Emerald

I wake with a start but I'm not really sure why until I see Mollie's worried face hovering above mine.

"Oh, Mollie," I say groggily, "did you wake me? Why?"

She mouths something, frantically explaining in soundless words.

"Woah, slow down," I sit up suddenly wide awake, "use small words so I can try and understand."

I have to focus to read her lips as she explained, "I got up to go to the bathroom... but when I left the tent, I couldn't see Colt anywhere."

"That's not right, he's supposed to be on watch," I start but she just shakes her head.

"No one is outside," she mouths.

I scramble to the door but Mollie beats me to it, unzipping it without making a sound and not waking Sarah. I stepped into the night; I couldn't hear it but I knew Mollie had climbed out after me and was closing the tent behind us.

"Colt?" I call out in a hushed voice, there isn't an answer, not that I'd expected one. "You go wake the boys, I'm going to check the perimeter, maybe he just went to piss." I wasn't hopeful as I whisper shouted Colt's name around the outside of our clearing, I didn't want to be too loud, the last thing we need is for Sarah to wake up and, well, be Sarah.

"What's going on?" Jasper asks, suddenly by my side, "Karl said something about Colt missing, but he can't even predict the weather right, so I thought I'd ask."

"Well he's right this time," I muttered, still staring into the dark woods, "I don't know where he would've gone..."

"You don't think--" Jasper could barely finish his sentence, emotion sticking the words in his throat, "the vampire could have..."

"Don't worry, Jasper," I place a hand on his shoulder, "I'm sure he'll be fine." I turn back to the forest so he can’t see the doubt in my eyes. Colt is our best fighter, and he knows these woods better than anyone, if he was taken out so easily... what would become of the rest of us?

"Captain!" the loudness of Karl's voice made me wince, "what do we do?" he asks more quietly as he got closer.

"We look for him, obviously," Jasper replies right away, "don't we, Em?" he turns to me with uncertainty.

I bite my thumb, calming the whirlwind of thoughts in my head. Where do we start? What if it's a trap? Who would take him? Is he alive?

"Hey guys, Mollie found something," Karl says, pulling me back into the present. "What is it? A feather?" he asks, jogging over to where she is.

Jasper beats him there, picking up the long brown feather and examining it closely. "Definitely Colt," he confirmed and then our heads turn in unison towards the dark woods he must have disappeared into.

"I'm going," Jasper insists after a moment.

"No," I say a little too forcefully. "You and Karl stay here, I need you to watch Sarah. Mollie and I will look for Colt."

"Are you kidding me?" Karl whines, "she get's to go but I have to stay."

"She is quieter than the both of you, vampires can already hear better than us, we need advantages where we can get them," I explain hurriedly, we don’t have time for this, we may already be too late.

"Fine," the boys grumble in almost unison and wandered back towards camp.

In truth, I’m not sure in what state we will find Colt in and I don't want Jasper to have to see it if... I can't even think it.

"Come on," I say to Mollie and start forward into the woods. I keep my eyes peeled, straining to see in the low light. The quarter moon above us doesn't do much to light the ground under the trees. I start to wonder if we'd even be able to see Colt if we passed him.

Mollie grabs my arm suddenly, pointing at a tree ahead of us her hands shaking. I follow her finger but I hear it before I see it.

The sound of earth crunching under foot. I frantically search the woods for movement and after a moment I catch sight of something, a tall dark shape, only to have it flit away into the dark.

I continue forward aways until I see something else, someone else. Slumped against a tree in an all too familiar position, arms and wings bound to his sides with rope, was Colt.

"Colt!" I shout, his head lifts to reveal a cloth gag around his mouth, his eyes widen when he sees me and he tries to shout something, pulling on the restraints. "Hold on, I'll get you," rushing forward, but before I reach him a dark shadow steps into my path.

The shadow had long dark hair, small frame but taller than me, and strikingly beautiful features. Her red eyes glitter at me from under arched eyebrows and the corners of her pale lips are turned up in a smile.

"Not so fast, hun," she teases in a voice like chiming bells, "you'll have to go through me, to get to him."

"Can't we talk this out?" I suggest diplomatically. I don't like physical confrontations. "Like the civilized people we are..."

"Sure," her perfect smile widens as she continued, "let's make a trade! You give up the human, and we'll give you Polly over here," she jerks her head backwards at Colt.

I grit my teeth at the name calling and my hands are balled into fists, "there's no way in Hell we're giving her up. Why are you even going to this much trouble?" I spit, barely even to speak past my growing rage.

The vampire hesitates for one patronizing moment, thinking of an answer, "you know how humans have favorite foods?" she asks, I didn't need her to finish but she does anyway, despite my protest. "She's like fresh cookies to my leader. Like honey to a bee, carrot to a rabbit, a rabbit to a fox."

I have to suppress a growl in my throat as my nails dig into my palms. Anger seems to fill every cell in my body and I surge forward to close the gap between myself and the vampire. I swing a fist to collide with her face but she stopped it mid air.

Her cold hand grips tightly around my wrist. "You're so cold," I mutter, a moment of surprise braking through my anger.

"You're so warm," she replies mirroring my shock.

The moment ended and she twisted my arm around, sending pain down my back and through my shoulder. I swing my other arm around for a flail punch but she caught that too. She spun me around so my back was to her and forced me to my knees, pinning my arms to my back.

"How disappointing," she leans down to hiss into my ear, her cold breath smells sweet as it brushes past my face, "you thought you could beat me all by yourself?"

"She's not by herself," a voice behind us contradicted and I hear and loud smack. The grip on my arms loosens as her body slumps to the ground. I spin around to see Colt and Mollie standing over the vampire's unconscious body.

"Colt," I smile, relieved, "are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"Just a headache," he shrugs, leaning the large branch he'd used to knock the vampire out on his shoulder like a baseball bat. "Good thinking bringing Mollie with you, she was able to untie the ropes without making a sound, the vampire didn't even notice!"

I gave a sly smile, getting to my feet, "I know. I'm a genius." I turn to the vampire, "we should tie her down, not that it will hold her long, but it will give us some time to leave."

He nods and, with Mollie's help, ties her to the nearest tree.

"We should get back to--" I was interrupted by a scream, Sarah's scream. My blood runs cold--as cold as I can get--and I spin around to face the camp, not that I could see it through the trees. So the vampire wasn't alone...