Prologue: Cassie

Way back when, when there were such things as vampires and their pet dragons and werewolves, there was a time of peace. The villagers knew of the vampires and hunted extra for them. The villagers and the vampires got along quite peacefully. As long as the vampires got their share of meat, the villagers did not have to fear them. One day, one of the dragons said to the others, “Why do we eat the vampires’ scrap when we are just as good hunters as them?” This puzzled the other dragons as well as the werewolves, but they remained loyal to their masters, for awhile. Then, the one dragon broke out, trying to prove to the other dragons that they were better than the vampires. The vampires saw the dragon’s plans and had it killed. The other dragons, having watched the vampires do this, became furious with them. The werewolves were now curious about what all was behind the fortress that they had lived in for so long. And so, a time of pure darkness and destruction arose. The dragons now knew that they could fend for themselves. Not needing the care of the vampires, the dragons and werewolves ran amuck, terrorizing any and all that crossed their path. The vampires, realizing this, were distraught with the pets, sending them to an alternate universe far, far away. But, alas, it was far too late for them. The meat supply had already vanished. Some of the villagers thought that it was the vampire’s end. All of the food that they had hunted had been eaten by the werewolves, and the dragons had burnt most of the fields. The eldest of the vampires knew that they would need a new food source. The vampires were angered by the vampire elder’s advice, but soon realized that it had to be done if they wanted their kind to exist. And so began the reign of vampires. It started out with just one or two people a week, but soon it was 10 people a night. The townspeople became furious with their newfound enemy, but were sad at the same time at losing such an alley. The townspeople lived in fear every night when a loved one had to go out for what little food they had. The vampire elder soon realized that he was becoming much too old to be handling the townspeople attacks and even the turning of the townspeople to vampires.  He soon appointed a new elder and took his own life. The new elder had a difficult decision to make. The new food source was running out and the vampires soon ran out of townspeople and started going farther out to other villages. They were feared by all. Of course, there were people that resisted their rule by rioting the mansion that some vampires slept in, but all attempts failed. It was hard to believe that these were the same vampires that lived in peace with mortals. But here it was, happening right then and there. It was a sad time indeed for the mortal race, knowing that every day they would have to stop working in the fields sooner, just the thought of losing a child because they were foolish and went out after dark to get their toys.

Cassie

Chapter 1: Beginnings

“Granny I want to hear a scary story,” Susie said as she sat on her favorite rug. She had just turned 12 and still liked to hear her granny’s stories. “Well, what kind of scary story?” her grandmother replied. “What do you mean what kind?” Susie asked confused. “Well, there’s Frankenstein, Pumpkin Head, or the Boogieman,” her grandmother answered. “I know! What about a vampire story?” Susie asked excitedly. She had just gone to the movies with her friends and they had seen a Dracula movie. “Vampire story?” her grandmother asked shocked. “Please?” Susie interrupted. “I don’t know. They usually aren’t the scary sort. More of a romantic/horror sort, especially this recent one that I have made,” her grandmother continued. “Oh granny, please? I’m not a little kid that needs to hear Cinderella. I promise I won’t interrupt at all, I promise,” begged Susie. “Well, alright… I take it you want my latest one?” her grandmother asked. Susie excitedly nodded. “Well ok, if you say so… “I smiled happily as my mother tucked me in. “Momma, don’t forget to open the window.” “Why, sweetie? It feels like its only 10 degrees in here,” my mother replied. “But if you don’t open the window, I won’t see my friend.” “What are you talking about? I’ve closed and locked your windows every night.” I looked at my mom as if I had been in trouble.  “Cassie, you haven’t been letting anybody in the house, have you?” I shook my head no. “Alright then, so nobody has been in the house?” I nodded my head yes, “R has. He’s my friend and he tells me stories.” “Alright I’m locking all the windows and doors.” Right as she had said that, silver fog appeared in my room and transformed into a human. Mom screamed as she held me tight in her arms. R glared at my mother then softened his look into a grin. Then he chuckled and disappeared as I heard him whispering, “Don’t you worry Cassie; I’ll be back for you.”

~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-10 years later-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~

I was running as fast as I could. “How far have I run? Where am I going? Is that thing still following me?” All of these questions were running through my head, but then I saw it, a giant oak. I quickly ran to the other side of it to hide. “Where’s Amy? I was supposed to meet her at the park, but she never showed up, then this thing started to run after me…” I stopped myself from even breathing, there was something moving in the bushes beside me. I nearly jumped out of my skin as I saw Amy creep out of them. She motioned me to stay there. Wait a minute, is this what Amy had been ragging on about? She had said something about some vampire that had bitten her, but was I really supposed to fall for it? I mean vampires were nothing but an urban legend, and I was perfectly fine with that.”  “There you are, Amy. You know the whole clan is looking for you,” said the thing in a gruff voice. I looked around the tree, careful not to make a sound, to look at my stalker. I was petrified, what was I looking at? Whatever it was vampire or not, it was changing right before my very eyes into a human. The now human sniffed the air, “There’s another presence here.” “What are you talking about? There’s no one else here,” Amy quickly answered as she followed the human close to my tree. I couldn’t move, I was still petrified. “I may be in my human state, but I still have my vampire sense of smell,” he said. Amy quickly came around the tree and motioned for me to act dead. “Why in the world do I want to act dead?”  Whatever the reason, I quickly acted as if I was dead. “This one’s already dead,” Amy stated before he got to close. He looked at Amy strangely, “How do you know this, her smell is still fresh.” Amy stuttered a little then said, “Because I killed her just a few minutes ago.” He looked at her suspiciously, “You did?” “I know I wasn’t supposed to, but I wanted to try it out,” Amy said, swaying back and forth. He was beside me in a millisecond. “Will, please, this is silly, I just killed her minutes ago,” Amy said trying to persuade ‘Will’ away from me. “She still is breathing,” Will said. “Well, maybe I left a few drops by accident,” Amy said smartly. “It was my first time,” Amy sobbed. “Aw, it’s ok, we’ll bring her to our home and let her freshen up some, then we’ll have a nice meal,” Will replied. Will couldn’t help but notice that the girl that he was looking at was about his age when he had been appointed as the brother of the ‘King’ vampire. And yes, what if he did sense some kind of attraction between her and himself? “I wondered when it would all be over. I was terrified when Will picked me up and we were flying! I couldn’t help but feel a little excited. It’s not everyday you get to fly! However, there was a downside; he was going to find out that I hadn’t been killed, or even close to being killed. Then what would happen to me?” My thoughts then drifted off to some place, as I actually fell asleep. I woke up the next morning, I guess, but it looked awful dark in the room. The doors looked too big to move. I was surprised to find it actually comfortable though, maybe too comfortable. I looked around the room. The walls were old and had ivy all over them. The floors were made of grayish, almost white, stone. Was it morning yet? While I was thinking on that, to my pleasant surprise, Amy came in and quietly shut the door, but before she could, a rat came in. She shooed it away, though. Questions paced through my head, but before I could say anything, “Wow, I’m surprised he believed me, he must like you,” she giggled. Giggling? How could she be giggling? I was silent, and I gave her an evil look. “Ok, that approach didn’t work, neither did I think it would,” Amy quietly continued, “You’re in the Vampiric Mansion; no one here has permission to talk to you, besides Drake and myself.”  “Is that all I need to know? Do you want to explain to me what happened last night? And who’s Drake?” I asked losing my temper a little. “It wasn’t last night; it was actually five nights ago…” she trailed off. “What! Five nights ago I was lying in my big bed listening to my stereo system, pretending to be asleep,” I had completely lost my temper now. Apparently, she had expected this.  “It was five nights ago, I don’t know what happened, It’s probably just where you are used to getting up when you see the sunlight coming in from your windows,” Amy stopped as the door creaked open from the other side. I quickly acted drowsy. As I brushed out my hair with my fingers, I felt a cut or scratch on my wrist. “I must have cut it on a tree branch or something.”  “Amy, you’re wanted in the lower dungeon, you really do need to do something about that wolf, it won’t stop howling,” the person said. Amy then got up and left the room, leaving the two of us together.

Chapter 2: Vampires???

