"Now?" Wynn says, "At night they presume to attack?" He sounds surprised.

"How can they be here already?" Clemente asks. "I must have miscalculated..."

"No." Father says. "They are travelling day and night. The bird tells me they bring sunlight with them. A machine they have, it's new. We must move."

I stand with my mother and listen through the open window. I hear the rustling of the trees, the creaking of the night, owls, birds, rodents. The sounds of the forest.

"I don't hear people." I say to father. He looks at me.

"Use your nose, the bird tells me they are masking their sound, they have machines that are playing the sounds of the forest all around them."

We move into the routines of leaving with speed. We have it well practiced. My brothers leave the room, moving fast and gathering the needed possessions. We'll leave through the back, head south.

We have an advantage in the night. Full strength and speed. We can fight if we must, but we will be outnumbered, and we have no protection from their darts.

"Let's go." Father says. As we run into the trees the wolves are howling again, surrounding us on all sides. They will move with us, at a distance.

The trees tower high above, blocking the sky. Blue light trickles through the canopy. The ground is soft, covered in leaves, twigs and decaying plants. The ground is alive with life, insects and night creatures rummaging and feasting. The smell of life and death in collision. One feeding the other.

I sniff, using my nose as my father suggested but I cannot smell pursuit. We must be safe for the time being. The scents of the forest fill the air.

We're running with light steps, leaving no trace of ourselves. We are very hard to track. And we are moving fast. The landscape stays constant, high trees towering, mulchy ground below.

I listen for the wolves and hear them around us, out of sight but nearby, their feet padding lightly on the ground.

We can run for hours at night without tiring. We are faster than people and their machines. It's in the daylight when we are at risk, so we will put as much distance as we can between us and them before we have to take cover in the morning.

We've been running for several hours, lost in the repetativness of it. I wonder if the running will ever end. And I find myself wondering what caused this hunt to begin in the first place. My father stops running.

"Something's wrong." he says. We are all stopped now. My father ahead, my two brothers either side, gazing into the trees. Mother and I stand in the middle of them all. Mother's black hair is moving in the breeze. I can't hear anything unusual.

"What is it Father?" Clemente asks. My father drops to the ground and holds his ear to the forest floor.

"They're coming." he says.

"Impossible!" Says Wynn. I can't hear them, I can't smell them, I can't see them."

"Nor I." says Clemente.

"I know. They are masking themselves. Disguising themselves as forest in all but their looks. But they are coming. They are ahead and they are behind. When daylight falls they will be upon us with speed."

"How do they track us so?" My mother asks.

"They track the heat of the wolves, and they know we will be near. They will spread out in the daylight and find us at our weakest." He replies. He is thinking, a frown on his smooth, white face. His eyes are closed.

"We must split up. I will take the pack. When I am found they will converge. When they do you can run. Run east, find the perpetual darkness and there you shall remain. I will fight them, distract them and then join you."

"No!" My mother says. "That is suicide."

"Leila, I'm already dead. You take the family, you know where to go. There is no other way." His words are definite and certain. My mother nods.

"I will join you father." Says Clemente.

"And I." Says Wynn.

"No. You will protect your mother and sister until I return."

Wynn flashes his fangs and steps back, nodding in submission. Clemente bears his fangs at my father, hissing. "No, father. Then I shall take your place." his red eyes are glowing.

"You challenge me?" my father says. The bared fangs and glowing eyes is a challenge. A challenge for authority.

"Yes, father. For your safety I challenge you."

"No Clemente!" I shout, but my mother holds me back as my father bares his fangs in return. They move to a small clearing, and start to circle each other.

"No Alesco, there's nothing you can do." Mother whispers. Wynn is watching through narrowed eyes.

My father's eyes are shining now, brightest of all, like red hot flames. They circle each other. A challenge between vampires can be fierce. It is a play for power, for authority. One must submit, or one will die. Instinct takes over and keeps hold until it is over, it can override prior connections between opponents. I have seen it only once before.

Clemente is young for such a battle, that much I know. My father is hundreds of years older, stronger and wiser by far. But Clemente is powerful.

The circling continues, fangs bared. Wynn moves my mother and I back a little further, to shelter by a tree, there is nothing we can do but watch.

Clemente leaps forward, in a pounce, so fast he is a blur, arms outstretched. Just as they are about to collide father steps aside. He's faster. I didn't even see him move and then he wasn't there. His hand strikes Clemente's back and he crashes into a tree.

Father turns and faces him again, Clemente is already back on his feet, growling. Rage is in his eyes. His instinct was to protect, but I don't know what it is now. The circling starts again, but not for long. He pounces again, leaping high and switching around at the last second. I'm sure he's about to knock father off his feet, but again he's too fast. He's behind Clemente and knocks him to the ground and steps back. I study my fathers face, his eyes are still glowing, fangs bared, but it's not rage burning in those eyes. Clemente turns to face him again and restlessly moves round him, eyes flitting in all directions, looking for something, a way to attack, never stopping.

The dance continues, he pounces again, and again, but never hits the target. My father deflects every blow, every pounce. He doesn't hurt him though, he's not in it for victory. Clemente looks overcome now, possessed, like a wild animal. He is glaring. "Fight back old man." he hisses, venom in every word.

"Stop your foolish games Clemente."

Clemente lets out a roar at that and launches forward, faster than ever. He collides with father head on and they go down, hitting the groud.

