Full Moon Tonight

I had been walking for nearly an hour and was getting nowhere. The town had seemed nice enough during the day, but at night it was just the opposite. There was even some kind of fog floating around the trail I was walking down, but that might have just been my imaginiation.

I had moved to Godforsaken town with my dad, much against my will. Big cities like Chicago, where I had previously made my residence, were more to my preference that small-to-medium-sized ones where it always seemed to rain, and the sun hadn't shown its face in days.

And the down sides to Still Water, California didn't stop there, oh no, the thing about this town was not the population of two-thousand-three-hundred and seventy-three, or the fact that it was always cold as hell or just the huge lack of sunlight for that matter. No, the worst thing about this town was that we were smack dab in the middle of bushlands, which spread for miles on end in each direction. Isn't that just fantastic?

No,

I had now been walking for over an hour, my feet were killing me, and I still couldnl't find my goddamn house. These bushlands made everything so much more confusing, and the nightime made it all look the same. How was I ever going to get out of this? I usually talked myself out of situations I didn't want to be in, but I couldn't do that in this situation.

I had stopped second-guessing myself a few minutes ago. I was very, very lost. Once I was done admitting that to myself, I stopped walking.

"Well hell." I muttered, looking around. "What am I supposed to do now?"

When the only answer I recieved was the distant hoot of an owl, I groaned and sat down.

"Maybe I should just lay down and die." I told myself.

I don't know how much time passed while I sat there, but when a rustle in the leaves reached my ears, it scared the ever living out of me.

"Who's there?" I quietly asked, not really expecting an answer, and when my expectations came true, I stood up and walked over to a group of trees I had heard the noise come from, and cautiously checked out the spot.

A blur of light brown fur sped past me and into the undergrowth to my left.

"Dumb squirrels." I said.

Then the rustle came again, this time directly behind me, and very loud. Now that could not be a squirrel, and I had the ever living scared out of me again.

So being the smart girl I was, I turned toward the sound, and ran, not really thinking about it, but before I could get very far, I slammed into what felt like a brick wall: Tall, cold and unforgiving. The impact caused me to bounce off and land on my butt.

"Ah Christ!" I yelled, rubbing my forehead and looking up to if what I had run into really was a brick wall.

It wasn't. It was a man.

The most captivating, good-looking man I had ever seen. He was the very definition of tall, dark and handsome.

His skin was very pale, almost translucent, but it seemed to almost glow in the moolight. His deep black hair was long, but not too long, his bangs hung diagnolly across his forehead, and his expression was blank.

He wore a black hooded jacket that was unzipped to reveal a black shir underneath. The sleeves of his jacket were pulled up to his elbows, exposing his creamy alabaster skin.

He had on slightly tight black jeans, a black belt through the loops, the silver buckle glinging in the moolight.

Then I saw his eyes.

They were a sort of ashy-gray. They were a light gray with dark gray specks on the rim of his irises. They almost seemed to glow silver against his pale skin and dark hair.

"You should'nt be wandering around the bushlands at night." He said, his voice deep, rich and like velvet.

"Who the hell are you?" I asked, not letting way his astonishing appearance  affected me show.

"That doesn't matter. Why are you out here alone? Hasn't anyone warned you about that?" He questioned.

I stood up and brushed myself off.

"No, as a matter of fact, they didn't. I'm new here so I don't really know a lot about how things work just yet." I told him.

"Obviously." he said, folding his arms across his chest.

So far, I wasn't liking his attitude.

"Well if I'm so stupid for being out here, what are you doing here?" I asked, looking down at my feet for a second and frowning at the muddy state of my favorite pair of converse.

His gorgeous eyes narrowed.

"You shouldn't concern yourself with business that is not your own." He said "I have a reason for being out here, and I know these bushlands well, you don't."

"And I'm much more able to take care of myself out here." He added.

I stared at him, and shifted my weight to my other leg.

"If I should concern myself with your business, then why are you concerning yourself with mine?" I asked, my voice a little bit louder than I intended.

"And I'm perfectly capable to take care of myself, thank you very much."

He arched a perfect eyebrow.

"Yes, because all people run towards threatening noises." He said, his voice dripping sarcasm. "No offence." He tacked on after a second.

I glared at him. "Too late. I'm already offended." I said, keeping up my death stare.

He shrugged.

"You may be offended by me, and I know you don't trust me, but I'm the only one here that can guide you out."

I was so frustrated with his snarky attitude, that I declined his implied offer.

"No thanks, but I can find my own way out."

He blinked and then began to laugh.

"I very highly doubt that kid, you're father out in the bushlands than you must think."

My glare deepened. "I'm not a kid a*****e." I said, "I'm twenty-one."

He put his hands up, palms facing me.

"So sorry, I didn't know." And then his face took on a slightly different look. "Nobody's ever called me an a*****e before." He said.

