Elena.

I stopped abruptly at an arms length from the last of them. I looked around, my vision landing on Mrs. Goodman smirking in the same manner as she had been in the room. Next to her was Ryan, unconscious, and in chains. The chains weren't the only thing that held him, something much stronger...a thing. It wasn't human, nor a vampire. It was enormous, a shadow, all black except for the whites in his yellow eyes and its rows of teeth that resembled those of a shark that shone dull in the moonlight as it let out a deep and rasp laugh,

I took an aggressive step towards them, but the shadow instinctively ran his teeth warningly across Ryan's throat.

I lost. It was over.

"Get in the van." Mrs. Goodman said, as I felt my hands being snatched from behind by a couple of shaky, sweaty hands, whose owner I was sure was from the human I'd left alive. Feeling chains start to touch my wrists, I angrily shook them off, gritting my teeth. Mrs. Goodman and the shadow were behind us, and saw when I did this..

"I'm. Not. Running." I spat, glaring at her. Her grin faded, but it was still there, the shadow looked to her for instruction, but she motioned as if to let it go.

"We'll have to work on that.behavior." Mrs. Goodman said coldly, as we continued to leave the gruesome scene.

I got in the van that had been parked on the other side of the hotel. Along the way, I passed the office. As we walked by, I glanced at the dirty window for the man that had given us the room, only to see the door to the office slightly open, being stopped by his body.

I sat down on one of the seats, the human went towards the drivers seat, Mrs. Goodman on the passenger's, and the shadow along with Ryan in the back with me. Shadow dragged Ryan's limp body and sprawled him across the van's vast floor. As the van started to move, I reached out to hold Ryan, but the shadow shoved me back in my seat and let out a low growl. I growled back in a way that even startled myself by it's unnatural tone. The Shadow leaned back into his seat, but seemed unaffected by it.

"Now, this could all be over sooner than you would expect," Mrs. Goodman said, tapping her nails impatiently on the dashboard, "I'll let you and Ryan go, unharmed if you do us two favors. One favor for each person saved, you might say."

"Unharmed?" I scoffed, looking out the window at nothingness, "How do I know you won't just kill us after I do whatever you want me to?"

The tapping on the dashboard stopped.

"You don't really have much of a choice now, do you? If we could do this without you, we would. Since that is not the case present in this situation, I am going to do everything in my power to ensure that you do so. I have no reason to kill you, or him."

"I killed almost all of your men," I replied coldly,

"My...men?" She asked mockingly, "disposable vermins are what they are, easy come, easy go. Disposable...all of them."

Then I realized something. I couldn't smell her. I couldn't smell her blood. She wasn't human, but she was not a vampire either, I could hear her heartbeat.

"What are you?" I asked as melancholy as I could.

"That should be the last things on that mind of yours at the moment, don't you think so? His life and yours are hanging by...a...string," she giggled, making me grip my seat to try to restrain myself from doing something I knew I would easily regret with Shadow just an arms length from Ryan's unconscious limp body.

"Tell me what you want."

"Ah...there we go, now it's time to talk business. Where was I? Yes, I need you to do two things for me, and each thing you do will save a life, yours, and his. You must voluntarily give us your blood sample. It is just that simple. We could have taken it back there, but with adrenaline in your system, it makes your blood act differently, which isn't what type of blood we strive for at the moment. We could also as take it from your unconcious body but your blood, human and vampire alike, act differently."

"Why does my blood matter to you?"

"Swear to me your blood before I tell you anything," She replied, looking behind to look at me, I nodded curtly and waited her to continue. "Well well well, your life is now saved," I impatiently tapped the seat in front of me, while she licked her lips to speak again, "We need to know why you came to be, and if we can make more of you. You became a vampire without ever being bitten, but began to show the symptoms of one when you were to turn...hold old? Anyhow, you know those human parents of yours? You don't have one drop of blood from them running through your veins. They found you, where, I don't remember. We knew of your existance, so your 'mother' gave you up easily, for a price of course."

"How-"

"Quiet. Enough questions, I don't owe you ANY explanations. Now that your life is guaranteed, you have to save the one of that boy at your feet." She said. Shadow howled in laughter, picking up one of Ryan's limp arms and shook it as if to wave at me mockingly. I sprung out of my seat, shoving Shadow against the side of the van, almost making it flip over with his weight. Surprised by my attack, he opened his mouth wide, showing me his three rows of his teeth that seemed to resemble knives more than anything else. He let out a blood-curling scream of anger as he lunged at me.

"NO!" Mrs. Goodman yelled angrily, but Shadow still knocked me down to the ground, shaking me furiously with what I guessed were his hands before he got up to sit on the other side of the van, which was not that far away from where he now was.

"What do I need to do to save him?" I yelled, forcing myself to say nothing more.