The phone rings to it's end for the fifth time, Alex's cheery voicemail only causes me to groan and toss my phone onto my bed. With my now free hands, I finish pinning my messy hair back with a hair clip and stand in front of my full-length mirror. 

    I title my head slightly and lift my white tank top up, revealing the bruises decorating my abdomen. I sigh before tugging my oversized faux leather jacket over my bare shoulders. My matching black skit does nothing to hide the marks on my knees and legs from Yasmin's stupid carpet, but I can't bring myself to care enough to put pants on. 

    "Mic!" I hear Alis shout followed by her thumping footsteps up the staircase. I roll my eyes and pick my phone up from my bed before tucking the device into the pocket of my jacket. 

    "What?" I huff, turning and dropping to my bed. I grab one of my platform boots and tug each on their respective foot just as Alis bursts through the door to my bedroom. 

    "We need to go to the church tonight," She tells me, holding both sides on the doorframe as she speaks.

    I stop tying my shoelaces momentarily, looking up at her through the loose hairs of my curtain bangs. "It's Saturday," 

    "They need us in early this week," Alis vaguely explains why we're going to our meeting a day earlier than usual. 

    "Okay," I reply, not bothering to argue with her. I still have all day to track down those leeches and find out where Alex is. 

          Given the fact that it's the start of the weekend, it's more difficult to find the group of Vampires than it would be if it were a weekday. They usually hang out in common public places., Places that, to an average human, just look like restaurants populated by gloomy teens. In reality, these restaurants have a secret, more taboo menu that's exclusively available to select customers. Their favourite place? A dimly lit store not far from the pier named Rosia's. 

    The second I pass through the door at Rosia's, I wander over to the dark corner of their table and scoot into the empty seat. All members of the trio look up to me, Yasmin making instant eye contact and screwing her face up in anger. Thomas sits beside her, not bothering to look up at me for even a second. 

    "Hey, guys," I cheer sarcastically, turning to the last member of the trio who sits grinning beside me. "Levi, nice to see you again,"

    He laughs, visibly enjoying the display before him. 

    "Who do you think you-"

    "I lost something at your little gathering last night," I cut Yasmin off, picking up the steak knife from the table and twirling it around, watching as the light reflects off of the sharp blade. "Blonde hair, blue eyes, about yay high,"

    "Oh, you mean Alex?" Yasmin asks, a smirk laced on her face as she leans back in the cushioning of the booth. "Sorry, sweetheart, haven't seen him. Although, I'm not sure what your lack of communication has to do with us,"

    I tilt my head slightly and smile, dropping the knife from my fingertips and into my palm. "Don't play dumb with me, Yasmin. It's demeaning. Your lap dog here already admitted to the distraction," I aim the knife at Thomas. 

    "Don't know what you're talking about, Reid," Thomas denies, finally looking up to meet my eyes. He seems different today as if his arrogance from yesterday was merely an illusion. 

    "If you fuckers have done something to him, I promise you, you will regret it," I warn lowly, looking at each of the three so they know I mean it. 

    "You've got some balls on you, girl. Coming in here, waving threats around," Levi smiles from beside me, his arm stretching out on the booth behind me. 

    "Your kind isn't nearly as scary as you think you are," I scoff, glaring holes into each of them.

    "You hunters think you're so noble and such fucking heroes," Yasmin snarls, leaning forward on the table to get closer to me. "You kill the same, if not more, than we do but you get to remain pure and holy while we get reduced to the scum of the earth?"

    "I wouldn't have to be this way if you didn't exist," I defend. 

    "Why is our existence such a sin to you? Huh?" Yasmin pries, looking me up and down with a sly grin. She holds her hands up to her face in a fake cooing motion before dropping them down onto the table "From my experience, well-adjusted people don't just pick up a dagger and go monster hunting. What was it? One of your family members become a victim?"

    I flinch, that cracked open window haunting me like a ghost. She grins wider at the movement. 

    "Oh, a family member. Tell me, was it Mummy? Daddy? Maybe even both-"

    Her excited grin is cut short when I lift the steak knife high in the air and drive it directly through her hand, the blade almost cutting all the way through to the other side of the wooden table. 

    Yasmin groans in pain, trying to remain subtle as she reaches for the blade and yanks it out from her flesh in a second. Her eyes turn red as she glares through my soul, dropping the bloody knife to the table and flashing her sharp teeth. "You little bitch,"

    She then attempts to lunge over the table at me before Thomas reaches over and shoves her back against the booth. "You were asking for it, Yas. Don't be surprised,"

    She glares at him before turning to her hand, both of us watching as the hole in the flesh closes up. 

