Hunter

            It was dark with no windows.  My ankles were chained to the walls and all my weapons were taken from me.  They gave me food and water, but I hated them.  Every time I saw one, I wanted to kill it.  I did not care if they treated me like an animal and tried to get me to talk, I hated them. 

            I did not know what date it was or even if it was morning or night.  There seemed to be no time for them or time in this cell.  I started to grow tired because I knew I have not slept in days.  When my eyes started to close, I thought I heard their voices.  My parents’ voices.

            I was thirsty and I got out of bed to get a glass of water.  As I was walking to the bathroom I heard my parent’s voices.  But I did not just hear their voices, I also heard another voice.  Out of curiosity I snuck down stairs to hear them. 

            I stood outside the room and did not peek in but I could tell that my parents were angry at the stranger.

“How dare you come into our home,” I heard my father say. 

“You killed her,” I heard a deep voice say. 

“Why did you come here?  You know who we are.  You know what we do and since you’re here, we have to get the job done,” I heard my mother say. 

“I thought your motto was to defend yourselves and the world from attacks?  I am not here to attack you.  I am here to confront you,” said the stranger.

“Just another way of saying revenge,” There was silence for a moment.

“I know you killed her,” said the stranger.  More silence. 

“I KNOW YOU DID IT!” he exclaimed and by this time I was on the floor covering my ears and closing my eyes.  I felt cold and scared by this stranger.  I could not move although I desperately wanted to run up stairs and jump back into my bed. 

“Okay, we killed her.  But it was an accident.  We were sent after someone else and we accidentally killed her because she was where he was supposed to be,” said my mother.

“That’s no excuse!  I believe your holy book says an eye for an eye,”

“Don’t you dare!” The next thing I heard was something like a fight.  I heard things falling over and breaking.  I heard stuff being thrown and I heard screams from my parents.  I did nothing except cover my ears, close my eyes, and pray that the fight would be over. 

            When everything fell silent, I slowly got up and found the courage to turn around the corner and enter the room.  I would never forget what I saw.  It scared me so much that I was not able to sleep well for years. 

            My parents were on the floor, blood everywhere.  The room was torn to pieces, as if a tornado went through the room.  My mother had a knife sticking out of her back and I saw stab wounds all over her body.  My father’s head was smash and I saw blood flowing out of his head.  I knew that his head was smash against something and that caused his death.  Then there was something standing in front of my parents.  It was the stranger. 

            The stranger was wearing a nice suit with a black tie.  He had long black hair, with his bains in front of his face.  He was breathing very hard, almost out of breath.  He was putting  his hand over his stomach, where I saw blood was draining from his body.  He also had stab wounds on his arms and knees and I saw that his shirt was cover with blood, probably my parent’s blood.  But that was not the only thing.  The stranger had pale skin and from his mouth I could see two, long, sharp white teeth.  That was when I saw the teeth marks on my parents.  That was when it hit me.  The stranger was a vampire!

“Mommy, daddy?” I asked looking at the bodies, which was when the vampire looked up. 

“A child?  I didn’t know,” he said in between breaths.  I stood still, staring back and forth between my parents and the vampire.  I started to shake and shed a few tears. 

“I’m sorry young one.  I did not know that they had a child.  I didn’t know,” said the vampire with sad looking eyes.  Then it seemed as if he was afraid and then he jump out the window and into the dark woods. 

            I ran to my parents and knelt next to their bodies.  That was when I started to sob.  A vampire killed my parents!  My brother who was sleeping upstairs and I were now alone.  We became orphans over night.  I looked at my parent’s bodies and asked them to wake up.  I then got sick and I tried again to wake my parents even though I knew it was useless. 

“Please, don’t leave me,” I said to them through my sobs.  Then all I could do was sit next to them and cry until morning came.

            I grabbed the chalk and drew a side ways line against the four lines together.  I counted the lines and told myself that I was in the cell for about thirty days now, although I was guessing.  I was probably there longer since I started keeping count a few days after they caught me or so I believed.  I could not tell when a day passed so I marked the wall when I thought it was appropriate.  Then a tray came into my cell.  The tray had a piece of bread and water. 

            After our parent’s death my brother and I were sent to an orphanage, a few towns over.  We said good-bye to our friends and neighbors before leaving.  The police said that our parents were murder but I informed my brother about what I saw.  That was when he told me everything. 

“They were going to tell you when you turned thirteen about their job.  They work as accountance in the morning and hunters at night,” my brother told me. 

“You knew?” I asked. 

