Derek was literally jumping out of his skin. He had finally asked Chelsea out! Derek Parker had liked Chelsea Bowen since 9th grade. He thought of her as a beautiful cheerleader- Much different than any of the girls in her Cheerleading trio.

She had strawberry blonde hair, which was cut till her shoulder. Chelsea was famous among boys in her School for her well-shaped body and legs. But that was not what Derek cared about a lot. All he saw in a girl was her eyes, which would look into his honestly every day and a girl’s smile, which would be powerful enough to make the world turn to her direction.

Derek pulled his Porsche, near the sidewalk of his Mansion and they both got out of his car. He knew that Cassie looked a little disturbed but never cared to ask her because Derek thought not to intrude and dig answers from a girl, when she looked like she need some space- desperately.

“Mom, I’m home!” Derek shouted from the living room, loud enough that his mom could hear his voice from the kitchen. Cassie and Derek dropped their school bags on the couch and went into the Kitchen.

“Hey kids. How was school?” Mrs. Angela Parker greeted them, charmingly and they replied “Good” At the same time.

Derek’s mother was a very kind, young lady who loved Cassie as her own daughter as she didn’t have one on her own one. Cassie would give her some company, cook food with her and be with Derek when he went through some tough times, making Mrs. Parker proud that her son had a concerning friend like her.

But in truth, Angela was an extra-ordinary woman…

“Derek! Treat ladies first!” Mrs. Parker scolded her son, as he silently tried to eat the delicious muffins served on a red bowl. Derek huffed and handed it to Cassie, who took it whispering a “thank you” in return.

As Cassie munched down the tasty muffin, she unknowingly moved forth the kitchen island. Suddenly, Derek felt as if something in him was signaling the reflexive muscles in him to work as he anticipated the Kitchen vase on the island to fall down.

“Careful!” He shouted just a second before Cassie herself turned to the vase and caught it before falling, letting out an “Oh!”

This made Mrs. Parker to stop what she was doing, “Oh, my!” She exclaimed and ran towards Cassie, who was holding her favorite antique Kitchen vase, gifted by her husband.

“Derek” Cassie breathed “How’d you know that it was going to fall?” She spoke, surprised. Derek felt very different, all of a sudden. Like he never knew how it happened for himself. He felt so weird.

With his eyes wide and mouth agape, he replied “I don’t know…”

“It’s alright honey. Go get some rest” Mrs. Parker said, looking at him with a worried expression. Cassie didn’t speak anything but just stood there, speechless.

“Okay, mom. Just try to wake me up soon in the evening. I… Have a date tonight with Chelsea” He breathed weakly but highlighting the special part of his statement ‘date’ so that his mother would understand. Cassie sighed silently. Just that statement hit her heart like thousand blades.

“I’m very glad to hear that, hon. now, go and get some rest” Mrs. Parker spoke to her son and Derek left after waving off to Cassie. Cassie and her best friend’s mother just stood there awkwardly without talking anything.

“Do you think he’ll be okay?” asked Cassie with a concerned look on her face. Angela didn’t answer but just nodded. Only she knew what her son was going through, but she dared to let it out.

As a worrying mother of Derek, Angela feared about how the natural changes of their ancestors, would affect her son’s teenage livelihood. She never wanted her son to go through all of this trouble- He didn’t deserve it. Mrs. Parker knew what Derek wanted- To graduate, go to a well-known college, marry a girl when he had earned enough money by himself, to live and start a family with her.

But as the legendary instincts take over him, it would become merely impossible for him to get a bright future. This was what Derek’s mother feared the most. She thought that he won’t be happy about anything. And the worst part is that…. She thought that her own son would start hating her.

The sun was slowly starting to set. Derek snuggled helplessly without sleep in his bed. Cassie left soon, as she knew that it would be hard for her to go home, when it becomes dark. And, Mrs. Parker was just sitting on her couch, her head on her hand as she thought deeply.

Deep secrets have already become a part of her life, right now.

Who would have ever thought that secrets could be a dangerous killer?

Alex Hernandez sipped his glass of alcohol, seated comfortably on his velvet chair in the bar. Many girls’ eyes were on him. His inhumanly beauty hypnotized people, letting him to take advantage of it; and he decided to choose his prey as soon as he can.

That was when he set his eyes fell on a particular pair of light brown eyes. They both stared at each other, before the teenage girl started to approach him. ‘Way to go on tonight’ Alex thought and smirked to himself.

“Hey handsome” She whispered, for what seemed to be said in a seductive whisper. But Alex never fell for it. In fact, he was on a hunt.

“Hey” Alex whispered back huskily. The girl started to play with the buttons of his shirt, as a signal to let him know what was going to come.

“My name’s Christy… Want to go out?”

The request sounded good to Alex. ‘Great’ Alex thought ‘A place where no one could find me feeding on you’

“Sure. Why not?” He said and led the human girl, like how a gentleman would. But the poor human had to be pitied. She never knew what was coming for her.

Alex gripped her wrist tight and started to walk towards the thick forest. The human teenager, Christy obeyed and started to fall in love with the quick movement of his aggressiveness. She smiled widely, but wondered. ‘Why this lonely, abandoned forest when we had many places in California?’ She thought.

