HI i relised I was saying Galen was a cheetah when he's a lepord whoops sorry

No I don't own any thing by L.J. Smith

"Chapter two" Jez said.

Eating him or doing something with his teeth. Tearing and sucking. Making noises like Pal with his dog food.

"Oh, gross" Hannah said holding her stomach

"Gross or not we have to feed to live" Morgead answered her with obvious distaste.

"Yeah but you don't have to make feeding sound like a dog with his food" James disagreed.

"Feeding?" Mary-Lynette asked

"Drinking blood" Ash answered his eyes holding a mischievous glint. As looked at him his eyes seemed to be changing: green, then purple, next gray. Looking at them made Mary-Lynette dizzy.

She looked away.

For a moment Rashel was frozen. The whole world changed and everything seemed like a dream. Then she heard somebody screaming and her throat hurt and she knew it was her.

And then the tall man looked at her.

He lifted his head and looked. And she knew that his face alone was going to give her nightmares forever.

Not that he was ugly.

"So you think Timmy's attacker is cute?" Ash teased.

"Oh, that is it!" Rashel yelled. Quinn had to hold her back from lunging at him. Quinn said something to her that seemed to calm her down, she struggling and sat back in her seat to finish the story.

Ash glanced at Quinn disgusted, before he would have let the human meet her fate now he's protecting her?

Mary-Lynette was furious at him for what he said to Rashel, so she hit him.

Zzzt. The two jumped, they'd been shocked.

Keller smiled two more down she thought.

"What?" James asked his cousin

Ash glanced at Mary-Lynette who was looking at him with wide eyes.

"Nothing" he muttered

Jez continued to read

But his hair was red as blood and his eyes that shone gold, like an animals.

Jez chocked out the mystery man description. Any Redfers, pure or blood tied, knew those features. They all looked at one another one name floated through their minds: Hunter.

"Rashel are you positive that's who the man looked like?" Thea asked her

"Yes" Rashel confirmed. She looked around the room as some of the teens had gone still, then she looked at Quinn beside her, he had stiffened and was looking at the other Redferns, nodding like some thing had just been established.

Rashel looked at them "You know who it is don't you?"

She asked almost desperately.

Thea nodded "Hunter Redfern" she whispered

Quinn saw the determined look in her eye and quickly said, "He's not some one you want to mess with. He has high rank in the NightWorld council." He warned

Rashel barley heard hi or his warning all she knew was when she got out of this place she would find him and stake him for the trouble he had caused.

Jez started to read again

There was a light in them that was like nothing she had ever seen.

She ran then. It was wrong to leave Timmy, but she was too scared to stay. She wasn't brave; she was a baby, but she couldn't help it.

"You were only five and to just see your friend be attacked by a vampire is something all kids would be afraid to see. At least you were smart enough to run." Thea said trying to cheer Rashel up.

"She was still screaming as she turned around and darted through the flap in the tent.

Almost darted through. Her head and shoulders got outside and she saw red plastic tubes rising above her- and then a hand clamped on the back of her Gymboree shirt. A big strong hand that stopped her in mid-flight Rashel was as helpless as a baby kitten against it.

But just as she was dragged back into the tent she saw something. Her mother. Her mother was coming around the corner of the climbing structure. She'd heard Rashel screaming.

Her mothers eyes were big and her mouth was open, and she was moving fast. She was coming to save Rashel.

The ones who cared looked away with tears they knew Rashels mother didn't stand a chance against Hunter.

"Mommeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!" Rashel screamed

No. Rashel thought, just shut up. But there was no point she knew what would happen next and all the yelling at herself would do nothing to bring her mother back.

(a/n I know this sounds mean I almost cried writing it)

And then she was pulled back inside. The man threw her to one side the way a kid at preschool would throw a piece of crumpled paper. Rashel landed hard and felt a pain in her leg that normally would have mad her cry. Now she hardly noticed it. She was staring at Timmy, who was lying on the ground near her. Timmy looked strange. His body was like a rag doll-arms and legs flopped out. His skin was white his eyes were staring straight up at the top of the tent.