“Yes and I just started my training shortly after my thirteenth birthday.  But I don’t know much, sister.  I just turned thirteen.  I’m sorry you had to see that,”

            My brother and I lost our parents, our home, everything that we loved and knew.  We were only allowed to take a few clothes and only a few objects.  My brother took five of his favorite books along with a picture of our parents.  I took my teddy bear that my parents gave me for my fifth birthday, which was six months ago.  Everything else we owned was sold. 

            My brother and I hated the orphanage.  The other children were mean to the younger children, such as myself.  Within the first week, another child stole my teddy bear.  My brother also lost his books.  On rare occasions I saw my brother, they often kept the boys and girls separated.  I made a few friends, but eventually they got adopted and left.  Most of the older kids ran away and many tried to convince my brother to leave, but he would not leave me behind.  They ended up leaving him behind instead.  There were many young couples that wanted to adopt me but each time I found a way to stay at the orphanage to stay with my brother.  The people who ran the orphanage did not like my brother and I.  They wanted my brother to leave to make room for younger orphans and they wanted me to be adopted to make money.  However we always stayed put. 

            After living in the orphanage for about a year, a man came for us.  He said he was away, traveling in Europe and got a notice of our parent’s death recently from a friend.  He had long black hair, tied in a ponytail, a long black coat, a nice clean suit and shoes, and a scar on his left cheek. 

            My brother and I were called into the office to meet this man.  It turned out that this man was our uncle, our father’s younger brother. 

“Hello children, my name is Caleb, but you can call me Uncle Caleb,”

            One of them came to my cell and opened the door.  They tied chains around my wrists and neck.  They took me to the council room and I sat in a chair in front of the panel.  But the seats were empty and everyone waited for the council.  I could care less.  I look down on the floor, thinking about my revenge.  I also looked at the clock in the room.  The hearing was supposed to start at noon, but it was almost one.  That was when a messenger came in and said that the hearing was cancel due to busy scheduling.  They returned me to my cell. 

            Uncle Caleb lived in a mansion that was isolated from society.  When we arrived I asked him if he was a vampire hunter like my mother and father.  He said he was and promised to continue my brother’s training. 

“I want to train to,” I told him.

“You are too young.  The law says you must be at least thirteen to start,”

“I don’t care.  I want to start now.  Teach me,”

“No,” he said.

“I SAW MY PARENT’S DIE!” I yelled at him and he gave me a shocking look as if a six year old could not scream that loud. 

“Teach me,” I told him with determination in my eyes. 

“Fine.  I will teach you along side your brother.  However, you two must not tell anyone otherwise we can all end up in jail.  Come,” he said and my brother and I followed him to the training room.

            It was discovered during our training that my brother had asthma.  Even though he had asthma he could still be trained.  When September it was time for my brother and I to go to school however Uncle Caleb wanted us to be home school.  My brother did not like that idea and somehow got my Uncle to allow him to go to the local school in town.  However, I was home schooled under the guidance of my uncle. 

            I often skipped my home schooling to read books about vampires.  How they lived, how they hunt, why they hunt, and so on.  I also skipped home schooling to train my body.  I ran, jumped, swam, did push ups, and other physical activities to make me fast and strong.  My brother could careless he became interested in math and science and found little interest in becoming a vampire hunter.  One day during training he got into an argument with uncle Caleb. 

“I don’t want to be a vampire hunter, I want to be a mathematician,” he said. 

“You do not have that choice.  It is in your blood to hunt vampires.  You may not realize it now, but eventually the pulse to hunt will over come you, both of you.  You have no choice, it will become an urge,”

“I have a choice!” said my brother.

“Actually you do not.  Most vampire hunters have one parent who is a vampire hunter.  Those children will be able to live normal lives because the impulse only comes from one side of the family.  However, you two are special.  Both sides were vampire hunters, thus you will not be able to control the pulse.  It may not be in you now, but for you, boy, it will be soon, as you get closer to your eighteenth birthday,”

            After training for a year with Uncle Caleb, he was impressed by my improvements.  I was much stronger then my brother and due to that we could not longer spare with each other.  I had to continue my sparing training with Uncle Caleb.  He told me that my abilities to attack and hunt were that of a prodigy.  He said by the time I’m thirteen I would have the strength and skills equal to that of a professional vampire hunter. 

