On seeing Simon gulp down the liquid, the person stared at him and said,

  "I don't have the time to see if you will survive the transition or die. I am in a hurry and will see you soon," pulling the hand away from the human's lips, the person left the place as there were other things to attend to.

  Simon continued to lay on the cold ground, his body slowly soaking and accepting itself with the blood of a vampire that now streamed into his veins. When the vampire blood reached the core of his heart, it woke his dead self. His eyes snapped open, revealing eyes that had turned red.

  There was a continuous ache in his head as if it was being squeezed, and the screams had turned louder that made him wince. It nearly hurt his head. He sat up, feeling the pain on his neck, and not knowing what had happened, he made his way out of the alley, where he had been lying until now. On his way, he met one of the townsfolk, who hurriedly came near him.

  "Simon! We need to get away from this place. Do you know where your family is? We are being attacked by vampires!" the man spoke to him in panic. The man was one of the neighbours of the Wallace family, who was currently running and hiding from the rogue vampires. "I have arranged three carriages, and we can leave right now. We cannot go save every person, so it's better to save ourselves," he said in an urgent voice. "My family will be using one of the carriages."

  And while the man was speaking to Simon, all Simon could hear was the man's heartbeat. The pumping of blood came from the person in front of him. The man noticed Simon intensely looking at his neck and asked.

  "Are you alright?"

  Simon nodded, trying to gain back his senses as if he was losing it, "I am fine. How do you know about vampires?"

  The man suddenly looked as if he had been placed between the wall and rock, where he pursed his lips for the slip while speaking to Simon. But considering the severity of the situation right now, he said,

  "As you know, we have been getting attacked by these creatures, or in other words the vampires who feed on our blood. They feed on us and our fear. The reason I know about them is because this isn't the first time for a vampire to come into a town. Your father, me and some others, we have known about the existence of these parasite creatures. It is because for a long time we have been trying to catch them. We catch and kill them, because of the few cases that come up with our fellow people dying by their hands."

  Simon, whose head was hurting, tried to understand what the man was telling him over the sound of the man's beating heart. As if to clear his head, he shook his head and asked,

  "You are telling me that my father has been involved. He knew about their existence?"

  "Of course, the Wallace family is one of the early families of Veteris. It was only right for him to be part of it. We have tried to protect ourselves from these beasts, these creatures," explained the man. He then continued, "I think one of them, whom we have been holding as a hostage until recently has escaped and brought in more of their kind. You should hurry and get your family to its safety if they aren't aware of it, or if they are……"

  Simon suddenly started to cough, his knees giving out, and fell to the ground. He placed his hand on the ground and the other on his chest as he clutched on it.

  "Are you alright, Simon? You don't look very good," asked the man in concern, and he sat in front of Simon, placing one hand on the young man's shoulder.

  Simon felt an ache in his jaw, it had started to itch, and his lips parted, taking in the scent of the blood that smelt more than heavenly. He was extremely thirsty, and he wanted to quench his thirst.

  "I don't know what's wrong with me," came the hushed voice of Simon, and when he looked up at the man, the man gasped.

  "Oh, dear Lord! Y-you—" the man stuttered, not finding words, as he noticed Simon's eyes that had changed from green to red. "You have been b—bitten!"

  The man immediately looked at the ground, picking up a wooden stake. He raised his hand to stab the wood into Simon's chest. But Simon saw it coming before the person even moved towards him. He caught hold of the man's wrist, and the man winced in pain,

  "Argh! You are one of them! Kill yourself or I will have to kill you. For your very own sake," the man tried to get his words out of his mouth, feeling the bones in his wrist break.

  Simon's fangs appeared, and the next moment, he wasn't able to resist anymore and sank his fangs into the man's neck until the man's blood in the body had been sucked out dry.

  "Never did it occur that blood could taste this good," remarked Simon, running his tongue around the corner of his lips. "So good. I could drink it all day," he said, with no remorse over the dead man at his feet.

  He then looked at his surroundings and started to head towards the Wallace mansion.

  Upon reaching his mansion, Simon noticed a few bodies that now lay on the front of their house. The main door was left open, and carriages had been pulled to the front.

  Simon stared at the entrance, and before he knew it, his feet started to move towards the doors. He could hear the words coming from the inside very clearly as it had never before. His eyes fell on Augustine, the family butler who laid dead on the ground with a look of shock on his face. A strong emotion ran through his mind, and he stared at the older man's body, who had tried to be there for him in the shadows.

  Bending down, he closed the old man's eyes so that his soul could rest in peace.

  "This is not the time to be taking everything with you!" came his father's words from the other side of the manor. "We need to leave right now, before more of those horrible creatures attack us."

  "Are we not coming back here again?" asked his mother to his father.

  "Maybe tomorrow, or maybe next week, but right now, saving our lives is much more important than taking things that we don't need," replied his father in a harsh tone, who was trying to get his family into the carriage. "Are you all ready?!" he asked his three children, who nodded their heads.

