• With a Gothic Manor

    ‘Is it sunrise already?’ I asked myself, glancing to the horizon and shaking my head. ‘And I haven’t even found the damn grave yet…I mean, seriously, how hard was it to find one undead boy in a freakin’ grave yard? And I’m doing all of this…why?’ I sighed again as the voice in the back of my head replied, ‘Duh. You’re doing it because he’s a snake and you want everyone to know what you know. That he in fact is a vampire.’ “Thank you, Anti-conscience.” I said aloud. The past two nights have been gruesome searching for a grave. My room-mate is pissed because she doesn’t know where I’ve been, my parents are pissed because my grades suck, and I’m pissed because of how rich and snooty Aleksei Belikov is. But, there is one thing my roommate agrees with me on—something’s up with the Belikov’s.
    Walking quickly down the road that led away from the graveyard, my head began its argument with itself, again. For two days it’s been doing this.
    My sweet side: “Why must we do this? He’s so handsome, and really is a doll when we aren’t being irritating.”
    The, uh, not so sweet side: “Dude, our friends love us because we are the Anti-Relaxation for them. He needs to get over himself!”
    ‘S.S ‘: “But, seriously. There’s no need to be so…obsessed with him. Maybe we could just catch him alone in a hallway?”
    ‘N.S.S.S ‘: “Oh yeah. Hey Al, are you a Vampire? You better tell me, or I’ll make sure to bring Gaaahhhlic tomorrow.”
    I sighed again, and walked up to my door-step. Living a few blocks from the city’s local cemetery was a great advantage when grave-searching. I dug blindly into my purse in search of my keys. Trinity wouldn’t be home tonight. She has Study-night-sleep-over things that she does with her other buddies on Tuesday. I, after 3 minutes and a paper cut, found my keys and sleepily opened the door. Entering the dark apartment, I sighed peacefully.
    “All I need is a relaxing shower and to clamber into bed. Then tomorrow, I’ll go to school and will do all I can to avoid everyone I can.” This was very frequently my motto, used more when I’m dead tired or agitated, for the sake of everyone around me.
    The sound of cool water hitting the porcelain floor was oddly soothing to me. Trinity’s wealthy parents spared no expense in finding her a suitable apartment. I quickly undressed and hopped into the shower. I sat in there for a good 25 minutes, keeping the water at a nice Luke-warm temperature. I turned on the shower radio and set the frequency to C.D player. Maroon 5 gently yet passionately flowed out of the speakers. Automatically, I started to shampoo my hair.
    “How dare you say that my behavior is unacceptable, so condescending unnecessarily critical, I have the tendency of getting very physical, so watch your step cause if I do you’ll need a miracle…” Singing in the shower was a practice that frequently occurred while I was in the shower. Being in choir and having a soon-to-be band also helped…I laughed. I loved the next set of lyrics. They were my favorite to sing, because in the song, they sound so raunchy, but the actually lyrics were hysterical.
    “You drain me dry make me wonder why I’m even here, this double vision I was seeing is finally clear, you want to stay but you know very well I want you gone, not fit to Funkin’ tread the ground that I am walking on!” I flipped my light blonde hair side to side, flinging droplets of water everywhere. Then, some strange things began to happen.
    There was a strange Click! that occurred outside the door. Being near the living room, I automatically began to rationalize the situation. ‘Trinity just came home early. A fight amongst the sisters, I guess.’ I stopped the water, not from the noise, but from the fact I had been in there for so long. I wrapped my hair in a towel turban style, and then wrapped a towel around the rest of my body. I washed my face quickly, brushed my teeth, and then checked the clock that sat on the counter.
    “HO-LY COW,” I said aloud, “It’s 3 o’ clock!” I opened the door and walked down the short hallway to my room, but noticed something really strange. The front door was opened. I looked around, and hurried into my room. I dug under my pillow, looking for my gun or my knife --Having a Police Officer for a grandfather and all, I’m surprised that I couldn’t find my Tazer--Then, I finally found my gun. Feeling risqué, I stuffed the gun in between my breasts and the towel, and hoped that it would conceal it slightly. I walked into the front room, and glanced around.
    Lying on the adjacent kitchen table was a note, actually a whole piece of paper, shrouded slightly by someone standing over it. The air that I was breathing caught in my lungs. I froze. The person who was writing something on the paper seemed to notice that I was there, but didn’t really care. Finally, I felt my voice box return from my stomach to my throat.
    “I-I’ll shoot. Turn around, and put your-” Cutting my hesitant and very unlikely threat short, the person stood up straight and kept their back to me. A sultry voice caressed my ears.
    “Don’t shoot me. You’ll thank me in the long run, and so will my eldest brother. Silly girl, you couldn’t hurt me with that toy anyway.”
    The man turned, and then swiftly walked to the door.
    “Lock your door and your windows from now on. I don’t care if you’re tired or whatever. My brother won’t want his girl getting hurt.”
    I was frozen with the gun in mid-air, where his leg had been while he was writing. His older brother? I was some ones GIRL? What the hell?


