She could feel his life force draining out of him into her, being replaced with something different, something more powerful, more wild. An amazing new air surrounded him the more she drank, until the blood slowed in his veins.

Will slumped to the floor pale and shivering and she knelt over him crying silently at the horrible predicament. She looked at him; he looked about ready to die. Without even thinking, she slit her wrist. It was not to commit suicide but to revive Will by holding it over his mouth and letting her blood drip into it.

"Joelle!!!" A voice from out of the shadows warned.

She started and whipped around to face her aggressor. Upon seeing that it was only her hated sire Shadrach, she ignored him and went back to what she was doing.

"What do you think you're doing?!?" He demanded, grabbing her incredibly long red hair, which was conveniently pulled back in a ponytail, and yanking her backwards.

She turned around, pulling herself free, explaining, "He looked like he was about to die, so I thought-"

"No you didn't, you didn't think at all until it was too late!! Do you realize what you've just done!?!" he roared right into her ear, causing it to ring, "You've just set him free!!"

"Is that a bad thing?" she asked, thinking the opposite.

"Well, that depends on who you talk to," Shadrach said craftily, "but if you ask me, it is."

"Wh-"

"Because I say it is!!! Don't question your sire!!"

Joelle turned away with a deep hatred of him burning in her. Then her eyes fell upon Will and she abandoned her hatred at the sight of him. He was laboring to sit up. She reached over and helped him lean his back against the wall.

"Leave her alone!" he panted.

"I would not say that to your new master, boy!" Shadrach scoffed.

Will squinted through the darkness at Shadrach, "Who are you anyway?"

Shadrach gave a deep bow, "I am Shadrach Hunter, born 1873 died 1899. You will address me as Master from now on!"

"The hell I will!" Will blurted before he realized the consequences.

Shadrach moved like a striking viper, but Joelle was just fast enough to block his path. "NO!!!" she growled fiercely, standing directly in front of Will.

"MOVE!!!" Shadrach howled.

Joelle held her ground, even though every sense and instinct told her to get out of the way, "He didn't know any better!!"

"Let me teach him!" Shadrach said, making a move to drive Joelle out of the way.

She blocked him and broke his arm at the elbow, "Leave him alone!!!" she shrieked.

"All right." Shadrach said with a wicked smile. He then melted back into the shadows, leaving Joelle and Will alone in the dark hallway.

Joelle turned back around and sat down facing Will, "You all right?" she asked kindly and with a hint of sadness.

Will started as if waking from a bad dream, "Did you just-"

"Break his arm? Yeah. He'll pummel me for that later." she sighed.

"Why does he not want you to set anyone free?"

"I don't know. I think it has to do with him being a sadistic tyrant. It could also be because I never really wanted to be a vampire in the first place and now I hate being one, or because he's determined to make me appreciate all the power he's given me by trying to make me just like him. I don't want that kind of power over other people, except for maybe my sister, but that's only because she can be really annoying sometimes."

"Powers?"

"Like mind control."

"Oh, right. Can you?"

"No," she said holding up her scarred, but rapidly healing wrist, "besides, even if I could it wouldn't be until after your first full moon, which, by the way, is on the 25th of next month."

"You mean on Christmas?!"

"Yep, on Christmas night, but the neat thing is that you'll gain all your powers in about a day or two and you'll have no one to tell you what to do until then," her voice dropped then to a somber tone, "But the bad thing is, when that full moon does come around, Shadrach will be the one in charge." There was a moment of silence, then, "I'm so sorry!" Joelle's voice cracked and she started sobbing.

"Shhh, shhh, it's all right," Will said hugging her close, "it's all right. I'd use any excuse to spend eternity with you."

Surprised by these sweet words, she pulled back a little to look him straight in the face. She opened her mouth to say something, but right at that moment, Will kissed her ending all further conversation.

They sat there in the dark hallway until eight-thirty, and time for them to go home. Then, both saying their good-byes, they went their separate ways.

Will, being only 15, had his permit so his mother drove him home. Almost as soon as he got home, he fell into a death-like sleep that was plagued by horrific dreams, so much so that neither his alarm clock nor his parents could wake him the next morning, and he was called in sick. He awoke later that afternoon in a cold sweat with a mild fever that subsided later that evening.

Joelle, who was 16 and had just recently got her license and a used Jeep, drove herself and her younger sister, Rachel, home, one of the few places safe from her vile sire. The only reason it was safe was because of the strange rule that vampires cannot enter a house unless they're invited in, and since Shadrach was never invited in he could not enter.