The rest of the flight was in silence.

"I need you to do exactly what I tell you."

I was in no mood to talk now so I stayed silent, listening to what he was going to say.

"I need you to tuck in your wings and put your hands above your head."

"And why should I listen to you? You come into my home, give me wings, change my eyes, and now you're asking me to trust you? Is there anything else you're going to do that involves me that you haven't told me about that I should know?"

"Yeah, I'm going to try and keep us from getting killed. If they find out that I gave you wings, they have permission to kill both of us. I don't think you would want that to happen."

I looked down and then looked back up. We were really high up.

"No."

"Good. Then do what I told you."

Without another word, I raised my arms above my head and pulled in my wings. I had expected to fall, but strong, cold hands closed tightly around my wrists keeping me suspended in the air. It felt like floating.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah. I think so," I lied.

"We're almost there. Just a little bit further," he told me.

I was completely scared out of my wits. My pulse was slowing down as my heart returned to its normal pace. After my almost- fall, my adrenaline was rushing.

"You are so bad at lying," he commented. "I can feel your pulse racing."

"I know. But I can try."

"And you'll fail every time. You can't lie to a vampire."

"Why?" I asked, intrigued by his statement.

"Our senses are more . . . enhanced than humans."

"And what's that supposed to mean? That we humans have dull senses?"

"To a vampire, that is the case."

He paused for a moment as if the find the right words to voice his thoughts. I looked up to see his face. A mixture of struggle and confusion had appeared on his face, as for the reason that they had appeared there, I had yet to find out.

"Is something wrong?" I asked with a slight note of sincerity in my voice.

"I shouldn't be telling you this information. I'm not even supposed to talk to you at all. Or know you for that matter."

"Why?" I asked, fear creeping unwontedly into my voice.

"Hundreds of vampires are dying each year. Every year, one male vampire is selected from each and every family the night before New Year's Eve to go out to different parts of the world and bring back a human to the Fae for a ceremony called Vanequia."

He went silent for a while and then stared again.

"Vanequia is a very dangerous ceremony held every New Year's Eve to create a new generation of vampire."

I gasped, but said nothing to see if he would say anything more about this so-called ceremony.

"That is why I gave you the wings before the Transformation Ceremony. It is much more painful for a vampire to acquire the wings than it is for a human. You must keep your wings hidden until the time comes for the Wings Ceremony. When the time does come, reenact exactly what happened today but a little more dramatic. I will be the one paired up with you since I 

brought you here so don't worry. Just be sure to make everything convincing. If you don't, we might as well just kill ourselves now to save time and pain."

He paused for a second.

"When we get there, act, struggle to get free."

We flew for a little bit longer until a platform was visible. We flew towards it and I closed my eyes since I had nothing better to do. My feet touched solid ground and I must have jumped a little because he whispered in my ear.

"We're here," was all he said.

I opened my eyes only to shut them again. I was tired and The Fae was nothing special to look at.

"Start acting. Struggle to get free."

It took me a moment to understand what he was trying to tell me. When I understood, he had already grasped my hands behind my back. I thrust my body back and forth but it was very hard to struggle even a little due to his strong grip. He shoved me forward in the direction of a huge hole in the ground where there was a staircase. He led me down the stairs into a small room with no windows; just a small door.

"Almost there," he whispered in my ear.

"I kind of got that part," I grumbled.

He shoved me in the direction of the door and led my through into an open area decorated with strings of lights hanging everywhere. It was like a big festival (and to them, it probably was) or carnival. There were so many lights and the light was so intense that it became blinding. I struggled again to free one hand in order to shield my eyes from the glare, but his grip still held firm, so I gave in to closing my eyes and using my hair as a second shield...

Then, we stopped, and I almost fell as I was jerked backward.

"We're here."

"I figured that part out for myself." I almost snapped at him. I was so not in a good mood.
"You would make a very good vampire. You have just the right attitude."

"Thanks for the compliment you-"

The rest was drowned out by the cheer of all the other vampires in the big crowd. I looked up to see that we had arrived to stand around a huge bon fire. I chanced a look around me only to see poor girls and boys, all teen-agers, like me, being held captive just as I was, with probably no idea what was going to happen. That was the only difference between me and the other humans that were here tonight; I knew exactly what was going to happen. My entire life (well, at least part of it, anyway) would be erased, gone forever, banished to the deepest darkest corners of my mind, never to see the light of day again.

"Welcome, my friends, human and vampire alike," a loud voice said.

I looked around just in time to see a young man stride into the center of the large circle of beings.

A loud buzz of voices arose from the crowd, but all became quiet as he raised one hand to silence them. The crowd was hushed in two seconds.

"Welcome to all. We are here for a very special ceremony that will take place tonight to replenish our numbers and save our race from extinction."

I felt Eric's body tense at once, his hand tightening around my wrists to the point where a sharp pain spread up my arms, forcing me to suppress a scream down to only a tiny whimper. His grip loosened at once. Something was going to happen and Eric was not excited, though everyone else was.



The crowd was silenced again.

"It is time for the Transformation Ceremony!" he yelled. A cry of excitement arose from the crowd, only to be silenced once more. "I shall call names off this list. If and when your name is called, please step forward with your choice."

Names were read of the list two at a time. The vampire/human pairs walked forward, were read some numbers, and sent off into various rooms. The door was closed behind them. It was impossible to see what the inside looked like from where I stood with Eric, but I knew that what it looked like wouldn't matter. The only thing that mattered tonight would be what happened inside the rooms.

"Eric Fladel, 06-18-94."

He nodded once, shoved me forward into the circle, never letting go of my hands, and directed me to one of the hundreds of rooms that read 06-18-94.

As we were walking he whispered, "When I let go of your hands, run into the room and sit in one of the corners."

We reached the room, he opened the door, let go of my hands, and I rushed inside, just as he had told me. He followed behind me, with a scary calmness, into the room. He closed the door behind him and locked it.

"I really don't want to do this to you so I am going to give you a choice. Either I can pretend to turn you into a vampire and leave you human, or I can turn you into a vampire for the rest of eternity. The choice is entirely yours."

I thought for a moment.

"If I choose to stay human, what will happen to you?"

"If they found out they would capture me, track you down, and kill us both for defiance."

"And if I choose otherwise?"

"Great pain and suffering will befall you."

Great. I thought. Both sides will suffer.