    After the man had left and my heart, mind, and lungs were all in sync once again, I had broke down and started to sob. I didn’t want to even get near the note. There was a light, nagging thought at the back of my head. I had a compelling urge to read it, but on the other hand, my body was shaking as if there might be a tiny but deathly bomb concealed within the small note…After composing myself, I decided to get ready for school…I only had two hours before I had to leave, anyway. So I went to my closet and chose something comfortable to wear, something easy to nap in, something like my soft black miniskirt with lacy black short heels, and my ‘Skelanimals’ Diego the bat t-shirt. I accessorized with a black head-band, and cute white-bat earrings. I wore a few bright red bracelets to set off the outfit, and pulled my hair back into a low pony-tail. Then I walked slowly to the kitchen. My body began trembling again, but the decision was there. If I didn’t read it now, I don’t think I would have ever been able
    With shaking hands, I picked up the note, finely written in Calligraphy cursive. It read:

    Dearest Ciccilly,
    I wish I could tell you straightforward who I am. It’s amazing to me how beautiful you have grown up to be, throughout the years. Your pretty guardian hasn’t left you…Maybe you’ll remember, maybe you won’t. What I hope you know now is that there is something or someone (Not the man who left this note) after you. We don’t understand who yet, though. Keep your eyes on the horizon…My entire family is here for you…

    ~*~Tramonto Ad Alba~*~

    My breath caught somewhere between my lungs and my mouth…Tramonto Ad Alba…Sunset to Sunrise in Italian…Who the hell could this be from?
    My whole body began to tingle. This seemed so…romantic…from a total stranger…
    ‘This person said that they knew me…Pretty Guardian? What the heck?’ my mind went over the note over and over. Obviously, this person who wrote the note wrote it for someone else…for his…brother? Yes. That IS what he said, wasn’t it?
    I looked outside, wishing that it were snowing instead of raining, I could handle stuff that was white and pretty and didn’t mess up my clothes…I put on some black eyeliner and shiny lip gloss and grabbed my bags. I looked around, and then bent my head. The mysterious mans warning had not gone un-heeded. I ran around to each window and door and made sure they were locked or shut. The finally left the house. I sighed, and then yawned tiredly. Off to school.

