He flew past him, through the trees and out into the valley. The trees seemed to stretch out below him and the mountains rose up on either side. It was beautiful.
He could hear Felix yelling after him, but he didn't look back. He just kept flying.
-------------
The car stopped suddenly outside a huge pair of wrought iron gates. Alisa glanced out the window. On either side of the gates where tall pillars, and a long driveway twisted and turned until it was out of sight.
Rob jumped out of the car and headed over to the keypad that was set into the pillar on the right hand side. After typing in a number, he jumped back into the car as the gate swung open. They drove through the gates and entered the shady canopy of the trees. Alisa gazed approvingly out the window as they passed.
'Those trees will be perfect for climbing...' she thought to herself as they passed them.
The driveway suddenly took a sharp left and opened out onto a large stone bridge. At the other end of the bridge was the most spectacular castle Alisa had ever seen. It was amazing.
There were eight turrets, and it seemed to be built out of a dark grey stone. There was at least seventy windows and gatehouse and an outhouse. Leaning forward, Alisa stopped when she was right next to her fathers ear.
"I thought you said you bought a house?" she asked him seriously.
He jumped slightly, but relaxed when he realised it was only her.
"We did," he replied, beaming. "What do you think?"
"I think you went and bought a bloody castle, then had the cheek to tell us it was a house."
"Language, Alisa!" Helen Blakesly, scolded her.
Alisa rolled her eyes at her. By now they had pulled up in front of the huge oak front doors. Alisa opened the car door and hopped out, closely followed by her two siblings. Josh stood and stared at the doors for a second, before turning to ask Rob for the key. Rob pulled it out of his pocket and it handed it to him.
"I want you all to go inside and pick a room," Helen told them as she helped Rob unpack the boot of the car.
Alisa waited impatiently for her brother to open the door; she wanted to pick her room. Josh slid the key into the lock and tried to turn it but it wouldn't budge. After 4 failed attempts, Alisa took pity on him.
"Stand back," she told him confidently.
She gave the doors a huge kick. They heard a click, and the door swung open. The twins turned to ogle at their older sister.
"How'd you do that?" Jess demanded, staring at her suspicously.
Alisa simply shrugged.
"The door was jammed."
Jess shot her a suspicious look, but Alisa chose to ignore it.
They stepped into the huge foyer. It was amazing! It has a black and white tiled floor and a large grand staircase. There was a large set of doors that lead off into a corridor, and a huge portrait of a man dominated the scene.
Alisa raced up the stairs, the twins hot on her heels. At the top was a huge kind of hall, with two corridors branching off in different directions. She went down one hall, while the twins went down the other.
'New house, new rules! Let's explore!!!' she thought to herself, grinning as she skipped down the corridor.
She'd open the door, pop her head in, look for about five seconds, before moving into the next room. There were loads of great and amazing rooms, but they weren't... IT, you know?
'Choosing a room in this place is going to take all night at this rate!'
Alisa sighed, glancing around the corridor she was in. She couldn't hear anything, so she go guessed that she was quite far away from the rest of her family. She lent against a wall, sinking down so she was sitting cross-legged on the floor, meaning against the wall. She looked at the wall in front of her. There was a huge tapestry hanging upon the wall that Alisa hadn't noticed before.
It depicted a large garden scene; large rose bushes sat on the right, while a large ash tree stood to the left. Sitting underneath the tree was a woman, wearing a large puffy dress in a deep red. She had a book open and was resting it in her lap. Next to her was a small girl, around fifteen, who was petting a small Yorkshire terrier.
In the middle of the scene was two boys playing with a ball. The younger of the two looked around sixteen, while the other looked roughly eighteen. The only real details she could make out was the dark hair of the two boys and the girl, and the light blonde hair of the lady. The tapestry was so old,
There was something that was annoying her. Like there was something different about the tapestry. Alisa shrugged it off. It was probably nothing, anyway. She stood up and walked towards the tapestry. She reached out to touch the image older boy, but just as she felt the tapestry, her foot slipped.
She cried out as she fell forwards, through the tapestry, and into the pitch-blackness…
* * *
Felix flew through the forest, all his senses on high alert as he searched for Chase. What had happened between him and Ben was still racing through his mind. Why had he said that to him, his own brother? It had been harsh, and insensitive, and looking back he couldn't understand what he had been thinking when he had said that to Ben.
"I'm such an idiot," he muttered to himself, pushing himself to go faster.
He had reached the centre of the forest; thousands of close-growing trees stretched as far as the eye could see, all of different species. He landed on the forest floor, looking around as his feet hit the floor.
"Right, question," he muttered to himself, looking around for any signs of movement, listening intently. "If I was a disgusting, good-for-nothing psychotic killer, where would I go?"
"Answer; wherever he can find his prey."
Felix whipped around just in time to duck as an arrow shot towards him. It missed him by a hairsbreadth, whistling past his ear and embedding itself into the trunk off the young pine tree behind him. Felix glanced over his shoulder at it, raising an eyebrow as he recognised the arrowhead as silver, the metal glinting slightly as the moonlight hit it.
"A bit old-school, aren't we?" Felix commented casually, turning to find a crossbow pointed directly at his face.
