Chapter One:

Festival of Blood

"This place… They really went all-out for this!" I exclaimed excitedly, seeing all the people dressed-up, the banners hanging from buildings, and the giant clown-like heads around New Marias. "This is cool!"

Cole clapped me on the back and laughed. "I figured you'd like it. I mean, it is Pyre Night, so there's lots of fires going on…"

"Geez, I'm not obsessed with fire, Cole." I wished that Lance could be there, but he was with his mom visiting his dad's grave in L.A., and I didn't want to get in the way. Alec was around here somewhere, and I was pretty sure he was popping in from the shadows to scare the crap outta somebody. He was like that. "So, where do we start?"

Cole was about to answer when several screams pierced the air. Silence soon followed, along with the sound of our sprinting through the streets to see what was going on. We reached the cathedral, where the screams seemed to have come from.

"Stay here, Jo," Cole said. "Get everyone back to the party. I'll check this out."

I hesitated, but nodded. "Okay. Probably just some idiots taking Pyre Night a bit too far, anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if it was Alec."

Cole pushed open the door to the catacombs and went inside. I shut the door, but left it a bit open so he could get out easier.

"It's okay guys!" I said to the few people who were watching Cole and I. "We're checking it out! Probably just some idiots who got drunk too soon!"

They smiled and told their friends, and then the music was back on and the people were partying again. I pulled-up a fallen piece of the cathedral that hadn't been cleaned-up by the city and sat on it by the door, waiting for Cole. A few people came out, saying something about "monsters", and I almost rolled my eyes. Even I didn't know what Alec could do with his shadows yet.

I decided that I'd be of better use to Cole if I checked for other entrances around the cathedral for the catacombs. When I could find none, even inside the cathedral, I went back to where Cole had gone in. I was thinking about what Zeke, Cole and I were going to do for fun when something really, really strange happened.

More people, though paler than the others, came out of the catacomb door. I was a good distance away, but I could hear them hissing and spitting. Plus, their ears were a bit more pointy than anyone's I'd ever seen. Not to mention that they had really red eyes…

And then a woman in a slim red gown with red hair walked out with them. She seemed to be taking her time, but her walk was so graceful that she could've been floating off the ground.

"Have fun," she whispered, but it seemed that all of those people heard her. They ran off in many directions through the streets. Their "fun" had better be partying…

And then she looked in my direction, and smiled. The woman held my gaze for a moment before she disappeared in a red cloud of what looked like bats. I suddenly wondered if I'd been staying up too much, but I couldn't stay on that thought for long.

A gigantic bat-like creature swooped out from the air and sunk its massive claws into my shoulder, carrying me off. I screamed in pain as the claws dug in further, distracting me from kicking its ass.

"Let. Me. Go!" I roared, and shot a fireball at it.

As soon as the fireball impacted, it screeched in pain and dropped out of the sky a little, but it didn't release me. Its scream seemed to have attracted monsters just like it, and they quickly latched onto me, making me scream a bit more.

"JOAN!" I heard Cole yell from down below.

The monsters looked at each other, and then released me. I plummeted to the ground, just managing to use my fire to slow my descent. I knew that I was in trouble as soon as I hit the ground. Those pale people with red eyes and sharp ears—they immediately surrounded me. I could hear screams from all over the graveyard; so many that I didn't know who could be closest to me that I could help.

I drew my nodachi and held it in front of me. "Back away!" I ordered.

The pale people looked at each other, smiled, and looked back at me. They opened their mouths and hissed, showing-off their fangs. Immediately, I knew what they were, but it was hard for me to accept.

"Vampires…" I muttered.

One leaped at me, and I drove my nodachi into its heart. I cheered momentarily, but then it grabbed onto my head and slammed me against a tomb. What the hell? I impaled it! What's going on?

I let go of my nodachi and put my hands on the Vampire's arm, and burnt him to a damn crisp. My nodachi dropped to the ground and I didn't dare pick it up, worrying that they'd use that second to attack.

