Chill

He guessed it was true, don't look forward to the day you stop suffering, because when it comes you'll know you're dead; an old friend of his once said.

A little boy named Lucifer shivered next to him from the freezing cold, Torell gave the smaller boy the rest of the blanket; he didn't need it since he was a vampire. He has been was forced to work in coal mine with thousands of younger and older boys just around his age, he would have broken the chains they used to capture him but he could not afford to divulge his dark secret.

His only friend and traveling campaign, a talking white raven by the name of Dante had flown away in the mist of Torell's capture.

He despised him greatly for this, he felt hurt and betrayed. Now he was being forced to work to 'death' mining coal for a small business called 'Silver Mountains Mining'. There were a large number of muscular men running the operation and 'babysitting' the boys until the mistress called 'Nicolle' got back from scouting the road up ahead.

All around the young vampire many boys suffered from the cold and the lack of food---there was a massive food shortage, they barely had enough for everyone; Torell often sneaked his share to his small friend Lucifer. Not only did they lack food, but blankets; some boys were huddled up next to each other to beat the devastating cold.

The snow began to gain speed as time progressed, causing several moans of agony from the other boys. After a short time Nicolle returned, there was a big frozen waterfall up ahead they were going to have to cross in order to get to other coal mines---which meant the poor boys were going to have to cross into freezing cold water.

They have crossed other lake and rivers, and lost a great deal of boys from the cold and starvation; they have even lost many horses from it too.

It wasn't long before they were rounded up like cattle; some of them were allowed to ride on the wagons while some had to pull them because of the lack of horses. Torell, Lucifer and other boys had to carry two big burlap bags filled to the top with pickaxes, shovels and many other tools.

The group fought hard against the snow which was ankle deep, to get to the river. Once they got there several boys fell to their knees and weeped heavily, the waterfall had to be at least as big as a single football field.  Their masters forced them forward, cracking whips to get them to move.

The boys proceed across the frozen streams until it came to Torell's turn to cross, Lucifer clung to him; "It'll be alright, just stay by me." Torell said, in order to calm his young friend.

The young vampire stepped gingerly onto the frozen waterfall; he watched other boys with burlap bags and the ones pulling wagons fly pass him like there was no tomorrow. Fear constricted his legs like an anaconda, tightening its grasp the more he stepped forward.
"Get moving!" Screamed one of the men; raising his whip high in the air.

Lucifer began to shove Torell's arm in sheer terror, "He's going to hit us! Move! Move!"
A horse drawn wagon moved slowly passed him, the dark chestnut horse slipped every now and then on the ice---reminding Torell of his beloved mare Caroline who passed away from sheer exhaustion. Suddenly, the horse stumbled on the ice; a loud crack rang throughout the air like a bell.

Every boy froze in their tracks and whirled around to look behind them, the crack continued to get larger and larger in size; without warning, it split in the middle sending screaming boys and horses into the frigid water beneath.

Mass chaos broke out as the remainder of the boys struggled desperately to get out of the water; the adults were scrambled about, trying to get the horses, wagons and boys out of the water.

Torell managed to grab the edge of a large slab of ice which was pointed upward toward the sky, Lucifer dangled by one hand; "Hang in there, I'll pull you to safely" Torell had to scream for Lucifer to hear him over the screams of terror that pledged the area.

Horses whinnied in pure horror as one by one they were sent down the river to god only knows where; some boys were taken screaming as well with them; to what could be their undoing.

Torell watched as equipment and wagons were sent rushing down steam, his attention turned back to Lucifer. "I won't let you go; I promise we'll make it out of this."
Torell began to pull Lucifer up until his grasped slipped, "NO!"

Lucifer plummeted into the deathly cold water, Torell wasted no time; he jumped in after his young friend.

Sudden coldness constricted his lungs the moment his body hit the water, Lucifer fought desperately to keep his head above water; through the rough waves he saw the black hair of his friend Torell coming to his rescue, Lucifer found it astonishing the coldness didn't bother him.

Once Torell was in reaching distance of Lucifer, he hoisted him onto his shoulder like a sack of potatoes and began to fight through the waves; his super human strength enabled him to crash through ice like a snow plow. A large wave rolled over them dragging under water for a short while, but Torell was able to get to the surface again.

Suddenly, two big burly hands snatched them up by the scruff of their necks and hoisted Torell and Lucifer into the air, they were dragged across the snow for a little while; Snow coated both of them chilling them to their very bone.

"This one did it." A deep male voice said.  Someone delivered a strong powerful kick to Torell's ribs.

There was a sound of a struggle; he was able to look to his right two see two men dragging Lucifer way by the scruff of his neck leaving Torell wounded in the snow.
"Chain him up, make him pull the wagon for the rest of the way." He heard Nicolle their boss command coldly, "hurry up it's almost night-time."

Once again he was snatched by two burly hands; his hands were chained and tethered to a supply wagon, Torell was forced to pull the wagon for the rest of the way; he was unsure of how many boys remained after the frozen waterfall accident.

After what seemed like an eternity to the young vampire, they stopped to make camp; Torell was then dragged to a tree and chained with his hands behind his back. It was then he saw how many boys they had left, they had 30 boys before the waterfall now they only had 10 counting Lucifer and himself.

It was then Torell realized they were actually moving away from where he was suppose to be traveling, he was suppose to be heading toward a town called "Brandonsville" they were heading in god only knows where.

There was no questioning it, he had to escape that night if he had only chance of finding his real mother; his only salvation from death.

Torell was badly beaten and battered, he was almost positive one of his ribs were broken; but his vampire powers would heal that soon. Being a vampire meant he healed almost instantly depending on the abrasion he suffered.

The smell of oatmeal was heavy in the air, in reality oatmeal made him sick; the smell was nauseating to him. He sneaked his share to his small friend Lucifer who needed more than he did.

It wasn't until the sun had settled among the sky and night time had fallen was Torell finally unchained and allowed to go to sleep in his tent, the small burlap bag containing his adopted mother's magic—Elli was a sorceress---gave him the ability to sleep, eat, walk in the day time without getting burned and sleep without a coffin like every other human The magic; however, would not last forever, he only had 3 more days left till the magic wore away and he'd die from not sleeping in his coffin which was an absolute must for vampires.

So it was absolutely mandatory that he escapes the coal camp that night in order to survive, but; he didn't want to leave Lucifer behind. The big question that remained was did Lucifer even survive the frigid water and snow?

Torell was finally able to find his beloved talking white raven; Dante, the two unlikely friends were able to find Torell's real mother, she agreed to go back for her son's friend Lucifer.