My illness was escalating. Whatever flu, or resulting pangs from overexertion, that was causing the increasingly painful waves over my body was becoming more apparent as the days went by. I was finding the concoction of herbs in my tea to be my only release, and that was only temporary. My father, Zachary, convinced me to stay with him at the reservation at least until I began to feel better so that their medical examiners could care for me should it get worse. And it did get worse.

I couldn’t eat well any longer. The things I did get down were the bare minimum. When the tea wasn’t suppressing my symptoms, my muscles felt strained and on fire. The pulsing in my head was increasing until every noise felt like Hell bouncing on my eardrums. Everything was sore, from my flesh down to the gums of my teeth. My stomach pain was associated with a sense of nausea. And I was hungry. I was so hungry, but I couldn’t get myself to eat.

When the tea was proving to be less effective, the medical examiners gave me a different type of pain relieving liquid. It was thick, like honey coating my tongue. And it was far more effective and longer lasting. I only hoped it would prove to help me get over whatever illness was wracking my body, and then I would be able to leave the reservation.

I had expressed my wish to my father not long after thinking over his offer to stay. It was a tempting offer. For one, I would have a family once again. It would be a large family as well. I found my days surrounded by hunters, each one holding a warm pull to their being as if affirming the fact that we were family, even if not all were by blood. Not all the hunters were kind to me, some seemed suspicious or otherwise uncaring, but many were warm, loud, and affectionate. I almost never got time to myself except for when I was in my own room. As it turned out, most training hunters had roommates, but being that I was more a guest than trainee I was let off of the requirement.

Another tempting factor was my father himself. I knew my mother had left him, but it was strange to actually have a caring male figure in my life to feel pride at my actions and unconditional fatherly love. Despite having gone my entire life without him, and definitely not feeling as though I actually needed him, I felt a part of me that longed for that stability I had lost when my mother passed away. It was only in the back of my mind that I kept locked away the fact that I had felt that stability with Aveline and Xander.

That brought up my third temptation. If I were to stay at the reservation, it would allow me to have a reason to stay in this supernatural world where demons, witches, and vampires existed. Perhaps I could train as a hunter, but have my own code of morals. Perhaps over time I would come across my lost companions once again and maybe when that time came, they would see me as the hunter I had become but still remember me as the girl they had felt attached to in their care. I would be more than another hunter’s face; I would be their Elysia. Yes, a large part of me longed to have some reason to stay in touch with that side of my world.

But the fact remained that I didn’t need anyone but myself to survive. I didn’t need my father’s affections or pride. I didn’t need a large family to cling to for support. I didn’t need vampire companions such as Xander, Aveline, or Corentine to protect me. And regardless of what I may have wanted, I didn’t need… him. I didn’t need a Master vampire to want me in ways no other had; to commit to in ways I never had been able to before. I only needed myself.

With that decision made, I decided to take back my life; to be alone and learn more about who I was by myself especially after all the struggles I had been forced through that may have altered who I thought I was before. I knew I wouldn’t be able to go back to the life I had before, but my father would help me. He took my decision with disappointment, but respected it. He planned to aid me in changing my name and location, in order to maximize my ability to start anew somewhere else outside of this chaotic, supernatural world.

It was with this in mind that I found myself sitting on my temporary twin-sized bed, staring at the small bag I hadn’t even touched since I’d placed it under the bed when I first was assigned the room. Honestly, I hadn’t been eager to take it in the first place, being that its existence meant Jacobi had planned to have me leave before he had helped rescue me from Vincent. But when the dove figurine had fallen out, I had felt even less eager to look inside. What other things had he deemed necessary to rid himself of by sending it off with me, in order to wipe my existence from his memory?

I opened the small bag carefully, allowing the dove figurine to peek from its darkness. It was painful to look at, so I quickly put it aside in order to look further into the bag. There was only one other item left in it. I pulled it out slowly, frowning as the familiar small book sat openly in my grasp. The title, The Tyranny of Vampire Hunters, was obnoxious but intriguing. I flipped the book over carefully, looking at the blank back before turning it face up once again.