I still acted as if I had just waked up. He then eyed me, which I hate to admit, but I liked the fact that he was at least a little interested in me. I couldn’t help but smile a little bit. “So, you are who?” he asked as he noticed that I had noticed him noticing me. I hesitated then I quietly said, “Cassie.” He nodded and then asked, “How old are you?” Again, I hesitated, why was I talking? Wasn’t this the person that was stalking me the other night? Then again, what if I didn’t answer? “16,” I said even more quietly. “You don’t need to be scared,” he said. I nodded slowly. I looked at him for the first time clearly. He didn’t look all that bad: pale blue eyes, a lot of muscle, black hair, and of course, he was pale. I hated the fact that he was probably reading my mind with one of his many powers. Amy had told me about some of the powers that vampires had. “So, you know Amy,” he pointed out. “How did I know that he would say something like that? And was this the same guy that had stalked me the night before?” I nodded. “You’re a pretty smart girl, Cassie. But don’t let your mind be an open book,” he commented. Did I dare to ask a question? “So, how old are you?” “Let’s just say that I’m 17,” he answered before I had the whole question out. “But aren’t vampires supposed to be like hundreds of years old?” I blurted. “Well, in a way, but we just calculate our age by when we were initially turned into vampires, then add up our age every other century. So in one century, I’ll be 18,” he answered. “Oh,” I said, excessively interested. I quickly changed the subject, “Are you the one I saw last night?” “No, and it wasn’t last night,” he replied. “Ok… so who are you?” I blurted, again. “I am Drake, owner of this very dull, dark home,” he answered. I then noticed that it was, in fact, awfully dull and boring. “So, you seem to feel about it the same way,” he stated. “Well, umm, it could use some decoration,” I agreed. “You don’t need to be scared, no one will hurt you here, you’re a friend of Amy’s and that’s all I need to know,” he comforted me. Then my mind drifted to what ‘Will’ had said. “Will won’t do anything, he’s just a big oaf that’s jealous because I get to be King, even though he’s older, and because I got the looks,” he laughed. I smiled. “I get it now; Amy is going to be the queen.” Drake must have read my mind, again, because then he shook his head. “But why not?” I asked aloud. “Because, she was appointed by her family and our family that she would become the mate of the eldest brother. Of course, Will, is supposed to be King, but, my mother doesn’t trust him,” Drake answered. I gave him a confused look, “What do you mean?” Drake hesitated a minute then continued, “Well, when Will was younger, about my age, he would always pick out these girls that he thought were cute, he didn’t eat just to eat, he ate to hear them scream for their boyfriends, or even worse, he would turn them into a vampire, which breaks our very first rule. Well, this one night, he had brought this pretty girl that had been the school teacher aid when I was around 7 and mother found her in the old swings in the park. At first, she thought that the girl was just sleeping, but then she went closer and found that she had been waiting for the toddlers that always come early in the morning, when it’s still dark. That breaks our second rule, feeding on children younger than 15. She was furious. She quickly snapped the girl’s neck and flew to the tallest tower, which is where father was. Father found out and was thriving mad, probably the maddest since the fall of that Dracula character. So, he decided to appoint me instead of Will as King,” Drake explained. “Wow,” I said. “Yea, I know,” Drake replied. “No, no, Drake, Will was after me last night,” I said. “Again, it was five nights ago, not last night…” he started to look even paler that usual as he broke off. “He didn’t do anything,” I assured him. He came over and looked closely at my neck. “Well, it would explain why you have been sleeping late,” he explained as he looked for the third time. I sneezed quietly.  He laughed as heard me sneeze. “What?” I giggled. “Your sneeze is one of the funniest I’ve heard in a while,” he said as he looked again. I giggled again. “You’re not thinking of having a taste yourself are you?” He laughed and then sat beside me. “Well, I better go and get my lecture of the day from father, I do hate that you have to be locked up in this room, but it is for your own good,” Drake said as he got up. I gave him a confused look. “You don’t know what some of us would do to someone as pretty as you,” he answered the question that went through my head. I blushed. He then went out of the room. I saw the same rat again as he carefully made sure that the door was closed. I got extremely bored during the next few hours. The place could really use some decoration. I stopped thinking about everything else and though about my situation. So, vampires are actually real………and I was just now talking to one. They don’t look anything like you would think. Yea, they are pale of course. I mean unless they decide to get a tanning bed. I giggled. Now that would be a sight, a tanned vampire. I mean, look at Amy. She still has her beautiful red hair and her pretty green eyes. And Drake, oh my god, he looked pretty good to me. Especially his pretty blue eyes. And another thing, they weren’t the all out vicious things that movies made them look. Here Drake was the future King of their clan or whatnot and he was joking about how the mansion looked. And I could not picture him being the vicious thing that Hollywood says they are. Sure, they have to eat. But all creatures do. At least they only eat when they need to and not killing every cow or deer in sight like humans were nowadays. Drake, he seemed to be so kindhearted. Seriously, here I was part of his food chain and he wasn’t trying anything. He wasn’t being a pig and trying to take advantage of the situation. Whoa, hold up…………………am I falling for a vampire? Wow, that is like so bad. I don’t even know him. For all I know he is a ruthless killer like Hollywood says. No he couldn’t. He probably doesn’t even like killing what he has to, which is probably only small deer. I thought about my wrist, which probably not the smartest thing. It began throbbing in pain. When Drake came in and asked if I needed anything I stopped thinking about it and smiled sweetly. “Nah, I’m fine and dandy.” Drake laughed quietly, “Fine and dandy? That’s a phrase I haven’t heard in awhile.” I giggled and stuck my tongue out, “Well now you have.” We both laughed and he hugged me and then left. As soon as he had left I thought about how my wrist was just an infection. Could I be sure that it was just a scratch? Maybe I should tell Drake about it.  I counted the tiles of stone for the thousandth time.

Chapter 3: Will

The door creaked open again. I was surprised that it wasn’t Amy or Drake this time. He looked a little familiar. Could it be Will? No, it couldn’t. Drake had promised that Will would never come into the room. Whoever it was, he was beside me in seconds and I fell asleep immediately. “Where am I? This is nothing like the Vampiric Mansion. “You are in the future, my dear, when you and I will rule the vampires of the world,” said a gruff voice. “That’s impossible; you’re not the future king.” “For the moment, you are correct, but not if an accident happens.” “You’re Will, aren’t you?” “Why yes I am.” I looked around me and saw fire and complete chaos. “I would never rule a kingdom of chaos.” He smirked evilly and had kissed me hard. “We’ll find out about that.” I put my hands over my ears and shook my head violently. I heard someone screaming my name. They were telling me to wake up. I had to warn Drake and Amy about my dream.” I woke up, finally, and there was Amy. “Amy, Will’s going to do something,” I practically screamed. “Cassie, thank god you’re ok,” Amy said as she came over and hugged me. “Huh, of course I’m all right.” “Cassie, you were asleep for seven days,” Amy replied. “Wow, I must be a late sleeper,” I said calmly, knowing that wasn’t the real answer. “Did anyone come in here?” Amy asked. “Well, no. Wait a minute, yea Will did,” I answered. Amy got up quickly and left. I then noticed that my wrist definitely didn’t just have a cut on it, it was redder. I then put my mind onto the dream as Amy and Drake both entered. “Did my brother really come in?” Drake asked briskly. I nodded. He was reading my mind, I knew it. He nodded. “Amy, I think it would be best if it was just me and Cassie for the moment. I’m going to be reading her mind, and I don’t want to miss anything, meaning I don’t want to accidentally read yours instead. Besides, you don’t have that power just yet,” Drake said. Amy understood and left. “Drake, your brother’s plotting against you,” I said after Amy had left. “I know, but how do you know?” he replied. “I had this dream,” I answered. He looked gravely at me as if that meant something I didn’t know. “Ok, focus on that dream,” Drake said calmly. I did. There was the fire and complete darkness and no human kind. The one thing I did not focus on in my dream was the part where Will had said those words. He nodded as he had a confused look. “But why did he choose you to have these visions?” Then I thought about the words that Will had said. Drake and Amy both had the right to know. As Drake got up and left, the little rat scrambled in. I had become quite fond of the little guy. I had actually started to talk to it. He came closer to where I could pet it. My wrist then started to hurt even worse than before. The rat then bit my wrist. I could scream, but I had fallen asleep again, hopefully not to have any more of those dreams. I woke up, but I didn’t really want to. I kept falling back asleep. “What’s happening to me? I still haven’t told anyone about my wrist. Where was Amy, I had to talk to her.”  I finally got up, to stay up. Amy was there, thank god she was ok. Amy looked at me, “Cassie, Drake has been hurt in an accident,” she said. “How hurt?” I asked. “Not that bad, it’s just a scratch or two, but he’s pretty sure it was what was in your dream,” she answered. Drake then entered the room as Amy left. I looked at my wrist quickly to see if it had gotten any worse. It had and by putting my attention on it, it began to hurt worse. Drake came closer to me and I could see that his arms were a little scratched up. “That doesn’t look that good,” I said as he closer to me. “I’ll be all right, but what is not is the fact that you are always sleeping late.” “What happened to you?” “We were out on a hunt and……” he trailed off. That’s when I fell out of conscientiousness. I woke up, thankfully, I didn’t have any dreams. Drake was there, and he asked, “Were you bitten?” “I don’t know,” I answered. He looked away for a moment, and then back at me, “This is really important.” “I honestly don’t know what has happened to me. I don’t know what time it is. I don’t know if it’s day or night. I don’t even know if I’m awake or having another one of the dreams,” I started to sob. He came over and hugged me tight. He had brushed along my wrist and I felt searing pain. “What is it?” he said, reading my mind. I was thinking about my wrist and how much it had hurt. I winced as he gently grabbed my hand. He looked gravely at me. “Are you sure that it’s not an infection from a scratch?” I heard Amy ask as Drake opened the door. I felt like going to bed again as I saw them both enter the room. Drake gently picked up my hand as I winced again from the pain, “Does that look like an infection from a scratch?” Drake asked. Amy didn’t want to believe it, but she shook her head no. Drake brushed my hair out of my face, “You’ll be alright.” He poured something on my wrist, and I wanted to scream, it hurt so badly, 10 times worse than before. I winced and sighed as it settled in. “Amy, go tell father about what Will has done,” Drake said. Amy nodded as she looked at me sadly. She left quickly. Drake hugged me again and left. I moved around as I slept as flashbacks came back to me. The night that it had all started, the night I first saw Will, the first time I had seen a vampire in its vampire state. Then it flashed to when I saw Amy in the room. Next, it was when I first saw Drake smiling at me. Finally, I saw Will’s face for what seemed forever. He had an evil grin and he started laughing hysterically. I screamed, and woke up. Drake was there in seconds. Surprisingly, I actually saw Will hunched over me. Drake pushed him off of me and he left quickly. I was terrified; he was actually trying to kill me, or worse…………turn me into a vampire. I quickly stood up, went over to Drake, and snuggled into his shoulder. He was furious, I could tell. “I’m scared,” I said, trying to calm him down. “You’d be a fool not to be, do you know how many people have broken away from Will’s trance?” he replied. I shook my head as we both sat down. “None. Will is much older than I am and more powerful, both in his trances and strength,” he answered. I thought about what he said and became even more scared, I wouldn’t be able to do it again. He took me in his arms, which wasn’t very hard, considering I was 4’11 and now definitely weighed under 100 since I had arrived. “Wow, I didn’t realize you were ever this small,” he laughed as he flew us to a different room. I smiled as we entered his beautiful room. It was a deep red violet, with everything in velvet and bordered in black. I saw the beautiful bed: it was a deep red and had a gold canopy. I realized that I was still in Drake’s arms and giggled quietly. “Glad you like it,” he smiled. “Like what?” I giggled. He turned a little pink. “Well, I have to go hunt with the clan; I’ll be back in an hour or two.” “What about Will? Can he come in here?” I asked. “Yes he can, but as soon as you see anyone come in here, focus on me and I’ll be back in seconds,” he answered. I nodded my head, but I still didn’t feel 100 percent safe. Knowing what I was thinking, he hugged me and before he flew off, he kissed me on my forehead. I ran up to the bed and jumped on it happily. Then, I got under the top blanket, because it was so soft. I shortly fell asleep, but was suddenly awoken by the door creaking open. “It must be Drake coming back from his hunt.” I was terrified when I saw that it wasn’t Drake, in fact it was Will. “Drat, you’re supposed to be asleep,” he said as he locked the door. I was utterly terrified; what was I suppose to be more scared of the fact that he was strong or the fact that he had teeth? He was beside the bed in a millisecond, but I got out quickly and went over to the wall. “I see you finally have gotten your strength back,” Will said, not too disappointedly. I tried to focus on Drake, but what did that matter? Will had locked the door. Will was next to me in a second, but then I went over to the corner. “You’ve gotten quicker, but that doesn’t matter, do you remember your wrist?” Will said trying to get my attention on it. It worked; I felt searing pain as my knees fell to the floor. The pain was in fact worse, and Will was inching closer to me, being sure to take his time. He was then beside me again, and I embraced myself for the pain I knew I was about to feel. He didn’t go for my wrist this time, which I didn’t know if that was a good thing or not. He grabbed me, turned me on my side, and brushed my hair away, leaving my neck bare. He eyed it happily, “Best neck I’ve seen in ages. Goes along with your fresh blood,” he whispered in my ear. I winced as I felt him bite me, then I saw Drake behind him. Then, I blacked out. I woke up and saw Drake by my side. I turned to him and hugged him tightly. He hugged me back and said, “I’m sorry.” I looked at him and replied, “Its ok, if it wasn’t for you, who knows what else he would have done.” That had comforted him. I felt my neck and, sure enough, there were two wounds. I sighed. He then looked to see how bad it was. Apparently it wasn’t all that bad, because he smiled. “What?” I asked. “He probably didn’t even get ten drops,” he laughed. I giggled, “So, what does that mean?” “It means that you have at least one more day left,” he joked. I smiled. “So, uh, what happened to Will?” I asked. He looked disappointed as he said, “Unfortunately, he turned himself into a rat before I could get my hands on him.” My mind then raced. A rat? “Yes, a rat, the eldest son gets a special power, to change into one distinct animal, Will was the eldest and he chose a rat,” he commented. “Wait a minute a rat? Why did he choose a filthy rat?” I asked. “Because, in his sick little mind, he figured that if he was small enough, he could get into the bedrooms of his victims,” Drake answered. I then thought about the little rat that I always saw in the room that I had been staying in. “So, that’s how he knew where your room was,” Drake commented. “I guess so,” I replied. Drake couldn’t stand the idea that his thickheaded brother could actually like the same girl that he had. “Well, guess what?” Drake asked. “What? I can’t read minds like you,” I joked. He laughed. “True, but anyways, my mother has invited you to the feast tonight,” Drake stated. “Really? Is it coz she thinks you like me?” I thought “I’ll be polite and not read your mind this time, but mother says that she wants to meet the one who beat Will in his own game,” he grinned. “Drat, the one time I wanted him to read my mind, he didn’t,” oh well. “Oh, and if you’re wondering if I like you, I do,” he said as he left the room. I smiled the biggest smile since I had gotten there. I thought to myself, “What am I supposed to wear?” As if to answer my question, Amy showed up with three or four gowns and hair and makeup items.

