Not long after I've eaten almost an entire loaf of bread, and told Rose and Jaden a descriptive and explicit tale of today's hunt without its gory details, I feel my eyes getting droopy and sleep fighting its way into my system. Realizing how tired I am, Anna promptly tries to drag me to bed.

"I'll see you off, then I promise I'll sleep," I tell her, holding back a huge yawn.

She glares at me, eyes sparking with annoyance, and folds her arms against her chest. She isn't wearing her usual long dark cloaks which cover her from head-to-toe anymore, but is garbed in a bright golden dress with silver lacing and a deep neck. Delicate chains with intricately carved lockets hang about her long neck, her bright hair is styled in what vampires call an 'elegant' way, with thin strands of hair floating out of her carefully styled bun and onto her face. She is wearing a bright red cape that signifies that she's a royal vampire on her shoulders, and letting it flow gracefully behind her. In her hand is a tiny golden purse which matches her dress and makes her seem all the more powerful. Her skin is paler than ever, maybe even paler than mine. And her canines stick out unnaturally for a human.

All in all, she looks like a royal vampire. And everything she's wearing has either been stolen by my father or me. "If I find out that you haven't kept your promise, I will me very unhappy." She threatens me.

I smile at her. "I promise. I'll just see you off, and go right to bed. Isn't that right, Rosie?" Rose, who has been sitting beside me, admiring the work Anna has done on herself for the thousandth time, nods enthusiastically.

Anna shakes her head disbelievingly, then sighs, picking up the small wicker basket from the floor. "Take care. Please, Kat."

She hugs me before walking out of the room and into the tunnel which will lead her back into the forest. Once she's gone, Rose tugs at my shirt excitedly, her face bright with eagerness. "Kat! Will you teach me to throw knives today?"

I glance at her, and her usually clean face looks all dirty with dark spots dancing on her forehead - a side effect of not sleeping. In this state, forget teaching how to throw a dagger, I don't think I can even hold it in the right end. I shake my head at her regretfully. Unknown to Anna, Rose and I have been spending a few hours after she leaves to do some knife-throwing. Anna will definitely not approve of this because she's against letting either of the twins out into the danger, and although I agree with her, I don't see why they shouldn't learn some fighting. It's not like vampires - if they ever find our hiding place - are going to spare them just because they're children; in fact, vampires prefer a child's blood to an adult's. So what's the harm in teaching the twins - how ever young they are - some self-defense?

It hasn't been more than a few week since I started the lessons, but it's already obvious that Rose enjoys tossing around knives a lot more than she should, while Jaden prefers going underground and learning about the tunnels. And both of them have done an admirable job of keeping this a secret from Anna. Sometimes, I feel guilty, but mostly I'm glad that I'm giving them a way to survival if one day they lose me and Anna.

I stop a yawn with my hand. "Sorry Rosie. Anna was right. I'm tired. Why don't you both spend some time in the Book-Tunnel?"

Rose looks disappointed, while Jaden says, "For the last time, it's called a library. Why do you keep calling it a Book-Tunnel?"

I shrug and smile at him. "Because it sounds better." That's a lie. I only like calling it a Book-Tunnel because both mother and father called it the same thing. Jaden shakes his head at me disappointedly and goes back to his book. Jaden and I are the only ones in the house who read books or even visit our library. The library stands in the farthest corner of our home, and contains hundreds and hundreds of books. Some books have been collected over the years by people who lived here, and some of them have been preserved from when vampires didn't exist. There are true stories and fairy-tales and books which help us out with survival and a huge tome that describes the human history and its wars, poems and big novels with sad endings. Everything. But Jaden and I are the only ones who frequent the library. The term 'vampire' is something I learnt from the books. While most people call them the 'Higher Race' or 'The Night's Children', I read in the books that the people in my past would have preferred calling them 'vampires'. And that's the name I stick by.

'Higher Race' makes them sound like they're better than us - something I refuse to believe they are, and 'The Night's Children' is a term only used by some of us who are too afraid to show their hate openly - I've never been afraid to show my hate for them; but 'Vampires' gives them the title which describes them: dangerous creatures with no mercy for humans; selfish and greedy and cruel.

