A/N: This is a prelude to my fanfiction, "The Vampaneze Lady".

Disclaimer: I do not own any of The Saga of Darren Shan, but I do own my own characters.

Slam! The force I pulled the door closed causes it to slam quite loudly and the bark from my neighbour's dog told me that it wasn't just my parents who heard it. But I couldn't care less. I just strode forward from the front garden, jumping over the gate to get onto the path. My head was spinning, filled with all the things I wish I had told my mother and father. They wouldn't believe me if I did, so I kept it a secret. All they cared about was having the perfect little daughter. So what if my grades at school had slipped a little? If they knew only half of the story they would understand. Or maybe they wouldn't, they never do.

Usually I was a top-level student, always finishing my work, always handing in homework. I was no problem. Until the world's biggest bastard moved to my school. He shared all of my classes, there was not one hour where I was away from him at school. I didn't think anyone could stoop so low. He was threatening, self-centred, annoying and a bully. At first I just ignored whatever he said to me, idly putting anything off, but when he started to bring my loved ones into it, I cracked. It was only when I made the first strike did he start to get physical. I wished I never had to deal with him ever again.

I wasn't even paying attention to where I was walking, just heading in any direction that my feet took me. I wanted to be somewhere to no one else would be, somewhere no one dared to go. Glancing around the area, I caught sight of the forest that surrounded the edge of the town. A perfect place to go. No one ever went too deep in because of the old myth. People used to say a monster lived there who kidnapped people who travelled too far in; it would take them to its secret lair and drain the victim of blood, eventually killing them. Those kind of creatures didn't exist, vampires were just myths.

I took several glances in each direction, then stepped up onto the grass, jogging among the trees. My jog sped up into a sprint and I ran deep inside the forest, not caring that it was pitch black. As I ran, I could feel tears build up in my eyes, but I didn't want to cry. No. I had cried so much recently, now I wanted to be angry. I was so angry.

I stopped running when I reached a clearing, trees circling it as if they were going to close in. Deciding it would be there where I took out my anger on nothing but the grass and trees, I picked up a small twig on the ground and threw it at one of the trees with a yell. I wished there was something else I could take out my anger on, but these were the only things around me; I didn't have much of a choice. My fists clenched as I stared at the trunk of the closest tree, the face of my mother faintly appearing there. Growling, I sent my fist towards the trunk. What a stupid idea that was. I pulled my hand back and screamed at the pain that spread through my knuckles, clutching my hand close to my stomach. It wasn't broken, I would be able to tell easily, but it was quite painful.

I began to cry yet again and this time I didn't stop myself. My forehead dropped against the tree, then I turned myself around to slump down against it. I brought my knees up close to me and sobbed quietly, starting to question whether I actually should go back home or not. My parents didn't seem to care for me and no one at school would probably even realise that I was gone. In fact, the only person who would notice would be that arsehole and he would be glad to get rid of me. After a while, I fell silent, but kept my head down and my eyes closed.

Snap. My head shot up and my eyes darted around, but since my eyes had been closed for a while they hadn't yet adjusted to the darkness. Inhaling deeply, I slowly pushed myself up from the ground and took another look around.

No one is there. No one is there. I told myself, but a crunch of the leaves told me otherwise. My breath caught in my throat and my body began to shake a little. I thought I was brave coming into this forest alone in the night, but I was foolish. I dared not to call out, in case someone or something was there. Instead I began to pace back the way I came, wanting to be out of there as quickly as I could. Maybe it would be good to go back home, I thought, wanting to distract myself from the fear that someone was there. I kept my head down as I walked, but I should have kept looking up where I was going as I managed to bump into something. But it wasn't a something, it was a someone.

Swallowing, I took a couple of steps back and looked up at who was towering over me. A man, late thirties I guessed. There was a devious smirk on his face, and I could see that he was planning something bad, but that wasn't what caught my attention. It was the purple skin and red eyes upon his body.

It took a moment to sink in that this man was dangerous, so I gathered my thoughts together and seized control of my shaking body and I ran. I had no idea which direction I was running in, but I needed to get away from that man. I didn't look back because that would slow me down, I just kept running as fast as I could. My heart was beating so fast and I swore it could have jumped out of my chest when I heard a series of chuckles coming from all around me.

There was more than one voice. My legs were starting to grow tired, but I put it off and continued to run for my life. They, whoever they were, had me surrounded and my heart began to sink into my chest. My running came to a stop when I bumped into a large figure and fell back onto the ground. I saw them all; five of them, coming from each direction so I had no way to escape. It struck me that they could be some sort of tribe - they all had purple skin and red eyes - but no one had ever heard of tribes in the town before. Maybe they were the monsters in the myths, if so, I was doomed for.

They began to close in on me and I had no where left to run. My breathing was quick and heavy, and though my legs were tired I still pushed myself up from the ground.

"Get away from me!" I yelled as they stood not one foot away from me. The one who was behind me locked his arms around my stomach and lifted me off the ground so I was an equal height to them. Another man stepped in front of me (his skin was much a darker shade of purple than the other four) and smirked.

"Why should we, hmm?" He asked, cupping my chin with his dirty fingers. His nails were long, sharp and red - they could easily penetrate skin. "You're just a meal to us." He chuckled, and a selection of other laughs followed his, each as bitter as the next.

My fists clenched and I began to send my fists towards his face, but my arms weren't that long and I couldn't reach.

"I am no one's meal!" I screeched, starting to kick my legs as well. I wasn't going to die, I was only thirteen.

"Feisty one, this one is. Klaus, I think you should have this one." The man stepped back and another took his place. I stared t the man supposedly named Klaus and almost spat in his face, but I controlled myself. As he tilted his head, some of his dark hair fell onto his face. He smirked and nodded once a the creature who had a hold of me.

I dropped to the ground and immediately tried to push myself up to get away, but Klaus grabbed my hair and shoved me back down on the ground..

"Let me go!" I yelled, tears welling in my eyes as I flailed my arms around to try to hurt him.

"Shut up!" He growled roughly and sent a fist down my back, causing me to scream and the tears to start pouring out. He flipped me around and using one hand, pinned my arms above my head. This was it, I was going to die and the last thing my parents would have heard me say was that I hated them. Which, the more I thought about it, wasn't true. He traced his fingernails along my neck and stupidly enough, I tilted my head back and whimpered. I felt the pressure of one of his nails as he began to dig into my skin, but a voice stopped him.

"Wait." One of the group said, and when I opened my eyes I saw a man kneeling down beside Klaus. His skin was paler than the others, not as purple and his eyes not as red. He held a soft expression, but just two minutes ago they all looked like they were swooping in for the kill.

"What, Trevor?" Klaus scowled, releasing his grip on my neck, but he placed a hand firmly on my stomach to stop me from moving. My eyes met the other man's for just a minute, he seemed to be… Rethinking things. I didn't hear what he said next because he only whispered it onto Klaus' ear, but apparently each other man had heard it too as they began to look deep in thought.

That was my chance to escape!

As they were all considering whatever Trevor had said, I attempted to wriggle free of Klaus' grip, managing to do so before I rolled away from him. I didn't have much time to get anywhere else, though. With a sigh, he reached out and grabbed me, then lifted me up from the ground.

"You're coming with us, little lady. Feel lucky that you're still alive." He scoffed, then exhaled onto me. I pulled a face at first, but within a second I began to feel drowsy, and within five seconds I had passed out…

A/N: Thank you for reading, please leave a review, favourite or follow as it helps me so much.

I decided to write a prelude to "The Vampaneze Lady" after all. I really want to be able to tell the story of Elle before Steve comes along, so I hope you all enjoy it.