    "We don't know where your friend is. It's a Saturday morning he's probably sleeping off a hangover," Thomas speaks up, his whole demeanour is such a drastic change. He looks paler than usual aside from the underneath of his eyes which look dark and splotchy. He looks as though he hasn't slept in days despite being fine just last night. "Why don't you go look for him yourself instead of harassing us?"

    "Is someone feeling a bit hangry?" I mock, leaning forward enough for my neck to be displayed. I see him gulp and tense his jaw, fighting the urge to do anything stupid or even look at my neck. "You can hear my heart beating, can't you?" 

     "Reid, stop," He warns me, his hand clenching the table. I mentally furrow my eyebrows, wondering why he all of a sudden has lost his cocky attitude and almost seems like he doesn't want to hurt me. He's vastly contradicting his earlier behaviour. 

    "You seemed fine last night. Tell me, how does a Vamp become so drained overnight? I know you can typically only go two to three days without food but hours?" I quiz, noticing how all three members of the table become uncomfortable and steal glances from each other. "Something's wrong, isn't it?"

    "Just bloodsucker stuff. Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head about," Thomas dismisses me, leaning forward. "If I were you, I'd be more concerned about finding my missing friend," 

    "As always, you've been a pleasure," I grin sarcastically before pushing myself up to a stand and turning my back to the table. As I begin to walk away, I smile and call back to them without turning around, "You can keep that little souvenir, Yas! Think of it as a token of our friendship," 

    I don't have to turn around to know the two boys had to hold her back. Despite not having super hearing like them, I can easily hear her grunts and puffs of anger as I walk out the door smiling. 

    Looking down at my watch, I notice the time is almost 7 pm. I look up, confirming the sky is progressively getting darker. 

    "Shit," I curse, remembering that I'm supposed to meet Alis at the church at 7. Considering the church is all the way across town and I have about six minutes to get there, things aren't looking hopeful. 

    I jump onto my motorbike parked against the curb, jamming the helmet over my head and immediately take off down the street, zipping around slow cars and people crossing the street. If I'm late to the meeting, I will have not only Alis to deal with, but Father Odin and the others too. If I'm late, it makes Alis and I appear unorganised to the others which makes them think of us as weak. 

    My bike's loud engine rips through the night as I swerve into a park outside of the church, ripping the helmet off and jumping off all while making sure my skirt doesn't cause me to flash some passerbyer. 

    I spot Alis at the front doors of the church, the other members of our little club with her. They all turn around to face me once they hear my bike shut off, Alis sending me a glare that could cut right through me. I quickly glance down at my watch, reading the numbers displayed as 6:59 pm.

    One minute to spare. 

    Smiling at my older sister, I leisurely walk up the steps of the church, my helmet tucked neatly under my right arm. "Shall we?" 

    Father Odin hides a smile at my words, turning and unlocking the church doors for us all to pile inside the holy place. The stained glass murals and extravagant architecture of the halls aren't unfamiliar to me. I basically grew up in the arms of these pillars and chandeliers, my first time here being when I was only thirteen years old.

    Alis and I quickly became some sort of legends in the hunter community, so much so that we gained a nickname for ourselves; The daughters of Men. In their bible, the daughters of men were just that, girls born from human fathers who marry the sons of God. I guess the reference was to dub us something holy and connected to God while still connecting us as Human and not otherworldly. 

    Being nicknamed after a man wasn't something I particularly liked, but I saw it as a way to honour my father's legacy, the one that was cut short by my unintentional hand. Every one of those creatures we kill, it's like he and our mother are right there with us. 

    Alis and I both sit in the front row like we always do, a way for us to announce ourselves to the other teams of hunters. It's always a dominance game with these types of people, all of them trying to outshine the rest instead of making actual change for good in the world. Alis sits with her arms crossed across her chest, leaning back in her chair while I sit with one knee over the other, my left arm over the bench with my bike helmet beside me. 

    "Good evening, brothers and sisters," Father Odin begins, holding his arms out in front of us. He stands behind his podium, moving his hands to grip the sides of the wood. "I believe we have a few things to discuss. Things of great concern,"

    "Father, if I may," Constance's voice drills through my head from behind. Both Alis and I roll our eyes in sync as Constance walks up to the front, standing in between us and Father Odin as she holds her hands together with a smile. "I'm sure we're all aware of the growing fledgling problem?"

