Hunters of the dark (Nanowrimo 2013)

Prologue.

"I'm in deep shit."

Julie panted as she turned the corner and hid: she knew that if they found her she'd be as good as dead... And that's when she heard a laugh, a horrifying laugh.

"Did you think that hiding behind a simple wall would save you?"

Then, the wall that was behind her crumbled and suddenly exploded, sending her face-first to the ground, but she quickly recovered and kept running, looking behind her all the time.

She couldn't see him, but she was sure he was there, chasing after her, looking forward to taste her blood.

But then, right when she thought she had finally lost him, she ran into something... Or rather, someone.

"Gotcha"

She suddenly got pulled by her ponytail. She screamed in pain as she was raised by this monster. "Let me go!", she demanded. He just chuckled in amusement. "You are fully aware that you're in no position whatsoever to ask for such thing, aren't you?", he asked, amusement clear in his voice.

She then realized he was right: it was over, he had caught her. In fact, he must have made her run just for the sake of it, after all, he was a vampire, thus meaning, he was much faster than any human.

"Let me go, William, we both know that if you do it, you'll regret it." She growled at him. He let out a loud laugh, " Me, regret something I've been looking forward to for so long? What are you taking me for, a human?" Julie's head was about to make her scream in pain once more; her scalp was probably going to fall off any minute now.

"Do you remember how we met?" She asked him. William growled lowly, almost animal like. "Seems like your death will be a slow and painful one, Juliette." Julie laughed to herself, "You seemed nice back then, you know?" He just glared at her before slamming her against a nearby wall; she whimpered. "I was just trying to survive, just like you were, and you know it, so don't push it, human." William roared in Julie’s face.

"So we're back to the human-vampire term? Fine with me, vampire." She tried growling back at him, "But let's just remember who was the one to ask for help first", she added. William let go of her ponytail just to hold her one handedly by her neck against the wall. "I should've killed you right there and then when I had the chance, if only I knew who you really were..." He started, only to be cut off by her, "And just who am I? Because I don't recall being anything more than just a mere human." He tightened his grip on her until he could clearly feel her pulse against his hand. "You know who you are, hunter." He said.

She knew that if he kept this grip on her she would eventually die strangled, actually, as of now, she couldn't even talk, and she could hardly breathe. But, Julie was aware that backup was on their way since she had requested it since the moment she noticed him in the crowd, watching her intently from afar: she just had to hold on a little longer.

"It's really a shame this has come to an end and that it hasn't been a pleasure meeting you, Juliette..." William was saying when suddenly, a loud bang was heard as William screamed in pain and held his forearm, as well as he lost his grip on Julie. She gasped, trying to breathe properly once again. "Her name isn't Juliette, you filthy vampire."  Nathan growled at him as he pointed his gun at William once more, and Lily used her powers to pull Julie towards them, towards safety.

William clenched his teeth, but managed to laugh nonetheless. "Back off, mutt, this is none of your business." William then turned to look at Lily. "The same goes for you, witch."

Nathan limited himself to snarling at William. "Lily, check her in case of injury," he said referring to Julie, "if she has got even one scratch, this blood sucker will pay for it right now!" William chuckled at him, "Such brave words for someone who can't even bring himself to kill someone... Not even a vampire."

"Don't listen to him, Nate, you know he's just trying to toy with you..." Julie told Nathan, and he had to really hold himself so as to not pull the trigger on his gun. "Aww, Nate? You really are a mutt: you've got a nickname and everything. You are aware that she has told me everything about you, aren't you?" William continued, his pain almost faded completely. "She would never do that!" Nathan shouted at him as he pulled the trigger... And missed William miserably. William laughed loudly at him, "You really can't do it even if you want to!" Nathan lowered his gun.

"Nate..." Julie whispered: he couldn't give up now, not because he was protecting her, but because she knew William too well, and he wouldn't be forgiving.

"You know what? I'm not in the mood to deal with some useless puppy and you two," William shrugged, "so I guess I'll have to leave for now... But don't think this is over." He then disappeared.  "I'll be back sooner than you think", he whispered into Julie's ear before disappearing for real.

<He could've killed them all right there and then, so why hasn't he?> Julie asked herself, <Is it because we...>

"We have to get back to the headquarters before he comes back", Lily's emotionless voice cut Julie's thoughts. "She's right, Nathan." Julie said, snapping Nathan back into reality. "Yeah, sorry..." He said as he put his gun back into its holder.

"You don't have to feel bad about it, Nate, you'll get him eventually." Julie encouraged him. "It's just that it's the third time I let him go like this..." Nathan said as he clenched his fist and lowered his head.

"Don't worry about him", Lily told Julie as she placed a hand on her shoulder, "He'll be as good as new as soon as he eats some hamburgers..."

"Did someone say hamburgers?!" Nathan suddenly lit up.

Julie giggled. "Let's go back." Lily nodded, they all held hands, and got transported back.

Welcome to a world where everything you thought was impossible, is real.

A world where fairies, witches, vampires, werewolves and even aliens and zombies exist.

A world that has been destroyed by a hundred year war between races.

A world whose destiny will be decided by the choices of some few.

A world almost deprived of hope.