“Come to me, my love,”
“Yes, Master,” Esmeralda said, walking towards the handsome vampire. They embraced each other and the tight hug evolved into a long, meaningful-
Erica gasped as her alarm clock sprang to life.

“I can’t believe it happened again,” she murmured angrily to herself. She had stayed up for the entire night working on her vampire novel. Erica stuffed the story into her backpack and gathered her things together.

“Hurry up, Erica, you’ll be late to school!” he mom called from the kitchen.

“Coming!” Erica replied, flying down the stairs. She grabbed a piece of toast and ran out the door to the school bus.

“I’m not driving you if you miss the bus,” her mom called after her. Erica cursed under her breath and as she reached the bus it pulled away.

“Wait!” Erica cried after it. School was ten miles away; there was no way Erica could make it in time. To make matter worse, a heavy rain began pouring down. Erica trudged towards her school and as her hair fell over her face and obstructed her view, she slipped in a large puddle. Erica crashed to the ground, hard. She moans softly as stands up; her backpack is soaked, all of her papers are ruined and worst of all, the story she had been working on for over a year was ruined in seconds. Tears formed in Erica’s eyes as she watched the blue ink in her vampire romance novel bubble away to useless color. She sighed and picked up her bag, groaning under the added weight of what seemed to be at least half the puddle. Erica tried to walk, but when she fell, she had twisted her ankle; every movement felt like pure agony. As Erica resumed her miserable walk to school, a bright red car drove up beside her. The window rolled down, and an extremely pale man gave her a brilliant smile, his white teeth just as shiny as his magnificent car.

“What’s wrong, cutie?” he asked in a deep voice. Erica blushed, but then remembered what she had learned about strangers. There weren’t any houses around, so Erica attempted to keep her distance from the car. He continued to talk to her.

“Come on, answer me, sweetie, I don’t bite,”

Erica ignored him. She watched him in the corner of her eye, on guard, but afraid to turn and look at him.

“At least look at me, love,”

Erica turned to him angrily.

“What makes you think you can call me-.” She stopped as their eyes met, and she was immediately lost in the ashen grey eyes staring back at her. Erica walked towards him slowly, as if a strong magnet was forcing her forward. He smiled and introduced himself.

“I’m Jake. Do you need a ride, beauty?” Erica nodded and stepped into his car. She said nothing and couldn’t seem to muster the strength to move. As the car moved, the light bumps brought Erica out of her trance. She stared at him, and he gave her another winning smile. Erica noticed his canine teeth were long and sharp, and suddenly she realized what was happening.

“He’s a vampire!” she thought excitedly. “And he’s taking me to his castle so I can be his one and only love. Erica played through hundreds of different scenes in her head, and Jake looked at her strange smile; he hadn’t expected her to act like this. As the car drove right past the school, Erica gave a soft sigh.

“Are you okay?” He asked her. She nodded and waited for him to call her something nice, but he didn’t. As the minutes ticked by, Erica grew more and more impatient.

Finally she yelled out, “You’re a vampire, aren’t you. You’re taking me to your castle so you can love me,” Jake stared at her with a blank look, and Erica reddened. What if he wasn’t actually a vampire? Jake said nothing for the rest of the trip, and when they reached the castle Erica had been expecting, she gave a giddy giggle. Jake opened the door for her, and Erica ran into the large castle looming before her. Jake followed right behind her, and once they were inside, she nuzzled herself in his neck, sure that her previous assumption was correct. His body shook, and it took Erica a moment to realize he was laughing. Jake’s laugh was unnatural; it sounded as though a large animal was being strangled to death. As Erica stepped away nervously, his laugh only grew.

“My dear, I thank you,” he managed to gasp out. Erica continued backwards.

“For what?” she asked softly; Jake was beginning to scare her.

“For making this so easy, my walking blood bank,” he laughed.

“B-blood bank?” Erica stuttered. Jake’s laugh had grown to full blown hysterics, and it was obvious he was unable to say anything through his laughing fit. All of the sudden, he grabbed Erica. She gave out a small cry in dismay as her dream world came crashing down. Jake’s laugh stopped short, and he stared into her tear filled brown eyes seriously.

“Did you honestly think that a vampire would kidnap a girl and not suck her dry?” he asked with a smirk. Erica said nothing.

“I bet you also think we sparkle in the sun,” Jake said, his cocky mood suddenly turning to disgust. Erica gave a small nod, and Jake slapped her across the face. Erica sobbed and Jake grabbed her chin; once again, their eyes met.

“I’m going to enjoy this!” Jake said with a growing grin. Erica’s eyes opened wide, and Jake whispered to her over and over again.

“Sleep, my precious, it will be your last,”

Erica’s tears stopped abruptly as she fell into his handsomely deceiving eyes.

“No,” she whimpered. Jake waved his white hand down her face. Erica’s strength evaporated, and her eyes unwillingly fluttered shut. Jake rubbed his icy fingers up her bare neck, and when he found the vein he was looking for, he bit down. Erica gave an unconscious moan as his razor sharp teeth sank into her flesh, and within minutes, she was empty. Jake wiped his blood-stained mouth and walked over to his typewriter.

“Time to trick more girls into thinking vampires are only made for love stories,” he chuckled.