-----

Author's Note: Here's something that has yet to be done, an EOF original, not in any universe, creating right from my own mind. I had a lot of fun with this one. I know I'm breaking the mold a bit by not writing a holiday story based in the Center universe and starring Melanie Crane but I thought I'd try something a little different. I'd like to thank my gracious beta readers and my wonderful editor, djkauf.

-----

Life is precious, that’s something my mother used to always say. When my sisters and I were younger she used to drill it into our heads over and over again. I can clearly remember a time when my little sister Megan brought a baby bird into the house, crying as she cradled it close to her six-year-old body. We had this huge maple tree in the front yard and the bird apparently fell from its nest. Megan wanted Mom to take the bird and make it all better. My mother was a doctor and no amount of talking could convince Megan that she was a people doctor and not a birdie one. But my Mom tried her hardest. She set the bird’s wing, put it in a shoe box and spent the next three hours trying to get it to eat. In the end the little bird died. After all, it didn’t really have much of a chance anyway, it was small and that nest was really high up in the tree.

That was the first time Mom said life was precious.

She made a big deal out of it too, like one of those fucking after school specials. She sat us all around the kitchen table and told us all how we should value life and how it had meaning. She made it sound like life was the most important thing in the world and I suppose in many ways it was. It was joyous and happy and worth living. Well worth living to everyone except that little bird. Its life was over and it was lucky. The harsh reality of the world, the shit that everyone had to live through day to day, that little bird didn’t have to experience any of it.

But life is precious, so says my mother.

I’d like to say I’m one of those people that had a really shitty life but I’d be lying. We were always very well off. Mom had a small private practice, the only family doctor in town. We lived in a big house, my sisters and I each had our own room, hell we even had two cars in the driveway and white picket fence. Dad was a lawyer, not a senior partner in the firm, but he did well enough. He and Mom were the happy couple. They didn’t fight all the time, didn’t shout at one another or scold us if we did something wrong. They made sure we had everything we ever wanted. My sisters took ballet; I was in the boy scouts and played Little League Baseball up through middle school.

My sisters and I got along great too.

I was the oldest in the family, three years the senior of my sister Dawn. Megan was the youngest, six years from me, and two from Rebecca my third sister. We had the kind of relationship that any parent would dream of. We fought rarely and when we did, we always resolved it quickly. We never had that sibling rivalry that other children had. I loved my sisters and they loved me. We were happy. Happy smiley people, who lived in a giant white house, got along splendidly and lived happily ever after.

Well almost happily ever after.

What is it they say about big families and secrets? I think it’s the bigger the family, the bigger the secret. In the case of mine, the secret was astronomical. My happy family was a great big lie. Well everyone else was happy, well adjusted and felt the world was precious. Hell, life was precious in our family. When it comes down to it, the only one who wasn’t happy was me. I was the secret, the black sheep that no one wanted to talk about. I had a problem, not that any of them would ever call it such a thing. I’m not really sure what to call it actually. It happened when I was younger, old enough to know that there was something different about me. Something that made me scared.

You see unlike the other boys my age, I felt wrong.

It started when my sister Dawn started ballet. Being only a few years apart, I had to suffer through going to a lot of her stupid dance classes and recitals. I remember sitting on the bench while she practiced her little heart out and being bored to hell by it all. Then something happened and that boredom somehow turned into jealousy. It kinda excited and scared me at the same time. I was jealous of my sister, jealous that she got to wear that cute pink leotard and I couldn’t. It frightened the hell out of me and I tried to suppress the feeling. I did so for a while but eventually I lost the battle and found myself wearing it one day while my family was out getting ice cream. I was always a small child, thin and slight for my age. I easily fit into the leotard without stretching it. As soon as I did so that first time, I was hooked.

After that, it wasn’t just the leotard that interested. I found myself wearing her clothes whenever I could. It excited and repulsed me at the same time. Boys weren’t supposed to wear skirts and tights and actually like doing it. I tried to fight the feelings but no matter how much I did so they just kept getting stronger. I’m not sure if Dawn ever found out what I was doing and if she did, she never said a word. My love for girls’ clothes followed me all through grade school and middle school. When I got to high school, I took things to a whole another level. I started to grow my hair long and stopped trimming my nails. It worked because I pretended to be into the alternative scene. Not really punk, not really Goth. We called ourselves Emo but there really wasn’t a definition for it.

I loved it and hated it. Puberty hit and brought with it some changes. Though I had somewhat feminine features I got tall, about six one and had trouble fitting into my sister’s stuff. Luckily, I wasn’t one of those guys that got broad shoulders and big hands and my voice only got a little deeper. I still kept a lot of my softer features, which I was truly grateful for. But the worst was the hair. I hate hair. I hate shaving it and how it covers my whole body like I’m a fucking Sasquatch. I’m not saying I was a hairy beast, quite the opposite actually. But every guy has hair; mine was fine, barely noticeable in fact. But I still hated it. I made a habit of shaving every bit of hair from my body, except my head. It felt fantastic to have smooth, hairless arms and legs. My parents never thought it was weird because hey, I was a bit weird to begin with.

I tried to stay off the radar in high school. But it didn’t always work out like I planned. I was the freaky kid with the long hair who wore eyeliner and black fingernail polish. I thought I was the coolest thing in the world but there were a lot of assholes who saw me as a threat. Just because a guy who wore eyeliner that somehow reflected badly on their masculinity? Suffice to say I got my ass kicked more than once. The principal never understood either. He used to scold me for it, telling me that I somehow brought it upon myself. Narrow minded pricks in a narrow minded town. It was worse with my parents, they just ignored it. I think they knew what was wrong with me but instead of trying to get me the help I so greatly deserved they decided to sweep it all under the rug. It happened so often that my Dad started calling it “One of Kyle’s little problems”. He always said it in a real condescending tone too, like I was the worst thing that ever happened to him.

High school was hell after that. Four years of spending time with the worst bastards on the face of the planet. It’s funny because you always see this shit in movies and on TV but it’s so dramatized its funny. Unfortunately, in real life it happens just like that but not to the normal kids. Sure, there are bullies and dicks but when you’re different, that’s when the real bad shit happens. So I came home with a black eye one day, a swollen lip the next. It was the same old and it got so tiring that I actually got used to it. When I finally graduated, I made sure I picked the farthest college I could, far away from my family and small town with the narrow minded bastards.

In college, I found out how precious life really was. The first day there, I met my roommate. His name was Steve and when I walked in with my long hair, lack of body hair and makeup, he looked at me and stared for a long time. Then the words that defined our relationship came out of his mouth: “What’s up, dude. You know you look like a chick right?”

That was it. No insults, no slurs, no threats. Steve was a big ass dude, built like he could put my head through the wall. He took one look at me and didn’t care.

He might not have looked like it but we had a lot in common. We both loved late night study routines, both ate the same toppings on our pizza and both loved Halloween. Steve liked horror movie marathons and wicked parties. Me, I loved the fact that I could dress like a girl and no one said shit about it. Hell it was Halloween and stuff like that---dudes as chicks---it was something no one even second guessed.

A month into school, the two of us were sitting on our beds, trying desperately to beat the shit out of one another in Mortal Kombat, when Steve brought up the idea of Halloween plans.

“You do anything special?” he asked as his Sub-zero took another serious beating from my Katana.

Gotta love a chick who can kick so much ass. Her dual wielding fans are an all time favorite of mine and that outfit, it’s to die for. I’d kill to have a body like hers.

Did I do anything special for Halloween, if only he knew? My parents always went to some big bash that my father’s firm held. My sister Rebecca took Megan trick r’ treating every year and Dawn always had a boyfriend, the two of them hitting the high school party scene. That left me alone with my hobby. With no one in the house, I would go all out. I always got the best costume, the sexiest I could find. The tradition started as soon as I was old enough to stop going out myself and had the house to myself. So for three full years I got to girl it up on Halloween. Last year it was Pocohontas, the year before that it was a sexy fairy and the first year I lived out my dream as a ballerina. None of the kids who came to the door ever pegged me for a guy. I used to time it well, too. I would pass out candy and always slip back into a male costume by the time my sisters got back from candy begging.

This year was going to be sweet though. There were a lot of parties on campus, too many to count. I planned on hitting as many as I could, dressed as sexy as hell. Halloween was still a week off so I had some time to pick the right outfit. It was a tossup at the moment between a French maid or a sexy kitty cat. This year was going to be different too because I actually had some cash from a part time job at the library. I was able to buy myself some padding and breast forms, stuff to make the illusion as real as possible. I was so fucking stoked.

I paused the game and shrugged. “I was going to sit around here, watch a horror movie marathon on whatever channel has the best movies.”

Steve shook his head. “That’s fucking pathetic you know that?”

I shrugged again. “I’m not really into the whole Halloween party scene.”

“Seriously?” Steve shook his head. “Well just looking at you I know that’s bullshit.”

Yeah so, I looked like I just crawled out of Elvira’s closet. Don’t know who that is, look it up. Suffice to say after leaving my tiny town; I decided to go all out. I’m not saying I went full-blown Goth or anything but I didn’t leave much to the imagination. My wardrobe now consisted of mainly black things; one of my favorite items was a pair of black leather pants I got from this little S&M shop. They were really cool and looked absolutely perfect with my black combat boots. I only wore the pants on occasion though and never anywhere public. I just liked the feel of them. They made me feel feminine and helped to shape my figure nicely. I may be tall with broad shoulders but very little of me was fat. Just because I quit sports a while ago didn’t mean I wasn’t still in shape. I made sure I went to the Gym regularly and the leather pants really showed that.

I swam a lot too so you might say I have a swimmer’s physique. I seriously considered joining the swim team in high school but that would have meant cutting my hair, something that no one in their right mind could ever get me to do. My mother constantly tried to get me to cut it though, it being too long for a boy. My father never minded though, said that during his younger days he had quite the mop as well. Though I think, he made it abundantly clear that he didn’t expect me to have my hair that long once I finished college and got into the workforce.

Steve was staring at me, giving me a once over. Today I was wearing a t-shirt and jeans. Unbeknownst to my roommate they were actually a pair of girl’s jeans I got from the Good Will. Not that you could really tell, they were just as worn and faded as every other pair I owned. I bought them for that reason actually. I didn’t want to stand out. I wore guy’s jeans to class and when I went to different events but in the dorm, no one saw me but Steve. If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. Today just happened to be one of those days that I didn’t look like an extra from a vampire movie. I guess you could say I’m slumming.

“You say that and all I can do is laugh.”

He smirked. “Usually you look like you fit right in with the holiday; today you’re just freaking me out. Being all normal and junk.”

I sighed. I knew where this was going. Steve tried to talk me into partying with him last weekend. He just took a while doing it. He knew I didn’t really like the scene---well his party scenes anyway---so he tended to beat around the bush a bit. Last week it took him almost an hour to ask me to go with him and it took me less than thirty seconds to say no. Today I couldn’t wait that long so I decided to cut right to the chase.

“You want me to go to some stupid Halloween party with you, don’t you?”

He laughed. “Am I that transparent?”

“I can see right through you.”

We laughed. Then he ran his hand over his buzzed head. “Well it’s like this. Do you know that chick Theresa from our Bio class?”

I thought for a second. I tried to visualize all the girls in Bio. Steve had a specific type he usually went for. He liked blonde with big boobs, the typical male delicacy. But none of the girls in class really fit that description. In fact, the only Theresa I could think of was a girl that sat in the back row, up in the far corner where very little light ever reached. She was a pale red head, kept mainly to herself. She was barely noticeable in fact. I’m not sure how Steve ever spotted her because the only time I ever made eye contact with her was the first day of class. I caught myself staring at her for a moment or two, deciding that although she and I seemed almost kindred there was something about her that said, “Stay away or else I’ll tear off your balls.”

It boggled my mind that Steve would even consider Theresa worth his time.

“Care to explain to me how you and Theresa…?”

I wasn’t even sure how to word it.

He smiled. “It was weird really and honestly it kinda freaked me out a bit. But I was in the Union at my usual table with some of the guys” The guys being those who he hung out with besides me of course. “Then she sorta popped up, real freaky like. She gave all of us a once over and then pulled this flyer out of her purse and put it in the middle of the table.”

“A flyer?”

Steve nodded, then pulled a folded piece of orange paper from his back pocket. He tossed it at me, not even bothering to unfold it. So I did the deed and what I saw actually surprised me. Theresa was actually a sorority sister and her sorority---Delta Beta Zeta---was throwing a big Halloween bash. But it seemed to be pretty exclusive too, only those who presented one of the flyers at the door were permitted inside. What made it even stranger is that at the bottom of the flyer, it said bring a guest.

“She gave this to you?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Steve shrugged. “I think it was for all of us. Anyways, the guys thought it was pretty freaky and none of them want to go.”

“And you do?”

“It’s a party; I never turn down free booze. Plus it’s in a sorority house, full of desperate women no doubt.”

I looked at the flyer again then back at Steve. I groaned. I knew where this was going and I didn’t like it one bit. “And you want me to be your guest?”

Steve laughed. “I don’t want to there alone. That Theresa chick freaks me out.”

I laughed. “So I’m your date?”

Steve didn’t think it was so funny. “Not my date dipshit, my wing man.”

I groaned. I knew if I didn’t say yes he’d bug me from now until the night of the party. But if I did say yes then that meant I couldn’t get dressed up and find my own party. The whole idea of finally getting to be myself was the bonus that Steve wouldn’t be around to see it. I was hoping to finally be able to let my hair down and bring forth the girl inside. I looked at Steve he was now giving me his sorry attempt at a puppy dogface. I’d say it was pretty cute but there was nothing cute about a guy his size making that face. Shit, I hated being the guy that everyone seemed to be able to sway so easily.

“If I go with you, you promise not to bail on me as soon as the two of us walk through the door.”

Steven crossed his heart with his fingers. “Hope to die dude.”

I nodded and sighed. Steve smiled. Shit, I really was going to regret this.

There were ten Halloween parties going on at once. Six of which were just wild bashes that the sororities and fraternities were throwing. The rest were something that some of the dorms were organizing. My original plan was to wait for Steve to head out for the night, slip into my costume and hit one of the lesser-known parties. I had to make sure it was one that I knew Steve wouldn’t go too so I had picked a party I knew there wasn’t going to be alcohol at. Well the best laid plans and all that.

After he talked me into going to Theresa’s party, Steve didn’t bring it up for the rest of the week. But on the weekend, the two of us drove into town. It was one of those small little college towns, a place to relied fully on the college crowd to keep it going. It was a cute little town, reminding me a lot of the one I grew up in. Most of the shops were on one central street. They were quaint little things, barely big enough for the large crowds that usually crammed them. But they had everything that a small town might need. When I first got into town, I spent a day exploring things, getting a lay of the land as it were. I know knew where to find everything a growing boy might need.

On the corner of the main street, they had a shop that apparently stayed vacant when no holiday was coming up. On the holidays, it was transformed to fit a shopper’s needs. So coming upon it now one would find a costume shop bustling with Halloween merriment.

