Undead: Serene's story ~The end~

[Lollipop_Girl]

Ok this is a story i have been posting on sims2community.com, and now there's a story forum here i thought i'd post it here too to see what you guys think..although i am quite far into the story now!
I hope people like it!


Undead: Serene's story.....the intoduction.

On the first glance, my house seems like your average home, my family like your average family. In fact you couldnt be blamed for thinking this is just another teenagers tale. But once you look closely at my life, you see it isnt as basic as you'd thought. But in my home there is a forbidden room, where no guests are allowed to enter. The room inside is dark, with no windows, and lit by a few candles. The room is barely furnished, just a mirror, an old wardrobe, a rug and a...um....coffin.

And thats where things get strange, for in the coffin is where i lie, and wait for sunset so i can get up. And any poor soul who dares to disturb me? they will definatly regret it.


But occasionaly you get the odd foolish teenager who finds amusement in waking the dead. One intruder in paticular pay regular visits. Every time is the same. The intruder slipps through the door, checks nobody is watching and closes it behind him. He tiptoes across the floor careful not to wake me, as a cranky vampire is dangerous. He carefully lifts the coffin lid and peers inside.


I lay there motionless and waited for the right moment to strike.... "MERVIN GET THE **** OUT OF MY ROOM!". Mervin is my stupid jerk of a brother, and he loves nothing more than to make my life ****. Mervin jumped back startled, then smirked,
"Oh im so sorry, did i wake you dracula?"
I glared at him, "What do you think! GET OUT!"
"Awww dont be cranky sis, its just a joke!"
"A joke which has been going on for almost a year"
Mervin smiled again "Well it never gets boring!" as he left the room, slaming the door behind him. It was clearly nightime, so i should be up. I was driven out of my coffin by my brother's loud dance music which he put on top volume just for me. Things like this remind me of why being a teen vampire really sucks!


Well i think this is where i shall start my story, i'l begin with a bit about myself. My name is Serene Raiden, i am seventeen years old...and im a teenage vampire. Yeah sounds cool dosnt it...trust me its not. Most people have these false impressions of vampires from tv, they watch all that stuff like dracula and...buffy the vampire slayer and think life as a vamp could be fun. And of course you get the super goths, who go around dressed in black with filed teeth claiming to be vampires, and i totally dont get them. People seem to think that being undead is about sexy vampires, secret societies and stalking the streets looking dark and moody. I wish it was cool like that. But the truth is much less appealing.


So what is it really like being a vampire then? i can tell you that. Imagine you have a perfectly ordinary life. You go to school or work, you have friends and no matter how dull things get, you have nothing to really fear. Now imagine losing it all. Having to drop out of school as you cant face the sunlight, ditching your friends because you cant tell them your secret, and the scariest thing is having your once lovley complexion become veiny and blue tinged....**** i cant even see my own face anymore as my reflection has vanished. It gets pretty lonley being in the dark all the time, that is really the worst part about being a vampire.


Now people often told me to stop whinging and get myself some vamprocillen-D, there are pleanty of gypsies out there with tons of the stuff to sell. That is really annoying, im not stupid! the trouble with gypsy potions is that they are not properly tested. And when i tried to swalow the potion my throat closed up completley. Now because i dont breathe it didnt choke me...but i was pretty annoyed when i couldnt talk for a week and i still looked like a corpse. It turns out im allergic to the D chemical in vamprocillen D, just my luck.
Reaserch into an official cure is still going ahead in laboratories, but as my kind are still a minority it is not treated as a serious case. Therefore i am stuck this way for a while yet...if not forever.

[Lollipop_Girl]

Now im going to go back, back to last year before all my vampire troubles existed.  This is me, aged sixteen. When I look back at myself I am almost unrecognisable. My skin isn’t blue, my eyes aren’t red and my hair doesn’t look so windswept all the time. It all seems so long ago now.
I was attending Strangetown State School; it was a dump of a place. You got some pretty weird people there. Kids were constantly dropping out mysteriously and you got some very weird people there. But despite all this, I was content with the place. I had some friends, I got ok grades nothing was wrong.


In our classroom, we had a seating plan. I was placed right at the back with two boys. That’s how I got to know Andrew. Andrew was a loud, obnoxious but often funny guy. He sat in front of me, often pestering me for answers for questions and stuff and causing trouble. For some reason Andrew and I would get along ok despite him being kinda rude.
The last time I saw him in lesson, right before the end of term, Andrew seemed different. Much more distant than he usually had been. Before break he came over to talk to me.
“Hey Serene, so what are your plans over half term?”
“Nothing much, you”
Andrew looked at me, “Oh I have plans alright, plans you wouldn’t imagine”
Victor, the other boy who sat at the back gave him a look, as if he thought Andrew was being a jerk. Andrew noticed this “Um Victor I don’t remember talking to YOU!” Victor just cursed at under his breath and turned away, those two never got on well. The bell rang to end class. I waved to Andrew,
“See ya after half term”
“Oh yeah….you defiantly will.”


When we returned from school, Andrew wasn’t there. At first I thought he was just bunking off, which he does often, but after two weeks I began to wonder what had happened to him. The class was strangely quiet with him gone; a lot of people missed his humour (apart from Victor who actually seemed a lot happier). I was surprised to miss his company, I didn’t like Andrew at times, I didn’t like how rude he was to Victor, yet every day at school I wished he would be there to liven the class up. But he never showed.
What Andrew had said before we finished for the term, about his plans, stuck in my head. Was this something to do with his mysterious disappearance? Had some thing happened to him? Something wasn’t right as even Andrew’s closest friends had no idea where he was.


But that wasn’t the last I saw of Andrew. I was staying late for a detention one night, I think it was for missing homework deadlines or something, and as I packed up my books to leave…I saw him there.
“Andrew? Hi, where have you been?”
There was something unnerving about him now, he didn’t look normal “Oh, I just had stuff to take care of.”
“For two weeks? You know the teachers are gonna be mad”
“Screw them”
Andrew looked strangely different. He appeared a lot less lively, and under the bright classroom light I could see his eyes and skin had changed colour…he had a sort of blue tinge. I said goodbye to him as I wanted to leave, but he moved in front of the door.


Now I was beginning to get worried, there was a sinister look in his eyes. It was almost as if he was possessed. Andrew moved towards me.
“Oh leaving so soon Serene?  We need to catch up”
“Look I’ll see you in class tomorrow, we can catch up then. I really have to go.”
“Now now that’s not polite is it? Don’t you want to hear what I did over the holidays?”
By now the school was practically empty, and nobody would hear me shout. I didn’t know what he was going to do, but I sure as **** didn’t want to find out.
“I’ll tell you what I’ve been up to, I have joined the higher beings, I am above the humans! I can live forever now. And  Serene, I want you to join me. I want you to become like me…..a vampire”


This was getting too much; I thought he had gone completely mad! But his face was deadly serious. I looked at the windows for any possible escape…but they were all double glazed. I was trapped.
“I don’t know what your on, but I don’t want to be like you” I stammered “I want to go”
Andrew smirked at me, the way he would smirk when mocking people
“Well im afraid you don’t have a choice about that, I want to make more vamps, and your not gonna stop me. Now I could say this wont hurt for long…but I’d be lying. Its gonna hurt like ****…but trust me Serene, it will be worth it!”
And with that he grabbed me, I tried to escape but he was strangely strong. When Andrew bit me, it was the most intense pain I had ever experienced. And that was the end of my life. For even though I still existed, my normal life was over.

[Lollipop_Girl]

Another thing I never understood when watching vampires on television, is why they always assume that being sired is such a quick process. When in fact Andrew was right, it did hurt like ****, and it lasted about two days before the transformation to complete. I can remember lying there, and feeling my body shut down. I would watch my skin turn blue, it started at my neck, but soon my reflection began to fade and I lost track. Before I knew it I was a completely different colour.
My parents eventually came to terms with it, although it was quite hard for them to get used to having a vampire daughter. They decided we should move house, as the neighbors would probably notice something, and they set up my room to ensure I could be safe from sunlight. It was very lonely sitting up alone every night, at first I searched for Andrew with my heart set on revenge. As I sat outside my home each night keeping watch, I deeply longed to make him suffer…suffer as much as he had made me. But Andrew had seemed to have vanished again.
Since I became a vampire, I hadn’t been very popular. People would run away from me in fear. Yet one night, I met someone who didn’t run for her life, although I sometimes wished she did.


 I saw the girl walk past my house; she was dressed from head to toe in black…your typical Goth. I was prepared to see her flee as most people did, as I am supposed to be a creature of evil. But this girl wasn’t smart enough to realize what I was. The goth girl saw me watching her, and she switched into lairy mode.
“Oh what the **** are you staring at? You people are so prejudice to my kind!”
This was quite strange; the girl looked pretty human to me. I replied to her.
“I’m sorry…what?”
“Oh you mortals know nothing about us. Vampires! That’s why your staring at me isn’t it! Because I’m different! Well my kind our beautiful beings, creatures of the night…I don’t care what you think”
As I tried to stifle my laugh, I realized I had seen this girl before. Her name was Martha Peel and she was in the year below me at high school. Martha was known for having a bizarre obsession with vampires, but now I know how little she really knows about being undead.
“WHATS FUNNY!!!”
I knew I shouldn’t deliberately try and scare people, but I had to show the wanabe vamp what we really are.
“Hey didn’t we go to the same school?”
“I don’t go to school, im a vampire…..well ok I do, but…uh”
“You want to see real vampire stuff?”


