Chapter one starts with introducing the setting and the main character. Not so much action, but that will follow in the next chapter, so be patient.
The constant ringing and annoying sound of my alarm made me moan in desperation. It was way too early for a normal human being to get up, but well, I couldn't blow my first day back at school.
We were writing the year 2211, my name was Anastasia Pryce, I was twenty three years old and had just started law school last fall. Holidays were something nice, something very nice and comfortable, but everything had to end and so it was time for me to get back to university.
At least it was finally springtime and warm again, because I hated nothing more, than the cold air and grey colors of winter. Not, that I had the right to complain, because I lived in Louisiana, so it never really got that cold, but well it wasn't all sunshine and thirty degrees either, at least not the whole year.
I yawned a few times, before I got myself out of bed. My gaze lingered about a minute on my window and at least a small smile appeared on my face, because I couldn't wait to feel the sun on my skin again.
I was living in Shreveport, which was located in the north of Louisiana. I really loved my hometown because it offered everything that a young girl at my age could wish for. We had an amazing and adventurous life downtown that just waited to be explored, as well, as a calmer living area, where our house was located and also woods and an a more abandoned area near them, which surrounded the city.
I lived together with my mum and my grandma, since my father had left the family, when I was still very young and a few years ago, at around eighty, my grandfather had passed away, after a few years battling cancer.
A small sigh came over my lips, when I was thinking about the past and my life in general, before I left my room to go to the bathroom and make myself presentable for the day.
I heard some noises from downstairs, but didn't worry, because my mum always left very early for work and even though my grandma didn't have to, she always got up early too, because she used to say 'The early bird catches the worm'.
After almost thirty minutes in the bathroom I looked pretty good for my first day back at school, at least in my opinion, with light make-up on my face and my hair high up in a ponytail. I nodded to myself in the mirror and walked back into my room and was glad…again…that I always picked out my clothes the day before, because otherwise I'd be constant late to everything.
I put on a pair of dark jeans, a white blouse with some ruffles and a red blazer. To complete my outfit I chose a matching red bag and some red ankle boots with heels. A last look in the mirror and I seemed ready.
Maybe I looked a little overdressed, but I just loved fashion and since my family wasn't on the poor side, I could afford a whole lot of it and owned a personal dressing room too. We weren't rich either, but could live a pretty comfortable life, since my mum worked as an interior designer and back in the old days, my grandpa was running his own business.
I was halfway out of the door, when I felt, that something was missing and paused immediately with a confused expression on my face. I looked down on myself and it hit me as hard as a lightning bolt…my ring was missing, but I never took it off.
Panic started to rise inside of me and I couldn't hide the fear that was splattered across my face. "Grandma!" I yelled downstairs, my voice shaking and within a few seconds she was standing beside me in the hallway with a concerned look on her face herself.
"What's wrong, dear?"
I was still in shock, before I was able to reply.
"My ring…it's gone…" were the only few syllables I was able to speak, whilst my throats felt totally dry.
"It can't be gone; nothing has ever disappeared in this house sweetheart, just try to remember when you'd last had in on your finger."
"I guess yesterday morning" I replied a bit unsure, but remembered that I definitely still had it at breakfast.
"So could there have been any reason why you would take it off?" my grandmother asked again and a second later I was ready to slap myself. Of course, I took it off in the bathroom, because I didn't wanted it to get dirty, when I cleaned my shower, after I had made a mess on my regular beauty Sunday.
A big smile crossed my face and I kissed my grandma on the cheek, before I ran to the bathroom and there the ring was, just as I had left him on the counter.
While waking downstairs and meeting my grandma in the kitchen for some breakfast I was really quiet, maybe I was even a bit in shock, that I got so scared when a piece of jewelry was gone. Well, the ring hadn't been that cheap, but I had bought it in an antique store, so it's not like it was out of pure gold and jeweled with diamonds, or something.
Since my mum was an interior designer I knew quite a lot of interior shops here in Shreveport and that one day I had stumbled across this beautiful ring. I don't know to this day what had sparked my interest, but I knew I had to have it, even if it was a thousand dollars and without it I just felt, like a piece of myself was missing and that was pretty strange.
After some coffee and toast I was ready to leave the house and felt much calmer, than before. I crossed the pavement and stepped into the elevator on the other side of the street, which would bring me up to the station.
