Dan's POV

I saw Phil. He was hiding behind the trees, but he made noise. They saw him. Why did he come here? I thought. Please go back.

"What was that?" The guy stood up and went to find him. I clenched my teeth together as he dragged him from the trees. "Ha ha," he sneered. "Gotcha."

"Phil!" I yelled.

He looked at me with his perfectly blue eyes. The man dragged Phil closer to his van. "I knew it," he laughed at him, admiring his fangs. "You're gonna look great on my wall."

"We got 'em!" his friend cheered. They high-fived.

Phil struggled from his grip, but couldn't break free.

"I knew your kind existed! Ha ha! Once you're dead, the town will love us!"

"Don't kill him!" I screamed.

"Shut up, you were just bait."

"Bait?" Phil questioned. "You kidnapped him to draw me in?"

"It talks!" he gasped.

"Lets get this over with," the first guy complained, dropping Phil next to me on the ground. We were both tied, and in pain. They left to the van.

My hands began to struggle to break free. "Phil," I said, beginning to untie their knots. "You need to get out of here."

"We both do. How did they find us?"

"They saw us last night," I explained.

He sighed. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. It's not your fault." My hands broke free, and I began to untie Phil. "Those morons suck at tying knots."

He smiled as I helped him stand.

"Hey!" the guy yelled, running after us. "That's my vampire!"

"Run!" I yelled, and made him go ahead of me. "No he isn't!" I yelled back at the guy. "He's mine!" My feet picked up and ran, Phil just right in front of me. The ground was rocky and rough, and difficult to run on. Phil's feet must've tripped beneath himself. I saw him fall to the ground.

Phil's POV

Running, I felt how weak my legs had become. I fell and rolled to the dirt, my captor stepping on my body and holding me down.

"Phil!" I heard Dan yell.

"Go!" I told him.

He didn't listen, but appeared again in the darkness, pushing the guy off of me. He grabbed me and pulled me to my feet, and we began running again.

They caught up again, this time in their little pair, attacking us both. I struggled to get free from him, but he was oddly strong. I couldn't move. He tied us down again, this time tighter. One stayed watch over us.

"You shouldn't have done that," he scolded. "Now you're stuck. You," he said, pointing to Dan. "We didn't want to have to do this. We were going to let you go, but it's too bad. Looks like you'll have to watch your friend be killed."

"Why do you want to kill him?!" he yelled. "What'd he do to you?"

"No one believes in vampires, kid. If we can prove it, the town will love us! Besides, people are terrified of even going outside for Christ's sake, all thanks to you," he pointed to me.

My body sulked. They were afraid of me. All of them. Dan argued with the man a while longer while his friend went into their van, looking for something. My body shivered with fear. I was going to die, finally. Normally, I wouldn't have cared. Its not like I had a reason. But now, I've got Dan right beside me, fighting to protect me. I've got him now, something to move on for. I've never felt this way. I've never felt the way I felt about Dan about anyone ever before. Could this be a human emotion? What was it? I - from what I've known - felt like this might be what love is. Love? Could it be that I love Dan? And then it hit me.

I lost my bat ability. I can be in the sun. I am less and less of a vampire by the day, and I didn't understand why. But it's so obvious. "The curse can end through death or fate: a mortal's love will open the gate." The prophecy! I was becoming human, because I loved him! Wait, no. That's not right. A mortal has to fall in love with me for it too work. So... can it be true? Could he really...? My thoughts were interrupted by the second guy, dragging out a large wooden stake from his van. I swallowed at the sight.

"Are we ready to go?" he asked.

"Yep, lets get this done quickly."

The fire by our side hissed in the dark as my mind switched to survival mode. He walked toward me with the stake, and I could see it's sharpness. Dan kicked and screamed, but it would do nothing. I was going to die.