Bleeding Rose
My story, isn't like other stories, my story takes place on the edges of reality, in a world that is either or greatest dreams, or our worst nightmares. My story is filled with blood, lies, hidden desires, and maybe a little bit of hate. My name is Sarah, and this is my story.
My parents, they were druggies, so caught up in debt they didn't know which way was up, I was 16. I was walking home one day when I saw him leaning against the side of a warehouse. It was December, and the sun was blocked by a heavy layer of dark grey clouds. What was different about him wasn't the fact that he looked like he was waiting for me, but the fact that it was easily twenty degrees and all he wore was a pair of black jeans and a light white turtleneck.
I froze where I was as he shrugged off of the wall and walked slowly over to me. When he was about five feet from me he stopped.
"Hey." He said, dazzling me with a perfectly white smile. He was by far the most beautiful person I had ever seen, he had ivory skin and wavy black hair down to his chin that hung perfectly into his crystal blue eyes. He was at least five inches taller than me and he had full lips that curved into that perfect smile.
"Hi." I muttered, trying to shake myself out of the shock of him. He held my eyes in his as he chuckled silently.
"Your name is Sarah right? I've been watching you." Now, besides the normal things that were wrong with that statement, here's what made it truly frightening. I live in New York, the likelihood of seeing a total stranger twice is slim to none, and now that I thought about it, I had seen this guy in crowds before, at least five times. I stepped back two steps and dropped my eyes from his.
"Who are you and what do you want?" I demanded cautiously, he laughed and his eyes hit mine again.
"My name? It's not important right now, you'll learn it soon enough, but I've come to give you a proposition."
"Fine what is it?" I snapped, irritated, pretending to be annoyed so I didn't have time to be scared.
"I own a…club that I think you will be perfect for." He began. "You won't have to go to school anymore, just stay with us." At this he ran his fingers through my hair, I jumped and pushed him away. He wasn't within touching distance a second ago, how'd he get there so fast?
"Thanks but no thanks." I bellowed, walking briskly away from him. He must have been nuts.
"You will join me; you have no choice in the matter!" He yelled as he slowly disappeared into the snowy mist.
I had no idea how serious he was.
I walked into the door of my home, if you could call the leaking shack a home, and all seemed the same. It smelled of smoke and beer mixed with the scent of violets from a glade plug-in in the corner.
"I'm home!" I called into the house, knowing exactly where my parents would be. I dumped my backpack on the kitchen table then walked into our bleak living room. There my parents were, sitting on the old maroon colored couch, and there he was in the neighbors' old wooden rocking chair, looking like he owned the place.
"Hello again." He teased, he had a cup of tea in his hand and he sipped it slowly. I glared at him then whipped around to look at my parents.
"What is he doing here? I said with as much venom as I could put into my voice.
"He's here to get you." My father slurred.
"So get your things." He flashed his smile again but I didn't find it so charming or beautiful this time, in fact, I wanted to smack it off of his face.
"What the hell are you talking about?" I snapped cynically.
"Like I told you earlier," He sighed, standing up gracefully. "You would come with me one way or another, your parents needed the money and I needed you, perfect fit, don't you see?" I blinked in disbelief and then rage took over every other emotion, betrayal, hurt, and sadness.
"You sold me!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, my hands shaking, the knuckles turning whiter than I already was. "How could you! You're my parents!" Angry tears slid down my face as my mother gave me a reassuring smile.
"Don't be like that sweetie we…" Her sentence was lost into a quiet mumbled slur.
"What?" I retorted. "We what? Love you? Is that what you were going to say? I haven't been loved by you guys since I was born! And even then you probably don't remember because you were probably too high you god damn druggies!" I panted heavily as I shook the tears away, my hair falling into my eyes. The boy just stood there and watched as I argued with my parents, did I expect him to help? No, he got me into this. As my words still hung in the air I turned on my heels and marched to my room, holding back everything I still wanted to say and hear in return. I pulled out a bag and stuffed it full with everything I could get my hands on. When it was full to bursting I slung it over my shoulder, and there he was, standing in the doorway, acting like he was just taking me on a day trip.
"Ready?" He asked cheerfully.
"Define ready." I remarked as I stormed past him. He chuckled and caught up with my pace with no trouble at all. My parents hadn't moved from the couch. He opened the door and held it open for me; I sneered at him then looked at my parents, a reluctant expression on my face.
"Mom…Dad?" I whispered, this was my last chance. "I love you."
"Bye sweetie, have fun!" My mom waved cheerfully at me. I stared at my parents and the living room through the doorway, hoping to drill the vision into my memory, even if it isn't the most pleasant thing in the world.
"Are you coming?" He teased from behind me , still holding the doorknob.
"Do I have a choice?" I replied, still with as much hate as I could fit into a four word sentence.
"Not really, it was a rhetorical question." He stated, smiling widely. I walked out of the house and he shut the door behind us. I started walking at a brisk pace down the icy pavement, hoping that maybe he wouldn't catch up, but of course he did, he was in front of me walking backwards in no time at all.