    "Get to the point, Constance," Alis grumbles quietly. I smile as Constance glares at my sister.

    "Well, they've all gotten progressively stronger. I also noticed something similar between all of them, a mark of some kind. I've been trying to get a picture for weeks but they're all so fast. Until last night, I got this," Constance explains, pulling her phone out and flipping it around to show us a photo on her screen. I squint and lean forward in an attempt to get a better look, when I'm unable to do so, I take the phone from her hand and hold it up closer to my face. 

    The closer the screen gets, I realise it's not my eyes making the photo hard to make out, it's the quality of the photo. The picture is blurry and smeared, a blob of beige-coloured skin with a smudge of hot pink in the middle. 

    "This is great, Constance. Ever thought of ditching the business and becoming a photographer?" I ask sarcastically, handing the device back to the grey-haired woman.

    "I agree. This photo is useless, C," Alis backs me up. 

    "And what have you girls done to contribute in the last few weeks? I heard Michaela's been pretty distracted with parties and all sorts of things," Constance snaps with a glare. 

    "Oh, please. I took on three vamps by myself as well as protecting an innocent. You couldn't even snap a photo," I defend, dropping my knee to sit up straight. 

    "Girls, please," Father Odin stepped in, his salt and pepper-coloured hair in my vision as he turned his head back and forth between the elder hunter and I. "Connie's photo gives us a clue. The pink blur gives us some sort of identifier,"

    "Maybe if we could identify what was in the photo," Ronnie comments from behind us, humour laced in his voice. I crane my neck to smile at the man and hold my hand out for him to clap. Ronnie is about seven years older than me and probably the only other person besides my sister that I talk to here. His dark skin glows warmer under the yellow lighting above as he grins at me. 

    "Can we shut up about the quality of the photo?" Constance almost screeches. 

    "Okay, fine," I speak up, standing up out of my seat and smiling innocently at Constance. "Thank you so much for your contribution. Is that all for today?"

    "I think we need to start meeting more frequently. This fledgling problem is getting out of hand," Father Odin suggests. "Everyone must come to the confessional at least twice a week to report their vanquishes. We need to get on top of this before it becomes an even bigger problem,"

    Easy for Father Odin to say. He doesn't actually do any of the killings, he just keeps suspicions off of us so things run smoothly. 

    "Will do, Father," Alis announces. Her tone of voice suggests she is speaking for both of us and not just herself. 

    "Very well then. Everyone may leave," Father Odin dismisses us. 

    I turn to leave before Alis does, heading to the church doors and pushing them open. Alis catches up behind me, her footsteps echoing on the steps behind me. The second I move off the last step, I spot a dark figure off to the side in an alleyway, a dim street light behind the male figure. 

    Before I have a chance to react, Alis grips my bare forearm and spins me around. Our inherited bug eyes meet in an intense stare-off, hers narrowing on mine. "You were late,"

    "No, I was-"

    "Don't give me shit, Mic. What were you doing?" She cuts me off, releasing her grip on my arm to cross her arms over her chest. 

    "Trying to find my friend. Not that you care," I snap, turning away from her to look back towards the dark figure, the one she hasn't noticed yet. 

    "I don't care what you do, Mic. But, do not let it affect us. This is important. Something's going on," She bargains, leaving no room for me to argue before she turns and walks back towards her car. "Don't be out long. I want you home before midnight,"

    "Yes, Mum," I mumble under my breath, watching her get into her car and drive away. Everyone else from the meeting has already left as I slowly walk over to my bike, trying my hardest to ignore the dark figure still off to the side. He seemed leisurely like he was waiting for me to storm over and do something. 

    I take my helmet and put it over my head, flipping up the visor and staring at the figure some more. I want to just get on my bike and drive away, but something inside of me is tugging me towards that figure and that alleyway. Despite how stupid it is, I find myself sighing and opening the small compartment on my bike, pulling out the black faux leather jacket I stuffed in there earlier and covering my upper body with it. 

    My platform boots echo in the car park as I cross it, hastily making my way over to the alleyway. The closer I get, the figure disappears as if it's taunting me. 

    I keep my helmet on my head to hide my identity from anyone watching. As I enter the darkness of the alleyway, I scan my surroundings for the figure. 

    "Hello?" I call out, slowly pulling the helmet off of my head now that I'm hidden by the darkness of the night. 

    Something to the left shifts, the same tall human figure emerging from the shadows until their face becomes clear. 

    Thomas Jefferies. 

    His face is solum and desperate as he looks at me, his lips parting for him to speak. "I need your help,"