When I awoke, I was laying on a hard surface. Stretching my hand over it, I felt that it was cement. I took a moment to breathe and slowly lifted myself up to see what I had gotten myself into again, and when it was revealed to me, I gasped. I was in a large simple cell, the metal bars looking out over a massive coliseum. One half formed of cells, the other, loudly booming with the voices of seemingly hundreds. Then focusing in I realized that they were all sitting on large stone seats overlooking a wide dirt arena. All of them were clothed in a sandy gray cloak. “W-where…am I?”

“Oh you’re awake?” I jumped back, quickly turning to see a boy, leaning calmly against the back of the cell.

“Who…?” He interrupted

“There’s…no need for names…they…wont be of use much longer.”

I seemed to sway a little as I stood “Then…where is this?”

He lowered his head “Some kind of organization…this is probably…the entertainment section.”

I glared at him for a second “What?” He winced hearing a woman scream from the arena

“See…for yourself.” I slowly approached the cell bars, and was in no way prepared for what was next. In the arena, was a woman. She was screaming because something had just been dropped into the walled area, another person “What…is that?”

He responded “You should already know…it’s a vampire.” I turned towards him sharply “What!?”

 He walked over to me “Why are you so surprised? The whole reason you’re here is because you’ve come in contact with vampires.”

I froze remembering my mother’s death as he continued “This organization is formed from vampire hunters…and to make sure we don’t let the word out…they find us. Then they wait until we come to the proper age when our blood is the best…and finish us…with whatever game they’ve caught.” I quickly glanced back into the arena, shivering as the vampire grabbed the woman’s neck in one of his claws. “After they catch a vampire they lock them up until their blood lust takes control of them. Then to get a little fun out of killing us both at once, they let the vampires kill us then…” After the vampire sunk his teeth into her neck and had drunken a good amount of blood, he dropped the dead victim, and a shot rang out, which seemed to bring excitement among the hunters “They kill the vampire.”

I watched carefully as the vampire fell to the ground “Why…do they do it like this?” The boy placed one of his hands on the bar “They probably see enjoyment in this…just as the Romans saw entertainment when a lion devoured its prey in the arena…but the next one they have been waiting for, for a long time. I kept hearing all of them talk about the prince of vampires…they said they caught him…he’s coming in soon…that’s probably the reason they wanted you.”

“Next!” A shrill voice suddenly yelled out.

 I looked back at him “Why are you so calm!?”

 He shook his head a little, a sense of dread lingering in his soft voice “I was just like you when I came here…it was about a week ago…I already know I can’t do anything about it. What use is the use of panicking?” I stepped back as two men approached our cell, forcing the door open, we were the only ones left.

One man seemed to gaze at both of us, and then stepped forward ruthlessly pulling the boy from the cell “This one is good.” he said strongly.

I instantly darted towards the man, “Don’t!” The other one grabbed my arms, jerking me away. The boy was watching me sadly, as I worked all I could to break free of him.

I felt my leg make contact with his shin, but he didn’t even flinch “Let go of me!” I shouted out. Ignoring me he forcefully carried me through the door, the boy obediently walking ahead of me. “What are you doing are you just going to let them take us!?” I yelled up to him, but he didn’t respond, the beat of my heart accelerating as we neared the large arena. The dead vampire and human were now being pulled from it through a gate at the far north of it; a richly colored but chilling patch of blood soiling the light sandy ground. I felt my guards arm clenched tightly around me as we neared the edge of the arena. My mind was clouded with thousands of thoughts and worries, but they all seemed to scatter as the guard beside of me threw the boy carelessly into the pit. I froze, my heart beating faster as the door south of the arena opened, a dark creature crawling mindlessly from it. I pushed against the mans arm only to be held tighter as the creature began to speed faster, their quick movement leading to the boy, a sense of an irresistible hunger lingering in their eyes.  “No! Run do something!” I shouted down to him, he didn’t move, he was on his knees now, simply waiting for the bloodthirsty demon. “Move!” I screamed at the top of my lungs, my eyes watching intently as he slowly turned his heads toward me, the vampire grabbing his shoulders. I froze, the last look forming in his eyes freezing me in place, and even as the creatures fangs sank into his neck, and even after his head was jerked away from my gaze, the image wouldn’t move.

I clenched my teeth, remembering that look, it was the same one my mother had given me, a look that told me clearly “I’m so sorry.”  

Suddenly I threw myself into a fit of rage, kicking wildly at the guard’s legs, and screaming at the top of my lungs. I wasn’t about to let the same thing happen to me, but soon my fit was broken as the man tossed me into the dark pit. I landed on a set of rocks, one cutting the side of my wrist, and a few more injuring my shoulders.  

____________

About the same moment, when a second shot pierced the air, and killed my second visible vampire, the hunters seemed to applaud again, my frightened face still managing to angrily scowl at them through their black masks.

 Then as the vampire’s body hit the ground, I was surprised, the guards didn’t open the north gate to take them away instead, a new voice echoed through the room “Now we will bring you, the killer!”  Suddenly a roar of applause echoed through the stadium, the roars quickly drowned out by my worries as I struggled to stop the blood from my wrist but that was nowhere near my biggest concern. Another figure was sitting in the arena, bending down on one knee, their raven-like black, hair giving of a tint of blue when hit by the light.

“We have kept the creature in his cell for nearly a week, one day away from what would kill a vampire, now watch!” The voice said.

I stepped back in fear as the figure neared me. “This is…the Prince?” It was hard for me to make out any details because of the black cloaks that currently shielded him from the blazing flames of the torches. He took a quick step forward, and I blinked once, which instantly turned out to be my mistake. In that brief moment, they speed up into a run, and my last thought drove my immediate actions “I’m not going to give in!”

The figure darted forward and was in front of me in matter of seconds, and instantly I reacted. Jumping back, and grabbing their hand as they reached for my shoulder. They seemed surprised at this but I didn’t give them a second to react; swinging my leg to try and trip them, but they jumped and managed to break my grip from their cold hand.

It wasn’t something a lot of people knew about me, but I was actually a pretty good fighter, I had taken a mix of karate and gymnastics as a kid, and from then on I practiced, usually on the streets with the thugs; that I was constantly drawn to conflict with.

I spread my leg to the right, digging my shoes deeper into the hard dirt. The vampire seemed to react to this; he followed my stance in a way, but placed his hand on the ground in front of him, like a cat. Then suddenly he vanished, I waited for a moment, and hearing something behind me, I swung a kick, managing to hit something and throw it into one of the smooth stone walls of the arena.

Just as I thought the vampire hit the wall, but for some reason, didn’t try and stop himself.

The crowd was captivated, now, and all of the hunters were watching eagerly; this was something new to them.

The conflict seemed to lengthen in time, my heart nearly skipping a beat as the vampire suddenly disappeared again, their speed; invisible to the human eye. I was expecting to be thrown off guard that time, but was quickly surprised as the exact same procedure was taken, and as he hit the wall this time, he seemed to disappear with more haste. This happened only a few more times, and just when I had grown accustomed to it, the vampire appeared in front of me.

I gasped feeling the wind knocked out of me as I hit the wall, the creature pinning me there, one hand behind my back, the other tightly grasping my hand, which was now being held against the wall