said to myself, stretching towards the ceiling. I should go wake Bell. Quickly, I slipped out of bed and started towards my door, hurridly making my way towards Isabella's room.

"Bella," I called, openeing the door. "Bell, darling, it's time to wake for a drink." There was no answer. Not even the sound of her rustling the sheets or groaning. I flicked on the lights and started towards the bundle of sheets on her bed. "Isabella," I called softly, my heart racing. No answer again. With my pulse thudding in my ears, I flipped back the covers. Nobody was there.

"Hell," I whispered. "Oh hell! Oh hell! Oh bloody hell!" I raced into my room and threw on a pair of slicks and a blazer which I didn't even bother to button up. I barely had mmy shoes on before I was clambering down the stairs. I was just about to throw open the door when I stopped.

"Calm yourself, Alex," I said, taking deep breaths. She's probably in the kitchen. I raced towards the kitchen. Nope. Not there. The bathroom? Nope. The movie room? Not at all. She was nowhere to be found in this house. Slowly, I made my way towards the front door again. She probably went for a walk... I walked faster and threw open the door, walking briskly down the street. But why was she not back yet? My brisk walk turned into a steady jog. What if something happened to her? I started running as fast as I could, my shoes pounding against the gravel.

"Isabella! Isabella!"

Dmitri Collins

Dmitri woke the next morning to a throbbing headache and the sound of a heavy fist pounding on his dorm room door. He blinked several times, wondering who on earth it could be. The likelihood was that it was his roommate Sean, back from spending the night with Jenny, or Ruby, or Samantha... Dmitri sighed as he forced himself out of bed and headed towards the door. He never could work out how his roommate managed to juggle three girls at once...

Dmitri threw open the door and found, to his utter disbelief, his step-father staring back at him.

“What are you doing here?” Dmitri asked in confusion. "Is everything alright?"

“Get dressed,” his step-father ignored him. “You have less than four hours to get to Capitol Hill.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“The Senate is holding an emergency conference in Washington to discuss the vampire situation.”

He handed Dmitri a file which looked like classified government material.

“The conference will be lead by the prominent anti-vampire Senator Michael Burton. He is hoping to push the Senate into voting yes to the Vampire Registration Act.”

Dmitri sighed, running his fingers through his air, as a surge of uneasiness and frustration spread through him. He knew that it was only a matter of time before something like this happened.

“And since you, Dmitri, are such a...champion for vampire rights, you have been invited by the Senate to offer your thoughts on the issue at hand,” Dmitri could sense the sarcasm in his step-father’s voice. “I suggest you get yourself ready. We leave in five minutes.”