Chapter 3

I watched closely after I saw the red marks, I could have been wrong about him, he could have scratched himself during the night, or he was going to be hunted by them or even something completely different, when I saw a "V" tattooed in his hair. The red marks around his eyes, he wasn't a vampaneze, but in some ways it was worse…a vampet was with my sister!

They were even holding hands and kissing! And what made it worst I couldn't be the older brother I used to be and storm in and hurt the guy who dared touch my sister before Annie realized who I was and why I wasn't dead.

My memories came whizzing through my head, all the names of my friends and enemies, my adventures, Cirque Du Freak; it was as though my whole life was supposed to end up this way! Steve Leonard was meant to become Vampaneze Lord, I was meant to become a prince lead the hunt to stop him. However my sisters role in this tale of twists and turns I am sure I would find out, and no matter what happened then I knew I must follow them to find out my next move.

I saw Harkat, I signaled to him I was fine, and then I went to go after them, when something happened then I did not intend to happen, which to me always happened at the most unexpected moments. I fell out of the tree I had been perched in, pain erupted in my head as I hit the floor, my eyes were watering and I couldn't see well only shapes and outlines. Harkat run forward, and I heard him mutter one word which made me quiver in the very fear of it…PURGE!

***

It was like being in hell. As it was first time, except hopefully this would be the last!

It had been 5 years since my last encounter with the Purge and I knew that this time I would grow to look like a twenty-year-old atleast! Then another terrible truth hit me; I would never ever be able to walk in the sun harmlessly again! I would become a true vampire, a full vampire, creature of the undead. Harkat and the other performers tried to help me, my hair was growing too rapidly, and as last time everything was the same, bad senses, bursts of energy, painful fusing of my bones the lot! Only one tiny thing was missing, there was no Larten or Vancha here to help me.

Harkat was the most supportive, he like Crespley had done shaved off my rapid hair with a blunt knife, he gave me calm messages and as friends should helped me through my pain, Mr Tall did all he could, as did Evra and everyone else. However nothing could stop my pain, if I had painkillers, it would dull and then the pain pop back ten times worse, my energy would make me run so fast that only ever seemed to sprint everywhere nonstop.

When two months later it stopped for good. I definitely looked older, (no more kid comments) I looked like a twenty year old to even twenty-one and I was very glad about it. But as I knew it would, I had become a full vampire, I woke the morning after the Purge and realized that as I shielded my eyes from the sun, my skin had almost burnt, If I hadn't have woken up sooner I may have been dead.

It was only after the purge I remembered about my sister, two months could mean anything, she could have moved--could have died--could have changed so much, atleast Cirque hadn't gone anywhere. I still wanted to look around my hometown. This time though Mr Tall did relent, he said actually said that I could.

"Why didn't you let me go before?" I asked curiously.

"Because you looked like you did thirty years ago!" said Mr Tall seriously, "Now no one would recognize you at all…even your family." He said. I understood the logic and I nodded.

"Your right…" I said, and I decided to go for a nice, long walk though my old hometown.

***

It was as though I was walking in a dream, It was night-time but a lot of people were still up and about, I was so happy to look about the place again. When I began walking when I stopped, I turned to see the building I had spent my childhood in, my old secondary school.

I didn't know what caused me to do it. I was drawn to the school gates. I saw the playground. The football pitch I remembered scoring hat tricks in with my school friends. All the doors were closed so I couldn't get in, and I didn't want any alarms to go off, so I went to the window and looked in. It was Mr Dalton's English room; where I had spent many long and tiring afternoons talking and writing about "Macbeth" or "The Scottish play".

It was only six O'clock so I went to walk away when I saw a figure walk into the English room. It was as though I had gone back in time. For that figure was Mr Dalton! It was almost thirty years ago since I had last seen him and he hadn't changed a bit…he was about thirty at the time I knew him so he was close to his retirement now and still looked quite young!

I walked away. Just incase he caught me staring and questioned me…I don't think I could keep a straight face if he did. I ran out of the school grounds and carried on walking not believing what I had just seen.

I didn't know where I was going next, I kept my head low and just walked where my feet were heading, when I noticed a familiar sign, it was the name of my old road. What made me do it I didn't know I was going to ignore it and keep walking on to somewhere else, but I didn't. I turned it into my old street and I noticed the quite large house on the left.

I walked up to the window in almost a trance. This just had be a dream, I had not just go through the gate and up to the living room window of my old house I was not peering in to see my old living room.

However I was…It was not a dream at all. When I saw two medium sized figures walk into the same room I was staring into. I thought then that even a dream could never, ever compare to what I saw…because what I saw were an elderly couple who sat down on the sofa side by side.

The old man holding his wife's hand comfortingly and both siting there watching the news; both didn't notice me, and for that I was glad. For what they would have seen would be a twenty-year-old man with dirty brown hair and blue eyes spilling with tears and they wouldn't have thought in their wildest dreams that I had been the one they used to call their son.