Prologue

Anna stepped into the magnificent ballroom where people were dancing elegantly or talking to one another. She walked in alone, and she could tell that any of the girls in the room felt pity for her, for they all had dates, and she, being one of the most stunning girls in the room, should have one too. But she didn't, there for she walked in alone.

She looked around and found herself being in the most magnificent room she had ever been in. The dome stood tall above the ground and was painted by a great artist who had made great pictures with the brightly colored paints. It was painted differently around the rest of the room. Any artifacts that had been in the room were now gone so people could dance. The orchestra stood in the front of the room playing elegantly like they had practiced many times over.

She walked down the beautifully carved steps and into the crowd of twirling people.

She found no one she knew and chose to sit at a table that had only been brought in for the party.

She knew that sooner or later someone would come and ask her to dance. She knew that boys fell for her when they first looked at her, but she didn't like the fact. She absolutely hated it. Because she was beautiful, she did not have many friends. All the girls were jealous of her, even if she politely sent the drooling boys away. They still were not convinced that she wouldn't take their boyfriends. But still, some people figured out that she wouldn't do this and they quickly became her friend.

She only had to wait for maybe two minutes and someone started coming toward her.

He was cute actually, very cute and she wondered why he was here alone. He was dressed in a black tux, like any other guy, and held a little red rose in his hand. His hair was brown, but it was his eyes that made her melt. They were a peculiar color, a light purple, but that didn't matter. They were the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. It seemed that she could see a little into his soul, just looking at them. She loved his smile too. It could make any girl faint.

"May I have this dance?" He said passing her the flower.

She set it on the table behind her, smiled, and said, "Yes you may."

He took her waiting hand and brought her out to the crowed of dancing people.

Soon, they themselves were dancing. She looked around and found that many were staring at them and had stopped dancing, and they were making a circle for them to dance in. She looked back at the man and he didn't seem to mind, so she didn't either.

"What's your name?" He asked.

"I'm Anna. What about you?" She questioned.

"I am Zxander. It is nice to meet you, Anna."

"Nice to meet you too, Zxander."

"You're a very nice dancer, and a very beautiful lady."

She smiled and blushed a tiny bit. "Well, thank you. You're not so bad yourself. Very handsome. It's a wonder how you came here alone."

"People could ask the same question for you, Anna."

"Well maybe they should keep their nose out of my business."

"May I ask?"

"Ask what?"

"Why you are alone?"

She sighed. "It's a mix between jealousy of other girls, and I just haven't found the right guy yet. I have thought that I had the right guy before, but obviously I still have to find him. May I ask you the same question?" I smiled at him, and he smiled back.

"It's the same as yours, love. Not any different."

"Ah, I see."

"May I ask you something?"

"Sure, ask away."

"May I kiss you?"

She paused for a minute, stunned that he asked, because usually they don't. She smiled at him, pleased that he had asked, and told him, "Yes you may."

He made a dip for the end of the dance, and then, he leaned down and kissed her. As they stood up, they didn't break the kiss. Finally Anna broke it, taking in a breath. She heard applause all around her, and as she looked around, she found that everyone in the room was applauding.

She smiled at him and he smiled back.

"That was amazing," she said.

"What, the dance or the kiss?" He asked.

"Both," she whispered in his ear. She led him away from the dance floor and no one saw either of them for the rest of the night.

A few weeks later, Anna finds out that she is pregnant. Of course, like any girl would, she freaks out, knowing who the father would turn out to be.

When she reached her house, she called Zxander to tell him the news.

"Hello?"

"Zxander?" She herself could hear the worry in her voice.

"Yes, who is this?" He asked.

"This is Anna."

"Oh, hi. What did you want?" She could tell that he could hear the worry in her voice as well, but he didn't seem to ask about it.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I'm pregnant," she said.

He didn't answer.

"Zxander?"

"I'll be there in a few minutes," he said his voice sounding urgent and serious. She could also hear fear mixed in it lightly.

