Birthday Surprise

'Happy birthday Dru!' Her family cried. Today was the thirty-first of October. Drucilla's birthday.

'Open my present first, my present!' Her kid sister begged. Dru looked around for it and as she saw it, her eyes grew wide.

'Ok, pass it here.' She stuttered. It was tiny! She hurriedly ripped off the thin paper covering the present and as the gift inside was revealed, she slowed and her jaw dropped.

'Help! Somebody help me, please!' Drake screamed, as the vampires' teeth sunk deeper into his throat.

'There's no point in screaming,' the vampire said, retracting her teeth from him for a moment, 'You know what. You're kinda cute. I think I'll keep you.'

'Keep me?' He stuttered.

'Yeh, come with me.' He stumbled and cried out in pain as she dragged him away and into the darkness of the woods.

She gasped as she lifted the present from its box. She sat there for over a minute just gawking at it.

'It's, it's wonderful!' she stuttered.

'It's glorious!' her mother cried.

'It's beautiful!' her father said.

'It's, what is it?' her sister asked.

'It's the new X5000, Sally.' Dru replied. Her sister looked at her with a quizzical expression on her face, 'It's the newest vampire detector in the shops!' she gazed at it in awe again as her mother read out the instructions.

'To turn on the X5000, you must press the red button so that if a vampire sees you, they will think that you are turning it off.' Her mother stated. Dru searched the machine for the red button. She found it.

'Wakey wakey sleepy head.' The vampire cooed as she shook Drake.

'What? Where am I?' he asked, only half-conscious. 'Who are you? What are you? What do you want with me?'

'My name is Stella and I am a vampire. I'm going to keep you as my,' she struggled for the right words, 'pet.' She decided. 'You ok with that?' she asked him.

'What?' he replied, dazed.

'Men.' She sighed as she walked away. The second she shut the door, Drake lunged for it and was greeted by a sharp pull on his wrists. He was chained to the wall.

'You can't go out on your own at night Drucilla! You know that!' she knew she was in trouble when her mother called her by her real name.

'It's too dangerous for a young girl like you. Do you know how many vampires could be out there?'

'You let me out during the day even though you say there could be witches out there!' she replied, shouting now.

'That's different!'

'No mum, it's not!' she screamed at her as she stormed out into the night.

He watched and glared as Stella glided across the floor towards him, holding a tray in one hand.

'Breakfast.' She stated simply. She laid the tray in front of him. He raised an eyebrow at her and she sighed. He watched in confusion as she unlocked his shackles and left him without looking back. He was still until he heard the clicking of the lock woke him from his daze. He rushed over towards the food and stuffed his face with all the cereal, milk, fruit, toast, the lot. He glanced up just in time to see Stella waltz away, tears in her eyes.

She shivered. It was cold out tonight but she didn't want to go home. She walked the dark, empty streets. Waiting. Listening. Suddenly, there was a slight vibration in her coat pocket. Vampire time.

She stopped.

She listened.

She heard.

She ran straight ahead, regretting not picking up her stake while she had the chance. She took the X5000 from her pocket and saw the red dot that was her and not 100 metres behind her, the white dot. The vampire.

'Please, you have to tell me!' he told her through the door to his cell. He had been begging her to tell him for over an hour now.

'Fine. I'll tell you, but only if you keep quiet about it.' She said.

'Ok, sure.' He replied.

'Well…' she started.

It lurched at her, its hand not quite finding a place to grip as it fell. She knew she was in trouble the second its fingers wrapped around her ankle.

She screamed as she fell and as she hit the ground, she felt the rough pavement dig into her palms. She closed her eyes. After a moment of nothing, she opened them, and looked up at the beast.

He was pretty, she might even go as far as to say he was beautiful, but he's still a beast, she told herself, he's still a beast.

'You're perfect.' The vampire said simply. She stopped.

'What?' she asked, shocked and surprised.

'I need you to do me a favour. If you want to live that is.

'Wow.' Drake said. Her story had left him feeling dazed and ashamed. How could he think vampires were soulless, emotionless killers? He couldn't have been more wrong.

'Your whole family.' He said, shocked, 'Just because you dumped him?'

'I didn't dump him! I caught him cheating on me with a human! She replied, breaking into sobs again. He watched with sad eyes as there was a soft rapping at the door and she waded softly through the small space towards the stairs leading up to the hallway. He suddenly heard, after minutes of silence, loud voices that sounded like and argument and in the midst of it. A girl screaming.