Part 1:The Beginning(chapters 1-10)

 

“My night has become a sunny dawn because of you."
          -Ibn Abbad

”Belief in vampires and bloodsucking demons is as old as man himself”

-Brian Frost

“In a world of extreme beauty, anyone normal is ugly.”

-Scott Westerfeld: Uglies

     

 

 

 

 

 

 

Part 1:

The Beginning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Every Tragedy has a beginning...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1810

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

Prologue

Jamie

The pain was excruciating.

 Jamie lay in the middle of what was now known as Central Park in early New York and crying out in pain. The burn in her neck was the most painful thing she had ever had to feel in her eighteen years of life, even more painful than her brutal murder.

 She was dressed in a simple white night-gown which only sophistication was its effortless simplicity and the intricate pearl beading on the princess neckline. The rest of the dress was pure silk and was now stained with her blood. She was getting cold lying in the rain but she couldn't move a muscle due to the agonizing pain that she felt in her neck. The pain was slowly moving to the rest of her body.

She looked to her left where her brother lay, then up to the sky where she saw a full moon. Her brother was not motionless like her but he too was crying in intense pain. His body became disfigured, his shoulder bone was arching out, his back was hunched to an extreme that was humanly impossible and he kept viscously growling at the air where saliva dripped of his mouth like a terrifyingly angry dog. He even looked like he was starting to get the teeth of a great wolf.

She looked away from him immediately because she couldn’t stand to see him in this type of agony.

She was the cause of their pain. If she hadn’t fallen for that aristocratic man they’d both be alive... and human. But no, she had to proceed, even though her instincts had warned her to stay away.

But then again she just couldn’t, he was charming, handsome and dangerous: he was everything Jamie had looked in a guy.

 

The night she had finally accepted his offer to become his bride was the worst night of her life. As soon as she said yes she ran into his arms crying, a foolish act since if she had not, she might have seen that he was just using her as food.

His teeth sunk into her neck with such ferocity she couldn’t help but scream in pain. If her brother had not decided to barge in ten minutes into his feeding, she might have been long dead by now.

In a way she was thankful, but mostly angry that he had. If he hadn’t she’d be dead and not only wishing that she was.

She was lying in fetal position after Taylor staked her changer in the heart after he had drunk a large portion of her blood.

She didn’t know how she could still be alive but she was somewhat grateful.

As the beast lay on the ground bleeding fiercely, she took her mouth and put it on his bleeding flesh were she drank deeply from him and looked into his deep set blue eyes, they were closed for a minute but they opened soon after and once again his teeth dug into her flesh.

 

She shook the memory out of her head because the rest was just too much for her to comprehend at that moment.

She was crying now and her pain was only getting worse with every passing second but now a new emotion had arose. Hunger. No it wasn't hunger, more like thirst, a deep thirst for something she had not had once in her life and this new ferocious desire for it shook her.

She wanted blood, more than anything else she wanted in her whole life, so much so that she was desperate enough to drink the blood of her changing brother before it was too late.

So she gathered up the strength to stand up and she slowly limped her way towards her brother, her twin, her blood. That vessel of life that contained the all present blood and his blood contained the thing that would cure her from her pain. She hesitated before she bent down but her hesitation was short lived. He was bleeding from his shoulder and his blood smelt amazing, she had never smelt anything like it in all of her life and had never wanted it more.

Before her teeth could dive into his flesh, a man appeared behind her with the blood that smelt even greater than her brother’s

“Excuse me miss, can I help you?” the man asked in a deep English accent. His concern was shortly lived when he saw the agonizing pain in her brother’s eyes and his excruciating screams. She had blocked them out when she went for his blood but now they were crystal clear, but so was each drop of rain that hit the floor.

She screamed in pain as the sound burst through her ears with no mercy or intention of stopping and her brother’s screams were getting louder by each second.

“Make it stop!” she screamed in vicious agony but the sounds would not go away, instead they had only intensified when the sound of thunder came roaring out with no mercy whatsoever. She couldn’t stand to feel that pain so she focused on the sound of the man’s pulse, the smell of his fear and the light bumps that appeared on his skin after each passing pulse.

It was beautiful and utterly tempting; she couldn’t resist anymore so she got up and limped her way towards the man who now started to run. He slipped on the mud of the wet floor after only ten seconds of his disastrous attempt to get away.

When he was on the floor Jamie pounced on him and dug her teeth straight into the skin of his neck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

         

 

 

 

 

 

2010

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

                

                               

Chapter 1: Moving

Stark

“My life is officially over dad, you do know that?!” I told my father who’s forcing me to move to the upscale, yet profoundly plastic, Marketa (America’s 51^st state, Yip you read right I said 51^st turns out 50 just wasn’t enough for them).

“It’s for your own good, son, plus I guarantee you’ll make lots of new friends there and forget about your old ones in a matter of months,” my dad told me.

 “Months?”I yelled in fury “And I will not forget my friends, not ever!” I stood there absolutely dumbfounded at what he was saying, how could I ever forget my friends?

“We’re moving to Marketa and that’s final young man whether you like it or not!”My father practically hissed.

"But dad I love New York, why in the world would we have to move?” I asked.

“Now see son we moving to Marketa ‘cause it’s a better life for you, Lisa and me, plus it has great schools, housing, safety and entertainment.” My father said.

“Urgh!” I said as I stormed out of the room.

 

So here’s the deal my dad, Tevin jnr., is the big time CEO of some hugely popular company that sells stuff and things, he’s of French and American descent and is his skin tone is a light shade of cream, he has blue eyes and tanned hair both of which I, luckily, inherited. He has a strong and defined bone structure that would make any male model tremendously desirous. He and my mother divorced about 5 years ago, just after my baby sister was born, which put him in this huge depression and just recently recovered, which is probably why he chose to move to Marketa but still, how could he do this to me!? I’m going to be in my senior year for crying out loud! Parents can be so inconsiderate!

 

My Name is Stark Cambridge, as you all should know by now, I’m 17 and I have blue eyes with curly tanned hair, almost the exact same shade as my dad’s, I’m about 6 foot 1' and have the body of a super model, or so I’ve been told, I’m Caucasian with a small hint of Portuguese and I’ve just past the eleventh grade at Constance. I’m on the Constance senior football team so I’m kinda a jock and kinda popular oh and I’m dating the most popular girl in school, Aphrodite, and I have a whole fleet of friends and a A grade average, so life for me is pretty grand (now you see why I was throwing a fit about the whole moving thing).

My sister, and only sibling, is 5 and a half years old with impossibly long auburn hair, with a hint of (natural) golden blonde highlights here and there. She has green eyes with a slightly darker skin tone than mine. She’s not yet in school.

 

So now that you have a sense about my family we can continue with the story.

 

“Your still gonna visit right?” Aphrodite said as I packed the last of my many Louis Vuitton suitcases.

“You know I would, love” I said starring deep into her crystal clear blue eyes.

“Promise?” She said with honest heartache which reflected in her eyes, knowing I was going to cause her pain made me resent my father even more.

“Promise” I assured her. Slowly I caressed the side of her impossibly beautiful face and kissed her with the passion a soldier would give his wife as he left for war, knowing this might be the last time he sees her, the last time he smells her sweet cologne, the last time he touches her beautiful skin, the last time he kisses her; but I promised myself I would visit her again, that I would make this relationship work no matter how hard it may be. “We’ll still chat over Facebook and Skype we’ll phone and text each other love, always know that I’m never truly gone and I’m just a phone call away,” I reassured her.

“But it won’t be the same…”She said. I ran my fingers through her jet black hair and slowly I kissed her again this time with even more passion, I swear I could actually see steam radiating around us at the amount of passion and heat that was coming from, dare I say it, true loves last kiss(for now).

“Goodbye Aph, I’ll never forget you, and I love you tremendously never forget that” I said with tears in my eyes “Never” I said again.

By now she was crying and struggling to form her words or trying to pronounce it is a more accurate description but I could see it all over her face they said: I’ll never forget you Stark, I love you even more than I love almost everyone else in this whole world, please don’t leave me please!

 She was crying a bit louder and with more emotion, I could see that her heart was shattering by the minute. I kissed her on the forehead a whispered “goodbye Aph” and walked towards the SUV and reached for the handle I looked back to see her really sobbing now. She managed to mumble an inaudible “goodbye” and I entered the SUV and my dad, sister and I went towards Marketa.

Chapter 2: Road to Marketa

Stark

“So dad, where in Marketa are we exactly going to live?” I asked my father as we passed the border that divides Nevada and California.

“Uhm I think it’s here somewhere,” dad said as he looked through a bunch of stuff (b.t.w. I was driving so we were safe and totally not reckless).He picked a big brown envelope that had the words IMPORTANT stamped in red on it. The letter had an address written on it and it read as follows:

 

MR Tevin Cambridge

5086 Richards Avenue

Marketa Hills,

Marketa

 

"So, what do you think?" my dad asked.

