“Wake up,” the vampire said, kicking her lightly in the side.

Ellie jolted awake, scrambling to her hands and knees. She looked around the dilapidated cabin in confusion for a few seconds before remembering where they were. “What time is it?” she asked, looking up through the darkness at the feral vampire.

“Sunset. Time to move on.” The vampire unhooked the chain from off the wall and pulled Ellie to her feet, shoving a piece of bread into her hands.

“What’s this?”

“Breakfast. I stole it from a town over the hill. Hurry up and eat. We leave in five minutes.”

Five minutes for stale bread in a dark cabin that smelled of moss. Great. She wolfed the food down and sat in silence while she watched the vampire drink blood from a tall glass. Another night of unwanted erotic dreams. When the hell had her libido ever been like this before? The vampire that had taken her captive wasn’t exactly the image of cleanliness.

Long hair. Thick black beard. Skin scored with dirt and scars. He might look half-decent if he cleaned up a bit. She couldn’t ignore those strong looking hands and those thick forearms. On his right wrist there was a tattoo of a small black hammer. She’d first noticed it two days ago and wanted to ask him what it meant, but it seemed pointless. It must have been nearly a week since he’d taken her, and in that time, she’d probably heard him say no more than a dozen words.

A week of long nights full of walking. Silent walking. Following behind him through the forest on the end of a chain. Being led god-knows-where like a dog on a leash. She hadn’t seen the sun in almost a week, what with living to his schedule. Her feet hurt, her body ached, and her dreams wouldn’t quit with their erotic assault.

It had been a weird week.

Several more hours of walking followed that night. She followed the vampire through the forest. Wrists bound in chains, her hands pointed up in the air before her. The metal chain arched through the air several feet until it stopped in the white fist of her vampiric captor. It seemed that she was a slave now. Great.

“How much farther do we have to go?” she asked as they continued their endless trawl.

The feral vampire looked back at Ellie through the dim dusk light, his bright red eyes glowing with fierce intensity. “Quite a way yet. You might as well stop asking.”

Rude bastard. You might as well eat a stake. There’d been little opportunity for Ellie to make an attempt at escape so far, but she sure as hell would make an attempt when it first presented itself. Her thoughts cast back to the initial abduction, and she felt a shiver run down her spine.

“All I want is my mate.” That is what the crazed vampire had said when he took her from the burned-out church. Hand pointed in her direction, red eyes blazing like demonic fire. She’d never forget that night as long as she lived. She’d never forget the terror she felt then, or the terror she felt now.

Ellie sucked in a sharp breath as they stumbled across the muddy forest floor, stepping over fallen trees and dead leaves. “I’m just saying… we’ve been walking for hours, and my legs are starting to get tired. You might be able to walk for days without rest, but I’m a human, okay? I need to rest at some point.”

The vampire came to a stop and slowly turned around. He lifted his free hand to his hood and pulled it back, letting it fall around his shoulders to reveal his face.

Gods, Ellie thought. That face. What was this creature? Who was he? He was a vampire, she knew that for certain, but he seemed to be so much more than that as well. Her group had hunted the feral for the last few weeks, and she’d witnessed extraordinary displays of strength and magic from the mad beast. Her eyes lingered on the thick black hair growing from his head and face. Long, matted, in much need of a shave. The vampire had clearly let himself go a long time ago.

He had the bright red eyes of a Super. A vampire that was gifted with super power and strength. His skin was deathly pale. A moonlight alabaster that seemed almost luminous under the pre-dawn sky. He stared at her in silence, his eyes piercing into her as he stood in perfect stillness. The look rooted her to the spot completely, but it did something else to her too. Something foreign and completely unknown. There was warmth inside of her.

“What’s the matter?” Ellie said in exasperation, staring back at the irritatingly mute vampire. “Cat got your tongue? Why won’t you answer me?!” A glimmer of something appeared in the vampire’s eyes, and for a moment Ellie wondered if it was amusement.

“You really love to talk a lot, don’t you?” he said with a smirk.

