Hunting Eighteen:
A novel
Preface
The wind in my hair in the forest is one of the most comforting things to me. And what better way to spend it than with the guy of your dreams. Literally. I dream this dream every night and this is the one night that my gift of precognition decides to intervene. This is the new dream.
Walking hand in hand with my life long crush Christian van Helsing, well maybe not life long but it sure seems like it, through the forest with my best friend Elena Bradley we stop at our favorite spot along the river in the forest. As I have said the wind in my hair in the forest really calms and comforts me. We pick a large rock by the river to lay on in the sun.
Of course in dreams you are always holding hands with your crush. So we are sitting there having a very intimate moment where he is about to kiss me when I notice that Elena has disappeared from the rock beside me. I and Christian both freeze. We look around us and find Elena in some sort of trance walking toward the edge of the forest.
"Elena where are you going?" I call out but she keeps walking toward the forest. So I try again.
"Elena come back where are you going?" She was completely ignoring me. I find that odd because she would usually just snap out of any daze when I call her that many times. That's when I get worried.
"Christian I have to go after-" but she had stopped at the edge of the forest. I hear Christian get to his feet and I turn around just in time when he all of a sudden drags me up off of the rock and shields me from the forest where Elena is standing. I look around his shoulder and see not only Elena standing at the edge of the forest but an incredibly beautiful boy. He looked so graceful and at complete peace. He beckoned for Elena to join him not six feet from where she stood. She walked toward him and took his very pale hand. In fact his whole complexion was pale; pale as the full moon on a dark night in June. He pulled her close and kissed her so softly that it looked like he was barely touching her. Then he kissed her neck. I only then realized that she was writhing in pain from that kiss.
I frantically look back at Christian who has a look of horror on his face but makes no approach to help Elena. I try to move to help her but he holds me behind him and keeps me as still as possible. When I could finally loosen his grip, I looked over his shoulder just in time to see Elena fall limply to the forest floor just in front of where she just was standing. And the boy, who looked to be about seventeen or eighteen, ran his thumb along the edge of his lower lip. I can see the blood on his thumb and still on the other side of his mouth. Elena looked paler than her did and was not breathing , or so I could tell. I scream in horror and he jerks his head up to look at me and Christian. Christian turns around and pushes me off of the rock.
"Run! Run and don't look back! What ever you do don't look in his eyes or even at him. Just run!" It was to late though. I was already staring at this horrible monster and yet all I felt was an invisible pull toward him. Christian's voice was just a faint echo. All I could see was this incredible creature standing not a hundred yards away from me. All that I wanted to do was run from him. Yet all that I could do was walk slowly toward him. He fascinated me so much yet terrified me to my very soul. He beckoned me forward with the simple reach of his hand toward me. I kept walking toward him. He took my hand and just as he was about to pull me close I felt Christian pull me away and that fascination was soon turned to terror and fear. I just watched my best friend die and I was just as close to that same fate if it were not for Christian.
"I said RUN! Don't look back McKenna what ever you do…" and at that time the boy lunged at Christian. So I ran and did not look back. I ran screaming for help and hoping that Christian was somewhere behind me. What I did not know was that there was a cliff two feet in front of me. Next thing that I know I'm falling infinitely. No Christian, no Elena, no one but me and the fast approaching ground…