"Uhm....Marketa Hills... really dad?"I sort of replied.

"Yes Marketa Hills, what’s wrong with Marketa Hills?" he asked

"It's so...superficial and uhm... fake."

"And why do you say that?"

"Dad are you kidding me...It's Marketa's version of Beverly Hills...I'm sure the house and neighborhood is grand but dad it’s so fake..."

"What's fake about it?"

"Not only is it filled with superficial airheads that have senseless plastic surgery but also the people are fake...in a sense..."

"Now Stark let’s not make rash judgments...I mean you never met anyone from Marketa let alone Marketa Hills so you can't make a decision on what you've heard or what you assume."

"Ugh whatever... But dad tell me why we really have to move? I mean I never did much that violated the rules, I had great grades, I was on the senior football team, I had a stable social life and I had the best girlfriend a guy could ask for... Why’d you have to f**k it up? Why?" I asked fiercely instantly gripping the steering wheel.

"I...I...I had to" He stuttered.

"What do mean 'you had to'?"

"I couldn't stand living there anymore... everywhere I looked I saw something that reminded me of her... I was goin’ to go crazy if I had to stay there longer... I, I mean, we had to start over, start fresh..." He said while starring sorrowfully out the window. I could understand what he meant and I could only imagine the pain he must be going through, but why? Why me? Why Marketa? Why not some other city in or around New York or even New Jersey? Why?

"So I kinda get what you're saying but why not nearer? Why so far?" I asked. Dad sighed, took a deep breath and answered.

 "I don't know...it appealed to me and something inside me told me to, some higher power, I guess." So he made a decision due to some rash assumptions and a 'voice'. I mentally rolled my eyes.

“So you telling me that God told you to move to a superficial, fake place?" I asked this time really rolling my eyes.

"I guess so..." He replied.

I left it at that, fearing that my ongoing questions may make my father even more depressed and resentful...

After about an hour we reached a cheap looking motel that looked like one of those hostels in a cheap Horror movie. My sister and I stayed in the car while my father went to get two rooms, one for him and my sister, the other for me. After a while my father returned with two keys and gave me one. He gave me a key, said goodnight and left with my sister in his arms. I got out of the car (reluctantly) and went off to room 12.

When I got to the room, I opened the door slowly and took a peep in it. Boy was I astounded! The room looked like it came out of the pages of some 90210 magazine (which sadly there probably was). The bed was made of an elegant modern design with a beautiful cherry wood frame and the duvet was decked out in intricate patterns that looked very unique and elegant, the side table was made of matching wood with a similar pattern and there was a lamp on each table. Across the TV was a beautiful loveseat with a 32' plasma screen TV that seemed to have cable.

I went to the bathroom which was just as elegant as the bedroom with a pearly white bath/shower with a pearly white basin and an elegant looking mirror. The tiles were a standard baby blue color that matched the rooms baby blue wall and white carpeting of the bedroom.

Since I was beginning to notice that I was exhausted I went straight to the bed after my brief exploring. As soon as my face hit the soft satin pillow I fell asleep...

 

That's when I had the dream or should I say nightmare...

 

It wasn't originally a nightmare it started off as a beautiful, sumptuous dream.

 

I was in the middle of the sidewalk, in a place I never knew, staring into the eyes of one of the most beautiful girls I ever saw.

 Her angel eyes were brightest shade of emerald green, her skin impossibly pale and her strawberry blonde hair extended all the way down to the top of her waist. She had a feminine oval shaped face, delicious full lips and a perfectly straight nose. Her body was absolutely divine. She had curves that hit all the right places and beautiful, perfect legs that stretched for miles! She looked like she was molded by Greek gods and goddesses to form the perfect human sculpture. She had on a simple silk aqua blue tank top which had an interesting pattern of white pearls on the neckline and standard blue jeans with thigh high boots. All in all she looked absolutely stunning!

She whispered my name into my ears. Her voice was so angelic that it made my heart melt. She took hold of my hands, hers felt icy, and put it beneath her jaw line so that I could cup her perfect face, and again I noticed how cold she felt.

"Kiss me." she whispered.

Unable to resist, I slowly put my lips onto hers, they molded together perfectly, and slowly I began kissing her softly, our passion roaring louder than my than the bells of alarm ringing in my head, which was telling me to leave her and run, and telling me to think about Aphrodite. But it was so soft and faint that I barely noticed.

Our lips pulled away after about a good minute and she put her ice like lips onto my neck and slowly we wrapped ourselves in each other. I stared into her eyes mesmerized at how perfect and bright they were and my mind told me that this was all a distraction. She bowed her head, as in shame, and pushed me down a cliff that I didn't remember ever being there. I screamed on the top of my voice as I began tumbling down a slope and abruptly I hit the ground and was knocked out...

 

When I ‘woke’ up I was laying in the middle of what I knew was Marketa's forest surrounded by trees on each end I began walking in what I thought was a straight line.

 As I walked through the seemingly endless forest I came across blood on the ground. I went to examine it and thought it was fairly fresh and I knew that it was human. Idiotically I followed the trail of blood like some dumb blonde in a cheap slasher movie, I thought I heard the audience yell don't go there, but did I listen? No. What I found left me dead in my tracks, frozen with terror.

I walked until I came across a small meadow that was filled with flowers and footprints. It was dead quiet.

 I looked at my surroundings it was still except for a strange black disfigured thing. I stared at it for a while before I could fully register what I was seeing.

What I saw was immensely terrifying, the kind that keeps even the bravest awake at night. There was a girl lying naked on it, her body completely lifeless. It looked like it was feeding on her neck, drinking her blood from her lifeless body; it seemed to be in a deep trance-like state.

About a minute later it sighed in pleasure looking towards the moon and smelling the air (WTF?!).It was then when it looked at me. It had glowing crimson red eyes with a bunch of veins tangling from just below the eye. Its scowl was so deep in fury that it forced a huge terror filled scream that seemed to engulf the whole forestland I was sure would've given any girl a run for her money. And with that it hissed and speed away in incredible speed, only a split second past when it seemed miles away. Immediately I ran to the girl who was now lying in a pool of blood.

She had chocolate brown hair with pale white skin. Her neck was definitely bitten (more like ripped out) and the seemed like she was beginning to run out of blood. I put her on my legs and stared at her in complete terror.

A few minutes later she opened up her eyes. Her eyes were also crimson red but unlike the monster/vampire thing, they were bleeding from its pores. She opened her mouth to let out a bloodcurdling shriek, lurched at me immediately and bit my neck...

 

I woke up not remembering a thing and fell asleep soon after…

 

“Stark wake up,” dad said as he stood in the doorway.

“Dad?” I said to him as I slowly began to reach consciousness from a seemingly dreamless sleep.

“Come on kid we have to get goin’ the ship leaves in three hours and it’s a two and a half hour dive.” He said.

“Ok, ok I’m comin’ just give me twenty minutes and I’ll be there,” I said along the way to the bathroom.

 When there, I walked over to the shower where I turned it on halfway noticing that it was an unusually warm day for winter but not hot at all.

 Slowly I began to undress in a trance like state wondering what it was that I dreamt about last night. First I knew it was freaking terrifying considering the amount of sweat that was on the pillow and the fact that I woke up from it in the way that I did. Second I remember the blood and the woods but nothing else. And third that it felt unusually real, something that I never felt before… must be the weather…

When I got out the shower I went to the modern sink to brush my teeth and to brush my hair in a way that looked like some effort was put into it but also looked a bit casual and scruffy, leaving a few strands of hair hanging carelessly in front of my face.

 When I was done dressing I went out to the SUV, tapping on the window asking dad to let me in. The rest of the ride was uneventful…

 

Chapter 3: Ship

Jamie

As she drove towards North California Jamie wondered how Trevor felt about her sudden departure from South Africa.

He couldn’t know the truth. She thought.

 When she told him she had to leave, she told him it was a family emergency and that she had to go, but what he didn’t know was that Jamie wanted to kill him.

That delicious ‘Coloured’ blood ran through her thoughts, though she only had a pinch of it, it made her mouth water and was a kind she had never tasted before. She was almost close to completely feeding on the poor scum the night before, but that awful b***h had to walk in on them during that precious moment when she was just about to bite the comedian’s neck and drink that precious thick young blood.

 No! This is not you Jamie! You don’t drink human blood! You’re an experienced Half Blood not a dumb Full Blood or an idiotic Rouge Blood!

Slowly Jamie shook her head trying to shake off her current frame of mind. This is not the mood to be when you’re going on an all expenses paid cruise back to Marketa Island.

