"Papa?!"

I see my father lying on the ground, looking to me with eyes that had no traces of life left within.

My mother lay dead next to him just as they had been left behind that night , their murderers' bodies scattered around them.

"Papa! Mama! NO! WAKE UP! PLEASE WAKE UP!"

Suddenly I am surrounded by a circle of flaring flames, the remains of my parents and their killers now gone.

"Fate brought us together young one..."

I look all around me, no one in sight.

Suddenly a pair of arms wrap around me from behind.

"I've been waiting for you Liza...you cannot fathom how long..."

Annabelle's nose brushes my cheek, her mouth trailing down to the column of my throat.

"And soon my dear...nothing will keep us apart..."

I feel her fangs now grazing me.

"Please...leave me alone!"

"I'm afraid it's too late for that Liza. It is impossible to end what is only just beginning."

Then an abrupt piercing pain engulfs me, suffocating for air as I feel Annabelle's bite coursing through my veins.

I pull at my neck, yet it is no use.

I am dropped to the floor, the flames raging on as I lay weak on the ground.

I look faintly as Annabelle is hovering close over my body, her crimson eyes boring down on me.

She approaches my face slowly, her mouth soon only inches from mine.

"So here's to new beginnings...to us."

Just as her bloodied lips meet my own I am consumed by a sea of fire.

I awoke in a sweat and crying from my nightmare. It had been a few days since the fatal night I lost my parents. And just the night before I discovered that vampires were not only creatures you witnessed in story books. My dreams were taunting me, a reminder I had been helpless to save the ones I loved most. I saw the lifeless eyes of my parents, now haunting my very soul. I then saw the lifeless bodies of my family's murderers, lying dead on the floor never to hurt anyone again. And lastly I saw Annabelle, a woman of mystery yet also possessed a yearning hunger that sent chills through my entire being. My mind went back to the very bizarre end of my dream when Annabelle kissed me at my brink of death. Or was it truly just the beginning of it all as Annabelle had said?

"It was only a dream, just a dream. Wasn't it?"

The turn of events of being saved by a vampire, only to become whatever I was in the immortal's home made me wish I could turn back the clock. I felt a chill that made me bury myself in the pillows beneath me.

"Bad dream young one?" I laid rigid on the bed as Annabelle's cold body pressed against me from behind. She was once again too close for comfort as I felt her breath on the back of my neck. I shivered due to her current proximity, my cries only deepening. I was afraid Annabelle was planning this all along, to bury me alongside my parents. She was a monster after all. I saw her kill that boy. I would never forget witnessing the life leaving his body, just as my parents as they took their last breaths in front of me and Evelyn. I just wanted to be with them, being rid of this pain that was tearing into me like a knife. I couldn't take the agonizing memory of their deaths replaying over and over in my head. I was losing it, losing myself.

"Shhhh." Annabelle rested her head into my back, her fingers tracing circles along my shoulders in attempt to soothe me.

"It's going to be okay." I stayed in my place, not daring to look back at the woman now embracing me around my torso.

"Why are you here?" Annabelle nuzzled in closer to me as she murmured a response onto my skin, as if it wasn't unusual for us to be like this.

"Need I remind you this is my home, and my own bed. You are here because I permitted you to be." I stopped breathing as her words registered to me the dangerous position I was currently in. I was no longer in my own accommodation, but Annabelle's forbidden chambers. She brought me there by her own fruition, and I feared it wasn't just to lie here together.

"Her bed? I'm going to die here..."

Annabelle only gripped onto me tighter. I felt it was not in a threatening way, but one of so said comfort as my silent state of worry became rather apparent.

"I heard you having a nightmare. You were crying and shaking in your slumber, so I thought you could use the company. Mind you for reasons you are now well aware of, unless invited in you will never enter this room by any means." Annabelle continued, her voice becoming more somber in tone. I tried to rid myself of her grip now in a state of fret.

"Evelyn...where is Evelyn?" I mustered as I struggle. But as I learned a few nights ago I was powerless against the vampire's hold. I allowed my body to cease it's movement as I realized she had no intention of letting me go anywhere.

