The Vampire That Loved Me, Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1

“I’ve got to meet that guy,” Isabelle said. She turned to her friend, Emma, and gave her an expectant look. Emma looked back at Isabelle, puzzled. Frustrated, Isabelle pointed a finger in the direction of the man she’d just seen and looked back at her friend.

Emma looked in the direction of Isabelle’s finger and tried her best to find someone interesting in the sea of bodies. She couldn’t pick out any one person in particular, so she turned back to Isabelle and asked, “Who?”

They were at the local fair that came around in the early fall of each year. The town they lived in was small and had a population to match its size, but it looked as if the whole state of Pennsylvania were there. Instead of answering, Isabelle began to drift forward in the direction of her gaze, but Emma grabbed her sleeve and pulled her backwards. “And just where do you think you’re going?”

Isabelle snapped out of her trance. She turned around to look into the eyes of her friend. “Stay here. I’ll be back shortly. Don’t move and don’t follow me. I’ll be back. I promise.” She rushed off toward an empty lot on the edge of the fairgrounds where she’d last seen the man. It was already 7:00, and Emma tried to yell after her to tell her to stay because of how dark it was getting, but Isabelle didn’t hear her and continued towards the lot.

She stopped in the middle of the lot, glad to finally be free of the mass of moving people. What was she doing? She’d seen the guy for a few seconds and was following him? She knew she should just turn around and go back to Emma. The sun was already barely visible on the horizon and something about it felt terribly wrong. But there was something inside of her that told her to move on and she decided at that moment to listen to her instinct, so she continued moving.

She stopped again a few seconds later to look around. She looked for his dark, jet black hair and dark clothes. She caught a glimpse of him going into the woods and she yelled after him, but he didn’t hear her and soon disappeared from her sight. She yelled only once more, with the same response, before she was racing off to the edge of the lot towards the woods.

She reached the edge of the woods after only a few moments, but came to a screeching halt. Isabelle was fearless, but her whole body protested strongly against going into the dark woods after sunset to follow a man she didn’t even know. She swallowed hard, closed her eyes, and forced her legs to take a step forward.

She took a few steps and froze. She tuned out the sounds of the fairgrounds and concentrated on the sounds of the woods. In the distance, a cardinal chirped to its mate. A few feet away, a rabbit scurried into its burrow. She heard many animal sounds mixed with the sound of wind blowing through the trees, but nothing sounded even remotely menacing, so she took another few steps and stopped to listen again. When she was positive nothing was going to jump out and attack her, she started running up the path.

She’d only got a glance of him before he’d turned around and walked away. But for some reason, that one short glance was all she needed to instantly fall for him. She didn’t normally fall easily, especially without even knowing the person. But in that moment, she’d gone straight to cloud nine. Images of everything imaginable, from getting to know him to kissing him, flashed through her mind in a blur. But before any of them could come true, she had to find him first. She put on another burst of speed, not paying attention at all to how dark it had become.

She broke through the trees and came upon a meadow. Even through the inky darkness, Isabelle could see that the meadow was huge. Probably bigger than the stupid fairgrounds, she thought to herself. She could see nothing, except for the dark silhouette of a person standing in the middle of the clearing.

She squinted at the figure, trying to make out any features possible. When she realized she could make out none, she took several steps forward. The figure didn’t seem to notice, so she took a few more. As she grew nearer, the figure seemed to grow taller and it tensed, its limbs growing taut. When she was almost within reaching distance of it, the figure turned around.

She made an instant connection to the face and gasped. It was the man she’d seen at the fair. She hadn’t seen his face back there, but she knew in her heart it was him. Who else would be out here in the middle of nowhere in the dark? But something was different and definitely wrong. His eyes, instead of being one of the normal human shades, were glowing a bright orange, piercing the darkness like a laser. They were locked on her and seeming to stare right through her. He let out a menacing sound, something between the hiss of a snake and the snarl of a dog. It sent a shiver down her spine, causing her whole body to tremble.