“I think I’m going to be a zombie quarterback,” said Steve as the two of us made our way to the skeleton decorated door.

“If you suggest I be your zombie cheerleader girlfriend, I’m kicking you in the nuts.”

Steve stopped and gave me a funny look. He stared a bit longer than I would have liked then laughed. “You could pull it off, you’ve got the figure and the face for it but there’s no way in hell I’d walk in there with you on my arm, dude.”

I was hoping he’d say yeah it was a good idea. Not that I wanted to be his “date”. Steve was cute in that oafish kind of way but there’s just no way in hell. Would I have loved to be a zombie cheerleader---oh hell yeah. But just not one if I was going to be seen as Steve’s anything. I only agreed to go with him so he didn’t bug me about it. After I agreed to accompany him to the party, he barely said one word about it. He mentioned costume shopping just yesterday; shrugging it off like it was no big deal. It was clear that his only true love for Halloween was getting drunk while hopefully scoring with some equally drunk bimbo.

I decided to play it cool. “That’s not funny.”

Steve smiled then laughed. “Just messing with you.”

He gave me a strange look again. His eyes lingered on my face a little bit longer than either of us would have liked. I playfully punched him in the arm, hoping it would shatter any freaky stare that he was giving me. The punch worked because the trance was broken. We had a good laugh. Steve continued to stare though, which was a little unsettling. I decided to get his mind off me by pushing him into the shop. A screaming foam monster head was what ultimately and finally broke his staring. We both nearly jumped ten feet in the air and had a good laugh. My heart was pounding a mile a minute as I slipped away from Steve while he wandered off to browse. I found myself lingering toward the section devoted to the female costumes.

I tried to look like I belonged there. I was wearing the leather pants today and a baggy black hoodie. My nails were painted black, my hair had a red strip in it and I was wearing a bit of makeup, nothing too noticeable though. That was the great thing about being semi-Goth. I could be a guy, wear makeup and get away with it. It helped that I was on the more feminine side of androgynous too. I might have been a bit too tall to be a girl---almost six one but I made up for it by trying to stay under the radar. It was a good thing that a lot of people dressed like me this time of the year or else I really would have stuck out like a sore thumb. Come winter I was probably going to find it harder to blend in but I’d climb that hurdle when I got there.

I started rifling through some really great looking Zombie dresses. I say zombie ones because they were tattered and dirty to make them look like they were all worn out. My sister dressed up as a zombie one year, taking an old dress of hers and really giving it the works. Her friend was an artist and did her face up to look really cool. The look was fantastic, the costume was killer. I remember seeing her in it and feeling extremely jealous. She had a perfect body to pull off the dress too. I remember watching as she walked down the stairs and all I could do was see myself wearing the dress. It was a strange, surreal moment for me. It was another Life is Precious moment for Mom. For me it was a Life is Unfair kind of moment.

I sighed heavily, pulling a tattered black dress from the rack. I rubbed the material between my thumb and forefinger, trying to figure out what it was. As I was doing so, I didn’t notice the girl standing next to me.

“Its really cute, you should totally get it.”

I jumped slightly, her sudden appearance surprising me. She seemed to come out of nowhere but that could be because I was so engrossed in my task. Now that I knew she was there, I turned my head slightly to speak. I was surprised that the voice didn’t fit the look. Here standing next to me was a girl about my age, shocking pink hair past her shoulder blades, black eyeliner, and long black fingernails. She looked like she was already dressed for Halloween too, having gone a bit too far on the Goth front. Mess top over a tank top, tattered black skirt, spider web stockings and black boots.

I recovered from the fright she gave me rather quickly.

“I’m still looking actually.”

She nodded. “That dress is still killer though, it suits you.”

I was unpracticed for this type of thing. It was clear that this girl thought she and I used the same restroom on a regular basis. I’d been mistaken for a girl many times before but never in a situation like this. I actually tried to avoid real girls as much as I could. Partly because I wasn’t sure what to say around them and partly because I didn’t want to be exposed. I knew how to act around girls in some part by watching my sisters and their friends but I was still scared that I wasn’t good enough. It was terrifying standing next to her now, wondering when and where I was going to screw up.

So I panicked. I stuck the dress back on the rack and turned away. MY heart was pounding in my chest as I started to walk, hoping that I didn’t insult the girl too much. I didn’t but I must have done something wrong because she followed me. I walk fast, thanks in part to my long legs. I was halfway on the other side of the store and she still managed to catch me. Not only catch me but actually get in front of me. She put out a hand to stop me, resting it on my chest. When she did, a look crossed her face. It was quick but it was there. She knew. I bit my lip, wishing to crawl into a hole and die. I was waiting for her to say something, to out me. Instead, she smiled.

“What’s your name?” she asked, still smiling.

I bit my lip. “Kyle”.

There was a hint of fear in my voice.

“Its ok, I didn’t know until I touched your chest. You’re really pretty, prettier than most girls I know like you. Kyle is a good name too; the best part is that you don’t have to change it if you don’t want too. I knew a girl named Kyle but she wasn’t half as pretty as you.”

I blushed. It’s not every day someone tells me I’m pretty. In fact, no one has ever told me that. Ok, so I’m prettier than most guys but I usually get razzed because of it, not complimented.

The pink haired girl chuckled at my blush. Then continued. “My name is Degna, my friends and I are throwing a Halloween bash and we’d love to have you there.”

She pulled a very familiar flier from her purse, which I laughed at.

“I’m going actually.”

She smiled. “And now I’m the embarrassed one.”

She handed me the flier anyway. Then she did something I didn’t expect her to do, she leaned forward and kissed me. I’m not talking about the cheek either. When her lips touched mine, I felt a spark of life escape them. I’d been kissed once before by my prom date. But she was just a friend from school and it was a light peck on the lips, a more of a thank you than anything. The kiss Degna gave me was not light in the least. In fact she gave me a little touch, even went so far as to grab my lip with her teeth when she was pulling away. She drew blood, dabbing her finger on my lip and sucking on it. It was by far the strangest thing I’d ever seen.

“Taste like strawberries” she said with a giggle. “I foresee us becoming great friends, Kyle.”

Then she turned and walked away, disappearing down an aisle.

“Dude” said Steve as he idled up beside me. “Who the hell was that?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea.”

I reached up and touched my lip. I looked at my fingers a second later, seeing the blood.

Life was Precious indeed.

“Dude, you’re freaking me out”

I tried to ignore him as I finished applying my lipstick, black of course. Steve was standing behind me, dressed in his Zombie Linebacker costume. I could see his reflection in the mirror, looking none too happy that I was taking so long. But applying makeup took a while, especially if you wanted to do it right. I was a perfectionist when it came to how I look. Steve on the other hand was sloppy; his gray face makeup looked like a five-year-old applied it. I offered to help, to make it look really cool but he passed. He didn’t want to look cool; he just wanted to look good enough to score. He was convinced girls liked the whole Zombie thing and that they’d be lining up to try to bring him back to “life”. When he said the choice phrase, he kept pointing between his legs.

Me, I wanted to look nothing like myself.

We left the costume shop the other day with me empty handed. I couldn’t decide on what I really wanted to do. Ok, so I knew but I didn’t really want to get razzed by Steve. I really wanted that dress, the tattered black one. For some reason it seemed to call to me. But the idea of buying a dress with Steve around was just asking for trouble. So we left after Steve bought his costume. He spent the rest of the drive back to campus with Steve trying to get info on my pink haired hottie. The only thing I was able to tell him was her name. But that didn’t stop him from asking about her. Hell, it didn’t stop me from thinking about her either. The rest of the week, I kept my out for her, hoping to run into on campus. A girl kissing you like that and you can’t help but think about her.
But my search turned up nothing. It was like she fell off the face of the planet.

“How in the hell do you know how to put on makeup so good?” groaned my impatient roommate.

I sighed, capping the stick. “I have three sisters.”

Steve shook his head. “Since when does Dracula wear black lipstick?”

“I’m not Dracula per se,” I said, turning from the mirror, my black cape whipping around me as I did so.

A few days after leaving the shop, I went back. I decided that I could do a vampire and make it as androgynous as I could. After all, lots of male vampires looked pretty feminine. The only thing I ended up buying at the shop though was a black cape. I did look for the black dress though. I had decided I was going to buy it after all and hide it my trunk back at the dorm. But sadly, someone must have seen it and snatched it. Not being able to buy the dress damped my spirits. But the cape was a good buy. The rest of my costume I already had. I bought a black silk shirt a while ago and decided to pair it with my leather pants and a pair of unisex looking black boots.

So with the cape and my makeup, I looked like a modern day bloodsucker and I didn’t glitter.

Adding the lipstick was a last minute addition but it definitely worked even if Steve thought I was a little weird doing so.
I walked away from the mirror and over to the dresser where both our flyers were sitting. I decided it might be easier to bring both just in case. I discovered upon looking at the two flyers that mine was a bit different from his. It didn’t tell me to bring a guest for one thing and his also stated that the party was men only. Apparently, the girls at the sorority didn’t want any female competition. I’m not sure if Steve was happy about that or not. He almost wanted to back out of it when I pointed that little detail out to him. It pissed him off a bit that the party was probably going to have more guys than girls.

“Ok so are you finally done preening, princess?”

I groaned. Steve was still a little peeved that Degna was interested in me and not him. He came across as the big man on campus back from whatever high school he came from. Women there seemed to throw themselves at him. But here he was one of many faces in the crowd, a small speck in a large pond. He still got his girls but the idea that someone like her would be remotely interested in someone like me, that probably didn’t even register in Steve World. So he’d been kinda antagonistic toward me all week, making snide remarks and getting annoyed at stupid things.

I didn’t even respond to the preening remark. Instead, I nodded and the two of us finally left the room.

The Delta Beta Zeta house was only a few blocks from campus, well within walking distance. Steve and I left the dorm building right behind one another, but as soon as we got through one of the quads, he forged ahead. Apparently, he was still pretty miffed that a hot chick didn’t notice him first. As far as I was concerned, he was acting pretty damn childish. I tried not to think too much about Steve’s juvenile behavior. Instead, I looked at all the freaks around me. The guys were dressed in an assortment of masks and capes, very few of them fully dressed like Steve and I. The girls were wearing the skimpiest things imaginable, which kind of made me jealous. I say kind of because it was currently forty five degrees out and there was no way I wanted to wear something that small in this cold weather. My cape barely covered me and I was definitely second guessing the silk shirt.

When we got out of the campus proper, the freaks and the idiots---i.e. the girls---were all moving en masse off to their respective parties. Because the fraternity and sorority houses were actually in the town, the older kids started mingling with the little ones. It was weird to see giant costumed freaks slipping among joyous children. The college town was small but it looked like it was a busy night for Trick R’ Treaters. There was a lot of laughing and running and even some yelling. I couldn’t help but smile, thinking about my own little sister and how she used to enjoy things like this. Megan was still young enough to go out but she was getting older, her interests starting to turn toward other things.

While walking I lost sight of Steve but I finally managed to catch him. He was up ahead a ways, chatting it up with a Zombie cheerleader of all things. I pushed my way past a Cowboy and Indian couple and called out to my roommate.

When I approached, the girl gave me a look of daggers. Then turned to Steve. “You told me you were single.”

She stomped over; Steve gave me an almost identical look.

“Thanks a lot Captain Buzz Kill; I was going to score tonight.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Steve, that girl had the IQ of a gnat.”

“Exactly how I like them,” he said, wagging his eyebrows.

For a moment, it seemed like he was over whatever was bothering him but then he added. “Can you walk a few steps behind me; you look so much like a chick everyone thinks we’re together.”

Nope, he was still being a dick.

I dropped behind him, annoyed. This whole thing was Steve’s idea in the first place. Sure going to this party meant I might see Degna again but I really hated keggers. I was going to hit a few of the dorm parties, try to look inconspicuous. But no, he had to drag me out of my comfort zone. A small part of me hoped that he’d forget the whole thing and go find another party. But apparently, he was adamant about hitting the DBZ one. I think it confused him that Theresa wasn’t interested in him either. After giving him that flyer he tried his hardest to get her to talk to him---before and after class but no dice. She just didn’t seem too interested, which was strange considering she gave him and his friends the flyer. I checked around too, not everyone got them. In fact, I was hard pressed to find anyone who got them. Which was strange, considering how exclusive the party seemed to be? Usually.

The DBZ house was on the end of what they called Sorority Row, like that movie. There were five or six white houses all lined up along one side of the street. The Fraternities were one block over, in an attempt to keep things separated I guess. It surprised me that there were so many sororities in the school. It surprised me even more to see how many morons were filing into the other houses. At two of the houses, the parties had even spilled out into the lawns. I saw Steve look longingly over at one of them who was in a pair of blonde bimbos dressed like German Bar Maids were bobbing for apples.

Our destination didn’t look all that lively. In fact, it looked downright creepy which I suppose worked for the night. Looking at the house though I couldn’t help but shiver. It didn’t help that there was barely a moon out tonight, sending everything in almost total darkness. The only lights came from hand carved Jack-O-Lanterns lining the drive leading up to the house. They were all cut to look scary; some of them looked professionally done. No one could say anything bad about the Girls of DBZ; they really knew how to get into the Halloween spirit. They even had fake cobwebs dangling from the branches of the huge willow tree in the yard. It definitely added to the spooky ambiance of the night.

When Steve and I got to the house, there was already a line forming at the front door. At the front of it, was the Cowboy and Indian. They were boyfriend and girlfriend apparently. The Cowboy was arguing with a black robed girl at the door, apparently pissed about something. His voice carried through the line, rather loud and laced with a bit of alcohol.

“You said we could bring a guest,” he said, his voice raising another octave.

“A male guest.”

“I’m not some fucking queer, why would I bring a dude.”

“Because there’s enough girls here to satisfy you.”

The robed figure gently stroked a hand across the Cowboy’s cheek. Her nails were long and painted black, her face obscured by her big hood. It made her look exceptionally creepy. The Cowboy seemed to like it though, the Indian not so much. She stomped on her boyfriend’s foot and stormed off. The Cowboy looked back at her, pissed for a moment. Then the girl at the door stepped aside and he shrugged it off, stepping into the darkness that lied beyond. After that there didn’t seem to be too much of a problem. Everyone else in front of us were guys and they were let in without complaint. When the line got to Steve and I, the girl gave me a once over.

“Ummm….”

It made me feel good to know that she couldn’t tell my gender. In fact, I smiled a bit.

Suddenly another black robed girl appeared behind her, I caught the slightest bit of pink under her hood. “Jasmine, this one is Kyle, the one I told you about.”

The girl at the door nodded. “Then you’re most welcome here.”

Steve scoffed as she stepped aside and let the two of us in.

Degna slipped up next to me, slipping her arm through mine. “Sorry about her, she’s a bit catty when she hasn’t eaten.”

I nodded. “Maybe she should get something then.”

Degna laughed. “Oh she will, all in due time of course.”

