I closed in on the trap, and the hairs on my neck prickled. Somehow I knew I'd caught another vampire, and I was only 10 minutes away from the trap. The forest was unnaturally silent as I walked through the path I had made previously. When I reached the trap I saw the vampire.

He was crouched over, like he had given up on the world. He was faintly breathing, barely alive. Good. I could decapitate him fairly easily then. I walked over to him, till I was two metres away. He looked up and stared me in the eye.

"This is your trap then?" He asked, his voice as smooth as silk.

"Yes." I replied.

"Would you mind freeing me?" He was politer than the other vampire, but that could be a ruse. I would not fall for any ruses again. Not since last time.

"No." I said firmly. I just needed one more vampire to collect the bounty, then I would have enough money to stay somewhere warm, not Britain.

"Why?" He asked, curiousity lining his smooth voice.

"Because I say so, that's why." I knew I shouldn't be sharp around a vampire, but I was annoyed. Most vampires were actually unconscious when I reached them, yet now, I had two who had resisted in one evening. This evening was not boding well for me.

"Oh really?" He said, a small grin forming on his face. "What's the real reason?"

"You actually want to know?" I asked, astonished that this vampire would care. I was letting my guard down, and I had to stop it. This vampires conversation was only to unnerve me, so the vampire would have a better chance of getting free and escaping.

"Nah, I just want to know the real reason why I die by your hands and not someone else's." That'll be the reason. I knew he didn't care. He's a vampire. What else can anyone expect?

I debated telling him for a second. But the I realised, this was his last request. So what the hell? "With your death I can claim a bounty, then have enough money to move somewhere nice and warm. Spain or France say."

"So your comfort is more important than my life?"

"Since I don't know you, yes." I was blunt. I knew I shouldn't be, but what the heck.

"I'm a dead man anyway. Apart from the fact I am literally dead, there's another vampire who wants to kill me over the matter of a small murder." I could hear the smile in the edge of his voice. Another vampire who wants him dead? This one is even more interesting than the last vampire.

I raised my eyebrow. "Small murder."

He shrugged like it was no big deal. To him it probably wasn't. He turned his head to look somewhere in the distance. His stance became more defensive and I was aware of another presence, another vampire. I turned around and realised it was the vampire I had freed earlier. If only I had killed him. This wouldn't be happening, and I could have just gone away, and I wouldn't even have needed to come here, I could have just swapped the vampire for the bounty tonight.

He looked surprised to see me here, but faintly amused. He probably didn't expect me, as it was dark, and proffessionals vampire hunters never hunted in the dark, and most vampire hunters didn't hunt alone, but there were a few like me who did. Solitary vampires usually caught less vampires than groups of vampire hunters, but vampire hunters typically fell out over the bounty of the vampires.

"I wasn't expecting to see you this soon, trapper." He said, his voice smooth and unnatural. "Perhaps you want to be bitten and die, or you just have a death wish." He turned to the other vampire, the one caught in my trap. "I wasn't expecting to see you here. Perhaps you too want to die."

The vampire I had trapped growled, but couldn't do anything because of my trap. Then suddenly the first vampire leaped at me. I took out my gun and dodged the vampire, shooting at the trap. It took one bullet for me to hit the release trigger, releasing the vampire. I knew he didn't do anything in the few seconds I watched him, but he was probably surprised at the very least. Vampire hunters generally didn't save the vampires they were about to kill. I remembered the vampire who was attacking me, and was probably going to use the distraction I had so kindly offered to attack me. Well, he wasn't going to attack me if I could help it. I didn't want to die today, so close to my dream. I turned and shot the vampire who was attacking me in the heart. The bullet hit him, and black blood leaked for a few seconds, before the wound closed up. Although it seemed to do nothing, the bullet was nearly always painful to vampires. Of course, to the bad luck I've been having recently he could just be immune to the bullet and almost every other weapon I have.

"You think you can hurt me with one bullet? You are more foolish than your father mortal girl."

"I'm not as foolish as you are." I retorted, thinking it was witty, but it probably wasn't. Still, he was foolish.

