"I took your life. He gave you another one." Interview with the Vampire

"Please." Kory begged her mother for what was probably the thousandth time that week.

Her mother shot her an annoyed glare from over the newspaper, and rolled her eyes from behind her glasses. She muttered something about youths in America before returning to her newspaper article on China's One Child Policy.

Kory pouted and returned to pondering her soggy bowl of Rice Krispies. The sun illuminated the large windows and shone through the sheer curtains of their enormous dining room. Kory followed Margot, the house keeper, with her large emerald eyes. Kory was what any person with partial vision would call gorgeous. She was a super model without a cat walk, though not nearly as confident or coordinated. She was fresh out of high school, or at least she would be come one' clock that afternoon.

"I fail to see how this is fair." Kory complained allowing her spoon to clank onto the table. "Have I not studied hard enough? I have not proved myself academically? I think I've earned just a little bit of freedom. I'm eighteen for God's sake."

"Kory watch your tome." her mother warned, lowering her paper. "And I'm not disagreeing with you, but allowing you to attend some- Keg party is simple out of the question."

"It's not a keg party." Kory reasoned. "Some kids from school rented a hous in the Valley and there's going to be a graduation party. It's going to be a lot of fun, and all of the kids from school are going. If I don't show up I can say goodbye to the little social life I have."

Her mother sighed. "If all the kids from school were getting together to jump off the Golden Gate Bridge would you want to go as well?"

"If it were fun." She mumbled under her breath.

Margot chuckled from where she was refilling Mrs. Ander's coffee mug. Kory scoffed at how unreasonable her mother was being, and her father backing her up! She had been coddled and protected her entire life. Countless hours she spent at the library or studying, zero spent at a football game or a school dance. Hell she skipped out on junior prom because she had SATs the next day. This was the can't miss event of the century, and her last chance to break away from her book worm image. There was no way she could miss it.

Kory's sister Komi had been the it girl during her days at Sacred Heart Preparatory School. There was not one boy, girl, teacher, or nun who didn't know her name. Everyone knew it wasn't a party unless Komi was there. Kory was, to say the least, tired of living in her sister's shadow. Plus it was her last chance to impress Roy Harper, whom she had been pining for, for the last four years.

"Speaking of which," Mrs. Anders said glancing at her wrist watch. "If you don't leave now you're going to be late. It would be inappropriate for the valedictorian to be late to graduation."

Kory sighed. "Tara is picking me up." she answered bitterly.

Kory's phone suddenly began to vibrate on the table. Tara had texted that she was waiting outside. Kory pushed in her chair and stomped up the stairs. Kory grabbed the garment bag that held her cap and gown and examined herself one more time in the full length mirror. She straightened the hem of her sun dress and ran her fingers through her auburn hair. She could hear Tara honking the honk from outside. Kory rolled her eyes before jogging down the stairs and out the door.

Tara waved to her from the driver's seat of her Jaguar convertible. Tara wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed and had spent more night partying than doing anything else in high school. After showing up to her final exams with a hangover and wretchedly horrible SAT scores she had been (as they referred in the upper class of Jump City) banished to a (gasp) state* school.

Kory slid into the passenger seat and tossed her garment bag into the back. "Hey, Kory." Tara said pleasantly. Her face with anxious with anticipation. "So?"

Kory shook her head. "She said no."

Tara sucked her teeth. "Your parents don't expect you to have any fun anytime soon do they?"

"Not in this life time anyways."

Tara began to back out of the driveway and sped onto the main street. Kory typically hated having the roof of the car down, especially on the high way. It was windy and freezing, and always ruined her hair. But today was the exception. It was a sunny and warm May day in suburbs of Jump City, California. She was graduating high school. Today she would enjoy the freedom of a topless car. It may be the only freedom she would see for a while.

"You should go to the party anyways." Tara said as she turned onto the turnpike.

In Tara's world there was no such word as no. To her "no" meant don't let me find out. She had no regards for what her parents or anyone else thought, and advocated that, that was how Kory should live her life as well. If only she were that bold.

