Ciaran stumbled back into the laboratory. He was utterly ashamed of himself. How could he be so stupid? How could he have allowed himself to be manipulated all this time? He knew David was evil, yet he had let David use his loneliness, use his desire to be accepted, use his insecure, naïve, innate search for approval as a means of taking advantage of him. No, he wouldn't allow this to continue any longer. Overhearing the argument between David and Morgandy just a few minutes ago was the catalyst for his sudden revelation; his epiphany. He had finally realised the true extent of his actions; that David was using him to destroy his own family. Well, not any more. Ciaran had irrevocably broken free from David's hold over him – he just had to hope that it wasn't too late.

"Hey, what are you doing?" a familiar voice asked. Ciaran could recognise that high pitched, bubbly tone even if it was a kilometre away.

"Saorise?!" Ciaran replied, startled, his stream of thought interrupted. "You know, you shouldn't sneak up on me like that!"

Saorise bounded towards Ciaran. "But I wanted to see you, Ciar!"she exclaimed energetically as she gave her brother a hug.

"Still, you could have given me a heart attack, and I could have died. I'm only human, remember?" Ciaran said pessimistically, with a trace of bitter jealousy.

"Lighten up won't you?" Saorise replied. "And remember, I'm human too. There's no need to be jealous of Ronan." Saoirse glanced at her brother. Oh, how different they were, it was hard to believe that they were related. Ciaran's dark brown hair contrasted with her pale blonde. Ciaran was tall, while she was short. Saorise was bright, loud and direct while Ciaran was always quiet and pensive. It was always hard to tell what Ciaran was thinking.

"But you're like…you know. Special." Ciaran quipped.

Saoirse's face lit up. "Oh yeah! That's right. Thanks for reminding me," she chirped happily as she reached into her bag. "Here, as requested."

Ciaran watched as his sister dropped a vial of blood into his hand.

"So, how far away are we from discovering what makes me immune to vampire bites, and stops me from being able to be transformed into one?" she inquired.

"Shhh!" Ciaran exclaimed in a whisper. "Don't talk about it so casually like that in such a public area! Who knows who could be listening?"

"Relax," Saorise replied, rolling her eyes. "It's only us two here right now. So, how is it going?"

"I'm making some progress. I think I might be onto something."

"Good. I really don't want to take out more blood. It makes me woozy."

"Well, I can't make any promises. But, I'll try. Thanks for the blood." Ciaran said as he placed a microscope onto the table and reached for a slide. "In fact, I'll start looking at it right now."

"Thanks, Ciar. You're the best!" Saorise squealed. "I think I'll take my leave now. Let you work in peace,"

"Yeah, okay," Ciaran mumbled, distracted, already looking through the microscope. "See you later."

Ciaran began scribbling down observations in the cryptic shorthand which only he could understand.

"Ha, does anyone ever come to me, without needing anything?" he muttered under his breath as he took another look into the microscope. "It's like I'm disposable". Ciaran had always felt alone. Abandoned by his mother, always in the shadow of his brother, Ronan, who was SO much better than him in every possible manner. The brother who ignored him in favour of his SO much cooler boyfriend Michael who had already been transformed into a vampire just mere months after meeting Ronan. Stop it, stop being so jealous. Ciaran forced himself to end his sarcastic stream of thought. Truth be told, he wanted to like Michael. Except that it was hard to like someone who always got what they wanted. Ciaran had desperately tried to stop all these negative thoughts but he didn't have anyone to talk to; he had no one to listen to him, to help him vent all his feelings out. He was stuck with bottling up all these feelings and internally monologuing to himself because that was all he ever had. Himself. Even when he was with his "friends" and family, he always felt out of place. Ciaran couldn't help but laugh at the irony. He was supposed to be the most normal one in the group. Maybe this loneliness was why it was so easy for David to manipulate him. Look what you're doing, you've gotten side-tracked. Ciaran shook his head in disapproval at his wandering mind, and resumed with examining Saorise's latest blood sample. He was so busy that he didn't notice David standing at the door, examining him.

David watched Ciaran, repeatedly gaze into the microscope's eye piece and scribbling something into his notebook. As pathetic as Ciaran was, being a human and all, he had to admire the boy's work ethic.

"That's nice." David said.

Ciaran's head jolted up in surprise at the sound, and as his eyes made sense of the headmaster leaning against the doorway, a shiver of fear ran down his body.

"Oh, don't let me stop you from working." David said, moving towards the boy.