“You have taken me captive,” Ellie hissed, putting extra emphasis on the word captive. “This might be a normal everyday thing for you, abducting girls and leading them back through the woods to some unknown location, but it’s pretty new for me! We have been walking for days. We are in the middle of nowhere, and if I’m not mistaken, it’s going to be sunrise again soon. There’s no shelter around and you’re going to be a ball of dust.”

His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Careful human, it almost sounds as if you care about me there.”

Ellie bit her cheek to stop herself from screaming. How could he be so laid back? How could he be so confident? “I couldn’t care less. It’s quite clear that you’re mad. You can go up in flames for all I care, but if you die then I’m left alone out here, chained up with no idea of where I am. If you’re going to kill me then just kill me now, because I don’t want to take a step further.”

It was a bold statement to make, and a risky bluff to put forward, but Ellie didn’t see much harm in putting everything on the line. This vampire was unpredictable, dangerous, and infuriatingly aloof. If she didn’t put her foot down now and get answers, she might be all the worse for it.

A dark chuckle erupted from the vampire’s plump red lips. The sound tinkled through the air and washed over her, almost seeming to make her feel lighter. “Why on earth would I kill you? I couldn’t think of a more terrible waste. I don’t know if you were paying much attention back there my sweetest darling.”

The vampire stepped forward across the forest floor, dry leaves crunching underneath his feet. Ellie backed away with each step the vampire took, retreating until her shoulder bumped against a tree behind her. The vampire closed the distance between them almost completely, stopping just in front of her. He turned his head slightly, examining her with those vibrant red eyes. He lifted his free hand and brushed hair from off her face, gliding his cold fingers down her cheek. Ellie took a sharp breath, steadying her body as she tried to hold his gaze. He leaned in closer, his eyes flicking from her eyes to her lips and back again. The broad forest suddenly felt very small.

“You’ve got something very special inside of you,” he said, his voice whispering like hot coals. “You know why I took you. You’re a breeder. You’re one of the lost daughters that everyone has been looking for.”

Ellie’s heart quickened in her chest as the vampire brushed his hand down her face, bringing his thumb to her bottom lip. She swallowed at something in her throat, suddenly feeling very hot in the cold morning air. A nervous smile flickered on her lips, she shook her head and pushed his hand away. “You’re wrong. I’m not one of those girls. I can’t be. It’s not possible—”

The vampire pressed forward, closing the distance between them completely now. He towered over her as a pillar of muscled flesh and torn woolen clothing. The scent of earth and oak rose through the air to meet her nostrils. It was powerful. It was familiar in some distant way. It was both enticing and terrifying.

Another chuckle rose from those perfect red lips, and they curled into a smile, mirroring the bewitching glint of amusement in those sparkling red eyes. “You are one of the girls everyone is looking for. You have the mark…” The vampire’s hand brushed around Ellie’s side, resting gently on the small of her back. He lifted the back of her white jacket, exposing the bare flesh at the base of her spine. There on her milk-white flesh was the spiral birthmark she’d had for as long as she could remember. His finger traced over the spiral in a slow and delicate movement, sending tingles across her flesh and making it goose bump.

She brought her eyes back to his and held her gaze on those sparkling reds, aware that her breath was jittering from her own lips in short and shaking breaths. That scent of oak and earth rose again around her and seemed to surround her like a wall, heating her, lifting her, stirring her. Her eyes felt as if they were caught in his, somehow bewitched by the swirling red patterns that circled around those bottomless black circles. All she wanted to do was lean forward and feel the softness of that bottom lip. Her head craned, she inched forward feeling as if she was almost drunk.

The vampire pulled away, breaking Ellie from her most unexpected reverie. She squeezed her eyes hard and shook her head, placing a palm against the rough bark behind her to ground herself. “What the hell was that?” she asked, looking over at the vampire who was now a few feet away from her.

