Preface

       I hear my footsteps pound the hard wood floors as I run, but his quick jagged uneven steps sound like their right behind me. I run up the stairs past rows and rows of doors until I find the one I want, the library, the only door with a lock. But I don’t think that’ll hold. I run to the window and realize, in dismay, that I’m two stories above the brick patio out back.

 

          I hear his footsteps stop outside the door as he tries turning the knob. The bookcase is heavy but in a last ditch effort I try to move it. Like I thought, it didn’t budge. Looking around the large room I find my fathers old desk pushed against the far wall. I run and manage to squeeze myself under the desk. This may be my last hope if he gets in. That’s when I hear a loud crack. I bite my tongue hard to resist the urge to scream. I don’t really realize how hard I’m biting down until I taste the blood. I stay silent behind my temporary safe haven. I smell the mixture of dust and the old leather of the chair.

 

         The footsteps are back he must have gotten in. He stops and I don’t dare breath. That’s when I hear him laugh. Amore frightening sound has never been uttered. I hear two more sets of the same jagged steps coming up the stairs.

 

         “Well did you get her?”, an overly excited male voice. Suddenly the chair I had been hiding behind is thrown back away from me. Laughing again Gerard answers, “Why of course.” My brain scrambles to find anything I can do running is out of the question now that I’m trapped in such a small space.

 

         That’s the only thing I can come up with so I try any way, my heart beating hard against my mothers cross necklace. But I’m too slow. He grabs me and throws me hard at the bookshelf. I hit and hear something crack in my side. The pain is so bad it’s like my nervous system was just short-circuited. I can’t think. All I can do is whimper as every breath comes like fire in my chest.

 

        “You humans are all so pathetic and stupid. This would all be fixed if your father would just come out of hiding.” He’s shouting now as he walks towards me. His distorted jagged movements are so disturbingly inhuman I close my eyes. “I told you he’s dead.” I manage to croak out. Feeling a sharp pain in my wrist I cry out and look up. He’s standing above me one foot on my throbbing wrist with a murderous look on his face.

 

        “Maybe if we change you your daddy will finally come out and face what he deserves.” He snaps his fingers and I notice the two others for the first time since I heard their footsteps. One is tall with long black hair tied back at the nape of his neck. The others shorter and his black hair is cut close to his skull. Gerard kicks me from my side to my back and I cry out.

 

       I feel the sharp contrast of the cool metal from of my mothers cross and the burning heat of my throbbing back. I must have faded out for a second because when I look up again I see their all much closer now. All three dive towards me and I feel sharp pains as they bite into my skin. It radiates in a burning heat everywhere so I can’t tell where the bites are or how many, the only thing I can feel besides the heat is the feeling of the cold cross necklace. I hold on to the soothing cool feeling as if it were my last lifeline. I concentrate on it even as I feel my heart beat shudder and slow down.

 

        The two lackeys get up, a grizzly scene with blood dripping from their mouths. But Gerard stays, “Her pulse is slower but it’s still there. She’s not changing.” I start to fade in and out of consciousness, clinging desperately to the cold feeling on my back. “I don’t know why she hasn’t changed!”, someone yells, “Look we have to move. Maybe we should just kill her!” they sound nervous now.

 

       “No we’ll shoot her in the side and let her bleed out. She may not change but that means she’s still human. She’ll die eventually. We’ll give Daddy one last chance to save her.” One more kick to my side and it’s all I can do not to scream. Maybe I did, I’m not sure. Then I hear the gun go off and it’s like an exclamation mark to the pain that was all ready radiating over my body. The all over pain is so strong that the gun blast is almost lost in it. I hear the front door slam and that’s when I finally pass out.