The Hunter Becomes the Hunted

The vampire that had survived Charlie’s attack had waited until sunset the next day to leave the city, he did not want to run into her because he wanted to make sure that he would make it back to Xanax and the king in one piece, the king would want to know what had happened here and if he was dead then the king would not know, it took him two days to reach Xanax, on arrival he walked straight into the great hall where the king was sat talking to Leigh

“my king” he said bowing “what” he shouted “can you not see that I am talking to the queen, you will wait outside until I am done” he added

“but” he said

“I said outside” shouted the king and with that the man walked from the hall and waited outside the doors until he was summoned back in

“what was you saying my love” he said turning back to Leigh

“I was asking you where you think my sister is” Leigh said

“doing what I told her to do” the king replied

“but surely she should have been back by now my love” Leigh said

“well, she is not, do not fret, she will be back soon” the king said

“how do you know that?” Leigh asked

“she will not return until she has done what I asked her to” the king said

“but why has it taken her so long?“ Leigh asked

“why do you always have to ask so many questions, maybe she hasn’t made it to Amy yet, there are many reasons that she may be delayed, we will just have to wait and see” the King said

“I only ask questions because I like to know what is going on” Leigh said

“you know as much as I do, she was sent to do a job and has not returnedyet” he replied

“there is also something that I wanted to ask you” Leigh said

“what?” sighed the king, he we go again more damn question he thought

“don’t be like that my love” Leigh said

“sorry my love, what is it that you wanted to ask?” the king asked

“I wanted to know if we could have a child” Leigh replied

“what” said the king

“you know you and me become parents” Leigh said

“Leigh you know that is impossible, you know vampires cannot have children” the king replied

“I do” Leigh replied

“then why ask?” the king

“can we not turn a child, I really would like one” Leigh said

“no” snapped the king

“why?” Leigh asked

“because we can’t” the king replied

“why? Because it won’t work or because you don’t want it to” Leigh snapped back at him

“fine because I don’t want it to” said the king

“what about what I want?” asked Leigh

“what about it?” said the king and with those words Leigh got up from her seat and ran from the hall crying, the man that had been waiting entered as she left

“I have something that you need to know” he said ”

“who are you?” the king snapped

“I am Lewis and I came from the ruin city before Baren” he replied

“fine, what do I need to know?” the king asked

“the coven in the city, is gone” Lewis replied

“what do you mean gone, there where fifty vampires there, they cannot have vanished” the king said

“no, my king, not gone like that they are all dead” Lewis replied

“Amy was there, they cannot be dead” the king said

“I do not know, I was on a hunt and only came back as the fighting begun, I know Amy my king and she was not among the dead” Lewis replied

“you had better tell me everything that you know” the king said

“when I returned and saw the fighting, I decided to stay hidden, after all there was nothing that I could have done and I thought that you would want to know about it and if I was dead then you wouldn’t have known, Kayleigh and the others tried to defend the coven but everyone was killed and only Kayleigh left alive” Lewis said

“what happened to Kayleigh” the king asked

“she was tortured for information on you but did not have the answers so, had her head removed” Lewis replied

“who did this?” the king asked

“I do not know who she was, I have never seen her before” Lewis replied

“she” shouted the king

“yes, she my king” Lewis said and the king did not wait to hear anything else he was up out of his seat and anything that moved in the room was killed, when there were no more to kill, he started smashing everything that he could find, Leigh stepped into the room after walking past and hearing the commotion

“get out” he shouted

“I will not” Leigh said calmly and shut the doors behind her and looked at all the bodies on the floor

“I don’t need you now, get out” he shouted

“I will not leave you, you need me” Leigh said and out her hand on his arm, which seemed to have an instant calming effect on him “talk to me” she said

“I will kill her” he replied

“who?” Leigh asked

“who the hell do you think I mean” he snapped

“my love, what has happened to make you do all this?” Leigh asked

“she annoyed me” he replied

“how my love?” Leigh asked

“she killed them all” the king replied

“who my love?” Leigh asked

“the coven outside Baren” he replied

“what? Where you sent Amy” Leigh said

“yes, but do not fear she was not among the dead” the king replied

“are you sure?” Leigh asked

“yes” he replied

“she must have had help, there is no way one person, can kill that many” Leigh said

“she could and she did” the king replied

“but why would she do that?” Leigh asked

“for fun” he replied

“fun?” Leigh asked confused

“yes, for fun that would have been nothing to her, if she was angry killingthem would have calmed her down, she would have not wanted to stay angry, she never did” the king replied

“how does killing people help with anger?” Leigh asked

“when you are a hunter, you are trained to relieve your anger through fighting, you see anger is not healthy for your mind or body” he said “why do you think I sis this?” he asked pointing to all the mess that he had made

“how?” Leigh asked

“how, what?” the king asked

“how do you relieve anger through fighting?” Leigh asked

“by every swing of your weapon or your fists, letting go of what made you angry, it is not easy, that is way a hunter is trained to do it from a very early age” the king replied

“but how was she able to kill all of them?” Leigh asked

“she was the best of us, that is how she was able to do it” the king replied

“I thought you were the best” Leigh said

“no, she was better than anyone and killing that coven would have been easy for her” the king said “can I have some peace now, I need to relax” he added

“of course, my love” Leigh said and walked from the room closing the door behind her and telling the person guarding the door that the king was not to be disturbed

The king sat there and looked at the mess that he had made, she certainly made him angry, even when he was a human, she always made him angry and even more so now, 440years later, he had thought that her part in his life was over but it seemed that is was not, it seemed that their fate had them destined to face each other one last time, what a shock that would be for her, she had no idea that he was still alive she believed him to be dead, he had always thought that she was dead but now he knew otherwise, he sat there and remembered the first day that they had met, he replayed the day over in his head.