“What’s the matter darling?” he smirked. “Never been up close with a vampire before? We’re captivating creatures… or so I’ve been told. It’s very normal for mortal women to fall prey to us…”

Prey. The word sent a shiver down her spine. In what context had he used the word? Was this all just some elaborate hunting game for him? Was there something even more sinister, lurking beneath his words?

Ellie breathed the fresh air, feeling more in control of her senses now. She straightened up and looked at the vampire. “You’re delusional if you think you have any effect over me. I’ve spent my entire life learning about your kind and your despicable ways…”

Another deep laugh spilled from his lips and he looked her up and down. “Yes. I’d noticed from that ghastly uniform of yours. I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that. We’re almost at the northern border now. Your clothes will be a problem.”

Ellie looked down at her white uniform, which signaled her part in the White Order, the vampire hunting organization she belonged to. White trousers, white shirt, white jacket. A black cross was emblazoned on her jacket just above the breast, acting as the insignia for her group. The only other part of her uniform that wasn’t white was her thick black boots. Her uniform had been crisp, clean and neatly pressed a few days ago. It was now wrinkled, dull grey and marred from the dirt of the forest.

“What’s wrong with my clothes?” she asked and looked up at the vampire. He grimaced and looked back at her in disbelief.

“I’m not sure if you’re that familiar with these parts of the forest darling, but I’m not the only vampire out here. Heck, there are shifters out here too somewhere. We haven’t run into any yet as I’ve taken the back route to the North Border. Evasion is no longer an option though. Rumor has it a pretty nasty coven runs the border now. We’ll have to go through them if we want to get out. Your clothes have to go.”

North Border. What the? Had they really come that far? Why had he brought her all the way up here? There were many things wrong with the vampire’s last sentence, and Ellie only had a hundred more questions to ask. She dropped her mouth and had to laugh. “You’re crazier than I thought if you think I’m stripping naked just to voluntarily walk into a coven of deranged vampires.”

“Not naked,” he grunted as he rummaged through the satchel on his side. He pulled out a fistful of clothes and threw them through the air. Ellie caught the clothes despite her handcuffs and looked down at them in confusion. “What is this?”

“Camouflage,” he answered. “Plain trousers and a jacket. Put them on and ditch your uniform. Those bastards at the border won’t touch you if they think you’re a regular slave, but we haven’t got a chance if you walk in there dressed as a vampire hunter.”

Ellie dropped the clothes onto the floor and turned her head. “You’ve got another thing coming if you think I’m putting this on. The uniform stays on.”

Another smile curled on the vampire’s lips and he stepped forward, causing Ellie to step back and press against the tree behind her once more. He picked the clothes up, thrust them into her chest and unlocked the chains around her wrists. “You can change yourself, or I can strip you naked and do it for you.” The vampire’s eyes sparked with mischief as he looked her up and down. “So, what’s it going to be princess?”

She considered for a second that he was just bluffing, but as she stared into his eyes she realized the vampire was completely serious. Stepping to the side, Ellie put some distance between her and the vampire until she could breathe again. “I’ll just… go put these on behind that tree over there. No perving.”

“Don’t worry,” he said with a toothy smile. “I’m a lot of things but I’m still a gentleman. You’ve got one minute to change before I come check up on you. Better hurry unless you want me to see you in your… delicates.”

Gulping, Ellie hurried off to the nearest tree and disappeared around the other side and changed as fast as she could. The distant scent of earth and oak lingered in the air around her and it seemed to carry something unspoken with it. She’d almost fell for it only a few minutes ago stood back at the tree. She didn’t dare to think how she would react when she was wearing almost nothing, with his body pressing against hers again.

Changing quickly, Ellie stripped down to her underwear, threw on her new clothes and re-laced her boots. She half considered running but knew her escape attempt would have to be much more creative. Her captor excelled against her in almost every physical way. Super sense, super speed, super strength. She didn’t have a chance running now, so she didn’t.

This moment of trust will give me an opportunity in the future though. And that’s what she had to do. She had to build trust slowly, and then use it against the vampire when it was most opportune. Taking a deep breath, Ellie walked back to the vampire, holding her old uniform in her hands. He pointed down to a shallow hole in the ground and nodded.

