• Chapter 3


    Nightmare


    I stand in the top room of an empty stadium, completely alone. The walls up here are made out of glass, and I can see the busy city below. People walking in and out of bars, coffee shops and such at late night, also running around, trying to get to places on time or just running away from crazy drunk gangs, cars screeching to get home from jobs, auditions, concerts, and many more.

    My forehead scrunches together. ‘Where am I?’ I think to myself, ‘This isn’t my small town.’

    There’s a deafening crash as one of the glass walls breaks into a million pieces and somebody lands perfectly inside of the room, one leg stretched out with the heel gripping the floor, a hand to keep themselves steady. The other leg pointing straight up with the leg bent, and the other hand resting on the knee.

    The person stands up and their blonde hair flies in front of their face. At first I think it’s Keaton, but no, then he looks up through the hair and I see the glowing, blood red eyes.

    I scream as I turn and run desperately towards the door, but he catches the back of my knee-length, flowing, spaghetti-strap, pearl white dress in less than three seconds and throws me back into a pillar. Shards of glass become embedded into my skin and I scream, experiencing real pain.

    “LEAVE ME ALONE!” I screech, but the last word gets cut off as he grabs me by the hair at my scalp and forces me up against the pillar. He uses the other hand to tilt me back and forth by the chin, inspecting my neck.

    “But I’m so….thirsty.” The guy hisses. I gasp in shock at the smoothness of his voice, how hypnotizing it is. But I am no fool, and I try to pry his hand away but he simply breaks my right wrist. “I have not had a real meal in so long.”

    I scream two things: a cry of torture/horror and Keaton’s name, but then the guy opens his mouth, revealing fangs just waiting to dig in to a poor, innocent human being.

    And sure enough, Kaden leans forward and sinks his teeth into my neck.

    I screech like crazy at the pain there. I can actually feel it, it isn’t fake. It can’t be fake. It has to be real…..

    Then I’m cast farther into the future, on a boat with Keaton, Lance and Scarlet, and we are traveling to an island out in the middle of the ocean. On the island is an academy, a safety academy. It protects humans that are being hunted by evil creatures. But Keaton must leave right away, for he has some unfinished business to attend to.

    Lance and Scarlet take an oath to guard me wherever I go, but I still don’t feel secure. I feel like I’m being watched very closely, and I don’t like it. My bite mark is also burning under the bandage plastered on my neck, and I hate it.

    I’m walking through a hallway behind Scarlet and Lance, and suddenly I feel a presence next to me. The bandage is ripped off of my neck and a finger presses into it, and I drop my books and scream in pain. Once again, real pain.

    I look up into blood red eyes and Kaden smirks down at me. “Hurts, doesn’t it?”

    “Ple-please, stop.” I gasp as my eyes dart forward, searching wildly for my guards. They are far ahead and I am left alone with the vampire.

    He laughs and it sends chills down my spine. He removes his finger from the bite mark and I desperately try to catch my breath. “Don’t you see, Charlotte, my dear?” His smirk grows and he continues, “Now that I have bitten you, I will never leave you alone. I will follow you your whole life.” He leans down and whispers in my ear, “You will never be alone.”

    I’m running down the empty hallway, trying to get to my guards, trying to get away from the vampire. In a flash he’s standing before my eyes, and he grabs me by the neck and forces me onto my knees. I beg him to stop, to let me live, but he just keeps on smirking and bends down to where he once bit me. He uses a finger nail to scratch across it and blood starts to flow out.

    Then he gently licks it up and places his fangs on my neck. I try desperately to wake up from my nightmare, but I cannot move by arms or legs or any part of my body in real life. I’m left in the cold, deadly nightmare, and I know that with this bite comes the end of my life…

    “This is what you get for loving a vampire.”

    I gasp as my eyes flash open to the real world. It takes a while to finally take in my surroundings, and as that’s happening, I fling my hands up to my neck, searching wildly for the bite mark. There is none, and as I feel relief and struggle to catch my breath I look out my window.

    Look out my window to see a bat hanging upside down on the outside of the roof, staring at me with blood red eyes.

    It should be no different, right? All bats have red eyes, don’t they?

    I don’t know, my mind is buzzing and I can’t think straight. But there’s something about this bat that isn’t right.

    And soon enough, there’s a gun shot and the bat is startled and flies away into the dark depths of the night. The window to my room opens and Keaton jumps through it to the inside of my dark room.

    “Are you okay?” He gasps at me.

    “I-I don’t know…” I whisper as I bring my knees up to my chest. Keaton sits before me, pulls me into him and hugs me tight. “I don’t know anything anymore….”

    Well, that’s actually not true. There is one thing I’m positive of.

    Kaden Hathaway is a vampire.