Love, Blood, and Fangs

Chapter 1

-The Day Of the Dead-
I can't believe I finally got a raise today! I never thought this day would come. I guess my slaving away finally paid off. I grabbed a burrito from Mighty Taco a few minutes before and begin devouring it as soon as I get it unwrapped. I begin to walk home since my car's still in the shop. Its lightly raining but not enough to soak my clothes. I hope Casey can come get me from here or something. She should be coming this way. I reach a corner and wait to see if there are any cars coming before I cross. It's hard to see much of anything at night out here besides really stretched out street lights which I think is really rediculous. I walk past a couple of buildings. I hear something in the alley next to me. I turn my head towards it slowly, hearing footsteps...two pairs of footsteps. I can tell by the different paces. I'm frozen by my own fear. I'm yanked into the darkness, making me drop my poor burrito on the wet alley ground. My
Burrito! I try to scream for help but nothing comes out, plus whoever this man is, his hand is covering my mouth. I can see his evil grin. There's...blood on his teeth. I try to squirm away from him but his hold on me is unbreakable.
"Let me go!" I scream, finally. He looks into my eyes. They have a mint look to them, completely focused on mine. What is he doing?
"Don't scream. Don't try to run away. I'm going to drink all of your blood." his deep voice makes me tremble. Is that an accent? Never mind that this guy's harassing me for my blood! He says this like I'm just gonna do it because he said so. I try to shove him off of me.
"Get off of me you freak!" He brushes my long brown hair away from my neck and I instantly stop moving. He bares fangs as he inches his mouth towards my neck. What the heck is he?! I give a helpless look to the other man. He's a blonde with gorgeous blue eyes. Is he a monster too? I give him a look that's begging him to save me. He finally looks at me in the eyes and then, it's like something snaps in him. He runs? Flashes? I don't even know what to call it, but he moves pretty fast. He throws the man about to bite into me into the alley wall with little to no effort and a single hand. Its like he has superstrength. Are these men-?...no, no. They don't exist. Its impossible. The accusations in my head root from me watching too many tv shows and movies. The other man who stopped him now stands in front of me, protecting me. What changed his mind?
"You looked directly into her eyes and you were still going to kill her?! Are you stupid, Mike?!" the man scolds the other on the ground.
"You're a real prick, you know that?" the man now named Mike stands up, brushing himself off.
"She can save you, idiot. You looked directly in her eyes, what were you thinking?!" the blonde one repeats about my eyes. What's so special about my eyes? I mean yeah they're two different colors, one dark blue and the other green, but that shouldn't change a thing.
"I was thinking, oh, I'm hungry. I'm just gonna eat the cute girl on the who's all alone in the middle of the night," he peers at me over the blonde man's shoulder, "thats dangerous you know." I roll my eyes.
"Says the one who tried to kill me," I retort.
"Well, I suppose we take you home then," the blonde says. I sigh in relief. Thank God. I'm going home alive. Next thing I know, I've got rope tied around my wrists. Who carries rope with them all the time?!
"Where are you taking me?" I ask as they begin to drag me with them.
"I'm Damon," the blonde one says. He just ignored my question!
"That's nice. Where are you taking me?" I repeat. He sighs.
"I said home didn't I?"
"Which 'home' did you mean? this isn't the way to mine." He chuckles a bit. What's funny?!
"I meant ours." He nods to Mike. His black hair blows back a bit with the wind. He turns his head to look back at me with a smirk. Why is he smiling?! These people are crazy. I just wanted to finish my burrito and go to sleep.
"We're almost there," Damon tells me. Like I care. We stop on front of a beautiful mansion like house in the nice part of town. It's lit up in every room with a window that you can see from the outside. We stop at a gate. Damon opens a little box that has buttons with numbers on them and a little one that's blank. He presses that after typing in a bunch of numbers.
"It's Damon and Michael. Open the gate," the dark man says to the little box. The gate opens at least a minute after.
"Welcome to the June manor." Mike announces as Damon pulls on the rope, yanking me out of my daze.
"It's...beautiful." I say in awe. How did they get a house so nice in a place like this?
"Are you two brothers?" I ask the question that's been sitting on my mind since they were arguing. They both laugh.
"You could say we're like brothers, but we're not. I do live here with his family though, I have for a while now." Damon stops me once we reach the doors.
"Before we go in, do you know what we are?" He turns his head slightly, awaiting my response. I didn't want to believe it but now...it's clear.
"You're...Vampires?" I answer his question almost like a question. He closes his eyes and smiles softly then, we walk in. There's a bunch of people just staring at me. Their eyes don't leave me. We go into what looks like the kitchen. Damon grabs my wrist and looks into my eyes.
"Promise me, if I take this rope off, you won't run." I feel like a complete idiot for thinking this but I guess it wouldn't hurt to stay a while.
"I promise." He smirks and unties them.
"You have to go meet mom. She'll love you," Mike says. He speaks as if he's...excited. His demeanor is completely different than before.
