WHEN BLOOD GIVES ME LIFE

PART ONE

Midnight.

One time of the day you wish you were snuggled under thick covers instead of being out on an abandoned road, traveling home from a job you wish you didn't have to work. The one place that made your skin coil in disgust each and every time you had to be there? Yes, late nights were hell and this was the one night you wished you were safe at home instead of being out here alone.

Midnight.

It was down-right scary, dangerous even, especially for someone so young like she. This had been the first that she worked such late hours but she needed to in order to pay for a wedding she and her fiancée wanted. Yes, this night would be worth while even though she was deadly scared of being out here alone.

Yes, twenty-eight year old Nicole Simon was afraid. Not just because there was no one on the road, but by the sound the car itself made. If she stalled or lost her car out here, she have no vehicle and no cell signal on her cell phone and she be stuck walking this road alone in the darkness and that creeped her out.

The car sputtered and died, she coasted it to the side of the road and came to a stop, parking it before banging her hands on the steering wheel. Just her luck. The car died on the one night she had to work late, why couldn't it die yesterday or tomorrow when she would be coming home from work in the daylight.

She sighed. She had some walking to do and if she wanted to get home tonight she best get a move on now. She hesitated for a moment, then pushed her door open and got out. She locked the door and closed it, tucking her phone and her purse inside her jacket and moving down the long abandoned road. Yeah, she was nuts for walking this time of night, but she couldn't be far from her home, now could she?

She grimaced as a light splotch of rain began to fall, if it rained she was going to be soaked and would pay for it by being sick and that was not an option at the moment. She needed everyday she could get to pay for the wedding of her dreams and her fiancée Brad was not going to give up his time or his efforts to carter to hers. She sighed again, maybe getting married wasn't a good idea but they'd been together since senior year in high school and their parents expected them to marry and that was final.

This is what I get for working extra to pay for my wedding.

She mumbled to herself. If anything more went wrong, be hell's water she was going to call the whole thing off, take her money and go on a very long extended vacation and deal with the consequences when she got back. And at that moment, it sounded too good.

I so need a vacation. I wonder if Brad would care if I called the wedding off. He isn't fond of it as much as I am.

She grinned; maybe they both needed their space. Living together had been pure torture for them both but their parents wouldn't have it any other way.

I've made my mind; I'm calling the wedding off.

And with that to her heart's content she heard the motor of an oncoming vehicle and the crunch of tires on the gravel. She was getting a ride off this road.

Thank you!

She turned to the approaching vehicle and realized that it was a bus and not a car. Lights glared in her eyes and she raised a hand to keep the lights from blinding her. At that moment the lights had been cut off. It came to a stop right next to her. She took a deep breath and waited. And the boy that came out couldn't be much younger than her very own sister of fifteen!

"Hey! Is that your car back there alongside the road?" he asked.

She nodded.

"We stopped at your car and no one was there. The hood was warm so we decided to see if anyone was out here. Thank goodness I thought about the hood or you'd be stranded out here."

"Thank you." She said shyly.

He grinned, his hazel eyes sparkling in the near darkness. "So you need a lift?"

She was memerized as his black hair fell into his face and he wiped it back. "Yes. I live a few miles up the road; you don't have to make a detour on my account."

"We don't mind, actually Charlie and I are the only ones up and he would kick himself in the ass if he left such a pretty lady out here, right Charlie?" he asked the driver.

Nicole smiled, "I thank you. Its dark and I hate walking this road in the daylight much less now."

"Don't blame you." He said and motioned for her to get on the bus.

She brushed past him and thought she felt coldness on his skin, but she shook her head and took a seat at the table and waited as he closed the door and took a seat and the bus moved on.

"So." He started, "What's your name?"

"Nicole and you?"

"Frank."

Silence overcame them for a brief moment, Nicole shifted in her seat uncomfortably. Suddenly the air felt thick and death-like.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

She shook her head, "I feel sick all of a sudden." She paused and tightly closed her eyes and waited for her panic attack to pass. She gulped in a deep breath and relaxed and sighed. Leaning back in the seat did she open her eyes.

"Panic attack?"

She nodded, "The air feels so thick in here, and it must have triggered it."

He moved next to her and patted her back. She took another deep breath and sighed.

"You'll be alright." He whispered in her ear.

She felt her eyelids close and darkness overcame her. She fought to stay awake, but Frank had placed something over her nose and then there was nothing.