Alesco:

"Tell me what happened in there." Wynn says again. "I need to know."

We're walking away from the house, back towards our hut. Back to mother. I don't know what I am going to say, what to ask. The images from the mirror are flowing through my mind on repeat and there is a lot I don't understand.

"Nothing." I say to Wynn. He's asking about the vision. What I saw. What the creature says is written into the future. I felt it, but I don't want to share it. Not yet.

"You're lying." he says again. This time he grabs my arm. I stop walking. His eyes are blazing, his expression set, serious.

I pull my arm away and push him back with force. He stumbles, almost falling. "Don't dare hold me back." I hiss. I feel my own anger flaring up.

His expression changes to shock, then shifts to anger. I've never questioned the authority of my brothers, or father. But I'm different now. I feel different. Strong, powerful. My brief connection with fear has ended.

Wynn's blazing eyes are boring into mine. I meet his gaze, meet the challenge in his face. He looks away, backing down. I don't think he's sure how to deal with my changed attitude. The males are used to being the authority, heading up the families, deciding things. They challenge each other, they fight and submit. But my actions are unusual.

"Let's go back to mother. I want some answers." I say.

Wynn looks back at me. His expression is unreadable now. The anger is gone, but I can't tell what it's replaced with. I look back at him.

"Ok! Me too." He says. His new tone takes me by surprise. He's smiling now. Fangs bared in a mischievous grin. A complete transformation in the blink of an eye. He hasn't worn that look since father was taken.

He lets out a laugh. "Don't look so surprised. I always knew you had a strength about you. I just hoped you'd beat Clemente rather than me." He says. I feel my mood lighten a little. He always could lighten things up.

We're walking again, towards the edge of the village. Towards the trees. Towards mother and, hopefully, some answers.

"We're not supposed to be like this." I say.

"What are you talking about?" He says.

"Running, hiding, cowering in the shadows. We are stronger. We are the true hunters." I say. "Our prey has us hiding."

"It's been this way since the Hunt began. But we never hunted humans before that, we lived side by side. Father told us the stories. They're not our prey." He says.

"According to Father, yes. But what about the mirror? Didn't you see the images? Mother as a human, how do you explain that?" I ask.

He says nothing. He can't explain it. How can he? They never told us anything about it. Mother and Father are supposed to be hundreds of years old. If they are, then where is the child? Who is the child? Or is she younger than she says? I intend to find out.

"I cannot explain it." Wynn says. "But mother surely can."

I can see my mother up ahead. She's outside the tent, cross-legged on the ground, gazing into the forest, rocking gently. She looks lost in her thoughts, her mind. I wonder what she is thinking about. I imagine her thoughts will be on Father and Clemente. On where they are and what is happening to them.

She looks round at us as we approach. Questions are rolling around in my mind. Where to start?

Mother jumps to her feet and looks at me. "What has happened, Alesco?" She says.

I'm surprised by her direct question, her obvious concern. What can she see in my face?

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Something has changed. Tell me what happened." She says back to me.

"We need some answers." I say. "Sit down." The authority in my tone feels natural now. My mother sits back on the ground. Wynn and I join her, forming a circle. Wynn says nothing as I tell her what we saw. I tell her of the images in the mirror, but leave out the rest. Now is not the time.

Her expression does not change. I've finished talking and she looks at the ground, saying nothing.

"Is it true?" Wynn says to her. She meets his eyes, but stays silent.

"Well, is it?" I say. There's an urgency in my tone.

She nods her head, but still says nothing. Her nod is like a slap to my face. What else don't we know? What else is a lie? Are any of the stories true? I feel like the foundations of what I know have been shattered.

"Mother. We need to know. There are forces at play I had no idea about. I need to know the truth." I say. I can see she seems to be stuggling with this situation, so I make my tone gentle.

"Ok." She says. "Your father is as old as he says. Older than most. In fact, he was one of the first on the Island."

"One of the first?" I cut in, unable to stop myself. "How old can he be?"

"He wouldn't speak of the beginnings. He never has told me. But I know all is not as it has been told.  Let me tell you what I do know."

I nod at her and glance over at Wynn. His face is set again, serious and listening, his forehead creased in concentration.

"It started when his mate was taken by the hunters." She pauses to let the words sink in. I listen, not sure what to make of it.

"Your father is powerful, the early vampires are the strongest. With age comes new strength and new wisdom."

"When they captured his mate, your father's anger was terrible, his grief was intense. I don't know how many hundreds of years they were coupled, but it was an age.

"He was forced to flee, to leave her behind or he would have been captured too. He had no choice and so he contented himself with a vow of revenge."

She has my full attention now. I'm absorbed, fascinated and disbelieving all at the same time. How could they have kept this a secret? My mother continues to talk.

"He watched the Hunters, from the tree tops, from the darkness. The face of the one who shot that dart, who stole away his love was etched into his memory. He couldn't get into their fortress at the edge of forest, but he watched. He followed. He looked for something, some way.

