The next events that happened seemed to be blurred from my memory. The last thing I remember doing was running from…… something…… or someone. Everything else was fuzzy. “You’re awake!” I turned my head to the voice and too my surprise I found a boy. He had curly brown hair, caramelised brown skin and bright green eyes like emeralds. He looked about my age, which was strange. Why haven’t I seen him before? This town is tiny, everyone knows everyone. “I’m Julian Hudson. I just moved here a few weeks ago.” He gave me his hand, and I took it hesitantly. His hand was a pleasant temperature, it was delicate but firm at the same time. I held onto his hand a little longer than I wanted to but Julian didn’t seem to mind.  
“How did I get here?” I croaked. My throat felt hoarse and itchy as I didn’t remember eating or talking in the last 24 hours.  
“I saved your life. Well actually my brother did, I stayed in the hospital with you until you wake up. I didn’t want you to be alone.” He smiled and stroked my knuckles with his thumb tenderly. Saved me from what?  
“What happened? How long have I been out for? Is grandpa ok? Is …” Julian put his hand over my mouth  
 
“Half-brother.” A cold voice sounded across the room. I craned my neck slowly towards the door to find a tall boy in a black hoodie. His thick unruly dark brown hair hung just above his broad shoulders like curtains. He had an angular face and a sharp jawline. His eyes…. were another matter. They looked like a steel grey colour that seemed to go darker and lighter every so often. He was attractive.  
“You like what you see princess” the boy smirked from the door. I realised that I was still marvelling his beauty. I scoffed and looked away to hide my embarrassment.  
“You’re not my type” I retorted looking him dead in the eye. His smirk grew even wider as he made his way towards my bed. His face was so close to mine – noses touched ever so slightly.  
“I highly doubt that Julian’s your type though. I’m more your type. I know you better than you know yourself. I know what you’re capable of, trust me princess” the boy whispered softly. My lips twitched to say a sarcastic comment back, but I was too distracted by….  
 
“Johnathan! Geez could you at least for once leave this!” Julian broke the silence and shoved Johnathan away from my bed. I blinked a few times and let go of Julian’s hand.  
“What do you mean by for once?” I said looking at the two brothers. Julian’s green eyes flashed to Johnathan’s grey ones. “Nothing” they both said in unison. I knew they would not tell me so I let it slip…. For now.  
“I want to go home.”  
“You can’t you have to stay here with me for longer” Jonathan gave me a cocky grin and a wink. Who does he think he is? Acting like he owns me. Over my dead body! 
“I’m not staying here with you! I will ask the nurse to send me home and she will let me. It was nice meeting both of you but I’m going away from you!” I swung my legs from the bed and stood up shakily.  
“And I want to go to the sun. It ain’t happening princess. Time to accept that” Johnathan held my arm to steady me. He really was tall. I smacked his hand away swiftly and sat back down on the stiff white hospital bed. I laid down on the pillow and shut my eyes. It was the first time I dreamed about somebody….  

I found myself in a small purple-bricked room, with soft bed sheets that smelled of cinnamon and chocolate. I turned over on my back and smiled to myself. I was at home.  
I’ve always liked my little house in the woods. I’ve been living alone since my parents died in a car crash when I was six. I had no other family members to live with, so I got put in foster homes. It was a very lonely life…. A shrill ringing sound broke me from my small reverie. The phone was ringing like mad! It was like it was having a fit on the table, twitching and bouncing. I picked it up and held it to my right ear.  
“GET TO THE PLAZA RIGHT NOW!” The voice cut off with a beep. I rolled my eyes in pique at Chantelle’s message.  
I got changed in about 4 minutes and ran to the Plaza where a huge crowd was gathered around the wooden platform in the centre of the town square. It seemed like the crowd was aphasic and inorganic. I found Chantelle’s eyes glued to the two figures on the platform. She hushed me before I could ask what was going on. 
 
