Note:
Flashbacks and thoughts in italics.
I do not condone or encourage any behaviours in this story. It is simply a fictional story.
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Neither the crackle of fire nor the smell of it distracted her. The intense beating of her heart didn't calm down like it should, and Amo thought she might die.
"Kiss. Kiss. Kiss."
The screams of their friends were overwhelming. They were waiting for them to make out, and Amo had never regretted anything more than playing this weird combo—a contraption of strip poker and drink-or-dare, with a bunch of her classmates on this camping trip.
They were both mathematics majors, and she had had the epiphany after her last break-up that education could and would go hand in hand with stupidity. It didn't matter. Why else would she sleep with a guy who asked for her money?
There were empty cans, half-eaten pizzas, jackets, belts, gloves, and cigarette smoke all around. Amo sighed, gulped, and stood on her tippy-toes, waiting to get kissed.
They were booed. Quite collectively too, seeing that neither of them moved—both were waiting for the other to make the first move.
Amo still had some of her dignity left, despite being in her jean shorts and bra, no socks, standing like the ground was moving under her, when it was actually her feet that were unsteady.
Well—beside Rudo, who had nothing to lose except for his boxers—despite the embarrassment of the night's chill on her cleavage, Amo felt a bit overdressed.
Apparently, the whisky was doing its job. One minute there were two Rudos in front of her, and the next, there were three.
"Gee, what a bummer. I didn't know they were both lightweights."
Yep, she had fallen to the ground less ceremoniously than a fallen angel, and Rudo even less ceremoniously on top of her.
It was astonishing they didn't break each other's noses.
"Ugh, he's heavy," Follo grumbled, trying to lift him off of her, not wanting to see a crushed Amo in the morning. Literally.
"Someone help me. We gotta save her bones."
"Ss'ok," Amo wheezed from underneath the knocked-out body, one last flicker before she sparked out like a light.
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The following morning, Amo woke up with a splitting headache and no clothes—well, not naked, but this was not what she had been wearing last night.
She was not sleeping over a pile of littered leaves or the dry soil in the woods.
However, her neck itched. It must be the dirt.
There was a clean bed under her and a cozy duvet spread over her.
Rudo's voice could be heard over the whistling of the tea kettle. He was talking to someone on the phone when he came into the room, full of vigour, like he had not almost swooned himself to sleep the other night.
How could he stand there without a hangover? Was it genetics?
Amo prevented the envy from showing on her face.
"Look who has woken up."
Amo winced when she heard his voice. He was wearing a towel, his body still wet from the shower, water dripping from the ends of his hair to the floor in puddles.
He sat on the edge of the bed and touched her feet.
"Where are my clothes?" she asked, suddenly self-conscious, but the voice came out meek like a cat's meow.
Who changed her clothes!? Panic had ascended from its high chair, finally.
"I burned them."
He bit his lips and stared, waiting for her reaction.
"Whatt?" she squawked harshly, before a hand came up and ruffled her hair.
He was laughing, slapping his thighs, and laughing.
"I'm sorry. Did I scare you?" he said between muffled snickers against his knuckles.
"I don't know how it happened, but we were on the ground, and Zanka had tripped over us with a bottle of gasoline, and they tried to wake up the girls, but they wouldn't, and they tried to wake us up too, and they finally had to carry us here and ask a woman for help."
Was she supposed to believe him? There was a lot to process. Gasoline in a bottle!? Not a container, but a bottle. However, that was not important. Not right now.
"Where are we? They carried us on their backs and walked all the way here?"
Something was not adding up.
"The horses carried us."
He's stoned, isn't he?
"Horses?"
She played with the letters of that word on her tongue, her pronunciation pointy.
"Whose horses?"
"This forest near Zanka's house, remember? Yesterday was his idea... His family owns a horse ranch."
Okay, that's wild. And yeah, she remembers—albeit slowly and partly.
Believing his words temporarily, Amo sank back into the bed, the weight of the day already too much on her, and the day had only just begun.
Amo wondered why Rudo acted like it was an everyday thing to be in a room with a near-naked girl in a nightgown—
then she remembered that Rudo is a player...
Just as the clouds cleared from her head, Rudo was winking at her.
"Don't tell me you slept in this room with me?"
If Rudo ever wrote a story, he'd be an unreliable narrator.
"Yeah, I did."
He was mocking her. She realized, her face flushing the more he stared daringly.
How dare he!
"He's just fucking with you. I changed your clothes, and I slept beside you yesterday."
Riyo's voice reached her like God's light from heaven. Bless her heart.
She had smacked Rudo on the head with her book, and pushed his ass out of the room, screaming she shouldn't have trusted him to enter while she went out to take a piss.
Ahh, this room has no attached bathroom. Just great.
