Italy. If I had been in this place a couple of years back, I would have been thrilled, but now, the name sounded dangerous. It felt like I had come here, only to wait for my death to be served to me however the Queen wanted it. We stopped in a small town for the rest of the night. Sofia pointed out that it would be better if we travelled in the day, as most vampires didn't like to go out in the sunlight if it could be helped. It wasn't as if vampires were incapable of going out in to the sun, as Sofia had explained, but it was that the sun made them weaker, gave them a small headache-like pain that was irritating. Even though this would happen to us, we would be blending in more as fewer vampires would be about. We stopped outside a small barn. Its washed stones looked ancient, and blended in with the Italian scenery. Sofia looked up to a small hole in the roof of the barn, and my gaze quickly followed hers. I could hear the rustle of hay against the floor and the silent breathing of the cattle inside. Sofia started to scale the wall, and I sighed and shrugged my shoulders as I followed her.

"Why can't we just stay at a hotel or a bed and breakfast?" I sighed once more as my white, bony fingers clutched on to the wall.

"Because," Sofia rolled her eyes, "if we go in to a hotel, they'll be able to track us. We can't have a trace to our names. And besides, does a hotel offer free blood?"

I still hadn't got used to the idea of drinking blood. Somewhere in my brain, a human part of me was still there, the part that said it wasn't natural to drink blood. I stared down to the cows below. They were unaware of us as we hung silently from the huge beams that ran across the length of the barn roof. There was about five or six cows, huddled in together. Sofia looked over to me with a childish grin.

"Have you ever tried to bewitch something?"

"Bewitch?" I asked honestly.

"Well, as a vampire, you can charm a living thing in to doing anything you want. It takes years of practice, but once you've mastered it, it is pretty useful." I mused over the idea. It seemed that being a vampire had huge advantages. "I'll show you!" She piped up with excitement as she glided down gracefully towards the cattle. They jumped at her presence, and started to stir. Sofia kept still, looking at them carefully, precociously.

"Shhh, everything is all right. I'm not going to hurt you ... I want you to keep still while I bite in to you ... it's not going to hurt, you won't feel a thing." She cooed to the cows, and they all seemed to settle down, a relaxation building up in the atmosphere. She went for one of the cows, biting in to its furry neck, and I looked away whilst she drank its blood. Her head reared up and she looked over at me, beckoning me down to drink with her. I flung myself down beside her, and she continued drinking as I pondered over what to do. Half of me thirsted for the blood inside the animals next to me, but the other half was telling me it was wrong. Of course, I had no option but to drink, or I would starve, but I had to force myself to do it. I went for the nearest cow, delving in to the neck of the animal and tearing in to the flesh. The blood seeped out in to my mouth, and I closed my eyes as the blood washed over me. Its taste was exciting, unlike anything I had tasted as a human, and I closed my eyes, trying not to think about the poor animal that was at my hands.

Suddenly I heard a bang, a door hitting against a wall and I froze. I turned around slowly to see an old woman standing in a floral dressing gown and wellingtons with a gun in her hand. It pointed at me especially, as if she had failed to see Sofia, who was now looking over to me in a cautious way. Her eyes went wide, her head nodding towards the woman as if she was trying to tell me something.

"Che continua qui? Che fa lei con il mio bestiame?" I couldn't tell what the woman was saying, but I could tell she was about to figure out what we were. I figured I'd try bewitching her, seeing as it was my only option. I looked her in the eyes, putting my hands out in front of me as I stepped forward. The woman started to gaze at me, her whole body loosening up, relaxing.

"Everything is going to be alright. I'm not going to hurt you. Everything is going to be alright." I was being serious, concentrating on keeping her glare on my eyes. Her eyes seemed to glisten slightly, and I hoped it was working. "You need to go back inside and go to sleep. You're going to forget this ever happened and especially forget us. Understand?" She nodded slightly, and I realised I was tense, and relaxed my body too. That was when I heard the gunshot. It was the woman, and she had shot me.

