Chapter 1

                                                                      Prey

Mark Layne was a monster hunter. He was the best hunter of his generation, being feared by monsters and men alike. He had no mercy for monsters. 265 werewolves, 452 ghosts, 389 demons. Mark wanted to exterminate every evil monster he encountered. But there was a horde of monsters he wanted to kill, Vampires, 45,614 dead, at the hands of Mark. People called him The Vampire Hunter. But he doesn't hunt the “hot vampires” you see in movies or shows; vampires are disgusting monsters that lie and take what they want. These monsters have long, sharp teeth that can pierce any skin, claws as long as their fingers, and a king that some say even the devil hides from, a king no one knows the name of, but everyone calls him Red. Legend says that Red is the brother of Satan. But see, Red isn't immortal, unlike some of his children; he needs an heir to his throne, but the throne never belonged to any other vampire. It belonged to a hero who would save the world from every monster and vampire. It belonged to Mark, and Red knew it. He knew it before Mark was born and followed him through his life. Watching. Listening. Learning everything about Mark up until his 17th birthday.

“Mark, wake up, we’re going to be late!”- Lucy.

“I'm going, just give me a second!”- Mark.

Mark gets up from his messy bed. His head is hurting from staying up all night, working on his math homework that was due 2 days ago, dreading the school day, knowing his friends are going to hit him 17 times for his birthday. Mark gets up, trips over his shoes, and falls onto his back.

“The day just started, man, can you at least give me a few seconds to get ready?”- Mark blurts out of frustration.

His little sister was growing more and more impatient as Mark sluggishly got ready for the day. Mark goes to the kitchen, his father was sitting at the table eating his breakfast, his mother was cooking Mark the cheesy scrambled eggs that he always eats on his birthday.

“Hey dad, I know you said that I can't drive the Lincoln till I was 18, but can I please drive it to school today, pleeeeeease?” Mark asks eagerly, wanting to drive is fathers Lincoln Continental that he's been dreaming of getting after he turns 18.

“I promise, I’ll take good care of it, and I'll drive safely”- Mark.

His father said nothing; he continued to eat his breakfast and sip his coffee. Just as he's about to answer, Mark's older brother Michael walks in.

        “Come on, Mark, you're acting like he's gonna say yes when I don't get to drive it, and I’m 4 years older than you.”-Michael.

        “You do know where I keep the keys, right?”- Mark's dad asks.

Mark eagerly nods with a ginormous grin on his face, while Michael sits there with his jaw to the floor, shocked.

        “If there's one god damn scratch, you are to never sit on that driver's seat ever again, am I clear?” Mark's father said sternly, yet with a hint of the joy you feel after giving someone a gift they've asked for years.

        “Yes, sir.”- Mark said with the biggest grin he's ever had on his face.

        Mark quickly eats as he grabs the keys to the Lincoln and rushes to open the garage door, while his sister, standing by the door, hears the garage open and runs to see Mark speed off, blasting some niche Stevie Ray Vaughan song off the CD his dad left there from their last adventure.

        “WAIT FOR ME ASSHOLE!”- Lucy said as she started running after Mark, who realised he had forgotten his kid sister.

        Mark waits for Lucy to get in the passenger seat, and they ride off to school, where he drops off Lucy first because his school doesn't start for another 30 minutes. So Mark decides to go for a little joy ride. Still, he can't shake the feeling that someone is behind him, so he looks in his rearview mirror and sees two red eyes. Not some regular crimson red; it was like looking at red you’ve never seen before, piercing Mark's eyes as he slammed the brakes, grabbed his father's emergency combat knife, and turned around to see nothing. Mark stops the car, trying to understand what just happened, and he realises the stories his dad told him while drunk about “The things that go ‘bump’ in the night”, things that scared him, things that he tries to hide from his siblings and him. He calls his dad, hoping, praying, that he was going crazy. The call is long, brief, but still struck Mark with something that sank his heart. That what he saw in his car was The Vampire King. Mark, with the knowledge that vampires and monsters are real, that his family is a line of hunters that have been protecting the people of the world since the dawn of time, a line that he was supposed to break by never becoming a hunter, is left with his whole world changing and shifting as he connected more dots on random occurrences he would witness. Mark is shocked, not being able to catch his breath, and when he does, he doesn't know what to do. So he decides to go to school. Mark parks in the parking lot of his school and sits for what seems like 5 hours, but was really 5 minutes, until his friends startled him.

“OHHHHHHH MARKKKYYYY, WAKE UP.”- His best friend Jack, who he's known since kindergarten say as he slams his fist into the glass, startling Mark as it wakes him from his trance.

“Who’d you steal this from, huh?”-Jack

“No one, it's my dad’s, he let me drive it for the day”-Mark.

“You good? You look like you saw a ghost.”-Jack.

“No, I think I'm just tired, I didn't get much sleep last night because I was doing for Ms Klyns class.

“So real, I still don't even understand what that old bitch was saying.”-Jack.

“You sure you're ok? I can tell something is off.”-Jack.

Mark pauses. He thinks, do I tell him? Do I tell my best friend, who might think I'm Schiz, that I saw a vampire in the back seat of my car, and it has red, dark eyes? Do I tell him about Monsters? About what's out there? What do I tell him first? What do I even say?

