I slept like a rock a few hours after finding that letter, although I did not rest, my dreams were haunted by red strings of thoughts of violence and fangs.
Before last night, every book, tale, movie and television show about the creatures of the night, were but fantasies and myths. Stories you tell to yourself to find something out of the ordinary, something to make the dull days past quicker and lively. But today I woke up knowing that the devil herself has chosen me as part of some kind of ritual, and to make it even worse, I can see the lights in her creepy house on from my bedroom window.
Why was I the chosen one?
I am a normal girl, well yes my hair is red, not bright red, more like a dark orange and yes I do have that birthmark that makes a strand of my hair silver, and my eyes are blue, everyone in this town has them, well not everyone, but in this norther cold part of Europe its not unusual. Anything else on this normal girl list...oh, yeah, my body type is nothing amazing, I'm slim, and that is about it, I'm as tall as most girls my age, and neither my hips nor breasts are even as wide and full as that pale creature. Not-not that I had looked at her body for that long or anything, is just, uhm, it was right there in front of me.
There she is again, in my head. I can't stop thinking about last night, about those eyes glowing like the moon, the pronounced teeth like daggers she has for canines, her skin see thru and exposed-
"Are you okay Anna? You have been distracted all morning and quiet, you are never this quiet in class" My concerned friend, Rapunzel, of big honey colored eyes and even longer honey colored hair was right, I'm usually cheerful and getting in trouble for being overly sociable in classes.
"I had a bad night, a cockroach got into my room at night and it took me some time to get rid of her-of it"
"Well, maybe you need more spiders in your house. A predator to keep those bugs in line, or get a-"
"I'm not getting a chameleon like you, stop asking"
Was that what the vampires are, just humanity's only natural predator, a reason to keep our senses sharp?
"You are such a weirdo, Rapz"
"I think of it as a endearing treat, just like the stripes on a tiger, or a cat that doesn't like boxes", her voice full of pride and her face looking up to the horizon in full honesty, I smiled for the first time today, "See, endearing".
"And that's why you are my best friend"
The more we walk, the thinner the group gets as people take the train, bus, or just take different streets back to their homes. That included us two as well.
The few minutes I walked alone, my mind wandered a few times to the note she left on my room. It was almost as she could read my mind, or perhaps, I was drawn onto those thoughts after reading the note.
I remember vampires using some forms of hypnosis on those old horror movies, but their requests were always direct action, but maybe it was like those magicians implanting a choice, forcing you to believe the four of hearts was the card you chose.
I did my homework, made supper and tried to look normal in front of mother as we eat the fish fillet and rice.
Now I'm in my room, the sun is about to disappear on the horizon, sitting on the floor and holding the note on my hands.
'Our conversation was cut off short, I have so much to tell you, and, I know you want to know more about the ritual and your role. You are not a sacrifice, you are not my prey, you are not my pet. If you want to continue our conversation, please put a glass of water on your bedroom window and I will be there'.
I put the glass half full of water on the on the desk next to the window and went back to my sitting position on the wooden floor. I keep the light on, I don't know if that would help, but I know darkness is not on my side.
As I wait for her to come into my room again, this time invited, I keep thinking about the reasons I had to summon her into my room, whether it was because I was alone, or bored, or under her influence, I couldn't find a reason not to.
Maybe I was really that plain and eager to not be that girl with the normal grades and normal body and normal shoes and by no means interesting. I was desperate to become someone, someone that people would remember someday, not as the good girl that once had a boyfriend that became an ice truck driver, but as someone...unique. Even if that required my mortal life, it seems a lot better than to be stuck on this middle class suburb tied to a destiny worst than death, the stay at home mom.
The last ray of of the sun died the skies in deep red before turning to purple and then a blue so dark it could only be called night sky.
Then I felt the room temperature drop, the wall in front of my morphing painfully, the female figure became solid and then it was no longer the wall, it was her, the creature.
"Good evening, Anna. I'm glad you took my message in consideration. I will respond to all your questions if possible, my knowledge is not unlimited although greater than most common folk", her silky voice almost hypnotic, soothes my trembling.
She takes a sit in front of me, on the floor as well, ignoring the chair in which I saw her the first time.
"Stay there, do not get any closer"
The palm of my hand towards her, I needed my space, and I did not trust her. So, I layed a circle of salt around me. Half and inch wide, not a perfect circle, but closed as the Manual of white magic Volume 1 indicates. I'm so glad the school had this particular book in the library.
"I will keep my distance, if that is what you want, not because of the salt, I could easily blow a blizzard from my lips and dissipate the circle of protection, but, I'm here to talk"
A smirk, proud and confident, a treat I definitely envy of her.
"Am I under your hypnosis?"
"No"
"How could I trust you?"
"Look into my eyes, can you see the lines in my blue irises…"
"Yeah-what is-"
"Try to look away"
My neck and back started to hurt, I was trying to look away, but that incredible blue color...the mountains and valleys of that beautiful blue membrane.
No, no, no, no. Stop looking at her eyes.
But, I don't even want to blink anymore, all I want is to look into that ocean, that vast intricate beauty in blue.
"Now, you are free", her eyelids closed
My breathing accelerated, my heart pounding. I need to focus, I can show any weak- Where the hell. "Whe-where in the hell are we? What happened?"
"Relax, we are on your rooftop, do not run or you might fall", her voice was concerned about me?, "Does this responds to the question?"
"Y-yes, it does. Please do not ever do that again", my hand covering my eyes in fear of looking at those bright pale sapphires, in fear of being not only hypnotized again, but, addicted to that strange feeling of no control over myself. Why?
"What is the Ritual?, you mentioned before in the note and last night", even if I still dred her presence, I can now speak and I'm in control over my body. I try to look fierce and determined even after the mess I was after her brief hypnosis.
"The Ritual of ascension. An old tradition preceding written language. For a Vampire to become an adult in the eyes of our society, they must create a blood bond, an ancient magic that makes blood a conductor of knowledge"
"Why me?"
Why?
Why not another vampire, a scientist, a movie star?
"I've been watching you from the shadows, for quite some time. My master told me that this choice has to generate from a spark, a unquantifiable feeling in the tip of your fingers...there is no name for 'it'"
Oh.
So does she realize what she just told me? Does she don't know the word Love?
Wait, is she in love with me?
Oh, what, what, how…
Don't blush, don't blush.
"Are you okay? Your heart beat is-"
"I'm fine, I just don't like the, the heights and, uh, I think the hypnosis got me dizzy, and, uh, can you...could we continue this tomorrow", I need to calm down!
"Is this a promise", her smile looks warm and content, and her fangs...dear gods, they are huge.
I swallow a large pool of anxiousness, "Y-yeah"
What am I doing!? Why is my face red and burning, why am I not disgusted, what is this feeling in the back of my neck.
"Well then, I will be back tomorrow at the break of night. Do not fear the night Anna Landart…"
And just like the night before, she was gone before I could blink.