It echoed a bit, bouncing of the ancient barn walls, radiating through me. The pain expanded throughout my body, wriggling in to every nerve I had. Although it wasn't an immense amount of pain, as it would have been on a human, it still hurt to a certain extent. It seemed to paralyze my body, and I winced as I dropped to the floor. Sofia watched me fall, and I could tell, although her face remained emotionless, that she was angry. She quickly looked up to the old woman, giving her an evil glare. The woman was starting to point the gun at Sofia, but before she could, Sofia ran up to her and broke her neck in a quick, jolting action. I had never seen Sofia this way before, her eyes intense and her body shaking with anger. The woman died instantly and she dropped to the floor in a floppy motion, like a tree swaying. Sofia rushed over to me, looking me in the eyes for a second, and then running her eyes down to the wound. I looked down as well, and I saw my blood, vampire blood, seeping in to my dark t-shirt. Sofia instantly gouged out the bullet with her teeth, and I found that after that, the wound healed in a matter of seconds, the skin patching itself together.

"You are supposed to charm her, not make her want to shoot you," she whispered lightly, and then she added, "It takes time." I got up and brushed myself off, taking off my t-shirt and replacing it with one from my backpack. We started to cross fields and roads as quickly as the sun rose. Its gentle beam of light shining on me made my skin glow, a dim white glow. The clouds disappeared from the sky, and I could tell by the rising heat that it would be a nice day.

I wasn't even sure where we were going. Sofia hadn't said much along the way, and I was starting to get partially annoyed because of the secrecy, but at the same time I knew I had to accept it because she would know where to go. We seemed to be heading towards a city, its roads now coming in to view. I wondered how old the city was, its building sitting high and graciously on the mountain side, the sun showing dazzling smiles. I could tell the streets were starting to liven up as I could hear voices beginning to break the long silence I had endured. The fields surrounding the city were also beautiful, the light wind blowing the wheat as though showing off to anyone who would watch. We started to slow down, starting to walk on the main road, cars passing us now and again. Sofia walked at a slightly faster pace, either avoiding me because of my near death, or simply because she walked fast. After all she had been a vampire for years, and Sofia must of accustomed to the fast pace. There was a row of cherry blossoms lining the road as we entered the city, their petals scattered all over the place. It was really quite peaceful, but my situation oversaw any enjoyment I had of this trip.

We seemed to pass by people on the street easily, and we blended in as tourists in Italy, although we didn't have our cameras. The streets were busy, people dashing back and forth to catch the local market, looking for some fresh fruit and vegetables or to simply browse for something enjoyable. I felt a pair of eyes on us as we continued our way up a steep sidewalk heading towards an alleyway. Grasping Sofia's arm I quickened my pace and Sofia turned towards me with a confused and apprehensive look upon her face.

"What is going on Liam?" she almost shouted to me. I motioned my finger towards my lips, telling her to be quiet, and she responded by opening her mouth slightly, but then closing it shortly after and looking around suspiciously at everyone we past. I took her quickly to the alleyway out of view of others. It was shadowed by the tall walls of the buildings on either side, and I slowed down to explain to Sofia.

"Someone is watching us," I whispered lightly, keeping my look straight ahead to make it look as if I were not worried at all. Sofia almost turned around, but I quickly squeezed her hand and she instantly turned back around to face the other end of the alleyway.

"Who is it? I can't sense anyone," she sounded more surprised than concerned, but I ignored that for the time being.

"Well I can, and they are still looking at us. Oh wait," I paused for a minute, holding my position in the alleyway as to search the area with my mind. "They've gone."

"Not quite," said a voice as someone walked out from the corner of the alley. It was a man, tall and dark hair cropped in to a fashionable style. His voice was quite formal, posh, but definitely English. He looked serious, wearing jeans and a dark t-shirt with a leather jacket on top. He reminded me of Damien, but except the voice.

"Who are you?" Asked Sofia, but he didn't answer straight away. Instead he took her hand and kissed it lightly, making me a bit angry.

"Who are you?" I repeated Sofia's question.

