Playing With Fire by Jordan Mendez

superior to humans; which in my eyes is
bull. No one is better than anyone else, no matter what. Every life has some
kind of value, even homeless scum like my brothers and I. Hell, even flies do,
though I don’t know how, but I’m pretty sure they do.
    The
vampire got up from the ground and brushed off his silver garbs. He wiped the
blood from his neck and licked it off his fingers. I looked at him in disgust.
    “Don’t
blame me,” he said looking at me with hurt eyes. “If I had things my way, I
would still be human.”
    “It’s
still disgusting,” I said. The vampire rolled his eyes and offered me a hand.
    “My
name is Gabriel,” he said while offering his hand to me. I returned his warm
gesture with an icy stare.
    “Scarlet,”
I hissed in response. He drew back his hand quickly, as though I would bite
it—again.
    “So
what do I have to do to get in there?” I asked impatiently. Gabriel smiled.
    “I
have a secret way,” he replied mischievously. “No one in the castle knows about
it except for me, so we won’t be bothered by anyone, not even the rats.”
    He
gestured for me to follow him as he walked away from the clearing with the
castle. I took one long last look back at it.
    “I
promise, I’ll save you guys, or die trying,” I said aloud to make it a solid
promise, though they wouldn’t be able to hear me. I was going to leave this cursed
forest with every last one of my brothers, or die here with them.
    I
followed the vampire through the dense corpse trees. A distant howl cut through
the air. I didn’t flinch, let alone acknowledge it. I kept a dead set pace with
a dedicated mind. I didn’t even care that I was following a vampire into a dark
place where no one could hear me scream.
    Soon
enough, Gabriel stopped. He stomped around on the ground all around him until
instead of a small thud coming from each stomp, the sound of something hollow
being hit came to both our ears. Gabriel turned to me and smiled.
    He
crouched to the ground and brushed dirt away. A small circular handle appeared
and he lifted it to reveal a trap door leading into a dirt tunnel. There were
hardly any supports in the tunnel, and it looked like it could collapse any
second, but I hopped into the black abyss almost the second Gabriel revealed
it. Gabriel hopped down after me, and closed the trap door behind him.
    I
had prepared to light the way with my fire, but as soon as the trap door closed
I saw that there was no need. Strange blue stones illuminated the dark tunnel.
The light they gave off was hardly enough to see by, but it didn’t matter to
me. I started walking when a firm hand fell onto my shoulder.
    “That’s
not a good idea,” Gabriel’s deep voice said from behind me. “Since this tunnel
is natural there are also natural trenches in here, so I should lead the way,
because I know these tunnels by heart.”
    I
let him pass in front of me to lead the way without a fight. I didn’t really
care to be honest. If the vampire wanted to fall down a trench and die first,
it was cool with me. That would actually be a good thing. I’d know where not to
step after that.
    The
vampire’s white skin glowed blue in the faint light. I followed the leech for
about five steps when questions popped into my head.
    “Hey,”
I said trying to get his attention. He cocked his head back to look at me but
didn’t stop walking. “If you’re a vampire, why are you showing me the way into
your queen’s castle?”
    “Because
I’m hoping you’ll kill her,” he answered casually. I was even more confused
then.
    “Um,”
I started, dumbfounded. “Why exactly?”
    “Because
she’s an evil hag,” he said while looking at me again. If I had to guess, then
I would have guessed that I had a very confused face on at that point. “You
wouldn’t understand. I’ve been waiting for a chance like this for nearly a
thousand years.”
    “But
she’s your queen, shouldn’t you be all about protecting her?” I asked. I would
assume