"Old-school, maybe, but efficient," Chase said flatly, staring at Felix, his eyes narrowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you. You're Felix Sallow, aren't you?"
"I'm flattered that you recognise me," Felix said, smirking at the young hunter, revealing sharp fangs. "But I'm afraid to say I wouldn't have been able to recognise you on the street if you had passed me."
"Well, us hunters prefer to stay as inconspicuous as possible. Makes finding things like you much easier."
"I dare say," Felix said dryly.
"You know, I think I met your brother, only a few minutes ago," the hunter mused, cocking his head to one side as he looked Felix up and down. "Yeah, he did look like you, alright. I suppose that was Benjamin, was it?"
"You saw Ben?" Felix asked suddenly, all humour forgotten. "Did you kill him?"
"No," Chase sighed. "Little bugger got away before I could catch him. He's smart; flew away. Unlike you, who walked straight into me. You two are very different."
"Yeah, you're not the first to say that," Felix muttered, silently sighing in relief; Ben wasn't dead. Thank God. "So. You're going to kill me, are you?"
"You're already dead," Chase snapped, shoving the crossbow closer to him, forcing Felix to back up a few steps. "I'm just completing the process."
"Oh, how kind of you," Felix muttered sarcastically.
Chase growled, poking him harshly in the cheek with the tip of the crossbow. Felix flinched slightly, glaring at him darkly.
"I'm going to shoot you," Chase said without hesitation, his hands shaking, but only slightly. "Don't think I won't."
Felix cocked his head to one side as a smile tugged at his lips; he was slightly amused by the man in front of him.
"Have you ever met a vampire before, Chase?" he inquired casually.
"What kind of question is that?" Chase snapped, his eyes darting around for a second before settling back on Felix's face.
"Well, considering your age, it's a perfectly valid one," Felix said mildly. "You can't be more than, what, twenty-five at most? You're still so young."
"Hark who's talking, you're still a kid," Chase spat defensively.
"I'm a vampire, Chase," Felix reminded him, still smiling slightly. "I don't age. I've been eighteen since 1820. I am, technically, two hundred years older than you."
"Because you chose an evil path," Chase hissed angrily, jabbing at him again more fiercely. "You and your 'clan' gave up your humanity for immortality. You kill people. You're all monsters."
"First of all, we didn't chose to become vampires, it happened by accident," Felix said heatedly. "Secondly, we don't kill people, we ask permission first. And we aren't monsters."
"That's a matter of opinion."
"Well then I don't remember asking your opinion."
Chase didn't respond. He gritted his teeth, before stepping back, dropping the crossbow to his side. Felix rolled his eyes exasperatedly as Chase turned away, his back facing Felix.
"What, that's it?" Felix asked sceptically. "You threaten to kill me then give up when I mention your opinion? What sort of hunter are you?"
Chase didn't respond, or turn around. Felix laughed slightly; it came out slightly hollow.
"And I thought you were a threat," Felix shook his head, feeling slightly disappointed. "You're pathetic, that's what you are. Some hunter. Can't even kill a lone vampire."
"Well, you were right about one thing," Chase said, turning to face him again, one hand behind his back.
"Oh yeah? Which one?"
"The one when you thought I was a threat," Chase said, a smile creeping across his face as he pulled a small gun out of one of his back pockets and aimed it at Felix's heart. "I am."
He fired. Felix's eyes widened as the silver bullets streaked towards him. He tried to fly tup towards the treetops, but he had miscalculated how fast he could travel compared to a bullet. Instead of his heart, the bullet caught Felix's leg, ripping apart his trouser leg and embedding itself into the pale flesh. Felix let out a small cry and almost fell out of the air.
Another shot rang out, nicking his left cheek this time. Felix tried to fly away, but he could feel his energy beginning to disappear. The pain in his leg wasn't in one place, more like a general area, but it felt like a sort of 'hot' pain, if that made any sense. Like he was being burnt by scalding water. It wasn't exactly painful, as vampires couldn't really feel 'pain' the same way as humans, but he could bloody well feel it.
The bullet must have been filled with something. Probably salt, maybe holy water, it didn't really matter. All Felix cared about was getting away from the hunter.
Using the last few vestiges of energy he had left, Felix grabbed the branch of the tree closest to him and hauled himself up into the branches as another shot rang out. The sound echoed through the air, seeming ten times louder than the first time.
"You can run, vampire, but you can't hide!" Chase said in a sing-song voice, laughing slightly. "Or should I say fly?"
Felix's breathing was becoming increasingly shallower, and he looked down at his leg, cringing at the sight of the wound in his leg. A lack of bleeding didn't surprise him, he hadn't gone hunting in almost a fortnight now, so his healing abilities weren't going to be of much help. He needed to distract Chase, draw him away from where he was. He would kill if he found him, Felix was sure of that now.
He cursed himself for underestimating the young hunter. He had been foolish, he knew that now. He wouldn't make that mistake again.
'Father is going to kill me when he finds out,' he thought to himself, already picturing the expression on his parents' faces. 'Maybe I should ask that hunter to kill – it would spare me having to go through that fun conversation.'