When Anna first bit me, it didn't mean anything. She was hungry, and needed sustenance. I was the closest thing there was. I think I was about eight then, and it was the outside of my upper arm on a blazing summer day in the back garden. I remember looking up at the sun and feeling dizzy, wondering if I was feeling lightheaded because I wasn't supposed to be staring at the sun or because I could feel streams of my sticky blood coming out of me.
The next thing I heard was shouting. Anna's mom was yelling and I remember turning my head to see her running towards us, long straight black hair flowing, and blue eyes wide with worry. It was a struggle to yank Anna off of me, and even then it felt off seeing my best friends knotted hair clumped with my blood, cheeks and mouth carrying a would be kool-aid stain that was much darker than it seemed. Next I felt that feeling about when you were going to throw up. It crept up my throat and the voices blurred and I barely noticed my mom was there grabbing me, asking me if I was okay, tears in her eyes.
"Yeah," I remember saying faintly as dark spots clouded my vision and before I knew it I was on the kitchen counter, dirtied wet towels around me as mom coddled me and dad called 911. I could hear Anna's mom apologizing. Nothing ever really sank in until the sirens were blaring and we were speeding down the streets. I thought it was so fun that I got to ride in an ambulance, but the medics were telling me Anna did a bad thing. Could've killed me.
Anna was the same age as me. Just different. She didn't know any better. But I did feel myself run cold at the thought that something took over her that she couldn't control. Could she do it again?
The second time Anna bit me was in middle school and it wasn't as dramatic as the first incident. We were fighting over a Capri sun in the courtyard during lunch, and I wanted the last couple of sips. We each contributed enough to pay fifty cents to buy it from the snack counter our PE teacher held, but I felt I deserved more because I had thirty cents and she had twenty.
It was a petty fight. A push here, a shove there. I think it was grabbing the Capri sun from her hands after pulling her hair that did it. Because then she clutched my hand-while I was still holding the drink-then bit into my wrist.
I did feel something this time. It stung and my eyes watered as I tried to yank my wrist from her and screamed for her to stop. The teachers advising the area took note of this and rushed to us but Anna pulled herself away before anyone else could. My heart was pounding and I cradled my wrist, noting the blood mixing with the clear fruity liquid that had spilled from the Capri sun.
Anna looked sorry after that, laughing nervously-before begging me not to tell anyone and saying apologizing nearly a hundred times. That didn't stop the teachers from dragging us to the principals office though. Everyone had seen enough. After being taken to the office though was when i began to realize something.
While I was being doted on, given ice, a bandage, and asked if I wanted to go home, Anna was being disciplined by the principal in the other room. I couldn't understand why though. We both fought, and after seeing Anna get suspended for two weeks I asked why I wasn't getting the same sentence for fighting as well.
"She's dangerous," Mr. Moore said. "She could kill you."
It made me remember the ride in the ambulance.
"Yeah, but she didn't mean to," I had responded. We were best friends. Best friends fought. It escalated a bit, but we were fine after all. I told him about what happened when I was eight. And he seemed shocked that I would remain friends with "someone of her kind" for so long.
I wasn't an idiot then. I knew about the stereotypes that people were scared of. I knew that people like Anna, though seemingly powerful were treated differently than us. People were scared. But they were stupid. Sometimes bad things happened, but that didn't mean everyone like Anna was a bad person. I always knew humans were much worse.
I was sent home early that day and told my mom what happened. She wasn't as worried when she saw the marks on my wrist. I considered it a good thing. She knew Anna and her family. She knew they weren't like that. When I told her why she did it she actually laughed. So why couldn't Mr. Moore?
I also told mom about what happened to Anna, she had sighed and said that scared people are more dangerous than people like Anna, and she knew this because it's something her family used to think before she and Anna's mom became friends. She was also upset that Anna had gotten a two week suspension while I had gotten off clean.
Anna and I didn't go to school for the next two weeks. We spent the days getting ice cream, sleeping over at each other's houses, and snooping at the neighbor's scandalous private lives next door.
The third time Anna bit me was different from anything I had felt before. We were eighteen and it was summer break. The days were unbearably hot and too long, so after swimming in her pool we came upstairs take showers and then watch some movies while the ac turned up.
We didn't get to the movie part. Something happened between taking showers. In the midst of Anna getting dressed and me gathering a clean towel Anna asked me something.
I remember feeling hot and my nerves buzzing through me as she turned to me, because that meant I got caught.
Anna was beautiful. Anyone like Anna would be. She had clear skin, pretty features with a hidden darkness that made boys swoon, and a damn good tan-that was another bad stereotype. The sun didn't bother people like Anna. So, I figured Anna must've caught on after a couple of years. This would be a defining moment. This could change things.
I was pretty enough. I knew that I had admirable qualities, like thick wavy brown hair, and long eyelashes. I just didn't think anyone like Anna would really look at me that way if you know what I mean. But she did. It was that look people had familiarized with people like Anna. A strange curiosity hidden by mischief and a smirk.
"Do you wanna try something?"
"Yes," I breathed out. I didn't know what I was exactly saying yes to, but I had a feeling.
Towels are dropped and we're on her bed, the covers are hot from the open window and the sun peering into the room all day that Anna forgot to shut. The dark magenta covers become darker under us because I'm still in my bathing suit and our hair is still dripping wet. I don't remember who was first but suddenly our lips were together and it was warm, soft, and nice. My belly was a whirlwind of nerves and though I remained cool, inside I was buzzing.
We kissed like that for what felt hours but was only a few minutes. Her kisses were careful, yet calculated and smooth. After all, she did have a bit more practice than I, but I was a fast learner. Anna had moved her hands down to my hips leaving electricity where fingers trailed. I took that as a sign to run my hands through her hair and soon our kisses became more open, Anna later sliding her tongue into my mouth.
Thoughts rushed through my head wondering if I was good enough, whether the scent of chlorine from swimming all day overpowered my natural scent. Which sounded ridiculous. I didn't think we'd be doing this if that was the case. Nevertheless, after a few more lingering kisses Anna raised her head from mine, both of us opening our eyes. We were panting and Anna's gaze quickly moved lower to my neck.
"Can I try one more thing?" She breathed.
It was the first time Anna had ever considered asking me whether I would like to be bitten. Usually riding on impulse in the past. How was this time different?
I nodded anyway, and her lips curled up in one corner. She leaned down once again and I felt her breath hot on my neck, my hands clutching her hair a bit tighter as I kept my gaze on the ceiling. I felt her lips drop wet kisses leading up near my pulse, which was no doubt beating faster. Her tongue snaked out licking the skin right there, and within seconds I felt the puncture of her fangs sliding into my skin about as easily as before.
Immediately warmth flooded through my belly and lower, I felt my back arch as I began to feel what I could only describe as a kind of heady ecstasy. There was no sharp pain, dizzy or stickiness, just pure raw pleasure. I could hear myself let out a moan as Anna had pulled her body closer to mine, grinding our hips together.
I was wrong about earlier. This was in fact totally different from anything before. Something had shifted between us, and though I didn't know what would come next in our friendship, I did know that there would be more times like this.