The image of the book itself was enough to send a longing wave of pain throughout me. I missed Aveline and Xander. But the fact that the book was here meant Jacobi had known what book I’d been speaking of when I had informed him so long ago about not reading the vampire hunter literature. And now he left it in my possession, obviously intending for me to read it.

I sighed and opened it warily.

The first few chapters described the origins of vampire hunters. Hunters were apparently believed to be created by no other force than evolution, the same way any prey evolves to survive their predators. They began as regular humans who were enlightened on the existence of vampires and worked to fight against them. No one was certain when or how those ordinary humans became supernaturally gifted in order to begin attacking vampires. Some believed they made their own deal with a demon. Others believed breeding with witches created a new type of human. Regardless of how it happened, hunters were birthed.

I was shocked by the next pages which were covered in artwork, depicting the methods vampire hunters used in order to learn how to properly kill vampires. Names were appearing on the lines, and among the hundreds of names, some stuck out above others: Brion, Lenne, and the book described the most vicious hunters… Monet.

I couldn’t read over the extensive massacres, tortures, and deaths the book described in detail. Most of the techniques used against vampires were created by the Monet family. As I flipped through the pages, I felt cold and more ill than usual. I nearly closed the book without continuing, except a painting of a familiar flower flashed across a page. I paused, looking at it with wide eyes. Under the picture, the name was scribed as Middlemist Red: The Camellia of Mortality.

A knock on the door caused me to slam the repulsive book shut in surprise. I quickly stuffed the items back into the bag, hiding it under the bed before moving to see who it was that was at my door. It turned out to just be a hunter, one of my distant cousins who shared the Monet name, who wished to escort me to the cafeteria. It was something the doctors had suggested in order to be assured that I would at least attempt to eat. I didn’t feel like eating, but I didn’t want the hunters to be bothered by worrying about my wellbeing, so I agreed to go to the crowded cafeteria. It also would be beneficial to me if I were to keep as fed as I could so that I could get better and finally leave to live my own life once again.

As I walked towards the cafeteria, I thought about the disturbing images in the book Jacobi had left me. There wasn’t any wonder as to why Aveline had not wanted me to read it. I didn’t know how I would have reacted after reading about the horrible things my family line had done in the name of ridding the world of the evil that was vampires. The problem was that the hunters didn’t associate any vampires with good or civil beings. They targeted the vampires equally. As far as they were concerned, vampires fed off of humans and that was grounds enough to destroy them.

It was while I was lost in my thoughts that I felt him. I froze in my steps, allowing my hunter escort to walk away without me. I didn’t move an inch. I waited for that familiar pull on my spirit where Jacobi’s was forever linked to. When I didn’t feel him again, I looked around as if maybe he would be watching from nearby. Had he meant for me to feel him? It had been so long since his spirit had opened up to mine, even for a moment. He had been blocking me out so well until that brief second.

I scanned the area critically, but I didn’t see Jacobi. I tensed when my eyes fell on someone else; someone entirely different but so familiar and out of place that I nearly believed I was hallucinating. In the distance, my old roommate Liv stood with her face turned to the side as if waiting for me to see her. I stood stunned, trying to make sense of her presence here.

When she began to walk away, I doubted myself. It must be a woman who looked similar to my old roommate. I would just have to approach her and find out for myself. I only hesitated a moment longer before changing my path to follow where the woman who looked so strikingly like Liv had been. I could see her walking slowly in the distance with lazy purpose. Even her stride was similar to Liv’s.

The woman walked into the lab building where the hunters worked on experimentation with weapons and plants which were poisonous to vampires. As I entered the eerie building, I thought I had lost the woman, but when I looked down the hall she was standing at the opposite end as though she were waiting for me. Now that I was closer, I could see more of her features and was more convinced that she was either Liv or her identical twin.

