Nodding, Alana turned to the hunters and cleared her throat. “Before we tell you anything there is something you must know. We are essentially bound to each other. The lives we live and the transformation we go through are very difficult. Often we need the strength of our brothers and sisters to not only survive, but to choose the right path. We are hunted by hunters and must deal with other vampires. We stand by, and look out for one another.” Alana’s eyes were sweeping over both Frank and Logan. “When one of us is threatened or in any kind of danger, we react to it. It’s how we are. You say we don’t feel, but we do” she paused to brush my hair back from my face. “We care deeply for each other.”
“Some more than others” Callie said quietly.
I heard Frank making a choking noise and Alana’s eyes blazed.
“Believe what you will hunter, but know this. Had you not offered us the deal you did we would still have gone after Micah.”
Claudia was standing near me and she looked like she wanted to hit something, or someone. I hoped Frank wouldn’t get too close. “But we didn’t even know he was here.” I knew Claudia was still peeved at Quintenn’s lack of knowledge. I didn’t blame him in anyway. Sometimes I thought we expected too much of him.
Alana sighed. “Yes we didn’t know. Otherwise we would have acted.”
“We've been hunting Micah for decades.” Quintenn behind me chimed in.
“But as you have come to realise he is quite smart and has constantly eluded us” Alana continued, giving me a glance. “One day almost two years ago something changed to make our situation more...” she paused, finding the word. “complex.”
“What was that?” Frank asked anxiously.
“He saw Roxi.” Claudia said with a dry laugh.
Alana shot Claudia an irritated glance, which shut Claudia up, fast. “Yes, as Claudia has so kindly pointed out that was the case. We heard from our contacts that he was in town and unprepared for an attack. We couldn’t let the opportunity pass us by so I sent word to the covenant to send the Death Walkers after him.” Alana paused, seeing Frank’s curious expression. “I was not at the Manor at the time” she answered before continuing with the story. “Roxi had only been with us for a few months and he had never seen her” she said, looking down at me, a small frown on the lips.

Callie had walked over and was now standing at the edge of the couch with Claudia. She placed her hand on my shoulder.
“We attacked just like any other mission but-” I trailed off and felt Callie’s fingers tighten on my shoulder.
“That was all it took, one glance” Alana shook her head. “Since then he has made plays for her. Tried to draw her away from the Manor, into his life and the lifestyle he lives. We have defended her on the occasions it was required and will continue to do so. But his fascination with her.... it’s never ending and it gets worse every time.”
“Fascination? Obsession is more like it” Claudia shouted, her voice fairly loud. “The guy’s insane. Evil and insane.” She had started to pace, something I knew she did when she was stressed or agitated.
“Was he ever encouraged?” Frank asked, and was rewarded with very angry looks from almost all the vampires in the room.
“No” I said. “Never. I’ve never wanted anything to do with him.
Logan was nodding, taking everything in. Up until this point he hadn’t spoken. “I’ve heard of this before.”
All eyes flew to him and waited for him to continue.
“Some vampires can form obsessions with certain things or people. They strive to gain it and they have tunnel vision. It’s all they think about, all they want. They spend every moment of their existence trying to get it and it becomes their only purpose.” He looked over and smiled dryly at me. “Some men want what they can’t have.”
“He’ll never let me go.” I said repeating what Micah had said, yet neither Logan nor I had mentioned.

“You said he’s gotten worse. What did you mean by that?” Logan was still looking at me and I wasn’t sure I could answer so I looked to Claudia.
“The last time he was here, he grabbed her.” She ground her teeth.
“Oh.” I saw Logan’s eyes widen and watched his hands clench into fists.
“It was after school.” I looked down at my hands, before back to Logan. “That’s one of the reason’s your whole, attack me at school thing, got to me.” I bit my lip. “That and I just didn’t appreciate the interruption. It was really rude, you know.” I told him trying to smile. It didn’t work. “Anyway, he dragged me into his car. A Porsche” I shook my head. “Can you believe that? The guy has a Porsche. He said he wanted to talk and that’s all he did really. And when I say talked. I mean brag. All he ever does, is basically tell me how great he is and how he could give me the world."
“It didn’t help when her parents lodged a missing person’s report. They made it a day later and by then they were long gone. We knew almost instantly but because of what we are, and because we must hide that, we couldn’t act sooner.” Callie spoke, her voice strained with past pain. I knew how much pain it caused her, both her and Claudia, to watch me go through what I go through. If there was any way to spare them that pain, I would do it in a heart beat. “It took us a week to find her.”
I felt my stomach contract and all those memories swept through me. Memories I didn’t want to remember, let alone share. There were things I’d kept from Callie and Claudia and the entire covenant. Nothing overly bad, but painful, and I didn’t see the point in causing them extra pain. Not if I could help it. I didn’t want to be the victim I was sure the hunters would see me as. I was stronger than that. Although sometimes I had trouble proving that, even to myself.
“He’s never hurt me” I felt compelled to share. And he hadn’t, not overly and nothing dramatic. I’d gotten a slap in the mouth one or two times, or five, for talking back. But that wasn’t something I intended to point out. “It’s a game to him. A sick, twisted game. He wants me, but he wants me to want him back. And I don’t”