"Ok," she answered and hung up the phone.

He was there in about five minutes, ringing the doorbell.

She got up off the couch that she had been sitting on, waiting for him, and opened the door. He stepped in and quickly closed the door behind him.

"Are you going to get an abortion?" He asked, looking her in the eyes.

"I-I don't know, I haven't really thought about it yet. Why?"

"I need to know. Give me a yes or no answer."

She took a deep breath, thinking it through. "No," she finally answered.

He took a deep breath too. "Are you sure? After I tell you this, you can't change it. You have to live with it. Now, think hard, are you absolutely sure?" The worry was plain on his face and fear covered his voice.

She couldn't look at him. "If I get an abortion, it is like murdering the baby. I'm not going to do that." She shook her head, not accepting the idea of killing the baby that was growing inside her.

He closed his eyes. "That's true." He took a deep breath. "Ok, I am going to tell you something that no one else can know. That is the most important part and I want you to remember that. You cannot tell anyone else. Do you understand?"

She was kind of scared, but nodded any way. "I understand."

"Please understand that I am not trying to scare you, or trick you, or anything. This is the cold, sad truth."

She looked at him curiously. "What is it?"

"Know and understand that I love you, and I will stay with you through everything, if you want me to."

"I love you too, Zxander." She placed her hand on his cheek, looking into his eyes and searching for answers she couldn't find. "Could you please tell me? You're kind of scaring me." They were very close, just staring at each other.

He closed his eyes again, thinking, and then opened them slowly. He took her hand off his cheek very slowly, but still held it lightly. It seemed as if he was ready for her to rip her hand out of his. "There is a reason why my eyes are purple. And I'm going to tell you that reason." He sighed. "I'm not your average human. I am stronger, faster, and more beautiful. There is only one reason why I am like that. It is because I am a vampire. I was born to two vampires. They are strong believers that humans and vampires can live together in peace. So they have learned, and taught me, how to ignore human blood and drink animal blood. I am no danger to you. I can barely smell your blood."

"You tell me all of this now? What does this have to do with the baby?" She still held his hand and he seemed surprised by this.

"Our child is going to be half human and half vampire. It will be the first of its kind because no vampire has ever fallen in love with a human before. And if they have, then they have changed the human. Look, I'm sorry this happened. I didn't mean for it to happen. I'll get you everything that you should need and I'll help you, if you want me to, that is." He paused for a minute. He held her hand tighter and said, "Could you say something, please?"

She was looking off into space and said, "Our child is going to be half human and half vampire, and it will be the first of its kind?" She looked at him. "That's just not fair! Well I guess that's how it goes when you fall for a vampire. Oh, wait, you wanted to know if I wanted you to help, and to that I say, of course! I can't take care of a child on my own, let alone one that is half vampire. And I still love you." She smiled at him. She hugged him tightly. "I will still love you, no matter what you are, what you did, or what you do."

He hugged her back. "Thank you." He kissed her lightly.

When she pulled away, she said, "You're lucky I'm not a vegetarian, other wise this would never work out." She laughed a little and so did he.

"Yes, that would not be good." He laughed.

"Ok, back to the baby. Do I have to do anything different than I would in a regular pregnancy? Please don't tell me that I have to drink blood."

"It might help. I'm not quite sure what will happen because, as I've said before, this has never happened before. I'm going to have to call my parents. That'll be a joy to do. May I use your phone?"

"Of course," she said and went to show him the phone.

"Thank you."

He dialed the number, fingers too quick for Anna to know what numbers he was pressing, and then he put the phone to his ear and listened.

Someone picked up because she could hear a faint hello, and then he answered, "Mom?"

There was a short pause; Anna couldn't tell what the answer was.

"Yes, this is me, mom."

Another short pause.

"Mom… mom… mom listen!"

She must have stopped talking because nothing came out of the phone's receiver.

