Chapter 3 Emily (POV)

By the time I awoke it must have been days. I was in an unfamiliar room - it looked like I had stepped into the past. The only thing that kept me from believing it was the presence of electric appliances and light switches around the room. The drapes were drawn but from what I could tell it was near dawn. There wasnt a sound to be heard.

I climbed out of bed and padded quietly to the window to look out. Drawing hte heavy drape asside, I stifled a gasp. It was an estate - THE estate, that I drove past almost every other day. I wondered how many people actually knew this place existed.

A large gravel drive lined by flowerbeds filled the front cortyard and led up to an enormous gate. The whole estate awas surrounded by high thick walls. They obviously valued their privacy. I pulled away from teh view, and decided to instead eplore the room. The cream colored panneled walls held numerous paintings - all equisit, and, I´m sure, costly. But I couldnt recognize any of them.

The room itself held antique wooden furniture: A large cupboard, a dresser topped by a huge mirror framed with delicately carved mahogany, a breathtaking couchset and coffee table (yes im a sucker for furniture) and, of course the bed. It was amazing. Four poster, down quilts, feather pillows, black silk sheets, everything! One look at it and I understood why I´d slept for so long.

I wandered over to the mirror. I was a bit hesitant to see te state I was in after sleeping so long, but curiosity overcame me and I stepped infront of the mirror. It took a few moments for the differences in me to sink in. I looked pale - deathly pale, but for some reason I wasnt worried. And it seemed, oddly enough, that my wavy perm had suddenly decided to undo itself. My eyes seem to have become a more icy, piercing blue and my lips had become strangely fuller and redder. Even my hair seemd to have taken on a deeper red hue, and to my delight, looked a lifetime healthier. I scruitinzed my hair with not too little glee; "Just like the Garnier adverts..." I thought to myself with a slightly conceited giggle.

I flounced joyfully over to the couch set where I´d seen a set of clothes laid out (had I been half naked all this time?) I was quite hapy with how my life was behaving just now so I wasnt incredibly surprised when the clothes fit me perfectly, and, on further mirror inspection, complimented me insanely well.

"Gosh, but I look a thousand dollars!" I said to my reflection.

"Yes, in fact, you do."

I spun around, caught off guard, not having noticed the man who entered my room. It was the same olive skined man from last night - or, which ever night it was.
"I see you´ve made yourself at home. Wonderful! My name is Jarol, and this is my estate. I hope you find it to your liking, and come to embrace it as home, as we too have done."

Whoa whoa, hold a sec - HOME? He must have seen the confusion in my face and the fact that I couldnt process a coherent word made him stifle a laugh for a moment, till suddenly a troubled look slid onto his face.

"You know why you are here, do you not?"
I just managed a slight shake of my head. What did he think? He freaks the bajebuses out of me, abducts me, and ten sneaks up on me and tells me I´ve got a new home.. two plus two just wouldnt make four in this scenario, hard as i tried to decypher it.
"So, you mean, you werent trying to find us?" Again, I had to shake my head.
"And all this time, we thought you knew..."

Whoooooo-okay, now he was really running me in circles, not to mention getting more cryptic with every word.
"What do you mean..?" I cautiously replied, though my gut instinct told me I probably would not like the answer.
"Well, how about we sit down?" Oh gosh, that´s never good. Nonetheless, I followed him over to the couch set and we sat, facing eachother. He sighed, and rested his forehead on his folded hands for a moment. Suddenly i felt like a child again, about to be told that, once again, my life would be completely uprooted and spun wildly about.

"Emily," He yanked me out of my reverie, "You must take what I´m about to tell you very objectively. I know that mindsets have been imgrained in you, in all humans, but," he rose from his couch and came to mine, "you must try to override them. Do you think you can do that?" I nodded again, gulping back aprehension. He crouched down infront of me, his hand resting on my knee. "Remember also," he continued, "that what you have always been taught is bad isn´t neccessarily so, when looked at from a different perspective." I nodded once more, holding my breath. But I could have never anticipated in a million years what he said next.

"We are vampires."

I almost laughed out loud, relief flooding my body. Vampires!They didnt exist! What were they, some kind of wierd cult sprung from a fairy tale? I looked into his eyes, searching for a mischeivous glint, a hint of myrth, SOMETHING, to show me that he was joking. A firm, dead-serious gaze locked with mine and the grin was instantly wiped from my face.

