Chapter two

When I woke up I found myself laying down in a moonlit meadow, the stars gleaming down at me. Small, white flowers covered the ground and made the place look like from a fairytale. I immediately sat up and looked around. The place seemed familiar, somehow. If I still were human, I might've been frightened by the tall, dark trees lowering themselves all around the glade. But now it was just satisfying, soothing. The only thing that would have frightened me was if it had been sunny.

How did I get here? I had no memories of coming here, so I must've been moved when I slept. But who brought me here then? I decided to get up and explore the surroundings, maybe to find the one guilty of my confusion. I steadied myself with my arms and got to my feet. The soft touch of silk made me notice that I wore a long simple, creamy dress, totally different from the one I went to sleep with, and... yes, my hair was clean once more; the blood was gone and it smelled freshly of eucalyptus. I was standing there admiring myself, feeling very beautiful, when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I quickly turned around and gasped, it was the same face, and the same man I had dreamt of so many times. Finally I had met him. He was so gorgeous; the half-long, ebony coloured hair, the full lips, the skin that was slightly darker than mine, all of him made me breathless. But, most of all, his scarlet eyes. He fit so perfectly in this place, like an angel in heaven. I was just about to say... I really don't know, he was so divine that every word seemed stupid, every expression unnecessary. But before I even had opened my mouth, he put a finger at my lips and smiled, a dimple emerging on his cheek.

" I have been waiting for you, my love", he said, and his voice was like music to my ears, never before had I heard something that beautiful, which didn't say so much, I've practically just been consciously alive for a few months, but still. I couldn't do anything but to stare into his eyes, just as he stared into mine. But I made myself open my mouth and ask the two questions that were buzzing in my head.

"Who are you? Why am I here?" My voice was barely a whisper - to be honest, I couldn't hear it, it was more like I've thought the words instead of saying them - and I blushed, and worrying that he might think I was a coward. But he didn't laugh; he just smiled his angelic smile again and took my hand, bringing it to his cheek.

"I made you, and to me you shall return". His face was now just a few inches from mine, and I could feel his warm breathe against it. He brought both of his hands up to my head, putting them around my face and kissed me slowly. The soft touch of his lips almost made me fly; it awakened something deep inside me that no human man ever had done before. This new feeling craved for more. I opened my mouth at the same time he did, and made my tongue explore this new place. When my tongue touched his, I nearly exploded. It wasn't like I never had done some open-mouth-kissing before, but that had been with human men, and the only reason I kissed them was to easier be able to bite their neck and drink their blood. This was a totally new experience. I pushed my body against his, and he pushed at me with the same force. I was just to rip of his white shirt, when he was gone. I turned around, looking for him. I wanted to call out his name... but then I remembered that I didn't know his name. Heartbroken and close to tears I searched for him, when I suddenly noticed that the trees surrounding the meadow no longer were so dark and shadowy, the place seemed so much brighter. I looked up at the sky; the stars were gone, as was the moon, instead of them there was something else... something bigger, and brighter.... The sun blinded my eyes and burned my skin. The pain was indescribable. It was like someone had pushed me into a great campfire, and big, nasty blisters emerged on my otherwise so beautiful skin. But before the scream in agony could leave my lips, I woke up.

The sun had been down for almost an hour and the human body still lay next to me and stared creepily. The dream had seemed so real, especially the touch of him, his kisses... I felt something warm and wet falling down my cheek, I was crying. Suddenly, I started to sob, and there was no way I could stop. I had really thought that I had found him, at last. It was like an empty hole inside me had been filled, completed. But now... I don't think I've ever felt so alone and abandoned. I didn't want to be unique anymore. Everything was so hopeless... I put my hands over my face and took some deep breaths. I will find him, sooner or later; all I need to do is to have faith in... faith.

I harshly stowed the dead body into the wardrobe and put on some clean party-clothes: I was going to the nearest nightclub, to hunt.

"Hey, pretty, why won't you come over here?" I heard some man say from a dark corner. I threw a quick look at him. No, he was not what I was looking for. Not any man would do tonight; I wanted the most gorgeous human I could find. So I kept walking until I reached the club. And there, just outside it, I found someone that might've been the perfect prey. He had a skin that almost glowed in the dark. I walked towards him and smiled. He seemed to be looking for something in his pocket.

"Are you looking for something?" I said with the most seductive voice I could procure. He quickly looked up at me, and at first he seemed surprised. Probably that somebody as beautiful as me had come to him, but, to be honest, I didn't blame him. Then he gave me a cocky smile.

"Well, yes, my lighter... I must've dropped it inside". This was going really well. I picked up my lighter from my black leather designer-purse, and gave it to him. I always had a reserve-lighter, in case any of my future preys were smokers. He took it and lighted a cigarette.

"Thanks. So," he said and breathed out a big cloud of smoke. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, nothing I guess, I was supposed to meet my friends here, but it seems like none of them have showed up."

His grin got even wider. He had some really nice teeth, for being human. And his eyes had this sweet chocolate colour.

"You can always hang out with me, if you don't want to be alone. There could be some pretty bad guys around here", he said and blushed. Even though he tried to seem tough, I noticed that he was really insecure in himself, but that would be no problem. I could already smell the sweet scent of his blood, pumping in his veins. I took a step closer.

"I've always liked men who can stand up for a woman when it comes to the point that the woman needs help", I said in a low voice, and looked up at him with eyes that I hoped looked impressed, and not too-hungry. "I'm Aeriel".

"I'm proud to serve the women of my country", he laughed and bowed to me. "I'm Brian". Then he gave out a low whistle. "Wow... Your eyes are really cool! Do you wear contacts?" He had noticed my red eyes.

"Yes..." I said, not really wanting to talk about that subject. I was so close now, almost had him twisted around my finger, I would not let my stupid mistake to not wear contacts mess this up for me. I took another step closer to him and took his hand, usually, I wouldn't have moved this fast forward, but I was really desperate. "It's really dark out here, a bit scary, in fact". I could see by the look at his face that he didn't believe that someone like me thought it was scary when it was dark outside. But he must've just thought that I was attracted to him - like that was ever going to happen - or something similar to that, cause he put his arm around me, and held me close to himself. He was kind of cute, to be human.

"You can feel safe with me, I won't harm you" he claimed and kissed me on the cheek. Wow, this guy must really be attracted to me too, or else he would've pushed me away from him and thought I was crazy. I usually had more time to seduce my prey. However, it was probably the best that happened, and I was not going to complain.

I pressed my face at his throat, pretending to just shelter myself against the outside world, and smelled his blood. Oh, the scent was so delicious. The lust for blood filled my every cell, made me moan. He put a hand under my chin and made me look up in his eyes.

"Aeriel, you're really beautiful", he said, smiling. "Would you like to go somewhere a little more private?"

Instead of answering I kissed him hard on the mouth. Tasting whatever I could taste of him at the moment. "Yeah, yes, I would love..." Then the sound of sirens interrupted me, and at the end of the street an ambulance became visible. This didn't fit into my plan.

Brian seemed to have the same thought. "What the...?"

But the answer to our question was soon to be answered. Out from the club came a lot of people, some of them crying and screaming, other too shocked to do anything more than just stare the outer space. I took Brian's hand and dragged him forward with me. Two men were carrying something that looked like a body. A girl. I looked closer and couldn't believe my eyes. The girl had a huge wound around her neck, and there were small wounds all over her face... just like biting marks. No. It couldn't be true. After all my searching, it happened right before my eyes. Someone like me had been here. A vampire.