There were two big holes in his throat, with blood all around them.

Rashel whimpered. She was too frightened to scream anymore. But just then she saw white daylight, and a figure in front of it. Mommy.

Mommy was pulling the tent flap open. Mommy was inside, looking around for Rashel.

That was when the worst thing happened. The worst and the strangest, the thing the police never believed when Rashel told them later.

"They usually never do when it comes to Night People" Quinn sighed

Rashel saw her mother's mouth open; saw her mother looking at her, about to say something.

And then she heard a voice but it wasn't Mommy's voice.

And it wasn't an out loud voice. It was inside her head.

Wait! There's nothing wrong here. But you need to stand very, very still.

"He' s trying to use mind control," Theirry said. I was the first tie they had heard him talk since this whole thing began. He got some confused looks. He sighed, "Those stories of vampires being able to control people's mind are true." The looks turned to Oh's.

Rashel looked at the tall man. His mouth wasn't moving, but the voice was his. Her mother was looking at him, too, and her expression was changing becoming relaxed and…stupid.

Some one chuckled

"Mommy was standing very, very still.

Then the tall man hit Mommy once on the side of her neck and she fell over and her head flopped the wrong way like a broken doll. Her dark hair was lying in the dirt.

Rashel gritted her teeth as her eyes filled at the memory. "Oh, dear," Rowan said. Kestrel tried her best no to cry. Jez kept her voice level though the story saddened her. Gillian ducked her head so her hair covered that she was crying. Other girls were letting their tears flow freely. The boys closets o them trying, awkwardly, to comfort them.

Rashel saw that and everything was even more like a dream. Her mother was dead. Timmy was dead. And the man was looking at her.

The tears couldn't be held back any longer. They fell staining Rashels cheeks. But her expression stayed emotionless. Quinn felt pity turn in his stomach, he opened his mouth to say something then closed it and turned back to Jez, He hit Rashels arm in the process, lighting went down both their arms. But nothing was said.

Your not upset, came the voice in her head. You're not frightened. You want to come right here.

Rashel could feel the pull of the voice. It was drawing her closer and closer. It was making her still and no afraid, Making her forget her mother.

Quinn's anger burned silently. He already hated Hunter this only made it more so. First he killed Rashel's friend and mother now her wanted to kill Rashel. What he use to think about humans was gone now some still remained, but all that mattered right now was that the human girl next him crying and because of Hunter. Quinn had never believed in the soulmate principle but now… he wasn't so sure it was just a fable. But how could he love somebody that hunted his own kind?

But then she saw the tall man's golden eyes and they were hungry. And all of the sudden she remembered what he wanted to do to her.

Not me!

She jerked away from the voice and dove for the tent flap again.

This tome she got all the way out side. And she threw herself straight at the gap in the climbing structure.

She was thinking in a different way than she had ever thought before. The Rashel that had watched Mommy was locked away in a little room inside her, crying. It was a new Rashel who wiggled desperately through the gap in the padded room, a smart Rashel who knew there was no point in crying because there was nobody who cared anymore. Mommy couldn't save her so she had to save herself.

"Such sad thoughts for a five year old" Poppy sniffled leaning on James.

She felt a hand grab her ankle, hard enough to almost crush her bones. It yanked trying to drag her back through the gap. Rashel kicked backward with al her strength and twisted, and her sock came off and she pulled her led into the padded room.

Come back. You need to come back right now!

The voice was like a teacher voice it was hard no to listen. But Rashel was already scrambling into the plastic tube in front of her. She went faster than she ever had before, hurting her knees, propelling her self with her bare foot.

When she got to the first fish-bowl window, though, she saw a face looking at her.

It was the tall man. He was staring at her. He banged on the plastic as she went by.

Fear cracked in Rashel like a belt. She scrambled faster, and the knocks on the tube followed her.

He was underneath her now.

Keeping up with her. Rashel passed another window and looked down. She could see his hair shining in the sunlight. She could see his pale face looking up at her.

