She ran for her life, her heart pounding in her chest. She tried her best to get away, but it was her fate. And you know, that's a funny thing about fate, you can't escape it. Sooner or later, it will catch up with us all.

     All of a sudden she feels herself being yanked back by her ponytail. She screams for help, but no one hears her cries. He tackles her to the ground and sinks his teeth into her neck, causing her to scream out in pain. She doesn't know what to do, but she has to get away from him. So she kicks him off of her and runs for her life. She begins to run so fast, it almost feels like she's flying.

     "There's no sense in running, my dear. You're mine!" roars a deep male voice from behind her.

     She screams, "Leave me alone!"

     She runs into the forest. She has no idea where she is, but she finally lost him. Now with tears streaming down her face, she grabs her neck and tries not to scream. It hurts so much, almost like her blood is on fire. Then she collapses to the ground, clapping her hand to her mouth to hold in her scream. Now her teeth are throbbing.

     "What is happening to me? What did he do to me? Ahh. Make it stop. Wait something's happening to my teeth."

     She feels her teeth. They're not normal teeth anymore, they're fangs.

     "Oh no. Oh my gosh. No. I'm a...a...vampire. No. I can't be a vampire. Where am I going to go? I don't want to hurt people."

     She just sits there under the tree, crying with her neck continuously burning like hellfire. After sitting there for a while, she begins to hear something. She's scared to death it's that vampire so she gets up and races through the woods.
     All of a sudden she feels a sharp, piercing pain in her right side. She screams in pain and stops.

     "Take that, you bloodsucker," growls a voice from behind the trees.

     She feels her side. It's an arrow. She pulls the arrow out and before she can run away, she's tackled to the ground. When she looks up, she sees a tall, dark figure with big golden-brown eyes towering above her. As she looks closer, she notices the figure is holding a huge stick in his right hand. Now she is truly terrified.

     All of a sudden the figure rares his arm back and growls. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you now, you filthy bloodsucker."

     She whimpers. "No, please. Please don't. I was turned into this...this...monster completely against my will.... I mean do you really think I would want this? This is a nightmare for me. I don't know what I'm going to do, where I'm going to go...I'm scared. I don't want to kill anyone, but I'm so hungry." She begins to panic, her heart beginning to beat out of her chest.

     The figure steps a little closer, leans down, and gently places his hand on hers. "Hey. Calm down. Geez, I can hear your heartbeat pounding like a drum in my ears. I'm not going to kill you."

     She sighs a breath of relief. "Thank you."

     He softly touches her bite. "Ooh, that looks pretty bad. Seems like he got you pretty well.... Here...come with me so I can get you cleaned up and get you something for the pain," says the mysterious guy as he reaches his hand out to her.

     "Pain? How do you know I'm in pain?" questions the girl as she takes his hand in hers and starts walking with him.

     He answers, "Well, that arrow I shot you with was covered in vervain, which hurts vampires and causes their skin and blood to boil and burn like hellfire. Plus, I know that you were already dealing with your blood burning like that because you were just bitten. And oh, sorry about that by the way...I mean shooting you. I just hate vampires. In fact, a vampire is what ruined my life years ago. He stole the love of my life. Ugh. I just want to find him and rip his freaking head off."

     "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know. Hopefully, someday you can find him."

     "Yeah, I hope so too." He lets out a big sigh. "Well, we're here, home sweet home." He points over to a chair in the corner and says, "You can just go sit over there. I'll be back in a second." The girl nods and sits down.

     A few seconds later, the boy returns holding a rag and a bottle of alcohol. He twists the cap off the alcohol bottle and douses the rag in it. Just before he places the rag on her wound, he says, "Ok. Now I'm going to warn you, this is fixing to hurt, but I have to get the wound cleaned so it'll heal. So just be prepared."

     Nervous, the girl nods her head, then the boy softly places the rag on her wound and starts cleaning it. She flinches at the cold sensation and then winces as it starts to burn even more. She tenses up, digs her fingernails into the chair, and clenches her teeth to restrain herself from screaming.

     The boy notices how much this hurts her so he grabs her hand, gently rubbing the top of it with the pad of his thumb. "I'm really sorry about this. I know how much it hurts. I promise you though, I'm not trying to hurt you."