Chapter 4: A Special Feast

“Wow, you got invited to a vampire feast,” Amy said as she put the items on the floor. “Yea and I guess I get to wear one of these,” I replied. “Good call. So, which one do you want?” Amy asked. I looked at the gowns. There was a deep violet one, a black one, a dark red, a red and black one, and a violet and black one. “Hmm, I think I like this one,” I said picking up the violet and black one. “Ok, and I’ll have the violet one,” she said happily. Apparently, she had wanted that one. “So, I guess I get to put on some makeup finally,” I commented. “Actually, I think I should, I mean, do you realize that you are going to a dinner where there are hundreds of vampires?” Amy replied. I sighed, “You’re right.” So Amy did my makeup, trying to make me look as much as a vampire as she could. When she was finished, she showed me the mirror, “Wow, I could pass as one.” Amy nodded, “Do you trust yourself to do your own hair?” I shook my head no. “Well, I’ll do that in a minute, I got to go and do my own hair and makeup first,” she replied. While she was gone, I went ahead and put on the beautiful gown. Amy came back and had her hair and makeup done. “Wow, that was quick,” I commented. She nodded her head, “Wow, look at you, you look gorgeous as a vampire,” she complimented. I laughed. While she was doing my hair, Drake walked in on us and he said, “Who’s she? Where’s Cassie?” I giggled to myself as he gave us confused looks. “What’s funny?” he asked as he started to check me out as Amy finished my hair. “Drake, that’s Cassie!” Amy exclaimed. “What? You mean to tell me that she is Cassie?” I smiled, “Yep, the one and only,” I replied. He looked at me funny. “Well, then, uh ladies, the dinner is going to start in about twenty minutes. Amy, you still need to go get ready,” Drake replied. Taking this as her cue, she got up and took the other three other dresses and left. I smiled at him as he said, “Wow.” “What? You thought that I was gonna turn out to be an ugly vampire?” I asked. “No, I just didn’t think you could get any more beautiful,” he said as he leaned in to kiss me. I, of course, kissed him back. There was a loud ding, dong! He smiled, “Dinner time.” He led me to a beautiful dining hall. My eyes sparkled, the lighting was too romantic, “What were you expecting? Some stone walled, dark chamber?” he asked. I smiled, “To be honest, yes I was. That’s the way it always was in movies,” I replied. He laughed quietly, “See them up there?” he asked as he pointed to a black haired man and a red headed woman. “Yes I do,” I said looking where he was pointing. “That’s mother and father,” he commented. “And of course there’s Will and Amy,” he stated. I couldn’t help but notice that Will looked at me with a smirk, as if he had some evil plan. I quickly turned my attention to something else “Who are they?” I asked pointing to a group of blonde headed guys. “Oh, those are some of Will’s friends, best to stay away from them,” he answered. I sighed playfully, “Aw darn.” As if to be on cue, one of them waved for me to come over I mouthed, “Maybe later,” just to be funny. He grinned a happy grin and turned to tell his other friends. Drake didn’t notice, he was looking at a group of dark headed girls. I shoved him, “Who are they?” I asked, trying to sound not too rude, but I was a little upset that he seemed interested in them, which I knew was selfish of me. “Who? Them? They’re some of father’s friend’s daughters,” he answered. I sighed, “They’re pretty.” “No denying that,” he replied. I was taken aback, but I didn’t have much time to think about it because two seconds later, I was led to where I was supposed to sit. The person who was leading me pulled out a chair and pushed it back in once I sat down. I looked over at Drake; he was sitting by the girls. I was starting to get angry. Was this all part of some big scheme to make me jealous? If it was, it was working. I looked around me, my head was spinning, and I was starting to get confused. I was brought back down to earth when the guy that had waved to me tapped me on the shoulder, “Well don’t you look like a diamond in the sky.” I blushed, “Why thank you.” “So, you must be Cassie, Will’s told me all about you.” “Oh really? What did he say?” “Well, he definitely did not exaggerate about how beautiful you are.” I blushed again, “You really have a way with words.” “In fact, I’d say that you are even more gorgeous then what he had said,” as he stared at me with pale gray eyes. “Well, he must have said something about me being as beautiful as a dead rose,” I replied trying not to sound too modest. “You? A dead rose? You couldn’t put them together in one sentence. How could anybody ever call you that, you are the most beautiful girl here? You’re the only girl that could ever pass as a vampire so beautiful.” I was flattered, but at the same time disappointed that he had found out that I wasn’t a vampire. “Don’t worry, the only reason how I know you’re human is because you told me you were Cassie.” I smiled, and then I thought about how Drake had said what he had. This guy was apparently reading my mind, “Don’t worry about him, he’s one of the worst one of us that you could find.” “How’s that?” “Well, he’s awfully snobby, he gets girls like you to like him and then he goes off and does it again.” “You mean he’s always like this?” He nodded. I sighed. “He told me that Will was bad though.” He held his arm out like a gentlemen, “I think it would be better if we talk where our minds aren’t open books.” I nodded, “Yes, you are right.” I wrapped my arm in his and we went to his room, I suppose. I didn’t know, however, that all of the other blonde headed guys had followed. Drake of course wasn’t paying attention to me because he was having a conversation with the girls. He unlocked the door and we entered the room, which was actually quite peaceful. It was a natural brown color and the rugs were beautiful. “Glad to see you like it,” he commented seeing my eyes glitter. “Ok, so what’s your name for one thing,” I giggled. “Well, that would be of some help, wouldn’t it? My name is Hank.” “Ok, so Hank, what do you mean about Drake being one of the worst vampires that I would meet?” “Well, I already told you, he used beautiful girls like you and gets them to like him, and then he goes off and flirts with every other girl. And what do you mean about Will?” “Drake told me something about him, but I don’t know who to trust.” “Well, trust me. Will is a great guy. And as for what happened between you two, well, he was just jealous. I mean look at it from his point of view: he gets denied for being king because of something he didn’t do, his meant to be queen likes the new king, he brings you here, and then Drake goes and steals that from him, too.” I laid back on the bed, “I never really thought about it that way. And that puts me in an awkward position. I mean, Will’s at least what twenty-five?” He nodded his head, “Twenty-seven. Plus he really likes Amy.” “And Amy does like him more than Drake, I would know, she’s my friend.” He nodded, “And there’s no point in trying to run away from here because the King and Queen wouldn’t let you.” “Why?” “Because you know too much about our kind, they’re afraid that you would tell people, people that could kill us.” “Oh, stupid question.” “No question you could possibly ask is stupid,” he complimented. “You really do have a way with the ladies, don’t you?” I giggled. “I guess I do,” he said as he laid down beside me. He slowly reached for my hand. And in seconds, he was cuddled beside me. He began kissing on my neck, which was ok, but then he started biting me. I tried to tell him to stop, but that only seemed to make it worse. Then all of his other friends came in too, and they were biting me too. I could feel their teeth biting through my gown. At first, it felt like little needles, which didn’t feel too bad. But then I could feel all my blood being sucked out of me. Was I going to die? Hank looked up at me for a second and quickly said, “Will definitely understated about how you taste. I might just have to call off the boys and hog you to myself,” he shooed away most of them and then went down to my upper leg and began biting me through the gown. I wanted to shove him off, but my arms were too weak from blood loss. I was even more scared than when Will had come in my room the first time. I would be angrier than when I saw Drake flirting with those other girls, but I was in too much fright. Drake. I had to focus on him. I needed help from him, as much as I hated to admit it. But what would that do? There were at least ten of these guys. But wait, Drake was the future king. Hank had started to put his hand up my dress when all of a sudden, Drake burst in through the door, with his mother and father. Then, I blacked out.

