Creatures of the Dark

I

Chapter one : Vampires

Everyone in the room snorted a laugh except Meghan. She pulled on the best poker face she could show, not blinking as the female vampire's gaze bore right into her soul.

"I like her already."

"Shut it, Alys. I could hear the poor girl's thoughts..." a man from the back replied.

All the strong will Meghan gathered went to hell. The thought of these strangers violating her privacy made her upset. In a swift motion, she slammed Alys on the wall, her eyes blazing, ready to devour anyone who gets in the way.

Feeling all the strength and power flow within her, Meghan smirked. But it wasn't long when Alys did the exact same thing, slamming her against the wall, her palms growing tight on her neck making Meghan continously tap as a sign of surrender.

"Gosh, these newborns are crazy! Going after a vampire twice your age like that? Damn!" Alys said, her voice etched with sarcasm as she strutted back to the table.

Meghan only followed Alys with her eyes, looking at her in disbelief as she soothe her neck, realizing she's putting her life again on a thin wire. She knows better than to piss off an older vampire so she didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry about that. Alys can be very playful at times," the blond haired vampire smiled. "I'm Gavin, by the way."

Her eyes widened. "Playful? You call that being playful? She could've killed me!"

"On the contrary, you attacked her first, so she'd obviously retaliate."

Alys laughed. "Can you hear her thoughts? I must've gave her quite the scare!"

"Is this the way I told you all how to treat a guest?" Gavin's deep voice roared.

No one dared to speak. When Gavin turned towards her again, he's now carrying multiple blood bags.

Meghan's eyes widened in excitement. When she noticed Gavin staring at her, she tried composing herself but the scent of fresh blood smells so strong for her to ignore.

Gavin took a step that made her stiffen. He turned his head to peek on the side of her neck with subtle movements. Meghan couldn't help but marvel at the display of his movements, making Gavin snort a little, hearing her thoughts.

"You've met everyone. Now its your turn for the introduction, Miss...?"

"Meghan," she curtly replied, her gaze going back from Gavin's face then back to the blood bag in his hand. "Meghan Palmer."

Gavin nodded. "Meghan. How do you feel?"

"Hungry!" she hissed.

"Easy there. Here, take a sip."

Hunger surged through Meghan's entire body. She hastily grabbed the blood bag, tearing the plastic and downing the blood bag empty in seconds. When she realized she lost her manners, Meghan shyly gave the blood bag back to Gavin, her hunger slowly disappearing.

She kept her gaze down, rubbing her fingers together in embarassment before apologizing.

"Don't worry, its normal for newborn vampires to act like that when they're hungry. Now come, I brought enough bags for you..."

Meghan followed Gavin towards the huge rectangular table. She heard him tell the other vampires to leave before finally turning back to her.

In a blink, Alys and the rest disappeared leaving a gust of wind. She gave him a nod when he motioned for her to sit down across from him, glancing at the old unfamiliar book placed on top of the table.

"You are in danger right now. Once the council members find out about your case, they'll attack. Now if you can recall your last memories as a human, do tell."

Meghan nodded unfazed. This isn't exactly new to her. Vampires are known around the world as predatory species that appears mostly in movies or tv shows. And they can return into being human again through a cure.

Closing her eyes, she tried recalling her past memories but the minute she did, it took all her energy, leaving her body suddenly weak. Seeing her forehead creased, Gavin offered her another blood bag which she politely declined.

"Everything was vague. All I could remember is that I was so drunk so my boyfriend Mikael offered me a ride home... and then when I woke up I was already at Melody Lane..."

Gavin nodded. "There's a possibility that the vampire who turned you erased your memories. That's not good, Meghan."

"But you said there's a council, right? Maybe you could help me explain it to them. I really have no idea what happened, Gavin... I didn't ask to be one of you..." her voice small.

"In your case, telling the council is not the best option, trust me."

"Why?" Meghan's eyebrows furrowed in curiousity.

Gavin was silent for a while. Meghan's eyes widened when Gavin's voice appeared in her head. Looking at him in shock, he only smiled in return. "Now you're aware you can hear someone's thoughts. Later on, you'll discover more abilities in you."

"So there's more to hearing thoughts and super speed? That's insane," Meghan replied, amazement etched in her voice. "But the council... are you scared?"

He winced. "The council is composed of the Coldwell siblings. Rowan, Victoria and Derek and they're the most powerful vampires that walked on this country. They can do almost everything, read and control minds, shapeshift, and walk under the sun."

"We call the council members, Cardinals... They belong to the first tier. Sitting on the first tier means they take control of the vampires from the lower tiers, they make the rules, and serve justice. A Cardinal's job is to keep our existence hidden and prevent our kind from going extinct. They're like the protective blanket protecting us... Cardinals usually don't meddle with other vampire business, unless newborn turnings go crazy."

"Newborn turnings?" Meghan asked.

Gavin nodded, walking up towards the shelves then turning around with another book in hand. "They do not allow any vampires to turn just anyone because their gifts might be a threat to the council, the reason why they hunt newborns."

Her jaw dropped at the word 'hunting', fear slowly creeping inside her head. Meghan tried to shake the fear of being hunt down over being a newborn, trying to think of a way to turn back into being a human when she heard a beautiful voice from the massive doors.

Leaning against the door frame is a blonde woman dressed in classy but seductive black clothing. Her red blazing orbs glancing from Gavin then back to Meghan. "You make it sound so bad. Oh, dear. Stop scaring the poor girl..."

Gavin immediately stood up at the sound of the voice, his eyes remained on the woman, eyeing her carefully.

She started walking towards Meghan, her heels clicking on the floor everytime she takes a step. Her face etched with a smirk as she watched Gavin rooted in his place.

She stopped walking just in front of the newborn, smirking, then in a blink she's now front of Gavin. She pushed him against the wall, hands tightening on his neck. Everything happened so fast when she threw Gavin out of the window, pouting as she pushed the fragrments of the broken window using her feet to keep it out of her way before leaping out to follow and punish Gavin even more.