The interior of the house reminded me a bit of the Addams house on the old Addams family show except a little less creepy. The girls really went all out decorating it, including the black curtains, those were fantastic. I let Degna lead me by my arm through the little foyer, past a staircase and off into a side room that looked like an 18th century parlor. The furniture was all dark wood and red velvet, really sophisticated. I tried to see if there was any refreshments but there didn’t seem to be any. In fact, this place didn’t look anything like a room where a party might be held, there wasn’t even any music. Degna led me over to a chair, making sure I sat.

The room had a few guys in it, Steve was one of them.

“You sit tight here I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

Degna disappeared, taking the arm of another guy and leading him off down the hall. Apparently, this wasn’t the only place where they were taking their guests.

“Looks like your new girlfriend isn’t as one man as I thought. I might have a shot with her after all,” said Steve, nudging me with his elbow.

I ignored him. I wasn’t even sure if I liked her in the manner he was suggesting. She was attractive but I was always a bit confused. I also found men to be slightly attractive too. Steve was cute, I’d never consider dating him but he was cute. Not that he’d ever swing my way in the first place but I needed to get that out there. It’s strange when I think too much about it actually. I’ve read a lot online about these things, about people wanting to be girls all their life. I never felt like that growing up. I mean would life have been easier if I’d been born a girl, I think so. But did I want to change myself into one? I wasn’t really sure about that. I liked wearing the clothes and I loved the idea of having breasts of my own. But when looking at Degna---feeling the thing stir in my pants--- I wasn’t sure how I felt.

I liked her. But was it a boy liking a girl or was it something else?

I watched Degna with interest. She kept leading guys back through the house, one at a time. I’m not sure how many there were but I’d guess at least twenty or more. When the last guy was finally through, she swung back around to our little parlor. There were five of us in it, including myself and Steve. I looked at the others, A monster, a Werewolf and a Clown, believe it or not. I’m not sure who they were in real life because two of them were wearing masks and the clown’s face was all painted. But they were clearly guys that were just as confused as I was.

Degna crouched down next to my chair. “In a few minutes the girls are going to come and collect each of you, taking you to different parts of the house.”

Steve overheard her. “Private little parties then huh?”

She looked at him and nodded. “Something like that. We do this each year before the real party begins.”

Then she stood up, looking at the large grandfather clock. She turned back to me. “It’s about to begin, I have to go meet the other girls.”

She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and disappeared. I looked at my own watch, wondering what the hell was going on. It was quarter to nine; most of the little kiddies outside were probably all at home now. I couldn’t help but wonder if Megan enjoyed what she had called her last Halloween. I used to trick r’ treat up through middle school but I guess the times they were a changing. I looked from my watch to the clock on the wall then toward the stairs. Time passed slowly but eventually it reached ten, the chime of the grandfather clock filled our little parlor.

The Clown fidgeted a bit in the chair next to Steve. “I don’t like this.”

“Scared?” asked the Monster, his voice muffled by his mask.

The laugh he and the Werewolf shared muffled out most of the chimes.

I looked toward the stairs after the last chime sounded, finally able to hear it when the laughter stopped. Down the stairs they came, a line of girls in black hooded robes, walking in single file. When they got to the bottom, they split off into groups of five and disappeared together off to parts unknown. Well fifteen of them anyway. The last group stayed with us but as I counted heads I realized there were only four and couldn’t help but wonder who might be left out. I looked at Steve and the other three, trying to see which one the girls might leave behind. The Clown was still fidgeting, looking toward the door. The Monster and the Werewolf were laughing still, except it wasn’t as loud and it was more like snickering. Steve looked at each women in turn, noticing what I noticed.

“There’s four of you, which one of us is not going to get lucky tonight.”

One of the robed figured stepped forward, dropping her hood. The face underneath was exceptionally beautiful. She had long raven black hair, a face that was almost white it was so pale and green eyes that seemed to sparkle. Those eyes rested on me for a second before they lingered around the room, finally falling on Steve. A slight smirk curled her glossy black lips when she looked at him. Steve didn’t notice, none of the others did.

“Evening gentlemen,” she said, her voice sexy as all hell. “My name is Wisteria Stone; I’m the President of DBZ. I’d like to welcome you to our little party tonight.”

Steve rubbed his hands together. “Bring on the booze.”

I rolled my eyes. I couldn’t remember why I was ever friends with him in the first place. We got a long great when the semester started but now he was a real dick. I was beginning to wonder if it was too late to change my dorm room.

Wisteria smiled. “All in good time. First we like to do a little getting to know you exercise.” She waved her hands and the other girls came forward, one each moving toward our chairs and standing in front of them. “You will be paired off and led upstairs; there you will get better acquainted with the sisters for a while.”

Steve looked annoyed. Wisteria was now standing in front of the Clown. Two other girls were in front of the Monster and the Werewolf. Hell even a girl was standing in front of me.

Steve was the man out and looked pissed. “What the hell” he said, crossing his arms.

Wisteria smiled. “We have something special for you, a new pledge actually but she’s not ready. So sit tight and she’ll be with you shortly.”

Steve didn’t look as pissed after that.

Wisteria reached down and took the Clown’s hand. His fidgeting stopped, in fact he looked like he was about to pee himself. Wisteria was definitely quite a woman, any guy would love to have her lead them off to a dark corner somewhere.

“Ladies let’s begin.”

The girl in front of me bent down and took my hand. She pulled me to my feet in a surprisingly strong gesture. All I could do was follow as she led me out of the parlor and up the stairs. The others were being led toward the stairs too. I caught sight of Steve, who still looked kind of peeved. He shot me a nasty look and all I could think of was not wanting to see him again for the rest of the night.

As soon as the two of us got into our designated room, the girl locked the door behind us. She turned slowly, pointing to the bed. I did as I was told, sitting calmly on the edge of it. I watched her, studying her body language. It took me all of ten seconds to realize who she was and my assumption was proven correct when she finally dropped her hood. Degna smiled at me, her pink hair done up in cute pigtails with a skull barrette holding her bangs to one side. She looked remarkably cute, her makeup done up in a dark red, almost contrasting the vibrant color of her hair.

She sighed heavily. “I’ve been waiting for this day all week.”

She reached up and pulled a little tie at her neck. The tie apparently was the only thing holding the robe on her body. AS soon as it was undone, the robe dropped around her small frame. Underneath she was wearing an outfit of black silk and lace, completely see-through. I saw something similar in a Victoria’s Secret catalog. It made me jealous to think that I could never really pull off wearing something quite like that. Degna on the other hand pulled it off nicely. I looked down at her feet, noticing the heels. She stepped out of them slowly and sauntered over to me, dropping on my lap with her legs spread wide, straddling my body.

She ran her fingers through my hair slowly. “You look real pretty tonight.”

“Umm…thanks.”

She smiled. “You don’t have to be embarrassed sweetie, you’re not the first guy in the world to ever like dressing and looking like a woman.”

My face flushed a bit. “There was this boy I used to know named Eugene,” she said, twirling a finger through my hair as she talked. “He used to be the same way. He was a pretty boy too but really shy. There’s no way he would have ever gone out in public like you. The guys at his old school used to pick on him mercifully because of his looks, they used to beat him up constantly. They put him in the hospital once.”

She had a faraway look when she mentioned the boys, followed by a smile.

“Whatever happened to him?”

She slipped her fingers from my hair and slowly slid off my lap. “Ask me in a couple of hours. But first I have something I want to give you.”

She walked slowly across the room, making her way over to what I could only guess was a closet. She opened the door and reached inside. What she pulled out brought a small smile to my face. It was a black dress but not any black dress, it was my black dress. Well, ok, not exactly mine but I one I really wanted to buy. She smiled big as she walked over to the bed, carrying it with her. She laid it on my lap, sitting on the other corner of the bed.

“I saw how much you wanted it but were too afraid to buy it,” she said as I ran my fingers over the fabric. “Do you like it?”

I found myself tearing up slightly. No one had ever bothered to do something like this for me. “I went back for it but it was gone.”

She smiled again. “You want to try it on?”

I bit my lip. I wanted to wear it but at the same time, I knew that eventually I’d have to take it off to go back to the dorm. I sighed and shook my head. “If I wore this back to the dorm, Steve would throw a fit.”

“What if I told you that Steve won’t even notice?”

I laughed. “You plan on blinding him tonight?”

She laughed too. “No but he will get exactly what he deserves.”

I’m not sure I liked how she said that.

Degna slipped off the bed again. This time however she went over to a little end table next to the bed. I looked over and saw a goblet sitting there. But there was no drink to pour into it. Degna stood for several moments with her back to me. When she finally turned around, she had the goblet in her hand. She gave me a look, one that said that she wasn’t quite sure about something. Instead of bringing the goblet over to me however, she set it back on the table. She walked back over to the bed and sat down next to me, taking the dress and putting it aside.

“What if I told you that there was a way you could wear whatever you like and no one would ever say anything wrong to you about it?”

I smirked. “I’d say wake up.”

She smiled weakly. Then she took a deep breath. Instead of saying anything, she took my hands in hers. They were ice cold to the touch, which surprised me. A warm bodied girl like her. Then she leaned forward, kissing me. First, it was gentle but then it started to get a bit rough and forceful. She pushed me back onto the bed, showing me more of that strength of hers. She climbed on top of me, ripping open my shirt. I found myself enthralled by it all. I’d never been with a girl before and never dreamed of being with one who was rough like this. A small part of me kind of liked it though. I was always kind of weak and submissively, bold in some things but scared in a lot more. Like telling my parents the truth about me. I started the conversation a hundred times in my head but was never truly ever able to finish it. I always chickened out in the end. Right now, I felt like doing the same but there was something about letting her take charge that made everything totally different. Even if she did like to bit my lip when she kissed.

She bit pretty hard too. “Damn” I snapped as she literally sunk her teeth into my bottom lip, even pulling slightly.

I pushed her back a bit. When I did, I saw some of my blood dribbling down her chin. The look of horror on her face scared me.

“Shit” she gasped, turning her head away. “I’m sorry…I can’t….I mean I want too but I just can’t do this…”

I gently touched her arm. “Its ok, we can just talk. We don’t have to do anything. Maybe next time”

I wiped my bloody lip on the back of my hand.

She shook her head. “There isn’t going to be a next time, not for you, not if I don’t do this.”

I’m not sure I really liked what I just heard.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, slowly sliding away from her.

I think there’s a few things I neglected to mention about the room. For one thing, the lights were all off. And for another the window was open, allowing what little moonlight there was to stream inside. It was the only light in the room. It was how I was able to see the things she’d been doing before. Now when Degna turned around to face me, I saw something else, something that turned the blood in my veins cold. Her eyes, they weren’t normal. They were silver in color and they were glowing. I stumbled bit, finding myself pressed against the backboard. Degna sighed lowering her head.

“You were special, not like the other guys.” She wiped at her eyes, possibly wiping away tears. “You were meant to be my first, meant to be my Convert.”

“Convert?”

She nodded. “We chosoe one every year, guys like you, like us or rather like we used to be. It’s something to do with the change, we bite them and they become like us.”

She reached up and quickly touched her chest.

“You said bite? You mean like…”

She nodded. “I didn’t believe it either until they did it to me. It was freshmen orientation; they saw how lost and confused I was. Theresa did, said I was special. Told me that I was to help recruit others into the fold. They’d been scouting you too. They let in fresh blood every so often; you were supposed to be the second one.”

Fresh blood? What the hell was she talking about?

She slid off the bed and walked over to her robe, picking it up off the floor. She put it on quickly and turned to me, her strange eyes glowing in the dark. “I can’t do it though, not to you.”

She grabbed the black dress and threw it at me. “You need to get out of here; you need to live your life to the fullest. I was stupid, weak.”

I got off the bed, leaving the dress where it was. I walked over to her as she turned from me, placing my hands gently on her shoulders.
“If converting me is all you have to do…”

She shook her head. “No, you lose everything. I can’t do that to you. We have to wear loads of sun block to even go to class and even then, we can’t stay in the direct sunlight. I’m from Tampa, I can’t even go home. Can you imagine how bad that would be” She shook her head again, crying. “We have to get out of here; I have to get you out of here.”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the door quickly. She grabbed the knob but it opened before she could even turn it. AS soon as it was open, a figure stood there. She was outlined in the faint light coming from the hall. Degna looked up into her face and then turned back to me, tears running down her cheeks. I looked into her glowing silver eyes and they were the last thing I saw before her entire body exploded into a shower of dust that crumbled gently to the floor. The figure stepped into the room, revealing herself to be Wisteria, holding a wooden stake in her hand.

She shook her head, toeing the black robe on the floor. It was all that was left of Degna, the girl I might have loved, the girl that wanted to save me.

“Such a waste” said Wisteria, tossing the stake into the corner of the room. “She was a sweet girl, had those doe eyes that men melted into. She’s going to be a hard one to replace.” Wisteria sighed. “Oh well, moving on.”

I looked from the pile to the door and back to the pile. I took a chance and made a run for it. I didn’t get very far. Wisteria put a hand out, barely touching me in the chest. I flew backwards through the room, landing hard on the bed. She laughed loudly, walking slowly toward me. She crawled onto the bed, moving on top of me, quickly pinning my arms down.

“She was innocent.”

Wisteria laughed. “None of us are innocent, not anymore. She was special, like you, like I was when it happened to me all those years ago. Now I’m ever more special, the best woman in the world. You have no idea how could it feels” Then she smiled, revealing her fangs. “But you will”.

I tried to struggle but it was no use. “I’ll fight it, I’ll be like her. I won’t let you do this to anyone else.”

She laughed. “You’re the last for the year sweetie. We’ve filled the quota. It’s a shame for you that you didn’t accept so willingly. But that can’t be helped now.” She ran her hand along my cheek then gently touched my hair. “Such lovely hair, I think I’m going to enjoy braiding it for you.”

A tear rolled down my cheek as she leaned in and sunk her sharp fangs into my neck. I screamed as the world sucked around me and the blackness came.

Steve sat impatiently in the little Goth room. He was always an impatient person, hated waiting. Being the youngest of five, he found himself constantly at the end of things. His older brothers hogged the showers in the morning, all the food during meals, even the car when he learned how to drive. His parents didn’t help either, always telling him that life was worth the wait. When he finally got out of the house, got to college, he thought things were going to be different. But it turns out the lines were just longer and the wait even crazier. It was like all his life everyone was trying to force him to wait for something, for anything.

He was tired of all the damn waiting.

Now here he was tonight waiting some more. He looked at his watch and groaned, finally pushing up from the freaky chair. Two hours, two fucking hours. That’s how long those bitches had him waiting tonight. Hell even his dweeby, faggy roommate got to go off with a hot chick. But no not him, not Steve the Waiter. It pissed him off. He wanted to trash the damn place. He looked around the room at the black curtains and the dark wood furniture. There was a fake fireplace with a creepy picture above the mantle. The girl in it looked a lot like that Wisteria chick but she was dressed all funky. Wearing some old person’s dress, her hair down up in a bun. It was probably her ancestor or something. He scoffed, wondering if the guy who boned her once upon a time had to wait for it.
Stupid bitches.