I ignited my arms and made them spew fire at the Vampires. I wasn't gonna let any of them get near me, no matter what.

"Where's Cole?" I murmured angrily. "I heard him yell!"

"Alas, he's still getting used to his new powers."

I jumped back and fried a few more Vampires before I looked for the source of the voice. "Where are you?"

"Haha!" She laughed for a good few seconds before she decided to answer. "You are a strange one! You look a lot like me, did you know that? I guess that's why I seem to like you so much." In a cloud of red bats, she appeared. The woman from the catacombs. "Well, that and the fact that you are so much like my newest little pet."

I felt uneasy at the way she was looking at me. Her eyes were red, and her ears slightly less pointy, but her fangs were no less prominent. Another thing I noticed was that while we were talking, the other Vampires didn't attack. They were listening to us, and smiling. It was creepy, to say the least.

The woman tapped her chin and circled me. I kept my eyes on her and my body tensed, ready to defend myself if she attacked. But she seemed like she was genuinely curious about me, and wasn't going to attack—for the moment at least.

"Hm…" She stood in front of me again. "Yes, I think you'll do. Having two people with… strange abilities as part of my coven will greatly aid me."

"Two?" I repeated, and then I remembered what she'd said about Cole. I clenched my fists. "You bitch! What'd you do to Cole?"

"I perfected him," she answered haughtily.

I increased my flames, forcing her to back off a bit. "You remind me of a bitch I met in Empire City. And I wasn't exactly fond of her, so you can imagine how I'm feeling about you."

She smiled and snapped her fingers. Immediately, the Vampires attacked. I brought my fist up and caught one of them in the jaw, and then twirled around and slammed my foot into another's head. I threw fireballs in random directions, hoping to catch them, and then another one of those giant bats came at me from the sky. It slammed into me and tried to tear my damn throat out, but I burned it before it could. Unfortunately, the Vamps I hadn't burnt to a crisp were getting up again, licking their wounds and still advancing.

"Joan!" I saw Cole, shirt covered in blood, grab this cross-thing from his messenger bag where his AMP had been and stab a Vampire in the chest. It screamed and disintegrated into nothing. "Hold on!"

And then she was on me. The Vampires were holding Cole back, and he couldn't get to me. Even if he could, I wasn't sure if he'd be much help. She looked so fragile, but that bitch was strong. I increased my flames to the max, but she just held onto me like I was just another Human. My powers didn't affect her at all!

"That tickles," she mused playfully. "My turn."

I pushed away from her with all of my strength, even kicking her several times, but she got even closer. I'd just realised that one of the Vampires had scratched my neck, narrowly missing my jugular vein. She ran her tongue along the blood and started to suck from the cut.

"Hm. I'm not getting enough, and I'm very thirsty tonight." I struggled, but she kept a firm hold on me. "What say you, young one? I think it's time for a long drink."

"Get away from me!" I snapped.

She smiled. "When people get angry, you can hear the blood pumping from their heart and through their veins. And you… You're especially angry."

She violently sank her fangs into my neck and started to drink my blood. I shoved her, kicked her, punched her—I did everything that I could think of to get away from her.

And it still wasn't enough.

I could feel my blood just leaving. I saw the envious looks on the faces of the Vampires, licking their lips as they watched the woman drink my blood. And then Cole… God, he had black veins extending from two tiny pinpricks on his neck, and red eyes just like them. Fangs, too. And he was fighting so hard to get to me. Was there really a point? I was sure I was gonna die. My body got weaker and weaker as she drank, and then she let me go and let out a long sigh of pure euphoria. My body dropped to the ground and simply didn't move. I could only see and hear.

"New Marias…" the woman said as she wiped some of my blood from her mouth. "I think I like it here already."

And then she was gone. Good thing too, 'cause my eyes were closing, and I didn't want to think about what she would've done to me when they were. I felt violated enough already.