Turning into a bat, its an old vampire trick and its pretty simple to do. Most of the vampire myths are pretty wrong, we cant fly, we don’t fear crucifixes and im not scared of garlic (unless someone has eaten too much of it…and then its always scary). But I can transform…and this was a fun opportunity to show off. Martha’s jaw dropped, as I circled round her a few times before turning back into my proper form.
“Your clearly not a vampire” I smiled “So don’t try that special being stuff with me!”
It felt good to stand up for myself for once. But this was a big mistake. Because of now, I would never be able to get rid of Martha Peel.


Martha stopped me; this didn’t have the effect that I’d hoped.
“Oh my god! That was incredible! A real creature of the night! All my life I have been searching for someone to bring me into the world of the night! I offer myself to you oh brilliant creature. I wish to become like you!”
She scared me a bit, no wait she scared me a lot. I didn’t particularly want her to sacrifice herself to me. This girl had obviously got some weird problems.
“World of the night? What the **** are you on about? But if you want me to sire you can think again! I don’t want to bite you!”
Martha looked disappointed. She carried on begging me and I carried on refusing. The idea of draining blood from a human has always seemed rather macabre to me…isn’t it practically cannibalism?
I told her my final answer and walked inside to escape Martha, she was pretty damn persistent. And that was how I successfully gained a stalker.


Martha waited for a moment in hope that I would return and agree to turn her, but when she realized I wasn’t coming back she returned to her home. It was fairly late now and her parents had been waiting for her. Martha, despite her deep longing to be a vampire, lived in a strictly Christian house. Because of this she hid her real feelings, as Prudence Peel would not have any daughter of hers mixing with the ‘demons’.
Martha found her mother waiting for her at the door.
“Martha! What on earth are you doing out at this time? You know it is not safe to be wondering the streets at this time!”
Martha rolled her eyes, you’d think Prudence was talking about murderers or something, but she was talking about workers of Satan. Prudence was a religious fanatic and ever since she heard that judgment day was apparently to take place in the year 2006 she had been determined to keep her family away from any incarnation of the devil….by this I think she means vampires.
“Oh don’t you roll your eyes at me…this is the devils year…you have no idea how many minions of Satan are walking this earth as we speak!”
“Ooook mum whatever”


Prudence was not finished. “Right that’s it, im getting the bible…maybe the lord’s book can make you see sense!”
She frantically ran across to the bookshelf and picked out one of her editions of the bible, her husband Isaac stared at her “Honey is this really necessary!” he called to her, but she would never listen to anyone. Prudence flicked through the bible muttering about how it is all written clearly here.
“Revelations 21: The Sea gave up the dead that were in it and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what he had done”
“Mother! This has nothing to do with devils workers or anything”
Prudence slammed the book shut and stared at her daughter with wild eyes. It was not uncommon for her to fly into these frenzied tempers when the bible was involved. Although it was obvious the bible was just an excuse for her to preach, her mind was pretty deluded with false visions of demons.
“What it says, is that we shall all be judged by our actions. Satan’s workers must be here, I can see what they are doing to you…don’t think I haven’t noticed how you lean to the dark side Martha! Well this is it; I am not letting any evil corrupt my family if it means I must destroy them myself! These are dark times Martha…and me must stay pure and untouched by evil at all costs”

Mrs Prudence Peel may not be in a right state of mind, yet the demons she spoke of certainly did exist….and she was determined to make us go away.

[Lollipop_Girl]

If you remember what I said before, being alone is probably the worst part of being a vampire. As I adjusted to a new sleep pattern and never seeing daylight, I began to miss the life I had to leave behind. While most teens get to go out to parties with friends I get to linger round dark streets by myself. Martha would occasionally show up….well regularly show up. But all she ever did was remind me of what a freak of nature I am! And let’s not forget that she scares the **** out of me! One night as I woke up, I actually found her waiting my coffin!
“Martha!!! What the **** are you doing here! Why cant people just stay out of my room!”
“Serene, you so have to make me a vampire….I practically am a vampire, but without fangs! It’s so cruel living a false life as a human!”
“Right and you think creeping into my room and scaring me is gonna make me want you to live forever? Stop talking like an idiot and get out!”
Martha was driving me crazy. I really needed some company. If only I could find another vampire a real one who understands what its really like. But I had no idea where I could find another like me (except for Andrew, I didn’t want to see him!). But one thing was for sure is that I wasn’t going to find one in my room, so I decided to show Martha out and take a trip to the graveyard.


Its such a cliché, isn’t it? Vampires lingering around graves and crypts like we don’t have anything better to do. But back then I was new to it all and I thought I was more likely to find other vamps here than at the bowling ally or something. Gothier Greens was the only graveyard in the area, a big memorial park dedicated to the old Tricoui family. Being alone amongst all these dead people wasn’t exactly my idea of a good time, but at this stage even a vampire pigeon would have meant something to me.
My search was unsuccessful, yet not a complete waste of time. For although I didn’t find any vampires, I did find Victor.


As I mentioned earlier, Victor was the boy who used to sit next to me at school. I never knew much about him as he always seemed so quiet, and any time we ever spoke at Strangetown State School it was usually mindless polite conversation. Although I didn’t know him that well, Victor always struck me as a nice person, that’s why I didn’t like it when Andrew would pick on him. Not wanting to startle him, I tried to sneak past. But he noticed me before I could slip away.
“Hey…Serene? Is that you?”
Well he didn’t seem to notice that I looked different. I thought I may as well be polite.
“Hey Victor, haven’t seen you for a while, how are you?”
“I’m ok” Victor looked at me “Oh so you’re a vampire? Is that why you left school?”
This was the most casual reaction I had ever seen to me being a vamp, I was quite surprised.
“Yeah? Wow that wasn’t the reaction I expected”
“Oh I’ve seen a vampire before, ages ago”
It was nice to have a normal conversation with someone other than my parents.


Suddenly a thought crossed my mind, what was a teenage boy doing hanging round a graveyard alone at this time of night? Victor turned round to face a grave, I looked to see what was written on the headstone.
‘In loving memory of Larissa Anderson, beloved wife and mother’
Victors last name is Anderson, so I assumed he was here visiting this grave.
“Is that..?”
”My mother, yeah she died a couple of years ago”
“Oh im so sorry”
He sighed and turned away from the grave. I fortunately have no idea what its like to lose a parent, but I would assume it must be painful. Victor told me how he comes here a lot, mainly to get away from his dad.
“Basically, dad likes me to make myself scarce when he has girls over…which is a lot. So I come here a lot…it’s better than listening to dad hit on the maid through my room. He seems to think that his girlfriends will be put off if im around.”
I thought that was quite harsh, poor Victor actually preferred being in a spooky graveyard to home, he obviously wasn’t telling me everything and I didn’t expect him to. But I did suddenly feel more grateful for my own normal family.


We carried on our conversation on a nearby bench, seeing as we both had nothing better to do with our time; I guess we were both as sad as each other. We began to talk about high school, I wanted to know what I’d missed and Victor was interested in how I became a vampire.
“So basically. it was Andrew, he showed up at my detention and bit me. Well not before making some dramatic speech about higher beings and stuff!”
Victor looked horrified “Andrews a vampire? You mean he is never going to die? Ever? Damn now that really sucks!”
It was quite funny, I was beginning to forget little things about school such as how much Victor hated Andrew. But Victor was actually right about him, he is a ****.
“So have I missed anything? Since I left?”
“Well not much, it was cool without Andrew but after you left I’ve had to sit with Gav the chav and I swear if I have to listen to one more of his stupid ring tones im going to kill him! People wondered where you and Andrew went but it’s kinda died down now.”
So maybe I didn’t find another vampire, but I still found someone to talk to. And after I said goodbye to Victor I went home feeling a little better about everything.


Unfortunately for Victor, when he gets home he generally gets to feel worse. He unlocked the door and checked that the coast was here. It was ok; his dad Herman didn’t have a date. But despite this, Herman was still annoyed.
“What time do you call this?”
”Its only 10:15”
“Yes, I said don’t come home before 11:00 you could have ruined everything”
There was no pleasing Herman, ever since his mother died (suspiciously), Victor has been treading on eggshells around his father. He missed his mother a lot, but Herman seemed to get over his wife’s death very quickly. In fact it became his pickup line, then it got worse.
“Dad this really isn’t fair, why do you have to tell your dates im dead too?”
“Victor do you really think girls are interested in a man who has a miserable looking teenage son around? No I think the poor widower who tragically lost his son too has a better ring to it.”
Victor never tried to stand up to Herman, because if he did he would have nowhere to go. But he often wondered how he could be so mean, all of Victors life he had been so cruel and he still gets worse.
I didn’t know it then, but Herman was trouble, and Herman Anderson’s unusual meanness would affect me too.