"I'd be grounded for so long my grandchildren would have to finish out the punishment for me." Kory yelled over the howl of the wind.

Tara shrugged. "So what? You're going to college all the way on the east coast. Before you waste four more years of your life buried in a chemistry book you should take these last three months having the most fun possible. Those Brown kids are going to think you're no fun."

Kory shrugged indifferently. She had a point. Come August she was moving all the way across the country, where she would have to focus on her studies even more so than she already was. This was her last chance to make an impression on her classmates. Tara smiled. She knew she would come around.


Kory Anders

Valedictorian.
Class Rank: 1

Academic Achievements:
Kory Ander completed a combination of Honors, Advanced Placement, and International Baccalaureate classes.

G.P.A: 4.4

Extra-Curricular Achievements:

Amnesty International Club
Debate Team
Freshman Executive Committee
Junior Executive Committee
Key Club
Latin Club
National Honor Society
National Merit Scholar
President of International Club
Senior Executive Committee
Sophomore Executive Committee
Student Council
Varsity Swimming and Diving Team
Varsity Volleyball Team

Kory's cheeks flushed when she saw the pamphlet for the first time after the ceremony was over. The last thing she needed was having all her business put out there, especially after her nerve wracking speech. She stuttered at the beginning and finished rather abruptly. Somehow, in her humiliation, she managed to make it across the stage without tripping. The rest of the ceremony went smoothly. It took about two hours to graduate all three hundred students in the Senior class and by the time it was over the weather was sweltering. People were using the pamphlets to fan themselves and leaving as soon as possible.

Dean McCormick was swooning over Kory to her parents, hence the delay. Kory was standing in midst of the clutter of white fold chairs, that had been abandoned as soon as the ceremony had ended. Her cap was tucked under her arm and her gown was already unzipped exposing her hefty bosom and white sun dress to the world. She stood staring at the pamphlet and the two pages decided to her like some sort of mural. She wished the yearbook committee had warned her before publishing for all of her classmates, their family, and God to see.

It made her seem...pretentious.

She felt a sudden hand grasp her shoulder. Kory gasped in surprise and turned around to see Roy Harper smiling at her with that dashing smirk. Her heart lept. "Hello, Roy."

"Hey." he said casually. "Cool speech."

"Thanks." she said quietly. She could feel the blood rushing to her face again.

"What's going on with your sister? I heard she left UCLA?" he asked raising his perfectly manicured eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah. She decided to leave." And by "decided to leave" she meant to got kicked out. "Komi wanted to... explore her other options." And by "explore her other options" she meant she was in rehab.

Roy nodded. Kory suspected he was only partially listening. He leaned into her. She could feel his eyes burning into her green ones. Oh the way that adorable tussled red hair flowed just so in the wind. Kory's heart was beating against her ribcage. Roy took her hand in his.

"There's something I've been meaning to tell you." he said matter-of-factly. He suddenly dropped her hand. Kory's stomach lurched. "Tonight at the party. You're going right?"

"Oh course!" Kory lied immediately.

He smiled coolly. He told her he'd see her there and they would talk. A sense of excitement built up inside Kory. She pulled out her cell phone and dialed in Tara's number. "Tara, I need you to pick me up tonight."


The mall wasn't exactly Kory's scene. There was low foot traffic as it was a Wednesday afternoon. She felt lost among the short dress that practically hung to her naval and revealed a scandalous amount of leg. In her eighteen years of life she had never worn anything less than three fingers above her knee, and that was always paired with tights and a church coat. She sighed as she carefully placed the dress back on the rack.

Suddenly she shivered, and got the eerie feeling that she was being watched. She looked up. There were only two more customers in the small boutique and they were too transfixed by the endless pairs of glass platinum heels in the back to pay any attention to Kory. The only visible employee was actively disengaged and was currently leaning over the counter reading a magazine. Kory shook her head. The copious amounts of cologne that had been sprayed in the overpriced SoCal store she had just been in. She adjusted her purse as she left the store once again empty handed. She looked up and nearly started.