Marketa was her new home where she’d be meeting her family after her five year trip around the world. She’d been in five different places, Paris, France; Sydney, Australia; New York, New York; Beijing, China and finally Johannesburg, South Africa.

She was beginning to feel hungry, no correction, thirsty, now and she knew that she had to feed soon or she’d most likely lose control on her little cruise. She decided it was appropriate to stop at the nearest hospital and get a few blood packs from it.

When she arrived at some local hospital she stopped in the parking lot and quickly ran through her Louis Vuitton Speedy bag to look for her brush then slowly she ran the brush through her raven hair which was beginning to frizz wildly. Quickly she looked in the rear-view mirror and saw that she looked perfect as usual.

She dashed out the car in her usual inhuman speed towards the entrance where she slowly straightened out her new black Balmain dress and wiped off the blood from her six inch hot pink Louboutin pumps...

         Stark 

  As dad went to the loading area the employers from the ship drove in the SUV to the loading dock and told me that the rest, which was on moving truck, had been loaded on the cargo ship one hour ago and was already on the way to Marketa and would be picked up there and taken to our home.

Unwillingly I walked onto the staircase and onto the huge cruiser where I immediately saw her...

 

She was undeniably the most beautiful girl my eyes had the pleasure to see. She had the most piercing aqua blue angelic eyes with raven hair that ended just below her breasts. She stood towering at 5 foot 11’ and had beautifully toned legs that stretched for miles. Her curves hit all the right places and luscious lips were full and flawless! She had the most perfect feminine bone structure and a beautiful, flawless nose. Her face was utter perfection! Her body built like a Greek goddess! She had on a skin tight black mini dress which I recognized as Balmain, six inch hot pink Louboutin heels and a multicolor Louis Vuitton monogram Speedy bag.

 I had to know her!

             Jamie

“Hello,” a voice said to her.

She turned around to see a young man, probably in his late teens staring at her. He was breathtakingly beautiful. Immediately, she thought that he must be a Half Blood, but then the smell of his thick pulsating blood hit her (and boy did it hit hard!). It smelt like no other blood she smelt before, like the most expensive and rare wine but only two thousand times better!

“Hi,” she said through her teeth. He was wearing a blue polo top with white designer jeans and blue Dolce and Gabbana sneakers.

 He looked flawless (especially for a human). His messy blonde hair falling carelessly around his face, and she watched intensely as it blew harmlessly in the light breeze. Her eyes carelessly moving to his neck and watched intently as his blood pumped through his veins. Her mouth began to water...

Stark

What is she staring at?

 I know I'm good looking but still she’s mind blowing! I can’t seem that beautiful to her-

“What’s your name?” Stark asked to break the silence.

“Uhm Jamie, Jamie-Leigh Carlton... yours?” she asked.

 “Stark Cambridge,” and with that she made an excuse to leave and I told her I had to leave as well.

Wow was all I could think of when I left for my cabin, first-class of course. When I got to the first-class section I looked down at the card, it read ‘room 204’. I didn’t have to walk far until I reached my suite.

As I opened the door I walked into the most expensive little suite I saw on a ship.

 It had one bedroom with a king size bed, a dresser, a double seated couch just in front of the bed and a flat screen plasma TV; a bathroom with a beige marble floor, a white tub with a gold tap and handle bars, a modern looking double white sink that, just like the tub, had a gold taps, a long mirror with a gold fancy looking frame and a matching beige marble wall. Damn!

Immediately I ran towards the bed, dropped my luggage and fell onto the bed. A few minutes later I fell asleep and Jamie had temporarily left my mind.

Jamie

Oh My Taylor Lautner! Was all she could think of once she reached her cabin suite number 206.

First of all how could you let that happen? She thought to herself. It caught me by surprise, it won’t happen again, after all my power makes sure of that...

Jamie had the three distinctive powers, something incredibly rare in vampires. Her first power: the ability to control the element of Fire, her second: the ability of super self control and her third: the strong ability of giving a person the vivid illusion of being burnt (in connection with her element).

Hesitantly she stepped into her bathroom, shed her clothes and turned on the shower. The hot water felt good against her smooth marble like skin making her slowly forget about Stark.

Sigh, what are you gonna do ‘bout him? She asked herself.

God I don’t know!

As she stepped out the shower and put on the towel, the sent hit her. Slowly she slowed down her breath rate and walked out of her bathroom, looked out her door and saw him. His pulsating red blood smelled even more distinct than the first time, but noticeably different (in a good not as delicious way). She thought that it must be her powers, but then again from what she read from her father’s textbooks some humans have the extra ordinary ability of subconsciously shielding their scents.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” she replied.

“Uhm...” he said as he awkwardly ran his hands through his luscious tan blonde hair.

“So, uhm, Stark would you like to uhm meet up at the uhm sky deck at eight?”

“S-sure,”

And with that Jamie went back into her suit opened her Louis Vuitton duffel bag, and took out a Balmain one-shoulder cocktail dress, spiky black Christian Louboutin heels, a black Chanel tote and a diamond Tiffany’s necklace. When she was done picking out her outfit, she slid into a Chantelle Cachemire underwire bodysuit then slid on her mini...

             Stark

“What just happened?” I said to myself as I walked into my suite.

 God am I goin’ on a date? What about Aphrodite? What am I goin’ to do? What am I goin’ to wear? God!

I walked over to my Gucci suitcase and set out a white Prada golf shirt, black Polo Ralph Lauren shorts and classic white Louis Vuitton boat shoes onto my bed, walked into the bathroom and entered the shower...

 

When I walked to the sky deck I saw Jamie standing by the rail of the ship, watching the stars.

“Hey.” I said. She turned around slowly and looked into my eyes. God was she stunning. She wore a white and silver mini dress, spiky heels, a simple diamond necklace and a black tote. Her hair was carefully tied into a pony tail with a few strands carelessly hanging in her face. She was amazing!

“Hey,” she replied.

“How you doin’?” he asked.

“Good and you?”

“I'm good so where you off to?”

“Uhm I’m goin’ to Marketa to start schooling at Mystic Hill High, you?” Jamie asked.

“Me too,” I chuckled.

“So where are you from?”

“From New York, I lived in the Upper East Side. My dad recently decided that we should uhm move away from the city and to well Marketa,”

“Really? So what did you do?” she said laughing

“I flipped... but yeah what you gonna do?” I said with sly smile on my face.

“Yeah? Well I'm glad that you did,”

“Really?”

“Yeah? You’re okay Stark, I like you,”

And with that she kissed me, and I kissed back...

Ok WTF just happened! F**k, she likes me? What about Aphrodite? Have I become a man-w***e? She kissed me... and I kissed back... does that mean I like her? His mind trailed for a few seconds and gave one simple answer that changed everything...

Yes...

 I was stunned by the reply I gave myself that I was sure was true, I did like Jamie, I liked her a lot...

 WTF Stark! You've just met her. How can you be so sure?! And again, what about Aphrodite?

“Uhm Jamie, I have to go, I'm really sorry, I can’t.” And with that, I left not even turning to look back.

Jamie

Jamie sat their astonished. When she said she liked Stark she meant it, not like with her past few lovers telling them she liked them just to get a taste...

Her mind started to replay the scene over again. She kissed him, something she never meant to do; he kissed her back, that much was expected. It was passionate and mind blowing.

 When she pulled away she saw his reaction immediately, her Half Blood senses noticing every little detail. She heard his heart rate pick up, she smelt the tiny beads of sweat coming from his forehead and she saw his body twitch and sensed the hesitation in his gestures. She expected all that but what she didn’t expect was his sudden departure, his last words stung like a cobra’s bite and she realized she was crying. She wiped the tears from her face, took her compact out of her Chanel tote and started reapplying her YSL makeup.

Slowly she stood up and headed towards her suite, feeling her eyes begin to swell up, she walked faster.

When she reached the hallway her tears were flowing freely.

Why am I crying over some guy I just met! She thought as she walked towards her door. Slowly she looked up and saw Stark looking straight at her, a look of shock, confusion and sadness all over his face. She ignored him, walking straight past him ignoring whatever it was that he was saying.

She slid her card into the door, opened it and walked straight towards her bed. When she reached the bed she lay on it and began to sob quietly...

 

She fell asleep crying.

 

When she woke up someone was knocking on her door. She got up from her bed, ran to her mirror to check her makeup. When she was done she went to the door, unlocked it and opened the door.

There Stark stood, in the same clothes he was wearing on that disastrous date or whatever.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hi,” she replied emotionlessly.

“So uhm, can I come in?”

“Sure uhm come in.”

As he came in he took a seat next to me on the bed.

“Look, Jamie I'm really sorry for what I did. I acted like a complete dick and I apologize. I was just confused and I didn’t know what to do.” And with that he explained that he never felt this way towards anyone so soon, that he had a girlfriend and that her name was Aphrodite, he explained his confusion and pain for leaving New York and basically opened up to Jamie.