"The animals of the forest helped him to watch, brought him news. And he kept watching. Driven by the grief and anger.

"Then he saw me. The birds told him that families were visiting the hunters. People used to visit from the City back then. I was there, visiting my brother." She stops talking and looks at the ground, pain visible on her face, in her eyes. But my thirst to know beats any compassion I feel.

"And then what?" I ask. She looks at me, into my eyes, and holds my gaze.

"He broke free of the forest, broke out between patrols at a section of the fence and he followed it down. I don't know how he stayed hidden without the trees, but somehow he did.

"As we were readying to leave, to go back to the City he took me. I couldn't fight and he moved so fast. Our guard was unprepared, unready. No attacks had or have since happened on the City side of the fence. He was going to make my brother pay for taking his love, and he took a great and bold risk in doing so. This was his revenge. Pain for pain, loss for loss."

"He took me deep into the forest and kept me in a tree top. There was nowhere I could go, nowhere to run. You have never felt emotions as a human, but I felt fear then. Loss and grief and fear."

"The Hunters came, my brother in the lead, searching. They passed us by. Your father watched them, he followed them, he watched my brother most of all, watched his suffering. He wanted it to be complete, to see all his hope lost.

"But then something changed. He was not a monster, as I was taught to think. We were taught to believe that the hunters kept mankind safe from the monsters within the trees. The animals with power. That is why they hunt us.

"My fear lessened. I became brave. I started to talk to him. To question him.

"And so he told me of his loss. His quest for revenge and why he took me. And I understood his pain. He told me of being a vampire, of eternal life, of strength and speed. And I longed for it.

"Your father was torn. My brother gave up his hunts, gave up looking. I guess he lost hope. It was now your father would have presented his final gift of revenge. He would have killed me then for my brother to see.

"But he'd changed. And now his lust for vengeance was broken. I loved him then as I love him now. It was three months after being taken and I begged him for eternal life.

"He refused at first. Yet he kept me safe, he kept me fed and we lived together, moving around the forest.

"He fought off other vampires if they took an interest – which they did. Few had, or have, tasted human blood, but blood is blood and thirst is thirst."

"So, what changed?" Wynn asks. "He obviously gave in."

My mother turns her head and looks at him, taking her eyes off me.

"Yes, he did. After two more months living like this he consented. He consented when we found I was with child. There was no choice."

"Neither of us knew what it meant. He had never heard of it happening before, nor since. We did not know what would happen. But it was too risky for me.

"Your father said he had to seek council on what would happen, on what the child would be. He left me and disappeared into the darkness. I do not know where he went. I do not know what he sought. He never told me. Not then, not ever.

"He returned to me and you saw what happened in the vision. I was changed. My mortality ended, the weakeness of the flesh no more. Revenge turned into something new."

She stops talking and looks from Wynn to me. There are still questions, unanswered. What happened? When was it? Who was the child? Where are they now?

"When did this happen?" I ask her. "How did it turn out? Where is the child?"

Her face tells me there is more to tell, more to know about all of this. I sense her reluctance so I hold her gaze.

"18 years ago." She says. That's like another slap, another surprise.

"You mean... me?" I say.

"Yes, Alesco. You."

"But how? What about my brothers. Wynn, Clemente. They are older..."

She looks at Wynn now, he looks back, confusion on his face, uncertainty in his eyes. He is older than me by two years and Clemente a year older than him. At least that's what we thought. I'm not sure now. I'm not sure how it can be.

"They are your brothers Alesco. But they are not my sons." Wynn physically flinches. He looks like he's been hit. He lets out a sound, something between a hiss and a growl. It's filled with pain and rage.

"Lies!" he says, his voice raised. "A life of lies!" His eyes are glowing dangerously. I put a hand on his arm as he starts to rise. He looks at me.

"Hear her out, Wynn. Hear to the end." I say, keeping my voice gentle, trying to sooth him. He looks at me, I see the indecision, and then he sits back down and glares at my mother.

"Finish." He spits at her.

"When your mother was turned, your father gave them over to the care of your uncle, Tristram." She says.

Another lie. He is not my mother's brother as we thought. I think back to the day he was shot down, to the sight of him writhing on the forest floor. I wonder where he is now. And where is Clemente and my father? Where are all those who have been turned?

"Tristram, is your uncle, Wynn. As he always was. But he is not your uncle Alesco. Not by blood. Nor is he related to me by blood."

"I raised you all as my own. Your mother was gone."

Wynn stands up and turns to walk away. It looks like he is heading for the trees. He stops.

Six vampires are coming towards us, close now. I recognise Fabian and Aldon. I do not recognise the others. They stop in front of us and I spring to my feet. My mother follows suit.

"What do you want?" Wynn says. The challenge in his tone is obvious.

None of them say anything to him. They are all looking at me. Fabian steps forward and drops to his knees. He looks different than when he guided us here, than when he blocked us from the house of master. The other five follow suit, landing on their knees.

"Lady Alesco." He says. His voice is smooth, silky. "We are here to join your hunt."

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