     She nods her head and through clenched teeth, she says, "I understand."

     Once he finally finishes cleaning her wound, he gets up and returns holding a different rag. "Ok. Now time to get all this mud off of you."

     As he begins to wipe the mud off of her cheeks, the moonlight shines through the window and glimmers on her face, causing him to stop and stare into her eyes. He mumbles, "Oh my gosh." He whispers, "Rosalie?" but the girl doesn't hear him.

     "What? Is something wrong?"

     "No. You just look...never mind." He finishes cleaning the mud off of her. "Well, you're all cleaned up. Now it's time to go get you something to eat."

     The girl questions, "Eat? But what am I going to eat? I'm a vampire, remember? I need blood."

     The boy nods. "Yeah, I know, but I have an idea."

     The girl shrugs her shoulders. "Ok."

     Then they head out into the woods. As they're walking, the boy says, "Hey, you know I've been talking to you, and I even brought you into my house, yet I still haven't asked you your name. What is it?"

     The girl giggles. "Oh, it's Rose."

     The boy looks at her in a bit of amazement. "Rose?"

     "Yeah. Rose. I think it's a family name, although I don't remember who I'm named after. As a matter of fact, I don't really remember anything before turning eighteen. I don't know. It's weird. It's like someone erased my memory. Anyway, what's your name?"

     "Oh. Uh, I'm Alex."

     Rose smiles. "Nice to meet you, Alex."

     Alex smiles back. "It's nice to meet you, Rose."

     All of a sudden, Alex stops walking.

     Rose stops and asks, "Alex? What's wrong?"

     "Nothing. Wait here," says Alex just before disappearing behind the trees.

     "Alex, what are you doing?"

     A couple of seconds later, Alex returns, carrying a deer. He sets it on the ground in front of her. "Here. Try this. I know it's not human blood, but maybe it will do."

     Rose smiles and gladly drinks the blood from the animal. "Thank you, Alex. This helps."

     Alex smiles. "Good. I'm glad I could help you."

     Rose's smile quickly fades away and tears begin to fall down her cheeks as all kinds of thoughts flood her mind. "Where am I going to go? What am I going to do? Will that evil vampire find me?"

     Alex asks her, "What's wrong? Are you ok?"

     "Yeah, I'm fine. It's just...I'm terrified. I don't want that evil vampire to find me. I have no idea where I'm going to go. I can't go back home. I guess I'll just have to sleep in a tree tonight and then turn to ash when the sun comes up."

     "No, you can't just give up on living because you're a vampire now. I mean look at me, I'm a werewolf and I'm still alive. You can still live your life, it's just going to be different. It's all going to be ok. Don't worry. You can live with me. Just promise me you won't bite me," he says with a laugh.

     Rose giggles. "Ok. I promise I won't bite you. Thanks, Alex."

     "Of course, Rose. And about that stupid vampire finding you, don't worry. He will not find you. You're not alone. I'm going to protect you. I promise."

     She hugs him. "Thanks, Alex."

     He smiles. "Of course. Now let's get back to the cabin and get some sleep. You've had a long day."

     Rose awakes to find Alex's chest carved up and blood is everywhere. She screams in terror. All of a sudden she is snatched out the door and drug through the forest. Then the creature drops her on the ground. When she looks up, she sees the evil vampire leaning over her. He runs his fingers through her hair and growls. "I told you that you couldn't escape me. You're mine now!"

     Rose screams, "No! No! No!" She starts hyperventilating and her heart is about to jump out of her chest.

     Alex shakes her. "Rose. Rose. Rose."

     She jumps up, her heart pounding like a drum. "No!"

     Alex tries to console her. "Rose. Shh. I'm here. You're safe. Calm down."

     She bursts into tears. "Alex? You...you're alive. Thank God. I woke up and you were slaughtered, then I was drug through the woods, and then he...he found me. Alex, it...it felt so real. It was so scary."

     Alex holds her tight. "Well, it was just a dream, Rose. I've got you now. You're safe. He's not going to get you." He lies down beside her, wrapping his arm around her. "I'm right here. I promise I'm not leaving you."

     She then slowly drifts off to sleep now safe and sound in Alex's arms.