  "Good," replied his father and said, "Now get into the carriage as quietly as you can. Make sure no one notices any of you. These creatures are vile, and will stop at nothing."

  Then Simon's sister, Emmie, asked her father, "Simi is not back yet. Do you think he was killed?"

  "He will join us. If not, maybe he is dead," replied his father with a sigh. "Anyways, it will be his own fault for not sticking near us and his family. For always going against us and spending his time with the worthless ones."

  When the family stepped out of the drawing-room, they were surprised to see Simon standing in the corridor.

  "Oh good, you are back home, Simon. Are you alright?" his mother asked, but her words didn't reach Simon's chest.

  Simon stared at his family, his face expressionless. He wasn't hurt by his father or the lack of concern the other family members showed towards him.

  "You were planning to leave me behind," came the unfiltered words from Simon, and his father stared hard at him.

  "This is not the time to be discussing it. You weren't here, but we are glad that you are safe. We can all leave Veteris for the time being to be safe. Come now," Mr. Wallace urged his family to start heading towards the door.

  "I think our talk has been due for a long time, father," replied Simon, stopping his family from moving forward.

  "Do you even understand the severity of the situation that is outside these walls?" Mr. Wallace questioned? Simon angrily, not liking his youngest son's impudent behaviour. "Stop acting like a child.

  "Maybe I wouldn't if you acted the part of being my father properly," replied Simon, and this time Mr. Wallace glared. He turned to look at his other family members and said,

  "Go and sit in the carriage."

  "Nobody is going anywhere," said Simon, stretching both his hands on either side and blocking their way.

  "Are you drunk, Simon? Is this why you are behaving like this?" questioned his mother with a frown.

  Simon offered a smile to his mother, and he asked, "Do I need to be drunk to have conversations with my family?" He then turned to look at his father and said, "Why? All of you…"

  A sigh escaped from Mr. Wallace's lips, and he said, "We can continue this discussion in the carriage, Simon. Let us go. Now."

  "And I said no," replied Simon. The smile on his lips stayed intact, something no one in the family had seen until now. There was something very different about him, and the members of the Wallace family hadn't picked on what had gone wrong.

  Simon's second elder brother Scott leaned towards his first brother Jamison and whispered, "Do you think we should just drag and take him into the carriage?"

  "Maybe it would be better if doesn't ride with us. At all," replied the elder brother, before coughing.

  But Simon heard it all because of his clear vampire ability. As his eyes had returned to the green eyes, they appeared peaceful and he asked, "All I want to know is why? Did I do something which is why I am always ignored, scolded and punished the most? Treating me like an outsider."

  All these years, Simon didn't know why it had been the way it was, and he wanted to know now.

  "You are being ridiculous," replied his father in a curt tone, and when he came nearer, Mr. Wallace noticed the blood stains on his son's neck. "What happened to your neck?"

  Simon brought his hand to place it on his neck, where the blood had dried, and he clicked his tongue, "I must have ruined the shirt. Apologies for that mother. I was on my way to look for you all, but I seem to have run into one of the creatures."

  Mr. Wallace's eyes widened, and he asked his elder son, "Give me the wooden stakes."

  "What?"

  "Simon has been bit by a vampire. He has turned into one of them," Mr. Wallace announced, and the family had a look of shock appear on their faces. "I should have known that this would happen. You were always the black sheep in this family," came the harsh words from him.

  Though Simon didn't stop smiling, where the emotions from within never surfaced to his face, it did change the color in his eyes. And his eyes turned hollower.

  "You monster," his father accused him, and he raised his hand with the stake in his hand.

  The way his father held the wooden stake, it appeared as if he was experienced in this. And even though Simon had only been turned, and he had drank blood from the man earlier, he felt his stomach had turned into a black hole and he wanted to drink more. When his father came close to stabbing him, he caught his father's wrist in ease, while his eyes fell on the neck.

  "Simon, don't!" his mother panicked.

  But all Simon could hear was the rushing of the blood, and his red eyes shifted to look at his father and he smiled, "Take it as a thank you for everything you have done for me, father." Saying this, he dipped his fangs right into his father's neck, leaving the other members of his family in shock.

  "Run, quick!" Mrs. Wallace spoke with terror on her face.

  Simon's elder brother decided to stay back, being brave and wanting to take down Simon, who had killed their father in front of his eyes. But once Simon was done killing his father, the red headed vampire hunted down every single one of them, whilst leaving him to be the only 'living' person in his family.

  "……I enjoyed hearing them scream more than I expected to. I didn't mean to kill them, but I guess I was just too hungry to resist a free meal, and who doesn't love free food, right? And that's how I was called a traitor…… For drinking my family's blood to quench my blood thirst," Simon smiled, as he finished telling the story, while Melanie stared at him with her eyes slightly widened.