"Oh yeah she'll love you. She might just call you her daughter," Damon also comments. I give them both confused look. They don't even know me!
"Come on. We'll take you to her. Mom! We brought a girl home and she's not dead this time!" Mike calls out. I give him a disgusted look then shrug cause it's to be expected. I hear footsteps coming down the spiral staircase which the rail is drenched in gold. Real gold I'm assuming.
"My boys! You don't know how good it is to see you. You brought home a girl, you say? Let me see her. She must be special if you didn't devour her first." I turn around to see a young woman, like early twenties. She has a skin tight, long, black silk dress on that has a slit on the hip that reaches the bottom. Her face lights up when she sees me. She nearly runs to me once she reaches the foot of the steps.
"My darling, you are beautiful. And those eyes...oh those eyes. That's how you caught my boys' attention. You are a very lucky girl. Do you know what you are?" the woman squeezes my shoulders as she examines me. I brushed my hair behind me with my hand. I give her a look like, is that even a question?
"Human, of course," I say lightly, without a doubt about it.
"Oh honey. You're much more than that. You're a Vim." What the heck is a Vim?!
"I'm a what? What even is that?" I try to keep my cool but I'm getting surprises thrown at me left and right.
"A Vim is like a half blooded vampire but the vampire part isn't included. They live very long but have human qualities. Vim's are born with different colored eyes, usually blue and green like yours. Vim's have served this family for centuries, not as slaves but they give us each a drop of blood every once in a while. Its not a lot but it keeps the really old vampires here alive. See, our family has been cursed. When we reach over a century, we begin to wither away. My son, luckily is a half blood so he doesn't have to worry and neither does Damon. Thank goodness for that. Those two are my pride and joy. Poor Damon is adopted because-"
"That's enough Mom. You met her, now you know." Damon grabs my arm and pulls me away from her. What happened to his real family?
"You're still so protective of your past. Its been years, Damon. You're no fun." She pouts at him. She acts like a little sister rather than a mother. Did she really give birth to Mike?
"You wanna know why I'm protective? because you always try to tell people." The woman laughs.
"You're so brutish, my dear. You should take a lesson from this girl you brought here and relax. She took in the knowledge of her heritage quite well after not knowing of it her entire life. The Vim abilites skip every generation. Tell me, do you have a twin?" my head snaps back towards the woman. My brother.....I haven't spoken to him in years...the only one of my family that I talk to is our older sister. I silently nod to her
"Well is your twin a boy or girl? usually they come as fraternal twins."
"He's my twin brother. I haven't spoken to him in a long time..." I mumble. The woman gives me a sympathetic look.
"Oh honey. Well, I hope you will meet your brother again soon. Twins need to stick together, you know. Now my dear. I have some sleepwear for you to put on. You will need to stay the night here. I'm not letting you go back out there until the sun is bright and shinning. It is a Friday of course. I'm sure you don't have to work in the morning." My eyes widen at her forceful suggestion.
"U-umm I don't think that's necessary-"
"On the contrary! I insist!" I give a pleading look to Damon and he shrugs. I close my eyes and sigh.
"Fine. One night wouldn't hurt. Its almost twelve. I'll just call Casey and tell her I was out with a friend and I'm staying the night at her house."
"Wonderful!" the woman bursts out with joy. I give the guys a look. They both give me as look saying I'm not in this.
"You will be sleeping in Damon's room. He has the better bed," she announces to me. My eyes widen. How would she know that?! She begins walking back upstairs, implying that I should follow. Before I even reach the next floor she throws...lingerie at me? Is she expecting I'd sleep with him?! I can't even find the top of this thing.
"You'll love this. Its so comfortable and you can wear a fur coat over it then surprise your lover when he comes home," the front door downstairs closes, "speaking of lovers, there's mine. Ta-ta! Benji-poo!" she races back down stairs. I hold up the lingerie in front of me. How do you even put this on?
"Need some help with that?" Damon's sudden sarcastic deep voice makes me jump.
"Goodness...you scared me," I say, nervously laughing. He smiles softly at me.
"I'm sorry. Not just about that but making you come here. I didn't want to be here either when I first was taken in by Lady Penelope." I listen carefully to this man. He's very kind, you can hear it in his voice.
"Here. I'll give you a shirt of mine to use. It was raining a bit out there. You don't want your clothes smelling like rain, do you?" I smile and shake my head.
"No I don't." Damon goes into what looks like his room and pulls a big shirt from a drawer. Its light grey.
"Thank you," I tell him.
"You can get dressed in my room. I'll be right outside." I nod and walk inside, barely closing the door behind me but I stopped caring when I found out my life was a lie. I take off my green hoodie and jeans. I turn back to the crack of the door to see Damon looking with his crystal blue eyes then quickly turning back, trying to avoid me seeing him but I caught him. I swear, men have no control. I pull the oversized shirt on. It's surprisingly comfy. It's long enough that it covers everything down the my mid thighs. I walk outside the room. He's just staring me up and down. Is he checking me out still?! What a pervert. I scoff at him and start walking away. He gently grabs my hand just before I can get out of reach.