Ciaran could feel the cold sweat forming onto his brow, and his heart rate increasing. Act as calm as possible. Don't let him know how scared you are.

"So, what have you to report to me?" David demanded. "I'm sure you've made a discovery so far."

Come on Ciaran, you're not going to help him anymore. You can do this. Ciaran looked David in the eye. "Nothing," he lied.

What a pathetic human. He thinks he can lie to me. David observed the brilliant blue hue in the Ciaran's irises. Such a pretty colour, but it gives everything away.

"Are you sure about that?" David said, more threat in his tone. In less than a blink of an eye, David used his supernatural speed to whip the notebook from the table, into his hand. He was surprised to see indecipherable symbols on the pieces of paper, something which he couldn't comprehend.

"What are you hiding from me?" David said, the volume of his voice growing. He was disorientated; not his usual calm and influential self. He had enough defiance for the day after dealing with Morgandy and he was certainly not going to let a boy, let alone a human boy stand in his way.

"I'm not going to help you anymore." Ciaran stated nonchantly, attempting to hide his fear. He regretted his statement the moment the words slipped out of his mouth.

"What?!" David roared, knocking the microscope off the table and throwing the notebook into the corner. As loose sheets of paper flew around the air, a sinister idea formed into David's mind. An idea that was even better than the one he had been doing previously. David was astonished at how he hadn't thought about it earlier.

David felt his face transform, revealing his true vampiric form, and pounced at the boy. Ciaran, who had anticipated such attack, managed to dodge out of the way, just in time. Ciaran stumbled, and ran for the door, only to have the exit blocked by David, whose figure had appeared there from a blur, courtesy of his super speed. Humans are just so pathetic and slow.

Ciaran slowly backed away from David. Think Ciaran, think. There's got to be a way. Fumbling along the table, Ciaran threw random objects at David. Beakers, measuring tubes, conical flasks, and other scientific paraphernalia all flew through the air. David dexterously dodged the makeshift projectiles with no effort. "You missed," he taunted, as the sound of glass shattering against walls resonated through the room. But during David's state of distraction, Ciaran had armed himself with a syringe. "That wasn't the point," Ciaran retorted as he stabbed it into one of David's eyes, the element of surprise on his side. David let out a guttural scream of pain, as Ciaran rushed for the door again. As he almost left the room, Ciaran felt a force onto his leg, pulling him back. The next moment, he felt himself fly through the air, crash onto the wall and land face down onto the floor. Sharps jabs of pain fired throughout his body and he felt his muscles ache. "You see Ciaran," David taunted, the syringe already out of his eye and on the floor, his eye supernaturally healed. "You're a human," he taunted, kicking the boy in the stomach to flip him around face up. Ciaran cried out in pain. "Humans are inherently weaker." David kicked Ciaran's face, eliciting another cry of pain. David bent down, his face closer to Ciaran's. "Maybe your brother should have paid more attention. I am going to find the Well and destroy it, along with the rest of his despicable, impure kind." David crawled on top of Ciaran and used his arms and knees to pin down the boy. Ciaran winced as he felt pressure on his already forming bruises, and struggled against David's body weight, but to no avail. Ha, still fighting. How pathetic. "If only your brother paid more attention to you, because whether you like it or not, you're going to help me find the Well's location". As David let out an evil laugh, Ciaran stared at him, his eyes still defiant. David twisted Ciaran's head, exposing the boy's neck. He felt his mouth water as he heard the boy's pulse and the smell was irresistible. Ciaran screamed as he felt David's fangs enter his neck. The pain was excruciating like needles being stabbed into his flesh. It was sharp and piercing, extreme, like no other he had ever experienced. He felt waves of heat throb throughout his body as his blood was sucked out of his body. He struggled, and wriggled, and squirmed pointlessly. He could feel himself get weaker, and weaker, and weaker as his vision blurred and everything faded away into blackness.

David stood up, and looked at the unconscious boy, spread eagled across the floor, blood still pooling around his neck. That same blood was still dripping down from David's mouth, and he licked it up using his tongue. That was amazingly delicious. The best I've ever tasted, in my entire life. It had taken him a massive amount of self-control to pull back before he had drank too much. Ciaran was perfect for food, but he would serve a greater purpose. David chuckled to himself at his ingenuity. What better leverage to use against a vampire than his weak, human brother? It was so simple and so easy. Again, David wondered why he hadn't thought of it earlier. Gingerly, David picked up Ciaran's limp body and placed him onto his shoulder.

He super sped out of the room, with his newly acquired hostage.