            “Put her in that cell,” I heard a voice say and I looked up as I saw them place a body in the cell across from mine.  I saw that she was a bit older then I and weak.  She was struggling to breath and sitting up.  I knew she would not last two days.  She would be dead by then.  After what felt like a few hours, my only guest since I was put in the cell died.  They took her body away.  She was dead before I could even talk to her and find out who she was.  Death was constant for hunters.

            We had been living with Uncle Caleb for two years when an army of vampires attacked.  Uncle Caleb told us that he on top of the lists for vampires to attack.  He was a well-known hunter and his presences threatened their lives.  We did not know how they found us until it was revealed that one of the servants was a vampire that we over looked.  We rarely had contact with the servants and they went under intense questioning before hiring.  Somehow this one vampire went under the radar. 

            They came into the house and set it on fire, making my brother and I get up and run outside.  Uncle Caleb also escaped the fire, but the house burned to the ground.  The vampires surrounded us on the lawn. 

“We only want you Caleb,” their leader said.  Even I knew that Caleb could not fight all of them and I only wished I had my sword and knife on me. 

“I will let you take me under one condition.  You will leave the children alone.  I know your kind does not attack children,” he said to them and they agreed. 

“No!” I yelled and my brother yelled with me.  As they were chaining up Uncle Caleb, one of them looked at my brother.

“How old are you boy?  You are at least fourteen.  Old enough to had start your training.  We should take this one,” and when he said that I grabbed my brothers hand.

“He has asthma.  He is too weak to become a hunter.  His future lies in math,” my Uncle Caleb said and they check my brother’s pockets and found his inhaler.  However, we knew that he was lying.  My brother’s asthma was not that severe that he could not become a vampire hunter.  He lied to save his life. 

“Leave them,” said their leader and as quickly as they came, they left.  My brother and I became orphans again. 

“Come on,” said my brother.

“Where are we going?”

“I don’t know.  But we’ll continue our training together.  They must be stopped.  First they took our parents and now our uncle!  Our only relative!  I hated them!  We have money, we can buy weapons and Uncle Caleb taught us how to track.  We can take them all down,” and that was when I started to see that my brother was turning into a hunter. 

“Together,” I told him and we walked off into the unknown. 

            For the next twenty years, my brother and I traveled the whole country, searching and hunting vampires.  We became very successful and the vampire community had bounties on our heads.  Although we were children at first, we became professionals very quickly due to our heritage. 

            There were times that we had to team up with other professional hunters but in the end, after the deed was done, my brother and I left to continue our own hunt.  We kept count up to killing over a hundred vampires and then we lost count.  The Vampire Hunter society wanted to recruit us.  They were an international organization of vampire hunting and it was the same organization that our parents belonged to and their parents and their parent’s parents.  Our ancestors were famous vampire hunters and we knew very little about our family.  My brother and I declined, deciding to follow our own principals and knowledge. 

            Eventually when I was twenty-eight and my brother was thirty-six, our sources led us to a castle in England.  A powerful vampire family was thought to have lived there and that they were going on a killing spree in the local town.  But we landed in a trap and my brother and I were taken by the vampire’s society.  That was how I landed in my cage. 

            They took me from my cell and I returned to the vampire council.  This time all twelve seats were filled with each leader of a famous vampire elite family.  They read my accounts and all the murders I commit.

“How do you plea?” they asked me.

“I killed them for killing humans, just like you killed my parents,” I told the council. 

“We have our own judicial system but you humans believe you can play God.  We have vampires who are murders but we also have vampires who are not, just as in your world you have humans who are murders and humans who are not.  You have your justice system and we have ours.  Hunters do not have the right to interfere with our judicial system,” said one vampire. 

“How does the council find the defendant?” asked a vampire sitting in at the end of the right row. 

“We find the defendant, guilty,” No surprise there.

            My final sentence was death.  I was to be killed in one day’s time.  Meaning I had twenty-four hours left to live.  I also heard that my brother got the same sentence.  I sat in my cell, not willing to eat or drink until my death.  When my cell started to open I somehow knew that it was too early to get me.  To my amazement, the cell door was open but no one was there.  I also found my chains to be unchained as well.  There was a note on my cell address to me.

            “I’m sorry about your parents all those years ago.  I hope this makes it up to you.  Your brother is free as well.  Please forgive me, I did not know that they had children otherwise I would have never had killed them.  Please forgive me,”

            I crumpled up the note and took off.  I found my weapons and escaped and found my brother waiting for me in the woods.

“Did you get the note?” I asked him.  He nodded.

“Remember my brother, never forgive them,” He smiled at me.

“Come sister, we have a hunt to continue,” and we walked back into the unknown.