Alesco:

We've been running for 3 days. Stopping as little as possible. Hiding in the tree tops. But we haven't been followed. At least there's no sign of having been followed. None of us can talk to the birds like father can, none of us can see, hear or smell as well as father and Clemente and we don't have them here.

The running has kept my mind occupied. But in the moments in between it's been jumping between father and Clemente, their battle, their capture and the face of the human who let us run. Why did he let us run? What was that look in his eye as he stared at me?

Mother hasn't spoken much since father was captured. Only single words when necessary and Wynn has been angry. He's still angry. I don't know if he's angry at the humans or father or Clemente. I've asked him but he hasn't answered.

We're sitting now at the top of a tall tree, beneath the thick canopy, sheltered from the sun and safe from the ground. I should be resting. Mother looks at peace in her rest, shut off from her inner pain. Wynn is looking out from the branches at the forest. He is concentrating.

"Why did he let us run?" I ask him. He looks over at me, his red eyes are bright.

"You should be resting Alesco." he says, and flashes me a smile. It's fleeting and brief, but the first smile I have seen on his face since the capture.

"I can't rest. My mind is full. Where's father now? Why did the human let us go?"

He gazes at me for some time before saying anything else. "I don't know." he says. "But we need to go, as Father said, East to the perpetual darkness."

"What is that?" I ask him. "I've never heard of it."

"I don't know. But we are going east and we'll keep going east until we find it." He says. He looks away, back at the forest below us. It's alive with insects and animals, birds and plants. But there's no sign of humans. "Rest now. I'll keep watch." Wynn says.

I must be resting, but my mind is still working. Why did that human let us go? Those green eyes are in my mind and I can't get rid of the picture. Why?

"Alesco, it's time to move." It's my mother's voice and I open my eyes, alert. I must have needed the rest more than I thought. It's dark now, the sun has been replaced with the moon and stars. The sky is cloudless tonight.

Wynn jumps from the tree and lands lightly on the forest floor. I follow with my mother. We move, running through the trees, heading east again, looking for the perpetual darkness that my father talked about. Wynn has already asked my mother, but she never answered, wouldn't speak. He's trying again now.

"Mother, what do you know of the perpetual darkness?" he says, as we continue to run.

"I don't know much Wynn. Your father took news from the creature's of the forest. I was never able to do that." She replies. "But he did mention the perpetual darkness once. He said it was rising to the east, a darkness that would soon break lose. I know no more." She sounds sad.

Wynn nods and we continue to run. We are running towards the moon as it rises towards us. I look at the ground, thinking again about father and Clemente and the human. I'm running on automatic now, lost in thoughts. I wonder why the hunt began in the first place.

Wynn, who is up ahead of us a little, stops. Mother and I both stop just behind him. I see why he's stopped. The forest is darker here, there's a visible border of deeper shadows. I look up at the tree tops to see what's causing it, but there is nothing visible that would block the light. The border goes from left to right as far as I can see.

"This must be where the perpetual darkness begins." Wynn says. "I don't know what to expect in here, so we're going to step back, eat, and watch from the tree tops."

I nod at him and we retreat a ways. "Go up the tree, I will bring food." he says. I climb the tree, moving with speed from branch to branch until I am near the top. My mother has followed me up. Looking up at the sky from here makes for a spectacular sight. The clear sky is sparkling with a million stars, tree tops stretching as far as I can see.

I look over the tree tops to the area beyond the border of darkness. From here it looks like all the rest of the forest. Thick, swaying braches of leaves and twigs, fruits and flowers. Spider's webs glimmer in the moonlight. I listen to the sounds of scraping and scratching, rustling and breathing. The animals of the forest, living out their lives. But there's another sound I can hear, it's faint, travelling on the breeze. "Alesco..." "Alesco..." It's a hissing noise, like a whispering snake.

I Look around the tree tops and down for the source but see nothing.

"Alesco..." the voice says again.

"Mother?"She looks up at me when I say her name. "Can you hear that?"

I've pulled her from her thoughts, I can see that now. She looks around, listening. The voice has stopped. "Hear what?" she asks.

"There was a...a whispering, my name." I say. But the voice is gone.

"I heard nothing Alesco." My mother says. "Perhaps a feed will make you feel better." I don't reply, I don't think it was imagined. My mother is looking towards the ground, waiting for Wynn I imagine. I gaze around the treetops again.

"Alesco..." the voice says again. My mother looks up now.

"Where's that from?" she says, her voice an urgent whisper.

"I don't know."

"Alesco...Leila..."

Up ahead, I see something above the trees. "Mother, look." I point. She turns and looks at the shape. It's floating above the trees. A cloaked figure - a dark, billowing cloak. I look but the shape seems to be faceless. There is only blackness, nothingness where the hood opens and the face should be.

