10 metres, 5 metres... A cold hand clamped onto my arm and wrenched me backwards. With a screech of sudden fury, I lashed out at the person grabbing my arm and raked my fingernails down the side of their face. I would not be beaten. The person- I realised it was Raphael- looked infuriated and jerked my arm back, bending it at such an angle that I was frightened it would snap. Instead of fighting anymore- which would have surely had my arm broken- I bowed my head down in defeat. Raphael smirked at me and slightly loosened the hold, yanking me across the room to where the others were gathered. I felt an intense hatred towards both Raphael and myself- how could I give in so easily? If I was going to die, then the least I could do now was fixate a look of hatred onto my face. I wished that I had never come to club 'Pandemonium', that I had never worn a stupid dress with some stupid, flimsy heels. Once we reached the others, Raphael positioned himself at the front of the formation of his thugs with me in a headlock. Opposite us must have been Simon. If his was the last face that I would ever see, then I wanted to know it well. Even in the dim light I could tell he was very good-looking in an unconventional way. His face was made up of high cheekbones, full lips, and a straight nose. He, like Raphael, had pale porcelain skin but there was warmth to his rich coffee black eyes that Raphael's did not have. His hair was the colour of mahogany, made up of thick curls and was cut in a short and stylish way. His eyes bore into mine, pain visible within them, despite being such a dark colour. I closed my eyes and counted to 3, trying to stop the terror in my heart from spreading to the rest of my body. I would not give Raphael the satisfaction of breaking me.
"If you're going to kill me, just do it," I hissed at him vehemently. I cursed myself silently for the tremble in my voice. I felt Raphael's laughter rumble through me and abruptly he pulled my head back, exposing my throat. This was not good- not good at all. I squirmed uncomfortably, but didn't make a move to break the hold- there was enough tension in it to snap my neck.
"Raphael, I don't know where to find it!" Simon blurted out, sounding panicked "there's nothing I can do to help and even if I did know I..." he faltered. Now calm was settling over me, as if I had already accepted my fate. My dread was replaced with a sense of peace; I was able to breathe deeply without air racketing shakily in my lungs. I felt a warm, tingling sensation in my fingertips. Then Raphael sank his teeth into my throat. Then came excruciating pain, as if my all of my senses had been set alight in a blaze of pain. But instead of screaming, I felt the hot sensation in my fingers increase until they felt like they were burning. I used my free hand to grab Raphael's wrist and to my surprise I saw that the skin was being scorched. Raphael let out an inhuman screech of pain and recoiled. I was still in the headlock, though his teeth were no longer wedged in my throat. I grabbed the arms holding me prisoner and was met with a satisfying sizzling sound as Raphael's flesh blistered. He screeched again, but this time I felt his hold loosen and I pushed away from him, breaking out into a run. I collided with a solid shape and found it to be Simons. His expression was a mixture of fear and incredulousness, but without a word took me by the hand and we sprinted towards the exit together. One of the thugs dropped down in front of us, his arms outstretched towards me- I grabbed an arm and watched with a strange fascination as his skin around my fingers began to smoke. He broke away, screaming in agony as the strange fire began to spread up the rest of his arm. I felt sluggish, almost like I was in a daze. I felt Simon tug at my shoulder and I turned away from the burning man. Finally, we burst out of the club into the cold night- but we didn't stop running. It could have been hours or minutes when me and Simon finally slowed to walk, then stopped completely, leaning against a wall for balance. My lungs felt like they were burning and an acrid taste filled my mouth. Simon, to my surprise, seemed fairly unscathed from the whole incident- he had no red marks on his skin like I did and was breathing evenly. His face was still pale, no heat blossoming on his cheeks. For a few minutes, we didn't say anything-he allowed me to catch my breath. Simon was glaring at the wall with a sombre expression and from his stance I could tell he was bothered by something. Perhaps due to the fact we were almost killed, but that's just a guess. Even standing still, there was a lithe grace to him, an ethereal quality to his features. I trailed my eyes elsewhere, not wanting to seem like I was staring, which I had been. I was not used to much attention from boys, regardless of this being a life or death situation. Especially not ones with bewitching auras and gorgeous, silky brown eyes.
"What the hell happened?" I blurted out suddenly, regretting the words as soon as they left my mouth. I sounded like I was glowering, irritating teenager. I turned back to look at Simon, surveying his expression for any hint of annoyance. Why was I over-thinking my actions so much?
"It's... It's hard to explain" was all Simon replied, his eyes scanning mine. My heart fluttered ever so slightly and words suddenly seemed hard to formulate in my mouth.
"Well, can you try?" I asked, trying to sound nonchalant "I don't really think it's normal to set someone on fire, I don't know about you," Simon flashed a grin in my direction, seemingly amused by what I said. Almost involuntarily, I gave him a small smile in return. I noticed that Simon was wearing a t-shirt with a wry slogan on it; depicting that indeed, one day, geeks will rule the world.