“So as you see I really don’t know what to do.” He said scratching his head with tears in his eyes. To be quite honest, she didn’t know either. She looked down and saw his heartbeat pump in a fluent steady rate. What she did next came, once again, as a complete shock to her. She lifted her head leaned towards him and kissed him gently but passionately on his lips, allowing her lips to part as he returned the kiss and let his tongue slip into her mouth.

They kept this up for a few seconds before he pulled away, a look of pure admiration in his deep set blue eyes. He put a hand on her soft, smooth cheek. His hands felt warm to her and singed her with electricity. She leaned towards him and rested her head on his torso...

She felt awful that she couldn't tell him the truth about her...

 

That night Stark and Jamie spent the night in each other’s arms.

 

 

Chapter 4: Marketa

Stark

The day the ship was to reach Marketa was nerve wrecking. Not only was I about to reach a completely new place, with completely different scenery, completely different layout and completely different people, but I now a had not one girlfriend but two (last night was magical, though it’s true that nothing much happened, all we did was talk and lay in each other’s arms), well at least I think I have two, I was certain that Jamie and I were not friends neither were we friends-with-benefits, we were somewhere past that.

 Did that make us a couple? If so, what the hell am I supposed to do about Aphrodite? She doesn’t deserve this. And besides I'm not really into having multiple partners. God!

Slowly I stepped out of the shower and dried myself walked over to the bed which I hardly slept in. I put on my white Nike t-shirt, a black Puma board shorts over my Armani briefs and black Fendi slippers. When I was done with that and packing (taking some ‘complementary’ stuff from the suite) and walked over to Jamie’s suite. At the first nock she let me in.

She looked stunning as usual wearing a pink Coveri mini dress, with white patent leather Jimmy Choo slingbacks, a pink Prada headband with a Prada Fairy bag and no makeup.

“You look amazing,” I said.

“You look pretty amazing yourself,” she replied. And with that we were off to the deck with our luggage both facing our uncertain futures.

 

“Dad!” I yelled as I stepped towards the car.

 A few moments ago Jamie and I said our goodbyes, she gave me her number and I promised that I’d call her as soon as I got home.

“Hey Stark” my sister said, I hardly saw them on the ship.

“Where have two been,” I asked as I bear hugged my sister.

“Stop it!” She said laughing hysterically.

 “We’ve been around.” my dad said with a grin on his face, happy that I was happy.

With that I got packed my luggage into the backseat of the SUV, since the boot was already way too full, got into the huge vehicle as dad, my sister and I ventured into the unknown.

Not realizing how tired I actually was, I was asleep in a matter of minutes.

 

When I woke up we were in heading towards Marketa’s biggest mall, the Mystic Hill Mall (we must have been in Marketa Hills already) to buy some new stuff.

“Up already?” my dad said.

“Yeah.” I laughed.

When we were done parking I walked out the car and walked into the one of the most glamorous malls I've ever been to. The place had all the designer clothing brands, vintage clothing stores and budget clothing stores a person could imagine. It had every store a mega luxury mall would have and more. It had the fanciest restaurants and swankiest indoor recreation places in the town. It even had huge, upper-class only, club! As soon as I got into the mall I walked straight into one of my favorite clothing stores, Bergdorf Goodman (well Marketa’s version), and had a ball.

When I came out of the swanky department store I had spent over twenty thousand dollars and had over three dozen bags, full of new clothes, shoes, accessories, gifts and bags. Boy was I gonna get the Stark-you-spend-way-too-much-on- material-possessions speech. But when I saw him he didn’t say a word, instead he looked at me and smiled. My jaw almost fell on the floor.

When our shopping escapade was over we were off to our new home.

Marketa Hills was in one word, posh! It was filled with swanky clubs, posh restaurants, luxury apartments, mansions, townhouses and lofts, beautiful scenery, awesome beaches, great recreational areas and even the business district looked aristocratic!

When we pulled up to the street that was right next to one of the most exclusive beaches dad said was ours, I was blown away!

The street was full of huge mansions that must cost a fortune; each had the name of the families (in pure gold) elegantly placed onto of their pricey looking gates.

The names I saw on my left were: the Van Allen’s, the Swan’s, the Redbird’s, the Gilbert’s and the Carlton’s (WTF!). And on my right: The Archibald’s, the Snow’s, the Woldorf’s and the Cambridge’s (right across her!). You couldn't see much of how the actual mansions looked but that only added to their allure.

When dad pulled into our yard I saw the most beautiful and certainly one of the biggest homes I’ve ever seen. The front lawn was very elegant and posh in the, showing beautifully cut grass and exotic flowers, arranged in the most intriguing, but beautiful, way. It had a beautifully arranged driveway that led into a garage that looked like it could house six cars and a motor bike. There was an enticing pathway that led from the main gate all the way to the front porch that looked amazing.

The house itself was a two storey mansion with a common peach paint with the frames of the doors and windows, the color of the columns and the color of the balconies’ rails were a plain white, which only added to the beauty. At the back of the house was a large kidney shaped pool with loungers all around the front of the pool, there was a huge open space the size of a regular football field and an outdoor basketball arena complete with a scoreboard and seating for about two hundred people. Outside the back gate was a path of stairs that led straight down to the ocean and not too far from that was a bungee jumping court that looked like major fun.

The inside looked even more breathtaking. It looked modern with a pinch of vintage here and there. The entryway had a patterned white and black tiled floor and with a matching wall covering. On the second floor hung a beautiful and expensive looking diamond chandelier that hung on a thick platinum frame. The spiral stairs were in each corner at the end of room. The entry way followed to a hallway with very pricey looking paintings and a couch with an end table placed nonchalantly in front of a landscaped painting of Marketa’s national forest which, for some reason, gave me chills.

The long hallway lead to a multitude of rooms including: a fully equipped gym, a chapel, a huge kitchen, dining with a table with a seating for twelve and a living room, a game room, indoor club, spa, a indoor pool, a library and a theatre, and lead towards the end of the house, onto the elegant back porch.

When I went upstairs there was another long hallway that lead to eight bedrooms, each with their own bathroom, five had their own walk-in closets and three had their own balconies.

Immediately I walked into the bedroom dad said was mine, where my luggage with my clothing and boxes with my personal belongings were.

The room’s walls were a modest red paint and beige carpeting. There was a large king size bed with a French style cherry wood bed frame with matching side tables. In front of the bed was a red loveseat. A modern looking cherry wood TV stand that stood in front of the wall across the bed on it was a 42’ HD plasma screen TV. Under it, in one of the cabinets, was a blue ray DVD player. It had an amplifier below it and two large speakers on the side of the stand. The stand had a multitude of open spaces where I could put all sorts of things. On the left side of the room stood a desk with my Laptop and next to it stood an impressive sound system. On the right side stood a life size, gold framed mirror with a cherry wood cabinet next to it.

The room needed some personality.

Next was my huge walk-in closet almost double the size off my bedroom. The color was the same as my bedroom, which made it mesh. It stood bare now, but my dad told me that a ‘professional’ was going to pack my clothes and stuff in the many open spaces later that day.

Then there was the bathroom. It had a red, beige and white spontaneous pattern on it. In the back left corner stood a large, classic looking, spa bath. By the right wall was stood modern a counter that had had two modern basins in it. On top the counter was a long, gold framed antique mirror. A toilet stood directly opposite the counter in front of the bath. The shower had its own mini room and it had the same color tiling as the bathroom. It was styled like a modern spa shower with a steamer on each end and a small bench for two by one of the ends.

As I walked out the bathroom I picked up one of the boxes, looked out the large window on my left.

 “I'm going to make this work and I’ll be happy.” I promised to myself and smiled.

 

 

Chapter 5: The Half Blood Family

Jamie

As Jamie drove towards Marketa hills she turned on the radio to find Alicia Keys’ Un-thinkable (I’m ready) playing on Marketa FM.

 Wow I never thought that this song would have this much meaning to me. Then again she probably wasn't thinking of a Half Blood-Pure Blood relationship when she made it, but still. She thought to herself and sighing deeply as she drove into Wikery Drive. God what am I going to do?

When she reached her driveway and got out of her Aston Martin DB9 Volante she saw her family after 5 long years.

Her three adopted sisters: Tamsin, in a red one shoulder Christian Dior mini with cream Valentino chiffon rose sandals; Zoey in a black Fendi cocktail dress with black Dior gladiator sandals and Elena, in a black Gucci tank top with faded blue True Religion skinny jeans and black Bianca patent leather Christian Louboutin slingbacks.

