Mary
Chapter 1
July 21st 1941- London, England
"Mary!" my mother beckoned. "You'd best be getting down here, or I may have to tell Edward you've taken ill!"
I sighed. My beautiful Edward.
"One moment!" I cried down the wooden staircase. I turned to see my maid and best friend Annabelle entering the room with my favourite green silk gown. "Oh Annabelle, you are quite a saint."
"Well we can't well have you running around the estate in your nightclothes now can we?" she replied jovially. I laughed quietly so that my mother would not hear. She highly disapproved of mine and Anna's friendship since she was our maid. She slipped the gown over my head with the lightest touch and turned me so that she could tie and tighten the lacing around the back. I winced as the gown tightened around my ribcage. After the infernal gown was tight enough, she tied the standard knot so I could not wriggle out and be free.
"Oh Anna, what would I do without you?" I asked her.
"I should think you would do just fine." She told me firmly. "Now let us not keep Edward from your beauty any longer." I could not keep myself from laughing as I headed for the stairwell- I was always afraid of falling in these ridiculous shoes- that would lead me to my Edward.
I descended in the most ladylike fashion I could manage- which was not very graceful at all, but at least I was making an effort. His gorgeous golden sent me flying into a fantasy of marriage and eternal love. His smile lit up the room, and I felt truly privileged to have it directed at me. When I reached him he knelt to kiss my hand, at which I turned my head and blushed a deep scarlet.
"Shall we take a stroll in the park, m'lady?" He asked, his voice as soft as velvet. Again, I blushed.
"Of course." I answered, my voice sounding ragged in comparison to his perfection. We exited my grand home into the sweet summer air. I took his arm like a proper lady as we walked across the cobblestone road, our shoes clacking on the ground. We had a habit of coming this park to tell each other secrets. This was where he first confessed his love to me. Maybe now he would finally propose! My heart pumped like a steam train, and my mind raced. We sat down on our favourite rustic bench, and he took both my hands in his. He stared at me so intensely I thought I saw his eyes go black.
"Today," he began slowly. I nodded, urging him to continue. "I will tell you my darkest secret." What scared me was that he said darkest not deepest. "I'm not what you think I am. I'm not the gentle boy who loves you and plans to marry you. I'm not even human. I'm not even seventeen."
"I DO!" I cried, unaware. He stared at me as if I were the village idiot who had told the oddest of jokes. Realizing he had not proposed, rather told me he were some kind of creature, I threw my hands to my mouth and turned my head away, embarrassed.
"Ah, Mary. Here is what I'm trying to say... I. Am. A. Vampire." He said, slowly, surely. I screamed. So loud my mother ran from our house thinking he had hurt me. Seeing that I was probably just overreacting to something entirely unconcering, she returned to our dwelling shaking her head.
"You're a what?!?" I shouted at him.
"A vampire."
"So basically you're telling me that you want to suck my blood?!?"
"Pretty much." I screamed again, louder than before, but my mother did not emerge. He leaned towards me, his eyes a cold black night. His lips touched my neck, and the pain, oh god the pain. Everything was black, but still I saw his eyes. The longing. The needing. The pain was everywhere, but I wasn't dead, no I was beyond dead. But the last thing I thought of before letting myself burn to cinders was: Vampire.