Standing across the mall courtyard in front of the water fountain was a young boy. He couldn't have been more than eight years old, but there was something indefinitely odd about him. He was very handsome, much more so than most kids his age. Finishing school be damned Kory couldn't help but stare. He had a head full of dirty blonde hair and was as pale as the moon. His clothes looked outdated, much too prim for a boy of this generation. Kory's first thought was that the boy was being abused and locked away from the sun by his negligent parents.

The boy didn't bother pretending he wasn't staring at Kory from a distance. It unnerved her for a reason she couldn't understand. Kory fumbled pretending to check her phone while she fast walked away. She shook the encounter out of her head and tried to focus on the fact that she had less than four hours to find something to wear and get ready for the party. She bobbed in and out of a few more stores without much success. With three hours to spare she bought a new pair of sunglasses, mascara, a headband, and a tube of lipstick. In other words nothing that was going to help her impress Roy tonight. She sighed dejectedly while she made her way back to her car in the parking garage. Suddenly she felt her phone vibrating in her purse. She scrambled to find it at the bottom of her purse, only to find a text message from Tara saying she'd be at her place a little later than was agreed.

"Excuse me," a small voice no less than three feet in front of Kory said.

Kory yelped and jumped sending her small purchases sprawling onto the ground. Kory clutched her chest and stared at the owner of the voice who had nearly just given her a heart attack. It was the small boy from earlier. He looked a lot paler up close than from a distance. She noted he also had extremely dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept a day in his life. Kory concluded that more than likely this kid was definitely being maltreated, but his face conveyed no emotion at all.

"My apologies. I didn't mean to frighten you." He apologized.

Kory took a deep breath and scooped up her fallen things while quickly examined her new sunglasses for scratches. "It's okay honey. Are you alright? Where are your parents?"

"I have to give you a message, Ms. Anders." He said completely ignoring her questions.

Kory was taken aback and frightened all at the same time.

"How'd do you know my name?" She snapped her voice losing patience.

He blinked his odd, bright amethyst eyes completely unfazed by her sudden change in tone.

"I need to give you a message, Ms. Anders." He repeated.

He grabbed her hand and she gasped as the coldness of his fingers. "When the hunter is away the animals will hunt."

Kory was too stunned to say anything. The boy unsure by her lack of response if she had actually heard him or understood, so he repeated. "When the hunter is away the animals will hunt."

She angrily yanked her hand out his. She felt silly she had actually felt frightened for clearly this kid was pulling some kind of prank on her and she was not in the mood.

"I don't know who put you up to this but it isn't funny."

The boy remained composed. "Don't go out tonight."

Kory scowled and was about to tell this boy things no child that age should hear from a grown adult, when they interrupted by her cell phone again. Kory tore her eyes off the strange boy long enough to see that she had a missed call from her mother. When she looked up again the boy had vanished. She ignored the jittery sensation in her stomach and began to walk back to her car while replaying the strange encounter in her head. As she unlocked the doors to her father's Mercedes and determined that not only was the boy abused but he had mental problems as well or perhaps was that was some sort of bizarre cry for help. She wondered if she should alert mall security or call the police or something, but the whole thing was so strange she wasn't confidence in the least bit that she would they would believe her. She stuffed her small purchases in her bag which he casually tossed into the passenger seat. It slid off of the seat and onto the floor.

Kory cursed. Could this day get any worse! She scooped up the contents of her bag and noticed a silver envelope that had definitely not been there before. Curiously she figured it. It was shimmery and had a red seal on it. Kory hesitated before sliding her thumb underneath of the seal. Inside was a perfectly folded piece of parchment paper with her name scribbled in perfect calligraphy. She lifted her paper and what was written on the back could only be described as a warning.

BEWARE WHITE RABBIT. RUN.