Her three adopted brothers: Edward, in a blue Prada polo with black straight-leg Levi jeans and white Converse sneakers; Damon, in a plain white Levi tank top with black Rebok shorts and white Fendi sneakers and Erick, in a white Rock and Republic T-shirt and blue True Religion Ricky straight-leg jeans.

Her ‘mother’, in a pale fuchsia Burberry London cocktail dress with black patent leather Chanel pumps and finally her ‘father’, in a red Marc by Marc Jacobs polo top with plain white Gucci board shorts and white Louis Vuitton boat shoes.

“Jamie!” yelled Zoey, her honey blonde hair blowing aimlessly in the wind as she ran to Jamie, giving her a big hug.

As she hugged back she told Zoey and the rest of her family that she missed them dearly and that she needed to pack her remaining luggage.

As she walked to her room on the second floor, at the far side of the house she sighed thinking how she was going to tell them about her trip and eventually about Stark.

When she reached her room she opened the First Grade Maple wood door and looked into the room she hadn’t ever been in. Her family had only moved to Marketa about two years ago, while Jamie was in Beijing, in an effort to keep the family secret, well secret.

When the door opened she walked into a very feminine looking bedroom. The walls were a soft shade of lavender pink paint with a white painted oak wood frame.

 The white oak four-poster canopy bed stood in the middle of the room, it had classic pink silk bedding and the pillows were white soft Egyptian silk. On the left wall stood a white oak vanity table with a full length mirror next to it. By the right end stood a desk where her new pink laptop stood and on top of the desk stood a framed picture of her and her former-human-now-werewolf-but-that’s-a- long-story brother and only biological sibling. The picture made her tear.

She stood there staring at it and wondering how was he and if he was doing okay. If only we weren’t natural enemies, things would be different.

In front of the bed was a pink leather couch with a gold frame. On the wall stood a 44’ HD plasma screen TV with a shelf under it were she could put her books and DVDs. On top of the shelf stood a Blu-ray DVD player.

Her closet was huge, perhaps one of the biggest closets she’s ever seen. It was already packed with all her stuff with only a little space left. She walked over to her prized Christian Louboutin collection, caressed her Jefferson slingbacks and put her new pair of python ruffle platform stilettos that she got on the way here next to her classic patent leather pumps.

As she went to sit on the couch that stood in front of her collection her Blackberry Torch displayed a message from Stark it read: 

Meet me at Marketa Hill Mall @ seven, k? Luv u...

K. she replied. Luv u 2 ©

And James, we’re neighbors now... So welcome 2 the neighborhoodJ

Lol! I guess we are neighbor!

So c u @ seven.

She put her cell back into her Prada Fairy bag and looked up.

What am I gonna wear? She thought. She decided that she’d worry ‘bout that later, first she had to talk to her family and tell them everything, but how? It’s not as if it’s as simple as under-age drinking or drugs. Sure her trip might’ve had a wild vay-cay but still. She had to tell them everything. How she almost got caught, about Trevor, about the wild nights, about the almost-leaked-thank-God-they-think-I'm-too-young"pictures, about the fashion and great time, about the stalker and strange killings and finally, about Stark. She dropped her bag put on some white Miu Miu ballet flats and walked into the unknown...

 

“So let me get this straight, you in love with a Pure Blood?” asked Damon as she got to the conclusion of her ‘tell all’. They were surprisingly forgiving and not judgmental. The only one who made snide comments was Tamsin, but she’s always been a major b***h. The rest just nodded and looked thankful and somewhat understanding, though Zoey did complain about not being able to go with.

“I-I don’t know.” she replied.

“How could you not?” he told her

“It’s complicated...”

“The question is not whether she loves him, because she obviously does. It’s what she’s going to do about it,” said her father.

“I don’t know dad. But I'm gonna make it work, I promise.”

“So if you going through with this, are you going to tell him the truth?” Edward asked.

“Yes... eventually,” she replied.

She sat there surprised at their reaction. Even ice queen Tamsin sat there motionlessly quiet.

Slowly she ran her hands through her silky raven hair. “There’s more.” She said to break the nerve wrecking silence.

“Oh, there’s more.” Tamsin said in her usual bitchy tone

“Yes,” she replied. So she began telling them about the guy she kept seeing on each of her trips. About the brutal killings that seem to be the cause of rouge Half Blood. She told them about her strange dreams of the red-eyed fiend. And the blood stains in her hotel room when she was in Paris.

When she was done silence was the most dominant presence in the room. It continued for what seemed like hours until her father took her mother, along with the oldest and most experienced Half Bloods- Elena, Tamsin and Edward- in to negotiate.

“So you fell for a Pure Blood?” Joked Zoey, while resting her head on her boyfriend/adopted brother’s lap.

“Yeah, I guess so.” I replied.

“Always the one to bend the rules,” she said laughing.

“That’s me,” Jamie said, giving her sister a big hug.

“Oh sis I so missed you! It’s been kinda drab and boring without your presence. What with our bitchy sis Tammy fighting with her beau Erick, dad and mom being all serious and Edward being all lovey-dovey with Elena. I've only had my Damon with me and he’s been busy.” she said as Erick stood from his seat and went to the guest bathroom.

“I missed you to sis. The vay-cay hasn’t been the same without you,” she replied

“Now let’s be serious quickly k?”

“Really?”

“Yeah, really,”

“K...”

“So you said you gonna tell Stark the truth right?”

“Yeah I guess...”

“But how? It could change everything.”

“I, I don’t know sis...”

 

When she walked up to her bathroom she realized that no one told her what to do about her stalker and that they just left. Most probably because they had to think it through, the most experienced and oldest Half Bloods of the coven.

When she reached her bathroom, she wondered if they were gonna tell the council about this on Friday, her first council meeting in years. This year it was being held in one of Marketa’s most beautiful halls, the Mystic Hill Gates.

Slowly she began to undress from her clothes and step into the hot water of her shower, liking the feel of it on her skin. It’s been a while since she showered in something other than a hotel shower. She liked the feeling that she owned it and that it was hers.

As she washed her body she gently traced her battle scars that happened before she left for her trip. Though she couldn’t see it with her eyes because the scars had already vanished in her pale, smooth marble-like skin, she could still feel it with her acute Half Blood sense of touch.

Subconsciously her fingers went from her scaring and started tracing the natural tattoo of two hands cupping a flame on her back that symbolized her ability to control the element of Fire and her ability to give things the illusion of being burnt.

When she was done showering, she dried her body off and went to her closet to pick out clothes for her date. She chose a strapless bi-color black and white Herve Leger mini with black Christian Louboutin cousin caged ankle boots and a black sculpted Versace Medusa leather hobo.

When she was done dressing, she heard a knock on the door and her date had arrived...

Chapter 6: First Real Date

Jamie

When she got down stairs she saw Stark talking casually to Elena and Zoey. He looked handsome as usual in a red, black and white striped Dolce and Gabbana polo T, with black Rock & Republic Neil relaxed straight-leg jeans and white Dolce and Gabbana sneakers. His hair was in his usual scruffy style with a few strands of his golden blond hair falling in his to-die-for face.

“Hey,” he said

“Hey,” she replied as she took his hand and they walked to his Ferrari California.

“See you two later,” chuckled Elena

When they were in the car and on their way to Mystic Hill Mall’s movie theatre and were safely away from her annoying yet loveable sisters Stark asked her what they should watch.

The answer took a while since she’d long last saw what’s playing in the movies. When she had finally narrowed it down to two movies, either the one with the sultry hero or that movie with that deranged little puppet thing that killed people for their sins and stuff. What was its name again? Oh yeah Saw 3D!

“Uhm, how about Saw 3D. I heard one of the leading men is like ohmyGod sexy!” She heard herself saying.

“But he has nothin’ on me right?” Stark said laughing

“Whatever makes you sleep at night,” she said jokingly

He looked at her and laughed.

 

When they got into the movie theatre they found it packed with rabid horror geeks and couples all going to see the shock-fest of the year, Saw 3D.

As soon as they stepped into the complex they’re presence was immediately noticed. As the whispering, awing, drooling and staring began, Stark went to get us some popcorn and drinks. When he went to do that she noticed that every girl in there turned to look at him while he stood in line. Some swooned as he stood next to them, some stared hungrily with desire and lust and others simple began to undress him with their eyes. They stared at him but glared at her for being perfect and for dating Stark.

But that wasn’t the weird thing. What was weird was that even the Half bloods drooled over his beauty. Some even thought that he was a Half Blood but that soon changed when they saw that they weren’t any signs of him being a Half blood but everyone noticed that he was even more beautiful than most Half Bloods. Stark seemed completely oblivious to what was going on around him.

