This is my first original story, I hope you enjoy it! Please drop me line and let me know what you think!

-X-

Cain, hurry up...

I did not agree with the rain. My long hair was matted to my face, I was cold and wet, and I still had homework to do when I got home. Cain wasn't supposed to have taken this long, he only needed to get to the third floor and grab the files. That was all and then our mission was over, or at least that's what our friend Evan had told us to do. Only, he hadn’t told us to expect more than five werewolves. Cain had attempted to go in, but once they had noticed that we were vampires they weren’t too friendly. After a quick round of bullets and two silencers, Cain had gone inside. One of my fangs chewed on my lower lip in anticipation.

What if he was caught? What if someone saw him? What if-

I heard a growl behind me and I groaned.

Someone, no, something had seen me.

I turned around, silently cursing the fact that I hadn't loaded my gun after the first barrage of bullets. I backed up against the brick wall, yellow eyes gazing at me as the werewolf reared on its hind legs.

The wolf’s fangs were inches away from my neck, its saliva dripping onto my collarbone, its yellow eyes bloodshot. I stared at it full on before ramming my useless gun into its temple. It fell to the ground instantly, dead, its temporal bone having broken and been lodged into its brain. The rain was coming down in torrents as I reloaded the gun’s cartridge. I felt a little bad for killing it so mercilessly, but it was either it or me, and I know Cain and Isaak wouldn't forgive me if I wasn't there to let them cheat off me in our classes.

“What the hell Devon?! I leave you alone for two seconds…” Cain stalked up to me, his scraggly brown hair plastered to his face, his golden eyes angry as he stuffed a manila folder inside his jacket to keep it away from the rain.

“Chill, I took care of it.” We both turned to look at the wolf, drops of blood dripping from its sagging mouth. “Those the files?” He nodded.

“Yeah, got ‘em without anyone noticing. The Cleaners are on their way.” I nodded, wanting to get out of the rain and into a nice hot shower and a warm bed. I said as much to Cain. “We have to stop by the Bar first. You haven’t fed for over a day, you may want to now. We wouldn’t want a repeat of last June in Cancun, now, would we?”

“Oh Christ Cain, that was one time, and I told you, I was very, very hungry.”

“Very, very wasted was more like it. Or at least you seemed that way to the humans.”

“Yeah well, you weren’t complaining when I sat on your lap… seriously Cain, is that the only time a woman's touched you? And for God’s sake, take a bath, you smell awful.” He shut up immediately.

A half hour later we sat on the red velvet sofa in a small bar, both of us nursing two glasses of what looked like red wine. I was drowsy now, the metallic tang that tasted of salt and life lingering in my mouth.

“Come on, let’s get you home.” Cain took me by the shoulders, leading me out. I muttered a goodbye to the bartender Michel, barely noticing my surroundings as Cain drove me home, the rain lapping against the windshield. This was nothing new, it always happened after I fed. Cain had gotten type O, which had no effect on Hunters, but I had gotten A, which gave me a lot of energy overnight as I slept, but made me sluggish, clumsy and extremely drowsy, as if I hadn’t fed in days (like in Cancun). I felt rain splash against my face as I stumbled out of the passenger side, but then Cain was there, lifting me into his arms and letting us into my apartment. He had studied and hung out here long enough to know where my bedroom was. It wasn’t exactly a large apartment, and the only reason I could afford it was from the money my mother had left me after she had been killed in a werewolf raid.

I felt myself being lowered onto the warm bed and I sighed, hearing Cain whisper ‘Goodnight’ and then he was gone. Even though I desperately wanted sleep, every time I shut my eyes it wouldn’t come. I lay in my bed, arms behind my head as I stared at the ceiling. I thought of Cain.