"Wait. You´re serious? Your a vampire?" I had to know.
"Yes." was all he said before he got up and strode to the door. He turned back a second before exiting. "And so are you."

The door closed with a thud so final it turned my heart to ice.
I´m a vampire? Not a chance.

I had to get out. This Jarol fellow had gone loony and I didnt know how many others there were like him. He´d said "us" though, which meant that he definatly wasnt alone. "No more!" I said to myself wtih finality. "No more foolish wierd rituals on me. They can find someone else. I´ve had enough of this in my life."

I glances around the room and noticed a black leather jacked hanging in the bathroom. I grabbed it and threw it on. perfect fit - again. Now ironic. Well it seemed these loons were clever enough, they´d done their research. Too bad it was all going to end up for nothing.

I cautiously cracked the door open and peered out with one eye. the hall was dark and deserted. I crept out quietly, testing the floor boards for creaking. Satisfied wtih teh result I sprinted down teh hall and down the huge flight of stairs, and made a dash for the enormous front doors.

Curious that there was no one around. I gave it no thought as I heaved, all my weight against the solid oak door. It suddenly gave way and I went stumbling onto the top step. As I looked up, the sun rose over the distant mountains and a terrible piercing pain shot through my eyes and began crawling over me, like a million hornets stinging every inch of my exposed flesh.

I screamed out in agony, barely able to push myself to my knees before colapsing back onto the step. I was growing weaker by the second. I was seeing stars, blacking out... A pair of leather gloved hands grabbed me and I was hauled back inside, the solid door slammed sturidly shut. The cool darkness soothed my skin and I weakly looked up into Jarol´s piercing eyes.

"Emily! Emily, are you alright??" His words echoed, again, as I lost conciousness.

Chapter 2

The clouds were gathering, darkening. Looked like rain. Rain would turn the already precarious back hill roads deadly; That wouldnt be good, nobody ever came back on these roads - few people even knew they existed. She couldnt even remember how she´d found them. they were useful though. They cut miles off of any route. Come to think of it, she´d never even seen another car on the road since she´d started using them. Bah. She jumped as a large drop splattered on the windsreen. "Oh noooo..." she groaned inwardly. Now it would be dark AND wet.

She tried to manuver along the fastly slicking roads, but the more she tried to gain control the more her small ford spun wildly out of it. She started to freak. Could this be her worst fear, materializing right before her eyes?

The ford raced along the road at an unearthly speed, fishtailing, it seemed, every other second. She couldnt see a thing as the rain flooded her windsreen. She sucked in her breath sharply and bit her lip as she slammed her foot down on the breaks again and again. Finally the ford seemed to respond and began straining against the slick asphalt. The car fishtailed even more wildly and began to spin in circles before skidding to a halt in silence.

The rain was pouring down and she could barely make out anything more than a few feet away in the flood of her headlights.
She slowly calmed her breathing and she debated what to do. She was so emerssed in her thoughts, she didnt notice the two figures that had stepped silently into the beam of her headlight.
She looked up and gasped, cathing sight of the two male figures. Her eyes locked with those of the taller male. She felt a strange pull deep in the pit of her stomach and she fumbled to open the side door. As she stepped out, the rain suddenly began to dwindle till it resembled a fine mist. Standing by the door of her car, she took them both in. Dark, wavy hair hung damply around the taller male´s shoulders and framed his high cheekbones and chissled jaw that sported a slight shaddow of stubble. His full lips were slightly pursed in quiet cautiousness, yet his eyes were calm. His eyes - an elecrtic green sprinkled wtih golden brown flecks - burned into her own sky blue eyes. She had to look away. His skin was a flawless olive tint.

He wore a ruffled loose white shirt over blak jeans, overed by a stiff high collared black leather trench that rustled against the asphalt when he moved. Black leather gloves covered his hands, his highly polished sliver-buckled boots scuffed against pebbles as he took a step closer to her. Emily instinctivly stepped back a pace, but he didnt advance any further. She looked back up to his face; he was beautiful, and he had a strange glow about him.

She turned her attentions to the other silent figure. He was dressd similar to the other except that the leather trench was replaced by a loth one. The skin on his face was a waxy white - almost transparent, she thought to herself. He had a pointed chin and a slim, almost delicate face, slightly thin pale pinkish lips, a thin nose and high cheekbones. His eyes, to the contrary, were enormous. His features made him look like an innocent child. those large, round, wondering eyes. Violet eyes. Eyes filled with hunger and greed, and, lust. Lust for her!

