2

Alex stared at Victoria, lost for words. She searched the other woman's face, but found nothing that would suggest this was all just a joke.

Alex swallowed hard. She had stopped believing in ghost stories a long time ago. This could not be real… There were no vampires.

Victoria nodded, as if she had heard Alex' thoughts and silently agreed.

"You don't believe me, do you? I know how you feel. A long time ago, I was in a situation similar to yours… and yet entirely different. I did not believe in fairytales. But unlike in your case there was no one trying to convince me of the opposite. For me, there was no denying."

Victoria shot Alex a piercing glance.

"Would you like me to tell you my story?"

Alex shivered. God, how was it that she had landed herself in such a situation?

There, next to the cheap hotel bed she herself was sitting on, sat a woman with hands colder than stone who called herself a vampire. And a beautiful woman she was, Alex suddenly noticed. Victoria was seemingly deep in thought, staring into space, and Alex took the opportunity to muster her. Victoria was middle-sized: larger than Alex but probably smaller than Marissa. She had long red-brown hair and pitch-black eyes. Her nose was small and her full red lips stood out against her pale, almost white, skin. She was wearing a pair of dark jeans, black jump boots and a plain black T-shirt. She looked young – she seemed to be no older than in her mid-twenties, at the most.

Yes, she is beautiful, Alex thought. She was perfect, complete, and yet something seemed terribly wrong… Alex shivered again and Victoria turned her head back to her and threw her a questioning glance.

Alex nodded slowly. "Yes…I'd like to- to hear your story."

"My story…" Victoria began thoughtfully, "begins a long time ago, in Italy, my homeland. I grew up in strictly catholic family in a little town, not too far away from Florence. My father was a farmer. We had a small piece of land, grew our own crops and held cows and pigs. My two older brothers and I helped our parents from practically the time we could walk. None of us ever attended school, we could not afford it, not even for one child. It was clear that my brothers would once inherit the farm, and that I would marry and most likely become another farmer's wife.

"I always dreamed that one day a young man would come along, and we would fall in love and move far away, maybe into a city… I did love my family in a way, but my father was a harsh man and though I was used to nothing else but the hard life of a farmer, my heart always longed for something more… The prince of my dreams, of course, never came. I was lucky that my father, may he have been strict in all other matters, did not force me to marry at young age. I was eighteen when he started to push things ahead. It was the end of winter and he wanted me to be married at latest by summer. We had discussions about that matter almost every evening, he suggested some farmer's son to me, and wanted to know exactly why I did not approve.

"But then, one day, our minds were occupied by more important things as rumors of some kind of beast, killing the cattle of farmers all around our side of the country, came to our ears. It was said that there were also humans found dead from time to time, and all people of our town came together to set up a guards in the night.

"One dark and windy night, I sat at the window of my room, as I had done ever so often, dreaming of a life I knew I would never have. Suddenly I heard the howling of a dog and I squinted out into the darkness to see our baby German Shepard shivering in the soft rain."

Victoria sighed deeply and shot Alex a quick glance before leaning back her head and closing her eyes.

"You may say I was stupid and naive, and you'd probably be right. Very much unlike my father and brothers I had always had a heart for all living creatures, and apart from maybe my mother our dogs had always been the only creatures I had loved and found that they loved me back, equally.

"So, I put on my boots and my jacket and left the house as quietly as I could. All of my family was asleep, except for my oldest brother who was on guard that night. So, I went out into the night and followed the howling of our dog. I found him not far from the place I had seen from out my window. I picked him up and quickly covered him with my jacket, rubbing him softly to keep him warm. I was about to go back into the house, when the wind turned and soft voiced reached my ears. They came from a little abandoned cottage behind some trees. I was curious as I knew that my brothers sometimes met there with other village boys, and slowly crept closer, until I was able to peek through a window.

"What I saw surprised me. There were not the young men I had expected but a little group of complete strangers. I counted four people, most likely two men and two women, though it was hard to tell in the dim light. Then one of the men stepped forward into the light and I almost let the puppy fall with shock. The man's face and clothing was covered with blood, and it took me less than a second to understand that it was not his own. I realised that there was no mysterious beast killing men and cattle after all, but that this people had to be the murderers.

"I tried to understand what they were saying, but the howling of the wind made it impossible for me to take in more than a few single words.