[Lollipop_Girl]

It was Saturday night, and Herman Anderson stood there preening himself in front of the mirror. Tonight was big date night, and he needed to look his best.  Herman had been dating Aiyana the maid for about a month now, and he had invited her over for a romantic evening. He told Victor to go somewhere, anywhere as long as he didn’t come home till past one o clock in the morning. Victor has to go, otherwise he’ll blow the whole sob story Herman uses to pick up chicks. That boy is just way too much like his mother.
Herman was rather enjoying being a bachelor, and he felt such a special connection with Aiyana. So tonight he had something special planned for his new girlfriend…something she defiantly wouldn’t expect.
Herman slicked his black hair back making sure every strand was prefect, he slapped on some cologne and looked at his reflection…and saw it was good. After hearing Victor shut the door behind him on his way out, he smiled to himself.
“Showtime”


Since our meeting in the graveyard, I had grown rather fond of Victor. He was out most nights, which was convenient for me, and hanging out with him beated skulking by my street hands down. I would often joke that he was like little vampire follower, he would say that’s ok as long as he doesn’t have to eat bugs like in movies. Victor and me had something in common…..we both had pretty messed up lives, but with each others company it was ok, I felt bad that I didn’t get to know him better while I were at school. Eventually we both grew tired of lingering around in the graveyard, people were beginning to look at us funny…as if we were grave robbers or something! So tonight we decided to go and hang out somewhere less strange but just as appropriate for me….Crypt’O night club!
Oh…and Martha tagged along too. At least I was growing more tolerant of her pestering


Hmmm teen drinking is very bad, haha but who hasn’t done it?  Victor, Martha and I sat at a table at the back and slyly ordered drinks, not turning round in case someone recognized that we were underage! I looked around the club, the decor was dark and gothic, it was filled with freaks. The place seemed to have a ‘Wee Loooove Vampires’ theme going on, so it was safe to say I wouldn’t stand out amongst these people. Victor seemed rather on edge that night, I wasn’t sure why as then I didn’t know anything about Herman Anderson. Martha seemed very exited, apparently because we were meeting on social terms, we were ‘connecting’ which she seemed to think would increase her chances at me changing my mind about the whole siring thing, while I still had my mind made up on the matter. I decided if she was going to be like this all night I should make my drink a double.


As the night went on, I was close to hitting Martha. But I was distracted from her when Victor started coming up with strange things…things he had never spoke of before.
“Well you know what, its nice here….pretending to be dead”
Martha and I looked at him puzzled as he took another long swig from his drink, what was that supposed to mean? Victor was normally quite reserved over some aspects of his life, I looked and saw he had many empty glasses.
“Victor are you drunk?”
“What? Nooooooooo of course not! Don’t be silly Serene……you know that a pretty name!”
He paused for a second.
“Ok maybe I am…you don’t know what’s its like with him! Ohhh go out Victor, cant let the girls see you. You’re meant to be dead, like your mother! Don’t come home till late…don’t care what you do just stay out!”
I felt great pity for him, I had no idea Herman was that mean! I guess I can understand why he was drinking himself silly. But I thought we should leave before Victor reveals all his deep dark secrets that he would probably regret in the morning.


Martha and I left Victor at home as he’d seemed to have sobered up a bit. Victor slowly opened his front door, careful not to let anyone see him. He glanced round the room, and was surprised to see no one there! Herman had made out that tonight was really important, but the room was completely empty and all the lights were off. He was quite relived; he could sneak back to his room without any lecturing from his dad. But as he walked past the bathroom something caught his eye.
“What the **** is that?” he thought to himself. Curiosity got the better of him and he began making his way to the bathroom not quite knowing what he would find there


And as he swung the door open, Victor was horrified by what he saw. A woman, who he could recognize as Aiyana the maid, lay out on the floor, completely soaked in blood. Victor looked; she had several stab wounds in her stomach and the bathroom tiles were stained a sickening red. She was most defiantly dead. Herman was nowhere to be seen. And that was when Victor began to suspect something, which made his blood run cold!

[Lollipop_Girl]

Victor ran out the room slamming the door behind him. He just could not believe this gruesome discovery. He had always known there was something not quite right about his dad, but this was more than he had possibly imagined. The image of what he had just seen lingered in his mind, how brutal it all looked. Victor pressed his head in his hands in panic. What does he do? Suddenly, another thought crossed his mind…where exactly is Herman? Victor didn’t like being in that house alone with the body, it gave him the creeps. He knew that unless he wanted to face very severe questioning from the police, he needed to find help, and quick! Victor began to head for the door, petrified of funning into his murderous father….and speak of the devil….


Herman appeared from the master bedroom and Victor stopped in his tracks, turned round worried what his father was going to do. But strangely enough, Herman seemed rather calm. Victor began to wonder if he knew he had seen Aiyana’s body. Herman addressed his son coolly.
“I see your home early. You know we spoke about this Victor”
“Yes sorry. I just got in. I swear!”
But Herman didn’t seem angry, he seemed perfectly normal, his attitude was almost psychopathic. He didn’t mention anything about the body; neither did Victor who was still desperately searching for an escape. Then, for some bizarre reason, he began ask questions about me.
“So, I see you are becoming rather popular…what is your friends name? The girl you see”
Victor was very puzzled by this, but didn’t want to question Herman at this time “Oh…Serene”
“Yes that’s it; she’s the undead girl isn’t she?”
“Yes. Why?”
“Never mind”
Herman smiled to himself and turned away briefly. Victor saw this as his chance to escape and made a break for the door; he slipped outside and ran as fast as he could. He needed to get out of there and find help!


Meanwhile, I was at home, unaware of all the drama that was taking place at the Anderson household. My stupid brother Mervin was being a jerk as usual…
“Mervin! Can you please stop letting your friends in my room when I’m trying to sleep!”
“Aww but its so fun! You’re like a circus freak or something!”
“I mean it! Don’t make me angry or I’ll bite you! Cranky vamps are dangerous!”
This was an idle threat; I still found the whole concept of drinking human blood disgusting. But Mervin didn’t know that so it was a useful way of scaring him! So far I had successfully been able to keep away from human blood. But however it was beginning to be a problem. You see it’s in a vamps nature to drink blood, it’s what we are supposed to do…and the more I denied myself it the more I craved it, and however sick the concept is I couldn’t stop my vampire nature desiring to take control. Well if I ever do decide to bite anyone, I’ll pick Mervin first!
“Dad! Serene’s threatening to bite me again!”
I started moving towards him to freak him out a bit more!
“Dad! She’s still doing it, make her stop its creepy!”
My father coolly glanced away from the computer, the doorbell rung downstairs.
“Serene leave your brother alone and get the door will you?”
I casually flew downstairs (love that trick!) to answer the door. And im sure you can guess who was there.


I didn’t expect to see Victor; he stood at the door and appeared to be in a terrible state. I wondered what was wrong; he seemed ok when I last saw him outside his house.
“Victor? What are you doing here? Are you still drunk?”
He glanced at me, with a look of panic in his eyes. “I need help! It’s really important!”
I invited him inside, curious to hear what important event brought him here. My parents came downstairs to see what was happening.
“I need help….I went home, no-one was there…but the maid, she’s, been killed! I saw it! I think it was my dad”
Victor became aware that my parents were watching, “Im so sorry to bother you, I-I didn’t know what to do, my dad was there I couldn’t use our phone, oh god!”
His speech became more broken and erratic, he was clearly distressed. Well Herman Anderson sounded like a nasty piece of work, but a murderer? That was something I wasn’t expecting. I attempted to calm him down.
“Here don’t worry, we can help. But you know the police will want to speak to you too.”
Victor sighed and nodded, my parents said they would go and report it, and I was to stay at home to make sure Victor was ok. The scary thing is, when Victor began to describe the scene, all I could think about was the blood, the fresh blood. I thought about making a quick stop at the place, just to see…
“Agh what am I thinking! Im going to stay here with my friend who needs me…and stop thinking about blood its sickening!”


After I shooed away a very curious Mervin who was desperate to try and get gory details from Victor (he’s no vampire, what his excuse?) I sat down with Victor on the sofa and attempted to comfort him. It must have been horrific for him and sometimes good company can help you through a trauma.
“You know” Victor began “I shouldn’t really be so freaked by this”
That was a strange remark; then again Victor does come up with strange stuff. I allowed him to continue.
“When my mum died, I saw her too. She was, drowned in the bath. I didn’t understand why, dad said it was suicide, but now im starting to think it wasn’t. But you see, why am I so freaked? I-I’ve seen bodies before. Why am I bothering you? ”
It’s funny how you can sit next to someone at school for so long and not know a thing about them I had no idea of the horrors he was living with until now.
“Victor im so sorry! Of course you’re freaked! If you went I’d think you were strange, look you stay here everything will be ok. I promise you are not bothering me or my family at all!”
Victor smiled sadly “Thank you” he said quietly.
There was no way I was going to let my only true friend be alone at a time like this, he had helped me get though a tough time and now I wanted to help him. As we waited for news, we were both unaware that we were not completely alone.


Herman Anderson waited outside my home, he had been foolish tonight. He should have ended his ‘special evening’ earlier, that boy never does what he’s told and he didn’t have enough time to clear up. Herman was getting tired of his son. He reminded him of Larissa way too much and that was annoying. Herman had let Victor slip out deliberately, because he knew where he was going to run.
“What a time Victor had to pick to make friends” Herman thought to himself, and isn’t it convenient that he has made friends with a vampire!
Herman knew he would be the first suspect, that’s why he needed a plan. And as he watched from outside he thought of a way he can kill too birds with one stone, free himself and get rid of his son who he had ‘put up with’ for too long now.
People don’t like vampires, they don’t trust them, and vampires are creatures of evil aren’t they? Don’t they hunt humans? What a perfect cover up, that I, the evil vampire and my deluded follower had murdered the poor maid.
And lets not forget the other person who was with us earlier that night. Martha Peel. And everyone knows that her mother Prudence would be horrified to hear of her daughter fraternising with evil. With some clever persuasion and a few twists to the tale, Mrs Peel’s hatred for the devil could become very helpful.  