    As I slowly walked onto campus, I noticed that not many people were there. I looked into my purse to find my cell phone, but realized that nothing was in the cell phone pocket. I looked behind me, and then beside me to make sure I hadn’t dropped it, then I looked again.
    “CRAP! I must have left it there!” I realized then winced. What if Aleksei really had a grave there and he found it? Or worse, what if the brother of the mysterious guy was actually a vampire and then they knew Aleksei and was secretly-
    “Hola Chica! How was your evening?” Trinity held her hands over my eyes, planning to startle me, but I only turned to glance at her. I was WAY too tired to be startled by anything but bright, shiny lights. She lifted her hands slowly off my face, sensing my irritation.
    “Is it another one of those days, Cicciy?” She asked softly, moving around to face me. I nodded my head, and continued walking forward. I heard one of her other friends say, “God, what a JERK!” I smiled, as I turned around and smiled at Trinity. She smiled back, and then I heard her stage whisper, “Rachel, shut up. It’s for her and everyone else. It makes life a lot easier for the entire world. Russia thanks you, for kindly not talking to anyone, Ciccilly.” I laughed heartily, and continued walking. Trinity and I almost had a telepathic connection, we were that close.
    I sighed and looked at my newly revised schedule. One of the classes I had been slotted into was too full for the teacher to handle, so my whole schedule was changed.
    “1st period…Accelerated science with Professor Pile….Room 456…” I stopped in my tracks, and then looked, horror-stricken to Trinity, who wasn’t far behind me. She walked up to me, and looked at my schedule.
    “Ugh! That’s no fair! You get to go on the other side of the high school!” she looked down and kicked at the ground with her boot. “I wanna go see the hot older guys…” she grumbled, and smiled darkly. “Have ffffuuuunnnn…” she said, and winked at me.
    I sighed, again, and then laughed softly to myself. ‘I HAVE been sighing a lot, haven’t I?’ I thought. ‘I’ll have to ease up on that…’ and continued walking. I pulled out my P.D.A as I walked, and brought up a map of the school, trying to figure out where this darn class would be. ‘Let’s see…My farthest class, other than Pile, is Professor Kline’s class…Theatre…ALL RIGHT! I get theatre this time!’ I shuddered to myself, ‘Ooooh no. No no, I’m not dealing with them again. Flashbacks of gay men fighting over each other aren’t a pleasant subject.” I smiled at how witty I was becoming, but was slightly saddened that all that ever actually came out was sarcasm, and random syllables that didn’t connect to make words in front of guys.
    My stilettos clacking softly on the tile, I walked down the long and dimly lit hallway that led to Accelerated Science. I figured that we were more than likely digging into some biology, or chemistry…As a freshman in Accelerated Science, we went in depth into studies of matter for half of the semester, and the other half we went into studies of the human body. Yuck. I don’t want to even think about it.
    As I came upon the door, I realized how early I was…About 15 minutes before class started. I looked around, and then knocked lightly only the closed door. I had to wait only a few moments, because a blonde-headed girl that I recognized opened the door for me. What I realized simultaneously is that the girl who opened the door was a year older than me, and a grade higher than me…What the hell was she doing there?
    “Oh, hey, you’re the new girl to the class. Just so you know…you’re welcome to come in early.” The girl said. You could practically see the words ‘Warm Welcomer’ stapled onto her forehead.
    It was Selenity Belikov.
    Aleksei Belikov’s sister!
    “Wha…Wha…Ah….You’re a JUNIOR! Why are you in my class??” My heart sped up. There were SO many rumors about this crazy chick…She was supposed to have gotten held back two years because for one she was off in a forest killing people…Completely ludicrous, but all the same…Creepy. They all say she never aged…EVER. Her brother, Aleksei, the sophomore, was supposed to be the same way, but all of the girls defended him by saying that it’s just the fact that he is so ‘Incredibly’ handsome. I scoff in their general direction.
    “Ciccilly, I didn’t know that you were in my class!” I snarled, turned around, and began heading for the office. But no, a large, sporty body stepped in front of me. Andres Frere, one of the snobbiest jocks in the world, stepped in front of me.
    “Where are you going, Lilly-Kinz? Class will be starting any minute!” I slapped him away, and landed a good, firm slap to the forearm.
    “The 20 minute bell hasn’t even rang, you dip-head. Get away from me.”
    I spoke in the lowest voice I could handle at the moment, and turned away again. I took two steps away, then was grabbed forcefully by the arm, and spun around.
    “Did I tell you that you look frightfully sexy today?” His face was too close. WAY to close. The deep blue eyes were about to drown me…Damn, how often did he do this to his girlfriends? He tried to draw me in, when suddenly, his hands let go of me. He fell backwards with a loud shout, and he glared behind him. My mouth hung open slightly, and I glanced up at the tall figure standing seemingly in shadow. The shadow…had eyes…Blood. Red. Eyes.