Vampires Don't Exist
Note: The only things in this story that belong to me are Caroline (the main character) and most of the settings, plus the Shadows. Also, the setting in Chapter Eight: Kingdom of Broken Soles and all of the characters in that chapter except Alice are mine. Thank you!
Prologue: The Bar
Caroline stood outside Dark Horse with a cigarette in her hand. She sighed. She really should be getting back to her house-it was one in the morning. She could wait a second or two longer though. Her father could wait. Right now she just wanted to be away from everything. Away from everyone.
She took a drag of the cigarette, appreciating the numb feeling that was beginning to wash over her, accompanied with the dizzy feeling of having had too much to drink.
"That'll kill you, you know," a voice said from behind.
Caroline whirled around. "Who are you?" she asked the shadowy figure standing in the Dark Horse's doorway. She felt the world spinning. Maybe she'd had more to drink than she had originally thought.
"Hmm. I don't know. Who do you want me to be?" the voice asked. Caroline was fairly certain that it was the voice of a woman, but she couldn't be sure. When the voice stepped into the dim streetlight, Caroline saw that it was indeed coming from a woman. She tried to control her actions, knowing that alcohol was clouding some of her judgment and obstructing her from moving properly.
"Okay, what's your name?" Caroline asked. She was very aware that her words were slurred and did not sound right. She giggled slightly. "You're pretty," she smiled.
"Well, thank you. My name is… hmm. Let's go with Jane." Jane smiled at Caroline. "And I'm a creepy vampire that's going to take you back to your house because you've had too much to drink, Caroline."
"A vampire?" Caroline laughed. "You're certainly pale enough to be one! But vampires don't exist. Only in my imagination." Caroline had an unhealthy obsession with the undead creatures, but she still knew the difference between reality and fiction. It was only much later when she was sober again that she realized she had never introduced herself to this stranger, and yet the young woman knew her name.
"I am a vampire. I even have the fangs to prove it." Jane showed her teeth. Caroline concluded that she was very drunk and hallucinating or dreaming at this point. She decided to go with it.
"Okay then," Caroline giggled. "Where are we off to, Ms. Vampire?"
Jane took her arm, removed and punched out Caroline's cigarette, and started heading towards the street where Caroline's car was parked. Another thing that she had not mentioned. "We are heading home. I think that you've had enough to drink and smoke for one night. You don't want to have lung cancer before you're twenty."
Caroline groaned. "But I don't want to have to deal with my father right now! He's such an asshole! All he wants me to do is homework and chores and take care of the bills and go to work and take care of him. He doesn't care about me, until I make a mistake, and then he's all over me and grounding me and hitting me, and I hate it." Caroline knew that she shouldn't be spilling her guts to Jane like this, but she couldn't help it. "Can't I go home with you?"
"Well, first of all, you don't know me, and second, I don't think that you'd agree with my family. Come on. Into the car. No, you are not driving. You are way above the legal limit." Caroline grudgingly agreed and entered the passenger seat.
When they pulled into Caroline's front drive, Jane helped Caroline out of the car and up to the door. "Good night, Caroline. Don't leave this house until morning."
"Fine, bossy-pants. And you can call me Lin." With that, Lin strode into her house and barely made it to her bed before collapsing. She awoke several times later that night to vomit.
When she finally dragged herself once and for all from her alcohol-induced slumber at 9:00 AM Saturday morning, she vaguely realized that she had had one hell of a dream involving a vampire that knew way too much about her. Except it had felt way too real to be a dream, even though the woman had looked so much like a vampire now that she thought about it. Fangs. Red eyes. Pale skin. Pointed ears. Don't be silly, Lin told herself. Vampires don't exist.
Thank you for sticking with this story for the prologue. I apologize if it isn't very good, but this is my first fan fiction, so please forgive me. Thank you! ~Sparrow Black (sosaveme)