[center][img]http://i.imgur.com/dGF270W.jpg[/img] [b]Five years ago[/b][/center] It had been only a few hours after Angel had witnessed the brutal murder of her family. The sound of an engine and vibrations of a moving vehicle had finally stirred her out of the darkness of her slumber. The little girl was pressed against the corner of the truck, her red hair the only thing that managed to stick out against the wrath of the darkness. It was so dim but Angel could barely make out of her surroundings. They were in in the back storage of a truck. It was a rather large and empty rectangular space with no windows. People were huddled everywhere against the wall like rats. Angel could make out a range of heights and ages amongst them, guessing that meant there were a lot of different ages. She had glanced down feeling someone pressed against her. There was small mass hugging her body. In her fear and misery, she could only hug the child back. They were in the truck for hours on end, all huddled against each other, waiting for the unknown. It had been quiet except for random crying and sobbing. That was until a voice filled the loudspeaker. "Humans. You are now under our control and any attempt to flee or revolt will result in your untimely deaths. " The back latch was opened rather viciously suddenly, light irritatingly finally bursting into the truck. Angel cringed, covering her eyes before glancing down at who had been hugging her. It had been a little girl with brown hair. She glanced around at the others. Most of them looked like homeless people in lots of layers and rags. There were men with scruffy beards and woman in too many scarves. Then near Angel were a few children just like her. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary about them. Hooded figures approached the truck and pulled each one of them out of the back. They were all lined up on the concrete road. To her surprise she found herself looking up at tall buildings and bright lights. It reminded her of what she expected New York City to look like. However, there was not a soul in sight. Cars were empty and scattered across the road and the city was eerily quiet. "We have long taken possession of this city as a stronghold. It is a small one so therefore it was easy. Most inhabitants are long dead so don't go looking. Once we take our sampling, you will be given an apartment to live in with several other humans. Our guards will come to get you and take you to give blood. Every few days this will be a necessary process and you are expected to cooperate. Leaving will be near impossible. "A very tall woman was speaking, her voice monotone and her face shrouded by her black cloak. "You see, this city is surrounded by very large, stone walls built long ago at the time of this city's capture. Our forces guard these walls and with advanced technology way beyond those of a human, we are able to completely obscure this city to outsiders. It appears as if nothing but large, abandoned factories exist here which are rumored to humans to be radioactive. No one ever comes anywhere near here. No one is coming to save you. This is your life now." The woman paced, examining their eyes as she spoke. "You must be thinking... What is this life you speak of? What are you and why me?" Amusement crept into her voice as her cloak fell back just a tad, exposing her wicked grin. "Well. Consider yourselves our livestock. Despite common error, we are the top of the food chain and we've been feeding off you for years and years without public eye. I suppose you could term us 'vampires' as you all tend to. And why you? Because you don't matter to society. They won't dwindle on your disappearance for more than a few days. With no family to mourn you, there's no fuss over finding you. We have a laboratory here where we take hundreds of those who are useless to society like you-homeless, jobless, runaways, forgotten..."She drew off as a sob interrupted her. With an amused giggle, she bent down and stroked the hair of the little girl that had been hugging Angel as she burst into tears. "Now, now... If you behave we won't hurt you little one. Just be a good girl." On instinct, Angel grabbed the little girl and pulled her away from her, her eyes lit with anger. The woman's eyes traveled to them. Now that the woman was looking down at them, she could see bright, cat-like yellow eyes staring back at her. "There's always one troublesome isn't there? I truly hope that it won't be you, pretty child." Angel swallowed as the cold voice spoke to her, biting back all the possible remarks running through her head. This wasn't a game. "Good girl."She praised when Angel did not speak. "[i]Remember that you are nothing now.