Chapter 5: Regrets

When I woke up, I was in so much pain. My whole body felt tired. I had forgotten about that night, but remembered it because Amy came in. She came over to me and hugged me gently. “Amy, I was so scared,” I sobbed. She hugged me tighter, making sure that she didn’t hug me too tight. “Cassie, it’s a miracle you’re still alive,” she started to sob with me. “I know, I know.” “No you don’t. Do you know how many girls that bunch has killed? Or how many families they massacred?” I started to cry. She hugged me again. “If Drake hadn’t broken that spell that their sisters had put on him, you would’ve.” I stopped breathing, “Huh?” “Yea, those dark headed girls are witches. They do charm spells all the time.” I hesitated and sniffed. “It was my fault then. I should have died.” “Don’t say that.” “Well, it’s the truth.” “What are you talking about?” “Drake had warned me about the guys, but then he got interested in the girls. And I didn’t take him seriously about what he had said about the blonde-headed guys, because at that time, I didn’t believe anything that he had told me. And then Hank started sweet-talking me and all that then we went to his room and talked a bit, but that’s when he bit me and then all his friends came in, too. It was my fault, I should’ve died!” I nearly screamed through my sobs. “Cassie, listen to me, it wasn’t your fault. You saw the guy that you really like flirting with a bunch of girls. Then, you saw some hot guys, so you took your chance to make him jealous right back. It’s not your fault!” she exclaimed as she hugged me again. I realized what she was saying, but it made me feel even guiltier. “That’s how they feed, that’s how they aren’t skin and bones. They work together. The girls get the girl’s boyfriend or a potential one, as in your case, the girl sees the guy flirting then sees the guys sitting by themselves and she goes to them for comfort and the guys feed off of the girl and the girls feed off the guy. And it always works. You are the only one to not be killed.” “I didn’t even go over to them, Hank came to me though, and I agreed to go to his room with him, knowing what Drake had said,” I confessed. “To be honest with you, I would have too. I mean he was flattering you. Come on, you can’t tell me he wasn’t a hottie either.”  I smiled. How did Amy always know what to say? Drake then walked in the room and Amy left. “He has got to be mad at me for what I did. After he had told me about them, I still went. Oh, I know he’s mad at me.” I was relived when he came up, hugged, and then kissed me. “No, I’m not mad at you. You didn’t know that I was under a spell.” I smiled, “You’re not?” He laughed, “No I’m not. I’m just happy you remembered how to call me.” Before he had said anything, I started to feel nauseous and dizzy again. I brought my hand up to my forehead. I couldn’t hear anything. Drake had read my mind and he called for the Vampiric nurse. I could barely hear her say ‘need’ and ‘blood’. So I was dying. I couldn’t believe that I was actually about to die. I didn’t really expect to ever go back home. Heck, I didn’t want to; I had made plenty of friends here. I was brought back to realization when I saw the nurse by my bed. “How are you feeling?” she asked with a British accent. “Fine, I guess,” I replied. “Are you being completely honest? This is really important,” she commented gravely. “Yes, I’m fine,” I replied. Then, she left the room. I looked around the room that I was in. It was an off-whitish color, like a hospital room only darker. I looked around me, all of the other beds were unoccupied, and the walls were bare without any decoration. How long had it been since I left my house to look for Amy? How long had I been unconscious? As I was wondering about these questions, someone greeted me rather suspiciously. “You are Cassie, yes?” I nodded, who was this? “I am Doctor Vincent. I am taking you to the tower. You will follow me,” she demanded as she came over and grabbed hold of my wrists. “No thanks, I think I’ll just stay here,” I said as I tried to make her let go. Amy and Drake then burst into the room. “Who are you?” Drake asked demandingly. “Why, I am Doctor Vincent, do you not remember?” she answered. “Well, doctor, I do not believe that is the best way to transport a victim,” Amy boldly stated. Doctor Vincent gave her an evil look, “Well, I guess you are right deary, I think I need to go get something to drink, care to give me a tour?” Amy, seeing that she didn’t really have a choice, replied, “I would be delighted.” The two left the room. “You want me to go to some tower?” I asked. “Only for a little while, it’s to build up your strength,” he replied. I really didn’t want to go. Drake saw this and gave me a hug, “You’ll be back before you know it.” “Ok, I’ll go. But how far away is it?” “Not too far, if there’s any problems, just call,” he said as Amy and Doctor Vincent entered the room again. “Miss Cassie, give me your arm for a minute,” Doctor Vincent said. I held out my hand and winced as she gave me a shot, right where Will had first bitten me. Sensing Drake and Amy’s worry, Doctor Vincent stated, “It’s only a sleeping draught for the journey, the only way there is flying, and I don’t need to hear any whining as we travel. You understand, yes?” They nodded and led us out to the roof.

Chapter 6: Destination:

Middle of Nowhere

Drake and Amy waved us off, completely unknowing about what was about to be done to me. I hated this woman, she was hateful and rude. I looked at where we were going and hated what I saw. It was dark and the ground was fiery. No plants, no other sign of life. It looked slightly like what I had seen in that one dream. I looked back at the Vampiric Mansion, knowing that it was possible that I might not ever see it again. I slowly drifted to sleep. I woke up, wishing that I hadn’t. I was latched on a table in what looked like a laboratory. There was a rag in my mouth, I guess to keep me quiet. I tried to unlatch myself, but I could not. I noticed that the walls had blood spattered all over them, and I began to panic. I heard someone coming, so I pretended to be asleep. “So you say you think she has a totally different blood type?” I recognized the voice. It was the old woman who had brought me to this place. “I am almost positive,” said another familiar voice. “Uh-huh. Now how did you come across her?” the woman said, putting on a pair of gloves. “At a dinner banquet.” “I thought you and your friends were banished from there,” she said questioningly. “Well, it was a special occasion. This mortal broke from Willy’s trance, not once, but twice.” After he finished saying this, there was a clatter as the woman dropped a vile.  “Hmm, that is most unusual.” “In addition, she survived our attack,” he continued. “Aw, did she now? That’s too bad Jason, when was the last time you had one that survived your attack? You were on a big winning streak.” Jason…………… Jason I didn’t know him. I didn’t see him at the party. I heard footsteps coming closer to me. I felt a needle go through my wrist. I flinched, “Great, just what I need; now they’re going to know I’m awake.”  “She’s had quite a few bitings done to her wrist.” “Yes, that would be Willy. I specifically told the guys to only get the legs and arms, no joints.” “Lucky her, she shouldn’t have this wrist. I’d say one more biting then it would just fall off.” Jason came over to the table. The woman picked up my wrist and showed it to him. “Will needs to learn not to always torture his victims, one of these days, the victim is going to act dead, and he’ll fall for it, and they’re gonna whip around and kill him, just like that.” The woman took out the needle. “I’ll be in my room. I need to go over blood work. Her footsteps faded away. Jason’s footsteps followed her, but then stopped and came back toward me. Suddenly, he leaned over and kissed my forehead. He then quickly left. I was dazed. Did that just happen? There were a lot of rats. “I hate rats. I never wanna see another one.” One got my attention by climbing up the shelves. I looked at the rat as he fell several times. “Well, at least I have some form of entertainment.” I then fell asleep. Whenever I woke up, I pretended to be asleep. My arms and legs ached. I quickly looked at them before they came back. They were a dark red. “What happened to me?” I heard the door creaked open, so I went back to pretending to be asleep again. I heard Jason’s footsteps coming closer to me, and then he quickly left. “How do I know whose footsteps those were? I shouldn’t even be able to hear footsteps; the floor is covered in moss.” The questions soon left me as the two came in the room. ‘Dr.Vincent’ came closer to me. “Did you find her like this?” “Yea. I just came in a few minutes ago.” “Hmm……… this is most puzzling. I gave her a strong dose of anti-movement to prevent just this.” “What are you thinking?” “I am thinking that we need to move her to a more suitable room. There are too many rats.” “But, Aunt Vincent, how are we going to move her? You put on a lot of latches.” “Jason, you are strong enough. If you want to find out something better than immortality, then you best move her out of here,” she said as she left the room. Jason tried to start with the middle ones, but he couldn’t fit his hands through. He looked me over and decided that it wasn’t because I was overweight. “God, she latched these too tight. He then tried the bottom ones, which I really didn’t like. Every time he would try, it tickled me, and it was hard not to just laugh out loud. He tried every single latch at least five times. After a while, he sat on the stool and rested a while. My feet slightly moved when I felt something fall on them. I tried to look at it, but I couldn’t get my head to move to where I could see. The thing was climbing up my leg. I started to toss and turn because I was getting flashbacks from that dream. Jason must’ve dozed off, or else he would have done something. I tossed and turned to the point where my upper right shoulder began to bleed. He of course woke up suddenly at the smell of fresh blood and came over to shush me. He noticed the rat and suddenly said, “Willy, you know better than to come on my aunt’s property.” He went over to the only window and threw him out. I stopped tossing and turning and quieted down. I looked at my shoulder; the blood was showing through my shirt. Jason came over and tore my shirtsleeve to where the wound was exposed. Surprisingly, he didn’t reach down and bite me. He threw the shirtsleeve out the window. I suddenly started to cough. And it was painful because of the latches. Another thing was the rag in my mouth that I couldn’t get out that was probably causing the coughing. He came over to me and took the rag out. I sighed quietly; it felt good to not be able to taste the old rag. He combed my hair with his fingers. He then left. I breathed in and began to cough again. I thought that it would go away after a while. But ten minutes later, I was still coughing. Even thirty minutes after that I was still coughing. I tried to stop myself whenever Vincent came back in to get some more blood for testing, but I couldn’t. She looked over the latches and easily got them unlatched. “Fool of a boy, all he needed to do was to look under the table. She shouted for Jason. I continued to cough. Jason soon entered the room. “How did you unlatch it?” he asked. “Follow me,” she said leading him over to me. She then noticed the wound. “What happened?” I saw the same rat, Will, climbing up through the window. I began to toss and turn again. I fell off of the table, but Jason had caught me. “What in Dracula’s name is going on!” she shouted. “I’ll explain it later; let’s get out of here first.” “No, I want to know now!” “It’s kinda hard when I’m trying to hold on to a girl when her attacker is here!” We then took me to a different room and laid me down on a comfortable couch. I slowly calmed down. “Now what is all this nonsense about Will being here?” “Willy’s in his rat body and he’s here.” “How do you know?” “One, she’s having these tantrums, two, she’s been sleeping a lot, three, do you remember when Willy and I got into that fight?” “The pranks fight?” “Yea and I bleached a part of his hair. He has a little light patch of fur on his back when he’s in his rat state.” I started to cough again, so I put my hand over my mouth instinctively. “Why has she been coughing like that?” Jason asked. “It could be from where she wounded herself with the latches.” “But it started before she wounded herself.” “Well then I honestly don’t know.” I stopped coughing and fell asleep. My hand fell to the floor. Because of the impact, it started to bleed a little. “Hold on, if she had another attacker then there would the tossing and turning for Will, and then a different sign for the other one,” she said suspiciously. “It could not have been me; I wasn’t in there with you.” “True.” I started to cough again suddenly. “Kill that rat.” “Why?” “That’s probably what it is. William got himself some new friends.” Jason quickly stabbed the rat with a knife. I stopped coughing. “You are getting good at that. Maybe you should go and do that to the other rats in there. Well I am going back to bed. Good night.”