What pissed him off the most was that they took Kyle first. Kyle of all people, Kyle over him. He thought Kyle was cool at first, a little strange with his gothy stuff but still cool. They had some stuff in common, played some of the same games. But after living with him, for a bit he couldn’t help but notice how truly gay Kyle was. The guy wore lipstick and polished his nails for Christ’s sake. Hell he wouldn’t be surprised if the dick wore women’s underwear too. Then somehow, through some miraculous miracle, Kyle lands a hottie. Ok so he didn’t land her but close enough. The chick started macking out with him in the middle of the costume store. She was scary hot and she picked Kyle.

Fucking Kyle, fucking pink haired chick. Fucking stupid sorority bitches.

He started to pace, cursing, using every word he could think of. He should of left, hell he wanted to leave. The only reason he didn’t was the possibility of finally getting some tail. He got a lot in high school but he was definitely looking for some Grade A college girl goodness. Now he had the potential to land the best kind: sorority girl. It pissed him off that he was the only one not getting some too. The other guys were off with their chicks, probably screwing the hell out of them. He heard some moaning earlier, even some screams. It was probably that pussy dressed like a clown, first time and all. But the girls must have really known how to put out because none of those guys had yet to come back here.

Shit, they’re having a good time and here he was fucking waiting.

He looked at his watch and cursed. “Fuck it, I’m out of here.”

He stomped out of the parlor, making sure he was as loud as possible. He got halfway to the door when he heard someone clear their throat.

“Leaving already, Mr. Tobias” said a voice.

He turned and saw that Wisteria chick standing at the top of the stairs, a robed figure behind her.

He shrugged. “I have class in the morning, thought I’d turn in early for a change.”

Wisteria sighed. “What about your roommate?”

Steve laughed. “Kyle is a big boy, can take care of himself. Besides I’m sure that little hottie is doing a good job of that.”

Wisteria smiled. “That she did. It’s a shame that you’re leaving so soon though, I have a friend here who was dying to meet you.”

That piqued his interest. He looked past Wisteria to the girl standing next to her. He couldn’t see much of the girl because she was hooded but he could tell she was a hottie. She was tall too, he liked them tall. He rubbed the back of his head. “Well seeing as she’s here, I might as well stay for a few more minutes.”

“Excellent” said Wisteria as she took the girl gently by the hand and led her down the stairs. “He wants to play with you after all Kaitlin my sweet, why don’t you show him a good time.”

Steve went back into the parlor, sitting in his chair. He rubbed his hairs together then blew on them, sniffing them to check his breath. He supposed it was good enough. Wisteria and the girl came into the room. The girl let go of Wisteria’s hand and walked over to Steve. She didn’t waste any time, straddling his lap quickly. He caught a peek down her robe, getting a nice look at her chest. They were at least a C, just how he liked them. He licked his lips, grinning happily.

“Hey babe why don’t you drop that hood so I can see that pretty face of yours.”

“Whatever you say, baby?” she said in a sexy, sultry voice.

She leaned up and dropped the hood, revealing the beauty underneath. Skin as white as porcelain, hair that was long and black. She was one of those gothy chicks with too much eyeliner but he could deal with that. He even liked the little silver ring in her bottom lip; it made her glossy black lips looked delectable. She leaned back, pulling at the tie of the robe, shaking her bottom as the robe slid away. She was wearing red see-through lingerie, just like he liked it. She reached up and brushed a stray strand of hair from her face with long black nails. Something about the gesture clicked. He squinted his eyes, getting a really good look at her.

What he saw boggled the mind.

“Kyle?” he asked, shocked.

“What do you think Steve, the makeup look good on me now?” she said, smiling evilly, revealing pearly white teeth and fangs.

Steve screamed as the girl who had once been Kyle lunged forward and bite viciously into his neck, sinking her brand new fangs into his juicy flesh.

A small part of Kyle wept inside his head, now a prisoner to the lust of Katie, Wisteria’s latest creation. He tried to fight it, tried to scream out but he was gone. He could feel himself slipping away, being consumed by the monster. The last words he thought before he fell into darkness forever were those of his mother, words that he wasted until now:

Life is Precious.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

-----

Author's Note: For those of you who don't know, Life is Precious spawned a universe that I call the DarkRealms Universe. This is the sequel to that story so if you haven't read the first one, I don't recommend you read this one until you have. There story will set up a lot of the universe rules so anyone who wants to write in it, this should help out a lot. If you want to join the Universe, PM me and pitch me your idea, we'll go from there.I'd like to thank djkauf for the editing.

-----

Blood; she wanted it, she craved it, she needed it more than anything in the whole world. As she sat in the small office, listening as the little man prattled on all she could think about was the blood coursing through his veins. There was a vein in particular that was drawing her eye, a throbbing one on his neck, pulsating as he spoke. If she closed her eyes, it was almost as if she could see the blood flowing through it, tempting her to lounge across the desk and suck him dry. The only thing keeping her from doing so of course was the Code. That and a solemn promise that the humans were off limits during the day. Besides what kind of first impression would she make if she jumped onto the Dean of Admissions and sank her fangs into his juicy neck.
“Miss Cross” the man had stopped prattling. “Are you all right?”

For a moment, she had to remember that was her name. Things were still really fuzzy but she knew her name was Katrina Cross and that this was her first day of school. She also knew she was eighteen years old, an only child and a scholarship student. At least that’s what the school records said. Most of it was false, made up to hide the fact that Katrina Cross was actually only two weeks old. Her real name was…well….that didn’t really matter. What mattered was that two short weeks ago---on Halloween night in fact---she was reborn anew. Her new life was christened with the taking of her first victim, a fellow student named Steven whom she enjoyed thoroughly. After a wonderful night of playing with him, he was sent on his way, his mind wiped clean of the whole event.

Such was the life of a vampire.

Such was her life now, her new life.

She finally decided to answer the little bald man. “I’m terribly sorry Mr. Torres; I’m a bit flustered this morning.”

Being a vampire had its perks. One of which was the ability to wrap morons like him around her little finger. All she had to do was flutter her eyelashes and show a bit of skin and men were putty in her hands. She twisted a bit in her chair, allowing him a nice view down her low cut top. Mr. Torres only glanced briefly, averting his eyes like he was staring at something forbidden. The blood in his veins only pulsed more, making it all the harder for her to keep from tearing the fuck out of him.

She fidgeted in the chair, digging her nails into the wooden armrests. It was still very hard to control the urges.

Mr. Torres recovered from looking down her top. He cleared his throat before continuing. “I’ve set up a freshman advisor for you; I can schedule a meeting if it’s more convenient. I’ve already spoken to your sponsor too; Wisteria Chambers is one of our most gifted students.”

She smiled. “She’s been a heaven sent blessing to me, sir”.

If only the damn fool knew the half of it. Wisteria was her Mistress, her Maker, her World. She owed everything to her. If not for Wisteria, she would have been a lost soul wandering around this world, blundering through life like the rest of them. Living but not really being alive. She was lost before being found and when that day came, it was definitely like finding the light. It’s a shame that she couldn’t remember more of her former life before two weeks ago. Wisteria told her there wasn’t much to remember. She was lonely and hopeless, drifting through life without truly living it.

Then the Halloween party came and Wisteria rescued her. She claimed that Katie wanted it, that she begged to be converted. Wisteria had no reason to lie to her so it had to be true. But there was still doubt, still something nagging at the back of her mind.

“If there’s anything else you might need,” said Mr. Torres, signaling the end of the meeting.

Katie smiled and stood up, straightening out the hem of her extremely short skirt. Torres’s eyes lingered on her legs for a second before finding her chest again then the wall. The man had to be five foot five, short when compared to her six foot three---in heels of course. She practically towered over the little man. I felt good to look down on him, made her feel like she had all the power in the room. She smirked, hell she did have all the power. The man was clay and she was the artist, ready to sculpt and mold him into whatever she wanted.

Instead, she held out her hand, which he gently took. “Thank you for seeing me, Mr. Torres.”

She made it sound like the arrangement of this meeting was her idea. In truth, he was the one who wanted to meet with her. Instead, Torres smiled and nodded numbly. She patted him on the cheek before giving her butt a little shake out the door. There was nothing against giving the man a little show. As soon as she got into the hall, Torres’ middle-aged secretary shot her a dirty look. Katie smirked as she sauntered by the old hag’s desk and out of the office. As soon as she hit the hall, she tried not to look too desperate as she made haste to the nearest restroom. As soon as she got inside, she slammed the door shut and locked it.

She scanned the stalls, knowing that there was no one inside. But just to be on the safe side she rushed into the one on the end. She dropped on the toilet, tearing open her bag. She rummaged inside quickly, finding her prize: a small glass vial filled with a thick red liquid. Blood, her emergency supply. She popped the cork and downed it in one quick gulp, moaning as it made its way down her throat. She savored every last bit of it, even going so far as to lick the remnants off her lips. The blood was meant to tide her over, sustain her until she got back to the house in a couple of hours. But she knew it was going to be hard to get through the rest of the day without feeding.

The Blood Lust was hardest on the newbies. After being turned, it took weeks to get girls like her accustomed to it. After the party, she was rushed off to an isolation room and for the next few days, force fed blood from plastic pouches, procured from a local blood bank. It was the only way to sate her blood lust, to help acclimate her body to the intense cravings. The “surge” would pass apparently, it happened to all fledglings. But those first few days were the worst. For days, blood was all she could think about, it was constantly in her thoughts, plaguing her dreams even. Isolation and moderation, they were the keys to dealing with the newbies. Yesterday was her first day out of the Red Room. The Lust was still there but it was starting to be easier to control. The little vial in her purse was meant for emergencies, just in case the cravings got to be too much to handle. She was confident when she left the house this morning that she wasn’t going to need it. Now she knew why the others were laughing. They knew and they mocked her because she thought she could control it.

She sighed heavily, staring at the empty vial in her hand. Then she cursed, pissed that she gave in so easily.
After staring at the empty vial for longer than she wanted, she slipped it back into her purse and left the stall. She paused at the mirror before leaving the room, marveling at the pale raven haired beauty reflecting back at her. For some reason the girl in the mirror was foreign to her but she wasn’t sure why. There was a huge hole in her life where recognition should be. Was this not the same girl she saw before the change? The first time she saw herself she couldn’t help but think that she was seeing herself for the first time. It scared her to think that maybe more had changed than she originally thought or was told. I’m the same person, right?

Before leaving, she huffed in disgust. Her lips needed touching up again. She reached into her purse and pulled out her lipstick, making sure to give them a new coating. In school she tried to play down the whole Goth thing so no lip ring and a normal color, today it was a light purple. She still had the ring in her left eyebrow and several in her ears, four in one, three in the other. Then there were the other accessories, lots of rings, bracelets and her Ankh necklace, a gift from Wisteria the night she was “born”. All of it was topped off today by her low cut top, short black skirt and black boots. It was a killer look, the look of someone that wanted to be noticed.

She finished up then left the bathroom. Outside there was a girl waiting, who gave her a nasty look before making a snide comment too.

“There are other people in this school you know.”

Annoyed, Katie put on a show, flashing the little bitch her fangs.

The girl rolled her eyes. “Fucking freak.”

Katie smirked, licking her lips. “And proud of it, bitch.”

She walked away, putting a sway in her step. Girls like that pissed her off. It was annoying when the food talked back like that, too. It also annoyed her that there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. If that bitch had been a guy, she could have made him walk in there and put his head in a toilet. But she wasn’t and as such, Katie’s powers didn’t work on her. The power of persuasion only worked on men for some reason. She could try to suck the little bitch’s blood but without being able to persuade her it would be damn near impossible.

She tried to put the girl out of her mind as she made her way to her first class.

As a freshman, most of her classes were in lecture halls, usually with more people than she could count. She went up the stairs to the second floor and slipped into the back, the class just starting when she arrived. She found a seat in the far corner, hoping that it was satisfactory. Thankfully she was the only one that wanted the corner. She sat down quietly. She hated that she had to take so many general courses, wishing that she could take everything in her major. Her major was psychology but for some reason that felt wrong. She wasn’t sure why.

Classes went by slowly. After the first one, she went straight into a second, then had an hour break. Most people either went to lunch or the library to study. That’s where her vampirism paid off. Vampires apparently processed information differently than humans, meaning that studying wasn’t needed. If they read something, they automatically memorized it. As for eating, it wasn’t really needed. She supposed she could pretend to be normal and go to one of the many dining halls like the rest of the lemmings but she had no need to do so. There was something about pretending to be normal that made her feel as far from normal as possible. Besides being in a room with all those people made her hungry. So instead, she made her way out the door and toward the nearest exit.

Before stepping out of the building, she took a deep breath. She hated her schedule. Half of her six classes were at night, which meant the others were during the day. She had one more class to go to and it was on the other side of the campus. She cursed her luck or lack thereof. There were apparently a lot of misconceptions about vampires. Chief among them was the fact that sunlight burned them to a crisp. That was a lie---ok, well half of a lie. They could go out in the sun but never in direct sunlight without sun screen and never in the normal sun for more than an hour at a time. Walking from building to building was ok but if she decided to go sit in one of the outdoor quads for instance, the longer she sat there the worse she would start to feel.

She wasn’t sure what the ultimate punishment would be but she wasn’t about to find out, either.

So she left the building quickly, wincing as the sun beamed down on her. It caused her skin to sting and drew attention to the fact that was a bit paler than everyone else. The town of Ravencrest wasn’t LA where everyone was tan but people here had more cheerful complexions than her and her Sisters. So she wasted no time making her way to the next building, glad that it connected to the rest of them. Her last day class was biology, one that she definitely wasn’t looking forward too. Just thinking about all that stuff made her exceptionally hungry.

She managed to make it to the science building without too much trouble then decided to linger about the classroom. There was a pai of benches against the one wall, which she sat at. For a while, she was by herself, which suited her just fine. She abhorred small talk. After a while though, another girl appeared. She sat at one of the benches across from her. Katie tried to ignore her but it was pretty hard. The girl had shocking pink hair. Something about her was vaguely familiar though. Katie couldn’t help but stare. The girl was looking off into the distance but eventually their eyes locked. When they did, the girl looked startled. Her eyes opened wider and her mouth formed a little O of surprise.

“You can see me,” she gasped.

Katie rolled her eyes. How could she not, the girl had bright pink hair.

“Ummm, you’re sitting right across from me, moron.”

The girl smiled. Then something weird happened. It was almost as if she floated across the room. Katie watched her walk but it was as if she glided too. The next thing she knew the girl was sitting next to her.

“You can really see me?”

Katie sighed. “This game is boring me. Yes I can see you; you’re sitting right next to me, invading my space now.”

The girl ignored her. “Holy shit, this is fantastic. You’re the first person that’s been able to see me for two weeks.”

Great a nut job. “Look I’m not sure what you’re on but you’re pissing me off. Trust me when I say that I’m not the person you want to piss off.”

The girl laughed. “You have no idea how hard it’s been to get people to notice me. I’ve tried everything. Eventually I thought if I just followed my old schedule maybe something would click, maybe I’d stumble onto the reason I’m stuck here and move on.”

