Alex Val

My feet raced down the stairs as the shouts got louder and louder, part of me was shouting at me to get back upstairs and stay there but the other part was forcing me down these stairs. I didn't know what had come over me, one minute I was listening to the commotion and the next I was making my way towards it. I reached the last step and ducked so I wouldn't be seen but my eyes widened at the horror occurring before my eyes.

Ryan was crouching over someone on the floor pounding his fist into him continually; Blake appeared out of no where dragging two guys with him, they attempted to stab him with a unique silver knife but he dodged it and flipped them both over his shoulder. I ducked further as a man wearing complete black looked over into my direction as if he had sensed my presence. I looked around in unrest, there were 5 guys all dressed in black with brown finger cut leather gloves on, they looked angry and were obviously the evil intruders.

My eyes moved to the left where a body soared through the air past me and landed on the floor with a thud and I moved quickly realising it was Icis.

"Icis!" I screamed blowing my unsteady cover and running towards her.

I bolted towards her body not realising that the entire scene had stopped since I had made my presence apparent, I ran towards her as she flickered her eyes open, instead of giving me one of her cool looks, her eyes widened and she leapt up again but it was too late. I let out a small yelp as I was pulled backwards stumbling over my own feet by two cold hands. Suddenly everything went quiet and tense; I felt the jagged edge of a knife press against my neck and the small sounds of two sets of footsteps moving backwards.

I looked around in horror as one hand covered my mouth and the other wound around my waist in a death hold grip, I saw Ryan, Blake and Icis stare after me in fear whilst the other 4 guys smirked, that must mean one of the other evil guys had me, I winced when he tugged me harder.

"So what do we have here?" He purred mockingly.

"Human - no use - leave her." Ryan said at once, his eyes never leaving my face, his chest heaving up and down as he regained his breath.

"Ah then surely you will not mind if I taste a little -" At his words Ryan bolted forwards but halted immediately as my capture reacted quickly.

"I wouldn't if I was you, if she is useless then why the aggressive front Ryan, who is this girl?" The man spoke clear.

"Caleb, she is just a stupid human, let her go!" Ryan spat whilst advancing forwards a little, I felt a little tug bring me backwards and then Ryan stopped instantly.

"I wouldn't come any closer if I were you." Caleb spoke menacingly.

"Caleb she is just a stupid human, nothing more and nothing less!" Ryan replied angrily, I watched his green eyes flash and turn into a darker green and then grow deeper in colour to the point I couldn't tell if they were black or really dark green.

"Toss her aside so we can continue settling our problems - she is not important." Icis spoke now, her voice high and threatening, her jaws tensed and her knees bent slightly as if she was going to pounce on Caleb any second.

"On the contrary, I find her very interesting indeed; if she was a human then I would not be finding it difficult to penetrate the contents of her mind right now would I? So tell me, which type of human is immune to a vampire's mind reading ability?" Caleb sneered and at that moment I saw three throats swallowing and gulping and then I did the same - was I going to die now? The air around us was warm and thick with tension and full of my fear which surrounded me.

"I'm warning you, let her go or - " Ryan started once more.

"Now Ryan, if she is merely a stupid human, you wouldn't mind if I drank?" He laughed, stroking my cheek and that was when I heard a faint snapping sound, my eyes darted to the source of the noise and my eyes widened in continuous horror. Ryan had moved with extreme pace and subtleness, my eyes trailed down to a limp body on the floor and then back to a fuming Ryan.

"Get off her before all of your pathetic breeds have the same fate." He snarled with anger.

Caleb grunted with malice before his grip tightened around me letting everyone know he had no intentions of letting me go so easily.

"Fool." He hissed and the laughed an icy cold laugh which sent shivers down my spine.

"The human? Why would I let go of a potential snack?" Caleb laughed again.

Icis let out a small growl and spoke next.

"You are the fool Caleb, you wander on dangerous grounds, you know as well as we do that though you and your men may put up a tough fight, the outcome will be victory for us. Knowing this you insist on turning your back and having a little snack, are you not worried of the consequences of doing that?" Icis spoke clearly and confidently.

"It would take either one of us three a second or two to kill you if you twitched and let your guard down for a split second." Blake continued clenching his fist.

"So go on, drink her blood, have your snack but don't expect to survive after it." Ryan threatened.

"Touchy I see. But I am no fool, this girl is not a human who is she?" Caleb rolled his eyes and ignored the others.

"None of your concern." Blake hissed.

"I wonder." He began and I felt his slimy fingers run through my hair a couple of times before his face flashed dangerously.

"Is this the Princess?" He asked in a charming voice which was rooted with evil and this time I sighed heavily getting tired of this.

"Look, I am not the Princess and I am not one of you freaks either, I have no idea why you can't read my mind and if you want to know why I'm here - well I have a couple of theories for that one so if you don't mind let me go!" I growled.

"We'll see whether you're human or not, how about I cut you open and the rest shall tell." He spoke and my fear doubled as I tried to control my trembling body beneath him. What happened next happened just as quickly and subtly, my eyes ached from the sudden movement I had witnessed. Caleb had let slip a fraction as he turned his head and held out of his hand and beckoned for a knife, Ryan Icis and Blake all plunged at once and I found myself hurtling backwards and hitting the wall. I rubbed the back of my head wearily and frowned, hitting my head was better than having my throat sliced though. Caleb cried out in pain all of a sudden and clutched his arm as his body laid sprawled on the floor as his people closed a circle around him to protect him from further damage.

"Destiny did not allow me to fulfil my wishes today but it will one day." Caleb snarled staggering to get up.

"And all of you - " He pointed at the other three and then at me.

"You haven't seen the last of me." He hissed before they all disappeared into thin air.

My head was spinning and my brain was clouding over trying to grab onto reality and everything that had just happened, I had just escaped a near death experience once more and it left me dizzy and frozen in shock and fear. A dry lump rose in my throat and my head continued to spin until I realised I had held my breath for such a long time. I let out a loud gasp for air as my hands shook slightly. Instantly I had 3 pairs of eyes locked on me and then Icis rushed forwards with concern.

"Lexi! Are you okay?" She asked helping me up.

"Y-yeah." I mumbled shaking my head trying to stop the spinning altogether.

"How did they get in? Isn't this place supposed to be protected? What did they want? Why did he think I was the Princess? Why can't you read my mind?" I asked quickly my eyes darting from Ryan's face to Blake's then to Icis's and then back to Ryan's in search of answers.

"There was a minor power cut but it was all they needed to get in, looks like somebody's been watching our place ready to attack when our defences are down." Blake frowned shaking his head.

"As for your other questions, well we can't really answer them." Icis rubbed my shoulder but I shrugged away in anger at her unfairness.

Ryan sighed heavily before walking straight past me and made his way up the stairs, I watched his figure disappear wondering what he was thinking and why his expression was slightly pained.