"I never got your name," he says softly. My eyes meet his after attempting to pull away from him.
"Pandora," I say with a whisper. I turn back to him and sit against the wall. I snatch my hand back as he sits beside me.
"You said you had a twin brother. What happened to him?" he asks me. At first I'm silent but I let myself start to tell him. Of course, I don't trust him enough to tell everything.
"We used to be so close but then something happened...my parents blamed me for it too. My brother sided with them and my sister defended me, that's why we still talk. That's all I'm going to tell you. You're a stranger anyways and don't you think for a second you were slick to sneak a peek at me while I was changing though it was left open a crack due to my laziness." He laughs.
"You've got a keen eye. Maybe I'll be looking for more in you as we get to know each other." I cock my head to the side.
"We're going to get to know each other?" I question him. Okay, he's definitely flirting with me.
"You questioning whether we're going to see each other again? Because I strongly believe that we will," he smirks.
"Oh really? What makes you think that?" I ask him, looking him in the eyes. He stares at me for a moment.
"Fate," he whispers. I dont know why but somehow, that one word makes sense. I feel my chest grow warm and my stomach get fluttery. I might actually be attracted to this guy. He's far from ugly. What am I saying?! He's a blood sucking killer! I clear my throat.
"That's ridiculous. You believe fate made Mike find me and almost kill me?" I go into denial. Theres no way.
"No, I believe it was the that we found the one person who could save this family. You were meant to be found and I also believe that it was fate that when I looked into your eyes...your...beautiful eyes..." he leans closer, "I knew you were worth so much more than just a girl on the street." Geez. why's he gotta be so close? My heart's pounding out of my chest. My body's on fire. Why is he making me feel this way?
"You're acting weird," I say to stop him from leaning closer.
"If there's anyone acting weird, it's you. What are you nervous about? Your face is as red as an apple," he smirks. Gosh his smile is perfect! I have to stop thinking like this!
"I-i don't know what you're talking about." I try to play dumb, pretending like I don't know what I'm feeling and turn my head away from him. I feel his warm hand touch my shoulder. Wait he's warm? I thought vampires were supposed to be cold. I turn my Head back quickly to find his face right up to mine. Our foreheads are touching. I let out a shaky breath as I squeeze my eyes shut. whaT IS HE DOING?!!??!
"That cute blushing, your denial...I can't do this...it's wrong. I'm so sorry," he whines this over my lips before backing away. What?! He just teases me! gets me all worked up, touches me, making me feel weird things, saying that! He leads me on just to back away! That asshole!
"W-what?" I whisper. I'm supposed to be angry. Why am I not angry? WHY AM I NOT ANGRY?!
"You should go to sleep. I'll be in the guest room if you need anything." with that, he stands up and walks away, leaving me sitting in the hallway...alone. I hate men. I hear the light switch down the hall click up and the light come on. Who else could possibly be up at this ungodly hour? Oh wait. Vampires. I walk down the hall, a bit curious. I look in since the door is open. There's a shirtless, black haired guy with mintish green--oh god it's Mike. Hes brushing his teeth. I stare him down but then can't move from this spot. Why can't I move my stupid body?! He takes his toothbrush out of his mouth, then rinses.
"Everything alright, love?" God I didn't realize how sexy that accent was when he was going to kill me. What is wrong with me today?!
"Uh-umm w-where's Damon's room?" I say nervously. He can read through me. I'm such an idiot. My insides are going crazy right now.
"Now, now. Tell me, what's the matter? You can talk to me. I wont hurt you." he steps out. SHOOTTT! He's hotter close up! Jesus Christ. Someone help me.
"N-nothing! You're just-h-holy eight pack," I accidently gaze at his abs and hot damn those things are nice. Mike looks down at himself then looks back up with a chuckle.
"That's right, I'm shirtless. So, you like what you see?" my face burns up. He's flirting with me, too!
"Yes-I mean n-no!-I mean...dammit." he chuckles again. He walks closer to me, I can finally move my stupid legs as I walk backwards. My back is pressed against the wall. He's towering over me, placing his hands on the wall on either side of me. I'm stuck. When did he get so tall?!
"Youre so cute. Why don't you give me a kiss? Then you can go sleep in my room." Did he just suggest I sleep with him?! Nah. I ain't wit that. I muster up the anger to slap him.
"Pervert. You think just cause you're attractive and have a soul melting accent doesn't mean you can sleep with a woman because she looks at your body." I shove him away from me. I can hear him scoff, knowing he's rubbing his face from the smack. I'll find Damon's room on my own. I go around looking. I don't know this house. Its huge! I eventually give up and go sit against the hallway wall again. I guess I'll just stay here for the night. The carpet up here is fluffy enough for me to sleep on. I lay my head down and curl up, feeling safe enough that I wont get eaten in my sleep. I remember that his room was just down the hall in the first place and I curse myself. I guess I got so angry that I completely forgot it was right there. I finally close my eyes, exhausted by my own fault, then I'm out like a light.