Chapter 7: Bat!

“Ok, I’ll see you tomorrow then. I think I’m going to go to bed too.” Vincent then left the room. Jason gently picked me up. I sighed quietly and rubbed my eyes with my hands. Then, I put my arms around him to make sure I wouldn’t fall. He set me down on a comfortable bed. For the first time since I had been here, I spoke, “Where am I?” “You’re in the middle of nowhere in a desert,” he answered as he sat down beside me. “Oh,” I sighed. We were both silent for a moment. “Are you and Vincent going to kill me?” I asked. “Not purposely,” he joked. “Do I know you? You look familiar.” “You met one of my brothers. We all have blonde hair. Only, he’s a whole lot more mean and rude.” “Hank. That was his name,” I said without even thinking about it. “I never thought I would say his name again.” “Don’t let him get you down. He could’ve done worse.” “Well of course you’re going to side with him. You don’t even know what I have been through,” I said looking down at the floor. He hugged me. “I know I don’t. I should not have said anything about that. Cassie, you’ve been through a lot of things that even vampires haven’t had to.” “So you promise you all aren’t going to kill me?” “We promise.” I looked up at the ceiling and suddenly saw a bat. He followed my gaze. “Don’t worry about him, he’s as harmless as a flee.” “I don’t like bats. No offense or anything.” “Why would I be offended?” “Well, I always thought that the bat was like your icon.” He laughed, “Nope. So far, Dracula is the only one that chose the bat.” “Oh,” I said, not completely believing him. I combed my hair with my fingers. My hair had gotten long and now it was curly. “Wow, my hair has changed. It used to be shorter and straight.” He watched me and then asked. “Cassie, can I ask you a question?” “Well, you already did, so I suppose.” “Ok, do you like Drake?” I hesitated then, “Yes, we were pretty close.” “Ok, making sure you were ok.” I was confused. “Huh?” “Well, if you’re a girl and you don’t like Drake, then something is wrong.” I smiled, “So I passed?” “Yes, you passed,” he said as he hugged me. I yawned quietly. “You sleepy?” “Yes I am. It has been a long day. How long have I been here?” “I’d say about two weeks.” “Wow, really?” “Yep.” “Well, where do I sleep?” I asked. “You can have the bed; Dracula knows how uncomfortable that table was.” I giggled. “One rule: try not to toss and turn because I’m a light sleeper.” I smiled, “Ok.” He leaned over and kissed me and then went over to the sofa. I got under the covers and drifted asleep. I started to wake up, but instead of waking up in a big comfortable bed, I woke up on a stone floor. I winced as I felt my side. “What happened? Where am I? How did I get here?” I felt my forehead; I had a big knot on it. I looked around, and the last thing I saw before I passed out was a gigantic bat changing into a human. I woke up again, still on a floor of stone. I gasped as I saw the thing from the night before flying in the sky. Two seconds later, he was in its’ human state and standing right in front of me. I stepped back as he stepped closer to me. “Welcome to my castle, Miss Cassie.” he said stepping closer to me. I stepped back farther until I hit the wall. I put my hands on the wall as I prepared myself for what he was about to do. He turned my head to the side and smiled. “My children did not lie when they said you had a beautiful neck. Let’s see if they lied about how you taste.” He looked into my eyes then back down at my neck then bit me. I screamed surprisingly quiet, even though it hurt so badly. He stopped for a minute and forced his head back. “How could a mortal have such a taste?” He then went back to my neck and bit me again. I tried to push him off, but that just seemed to make it worse. I fell to the floor after what seemed eternity and he stopped and flew away. I felt my neck and screamed quietly then either passed out or fell asleep. I shortly woke up, but I was back in the comfortable bed. “What the heck? Was that all a dream?” Did I dare feel my neck to see? I slowly brought my hand up to my neck and gasped. It hadn’t been a dream. I looked around for Jason. I saw him lying on the couch. I acted like I was asleep and picked the scab on my neck. It worked; he quickly got up to see what was making the smell. I had planned on wailing for show, but it was actually really hurting! I started to wail and he came over to see what the matter was. He leaned down and kissed me and left. I thought that he was going to come back with Vincent but he didn’t. I sighed and got myself up out of the comfortable bed. I needed to get back to the Mansion, before I went completely insane. I tried to concentrate on Drake, Amy, even the King and Queen, but nothing worked. They were too far away. I put my hands over my ears as I began having flash backs of the night before. I even began to scream, the visions were horrible! I looked up in the rafters of the ceiling and screamed louder as I saw the giant bat heading for me. I quickly got under the bed in hopes that it would be too big to fit under. I yelled in pain as it stabbed my leg with one of its wings. It was trying to pull me out! I grabbed hold of the bed post and held on for life. The pain in my leg began to make me cry. It continued to pull, causing the bed to go with me. It then took its wing out of my leg quickly which caused me to wince through my tears. I sighed as I listened for a sign of the thing then screamed as I saw it jump in front of the bed where it used to be. It changed to its human form and made me let go of the bedpost and got me out from under the bed. I continued to cry as the pain in my leg got sharper and sharper. I tried to stand up to open the door, but collapsed. He leaned over me and was forcing me to kiss him. I tried and tried again to push him off of me, but I couldn’t. I started slapping his arms, but he just held them down with his hands. He stopped for a minute and cut his wrist and forced it in my mouth. I cried harder as I felt him slowly ripping my shirt.  He suddenly was pushed off by some people. I tried to get a good look at the person that had attacked the attacker, but could not. I looked over at the door and saw the King, the Queen, and Amy. The person that had pushed him off asked if I could see anything at all. I tried to say no but I just groaned. He then picked me up gently and we all left.

Chapter 8: An Evil Plan Revealed

I flinched as I felt a needle go in my wrist, after that, I soon fell out of consciousness. I woke up expecting to still be in that comfortable bed, expecting that it all had been an awful nightmare. I was somewhat disappointed as I noticed that I was in a bed, but an even more comfortable one. My neck had apparently been cleaned up, but nevertheless, I felt two puncture wounds. Someone came in the door. I looked closer, it was Drake!  I started to get up, but quickly laid back down as I felt a sharp pain. He ran over to me and kissed me. I hugged him, “I never want to go back to that place!” I began to sob as I got flashbacks of the event. “We should have never have turned you over to her care, she’s a maniac,” he said. “How?” I said confused. “She has been looking for a way to make vampires completely immortal.” “But I thought they already were.” “They are, except one thing: we can’t walk in sunlight.” “Well how would I………” I drifted off, “Oh.” He nodded and sat beside me. “You are different than other humans. You have survived multiple attacks from multiple vampires. You alone are invulnerable to our attacks.” “But that’s a good thing, isn’t it?” “In most circumstances yes, in this one, no.” “Why?” “Because, they were going to interbreed you with your last attacker.” My mouth dropped open, “But, but, how could they do that? I mean they weren’t gonna do what I’m thinking they were.” He nodded. “That’s completely, completely absurd. I would never have………” I began to sob as I remembered the last attack. I didn’t have to do anything. He looked up at me and hugged me. I looked down and began to cry softly. He pulled me against him and held me while trying to shush me. I looked back at all that had happened to me since that night that I had gone to meet up with Amy. What if I hadn’t gone off looking for her? Would there be a different person with the same blood type? What if I couldn’t have overcome Will? Would he have ruined all hopes of the vampires’ dream to walk in sunlight? What would happen to her if this thing did happen? “You ask yourself too many questions, Cassie,” Drake said as brought me out of curiosity. “I can’t help but wonder what would…” I trailed off. Drake had kissed me and let his tongue slip in. “Don’t even think about that. Not for a second,” he said before kissing me again. I smiled and kissed him back and we continued making out until he heard Amy calling him down. He sighed and left me to the questions I was thinking about before. What if I had went along with the whole vampires walking in sunlight thing? Would it be that bad? Sure there would be the baddies, but there were mortals who were bad, too. One thing was for sure. If I had gone through with it, Drake could have walked out and met my parents and everything. There could be walks on the beach during the afternoon. There could be the sweet smell of garlic on the spaghetti sauce. I stopped asking me theses questions. I remembered what exactly I would have had to do. There was no way I was going to go and do that. I would never do that willingly, ever. And that was a solemn promise I made to myself. Drake came back with a downright agitated face. “What’s wrong?” I asked sensing the anger. He hesitated. “Will has disappeared.” “Sorry, but I thought he was like a traitor to your kind. Why is this so bad?” I asked confused. “He…… he left a note,” he continued. I looked at him questioningly. He shook his head. “You have too much to worry about right now. You don’t need troubled by this, too.” I looked at him questioningly then nodded. I didn’t even want to know what the note said. Drake kissed me then left to answer his father’s calling. Even though I don’t want to know, I need to know what that note says. I got off the bed and surprisingly was able to walk over to the door. I pushed against it and even more surprisingly, it opened. I peeked out and looked down the halls. Everyone was at some meeting; I could hear their voices through the wall. I rubbed my forehead, how was I able to push the door open, how was I able to hear voices through a wall? I shook off the thought that was now on my mind and went over to the wall.