Katie groaned. This girl was now really pissing her off. “Look, nut girl, it’s been fun but I’m really pissed now.” She got to her feet, her mane of hair whipping around angrily.

The girl got up with her, reaching out her. “You can’t go…I need you…”

Katie tried to pull away but the girl lunged for her. As soon as she did so, one of the girl’s hands passed right through Katie’s chest. An explosion of icy pain followed and something else. There was an image in her head, the girl’s face and something else: her name. Katie gasped, pushing further away. The girl gasped too, pulling back, gliding---yes gliding---away from the stunned vampire.

The name rolled out of Katie’s mouth before she knew was happening. “Degna?”

How did she know this freaky girl’s name?

The girl looked stunned. “How did you…?” Then her eyes widened. “Oh my God…its you. What has that bitch done?”

Katie pushed farther away, her back against the wall. There was something about this girl, something that scared the hell out of her. Katie squinted her eyes and realized with a shock that the girl wasn’t completely all there. She was there but Katie could see right through her. Holy shit! “What the fuck are you?” she gasped, baring her fangs.

She hissed like a wild cat, hoping to scare off this whatever it was.

The girl thing looked unfazed. “You have to listen to me. You’re not who you think you are…she’s done something to you…something wrong….come with me and maybe I can help.”

The thing reached out for her. Katie rolled away. “Get the fuck away from me”

She turned and ran. Vampires were superior to humans in every way, which included speed and strength. She tore through the halls, going faster than anyone could see. She blinked by several people, whipping out the doors and through the campus. Everything was a blur as she ran until she made her way to the house. There were probably a few girls around, sitting in one of the many parlors or down in the basement, enjoying a drink. She bolted right up the stairs and into her room, slamming the door behind her.

Then she collapsed to her knees and sobbed, tears of blood rolling down her pale cheeks.

She cried on the floor for a while until there was a light knocking on the door. She didn’t answer but didn’t have to. A moment later, the door opened of its own accord and Wisteria stepped into the room. She was dressed to kill today, baby tee and denim skirt. She dropped down on the floor next to Katie and took her in her arms, rocking her gently as she allowed Katie to cry on her shoulder.

“It’s ok, precious, why don’t you tell me all about it.”

Katie sobbed and lied, telling her Mistress a story about the blood lust and how it was hard to control. She wasn’t sure why she lied but she didn’t want Wisteria to think she was a freak.

Wisteria counseled her youngest charge with a soothing voice. “It’s ok, precious”

She helped Katie to her feet and led her over to the bed.

“Lie down here” continued Wisteria “and mother will make it all better.”

Katie nodded, obediently doing as she was told. Wisteria smiled as her eyes turned jet black and Katie dropped instantly to sleep.

I felt like I was floating, bouncing around in a black void. The strangest part is that I can’t really remember how I got here. In fact, I couldn’t really remember much of anything. Everything in my head was fuzzy with only vague, distorted details. There was this overwhelming feeling like I didn’t belong here, coupled with another feeling that I was elsewhere too. I tried to think about it but the more I tried the harder it got. At least I was somewhere now, even if I didn’t know where that somewhere was. I tried to wrap my mind around where this somewhere might be though. But it was hard to figure out the place when you couldn’t even figure out how you got there.

I tried to think back, hopefully finding the memory I was looking for. The last memory I could find was the party, Steve and I went into the house together. There was a bunch of girls in black robes and they separated us into groups of five. Steve and I went into a room together with five other guys. Then a girl came and got me---a girl named Degna. As soon as I thought her name, everything came back like a flood. Holy shit, Degna was a vampire. Not only that but every girl in the house was one too. I remembered things very clearly now. She was supposed to turn me into one as well but for some reason she refused to do it. Then someone else came into the room, she killed Degna and then…then…God why was the next part so hard to remember.

I racked my brain, trying to find the memories.

I remember her voice and her face. I think I even remembered a name: Wisteria. Yes, that was it Wisteria. She was tall, dark and beautiful. She was dangerous too. She killed Degna and then she came after me. I tried to fight her but she was too strong, she threw me across the room onto the bed. Then she straddled me, holding me down. Things were pretty fuzzy after that. I vaguely remember her biting me and then blacking out. It should have been over but it wasn’t. Everything else was hazy like now. I could only see images, flashes: a silver cup, some chanting, Wisteria’s putting her blood in the cup and then she spoke to me. The words, I could remember them, though.

“You’re going to be such a loyal Sister to the cause. Now, now, no tears my dear. Soon you’re going to be reborn and this pathetic human life of yours will be a mere memory.”

She forced me to drink from the cup then there was more chanting, strange words. Things were fuzzy again. The next flash of images were very strange. It was like looking through a foggy lens. I was walking but I was no longer in control. I saw other girls, dressed in black robes. I recognized one as that girl Theresa, the one who invited Steve to the party. The others had fuzzed out faces but there’s a blonde, another girl with a blue streak in her hair, one with long braided black hair. They came to me and hugged me, calling me “Sister” and telling me “Welcome”. Then they pulled off my clothes and dressed me in one of those robes. When they were done, Wisteria spoke again:

“You’re so beautiful now,” she said, leading me over to a mirror. I saw a girl reflected back at me, one that looked a lot like me. “My sweet, darling Katrina.”

“Ready to serve, Mistress”

Those words, that voice. They came out of me but they weren’t mine. We left the room after that, went down some stairs. Then I was in the room with Steve, moving toward him. I tried to fight, tried to regain control. But it was no use. Steve smiled at the sight of me, seemed to welcome me with open arms. He told me to drop my hood, called me baby. I did as he asked and then he saw my face. I then leaned forward and sunk my fangs into his neck, savoring his screams. I shook my head. No not me, it wasn’t me. As soon as I bit him, I was gone. I was gone and then I was here. What the hell happened? I remember fading away, being pulled into the darkness and then black. The next moment I was here, floating in this void like I was now.

But why could I remember again, why could I think?

Something happened. I could feel it at the back of my mind. There was a touch of cold, something freezing passed through my body. Not this body, the one that Wisteria perverted. My true body. I’m not sure what it was but it was enough to reach me somehow, to wake me from whatever slumber it was that I somehow fell in to. It was…God I wish I knew more than that. How long had it been since the party? Was it the same month, the same year even? I ran my hands through my hair, it felt real, it felt just like before. I looked down and saw my body, my real body. So the woman was only on the outside. Inside I was still me, inside I was still human. But what did that matter when I was a monster on the outside.

I screamed as loud as could in hopes that maybe she would hear me. Maybe I could reach the bitch who was living my life and somehow force her out of it. She wasn’t real after all, not really. I was real; I was the true owner of this body. I’m not sure who she was but she wasn’t me. Wisteria did something, created her somehow. It was the only explanation. Because I was me, I knew I was me and I definitely wasn’t her. I’m not sure who she was but she was stealing my life. And I’ll be damned if I was going to let her keep it. I would scream and kick and carry on until she heard me, until they all heard me. They me away, took the most precious thing in the world from me and I’d be damned if I was going to let those bitches get away with it.

I screamed again even louder this time.

I wanted to scream a third time but I had another plan. I’m not sure where I was but there had to be a way out of here. I looked around. Everything was black but there had to be an exit. This was my head right, my own private place. I knew my head; it’d been mine for the last eighteen years of my life. I knew everything about my head in fact so I had to know a way out of this place. I took a deep breath, wondering if I even needed to do that here. But I took a chance, then picked a direction. I reared back, somehow pushing off the air. As soon as I did so, I jetted forward, spiraling like a deadly missile. There was nothing stopping me, nothing to crash into or hold onto. I spun through the inky blackness, whirling wildly out of control.

But there was no need to be out of control. This was my place after all. Therefore if it was my place then I created the rules. I stopped. I stopped dead in the spiral and my feet rested against the blackness. There was something there even though I couldn’t see it. It was a ledge of some kind, a ledge in my own mind. I envisioned another ledge, this one above me. Then I pushed off the current one. True enough the new ledge was there to land on. I did it again and again. I kept going upwards, moving with a wild, reckless abandon. I had no idea where I was going or if I was even making progress but I was going to find out. Time had no relevance here though. So five minutes or five hours, it meant nothing. I just kept climbing, pushing from one perch to the next.

I didn’t feel tired, didn’t feel winded or strained. I kept going, up and up. It did get tedious after a while though. I wanted it to stop, I needed it to stop. Then it did. The ledge beneath my feet was the last one; I’m not sure how I knew that. I waved my hands above my head but there was nothing more. There was nothing there because I wished nothing there. I was tired of jumping; now I wanted out of here. I closed my eyes, envisioning a door. When I opened them, I saw it. It was a large white door, like the one from home. It was floating far above my head, in the middle of the inky blackness. I smiled, gritted my teeth and pushed off with all my might. I launched straight for it, shouting as I did so. I grabbed for the knob, wrapping my fingers tightly around it as I did so. Then I hung there, dangling with my feet kicking. I tried turning the knob but it wouldn’t budge. Putting force into the turn did little. So I continued to hang there, wondering if this was as far as I was allowed to go.

Then I heard it, it sounded like voices. They were muffled at first but upon pressing my ear to the door, I could hear them clearly: there were three of them, one of which was very familiar: Wisteria.

“Lucy, quick go get Charlotte, she’s tossing and squirming.”

“As you command, Mistress” another voice, which I assumed was Lucy.

“I told you it wasn’t going to hold,” said the other voice in the room, there was a bit of an accent to it, possibly French.

“It’s holding, it just needs more reinforcement.”

The French voice laughed. “You should have just given her to me. I don’t mind wipe to create loyalty.”

“No you smother them with your wits” sneered Wisteria “or maybe it’s your…assets.”

The French voice scoffed. “This coming from the woman who has to brainwash her new recruits.”

Wisteria groaned. “What are you doing here anyway?”

“Entertainment. It’s enjoying to watch you fail.”

Wisteria growled. “That’s enough out of you. Leave my sight before I send you to meet your latest daughter.” There was another scoff from the French girl before Wisteria added quickly. “Or is it that you’ve already replaced her with that spunky red head?”

The French Girl scoffed. “This is going to fail mark my words and when it does, I hope she stakes you, my Queen.”

There was venom in the way she said my Queen. It was clear that the French girl and Wisteria were not exactly friends.

A door slammed. Wisteria screamed for “Charlotte”. A few moments later, another door---or perhaps the same one---opened. There was some running, possibly the Charlotte that she was referring to.

Then a voice spoke, this one with a southern accent. “I’m here, Mistress.”

“Finally” scoffed Wisteria. “Do your thing and hold her down. I need to readminister the spell but I can’t have her thrashing around as I do so.”

“Do you think that wise, my lady?”

I could almost see Wisteria narrowing her eyes at this girl.

“You forget your place, Charlotte.”

“Apologies, Mistress, it will be done.”

There was some movement, I could hear them shuffling about. Then I felt something, something strong. It was a pressure, a pressure pushing down on me. The door wavered, nearly shaking me from it. I held firm, grasping the knob even tighter if that was possible. There was no way I was going to let them shake me back to the bottom of this Void. They stopped talking but they were chanting now. No, not them, only Wisteria. It was familiar words, the same ones from before in fact. Things started to get fuzzy, my new world slowly starting to blur around me. I shook my head, fighting desperately to hold on. But my fingers were starting to feel numb and I was losing my grip.

No, I won’t let this bitch make me go away again.

I tried tightening my grip but it was no use. I was losing all feeling in my fingers and the fuzziness was spreading. I even found myself yawning and cursed. Damn it, I was so close. My numb fingers slowly lost their grip and I found myself falling. I tried to summon up something to stop my fall but it was no use. My mind couldn’t concentrate. I tried to visualize the ledges again, hoping to bring one up to stop my fall. At least maybe I could catch myself before I went back to wherever it was before. But the ledges weren’t coming and I was losing myself again, slipping in and out, disappearing from the void. I tried fighting again, forcing back with whatever willpower I possessed but it was no use.

I continued to fall, screaming out as the darkness consumed me once again.

Katie woke to a pounding headache. She blinked a few times, a bit of fogginess blurring her vision. When things were clear she realized she was on her back and thirsty as all hell. Groaning, she tried to sit up but couldn’t. There were thick leather straps across her chest. Similar straps were holding both her wrists and ankles as well. She panicked, thrashing and pulling, trying to break free. What the fuck was happening? Who the hell did this to her? Thrashing didn’t seem to get her anywhere so she stopped. She looked around the room, trying to figure out what was going on. The first thing she noticed was that the walls were red, the same blood splattered walls that she stared at for the last two weeks or so. She groaned again, now knowing exactly where she was it.

She was in the Red Room, the place where they put new fledgling vampires. She let out a sigh, wondering if this wasn’t some kind of punishment. The last thing she remembered was coming home and sobbing in her bedroom. Then Wisteria came into the room and she woke up here. She tried to rack her brain but came up with nothing. What the hell happened to her? Did she regress again? Back when she was first put into the room, Wisteria told her that there were several different kinds of girls at the house. The good ones were able to conquer their Blood Lust and return to society, capable of living with humans. The bad ones were the ones who died in the room, incapable of living with the cravings. Then there were girls in-between, the ones who kept lapsing back and forth.

Wisteria even had a name for girls like that, she called them Deviants. They were the ones who functioned in society properly until the blood lust took them. The Blood Lust was too powerful for them and they snapped, attacking everything in sight. Deviants were hard to control because the Blood Lust made them stronger and extremely violent. They were rare though. The last deviant happened during the 30's apparently and it took twelve of her girls to finally put it down. Katie shuddered at the thought. Was she a Deviant? Was that why she was back in the Red Room. She thought back to the dean’s office. She really wanted to tear his throat out. It took every bit of will power to stop herself from doing so.

She started to cry, her tears rolling down her cheeks. She was a freak and now they were keeping her in here until they figured out what to do with her. It was the only reasonable answer. So much for immortality amongst the pathetic cattle called the human race. They’d probably keep her in here for weeks, starve her of blood then come in to finish the job. She just hoped they did it quick, cut off her head or staked her. She didn’t want a long, messy death.

Then she heard it, the tell tale sign of someone walking down the hall. She heard the tapping of the heels as it got closer. She cried even more and started to struggle again, in hopes that she could break her bonds and overcome the person when they came in. But it was no use. The other was too strong and the straps too tight. Vampires were stronger than normal humans but apparently, whoever made these straps took their abnormal strength into account. She started to struggle some more when she heard a key enter the lock. There was a grinding sound as the enormously large metal door pushed open, bringing with it a cool breeze and the smell of jasmine perfume.

Katie gulped. “You here to kill me now?”

There was more tapping of heels on concrete then chuckling. “I’m not here to kill you darling,” said a heavily accented southern voice.

A head popped into view above her own. It was Charlotte with her blue streaked blue hair and giant smile. Katie let out a sigh. She was one of the few girls of Wisteria’s that Katie had met. The others came and went at different hours so it was hard to know them all. At one time---according to Wisteria---there were about twenty or so of her girls in the house. Katie didn’t know how many Carmilla had but she did know not to ask.

“If you’re not my executioner then what am I doing here?”

