The next day, whilst Calla found herself cursing in anger as she hid herself from the sun under a thick blanket and behind a slim tree, a full scale hunt was underway in the town. Three children had gone missing the previous night, without any of their parents knowing. The intruder had come in through their windows and spirited them away and people were scared. Add this to the young boy who went missing a few days ago and the fear was palpable.

Two distraught families appeared on TV seeking help in finding their young children. And one of those families was related to a vampire. They didn't know it, of course, but Lisa's mother's brother was a vampire and he had adored the little girl. When his sister had called him up in tears, Benedict Farrow had been furious. As his sister poured her heart out, he had nearly shattered the phone with his firm grip.

He couldn't move just yet, the sunlight would kill him, but he told his sister he would arrive in the town during the evening and help with the search. Once he'd hung up, his dark apartment felt the full strength of his fury and anger, before it gave way to a small sob.

Benedict loved his niece and she was the one in his family he planned to offer to change when she was old enough. She had the purity of heart that knew she could accept what he was, and that she'd offer to live with him through the ordeal.

He wanted to find her and prayed that she was okay, but here, stuck in Sostine, he could only wait for night to come before making his move. He spent much of the rest of the day calling up and preparing his newborns to help him search for his daughter. Only those with controllable bloodlust would come of course, he couldn't risk them hurting Lisa if they found her.

He had seven under his command, all of which he sired, and he left two back in Sostine who were too young to be of help to him. When night came they travelled by car and drove passed a young woman on the roadside and could tell she was a vampire by her scent. They quickly pulled to a stop and Benedict accosted her with his men.

"Hello?" Calla asked him as he got in her way. With her small size she looked innocent and naive, even to a vampire's eyes.

"You coming in from the Lillypud?" Benedict asked as his eyes coldly glanced over the woman. He put a small amount of compulsion into it as he spoke and her eyes glazed over, the whispers telling her to play along.

"Yes sir." she said as she stood straight and tidied her hoodie. Benedict could feel that his compulsion hadn't fully over taken the newborn in front of him but he had a couple of ideas why.

"You are heading to Sostine?" Calla thought quickly and came up with a story.

"Yes sir, my master demands it." she said with still glazed eyes, the whispers had told her it was a good cover.

"Who's your master?" he demanded but was met with the shake of a head. The woman either didn't know or her order's prevented her from speaking, or so he thought.

"Why are you coming to Sostine?" he tried a different question.

"The master has departed from Lillypud and wants me to set up accommodation for him in the city." she lied without any tells, keeping her face and expression flat. It was a lie that she could cover herself with, she didn't say when the master would be coming.

"Do you know about the disappearances in Lillypud?" This was the most important question for Benedict and he compelled her to answer. She didn't show any sign of struggle so he thought the command took hold.

"What disappearances?" she asked for clarity.

"Ah." he said, of course there would be more than one or two if a vampire lived there. "Two sets of children, a pair of twins and a young girl aged twelve." Calla appeared to think for a moment before answering.

"No, the master forbid hunting children." 'Lying right to your face.' Calla thought with an inward smile. 'I suppose I shouldn't be surprised the kids have been declared missing. Why do humans have to complain? It's not like they can't make more.'

"Very well." he saw no reason to harm another of his kind, especially when he had confirmed she knew nothing about his niece. "You make sure to tell your master to visit me when he comes to the city." He put all his compulsive power into the command and Calla's body seemed to jolt.

"Yes sir." she said expressionlessly.

"You can go." he said as he stepped to the side and his newborns got back in the car. The young woman vampire began to walk passed him and continued on with a dazed look.

Once he'd gotten back into his car and driven off with his fledglings, Calla let out a heavy huff. If she could sweat she'd be dripping, she was so nervous during the encounter but the whispers told her how to act to keep herself safe.

The man would become a problem in the future and he had followers. Calla supposed she had to make arrangements for killing him off as he probably wouldn't leave her be. She'd have to do it silently and bit by bit, no way could she take five or six head on. And the interrogator had a compulsion power so Calla supposed he was a Childe vampire.

Consume. Devour. The whispers spoke soothingly into her mind. Yes, she needed to hunt him. It would make her stronger. She chose to walk at a brisk human pace for the remainder of her journey, trying to look inconspicuous and open to those who saw her enter the city. Especially vampires, she wanted to show she was no threat.

She was a couple of hours walk away and continued on. As she did, Benedict arrived at his sister's house and found her distraught and hysteric. The house was in shambles and her husband, the selfish prick, had chosen to go off and drown his sorrows instead of consoling his sister.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"Hey sis, I'm here." he slowly crept towards he in her lounge where she was curled up in a ball. He had chiselled his fangs down and put in green contacts to conceal his eye colour. His fangs would regrow in a couple of days.

"Ben." she replied brokenly, pulling him into a hug and letting her tears dampen his shirt.

"Shh." he said as he rocked her. "What do we know?" he gently coaxed her for answers.

"All they've told me is she must of let someone into her room, there was no forced entry." she whispered as her eyes stared off distantly.

"We'll find her sis. I've brought my boys and you know how good we are at this kind of thing." he gave her a small smile and she tried to return it, only for it to fall flat.

"Please Ben," she begged as she hugged him. "Find my baby." she broke down sobbing once more.

"I will." he stated resolutely. "But I'm going to have to go, are you sure you will be okay?"

"I don't know, but I'll still be here when you get back. Lisa is more important than how I feel right now. The police...they said that every minute counts."