Chapter 9: Dracula??

“She’s too young for those maniacs to try to do that,” said a voice. “Since when do they wait for time? They don’t care what might happen to her, they just want the perfect immortal,” said the Queen. So this meeting was all about me. “You do all realize how this jeopardizes us, don’t you? The people that are trying to pull this off are going to try to get their prize back,” the first voice said. “And do you forget who we have here? Let those lab rats try to come if they want their prize back,” a woman’s voice stated. “Is it really true that they think they found the remains of Dracula and brought him back?” Drake asked. I heard a loud gasp. “My dear boy, wherever did you hear that?” an elder asked. “Uncle, you know that I read minds now, correct?” Drake asked. “Of course, but it’s not possible ………………………it can’t be,” he said. “I think that they have brought Him back. It would all make sense that way,” Drake continued. “We did see whoever the attacker was the last time, changing into a bat…………” Amy said hesitantly. “Could it not be possible for another to choose the shape of a bat?” a second woman’s voice asked. “No, the bat shape was forever banned after Dracula,” the King answered. There was a long silence. “If I say I do believe all of this, what does that mean for Miss Cassie?” Drake’s uncle queried. “It means that she needs to stay safe, away from all windows, and so forth,” the nurse stated. “Has she…………that is, has she tasted his blood?” an elder asked. There was another long eerie silence. “It’s hard to tell,” Drake answered. I felt my whole body go cold. There was a white fog arising over the hallway. I walked back to my room, although it was very slow. The fog followed me. I heard from the hallway, a bunch of commotion. I laid down on my bed and saw the fog disappear slowly, but not before the King, Queen, and everyone else from the meeting saw it. There was a loud hiss and then the fog disappeared. I rubbed my eyes and looked at everyone that I hadn’t seen until now. Some looked like people that I had seen when I had went out jogging at night. One even looked like a person that had been a dj at the club I sometimes went to. They were all looking at me intently, as if expecting something. I suddenly heard a voice in my head, “Is she going to act like this was some kind of joke or was that really Dracula’s fog?” Did I just read someone’s mind? I rubbed my eyes again and asked, “Since when does fog follow people around? Since when is fog that white?” Nearly everyone left after I asked. “Since I have walked this earth my child,” said the voice of whoever had attacked me.

Chapter 10: Powers and

More Nightmares

I looked around for where the voice had come from. “What are you looking for Cassie?” asked Amy. “I heard a voice,” I said hesitantly. Amy looked at me questioningly then looked at Drake who was also puzzled. I rubbed my cheeks and shook my head, “It wasn’t anything, never mind.” Amy nodded and then left. Drake came over to the bed and clasped his hand in mine. “What is going on?” I asked bluntly. “Cassie, did you really hear a voice?” he asked. I nodded, “I can push that door open, too,” I continued, “I can hear through walls…………” I said quietly. He said hesitatingly, “You heard the meeting. Didn’t you?”  I nodded, “I didn’t mean to………………What’s happening to me?” I said changing the subject. I heard an evil chuckle and looked up at the ceiling. Drake followed my gaze, “Cassie nothing is up there, I promise.” He hugged me tightly as I continued to hear the evil chuckling. Drake was trying to read my mind, I could tell. I put my hands over my ears and shook my head. The chuckling turned into a hysterical laugh. “Make it stop!” I nearly screamed. Then it got very quiet and I was in some type of garden. It was dark, and there was a silver fog over the grass. The rosebushes looked so beautiful with their bright red charm. I was wearing some type of tea party dress or something of that sort and my hair was curly and down past my shoulders. I looked around the garden and sat down on the beautiful fountain of a Greek Goddess. When I looked down at the fountain’s water, I saw my reflection, only it looked so much more beautiful then when it had before. The water was so dark though, it started giving me goose bumps. I stood up and shook off the goose bumps and walked around to the back patio. I gasped as I saw a beautiful hedge maze. The hedges had candles within them which gave them a gorgeous look. Without thinking, I started walking through the maze. It was truly a breathtaking sight with the hedges and all. I sat down on a bench in the maze and started to think. “Where am I? Is this place actually real? Where could everyone else be? Was this all a dream?” I looked down in a fountain that was near the bench and continued to ponder all the thoughts. Suddenly, I felt a tap on my shoulder, “So what’s your excuse for not being at the party?” “Excuse me?” I asked, trying not to sound rude. “You know the party. The party that everyone is supposed to attend to feed on the anointed mortal,” he answered. I hesitated then replied, “I like it better out here.” He sniffed and then said, “Hold on a second, you’re not a vampire.” I combed out my hair then stepped back. “Are you the anointed one?” I quickly replied, “Why would I be the anointed one. And what’s your excuse for not being at the party?” I took another step back as he stepped toward me. “Because I needed a midnight snack,” he said hissing. I turned around and felt him grab my wrist. His grip loosened and I bolted toward the maze. “So you are the undying mortal, Cassie,” I heard his voice. I didn’t even know which way I was even turning. “Whoa, they weren’t kidding when they said that you had picked up some vampire traits. You know I’m gonna catch you though, so can’t we just do this the easy way?” I turned a corner and nearly fainted……………………dead end. “Please, it won’t hurt but for a second.” Not having an idea what I was doing, I walked into the hedge. “Cassie. Cassie……………Cassie!!!! Cassie wake up!!!!!” I rubbed my forehead. That was all a dream? There was no way. I sat up and rubbed my eyes. My mouth dropped as I saw my mother. What in the world was happening?! “Rise and shine sleepy head. Your father, brother, and sister are all downstairs waiting for you to join us at dinner,” my mother said. I looked around my room and saw all the things as they were before. “Dinner?” it felt like breakfast time. “Yes. You came home after a walk and have been out like a rock. It’s nearly 8 o’clock. Cassie, come on before dinner gets cold.” I got off my bed and followed her downstairs. Everyone was sitting at the table which had turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, and banana pudding. I sat in a seat and asked, “What’s the occasion?” “Nothing, just thought like cooking a lot this afternoon,” my mother answered. The doorbell rang as I began getting corn. My father went to go answer the door after he had gotten some turkey. The next thing that happened seemed to be playing in my mind in slow motion. After I heard father open the door, I could hear him say, “What the devil?!” Then I heard his neck snap in two and his body hit the floor with a thump that made the ceiling chandelier fall. My mother took David in her arms and held onto Ginger’s little hand. I saw Will jump out from the hallway and go after them. My whole body was petrified. I tried to move and maybe distract him while the rest of my family could escape, but could hardly even breathe. This could not actually be happening. It couldn’t. It was impossible. I grimaced as he took David and quickly snapped his neck. I shut my eyes as I saw Will beginning to bite my mother, then Ginger’s neck. After he got done, he looked at me and said, “Good taste must run in your family.” I shuddered and took a step back. “Cassie, when will you learn that you cannot outsmart me because no matter where you go,” he disappeared, “I can find you,” he whispered in my ear as he reappeared behind me. He grabbed my arms with one hand and pinned them behind my back. With his other hand, he began brushing my hair away from my neck. I began to cry quietly as I felt his hot breath on my skin on my neck. “Cassie…………Cassie…………Cassie wake up!” Was that Amy’s voice I was hearing? God please let it be Amy’s voice!

Chapter 11: Anointed What?

I sat up and hugged Amy very tightly. I cried in her shoulder for what seemed forever. She suddenly made me stop and held me by my shoulders. I wiped away all my tears and told myself to get over the nightmares, they were only nightmares and that was all. Then again how could I know that my family was all ok? I had been here for months now, possibly even a year. “Cassie…………your family is all fine,” Amy said. “Oh wow, you can read minds now, too.” “And apparently so can you.” I looked at Amy and nodded. I could read minds now. “But how can I know for sure?” I asked. “Because we have someone making sure of it,” she answered. “Amy…………it’s not Will, right?” I asked. “No! Will has been banished from our clan. Don’t even worry about him,” she answered quickly. I nodded. After a moment or two’s silence I asked, “What is the anointed one?” “The what one?” she replied. “The anointed one. It was in my first nightmare. It had something to do with me and the anointed one,” I continued. Amy’s face got a little paler as she went answered wisely, “The anointed one is supposedly the perfect immortal. They have all the benefits of the vampire kind…………and the benefits of the mortal kind.” I nodded, “Am I this so called ‘anointed’ one then?” “You can’t actually tell. This anointed one is supposed to have immortal strength, better senses, such as hearing, seeing, and tasting, and be able to fly. They are also supposed to be able to grow to a certain age, stop aging for eternity, enjoy the sunlight, and be able to have more human emotions.” I bit my lip and replied quietly, “So what is supposed to happen to this anointed one?” Amy hesitated, “Cassie, you honestly don’t need to be worrying about this. You have enough on your mind as it is.” I stood up and replied, “Do you think Will thinks I have enough on my mind? Or Dracula? Wait I already know what happens to the anointed one. All the vampires of the clan who finds him/her all have a little feast on him/her. Isn’t that right?” I paused then looked down at feet and said quietly, “Why me?” I hugged myself and continued to ask myself that. Amy stood up and hugged me tightly, “It’s not like anyone in our clan will do anything. That’s why we are keeping you here.” “So I am this anointed person?” I said through my sobs. “It’s a suspicion that might have crossed the elders minds……………” she answered slowly. “That’s what the whole Dr. Vincent thing was all about wasn’t it? And even the blonde guys. By the way one of them happened to be Dr. Vincent’s assistants and nephew,” I said, saying the last part more quietly. Amy gasped then hugged me tighter. “Amy, I need to know what that note from Will said,” I said slowly. Amy nodded and handed me the note then nodded and left. I opened the envelope and began reading:

