A thick gruesome smell wafted through the chilled air as I walked through Creek Valley woods. It was around midnight so it was dark, but the moon acted as a flash light, giving the trees an eerie look. Fall has just arrived so the green leaves that were once high in the trees now lay dead on the ground, accompanied by little patches of dirty snow. The wind blew hard, howling it's song into the crisp night, scurrying up the leaves into a haunting dance. It would have been picturesque, but with the old, dried up blood that littered this once peaceful woods, it looked like a cold case murder scene.

The stench of death was so heavy, it practically made me gag, it took will power for me to keep my dinner in my stomach. I kept moving, going forward, stepping into the same trap that I've been for almost three years now. In fact, today is my 18th birthday, I'm an official adult.

Three years. I've been hunting this guy for three years now. Whenever I come close to killing him, I choke, I can't do it. He doesn't have a spell on me or anything, no hypnosis or demonic powers. I run my mind and I move my body of my own free will. It pisses me off greatly, it's like he's toying with me, he knows I can't do it, even when I have my gun pointed at his head, I just can't bring myself to pull the trigger.

As I'm walking through the woods, it becomes darker, with little rays of moonlight shining through the dense trees. I notice a fresh corpse of a women, she looked young, but her head was missing. I inspected the dead body and found that it was dried up, no ounce of blood left in her body, I'm getting closer. I grimaced as I turned away and went back to my trek.

I stop in my tracks, I know he's around here, I can feel his eyes on me, making my skin crawl. I rubbed my arms as I shuddered, letting a chill go up my spine. I look around as I hear a dark chuckle. He's here.

"Marshall..."

My breath hitched as I felt his arms engulf me from behind, I stood stark still and even though I can't see his face, I know he has that stupid smirk spread across his lips. "You called, Gumdrop?" He said in a mocking tone. He always comes up with these dumb nicknames for me just because my hair happens to be pink.

I struggled out of his grasp and turned to look straight at him. Face to face we stood, although, I have to crane my neck a bit higher to even see his eyes, he's a good five inches taller than me. I scowled at him while he had that annoying smile on, showing his white fangs. I drew my gun from the inside of my jacket and made my arm as straight as a pipe directly at him, my finger held firmly on that trigger.

"Aw come on, do really have to do this today of all days?" His face held a look of fake hurt. "And I even went out of my way to get you a present." He put on a faux pout, then laughing demonically. I never once lost my defense.

He moved to a tree stump, his eyes not leaving mine as I aimingly followed him with my gun. He stuck his hand behind it and threw some kind of round object at my feet, was this supposed to be the "present" he got me? when I looked down my eyes widened in horror, it was the head of that woman's corpse I saw earlier. I screamed as I kicked the head far away from me, my breath coming out in short shuddered pants. "what kind of sick joke was that!" I yelled at him, my hand covering my rapid beating heart.

"Hmm, maybe I should have gotten you a soccer ball?" He turned away in deep thought and shrugged. God I hate this sarcastic vampire! I wiped the frightful look from my face to give an impassive expression, he can read me like an open book.

He turned to me with that evil smile, he came closer and closer as I backed away. I felt the bark of a tree against my back and I held more firmly on my gun, but my finger became loose on the trigger. I mentally yelled at myself to not hold back, but it was every time he did this, my heart hurt, my hand shook, I can't do it. I can't kill the man who sucks the life away from innocent people, I can't kill the man who toys with others emotions to get what he wants. I can't kill the man who took my best friend.

My gun was up against his chest now, that's how close he became. He moved the weapon from the middle of his chest to the left of it, where his undead heart is. "Do it" he tells me. That stupid smirk still plastered on his face. I stare up into his glowing red orbs with doubtful eyes that he can see perfectly. I bite my lip as his smile widens. I give up. I slowly bow my head down in shame as I lower my weapon from his chest. Just like every other time, I couldn't get myself to shoot.

I felt his hand on my chin, lifting up my head to make me look him in those eyes. His thumb grazed my lower lip, making me open my mouth slightly. A blush started to heat up my face as he slowly moved in, joining our lips softly as his other arm wrapped around my back, almost crushing me into him.

Ah, this was it. The reason I couldn't kill this vampire. After three long years of hunting him down like an animal, I eventually fell in love.

I closed my eyes and wrapped my arms around his neck, standing on the tip of my toes for better access. His hand left my chin to hold the back of my head, holding onto our kiss for as long as he can. He held me tighter as my fingers tangled in his black locks, the fervent moves of our mouths working as one, heating up my body on this cold night as I slowly start to melt in his grasp.

A burning sensation weaved in my lungs from the lack of oxygen and my mind started to go fuzzy, I separated from him, panting, taking in as much air as I can. Our limbs became loose and we eventually broke contact. I fell to my knees, my eyes like glass and my face hot, my breathing evening out so I don't pass out from hyperventilation.

He crouched down onto one knee, his features soft and almost caring. He cupped my cheeks into his hands and pressed his forehead against mine. "Until next time, my love." And right before my eyes, he vanished into the night sky, black smoke twisting in the wind, becoming one.

A smile finally bestowed itself upon my lips, reaching my eyes. I sat back against the tree, watching the moon begin to fall and kiss the rising sun good morning. I laughed lightly to myself, "yes Marshall...until next time..."

fin.