“Liv?” I called out to her, but she only took a turn from the hall and disappeared through a set of doors. I frowned and picked up my pace as I followed her. It made no sense for Liv to be here. She was before all of this. Had they brought her into this world after I’d been abducted by vampires? Why would they do that if she hadn’t even been there when Jacobi had appeared? I needed answers.

I raced through the doors and found myself in a stairwell. I moved to the edge of the stairs, grasping the rails before looking up. When I didn’t see Liv, I looked down instead and a flash of her hair caught my eye. She was already a few flights below me and as if sensing my gaze on her form, she looked up at me briefly. The glance of her face confirmed her identity. It was definitely Liv. Somehow she had ended up from our old world of band gigs and video games to my new supernatural world, and I had no idea how.

“Liv, wait!” I called down to her, but she was already moving further down the steps. I groaned in frustration and began the decent down the steps myself. Occasionally, I tried to look over the rail to see if she had stopped, but she kept going until she disappeared through a door at the very bottom floor of the building. I wasn’t sure where we were, but it had to be underground at this rate. The thought alone made me nervous, but it wasn’t like I was chasing some stranger. I had stayed with Liv since my mother died when I was sixteen. That was the longest commitment I had made with anyone other than my mother. But still, even though I wanted to be almost joyful at seeing an old familiar face, I felt more anxious and confused by her presence and the way she was running away from me.

By the time I reached the end of the stairs, I was out of breath and the pains in my body were increasing obnoxiously. I paused to pull the medicine the hunter doctors had given me from my pocket, taking a drink before panting furthermore. It was a small relief, but I knew if I kept up this exercise it would get worse. I had to know why Liv was here, though. It just made no sense.

When I tried to open the door Liv had gone through, I realized there wasn’t any doorknob of any kind. I hesitated, pressing my hand against it as if it should swing open, but it didn’t move. It was a cold metal, like a shield against intruders. I definitely felt like I shouldn’t be there, but Liv had gone through the door… Before I could think how to get through it, the door suddenly shifted and slid open.

The hall it opened to was blindingly bright. I stepped into it uncertainly, jumping when the door slid shut behind me. For a moment, I felt like I had walked into my own grave and the door had been the lid on my coffin. But when nothing went dark or came out to attack me, I began to step forward through the hall.

The walls were lined with long mirrors that reflected my pale, frightened face. I only looked at my thinning sickly features for a moment before I had to look away. My fear was only scaring me more than originally. I had to find Liv quick and get out of there. I quickly half-ran down the hall, reaching the end that forked off in a ‘T’ shape. I looked to my left first, seeing a similar bright hall. When I looked to my right, I inhaled sharply. Liv was standing at the furthest end facing my direction with her head tilted almost curiously. Once she caught my gaze, she shifted her head, indicating for me to go to her.

I quickly began to advance towards her, eager to know how she got here. Halfway down the hall, something caught my eye, causing me to slow before altogether stopping. Where the last hall had mirrors lining the walls, this wall had a large rectangular window that was revealing the inside of spotless white room. Normally, that wouldn’t have caused me to stumble forward in horror. Except that the room wasn’t completely empty…

On each side of the room was what looked like large slabs with multiple bindings in order to keep those on it contained. The slab on the right side of the room was raised upright leaving the man on it slumped forward. The other slab was left horizontal, where the woman was lying unmoving on top of it. Even with the IVs attached to their forms, their naked bodies caked with the blood of past tortures, and their faces turned away from me, I knew who they were.

I stumbled to the glass, slapping my hands against it as if I could break it in my weakened and sickly state. I was breathless; completely speechless. My companions, the ones I had come here in return for their safe release, were here all along like some lab experiment in an underground hunter dungeon.

“Xander!” I cried out, balling my hands into fists and slamming them against the glass with tears spilling from my eyes, “Aveline!” They didn’t move from inside of that white room. I turned to look for a door in order to break them out myself and nearly screamed at the form that had materialized during my panic.