Kory was completely disturbed by the events of that afternoon. She drove home in quickly in somewhat of a daze. The letter had been stuffed back into its envelope and banished into the depths of the stationary drawer of her desk. After what went down at the mall she wasn't positive going out was the smart thing to do. Even if she didn't believe a word the lying, crazy kid at the mall had said someone was following her around, breaking into her car, and leaving ambiguous...warnings? Threats? She didn't know.

She called Tara as soon as she got home to inform her that she wasn't really feeling up to a party tonight and to go on without her. To which Tara replied that Kory was indeed chicken shit and didn't know how to have fun. After a half hour of coaxing and begging Kory agreed to go but only for an hour.

Here she was applying the last few touch ups to her face and preparing for Tara to arrive any minute now. "Where did you say you were going tonight?" Ms. Anders asked Kory as she stuffed her cell phone and a tube of lip gloss into her purse.

Kory was dressed in a very nice dress suit and blouse. No reason to be suspicious. "Brown alumni are holding a special meeting to promote the Greek life and I was considering pledging in the fall."

It was the lie she'd come up with one her way home. Her parents had wanted to take her to dinner, but she had suddenly been invited to a college conference for incoming freshman and her attendance was imperative. They'd celebrate later. Kory said goodbye to her parents and left without offering them too much details. She would practice her lines for later, but for now she was going to enjoy herself for the first time for...ever really. Kory climbed into Tara's car, it was already dark outside and the Valley was about a half an hour out of the way. Kory waved to her parent from the passenger side for reassurance.

Tara pulled out of the drive way. As soon as her house was out of sight Kory pulled off her jacket and the rest of her clothes. She had stuffed a tiny black dress and high heels into her purse. She tossed her other clothes into the backseat.

It was a hybrid between a frat party and a rave. The temperature was stifling due to the tightly condensed bodies that packed the place from wall to wall. There was a DJ stationed on a small stage at the front. Kids that Kory recognized, and many whom she didn't, were gyrating drunkenly to the latest club anthem. Their scant clothing clung to their sweat drenched bodies. The music was pulsating and vibrating off the walls and floors. The room was dark sans the blinding strobe lights that flashed sporadically from the ceiling.

It took Kory quite some time to make her way upstairs. She had, had no luck finding Roy and after forty-five minutes she had given up. She had been groped by an unknown assailant, her toes stepped on twice, nearly vomited on, and her hair was had lost its battle with the humidity. She was done and in retrospect this had been a stupid plan to begin with. She was going to purposely run into Roy and then what? He was going to profess his undying love for her?

Kory texted Tara to meet her outside, but after ten minutes there was no response. Kory groaned in annoyance after a quick inspection of a lone Solo cup that she had found sitting on the mantle she stood in line at the keg. She downed the drink and demanded the guy in charge of the keg pour her another cup.

After a few more cups Kory began to feel herself loosen up a bit. Not enough to impair her judgment, just enough so that the sad state of her hair and dress and the fact that Tara was nowhere to be found ceased to bother her. She made her way into the makeshift dance floor and grinded to the beat of the music as much as the dense space would allow her. She felt a stranger's fingertips grip her hips, and she allowed him to sway against her. She actually wasn't having a terrible time.

Her eyes flashed towards the stage. Everyone seemed to be having a good time in their drunken stupor. Her eyes searched the room for nothing in particular. An evidently heavily intoxicated girl was being held up by an unseen man. The way he moved with her had Kory hypnotized. He was of average height but good looking from what Kory could tell under the frantic lighting. His pale blue eyes seemed to light up in the dark. Suddenly his eyes flashed red. Kory stood half fascinated half horrified as he leaned his head down and bit into the flesh of the girl.

Kory couldn't help but watch not positive of what she was seeing. Her eyebrows furrowed. The girl's body slumped to the ground. The stranger's posture straightened. Blood trailed down his jaws and onto the front of his shirt. Kory's eyes widened.

