Victoria Dawn

Chapter 1: The Incident

I wished we had left when I told my mother how I felt.

We ran out the front door.

My mother and I stood on the front porch, mouths wide open in surprise and shock. I saw my mom out of my peripheral vision put her hand over her mouth, muffling her own scream. I looked forward again, straight in front of our once peaceful home.

It was hard to make out the figures, the darkness of the night had taken over the street and I had only moonlight as my guide.

A girl lie on the ground, her blonde hair resting around her on the black pavement of the road, I couldn't tell who she was, where she had come from; I didn't recognize her. Her face was turned away from us but I could tell from the sounds of her screams that she was in extreme pain. A man was on top of her, crushing her it looked like. I couldn't tell what he was doing, but it looked to me like his mouth was to her throat. She was screaming, gasping for air, kicking and punching as hard as she could. The man didn't move, he kept crushing her, knocking the breath out of her lungs. My senses made their way into my brain, and I smelled blood, her blood.

I didn't know what was going on, I thought she was being raped. I was made of marble or I would have moved. In my mind, I saw myself running to her, knocking this man off of her, picking her up in my arms, and bolting like hell. I saw this in my mind, yet it was not happening like that at all. My feet were cemented to the wooden porch.

I watched for years it seemed although it was only a few seconds. I watched this gruesome sight, unable to move, unable to speak, unable to understand why this was happening. What had made this man want to kill a 

little girl? What had she done that had been so terrible that he would have to take her life?

He then raised his head, looking in my mom and I's direction, deadly, evil, maliciously. My eyes widened until I felt like they were going to rip out of my head and fall on the ground. I felt drool running down my face, I was so terrified. I was paralyzed by fear completely and I wasn't moving any time soon. I felt like I was standing in a movie theater, watching this all happen on the big screen.

I stared at him for what felt like forever and although he was like a monster, he was the most beautiful man I'd ever seen. Long, black flowing hair, the palest skin I'd ever seen, and the most hypnotizing ruby red eyes. His skin glistened and sparkled in the moonlight that lightly poured across the dark street.

His flawless white teeth glistening with the blood of the innocent girl, I could taste the fear in the air moving down my throat and into my stomach, making me wince. The scarlet liquid dripped off of his chin and on to his bare, glowing pastel chest. He wore a long leather trench coat, buttons opened, showing off his perfectly chiseled body.

My eyes moved back down to the girl. She lie motionless now, limp in the dull light of the dark sky.

The man looked away, back down to the poor, lifeless girl, and if I didn't think I was seeing things, I would have thought he almost smirked at her dead face.

My mother and I were speechless. I couldn't find the breath that I needed to scream at this man, to ask him what he'd done, to run to the middle of the street, pick up the girl's body, to run like hell.

My feet were not coming unglued from my porch any time soon, and I knew this. As much as I wanted to save the little girl, I couldn't think to put myself in her situation. If I ran out there now, I would surely be dead, no buts about it.

He slowly turned his head back to us, and I could see the questions in his gleaming eyes. Thoughts began to run through my head, should we run away, should I really go out there and risk my life to save a girl I knew was already 

dead? I mean I'd heard of serial killers but nothing like this. I had no clue what to do in this situation. Yes, I had thoughts, but did I have enough guts to go through with them? No, I didn't.

I finally caught my breath, looked at my mother's petrified face, and unglued my feet from our porch. I swung the door open as quickly as possible and ran inside, waiting a split second for my mother to follow.

We locked the door and looked at each other, speechless. We leaned against the door now, trying to catch our breath, eyes still wide, horror still seen on both of our faces.

"What…what WAS that??" I asked, horrified. I was out of breath, gasping for air, millions of questions fluttering through my mind at lightning speed. A real live horror film happening in the middle of our street. What was going on?? The scene kept playing over and over again in the glare of my glazed eyes.

"I…I don't know," was all my mother could say.

I looked at my mother now, panic-stricken. Reality hit me in the face like a ton of bricks. That girl! She's still in the street!

