1597 AD Miguel

As I lay on my bed, I think about her. The bed wasn't very comfortable and made going to sleep nearly impossible. Although it was hard for me to believe at that moment, it wasn't the worst bed I had ever had to sleep in.

I was traveling around with my friend, , and we had slept in much more unpleasant conditions. So far, we had been to Russia, Hungry, France, and some other small countries in between them. Along the way, we had been converting our names to try to fit in more. We wanted people to think we belonged here, not that we were on the run. Especially not that we were on the run from a powerful vampire. That might get us killed. I was quite sure that they had placed a bounty on our heads by now. News spread fast in the Underworld. And it all went back to her.

Her.

A long time ago when I lived in Asia, we were engaged. She lied to me about who she was. Made me a monster, one of her kind. Then, after she promised to help me through it, she left me for him! Of all the people in the world, she left me for a disgusting, idiotic, creature! If I ever saw her again . . . .

But no, no. I would never see her again and I didn't want to. Many years ago, the thought of her would have brought a smile to my face. Now all it brought was anger and a hatred so deep, it almost blocked out the sadness.

I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind. It didn't work and I let out an angry sigh.

I heard leaves on a nearby tree rustle outside the window. My eyes were trying to force their way open, but I needed to get some sleep. The bed was not much help. Maybe beds in Portugal would be more comfortable.

In on last effort to sleep before our long journey, I closed my eyes and thought about what Portugal must be like. When I opened my eyes again it was daytime. So I closed my eyes and went back to sleep until the night came again.

Annabelle 1723

After I had woken up, I had found a nasty surprise waiting for me; everyone in my village- with very few exceptions –was dead. Their hearts ripped out, skulls crushed, limbs severed, and so on. I can't imagine how loud I must have screamed when I saw my mother and father.

When Camazotz found me I was sitting by my mother's severed arm crying. I had been grateful at first that he had helped me, but now I was tired of being one of his servants. There were others, some warriors from my village, and some Aztec women. We were all sick of being his servants, but if he was truly who he said he was, then we could not kill him.

Camazotz was supposedly the god of vampires.

Even though we knew he would likely kill us if we failed, we were going to try to kill him.

He was in the study. Aria gave me the stake. It was hard to concentrate on the small task of holding the stake. So how was I supposed to use it on a vampire whose speed and strength was double that of mine?

"Master," Aria said sweetly. Her smile held a hint of maliciousness, but was otherwise just polite.

"Yes?" He seemed a bit concerned. Did he realize something was wrong? What if he figured it out before we had even made our first attack? He would kill us for sure.

One of the previous warriors came up behind him, pretending to mess with some books. Here it comes.

Camazotz turned to look at the warrior and Aria made her move. She plunged her own stake deep into his chest . . . but it missed his heart. He looked very angry now . . . .

The warrior attacked him with another stake, but Camazotz caught him and twisted his neck around. He was not dead . . . until his stake was shoved into his chest. The man didn't even have time to cry out before he was dead and dropped on the ground like a broken toy.

Aria looked horrified and tried to back away, but Camazotz caught her and plunged the stake that had been in his chest into her. She made a chocked cry and her skin paled.

He dropped her and turned towards me. I ran downstairs as fast as I could, but he still caught me. My blood pounded through me as he snatched my stake and poised it at my heart. Right as it was just breaking my skin, someone rammed into him and both he and the stake flew away from me. More of the servants came to attack Camazotz, but our numbers were dropping fast.

The way I saw it, I was going to die whether I gave up or continued helping. So I tried again.

There was a stake on the floor by another dead Aztec women's body, so I grabbed that and ran over to where the fight was happening.

Camazotz had at least a dozen misplaced stakes through his body, but it looked like it was starting to make him weak.

I ran over by yet another former warrior-this one Aztec- and was instantly shoved away. They didn't want me to help. My heart sunk, but I wouldn't give up that easily. I had to help. They needed my help.

I ran under the man's arm and tried to shove my stake into Camazotz heart. He smirked and pushed me down onto the floor and threw my stake down into my stomach. I screamed and hurriedly tried to pull it out, but it hurt. A lot

He laughed even harder.

While he was busy laughing at me, the warrior who had pushed me away stabbed him with the stake. It went through his heart.

What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. Camazotz Screamed and crumpled up on the floor.

He never moved again.

Michael 1925

"We're finally going!" Adam cheered happily. He was very excited because we had decided that getting as far away from western Asia was the best idea. So, we were going to America.

In the past century or so, we had been having many problems with some underworld bounty hunters. They were everywhere in Europe. I heard that there was a completely different underworld in America. Maybe they would help me.

The only problem was that we would have to cross an ocean. Not all water was a problem. Streams, rivers, lakes ponds, they were all fine. But oceans were a big problem to cross.

I had never actually crossed an ocean before, so I wasn't sure what it would feel like. All I knew was that it's unpleasant.

Sure enough, every single day on the ship was torture. We threw up constantly, fainted often and sometimes had an uncontrollable savage hunger, as if we were newly turned.

When I wasn't doing any of those things, I was thinking about what America might be like. I was also thinking about a legend I had learned. It had been driving me insane for years.

Supposedly, soul mates used to be one person. The god Zeus thought that those people were too powerful and he split them into two people. They were both equals. The part of the myth that bothers me so much is the part that says that vampires are considered murders-even if they never kill a human- because when they become vampires, their soul mate grows weak and dies.

I'm not very religious anymore, but the story still makes my insides go cold.

I turned away from him. Looking him in the eye had always been a problem. Just allowing him to follow me was a selfish act, and if my problems ever got him killed. . . what would I do with myself?

He was small, even smaller than me. Five foot six the most. His smile was bright and he was always looking to the bright side. Killing people was something he would never be okay with, and yet he was always willing to die for the people he cared about.

If only I had his heart . . . .