Once upon a time, in a far off kingdom, was a girl with hair as black as coal, lips as red as blood, and skin as white as snow. She was named Snow White, and the day she was born, she sucked all of the blood out of her mother. Her father, the King, who was a trusting and naive man, blamed his wife's death a poisoning, ignoring the bite marks above her breast where the bloodthirsty baby had struck. Perhaps he purposefully ignored them, or maybe he was simply too stupid. Fortunatley when he remarried, it was to a woman sharp of wit.

She noticed the skin hanging off Snow White's bones, and sharp fangs that she tried so hard to hide. One day, she watched the girl stand in the courtyard, calling birds and woodland creatures to her upon which she feasted. But a growing vampire could not survive on squirrels alone. Every week, a castle servant would mysteriously vanish. The Queen noticed this, and judging by the hint of blush that appeared on her stepdaughter's cheeks themorning after the servants 'disappearance', she knew who the culprit was.

After years of struggling to find servants, the Queen finally decided that she'd had enough. The girl was trusting, a curse of her father, and she was close with the Huntsman, the only castle servant whose position hadn't been replaced over the course of the seven years Snow White had been alive. So she called upon him, giving him a stake and a knife commanding telling him to bring back her heart.

He never returned. But neither did Snow White, so the castle was safe... for a few years.

One day, as the Queen sat in the throne room, a dwarf barged in, hyperventilating and exhausted. "Your majesties!" He shrieked. "A terrible thing has happened in the woods!"

He went on to explain that his neighbors were lending a room in their house to a young girl, who had been with them for several years. She was a huntress, or at least she claimed, and she ran the woods dry, even though no one ever saw the animals she captured. She was having trouble finding food when one by one, all the dwarves in the house died of a mysterious illness. When this dwarf went to investigate, he discovered bite marks on the necks of his neighbors.

"There is a vampire in our land!" He screached. The King downed the last of his wine. The Queen leaned forward on her throne. "A vampire, you say?" He nodded. "Never fear, I will go after this vampire. In the meantime, go back to the woods and warn your village." The dwarf bowed, and raced out of the throne room as quickly as he had arrived.

It was midnight when the Queen left the castle, riding through the forest to where her stepdaughter was last seen. A stillness hung over the woods. Not even a single owl hooted from the trees.

Suddenly, the Queen's horse tripped, throwing her into the brush. Instantly, a cloaked figure, rushed over to the horse, sucking the animal's blood with a hideous slurping noise. The Queen pulled the stake out of her boot and gripped it, her knuckles turning as white as snow.

She creeped up behind the vampire, her hands shaking. She plunged the stake into Snow White's back, right where her heart was. The vampire gave a painful scream. The Queen pushed the stake further and the vampire writhed with pain until at last it fell dead.

Snow White would never terrorize the kingdom again.

(599 Words)

Inspired by Snow White, a Grimm fairytale.