[Lollipop_Girl]

After that eventful night, Herman had seemingly disappeared. The police spoke to Victor, but he was soon let of easily because Martha and I were witnesses to prove his innocence. I had no doubt in my mind that Mr Anderson was behind all this, but what puzzled me is why? What is his motive? Even Victor had no idea what would drive him to do this. Victor stayed at my place for a few days as his home was still taped up as a crime scene. I was sad to see him so alone; Herman didn’t seem to care what happened to him. But I knew what upset him the most was the growing suspicion that Herman had lied to him over the reason his mother died.
Meanwhile I was struggling with my own personal battle. The longing for blood. The slight craving had begun to grow and now I just couldn’t stop thinking of it. And I felt so bad; I should be focused on helping my friend get through this tough time. I cursed Andrew once more for doing this to me, for making me into this sickening parasite. By then, I had given up hope of revenge. But that didn’t stop me killing him in my thoughts over and over again.


The news of the murder had spread quickly across Strangetown. Soon everyone in the neighbourhood was talking about it, not many scandals happen in this quiet town. Some enjoy the gossip, but Mrs Prudence Peel was not pleased to hear this news. It wasn’t the fact that she cared much about Aiyana Dallas or knew the Andersons very well, it was because as far as she was concerned, this was work of the devil and it was far to close to home for her liking. Most people thought she was just a bit mad, but if it says so in the revelations chapter (whatever obscure code it may be shown in) then it can only be true! Humans should not question anything written in the bible.
Prudence sat at home that evening, flicking though her precious bible; she did this strictly every day. During these dark times only the lords book can protect you (well that’s her belief) Just as she was at revelations (Oh that’s the best bit! ****, fire, and damnation galore. In fact she had become obsessed with that section) Prudence was interrupted by a knock on the door.
“Who would be calling at this ungodly hour?” she thought to herself, carefully placing the beloved bible down. She hesitated opening the door, the demons are everywhere now, but sometimes you have to take that chance.


Herman stood outside, waiting for Mrs Peel to answer the door. This crazy lady shouldn’t be hard to sway. He had a little speech prepared, and Herman had a knack for persuasion, like a natural gift. As Prudence answered, she was shocked to see this potential murderer had come to her.
“Mr Anderson? (Then to herself) My lord why are you sending demons to my home?”
“I am sorry to disturb you Mrs Peel, I have something important I wish to discuss with you.”
“I shall not invite any minion of Satan into my home!”
“Dear Mrs Peel I think you are mistaken, I am only here to inform you on your daughter’s whereabouts. It seems she is the one fraternising with demons, not I”
Prudence paused after these words. He had her attention. Martha had been disappearing off strangely a lot.
“My daughter? What about my daughter?”
Herman put on a straight face; he appeared deadly serious despite finding Prudence ridiculous. He continued..
“Have you not heard the rumours of vampires…I mean demons in our town? This is a very serious matter, may I please come in?”
Prudence was reluctant to let this man into her home while her husband and daughter were both out, but if what he says is true, then surely the lord sent him here for a purpose. To Prudence, her family is everything, so perhaps he is a messenger to save her daughters soul.


Prudence allowed Herman in, they sat down. She didn’t completely trust this man, but the news he brought was very important. Herman began his prepared speech
“Oh these are such terrible times, I’m sure you’d agree. I needed to talk to you; you are the only other person who would believe me when I say there are demons amongst us.”
“You have seen these demons?”
“Yes, briefly. The reason I need to take action, is because of my son. It appears he has been seduced by this darkness, a demon has befriended him. I do love my son dearly, but I fear his soul is now far too corrupt to be saved. You have heard the stories about poor Aiyana haven’t you?”
Prudence nodded, what a strange man! What is his point in this?
“You see Mrs Peel, I know it is too late to save my son, I think this thing has persuaded Victor to sacrifice poor Aiyana, or at least assist her in this sickening crime, and there is no repentance for that. But I am now aware that your daughter Martha has also met this devilish girl. I would hate to see another young person suffer the same fate.”
Herman sunk his head, appearing full of sorrow. Prudence’s heart went out to this poor man. So this is the explanation for the murder, she was right!
“I have been hiding from the police, to protect my Victor.Unfortunatly I don’t think they will believe me if I try to explain.Thats is why I need your assistance, to put a stop to these evil doings, and maybe Martha can be saved from Serene Raiden”
Serene Raiden? Where had she heard that name before? Then suddenly Prudence remembered. A girl from Martha’s school! Evil is reaching out and has its sights fixed on the youths. Something must be done!
“Of course…Thank you so much for your warning. May god be with you”
Herman thanked Prudence for her time and left, smirking. What an idiot! Isn’t it funny what a bit of sucking up can do?



While all this was going on, I had been waiting outside. Victor was asleep, and I was rather bored. Well thankfully I did not hear of the conversation between Herman and Prudence, my mood was rather dark that night. You know in a way, Prudence was right. I was slowly turning more demonic every day. I was growing weak from lack of blood, I was being deprived from my kind’s lifesourse and it was not doing me any good. But the poor woman has no idea what she’s gotten herself into, I am far less evil than her new friend Herman. If I remember Prudence’s favourite quotation correctly, it was…
“Revelations 21: But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars-their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulphur.”
Magic arts. I wonder if transforming into a bat counts? If only she knew what a sinner she was agreeing to help. Because if anyone is close to ****, it’s him! If I am correct, Herman fits into almost all of these crimes. Why couldn’t she see that I don’t actually want anything to do with dark arts!


But then, I can’t say that all vampires are mere victims of circumstance. Some of us are just complete freaks who totally enjoy preying on humans! One person springs to mind in particular…..Andrew of course! That night I thought of him a lot, I thought of him stalking the backstreets, probably drunk and biting random chicks the same way he did to me with rehearsed lines and force. Perhaps I’m psychic; perhaps it was a scary coincidence. But that night, I had a surprise reunion with my maker.
“Andrew? What are you doing here! ”
Andrew smiled, and looked at me. He was still exactly the same as I had last seen him. He replied.
“Nice to see you too Serene, we need to catch up”

[Lollipop_Girl]

I just couldn’t believe it, Andrew, who I had spent many searching for, had finally returned. I hated him so much; he was the worst person ever to enter my life (then) and he just had to come back while I was at a weak point. That’s typical of Andrew, shows up when you least expect him. I glared at his stupid jerk face.
“What are you doing here?”
“Well that’s nice! Don’t I get a proper welcome back?”
At this point I was almost willing to let my vampire side loose hand slash him to pieces, yet I was curious to hear what stupid excuse he had for being here.
“You didn’t answer my question, what are you doing here, and you better have a good reason!”
Andrew smirked at me in his typical mocking way that now made me want to hit him!
“I wanted to see you of course! You’re my favourite creation! Wow and don’t you look great as a vamp, it’s a shame I couldn’t stick around to see you before, I had places to be.”
“What the **** are you on about? I am not ‘your’ creation! I hate you! You ruined my life! Now this is a really lame reason to come and bother me again!”
He shrugged.
“Well I think you need me to bother you, something isn’t right here. From what I’m hearing you seriously need guidance Serene! Is it true you don’t bite people?”
I replied, telling him that it is indeed true because I’m not a sick weirdo who eats my own species. But Andrew would have none of that; he had some plans for me that evening.


How Andrew persuaded me to come with him is still a mystery to me. He told me that I needed to see what life as a vampire should be like. Apparently my behaviour is unhealthy (so cannibalism is healthy?) and he wanted to “show me the light”. That’s a rather stupid expression to use when describing vampire life.
We arrived at some strange place after following a few strange back roads I never knew existed. It was eerily dark and isolated, and the atmosphere gave me the creeps.
“Ok what are we doing here?”
“This…is my favourite…uh restaurant, if you get what I mean.” He smiled yet again “filled with vampbait”
Vampbait, according to Andrew, is a word to describe people like Martha. Creepy people who are obsessed with vampires…just asking to be bitten. He says they are great when you’re not in the mood to chase your victims. I found the whole idea horrible.
“I am not looking to bite anyone!”
“Ok...Whatever Serene, just come inside and see how you feel, perhaps it’s not too late to save you”


Normally, I would have thought Crypt’O club was a freaky hangout, but this place made it look almost normal! The walls were…bloodstained? The people looked more vampire like than both me and Andrew put together and the whole place was dimly lit by. The overall effect was very stereotypically vampirish.We both stuck out like sore thumbs, but that didn’t bother Andrew. He made his way through as if he was completely at home. People didn’t really react to us, I was curious why.
“Andrew, if these people love vamps so much how come they don’t notice us?”
“These people wouldn’t know a real vamp if it danced around in front of them; they think we wear capes and stuff…stupid people! But its cool, means we don’t get rushed.”
Suddenly he disappeared; I looked around and saw him speeding off with some random girl, he waved at me before taking her into a back room….what a creep! He is exactly how I imagined in his vampire ways. I felt lost in this room. I knew I didn’t belong amongst these people. To make things even scarier I was bothered by some creepy guy, who looked about thirty-odd ears old.
“You’re a pretty young thing aren’t you? Are you new here blondie? I’ll be your friend…let’s say we go get to know each other a little better…”
“No. no I do not want to get you better! I want to get outta here!”