He snapped at me, running at me. But the vampire I had freed launched himself at the first vampire, who almost fell over in surprise. The two vampires fought, white, pointed teeth glinting in the moonlight as they dodged and swiped, baring their teeth and snarling at each other.

The first vampire was beginning to win the fight, having had time to regain his strength from the trap. So I shot him, in as many different places as I could find. Each time his healing slowed a smaller bit, and his fighting became sloppier.

He backed out of the fight. "This isn't over yet." He called out, before shifting into a large bat and flying away, wings flapping as fast as they could.

I stared after the bat, wishing I could fly away and be free. But I didn't want to be a vampire, dead and immortal. I walked over to the trap and started packing it up. The other vampire was looking at the bat, staring till even his vampire eyes couldn't pick out the black bat in the moonless night sky.

I could feel the vampires gaze on me as I packed the trap away. I would check all the other traps tomorrow, to see if I had caught another vampire, to claim the bounty I had been so close to gaining tonight.

"You are... different." The vampire said. Of course I was different. Who did he think I was?

I ignored the vampire and finished packing my trap up. I slung the rucksack I had packed the trap into over my shoulder, the trap was heavy, a dull weight that dug into my bag, but I could deal with it. I've lifted heavier. I looked over my other shoulder, and saw the vampire standing there, mouth slightly open, brows furrowed together in concentration. I could have laughed, would have, had he not been a vampire and a predator who could kill me without a second thought. Probably would, since I've killed a lot of his kind before. Decapitated mainly, but quite a lot of self-defence.

"Aren't you going to go? I freed you, so if I were you, I'd clear off as soon as possible." I told the vampire. I didn't like being this close to an untrapped vampire. Never have, never will. I don't trust vampires, sneaky creatures of the night who will stab you in the back at the first opportunity.

"The first shot you fired was too free me. Why did you do that?" He asked, confusion etched all over his stance. I didn't know why I did it, but the reason suddenly came to me.

"The vampire wanted to kill you. Why should I shoot to save myself when the vampire could easily kill me then you? You didn't deserve to die because I was too selfish to save you." I said, and it was true. I did shoot him so that one of us could survive, and maybe, he could save me which he did, because I would never last against a vampire like him, the first vampire I snared. No mortal could last against a vampire, which is why I used salt water to knock the vampires out before I went near them. Most people would call me a coward, but the clever vampire hunters, the old ones who were actually alive, would know it was a necessary precaution to survive getting that close to a vampire.

The vampire just stared at me. "So you were going to kill me so you could go to a different country, and then you didn't kill me because if you had died, I would have died and you didn't want to be selfish?"

I nodded, my mouth dry. It was true. Confusing, but totally and utterly true. It's the kind of thing that only makes sense in the moment, otherwise seeming nonsensical. Which it technically was, I guessed.

"You're an unusual human. Most would have just left me there without a fighting chance." He told me. Didn't he know, or at least think that I knew that?

"What's the point of this conversation? I'd like to know now so I can clear the hell out of this forest.". I said. I shouldn't be grumpy to a vampire, but this one was getting on my nerves. I wanted to get out of here. Not just this forest, but this country. I'd had enough of Britain to last me a lifetime. Or even several lifetimes.

"You helped me, I'll help you."

"How?" I asked. "Unless you know where my father is, there is nothing you can do to pay me back." It was true. This vampire probably had nothing I wanted. I didnt even want a blood debt, which was the vampire societies way of doing things and keeping promises.

"What if I did know where your father is?" He stared at me, eyes looking into my soul.

My heart skipped a beat. "You know where... my father is?" I asked. I had been searching for a long time, and suddenly, this vampire knew where he could be found?

The vampire shrugged. "He's looking for you. I also owe him a favour, so I said I would search for you. Your name is Kelly Lone, isn't it?"

I nodded. "What's your name?" I was well aware be didn't have to tell me anything, because he was a vampire and I was a lowly mortal. But he smiled.

"Gavriel." He answered.