[/i]" [i]You are nothing now[/i]. "Nadia, Lord Lee wants them to arrive within the next ten minutes. We must make haste. Take the children and I'll take the adults." One of them reported to her. She nodded to him and waved her arm towards an alleyway. "This way, little pigs." The children all looked at each other before finally following the hooded people down a dirty alleyway. No one dared speak. Angel couldn't begin to comprehend what was happening. The little girl was back at her side and clinging to her arm as they walked. She didn't know how to comfort her. It really looked like they were doomed to be stuck here. Was this crazy lady really telling the truth about them being vampires? Angel's heart had never beated against her rib cage this hard and fast before in her life. It was pounding in her ear like a drum. She wasn't sure she could even properly breathe. It almost paused in its beating for a moment as she realized that she would never see her family again. Tears rapidly filled her eyes and began to spill down her cheeks. She covered her mouth to silence herself as a sob shook her. A gated, enormous mansion soon resided in the front of their vision. Angel had never seen any house so big her life. It must have had at least four floors. What a beautiful mansion was doing in a city like this was beyond her imagination. She stared up at it, admiring it's big windows and its eerie aura. "Get in line!" A voice soon broke her reverie. Hands fell on her shoulders and she was placed in the back of the line of other kids. She got on her tippy toes to crane her neck and look at the front of the line. A man had been seated in the indoor complex by the gate with a window much like a ticket window at a movie theatre. He was demanding their names and putting them in a computer. When it got to her turn, Angel could hear herself utter her own name but she wasn't very conscious of the action. This all felt so dream-like. All she could do was stare back at the bright eyes that bore into her as he recorded it. The next few hours were a blur to Angel. She knew they had been given some sort of drugs because all the memories were so hazy. She remembered a huge room with hundreds of people laid on platforms. All of them had black chokers on their necks and tubes were being connected to them that were connected to quite an amount of machinery. The tubes lead through indentations in the floor and to somewhere else. It all looked like a laboratory scene out of a movie. She wasn't even one hundred percent sure that these memories were valid. She recalled staring up at the ceiling, laying around like the rest of them as a sharp pain filled her neck. She had never felt so light-headed and dizzy during that moment as someone tried to comfort her. "It's almost done... It'll be over soon..." A voice had said in her ear. When Angel found herself fully aware again, she was being guided by another girl her age over a bridge. According to her, days had passed and she had been one of the children to sleep the longest. She introduced herself as Amelia. They were living in a nearby two-room apartment with six other people. One other girl was a young child but the rest adults. ____________________________ APPROXIMATELY ONE YEAR LATER [center][img]http://i.imgur.com/WxSUCew.gif[/img][/center] Angel could only wail as she found herself running through darkness. She screamed and wailed like never before. They echoed through the narrow, stone tunnel as she plunged herself into its darkness. It wasn't long before she found herself going head first into a pile of snow. She lifted her body from its icy embrace, shivering and looking around wildly at her surroundings. Angel had never seen so many trees. They were taller than any tree she had seen before. Knee-deep snow stretched out for what seemed like miles. She looked up at the dark, foreboding sky. The thick clouds covered each inch of the sky like a grey blanket, bearing down on the white landscape. Milky-white flakes descended gently from above, alighting on Angel's face softer than the kisses her mother used to bestow on her cheeks. For a moment, Angel allowed herself to dwell on how beautiful the atmosphere was. Then, reality sunk in as painful numbness swept over her limbs. It was very possible she'd die out here if there was no close-by civilization. She was left vulnerable to the cold air's brutal and unforgiving embrace in her thin clothes. The constant tears that kept forming and blurring her vision were no help either. She got to her feet, sniffling. She looked over her shoulder at what was behind her. It was just a cave seemingly. "Oh God..." She whispered to herself, hugging her bare arms. They were all gone. Forever. Myna.. Amelia. She started to sob brokenheartedly again as she found some will to start moving forward. Where did she go now? With each step, it seemed to just get colder and