Andrew suddenly appeared beside me again, and I was almost relived to see him. He addressed the creepy man.
“Hey Crazy-Bob, stop perving! I need to show Serene something.”
I was worried, the girl he was with had disappeared. I had my suspicions on what had happened to her.
“Andrew I don’t trust you! I want to go!”
“Well im not going yet, you don’t know the way home. So you can either come with me or stay and make friends with Bob!”
Ok Bob scared me; so I decided to take my chances with Andrew. He led me into a backroom. It was dark and dingy, and slumped on the floor was the corpse of the girl Andrew was with earlier, just as I’d thought. There was blood on the floor.
“Andrew this is sick! Was all the carnage necessary! I want to go! Now! “
“Yeah it was! But hold on, you’re not leaving the room? Nobody is stopping you! It’s a gross dead body…why aren’t you scared?”
I couldn’t even answer this question myself. What he had just done to this poor girl was horrific, and before, I would have run like ****. But I couldn’t leave! Something about it had me paralysed, I couldn’t just walk away. Andrew expected this.
“It’s the blood isn’t it? You want the blood! And so you should Serene, it’s the same for us all. You are doing yourself no favours by starving. Just think of it as like eating…meat or something.”
“I-I-I don’t care! This is my own species! I can’t do it! Im no killer!”
And with all the willpower I could scrape together, I forced my way out of the room, I didn’t know the way home, but I’d rather risk it out there than stay here. Andrew watched me go and sniggered.
“Fine, suit yourself, it’s never gonna go away!”


“I told you…..she is a demon”
Herman and Prudence watched me leave hurriedly. “It’s disgusting creatures like her are allowed to roam the earth.”
Prudence was shocked; she had never been face to face with her so called “Demons” before.
“Heavens above! This is worse than I thought! Oh good lord how can the works of evil be devouring us so quickly? Is there no hope!”
Herman sighed. “The police will never believe this, most of these are just followers, the demons are too few, in fact a lot of people still don’t believe in them! Im afraid there is only one way to get rid of her and it’s a bit extreme. But it is for the greater good. Will you help me?”
Prudence nodded, still in shock. Whatever it takes, something must be done. Herman’s plan was simple. Serene is obviously troubled by something, Herman has a basic knowledge of vampires, and if she isn’t drinking blood then the poor girl is going to suffer from it. She will be easy to mess with; and she can be made to look so suspicious. He just has to be careful with it.

Times like these, it pays off to have a stalker. She had followed me and Andrew to the club and wondered what her mother was doing in a place like this, with another man! Surely not cheating? Martha just had to find out. I was fortunate for this, as she was to be a dangerous flaw in Herman’s perfect plan.

[Lollipop_Girl]

It wasn’t too late, so although I was completely lost, I had enough time to find my way before sunrise. I felt disgusted with myself, how drawn to the blood I was. I had always promised myself I would never stoop that low but tonight I was so tempted, the blood was everywhere. But I was away from the club now, which was some relief to me. Although, Andrew’s last words still haunted me, will this never go away? Or am I doomed to suffer from these macabre cravings until I either give in, perish, or become completely insane!
I hurried; the cold was beginning to get to me, as it’s not really the ideal weather to be out in a strappy red dress. All I wanted to do was go home and hide in my stupid coffin, away from everyone. Perhaps that is the best thing I can do, for I was beginning to fear that I would gradually turn into a threat towards my friends and family. These thoughts made me despair, and made me want to see Andrew suffer a terrible fate to punish him for his brutality. When I found I was on the Road to Nowhere (I mean literally, it’s the name of the road) I felt some relief. But everything made me so tired, and so weak. How long could I go on like this?


When I finally arrived home, I flew straight upstairs to my room, although I knew my family would probably be asleep, I didn’t want to bump into anyone, I just wanted to be alone. Being in such close contact with all that blood had shaken me up big-time, I felt like a drug addict with severe withdrawal symptoms who had just turned away from their precious drug offered to them on a plate. My hands were shaky and I felt very faint. Now, everything I looked at reminded me of blood, my red walls, my red dress, even my sleeping family and friend. Who lay there feeling as safe as they didn’t know what I was being driven to.
I closed my eyes in an attempt to sleep, but the craving kept me from resting. I felt my cold forehead, no sweat. But I felt like I was developing a fever. This was almost as bad as the process of becoming a vampire, except this went on for much longer. I soon gave up on any hopes I had of sleeping. What could I do, I am no killer, and I defiantly don’t want to inflict anyone else with my curse either.. Soon, I heard a knock on my coffin lid, I thought at first it was me hallucinating or something, until I heard Victor whisper my name.


“Serene? Are you awake?”
I grunted a reply and feebly opened my coffin lid. What did he want?
“You disappeared tonight and you haven’t been yourself, is everything ok?”
“What-Yeah” I replied, pathetically,”Never better”  
I am quite sure Victor saw through that, he isn’t stupid. It was sweet of him to be concerned, but he didn’t realise that now was just not a good time to try to socialise with me. Because as I said, everything reminded me of blood. Especially the scratch across Victor’s hand.
“What happened?” I asked glancing at the mark.
“Oh it’s nothing, just an accident with a knife.”
At this point in time I didn’t really care how it happened, as the question I really wanted to ask, was did it bleed a lot? Something took over me for a few seconds; I am not sure how it happened. But it scared me. I looked at Victor as if he was Martha, complete vampbait. Victor seemed a bit unnerved by this.
“What are you doing?” he blurted out as I advanced towards him, looking like I was mad. He was just right there in front of me, almost asking to be bitten, it could be so easy to make this all stop! I didn’t speak, till I snapped out of this trance.
“Victor. Go! Now! Something is wrong, it’s really better if I’m not around people!” I snapped.  I am quite sure that was the first time I had ever had bad words to say to him.
“What! What did I do? You’re the one acting crazy!”
“Look I’m sorry, I don’t mean to snap, something is really wrong…blood…its all I think about, I need to be alone, please! I really don’t want to bite you!”
Before he could reply I slammed myself back in my coffin and pressed my head in my hands. These nights are going to be long.


Victor didn’t quite know what to think of my strange behaviour, he had never seen me like that. Nobody had. I had been managing quite well to hide this side of me up until now. He felt pity towards me, but didn’t completely understand what I meant, until he realised there was another in the room.
“Huh! What are you doing here?”
Victor saw Andrew by the doorway; he was not too pleased to be reunited with his old classmate.
“I’m staying here, what are you doing? Don’t you need to be invited in or something”
“Well the wallet by the window looked pretty inviting, but if you mean did I need to be invited in? That’s an old vampire myth. And also I wanted to see how dear Serene was doing? After freaking out earlier”
Well that explained my disappearance, but Victor was confused, he knew I hated Andrew so why was I with him? Something really was wrong.
“What was she doing with you! She hates you!”
“Oh yeah I know, but the stupid girl is killing herself. Vampires need blood but she won’t listen. She just freaks out when it’s offered straight to her! I don’t get Serene, but…hang on why am I wasting my time telling you?”
 He peered over my coffin, “Stupid stupid girl” he sneered “Lets see how long you last without my help”, and with that, he flew out of the room. I heard Victor leave soon after, and then broke down into tears. I began to wonder if there would be anything left of my human side soon.


After seeing the horrors at the goth club, Prudence saw how the devil was reaching out its evil claws towards the youth society.  These teenagers dressed and acted a lot like her own Martha, so she felt some immediate action would be needed in order to save the souls of the young before the dreaded judgement day.
So Mrs Peel decided to take this message directly to the youth, and organised a talk at Strangetown State School. The teacher introduced Prudence, and Martha hid at the back of the class, completely embarrassed.
“Now! How many of you read the revelations section of the bible regularly?”
She waited, no hands rose, even the Christian students were a bit worried.
“Well that says something doesn’t it! If you actually did, you would know of the dangers your generation faces. There is a secret code written in our lord’s book, and it says that judgement day is sooner than you think! And you are all going to ****!”
“Mum please. This is so embarrassing!”
“Well Martha, you’re a prime example of the devil’s work, you dress like a Satan worshipper, and I have seen many other youths dress the same, gathering in dark unearthly places listening to devils music and following the demons. The demons are corrupting you all! And the only way to save your souls from the fiery rivers I to repent your sins and turn away from this satanic behaviour at once! I wish to warn you all before your souls are damned for eternity! You will all be judged soon!”
The teacher had to interrupt “Mrs Peel I think that’s enough now”
Prudence turned sharply to the teacher “I see, it is not just the youth under influence. I hope my message has sunk in”
She stormed out of the classroom with a look of fury and possibly madness in her eyes; there was no doubt that Prudence was no ordinary bible follower. Poor Martha, she had gone completely red. But she had an important matter to discuss with Victor, and now was her chance.


