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Original Fiction

Chapter 1
The sky was overcast, so it was a good day to go out. The Virtuine Clan had been preparing for this festival for months. The festival celebrated the 15th decade of Vampire Independence. We had been hunted since the beginning of time, but in the 20th century the humans realized that we weren’t going to be eradicated so easily. Now, we coexist together as equals. I walked around the game stalls and big tops in a daze.
“Hey, Kori! Where’ve you been? I’ve been looking all over for you!” I turned around to see my friend, Tony jogging up to me. “We were supposed to go on The Scream together, remember?”
“Oh. Right, yeah. I didn’t know when, though. I figured you’d find me.” I’m not sure why I didn’t just go to the ride when I first arrived, but I guess my mind has been elsewhere. Tony looked like he didn’t believe me.
“Sure,” he said. I looked at him expectantly. “Well, are we going?”
“Of course, I was waiting for you!” he said, as he started turning in the direction of the ride and linking arms with me. “Well, I was just following your lead,” I replied. As we walked, I noticed the sky become darker than it already was and I was overcome with a sense of foreboding. “Tony,” I said, tugging on his shirt. “They’re coming!”
“They are?” He questioned, turning towards me.
“Yeah, and in a hurry. We need to warn everyone. Now.” I whipped out my cell phone and called Krystofer, our leader.
“Hello?”
“Hey Krys, it’s me. We need to get everyone inside, and fast. Tell everyone.”
“Why? What’s going on?”
“They’re coming.”
“Now?”
“Yes, that’s why we need to gather everyone into the closest building we can find.”
“The school.”
“The school?”
“We’ll take everyone to the school.”
“But that has hardly any protection at all!”
“What choice do we have?”
“Right. Alert everyone, then. I’ll gather up the little ones and meet everyone inside.” I hung up, turning to Tony just as the siren went off. Everyone began to panic as they were herded like cattle into the school. Tony and I were jostled about in the rush. I held on to him so he wouldn’t get away, “We need to go to the Children’s Area and help them to safety, come on!” I ran with him to where all the children were huddled together in fright. Their parents had dropped them off here with a caretaker while they went on to enjoy the festival. I could see that the caretaker had taken off a while ago in the panic. When the children saw me, they ran up to me with a chorus of “Mikori”, “Kori”, and “Ri Ri”. I stooped down to pick up the littlest and put him on my shoulders saying, “We have to go inside the school, now. Hold each other’s hands and stick together. Follow me!” I saw Tony pick up one of the little girls and grab hold of another boy’s hands and we were off to the school.
When we arrived at the school, all the mothers were just outside calling for their children. “Get inside!” I yelled, waving my hand toward the school at them. “They’re almost here!” Krystofer ushered all the mothers inside the school and the children, Tony, and I followed shortly after.
Once we were inside, we all moved away from the windows because we didn’t want to be seen by the other vampires. These vampires did not approve of our making peace with the humans or the change in our diet, what with using animal blood or blood tablets as a substitute. They were part of the Debauchine Clan. The vampires split into two clans when the Virtuine Clan decided to work with the humans to gain equal rights and live together peacefully. It might have been cowardly of us to hide from them instead of fight, but our clan is averse to fighting. Most of us are too weak to fight, anyways.
While we were huddled in the darkest corner, away from the windows, one of the children broke free to open the door. “What are you doing?” I shouted, but it was too late. The door was open and we were no longer safe in the main hall of the school. Her mother ran over to her and picked her up away from the door.
“Everyone, down the stairs and through the door on the left!” Krystofer ordered and we all clambered down the stairs in a panic. Though the mother had locked the door when the child opened it, I could hear the other vampires breaking it down and attacking members of our clan who were lagging behind. When everyone was in the room, Krystofer closed and barricaded the door behind us.
“We should be safe in here, for a while at least.” We could hear banging on the door already.
“We won’t be safe unless we fight back!” a man yelled in outrage.
“What about the children?” a woman shot back.
“Gather them in the back so that we can protect them. We can’t keep hiding anymore. It’s not good for morale,” he replied.
“Not all the adults are in fighting condition. We aren’t even ready for battle. You’re not thinking clearly,” I said, stepping forward. “We need to keep moving.” I looked around. “Through that door,” I pointed. That door turned out to be the door to a bathroom.
“Okay,” I said, clapping my hands, “Children first.” Tony and I ushered the children through and the adults that could, followed. I had to shield the children’s eyes, though, when some of the adults who couldn’t take the pressure, committed vampire suicide and jumped through the trash bin, which lead to the school boiler room and incinerator.