"They're not wrong sis." he soothed her by rubbing her back.

"Then go," her voice cracked, "please go and find her for me."

"Okay," he said as he stood. "We'll look for her, but you need someone here with you, call our aunt and have her stay?" he offered, to which she nodded.

A couple of minutes later, after grabbing a couple of things from Lisa's room, he ran out the house and gave the items to his newborns. They each took in the scent like tracking hounds, but the air had already scattered the smell.

"I want each of you to comb through every building, every alleyway and street, and find this scent. When one of you does, call the rest and myself and we'll track it down. Understood?" he stated with compulsion over the ones he'd sired.

"Yes Sire." the answered in unison before splitting off and began scouring the town.

It was a frustratingly long night for Benedict as his heart was filled with worry. The first night yielded no results and his compulsion filled interrogations didn't find anyone who'd seen the girl in person.

Calla's night was just as frustrating as Benedict's. He'd specifically asked her about Lisa and thw twins which meant that he knew them somehow. She needed to consume him and his followers but they were too strong united and would smell her a mile off. Calla needed a way to stop her scent so that she had the element of surprise.

Searching through the stores through the night she at last found something that could work. A full body swim suit that was designed to keep people warm in the water. She found gloves and boots of similar material and bought them all. All three sets were skin tight so she could wear them under her other clothes. The main problem she had was concealing her head. Every part of her body gave off scent and her head and hair in particular gave off a strong smell.

No clothing seemed to be helpful for her predicament, so instead she turned her head to make-ups and body sprays.Rubbing a couple of the cream samples from the store into her hand, her eyes took in all the minute details and she saw that it wasn't soaking into her skin. Rather it was sealing the gaps, like a glue, it formed a protective layer.

She took bags worth of the chemicals and found she'd nearly emptied herself of the money she'd saved. The clothing already set her back a thousand and she bought an equal amount in care products.

The first thing she'd done when she arrived was find an abandoned warehouse without anyone nearby, and that's where she returned to. There was a tap with cold running water which she used to wash herself thoroughly to dampen her scent and ensure she was clean. She spent much of the next day experimenting with various creams to see what worked and what didn't.

As she was doing all this, she began to wonder if she couldn't do the same thing to guard from the sun, but the cream would probably evaporate and she'd burn to dust. She'd try it on one of the Childe vampire's followers if she got the chance.

After numerous showers and experiments she ended up lathering her whole body in very thick cream that seemed to seal off her scent. Her hair was dyed and the chemicals made her want to gag more than vampire blood or garlic, no way could other's smell through that.

She then deliberately stilled her breathing, before rubbing the cream inside her nostrils, ears and mouth. Only the whispers kept her from clawing out her own tongue at the disgusting taste. The cream had to be spread completely over her face including under her eyelids so her blinking wouldn't give her scent away.Calla also doubled up her contacts to ensure her eyes were fully covered.

More than once she did wonder if she was a masochist, some of the things she did to herself were disgusting.

Finally she dressed herself in the skin tight body suit and prepared her clothes for the coming night. She had to air out her clothing before wearing it, and spent the second night in Sostine, running around, letting the air rid all her clothes and duffle of any lingering smell from her. She washed down the blood jars again.

She did notice that the whispers seemed to hum in satisfaction when she wore the skin tight body suit. It completely cover her hands, feet and body, all the way up to her neck.

'They really don't like me showing any skin....' she thought sourly. But as time passed she found she was growing to find the idea of complete concealment more appealing. After all was done, she was prepared and now just needed time to scope out the man and his followers. She stationed herself at the road leading into Sostine, out of sight, and waited for the now familiar smell of vampires to roll by.

Benedict's second night had allowed him to find out exactly what had happened. They'd found little Lisa's scent in an abandoned apartment along with the scent of a vampire. The same vampire who'd passed them on their way out of Sostine. He'd had the one who'd taken his niece at his fingertips and allowed her to walk away without a care in the world.

She'd also overcome his compulsion which meant she was probably a Childe like himself and had tricked him. That Calla was a newborn was inconceivable to him.Something cracked in his mind when he found that his niece was taken by a vampire. He knew what fate had befallen the girl and he gnashed his teeth, constantly clenching and unclenching his hands.

His newborns gave him a wide berth, not wanting to take the full force of his anger.

"Get to the car now! I want that bitch found tonight!" he roared at them, and they scrambled to where they left the car. Benedict rode shotgun, his thoughts darkening with what he'd do to that small bitch of a newborn when he got a hold of her. The newborn who was driving ignored any and all laws of the road as he sped at speeds over a hundred to get back to Sostine.

It was three in the morning when the group finally returned, oblivious to the gaze that followed their car as they drove by. Calla allowed herself to smile.They hadn't caught her scent from her nearby position.

'There's six of them including the Childe.' she thought to herself amongst the constant whispers. 'But he probably has more in reserve right?' The whispers agreed with her. She could flee the city but the whispers demanded she be worthy and she fight.

'Worthy? Of whom?' Calla had felt this way more than once or twice. The whispers were trying to make her perfect for someone or something. Who or what it was, she had no idea. But something deep within her told her the whispers knew best, and all this effort would be worth it.

The whispers would allow her to bow before others, to tell self-depreciating lies, and anything else she wanted to. As long as she won in the end, as long as she was the victor.

'Time to scope them out.' she said to herself mentally. She ran her tongue along her fangs and was getting used to the rotten taste of the cream, though she still wanted it gone. 'The things I do.' she sighed to herself before turning to follow the scents into the city.