Brother,

So, looks like we both actually have a thing for the ‘anointed one’. No big deal, you can have your fun. But, hope you know that she has brought a ‘friend’ with her from the maniac Vincent’s lab. Turns out that the science geeks have actually brought Him back. Its crazy isn’t it. Now she has three vamps that have a thing for her. What could our kind be coming to? Hmm, there was something else I was gonna write to you about. Now what was it? Oh yea, I’ve made some friends in high places, first of all the new and improved Dracula seems to be on my side. But who actually knows what he could be thinking, except of course his victims. Oh yea that would be Cassie wouldn’t it? Second of all, do you remember that one guy? The guy that could control dreams, thoughts, and that kinda sort? Well anyway his name is Kingly; turns out he had a bad run with the mortal cops and I helped him out a bit. Let’s just say, watch your back. Hope you can entertain your new guest. Oh yea, and as for Cassie, you know that she will start to miss her family, especially after she has this nightmare that Kingly and I cooked up. Oh one more thing before I go, by the time you read this, Cassie will probably have already had her first nightmare. It’s all about the last anointed one that our neighboring clan had captured. It’s personally my favorite. Well I don’t really intend to ever return, maybe once Dracula takes care of the goodie-goodies. Then I believe I will take MY prize back. You should know what or who that is.

Goodbye Forever,

William

Chapter 12: A Good Laugh

Oh, so now I’m a prize? I rolled my eyes. I opened the door, having no clue what I was going to do or where I was going to go. I just knew that I was……………… well mad would be an understatement. I listened carefully for anything to hear. I felt someone following me, so I turned around and began to punch. I stopped midway as I realized it was Drake. I sighed in relief and smuggled into him. I sniffed and said, “You’re hurt.” “It’s not like I’m about to die,” he said trying to be his usual joking self. I gave him a sarcastic look and took off his jacket. “Oh my god! What happened?” I said as I looked at his gash in his shoulder. I put one hand over my mouth and led him to the bathroom. I told him to sit on the stool as I got a bucket of warm water and a towel. I came back and asked again, this time more sincerely, “What happened?” I began soaking the towel in the water. He hesitated, “Well there’s this guy who can create dreams and such………” I cut him off, “Kingly…………I know Amy let me read the letter.” He breathed deeply and I hugged him gently, “I needed to know. And you don’t need to be worrying if I find things out.” He smiled, “You always were the one to find things out weren’t you.” I smiled back and kissed him. He kissed back, but I said, “We need to get you cleaned up. Vampire or not, you lose blood too.” He chuckled as I reached down to grab the towel. “This might sting a little,” I said. He nodded. I slowly put the hot towel over his shoulder. He groaned quietly. “So what happened?” I asked trying to get his mind off his shoulder. It had worked and he smiled. “Well, I found Kingly down in one of the dungeons. And before I had even realized that it was Kingly, he stabbed me with one of his claws.” Now I was confused. Claws? Was this guy some kind of lobster? I laughed. “Grr, I can’t read your mind anymore, tell me what’s funny.” “Well you said claws, and the first thing that comes to mind with claws is, well a lobster,” I began giggling at myself. “A lobster?” he asked as he began laughing. I nodded, still giggling. When I went to grab the towel, he pulled me close and kissed me. “You are too funny, Cassie. Seriously. A lobster?” I giggled again, “Leave me alone, I’m blonde and it’s been awhile since I had an anatomy class.” “You mean biology?” I scratched my head, “I dunno, the one where you study animals.” “Yea, that’s biology,” he then began laughing again. “Ok, ok. It wasn’t that funny………” I said jokingly. “It still is.” “Ok, maybe it is,” I said as I grabbed the towel from his shoulder. As I reached down to put the towel in the bucket, he grabbed me from behind and made it to where I was sitting on his lap. I leaned on his good shoulder as he held me in his arms. “So what exactly is Kingly? I mean if he isn’t a giant, land-living lobster, then what is he?” He laughed again and answered, “Now that I think of it, he did resemble a lobster in a way. He had those beady black eyes too. A cross between lobster and turtle?” I giggled. “So a slow, green, lobster?” We both laughed. “Why are you always so happy?” he asked randomly. “Why am I so happy? I dunno. Bunch of reasons I guess.” “Seriously though, I have never seen anyone so happy. Especially in your case, I mean come on, you have two killers that want you, you have no idea about your family, and look at all that you have been through.” I smiled. “Wow that is a lot to not be happy about. But one, I don’t care about those other two killers that want me, because they can’t have me. Two, Amy told me that they had someone watching my family for me. And three, how many girls do you know that actually managed to do all that I have done. It makes me feel even more special. I mean……………………I beat Will in his trance multiple times, and I overcame Dracula. You know how smart that makes me feel? And oh my god, I’m hyper!” I said as I bounced in his lap. He laughed again. “Oh yea and do you know many vampires I know that actually laugh that much? Am I that funny?” I giggled as I continued to bounce in his lap. “Yes you are,” he said as he stopped me from bouncing and kissed me. I kissed him back and put my arms around him, accidentally hitting his sore shoulder. “Oh, sorry!” I said. He just smiled. “Ok, for real now, we have got to get that cleaned up.” I bent down to grab the towel as he playfully kicked behind my knees. I turned around and said, “So what happened to Mr. Lobster?” I quickly put the towel back on as he laughed again, “Well, he couldn’t exactly run because his claw was still in me, so eventually help came and he was removed from my shoulder.” I smiled as I sat on his lap facing him. I put my hands behind my back on his knees and said, “I just now realized how tall you really are.” He shifted his knees and I nearly fell, “Oh, that was a cheap shot,” I said as I poked his side. “Looks who talking about cheap shots,” he said as he shifted his knees again. I actually did fall that time, but he caught me with his good arm, “Whoops, ok, no more of that.” I smiled and got back in the position I was in before. “Gosh you are still sitting taller than I am, and I’m on your lap.” I pouted playfully and he smiled. He smiled then leaned down and started kissing me. I smiled and kissed him back. He began rubbing my back as he started making out with me. I wrapped my arms around his neck and went with it. After about twenty or so minutes of making out, the towel on his injured shoulder began slipping. I stopped kissing back and bit his lower lip playfully then got off his lap and took the towel off. He gave me a pout that looked too cute.

Chapter 13: Nightmare

Relived

I heard someone running down the corridor and peeked out the door. “She’s been here long enough as it is……………… and her parents, they must be worried sick about her,” I heard a voice whispering. “She knows far too much about us……… if she were to tell anyone……………” “Well we can’t just let her go on living here, she’s getting to comfortable with our kind,” another voice said. I closed the door and leaned against it. “They don’t want me to be here anymore,” I said quietly. Drake sat quietly. There was a knock on the door and I went into one of the stalls as he opened the door. “There you are, we have been looking all over for you, we’re having a feast in honor of you for defeating Kingly,” said a woman’s voice. “Sorry, I was just washing up,” he replied. “Well come on, don’t keep the guests waiting,” the voice said again. The woman then turned on her heel and left. I opened the stall and said, “A party? Do I get to go?” He chuckled and smiled, “It could be arranged.” I smiled and kissed him and left the bathroom quietly to go and get ready. I tiptoed to my room and looked at the dress that was laid out on my bed. It looked so familiar. It was a light blue tea party dress. I dismissed the thought and quickly changed. I slipped on the blue matching shoes, grabbed the jacket, brushed out my hair, and walked quickly to the dining room. The dining room didn’t look as majestic as it had during the first feast. On the contrary, it looked well……… gloomy. The walls were all done in a pretty blue and had lilac purple designs on them. It looked pretty and all, but it just put me in a depressing mood. The only lights were coming from the blue and purple ones, which didn’t help that much. I looked around for Drake or Amy, but could hardly see my hand in front of my face. Suddenly, I didn’t feel as if this was the feast that Drake had been talking about. I felt as if I was lost or something. I went back to what I thought was the entrance, but came to find out it was a solid wall. Unexpectedly, I began to get a headache. I tried to concentrate on my developing vampire senses to find out where I was. I made my way across the floor and went outside to what turned out to be a beautiful patio. I rubbed my forehead and looked around. There were beautiful rose hedges with candles inside of them. I walked around to the side of the patio and took a seat on a water fountain. As I looked down at the dark water in it, I gasped. I remembered all of it: the tea party dress, the hedges with candles, the maze, and now the water fountain. Then I remembered the guy, so I hid behind the fountain. I listened closely for anything and everything. It was eerie quiet. Then a guy showed up. At first, he looked nothing like he had in the dream, but after awhile, he had transformed completely. “Drat, must be running early. How early could I be though? Guess I should’ve gotten a snack first.” I heard a twig snap and he had too apparently, for he had disappeared. Out of the darkness, a girl about my age appeared. She had straight, golden hair down to her shoulders. Instantly, I was jealous. The guy I had seen moments ago reappeared and came up to her casually, “What’s a lovely thing like you doing out here all alone?” “Well, you see, my boyfriend went to get us some drinks, but he disappeared on me.” “How awful. Shame on him for leaving you out here for creatures of the night.” “He said he’d be right back, but that was awhile ago,” she said curling her hair with her fingers. “Say, what’s your boyfriend’s name by chance?” “Ricky. Ricky Reynolds.” I heard him chuckle and say, “He’s always been the one to make the girl chase.” “Pardon?”  “Tell you what, if you go through that maze right through there, he’ll be at the end,” he had turned on his heel and went to go back inside. “Through there? By myself?” There was a wolf’s howl in the distance. “You’re not scared are you?” “No! Well, maybe a little………… ok I’m terrified.” “Tell you what, I’ll go through with you to the middle, but then you’re on your own.” There was another howl, only closer. “All right screw it. You wait here and I’ll go get Ricky.” “Ok,” she replied. She sat down on the water fountain that I was hiding behind as he started through the maze. I couldn’t help myself so I said, “Excuse me, do you know where the exit is of this place?” I stood up and brushed off my dress. “Oh, you scared me,” she replied. “Sorry, I have the tendency to do that.” “It’s all right. What’s your name?” “Cass……… I mean Jessica.” “Pretty name, now what did you ask?” “Where the exit is. I’m afraid I’ve gotten lost.” She laughed and said, “Pretty easy to get lost in this place isn’t it? Um, I’m not sure about where the exit might be. Maybe the person who went to go get Ricky would know.” “Well, the thing is, is that he has this thing for me, but I don’t really like him.” “Why in the world not? He seems like a nice guy.” “Things aren’t always what they seem. Well if you don’t know, I’m gonna go ahead and look for the exit.” “You’re gonna leave me here?” “Well you thought you were alone before.” Before she could reply, Ricky and the other guy had appeared at the end of the hedges. “There you are Alice. Who’s your friend?” “Oh, this is Jessica. Where did you go?” Ricky looked me up and down. “I had an errand or two to run,” he said as he hugged Alice tightly and checked me out again. “I don’t think I trust this, Jessica.” “Now Kyle, that’s fine if you don’t trust her, Jessica here is a friend of mine. So hands off.” Kyle had approached me and caressed my chin. Ricky snarled at him and Kyle ran off inside back to the party. “You know Ricky, Jessica? Why didn’t you tell me?” Alice asked. “Alice, it’s been awhile since me and Jessica have talked, do you mind staying here while we go for a walk?” Ricky asked. “Oh alright,” she answered as she sat on the water fountain. Once we had gotten out of earshot from Alice, Ricky said, “I know just as much as you do that you’re no vampire.” “Did I ever say I was?” I asked. “And you may not know it, but we do know each other,” he said dismissing the subject of vampires. I stared at him blankly, “Huh?” “Don’t you remember me? Think back 10 years ago.” I thought back to when I was six years old. Then, I remembered, “R………” I said quietly. He grinned, “You do remember.” “I remember the last time you had come; you nearly scared my mother to death.” “Did I now? Sorry to hear that. Ok, enough dwelling on the past though, why are you here? Any vampire that sees you would make you a dessert. Or worse, think you were somebody they were looking for.” “The anointed one,” I said in a quiet whisper. He looked up and asked, “What did you just say?” “The anointed one. That’s who there looking for.” “How do you know that information, that’s very confidential?” I looked at him sadly. He nodded. “So we have to get you out of here.” “First of all where is here? I thought I was in the Dining Hall of the Vampiric Mansion.” “Someone probably made it to me an alternate dimension so that you would end up here.” “So how can I go back to the Mansion?” “By following this maze to the very end. When you get to any fork in the maze take a right. Once you get to the end of the maze, you’ll be in the courtyard of the mansion.” “It’s that easy?” He shook his head. “In order for it to work properly, you have to really want to go there. You have to have the mansion’s courtyard in your mind throughout the maze. If you get sidetracked for even a second, that’s another minute that you have to travel in the maze. Don’t think about anything that may harm you, or it will. And I think that that is it.” “Complicated. Who came up with it?” “No idea. But I have to get back to Alice before Kyle gets to her. Cya Cassie.” I hugged him tightly. “Answer one question for me……………… Why didn’t you ever come back?” He hugged me back. “Because I knew that what was in store for you in the future and I didn’t want your family in any danger by attracting others.” I nodded as he turned around and went back to Alice.