"We can't just leave her out there! That girl, she…she was suffering so much! Why didn't anyone help her?!"

"Calm down!" my mother whispered, "don't let him hear you! We must be quiet."

"We've got to do something!" I was freaking out, I didn't know what I saw, I didn't know what to think, I didn't know how to feel. Then the question that needed to be asked the most finally made its way into my head, "What was that man?" I thought I'd just asked myself but I had said it out loud.

"I don't know, Victoria, but he was not one of us, I know he was not one of us" my mother said, panicked. She was right, there was no way he could be one of us. Human, I mean. There was no way any human in their right mind could mindlessly kill an innocent girl in the middle of the street, suck her dry of her life, and leave her there for all to see. He was a monster, he had to be right? No, monsters aren't real, they're only from horror films and fairytales…right? Then I realized a word I'd never thought I'd think anything or anyone ever was or could be. Vampire. The word burned in my mind; vampire. A bloodsucking 

leech, a killer of the innocent, a fictional creature used to haunt people's imaginations and entrance them in suspense. I must be dreaming, this can't be real.

And yet the moment couldn't be anything more but real.

I shook my head of all of my thoughts and looked at my mother. She looked at me at the exact same moment. I could tell her mind had locked into place on the very word mine had.

My mother grabbed my arm and led me up to the attic. I tried to pull against her, sensing what she was doing.

"What are you doing, mom? Where are you taking me? NO!"

We reached the attic door, she opened it hastily and threw me inside. I stood there for half a second, dread in my eyes. Is she really doing this to me? She's really going to leave me here. What is going through her mind?

"Stay here," she whispered, "you'll be safe. I'll be back before you ever realize I was gone."

"I'm going with you!" I was not letting my mother leave by herself. But before she heard me, she had the attic door closed and locked. I tried to get out, I slammed the door, hitting it as hard as I could, over and over again, trying to hear my mother, trying to hear any response. I looked at my bloody knuckles, feeling the tears welt my eyes, burning as they fell down my cheeks. My mother wasn't coming back and I couldn't understand why. Where was she going by herself? How would I survive locked in this attic without food, without water, without anything?

What am I going to do? I thought to myself over and over. I sobbed over and over again, knowing I should have followed my intuition, knowing we should have left, hating myself for pushing my feelings of terror aside when I needed to hear them the most.

I lie next to the door, huddled into a tight little ball. I was alone now, and alone I would remain until I could figure a way out of this hell. It had all happened so quickly.

Just this afternoon I was at my prison of a school, just this afternoon I was driving home, everything fine. Just this afternoon, I was safe. And now it had all 

gone straight to hell and never come back. My mother was gone, people were being killed, there were vampires ram shacking my town. What the HELL was going on??

That was the last time I saw my mother.

I fell asleep that night, probably from exhaustion. All I could dream about the whole night was my mother. I had very intricate dreams. The background to my dream was pitch black, only my mother in view. She was dressed in antique clothing, lined with lace crimson velvet. A tall, dark man stepped in front of her from nowhere, taking her into his arms. My mother turned her face to me and looked pleasant, as though this man was her "love". They brought their heads together now, looking into each other's eyes. He then grabbed her back with his left hand, pulling her closer, putting his mouth to her soft throat. Blood began to spurt out of her veins now, all over the man's face and dripped down her beautiful white gown. I heard myself sobbing in my dream, mom, mom, no, I said, but she never heard me. The man had taken her. She turned to face me now, pushing the man aside. Her eyes were a glossy black, she opened her mouth, running toward me, fangs visible. I woke up screaming, looking around me to make sure it was only a dream. Finally, I decided I couldn't sleep. Not with the events of the day controlling my mind, making me believe horror stories were true. I lie by myself, alone, cold, worried, and scared.

I knew I would be changed forever. The events of that night changed my life and everything I had once knew. I didn't know how I would go on, but I knew I must. If my mother was dead, I would avenge her. There was nothing else to it.