I looked him up and down and tried not to drool. Gosh, I mean I've seen hot guys before, but he was a whole other universe, I mean holy hell, how could someone be that gorgeous. It's ridiculous.

"Maybe not to your face." I muttered. This time he glared at me, and I gave him a bright, sarcastic smile.

"Funny." He said, and glanced up at the moon, frowning.

"If you want to get out of here, we'd better get moving." He told me, but I was a stubborn person, and didn't like to accept help from people I didn't know, so I crossed my arms, and walked past him, and into a clearing.

"Where are you going?" He asked, turning around.

"I don't know, out of here." I replied, trying to keep walking and metally yelling at myself for turning down a long walk with the most perfect man I have ever seen.

"You won't get of here by yourself, you'll only get yourself even more lost." He warned.

I spun around to see he had followed me in the clearing.

"How do you know I'm lost?" I asked, "Maybe I just decided to go for a walk."

He stared at me for a second and then began to laugh.

"A walk." He said in between laughs. "Only idiots come out this far in the bush, especially at night,"

This time I arched my lesser perfect eyebrow, and crossed my arms again.

"And yet here you are." I told him. He stopped laughing, but the corners of his mouth were turned up in a crooked smile.

"Well just look at you, you're covered in dirt and mud, and your nearly soaked from the last rain shower. That doesn't look like someone who was only going for a walk."

I turned away from him and glared at a tree.

"Okay," I said, "So maybe I'm lost. Big goddamn deal. Why are you out here anyways?"

His expression went from amused to dead serious in an instant.

"Like I told you before, it's not any of your concern." He said.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh whatever then, I don't care, just get me out of here so I can take a bath so that I don't look so horrid."

He nodded, and walked past me.

It was pretty silent as we walked, him taking the lead. In fact, it was very silent. All the chatter of the animals, and sounds of the nocturnal forest had vanished, and it was majorly freaking me out.

"Why aren't there any animals around?" I asked, quickening my pace so that we were side by side.

"They're afraid." He replied, his eyes focused on the forest in  front of him, they seemed really distant, like he wasn't all the way here.

"Of us?" I questioned further.

"Not you. Me." He said after a moment. I watched him through the corner of my eye, and saw that he had lost the distant look in his eyes.

"Why?" I asked, wanting to know what he meant.

He didn't answer, only looked up at the full moon.

"We're going to have to move faster than this." He said.

"What for?" I asked, "We have all night."

"No," Retorted, "We don't. It's nearlt six o'clock in the morning and the sun rises at seven. We won't make it out of here by then."

I looked at his wrists and he had no watch on and I hadn't seen his pull out a phone.

"How do you know it's six?" I asked. He was quiet for a second and then he looked back at me and stopped.

"Because of where to moon is positioned in the sky." He told me, looking up. "It moves across the sky just as the sun does." He paused for a moment and turned so that he fully faced me, and shoved his hands in his pockets. "And you say you can take care of yourself." He said, smiling slightly, sarcasm lining his voice.

I glared at him again. "Not everyone can reak the sky like you you know." I replied.

His sarcastic smirk grew into a grin. "No, I suppose not," He told me, and turned, walking away from me.

It was quiet again as we walked, and I was freezing, the early morning had gotten so cold, my breath was forming wispy clouds in front of my face whenever I exhaled.

Through my periphial vision I could see my handsome guide glance up at the moon again, his expression becoming worried.

"What's wrong?" I asked hi,. wrapping my aarms around myself in an attempt to keep warm. I noticed my companions jaw clench before he answered.

"The sun will be up in half an hour and even if we run, we won't make it out in time."

"So I replied, "What does it matter?"

He didn't reply, but the worried look deepened and body tensed.

I knew he was keeping something from so I stopped and turned, blocking his path.

"There's something you're not telling me." I said, looking intently at him.

"It's nothing. We need to keep moving." He replied, acting like there was absolutely nothing wrong.

I didn't budge.

"Nothing my a*s." I told him, "Cut the crap already, there's obviously something you're not telling me, and I have a feeling it's a very important something."

He just stared at me.

"What you don't know can't hurt you, and I mean that in a literal sense. I'd appreciate it if you didn't interrogate me so much." He said, ice in his voice.

"Well how in the hell am I supposed to trust you when I haven't any idea who you are? Here I am, miles away from home, with no clue where I am, trusting my life a man I know absolutely nothing about/ I mean, I don't even know your name, and for all I do know, you could be some kind of sadistic serial killer or rapist."

He scowled at me and said: "I hope you're not comparing me with those people."

I shrugged. "Well considering I know nothing about you, how am I supposed to know?" I told him, also scowling.

He sighed and leaned against the tree to his left, running a hand through his dark hair.

"I can't tell you." He said, "I can't make it easier. If I told you what was wrong with me, it would only give me more of a reason to hurt you then I already have, and the last I want to do is hurt you."

