Chapter 1~

Kayden opened his eyes to a bright light.
“I must be in heaven…”
Then he felt it, it felt as though his blood had been replaced by lava, he felt fire searing through his veins, and as he swallowed, he realized the flame originated from his throat. No, this couldn’t be heaven, there was too much pain. Maybe it was hell, there was supposed to be fire in hell, right? Well maybe the fire was just on the inside not the outside.
He tried to raise his hand to his head, but he couldn’t move. Apparently you were also paralyzed in hell.

“He’s waking up.” The voice sounded a million miles away, and not at all like he imagined the voice of God or the devil to sound like.
“Kay?” He struggled hard to push his eyelids open further, but all he could see was more light. Was he blind? He always thought that blind people lived in darkness, but the, if they’d been blind from birth, how would they know if what they were seeing was darkness?
“Kay?” that voice sounded familiar …”Kay, sweetie, can you hear me?”
“Mom?” Kayden’s voice was barely a whisper, and the fire in his throat worsened as he spoke.
“Open your eyes, son.”
Kayden’s eyes flew open at the sound of his father’s commanding voice. He drew in a deep breath, and instatntly regretted it. The air filling his lungs seemed to be a propellent to the fire in his throat. He tried again to move, but couldn’t.

“You’re strapped down, you mother went to get a nurse to remove the restraints. You kept tearing at your wound and making it worse.”
“Water.” Kayden choked.
Kayden’s father raised a cup to his lips, and Kayden took a sip. But rather than the refreshing coolness and the moist relief he was seeking, the water felt like sand in his mouth, and made the thirst even worse. He spit the water out.
Kayden clenched his fists, squeezed his eyes shut, and took several deep breaths. Each time he inhaled the fire intensified, but after a few minutes it diminished, and finally ebbed away completely.
Kayden’s eyes opened completely and focused on his father’s worried face.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes, please, I’d like another sip.”
His father nodded and raised the cup again to his lips. This time the water tasted as it should, and was refreshing. As the burning subsided Kayden had no time to puzzle over what had just happened, because his mother had returned with a nurse who began undoing his restraints.
As soon as his hand was free it flew to his neck, feeling the bumps where the fangs had pierced his skin.
”So it wasn’t a dream…”
“Where’s Elsie?” Kayden asked, suddenly alarmed by her absence.
“She’s alright,” answered his mother, “She is with some doctors…she wasn’t hurt, but she was very shook up.”
“When can I see her?”
“Soon, I’ll go talk to the doctor’s now.”
“Thank you, Mom.”
“The authorities want to talk to you.” Kayden’s father informed him, his tone back to his usual “all business” tone.
“Okay, Dad,”
Both of Kayden’s parents exited the room, and a short while later 2 male officers entered the room and stood at the foot of Kayden’s hospital bed.
“Hello, Kayden, how are you feeling?” asked the shorter officer, a kindly looking man in his mid 50s.
“Not all that well, but thank you for your concern.”
“We hate to bother you with this now,” added the taller, younger officer sympathetically, “but we find it’s best to get the reports from the victims as soon as possible while the crime is still fresh in their minds.”
“Victims? You mean this has happened before?”
“Well, yes and no.” answered the shorter man.
“It has happened before, but you are the first person to survive. All other accounts have been from bystanders.” Added the taller man, “Please, tell us what happened. We have a pretty good idea who is behind it all.”
‘We were walking home…she came out of nowhere…she was fast.”
“Can you describe her?” asked the older man eagerly.
“Beautiful…she bit me…she was a vampire.”

The younger man began to laugh. “Don’t be ridiculous, vampires don’t exist!”
Kayden glared at the man. “Then how do you explain these?” he asked angrily, tilting his head to expose the bite marks.
“We believe there is a gang,” answered the older man calmly.
“A gang?”
“Satan worshipers. They are going around injecting their victims with a new type of poison, which in most cases is letha;. We believe that while the poison renders the victim immobile, they drain the blood for use in satanic rituals. We think that they are making it look like vampire attacks to make people believe the devil is sending his messengers after innocent people.”
“Why innocent?”
“Because you are the oldest victim to date.” Said the taller one.
“How many others were there?”
“At least 7, but we have 3 missing children’s cases that can probably also be attributed.” The old man answered grimly.
“How old were the other victims?”
“All were under 9 years old. We believed it to be due to the height, they would not contain as much blood as adults. Informed the younger man.
“But the bite marks…”
“We believe one to be where the poison is injected, and the other to be how the drain the blood.” Explained the older man.
“But this woman…she was unbelievably fast…and strong!”

“Fear can play tricks on one’s mind. The mix of terror and adrenaline can make things confusing.” The older man assured him.
“Have you asked my sister what she saw?”
“She…hasn’t spoken since arriving at the hospital. Doctors say she is too traumatized.”
The elderly man punched the tall man in the arm for his bluntness.
Kayden sat bolt upright in bed.
“I’m sorry I can’t be of more help to you, Gentlemen. If I remember anything I’ll let you know, but now you’ll have to excuse me, as I must see my sister.”
“Yes, of course,” said the older man, extending his hand, “here’s our card if you need to contact us.”
The gentlemen exited, and shortly after Kayden’s mother comes in with Elsie in her arms.
“Elsie!”
Elsie squirms out of her mother’s arms, and runs over to bury her face in Kayden’s arm.
She cries silently and Kayden and his mother exchange worried looks.
Kayden strokes Elsie’s hair soothingly.
“It’s alright, we’re safe now.”

…16 months later…

Kayden sat in a hospital exam room. The sounds of his mother talking to the doctor in the hall could be heard through the door. Kayden looked significantly paler. His eyes were dark, lifeless and sunken. Dark circles rimmed his eyes.

“Please, Doctor, there must be something else we can do? Some test we haven’t tried yet?”

The doctor sighed. “I’m sorry. We’ve tried everything over the last 12 months. All tests come back negative. For some reason Kayden’s body is not absorbing as many nutrients from food sources as that of the average healthy human being. In addition to that, he seems to be absorbing less and less as time goes on. Beyond that, medical science has told me nothing.”

Kayden’s mother gave a small sigh, and the doctor continued.

“For now all we can do is keep giving him these high potentcy vitamins. I’m upping the dosage again, and I’ll continue researching his condition.”

“Thank you, doctor.”
“How is Elsie these days?”
Still silent…but we manage…”
“I see.

A loan tear ran down Kayden’s cheek as he thinks of his once happy and exuberant sister.

…Later that night…

Kayden was tossing in his sleep. Finally, he sat up, letting out a small yell and grabbing his neck. Breathing hard already from the dream, his heart skipped an extra beat when he saw a silhouette standing in his doorway.

“Elsie.”
Elsie took a step into his room, teddy bear in tow.
“Did you have a bad dream?”
Elsie stared back at him with her big expressive eyes.
“Do you want to sleep here?”
Elsie nodded and climbed into Kayden’s bed, snuggling up to him. After tucking her in, he wrapped his arms protectively around her, and they both fell into a comfortable sleep.