Rowen had not had many dealings with vampires before, but those encounters he had experienced were not ones he cared to remember. The most haunting experience had occurred when he was still very young. Five to be exact.

“Why aren't you going to work today, Mommy?”

“Mommy has... uh... a little time off, Rowen” said his Mom. She smiled an awkward smile, trying to appear normal to her son, and at the same time catching her breath.

She ran around the kitchen stuffing food into a large bag.

“So what are we going to do today Mommy?”

“Well... I thought we'd go for a... a... picnic, yes, that's it, a picnic!”

Even as she said it, her eyes were beginning to well up with tears. She knew what was coming.

“Ok Mommy. Should I go fetch Brother?”

“NO! NO! ... um, no Rowen, that's ok. Let's just leave him here for now.”

A scene flooded her mind. The quiet, peaceful looking image of her youngest son lying in bed, a small smile on his face... his blankets soaked in red...

They half walked half ran out the front gate and up the winding dirt road leading from their house on the edge of town into the countryside, the small village behind growing ever smaller. Rowen hadn't yet noticed the look on his mothers face. Six small figures on the horizon descended on what had been their home. Fangs bared.

“Um, Rowen. Mommy needs to go see something quickly over that hill. Be a good boy and go sit over there behind that tree while I...”

“Can't I come with Mommy?”

“Tell you what. Let's play a game of hide-and-seek. I'm on. Now you have to run and hide until I find you.”

“Ok, here I go!”

Rowen turned round and started running towards a large clump of bushes at the foot of a nearby hill.

“Rowen, wait!!”

Rowen's mother ran up to him and lifted him off the ground, hugging him to herself while tears spilled down her face. She could barely contain the sobs wrenching themselves from her throat.

“What's wrong, Mommy?”

“Nothing dear. You just go hide. Mommy's coming to get you now.”

As Rowen ran back to his hiding place, he dared a peek around to look at his mother walking in the opposite direction. A few hundred meters to her right were a group of people seemingly headed in the same direction. He faced forwards again and jumped behind a bush, ready to play.

After a minute or so he heard it. An ear splitting scream filled the air. He looked up to see his mother lying on the ground with the six figures surrounding and suppressing her flailing limbs as the male figure bent down at her neck. The screams quickly turned to giant sobs, fading slowly to silence. As soon as the noise stopped, the figures all stood up and looked straight at Rowen.

Immediately he ran towards the hill, and up the hill, and over the hill, not stopping until he was completely exhausted.

Later that day he returned to witness the massacre of his home, his village, his mother, his brother... his life.

He had no love for vampires.