But he wasn’t the only thing they were infatuated with. The guys in the room couldn’t take their eyes off of her. They drooled, panted, whistled, stared, whispered and lusted even worse than the girls. They totally ignored their company and envied Stark for being utterly perfect and dating an utterly perfect girl. This Stark noticed. Looking visibly annoyed at the guys intense stares. He even shoved some guys who were drooling over her as he made his way back to me without any snacks.

“Uhm Jamie, can’t we just go eat at some restaurant or something?” Stark asked.

“Why? Jealous?” she asked.

“No it’s just too weird and besides its packed and what would a movie be if every person in the theatre stared at us?” he asked.

“You got a point there. Uhm, I think my mom knows someone who works here. She can get us tickets to see the private screening with the actual cast of Saw,” she replied.

“Sure that’ll be awesome,” he said.

So they wondered aimless around the mall ignoring the all the lustful stares they had got and talked about experiences and stuff that they had while they window-shopped. When they walked for about thirty minutes they came across a KFC and decide to eat there.

 

When they were done eating they went back to Jamie’s home where they were immediately pestered by her sisters.

“So what did y’all do?” asked Tamsin.

“Where’d y’all go?” asked Zoey

“Did you get stares?” asked Elena

“They probably did I mean look at them! Look at him!” Zoey replied.

“OK that’s enough,” Jamie said rolling her eyes.

“Jamie stop being such a spoilsport!” teased Zoey

As the verbal harassment continued all Stark could say were barely audible “uhms” and “thanks”. Jamie shooed her sisters inside and gave Stark a kiss goodnight and told him what a great time she had and that that should of been their first date before heading inside.

 

Chapter 7: What Are You?

Stark

The days that followed their date were uneventful as I got used to Marketa and having two girlfriends (yip its official).

Jamie and I decided that our dates should be more private and less public. I agreed because with all that attention given to us you’d think I was dating Lindsay Lohan. So all we did was hang and I got to know her family and what-not.

Aphrodite called and I told her that I missed her (which was the truth) and that nothing really eventful had happened (which was a lie).

Dad complained that I shouldn’t be dating two girls when he found Jamie and me in an incriminating position. I tried to give him the “we’re-just-friends” speech but he didn’t seem to believe me. My sister seemed to be adjusting well and we got a new puppy named Max.

 

The night it happened, Jamie and I were just having a regular date at her house. With her parents gone, it left Jamie and me alone with her siblings.

We were sitting in lounge watching Dracula (a timeless classic), when clumsy me got up to go to the bathroom and slipped on the wet marble floor and fell straight into the glass end table which shattered. Long red flows of blood ran across my arms where several pieces of glass cut into my skin.

“Ouch, God I'm such an idiot,” I said looking up to the faces of seven suddenly ravenous people who didn’t look like people at all. Their faces were filled with lust, their pupils were blood red and it sounded like they were hissing and with their lips, and I swear I could see fangs!

Wake up, wake up, wake up! I told myself, but for some reason I knew I was already awake.

 Edward was the first to pounce, and almost got me if Jamie hadn’t hit him out of the way with such inhuman strength that he dove into the wall, nearly shattering it!

 Next was the innocent Zoey who was gnarling at me with lustful, hungry eyes that scared the s**t out of me, but Tamsin dragged her away. But it was just my luck that Edward had got up and pinned Jamie down as Damon and Erick ran out.

Which left me with Elena who took the others distraction as an opportunity to pounce, which she did, and grabbed my shoulders and sank her teeth (fangs?) into me...

Jamie

It all happened so fast.

First Stark fell and cut himself which was about the worst thing he could do. Then the smell hit her and she was right, his body was protecting his scent, which was highly unusual, and now that his blood was exposed there was nothing it could do.

The sent was in two words immensely amazing, the kind that was so rare it was believed to be a myth. The smell was so enchanting that she almost killed him but her control gave her the courage to block her senses that were exposing her to smell and leap for Edward who had been the first to react.

She pinned him down and in a split second let down her guard an caught a hint of the intoxicating smell and leaped for Stark’s neck but was caught in time by Edward who now seemed to have gained control.

Zoey almost got Stark but was pulled away by Tamsin which left Elena alone with a shot at the prize. Within a second Elena had Stark’s neck on her mouth and sank her fangs into his artery and drank.

In the next moment, Damon stormed into the room and dragged Elena away from Stark and Jamie got a glimpse of the expression on Stark’s face, she saw confusion, terror, amazement, pain, sadness, and a deep sense of true betrayal which sent a pang a hurt through her chest, before he passed out.

Stark

When I woke up I felt a sharp pain in my arm and on my neck and was lying in my bed. I called my father and asked what happened. He told me that Jamie said I fell, cut myself and passed out, which I knew wasn’t the whole truth.

What happened after I fell? As soon as I asked myself that, the events that happened played through my head like a movie, one gory seen after another. First the fall, then the cut, then the expressions and then the attack...

It was awful, a nightmare. I tried to make sense of it, tried to put it logically, but all that came to me was brutal images from horror movies and camp stories. The fangs, the eyes, the hunger for my blood...

What did that make them?

Vampires?

 Monsters?

No that was only in gory stories in movies because unlike the movies, garlic never affected them, they never shunned away from crucifixes, ate food and did just fine in the light. But how would that explain the fact that they had fangs? And drank my blood?

Let’s try and look at it in this way, in Twilight and The Vampire Diaries, vampires thrive in the night and even in the day, the normal clichés don’t apply to them.

And not all of them are bad...

But still! That’s fiction and this is real life. But then again father always told me there’s always truth in fiction?

There's only one way to find out. And that’s to ask. No way am I gonna search the web for faction on mythology and things that go bump in the night. I'm not Bella neither am I Heath (from the House of Night). More of a confronter like Elena...

So yeah tonight I march over there and demand they tell me who or what they are!

But how?

 

That night I decided that I would visit and demand to know the truth but Jamie had already beaten me to it and was now sitting on his bed.

“So I'm not going to beat around the bush or anything” I told her and she nodded. “I know what happened last night.” again she nodded.

“So, what are you?”

Chapter 8: Half Bloods

Stark

“What are you?” I asked again. A pang of pain ran through my chest as I saw a flash of hurt reflecting in her eyes.

“I'm... I'm a.... Half Blood...” she answered.

There was a period of complete silence in the room before she finished her sentence.

“A Half Blood vampire,”

At first complete shock ran through my veins then denial then shock again as her words registered in my brain.

I'm dating a vampire! That's silly! This must be some sick joke! A vampire?!

The denial faded after I knew she wasn’t lying and said the first thing that came to mind.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was afraid,”

“Of what? You're a vampire.” That came out wrong.

“That you wouldn’t accept me.”

And with that I kissed her deeply. I should’ve been running away and screaming vampire! But knowing this only made us closer and so I did the first thing that came to mind I took off my top, and kissed her neck. She reached for her blouse and slid it off. I then picked her up and laid her on my bed and kissed her between her breasts as she sighed in pleasure.

I always thought I’d have my first time with Aph, well I guess times have changed...

I kneeled on my bed and slid off her skirt, then kneeled down to kiss her navel. I started kissing her upwards reaching her neck when the door opened...

Aphrodite

A few days after suffering from another of her break-downs since Stark left, Aphrodite slid on her black Rock & Republic skinny jeans, a white embroidered tank top which was under her beige Burberry London trench and into her brown knee-high Fendi boots and decided to visit Stark.

 

Her excitement was infectious as she reached his address where she saw his father who had directed her towards his room.

When she opened the door Stark was on top of an impossibly beautiful girl in nothing but his baggy jeans and she had nothing on but her Victoria’s Secret underwear.

The pain of the picture was unbearable. Her heart ached in utter betrayal that she closed the door as Stark looked into her tear filled blue eyes and she ran.

Stark

As soon as I saw Aphrodite a sensation of true disappointment ran through my brain as I ran after her, forgetting to put my shirt back on.

She was about to get into her car when I yelled “Aphrodite!” in desperation.

I walked into the rain and stared into her eyes with a desperate look on my face, her expression and words that followed were heartbreaking.

“What Stark?” she asked emotionlessly.

What could I say? That it’s not what it looks like? That I can explain? That this wasn't anything what she thought? I’d be lying so I just said a barely audible “I'm sorry.”

“Why Stark, why?” she asked this time pain and betrayal laced her every word.

“I never meant... I didn’t mean... I don’t know...”

“There has to be a reason Stark! You don’t just end up in bed with some w***e!” she said, the tears were now visibly falling from her eyes, even in the unexpected rain.

“She’s not a w***e...”

“So now you’re standing up for her?!”

“No... I... I...”

“What Stark? You what?”

“I never meant for this to happen.”

“No one ever does, but they do it anyway. And the killer part is that you barely even know her!”

“You’re over reacting, I do know her...”

“Again why are you standing up for her? Well if you know her, tell me what makes her happy?”

Silence

“What make her sad?”

