“It’s simple,” Maria said, “You run. We chase. If we catch you, you die. We’ll give you three minutes head start.” The teenage boy in front of her just stood there, the members of his gang behind him. He was standing tensely, trying to look tough, but Maria could see the little quiver in his leg muscles. Maria flashed him a smile. “Pick a weapon” her toe nudged the pile at her feet. There was a lot of stuff there- guns, knives, baseball bats. “Hey take more than one, take as many as you want. My treat.” There was a stifled giggle behind her and Maria made a sharp gesture to stop it. Then there was silence. The two gangs stood facing each other, six skinhead thugs on one side and Maria’s gang on the other. Except that Maria’s people weren’t exactly normal gang members. The Skinhead picked up a gun. “Chase this” he said, and he fired the gun. Maria moved in the last instant. The bullet passed through her left arm. There was a little explosion of blood and a sharp flash of pain as it fractured the bone before passing through. Maria narrowed her eyes, and waived her hand over her arm, then smiled at the boy wielding the gun. “You are so gonna regret that buddy, do you have any idea how much this jacket cost?” The boy wielding the gun started hyperventilating, behind her a dark figure started chuckling. The leader started shooting bullets wildly in her direction, Maria dodged them advancing on the boy, picking him up one handed, “You better run, boy,” she said. Then she threw him. The other members of his gang started to back away and as if on cue all of them started running into the woods dividing themselves and losing each other in the thick trees. “Can we go after them now? Or do you want to show off some more” an exasperated voice came from behind her. Michael Guerin stood arms across his chest, gazing down at Maria with an expression of boredom on his face. “I told them three minutes, you want me to break my word?” Michael just shrugged. “This is my game. I thought of it. We play it my way!” she yelled. “We’re losing them" a new voice spoke up. Maria glanced towards the trees, only the slight pounding of feet could be heard. “Okay, now!” Maria said, “but the leader’s mine!” There was a chorus of hunting calls and yells from her gang. Kyle always the most impatient, dashed of first yelling something like “Yeeehaw.” Then Tess and Isabel, the two blondes sticking together as always. Max hung back, staring with his cold eyes at a tree, waiting to give his prey the illusion of escape. Maria didn’t look to see what Michael was doing. Why should she care? She started off in the direction the leader had taken, making her way easily through the thick bushes, using her powers to push the branches out of the way. She reached and passed him, standing directly in his way. “Hey there” she said. The boys face was contorted, his eyes huge, and his breathing jagged. “I know” Maria said. “you ran fast. You can’t figure out how I ran faster.” “You’re - not - human” he panted. “You guessed, you’re not as dumb as you look” “What - the hell - are you?” “Death” Maria smiled at him as she leant closer. Placing her hands on his chest, a strange glow engulfed the two of them as she proceeded to suck the boy of his life. TBC

Part 1