Chapter One

Blind Instinct

Miniscule as the fighting spark which begins a raging fire, the first foreboding droplet of icy rain fiercely hurtled itself from high above the treetop canopy. Gnarled tree branches turned to wind-roused demons under the protective cover of pitch-black night; forgotten ghost whispers long since past rode high above the haunting song of the wind; taunting the mind, effortlessly ensnaring the senses.

Quick as a fatal bullet being fired without hesitation, void of any possible regrets, Faye Vaile turned her steely, focused gaze to the unseen sky above her. Long, sharp teeth, gleaming and unnaturally pointed, were bared. The girl instantly caught the fast-falling droplet with an instinctive swipe of her pale hand, quick as an unanticipated lightning bolt, instinctive reflexes crushing its intention like a swift-striking predator on the hunt. No room for mistakes. No time for uncertainty.

Meticulously scanning the wholly wooded area around her, vibrant amber eyes blazing with an ethereal brightness that was particularly eerie, when contrasted with the fact that you could see nothing but her eyes, she realized that she could unearth nothing too abnormal. There was the air, of course—so very thick that you could probably cut through the tension with a knife-- and there was that horrible, uneasy apprehension that caused the little hairs on the back of your neck to constantly stand on end. But physically, palpably, there was no actual manifestation of the malovelence but for that single raindrop. Which symbolized more than any normal person would anticipate.

'Not nearly normal, though, us', Faye thought sardonically. 'Not at all. Throw us in the dark, running from a sadistic bastard trying to kill us, that's normal. Completely normal.'

It was an astonishingly beautiful place. She knew that, during the innocent hours of daylight, bathed in the pretty but strong rays of the brilliantly dazzling sun, --which would dapple through the blanket of leaves just so--, the woods would look so much more unperturbed and tranquil. She just wished, very badly, that they could have been making their way through the thick trees, underbrush, and whatnot during that time. She wished that someday she could come back and wander the woods, taking in the familiar scents of the flowers and the water and the gentle summer breeze. It would have been considerably less unpleasant, and unnerving, to say the least, if there had even been more moonlight guiding them. She could see through the dark, but it was very tiring.

Not to mention that her energy was draining. Slowly, but surely. It was inevitable. Using her senses to periodically feel around the near area, sensing if there was any danger besides the looming storm…seeing through the darkness…worrying…it zapped her energy more than she would have liked it too. Running so freakishly, inhumanlyfast did the same thing, but that was not something she could stop, either. Wrathfully, she shoved back a very random tree branch with unnecessary force, which had come out of absolutely nowhere. It had viciously smacked her right across the face, drawing blood, leaving a lingering stinging sensation like she'd just been brutally backhanded.

'Yes', She noted derisively. 'This would have been much less painful during the day. Too bad we'd be dead by now if we'd waited.'

No one answered her thoughts, but she was only voicing them freely because she didn't feel the need to hide them. It wasn't as if it were a well-kept secret that they very well might never see the light of day again; that their bodies might forever lie, broken and forgotten, deep in the woods where no one would ever find them. There was no path, no previously cleared course, andthe fading echoes of a familiar voice had told Faye, who'd informed the rest, to follow the creek until they came to a clearing, where they would be beyond his limits. Then they would be safe, temporarily, and Faye assumed, they would just have to keep walking. Scummy and disgusting, of course, with no hope of a shower or a warm bed to sleep in at night. But follow the stupid creek, and they would come out eventually, into streets, houses, a place where normal people lived.

But she had seen no clearing yet, and, sadly, no real sign of the underbrush letting up any time soon. It would continue to poke her for it's own amusement until she dropped dead. The unmarked path they ineptly fashioned was packed full of evergreens and remarkably irritating, --not to mention unusually painful-- sharp twigs that drew blood and left numerous –mostly shallow, sometimes deep-- scratch marks, which aggravated her to no real end.

It wasn't for reassurance, she kept telling herself, that she would sporadically glance down to her right to make sure the neatly trickling creek was still close by. They had to follow it, as the water twisted and turned irrationally, to come to that clearing. It was their lifeline, to avoid wandering aimlessly forever. Her mother –she instinctively clutched her middle as the word fleetingly crossed her mind, pushing away a flash of white-hot hurt—had always told her that if she was in danger with nowhere to run, that the woods was the best protection she could hope for. She'd explained what to do, and Faye could only hope that she was not leading her newfound friends, the only ones she'd really ever had, into a death storm.

This had to be right.

A shiver caused Faye to pull her thinsweatshirit closer to her body, hunching her shoulders against the icy chill. An unnatural, extraordinarily strong had wind picked up. She bit her lip in indecision as it threw her hair in long, pin-straight masses over her petite shoulders, into her face, around her waist. Her teeth were bared, more now, and she hissed at the foreboding sky.

'What to do, where to go...'

They were already running at a pace faster than the untrained human eye could see, so there really wasn't much of a question of whether or not to run.