The shape is looking in our direction. "Alesco...Leila" the hissing drifts from the silhouette. The blackness is gazing, I shiver. The cloak is the black of the night sky, yet somehow the opening is deeper, darker. Two arms detach from the side of the shape. One is holding a long staff, the other is an empty hand. The hand is dark skinned. I can see the skin. I sniff the air, but there is no scent from whatever it may be.

"State your purpose." Mother says to the creature. Her voice is not loud but I know it has reached.

"Come to me."

The empty hand beckons for us. "Come to me for refuge in the eternal darkness."

I feel an urge pull at me, drawing me forward. I resist. And then it's gone. The urge and the creature.

"What was that?" I ask. I don't often experience fear, but I experienced it then.

"I do not know." Mother says. "I do not know."

There's a rustling and I see Wynn is climbing the tree. He is carryinga young deer in one arm. While my mother drinks I tell him what we saw. He doesn't answer immediately but looks troubled. These last days have changed him. His face is set, serious, brooding. His humour has evaporated. At least for now.

My mother hands me the deer and I drink. As always I feel refreshed, feel the energy, the warmth. I drop the deer from the tree, it lands with a thud. The howling fills the air almost immediately – the mourning cry of the wolves.

I can see their shapes, several of them, arriving beneath the tree. They don't look up, but settle into tearing their meal apart, growling as they go.

"We are going to sit here 'til sunrise." Wynn says. "If this is the perpetual darkness as father said, daylight will tell us."

As the sun rises on the eastern horizon up ahead, chasing the night away, we climb lower toward the forest floor, away from its burning glare. We sit watching as daylight filters through the trees, waiting for it to reach the border of darkness in front of us.

The sun appears overhead and its rays touch the ground at our feet. Beyond the border remains dark, as though the night has never left. "That must be it." Wynn says.

"I think so." Says mother. "We don't know what to expect and we have no idea what, or who, that thing was last night. We'll need to move with care." She says.

"Yes. But our choices are limited, so we will have to trust in father's words." Wynn says. "Let's go."

We step forward then, but we're not running. It's refreshing to step into the darkness, I was already feeling the weakening rays of the sun. The air beyond the light feels thick. The trees seem taller, although I know they are not. There's a density here.

We walk forward, stepping through the trees. Stepping lightly, soundlessly. Keeping ourselves undetectable. We have no scent, no breath and can move without sound. All vampires can do this. It makes our hunting effective.

Why has father sent us here? Did he know what he was doing? Where is he now? I find myself wondering. I remember his words to the human hunter.

"You've unleashed a hell and you won't be able to stop it. It grows in the darkness, child. It grows stronger everyday."  He'd never mentioned it before, not to me anyway. I can't ask Mother now, we have to stay quiet.

The further we go, the darker it gets. Here it is night although I know it is day. Perpetual darkness it is. A perfect home for vampires. We've met no one though, no one other than ourselves.

A bird takes flight ahead. It's scared. Wynn stops. Mother and I stop too. I know he's wondering what scared the bird. It wouldn't have known we were coming. He sniffs the air, as do I, there's nothing obvious. I gaze through the trees in the direction of the sound, but see nothing.

"Alesco, Wynn, Leila. Welcome." A voice says to our right. We all spin around and face the sound. Standing several feet away is the tallest vampire I have ever seen. His hair reaches the middle of his back,the red eyes are gleaming. He's smiling.

"Yes, welcome." Another voice, behind us this time. A deeper voice, more powerful. It reminds me of father. I spin around and see another vampire. Then another steps out, and another and we are surrounded on all sides.

"Who are you?" Wynn asks the first who spoke. He's keeping his voice calm, measured, quiet.

"A friend." the tall stranger replies.

"A friend we know not the name of?" My mother speaks now. Her voice is steadier than I've heard it in the last days. "What type of friend remains nameless?"

I watch the face of the tall stranger. It doesn't change. "Of course Leila. Where are my manners?" His voice is silky, smooth, commanding. "I am Fabian. These are my companions." He gestures around to the circle of vampires. "You will all be introduced in due course."

"What do you want with us?" I ask.

"Why, Alesco, we've been waiting for you to come. Your father and brother have been taken. You will be angry, no doubt. Upset. We are here to welcome you to our home. A place of safety." There is something deeper than his silky voice and smiling face. I don't know what it is. I nod to show I heard him.

"Thank you for your welcome." Wynn says, taking charge of us again. He's the leader of us now, and the decisions will fall to him. There is a sharp tone in his voice but he bows his head a little as he says it. It's not submission, but it is a temporary recognition of authority.

"Come." Fabian says and he turns and walks into the trees. He is moving quickly, uncarefully. No attempts to mask himself or his tracks.

I look to Wynn. He nods his head at my mother and I and we all follow our new "friend." The surrounding vampires walk with us. We are trapped. For all the talk of welcome and safety, it is clear that we don't have a choice in where we're going or what we're doing.

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