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When I wake up from my deep sleep, with my head pressed against the hard wooden table, Anna still isn't back - something that gets me worried. While my job of sticking knives through vampires might be dangerous, the job Anna does is infinitely more so. My knife-throwing, tree-climbing skills can easily be duplicated by anyone, but Anna has different skills which are hereditary: her blood, and her smell. Anna isn't a pure human like me or my siblings, but is actually half vampire. Of course, that seems impossible, given that when a vampire and human mate, the vampire normally ends up killing the human through the process - which only means that Anna's mother couldn't have been a human. And the probability of a vampire female being able to conceive is practically non-existent since their body is like stone and any potential baby would die in less than a day. But by some miracle, it happened. I was just a four-year old when a child was found walking through the forest in the night, unharmed and unfazed even though the whole forest was brimming with hungry vampires. It took us a long time to understand why she wasn't hurt while she was walking through the forest, but as Anna grew, she talked of a 'beautiful women' who has pointed teeth, and not long after we put two-and-two together and realized what Anna might be.

Being half vampire doesn't make Anna any less human; she eats the food I eat, sleeps like a human, her abilities are not reduced by sunlight, and she doesn't have a single cruel bone in her. The only thing she acquired from her mother is her smell. She smells like a vampire, and can easily deceive them in the day when their abilities are dulled. And although she has all the physical traits of a vampire with her tallness her unnatural strength and her beauty, she's incapable of acting like one.

And her ability to fool vampires is what feeds us. While I murder vampires and steal all their money at night, come morning, I give it to Anna so that she can go up into the city and buy us food and find out what's happening in the world above. I keep telling her how much better she could do with her powers, but she refuses to have any kind of blood on her hands; vampire or human.

It's an efficient system that we came up with to survive. I get the money, she gets the food and water. And although there are other options, like hunting, it's not as safe as what we do. If there are any dead animals found by the cleaners, they will get suspicious; but killing vampires will never lead to any speculation because it isn't uncommon for vampires to kill each other when they are in a heated confrontation - something that happens quite often with them. And again, it isn't uncommon to find human food like meat, fruit, bread, in their world; not only do vampires enjoy eating human food even though human blood is what keeps them alive, but human food is also required to keep human slaves alive.

It's scary how well Anna can blend in with them. Seeing her in action one time actually unsettled me more than vampires themselves.

I look around the room to make sure that nothing's out of place, and thankfully there isn't. The little devils are sitting cross-legged on the floor beside the sofa, and Jaden is doing his level-best to explain something from the book in front of him, with wild gestures and in his adorably passionate voice. I rub the sleep out of my eyes as I push back the chair in sitting on and stand up. Rose notices the movement, and turns around enthusiastically. "Kat's awake! Can we do knives now?"

Before I can open my mouth and tell her not to call them 'knives', a blond head pokes into the room, making me sigh in relief. Anna doesn't look any worse from what she did when she left, except for the tiredness on her face. She's still holding a basket, but this time it's full. She drops the basket with a sigh. Her hair is a little more messy than it usually is, although it can never match the wildness of mine when it's left free.

"You're late," I tell her, making my way over to her.

She shrugs. "I have news."

"What's that?" I question, picking up the basket from the floor to examine its contents. Apples, almost twenty of them; slices of cooked and salted meat, and hard bread to go with it; huge white hard-boiled eggs; a loaf of sweetened bread. But the major portion of the place in the basket is taken by large, brown water-skins.

Anna glances at the twins, showing her unwillingness to tell me the news in front of them. I wonder what horrors are taking place in the world above that she can't say it in front of the twins - who already know what I do at night and what vampires do to us and have seen their fair share of horror at a tender age.

"Jade! Rosie! Why don't you put away the food in the Storage-Tunnel?" I yell, holding up the basket for them to see it.

Jaden, being the smarter one, senses something wrong and doesn't want to go out of the room to let us speak. "It's just a basket. And Rosie cheated. I'm not helping her with that."

I narrow my eyes at him. "You're not helping her with that. In fact, you're helping each other with settling the food in the Storage-Tunnel. There's also some water, so be careful with it." My tone of voice leaves no room for argument, and they quickly follow my instructions.