The wind whistled in her ears, and had she not known better, she would have viewed herself as a raging crazy for even considering the fact that it seemed to be whispering menacing threats in her ear. Indistinguishable, but the hostile breath still nagging her constantly. Intimidation tactic. Used by someone who knew exactly what he was doing. Someone who knew that the proper use of lightning would cause them to die, supposedly immortal though they were. Lightning, not sunlight, and not many other things that supposedly would do them in.

Stakes, really, were the only true myth about vampires that didn't stem from some ignorant human's imagination. Mutilation—she shivered imperceptibly at this thought—stakes, burning alive, and getting struck by lightning. Inconvenient , that he could simply conjure a storm up at the mere desire of his will. And set fire to the forest, too, with the force of the storm. So either way, the odds were very much against the five of them. Either way they were screwed twice over.

She was cross, really, that the tactic was working so well. However, Faye had always been remarkably good at feigning any façade she so desired. So her impassive, somewhat detached expression did not waver, though her heart decided it would now like to beat a bit more inconsistently.

It's starting now, She thought, and introspectively turned her intent gaze to each of her companions in turn, vivid eyes flashing unspoken messages as she carefully locked eyes with each of them, implication perfectly understood. The long-since dead, dried-out grass beneath her lithe feet was hidden beneath a thick layer of crunchy but dully colored fall leaves, and with every quick, even step she took, the sound seemed to amplify.

'Nothing but death is going to stop us now. We've come too far.'

'However,' she sighed softly, thinking solely to herself, 'the forest isn't going to cover us for long. He knows we're gone, he knows we're here. We'll have to move faster, find somewhere to hide…or determine some incredible way to get out before the storm starts, but that's humanly impossible. She snorted at the unexpected irony. Where would we go, if we actually survive, anyway? Nowhere seems to be safe anymore…the sun always shines during the day, but the darkness waits obscurely in the shadows, impatiently biding it's time until nightfall'…

The had all undeniably known, since their hastily planned, ill-thought-out departure-turned-escape, that it was inevitable as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. No doubts, no hesitations, no time for fearful inquires. It was simply sheer, blind instinct propelling their exhausted bodies down the rickety, twisting path leading to God knows where. Had fate had it in the cards to generously hand out premade warnings, complete with sugar-coated threats and a hand-picked escape route, (which they very well might have, but it could really go either way) the five teens certainly would have stood more of an actual, fighting chance than reality had so cruelly struck them with. More of a chance against the increasingly dangerous, fury-induced storm intentionally brought about from hell.

But, as it was, they were running scared for their lives, and that was all there was to it. Though the storm had not yet built up nearly enough ammunition, enough potent power to destroy them all with one single clap of lightning, the fact still remained that time was hopelessly slipping away from them like tiny, untraceable grains of sand tumbling to the bottom of an hourglass, and hopes were quickly and surely plummeting to an all-time low.

'Luck can only last us so long'.

For some reason this irked her incredibly; him so blatantly denouncing everything the five of them had so painstakingly accomplished by, apparently, simple chance, coincidence, or fluke. Faye, scowling deeply, kept her head held high and her steely gaze ahead of her.

She could just imagine his deep-set, sparkling emerald eyes, hidden partly by his thick shock of raven hair, windswept and messy. His lips curved into a thin, pale line. Imagine his pale face, void of it's usual color due to circumstance and reaction, and wind-chapped cheeks causing his face to flush from the cold. And it wasn't her imagination that, out of the corner of it's peripheral vision, saw him stumble clumsily on an overgrown tree root bigger than both his feet combined, and just barely avoid a nasty fall by righting himself at the last possible moment.

'Thanks, Vaile, I appreciated that…'

They'd picked up the habit of referring to each other by last name when explicitly aggravated, or when the occasion seemed to call for it.

'Welcome, Moore.'

Sensing his subtle anger at her for causing his manageably sore foot, Faye grinned craftily, satisfaction surging briefly through her veins as she bit back a triumphant snigger. Better to concentrate the most conscious part of your mind of something trivial and unimportant than to keep it reeling hopelessly over something you cannot change. Keep it alert, keep it mindful, but still let it wander to things inconsequential. '

'Luck'…His mind echoed the single word, over and over again. 'Come on, luck…don't desert us now'

'I like to think that more than luck has gotten us though so far,' She thought rather nastily, reprovingly, purely because she knew he could obviously hear her when she thought so loudly. 'So shut the hell up and grow some balls, Moore, and look where you're walking. We can't afford to have you slowing us down'.

'And the Ice Queen strikes again,' Was his quick-witted retort. She could sense his irritation, and it was irritating her. 'God forbid I have my own thoughts instead of hers. Want to trip me again, your highness? Care to teach me any new tricks in the art of sabotage? I happen to know you're quite good at it'.

'Don't be jealous simply because you're too incompetent to'—

'Don't try to outdo me, Vaile, I have a few tricks of my own. Just wait and see who's smug when I'm through with you.'

'Oh, believe me,' She thought back serenely. You can only dream of that day happening, Moore. Get back to reality, will you? We'd appreciate your help.'