“People of Earth. I am Mephistopheles, son of Lucifer and this here is Dameon, son of the Grim Reaper. Armageddon is coming. My demons have planted the virus to take you pathetic mortals to Hell with me! Where you will all be my slaves. Now, to stop this from happening you must give me the girl with hair as turquoise as the sea, eyes as cerulean as the night sky, skin the colour of ginger and the soul as black as obsidian. Find her and you will stay alive.” Mephistopheles turned his head towards my direction. I could feel his eyes stabbing deep into my chest, he then disappeared in a puff of black smoke. The smoke. The consistency was….familiar. The crowd muted out and the black smoke made its way towards me in slow aerial movements. I felt the air around me tense in anticipation as the smoke rose above me like a black horse. Before the smoke could take me, I heard a shout and a bang. I was then taken into a dark abyss. 
 

“Oh Jehovah Yahweh what have you done!” A voice sounded worriedly. 
“Don’t say my uncles name in my presence. I have done nothing! She will be fine lover boy.” A dull voice called out. I recognised it… Julian and Jonathan, arguing about something? I groaned and shifted a little on the hard surface. 
“Well I’m sorry your royal highness. The Prince of Darkness, the King of Shadows.” I peeked open my eye to find Julian bowing in front of Jonathan. It came quickly that I was sleeping on Johnathan’s lap. Why was it so… hard? It felt like a stone, but yet it felt soft at the same time. I sat my head up and looked at Johnathan. He looked worried and…. Hungry? His eyes looked wild and full of lust.  
“Are you hungry Johnathan? You look weak and faint.” I shuffled off his lap to see him entirely. His lips trembled as he breathed deeply through his nose and twitched slightly.  
“Yes. I’m very hungry. Starving actually.” He stood up slowly and turned his back. Julian nudged me and tilted his head to the door as if commanding ‘ get out of this room now’. He gave me a stern look and pulled me along with him. Suddenly manic laughing erupted through the empty room. We both turned around to see Johnathan twitching and laughing on the floor. His body jerked towards my leg but Julian pushed me back in time.  
“He’s sick! Julian do something!” I shouted, pointing at Johnathan who was still on the floor shaking and vellicating.  
“I’m not sick, I’m mad. Sick makes me sound curable.” Johnathan said with his villainous laughing. Then….. it stopped….. the laughing, the twitching, the growling…… it all stopped. 
 
Julian had taken me home after I had “fainted”. The thing that confused me was how he knew where I lived…. 
As I fell asleep alone in my cold bed, I felt someone’s breath against my ear. 
 “Good luck,” they whispered. I whipped my body around to find no one in my room… 
 
The phrase “ignore it and it will go away,” does not apply when the sky is black and demons are flying out of the sky at 10am in the morning on a school day. This was by far the scariest thing I had seen this past week. I got out of bed and went to the airing cupboard on the landing outside my room. I opened it slowly and too my surprise it was still in there. My grandads favourite pistol and bullets. I took them out and loaded the gun. This was an emergency. A sliding noise made the hairs on my arms crawl in fright. 
 “How fortunate,” a voice said as the window slid open and a hooded figure entered my room. Someone was in my room. 
 

Jonathan. He was in my room. I ran in. He froze as the cold barrel of the gun was placed softly on the back of his skull.  
“So, who are you really Jonathan?’ I whispered softly, my calm voice not matching the shaking of my hands. He huffed and turned to face me with his hands in the air.  
“I was just hoping that you’d… fall in love with me” he said. His voice was so sincere it was hard not to believe him. 
“I’d rather be in a grave six foot under," 
“Then I have some great news for you” he smiled. The playboy mask was back and working.  
“Show me your powers princess” he cooed at me like a newly trained puppy. 
 “My what?” I asked, carefully putting the gun down and turning to the sink in my room. I was sweating all over. I saw Johnathan roll his eyes at my stupidity.  
“The black mist. Use it” he stood next to me and waited for my display. I splayed my hands out in front of me and concentrated hard. I could feel the power surging forward in a quick and deadly motion. I opened my eyes to a new world. 
 