He suddenly stiffened and began to smell the air around him. His face was struck by a sort of pained hunger. He head snapped to side and his piercing red eyes connected with Kory's frightened green ones. His lips turned into a sinister smile.

Kory was frozen. No one around seemed to notice what was happening, even though it he was fifteen feet away from her. It all happened so suddenly. She could only see bits of what was happening from the wild strobe lights. The man seemed to be transforming. His back hunched with an unnatural sharpness and long talons appeared to sprout from his long white fingers. He was standing in a crouched position. His feet jumped up onto the shoulders of a nearby boy and his teeth tore into his neck.

Finally people were beginning to notice that something wasn't right. Screams began to break out and people started charging towards the exits. Kory who still in shock didn't register the immediate danger she was in. She watched as he- it began to massacre anyone near it. She got a hold of herself and joined the crowd stampeding towards the exits. Kory stumbled on her heels and was nearly trampled by the mob when a some good samaritan hoisted her onto her feet. She nearly fell again when she finally made it outside. Throngs of people rushed past her screaming and running like hell towards their vehicles and towards the woods.

Kory searched frantically for Tara. Suddenly something flew like a bullet from the upstairs window. A disembodied head along with a rain of glass fell onto the ground and rolled towards Kory. She let out a petrified scream before racing towards Tara's car. She grabbed the door handle to find it locked.

"C'mon, c'mon!" she urged the door.

It was then she remembered that Tara had left her car keys on top of the front wheel. She ran her hand over the dirty tire before feeling the cold, chunky set. She stuffed the keys into the door and pulled herself into the driver's seat. Her breathing was heavy and panicked.

A body appeared out of nowhere and smashed into Kory's door. She screamed. The stranger began banging on the window begging Kory to unlock the doors. Before she had a chance to react his body was forced against the door. His head he yanked clean off, as the creature pummeled his body to the ground. Kory screamed uncontrollably as she pulled herself into the passenger side. She forced the door open and took off into the woods.

She tripped over her heels again and scrambled to unclasp her shoes before taking off again barefoot. Her adrenaline in full swing her bare feet slapped against the heavy mud and cracked beneath twigs. She wasn't sure how long she had been running, but there was no sign of the creature. She leaned over a tree to catch her breath. It was at that moment that she realized how truly alone she really was. Once her heart rate had returned almost to normal she pulled herself up knowing she wouldn't be safe for long.

Kory turned towards a passage of tree and there in the clearance was the dark figure of the creature. It had returned to its human form except for the glowing red eyes and blood covering the entire front it. It seemed calm almost placid, as if it were just waiting for her. `

Terror gripped Kory's heart. She geared to the left and scrambled up a small hill, pulled herself over a freeway ramp, and her bare feet landed on the hard concrete. A car sped out of nowhere. Kory waved her arms frantically.

"HELP! PLEASE!" She screamed.

The car didn't even slow down as it zipped by her. Fear clutched her heart and tears began to well in her eyes. Her breathing gave way to frantic gasps. There was a growling behind her. She turned to see the creature thirty feet behind her. She fruitlessly began to trot in the other direction, crying freely now. The creature walked slowly back towards her. There was no need to hurry as her death seemed imminent. The creature stopped and bowed down into a crouching position.

Kory suddenly felt an enormous weight on her back. She felt herself hit the hard ground with an oomph and her chin scraped against the concrete. The thing was on top of her. Kory's body quivered as she let forth a few helpless sobs. It seemed to laugh breathlessly at her. It leaned over and brushed her hair from the side of her neck. She could feel his hot breath and razor sharp teeth against her neck. Kory braced herself for the inevitable.

There was the sound of tires screeching against pavement and moving very quickly in their direction. They creature looked up and was blinded by headlight. The creature reluctantly but quickly relented. The oncoming car screeched to a halt a few feet ahead of Kory. The passenger seat swung open nearly missing hitting Kory in the head.

"Get in." A calm but beautiful and lyrical voice told her.

Stranger danger be damned, Kory's arm reached up and weakly pulled herself in.