Once they're hopefully out of listening range, I look back at Anna. "So, what is this news?"

A sad look comes over her face. "They've tightened the laws for rebels and conspirators." Her face scrunches up with disdain for the law. "Now, any human found conspiring to hurt the Kingdom of The Higher-Race and its citizens in any shape or form will be taken to the prince for judgment. And if the human is found guilty, he or she will face the worst of their torture for thirty years or more until they finally die."

I feel nauseous at the mention of 'torture'. Vampires are known for it, and I have heard enough horror stories of their prowess in torturing humans the worst way possible to wish I never get caught. Earlier, the Law simply stated that humans who are against their kingdom will me executed immediately, but I've heard stories of how the prince treats 'rebels' as he calls them, and I know they've changed the Law to make it more painful only for one reason. "They're scared," I say, "they're scared that we might still fight back, even though it is almost impossible." There's an excited tremor in my voice that shouldn't be there.

Anna frowns at what I say. "You're not supposed to be happy about it! I only told you about this so that you become more cautious when you go around prowling at night to kill them. The last thing I want is excitement from you."

I smile. "But don't you see? If they're scared, it must mean there are other humans out there who are threatening the kingdom! Oh don't you see, Anna? There might even be a proper rebellion. A human rebellion." I pull her into a hug in my happiness.

She pushes me away, almost roughly. Anger enters her voice as she speaks,"A human rebellion? How do you think it's even possible? They're everywhere, and they have covered every single spot on earth. How do you think anyone can even form a rebellion under so much of surveillance?"

"I don't know. But there has to be a way." I argue back.

She shakes her head. "And what if there was one? Do you think a rebellion could lead to any good? Do you know how many would die? We're happy and peaceful now, why do you want a war?"

"Peaceful?" I say scornfully. "Peaceful? Humans are dying every day! How is that peaceful?"

"But we're safe, aren't we? Do you particularly want to put yourself and the twins in danger?" Anger is making her louder than she should be, and her voice is echoing off the walls.

I breathe in deeply, trying to put my own temper under control. "We might me safe. But what if we get caught one day? I'd rather have the chance of a free life than one in which children are eaten everyday. Children not much older than Rose are killed by them! How can you even find this peaceful?! Just because you're safe, it doesn't mean you have the right to abandon others to their fate!" At the end of the sentence, I lose my control and just let myself go.

Anna stays motionless, but her eyes betray the hurt she feels. My words have implied that she's selfish, and I'm not going to take them back, so I glare right back at her, possibly hurting her more. Stiffly, she says, "Whatever you think, a war is not what we need." She straightens her shoulders with dignity, although tears are threatening to spill out of her eyes any moment. "I'm going to change my clothes now." She doesn't say another word as she walks away from me, and into the tunnel that holds the bathwater and clothes. My eyes flit over to where the twins are hiding partly behind the curtain while sticking out their faces, their eyes wide open in shock. When they realize that I've spotted them, disappear behind the curtain instantly.

I sigh and slump my shoulders in defeat. This isn't the first time Anna and I have fought. And it always comes down to this. Anna is not willing to believe that the vampires can be overthrown by us, and wants to live this hiding-in-the-shadows life forever. She doesn't want a war or a fight, and she hates it when I argue in its favour. She thinks a war between vampires and humans will only lead to bloodshed and worse living conditions for humans. But I can never be like her. Spending hours and hours in the Book-Tunnel and reading stories about people like us, people who have been oppressed and killed by a stronger force, and yet have fought back in terrible conditions has led me to believe that a change is possible. Of course, most of these books aren't true accounts, but that doesn't mean there is some truth in them. There has to be some truth in them. And a rebellion has to be possible, even if it feels the opposite. The leeches are increasing security for themselves, even though there isn't any obvious threat to them. Why will they do that, unless they're scared?

I mean to find out at any cost.

Author's note: Hey! So this is shorter than before, but I had to end it here. I don't know what else to say, so please let me know what you think, and don't hesitate to point out any errors, mistakes or anything, really :)

Question: Who do you think is in the right? Katharine or Anna? And why? Let me know in the comments! :)

Thank you so much for reading!

Cyan