The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

Charlie was right, Sam had been turned by Duke, after he had changed, he had been given clear instructions by Duke to watch and wait, he was instructed not to go and find his family, he was told not to intervene, he was only to watch and take news of what happened back to the king, Duke told him that is he followed the river all the way to the end he would find the king and that it would only take him a couple of day so, Sam did as he was told and waited for it all to be over, he left and headed straight for the king

Being newly turned and Duke not having time, Sam was not taught anything, he didn’t know that he had to feed regularly if he didn’t he would become very weak, he didn’t realise that he could also move a lot faster than a human, it took him 8 days to reach the end of the river and the king but by the time that he reached the gates he was so weak that he just collapsed in a heap and was found by the kings guard

“sorry to intrude my king” one said entering the great hall

“what is it Ash?” asked the king

“we found this at the gate” Ash replied dropping the boy by his feet, the king looked down and knew at once that the boy had only recently been turned and by how weak he was, he had not been taught anything

“take the boy to a room and make sure he is fed, bring him to me when he wakes up” the king said

“yes, my king” Ash said who picked up Sam and took him from the hall to find a place for the boy to stay in, for two days Ash returned every 6 hours and gave him blood, slowly he began to regain his strength, on the third day he finally woke up.

“drink this” Ash said handing him a cup with blood in

“no, I can’t” said Sam

“you can and you must you are one of us now” Ash said

“I will not do it, I am hungry and want food” Sam said

“food will not quench the hunger that you have only this will” Ash said holding the cup out towards him

“ok” Sam said and took the cup from Ash, he drank the blood as quickly as he could

“you will go to the king now” Ash said

“why?” Sam asked

“because he would like to know what happened to you now, follow me” Ash said and led Sam to the hall and the king

“who are you?” the king asked

“I am Sam” he replied

“what are you doing here?” the king asked

“I have a message for you” Sam replied

“from who?” the king asked

“the one that was in my village who turned me” Sam said

“what village?” the king asked

“Claxonville” Sam replied

“call him my king” the woman next to the king shouted

“let the boy talk Leigh” the king said to her

“but the boy is not addressing you as he should” Leigh replied

“he does not know how things should be, no one had told him” the king said

“Claxonville my king” Sam said

“well who is the message from? And what is the message?” the king asked

“his name was Duke” Sam replied

“Duke, yes, I know him, how is the young scallywag has Peter managed to control him yet?” the king asked smiling

“no, my king they are all dead” Sam replied

“what” shouted the king jumping up

“they were all slaughtered” Sam replied

“tell me what happened now” said the king

“your men came to our village and captured everyone except for one man” Sam said

“why did they miss one man?” the king asked

“he ran to the mountains and your men assumed that he would die up there but they did not now about the witch that lives in a cabin up there” Sam replied

“a witch” the king said

“she is not really a witch but it is her who came down from the mountain with the man who had escaped and she slaughtered all of your men” Sam said

“no human could kill that many” the king said

“she did my king, I watched her do it” Sam replied

“who is she?” the king asked

“I don’t know my king, we used to go up there when we were children, as we got dared to go steal something from the witch, she still looks the same now as she did twenty years ago” Sam replied but the king did not answer “I did over hear Duke say something about her not being human and also not being like us” Sam added

“tell me everything that happened” the king said

“she came down the night that your men were preparing to bring us back here, I have never seen anyone able to fight the way that she did not one of your men stood a chance, they were dead before they had a chance, she had some kind of light thingy that came from her hands, it blinded all your men, she dashed in and out of the houses, swinging a silver sword with such precision, she left Peter till last and it seemed to me that the two of them knew each other but she also took his head” Sam said

“I want you to tell me what she smelt like” the king said

“smelt like” Sam said confused

“yes, smelt like, smell the air a vampire smells different to a human” the king said and watched as Sam closed his eyes and took a big sniff of the air “well?” he asked

“you, my king” Sam replied

“what?” asked the king

“she smelt like you do my king” Sam replied

“that is impossible” the king said “tell me what this woman looked like??” the king asked

“tall for a woman, she was dressed in all black and carried the sword on her back, she had hair like a red rose” Sam replied

“there are not that many people in the world with hair that red but that still could be anyone” the king replied “anything else” the king asked

“nothing, my king” Sam replied

“did you manage to hear her name?” the king asked

“Charlie” Sam replied

“I don’t know anyone by that name” the king said but he could see that Sam was thinking about something “what is it that you are thinking about?” the king added

“there was something different about her, I saw it as she was going in and out of the houses, she missed me watching her” Sam replied

“spit out, boy” the king said impatiently

“her eyes my king, they were a funny colour” Sam replied

“what colour?” the king asked

“purple” Sam replied

“are you sure on that?” the king asked

“yes, my king very sure” Sam replied

“that is impossible” the king said, there was only one person that he had ever known that had purple eyes and she was dead

“what is impossible my love?” Leigh asked

“did you see any weaknesses?” the king asked

“weaknesses” said Samm

“yes, weaknesses like one of ours being sunlight” the king replied

“I did not see any but I know that sunlight is not one of them” Sam replied

“how do you know that?” the king asked

“because when we used to go up there, it was only ever in the sunlight because we knew about you and were not allowed out after dark” Sam replied

“you mean us, don’t you” said the king

“yes, my king I suppose I do know” Sam replied

“who is she my love?” Leigh asked again

“I will tell you now, get him out of here and show him around his new home, also send out word to everyone that a woman is hunting us I want everyone to send word to me if they find her” the king said and Sam was taken from the room, the king sat back down thinking everything through

“who is it?” Leigh asked again

“it cannot be her” the king said

“who?” Leigh asked

“she is dead,” the king said

“my love, will you just tell me who it is” said Leigh

“I will tell you when I am ready to” the king shouted

“calm down my love, I have not seen you this angry since the day we met” Leigh said

The King sat there and thought about everything, could it really be her, after all these years was she still alive, had the bite turned her and she decided not to end her own life as she always said she would, Sam had said this woman smelt like him and that was only possible if she was a hunter but why was she fighting for the humans after she had to be like he was, she had been bitten and there was no cure for that, he needed to know more, he had to know more

”are you ready to talk to me? “ Leigh asked

“yes, I am sorry for shouting” the king said

“it is fine, we all loose our tempers, sometimes” Leigh said

“I don’t” the king said

“at least not in a long time” Leigh said

“it is her, I don’t know how but it is” the king said wondering how she had been alive all this time and he did not know

“her who? “ Leigh asked

“the one I told you about” he said “the one I tried to find” he added

“are you sure?” Leigh asked

“who else can it be, I killed all the hunters, she is the only one that I did not find and the only person I have ever known to have purple eyes” he replied

“it could be anyone” Leigh said

“it is not anyone else, it is her, I need to know more, bring me your sister” the king said

“why do you want my sister?” Leigh asked

“Leigh, can you just do what I have asked” the king said

With those last words Leigh got up and walked from the hall to go and find her sister, she had no idea what he wanted with her but he was her king and husband and it was a wife’s duty to do as she was asked, it took Leigh ten minutes to locate her sister

“Amy” Leigh said

“yes, little sister” Amy said

“he would like to see you” Leigh said

“why?” asked Amy

“I really have no idea, he just asked me to come a fetch you” Leigh replied“all he has said is that it has something to do with someone he tried to find many years ago” Leigh added