A/N: BUDDIES! *glomp*' I missed you all so much! For my lovely readers who have been following since the beginning I would like to thank you all so much for the patience. I hate to admit but my original writing had taken a priority over my fanfiction for quite some time and now that it's finally done, I will be officially re-writing this entire fanfic! For my new readers, thank God you won't have to read the previous first chapter and it's awful grammar but now it's all shiny new! ENJOY my loves!
Rewritten: 4/01/13
Chapter 1: Chance Encounter
~~~~3rd Person~~~~
The screech of brakes followed by the groan of the medal bus frame awoke her. She had fallen asleep hours ago on the number seven greyhound bus to Bathory. She gathered her luggage, a tiny brown backpack along with a large black suitcase and trudged off the old bus.
Her eyes adjusted to the dim sunlight just above the trees to the west of her. 'Almost sunset, I better take the short cut.'
She hadn't been to Bathory since she was a small child running around her Aunt Sophie's yard with pigtails and popsicles. Every summer she spent her had been full of quiet nights and sunny days that stung her skin but she loved every minute. Her explorations of the whole town got her into a lot of trouble with her papa but Aunt Sophie commended her bravery. "My little pilgrim!," She'd always say.
Her Aunt Sophie had sworn up and down that Bathory was the safest small town in the whole state but after one summer that she had been particularly adventurous, her father never let her go back, until now.
"Ivelin please just this once listen to me. You need to go to your Aunt's. You know without your mother I can't take you everywhere so please don't argue."
Her father begged her to go easily and she did, but only because she knew her mother wouldn't want her to fight him. Her mother had passed on shortly after her 15th birthday last year and had left her with a shattered heart and a busy father. He left her with a nanny while he traveled to Lord-knows-where. To be honest she was glad to be able to spend some time with her Aunt away from her Finnish nanny who cursed in Dutch. However, she was not to excited to be spending the next school year in a small high school of small town jocks and preppy cheerleaders when she was well… not to small town. Being raised in LA while being a teenager had turned her wardrobe from pink to punk, and let's face it, in Bathory she would look like the Antichrist to these narrow-minded people.
After 'patiently' waiting thirty minutes in the setting sun for her Aunt at the only bus station in the blasted town, she huffed and pulled her luggage into the undergrowth of Riley Forest. She had explored this forest a hundred times and knew the shortcut through the meadow would have her home before nightfall. Unfortunately she had underestimated her knowledge of the now overgrown forest. She nearly cried with joy when she stepped into the moon-lit meadow.
'Oh no it's really late. Aunt Sophie is gonna kill me!' Over joyed that she now knew her way she smiled and continued on into the middle of the meadow toward the tree with the twisted trunk. It was her marker for North and her way back home, but what stood in her way were two glaring red eyes.
The gust of wind blew her brown hair out of her face and no sooner than a blink, the red eyes were in front of her face. The man's hand was wrapped around her white creamy neck. She could see the look of fear in her hazel eyes in his pupils that were hollow and devoid of life. The piercing pain that ran through her chest burned and the man whispered in a dark husky tone, "Die you filthy abomination."
Just like the breeze, he was gone just as swiftly. Her body collapsed to the ground with a thud and her vision was laced with the blackness of death.
~~~~Vlad~~~~
Henry's lack of stealth had successful chased away every living thing within a quarter-mile radius. The amount of twigs and leaves he smashed with every slight movement was ungodly loud.
"Dude you suck as hunting," I remarked. I had been curious about trying blood form it's source but not willing to bite a human, Henry had agreed to take him 'hunting' that night in Riley Forest. The past half hour had landed them with no critters for dinner and a ton of mosquito bites.
"Not my fault you got the whole stealth squirrel assassin thing nailed and I'm still in turtle-killing training," He replied. I chuckled at his pathetic excuse. Besides, I'm way better then squirrel, I could maybe for a doe by now.
"Okay I think this is it for tonight. You lost all our game." I said and headed back to the west side of the forest when the scent blew into my face. The smell of blood was like roses and gunmetal, feminine but clearly blood.
Sniffing the air for a few seconds my head snapped the left and my legs carried me abnormally fast.
"Hey Vlad wait up bro!" Henry clumsily chased after me but I was too far ahead. By the time I reached to meadow and scanned the open grass he was beside me panting and cursing. "Man why can't you run like that in gym. I mean…" He trailed off when he caught my line of sight.
A short length of brown hair was fanned around the face of an angel. Her skin the color of milk and eyelashes that brushed her cheeks, if it weren't for the puddle of blood around her I would swear she wasn't real. I approached her slowly and leaned down to inspect her wound and flinched when I finally saw the splint of wood still peeking out of the wound. Brushing my fingers along the jaw line and down to the pulse point, the small thump of a heartbeat tickled my fingertips.
"She's still alive." That's all I needed to say. I lifted her up into my arms, glanced at Henry who was grabbing the suitcase that lay a few feet from her side and walked quickly back through the thick woods.
Even while I was rushing it took around ten minutes to get her home. The minute Henry unlocked the door with the spare key in my pocket, I raced her to the couch, layed her down and took the steps two at a time to Nelly's bedroom.
Bursting through the door I ran my words together in a hurry to say, "Nelly we have a big problem. There's a girl downstairs who really needs your help."
With a confused and bewildered Nelly, I ran down the steps to the living room where Henry sat next to the unconscious girl. Nelly gasped and reached for the telephone on the coffee table. "Vlad we need to get her an ambulance, the bullet looks like it might have pierced her heart."
Vlad frantically ripped the phone from his guardians hands and urged her, "Look at the wound again Nelly. It wasn't a bullet."
Nelly kneeled over her chest and after slipping on the gloves in her pocket, she pulled out the large wooden thorn from the girls wound with one hand. It was slightly thin to be considered a 'stake' but the intent was the same. After looking over the thorn and laying it on the coffee table she pressed her palm over the wound to keep it from bleeding more.
"Vlad it's a miracle she isn't dead. She really needs a doctor, but if she's what I think she is, we can't risk exposing you too." She looked down at the young beautiful girl. While holding in a breath and parted the girl's lips with her clean hand, she looked carefully at her canine teeth and squinted. Then, with a spark of an idea, she took her bloodied hand and smeared the girl's blood onto the gums of her mouth just below her canines and with amazement, watched as her tooth lengthened.
The tension in my heart released and I couldn't help but stare at this mysterious girl who was just like me.