“Get in the car.”-Mark

“Ok? What’s up?-Jack

“Do you believe in monsters? Vampires, werewolves, djinns, ghouls, ghosts, zombies, wedig-”-Mark

“What the hell are you talking about? Did you hit your head or something?”-Jack

“No, just listen to me. When I was driving, I saw someone in my back seat, but it was only me in the car, and he had these red eyes that just put me in a trance for a quick second, and he was just staring at me. But when I turned around, there was no one, so I called my dad and-.”-Mark.

“Ok, ok, calm down first. So you're telling me that you saw a guy wth red eyes appear and then disappear from the backseat of your car. You sound schizophrenic.

“Look at my god damn eye and tell me I'm lying to you”-Mark

Jack looks into Mark's eyes, and with one quick glance, he can tell that Mark was scared and worried that something might hurt the people he loves.

“Ok, ummm, I guess I try not to think about what's out there much”

“What?”-Mark

“You asked me if I believe in monsters, I don't think about that stuff much i guess, but i wouldnt be star-struck if there are monsters.”-Jack says as he grows more concerned for Mark.

        “I talked to my dad, and all he told me was to get home as soon as possible, and i dont know what to do because if I go back home, that red-eyed freak might pop out and kill me again, but if I stay here, I'm left more clueless about what's going on.”-Mark.

        “If you want to go home, I’ll go with you.”-Jack.

        “No your not, you're staying here where it's safe”-Mark

        “No, fuck you, you told me that monsters are real, now I'm getting the lore for them because I'll be damed if I go back into the world without knowing how to protect myself and the ones I love, ok?”-Jack.

        “Jack, you know nothing about what these things are or what they can do to you.”

“Neither do you, nitwit. Look, I knew since kindergarten when we first met,        I knew that no matter what, I would still be by your side, no matter what, and I promised myself that, so no matter what, if you're gonna charge in, then expect me right next to you”-Jack

“Your funeral”-Mark says as he starts the car and drives off. The whole drive

back home

Chapter 2

You

The whole drive home, Mark was quiet, and Jack was calm, but he sensed that Mark was uneasy and tense. As they reach the house, Mark senses that something is wrong; he senses that someone else is in the car too. Jack can sense the sudden sense of danger. They both share a look of knowing that something might go down. Mark reaches next to his side to take out the combat knife he had, while Jack pulls out his pocket knife, which he keeps in his boot. They both look at each other, confirming that they were both to attack what danger was behind them. But as Mark slams on the brakes, both the boys charge at the back seat, but they find nothing. Mark slammed his gas pedal all the way down and sped home with such precision that it left Jack in shock. As Mark parks in his driveway, he and Jack get out of the car and head towards the front door. They go inside and are greeted by Mark's father.

        “Mark, did you get home safe? Is everything alright? Are you hurt? Who the hell is that standing at my front door?”-Mark's father says frantically

        “Oh, I’m so sorry. My name is Jack Moretti-

        “Ok, why are you here?”-Mark's father says with a bit of worry in his voice

        “I told him.”-Mark says with more worry in his voice

        “WHY IN GOD'S NAME DID YOU TELL HIM ABOUT MONSTERS!?”-

        “I was in shock after seeing some random ass guy appear and disappear IN THE GOD DAMN CAR SO SORRY FOR TELLING SOMEONE I SAW A FUCKING VAMPIRE!!!”-Mark says, annoyed and panicked, realising he just yelled at his father

        “Ok, ok, calm down, it's ok. Not really, but it's ok.”- Mark's father says

        Mark's father takes both the boys to the dining room, pours them some coffee he just put on the spot, and pulls out his flasks and spikes all the drinks

         “Sorry, I don't drink, sir.”-Jack says innocently

        “Trust me, with what I'm about to tell you, you don't want to be sober.”-Mark's father

        Mark's father grabs a chair, places it by the foot of the fridge, moves the ceiling tile above it, and pulls down a box covered in weird symbols. He places it on the table and fixes the tile. He pulls out an old journal that looks worn out, a flask, a few daggers, and 3 more old books.

        “As far as I know, there is no origin to werewolves or ghouls or any monster, really. But there's an old myth about the first vampire. An Irishman who wanted all the king's riches, so he made a deal with the devil, but he didn't read the full contract, and was forced to die and be cursed with never being able to feel the warmth of the sun, but that's not all. The curse forced him only to drink fresh, warm blood, and when he got his first craving, he ate his whole village. And as he drank more and more, he became more powerful than even the devil himself, who watched his back when he was around him. As more time passed, he would figure out that he, too, could curse others by infusing his blood with others.”-Mark's father

        “Wait, I thought vampires had to bite you for you to turn?”-Jack

        “That's what I thought too, and it is true, my theory is that their teeth are kind of like the snake teeth in the sense that they can shoot their blood like venom.”

        “How do you know all of this? Have you met this guy before?”-Jack says with a firm voice

        “Mark and I and all of his siblings come from a line of people who promised to keep everything that goes bump in the night”- Mark's father says as he pulls out one of the old books in the box and opens it.

        “This is a journal from your great-grandfather. He was the one who started