He was my best friend, other than Isaak. We were like siblings, the three of us. My mother had been killed when I was five, a victim in a werewolf raid on the vampire mansion. My father had abandoned us when I was an infant, and from what I can remember my mom hadn’t talked about him much. After she died I lived at the mansion for a year before Cain’s parents fully adopted me. I can’t remember much of my biological parents, not that I really want to. Cain’s parents, Cam and Anya, were as much parents to me as him. We had both applied to be Hunters together, both of us passing with flying colors. I had hit a snag in the acceptance phase because I had to be a full vampire to be a Hunter. Thanks to the DBL, the Deviant Blood Line, I wasn’t sure if I was even full vampire. Over the years vampires had mated with humans and werewolves alike, so I couldn’t be sure what exactly my father had been or was. Cam had later gone back and privately met with the director, but whether he bribed him or I was a full vampire I’ll never know.

Meeting Isaak was a lot more normal. On the first day of primary school I had offered him Bloodilicious gum and he had accepted. It didn’t take much for us to become friends, but it seemed Bloodilicious gum was all it took to stick us together.

The fan blades created a rhythm and soon I was sound asleep.

-X-

“Tired?” Cain smirked over his textbook.

“You have no idea.” I wanted nothing more than to go to sleep, but the lesson on wolf metamorphosis was an important one. “I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

“The lungs expand and elongate into the body as the human changes, their ribcage shrinks and their spine curves…” Madame Nuit had a diagram of a human body on the board, pointing out the differences between the human skeletal system and a werewolf’s.

I sighed, beginning my notes for the day, my eyes weighted down like lead.

"Cainan!" I heard Madame's sharp reprimand as he stuck his Bloodlicious gum underneath his desk.

It was going to be a long day.

“Hey! Dev!” Isaak came up behind Cain and me on our way to lunch. “You coming to the mansion tonight?”

“I don’t know... why?” Occasionally I stayed at the mansion in my own room in the attic, usually when I stayed late after school, which was right down the street.

“You should, I don’t want you to sleep alone.” He grinned down at me. He and Cain were significantly taller than I was and I got annoyed at times at having to look up at them as I talked.

“Yeah, I’m sure you do.” For years Isaak had flirted, but it wasn’t as if we were going to date. It’d be too much like incest, for the both of us. I laughed as I heard Cain try to trip him.

-X-

Miles away across town a Victorian mansion stood, hidden behind well manicured gardens and a wrought iron gate. Through the winding halls, concealed in a small narrow room, a boy of 19 sat in a green plush armchair, a worn tattered book entitled “Atra Domina” in his hands.

“Liam. Come.” Nikolai beckoned to me as I sighed, taking off my silver edged glasses as I set down my book. I really wanted to finish this chapter, couldn't he leave me alone?

“What Nic? I’m busy.”

“You can finish later. Master wants you.” I groaned, rolling my head onto the back of the chair. I got up and stretched, the joints in my shoulders popping, and I switched off the reading lamp, leaving the rainy sky to light the narrow library as I walked out. I slowly traveled down the dark stone hallway, descending a spiral flight of stairs and into an antechamber, the silence unnatural. Master sat in his chair, his old face leathery as he stared at me with golden eyes.

“You called for me sir.” I knelt down in front of him on one knee.

“My son, we have been through this before. You need not kneel before your grandfather.”

“Yes sir." He always made a point about my kneeling. I got off my knee. "What do you need me for?” My grandfather’s yellow eyes grew dark.

“Have you noticed the pack has gotten smaller? Recently a band of Hunters have been on the prowl, and some of our own have noticed and attacked, but have failed. We haven’t been able to retrieve their bodies… the Cleaners have made sure of that. Not a drop of blood remains after our brethren have been slain. These Hunters have stolen files on our pack. They have the information they need to exterminate us. My boy…” He hesitated. “I need you to take out the Hunters.”

“As you wish.” I stood to leave.

“Liam!” I paused, looking back at my grandfather as he smiled, his canine teeth yellow with age. “Be careful.”

