Chapter 1 : The Boy In the Fireplace

Tony Thompson wasn't normal. As he stared out his window in the green car his parents were driving to their new home in Scotland, he wondered why he never fit in anywhere. Tony hated it. He hated that kids were so mean. He had hated everything about America, and now he was going to hate everything in Scotland. And it was his fault that they were moving to a place where he couldn't understand anything anyone was saying. He knew it, even though his parents tried to deny it. Tony wasn't a stupid kid. He knew that it was because of his nightmares.

Every night back in their big, creaky, old house in America Tony had had terrible nightmares. Every night he saw a kid, a girl his age, being murdered. He would wake up screaming, which would startle his parents to his side. Ever since he could remember, Tony had dreamt of things he didn't understand, of things that had already happened, or would happen, and of things that terrified him. But no matter what he dreamt, Tony knew that his dreams were always, always true. But no matter what he said, they didn't believe him. No one ever did. Not his parents, not his teachers, and certainly not the dozens of psychiatrists his mom had sent him to. So Tony began to hide his dreams, and the emotions and thoughts that he knew weren't his own that he could feel when other people touched him. And it worked, for the most part. His parents stopped forcing him to appointments to "cure" him, and he was able to hide his screams of terror when he was forced awake by hauntings of the past, but it was too little too late, and now he was in a car in Scotland.

When they reached the new house, Tony set to work helping his mom unpack the car, while his Dad worked on bringing in boxes. "Tony, it's a new start here. You can be happy! You can make friends. Just please, no more of your stories," Tony's mom begged with him. Tony sighed. His "stories". That's what his mom called his dreams, and the feelings he would get. "Yeah mom. No stories," Tony agreed. He knew that anything less would get him an appointment with a therapist faster than he could say "Vampire".

Time Skip To Night of the Party

"Abovo, Intoto," Tony recited from what he could remember of his dream. He began to pantomime drinking blood from the teddy bear on his desk, when suddenly, a dark shape flew in from his window, and landed in his fireplace. Tony gaped as the ashen boy whispered to him. "Brother, have the lights gone?" Tony's poorly adhered fangs dropped out of his mouth as he realized that he had seen the boy in front of him the night before, while he had been asleep. "You are not a brother!" The boy began to hiss threateningly. "Well Im not a sister!" Tony cried, feeling slightly nervous. "You are a human… filled with blood!" The boy in the fireplace yelled, as he lunged at Tony. Tony backed away quickly, but not quickly enough. Just before the boy collapsed from exhaustion, his hand briefly touched Tony's bare cheek. Tony began to shake as overwhelming feelings of loneliness, sadness, and hunger overcame him. Tony gasped as tears began to fall from his eyes. "Im so sorry!" His voice wavered. "Im so-," Tony stopped as sobs wracked his body. "What?" The boy on the ground tilted his head, as helpless confusion crossed his face. "Are you OK?" The boy asked hesitantly, his voice rough with hunger. "Just a sec dude," Tony whispered, as he wiped his eyes.

Tony faced the confused boy on the ground. "Do you need help?" Tony asked him. "You are asking me if I need help? What kind of mortal are you?" the boy inquired. "I'm not sure. But it doesn't matter," Tony replied, his lips quirking into a sad smile. "I don't need anything from you, mortal." The boy winced as he attempted to rise. "But you can't even walk," Tony exclaimed. "Who needs to walk, when I can fly!" The boy yelled, as he ran to the end of Tony's balcony and jumped. Tony watched as he floated in the air, and then began to fall. Tony raced to the end of the balcony and looked down. There the boy was, lying on the ground, looking very hurt. Tony raced down the stairs, and past the sitter that his parents had hired for him, and into the yard. "Dude, are you OK?" Tony exclaimed, as he squatted down next to the boy. "Do I look it?" The boy remarked sarcastically. "I need a cow." The boy spoke up. "I know just what you need." Tony replied, and he went to go retrieve the red wagon that his mom had given him as a welcome to Scotland present.

Tony loaded the boy into the wagon, and began to pull the boy to the nearest farm he could remember. The night whistled past them, and Tony became aware of a strange feeling. Tony glanced at the boy behind him, and knew that somehow, nothing would ever be the same again.