Haven clenched his teeth and kicked his leg against the massive creature’s shin, but to no avail. A growl issued from the vampire’s mouth. Behind him, Haven caught sight of his mother getting up, moans of pain coming from her mouth. But her face looked determined, and her lips mouthed a spell.

“Night bring day, day bring night, help the small, and …”

The vampire twisted Haven’s wrist, wrenching the stake from his clenched fist. It clattered to the floor, rolling out of reach. Then the vampire released him. Spinning around, he reached into his jacket and pulled out a knife. “You stupid witch!” he snarled. “I was gonna let you live.”

Undeterred, Haven’s mother continued chanting, “… tall, and give them might …”

Haven launched himself at the vampire from behind, trying to wrestle the knife from his hands, but his opponent jabbed his elbow into the soft muscles of Haven’s untrained stomach and shoved him to the floor. When Haven looked up, he only saw the flick of the vamp’s wrist as he released the knife to find its target.

A startled shriek interrupted his mother’s chants. The knife had hit her in her chest. As she tumbled to the floor, blood staining her white apron, Haven scrambled to get closer, but the vampire blocked his approach.

“Haven,” his mother’s strained voiced cried out. “Remember … to love….”

“No! You bastard!” Haven screamed. “I’ll kill you!”

But before he could do anything, the cry of a baby filled the house. Katie.

The vampire’s head spun toward the hallway. Then a self-satisfied grin spread over his mouth. It did nothing to alleviate the ugliness of his visage. “Much easier,” he proclaimed. “As if I wanted to burden myself with the likes of a troublesome little boy.”

“No!” Haven screamed, realizing he was going after Katie. The vampire had said that all he needed was one of them.

The vampire stampeded out of the kitchen and down the hall. Haven ran after him, picking up a broom that leaned against the wall. He cracked the handle over his knee and gripped the shorter end like a stake.

When he reached the hiding place beneath the stairs a few seconds after the bloodsucker, Katie’s wails mixed with Wesley’s panicked squeals.

“Help! Haven, Mom, help me!”

The vampire yanked the little bundle that was Katie from Wesley’s arms and pressed her to his chest, while he held Haven’s struggling little brother off with one hand. Wesley’s attempts at boxing the vampire in the stomach were futile—his tiny fists did no damage to the creature.

“Stop, you little idiot.”

Neither Wesley nor Haven listened to the vampire’s command. Instead, he jumped, his makeshift stake in his raised hand, but the bastard turned too fast. He slammed Wesley against the wall and raised his arm to fend off Haven’s stake, holding Katie higher with his other arm. Haven was no match for the supernatural creature, even with his fierce determination to save his sister.

The vampire kicked him against the wall, the impact knocking the wind out of Haven. Pain seared through him, reminding him that he was only a human without any skills to fight the powerful bloodsucker.

“I mean you no harm. I’m only taking one of you.” There was a flicker of something in his eyes, almost as if he regretted what he was doing. “To keep the balance.”

A second later, he was gone. The front door gaped open, darkness intruding on Haven’s devastated home, the chill and fog taking hold where warmth and love had lived earlier.

Wesley moaned. “Mom, help us.”

Haven crawled the few feet that separated him from his bother. How could he possibly tell Wes what had happened to their mother? And Katie, what was going to happen to Katie?

“Mom can’t help,” Haven whispered to his brother, ignoring the pain in his ribs as best he could. It was nothing compared to the pain he felt in his heart. He looked at Wesley and saw tears of realization run down his cheeks. Haven couldn’t cry; instead, his heart filled with hatred: hatred for everything magical, everything preternatural, everything not human. Because, despite not knowing what the vampire had wanted or why he’d killed his mother, Haven suspected it had to do with her magic. There could be no other reason. He’d not been here to rob them of any of their worldly goods. To keep the balance, he’d said. The balance of what?

Haven stared at his brother and squeezed his hand. “I will find him, and I will kill him and all vampires that cross my path. And we’ll get Katie back. I promise you.”