Chapter 3 — RED AND GOLD ROBES.

A black minivan was parked in the garage beside the house. Jhan started the engine and Jereum mounted the front seat.

Leya sat beside me. The thirteen years old could have passed for an eight year old because of her childish character.

Jereum told me that he was a hundred and three, Tia was sixteen when she was impurified but she had lived for seventy-seven years and Jhan was a hundred and sixty

My introduction to the higher court was kept simple. Vampires whispered amongst each other as I was announced to be a Supreme. I was yet to discover what that meant.

The building of the higher court was a large white manor with broad deep underground compartments. The higher court were made up of table of vampires. They looked no older than thirty, one of them even looking to.be about Leya's age.

The clans that were assembled in the large underground hall wore identical clothing. My clan wore brown jackets; Tia's was a very short croptop like jacket. Leya wore a brown raincoat, Jereum wore a handless brown jacket.

Several red robed vampires stood at either side of crescent shaped table the higher court vampires sat at. Khan had told me they were called adjudicators and they served the roles of police for the vampire world. The introduction was simple, I was announced to the gathered crowds as a Supreme which drew chattered murmurs from the vampire clans.

It made my heart skip everytime a vampire pointed and stared as we pushed our way through the crowd. Jereum just threw cold glares at anyone who came too close. The adjudicator had inscribed a circle with a diagonal slash running through it with a knife dipped in holy water into my left shoulder. Normally my wounds would heal without a mark but this time the inscribed mark healed with a scar.

I had been subconsciously kneading the the slightly sore area since we left the building.

"It'll take a while but the pain will soon go away."

Tia had been staring at me since I first saw her. Sometimes I tried to ignore her gawky stares but it was becoming more and more difficult with every passing day.

"Here let me help..."

She didn't give anytime to object before grabbing my arm and slowly massaging my shoulder with her cold fingers. Tia had taken a strange interest in me, I had first noticed it at the time she told me to stay with her in her room. Whether she was just being nice in had no idea.

The ride was mostly silent. Tia’s eyes were steady on my face throughout the massage. She leaned in a little, taking her fingers higher up the length of my arm.

A red car passed in the opposite direction. At the speed the driver was moving at it had only lasted a second but that was enough.

I had got every detail of her face. Her bright blue eyes, golden blonde hair, smooth skin. I had seen it all in that second.

It was the stranger I had talked to. It was Dawn. I could almost perceive her sweet scent. She had a car, a red car. I would meet her tomorrow in secret when the others were out. I would talk to my mate.

With a sudden loud thump, the minivan spun shortly before screeching to an abrupt stop; throwing Leya forward, and Tia to the left, making her shoulder crash into mine. I heard Jereum curse angrily a few times and then I heard Jhan trying to calm him down.

"Is everyone okay?" Jhan asked. His voice surprisingly calm.

‘Did we get hit or something? Did the brakes fail?’

"All good." Tia confirmed as she pulled herself from me. Leya just looked vaguely dazed by the whole accident.

I heard the front door open and in a flash, Jereum was out of the car, bellowing curses at some figures a distance away.

"What's going on?" I asked to no one in particular. My heart was pounding and I did all I could to suppress the fear in me but I was already finding it difficult to breath.

"Tia!? What's going on?" I asked in a controlled voice.

She hissed, "It's the dalaz boys." ‘Or at least that's what I heard.’

I looked through the right side window—the car had swerved sideways. I easily spotted about seven figures and an angered Jereum drawing closer to them with every curse he threw. The street lamp that shun above, casted gloomy shadows around them. They stood beside each other, giving only about a meter of space between themselves. They hung their hooded heads low, their hands held at their sides wielding wooden stakes.

"They’re an all males clan, their leader had a conflict with Jhan a while ago now they won't let us use their side of town to get to the higher court. And this is the shortest route."

Despite their weapons Jereum still closed in, as if they were unarmed.

"They’re holding weapons, why won't he stop? Can't they hurt him?" But nobody seemed to pay any attention to what I was saying.

"They’re young, Jereum can handle them," Tia said, but I wasn't convinced. The odds of the situation if it excavated into a fight did not seem to be in Jereum's favour. And this was not a friendly encounter.