Red. All I could see was red. I looked down at my hands and saw black long vines pulsing out. I saw Johnathan looking at me with wonder and fright.  
“You ah…. shouldn’t play with black magic Marionette” it was the first time I’d seen him look anxious. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. The mist had consumed my body and had made me smile.  
“Who said I was playing?” My voice was deep and raspy. A light had flashed, and I fell on the floor jadedness swept over my body as I struggled to stand. I held the rim of the sink and tried to steady myself.  
“One last time,” I said to myself, ignoring Johnathan’s pleads. One. More. Time. 
 
After practicing with Johnathan, we faced him. Mephistopheles.  
“Marionette stop.” I turned and saw Johnathan reaching his hand out towards me. I took it without hesitation. I trusted him. His hand was cold…. Too cold for a human hand. Unless…. 
 “Monsters are real “- he started, making me sit on his lap –  
“and they look just like people. If you could even imagine where I’ve come from, where I’ve been. You would be afraid. You would be afraid of me”- he paused and looked down at me.  
“I guess I’m asking, begging you to…. trust me. Please?” I nodded slowly and watched him. 
 “I’m….. Johnathan Wonder. The name on the grave. I’m dead, I’m the Prince of Darkness, the King of Shadows. I’m Mephistopheles son. I’m…. A vampire” 
 

The blood running through my veins stopped dead. It was all making sense now. The gravestone, the madness, the mist! It was all a set up. 
 “You… you monster!” I screamed at him and pushed myself off him.  
“I hate you!” I ran. When I left the house I was greeted by thousands of black slimy creatures of the dark. Johnathan’s slaves. The world was ruined. Building burned down to a crisp and people being eaten alive and whole. No mercy was given to these people.  
“Mephistopheles!” I shouted. Looking at the man in the cloak. Hs head spun slowly around to face me. I could hear the bones crunching and the skin ripping as the head turned all the way round. “Why, look what the vampire dragged in. Good work Diablo” his body turned now, so he looked natural again. I closed my eyes and enhanced the power of black magic. 
 
I shot wildly at Mephistopheles. Missing every. Single. Time. I was crying out of my red scorching eyes I had had enough. I don’t know what came over me, but I shot at…..  Johnathan? He grabbed hold of me and held me tight in his grip. 
 “I-I can't stop her. I’m so sorry…” I mumbled into his chest. 
“It’s okay, shh it’s okay. Just breathe in and out for me. You have nothing to be sorry for, it’s all my fault. I’ve got you. You’re safe” and with that his lips where on mine. I gripped onto his shirt and pulled him closer if that was even possible. I palpated a burning sensation on my palm, so I broke the kiss to inspect my hand that was resting on Johnathan’s chest. It was burning him.  
“No” I whispered looking up at him. Tears threatening to spill out at any moment.  
“NO!” I croaked. Trying to get my hand away from him. But he held it there and stoked my head tenderly.  
“It will be okay. I love you Marionette” he smiled and then… he was gone. 
 
The demons ran back to Hell with Mephistopheles on their heels. The world was saved and everyone was happy. Except me. he sacrificed himself. I was meant to die. Not him. I went to the hospital a few times as Chantelle was worried that I might go into a depressed state.  
“I’m fine” I would always grumble to her but she would never believe me. Test week was hard to do as I had a lot on my mind and couldn’t concentrate properly, so the nurse at school let me go home this once. I ran home like lightning. I opened the door and banged it shut. I slid down on the floor choking and spluttering on my tears. I had quickly wiped them away and looked up and saw writing on the wall. I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU. AVENGE ME – JW. It was written in fresh red blood. Johnathan. He’s angry. I wish he told me from the start he would break my heart.