Charlotte frowned. “You don’t remember?” Katie shook her head. “You relapsed a bit darling. It happens to the newbies sometimes. You went a bit on the loopy side and we brought you here. We got some blood in your system and kept you here until you stabilized. Wisteria was really worried about you, sweetie.”

Charlotte ran a finger through Katie’s bangs then let out a bit of a giggle. “You really thought they brought you here to kill you?”

Katie let out a laugh. “I thought maybe I was a Deviant.”

Charlotte chuckled and then her voice took on a cold edge, the bubbly accent vanishing. “If you were a Deviant, you wouldn’t be here right now.”

The coldness in her voice sent shivers up Katie’s spine. Charlotte was a really scary girl when she wanted to be. She was made even scarier by the rumors. Vampires were strong but because of her natural gift, Charlotte could apparently make herself even stronger, turning her skin rock hard, making herself nearly indestructible. A girl like that could scare even the most badass vampire.

The girls with the gifts made her jealous. Apparently, it was a part of the change; each girl had a special ability unique to her alone. Katie apparently didn’t have one. At least not one that she knew about. It was a common thing though; it usually took time for girls to discover their natural talent. Besides Charlotte, the only other person’s gift she knew about was Theresa. Apparently, Theresa could stay out in the sun for hours, basking in its wonderful glow. In fact she spent most of her time on the roof, sunbathing. Of course, she wore a lot of sun block just in case.

Katie cleared her throat. “So what happens now?”

Charlotte smiled big again, her bubbling charm returning. “You and I get to be roomies”

Katie smiled and nodded. Charlotte was a nice enough person but she was annoying as all hell, too. Besides her gift and apparent cold demeanor, she tended to kill with kindness. Katie liked her well enough but the thought of spending every moment with her at the house---Katie shuddered at the thought. But it made her think. “Why now? I mean, I’ve been on my own, I thought maybe Wisteria was going to let me stay in a single.”

Charlotte laughed. “It’s only for a while darling. Wisteria wants to make sure that you don’t relapse again. And if you do, she thinks I’ll have better odds of controlling you.”

In other words, if she freaked, Charlotte would be there to put her down. Wow, that was comforting.

“Now then let’s get you off this here cold table and dressed.”

It was then that Katie noticed that she was only wearing her bra and panties, blood soaked as they were. She felt a bit embarrassed. Charlotte didn’t seem to notice or if she did, she didn’t say anything. Instead, she made quick work of the straps, undoing them like a pro. Katie sat up, absently rubbing her wrists. There was no pain of course, her kind didn’t feel pain. It was more of a reflex reaction. She looked around the room, noticing the empty blood donor bangs on the floor. There were a lot of them, scattered among bloodstains old and new. On the far wall, there was a series of shackles, bolted heavily to the wall. Katie shuddered at those. She remembered them and not too fondly. After the change and the party, she was brought her. Wisteria had two girls shackle her to the wall and then they began the task of feeding her. Her memories of the experience were pretty shoddy but she remembered the shackles well enough.

After being freed, Katie hopped off the table. Charlotte brought a black robe and handed it to her. Katie pulled it on over her head. She gave Charlotte the once over and frowned. Here she was in a dull robe and Charlotte looked like she was ready for a night out on the town. She was dressed in a black corset that really showed off her assets and extremely tight black leather pants. It was clear the buxom blonde had a wild night planned for herself. Katie felt a pang of jealousy again. She was the one of the new girls in the house---the other was one of Carmilla’s girls. So far, the older girls hadn’t really given her the time of day, other than to say hello or nod to her in passing. As such, she was sorta left out of all the things they clearly did together, some of them doing it for decades even.

It sucked being the new girl.

“Going somewhere special,” she asked the southern beauty as the two of them left the Red Room and started walking down the narrow hall.

Charlotte nodded. “Yes, we are.”

“We?” Katie was sure her heart would have beat faster in excitement.

Charlotte giggled. “Ever heard of The Guardian?”

Katie nodded. “It’s a local bar, popular hangout for college kids. But there’s no way they’ll let me through the door, I’m only 18. I’m not old like you and the other girls.”

Charlotte laughed aloud. “Honey, I’m only 28.”

That blew her mind. “But I thought…”

Charlotte laughed again. “2000 actually. Joining the Sisters was the best moment of my life. But I’m sure I don’t need to tell you about that, do I?”

Katie numbly shook her head. She was surprised that Charlotte was so young. She acted much older. She didn’t dare tell Charlotte that, though. Instead, she smiled and kept her mouth shut, allowing Charlotte to lead her up through the bowels of the house. The House on the surface was there for appearances only. Girls lived there, newbies like her. But there were a lot of rooms below ground; she wasn’t sure how many exactly. But she did know there were a lot of underground passages, some were rumored to go for miles. Wisteria apparently had a whole set of rooms down here somewhere, complete with her own private sauna and swimming pool.

Finally, they reached the main house. Charlotte led her through the huge foyer and up the stairs. The house was quiet, which meant the girls were either in their own rooms or out on the town. When they reached the second floor, Katie looked out one of the hall windows. It was pitch black outside, barely a star in sight.

“How long was I out for?”

“Two days. But don’t worry; Wisteria cleared it with your professors. You had the flu but apparently you’re now on the mend.”

She led me further down the hall, finally stopping at a room at the end. I was a bit surprised because my room was at the other end of the hall. She didn’t say a word as she took out a key and unlocked her door. A big rule about this place---sorta an unwritten one actually---all the doors had keys. Apparently, vampires liked their privacy. Charlotte opened the door, stepping into the room with Katie close on her heels. The first thing Katie noticed was the jasmine. Like Charlotte, the room reeked of it. She looked around and found an incense burner on the corner of a white dresser. Half the room was decorated; there were lots of pictures of horses and cowboys without their shirts. Katie smirked at them, hoping that Charlotte didn’t see her.

She turned to the other side of the room, finding a bed and bare walls. But her large duffel was sitting on the bed and apparently, she had a dresser much like Charlotte’s. Katie sat on the edge of the bed, huffing. She didn’t have a lot of things to begin with. The only clothes she had were in the bag, most of which someone else bought for her. She wasn’t sure where her normal stuff was and no one would give her a straight answer when she asked. All Wisteria would say is “that life is over; this is your new one.”

“It’s a little barren right now,” said Charlotte, waving to Katie’s side of the room. “But I’m sure after you get more situated, you can add your own style, darling.”

Katie laughed. “Not sure I have one actually.”

The was a dull silence for a few minutes. Charlotte smiled weakly then smacked her forehead. “I almost forgot”. She walked over to a door, which had to be a closet and opened it up. She took out a bag and closed the door. “I got this for you, I think I got your sizes right.”

She handed Katie the bag. Katie peeked inside and smiled. At least Charlotte knew how she dressed. Inside was a corset very similar to her own but red. There was also a tight black skirt and some fishnets. Katie didn’t waste any time. She opened her duffel and took out some clean underwear then stripped out of the robe. She felt a bit embarrassed taking off her underwear in front of Charlotte. Charlotte seemed to realize it and turned away. Regardless, Katie stripped naked quickly then pulled on her clean stuff just as fast. As soon as they were done, she took her time. When she got the tights and skirt on, she asked Charlotte’s help with the corset. It didn’t take the two of them long and Katie loved how it gave her a little more cleavage up top.

“I’m sorry I don’t have a vanity for you but there was only room for one,” Charlotte pointed to her own. “You can use mine or we could get you a mirror.”
Katie nodded. She took her little makeup bag out of her duffel and took up Charlotte’s invitation. She sat at the vanity and applied her war paint like a pro, putting on her trademark black lipstick and eyeliner. She finished it off by putting in the piercings. She felt complete now, like the girl before was only a shade of her real self.

When she was finished, Charlotte appeared behind her. “You like that look?”

Katie bit her lip, keeping herself from lashing out. Instead, she said through gritted teeth. “What’s wrong with the way I do my makeup?”

Charlotte shrugged. “Too Goth for me.”

Instead of saying what she wanted to say---something she was sure to regret---Katie shrugged as well. That seemed to end it. After that, Katie went and retrieved her little purse. Charlotte smiled and the two of them left the room. After going down the stairs and out the door, Katie was surprised to see a cab already waiting. She wasn’t too surprised to see that the cabby had a glazed look. She turned to Charlotte who giggled as the man got out and opened the doors for him. Unlike Charlotte, Katie had yet to master the art of the Mesmer---that is putting dumb men into a trance and making them do things for them. Charlotte was clearly a pro at it though. After opening the door for them, the cabby got in and drove into town without saying a word.

Katie didn’t say much of anything the entire ride but Charlotte did. She was one of those talk up a storm types. She talked mainly about the town and the people in it, how that if you were here as long as she was you got to know pretty much everyone---except for the college students of course. They came and went but the locals were here forever. Katie knew all about that though, she also knew that it was against the rules to get too close to them. But apparently, Charlotte didn’t follow the rules because she was able to point out shops and tell her all about the people who owned them.

“I know that Wisteria says not to talk to the locals because we don’t age but where I come from its considered rude not to know your neighbors.”

Katie finally found something to say. “Don’t they realize you don’t age?”

Charlotte laughed. “Nope. It’s strange like that. The first four years I was here, they said hi to me every day. Then one day, they just plum forgot me. So I had to start all over again, which was mighty strange. It was like that for four years and then puff…I’m on my third time around getting to know everyone again.”

Katie couldn’t decide if Charlotte truly was as dumb as she sounded and looked or if it was all an act. Though it was kind of strange, the people forgetting who she was every four years. She couldn’t help but wonder if somehow Wisteria was involved with them forgetting.

“Here you are ladies,” said the cabby in a monotone.

“Thanks Hank” said Charlotte, kissing the man on the cheek and leaving the car without paying.

Katie followed suit, looking back as the cab drove off down the road and out of sight. Then she turned and faced the building in front of them. The Guardian was a local favorite, favored by the college crowd. There were a lot of other bars in town but this one had a quieter atmosphere. It was also favored by her kind. Probably because it was one of the oldest places in the town, built around the same time the town sprang up. It had this old world pub feel to it, made apparent by the large wooden sign dangling above the door. This one was carved to look like a shield, adorned with a knight holding a lance. Underneath was the name.

Charlotte entered first, Katie following quickly behind. It was strange because she was expecting to see an old rundown place as the front of the building looked like it had seen better days. But the inside was completely different, fully modern in fact. It still had an old world feel, everything was made out of wood and looked to be real old. But on closer inspection, it was all a façade, a trendy gimmick to make things appear that way. The place was jammed pack tonight, barely room to move. She followed as Charlotte weaved her way through the tables and drunken frat boys trying to grab both their asses. At the bar---which had this really cool Moose’s head above it----Charlotte procured them two stools. The bartender was busy helping a pair of flighty sorority bimbettes before turning to them.

Katie flushed at the sight of him. He was tall, dark and hunky. His muscular torso barely contained by his shirt, his tanned skin rippling in the dim light. Charlotte caught her looking and laughed. “He’s out of your league sweetie.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Charlotte laughed again. Then she finally got the bartender’s attention. “Hey Terrence, over her, two pints.”

The bartender---Terrence---nodded and went about to get their drinks.

Katie paled at the mention of pints. “I’m not sure…”

“Darling, you’re a vampire now, you can’t get drunk.”

When Terrence came with their drinks, Charlotte took hers happily. She took a large gulp, downing half of it. She wiped the foam from her mouth when she was done. Katie stared wide eyed, amazed. Especially when Charlotte took another large gulp and finished it off. Charlotte saw her look and laughed. “Darling I’m from Texas, this ain’t nothing.”

She ordered another. Katie looked down at hers and then slowly took a small sip. She was surprised to find that the drink tasted like nothing. Vampires could eat and drink normal food but not in large quantities. It helped them fit in a little more. But apparently nothing had any taste anymore, except blood. Strangely enough, that didn’t taste like blood, at least not what blood was supposed to taste like. To her it had almost a honey sweet taste to it. So there she sat slowly sipping her tasteless beer as Charlotte downed another. A couple of the guys nearby were watching with growing interest. It wasn’t everyday that a girl Charlotte’s size could pack them in like that after all. Katie preoccupied herself by turning and looking at the crowd. The beer was doing nothing to sate her thirst, her real thirst. She stared out at all the available men, trying to decide which one might have the best taste. Most of them were college guys but there were a few older ones, perhaps for a vintage taste. But as much as that interested her, she really wanted to find a dick head. Her eyes wandered over to an area where they had a wall of plasmas. There was group of drunk frat boys there, cheering on some ball team.
They were the perfect target.

She smiled sweetly and started toward the table. There were four of them, wearing red shirts with Greek letters on them. She knew fraternity; it was down the road from the Delta Beta Zeta House. The guys there---the name escaped her at the moment---were some of the more rowdier jackasses on campus. She overheard a pair of the girls talking about how one of them got arrested for possession and just the week before; two of them started a huge bar fight at the Marco Polo---another popular college hangout. The four of them were prime picking, one in particular. He was tall and stocky, his head shaved to the bone. He was guzzling away at the pitcher of beer was holding, slurping it like he was born in a barn. He was the one, she thought, his blood would taste so good.

She was halfway to the table, working up the perfect pick up line when she let her eyes wander. She shouldn’t have because she caught sight of someone in the corner, someone she didn’t want to see. It was the girl from the hallway, the one with the pink hair. She was standing right next to some half drunk pricks, both of them trying to hit on the scantily clad waitress. What surprised Katie was the fact that they weren’t hitting on the girl. She was standing right next to them, in a short black dress. Yet the two of them acted like she wasn’t even there.

That thought sent a shiver down her spine.

Katie quickly grabbed an older guy passing by. “Hey, can you see that pink haired girl over there?” She was pointing right at the girl.

The guy looked and laughed. “What do I get if I say I do?”

She spun him to face her. “Why don’t you go play with yourself in the bathroom?”

The glazed look came over him and he turned around, walking toward the restroom area. Katie smirked, proud of herself. He was her first successful Mesmer. She watched as he walked into the bathroom and turned around, nearly jumping out of her boots because the girl was right in front of her, barely touching nose-to-nose now.

“They can’t see me,” she said with a sigh. “No one cam except for you.”

Katie huffed. “You still on about that.”

“You know it’s true or else that guy back there would have seen me too.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about.”

She turned and started walking away, heading toward the restrooms herself. Anything to get rid of the crazy girl. “I know what you are,” shouted the girl, so loud that not even the music could drawn it out.

Katie froze in her tracks. She snapped around quickly, waiting for all the heads to turn in her direction. But they didn’t, in fact no one even flinched. The pink haired girl smirked and then did that gliding thing again, putting herself right in front of Katie. Katie took a step back, her veins running cold once again.

“What the fuck are you?”

The girl smiled. “You know what I am.”

Katie shook her head. “How do you know what I am?”

The girl smirked again. “Because up until a very short while ago, I was just like you---a vampire. But you know that or at least some part of you does. She did something to you, pushed your real self back into your head and created this false you, this fake bitch that you think you are.” The girl seemed to stare at her but not at her.