“Victor!” she called to him before he could leave for break, “Can I talk to you?”
He stopped and turned around.
“I need to talk to you. About your dad, and my mum…oh and before you ask, it’s not what you think!”
“Ok I’m listening”
Martha repeated to Victor what she had heard last night at the club, how Herman was planning to shift the blame onto him and Serene and how prudence was going to assist him. It was obvious to both of them that Herman was guilty of the crime.Victor, hearing his own father was prepared to frame him and a completley innocent girl Herman didnt even know, horrified him!
“You see! We must do something! Or the only creature of darkness I know will be gone forever! Oh how terrible I would never get to be a vampire! Oh yeah and you’d get arrested too. We need to tell Serene, are you still staying at hers?”
Victor remembered my behaviour last night, and what Andrew had said. Was this really a good time to give even more bad news to a vampire on the verge of insanity?
“Not yet, something is not right with her right now. I have no idea why you want to be undead so much, it’s really not cool, I’m worried about Serene, she saw Andrew again and I think he’s triggered something off in her. “
“That’s what Herman said! He said she’d be suffering and easy to mess with! We need to do something!”
Victor agreed, they couldn’t just let Herman get away with this. He felt no connection to his dad, Herman was never there for him and this was more than he could take from his dad. So if Herman is going to try and mess with them, they’d be ready for it. Herman is going down!

[Lollipop_Girl]

I spent the next few nights almost in complete solitude; horrified by my actions, I felt some consolation that in my coffin I was no burden to my friends and family. My parents did show concerns, but they couldn’t do anything to help me, they were pretty clueless to what I was going through. Mervin knew, but didn’t realise the seriousness.  Evil thoughts plagued my mind, every time I closed my eyes I would see the image of the poor girl Andrew had killed so savagely. One night Victor managed to persuade me to leave my lair, just to go out somewhere...Anywhere. He had nice intentions, but unfortunately it left an opportunity for Herman to cause us all more grief.
Herman was growing tired of his partner in crime. Tonight’s mission was to be carried out solo, besides the mad woman would probably be unable to handle what must be done. Herman grinned, he could not lie to himself, this was no chore, it was an enjoyable task. The only problem is that it was getting late; he needed to hurry up a bit if he wanted to add his special ‘finishing touches’ too add the right effect. He noticed a young woman dressed in slutty clothes stumble down the road, probably drunk and appearing to have just crawled out of a nightclub. She’d have to do.


When she got closer, Herman could tell she was particularly vulnerable. Perhaps even a little too easy? Well tonight he didn’t have time for games; it was straight for the kill. But a little sweetly polite talking would be necessary to persuade the drunk to come with him, without causing a scene.
“Excuse me miss, are you looking for a mini cab?”
The woman stopped, and replied in a drunken slur, “Yeaah thanks man! You’re well safe!” It was just too simple.
She opened the door and slumped into the passenger seat “Oh gawd I haad way too much to drink!”
Herman found this woman pretty repulsive; she had no class about her. He normally chose women with an air of grace or classiness about them. But now isn’t the time to be choosey, they all end up the same way in the end.
“So, where do I take you”
She told Herman the address, but of course he wasn’t listening, it was totally irrelevant. This woman just wouldn’t shut up, and her voice was irritating him, she didn’t have a sweet soft tone to her voice like Larissa did. Larissa is, and always would be his favourite. As Herman sped down the road to nowhere, the woman looked out the window, “Uh exusssee me! I think you’re goin the wrong way!”
 “Don’t worry, it’s just a shortcut.”


While all this was going on, Victor and I had hit the streets. I found it difficult to walk for too long, I had a sick dizzy feeling. But Victor seemed to want to talk to me about something, away from uber-rude nosey Mervin (Who was being a real jerk, he made me play resident evil with him on his games console and I actually got hungry! Ugh!). I felt so bad about how I was acting; Victor had been trying so hard to help. But I had the feeling there was something he wasn’t telling me, and as you know….there was.
Victor felt slightly nervous, he wasn’t too sure how to tell me that the two of us were being framed for murder. So he decided to lighten the mood by recounting Prudence’s interesting classroom speech.
“You are all evil! And going to ****! Demons! Demons! I am not kidding she was mad! For a moment I thought she was going to start throwing holy water at us!”
 “Oh my! How on earth did she have a daughter like Martha then?”
“I have no idea! So….isn’t it nice being out?”
“Not really” I replied feebly “What did you want to tell me?”
”Hmm where should we go? I’m guessing the graveyard isn’t a good place to hang out anymore! And….well anywhere we could run into Martha!”
I had been deliberately avoiding Martha (Well, putting more effort into it than usual). She was the biggest piece of vampbait I had come across, not only would biting her be savage, gorey and cannibalistic…..but Martha as a vampire! Truly a horrifying thought!
Tonight I was not at my worst. I was starting to feel ok (well as ok as I could) and began to think slightly optimistic thoughts for the first time in ages. It would be so nice to get over this, and at least be able to go back to how things were in my early days as a vampire. Perhaps facing the world would help me after all. But of course, just when you think there is hope, something little happens to put you down again. And as I saw two kids stare at me and run away, I was once again reminded of my nature.
“Look Victor, I am so sorry but I need to go, I-I just can’t get away with this anymore, vampires just can’t have normal lives!”


I turned to walk home again, Victor snagged my arm and I turned round.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
”You saw those kids run! You saw me go all evil the other night! Look at me! I am barely even looking human anymore! This world is not for vampires!”
“Ok so what are you going to do? Hide in your box forever? You have put up such a good fight against all this creepy vampire stuff; you just can’t give up like this!
His reaction was out of character, he was normally so placid.
 “But I can’t, I feel drained of all of my energy, everything that I am-that I was, is slipping away! So what is the point in trying? You have no idea what it is like to be deprived off…”
“So maybe I don’t get the whole blood craving thing, but I do know what its like to have a tough life! You are so lucky to have people who actually give a damn about you, you can’t just abandon them!”
I did not know what to say to that. I just stood there, I was no longer dizzy, in fact I hadn’t felt this normal for a few days. Victor was the first person to say anything, and he had woken me out of a daze. Although the needing for blood would not go away overnight, perhaps there is a way round this.
“I’m sorry Serene, I-“
”Don’t be, you’re right.”
“There has to be a way round this blood thing for you”
I just hoped that there was. Victor didn’t get a chance to tell me what he had planned to, but he knew that now is not really a good time.


I did not expect to see the door left wide open when we returned home.

Blood! Upstairs! I could tell as soon as I walked in the door. I didn’t know why there would be blood in my house, and I didn’t really care. I could sense it.
I ran upstairs, followed quickly by Victor. And there, just as my instincts had told me…was yet another murder victim.
The woman lay propped up against my parents’ bed; the sheets were covered in blood. Some serious butchering had taken place on there. It was a pretty shocking scene. But neither I nor Victor even flinched at al the bloodshed. But what we did notice is that this was defiantly for a purpose. You could clearly see the strange ‘demonic’ carvings on this woman’s body, some one…well no prizes for guessing who, had obviously put time and effort into this presentation. Victor was the first to speak.
“Damn it! He’s already started”
“Started? what?”
“I-was going to tell you earlier, Martha overheard her mum and my dad talking, basically dad has told her you’re a ‘demon’ and is trying to frame us for the murder.”
To someone with little experience around vampires, the scene was pretty convincing. This room looked like Andrew had been using it as a slaughterhouse.
“Then we are completely screwed, People don’t like vampires Victor! We are ‘Demons’ I am so sorry but there really is no hope!”
Nothing could be done, who would believe a crazed vampire suffering from withdrawal symptoms was innocent! Even if under the law I was innocent, in the eyes of society I would always been seen as a monster. It was all just too much.


Victor was almost getting used to seeing gruesome murder scenes. But he still wasn’t used to the aftermath.  He was hating Herman more and more every day. That guy just wrecks everything! How on earth did an evil man like him even get a religious fanatic on his side!
There was now not an ounce of doubt in his mind that Herman was also responsible for the death of his mother. Victor felt a rage he hadn’t felt since he lost his mother, he didn’t understand how his dad could find pleasure in causing all those around him so much pain. Whether physical or mental! Any man who can feel no guilt in telling people that his son is dead so that he can lure women to their deaths, must have no feelings whatsoever! What really bothered Victor was the cruelty he was showing towards my state. Herman had obviously learned that I was unstable and was using it to benefit himself.
“So is this what you want? You want violence dad?” Victor thought bitterly, “Well fine! I’ll bring you violence! But there is no way in **** you are messing with Serene too!”
He felt such a strong desire for revenge, and way beginning to think like I was. We really were screwed. Either way, he thought, he would end up in jail. But if he can do some good before they lock him up, I could have my second chance.

[Lollipop_Girl]

I was out the following night, I know I am out most nights, but this time I was not wondering the streets, I was lurking in the corner of an interrogation room. As you see, Herman’s little trick had succeeded in landing me in trouble with the law. This murder scene looked different to the other. It almost looked like a ritual sacrifice…very cleverly done. The police had stopped by and dragged me down to the station for questioning; it was pretty obvious that I was now their number one suspect. But to be honest, I couldn’t have cared less. All they can do is lock me away, which is what I was doing to myself already. A creature like me deserves to be punished, even if I was innocent of those two crimes.
The officers sat me down in a cold, hard looking room, there was little lighting which in a normal situation, would have unnerved me. They asked me the basic questions, “Where were you during the time of the murder”, “How did you know the victim” and “Where there any people around who can prove you were out at the time of the murder”. I didn’t want to play their games, if only they would just cut to the chase. I apologised that I could not be of any help to them, but that I knew what they were thinking. They let me go later that evening, due to lack of evidence. But this was far from over. Hats off to Herman, a very clever plan, all I hoped is that he would one day get his comeuppance too.