A pale, raven haired woman was at the wheel. Her piercing violet eyes were focused on the creature ahead of them. It seemed to be angrily sneering at her.

"Wait here." The woman said without looking at Kory.

Kory's eyes widened and she involuntarily grabbed onto her arm. Her hand shot back immediately. Her skin was so told it actually burned.

Kory tried to use her words this time. "You can't go out there! He'll hurt you!"

The woman didn't say anything. Her face conveyed no emotion. Her head slowly turned towards Kory. Her eyes lit up and become so piercing Kory started.

"Relax" she said. "I will be fine."

Kory felt instantly more relaxed, almost hypnotized. The women exited the car. Kory watched as she calmly made her way over to the creature. It seemed flinch at her presence and then began to growl. Kory watched transfixed as the woman began to speak to it, but her words were inaudible over the roar of the engine. It sneered again before going into another pounce position before taking off into the woods. The woman walked back to the car and without a word began to drive.

Kory for the first time in her entire life was completely speechless. Her entire body was shaking violently .She rocked herself back and forth.

"Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God." She said to herself over and over.

Kory's heart rate was beginning to return to normal. She looked out the window. The passing buildings and trees sped by in unattainable blurs. It was then she realized how fast they were driving. Kory's eyes glanced at the speedometer. The needle bounced between 110 and 120 mph. The woman's eyes flashed towards Kory, and as if she were reading her mind the car started to slow down.

They drove for a while and eventually were out of the remote area and back onto the main highway. Kory began to observe the woman. She was mind bogglingly beautiful. Like the type of beautiful that made you never want to look in a mirror again. She had raven color hair that was so dark it appeared almost purple. Her unblemished, freckle free skin was the color of milk, and those eyes...

Kory cleared her throat awkwardly. "Uh, thanks for saving me." Her voice was still shakey. The woman didn't respond. "I'm sorry I didn't catch your name."

"I didn't give it." She said simply.

Kory sighed unsure if there was even a point to trying to start small talk. This lady was obviously not much of a conversationalist.

"You should not have gone out tonight." She stated suddenly glancing at Kory. "Is that not what you were told?"

Kory bristled. That was the second time she had been told that today. "Do you mind telling me what the hell is going on? First some weird kid told me not to go out, then I was attacked by some- some- some thing! And now I'm being driven to God knows where with a stranger. What is happening?"

The woman's grip on the steering wheel tightened and her eyes flashed with anger. She didn't say anything else for the rest on the car ride. Kory sat nervously in the passenger's seat until she began to recognize the scenery. They were close to her house.

"I understand that you are scared." The woman said out of nowwhere. "Don't be. We are here to protect you."

"We?" Kory said as they turned into her driveway. "What's going on?"

"It will all make sense soon." she said ambiguously.

"When?" Kory asked tightly.

"Soon." She repeated evenly as they arrived in front of her darkened house. "We'll be in contact with you soon. Don't go out at night and wait for further instructions."

With that she reached across Kory's lap and yanked the passenger seat open. Kory slowly climbed out of the car and turned to take one final look at the beautiful, mysterious woman. Her mouth twitched slightly.

"Raven Roth." she said lowly.

Before could react the woman- Raven Roth- grabbed the door handle and slammed the car door shut, but she didn't drive off. Kory, who was quite overwhelmed and taken aback, quickly turned around and half ran to the front door. She locked the door right behind her. She pressed her forehead against the door and listened to the sound of tires crunching underneath gravel. She let out a breath that she hadn't realized she had been holding before racing upstairs and locking her bedroom door behind her.

Without taking time to take off her now sweat saturated dress, wash her face, or do any of her usual bedtime rituals she climbed into bed and pulled her blankets over her head, where she remained for the rest of the night.


There here is the deal. I'm in a dark place again, so I thought I would resurrect this story I wrote back in 2008. It has undergone serious changes but if you want to read the original chapter it can be found under my story "Unwritten".

*There is nothing wrong with going to a state school. I go to a state school.