THE SMELL AND COLOR OF BLOOD

CHAPTER 2

Laurie sat on her bed watching "Labyrinth." She loved fantasy movies ever since she was a little kid. She smiled as she saw Sarah and Jareth dance around in the bubble together. Then the lights went out.

"Huh?" asked Laurie. She tried her lamps: nothing. She went out into the hall which was also pitch black. She yelled downstairs to her father. "Dad! The lights went out!" she screamed to him. "It's okay honey! I'm going outside to fix the circuit breaker!" he yelled back to her. "Be careful!" she yelled back to him. Laurie heard the door open then close.

Laurie's dad went over to the circuit breaker which was at the back of the house. "I wonder how this could have happened," he said to himself. He opened the box and took out the circuits. He got a close look at each and every one of them. "What the hell? This has been messed with," he said. It was. All the breaker wires inside were actually cut.

Laurie's dad sensed something wasn't right, so went right back into the house. He didn't know he was still being watched. He was about to yell to his daughter, but then he saw she was waiting right at the couch for him.

"We are going to have to go and get some more breakers tonight. Get your coat," he said. Laurie was unsure about this idea, but nevertheless, she put on her jacket and walked with her dad to the store down the street.

"What a coincidence, huh boys?" asked Yazoo to his fellow comrades who all were following Laurie and her dad to the store, but made sure to stay hidden in the black shadows. "Coincidences have nothing to do with it. It's called being prepared. I made sure this would happen," said Sephiroth.

Laurie and her dad made it to the store and picked up the breakers with no problem. It was dead empty in the store. With the curfew and all, she didn't even want to know why the store was open.

Now the problem was getting home. Laurie and her dad walked fast until they saw their home. "Laurie don't panic but we're being followed," he said. Laurie widened her eyes and was about to look behind her, when her dad said "Don't look," so she didn't. "When I tell you to run, you run," he said to her. "ready, set go!" he yelled to her.

Laurie took off at an incredible speed to her home. She figured her dad was right behind her until she heard him grunt. She stopped and looked back. She saw her dad trying to fight off someone or something. She called for her father- "DAD!" She saw him being dragged into an alley, so instead of saving her own life, she went to help her only family.

"HOLD ON DAD! I'M COMING!" she yelled. But when she turned into the alley, all she saw was blackness. She panted hard. She carefully and cautiously took a few steps into the alley. "Dad?" she whispered. Nothing met her ears as a respond. Laurie didn't watch where she was going and tripped over something. "Ugh," she grunted.

She looked back at what she had tripped on…oh it was only her father's dead body. Wait, what! Her father's body was sprawled out, blood leaking out form his arms and neck. Laurie was now in tears. "Dad!" she cried out and touched the bloody body, holding it close to her own.

"Dad, dad," she sobbed out. "Now, now, wipe those tears girl," said a voice from behind her. Laurie gasped and turned her head around to meet the face with the voice. A man who looked only like he was 17 stood behind her smiling evilly. He had short but beautiful silver hair.

"Aaww look she's wearing my favorite color," said anther voice from Laurie's side. She turned her head and saw another silver haired guy, this time it looked mushroom cut. He had something on his left hand that looked like quite a shocker.

"Come on now, let's leave her alone to get over the shock of that guy," said another person from Laurie's other side. Laurie turned her head in the opposite direction. She saw yet another silver haired guy. It was pretty long, down to his waist, it looked like. This one like the first 2 was pretty handsome.

"You boys are scaring her. That's just the way I like them," said a 4th voice from right in front of Laurie. Laurie prepared herself and looked in front of her. A very tall, and who she guessed was muscular, had very long silver hair flow down his back. His eyes were piercing green; and they were piercing into Laurie's. Indeed he was the scariest.

Laurie just sat holding her father's dead body in her arms. She sat there like a scared little rabbit. The 4 SHM all smiled at her. Laurie continued to sob. "Was it you that killed my dad?" she asked them while standing up. "That old fool didn't put up a fight," said Loz. "Yes it was us and the only thing he said was 'please don't hurt my daughter.'" said Yazoo.

Kadaj stepped up behind Laurie. He put his gloved fingers on her arms to hold her in place. At the minute he touched her, Laurie felt her knees give out. "But we're vampires. We don't follow orders of weak pathetic humans," he said. Laurie breathed in shallow gasps. Kadaj looked up at Sephiroth. "May we bite her?" he asked. Laurie looked up to see his reaction to the question. "Yes," he said in a deep baritone voice.

This time she struggled to get away, but Kadaj now had her in a tight headlock, ready to suck her blood. "I can smell your blood. It smells rich and tasty," he whispered in her ear.

Laurie wasn't going to be dinner for these sickos. She elbowed Kadaj in the stomach. He flinched in pain. Just as Laurie had expected, he let her go to deal with his own pain. Laurie made a dash for it down the alley connecting to another alley that lead to the street. She ran and ran until she got to her house. She got out her keys and opened the door, and just in time, because the vampires were right behind her.

"Get away from me!" she yelled at the door. Then she heard footsteps on the roof. "You can't come in unless I invite you!" she yelled. True, the SHMs knew that. Sephiroth appeared at the window. "You know we will get you," he said right before he and the other 3 vanished into thin air.

Laurie ran to the phone and dialed 911…but the power outage had knocked out the phone lines too. And Laurie didn't have a cell phone. She was cut off at least until the sun came up. Would she go to school? NO! She had to get her father's body and get to the police station. But first things first...she had to be prepared.

She ran upstairs to her room and rummaged through her jewelry box. She found her silver cross that her mother had given her o her death bed. "Thanks mom," she said until she went downstairs for whatever looked like a wooden stake.

The next morning, the news was about Laurie and her father's death. The funeral was scheduled for that weekend. Everybody at school was shocked that Laurie's dad was dead…especially Laurie.

It was a beautiful day for a funeral. The wind was blowing hard with leaves dancing in it's hair. At the funeral, Laurie had shed no tears, just sorrow. She watched as her dad's coffin was lowered into the ground. After everyone had left, Laurie stayed in silence looking at the gravestone. On it, it read

Bob Cole

Beloved Father

R.I.P.

Laurie stayed there until the sun started to set. She didn't care if those freaks found her. Let them. Let them kill her. It would be a way for her to be reunited with her father.

It was now pitch black. There were streetlights on, and Laurie was sound asleep lying on top of her father's grave.

"Hey," Yazoo whispered. "Look who it is," he said. Loz, Kadaj, and Sephiroth looked down at a sleeping beauty known as Laurie. "Let's take her," said Kadaj. Sephiroth kneeled down and picked Laurie up in his arms. Laurie snuggled against his chest. "I think she likes you," said Yazoo. Sephiroth glared at him.

Yazoo just chuckled at this. "Hurry up and let's go before she wakes up," said Sephiroth. The 4 of them headed to their hideout in the middle of the cemetery.

Inside the hideout, it was like a castle. They were vampires, but at least they were clean and had some taste. Sephiroth placed Laurie down on the red silk sheets of his canopy bed. The sheets matched her hair. He tucked her in. "Sleep well….my new princess," he said and he kissed her on the cheek. Laurie still slept on as if nothing was wrong…just wait until she woke up.