-Children of the Night-

Chapter 15~ Coda

I woke up to a loud noise from across my room. My clock read 2 AM. I had only slept for a few hours. As my eyes began to adjust to the darkness of my room, I noticed a figure standing over the edge of my bed. I tensed up, and leapt out of my bed. Focusing on the figure, I realized it was a man in a white suit. He was about 5"9, shorter than me. He had a white mask covering his face. The mask was completely blank, except for two circular eye holes. Questions raced through my head. Who is this guy? What should I do? After all that had already happened, I wouldn't take any chances. His white suit reminded me of the Boogeyman. I cleared my throat. "Who are you, and what do you want with me?" The man stared at me from behind his featureless mask. I heard a deep, refined voice. "Don't make a move towards me. Or, We will kill her." My heart began to pound. "Her? Who are you talking about?!" He popped his neck and replied. "Your dearest mother. You wouldn't like to see any harm come to her, would you?" My body felt numb. I was in shock. No. Not my mom. I felt my blood begin to boil. " If you hurt her, I'm going to hurt you." The man chuckled with no emotion or pitch to his voice. "You will follow me downstairs, and you will not make any moves towards me or anyone. You will remain still and speak when spoken to." The man turned towards the door. Who is this guy, talking to me like  I'm a child? I felt my emotions take over and I lunged towards the back of his neck. He spun around, and jabbed a needle into my chest. All of the sudden, I started to get dizzy. The man looked at me while I propped myself against the wall. "You didn't listen to me. Now you have vervain in your blood stream. If you move around too fast, or try to kill anyone else , it will inflate and put you into a coma-like state. Your vampiric abilities will keep you moving, so follow me." I stumbled down the stairs after he made it to the bottom. What I saw around the corner made my heart sink. There were at least 12 men, all wearing the white suit and mask. In the middle of the room, bound in a chair with ropes, was my mother. She cried at the sight of me. "Son, please do what the men say. Don't let them hurt you."

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Red thought about his life. He smiled as he recalled all of the great times he had with his friends. Some of his best memories were training with his new fledglings, Vincent and Maxine. They brought new meaning to his existence.
A tear rolled down his cheek as he thought about how much they truly meant to him. For the first time in what seemed like centuries, Red felt human. He welcomed the feeling.

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My entire body began to shake. I simply could not process what was going on in front of me. The man who had walked me downstairs looked at me from behind his featureless mask. "You're going to let us take you. Don't fight back, and you will not have to see her die." My blood turned to fire. "You're not going to kill my mother." Mom started crying more fiercely.  I stumbled back, almost losing my balance. The man who just finished speaking reached out his arm to prop me up, and I took my chance. Before anyone could react, I bit into his arm and tore his veins. The taste of his blood gave me back most of my strength. While he reached for what I'm sure was a hidden weapon, I hooked my arm around his throat and used him as a shield, throwing him across the room and into the other men. I felt a slight dizziness overtake me, as I realized his blood tasted bitter. Pain dominated all of my senses, and my ears started to ring. One of the men dashed forward and pinned me against the wall, and pulled out a metal rod with prongs at the end. He pressed the weapon to my chest, and clicked a button with his thumb. My skin burned as I felt powerful electricity shock my body. I fell to the floor, my eyes locked on the faltering figure of my mother. She struggled to talk. " Don't look at me, son." I choked on my own breath. "Mom..." The man closest to her brandished a hand gun from inside his jacket. I tried with all of my strength to get up and help her. He laid the barrel of the gun against her head and pulled the trigger.

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Maxine rested peacefully on her favorite couch. Ever since she started living with Red, things had gotten so much better for her. Red played a mind trick on her abusive father, to make him believe she had died in a car accident. Of course, he did not try to dig any deeper. He never truly cared about her, not after her mom left him. Maxine enjoyed having Red as her father-figure. He didn't hit her, and he taught her about amazing things, like a father should. She smiled and let Sleep cover her like a warm blanket.

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My world turned upside -down. I understood now, why I couldn't be a good person anymore. I had tried. But I decided to let go of my humanity for the time being. All of the men seemed to be glowing. Before I knew it, I was standing. Everything seemed to slow down. I saw their life force, in the air. I felt my own life force extend from my back and shoulders, like invisible tendrils. I willed it to be, and stabbed through all of the men's bodies.Half of the men fell down, dead instantly. I surged forward and tore the killer's throat out with my fangs, and kicked him across the room. I could hear the clicking sound of guns being loaded, and I quickly leaped backwards as two men fired at me. I could feel my tendrils extend towards them, and choke them to death. I felt intoxicated from my own power. At the same time, more of the white suits attacked me. They came from all angles, armed with strange bladed weapons. I killed more and more of them, and as soon as I stopped, I fell back. Looking down, I realized I was bleeding from multiple places.  I didn't feel anything. My ears were ringing so loud, I thought my brain would explode. I heard slow footsteps coming to the open front door of my corpse- filled living room.A slim, tall man with a different white mask approached me, completely calm. As soon as I saw him, a chill went down my spine. He moved gracefully,almost like a ghost. The mask he wore had a triangle covering it, and only  one eye-hole. I ran at him on all fours, and tried to impale him with my newfound abilities, but he easily dodged. I only managed to crush half of his mask with my attack. He then pulled out a strange red sword, like a katana. With incredible precision, he stepped forward as I flew towards him, and stabbed me through my chest. 
Looking down slowly, I realized that I was hanging above the floor, held in the air by his sword. I looked up, and saw the open part of his face. His eye was white. I tried to reach for his face, but my arm fell limp.

That was when I died.

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To be continued in: "Epilogue~"