Silence

“What's her favorite song? Movie? Color?”

Again, silence

“Who was her first kiss, her first love?”

Silence

“What's her second name?”

Silence

“For Christ’s sake! Can you at least tell me how old she is?”

Silence...

“Why stark? Why? Was it me? Did I do something wrong? And don’t you dare tell me it’s not you it’s me, or I swear I’ll kill you...”

I just stood there, my eyes were beginning tear.

“Say something please,”

“I love you Aph, you know I do.”

“I don’t know anything anymore...”

And with that she got into the Porsche and I ran after her pleading and apologizing. At that moment I couldn’t stand to be me, couldn’t stand my smell, my body, my very essence...

So I grabbed my jacket headed out for her, Jamie was already in the car.

“We have to find her, I don’t know why, but we have to.” I said looking at Jamie

“I know. And Stark, I'm sorry.” she said.

After that we drove after her and into my dream...

Chapter 9: Into the Woods

Aphrodite

It was raining and she was speeding. She knew she shouldn’t but she had to get away from there. Her heart was broken, truly broken. And by the boy she loved the most. But it seems like things have changed. How could he move on so fast? What did she do wrong? Why did she-

And at that moment it seemed like a man was standing in the middle of road and she swerved to the left, but too far...

Jamie

As Aphrodite’s car swerved to the left it broke into the rail which sent the car flying off the edge of the cliff and straight into the woods. Jamie tried to leap from the cars window and catch it but it was too late. The car had already been tumbling off the cliff and straight into Marketa’s deep forest.

She heard Stark’s sharp cry of emotional pain at what he saw and with good reason - after all no human could have survived that...

Aphrodite

Her car started to tumble down the cliff and into the forest when a strange darkness encircled her. A feeling of true menace, terror and evil shot through her so badly that she passed out.

 

When she woke up she was in her car and it was lying on the driver’s side of the vehicle so the side of her head was on the floor. She was bleeding badly and her body was covered in dirt, but she was alive. Somehow she made it. But she knew that the worst was yet to come.

She unbuckled herself, reached for the passenger door and climbed out. When she landed on the ground she took her tote out of the back seat of the car and headed for the woods, almost tripping in her thick-heeled Fendi boots.

Just as she started to walk the darkness encircled her again. But this time it felt like it licked the lacerations and sores on her skin.

She screamed a scream so loud and blood curdling that it sent the darkness away and she saw what was really happening.

A figure now stood before her and it seemed to be confused at what had just happened. It was the most horrifying thing she’d ever seen.

It had blood red pupils and a freaky pattern on veins surrounding the eye. Its teeth were needle sharp with a pair of fangs were where human canine teeth are supposed to be. The thing was horribly disfigured as if it were about to transform. Its hair looked wild and unkempt, which just added to the terror before her. Surrounding it was the same menacing, evil presence of pure darkness. The thing, no correction monster, looked not like evil personified, but evil itself.

She tried to run, but once again darkness befell her. The figure caught her, its wet hands, cold as ice, sent shivers down her spine and with that silky white fangs pierced her skin and she let out another blood curdling girl-shriek...                     

Stark

My world was shattering.

Not only did the girl I love find me in the bed with another girl who, according to her, I hardly knew, but she tumbled off a cliff trying to get away from me and was now stuck in the woods with, what I was sure of, a deranged killer/vampire or both.

Life couldn’t possibly get worse, or so I thought.

My dream was so clear now. The girl, the fall, the woods, the other girl and the creep were all very crystal clear now. Jamie had gone to fetch the other vamps and told me to stay in the car. But did I listen? No.

So I walked towards the, now hanging, rail and looked down. Yip it was more treacherous as I thought. No one could’ve survived that! It was hopeless! Aph died because of m-

Just then I heard an unmistakable scream of terror radiating through the woods.

“I've got to save her! It has to be her!”I mumbled to myself. So I did what any decent minded person would do, I took the car and headed to the woods which, luckily, wasn't far.

 

When I reached her car I followed my dream and followed the trail of blood just like the victim in a horror movie. This time though, the audience wasn't yelling at me to turn back.

I heard the second scream, as unmistakable as the first one, just this time it was shrouded in pain. When I reached the meadow I saw in my dream, a sense of déjà vu and alert shot through me and I reluctantly went towards the shadow among the trees.

There it stood hunched over and drinking the blood of Aphrodite and I unexpectedly shouted “don't you touch her” which was dumb because he seemed to be having a ball with her, which had pissed me off and I ran towards her.

Before I reached the putrid figure, it looked at me with eyes so terrifying and bloodlust-filled that in sent me pacing back.

It left Aphrodite, as expected, but unlike the dream he walked towards me. I looked at myself to see why and saw that my gauze was soaked in fresh blood.

Partially happy that it left Aphrodite, I let out an odd, inaudible sigh and ran. But it caught me and pinned me down to the floor where it bit my neck, I heard Aphrodite scream “Stark no!”, and pierced an artery which sent blood oozing out of me...

Jamie

I told him to stay in the car! She thought, slightly annoyed and a little panicky when she never saw the car or Stark anywhere.

So she looked her father with an expression of guilt on her face and her father nodded.

“I'm sorry,” she mumbled and her father hugged her.

 “I know baby, but now we have to find Stark and the girl.”

So with that they headed towards the rail and jumped.

 

When they hit the floor, Jamie could sense Stark’s blood, which was bad because it smelt like he was on the brink of death. A tear fell from her eyelid as she realized that it would be her fault if her love was to die. And what if he did die? Will she be able to bear the pain? Will she be able to move on? Will she find another? Would life be worth living?

Now isn't the time to ponder on the future. She reminded herself as she ran through the woods so fast it seemed like only a second had passed when she reached the middle of the woods, in the meadow.

There she saw him, the fiend had smartly let him go and ran away before they got there, and he knew she’d rip him apart.

Stark laid there unconscious losing blood every moment she spent there staring at the awful sight. She looked to the left and saw Aphrodite staring at Stark with a look of dread, pain, heartache and loss because she probably thought he was dead. Jamie knew better.

She headed towards Stark as her father went to help Aphrodite and dropped to her knees, cut her wrist and put it on his mouth where he, after a moment or two, started drinking from the life giving source. She thought about killing him so that he could turn into one of her, but immediately brushed the thought away. He didn’t deserve this.

After a while of drinking, Stark opened his beautiful blue eyes, looked into her tear filled face and leaned forward to kiss her, she never resisted.

 

Chapter 10: Aftermath

Jamie

Carrying Stark in her arms, Jamie wondered how she was going to explain this to his Father. Stark had been bitten two nights in a row and almost lost his life two nights in a row. Girlfriends just don’t bring their boyfriends to their father in their arms, nearly dead and unconscious!

Quite the opposite.

She had read all the based-on-a-true-vampire-story novels like Twilight, Vampire Kisses, Blue Bloods and The Vampire Diaries but in none of them did the protagonist vampire have to explain why his mate was unconscious.

Guess it’s different when the vampire shoe is on the other gender’s foot...

But either way not even in the forbidden texts told you how to deal with this type of relationships. Though vampire-human relationships are not exactly banned, that didn’t mean it was praised! Again, quite the opposite!

It was shunned, and for this reason exactly! Humans are strictly meals, toys and the occasional friend, but a committed relationship? Never! Though her parents and siblings understood, that didn’t mean The Council would take this in lightly, especially after the events that occurred.

Sigh, maybe she should give Stark to Aphrodite. After all they both seemed like incredibly powerful Pure Bloods, especially their blood. The only text in the archives about a couple who had this type of blood was in Vampire Mythology 101, and that's only when a witch predicted the Apocalypse to be near. When Satan would finally make his return to humanity and fully consume the blood of the Sacred two, who where the only ones, with the help of a vampire, a witch and a werewolf, who could defeat the Dark Lord but without drinking the blood of the sacred ones, he wouldn't be able to reach his full power...

But that was only mythology but then again, wasn't she ‘only mythology’?

 She’d have to ask father about this later, but now she had to do something harder...

Tell a father his son nearly died in her presence...

Again...

Two nights in a row...

Aphrodite

Aphrodite had only been this confused twice in her life. The first time was when she thought she saw her mother radiating light when she was eight, but her mother said that that was what all mothers do when they were happy, now she wasn't so sure about that either. The second time was when she found Stark in bed with another girl not even a month after leaving New York!

But none of these things could have prepared her for the past few events that have happened.

First she was thrown off a cliff and should’ve died from the fall. But no! She had no such luck! She knew she should have been grateful for not dying right then and there but the things after that felt so unreal. Not only had she lost her prized Prada tote but she was nearly eaten by what she was sure was no human being! But that wasn't the worst of it, she wasn't that lucky either.