And his eyes

Come down, the voice wasn't stern anymore. It was sweet Come down and we'll go get some ice cream. What kind of ice cream do you like best.

"Ice cream? What is ice cream?" Delos asked.

The humans again looked at him curiously.

Rowan sighed. "Forgive him he grew up isolated"

Maggie who was sitting in the chair next his wiped her eyes and answered him "Ice cream is like a dessert. I s made out of different things mixed together with flavoring and ice. Then it gains a creamy texture. You can either put it in a cup, cone, or bowl with different toppings on top."

"Interesting." Delos said. He wasn't talking just about the ice cream this girl Maggie didn't address him the way his subjects would she didn't even seem afraid of him.

Jez rolled her eyes at the prince and continued to read

Rashel knew then that this is how he'd gotten Timmy into the tent. She didn't even pause in her scrambling

Smart girl, Keller thought

But she couldn't get away from him. He was traveling under her, waiting for her to come out or in to a place where he could reach in and grab her.

Higher. I need to get higher, she thought

She moved instinctively, as if some sixth sense was telling her which way to turn each time she had a choice. She went through angled tubes, straight tubes, tubes that weren't solid at all, but made of woven canvas stripes. Ad finally she got to the place were she could go no higher.

It was a square room with a padded floor and netting sides. She was at the front of the climbing structure: she could see mothers and fathers standing and sitting in little groups. She could feel the wind

Below her, looking up was the tall man.

Chocolate brownie? Mint chip? Bubble gum.

Quinn cracked a smile he wasn't sure but the thought of the powerful Hunter having to offer ice cream to a little girl he couldn't control or catch, was amusing.

The voice was putting pictures in her mind. Tastes. Rashel looked around frantically.

There was so much noise- every kid in the climbing structure was yelling. Who would even notice her if she shouted? They'd think she was joking around.

All you have to do is come down.

You know you have to come down sometime.

Rashel looked into the pale face turned up to her. The eyes were like dark holes. Hungry. Patient. Certain.

He knew he was going to get her.

He was going to win she had no way to fight him.

And then something tore inside Rashel and she did the only thing a five-year-old could do against an adult.

She shoved her hand between the rough cords that made the netting, scrapping off skin. She pushed her whole small arm through and pointed down at the tall man.

And she screamed in a way she'd never screamed before. Piercing shrieks that cut through the happy noise of the other kids. She screamed the way Ms. Bruce at preschool taught her to do if any stranger tried to bother her.

"Help meeeeeee! Help meeeeeeee! That man tried to touch me!"

She kept screaming it, kept pointing. And she saw people looking at her.

But they didn't do anything. They just stared. Lost of faces, looking up at her. Nobody moving.

"Why isn't anyone trying to help" Eric asked

"You don't see a scared five-year-old screaming for no reason," Thea agreed

The whole room started yelling about how someone should be trying to help Rashel.

Rashel just sat there surprised. That the Night Worlders and humans were agreeing. She knew Hunter had descendents in the room and even they were agreeing someone should be trying to help Rashel. Simultaneous growls broke through the yelling.

Everyone turned to Keller and Galen. They were retaking human form.

"Enough" Galen said

"You wont get anywhere in the books if you keep this up" Keller told them. She just motioned for Jez to continue reading

"In a way, it was even worse than anything that had happened before. They could hear her, but nobody was going to help her.

And then she saw somebody moving.

It was a big boy, not quit a grown-up man. He was wearing a uniform like the one Rashel's father used to wear before he died. That meant he was a Marine.

He was going toward the tall man, and his face was dark and angry. And now, as if they had needed an example, other people were moving, too.

Thea muttered under her breath about how they shouldn't have needed an example. Eric heard her and tried to hide a smile.

Several men who looked like father. A women with a cellular phone.

The tall man turned and ran.

He ducked under he climbing structure, heading toward the back, toward the tent where Rashels mother was. He moved very fast, much faster than any of the people in the crowed.

But he sent words to Rashels mind before he disappeared completely.

See you later.

