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Prologue . . . (Part One)

I look around myself, my six closest friends, and the fifty others surrounded me as we walked. It was necessary for us to walk where we were going, for it would have attracted too much attention if we had flown, plus where we were headed was the largest area provided for us to take off, unseen.
We were the last of our kind, the children of vampires that could walk in both the day and the night. We were leaving to go to a school for humans, to continue our education, in the guise of humans. We Romanians were being hunted, and to prevent exposure to ourselves, we were not told where we were flying, but to follow our strongest, my father, as he lead us across the ocean to a new land where we would grow and be safe.
Our parents were proud of us, to say in the least. They wanted us to be free, and not hunted like them. When we grew to our full adulthood, at age twenty-five, we would have to decide what we wanted. A life as a vampire, or a life as a human. Normally, we chose the latter. But not all of us had a choice, we became one, or the other, or stayed as we were, half and half, without a true form.
I could see my father now, though he was about five miles ahead. Thanks to our parents being vampires, or a vampire and a human, we all had heightened senses. Most with vampire parents had better senses then others, and it was said, that having only one vampire parent dulled them compared to the pure blooded vampire young, but I disproved that, by having a human mother and a vampire father. Most people just said that my excessively heightened senses was from my father, who is said to be the strongest vampire for five straight centuries.
My mother was his fiftieth wife, and the one he's loved the most. And the only one that he's reproduced with.
As we entered the area I could see all the take off places, all built for five. But, as we were an odd number, fifty-seven there would only be eleven groups of five taking off, while I flew with James, who couldn't walk due to an accident when he was young, and could hardly fly. We would be taking off last, and following our other five friends, who would be taking off thirty minutes before us, who would be following all the groups that would be following my father.
We, my six friends, and I found a small area and sat down, near my father. He smiled warmly at me, his face ruff and handsome. He had long black hair, that went past his shoulders, the style of the men and boys for Romanians. He was tall, nearing six-eight, in height. His shoulders were broad and strong, and he was a wonderful fighter, with his honed muscles. Tonight he was dressed in a pair of black leather pants, and no shirt or shoes. I could feel some of the Romanian females, my age and younger, swoon, but my father gave no notice for he wasn't interested.
"Children, and young adults! We are here tonight to make a journey across an ocean and land to a school where you all can learn and be safe. You will be arriving a week early, to get your bearings and learn how to get around, as well as to how things are done. In your rooms, there will be a map provided for each of you telling you where to go if you need something. There will be a place for you all to go when in heat, and choose not to mate, a place to go where in heat when you choose to mate, a place, if need be, for you to give birth, and a place for you to feed on the blood you will need once a month." My father stopped talking and looked around, his blue eyes blazing, his jaw set. He was always firm with us, even me, but he was only that way because he wanted me, and the rest of us to be strong. Not just for ourselves, but for each other.
"Now, it is time for us to fly, the four of you that are coming with me, for the first take off, come now. The next take offs, make sure you are where you need to be ten minutes before you leave. That leaves the second group twenty minutes to do what they need to before they need to be ready to leave."
The four youngest Romanians stood up with my father, each around the ages of eleven, but looking like they were nine. While I, at age twenty-four, looked as if I were eighteen, but I passed off at seventeen, as did my six other friends.
I watched as they took off, not really interested. My dad would make sure that they would be alright, thats another reason why he was here, to make sure the younglings would make it to safety, so they were all to leave first.
I then turned to my friends, who were the oldest, like myself, and tired to think of something to say, to loose the silence.
"Miranda?" said James, I looked at him, he looked so fragile in his wheel-chair. Only I, besides the Order, and his parents know what happened to him. His 'child-hood accident' is one of the reasons for us to leave, most especially him.
He had been playing outside with his puppy, only ten years old, but appearing to be around the age of two or three, when he had grabbed his puppy and sunk his teeth in its neck and attempted to drink its blood. Some older kids, around the ages of ten and eleven saw this and didn't like it. They wanted to 'teach' him a lesson. They beat him with bats, breaking his legs, causing them to be paralyzed, along with other medical problems that vampire blood could not fix, or could human medicine.
"Yeah?" I asked, already knowing what he was going to say.
"Thank you for flying with me, I know you rather be able to fly and spread your wings, instead of watching a retard like me try not to fall." said James, looking down at his hands which were fiddling with a piece of twig. I placed my hands on his.
"You know I have no problem flying with you. You have nothing to thank me for anyways." I said, knowing that those words meant a lot to him, even if he didn't show it.

Prologue. . . (Part Two)

Five ours later, there were only two groups left, my six friends and I. They were to leave in little less than half an hour. I was already tired, having gotten up when the sun set, at around nine thirty at night. It was going to get light in a few hours, the trip would take at least one. I was starting to worry about my father. Would he have somewhere to go when the sun had risen? Sure, we'd all be fine, but my father chose the life of a full fledged vampire, he could not withstand the sun anymore, one of the downsides of becoming one.
I shouldn't worry, he'd be fine, and have something already set up ahead of schedule. That was his nature, I was just worrying over nothing.
"Time to go." whispered Talula, she stood up, along with the other four, and dusted off her jeans. I watched as they made their way to one of the many take off spaces, two in front, one in the middle, and two in back. It only mattered then, before you took off, where you needed to be, so there was room for everyone to transform. It would work a little differently for me and James, but not much, he needed more space because of his handicap, instead of standing, which was custom, he would be laying on a platform, on a specially built take off ramp for us, which would throw him in the air, where he would transform and fly, then I would fly beneath him, to make sure that he wouldn't fall.
I am always amazed at how beautiful the process of transforming is. I couldn't keep my eyes off of my friends as they transformed and took off, I could watch them for about ten miles if I chose too, but decided not to, so I directed my attention to James, who was looking towards them with a depressed expression on his face.
"You okay?" I asked, knowing already what the answer would be. He nodded his head solemnly, then looked at me, a fake and pathetic smile on his handsome face.
"We're up, in less then half an hour. You ready?" He sighed before answering me.
"As ready as I'll ever be. I'm glad we're going last, so if I fall not many people will see me embarrass myself." he said, looking at the stars.
"Your attitude sucks." I said, not paying attention to my tone, but to my surprise, he started to laugh, a true laugh.

Prologue . . . (Part Three)

It was time to go. I was getting excited, I hadn't flown for a few days and I was aching to spread my wings.

I stood on the right in the front, while James was helped out of his chair and placed in the middle.

I felt warmth flood over my body as my bones shifted and I grew smaller. When I was young it was painful to change, but then that was because I wasn't old enough, my body couldn't take the pain, but now was different, it was pleasurable to change.

I felt myself being shot into the air, felt it swirling around me. I opened my eyes and found myself hundreds of feet in the air. I lowered myself a few feet so that I was under James, in case he lost control of his wings.

I could see our friends ahead, though they were miles away. We all were going to need blood after this long flight. But since I didn't know how long it was, I had to reserve my energy, and so did James. If something happened to James, I'd have to double my strength to carry him across the ocean we were flying over, and need more blood then everyone else, minus the younger Romanians who aren't used to flying great distances.

(That better?)