“What is your name?” She started. Alex never answered, as his hungry instincts were starting to take over his body. Then he stopped walking and stood at a place; A lonely, quiet place where no one could find them.

“Alex” He said gruffly and then whispered, moving closely to her face, “I’m going to kiss you”

Christy smiled as the most awaited moment was going to occur right now. She was waiting for this for such a long time.

“Go ahead. Take me” The innocent human encouraged and he bent his head, moving closely to her lips as she shut her eyes.

His inhumanly, silver eyes turned blood-shot red.

His sharp fangs came out from his gums and they quickly pierced into her pale neck, as a pained shriek came out from the girl. The human’s knees weakened and she fell down, with the side of her neck still being dominated by Alex’s teeth.

He greedily sucked onto the life, soul and the blood of the girl, as a result of not consuming food for almost a month. The girl’s heart beat started to decrease and hitch as her effortless shrieks started to fade…

Once Alex finished feeding on his prey, he pushed her body off from him and his fangs went inside his gums, replaced by his normal teeth. He then flapped his tongue across the bite on the girl’s neck, letting the bruise to vanish right away. This was a trick used by the vampires to leave no trace of evidence that the dangerous mythical, dark creature exists.

“Rest in peace” He said into her ear huskily and got up from the forest’s floor. Alex then licked his mouth covered with the tasty blood and inhaled the scent of Christy, which was still flowing in the air.

The most awaited hunt has been complete. Now he was all set to run to the little town, which was very near. Well, Alex Hernandez had a frightening past, which actually created the reason for him to go to the town. He still remembered the night when his parents died….

Alex’s parents Lucas and Debra were actually vampires, even before Alex was born. In order to protect themselves from the vampire slayers, they took Alex to a cave and lived in there secretly. But a coven of witches, however found them and destroyed them, believing that they were a threat. Alex remembered his mom screech on the top of her lungs, “Alex, run!!” And if he didn’t run that time, there wouldn’t have been an Alex till this time.

Of course, revenge became a part of his life then. The most surprising part was that the witches were females with immense powers, which were being controlled by the spells which left their mouths in a short-second. The revenge was going to last forever, and it was going to be very complicating to the witches.

‘They will see’ Alex thought, ‘they will definitely see’

He sighed and took the first step to the East, where the town Stone Falls was; to where Cassie and Derek were.

Alex Hernandez was not normal. He was born a killer. Born to destroy the lives of two teenagers.

Derek woke up precisely at 5:30 P.M. He hurried towards his wardrobe, as he realized that he had only half an hour to pick Chelsea up on a date.

“What to wear, what to wear…” murmured Derek, as he eyed every single clothe that he owned. He finally found a blue flannel shirt, lying hidden in the wardrobe.

‘Blue is Cassie’s favorite color’ He thought; but Derek never gave a thought about why Cassie was the only person, who occurred in his mind, all of a sudden…

He got dressed up, as faster than ever. Derek buttoned up his shirt, combed his hair neatly and he hurried downstairs.

“Mom, I’ll be back at 9:00 P.M!” Derek shouted out to his mom, who was sitting on the couch, worrying. Before Mrs. Parker could even say ‘goodbye’ to him, Derek had went out and was seated comfortably in his shiny, black Porsche.

“Here we go” He murmured, grinning, as he accelerated the engine and began his smooth ride to the huge mansion, where Chelsea and her rich family recited.

A fact about Derek was that he never compared or judged people. He also saw Cassie and Chelsea in the same view. But, to be honest, Chelsea came up first in everything. She belonged to a very rich family. Her father, Mark Bowen excelled as a designer of men’s clothes. Her mother Jennifer Bowen owned a restaurant on her own and received a lot of money.

Chelsea had everything… While, Cassie had none other than Derek, who was always in her heart.

As Derek sped along the road, he noticed that the sky quickly darkened with dark grey clouds, even though it wasn’t too late in the night.

‘What’s up with this road, today?’ Derek thought as he was driving in a road, which used to be crowded with people everyday, but seemed strangely quiet all of a sudden.

Derek was even confused when smoke started to fill the area, not allowing him to see the road properly. What is happening?

That was when he saw a man just close to his car and Derek took all his effort to turn the car away from the man; but his efforts were of no use.

“Oh s***, no!” Derek shouted when his car went out of his control and ended up bumping harshly into a tree on the side. The front of his car got greatly damaged and the lights of the car flickered for a few seconds after which they stopped glowing completely.

Derek, who had hit his head hard in the front window of the car, was unconscious. His forehead started bleeding and it kept getting worse. He slowly tried to open his eyes but he couldn’t see anything properly.

The pain in his forehead was so excruciating that Derek thought he was dead. But he wasn’t.

Suddenly, without any warning, he was pulled out of the car by two forceful hands. Derek cried in pain when he fell harshly on the road. He ended up lying flat on his back, motionless.

Derek started breathing heavily. He wondered if there was someone else in here with him.

That was when Derek was hit on his face by a crowbar. His heavy breathing stopped.

Blackness consumed him.