Of course I owned a car, but I had nothing against going by train. The elevator looked a lot like something people in the past called a phone booth, but it worked via teleportation and in a few seconds I was up at least a couple of hundred meters in the air and ready to catch my train.
It didn't take me long to my university, just about twenty minutes and on the train I had grabbed the daily newspaper. Since I still had like half an hour before my first class would start, I sat outside of the school on a bench and flipped through the paper.
I was never a fan of reading these things, but since the vampires were now integrated in our community, they've gotten an extra section for their news at the end of the paper and I was dying to read it.
What does a human want with the vampire section, right? But well, I loved vampires, the supernatural and everything, that was related to it. Nowadays it was funny to watch old movies like Dracula, or read books like The Vampire Diaries, because we all very well knew, that vampires were real and not just mysterious creatures created by our creative minds.
The vampire hype, which I liked to call it, wasn't much present these days, I guess because of their existence, at least in fiction, but I loved everything about them.
I'd seen Dracula at least ten times and also read and watched almost everything that was out there, not to forget the new hit show Fangtastic hosted by a vampire named Bill.
Yeah…Bill. I still have to laugh every time they introduce him, but well, the show is good and judging a person by his, or her name…nope…I don't do that.
Flipping through the pages I'd read some of the headlines and had now ended up at the ad section. A big read logo with the word Fangtasisa immediately caught my eye.
Wasn't this the famous vampire bar in town? I never got to visit, because I always heard, that it was dangerous and not the nice kind of vampires hung around there, like for example Bill the host.
[i]Hiring human waitresses between the age of 21 and 30. Come by after 8 o'clock p.m.[/i] was what the ad said.
I was in desperate need of a job. Obviously not to cover my expenses, but after finishing law school I'd be almost thirty and in my opinion this was the right age to move out. Of course, with my grades, I would not have a hard time finding a job, but a little extra money was always good.
"Hey Anna…!" A familiar voice pulled me out of my thoughts and when I looked up I saw Stacy, a pretty good friend and also law student.
"Hey Trace, what's up?" I asked with a smile on my face, but did not get an answer, since she has grabbed the newspaper from my lap and was looking disappointed at me.
"The vampire section? Again, Anna?" were her only words and I didn't know what to say. I loved vampires and couldn't get enough of them, whilst Tracy seemed to stay away from anything vampire related as far as possible.
Actually, it was pretty hilarious. Tracy was totally the type of girl that would be mistaken as a fangbanger. Bleach blonde hair, a lot of make-up on her face, short and revealing clothes, plus a list of boyfriends that could totally compare to the list of all the presidents since the founding of the United States.
"What can I say, you got me…" I replied grinning a little bit. "Also the good girls have to bad sometimes, isn't that right Miss I'm the badest badass bitch in town?"
Suddenly I had to laugh pretty hard, but well, Tracy always said that about herself, so she was very well aware about what a bad girl was and I definitely was the opposite of it.
I always wore fashionable clothes, but never too revealing, as well, as only light make-up and my hair was always put back in a pretty ponytail. I didn't drink alcohol, nor did I smoke, or do drugs. I was always home before midnight, had good grades and was a virgin. I mean I never even kissed somebody, but that was a whole different story.
I may seemed like the girl next door, but I was pretty kickass, knew my way around bitches and men, never ran from danger, I much more ran towards it, cursed a lot more, than a good girl did and couldn't keep it together, even if I wanted to.
My emotions were always out in the open, so I never held back and bluntly told everyone the truth. Not to mistake me for a rude person. I'm always nice and charming, until wronged and nobody wanted to wrong me, at least nobody who knew how I would react.
"So what were you reading about?" Tracys voice brought me again back to reality and I just shrugged and replied "Nothing important" because she definitely would me call crazy, if I wanted to work in a vampire bar.
"Come on, it has to be something important, if you were all caught up in your thoughts again…"
I sighed and knew that this would be a mistake, but well…I wasn't running from a fight, so here we go.
"I thought of getting a job, to save me some extra money…" was the way I started the conversation.
"Why do you need money? Your family has two asses full of it…" was the only thing Tracy said and I sighed again.
"Well, I wanna move out after law school and so I thought that it would be a good idea."