Next Stark comes running through the woods like some dumb ‘hero’ jock in some camp slasher flick, yelling out words she couldn’t hear because she was too busy being eaten by freak with fangs!

And if that wasn't enough the freak decided that she wasn't good enough for it and ran for Stark where it fed on him!

Right in front of her!

The nerve!

And in that moment all she could do was watch her boyfriend die because she was too weak to even help him.

But just her luck the ‘other woman’ came storming into the forest looking as beautiful as ever!

Jamie (she heard Stark calling her that) came with a dashing blonde-haired beauty of a male specimen who picked Aphrodite up, gave her his nasty, but surprisingly tasty, blood so she could ‘recover’ from the battle. Meanwhile the b***h was playing tonsil-hockey with her boyfriend right in front of her!

Again, the nerve!

Aphrodite couldn’t take anymore; this was just too much for a year, let alone a night! So she did what any girl would do in overly stressful situations... she fainted.

But now she was awake and boy was that s**t gonna get it! How could she take her Stark away from her? What was she anyway? She was pretty sure that her and her clan was not just super-sexy humans. But what did that make them?

Vampires.

That's just silly. That would be the day Aphrodite Annalisa De Von started believing in b*****s that were the living (or dead) imitations of Bram Stoker’s Dracula!

But if they weren’t blood sucking creatures of the night, then what were they? And more importantly what was she gonna do about Stark? And what was she gonna do about the w***e? No way was she gonna share her beau with a, dare she say it, vampire!

She has to get rid of her...

But how?

Stark

What have I gotten myself into? I asked myself as Jamie left me in my bed. She was still sitting in my room; a look of dread was all over her face.

What have I done?

Not only did my childhood girlfriend find me cheating on her with a vampire. But I almost died twice! Two nights in a row! And if that wasn't enough, I seemed to have ruined the life of a perfectly good vampire family...

So I'm gonna do a Bella and analyze the situation...

Of this I was sure.

Jamie’s a vampire, a Half Blood Vampire, what that meant? Who knows?

I had some kind of special blood, thought only to exist in mythology. This made me a prime target for vampires who knew about me.

That also meant that Jamie thirsted for me way more than she would like to entail, and way more than an ordinary human.

How dominant this part was, who knows?

I still loved Aphrodite, which would never change. But I was deeply in love and completely infatuated with a vampire (Jamie), who was way older than me, did that make her a cougar? I never in a million years would have thought I’d be dating a much older woman, let alone a vampire...

Finally there was the fact that the thing in the forest was no ordinary vampire. It was way more powerful. The evil, the darkness, the menace surrounding and consuming it was incredibly powerful. The thing was the very essence of the word evil. What scared me was that it seemed to have a deadly motive, which meant it probably wasn't done with me...

And here I thought Marketa would be safe and boring...

Jamie

Telling Stark’s father wasn't nearly as difficult as she thought it would be. He seemed to believe that Stark once again fell onto a tree stump while they went looking for Aphrodite in the woods because her car drove off the cliff. Which wasn't a complete lie but still, either Stark’s father was really naive or he knew exactly what happened.

She was sitting on Stark’s bed looking at her love when he shot up and started mumbling.

“Find the witch, the Van Allen witch! For she knows the answers to your questions, the prophecy must be told! He has returned and you shall cower under his wrath! Find the witch, reunite with the wolves, kill and reincarnate the Sacred two, for their blood and power shall defeat the dark one and save us all...” and with that he was out again...

Find the witch? What witch? The prophecy? The dark one? The wolves? Did he mean my brother? What’s going on?

Marcus

Annoyed that he couldn’t finish the job, Marcus let out a terrifying scream of frustration and anger. Someone was going to pay tonight. He loved to her the screams of innocent little teens as they run in fear after he showed his true form.

If only that pesky raven-haired beauty hadn’t interrupted the sacred ritual, the poor pregnant Half Blood, who was running in true terror, would have stayed alive and he would’ve been this much closer to reaching his optimum power and take over the world as its only leader.

If he couldn’t have Heaven, he would have to settle for this pitiful excuse for a haven. He would punish all good and exact his revenge on everyone who has ever defied him. Even those abominations he now had to live his life as, what are they called?

Half Bloods.

He couldn’t understand why he’d been born this way; Leviathan said that it would be easier living as an abomination. And he knew he was right.

His brother was always right.

But now he fed on the Half Blood abominations, each one more delicious and life giving than most humans could ever be. But eating them was strictly against the ‘code’ so he had to do it behind closed doors.

But he still had to complete the full consumption of each of the royal families and so far he had consumed one of every royal blood except those irritating mongrels; the Carlton’s and the Van Allen’s. He’d been trying to kill the isolated raven-haired beauty on each one of her trips, but failed miserably. He knew he should’ve tried again today but the pesky b***h was too angry to risk fighting, even after almost consuming the Sacred Two.

He had now caught the pregnant s**t that tried to run and was sending out his horrifying illusion of darkness that was made of the essence of his soul.

She screamed in terror and tried to burn him with her touch but that just made him angrier so he took out his switch blade and slashed her womb and the fetus came falling out.

Consumed in terror the women cried out in pain and fell back. He then took the fetus into his arms and ripped off its head with his bare teeth and ate it which sent the mother into crazy-b***h mode as she tried to snatch the thing out of his hand. Marcus grabbed her hand before she reached her unborn child and dropped the thing.

The mother tried screaming again but this time she was in so much emotional pain and terror that when she opened her mouth, nothing came out.

He considered leaving her alive, completely scared and in permanent emotional turmoil. But that would be a waste of a tasty snack. Babies just didn’t do it for him... so he grabbed her throat retracted his fangs and bit into her neck thriving in her pain and horror...

Stark

Fully conscious now, I could see that Jamie had fallen asleep on the red loveseat (vampires slept?) and Aphrodite was sleeping in the guest bedroom.

 What time’s it? I looked at my Cartier watch; it was 3:45 a.m., and s**t it was late!

I looked Jamie and fought the urge to caress her face, in fear that she might wake up. Instead I went for a late night swim.

 

When I got to the indoor pool, I stripped my clothes and left on my tight Emporio Armani briefs.

 As I dove into the pool I heard someone at the door. I turned around to look who it was, but saw no one so I just continued to swim.

When I was done lapping, I saw Jamie watching me intensely.

“Hey,” I cried out.

“Hey,” she replied

“Wanna take a dive?”

“Vampires can’t swim,” she said chuckling lightly.

“Oh, really?” I asked. I couldn’t help but laugh.

And with that she slipped of her Valentino mini and dove into the pool, seconds later she was on top of me.

Slowly she kissed my neck and began nibbling on my ear as I let out a sigh of pleasure. Her kisses were warm and passionate. I was aching to return the gesture so I gently caressed the side of her neck and reached down to kiss it. When my lips met the skin of her neck, I the felt her pulse of her blood beating against it, which turned me on.

I looked into her eyes and asked if she could cut her neck and if could drink from her. She nodded and slowly cut the side of her neck with her nail and I, hesitantly, began to drink from her.

 The feeling was incredible, like nothing else I felt or tasted before. The sweet coppery taste of her blood, mixed with her vampire genes and our heated passion made for a delicious burst of a euphorically exquisite cocktail of lust. The taste and feel of her blood was thick, sweet and utterly enticing. If they bottled it up, they would make billions.

The pleasure I felt in that moment was indescribable but I knew it couldn’t last so I my lips parted from the site and I instinctually licked the wound.

I asked her if I could return the favor by offering her my blood. At first she too was hesitant, but she couldn’t resist. So I let my elbows rest on the edge of the pool and dipped my head, fully exposing my neck.

She leaned forward and kissed my neck sensuously and I sighed in pleasure. She lifted her head an inch away from my neck and sank her fangs into my artery.

 I expected a nearly intolerable pain like the other bites, but the bite was extremely pleasurable and I couldn’t resist saying “Bite me baby”. She chuckled softly and continued to feed on my blood.

 In that moment I never felt closer to anyone, my soul opened up to Jamie and hers to mine. She couldn’t hide it now. The pain, fear and loss from her past two hundred years were fully in sight. Her awful change, the loss of her brother, the mistakes, the killings, the burns, the accidents, and every detail of her life was forever in my memory and yet I couldn’t make sense of it and I knew if she let go, I wouldn’t be able to remember much.

But besides the bad, I knew what made her happy and sad, all her favorite things, her first love, her second name and even her age.

I knew that she loved me and was confused at what that meant.

I knew that loved her, I too, was confused at what that meant.

Forgetting about that, I basked in the pleasure of our souls melting together in harmony. Were we meant to be? That I didn’t know. But what I did know was that I couldn’t live without her...

 

End of part 1

Author's Note

What do you think of the overall plot, dialog, don't take the grammar too seriously, give a critical but open minded review.