As an eight-year-old, Charlie had no idea what he was destined to be, he had not grown up with his father, it had only ever been him and his mother, he was sat in his living playing a game with his mother when there was a knock at the door

“can you get that please darling” his mother asked him, Charlie got up from the sofa and went and answered the door, he escorted a man and a young back into his living room

“good morning young man, thank you for allowing me in” the man said

“good morning sir and you are welcome” Charlie replied

“would you mind taking my daughter, into your garden to play whilst I have a quick word with your mother” the man said

“yes, sir” he replied to the man and then turned to the young girl “would you like to follow me, my name is Charlie” he said to her

“I am Leanna” she said following him

“how old are you?” Charlie asked

“I am eight” she replied

“I am also eight, although I will be 9 in 6 months” he said smiling at her

“I have only just turned eight” Leanna said

“when they reached the garden, they began to play with what little toys that Charlie had their, as they were playing he began to stare at her, he had never seen somebody so beautiful in his whole life, she had red rose hair and purple eyes, he knew that she was the most beautiful girl that he would ever meet

“what are you looking at?” Leanna snapped noticing the way that he was staring at her

“I am sorry, I did not mean to stare, it is just your eyes” Charlie replied

“what about them?” she asked

“why are they purple?” Charlie asked

“I don’t know” she snapped

“there must be a reason, I have never seen anyone with eyes like that before” Charlie said

“well, if there is a reason then I do not know it” she replied

“children” the man called from the back door and the two of them dropped what they were doing and walked back into the house, Charlie could see that his mother had been crying

“what’s wrong mother?” Charlie asked

“Charlie boy, can you come and sit down please, I need to talk to you” the man said

“what do you want to talk about sir?” Charlie asked as he sat down next to his mother

“first off, my name is Paul Andrews and what I wanted to ask you was, do you believe in vampires?” Paul asked

“I do not sir, they only exist in stories” Charlie replied

“I wish they only existed in stories but they are very real and your father used to hunt them” Paul replied

“so” Charlie said

“I am here to tell you that you will come and live with me and began your training, you are already late in starting” Paul said

“I won’t go” said Charlie

“you do not have a choice, you were born to be a hunter, it is in your blood, as I said you should have started to train when you could walk but we were unable to find you” Paul said.

“I don’t care, I don’t want to go” Charlie snapped

“this to me Charlie” his mum said taking his hand

“yes, mother” he replied and looked at her

“what Mr Andrews said is true, I knew what your father did and I knew that you would be destined to be the same” she said

“but I don’t want to be the same” Charlie said

“I tried to keep you away from it, when your father died, I ran away and I hid with you hoping that this day would never come, but it has and it is time you took your place, where you should be, you will go with them” she said

“are you coming?” Charlie asked

“no, my sweet boy, it will just be you, I do not belong in that world but I will always be right here when you need me” she said

“but” Charlie went to protest

“no, buts you be strong like your father was now, go upstairs and get some stuff to take with you” she said, Charlie did as he was told and headed up to his room, he had no idea what he would actually need, maybe just some clothes would do so, that is what he packed in a bag and walked back downstairs

“Charlie be a good boy and do as Mr Andrews asks” his mother said

“I will mother” he said and kissed her goodbye, he tried to be strong and not cry in front of these strangers but when he thought about he was going to live with them so, one he supposed that they would become like his family, when they reached the house Charlie was shown the room in which he would now stay and then the training began

“please read these” Paul said and gave him some books

“yes sir” Charlie said and took them from him

“when you have read and learnt enough from these books, we will began to train you to fight” Paul said

It took Charlie aa week to read the books that he had been given and once he had passed a test to prove that he had learnt from them, Paul began to teach him to fight, after a few months training, Paul decided that it was time to see what he could do

“Leanna, Charlie please join me in the gym” Paul said and went into the basement

“yes, father” Leanna said as she came downstairs

“I want you two to fight” Paul said

“I don’t want to hurt Leanna” Charlie said

“you won’t” Leanna said smiling

“I might” Charlie said

“Charlie, you will not hurt Leanna she has been training since the day she could walk” Paul said

“you won’t even get close” Leanna said

“Leanna do not be to hard on him, remember that he has not been training as long as you” Paul said

Leanna did not say anymore just nodded at her father to say that sheunderstood, Paul waved at the two of them to start fighting and they did, Charlie need not have worried about hurting Leanna, he did not even get close, Leanna caught him by his arm and spin him round plonking him on his backside, she would not have any bruises at all, were as he would have a few, Leanna didn’t say anything to Charlie just turned and walked from the room, she stopped as she reached her father and turned to look at him

“he needs more training” she said to her father and left the room, that made the king laugh out loud remembering that say, that was the first time she had made him angry but on reflection she was right as she was ninety five percent of the time when he was angry with her now, he had calmed down it was time to clear up all the mess that he had made.