"No problem. So you ready?"
"I never said I was going anywhere." This guy had nerve. If my Mother had told me one thing, it was to not be around strangers.
I looked at Alex, and felt myself being drawn to him. Some alluring power, some weird tingling sensation inside me. I moved closer to him, breathing in his vibrant scent, being absorbed into his beautiful blue eyes...
BANG. I jumped backwards into the wall, finding myself standing. "What the hell?" I yelled out, clutching my beating heart. The door slowly clicked open, and Grace was standing in the bright archway with a defiant grin on her face.
"Mwahaa," she laughed evilly. "I knew you'd get a boyfriend, eventually." She smirked at Alex, and then at me.
Alex gave her a Death Stare, in which I accompanied him. Grace shrugged us off, pressing her lips together to hold back supposed laughter.
"We need to get to the House of Night school-"
"Why?" Grace cut Alex off, irritation spreading on her forehead.
"Because, Grace," Alex began, and revealed to her the story he had told me. His voice, I noticed, was smooth, like one of those voices who keep nature shows interesting. I could fall asleep listening to that beautiful sound... And then I realized. I believed everything he was saying, every word.
"Grace." I interrupted her thoughts, blocking out the image Alex had given her about her own forthcoming death. "We... need to do as he says. At least then we'll have a chance of survival. It's time to get away."
Alex nodded in agreement; Grace glared.
"I'm warning you Grace," Alex turned to her. "You're making it worse for yourself."
"Making what worse?" She screamed, "You lied! None of this is happening, none of it!" Alex's eyes opened wide, watching Grace laugh hysterically and catching the attention of any passersby.
"Grace," Alex said, his tones whispered and rash, "you need to believe me. You don't want this to end-" I noticed his stop, and I followed his gaze down to the ground where my best friend, Grace, was lying in a pool of blood. Her own blood. Wet and dark.
Before I could stop myself, I threw back my head and screamed, and then dived at the floor, clutching at Grace's hands, legs, torso, her clothes, hair, anything I could get my hands on. She had to be alive, if she wasn't... I don't know what I'd do. "Grace, Grace!" I kept murmuring, again and again and again. It wasn't right. It just wasn't... and then, it clicked. Alex saw the pain on my face, and put his arm around me, clutching me as if I were to kill myself in grief.
"It's alright, she's in a better place now, with the Goddess."
"Goddess?" I asked, looking into his frightfully large blue eyes. "Who?"
"The Goddess Nyx, of course."
"Again, who?"
"She's like- no- she is the Vampyre equivalent to God. She's pretty and amazing, and fair and just." I noticed his sparkling expression as he imagined the Goddess. I tried rolling the word around on my tongue; Goddess. Goddess. No matter how many times I said it, it didn't seem to fit with my idiolect. Not one bit. "Are you alright?"
I gave him a look, then pointedly gazed at Grace, in the middle of a gathering crowd. "We need to get her out of here, give her a proper burial."
"A... what?" Alex started laughing, receiving dirty looks from the gatherers, obviously not comfortable with the thought of a boy laughing at the scene of a death. "Ah..." He said, searching for an explanation. It didn't take much thought, Alex simply looked at the passersby closest to him. "She's... It's improv. For her drama assignment. She had you all fooled, didn't she?" He laughed, short and sharp, and then picked Grace up and slug her over her shoulder, holding his breath.
"What's wrong?" I hissed. "Is she heavy?" Alex shook his head. I decided not to press him further; anything could be wrong. The walk was quiet and the only sound was my jagged breaths. Before I realised, we were at his car, about to open the door when suddenly, the wind blew, pulling my hair back off my face... and then, I smelt it. The irrevocable spell of Grace made my eyes flash, my teeth felt suddenly hard and elongated...
"Jenn-" Alex threw Grace onto the bonnet of the car, and pushed me backwards. I stumbled a few times, before colliding with a silver Volvo in the next parking space. I felt my eyes flashing again, so I covered them with my hand. The pain in my back distracted me from the alluring smell, and I tumbled down onto my backside.
"Why did that... happen?"
"It's the blood, Jenna."
"The blood?" My mind flashed back to the pool of blood Grace had been lying in just ten minutes ago. "Her blood?" I quivered, before realising that Vampyres like blood, they live on it. The taste, the amazing texture, smooth and sweet... I opened my eyes wide in shock as I thought about what I was saying... I wasn't craving her blood... My best friend's blood. I couldn't be. Never.
"Yeah, her blood. Jesus. Jenna, get used to it, alright?"
I cringed at the tone of his voice. "Sorry." I was, truly. But his voice was fed-up, like he'd had a lot of experience in this sort of place. Like he'd had to deal with more young men and women like myself, that had been in this situation many a time. Perhaps even worse. I don't know. From then on, the details of our journey to the House of Night school in- well- somewhere. I'm sure Alex will tell me when I awake...