Everybody was watching me, ready for me to fall to pieces, even the hunters. But I wouldn’t. I didn’t want their pity, hell, I didn’t need their pity.
“He’s always thought that if he tried hard enough, I’d give in” I continued. “The thing he can’t seem to grasp is that I never will.” I said shaking my head. I looked over to Frank, who looked as though he was about to speak. “I know him. Better than I wished I did. I’ve seen what he can do. He’s usually calm and he prides himself on being in control. When things don’t go his way or the way he planned. Or when people stand against him or disagree with him-” I broke off and Callie rubbed my back. “Well, let’s just say he can be very irrational and act unexpectedly.” I continued, looking at everybody all around the room. “He’s savage and he’s brutal. He feeds of power.” I shuddered but still kept my voice solid. “I’ve seen him tear down and kill people without breaking a sweat and without a second thought.”
“He needs to be stopped.” Logan said strongly. “That’s why we’ve been after him all this time. He's caused so much damage.”
I nodded. “What he said back at the warehouse, I believe it. And I think you should too. He’ll lie through his teeth, but he’ll tell you the truth too. Especially if he thinks it’ll mess with your head. Besides, like I said, he likes to brag.” I looked to Alana. “There have always been vampires within our society that aren’t completely satisfied with how we live. I think it’s crazy to assume he wouldn’t have been able to convince them to stand alongside him. I mean, look at James. I would never have pegged James to turn and yet he did. Micah is a master manipulator.”
“We’re still left where we started though” Ben spoke up, from the back of the room. “I’m sure he’s long gone.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” I sighed. “He’ll come back, he’ll come for me.”
“You really think so?” Logan had moved away from the wall, closer to everybody.
“I don’t think, I know” I answered. “Past experiences aside, you said so yourself, the vampire’s, they strive to gain the object of their obsession.” I paused, taking another breath. “He said he was sorry he’d been away and I could tell he meant it. Whatever he’s planning, it’s why he’s been away. He clearly hasn’t forgotten about me and it doesn’t look like he’s going to any time soon. He’ll come back, I’m sure of it.”

And I was. The insides of my stomach tossed and turned and I knew it was the truth. I could feel it in my bones.
“We need to come up with a plan to vanquish him, once and for all. No half jobs, I want him dead.” Frank was still standing at the front of the room; he hadn’t moved the entire discussion. “The warehouse job wasn’t good enough. We need to do better.”
Logan stood up straighter, stretching. “We vanquished a number of his accomplishes, that’s got to cause a dent in his plans. Not to mention that he was injured when we were leaving. I don’t think it was enough to cause damage; he’ll heal easily from it, but I bet it angered him.” He smirked and started to walk across the room. “I say we celebrate our accomplishment, however small.” He reached the small bar that ran along one wall and started rummaging through its contents. “Besides,” and his tone changed, getting darker and not as light “I for one, could use a drink.”
I watched as Frank shot daggers at Logan, before briskly leaving the room in a huff. Logan didn’t even glance at him, either not noticing or, and I thought this one correct, not caring. Ben joined Logan and soon the two were mixing drinks and laughing. I thought this odd, but I was glad that they were getting along, if only for now.
I sat and thought about things for a while. The hunters and we vampires were finally on the same page. We had the same goals and we were going to see this through. Something told me that this whole Micah issue would soon be over and I could finally move on with my life. But I did wonder how and at what cost?
I decided to leave what as fast becoming a party. Someone had turned on the stereo and I wondered how long before Claudia would start table dancing. When she was stressed, there was nothing Claudia enjoyed more than getting drunk and forgetting her worries. I didn’t hold it against her. I wished I could turn my mind off, if only for an hour or two.
But alas, I couldn’t, and with one finally glance at Claudia who looked like she was on her second drink. Wow, that girl was fast. I got up and quietly left the room. Callie gave me a concerned look, but I shook my head and gave her a reassuring smile as I passed.



I stand by my actions on that night, and the days and nights that followed. And I’m sure I’m not the only one. I never would have guessed what the quest to vanquish Micah would actually cost me. Sometimes I look back and wonder if it was really worth it......