"In her room Liza. She's fast asleep. Do you truly think that low of me?" Annabelle asked finally, her head now resting on my shoulder. I didn't answer, for I did not know what to think. Her constant closeness made me unable to think, dreading that at some point in given time she would give into her lust for my blood. Her fangs would without warning sink into my human flesh, draining my life away until there was nothing left of me. The blonde continued.

"It appears she has had to cope with this level of grief before. I am well aware as much as she that this is your first time, isn't it dear?" Tears filled my eyes again.

"Mama...Papa..." I then began to remember everything in graphic detail. I heard the gunshot as my mother fell to her death. I felt the embrace of my father before he was taken away to be beaten as my screams filled the air. Only to then be in the cold embrace of Annabelle, her eyes as red as the very thing she craves. I shook violently as the memories yet again filled my head.

"I wish to relieve you of your grief, if you will let me." Annabelle softly spoke again. Her words did nothing to dull the agonizing pain I felt, for the fears I still had about her and what she was truly capable of were a much louder force.

"I don't even know you, what is known is.." I am suddenly pinned to the bed. I was now truly frightened as Annabelle was hovered over me, her eyes glowing crimson. I watched as their focus turned to my neck, her fingers beginning to touch where her abiding gaze lay.

"What I am. I know this scares you." With this her head began to descend downward. I closed my eyes in that moment, thinking that the nightmare I just had of Annabelle biting me was about to become more than just a dream. I waited as if time stood still, only to my astounded relief feeling the vampire place a gentle kiss upon my neck before continuing to speak.

"But I vow to keep my promise. No young one, you don't know me. But you will." She then pulled up to look at me, her crimson eyes fading back to brown.

"Would you allow me to help you sleep darling?" The pupils of her eyes began to appear more dense, making me afraid. I knew exactly what this meant, Annabelle the night before using some sort of compulsion to put me to rest. Yet I hated the feeling, losing all sense of control as I faded into the dark. I shook my head, taking a long ragged breath looking away from her.

Suddenly I felt a cold hand tending to me. As I looked back to Annabelle her eyes had returned to their natural state, looking at me with a troubled expression as she stroked my head with a kind touch.

"It seems music is something of comfort to you, and my voice is the one thing about me that puts you at ease. If I sang to you, would that help you sleep?" I faintly nodded. Even as she spoke, Annabelle's voice almost made me forget that she was a monster. It appeared to be kind, something her kind deemed not to be. She began to give words to the melody she shared with me days past.

Dancing bears

Painted wings

Things I almost remember

And a song someone sings

Once upon a December

Someone holds me safe and warm

Horses prance through a silver storm

Figures dancing gracefully

Across my memory

Far away

Long ago

Glowing dim as an ember

Things my heart used to know

Things it yearns to remember

And a song someone sings

Once upon a December

As her song came nearing to an end, I felt my vision beginning to dim. I watched as Annabelle's blurred silhouette leaned over to kiss my forehead.

"Dream peacefully now...my dear Liza." My eyes closed the moment Annabelle's last words were being whispered into my ear. I felt her arms wrap around me again, nestling herself at the crook of my neck. I was too physically and emotionally exhausted to fight off the vampire's embrace. It now was rather soothing, enough to make me shut my eyes and breathe normally again.

"Maybe all she wants is companionship, someone to love, someone to destroy. Annabelle. What does she truly want with me?..."

With these last thoughts I faded into slumber, feeling no pain beforehand.

Song Credits: Once Upon A December (From The Movie Anastasia)

AUTHORS NOTE: The vampires have four different shades of eyes in my story. They have their normal hue, most vampires retaining their eye color after they are turned just becoming more enhanced. The second shade is darker than their normal color. This occurs when the vampire is hungry yet is able to control themselves enough to not show it's supernatural side. The red shade is when all bets are off, the hunger beginning to take over. It also can occur when they are either aroused, angry, on alert, or if there is blood out in the open. The black hue engulfs the outer eye and glazes over the pupils. This occurs when the vampire is ravenous, it being almost impossible to control their impulses by others or themselves.