"The wind turned again and I stopped hearing the hushed voices. I felt chills all over my body and thought it was high time for me to go home as quickly as I could. But before I had even begun to move, one of the men was suddenly in front of me. He had glowing red eyes and his dark clothes were bloody, though he was not the man I had gotten a clear view of earlier. For one moment I stood there, unmoving, thinking I was standing in front of the devil himself.

"Then I turned and started running off into the forest. Maybe I should have tried for our house instead, but that would have meant running past him. I ran and ran, not daring to look back. After what seemed like hours to me I slowed down, I had used all my strength. I saw no one behind me, so I came to a halt, panting. I turned around and looked directly into my pursuers face. My heart nearly stopped. Before I could do anything, he had sunk his dirty fangs into my neck. I was shocked – in more than one way. I had expected him to stab me with a knife, maybe to rape me, but not his. I wanted to shove and kick him away, but found I could not move. I felt my body become numb, the only thing I now felt was a throbbing pain in my neck. The pain became worse every second as he was sucking the life out of me.

"It seemed to take endlessly long, though I know today it could not have been longer than maybe two minutes. Suddenly, he let go of me, and I dropped the ground, barely conscious. He seemed to listen to something, then he looked down at me with a last longing glance. Why he ran away and left me there only half-dead, I do not know for sure. But from the things I found out later, another of his fellow vampires –for that was what they were, of course – had aroused the villagers' attention and he had to join his companions to flee. Apparently they hadn't wanted to risk fighting a whole armed village – the men on guard had struck a bell to wake everyone. I heard the sound – it was the last thing I took in before darkness overcame me.

"The vampires fled and the villagers found that two of their people had been killed and one was missing. They never found me.

"When I awoke sometime later, I soon came to understand that I was neither dead nor alive. My heart had stopped beating and I was terribly cold. I felt weak and I was thirsty. Thirsty not for water – but for blood. The first time I realized that was one of the worst moments in my life. A rabbit crossed my path and I simply grabbed it and sank my teeth into the poor being, sucking until it was drained of all blood. After my 'meal' I felt sick and disgusted at myself, but in some diabolic way I also felt satisfied.

"The next weeks and months were terrible. I had no one to teach me how to cope with my new situation, so I had to learn everything by myself.

"The years passed and I began to accept me for what I was – a bloodsucking monster. But unlike my creator, so to speak, and his companions, I decided never to lay hands on another human. Still, I could never return home. I don't know what my family would have done – maybe they would have tried to kill me, thinking I was a demon. I stayed close to my village, nevertheless, and checked up on my family. It pained me to be near them and not being able to talk to them, to touch them.

"More and more years passed, and eventually my parents died and my brothers became old. They had families of their own, and I longed so badly to be part of it, to have one of my own. The attitude towards marrying I had when I was younger suddenly seemed endlessly foolish to me. I had gotten my wish: I would never have to marry some farmer. I would never marry at all.

"Years after my 'death' I finally decided to leave for good. It was too painful to stay and watch everyone I once knew die, knowing I would live on forever.

"Centuries have passed since then… The world I knew as a child doesn't exist anymore. At some point in my life I started hunting other vampires, vampires that kill humans. I feel pity for everyone of my kind, for none of us chose to become what we are. But what we can choose is whether to 'live' our lives as monsters or not… And those that choose to follow in the footsteps of their creators, well, I feel it is my job to hunt them down and kill them once and for all."

Victoria sighed deeply and then fell silent.

Alex shivered and rubbed her arms, trying to get rid of the goose bumps that had erupted all over her body. Her head was spinning and she felt sick. What the hell was she supposed to make of this all?

"Why are you telling me all this?" Alex asked quietly.

Victoria gave her a scrutinizing glance. "I fear you know why."

Alex stood up quickly and backed off as far away from the red-haired woman as possible.

"No…"

"I am sorry, Alex…"

"No…"

There was compassion all over Victoria's face now. "I will help you. This is not the end of the world…"

"No…" Alex said again, her voice steadily rising.

"Alex, please, listen to me –"

"NO!" Alex yelled. "I don't want to hear it! I am not a vampire!"

Victoria's beautiful face was still full of sympathy, and at that moment Alex wanted nothing more but to plant her fist on that perfect nose, as hard as she could.

All her fear had now turned into rage and she stood there, shaking with anger, waiting for Victoria to respond. If she says another word now, I will punch her, Alex thought. But the woman kept silent.