"How'd you get there so fast?" I asked, wondering what was wrong with him.
"Didn't I tell you? I have super powers." He chuckled. Okay, I was fed up with this. I stopped in my tracks and plopped onto the sidewalk, he looked at me quizzically.
" I am not going anywhere until you tell me what's going on. You just take me from my home to work on some club I have a right to know." I argued. He looked at me a moment longer like I was nuts, then he shrugged and kneeled on his heels in front of me, sighing he began.
"Alright, first off, my name is Tripp, and I'm not who you think I am."
"Oh really!" I interjected sarcastically. He looked at me resentfully and then continued.
"I own a club called Gothic Fusion, and we entertain the creatures of the night." He met my eyes while a smile played on the corner of his mouth. "Like me." Now I was lost. Great, parents have just sold me to a freaking, beautiful psycho. He thinks he's a 'creature of the night' great, perfect, just fabulous.
"What?" I blurted stupidly. "So…creatures of the night like…" I swallowed.
"Vampires yes."
"Arg! No freaking' way!" I stood up and did the 'this is freaking me out' fast walk down the alley. Next thing I know I'm slung over Tripp's shoulder as we headed back to a snow drift next to where I was sitting.
"Let me go! I am not going to be on the menu for a bunch of freaky night-crawling blood suckers!" I kicked and hit him until he started to laugh hysterically.
"I'm a vampire, you can't beat me, so just get used to it and take it as it goes." He chuckled. He dropped me into the snow drift and sat down next to me. "Now cool off." He laughed lightly at his own pun.
"Damn." I swore as the cold snow started to soak through my jeans.
"Now they aren't going to eat you, they aren't allowed. They find their own food." I shivered at the thought. "You'll just be entertaining them." To me, that was just as bad, but I wanted to make sure that what I was thinking was correct.
"You mean you hired me to…" I was quiet and I trailed off. He looked at me, waiting for me to finish. I was going to have to say it wasn't I? "You know..." I waited longer, this was really uncomfortable. "Put file A into slot B?" At first, he didn't get it, he looked at me oddly then I guess the fact that I had turned bright red had made him realize I was talking about, then he laughed hysterically.
"It's not funny!" I smacked him in the arm but I had forgotten how fast he was, before I could blink he had my wrist and I was sitting in his lap, half in the snow. He adjusted me so I was sitting on him and he held me tight against his chest. He was better then the wet snow but he was almost just as cold, not to mention the fact that he was harder than rock. I tried to stand up and wiggle out of his grasp but he was about a billion times stronger than me. I grunted as he chuckled into my hair.
"Why?" he breathed into my ear. "Do you want to?"
"No!" I objected loudly, my voice going up 2 octaves. I tried to stand up but he held me fast against him. He chuckled again and lingered against my neck.
"Hmmm…" He sighed. "You smell great, like roses." I went to yell at him but then I remember he could break me like a twig if he wanted to, so I snapped my mouth shut again. I tried to pry his hands off of my waist but it didn't work. He slide from the back of my neck to under my ear and he inhaled again, my heart accelerating.
"Get away." I managed to form the words into a low sigh, it's really hard to think when a vampire is hanging around your throat. He chuckled and I felt his breath on my skin.
"Make me." He taunted. Then I felt it, he broke the skin on my throat. My eyes widened and my brain started to shut down.
"Okay! No way! That is not okay!" I yelled as he fed on my blood, being drained by a vampire? Yeah, not so great. After about thirty seconds he let go of me and smiled.
"What the hell!" I screamed at him, I was still bleeding but it was very little. He licked his lips with a look of satisfaction on his face, I glared at him. "If I turn into a vampire I swear to God I'll…" He covered my mouth with his hand to make me shut up.
"You don't want the neighbors to hear, they'll call the cops."
"I don't give a damn if they call the cops!" I yelled into his hand, trying to pry it from my face.
"If you be quiet, I'll give you your face back." I went to protest but it wasn't getting me anywhere so I glared at him and waited quietly. He finally smiled and took his hand away. "You won't turn into a vampire, that's a total myth." He took a band aid out of his pocket and placed it over where he had bitten me.
"You don't want people to see that now do we?" He said with enough cheerfulness I wanted to puke.
"Okay…" I began slowly and with as much irritation as I could muster into a single word. "I'm cold, it's the middle of December. I've just been taken from my parents house by a vampire night club owner who's been stalking me, I've just been bitten and to top the whole damn thing off I smell like roses! Am I correct?" I panted, I think I just had my first nervous breakdown.
"Yes, I think you've basically covered it, but I lurk, I don't stalk." He smiled. I was tired of this, my eyes started to leak and my vision blurred, I whipped them off quickly and I sniffed. Tripp looked concerned, a whole new expression I hadn't seen before. He walked up to me and gently held me, me needing to be held, didn't protest.
"Are you ready to go home?" He asked. I let him lead me away as my brain thought otherwise.
"It's not a home, it's a prison."