I couldn't just sit by and let this happen. I pushed open the door towards Tia side and hopped onto the tarred road. I heard Tia call after me but I was already closing in on Jereum. The air was chilly—compared to the warmer air in the minivan. Jereum was very close to the tyrant in the middle now—only about a meter of space between him and the black dressed bandit.

"You tyrants better get you Abnormal asses off this road before I tear you to SHREADS!!!" His voice suddenly became inhumane.

He took a quick leap forward, launching the sole of his boot into the mid-section of the unfortunate that was front of him.

The hooded figure went tumbling back towards the ground and finally stopped after a few meters of painful rolling. It surprised me greatly. The attack—which looked like a simple kick—sent the person tumbling a great deal through the air before finally trashing himself and rolling over against the tar.

One of the tyrants—one to the left—tried in an attempt to stab Jereum with the wooden stake he held... But failed; Jereum caught his hand by the wrist, lifting the tyrant off the ground and threw him with an incredible force against the building to the right. The tyrant slammed into the concrete walls, breaking off parts of it on collision, and dropping to the ground.

I was amazed by his unexpected skills. Maybe this was the reason the others didn't even bother. Jereum should have been a master combatant.

          The remaining five that were still on their feet hissed at him as they took cautionary steps back. All their pupils seemed to be giving off a reddish glint and I could see their prolonged canines.

What happened next all happened so fast; one of the tyrants conjured a small phial bottle. The tyrants threw the bottle at Jereum's face. The bottle shattered on Jereum's face and immediately the skin on his face started to burn. Jereum fell to his knees and let out an ear deafening shriek, clutching at his melting face.

One of the tyrants sent a big boot into Jereum's chest which sent his head slamming into the tar—cracking the solid ground. The tyrant swung the stake back and then brought his hands crashing through the air and towards Jereum's chest.

My heart raced as I watched in horror, I clenched my fists as angered filled my veins.  In a crack I sped towards the assault it was like I had warped through space and just somehow teleported in front of the tyrant. I pushed him back with a strength I didn't even know I had. The tyrant was thrown into the air, soaring about fifty meters back.

"Woah!" I exclaimed.

I let out a grunt in agony as a sharp pain lanced through the spot between the base of my neck and my left shoulder.

"Argh!" I screamed. I looked at the area and I saw the latter of a stake that had pierced so deeply into my body. The skin around the stake started to burn. A beast-like power spawned in my chest and it was banging to be released on them.

I looked at the rest of them. The red glint in their eyes was gone and all I could see in place was... Fear.

"What are you?" One of them asked.

"Can he be a Su-supreme?"

At that point I was filled with so much rage my thinking seemed to be clouded.

"WHO DID IT???" I bellowed, sending my first to another’s face, and I heard his nose crush.

A loud cracking sound came from behind me and a sudden powerful force sent me tumbling backwards. I slid across tar, ripping and breaking a path as I scythed backwards.

I was almost dazed; it was a struggle to get back my on feet and now there was only one thing on my mind; to rip apart whoever had hit me. I saw the others; Tia, Leya and Jhan. They were out of the car and approaching my assailant; Jhan was mouthing something to me but the rage that filled me clouded my sense. My attacker was dressed in a red robe with golden embroidery designs and hood over his or her head.

I jumped at the hood, everything had paused all around me or was just moving too slow.

I was speeding through the air with my fist outstretched. I was only about an inch away from victory but then... The vampire turned around with an incomprehensible speed, getting below me and grabbing me by the jacket. Pulling, throwing and sending me with my own velocity head first into the hard cold tar. My head smashed into the ground. At this point I did not know which direction was up or down.

I heard the rush of footsteps approaching me and then I felt the gentle pull as someone pulled me by the hem of my jacket.

“Keep your alpha in check, or I will!”

“My apologies adjudicator, he is young.”

I heard a scoff before the snap of a crack.

My vision was clearing and I realized that it was Jhan who was carrying me. I felt a strange hate for him, the memory flashes I had of this very vampire killing my family were becoming more frequent and it only enraged the instinct I had in me to figure out who I was as a human.

I still needed to know why Jhan had killed my family.