Before she could brood over that, Riyo assured her,
"No one lives here, so this house is mostly empty. You should bathe now. The guys have all gone out for breakfast, and the rest of them are still asleep. Yesterday was a disgusting mess. You're lucky you blacked out before that."
She scratched her neck, and asked,
"Before what?"
Riyo had an unreadable expression on her face..
"August went off his rocker, almost fucked the car, and ran through the forest butt-naked."
Riyo rambled on.
"But it's not just him. We were all losing it. I don't even wanna think about last night. Hurts my head."
Amo clutched the sheets close to her chest.
"Eeeh?"
She had chosen to fly halfway across the country and tour with some crazy-ass people.
"The girls are gonna go shopping."
Riyo fixed her hair in the mirror and sat in front of the dressing table to dab some makeup on her face.
Even with a terrible headache, Amo forced herself out of the bed. She'd rather not try on great clothes in the fitting room mirrors with hastily done makeup.
.
Her neck itched again.
Amo looked in the mirror, unfurling her damp hair from the towel.
That's when she noticed.
Two red dots at the junction of her neck.
"What the hell?"
While she was observing the marks, the lights in the room flickered and went out like it was night.
No—this was not Germany, and the lights from the windows should be enough.
Something was wrong.
She knew it from the moment she woke up. This churning in her gut.
She prodded around with her hand in the darkness, trying to get her phone to no avail.
Before Amo could stand up from the chair or blink twice, a hand with long nails like silver blades came out of the darkness and touched her chin.
Amo did not move. She had frozen. Minutes passed agonizingly, and she wouldn't be surprised if she had sprouted roots that had rooted her to the spot.
Eyes like knives, slanted into slits, glowed in the mirror.
Red locks came into her view like a cascade of blood, flowing down Amo's shoulders.
Riyo had fangs in her mouth, grinning wide.
"You tasted so good, Amo. I couldn't wait."
Her fingers ghosted over Amo's pale lips and tilted her face.
"Who—who are you?"
"Aww, why do you need to ask?"
Her chuckle made Amo's hair stand on end.
"I," she punctuated with a sharp bite, "am," holding her frail neck firmly in her hands, and then a kiss that drew blood.
Amo's shrieks filled the air.
"A vampire."
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Amo flinched, and jerked awake.
She had dozed off in the car. Trees and ocean flew past them, and her head hurt.
Had she dreamed?
She couldn't focus on her thoughts.
The sound of plastic and chatter irritated her, if the headache didn't.
What a weird dream…?
Someone touched her shoulders.
"Earth to Amo!"
Rudo had put his hands behind the back of her seat over her shoulders, cocking an eyebrow. Amo swatted his hand off when he tried to pinch her cheeks.
The whole car laughed at the exchange.
"Leave her alone, Rudo!" Enjin shouted from the passenger seat, his D-frame sunglasses—a startling tint of green—flashing like his teeth.
"She's still pissed at the gasoline."
That started up a whole nonsensical argument between Rudo and Enjin about the price of gas and whether Rudo should drop out of college to become an actor.
The chaos was unbearable.
Beyond Zanka—who was either showing off or unaware of the dark hickey on the back of his neck about which the girls were giggling—Enjin continued talking, and not even Rudo's sudden sneezing fit could stop him.
Amo would've wrangled his neck if he didn't sit so far away and if there weren't so many seats separating them.
She rolled her eyes and gazed mindlessly at the view outside the window.
"Want some chips, Amo?"
Riyo.
She admired her look: wind-swept, wispy red hair, black choker, and heart-shaped earrings. Straight bangs and dark blushes were always great on her. It gave her a gothic allure.
Amo smiled back at her and munched on some chips.
When Riyo touched her thigh, Amo didn't think much of it.
Then, she squeezed—
and Amo's head jolted down, her eyes glued, captivated by the sharp, silver glare of Riyo's nails.
Riyo was smirking down at her, a thumb touching Amo's neck, a slow brush from the tendril of vine.
Her neck itched again, and Riyo's smirk grew.
"You know, I was scared of Rudo stealing your first kiss yesterday. I was about to burn him alive, but stupid Zanka got in the way."
She shook her head with a small titter and held Amo's motionless gaze.
"You know, I was planning to wait. But, I changed my plans after yesterday..."
She whispered, too close to her ear, the hand moving up to catch Amo's elbow in a cold, burning grip.
"That mark will be there until I finish the ritual."
Amo scanned her surroundings, eyes darting around.
The trees bowed onto the narrowing road, caving in like a dark tunnel.
Tomme and Eishia were taking a nap, Tamsy was playing Fortnite on his tablet, others were lost in their own worlds, unaware of what was happening.
"What ritual?" Amo asked in a shaky voice.
"The ritual of turning you into a vampire."
Amo shivered in pain as cold fingertips pinched her neck, over the itch...
"Like me..."
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