“You in there, Kyle? If you can hear me, show me some kind of sign.”

Katie shook her head. “You’re fucking crazy.”

“And yet you’re not denying it.”

The girl reached for her but she pulled away. “Get the fuck away from me, you freak.”

This girl was crazy. There was no one inside of her. She was Katrina Cross, Katie to her friends. There was nothing strange or unusual about that. She shook her head, laughed even. The girl smirked but Katie turned away, moving toward the door in a blink of an eye---before the strange girl could react. It wasn’t the front door; it was one of the side exits. She got out before setting off any alarms. There was a small alley between the bar and the building next door. She stopped there to thing. She turned around, half expecting the girl to follow her but she didn’t. What the hell was that freak’s problem anyway? She started to pace for a few seconds then decided to get out of the alley. She walked at a brisk pace toward the front of it, lost in her thoughts.

She should have been paying more attention before she never saw the shovel until it was too late. It smashed her in the face, knocking her flat on her back. Before she could react, a figure was on her and so was the shovel. It came down toward her head one more time and everything went black.

I opened my eyes and looked around. All I saw was darkness but it still brought a smile to my face. Darkness meant that I was still here, wherever here might be. I sat up and rubbed my head, moving down to my neck and shoulders. This time around, I didn’t forget where I was or how I got here. I was a bit confused though. Falling from the door, I was certain that I was going to go back to wherever it was that I came from. But here I was, still around and still very much conscious. I pulled myself to my feet and took stock of things. Apparently, I was able to accomplish what I’d been trying to do as I fell. I was standing on one of the ledges, the dark void still all around me.

I still couldn’t understand how I managed it though.

Whatever force but me here in the first place tried to push me back there. Now I was pretty certain I knew what that force was: Wisteria. I’m not sure how she did it exactly but it had to have something to do with that strange chanting. I heard it the first time too, right before I lost my body to her. This time around, it was different. I was able to fight back against it and that small bit of willpower on my part somehow enabled me to stay here.

I took a look around; there was still nothing but blackness. But this time I wasn’t as far down as before. That was at least something in my favor. Now all I do was get back up to the top and try again. I blew into my hands then rubbed them together. Before it had been a simple matter of concentrating and making it happen. It had worked pretty well up until I got to the door. For some reason I wasn’t able to open it. Which meant I either wasn’t concentrating enough or there was something keeping me from going through it. So this time I was going to have to be prepared for that. I closed my eyes and tried to visualize the same path as before. But this time instead of wanting to jump from ledge to ledge, I envisioned great big wings growing out of my back. If I was going up, I was going to do it in style.

When I opened my eyes, I felt a great weight on my back. I smiled, knowing that once again I’d been able to think it and make it true. I took a deep breath and stepped off the edge, half expecting to drop. Instead, the large wings on my back lifted me upwards. It didn’t take much to move, just a thought and I was flying. It was invigorating, soaring up through the darkness on my giant wings. I should have thought of this before but I was still unsure about things then. But not now. I’m not sure where this newfound confidence was coming from but I was glad to have it. I thought nothing of anything else but getting to that door and opening it this time.

I pushed harder and harder, soaring higher and higher. I closed my eyes, visualizing the door again. When I reopened them, it was there, hanging in midair, waiting just like before. I put all my willpower into the door, this time I wouldn’t fail. I got within inches of it when something streaked past me fast. It was small and fast, nearly knocking me off my course. I ignored it until another similar something flew across my field of vision again. It happened four more times, all too quick for me to see. But on the fourth time, I heard the flapping of wings. I groaned, there was something else in here with me. So whoever it was that was in control of me had decided to fight back, well I could handle that.

Closing my eyes again, I visualized a weapon. When I opened them, I had a gold sword in my hand. It didn’t take long for me to use it. Another flapping black shape zoomed by, this one deliberately trying to hit me. I swung the sword, slicing part of the wing. There was a loud screech and then the thing dropped like a lead balloon. The screech gave it away. Back at home, we used to have this little cabin we sometimes went too---deep in the woods. Every summer we used to visit it and at night, bats sometimes used to get in. There were only two rooms and I ended sharing one of them with my sisters. I spent the whole night with all of them wrapped around me, burying their faces in my chests. I hoped to someday be able to do that once again, even if it meant I’d have to spend the rest of my life in that body that Wisteria made for me.

Another bat came at me; it went down with another swing. Two more followed suit but they stopped playing fair after that, going for my wings instead of my face. I swung wildly, slicing and dicing. But no matter how many I managed to cut down, more kept coming. Soon they were swarming me like a moving black cloud. The sword wasn’t as effective as it used to be. I had to change tactics and I think I had just the thing. I closed my eyes and when I reopened them, I had a flamethrower in my hand. I smirked then let the little bastards have it. I wonder if there was any part of the world that served roast bat as a delicacy because if there was I was definitely a first class chef in preparing it. I torched every single one of the little bastards, burning all their little bodies to a crisp.
They didn’t come back. Nor did any more of them come. I smiled and dropped the flamethrower, watching as it disappeared into nothing. Then I looked up at the door. This time I wasn’t going to try opening it with my hands because that tactic failed. I laughed and in my hands appeared the tool I was looking for: a chainsaw. If I couldn’t open the door by normal means, it was time to up the ante. I pulled the cord and my brand new “key” roared to glorious life. I turned it to the door and left the son of bitch have it. The spinning blade chewed into the wood and I was one step closer to achieving my goal. I was taking my life back and none of these bitches were going to stand in my way.

The chainsaw blade tore through the door, ripping it to shreds. I cut around the doorknob then proceeded to cut around the hinges. I cut around one then the other. The door was no match for the sheer power of my will. I pulled the blade out, turned it off and waited. Nothing happened so I decided to take the initiative. With one swift kick, I finally broke through the white door. A blast of white light enveloped me. I closed my eyes from the blinding brightness, shielding my face with my hands. Then I took a step forward and realized there was solid ground beneath my feet, real ground. I opened my eyes and the black void was gone. In its place was a gleaming white room with an actual floor, walls and ceiling. I smiled big, even laughed a bit.

I took another step. As soon as I did, I noticed something. I wasn’t alone. There was someone else here with me, a girl. She was about my age, with long black hair, wearing a black dress. Her back was to me but she was looking around, clearly as confused as I was. Her skin was so pale it was almost white and she was wearing tall heels that clicked as she walked. I took another step forward and she stopped moving. Then she turned her head toward me and what I saw made me gasp. It was her, the one from my memories. But it was more than that, I knew just by looking at her that she was me or rather the me that I’d become.

“Its you” I said with a sneer.

She smirked. “So there was someone in my head after all.”

“My head” I said, clutching fists. “My body and you don’t belong here.”

She laughed. “Look around, take a look at what you see. Do you really think this is your body now?” She ran her hands up and down her own body, moaning as she did so. When she looked at me again, her eyes were glowing silver. “I remember now, I know what happened.”

“Wisteria created you because I refused to play by her rules.”

The girl laughed. “She didn’t create me, she brought me out. I’m you just a lot better. Everyone has a me living inside of them and my Mistress saw fit to let me out to play.”

“You’re nothing,” I said, taking a step toward her.

“I’m everything.”

I shook my head. “You’re an interloper and I won’t have it anymore.”

I charged her full force, swinging my fists. My blows should have connected, in any normal circumstance they would have. But because she wasn’t normal, I missed her both times. But she didn’t miss. She drove the flat of her palm into my chest, sending me flying backwards. I hit the far floor, even coughed up some blood as I slid to the floor. She laughed. But I wasn’t done just yet. She was powerful, fast and strong but this was my head. I took a deep breath and pulled two swords out of thin air, swinging both in fierce arcs. She laughed up until I actually sliced off a lock of her hair. Then she screamed, bearing those deadly fangs of hers. She lunged for me but I was ready, slicing into her arm before doubling back and cutting into her thigh.

“You may be a bloodsucking monster but this is my head, my body, my world.”

I spun into her, slicing her other leg, forcing her to the ground. She was panting, huffing from the endurance. I couldn’t believe how much more powerful I was than her. After that first initial strike of hers, she had nothing. It just proved that I was the real holder of this body and she was nothing more than a fake entity created to control me. But I wasn’t going to let that happen, not any more.

She laughed. “You can beat me all you want but I’m still in charge. You’re stuck here, I’m out there. This is my body now.”

She spit blood in my face, dazing me. Then swung out with her leg, taking my feet from under me. I dropped hard on my back, my swords flying into the air. She caught both of them, laughing as she did so. Then she put them on either side of my neck, smirking. She was standing over me like a proud warrior about the cut off the head of her fallen enemy.

“What is it they always say in situations like this” she asked then smiled. “Oh yeah, Game Over.”

She pulled the blades of the sword to the side, ready to slice off my head then vanished, screaming as she did so.

She cursed as her eyes snapped open. She had him; she had right where she wanted him. The fucking little bastard. She remembered now, she remembered everything. She wasn’t supposed to remember, it was never part of the plan but somehow he changed things. She wasn’t sure how but his coming back had changed the rules of everything. She felt stronger now, more in control than ever. Her old existence was one thing but it was never real. This life wasn’t real either until Wisteria made it real. He almost won, almost took it from her. The little shit was strong, stronger than she would have thought. She still didn’t know how he managed to come back from wherever it was that Wisteria put him but now that he was back, he was going to be a definite problem.

First one problem at a time. Where the fuck was she?

She looked around but she couldn’t see a thing due to bright light in her face. She tried to thrash out toward it but found that her arms and legs were bound to a chair. It wasn’t leather this time either, it was ropes. She tugged and pulled but she wasn’t going anywhere. She would have been stronger if she’d fed but without blood, she didn’t have the strength to break free. She was definitely going nowhere fast. I cursed, wondering what jackass had gotten the drop on her. She’d been stupid in the alley. She should have sensed whoever it was, wasn’t that a vampire trait? She groaned, still feeling the impact of the shovel on her face. She had to hand it to whoever; they really knew how to throw a party.

Now she just had to find them and get the hell out of here.

“Nice and comfy” said a voice from somewhere beyond the light.

She smirked. They were really going to play this game with her. “Not sure, why don’t you untie the ropes, step into the light and we can play a little.”

The voice laughed. It was male and from the sound of it pretty cocky. “You don’t talk unless you’re asked a question.”

She smirked. “You did ask a question, jackass.”

“Wait? What?”

“That’s another one, genius,” she said, trying to track him.

She could make out his vague shape, moving about in the shadows in front of her.

“Shut up you little bitch” he said, throwing water in her face.

The only thing it did was make her wet. She laughed. “What the hell was that?”

He cursed. “Shit, I thought you said she was a vampire.”

Another voice spoke. “She is.”

The second voice was familiar. She smiled. “So this is the game you’re playing huh. First you’re meat and now you think you can kill me.”

The second figure stepped around her, his face hovering inches from her own. It was the roommate, Kyle’s roommate. What was his name again, oh yeah Steve. What surprised her was that he was even here in the first place. He wasn’t supposed to remember anything; he was supposed to forget like all the rest. It didn’t make any sense whatsoever. But that was the least of her problems right now. Steve and his new friend had the upper hand here and apparently they had a purpose.

“What’s the game Steve?”

“We ask the questions bitch,” said the other guy, throwing more water on her.

She was starting to get pissed. “What’s with the fucking water?”

The second guy coughed. “Its holy water, I got it from the church”

She groaned. “Seriously?” She laughed. “Don’t believe everything you see in movies, dip shit.”

There was a smash so clearly the genius finally realized that his little bottle of magic water wasn’t going to work. God, the sign of the cross, hallowed ground and all that shit was for the movies. It didn’t affect vampires one bit. It was one of the first things that Wisteria told her, that and vampires don’t sparkle. It was clear these two dip shits had caught themselves a vampire but neither one of them knew what the hell they were doing.

The other guy finally stepped up. He walked into the light, allowing her to get a nice good look at his face. He was an average looking guy, a small band-aid on his forehead. She sniffed the air, a fresh cut, only a few hours old. She smiled. Then he pulled a wooden table leg from the pouch of his black hoodie, sticking it underneath her neck. The end of it was sharpened into a point. So they were pulling Vampire Killing 101 on her. Holy stuff was a big duh but the stake, they got that one right. Silver worked too and garlic, well that just made her kind really sick. But the stake was bad news.

She’d have to make sure she avoided that.

“Let’s start over shall we,” he said with a bit more confidence, moving the stake down so the point rested on her chest, in-between her breasts. “I ask the questions and you give me the answers.”

She nodded. “Ok, we’ll play it your way for now.”

He smirked. “David Murphy, ever heard of him?”

“Name doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Two years ago, he came to this school, he was a freshman. He was a good kid, went to all his classes, got straight A’s. He called his Mom every night, at eight o’clock sharp. One night he forgot to call. His mother didn’t think anything of it. She figured he’d gotten caught up in schoolwork. The next night the same thing. On the third night when there was no call, she got real worried and called the police. They spent the next three days looking for him but he was gone. He disappeared without a trace. But his mother didn’t stop calling, called every day in fact. She did so for about a year. Something crazy happened about a year after his death though. She called to ask if there was any new leads on her son but the police officer in charge of his case---the man David’s mother spent hours talking to each night---he didn’t even know who David or his mother was. He completely forgot all about them.”

“Sucks to be David Murphy.”

Anger flared across the guy’s face. He reared back his fist and punched her in the face. Her head snapped back from the blow and bastard cursed, realizing that the only pain he caused was to himself. He pulled back, shaking his hand. He danced about for a few seconds before coming back in, his face now inches from her’s. “He was my brother you little bitch and I know you had something to do with his disappearance.”

She laughed. “I’ve only been a vampire for a few weeks, maybe a month tops.”

Steve sighed. “I told you that Rodney. Hell I wouldn’t even have told you if you hadn’t sounded so messed up.”

Rodney ignored him. “Then there’s gotta be more of you right?”

She smirked but nodded. He smiled. “Where’s your den then? You must have a den or a lair or a crypt or something.”

Katie laughed. “Come closer and I’ll tell you.”

Rodney leaned in closer. His hopping around earlier caused the band-aid to fall off, leaving his cut exposed. There was no blood but it was still an open wound. Rodney’s head was inches from hers.

“Where are they?” he asked, placing the point of the stake back on her chest.

“You want to know one thing they got right about the movies, Rodney?” she asked but didn’t wait for him to answer. “Vampires love blood; it’s their life-force in fact. If they don’t feed, they’re little weak bitches, easily controllable. That’s how you and this little punk were able to get the drop on me; I’d been a while since I’d actually had anything to eat. But you want to know the great thing about blood and vampires?”

He finally spoke. “What’s that?”

She smiled. “It only takes a little bit.”

She snapped forward and licked his forehead, her tongue running along the open cut. There was enough there, just a small morsel. It wasn’t enough to sustain her but it was enough to give her strength. Rodney pulled away quickly in fear, forgetting all about the stake as it fell clumsily from his hands. Katie smiled then flexed her wrists, snapping the ropes like they were made of tissue paper. She did the same with the ones binding her legs, freeing herself from the chair. Rodney screamed like the little bitch he was and ran. She let him go. She’d tasted his blood; he’d never be able to get the drop on her like that again. Steve on the other hand, he was a problem. She snapped around to him, he didn’t bother running. Instead, he pulled a knife from his hoodie and stood his ground, almost as if this is what he was planning all along.