Meanwhile, Victor was formulating a little plan of his own. Being out, alone for the first time in a while, gave him a chance to think. He didn’t like being alone, not now after having a companion. But all hope seemed to have gone, and Victor sure didn’t want to go down without getting his revenge. It would do Strangetown a favour, ridding them of this killer. It would do the families of the murdered victims a favour, they could finally get justice. And of course, it would greatly help me. Victor was prepared to take full blame so one of us could be free. I of course, knew nothing of this at the time; otherwise I would have told him to stop. But of course I was elsewhere.
He thought up many ways he could seek vengeance, in his head. All included a nasty end for his dad. Victor wasn’t really the killing type (Obviously doesn’t take after his dad then), it wasn’t something he would enjoy, but it just had to be done. Yet tonight, he found a temporary distraction…when he ran into the other person he hated, Andrew.
Andrew was living the good life as usual. He had found himself another little piece of potential vampbait to wow with stupid fictional tales of the undead.
“Oh, it is so lonesome being a creature of the night. Nobody can understand your pain. I have travelled the world for many years looking for a companion…might I add you look lovely this evening”
The girl started giggling like a moron; Andrew spied Victor looking at them.
“Oh look its Victoria! What the **** do you want?”
Andrew had no idea that the fun was about to stop.


Victor just didn’t say anything, he was contemplating in his head what do about this complete ****. Andrew sneered as usual,
“Listen I kinda have a date here, take your dorky miserable self and get the f**k out! God you aren’t even worth biting for a snack!”
He waited for Victor to walk away, muttering under his breath as usual. But for some reason tonight he didn’t. Instead Victor just glanced at his watch, 6:00 am. He didn’t realise how…early it was! But that wasn’t a problem, well at least not for him. Victor smiled politely to Andrew.
“Oh I’m sorry, am I bothering you? Please don’t mind me, in fact have another drink on me”
He handed a couple of notes to Andrew who looked completely puzzled.
“What the bloody **** are you on Victoria? Geez I guess you’re more messed up than I thought! Well yeah I’ll enjoy spending you’re money now get the f**k out!”
This was the reaction he had expected, it was also the reaction he had hoped for. Now was the time to leave and mutter under his breath...
“I will enjoy you spending too Andrew, its no trouble at all”.
Andrew was confused, but he let it wash over him. Victor’s presence made him think of me. Now according to Andrew, I am the girl he’d want as a companion, he thought I made a hot vampire! (I think I made a freaky corpse-like weirdo!) He had made himself a little treat by siring me, if only I wasn’t being so damn reluctant. Selfish thoughts. Andrew didn’t remember much after that……waaaay too much alcohol!


Andrew eventually regained consciousness…in a busy day lit street!
“Oh s**t! How did I get here?”
The club had closed just before daylight, as it does each night. How stupid was he to forget the golden rule…you pass out you go in the street. The sunlight was burning up his skin; he could feel it so strongly. He turned around to seek for shade, and spied Victor once again, watching him. He waved happily.
“Yooouuuu b*****d! You set this up! I’m gonna f*****g kill you…”
“Terrifying! Attack of the killer dust pile! Ooooh please spare me!”
Andrew was powerless; the sun was deteriorating him at a rapid speed. The doors of the club were locked and he wouldn’t make it anywhere else in time. Panic filled his thoughts (Wow, he actually wasn’t thinking about blood or girls for once!), He noticed Victor spinning something round his fingers.
“Persephone, the club owner, she’s a nice woman. She asked if I could lock up the club for her.”
“D-d-d-dude you gotta let me in!....Hey I mean it you stupid moron! LET ME IN OR I’L KICK YOUR ***!”
”Oh now I want to help you! With such lovely manners how could I say no! Sorry man, I can’t help you. But it’s not all bad; you won’t have to fear sunlight soon, Just vacuum cleaners instead!”
He looked down at his hands, they were beginning to crumble. Andrews’s time was up. Damn that time as a vamp was good, why did it have to be cut short so soon!
“You complete d******d!” Were his last words, something typical of Andrew. Victor was glad to see him go; well that just shows what happens to cocky vampires!


Well that just made Victors day! For so long that jerk had been nothing but mean to everyone (not to mention the extra evil stuff he did as a vampire), he finally got what he deserved! He couldn’t wait to tell me the good news; his treatment of me was one of the things Andrew did that bothered Victor the most. Now, there was one less person for the both of us to worry about. One down, one to go. At least if he is going down he can feel good about something. He didn’t believe all vampires are evil, but Andrew certainly was. Victor decided to go for Herman as soon as he could get the opportunity, to get the entire thing over with. This dampened his spirits a bit, as it would mean saying goodbye to me. I can remember Victor once said I was the only person in his life, who is kind. Because of this he had grown rather fond of me, and vice versa. We had been through a lot now. But Victor believed if nothing was done to stop Herman, we would be separated anyway. So he held his head down, to make some progress and put a permanent end to Herman’s cruelty. Well what would life be like without a friend anyway?


Something else I wasn’t aware of at the time, was the work being done up in the Strangetown Research Centres (SRCs). My little hometown is well known for its extraterrestrial and supernatural activities, so up on Cover Up Lane we have many scientists researching the numerous Strangetown phenomena’s. They don’t mix much with the other residents, all we knew is that their main focus was on aliens, Vampires are not taken seriously. Yet in one lab, a small under funded place, scientists Vincent and Medeia were working on an unusual independent project. However, progress was unfortunately very very slow.
“Medeia? Have you been using the machinery to mix cocktails again? You know she’s gonna get mad!! You better clean this!”
Medeia slumped down in the chair beside the machine as Vincent carried on inspecting.
“So! I’m not scared of any grouchy alien lab partners, besides we aren’t doing anything useful with these dumb old machines anyway. Persephone is getting sick of us pestering her and she’s the only vamp in town! How the **** do we research vampire cures when we don’t even have a vamp problem here!”
“Oh god these test tubes all reek of vodka! What the **** did you do? Cant you just use a blender?”
“Vince this is stupid! We are totally wasting our time! Sometimes I just feel like blowing all our lame funds on shopping, I mean if there are no vampires then why do we need the cure so bad?”
Vincent, dedicated as usual, still believed that there were people who needed an official cure.
“Someone will need it, and I won’t quit. There’s gotta be some more vampires here somewhere, I mean this is Strangetown!”
He sighed and took over Medeia’s job of cleaning the test tubes as she was doing a lame job; Medeia had to admire her colleague’s determination. But if only she could feel as confident in this as Vincent did.

[Lollipop_Girl]

So, tonight Victor was going to take action. He was feeling nervous about it, he waited all day for night to come and prepared to leave. Victor had also realised the good chance that he may end up mutilated like those women; Herman isn’t exactly caring and would not take the confrontation easily. Victor was almost ready, he switched off his phone, slipped one of the kitchen knives into his pocket and...uhh…practiced a cool line to say to Herman, well something better than “Your time is up, a*****e!”.
I was unhappy, as usual. What a depressive little weirdo I am. But those police had upset me. I was under the impression that they felt they could say whatever they liked to me, I am quite sure that if I wasn’t dead looking, they wouldn’t get away with some of the things they did. I had never felt so insulted. Being treated differently was something I could never get used to, and would never understand. All I wanted now was to have my friend to be there, to talk to me and make me feel better like he normally does. I saw Victor about to leave.
“Hey! Wait where are you going?”
He had hoped to leave before I returned; saying goodbye properly would be hard.
“Uh, I was just going for a walk, didn’t think you’d be back.”
“Oh good, can I join you? Or can you stay here with me? I have just had the worst time ever! Stupid police just think I have no feelings or anything.”
”Well Serene, I think…”
Victor paused, he couldn’t leave like this.
“Ok I’ll stay here”
I rambled on and on about stereotypes and discrimination, a major b***h fest. Poor Victor must have wanted to kill me but he kept on listening attentively, it was one of the things I always liked best about him. But, I suddenly noticed something from the corner of my eye, what was that in his pocket?


I was horrified, now surely this killing thing doesn’t run in his family? No not Victor, he’s just too nice to be a killer! I didn’t keep these thoughts to myself.
“Victor? What the **** is that!”
Victor grabbed his pockets; he was a terrible at lying, so he was going to have to confess his plans to me before I assumed he was just as evil as his dad.
“Serene it’s not what you think! I-I don’t kill, but I think I have to.”
“Ok you are being really weird!”
“No its not it’s the only thing I can do! You saw what my dad is doing, he’s going to have us set up and is doing a great job of it! We both don’t stand a chance if I don’t take some action, either way I’m rotting in jail! But you, you still have a chance!”
Ok this was such a shock; I mean never would I have thought Victor would be prepared to do something like that…and for me?
“Why would you do that? Why would you make yourself guilty for me? Wait...is that where you were going? You were going out to kill Herman and would be doing it right now if I didn’t come home! Am I RIGHT VICTOR?”
He sighed and nodded. I just couldn’t let this happen.
“But you can’t! You just can’t!”
“Well look who’s talking! You aren’t exactly hopeful yourself! You are the one who said we are both screwed! Herman is my dad, he’s my problem and I can face that. But you are totally innocent, he’s just dragging you into this and it kills me! I don’t want you to be punished because of my messed up dad. I just want to help you.”
Is it wrong that I found this speech touching, I never thought anyone would care about me like this. But I couldn’t let him become a murderer, and I couldn’t lose him, he had kept me going and motivated me, I needed Victor so badly, more than he knew.
“If you want to help, you could not go through with this. Without you I don’t know where I’d be. You are the only person who has had faith in me and you can make me forget about the whole vampire thing! If you go, I’ll be no better off.”