“Throw them in there and we’ll bury them.”

Ellie did as she was told and then grunted her displeasure as the vampire seized her wrists and chained her again. They resumed their journey forward through the forest. They had only walked for a few minutes when the vampire broke the silence for the first time, continuing to walk in front of her as he spoke.

“The story is that I am a travelling nobleman and you are my blood slave. I’ve not been to this part of the woods since this new coven took over, but I’ve heard they’re particularly bad. Stay close, keep your head down and let me do the talking, we shouldn’t have any problems.”

A dim light appeared in the distance before them and Ellie realized it had to be the gate to the North Border. Her eyes traced over to her captive and she felt herself starting to panic. “W-What is your name?” she stammered as she looked at the approaching gate.

The vampire paused briefly but didn’t turn back. “My name?”

“Yes,” she said. “Won’t it look a bit suspicious if a blood servant doesn’t know her vampire’s name?”

The vampire looked half back, his red eyes lost in some unknown distance. He looked down at the ground, thinking something over. “I… I don’t remember my name.”

The statement caught Ellie off guard, and she found herself repeating his question. “You don’t know your name?”

The vampire shook his head in silence. “No… I have problems with my mind lately. That is one of them.”

“Well, you need a name,” Ellie said, looking around at the stark trees for some sort of inspiration. A large black bird loomed in the branches of a tree above them. “What about Crow?”

The vampire looked back at her, his eyes burning with slight bemusement. He followed her gaze up to the bird and spoke the word back to her with uncertainty. “Crow?”

“Yeah… that’s moody enough for a vampire, right?”

“Maybe so,” he said with indifference, “but that isn’t a Crow. It’s a Jackdaw.”

Ellie blew out an exasperated breath. “Okay. What about Jack?”

The vampire considered the name for a second but didn’t look at her. “Whatever. I won’t remember it come the morning. Call me whatever you want.”

The chain tugged at Ellie’s wrists as the vampire resumed their walk. She stumbled after him, rolling her eyes and mumbling under her breath. Who the hell was this guy, and why was everything about him so difficult?

The northern gate approached, looming over them as a towering arch of twisted tree trunks. Two large metal gates towered between the archways, and sheer walls of rock lay on either side. Ellie looked up at the arch, which was studded with wooden torches and human skulls. Fear beat through her and she felt her feet slowing in reluctance. The vampire carried on regardless, only pausing when the gates creaked open. A male vampire emerged from the crack in the gate, flanked by two guards on either side.

“Stop right there,” the vampire said in a cold and harsh voice. “State your name and business.”

“I’m just a lone vampire making his way to the mountains,” he turned slightly, tugging at the chain in his hands, causing Ellie to stumble forward. “This here is my blood servant.”

The vampire in the middle looked them both over with dull, examining eyes. “All those who wish to cross the gate have to pay the toll.”

“Money isn’t a problem,” the vampire answered back. “I can pay.”

“No,” the vampire at the gate said, amusement glinting in his voice. “The toll has changed. We no longer need money. To cross you have to fight. Do you accept these terms?”

Ellie’s captor was silent for a moment. She could almost imagine the wry smile crossing his lips. “I guess I find those terms acceptable.”

“Very good,” the guard said with a dark smile. “Be warned that we fight without limits.”

“Meaning?”

“Our combatants can only leave when the other is dead. Our fights are to the death.”

Silence beat again, and Ellie stared at the back of her captor’s head. He glanced halfway back at her then looked at the guard once more. “Very well,” he said, no note of fear or trepidation in his voice at all. “I guess we’ll play it your way. Let us enter.”

The guards slipped back behind the doors, which opened out into the forest, groaning on their ancient bearings as they swung open. They walked forward through the skull-studded archway into the dark path beyond the gate. Ellie swallowed as she heard the giant doors closing behind them.

Something told her this hadn’t been part of her captor’s plan.