WARNING: Contains Non-Mary Sue OCs. You have been warned.


The corridors of Volterra Castle seemed to stretch on forever, the cold reaching out to wrap the tourists in a chill that went to their bones. Deep inside them, their instincts screamed at them to run, but they ignored the primeval urges, as they had for the past hundreds of years; humans were masters at ignoring what was right in front of them.

"Keep together!" the tour guide at the front barked, her voice like honey, slow and smooth. The group was all too glad to obey. "We wouldn't want to lose any of you." the tour guide continued, a hint of sarcasm behind her silky voice.

At the very back of the group, fourteen year old Roz Gardiner and her best friend Liam Murphy were doing their best to pass the time. This was the third castle they had visited in Italy, and they were looking forward to escaping the tedious boredom that was Volterra Castle.

Their parents went ahead, acting the tourists, snapping pictures, and discussing everything in loud American accents; they seemed so loud next to the smooth Italian voice of their tour guide.

There was footsteps ahead, and the tour group slowed as two teenage girls, a teenage boy and what looked like a security guard pushed their way past. The first girl was like a pixie, small and petite, with spiky black hair and skin the color of ivory. She was graceful in the extreme, and beautiful in a delicate way. She was followed almost immediately by the couple, a seventeen year old girl, plain next to the pixie with dark brown skin and eyes. And a boy, with dark ginger hair and dark eyes, skin the same shade as the pixie's, and features Roz supposed some would find attractive.

The brown haired girl threw a surprised and horrified glance at the tour, but the boy hushed her, and pushed her forward. Roz frowned at this, and her skin seemed to crawl. Maybe this was a bad idea-

But before she had a chance to voice this opinion, they were moving towards the last room on the tour- Volterra Throne Room. Liam glanced at Roz as they approached the doors. "You okay?"

She nodded, but still felt uneasy. That brown-haired girl had been petrified with fear. She looked like she had seen what was in the Throne Room. She looked like she had seen hell.

But it was too late. The door to the throne room opened, the group was hurried in, and the door was locked.

The screaming started.

Suddenly all around Roz was a whirl of people pushing, running, screaming for help. Flashes of white seemed to dart between them, and several people were thrown right across the room by some invisible force. Roz vaguely realized that she was yelling too, and ran as well, shoving everyone else out her way in her desperation, but it was no use, the doors were locked and the room was nothing but a huge trap, and they would die in here, and no one would know anything, no one would know what had happened to them.

Roz tripped over something. A human figure. A corpse. She glanced down at the body, drained of color- and blood- and found herself screaming again as she recognized her mother, or what was left of her. There was less pushing now, as whatever was killing the people slowly whittled down the tourists. There were people, white as snow, bent over those who had fallen- drinking their blood. Roz was one of the few left standing now, and she turned in a circle, searching desperately for an escape. There was an uneasy hush now, as the quarter-dozen still standing realized that they too were about to die.

Roz could see her father now, lying dead and drained beside a huge white creature, her father's eyes glassy and staring. She couldn't see Liam, and she found herself wildly hoping that he had gotten out-

Something hit Roz in the back, and she was thrown across the full length of the room, hitting into the marble steps leading to the thrones for which the room was named. Roz struggled to her knees, feeling blood trickling down her head. Her attacker was a petite, beautiful blonde girl, about twelve, with crimson eyes and a merciless aura of terror hanging around her.

Roz realized then that running was futile. This was just a big game of cat-and-mouse, a way for the vampires to work up an appetite- and that no matter what, she would be killed. These creatures were as fast as light itself, and a hundred times stronger then her. There was no way to escape.

The little girl-turned-monster smiled angelically at her, and Roz found herself screaming as pain coursed through her- like thousands of acid-coated knives had stabbed her simultaneously. It was a game, just a game to them, and the lives of humans meant nothing-

The pain was gone then, and then the little girl was bent over Roz, her white teeth sparkling and somehow scarier then everything else put together, that this child who looked like an angel was a monster sent from hell. "It is a shame," the little girl said softly. "That we can't save you as one of us. You have courage. I like that."

And then the little girl bit Roz.


I was thinking of continuing this- what do you think? Please read and review, I'd like to improve this wherever possible.