Nina Harker smiled as her fiancée John ran over to her. The sun streamed all over her dark brown hair and into her dark eyes, and soon it became too bright to bear. She slipped on her sunglasses as he collapsed on the ground beside her.
"Hey," he said, smiling. "I just had an amazing psych class. Prof Klein is so awesome."
"Great," she said, stroking his light, breezy locks. "I'm glad that you're enjoying it."
"It's amazing. However, Nina, that's kind of what I wanted to talk to you about."
"Oh?"
Nina and John were in their last year of University, and were making plans to get married in the summer. It had just turned to spring, and the trees were slowly starting to bud and blossom. It was Nina's favourite season. She was not a great beauty, but she had pretty features, and she was compassionate and caring, if not a bit oversensitive.
"Well, Professor Harding wanted me to go to the Transylvanian embassy and set up some paperwork with a Count who just arrived. He's looking into setting up a new building on campus, and as the top student in his law class, I've been asked to go."
"Really? How long will you be gone for?"
"It should be no more than a week, I promise you."
Nina was, as previously mentioned, a little sensitive. She hated to be separated from her boyfriend, especially since he was so incredible. He was smart, tall, good looking, if not a little arrogant, but he took good care of her. They were a good match, with her sweet, yielding nature and his strong side. But that didn't stop her from starting.
"John, it's my birthday on Friday, I thought we were going out."
"I know, hon, I know, but this could get me into any law firm I want, that's what Harding said, anyways. This is really important to me, and I'll make it up to you, I promise."
Nina sighed. "Fine. I understand."
He hugged her and kissed her forehead. "Thank you, sweetheart! I promise I'll make it up to you."
"So what's the name of this count that you're going to meet?"
"Count Dracula, from the Castle Dracula. Isn't this awesome? I'm going to meet nobility!"
She smiled, happy for him. "Where are you staying? Obviously you can't be at the embassy."
"He's got some property north of the campus, about an afternoon's drive. It's a huge estate deep in the backwoods, where all those stories take place."
Nina knew all about these. The halls were rich with stories about up north, and the strange activities there. There was apparently a very religious Amish group who warned travelers to stay away, and many other urban legends.
"Well, be careful, and don't accept any rides from ghosts," she warned.
He laughed, and checked his watch. "I gotta go to Economics now," he said. He kissed her lightly on the lips and gathered his stuff. "I'll see you later, Nina."
"Love you," she called after him. Nina sighed. It was sometimes a little annoying how she always came second to his activities, but she knew that once university was over, she would be his top priority.
Or so she hoped.
"Hey, girl," came a friendly voice, and Nina saw her friend Lucy approaching. Lucy was a tall, beautiful black girl with a tough attitude and soft heart. "Why are you looking like you just lost your best friend?"
"Well, I obviously couldn't have," said Nina, smiling at her. "I'm fine. John's just going to be missing my birthday to take care of some paperwork with some Transylvanian Count, so I'm a little disappointed."
"Just a little?" said Lucy. "Girl, you have got to stand up to that boy! He is just walking all over you and you are loving it!"
"He does not," she protested, opening up her latest read, Jane Eyre.
"He does so, and your head is too stuck in a book to notice. You can't marry him when he still hasn't grown up! Assert yourself!"
"Whatever, Lucy, it doesn't bother me, I don't know why it should bother you."
"Humph," said Lucy. And Nina knew that was the end of that. "You should come stay with me while he's off gallivanting with some stupid Count."
Lucy had a beautiful apartment off campus. Her father was a wealthy tycoon who lived in LA, while Lucy was a free spirit who decided to come up north to Canada to escape her father's wealth and mood swings.
"Sure!" Said Nina, excited. "That sounds awesome! We can rent movies and eat popcorn and stuff, like we used to." Before John had come into her life.
"Just no girly movies, okay?" Stated Lucy. "We're going to toughen you up."
Nina just smiled in response and turned back to her book. She had just started the nineteenth chapter when she noticed two marks on the side of Lucy's throat as she gathered up her books.
"What happened to you?" Demanded Nina, concerned. "What is that?"
"I don't know, I think a couple mosquitoes may have gotten in last night."
"Luce, there are no mosquitoes at this time of year."
She shrugged. "Whatever. It doesn't hurt. See you later, Nina!"
Nina turned back to her book, the marks leaving her mind. Soon, she was enveloped into Jane's world, where she wasn't walked over and everything was free.