Isabelle took her eyes off of his and looked down at his mouth. The lips that she’d pictured kissing were now obscured in two places by two large, gleaming white fangs. Another shiver rocketed through her body. Sure, she’d read about them, everyone had, but she never thought she’d see a real vampire.

She took a cautious step backward just as he took a step forward. The man stopped and seemed to shrink in size. His fangs suddenly shrunk, becoming normal sized and shaped. His eyes dimmed as well, becoming a normal shade she couldn’t make out in the darkness.

At that moment, she finally took notice of the sky. It was pitch black, lit up only by stars and the moon. She shivered again. Here she was, in the middle of the woods with no one around, in the dark with a vampire, a creature of the night. She took another step backward, trying to make as much space as possible between her and the man without him noticing.

“Don’t....please don’t be afraid,” he said, reaching out an arm and taking a step forward.

She flinched and he stopped, bringing his arm back down to his side. She shook her head from side to side, trying to rid herself of the awful images of him. If she wouldn’t have seen him, she would’ve still been walking around the fair with Emma, not here, standing before a vampire.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said. He extended his hand again, for her to shake. “I’m Richard, but you can call me Ricky.”

She stared at his hand for a few seconds, wondering what to do. “You just had glowing eyes and fangs and you want me to just forget that and shake your hand!?”

Even in the darkness, she saw him lower his head to look at the ground. She instantly felt regret at what she’d just said, feeling as if she’d offended him. She extended her hand slowly and grasped his in hers. “I’m Isabelle, but you can call me Izzy,” she said, mustering up a smile.

Still holding her hand, he looked up and said “Well, it’s nice to meet you Izzy.”

She smiled a genuine smile. Something inside her told her that he wasn’t going to hurt her. She let go of his hand. “It’s nice to meet you too. It was....interesting.”

He hung his head again and said, “I’m so sorry you had to see me that way. I guess I’m not good at making first impressions.”

She grabbed his hand again and held it in hers. “No, it was actually kind of cool, after you got past the scary fangs part,” she said, laughing a little.

He looked up. “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

He looked up at the sky. “Oh my, we should probably be getting back.”

She nodded. “My friend is going to be worried sick. She probably has every cop in the town looking for me.”

“Well let me escort you back then,” he said, “Hold on.”

He picked her up and put her on his back. She wrapped her arms around his neck, careful not to cling too tightly. Once he was sure she wasn’t going to fall off, he took off into the woods at a breathtaking inhuman speed.

Isabelle got dizzy and closed her eyes and listened to the sounds he made while crashing through the undergrowth. He stopped suddenly and she opened her eyes. They were already back at the fair, standing in the empty lot!

“That was....amazing,” she stammered, trying to catch her breath.

“T’was nothing m’lady,” he said in a fake British accent.

She giggled and looked up at him. The fair gave off enough light that she was finally able to see his eyes. They were the most gorgeous blue eyes she’d ever seen. They looked as if someone had taken a bit of the Caribbean Sea and poured the water in around his pupils.

Little did Isabelle know, Ricky was doing the same. He was able to look at them back in the meadow, but hadn’t. But now that he had some time, he looked down at her and into her eyes. They were the color of denim. He was gazing so intently at them that he didn’t notice she was speaking. She noticed he wasn’t listening and stopped, clearing her throat to get his attention.

“I guess I better get going,” she said. He thought he heard a bit of sadness in her tone, but dismissed the idea so he wouldn’t get his hopes up.

He nodded and smiled at her. “Your friend must be very worried by now, so I think that would be for the best. I’ll see you around,” he said. He bent down and kissed her cheek, then turned around and dashed off, back into the woods.

She stood there for a bit longer, too stunned to move. Her cheeks were on fire; probably looking like someone had painted them with a bright red paint. She needed to get back to the fair and find Emma, so she turned around and walked toward the place where’d they’d last been together.