After retrieving the address of the Hunter's feeding place, I stopped by the armory before I left, tucking two Valentines into my waistline. The elongated barrel stuck out of my jeans, the steel pressing into my skin so I could feel the rose engravings. We made sure to never have iron or silver on the premises, so our guns were made specially with steel. The lead lined bullets emitted a glow, the green serum sloshing in the clear bullet casing as I stowed the cartridges in my pockets. Valentines weren't the most effective gun, the rapid firing not as advanced as it used to be. But it was enough to clear a room of vampires without any problem keeping up with their speed. I pulled the gray hood over my messy black hair as I stepped out into the rain, standing underneath the mansion’s stone awning as a black Mercedes pulled up. My friend Damien’s short cropped brown hair appeared as he rolled down the tinted window.

“Hop in.” He drove past the well manicured gardens and gravel driveway onto the empty night streets. “We have to stop by Cassie’s after; she said Cam is close to having his first metamorphosis.”

“That close to puberty, huh?”

“Yeah. Maybe now he can stop crying and starting coming with us on the hunt.”

“I really think he’d still cry… take a left here. There it is.” We stopped outside of a dingy old fashioned bar. It was dark inside, candlelight gleaming through the windows.

“Ready?”

“As I’ll ever be.” I tightened my grip on the door handle.

“Relax; it’ll be alright, just another cleansing. I’ll see you when you come out man.” I nodded, stepping out of the car into the rain. The moon was full tonight, so my strength was at its highest.

I drew up my hood over my face as I pulled the Valentines from my waistband and loaded the cartridges. I took a deep breath and pushed open the door.

-X-

“Rough day Devon?” I could practically see Isaak’s smirk from where I lay on the familiar sofa in the blood bar. His messy black hair appeared over the sofa's back as he stalked up behind me, his green eyes glinting. He was quite handsome, narrow face and dimpled smile. That, coupled with his forest green eyes and messy black hair made him very popular with the girls. Just to tease me and ward them off, he would loudly state that I was the only girl for him. Usually they listened, but sometimes the really persistent ones still followed him down the hall. I didn't mind, but he was always a nice guy about it and let them down easy. The three of us were never ones for dating.

“You have no idea.”

“If you just fed, why’d you come back?” He plopped beside me on the sofa, uncapping his bottle as he took a swig.

“Cain was staying after to dissect a few of the wolves we killed last night for extra credit. I’m done with finals, and I have nothing else to do.”

“Well I can think of some things.” He smirked at me, his canines glinting. When we were little we used to play dentist and I’d tug on his for hours. That is, until I got my own. Then I didn’t find it so fun.

“Oh shut up.” The lights went out suddenly, victim of a power failure from the storm. There was a hushed silence, the volume no different from five minutes ago. Vampires weren’t very commutative beings. It’s very hard to make friends when most don’t even talk. I had gotten lucky with Isaak and Cain. The three of us were like siblings. With the whole DBL we probably were, in a distant 32nd cousin kind of way.

“What the–” A cold rush of air came in, a boy in a grey hoodie and black jeans in the doorway. The breath caught in my throat at the look in his blood black eyes. No one said a word. Until he raised two Valentines from his sides and opened fire, the bullets screaming through the air in rapid succession. The night silence exploded in hisses and snarls as some futilely tried to rush the boy, but were gunned down. No one screamed.

“Get down!” Isaak covered me with his body, both of us falling in front of the sofa, crashing into the glass coffee table. Gunfire roared above us, bullets passing by slowly in front of my eyes then speeding up, embedding in the walls inches above our heads. I heard Isaak groan above me, red seeping through his shirt, and I knew he had been shot. A swelling rage burned through me and I saw red. I was going to end this. The next thing I knew I had the boy against the blood smeared wall, his neck in my grasp.

“Give me one good reason not to kill you.”

“I know… how to keep your friend alive.” He gasped out. I glared at him before pinching the nerves in the back of his neck, his head lolling down. He was unconscious.

-X-