Liv, who I had all but forgotten, had disappeared once I had made my discovery. Instead, my own father was standing at the edge of the glass, watching me with an expressionless face. I was breathing harshly, only moving to wipe the tears from my face so I could look at him better. He had lied to me. He had pretended to let Aveline and Xander go. I knew it shouldn’t shock me; even Corentine had warned me of the possibility. I had considered the possibility of him refusing to release them, but I hadn’t expected him to pretend to. Just as I was about to accuse him of his obvious crime, he spoke.

“You feel for those beasts,” Zachary said slowly. He didn’t seem angry, but he wasn’t amused or even curious. “How unfortunate...”

“They’re not beasts,” I wanted to scream at him, but the ache in my head was magnifying behind my tears and my words instead were quiet and pained.

“Beasts. Monsters. The product of pure evil,” Zachary responded sharply, “I had hoped you would see that clearly, after they snatched you up and tortured you.”

“They didn’t-“ I began, but he swiftly interrupted me by raising one hand dangerously.

“It doesn’t matter, Elysia. It doesn’t change anything else except for your fate,” He stated simply. I considered what that meant for a moment, my heart rate rising in my chest. Was he going to hurt me? Now that he knew I felt for the vampires? I tightened my hands into fists at my side, unsure of how I would protect myself, but sure that I was going to try. Even when Zachary didn’t move to attack me, I didn’t relax my form.

He turned to look at my vampire companions in the room beyond the glass.

“I know just about everything you can possibly know about vampires,” Zachary told me. He looked and sounded just like my father, but something in his expression and voice made him appear like a complete stranger I was only just meeting. “I’ve studied them. I’ve dissected them. I’ve killed them. I’ve done things you couldn’t even begin to imagine… but there’s one thing we hunters have never been able to surpass…” He looked at me from the corner of his eye dangerously.

“The spiritual life force of a vampire; their ability to bond to each other and the powers they’re allowed through those bonds. We hunters have always had the ability to counter a vampire’s every advantage. We have the strength, speed… the weapons, both through tools and poisonous herbs. But we’ve never been able to counter their spiritual advantages,” Zachary’s voice grew low as he narrowed his eyes on Aveline and Xander’s still forms. “It is my life’s goal to understand every aspect of vampires, including their spiritual abilities, in order to find a weapon against their strength through bonds.”

“You gave your word,” I interrupted his musings with a low hiss, “You said you would release them in return for me.”

“I lied,” Zachary stated simply, looking at me once again without amusement, “Would you like to see an example of spiritual weaponization? It’s something entertaining I’ve discovered. While it isn’t effective towards a large scale of vampires, these two make a perfect set of vampires for this particular purpose.” I widened my eyes, turning to look at Xander and Aveline in panic.

“No!” I cried out, lunging at Zachary. Without even looking at me, he swiftly dodged my attack. Then my arm was twisted behind my back before I could blink and I was pinned roughly against the glass window. I struggled viciously in my father’s grip, crying out as he twisted my arm painfully.

“Watch, Elysia. It’s very informative,” He ordered, grasping my hair and pulling back so that I would have to face my vampire companion’s forms within that evil room. Zachary called out to no one particular, “You may start.”

My panic was at an all-time high, but I felt completely helpless and I hated myself for it. I wanted to fight my way into that room and protect them as they had protected me. Instead, I was pinned and waves of sick agony were siphoning what strength I did have. I expected any moment for Xander and Aveline to be hurt, but instead a voice came overhead, echoing throughout the room they were contained in and reaching my ears.

“Experiment 73 on subjects 8576 and 8577,” The voice boomed and my heart jolted when Xander lifted his head up in fear. He was conscious. He was moving. I looked at Aveline to see her turn her head towards the glass, a deep frown on her face and her eyes closed tightly as if the voice itself was painful to her ears. “One of the subjects will break the Mate bond to the other or subject 8576 will be terminated. Begin.”