"I need you and dad's help. Can you come…" He looked at Anna. "to my house?"

Another short pause.

"Ok, thank you, mom." And he hung up the phone. "Are you ok with me bringing my parents over here, or do you want to come to my house, or should I just talk to them?" He asked.

"Well, we can go to your house or you can bring them here. Your choice." She smiled at him.

"Are you even ok to go over there?"

"Zxander, it's only the third week. I'm fine."

He sighed. "Well, then, maybe we should go over there, but we are going to have to go faster than car. They are probably already half way there. I'm going to have to carry you. Is that ok?"

"Of course." She held out her hand.

He took it and pulled her into him, then picked her up bridal style, opening the door at the same time, and then closed it as he ran out and on to his house. They were there in a second.

Zxander set her down and she walked over to the couch, falling on it dizzily.

"Sorry, that was a little fast for a first time. Are you ok?"

She blinked up at him then shook her head, trying to clear it. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just let me lay here for a bit," she said, still blinking.

He smiled and chuckled a little. "Ok, my parents will be here in a minute."

And he was right. A minute passed and there was a knock on the door.

Zxander took a deep breath and went to open the door. He obviously didn't know what he was going to say. Anna sat up, she wanted to make a good first impression, or as good as she could make it.

He opened the door and his parents rushed in.

"What's wrong?"

"What did you need our help for?"

They came in, exploding with questions.

"Mom, dad, stop with the questions! None of your guesses are going to be right!"

They stopped immediately, listening to what he said.

"Well then what is correct, Zxander?" His dad asked.

Zxander sighed and led them over to Anna.

"Mom, dad, this is Anna. Anna, this is my mom and dad."

"She's human," his dad said.

"And she's pregnant," his mom said. She turned back to her son. "Why did you have us come here? Just to meet her? I thought you said you needed help?"

It was quiet for a minute, then Anna saw his mom's eyes widen in shock and horror.

"Please don't tell me that you mean that…"

"Yes, mom. That's exactly what I mean," Zxander said, his head down trying not to look at them.

"But how?"

"I've fallen in love with her. You always said that vampires and humans should learn how to live in peace. Well, this is my contribution." He finally looked up at them with a hard look.

"Yes, we said that, but we didn't mean fall in love with them or have a child! We only meant not killing them!"

"I can't help it, mom." He walked over to Anna, kneeling next to her and taking her hand in his. "I love her and now I need your help."

She was quiet for a moment then she said, "I don't know if I can help you. As you well know, this has never happened before, but you are my son, and this will be my grandchild, so I'll help as much as I possibly can."

"I will too." This was the first time his dad had said anything in a while, so it surprised Anna for sure, but she didn't know about the rest of them.

"Thank you," Zxander said, gratefully.

"Now, do you have any questions so far, my dear?" His mom asked her.

"Well-" She started, but was cut off by his father.

"You told her everything, right? Please tell me you did."

"Yes, dad, I told her my story when she decided she was going to keep the child."

"So rude!" His mom snapped. "Now, what were you going to say, dear?"

"Uh, I was wondering if I should still go to the hospital, or would it be safer not to?"

"It would keep the secret safer, but not you or the child, so you should still go to the hospital for check ups regularly and, by no means, are you going to give birth to that child at home. But I do advise you not to get one of those camera things that they look at the baby with. I hear they can do that now, but I can't seem to remember what they're called."

"That's ok, I know what you mean. I guess I won't know if it's a boy or a girl until it's born." She smiled.

"Yes, I guess that's true." She smiled back. "Oh, I'm sorry, dear. I should tell you our names. I'm Peggy and my husband is Steve. I know, really odd names for vampires, but that's what our parents picked. What can you do?" She said shrugging.

Anna smiled. "Nice to meet you."