My brain froze, and I just stood there.

"W-why would you want to hurt me?" I stammered, feeling mild pangs of fear.

He sighed again and shoved himself away from the tree with his shoulder, walking over to me and putting his hands on my shoulders. I felt a small jost where he touched me and could feel the cold of his hands through my thin jacket and I wondered how a person's skin could be that cold.

"Please, just listen to me, let me help you get out of here and you won't have to see me ever again."

I blinked a couple of times and I noticed he was trembling. It wasn't instantly noticable, but if you looked at him long enough, you could tell.

"But what if I want to see you again?" I asked quietly. Wait...what the hell was I saying? I was letting his out-of-this-world looks get to me. Goddammit.

His expression became troubled as he looked down at me.

Even though I really didn't want to, I stepped away from him, causing his hands to fall from my shoulders.

"Sorry." I said, looking down.

He studied me with that troubled expression for a few seconds more before saying: "It's fine." and looking away, walking past me, in an eastward direction.

I turned and stared at his broad shoulders for a second longer before following him.

There was an awkward silence was we walked, and I noticed confusion was mixed in with the troubled look on his face and I felt bad, I had probably caused him some unneeded stress.

He eyed the moon again and worry was added to the troubled, confused expression.

He sighed and stopped walking. "We're only in the Keller district, we don't have enough time." He said, his voice low.

I looked down at my muddy Converse and suddenly remembered the name Keller...

"Wait...the Keller district?" I asked, and he nodded.

"Well then I know where we are then!" I shouted, suddenly very happy.

"My uncle's summer home is in this district somewhere!"

He gave me a strange look. "Summer home?" He questioned, "There's hardly a summer around here."

I shrugged one shoulder and began walking around, searching for the trail I knew ran through this particular district and led straight to Uncle Viktor's ginormous summer mainsion.

After about ten minutes of searching, I found it and uttered a lilttle "yay!" before gesturing to my companion to follow me.

It took us a total of eight minutes to reach the mansion, and when we did I heard a very audible gasp from my guide, and I couldn't blame him, Uncle Viktor had very good taste. His summer mansion was more like a summer castle.

Among us nieces and nephews, we called it Castle Dracula and with good reason, the place difinitely looked like it could be Dracula's domain, but I knew the interior was much more richly decorated and less dark and cobwebby. It had electricty and indoor plumbing too, as well as an elevator that ran up and down all four levels (including the attic and basement) and an indoor pool and jacuzzi that was absolutely to die for.

I loved the mansion so much, Uncle Viktor had left a key under the mat that only he and I knew about.

I noticed my mysterious guide was gazing in awe at the Castle.

"Pretty isn't it?" I asked, and he nodded in reply, apparently unable to take his eyes off the place.

"I haven't seen anything like this in ages." He said quietly.

"I expect not a lot of people have. My Uncle has...unusual taste, but I love it. Oh, we call it Castle Dracula in case you were wondering."  I said, looking up at the towers and long, arched, gothic-looking windows.

He stared at me, and then began to laugh. It was a real, genuine laugh that made me feel warm just listening to it.

"That's ironic as hell." He said, laughing even more.

"Why?" I asked him, smiling. His laughter faded, but his radiant smile remained while he shook his head.

"Let me guess," I told him. "You can't tell me?"

He shook his head again. "No, I'm afraid not." His expression had gone serious again, but I could see the twinkle of amusement behind his eyes.

Goddamn him, it was like that amusment was mocking me.

I turned around to see a thin line of light on the horizon, and I tapped my quide on the shoulder and pointed to it.

His body tensed up and I saw a flicker of unease behind his eyes. "Maybe you should go inside if you're that afraid of the sun." I said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

He looked down at me and his eyes became hard.

"I'm not afraid of the sun," He said, looking over at the growing line of light. "I'm just not ready to face it yet."

(and it is finished!! New chapter: Loren's Secret shall be up soon!)

Reviews

[Saturnalia]

Whoa, a lot like Twilight. The setting (rainy, small, cold) and the guy (tall, dark, cold, his voice velvet) are all like Twilight. The premise seems different, but there are a lot of spelling and grammatical errors. The chapter's title, for example, should be "Unforgettable." There's a random "No," at the end of the first paragraph that doesn't belong and is redundant. "couldnl't" should be "couldn't". A simple mistake, but those are the kinds of mistake you should check for; it can really turn off a reader.
I suggest you go through and proof read. Better yet, a beta reader could be helpful. As for the plot, I can't say much since the plot wasn't exactly introduced. I'm guessing it involves the guy? You should definitely change the similarities to Twilight, especially since it's really popular right now. Also, it wasn't the best book.

[Wildecat]

I really enjoyed reading this story, I have read all of Anne Rice's books and have always been facinated by Vampires werewolves and the like. Nice write, I look forward to reading more.