"I'm gone!" Alex said and walked around the bed, up to the door. She grabbed the handle – but the door didn't open.

"Let me out," Alex hissed, turning back to Victoria.

"No."

"Let. Me. Out," Alex repeated her voice rising again. She clenched her hands into fists, making her knuckles become white.

"Not before we have finished our talk."

"BUT I DON'T WANT TO TALK!" Alex screamed and leaped forward. She tried to hit Victoria but felt the woman grab her wrists. Alex tried to free herself with all her might, but Victoria held on to her with incredible strength and Alex soon felt herself weaken.

Suddenly all her resistance evaporated and she would have fallen to the floor, had Victoria not caught her and led her to the bed in time. Alex sat down and wrapped her arms around herself tightly. She felt lost. Incredibly alone and lost.

"What do I do now?" she asked quietly. She swallowed hard and then looked at Victoria, who had kneeled down before her.

"You are not alone, Alex. I will help you," Victoria said, cautiously placing one of her hands on Alex' knee.

Alex shivered again. "I- I don't know what just happened. I- I wanted to kill you," Alex whispered.

"It's alright. It's not unusual for a young… one… to be rather aggressive. It will pass."

Alex nodded slowly. She breathed in and out a few times and tried to get her thoughts in order. The idea of being a vampire still seemed incredibly absurd to her, and yet there was a nagging voice in her head telling her it was the truth.

"I think I am ready to know now… what happened to me? It wasn't you, was it, that bit me?" Alex tried to keep calm, but at the thought that Victoria might be responsible for this all this crap…

"No!" Victoria said quickly. "No, it wasn't me."

Alex nodded, relieved, and Victoria got up to sit down on her chair again, facing Alex.

"The man – the vampire – that bit you calls himself Darian. I've been hunting him for quite some time now, unfortunately without success."

Victoria sighed deeply before continuing. "It is the third time now that I nearly got him. The first two times he managed to kill his victims before I located him… And this time I, again, came too late… He had already bitten you, but you were not yet dead. He didn't have the time to suck out all your blood. The venom he had injected into you body through his fangs was enough to paralyse you for several days, but not enough to turn you into a vampire. Had I done nothing you would have probably died within a week. There was no possibility for me to keep you alive in the human sense. You had lost way too much blood and there was way too much venom in your system. So I did the only thing I could do for you: I bit you again, injecting more of the venom into your body. And here you are now."

Alex swallowed hard. "How- how long ago…?"

"You've been officially dead for a little over two days now."

Alex tried to feel her pulse again, but she was sure now. There was no heartbeat, and there was no point in trying to deny that.

"What about… my friends and family?" Alex asked slowly. What about Marissa?

"Well…your funeral is in five days. I've got everything figured out because of that, don't worry. There's another corpse to take your place, one that was arranged to look just like you... But that's not what you wanted to know… Your parents have come here, to the O.C."

"So… everyone thinks I'm dead?"

"Yes, they think you were murdered. One of your friends even saw you at the accident site…"

"Oh God… not Marissa?"

"Yes, Marissa, that was her name. I tried to find out as much as possible. Apparently, she drove out in the night to look for you… You must have meant a lot to each other. I am so sorry."

Alex' face was frozen. "We lived together. She is... was my girlfriend. I love her."

Alex stood up slowly and went into the bathroom. She switched on the light and stared into the large mirror over the sink. A young, pale-faced blonde woman with dark shadows under her eyes stared back at her. No, this wasn't her. Alex was just a normal teenaged, almost grown-up girl, with a steady relationship and great plans for her future. All she wanted was to go home, lay down next to Marissa, sleep and then wake up to find it was all a dream – nothing more than a nightmare.

Alex could no longer stand her own reflection and before she could think twice about it, she had smashed the mirror with her right fist. Shards of glass scattered into the sink and she stared down at her hand, breathing hard. There was a deep cut at he wrist, but instead of the huge amounts of blood that should have been flowing down her arm, Alex saw only a single crimson drop.

Alex let her head hang and covered it with her arms. So it was official now. Blood was no longer flowing through her veins. She was a monster. She was a vampire.

A/N: I began writing this fic during my spring break… I was in Italy, so that kind of inspired me to chose Tuscany as Victoria's home… xD I've got a lot to do for school at the moment, but I'll try to update as soon as possible! And thanks for the reviews… they're really encouraging! : )