I have always liked magic. Well, I liked anything that wasn't real, anything that could get me away from the real world. I always wanted powers, something that made me different that others, more powerful, better. I also liked the whole vampires, witches, werewolves, creatures stories. Unrealistic and awesome. I wished it was real… Until now, when I was living it.

24 hours ago, I knew nothing of this. 24 hours ago, I was asleep, safe in my bed, the only worry being school. Now, my worry was for my life and for my friends' lives.

"What do you mean, you don't know where they are?" Benny questioned Jesse angrily. We were encircled by at least twenty vampires ready to strike, but I followed Benny's lead and stayed absolutely calm. He glared at Jesse, while I watched everything else.

Jesse just smiled, shrugging and strolling within the circle. "Well, Sarah is gone for good, leaving you to fend for yourselves. A true friend, she is. The short one, the smart one we took with us for tracking assistance, well, he ran. He had a stake with him, we didn't feel like chasing him down anyway, he'll die in the forest. And the stupid kin? The betrayer? We don't know." Jesse shrugged, but I could tell he was lying about something. I looked at the broken window where Rory was thrown out. I hoped he escaped.

"Now," Jesse continued, speaking to us, "will you help us find the cubulai animus, save your lives? Or will you be difficult? We can kill you just as easily." Some vampires snarled. Benny just shook his head. "We don't know where it is, I tell you! And wouldn't help you anyway, since you're probably going to trade more souls. Let's make a deal- you let us go, and we'll leave quietly. Good?" Jesse just laughed at Benny's proposal.

"That's just it. We know you won't leave quietly. You won't go until you have your friends and I'm dead!" Some vampires laughed with Jesse. Benny had a smart half smile on his face. "But I know you won't kill me. I know too much. You-" Jesse cut him off. "Maybe, meat, maybe. But she," Jesse pointed at me, making my insides twist in nervousness, "doesn't know anything. We don't need a hostage anymore, we're just dealing with you. Now, you can help us, both of you, or you could not, and we'll kill her first and give you a second chance, then we'll kill you. Sound like a deal?"

Jesse put out his arms for an answer. I was horrified, as was Benny, looking at his gaping mouth. Jesse opened his mouth to speak, just as we saw a blonde head popping up from behind the couch, a gag tied on his mouth, both his hands and legs tied up in rope. I watched him slip out of the rope, his blonde hair messed up on one side, probably from laying on the side. He ripped off the gag as he jumped onto one vampire's back, screaming and making everyone become disorganized.

"GO! GO!" Rory yelled at us, signaling for us to leave. I took my wooden stick and stabbed vampires in the back, trying to make them back up. The majority of the vampires were distracted with Rory for the moment, which gave us a few seconds to escape. Benny took me strongly by the hand, pulling me towards an exit. We went to different doors until we found the last one. We opened the front door and started running as fast as we could, Benny still holding my hand.

"What's the rush?" Erica said calmly as age appeared right in front of me, my speed knocking into her, causing me to be knocked down. Benny slowed down when he realized he wasn't holding onto me anymore. My adrenaline was pumping, I jumped up, and swung my wooden stick all the way behind me like a golf swing, then whacking her in the head, the stick breaking in two. She screamed and went down, rubbing her head. I admired my work momentarily, Benny taking my hand again, racing down to the gate. There was a brick wall.

"We have to jump it!" Benny said loudly, out of breath. "Jump it!?" I yelled unbelievably. He nodded, picking me up by the waist, giving me a boost to get my hands onto the top if the wall. I was very surprised by his strength, but impressed that he cared this much about me, even though we barely knew each other. Then again, it could be the adrenaline. I sat upon the brick wall, leaning over to help him up. We jumped quickly over it, running up an unmarked dirt road.

"Hey guys!" Rory yelled, I almost screamed and lost my balance, tumbling to the ground, scraping my knees and the palm of my hands. Benny and Rory helped me up, my adrenaline still pumped through me.

"How… How the hell?!" I yelled breathlessly at Rory.

"Vampiric superspeed." Benny answered. I nodded and smiled, putting a hand on Rory's shoulder, breathing hard. We all caught our breath, then started laughing.

"We… We made it!" I said. "Yeah… Yeah, we did." said Benny, smiling. We all laughed, celebrating. Then- realization hit us at the same moment. We stared at each other. If Rory could get to us this fast, imagine the other vampires! And we had no idea where we were! We started running, Rory helping us as much as he could.

Then, this bright light hit us. We squinted, turning around and tuning the opposite direction, not too sure why. The bright light caught up with us, changing into two smaller lights. "We surrender!" Rory yelled in fear.

"Shut up!" Benny yelled at him as the car pulled up to us. An old fashioned car, but very pretty, a shiny red.

"Did you call?" came the voice of an old woman in the driver's seat. "Grandma!" Benny yelled in delight and relief. Sarah was sitting in the passenger's seat.

"Hurry up and get in!" she quietly yelled at us as we climbed into the backseat. We could see the lights from the vampire mansion as we sped away from that hellhole. "So, where's Ethan?" Sarah asked desperately, as we drove a hundred miles an hour to Benny's house. "We… We don't know." Benny answered.

Sarah was tearing up. "We are going to find him!" she yelled, taking the wheel from Grandma, making an illegal U-turn, back to the forest, back to danger, to save a friend.

…to be continued…