OMG! How did this strange thing happen!? Sara's a vampire!! Who could've done such a thing?!

The Little Halloween Girl: To Love Or Not to Love

by Ryoken

"I'm...I'm a..." she stuttered.

"A vampire," Rahab said, completing her sentence.

"I...I, I," She stared at her claws.

"Whoever did this will pay dearly," he promised her. Suddenly, Sara just seemed to faint, but he caught her and laid her against himself, stroking her hair. He gently turned her head to look for bite marks, but found none. What? This cannot be, the bite lasts until the fledgling becomes the same as the one who bit her. But I have no knowledge of any vampires in the realm that still retain much of their humanity in their hands. He opened her mouth and found fangs where the canines would have been. Her ears were pointed too. "The only person that I can think of who would know anything about this is Kain." Rahab looked down at her closed eyelids. He laid her on the bed to allow herself to wake up. Then he rose and was about to go out the door when he noticed that rose again. A foreign emotion swelled up in him and he picked up the rose and gruesomely crushed the flower between his claws. And then he left to find Kain.

"Rahab, wait! Wait I said!!" came the voice of one of his brothers. Rahab didn't even turn around, and he didn't even seem to hear Raziel's voice trying to reach him. Rahab was suddenly stopped and forcefully turned around. "Rahab, what's gotten into you?" With this confrontation, Rahab seemed to snap out of his angry trance and shook his head.

"My apologizes, brother. It's just that...I need to speak with Lord Kain."

"You need to take council with Lord Kain? It must be incredibly important...It wouldn't happen to have anything to with-"

"Raziel! Rahab! What might the two of you be doing??!" Came another familiar voice. It was Turel.

"Rahab says he wishes to speak with Kain," Raziel says. Rahab tried to give Raziel a look that would tell him not to speak.

"Oh? About what?"

"That's exactly what I was asking him. Tell us, won't you?"

Rahab stared at the ground. "I...cannot, in the present company."

"Whatever do you mean? We're all brothers here, you can tell us!" Turel chuckled.

Rahab then looked to Raziel for advice. Raziel then looked at Turel, who was now looking a touch bewildered, then looked at Rahab and gave him a nod.

"It's about...Sara."

"Sara?...Wait, you mean that little girl from last year?"

He nodded.

"Well, what about her?"

"She..."He looked away for a moment, looked at Raziel, who nodded again, and looked at his other older brother. "Is turned..."

"WHAT!?!?!?!?" The two of them said at once. Turel began bombarding Rahab with questions, and Raziel did his best answer them, noticing Rahab's clenched fist.

"So, she's here?" Nod. "And she's a vampire now?" Nod. "And you're going to tell this to Kain!?" Nod. "Have you lost it?"

"Turel..."

"What, I was just asking."

"I don't know how it is that she was turned, for it wasn't me who did it."

Raziel looked at him with concern. "What do you mean 'it wasn't you'? Who and why would someone else turn her?"

"I don't know, but when I came in to visit her, she was sitting in the same spot, looking like a vampire, and holding a white rose, a rose that I never gave to her," Rahab stated, his fist now dripping with blood.

Turel now noticed his clenched fist. "Calm down, brother." He then took another look at him and laughed a little as he spoke. "You're jealous, aren't you??"

Now this caught Rahab off guard. "W-What?? Preposterous!" He said, looking away.

"Yes, you are!"

"Now stop this. Rahab, go and seek council with Father. Perhaps he will know the answers you seek," Raziel said, interrupting Turel's teasing. "As for you, Turel, you're coming with me. Rahab, you don't mind if we speak with Sara, do you?"

Rahab turned around. "No, of course not. But please, Turel, don't let this leak out."

"Ahh, no worries, little brother, your secret's safe with me," he said with a wink as the two began to walk towards Rahab's abbey.

I hope she'll be all right, he thought as he entered the Sanctuary of the Clans.

