This was re-posted with corrections to spelling and grammar.
Chapter One
The cool night breeze felt nice on Rowena. She was sitting in her chair on the balcony that led to her room. The sheer white curtains blew around her, but she didn't notice as her eyes were closed; enjoying the time she got to be outside and free without protection. Rowena suffered from an illness where UV rays affected her skin so bad that she could not go out into the sunlight at all or she would blister. She didn't like it, but grew to love night time.
The owls and bats, the fireflies, and crickets and frogs and the stars. She loved the stars. She could gaze at them forever and on this particular night that was what she was doing, until she fell asleep.
She was currently in a castle, an old castle in Scotland, originally she was from Ireland, but her mother moved her to Scotland because they had a centre for kids with illnesses. They taught them school in a safe environment and provided great housing. It was like a boarding school, only her parents had moved to Scotland as well and were only just down the street.
She had one of the tower rooms that had a small balcony on it and at night that was where she sat, and did homework. The way her day worked was she would get up when the sun went down, She would do her homework, do some other fun things, then early in the morning with the other kids, she would cover every inch of her body with clothing and head downstairs to have her lessons. Then she would go to bed. It was an unusual schedule, but it worked for her.
Her mother and father were, in fact, pretty wealthy. Her father use to be a pro golfer, and was keen on coming to Scotland. Now he owned several courses throughout Ireland, England, and Scotland. Her mother did volunteer work. In the countryside about a ten minute drive from their house was a shelter for animals. Her mum worked with bats. Whenever someone finds an injured bat her mum would take care of it, and when it was better set it back to the wild.
Rowena learned a few things from both her parents. She knew how to look after bats and knew how to play golf, but she really didn't like golf. Little did she know, however, was that her bat skills were about to come in handy.
Another breeze blew by, shuffling the curtains. They gracefully fell back into place as a squeak was heard. It got closer and soon Rowena jumped awake when something hit her leg. She rubbed her eyes and closed her homework that was on her lap. She glanced around her and saw a large bat laying there with scorch wounds.
"Oh my," she said kneeling down and looking at the bat, "okay, here let me help you." She carefully picked the bat up and carried it into her room. The lights were dim so she placed the bat on a chair she had in the corner and looked the bat over.
"What kind of bat are you?" she asked looking at it. She went to her bookshelf and found her book on bats and began flipping through it. She started to walk back to the bat when all of a sudden there was a flash of light and she jumped, dropping the book and screaming. She didn't have the normal scream that a girl of twelve would have, but one of shock that was short and you could distinctly make out 'ah' in there.
She was looking at the chair where the rather large bat had just been but now there was a boy. He looked to be her age, maybe older, with spiked dark hair and Victorian clothes that were very tattered and worn. The bit that scared Rowena the most was his red eyes and pale complexion. She also was pale, but red eyes was not something you usually saw on a person, in a photo maybe, but a person, hardly.
"Who are you?" she asked keeping her distance. She heard a hiss come from the boy and he locked his gaze with her.
"Food," he said weakly and with a gasp.
"Er, what kind? Does it matter?" asked Rowena, not sure how this boy got here but he was hurt so she was going to help.
"Cow," he said with anther gasp. This time he coughed and grabbed his chest.
"What part? Milk, cream, meat?" she asked moving a bit closer to him, picking up her book and holding onto her it for dear life. By this time his gasping had gotten worse. He was very weak. His gaze fell on her book and he held his hand out. She looked at his hand before placing the book in his hand and he quickly flipped through it before putting the book on the ground, opened to a page.
"Vampire bat?" she asked confused as she looked at it. He then motioned to a picture in the right hand lower corner and she looked. It was a vampire bat feeding off a cow. "You want its blood?" she asked stepping away. The boy nodded. He took a deep breath.
"Fresh," he managed to get out.
"Wait- that bat, are you a vampire?" she asked not really believing what she was asking. He nodded and she went wide eyed. She didn't think vampires existed yet here in her room was a real life, well, he wasn't exactly walking, and talking was bit on the hard side for him, but nonetheless, it was a vampire.
"I can't exactly get a cow here. There is a farm down the road but you can't really walk," she said glancing outside real quick. He looked at her with pleading eyes.
"I could feed you Vanessa Miller, she is in the room down the hall. She would deserve it, she picks on me everyday, just don't let the burns fool you," said Rowena with a slight laugh. The vampire was not amused. "Okay, I'll carry you there, no one is awake at this hour anyway. But first I have to change," she went to her wardrobe and pulled out her uniform and other articles of clothing she had to wear because of her illness. She put each layer on with her canopy bed blocking her view from the vampire. Once she was finished she walked over to the chair, turned around and got on her knees. The vampire was giving her a weird look, not at what she was doing but what she was wearing. Now was not the time for questions, however, and he quickly got on her back, which wasn't that quick since he was weak.
"And up," she said standing up with her arms hooked under his knees and his arms wrapped around her neck. He had his head resting on her shoulder and he could smell the blood running through her veins but realized he couldn't do anything, since his father would kill him and because she had a scarf around her neck that blocked all the skin.
"It is about a five minute walk to get there," she said once they were safely out of the castle, "so please try to hold on till then." They stayed quiet as Rowena walked as fast as she could towards the farm. Once it was in sight she picked up her pace and she opened the barn. She found a milking stool nearby and placed it next to a cow. She carefully got the vampire off her back and onto the stool.
"I really don't need to watch this so I'll be outside, when you're done, I'm sure you'll be fit to walk outside and meet me," she said and he nodded before looking at the cow. She watched him as he cunningly charmed the cow then quickly left before it got bloody.
She was rocking back and forth on her feet as she waited. Her uniform skirt was swishing forwards and backwards past her legs that were covered in tights and thigh high socks. She hated having to dress like this, but luckily this place was in Scotland and many nights it got cool there, just not this night. She began to sweat a bit and she rubbed her forehead with her gloved hand. Normally she didn't have to wear all this at night time, but the sun was soon to rise and she didn't want to be caught outside when the sun came up without her protection.
She was glancing up at the stars again when she heard the barn door open and close. She looked over and saw the vampire exit. He walked over to her and sheepishly smiled.
"Thank you," he said.
"You're welcome," she replied going back to rocking on her feet and looking at the stars.
"I'm Rudolph Sackville-Bagg," he said still looking at her, "you first asked me who I was."
"Right, I'm Rowena Curtner," she said nodding her head.
"Shall we head back?" he asked indicating the direction they had come from.
"If you want," she said turning to go back.
"Would you like me to fly you back?" he asked with a smirk. Rowena paused and turned to face him. She smiled and nodded her head. Rudolph laughed and walked over to her with his hand out.
"Take my hand," he said. She looked at it then hesitantly placed her hand in his, "now hold on tight. I swear I won't drop you." She nodded and he took off into the air. Rowena smiled and watched the passing scenery. He watched her face a moment before looking at the castle coming up. He spotted the tower room with the dim light and landed on the balcony.
"I liked that," said Rowena once both feet were back on solid ground.
"It was the least I could do for helping me," he said. Rowena nodded and they fell into a silence.
"I must be off. Sunrise is soon, and my family will be worried," he said turning to the edge of the balcony.
"I don't think you would, but will you come back?" she asked stepping next to him. He looked at her.
"Only if I get to ask you something when I return," he said.
"You can," she said like it was silly request.
"Then I will return," he said, "good bye, Rowena Curtner." He said before jumping off the balcony and flying out. Rowena watched him fly off until she couldn't see him any more. She sat back down in her chair and finished her homework while the sun came up.
A/n: Originally this was going to be a one shot, but I decided to make it a mini-series.
-Charlotte