Demon Puppet

Chapter 1

I run through the prison, not knowing when to stop or what I was even looking for. My heart pounds in my chest. Someone needs me...I have to find that person! I stumble forward and look up. Before me is Vault 120.

The sound of screams and howls reaches my ears. "NOELLE! LET US OUT! NOELLE!" The screams transform into hellish moans of fury and pain. The lights above my head flicker rapidly, and I can see the creatures trapped in the Vault--the wolf pack. They are struggling weakly, climbing on top of each other to escape, but the door is unyeilding. The last one--the alpha, Kris--turns towards me. His face is ghaunt and pale, and he is more like a living skeleton than a man.

"Please," he whispers, "let us out..."

I scream as he staggers forward before collapsing at my feet and exploding into dust. 

Another scream tears through the air. The light above becomes blinding, and I am no longer in the Vault. My eyes fall on two figures hiding in the dark, pressed against the wall of their own vault, trapped. The sun creeps closer to them. I watch, horrified, as the warm light of the sun breaks over one of the creature's faces.

He lets out an ungodly scream; his yellow eyes fly open. His skin cracks and peels and bleeds, tearing him apart. His teeth curve into vicious fangs as he roars; still, he does not move. His body conforms protectively around the second vampire, sheilding him. N grows still, and his scream echoes into silence.

Ravi, his orange-haired brother, lets out a cry as N's body crumbles into ash. The vampire shrieks as the sun disintegrates N's carcass and extends its deadly warmth to the survivor. 

"NOELLE!" Ravi bellows as he burns. "NOELLE!"

"No!" I cry, reaching for him. He bursts into ashes, and I fall. When I look up again, I am in a different spot. I look around; these are definitely the prison ruins.

I jump as an arm lurches out of the crumbling piles of stone. The nails sink into the solid rock, and it cracks beneath the pale, slender fingers. A dark figure slowly rises from the ruins.

I scream as two black-stitched eyes meet mine.

"Noelle..." the man groans. "Noelle..."

"Noelle! Noelle, wake up!"

I open my eyes with a gasp and look up. Hero looks down at me with a worried expression. I slowly sit up and rub my eyes. "Ugh..."

"You were having a nightmare," Hero says softly. He pulls me against him and strokes my hair as I start to cry. "Hush, Noelle... It was only a dream."

"Awful," I whisper. "It was awful..."

"Hush," he repeats, holding me tightly. He leans his forehead against mine and uses his telepathic voice instead. Do you want to talk about it?

I shake my head. Not really.

It will help you feel better, he offers.

I swallow and close my eyes. Doll-eyes' pale, haunting face appears, and I quickly open my eyes again. I don't think it will help this time.

He understands. "You were dreaming about the prison, weren't you?"

I nod.

Hero gently brushes my tears away and leans forward. His lips barely brush mine, but I feel my worries melt away with his kiss. He pulls away with a small smile. Feel better?

A little, I reply.

Hero smiles and stretches. "Hmm... We should get up anyway. It's almost dawn." He stands and extends his hand to help me up.

I rub my eyes. "Where are we?"

Hero glances around. "We're still a long way from home, but we're closer than we were yesterday."

I roll my eyes. "You say that every day."

"Because it's true," he says with a smirk, flashing his crooked, arrogant smile.

I yawn, ignoring him, and turn around.

"Hey, I was talking to you," he says.

I blink sleepily. "Huh."

His arms wrap around my waist, pulling my back against his chest. His voice is a smooth, cool, catlike purr in my ear. "Are you ignoring me?"

"Not anymore," I say tiredly.

He chuckles and presses a kiss to the shell of my ear. Good, he says in my mind. It's bad to ignore your mate. Then again, you have a habit of ignoring me.

"It doesn't feel like it's been that long," I say randomly. I look at him. "Since we left the prison."

He shrugs. "Time is nothing to our kind. Sixty seconds could be sixty years or sixty million years."

"Can we really live that long?" I ask. When he nods, I swallow before asking, "How does...our kind...die? If we remain forever young?"

"We have to be killed," Hero says. "Like any Immortal, we are only such if we remain healthy and unhunted. There is no way for us to simply die."

"I thought we are at the top of the supernatural food chain," I say. "Is there something that is capable of killing us?"

He hesitates. "There is one creature who is both above and below us in this 'supernatural food chain'. His kind is more powerful than us."

"What 'kind'? What can he do? How can he be both above and below us?" Questions pour out.

"We cannot mimic his kind," Hero answers. "That is what makes him so dangerous."

"Him who? You are speaking in riddles. What can be above and below us? Just tell me. What creature is more powerful than us?"

His red eyes meet mine. "A demon puppet."