Fire

Chapter One

Natalia, 

    You came to me days ago seeking my assistance. I am willing to help you, but I cannot work as your partner. I have decided to pair you up with Derek Payne. His situation is similar to yours, for he also wishes for the death of Dimitri Lyle. Derek is a vampire, as well, and has more experience than yourself. I feel that he can share with you his knowledge on vampires. I was also informed that Derek was a childhood friend of yours, and I hope that you will get along. Together, I plan to train the two of you to reach your full potential and defeat the man who is responsible for your torment. 

                                                                                                                              -Kane

    I stood petrified in my kitchen as I read the letter Kane sent me. I was not shocked that he had agreed to help, but rather, it was the fact that Derek Payne was alive. He was sent away at the age of sixteen, just like all the boys in my town were when they turned sixteen, to fight in the war and proudly represent our country. Everyone thought he had died when he stopped sending letters. And now, two years later, I learned that he was apparently alive, as a vampire. 

    The evil man who Turned me into a vampire, was the exact same man who had taken Derek's life. 

    My head spun, and my legs threatened to collapse, so I leaned against the counter for support. I clenched my hands into tight fists at my sides and I shut my eyes to calm my thoughts. It was true that I knew Derek when we were children, but we weren't exactly friends. 

    In fact, our families passionately detested each other. 

    I heard Maya walk in behind me, her kitten heels clacking against the linoleum tiles. "Nat, calm down, you're going to have an ulcer."

    I sighed and stood upright. When I turned to her, she was leaning against the doorway in her work outfit, watching me intently. She was my younger sister, but unlike me, she had gone and gotten herself a job in a high-class office in the next town over. Because our town was too small and under-developed for office buildings.                          

    My new job, the job assigned to me for the rest of my life, was to be a vampire slave. A monster who hails before a beast of a man, my Creator. And, as long as Dimitri was alive, I was to forever be his slave. 

    He had killed my parents on the day he changed me; shortly after Derek left town. He let me watch as they perished beneath him. And it was on that day that I swore to make him pay for what he had done. I wanted to avenge all the lives that he destroyed, as well as my own. Because of him, I could never be the average human girl I was.

    Dimitri took everything from me, besides my sister. He left the two of us alone so we would be reminded of what he did, of what he stole from us.Dimitri did not Turn my sister, he simply said that that was my job.

    "I've got to go see Kane," I said, trying to push past her.

    Maya stopped me by tightly grasping my wrist. "Why?"

    "It's not important," I lied, slipping out of the kitchen. It was important. I needed to know for sure if Derek was alive, and if Kane was serious about making him my partner. I could not work with the man who had been my enemy.

    As soon as I left my house, I hopped onto my old, made-from-scratch motorcycle and drove to Kane's house. Kane lived alone, because his wife and her family were killed by soldiers, so it was just him and a small, empty house.

    "Kane!' I yelled as I stormed through his never-locked front door and into the foyer of his home. He never locked the door, because a simple lock would never keep out all the monsters out there, so there was no use.