• Chapter 1
    Bloodless
    tab A thick fog rolled along the cobblestone streets, making the night twice as treacherous. The close-set houses of the streets were already deadly dangerous at night, but twice so when the visibility was so bad. The guttering orange and yellow street lamps fought bravely but foolishly against the cold autumn fog, succeeding only in illuminating a few patchy clouds along the ground for only a few feet before the light was swallowed up in the night and fog.

    tab Inside the fog was eerily quiet. Not even the rats seemed to be stirring. It was either too cold, too dark, or both for any living creature in his right mind to be out. Even the thieves and scroungers were taking refuge in darkened alleyway hideouts and empty old houses to avoid the chill and dangers of the dark night.

    tab However, a little ways down the empty streets there stood one paricular building who's radiating heat dispelled a bit of the fog, at least for a couple of feet outside the door. Light radiated warm and glowing from the windows and the sound of loud voices talking, laughing, singing, and fighting could be heard from within. The town pub. Alive no matter how cold or dark the night may be.

    tab But, away from the warm glow of the pub, down one of the many pitch dark alleys came two very different sounds. The first was the sound of stumbling footsteps and ragged breathing. The sound of claws grating against stone. The second sound behind these was the soft tapping of small, easy footsteps.

    tab The soft footsteps belonged to a small boy. Even in the pitch black of the alley, his large, grey-blue eyes seemed to see perfectly. He was very young, only a small child. However, he was far from normal. Nestled in his rust colored hair could be seen two ears of like color, cat-like ears. They twitched and flicked in the cool night air, as did his cat-like tail behind him.

    tab Besides these odd traits of a cat demon, there was nothing particularly special about the small boy. He wore an innocent yet amused expression, curious and a little cautious at the same time. That's because he was following a vampire.

    tab The vampire was the one making the other, unpleasant sounds. He was in a bad way. His skin was peper-white and his eyes were black as pitch. His silver hair was ruffled and his clothes were stained with mud and blood. Razor-sharp fangs were bared in desperation as the nightmarish creature stumbled his way down the alley, oblivious to the young one following him.

    tab The small cat demon made no sound, though he doubted it really mattered. He had been following this vampire for about an hour now, just watching. Though he wasn't really sure why he was following. The small boy had spotted him down a different alley and, though he had never seen one in his life, instantly knew the silver-haired creature was a vampire, and that he needed to feed terribly. How he knew this, he had no idea. He often found he knew or understood things many others did not, without ever once being told.

    tab Though he was a shy, timid boy, the small cat demon was hardly ever truly afraid. Not even now, as he followed this desperate, dying vampire. In fact, the boy felt something far from fear. He felt pity for the vampire. To be like this, he must not have fed for many weeks.

    tab The boy paused, his ears pricked up, his eyes widening slightly. The vampire had stopped, leaning against the cool brick wall. His eyes were closed and his breathing was ragged. He slid down the wall and stayed sitting there, unmoving except from his breathing.

    tab Blinking, the boy glanced back down the way they had come, then back towards the mouth of the alley, which they were very near to now. He made up his mind about what he was going to do. Stepping carefully, the boy continued down the alley, drawing ever closer to the motionless vampire. It was very clear that he had spent what little energy he had had left. Unable to move, he would die when the sun came up.

    :tab razz ausing a moment before he passed the vampire, the boy very carefully crossed in front of him. The vampire's black eyes suddenly snapped open and a feral growl rose from his throat. The small boy stumbled back quickly as the vampires' clawed hand made to grab him. "No!" He said, like a child reprimanding a puppy. "I'm going to help you." He said firmly.

    tab The vampire blinked. If he were not so weak from his desperate need to feed, he would not have missed when grabbing for the boy. And he would have known he was behind him far before now. The vampire's eyes closed again and he shuddered tightly, then he was still again.