"I know, Rahab, I know," Kain said as hastily to Rahab as he had come in. "And I'm already trying to figure out who it is." Rahab was speechless. "Oh come now, you cannot hide anything from me for long. You should know that by now." Kain said, hurriedly pacing himself towards his own library in the Sanctuary. "By memory, I've no knowledge of any such vampires, however, before you and your brothers were created, I did have the exact same claws."

"What...what does this mean?" Rahab asked.

Kain was about to step onto a ladder, but then turned to face Rahab. "It means that you will go about as normal." Then more quietly. "Go to her, Rahab. Comfort her, keep her safe. Go on!" He said. As Rahab left his master, Kain returned to the rickety old ladder, then called for a servant to climb the ladder. When the servant did however, the ladder broke, just as Kain had thought it would, and he laughed his evil laugh when the servant fell.

She awoke to find herself alone again. Now more calm than she had been, she sat up. Well, I guess this isn't too bad. There a lot more worse things that could've happened to me by now. But I wonder how come I'm not hungry? I thought vampires were always supposed to hunger for blood, but I don't feel any need to feed. She looked down beside her on the bed. There was another rose, but this one was as red as blood. She picked it up and looked at it lovingly, but then realized what she was doing and threw it on the table. Suddenly there was a knock on the door and it startled her.

"Uh, come in," she said, not knowing what else to say. In came Jythryl, looking a little shy.

"Lord Raziel and Lord Turel have come to see you-Hey, are you all right? You look kinda pale," she said, coming over to her side.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm ok."

"Wait a second, open your mouth." She did so, and Jythryl gaily gasped. "He turned you!!"

"No no, he didn't...Someone else did."

Her smile disappeared. "Who??"

"I don't know. I was asleep."

"Hey ladies, what's taking so long?" Turel said, popping his head in. Jythryl blushed a little and stood up.

"I beg your pardon, sire. I'll be leaving now. I'll talk to you later, Sara," she said, leaving her. Turel and Raziel came in, with Turel smiling a bit more than Raziel was.

"Hi," she said.

"Well well well," Turel said, hurrying over to Sara. Raziel spotted the rose. "You've grown into quite the pretty one, now haven't you??" He said, taking her hands.

She laughed. "Yeah, I guess so."

"Is this the rose Rahab was talking about?" Raziel asked. He was holding the red rose she had thrown on the table.

"No, that one was white. I can't seem to find it, but that one was here when I woke up." Turel let go of her hands and look at the rose himself.

"Surely this admirer of yours could do better than just a single rose?" He said, snatching it from Raziel's claws. She shrugged.

"Where did you find this one, Sara?"

"Next to me when I woke up."

"Right next to you?"

"Yeah, why?"

Raziel thought for a moment. "You'll tell Rahab this, won't you?"

"Well of course."

"Good. Speak of the devil," Raziel said as Rahab opened the door. "Rahab," Raziel said, handing him the rose. He took it without looking at it, his eyes more focused on Turel, who was clearly eyeing Sara. He shook his head.

"I think it best that you both leave now," Rahab said.

"Oh come now, Rahab, I want to hear all about what Sara's been doing these-Ow!" Turel said as he got jabbed by Raziel.

"We shall be leaving you then, Rahab. Sara," Raziel said, giving a slight bow and leaving through the door, practically dragging Turel out.

When they had left, Rahab began his investigation. He looked from the rose to Sara. "So when did this one come?"

"Sometime when you were gone. It was next to me when I woke up."

"Next to you?" He said, sounding a little surprised.

"Yeah, why is that so important?"

He looked to the flower again then looked back at Sara. She looked fairly confused. Rahab threw the flower behind him, placed his hand behind her head and held her closely with the other, and softly kissed her. She was taken by surprise, and unexpectedly, Rahab stopped. He didn't seem to know what to say.

"I...Would you excuse me for moment?" He said, trying not to make eye contact with her as he hurried out the door.

"Wait!" But he didn't stop, and she didn't try to catch up with him. She turned around and quickly screamed. Two red roses were now leaning against the centerpiece on the table.

O_o How has this mysterious "admirer" gotten those two roses in right when no one was looking!??! Is this guy invisible or something?! And what's wrong with Rahab??