"Fine then, but..." Simon started, but faltered slightly. He seemed to be unsure of something, as if contemplating the consequences of what he could possibly say. I had always thought that the truth should always been spoken, not matter what would could entail afterwards. I fidgeted impatiently for him to finish his sentence.
"It's a long story, so I'll try and keep it short. Those people back there, they were va-vampires," He stuttered slightly, then looked up to consider my expression, which was somewhat composed of me gawking at him about his statement, before continuing "They were after something, something they thought I would have. But I don't," he added quickly. I tilted my head forward in acknowledgement but didn't say anything else. My vision was going in and out of focus and I felt drowsy. Simon frowned at me in concern, moving forward as he did to take me by the elbows. I cursed myself for acting like such a damsel in distress and tried to push him away.
"Don't, it's the vampire bite. It induces tiredness, and you've lost blood," Simon said softly, his voice seeming to be receding away from me. I gave him a crooked smile and then toppled to the ground. Simon grabbed me before I could hit my head and lowered me slowly to the floor. My heart was pounding; I felt blood rushing to my cheeks.
"What's your name?" He asked tenderly, every inch of his face etched in concern. It took me a while to ponder over the question in my head, which felt cloudy.
"Laura," I replied, my voice sounding strained and thin, even to my own ears.
"Well then, Laura," Simon responded quietly, his face creasing with what could have been either a smile or a frown "I promise that you'll be fine," The last thing I remembered seeing was the beautiful chocolate of his eyes and then the world spiralled away from me.
Simon was there to greet me, holding out his hand, a goofy looking grin plastered across his face. My heart gave a lurch and I smiled back, moving forward to take his hand. We were in a large wooden hall with mirrors along the walls and tacky Halloween decorations littered around. There was a throng of people talking to each other and dancing, all looking filled with euphoria. I felt light as air, my feet barely touching the floor. The only thing leashing me to the ground was Simon. I was wearing some form of dress for the occasion, but I barely noticed. I was completely infatuated by Simon- he was like a dark angel, entrancing me with his dark-brown eyes and lithe, graceful movements. He gave me an odd look, one that was magnetic and screamed... hunger. I brushed the sinking sensation in my stomach aside, and instead followed him when he beckoned me outside. All my instincts were now telling me to go back inside, but I didn't want to- I wanted to be with him. Simon guided me to the centre of the room, prowling around like a lion. Strangely, his expressions kept on flickering between panicked and then predatory. I would have felt confused if I had any sense. Suddenly, with certain urgency, Simon gripped me by the shoulders and whispered into my ear "This isn't me, this is a dream, this is him,"- his voice sounded strained, as if he was in pain.
"Who?" I asked in a light, dreamy tone, which did not feel like my own. Simons face contorted in torment and he tried to formulate the words in his mouth:
"Seb-"he choked on the name, his eyes swimming in pain. Then it was all gone. His face was wiped clean of emotion. Abruptly, he grabbed my shoulders and thrust my chin up so I met his eyes directly. It was like I was falling into the night, looking into his big, dark eyes. When he opened his mouth I saw that there were two elongated canines. With a look of contempt in his eyes, Simon reeled his head back and then sunk his teeth into my throat. The world was spinning beneath my feet and I was sent flying to the ground, screaming.
I jerked awake, sitting up in the bed. Sunlight filtered into the room, casting shadows in the corners. I blinked slowly, trying to make out my surroundings. Everything was blurry; I could only make out smudges of colour. Eventually, my sight cleared and I was in... My bedroom? I whipped my head around frantically, scanning around for Simon, for any sign that last night had been real. I frowned and pressed a hand to my head, my expression something along the lines of incredulous and disappointment. But... it felt too real to be a dream. I didn't want to go back to my normal, mundane lifestyle- I wouldn't let this whole thing slip through my fingers. I scrambled out of bed and furiously searched the room for any kind of sign that it had been real. That Simon had been real. After half an hour of rifling around, I finally gave up, deflated. A thought occurred to me when I was pushing my draws back in. My dress. I frantically searched through my wardrobe until I found it, hung up neatly. I traced my fingers along the fabric, seeking for any sign of damage. I had almost given up when my eyes locked upon a small speck of dark brown on the sea-green fabric. Blood; where it would have trailed from my neck, onto the dress. I gingerly prodded at my throat and was greeted by a sharp stinging sensation. I went to my mirror, inquisitively peering at my reflection. My hair was a curly mess, my skin pale- not its usual slightly tanned tone. Bags from tiredness had formed under my puffy eyes that had not been there before. And stark against the skin of my neck were two inflamed red puncture wounds.