Rashel had never forgotten those words. And she felt some day soon that promise whould be fulfilled

When he was definitely gone, Rashel slumped against the netting, felling the rough cord bite into her cheek. People down below were calling to her; kids just behind her were whispered.

None of it mattered.

She could cry now; it would be okay, but she seemed to have any tears.

The police were no good. There were two officers, a man and a woman. The woman believed Rashel a little. But every time her eyes would start to believe, she'd shake her head and say, "But what was the man really doing to Timmy? Baby-doll, sweetie, I know its awful, but just try to remember."

The man didn't even believe a little. Rashel would have traded them both for the Marine back at the carnival.

"Human police don't ever think its real" Thea said

"I think the boy police was a werewolf" Rashel said "Just another Night Wolder keeping the secret. Not giving a hint that he thought I was telling the truth"

All they found in the tent was her mother with a broken neck. No Timmy Rashel wasn't sure but she thought the man had probably taken him.

"Hunter probably did" Ash said "He might have turned him"

James glared at him as Rashel paled, she knew what he meant when he said Hunter had turned Timmy. Though she'd rather not think about it.

She didn't think about why.

Eventually the police drove her to her Aunt Corinne's, who was the only family she had left now. Aunt Corinne was old and her bony hands hurt Rashel's arms when she clutched her and cried.

She out Rashel in a bedroom full of strange smells and tried to give her medicine to make her sleep .It was like cough syrup, but it made her tough numb. Rashel waited until Aunt Corrinne was gone, then she spat it into her hand and wiped her hand on the sheets, way down at the foot of the bed where the blankets tucked in.

"Good place to hide the evidence," Keller said

And then she put her arms around her hunched up knees and sat staring into the darkness.

She was to little, too helpless. That was the problem. That was the problem. She wasn't going to be able to do anything against him when he came back.

Because of course he was coming back.

"How do you know he's coming back," Poppy asked

"Because she knows he's secret," Theirry answered before Rashel could "And he promised" Theirry grimaced

She what the man was, even if the adults didn't believe her. He was a vampire, just like on TV. A monster

Some of the vampires winced at the word 'monster'

That drank blood. And she knew she knew.

That was why he promised to see her later

At last, when Aunt Corinne's house was quite, Rashel tiptoed to the closet and slid it open. She climbed the shoe rack and kicked and squirmed until she was on top shelf above the clothes. It was narrow, but wide enough for her. That was one good thing about being little.

She had to use every advantage she had.

"Developing the instincts of a hunter" Quinn muttered

With her toe, she slid the closet door back shut. Then she piled sweaters and other folded things on top of herself, covering even her head. And finally she curled up on the hard bare wood and shut her eyes.

Sometime in the night she smelled smoke.

She got down from the shelf- falling more than climbing- and saw flames in her bedroom.

She never knew exactly how she managed through them and out of the house.

Hunter Quinn growled to himselfmomentarily letting his mental guard down.

Quinn? As asked him, what's wrong with you it sounds like you care about the human?

Nothing. Quinn growled at him and it seems as if you care for Mary-Lynette Quinn pushed putting all his force behind it. Ash left his mind and Quinn's mental wall was put backup.

Ash scowled at him and shook his head.

The whole night was like one long blurred nightmare.

Because Aunt Corinne didn't get out. When fire trucks came with their sirens and their flashing lights, it was already too late.

And even though Rashel knew he had set the fire- the vampire- the police didn't believe her. They didn't understand why he had to kill her.

In the morning they took her to a foster home, which would be the first of many. The people there were nice, but Rashel wouldn't let them hold her or comfort her.

She already knew what she had to do

And Rashel did what she intended to do.

If she was going to survive, she had to make herself strong and hard and strong. She couldn't care about anybody else, or trust anybody, or rely anybody. Nobody could protect her. Not even Mommy had been able to do that.

She had to protect herself she had to learn to fight.

And Rashel had she had become one of the most skilled vampire hunters out there.

Some of the kids stared at her eyes filled with pity.

Jez took a breath "Who wants to read now?"

James came and took the book from Jez, then settled back next to Poppy.

There it is please tell me what you think