A slow, leering grin stretched over his lips, revealing what seemed to be razor sharp, pointed teeth. He began to step forward, but the other put a hand out to stop him. Dissapointment flashed in his eyes for a split second, then dissapeared. He flicked a strand of straight black hair behind his ear, and turned as if to go, looking to the otehr for a moment, as if for some sign of approval. Then he dissapeared into the darkness.

Emily stood, rooted to the spot, her breath coming in short gasps, her heart hammering against her ribs as the tall dark figure approahed her. Stopping a few inches away, he slowly bit his right forefinger, piercing the skin. A bead of blood formed and began to trickle down teh side of his finger. Emily followed the crimson rivulette, riveted, hypnotized. He lifted his finger then, and pressed it against her temple.

"Welome home, sister.." the words echoed in her mind as she lost conciousness.

The figure stooped, gently lifting her, and carried her toward a deep violet porche. he placed her in teh passangers seet, and then reclined it. he motioned to the other figure, who stood silently next to the porche, who proceeded to climb into Emily´s small ford. The engines roared and they dissapeared into the night.

Chapter 1

"I´m a faggot and my ass is torn." Emily muttered just over the radio- The new summer hit pumped out of the Ford´s speakers and Emily rolled her eyes. It always seemed to be the queer people who became hits. this year it was a homosexual couple- two wierd guys - but everyone seemed to love them.

"Gosh whatever!" She blurted out to nothing. Not like she cared. There were so many better things to care about besides fruity feminine men. Like, for example, how she was about to loose her job, which meant she´d loose her appartment - that came, and went, with the job.

She rolled her eyes and sighed again. Twenty two years old, homeless, and jobless. AND with nowhere to go to top it off. "Yeah, I´m officially screwed. No wait, I WISH I was screwed. God! And I dont even have a boyfriend. Add that to the list."

Then, of course, tehre was what she affetionately termed her halucinations. Those were creepy. They werent really halucinations at all. More like dreams. Strange dreams. She never quite remembered them. More like an aftertaste of disgust and fear... and lust. And then there was the physical aftertastes. Those were even more disturbing.

Emily gripped the steeering wheel tighter. The sun was setting and she hated driving in the dark. She hated the dark in general. She felt ashaimed and embarrassed to admit it, but she was scared of hte dark- terrified in fact - since she had been very young..


*******************************


She could only vaguely recal her lifeat the orphanage. iIt seemed like another world now. The soft voiced, firm handed nuns, the scores of other little girls who never wanted to play with her. the lumpy beds where she´d cry herself to sleep at night, alone. And the nightmares. They never quite left her, but they never quite stayed either. She recalled waking, running out, terrified, into the night, finding comfort in the silent warm darkness.

Till "That" day. the day she went away from the orphanage. They had said things about spirits. Evil ones. About needing to be rid of them. She heartily agreed. Evil should not be allowed entrance into their godly homes. But she had missed one vital element in the equasion. HER. Where were they going? To the monestary. Why? Only silence thought to answer. And, weary from wondering, sheep overcame her.

She woke to find herself being gently sat into a chair. Something slipped around her arms and she found she could not move. White silk ropes bound her arms and legs to the chair and she began to panic. Gentle hadns soothed her, wiping the cold sweat from her brow. Clouds of incence floated in the still air as a priest proceeded to splash holy water on and around her.

Another came, chanting stranged words under his breath, and marking a cross on her forehead with oil, and then, with, something else. It dripped down her face and onto her lip. A heavy odor filled her nostrils and she gagged. Blood! Lambs blood. The "blood of the Lamb" they said. To symbolise Christ´s blood to wash away her sins. From a dying lamb, found up in the hills, and bled almost dry - two strange puncture wounds on its neck. They said it was a sign.

A tingling warmth spread through her body and up two her neck, where it turned an icy cold. Like a hand, squeezing, crushing her throat. She screamed- she couldnt help it - just before blessed blackness overcame her.

She had been out for days afterward. By the time she awoke she was informed that she was being sent far away to foster homes. The monestary didnt want her anymore.

As she walked down the hall to leave, suspiious supersticious eyes quickly turned away and the hum of hushed whispers filled the air. Eyes that used to look kindly, and voices that used to soothe her to sleep. The same voices. A fat tear splashed down her cheek. This was all she´d known. Now the only family she´d ever had held out crusifixes and shrunk away, a deathly fear in their eyes.

Now she couldnt even remember where she came from.