Chapter 14: Treacherous Journey

I looked at the maze in front of me, too scared to even think about what could happen to me.  As I took my first step into the maze, it immediately felt colder. I went to take a step back expecting to be back in front of it. But to my utter shock and disappointment, I could feel the hedge behind me. “Alright,” I said to myself, “looks like I don’t have a choice now.” So, I walked. And walked. And walked. And walked. And walked. And walked. And walked some more. After what seemed forever, I heard a twig snap. I quickly turned around, but saw nothing. I gave my self a reassuring chuckle and turned back around. Then I felt something scratch by my ankle. I whimpered as I felt something slither over my foot. I looked down, but saw nothing. “Come on Cassie, pull yourself together,” I said to myself. I continued forward and looked at the hedge to my right. What I saw was unbelievable, it was almost like a big flat-screen like at the movies, only it had choppy images. I heard a wolf’s howl. I started to panic, but remembered what Ricky had said. I could only hope that he hadn’t lied about it. I tried to stay on the path, best I could. I looked back to the hedges to the right and to my horror, saw Dracula’s face. I quickly looked back forward as I heard something fly over my head. “He can’t hurt me, just like R said,” I said as I took a deep breath and continued. I couldn’t but to be distracted. It was harder than what R had said it would be. I saw a pond and decided to catch my breath. Sitting down by the pond, I did feel a lot calmer. Then I heard singing and it was coming from the pond. It sounded nice so I leaned in closer without thinking. Just when I was about to get back up, a creature that surprisingly looked like a mermaid tried to drown me. I quickly scrambled up and didn’t look back as I continued walking. I started to walk quicker as the clouds covered the moon, making it impossible for me to see anything. After awhile of walking in complete darkness, I walked right into a hedge. I stepped back and felt another hedge. “Okay…… I’m confused,” I said to myself as I felt for a way that wasn’t blocked. I felt around frantically until I finally found a gap. It was small, but nonetheless, it was a gap. After the moon became unblocked, I felt a lot better knowing which way I was going. I tried to remember what all R had said, but as time wore on, it was getting harder and harder to concentrate. I noticed that the path I was walking on seemed to be getting slimmer and slimmer. It was getting to the point to where I could hardly fit. I thought for sure that the path was going to go down to nothing, when I walked back onto a broader path. I was relieved, but at the same time depressed. There was a fork in the path. I stood in front of the paths and thought long and hard. One path had twisted vines going all over it. The middle path had jagged thorns going out of all the hedges. And the third path looked like the yellow brick road compared to the other two. Instinctively, I choose the path on the right. I began skipping as I got happier because I thought for sure this was the path and that it would not take much longer. But shortly after beginning skipping, I saw a shadow in the trees flicker. I took a deep breath and started walking again. Suddenly a witch appeared in front of me. I reminded myself to stay calm as she stepped towards me. “Do you know how much your pretty self is worth to me?” I acted clueless as I shook my head. The witch chuckled evily. “Don’t give me that my pretty, you know very well how much a vampire would give me for giving them you.” “Vampires? Get a life,” I said braver than I actually felt. The witch gave me a dumbfound look. I tried to push her over and continue as I said, “And Halloween’s over.” I fooled her, I guessed because she hadn’t followed me. “Thank god for acting lessons,” I said relieved as I followed the path turning right. Another fork came up shortly after. I looked at all three paths and went through the middle one which had roses in the hedges. I knew it wouldn’t be much longer now. I picked one of the roses and put in my hair for no reason, but then the hedges rearranged themselves. I slapped myself in the forehead and closed my eyes as they stopped. Slowly opening my eyes, I saw that the hedges had actually disappeared. The only boundaries seemed to be trees. And then I saw it, the mansion. I jumped up and down for awhile and then practically ran the rest of the way. After I opened the door to the mansion, I fell to the floor. I only got up after remembering all that had happened that night. I had to tell Drake that there was another group of vampires. I debated on going back to the dining hall. Would it send me back to that other dimension? I brushed off the question and opened the door to the dining hall.

Chapter 15: Other Group

I scanned the hall. It definitely wasn’t the other dimension. It actually looked like the dining hall, so I began looking for familiar faces. Suddenly, Drake approached me and hugged me, “I thought you weren’t going to show.” “Me? Miss a party? You’re kidding,” I smiled as I hugged him back. “So where were you? You’ve been gone for quite some time,” he asked as we both took a seat. “I don’t know Drake, that’s the thing. One minute I was opening the door to the dining hall, the next I was in this weird depressing place,” I answered. “Like the door was acting as a portal?” “Exactly. It was weird. After finding out I couldn’t go back, I went outside onto this patio.” “Was there anyone else there?” “Well…… Drake…… there’s another group of vampires there. And they were willing to do almost anything to get their hands on me.” “Hmm. I’ve never heard of another group. Well, at least not a large one. They’re probably just a group of rebels.” “I dunno… there was an awful lot of them,” I replied. “Like how many?” “At least 30,” I answered. He looked at me gravely for a moment, then clasped my hand, “Let’s not think about that tonight.” I smiled and was happy to please. As dinner was served, I noticed that he wasn’t quite as cheerful as he was before. I spied our host, Drake’s dad, looking directly at him then at me. They both then stood up and headed towards the passageway. “That can’t be good,” I thought to myself. I leaned back and stared up at the skylight ceiling. The cloudless night had an even more desirable appearance because of the bright full moon. Or was there clouds? No, clouds could not have traveled that quickly. I now looked at the sky with a dazed look. As quickly as the night had had clouds, the skies were now cloudless again. I shrugged the occurrence off and glanced at Amy. Maybe I should tell her about portal. Maybe I should tell her about the sky. She answered my questions with a puzzled look and a nod. I excused myself from the table and walked briskly back to Drake’s room. By the time I had sat down on the bed, Amy had appeared. She leaned against the doorway, “So, what’s on your mind Cassie?” “A bunch of things right now,” I answered as I hugged my knees. She entered the room and kneeled on the floor, “First, Drake up and left, then I caught you off in wonder land stargazing…” I cut her off, “There’s another assembly of rebels out there……and…” “Wait a minute, back up. How do you know? I mean, there’s several little packs of them, but not enough of them to cause any problems,” Amy interrupted, “Besides, none of them have the guts to come all the way out here in our domain.” “Amy… I counted at least thirty. The Great Hall’s door acted like a portal and I was sent to this other place.” She spoke quietly, “And they’re after you, right?” I nodded. We were both quiet for awhile. I hugged my knees then asked, “Was tonight cloudless?” “Of course. We have controls for the skylight which can make the sky look cloudless or cloudy. We can even add more stars……… Cassie?” I looked down at the floor. My head perked up immediately after hearing shouting from the Great Hall.