“It’s alright, children,” I said, trying to stay calm. “We’ll get through this.” When no one else could fit in the bathroom or even the stalls, I shut the door and put my body against it, to prevent intruders. “Just in case they get through our first line of defense,” I told Tony. Just behind the door, I could hear the others being attacked and it wasn’t sounding good. I kept a straight face so that no one would worry. Suddenly, I felt someone trying turning the knob to get in. I braced my back against the door even more when they started pushing. I started looking around for an escape and noticed a small door across the room. “Tony!”
“What is it?” Tony asked, looking at me with intense worry.
“You see that door over there?” I pointed. He looked where I was pointing just a little skeptically. “Think we can get through? What if they’ve gotten to that side of the school?”
“What choice do we have? They’re about to break through this door. We’ve got to try something,” I gritted out through my efforts to keep the door closed.
“Okay,” Tony replied, walking swiftly to the door and opened it. Seeing the coast was clear, he waved everyone in the bathroom through. “Stay together children,” I called as the last few filed out.
“Let’s go, Kori.” Tony was holding the door for me. I took a deep, unnecessary breath and jumped away from the door and out into the hallway. I made sure the door locked behind me, but that wasn’t going to stop them for long.
“We need to find cover.” I pointed to what looked like a kitchen door. “Tony, take the children to the kitchen and take the stairs to the cellar, they shouldn’t look there, especially if the children are quiet. Make sure they’re calm. Play the quiet game or something. I’m going to take the adults and see if we can find a way out to get help from the Elders.” As the two groups split, I waved my group to follow me. As we continued down the hallway, hurriedly, I saw some adults heading toward a couch to hide.
“You can’t stay there! You’re going to get yourself killed!” I yelled at them, but they wouldn’t listen. “Any moment, they’re going to break through that door.” I pointed back to the bathroom door 20 yards away. “We have to get out of here!” As they continued to ignore me, I heard banging on the door and shook my head, hurrying down the hall again, losing everyone else on the way. I turned right, to find myself at the principal’s office. He was inside, but I had a feeling he wasn’t on our side. When he saw me, he rushed out of his office to accost me. I was frozen in the hallway, thinking of a way to escape. I sidestepped him quickly, since he was just a normal human, and slipped into his office, locking him out.
Suddenly, vampires from the Debauchine Clan burst into the area surrounding the office and the principal was distracted. I knew I couldn’t stay in the office for long, so I made a break for the table out near the windows. As I got behind the table and began to bend down to become unnoticeable, I was confronted by two other vampires. They said nothing and just stared at me, blinking once. One vampire’s eyes turned yellow. Only one eye turned yellow on the other vampire. I assumed he was only half. Most likely, his mother was human. I could tell, with their intense staring, they were trying to hypnotize me. Being a vampire myself, I was immune. I flashed my eyes to show them that I was also a vampire. The half vampire then turned on his heel and left to wreak havoc or something like that elsewhere in the school.
I looked to my right and saw a baby vampire crawling on the floor. Thinking he was one of the children I missed or that had followed me without my knowledge, I picked him up and began cooing at him. “What are you doing here, little one?” I questioned, sweetly.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you. He’s going to bite your arm off.” I looked up at the vampire who had spoken, then looked back at the vampire in my arms. His mouth was open, teeth bared at my arm. Frightened, I quickly handed him over to the other vampire while he laughed. I was mortified and horrified.
I watched him feed the baby a few pieces of raw meat that he pulled out of his pocket. I looked on in confusion. “Why haven’t you killed me, yet?”
“Should I?” he asked, smirking.
“No, I just thought, since…” I began. Should I tell him I’m not from his clan? Or is he just toying with me because he already knows?
“Since we’re from opposing clans? We’re not all bad, you know.” He said, finishing my sentence for me and answering my unvoiced question.
“Then why did you attack us on the day of our festival? I had a premonition your clan was coming here, just before you arrived.” I crossed my arms in front of me, raising my eyebrows.
“I admit my clan came here to attack you, but I had no choice. I was forced to come with them. Now, if you listen to me, I’ll help you get out of here and get back to your clan.”
“What makes you think I’d trust you?” What am I saying? He’s offering me a way out. Stop being so stubborn!
“Look, I’ll explain when it’s safe, but it doesn’t look like you have very many options right now. I can just tell my leader that I found someone of the Virtuine Clan…”
“No, don’t!” I said quickly, holding my hand out. He raised an eyebrow at me. “I mean, what do I have to do?” I asked, defeated.

Unfinished (Ch. 2 in progress...sort of)