'Ice. Freaking. Queen,' he bit out, clearly at the end of his rope with her.

Faye opened her mouth, but before she could reply with any more than a darkly muttered, Bastard, a loud, impenetrable wall had been directly slammed up between their two hostile subconscious's, and though she could have easily broken it down with one effortlessly natural shove, she opted to, instead, glower reproachfully at Chase, who met her glare with a quirked eyebrow and then a weak sigh. She didn't like that he still stood at least a head taller than her, though she was not short by any means, because it ensured that she had to look up to him, and that severely hindered any futile attempts to make her glare properly menacing. However, Faye didn't particularly want to piss him off at the current moment, given that he was the designated one who, usually, grudgingly but consistently stopped the heated fights before she was forced to resort to physical violence. When Faye set her mind to it, she had one hell of a punch. And despite the fact that Jude did have the decency to not beat a girl, he would not hesitate to pin Faye to the ground and let her squirm uncomfortably, while he laughed cheerfully at her pointless attempts to viciously bite, kick, and claw him off. Only if she caught him completely off guard, using her powers, could she get the boy to back off and set his overly inflated ego down a few points.

And they really couldn't avoid immaturity slowing them down.

So, yes, she would definitely prefer her energy to be saved for more important matters than quarreling with an arrogant son of a bitch with a quick mouth. Such as the impending and perilous storm which, at any given moment, could technically break out into a violent torrent of freezing rain, pelting hail, and booming thunder so loud it broke their eardrums. '

The Ice Queen', She had to get the last word in. You've got a pet name for me, how cute. I'm flattered, but—'

'Don't make me sick.'

'Believe me, I've got much more important things to do than to worry about your welfare.'

Though Charity didn't say much, most of the time, Faye could sense the quiet but clever girl's impatience with the chronic-arguers. However, it was just so much to tell that she was faintly attempting to hide it, but was concentrated on the danger so much that she wasn't doing a very good job. And Drake; well…in time's of crisis, Drake Prewitt could most likely be found contemplating intricate plans in his head, trying to find a way out they had missed or overlooked, so lost in his own thoughts that other outside matters frequently tended to escape him. He'd always been rather more thoughtful than his brother, Drake; less blunt and more of a protective older brother figure, rather than the blunt Chase, whom you did not ask a question if you weren't prepared to hear the honest answer. They were polar opposites, the two of them, and yet the best of friends. Funny how things were bound to work out.

'God forbid you two learn to be civil in a time like this,; Chase snapped cynically. Chase, the blunt one. He was her favorite, really. ;It might actually help us to get out of here faster!'

'Sarcasm is my thing, you know,' Faye responded, composed and characteristically sardonic.

Suddenly, the obvious air of imminent danger increased noticeably in two seconds flat. But, as being level-headed, unafraid, and slightly bitchy in any given situation was her trademark attitude, she refused, point-blank, to act like the scared little girl inside her wanted to, and run madly for her life. Running would increase her breathing, frenzy her thoughts, and make it entirely more obvious where they all were, stupidly giving away their carefully crafted deception. Sometimes she just wished, so very badly, that there was nothing, absolutely nothing supernatural in the world. Ignorance is bliss, and she definitely would have cherished it, had she been given the chance.

'I think you deserve a fair warning, Chase, because I like you.' She countered sarcastically. Why not put an aura of normality on the situation, lighten it up? 'So be careful, if you use it too much I might become a bit bitter. 'And then I definitely can't be held responsible for my actions. Especially because I'm a'—She wriggled her perfectly arched eyebrows at him mock-creepily and "mwahhaaha'd" while madly wagging her fingers, as if invoking some mystical, magical presence from a dark place unknown. 'Vampire!"

A sudden bolt of lightning stuck unexpectedly, not two hundred feet from the close-knit group, momentarily lighting up the scene as if it were the middle of a scorching summer day in an open field. Fleetingly suspending the crackling air, the dangerous atmosphere. Faye's waist length, nearly white-blonde hair flashed almost blindingly in the abrupt, unanticipated light, and she glanced around to see four pairs of vibrant eyes staring back at her through the seemingly eternal darkness which she had the ability to see right through; there were many different thoughts, schemes, and half-assed plans running through the electrically charged air between them, but none were up to par. None would save them now. Nothing short of a miracle could do that. What do we do? Was the sentiment that all five frenzied minds echoed, but, as not ten seconds later the flashing bolt was right at their heels, the dubious stare-fest was hastily and wisely abandoned for the sound of multiple pairs of nimble feet pounding sporadically on the leaf-strewn ground, in the same general direction, but varying.

Come on, luck…

She couldn't help but register the intuitive, fierce irritation that dragged itself slowly, hair-raisingly up her spine like nails on a chalkboard.

'Shut up, Jude,' She snapped, as she deftly dodged what she considered to be a badly aimed bolt. It narrowly missed slicing right through her. 'I'm a little busy at the moment…'