Clemente is on top, hand raised to strike. His finger nails are claw-like in their shape and strength, powerful and sharp. He swipes down. I can't see how it happens but he never lands the blow. Now Clemente is pinned beneath father, held down. Have father's eyes changed? Has the animal kicked in?

"Submit to my authority." Father says.

Clemente hisses in response, and struggles but he cannot free himself. He opens his mouth to speak.

I've just beome aware of another sound intruding into my consciousness. It's been there a while but I was so focused I didn't notice. It looks like Wynn and Mother haven't noticed it either. I open my mouth to tell them but before I can say anything, a bright explosion of light appears in the clearing. It's blinding.

Another beam joins it from the other side of the clearing. I feel my strength ebbing. It can't be sunlight. I look at the sky, it's still night, but it feels like sunlight.

Wynn grabs my arm and pulls me backward into the trees. Mother with us. I see father and Clemente on the ground, no longer battling but side by side. It's humans.

I can't say anything in case we're heard. We're retreating back, further and further into the darkness, but the clearing is still in view through the trees. We stop and watch. Four men step into the clearing, one leading. He's tall and heavy set. He is dressed in the bite proof armour, all except his head. He doesn't have much hair. He carries one of those black, shining weapons.

"Vampires!" He says. He's looking down at my brother and father where they are lying, next to a tree. Neither of them says anything.

"Can't you talk?" he says after a while. "Just animals after all." he spits at my father, who doesn't move. Clemente lets out a howl of rage at the challenge, his eyes still glowing.

Three of the men lift their weapons behind the obvious leader and point them at my brother. The one at the front smiles and looks at Clemente.

"What are you going to do, Vampire?" He steps towards them, no fear in his step, no fear on his face. I look around and see the main group standing behind the glowing light. I see the devices emitting the sounds in front of them, black nets of some kind, broadcasting the sounds of the forest.

Clemente growls again, showing his fangs. A challenge. But he doesn't rise. Father has placed a hand on his chest to keep him down. The man is only a few feet away from him now, I can see him clearly, there is obvious pleasure on his face as he spits on my brother too.

Clemente surges up, pushing my father off and flies at the man. Fast. Hands outstretched. They collide and he's on top of the man before he can blink, bearing down on him, ready to bite at his face. I hear 3 bangs and my brother is hit in back, shining, feathered darts sticking through his black shirt. He rolls off instantly and is thrashing on the ground.

"Clemente!" I shout. Wynn puts his hand over my mouth.

It's lucky my father shouted his name at the same time, although I think one of the four men looked round to our spot. My father has lunged forward and is by my Brother's side, he's thrashing wildly on the ground. My father's eyes look into those of the man in front of him.

"Now, Vampire. Are you going to play nice?" he says to my father.

"This is no game child." my father says. I can see my father looking around him, eyes flicking back and forth, up and down, taking in everything. Calculating.

"Child?" The man sounds angry. "Don't insult me when you need my mercy."

"I need no mercy from you, child. It is you who will need the mercy."

"What are you going to do? You against all of us?" he says, signalling to all his men.

"I won't fight you. But the words are in the air, the hunt is coming to an end. You will not finish what you begun. You've unleashed a hell and you won't be able to stop it. It grows in the darkness child. It grows stronger every day."

"Enough!" The man says. He kicks out, his foot colliding with my father. My father does not move, shows no indication he's been hit. I see the anger flair on the man's face again. One of his men steps forward.

"Is this really necessary?" he says to his leader. "Come on John, let's just do what we came to do. Cut the theatrics."

"I'm in charge here." John says. My brother has stopped moving on the ground and is lying face down.

The man called John pauses, glaring at the man who challenged him. He shrugs.

"Okay. Do it." says the man.

My father is gazing at his face, unflinching. "Won't you do it yourself? Are you afraid?" Father says.

The man was about to turn away. He smiles, a smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "Afraid? No." He lifts his weapon, takes aim at father and fires, a silver dart shoots out and fixes into my father's chest. He stumbles back and falls, thrashing on the ground. His fangs are bared and he's writhing on the forest floor, I watch in horror as his fangs shrink and disappear into his mouth, his eyes are open and I see them shifting, changing, rolling in his head. I try to run forward but again Wynn holds me back, still holding my mouth. I bite at it, but he doesn't relent.

"Stop it" he hisses in my ear. "You can do nothing."

Father's eyes have changed, the red is gone, replaced by green, a black pupil has appeared.

The man who had spoken up earlier speaks again to his leader. The one he called John. "Why d'you want to be so cruel?"

"Leave it Darren!" John says. "Check the area in case there's others." he says.

Darren heads in our direction, I can see his face now he's lifted his helmet off. The others go in other directions. He is tall, his hair is fair, light brown and messy. He's young too, I think about 18. He's walking towards our spot but hasn't seen us in the darkness. He has a light on and is playing it back and forth over the area.

He points it up and Wynn let's go of me and tenses as it plays across where we are standing.

"I know you're there." he says quietly. He looks right at us then, I can feel that Wynn is ready to fight.

"Run." Darren says quietly. "Run and don't stop running."

He is looking at me, staring into my eyes, I'm captivated by his green eyes. His flushed skin. I can hear his heartbeat. I wonder what it feels like.

"Go." he says. "All of you, go." And he turns back towards his companions. "All Clear!" He shouts.

Wynn pulls me around and we run.

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