Over time the like began to blossom into love. We saw each other many times, sometimes at her apartment, sometimes at cafes and other places. We even attended a party together.

One day she invited me to her apartment again. There was a plate of strawberry crepes out this time and I noticed, as always, that she didn't eat anything. This time I finally asked, "Esme, why do you never eat?"

She looked surprised, as if she had never considered this herself. She bit her lip. "Rose. I love you but there is something I need you to know."

"What?" I asked. I was scared. I knew she had a husband but what else could she be hiding?

She hesitated for a moment but then responded. "I'm not actually human. I'm a vampire. Don't worry though. I'm a vegetarian vampire." She made little quotation marks around the word vegetarian, "I only drink animal blood."

I fell to the floor in laughter. "A vampire?! You seriously expect me to believe this!"

She nodded and I realised that she was serious.

"If you're a vampire, then prove it." I challenged.

She accepted the challenge by baring her fangs and picking both sofas up.

"Okay. So you're strong." I said, "But that doesn't prove that you're a vampire."

She then opened a cupboard and I saw a smorgasbord of blood bags. I was almost ill.

"I believe you now." I said weakly, "You're a monster." She looked hurt and I instantly regretted that statement.

I looked back at the bloodbags and felt ill again. "You know, I would never want to be a vampire." I stated.

She nodded. "I understand. It's horrible at first. Getting your head around the fact that you're a monster, let alone what will happen in your life..." she shook her head, "It still is the best thing to have happened to me..."

I stared at her quizzically.

She sighed and began her story. "Carlisle saved me after I jumped from a cliff."

I gasped.

"I was a poor woman, with a violent husband. I was also pregnant. Charles, my husband, beat me and my baby half to death causing a premature labour. They couldn't save my baby. Elizabeth, I was to call her.

"After I found that she died, I left the hospital in tears. I was a wreck. Battered and broken. I stumbled to the cliffs, only half aware of what I was doing.

"I jumped, seeking an end to my pain. Carlisle found me lying at the bottom. He saved me."

She sounded not upset, but somehow as if the situation had resolved.

We sat in an awkward silence. I ate more crepes.

After a while she leaned in towards me. "Please do know that this is a highly classified secret and if you were to tell anyone it would mean instant death for the two of us." She threatened.

I nodded, still afraid of being sick.

She relaxed and smiled. "Good. I know there's also something you're not telling me. Who's Ralph?" She asked.

I barred my teeth. I didn't want to hear about Ralph. "He's my fiance. It's a forced union." I said angrily.

She saw my anger and her eyes began to tear up. "I'm sorry Rose."

"It's fine." I snarled, I didn't want her pity, only her love, "I don't see him very often anyway. Only during formalities."

She shook her head again and looked at the clock. "You had better go Rosa. I love you." She kissed me and I left the apartment.