Okay, people, the first chapter of the second story is up, and I really hope you like it. Keep reading and reviewing!!

The Hunter and the Hunted

Moonlight glinted off water in gleaming beams as I raced across the beach in an invisible blur. Shapes morphed as I rushed past them, but the darkness didn't bother me. My perfect night vision enabled me to see in the dark.

The blood pounded excitedly through my veins like music through a stereo, as I followed the scent, up the beach and into the silvery woods. As the scent-trail grew stronger, my legs moved faster until I was speeding along like a bullet from a gun. My heart fluttered in my chest, my breath came out, swift and silent, and my body tensed as it sensed that the hunt was drawing to its climax. And that's when I saw them, standing in a small clearing on a cliff just above the seaside. Great big beasts, their antlers stark-white against the pewter-and-silver-and-black setting. Deer! I felt a rush of power, a sharp, white-hot feeling of absolute power because I realized that I was so much stronger and faster than this prey.

As I approached, silent but quick as a wink, my muscles tensed and bunched, and then sprung. I let my body soar, carrying me forward as if on wings of night. I relished the quivery feeling of flying through the air…and then I was on them. They had no chance to run- they had no warning. I'd caught three before they even knew what was happening, but that was enough.

Without hesitating, I plunged my fangs into the warm throat of one of the bucks. Blood rushed into my mouth, hot, sweet, thick, spicy. A flash of color exploded before my eyes as the sheer force of the blood pounded through my veins like it was my own. My heart thumped gratefully as the animal's lifeblood bled into my body. I vaguely felt the other two at my side, heard their sighs of relief as they started to feed, but I was too preoccupied with my own kill to react at all.

Once I'd finished, I stood up, uncurling from my feral, animal-like crouch, and gazed up at the moon. The freedom and exhilaration I'd felt swimming through my veins had started to fade, and the ever-present sorrow took its place. It had been almost a month since I'd left my best friend (Allan) and boyfriend (Edgar) so that they could be safe from my bloodlust and such, but the pain always felt fresh, new, like an open wound. It never dulled, never went away. And it certainly never healed. As I looked down at the body of the deer I'd drained, I thought darkly to myself: I am the hunter...and the hunted.

I was sure it would take months, maybe even years, for the wound to scar, and then even more time for it to fade into a distant memory. And I was sure that no matter where I went, I would still be hunted by these vicious thoughts... I sighed, as I often did when these thoughts, with their horrible tones of gray, took over. "What's wrong?" a soft voice asked. I turned to my friend, Star, and smiled wryly. "What else could be wrong?" I replied and she gave me a sympathetic look.

Star had joined my group of vampire buddies shortly after I had. I had noticed her before I'd joined, but I hadn't been aware that she wasn't a vampire yet until David Changed her before my incredulous eyes. I had been extremely surprised that David had decided to bite Star instead of letting her drink the vampire blood that had Changed my little cousin, Laddie, but I didn't object. I had learned quickly, by experience unfortunately, that you don't piss off the head vampire. Ever. Unless you want to get a serious beating.

"You shouldn't be so depressed…you did the right thing. If you'd hurt them, you would have felt worse," she pointed out gently and I nodded, pressing my fingers forcefully against my temple as the familiar lump formed in my throat. Tears stung my eyes but I ignored them as best as I could and tried to speak without letting my voice quiver. "Yeah, I know…but it's not like I can stop missing them."

Star nodded quietly and a silence fell over us as we waited for Laddie to finish his deer. After all of us were through, we burned the bodies, as they were of no nutritional value to any other creature with all the blood drained out, and then headed back to the Boardwalk.

It wasn't very hard to find our "brothers", as we called them. Over the time we'd spent with them in our cave, their scents had become very familiar, and they were easy enough to pick out, even in a crowd as big as the one in the Boardwalk. By their scent, our brothers had fed, just like us, and were lazy and content enough to return to the cave.

As we flew back over the sea, toward our cave, I couldn't help ignoring the playful banter that had ensued between my brothers (and sister). My mind returned to Edgar's face, the way he'd smiled when I'd returned to him from my first hunting expedition, the first time I'd seen his face clearly after I'd been Changed, the first time I'd ever seen him at all…all the memories swirled in my head, and I didn't know there were tears running down my face till Marko, my older cousin, said something.

"Thinking about them again?" he murmured in my ear and I felt a jolt of surprise run through me. "Yeah," I admitted, ashamed that he'd seen my tears. I wiped them away furiously.

"I'm sorry…you know, you didn't have to join us…" he began but I sighed. "Yes, I did, Marko. If I'd stayed with them, I would've ended up hurting them." "You don't know that," came his steady reply.

I'd argued with him about this a bunch of times, but never had he said this. I found myself wondering at his words. You don't know that…but I did, didn't I? I mean, that's why I'd left in the first place, because I'd been so sure I would have hurt them. But…what if I'd been wrong? What if I'd been strong enough to keep my bloodlust under control?

I couldn't spend too much time pondering this, though, because at that moment, we landed in the cave…and the smell of the newcomer wafted into my nose. I was instantly on high alert, as was everyone else around me. "Well, well, well, brother, it seems as if your coven is growing…" a voice sneered from the shadows of a corner. I wasn't an idiot- I could tell that there was a warning, battle-hungry edge to the invisible one's voice.

I clenched my teeth and prepared to attack.

R+R, please, I need to know if I should continue my stories or not...no flames, please.