"Okay, if you want to work your ass off for almost nothing…go ahead, but have you figured out what kind of job yet?"
Now the moment has come, so I sat up straight and put on my best you-can't-talk-me-out-of-this-expression, before I pointed my finger at the ad in the newspaper.
"As a waitress…"
Within seconds Tracy stood in front of me, her arms on her hips and looking at me, like a mother at a child that has committed a very serious crime.
"Are you out of your mind Anna?!" she yelled at me, before I blocked her unnecessary rambling speech out.
"Are you finished?" I asked after almost two minutes and she looked even more surprised.
"Did you not hear a single word I was saying?"
"I very well did, but I is my decision, and you know how much I love vampires. I always wanted to belong to this supernatural world, even as a human. There is no discussion; I'm doing this, so deal with it."
I grabbed the newspaper angrily, and started to walk to class…she would calm down eventually, but I seriously didn't need this, not from her. Tracy was working as a stripper, so she wasn't the one to talk me down about waitressing.
After class I got home quickly and grabbed some lunch in the kitchen, before I left for my room and sat down on my bed to think about what I should wear to my interview at Fangtasia.
After almost half an hour I got up and decided to leave my hair and make-up just as it was and chose some not too revealing, but pretty clothes from my dressing room.
A look in the mirror told me, that I definitely looked like I was going to a vampire bar. I was wearing a black dress with some tiny red flowers on it, matching black cowboy boots and a black clutch.
I went downstairs and found my grandma still in the kitchen.
"Grandma, I'm heading out tonight, I've got something to do in the city…"
Her eyes were focused on me within seconds.
"Dou you have a date?" she asked me with excitement in her voice, but I just waved my hand and replied "Nah, just a job interview. You know, I have enough time after school and a little extra money can't be wrong, right?"
Not as excited as before, but still proud, she nodded and went to the fridge.
"But I don't let you leave without a proper meal and meanwhile you can tell me all about that interview."
I clenched my teeth and sighed. "Okay Gran, sounds good…"
Ten minutes later I had some chicken salad on my plate and felt that she was staring at me. I had some kind of superpower, okay, maybe a bad word, but I like to call it that.
I was pretty empathic towards people and their emotions, as well as their intentions and had a good intuition as well.
Some people would maybe call me a bit psychic, empathic, or telepathic, but well, I just called it a good intuition and my own personal superpower.
"So, what about that job interview of yours now?"
"It's at a bar…as a waitress…" I explained myself and hoped that she wouldn't react like Tracy, but I only got a nod and that meant, I have to continue.
"I don't know much about it just that this vampire bar, Fangtasia, is hiring and you know how much I love vampires and everything about them, so I figured, why not push my luck a bit."
A too long silence continued. In reality not even a minute passed by, but I was so on edge, that it felt like forever.
"So you're not gonna become a…how do they call them…?"
She seemed to think about the right word, so I asked "Fangbanger?" with a curious expression on my face and waited for her to respond.
"Right, that's what I meant."
"No, don't worry grandma, I just wanna work there…me waiting for the right guy is still on…"
Somehow that talk had made me a bit sad and nostalgic, so I finished my meal fast and in silence, before I headed out with the words "Don't wait up, it can get late".
Two minutes later I sat in my car and drove towards the city limits with my favorite music blasting my ears.
Like I said before, I never had a boyfriend and actually I didn't know why. I had a few crushes in school, but nothing meaningful. Every time I thought, I was in love, is just a joke, when I think back and all the relationships around me seem so meaningless, so it's definitely not the first time, that a conversation left me feeling empty and wondering if I would ever find the right guy.
I was for sure not settling for anybody, I wanted that true love that so many movies and books were talking about but somehow it seemed that it seized to exist in my time and that empty feeling inside of me never completely left, even in my happiest moments.
Not even half an hour later I was driving into the parking lot of Fangtasia and a quick look at the clock in my car told me, that it was still pretty early…just 07:30 p.m. and so I left my car and walked over to the entrance of the bar. At least I could gather some experience in this environment, before I would be interviewed.
Next up: Anna at Fangtasia meeting Eric and Pam.
So have you all figured out by now in what direction this story is heading? If yes, or no, just leave a review and tell me what you think.