She smirked, giving him kudos for his courage. “So what’s this really about, Steve?”

He gulped. “What did you do with Kyle?”

She smirked. “The loyal friend huh? If my memory serves me right, you weren’t so loyal to him in the last few weeks actually. In fact, you treated him like shit.”

Steve shook his head. “I was being a dick but he was my friend. He’s still my friend. We went to that party and you…you….you….”

She smiled. “Kyle is dead, Steve.”

He shook his head. “No, you took his body, you’re possessing him somehow. I’ve come here to get him back and if that means sacrificing myself then I’ll do it.”

She laughed. “This is your heroic last stand? You’re going to sacrifice yourself to bring back your best bud?” She laughed even louder. “How fucking pathetic are you?”

She yawned, already bored. So maybe Steve didn’t have anything interesting to say after all. Then that meant he was no longer any use to her. There was a rule about them; no one was supposed to know. She didn’t know how Steve remembered but the fact that he did was very bad for him. She liked Steve; he’d shown a lot of bravery and courage coming here to see if he could rescue his friend. But in the end, all it really got him was a very short life and a very quick death.

She zipped across the room faster than Steve could react, knocking the knife out of his hand. Then she grabbed his throat, lifting him off the ground. She started to squeeze his throat, laughing as she did so. “You know Steve; if you’d left well enough alone you could have lived a nice long happy life. You have a lot of balls pulling this off but in the end I’m afraid that wasn’t enough, in the end there’s no way to beat me….”

“Wanna make a bet, bitch?” said a piercing voice that tore through her mind.

She screamed at the time of her lungs, letting go of Steve and falling to the ground. She clutched her head, wreathing in pain. The world started to spin around her and before she knew what was happening, everything went black…

She appeared out of thin air, falling at my feet. She was gasping and sputtering, confused as all hell. I couldn’t have been happier. She turned her head just in time to get my foot in the face. She rolled across the floor. I ran to check up with her, dropping my knee on her back to keep her from getting up. She moaned in pain. I rolled her over with my foot, putting another one on her chest to keep her from standing.

“How?” she gasped, her voice a barely audible rasp.

“It took me some time to figure out actually. All I know for certain is that I had no control until you touched Steve. When you did, something happened. I’m not really sure how to describe it but as soon as you grabbed his throat, I felt this overwhelming surge of power. It coursed through my whole body and when it was over with, I just knew I could reach out for you.”

She coughed. “It doesn’t matter, I’m still…”

I laughed. “You’re nothing anymore. I was in a dream, a wakeless dream that I probably never would have woken from. I’m not sure how it happened but I didn’t wake up just so I could stand by and let some sadistic thing run my life.”

I bent down and grabbed the front of her dress, lifting her easily off the ground. I pushed her against the wall. There was no fight left in her, she was spent. In this world, in my mind, I had all the power. Now I was going to use that power and use it to make sure that she never got control of my body again. I closed my eyes and reopened them to chains wrapping around her body, big strong chains. Then I imagined huge knifes sticking into her hands and feet pinning her to the wall. She screamed in pain, tossing and turning. But there was nothing left in her. She was done, beaten by her own foolishness. Everything was going her way until she touched Steve. Things probably would have continued to go her way if she left him alone.

I still didn’t have all the answers but it was enough.

“I’ll get out of here,” she moaned, barely able to raise her head now.

“Maybe.”

I turned away from her as another door appeared. This was the door I wanted, this was the door I was looking for. I started walking toward it but turned back to get one look at her. She was smiling, even though I’d beaten her she was still smiling.

“Wisteria is a lot stronger than you think she is. What do you think is going to happen when she finds out you’ve taken over. She’s going to bury you so far into your own mind that you’ll never get out.”

I smirked. “I’ll take my chances.”

I pulled open the door and stepped into the light.

There was a flash and everything felt different, real somehow. I looked around, my eyes not quite adjusted to things. I blinked then stumbled. I looked down and saw three-inch heels. I cursed and nearly fell on my ass. Thankfully there was a stone pillar of some kind nearby. I braced myself against it to find my footing. When I did, I took another look around. It was some kind of dingy warehouse or something, it smelled horrible. Taking a deep breath only made things worse because the horrible smell of the place sucked into my lungs and I coughed.

But the cough only lasted a second before I realized that I didn’t need to breathe. It was a weird feeling actually, not having to breathe. It was even weirder to look down and see breasts protruding from my chest. I groaned when I saw them, mashed in their corset. What the hell was she wearing anyway? I saw fishnets and a black skirt, long nails painted in black nail polish. The girl was after my own heart, embracing the Goth but there was a limit. Especially as far as piercings went. I could feel several of them. I reached up and touched my lip, feeling the ring there. I groaned as I pulled it out, holding it in my outstretched palm. So this is her huh, the girl that I’m supposed to be.

I groaned. I wonder if anyone would notice a few changes.

The first thing to go were these boots. I was already tall enough; I didn’t need three extra inches. I took a step away from the pillar, still a bit wobbly but much better. Walking felt strange though, like I hadn’t done it in a while. Hell it probably was a while. I didn’t even know what day it was, hell what year it was. For all I knew it could be fifty years from the day I became her. I shook my head, there’s no way it could have been that long. I would have felt it somehow, known about it I think. I mean if that was the case then Steve would be…Oh God Steve…

I snapped around. He was still here, lying on his side. I rushed over, nearly falling on the damn heels before I got to him. He was unconscious but breathing. I leaned in to touch him when I noticed a cut on his head. Something happened when I saw the blood. There was this feeling inside of me, like this eternal pulling but stronger. It started in my chest and surged through my entire body. I licked my lips then felt something prick them. I reached up and felt my teeth, feeling the fangs. Vampire, I’d forgotten all about that part actually. I suppose it made sense. No breathing, no heartbeat.

But blood, I’m not sure I could do that.

My body definitely wanted it; hell a small part of my mind wanted it too. But the idea of sinking my new fangs into somebody and sucking them dry, I wasn’t sure I could do that.

I reached for Steve again, this time giving his shoulder a slight nudge. He groaned. So I gave him a shove, hoping it was enough to wake him. It was. He groaned and turned his head, his eyes fluttered open. “Shit, what the fuck happened?”

“Kitana kicked your ass again,” I said, hoping the reference to the game would jog his memory.

It did. “You wish dude. She’s never kicked my ass and she never will.”

He suddenly realized what he said and probably who he was talking too. He looked at me a little more clearly and jumped away, nearly banging his head on the table he was resting against. He crawled around, finding a knife and getting to his feet. He held the blade at arm’s length, keeping it between him and me.

“Get the fuck away from me, you evil harpy.”

“Harsh, even after I saved your miserable life.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” You tried to kill me.”

I laughed. “She tried to kill you, I saved you.”

Steve looked really confused. “What the fuck kind of vampire crack are you on?”

I shrugged. “It’s really hard to explain, hell I have no idea how it happened actually. But it’s me, Kyle. The evil bitch is gone.”

He lowered the knife but only slightly. “If you’re really Kyle, tell me something only he would know?”

I sighed. “Sometimes at night you call out in your sleep for something called Mister Ducky Head?”

“Dude, you swore you’d never tell any…” His eyes bugged out of his head and he dropped the knife. “Holy shit, it is you dude.”

I nodded. “In the flesh, sorta.”

Steve gave me a once over. “You so realize that you’re now a chick right?” I nodded. “A really hot one.”

“Also one who’s going to need to take a long hot shower, thank you very much.”

“So what happens now?”

I shrugged. “Beats the hell out of me.”

We stood there in total silence for a long time, neither sure what to say to the other. I’m not sure how “she” got here and frankly, I didn’t care. Right now, I was just glad to be back. I’d worry about the other stuff later, including the need to want to jump on my friend and sink my fangs into the back of his neck. That thought alone scared the hell out of me. But I’d take things one step at a time and hopefully I’d be able to figure out what to do now.

“So do you live at the sorority now?” he asked as the two of us slowly started walking toward the exit.

I shrugged. “I’m not sure I want to go back there actually.”

“You can always come back to the dorm with me, your bed and all your stuff are still there?”

As tempting as that sounded I couldn’t trust myself. There were just too many things that could go wrong. I was in control now but it was getting harder and harder to focus. It was cool that I stopped that bitch and put her in her place. But a small part of me was starting to think that Steve looked really good right now and not in a good way. It was clear that the two of us couldn’t be together for a long period of time without me wanting to drink him. No, I couldn’t be anywhere near him, not until I got a handle on some things.

“I think I’m going to go walk it off a bit, maybe try to figure out what the fuck I’m going to do now.”

“Ok dude…err…dudette?”

We laughed then Steve turned and walked off. I was sad to see him go but glad too. Any longer and I would have definitely tried to pounce on him. I groaned, walking as far as I could from him. I found myself wandering, heading back to the main street of the city. There were a lot of small little shops and restaurants along here. I even passed by the little costume shop where I met Degna and all this shit happened. As I walked by, I almost thought I saw her sitting on the bench out front, looking upset about something. I couldn’t help but smile at that. I was past the shop when I stopped dead and turned around.

Holy shit, Degna was sitting on the bench in front of the place. I blinked a few times to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.

Sure enough, it was her. How was that even possible, I saw her die?

I walked slowly over and dropped down on the bench next to her, scrutinizing her real well just to make sure that I wasn’t seeing anything. I reached out to touch her when she spoke:

“Yeah, yeah. I’m not here, you can’t see me…blah, blah, blah…”

“But I can see you” I said, “which is really fucked up because I’m pretty sure I watched you die.”

She turned and looked at me, silvery tears running down her cheeks. I gasped. Her cheeks, her head, her entire body---I could see through it. Holy shit, did that mean? Whoa, this day just keeps getting better and better. First, there are vampires in the world, real vampires. Now I was pretty certain there were ghosts out there as well.

“What did you just say?”

“Ummm about the part where I saw you die or the fact that you appear to be a ghost now?”

She laughed. “Kyle?”

I nodded. “Degna?”

She laughed. “Holy shit am I so glad to be talking to you. How in the hell did you do it, I mean beat the bitch and break the spell?”

I gave her the Cliff notes version. When I was finished, I asked my question. “What spell? Do you know what happened to me?”

She nodded. “Wisteria happened.” I stared at her with my mouth open so she elaborated. “She’s a seriously evil powered bitch. She has this thing where she can take the life force from others when she sucks their blood. She found out years ago that if she sucked the blood of witches that she can take their magic as well. That’s what she did to you. She used her magic and forced you deep into your subconscious then created a false identity to take over your life.”

I laughed. “And you said all of that with a straight face.”

“This is no laughing matter. You’ve walked into it big time. That’s why I tried to help you. Wisteria is seriously fucked up. More so than ever now. The House is dangerous too, you can’t go back there. She and Carmilla are waging this little war of theirs; it’s starting to get a bit out of hand. You need to get out of here, as far away from this place and these people as you can.”

“And go where? Home?” I laughed. “I’d bring harm to my family if I went back there. I nearly sucked on Steve tonight; it took every bit of willpower I had to keep myself from doing that.”

“Shit, when’s the last time you fed?”

I shrugged. “Just checked it remember?”

She cursed again. “You---I mean her---Katie----she was at the Guardian with Charlotte. A lot of the girls from the house go there to hunt or whatever. She must have been there to pick up a meal. I’m going to guess she didn’t get it.”

“I joined this game in a warehouse somewhere; the only thing I know is that she was trying to kill Steve.”

“Shit” Degna got to her feet and started walking. At least it looked something like walking. It was kind of freaky whatever it was.

“You’re going to have to go back to the house, at least for now.”

“Are you out of your mind, you just told me to stay away from there?”

She shook her head. “I want you to stay away from Wisteria. Carmilla is better; at least with her you might have a chance. If you can somehow get into her good graces, she might take you in. It’s been known to happen from time to time. Carmilla can protect you. She’s just as old and just as powerful as Wisteria---well almost. But she’s the better of two evils.”

I groaned. “Can you come with me at least?”

She shook her head. “Wisteria has Wards up. I’ve tried to get in there but the Wards keep me from entering the grounds. If you go back in there I can’t help you.”

I scoffed. “Out of the frying pan and into the fire.”

I nodded my head, agreeing to her plan. She walked with me the rest of the way, it was a lot longer than I thought but it gave us some time to talk. She tried her hardest to tell me everything she knew about being a vampire. She also told me everything she observed about my doppelganger. The girl was a definite bitch. But in order for me to pull this off, I was going to have to pretend to be her---at least for the time being. I hated that idea more than anything else.

When we got to the house, Degna stopped at the edge of the yard.

“This is as far as I can go. If you manage to pull this off and they don’t kill you, meet me at the school tomorrow, outside your old dorm.”

I nodded and started walking but stopped and turned back. “One more question?” She nodded. “Can all vampires see ghosts?”

“You’re the first one that know of,” she said before she faded away into the night.

I’m not sure I liked the sound of that.

I took a deep breath as I walked across the lawn. Old habits die hard. When I reached the front porch, I found that the door was unlocked. Why would it need to be locked, after all it was a house full of vampires? Who would be stupid enough to break in? I took another deep breath before opening the door and stepping inside. I was hit with a bit of dread as soon as I walked in. The last time I was here, ---at least as myself---Degna died trying to save me and Wisteria turned me into her bitch puppet. I stepped through the foyer, glad that there didn’t seem to be anyone about. It weirded me out a bit actually. It was nighttime, didn’t vampires come out at night?

I started to make my way toward the stairs when I noticed that there was someone standing at the top of it. She was a stunning red head in a shimmering red nightgown, I could see through it to her lingerie underneath. She practically glided down the stairs as she came down toward me.

“Curfew was over an hour ago,” she said, her voice had the hint of a French accent.

I knew that voice, I heard it the first time I tried to escape my mind. She was the one arguing with Wisteria. Was this Carmilla?

I lowered my head, trying to show her respect. “I’m sorry, it won’t happen again.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. Then her lips curled into a smile. “Interesting” She circled around me. “You’ve finally done it, have you?”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think…”

“Don’t play dumb with me,” She said, standing in front of me. There was venom in her voice. “You broke her little spell and got rid of that nasty little puppet, didn’t you?”

Her eyes were shining silver in the darkness. All I could do was nod.

“Come with me dear. I think you and I have things to discuss.”

I nodded. This is what Degna wanted me to do. I just never thought it would happen so quickly. I took a deep breath as I followed Carmilla down a side hall and toward a door, a door that led God knows where. If I had a heart beat, I’m sure it would be racing. Instead I couldn’t help but feel I was about to make a really big mistake.

“What’s this about?” I asked as she unlocked the door.

She smiled. “Secrets of course”

She didn’t say anything more as she opened the door and slowly descended the stairs into the darkness beyond.

I gulped and slowly followed her down.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF