hello everyone! this is the first chapter to this story, so PLEASE REVIEW and let me know if i should keep writing :) i have a lot planned for this so i hope you like this.

by the way this story is set in the 1700's in England and the vampires (which come into play a little later) have the same characteristics as my other story "The Hunter and the Hunted" and if you haven't read that (which you should) i'll explain everything eventually...

Please enjoy, and review

Chapter 1:

My name is Elizabeth Ward. I am 17 years old. I have dark blonde hair that falls well past my shoulders. My father is the powerful Governor of this town in England. As for my mother, she has been dead for ten years. When I was young, my father said it was natural, but now I've learned about the monsters. Ever since my mother's death my father has ordered troops of men to go out every other night to hunt the beasts.

Every so often there are families that lose a mother, a father, a brother or sister due to attacks by the beasts.

My father's men describe them as beings that look human, but can transform into terrible monsters – nothing close to human—with fangs and red eyes. The beasts attack humans by ripping their flesh and drinking the blood, at least those are the stories from the guards.

I was getting ready for bed as I brushed my hair out in front of the mirror. As I set my brush down the candlelight reflected off of my mother's locket. I grasped it for a moment and shut my eyes. Since I was so young when she died, it's difficult for me to remember her. The only time I feel close to her is when I am dreaming, when I am surrounded by nature, or when I'm writing or drawing in her journal. As weird as it seems, being in the forest, where the monsters live, helps me remember her.

The knock on my door made me jump and I laughed at my jumpiness. I grabbed the candle that was lighting my dark room and carried it with me to the door. I opened it to see the familiar face of Dillon, my father's favorite guard. He was tall, much taller than me, had brown hair that fell just at his shoulders when it wasn't tied back, and has beautiful dark blue eyes.

"Hey!" I said, surprised to see him.

"Hey." He responded solemnly.

"What's wrong?" I asked. I put my hand on his shoulder and tried to comfort him, but of course the thickness of the blue uniform did not let any thing through. He ignored it and rubbed his forehead.

"This is the third night in a row where we haven't found anything."

"Isn't that a good thing? Doesn't that mean they've finally moved on?"

"No. It means they're really good at hiding. People are still dying Elizabeth, those things are still out there; we just need to find them." he sighed. "We're going back out there soon; we only came back to eat."

"Well, go and eat dinner. I don't want to keep you." I smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"Okay." He returned the kiss on my lips. "I'll stop by when I get done."

"No need, I'll already be asleep. Be safe."

"I always am." He winked as he walked away to our dining hall.

As soon as the sound of his footsteps receded, I started packing for my late night adventure. Every so often, whenever I missed my mother, I went out into the woods to a little lake. Sometimes I would draw it with different characters in front of it, other times I would write about my day. This lake wasn't large at all, it was more pond-sized and it was part of a beautiful waterfall. The waterfall wasn't exactly a waterfall either. It flowed off of the black and grey rocks and then fell less than a foot into the pond. All in all, the whole scene was as beautiful as it was peaceful.

I grabbed the dark blue cloak from my closet and shoved a chair against the doorknob, just in case. I went over to the window, pulled the hood over my dark blonde curls, and scaled down the side of the mansion. Thankfully, I was only on the second floor, so the drop, if I were to fall, it wouldn't be life threatening.

I scaled to the ground and landed swiftly on my feet; I've snuck out so many times that I've perfected the strategy.

I looked around to make sure there were no guards watching me. When the coast was clear, I ventured off into the woods.

Normally it would have been too dark to see anything, but the fullness of the moon was lighting the woods for me.

I was on the same trail I have taken numerous times, about to approach the lake, when I heard splashing. It wasn't the same mild splashing I heard from the waterfall, no, it sounded like someone was swimming. I started walking more cautiously as I approached and hid behind one of the bushes.

The person I saw didn't seem to be swimming, but bathing, and from what I could tell, he was naked, at least from the waste down. I looked at his body, wow, he was handsome, and he had dark brown, almost black, hair that was short, yet shaggy. He didn't seem to notice me so I sat down behind the bush and started drawing him.

He cupped hands, scooped up water and brushed it around his mouth. He repeated the motion and cleaned his hair.

Just as he was walking toward the edge of the pool, I finished my sketch of him. He was unraveling his shirt and about to put it on when I leaned back to far and snapped a twig. I winced at the sound and looked up to see the man staring back at me. Now that I wasn't crouching behind the bush, I could clearly be seen.

"Who are you?" he yelled as he finally put on his shirt. Sheepishly, I stepped out more.

"My name is Elizabeth Ward…" I said.

"Figures." He chuckled as he began to walk away.

"Wait!" I called after him and he turned around.

"What?" he asked obviously annoyed.

"I drew this." I ripped out the sketch and handed it to him. I realized that I was probably being very suspicious because I was practically stalking him. He looked at the drawing and seemed impressed.

"Wow, that's really good." He said as he gave it back and turned to walk away again.

"No, I want you to have it." I tugged on his shoulder. He sighed and finally took it.

"What am I supposed to do with this?"

"I don't know? Put it up in your room?"

"What room? Do you think I would be bathing in the woods if I had a home?"

"Well—Okay, I guess I didn't realize."

"You know, for a wealthy, civilized person, you're not very smart." He mused

"What makes you say that?" I put my hands on my hips.

"Well first off, you're a defenseless damsel out in the woods all by yourself,"

"I can defend myself just fine!"

"Really?" he took one finger and pushed on my shoulder. I staggered backwards. He grunted. "My point exactly. It's not safe for you to be out here alone."

"Oh, but it's perfectly fine for you to be?" I crossed my arms.

"I'm not you." He retorted.

"True, but even you can't fight against the monsters." I said. He laughed again.

"I'm fine out here by myself, you are not. I live out here; you live in that perfect protected mansion, so why don't you go back to it." He gave me a little shove in the direction back to my house.

"You're not the boss of me."

"Why won't you listen to me? Aren't you afraid of what's out here?"

"Of course I am, but it's the only place I can remember my mother." I looked down as my eyes started to water a little. "But I'm not afraid because… because…" I tried to think of an explanation, but I couldn't come up with one.

"So you're afraid, but you're not afraid? Yes, that makes total sense." He walked away yet again. I huffed out air.

"So how come you're not afraid?"

"Like I said, I can take care of myself. You can't, it's too dangerous out here."

"But my father's men said they haven't seen any activity—"

"Your father's men don't know what they're looking for." He grumbled.

"How would you know?"

"Really?" he looked at me skeptically. "You don't—never mind." he shook his head. I looked up at him.

"Can we meet here again? I'd like to draw you again, if that's not weird." I took his jaw and turned his head so I could see his profile. "You have a great bone structure."

He smiled. "Really?" he repeated.

"Yeah, can I draw you tomorrow night; it's the only time I can sneak out. My father doesn't like me doing anything independently." We both laughed after that and after rubbing his temples he concluded:

"Fine, I'll meet with you tomorrow."

"Great!"

"Great." He said sarcastically, turned around and waved back at me.

"See you then!" I yelled back at him.

As I walked home I smiled at the thought of meeting the stranger again. Hmm, I never got his name; Just more of the amusing, mysterious part of him. I'll ask him tomorrow.

let me know if you like this :) review please!