"Are you hungry, dear? This has to be exhausting. First, finding out that you're pregnant, then that your boyfriend, and father of the child, is a vampire and your child is going to be half human and half vampire, and finally, meeting your boyfriend's parents. Wow, that's a lot just saying it! So you have to be hungry."

"I am a little, thank you."

"Yes, I'll be right back. Zxander, do you have any food here, or do I have to go and get some?"

"I don't have anything that she would eat."

"All I needed was a yes or no. I'll be back in a bit," Peggy said.

"Thank you!" Anna called as she left.

They waited half an hour, talking about how Zxander and Anna met with Zxander's dad, and she was back with some food, already baked, grilled, or whatever you wanted to call it. It looked delicious.

Anna didn't realize how hungry she actually was until she put the first bite in her mouth. It was all gone in about fifteen minutes, and she was still hungry.

"Still hungry?" Peggy asked.

"A little," she answered.

"I figured, I couldn't remember if that would have been enough for me when I was pregnant, so I just bought that. Don't look at her like that!" She said turning to the boys. "She has to fill two stomachs now because of you," she said waving a hand at Zxander. "Let her eat what she wants. But, honey, please try to get a balanced diet," she said, turning back to Anna. "I hear that women who don't end up badly."

"Did you eat a balanced diet?" Anna asked.

"Of course. I drank as much blood as I could. Oh, we can't eat human food, dear," she said when she saw Anna's face change. "It either tastes horrible to us or it kills us an hour later, we aren't quite sure which. We haven't found it necessary to find out."

"Oh," Anna said still a little horror struck. "But does that mean the baby is going to die if I feed it food? And do I have to drink blood?"

"Well, since the child will be part human, I don't believe it would have any affect on it if you give it food. And the other question, well, I was hoping to tell you later, but, since you asked, you will have to drink an ounce of blood a day at least. But it can be your blood; it just has to be blood, one ounce. You can take it like bad medicine if you want; you just have to have blood."

"Oh, well, that's nice. I either break the law or I become a cutter. That's really nice," Anna said sarcastically.

"Well, if you drink animal blood, you wouldn't exactly be breaking the law," Zxander offered.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Give me some. I haven't had my "medicine" today."

"Medicine, nice," Zxander said.

"Yeah, well, I have to call it something."

"True," he said and left, then entered again with an ounce of blood in a glass in his hand. He handed it to her and she took it hesitantly.

"I got you the best kind, to me. But I don't think I'm going to tell you what animal it is."

"That's probably a good idea," Anna said nodding. She sighed. "Well, here goes." She closed her eyes, put the cup to her lips, then tipped it up and drank it.

It wasn't as bad as she thought it would be but it still tasted horrid. But she figured she could handle it.

"Hmm, obviously she didn't like it, but we never assumed she would, so you're ok, Anna," Peggy said. "Now, for the matter of where she's going to stay. Where do you feel more comfortable at, here or would you like to come to our house?"

Anna frowned. "Why can't I stay at my house?"

"Because you need blood every day and you obviously don't have any there, and I assume you don't have enough room for all of us there. So we can help you with any problems you may have," Peggy answered.

"Oh, I see. Well, I have never been to your house. I think I would be more comfortable staying here, if you don't mind." She smiled.

"No problem, dear. Zxander, find her some place to sleep," Peggy said giving him a harsh look.

"Um, can I stay with him? I'm sorry, but I would like to."

"Ok, but we don't really sleep, at all."

"That's ok, I can stay right here."

"Ok, dear. Uh, I think your father and I are going to find something to eat, ok?" She said, turning to Zxander.

Zxander nodded. "Go ahead," he said as he kneeled in front of Anna. Then they were left alone. "Are you ok?"

She smiled. "Maybe a bit overwhelmed, but yes. I'm fine. I love you."

He kissed her. "I love you too," he said. "Now, go to sleep. You need your rest. Good night," he said then kissed her on the forehead.

"Don't leave, please."

"Where am I going to go? It's my house."

And with that, she slowly drifted off to sleep.