"I cannot believe you don't remember me Sofia. After all I am the one who turned you." He gave a sharp, but quiet laugh and I felt Sofia clutch on to me, as if someone had just stabbed her. I remembered the story that Sofia had told me, of how she had turned. She went through pain, and she had never wished any of it to happen, and I felt sorry for her, as she had to stand there in front of the man, no, vampire who turned her, ruining a chance of a normal life where diseases and a blow to the head could kill her. I rushed up to the vampire, holding him by the throat against the wall, seething with anger. He simply laughed.

"We do not want to cause a scene do we? The King's minions will be about somewhere." He grabbed my hand and pushed it away, in turn grabbing my throat and pinning me to the ground.

"I am a hundred and fifty eight years older than you. You should respect me, because I can and will do very harmful things to you. Do you understand?" I nodded the best I could, as his hands grew tighter around my neck. He released me all of a sudden and I quickly got back beside Sofia.

"What's your name?" I asked, calming done enough to be civilised.

"My name is Ashford."

"What are you doing here Ashford?" Sofia piped in softly, not looking at him, but looking towards the ground. He didn't answer, leaving a long pause between us.

"I am here to destroy you. The Queen sent me." Sofia gasped and glanced at him, looking disgusted with him, and then looking over at me. "She is coming for you. She is probably making her way through France as we speak."

"So why don't you just get it over with now, I mean that is what you wanted to do in the first place anyway wasn't it? Did you not want to kill me?" She said all this sharply. But he didn't respond in the way I thought he would. Instead he lowered his voice, and took a step closer to us.

"I'll give you time to run. After that you will become my enemy and I will not stop to even think about killing you is that understood?" Sofia and I both nodded in response. "Good. Now, go and hide, because your lives may be over shortly." He quickly disappeared in to the crowd, blending in with regular humans. Without speaking, Sofia and I continued our journey to another hideout, where we would sit and wait.

Another barn, this time empty and cold. I sat on a bale of hay as Sofia paced back and forth. I bit my lip, trying to occupy my time, holding back the urge to just run to the Queen and beg to kill me herself. I didn't want to end my life, but if running away from everything, everyone all the time was what my life was going to be about, then what would be the point of living it?

"Maybe we should just give in. Maybe she will have mercy on us?" Sofia laughed a sarcastic laugh and stopped to look over at me.

"The Queen does not do mercy." I should have known that answer before Sofia had said it. Did I really have a choice in any of this? Was my fate already decided? I guessed so as I couldn't fix things now. I was too late.

"I think we should give up." Sofia stopped once more to fix her gaze on me. She narrowed her eyes, looking straight in to mine.

"Why would you even say that?" She asked whilst shaking her head slightly.

"Because I don't want to run anymore. I am sick and tired of running away. We can go to the King and he will be able to contact the Queen surely-"

"Do you not love me?" I could see her face sadden and I rushed up to her, embracing her in my arms and kissing her head. I swore I could feel her weep in my arms, but yet, that must have been impossible, so I ignored it and just hugged her tighter.

"Of course I love you. If there was anyone who could love someone more than anything they ever wanted, that person would be me." I took in a deep breath before what I was about to suggest, because it was hard for me to admit this was really happening. "And because I love you, I'm going by myself to face the Queen. That way if she does decide to kill me, then it means you don't have to be there when I, die," I choked out the words, and swallowed the developing lump rising in my throat. She ducked out from under my arms, giving me a daring glare and a shaking hand.

"No, I can't leave you. I'm not leaving you. She'll destroy you, crush you without me." I looked to the ground, not taking my chances to make eye contact with her.

"I thought you might do this. I can't keep you behind myself, so I asked Damien to come and stop you from following me." Damien appeared at the door, looking more serious than I had ever seen him before. He didn't even smile, crack a joke or ruffle someone's hair. He just stood there, holding his hands and looking towards the ground.

"Seriously?" Sofia spat at me. "You asked him of all people," she turned to Damien, "How could you do this, you're my brother!" she just sat down, holding her head in her hands. I could feel the tension in the atmosphere.

"Goodbye Sofia," I said as I walked past Damien, who let me through willingly. I slowed down, waiting to hear some yelling of my name, Sofia being restrained by Damien, but to my relief there was nothing. No cries to make me feel even more saddened about what was to come.