colder. The night air was wicking her body heat away faster than it could be replaced. Her lips were completely blue and her teeth had begun to chatter, filling the silence that had once surrounded her. After some time, she collapsed hopelessly forward onto her palms and knees. The scenery didn't change no matter how far she walked. "Help me..."She whispered desperately, clenching her tiny fingers into the wet snow. "I'm so scared. I don't know what to do." "Help me..." A voice mimicked. Angel's head shot up, her hair falling over in her face as she tried to make out who the figure coming toward her was. "I never expected to find my dinner out here." She could hear his big boots crunch the snow as he got closer. Angel let out a squeak as he took a fistful of the fabric of her shirt, picking her up into the air. "Nothing personal." Angel shut her eyes. It didn't matter anymore. She had nothing to live for besides maybe seeing Derek one last time. She wanted to see everyone one last time and tell them all the things she had to say to them. Maybe she'd see them now. She opened her eyes to look at her killer. There was no mercy in his dead, red eyes. His skin was paler than anything she had ever seen. He licked his lips and parted his lips. Fangs jutted out over his bottom lip as he moved her head closer to his face. Her mother's screams filled her ears all over again as she peered out from under the bed, frozen with terror. Her sister's tiny, motionless body inches away from her, her red hair spilled across the carpet. Angel recalled she could reach out and touch it. For some reason, she had done just that only for her wrist to be grabbed. A person had bent down and looked under the bed with a terrifying face and bright red eyes. However, the figure was only to be startled by a noise a moment later. He had let go of her wrist and ran out of the room. She let her eyes shut again. There was no way of fighting this. It was over. She was finally going to see everyone again. She'd see her mom's beautiful, cheeky grin and her father's warm eyes... Xander will beckon her and Kate over for a hug like he always used to. Kate would absolutely love to meet Amelia. She just knew it. She was free now. She waited for the sharp pain in her neck but it never came. She was so lost in her thoughts she hadn't noticed she wasn't being held up anymore. Had it been that quick and easy? Angel opened her eyes to find herself sitting in the snow, the killer a few feet across from her. He was sprawled out in the snow, barely breathing. With further inspection, Angel saw that he had a wound in his back. The blood darkened his shirt and had begun to dry in the freezing air. A sword stabbed into the snow in front of her, making her fearfully cry out. A man's voice reached her ears, "Kill it." Glancing over her shoulder, Angel saw a tall man in a black parka, his face shrouded by the hood. She didn't speak as she slowly got to her feet, grabbing the sword by it's hilt. It came out of the snow with audibly. The blade was soaked in blood. The wind was picking up and her hair billowed out behind her. She found herself trudging over to the vampire, each step a crisp crunch against the snow. For a moment, she felt a glassy, cold detachment from reality. How could anything so evil exist? Vampires truly deserved to be nothing but the subject of supernatural stories. from him. It should had been easy to hate and kill the guy but it had suddenly become more difficult than ever. Her parents' faces flashed in her mind. There was nothing Angel wouldn't have given to see them or her siblings or even her orphan family. She didn't want to end this being's life, whether it was evil or not. She had only wanted one thing. She drove the sword into the ground near him, starting to cry. A sob shook her body as tears streamed down her cheeks, trickling on to the body below her. "I don't want to kill anyone! I just want my mom and dad back! "She fell to her knees, sobs racking her tiny body. They echoed through the forest, filling the silence. "I just want them back! I don't want to be alone!" She wailed. "I'm so scared." He sighed, watching her sob for a moment. Finally, he came over, grabbing her arm. He dragged her to her feet and took the sword out of the ground. He stabbed the vampire hard, causing him to yell out. He went motionless a moment later. "My name's Evan." He told Angel as he began to lit a match. After throwing the lit match on the dead vampire, he scooped her up and began walking away, shhing her as she cried. "Everything's going to be okay now. " Angel couldn't find it in herself to calm down as she looked over this man's mysterious shoulder. The heat from the flames caressed her cheeks as it ate away at the corpse. It had lit up their surroundings with a warm, orange glow.