We had both calmed down a bit on the surface, Victor and I were no longer shouting. But emotions were still high. Victor took his knife out of his pocket and put it on the coffee table.
“You know Serene, I don’t know where I would be without you either. I used to think nobody gave a damn about me, not even my own dad! You have helped me more than you think.”
As he went on I was even more touched by his words, I was always so quick to focus on the negative, how people hate us vampires, how we are ‘demons’. And if anyone could care about a vampire, it would be in a scary Martha-like way. This was all so new to me.
“Please don’t do this. What has happened to us! We are just uber-pessimistic. I guess we both shouldn’t give up like this. I’ll hang on, and keep fighting Herman. But I can only do this if you do too.”
“Ok, I won’t. I don’t think I even can now. I mean I know we will both have to face dad sometime, but well he’ll be in the wrong.”
“And when the police find him, he’ll get to waste away in jail, why should he get the easy way out! He should pay for everything he’s done!”
 We both smiled, this was the first time we had been optimistic in a long time. It was almost like the early days when we would hang out by the graveyard, before all this drama.


I was so happy, why? I wasn’t sure. I still felt ill from the lack of blood, I was still a murder suspect. But it just didn’t seem so bad right now. My amazing friend, he just made me feel so good. I saw him in a whole new light, a way I had never looked at anyone before. With an unbelievable affection. I sensed the same from Victor.
“You know, we sat next to each other for so long, I never thought you’d notice me. I know how sad this sounds, but every day, I noticed you. You were always so sweet, so pretty and nobody else was so nice even though we barely spoke. Is that pathetic of me?”
“No, no it’s really sweet. You know how much you mean to me. I feel so bad sometimes that I didn’t notice you more; you are such a great person. Nobody else seems to tolerate my miserable corpse like self like you do!”
Yes looking like a corpse, I never get over that, stupid blue tinged skin! And to think, I used to like my skin before I became a vampire.
“Serene I don’t have to tolerate you, I want to. You know I want to be with you all the time. Oh god I sound such a dork.”
“Again, you don’t. You always say the right things, and now I am really hoping you do the right things now too…..kiss me!”


Victor didn’t hesitate; we were both thinking the same thing. As I was undead, I had always assumed romance to be off the cards (well, unless I wanted some kinky freaky vampire gothic style romance…no thanks!) I didn’t think anyone could care for a ‘demon’ like me, but he had seen me at my worst and wasn’t scared. He made me feel like a normal teenage girl, alone with a boy for the first time.  And wow I am sure neither of us expected today to end like this. But it just seemed right for us. In fact for Victor, this was a surprisingly good day, a lot better than it would have been if he had attempted to leave just a few minutes earlier that evening. And this reminded him of something. Victor pulled away briefly, smiling.
“Wait, something else I meant to tell you, it’s very tragic, involves your friend Andrew.”
“What? Oh please don’t say he’s been killing again.”
“No, he wont be killing anyone anymore…lets just say he was involved in an unfortunate sunbathing accident!”
 
So that night, the plot seemed to have come to a standstill. But it couldn’t be forgotten. And the time where we would have to finally face Herman was slowly creeping closer and closer.


Lolli's note: Ok this is me facing a little storywriteing fear of mine (i usually skip the romance scenes when i write ingame lol! i am terrible at romance!) so i really really hope i dont suck too much lol!

[Lollipop_Girl]

Well isn’t that lovely, a nice cheerful part to my story (Yeah I’m sure you miss the murders and stuff). Unfortunately my story isn’t particularly cheerful, because I still had the teeny tiny problem of Herman to worry about. My new thing with Victor had made me happier over the next few days. Yet, there was one more thing to bring a smile to my face before all the drama began again. I discovered it…well rather it discovered me one night, when I really didn’t expect. I was strolling around as I often do; there really isn’t much to do loitering around the streets. And I was being stalked, as usual, by Martha. It was a pretty ordinary night.
“Oh you know Martha you really suck at lurking!”
Martha appeared behind me.
“Well….well I shouldn’t have to lurk! I should be able to wonder the dark streets like you.”
“You do wonder the dark streets….creeping behind me!”
“You know what I mean! Oh come on I helped you, without me you would know nothing about Herman! Can’t you do one thing for me?”
”I am grateful, but I am not becoming a cannibal for anyone ok! Geez when will you get the point! It’s been ages; I’m not changing my mind!”
Ok well it was quite tempting to bite her, satisfy my cravings AND shut her up. But she didn’t need to know that! Then, I began to notice two shadows appear behind me and Martha, as far as I knew I only had one stalker! So who are these people? Herman? Prudence? Suddenly I fell, and saw Martha collapse beside me. Everything went black.


I awoke to hear voices around me, I glanced around but my vision was still blurred. Martha was still unconscious, this puzzled me, what would Herman want with Martha, if he’s meant to be working with Prudence. Then I heard voices.
“This was such a lame idea! You know they are going to kill us!”
“Look I know it isn’t the ideal way to get vampires, but we really need them Vince! Do you want us to lose our jobs?”
“I don’t want to lose my life!”
I didn’t recognise either of these voices, I looked around again. This place seemed to be a laboratory of some sort, quite tidy looking. Not what I expected. I saw a door, good a way out of this weird place! When I climbed up and walked to the door, I was stopped by the mystery people.
“Wait! Please! Don’t go! Can we talk?”
“Um I wake up in some freaky place with strangers; I think I wanna get out of here!”
“No wait, you’re a vampire right? You would not believe how hard we have been searching for a vampire to help our research!”
I didn’t like the sound of ‘Research’, I was nervous, and what exactly were these guys researching! I almost didn’t want to know. The guy carried on talking..
“I am so sorry for how we brought you here, we are just really desperate! Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Vincent Freeman, and this is my lab partner Medeia.”
I looked at Mediea; she sure as **** didn’t look like a scientist. She had messy blonde hair, fairly similar to my own, and she wore jeans, no lab coat. While Vincent just looked like your average science nerd.


I listened as Vincent continued, I was curious to hear the explanation for bringing Martha and me here.
“We have been sent to Strangetown to try and discover an alternate cure for vampirism. As you probably know there is an unofficial cure available from most gypsy matchmakers, but we don’t feel it is completely safe as it hasn’t been properly tried and tested in a lab. We aim to provide a safe and easily available cure, without the strange D substance as it has been known to cause similar side effects in other medicines.”
I just couldn’t believe what I was hearing; these guys were actually working on something which could cure me! Medeia was standing back looking very unenthusiastic.
“You know Vince what if she doesn’t want to be cured; you know the stuff on TV makes vamps look cool, and you could just be attracting a mob of angry teen vamps to trash our place now!”
“No, no I want to be cured! I mean I really want to be cured! Oh my god I can’t believe this! I have been stuck as a vamp, stupid allergy to substance D!”
This was such a shock, I had completely forgotten that these scientists had knocked me and Martha out to bring us here; this was something I had almost given up hope on! Vincent seemed almost as excited as I was.
“I knew it! I knew someone needed a cure! See Medeia We aren’t wasting our time!”
I saw Martha move slightly on the floor, and suddenly thought…
“Um, you explained why I’m here…why did you bring Martha?”
Medeia looked puzzled, walked over and looked at Martha.
“Oh dear…we uh, thought she was a vampire too! Well it was dark! And she is dressed like a vampire type person...”
These people really needed my help!


Martha began to stir; she sluggishly climbed to her feet, and freaked out!
“Oh my god! I’ve been kidnapped! Holy crap! YOU FREAKS BETTER LET US GO OR YOU’L BE IN BIG TROUBLE! God damn it you cant do this!”
Well there’s a few words Martha would be severely scolded for if Prudence heard her!
“Martha relax, they brought you by mistake! We haven’t been kidnapped.”
“Yeah sorry about that! It’s hard to tell at night who’s a vamp and who isn’t!”
I wasn’t really too bothered about Martha’s panicking right now, this news had my full attention! I wanted to know more about this potential cure. I had to ask Vincent more.
“So how would this cure work?”
“Well, we know vampirism is a supernatural problem, yeah we are scientists but you can’t deny the existence of such things when you work in Strangetown can you! But we think what physically causes the change is spread through the blood, allot like an infection. The cure should kill off the infection, but finding one which doesn’t completely poison the blood is very hard. But we’ll find it somehow, and Vamprocillen E will be available to all vampires who wish to be human again.”
I liked the sound of this; he made it sound so simple, like a normal illness. And vampirism is like a sickness to me. Things have been good right now! This just topped it all off nicely, I could help them with this! I could get my old life back!
Medeia was lingering in the background by the window.
“Hey Vince, the boss is back!”

I didn’t quite know what this meant!
“Oh d**n! That’s our other lab partner, we call her ‘The Boss’ because she’s seems to think she’s in charge. Hey you may want to leave quickly! She’s really stressy.”
I didn’t leave in time, a strange alien woman with one hand entered; she seemed to have a strange look about her, she made me quite uneasy.
“What are you doing bringing more stupid earthlings to the lab?”
She looked at Martha. Then she looked at me. Vincent explained.
“We found a vampire; we think she could help us...that’s good right?”
“Hmm” she turned towards me again “Have you considered undergoing any other experiments, I am always looking for more test subjects…I mean participants for my other work.”
Medeia gave me a desperate single to say no!
“I think we should stay on topic! We would really really appreciate it if she would help us, you are gonna scare her away!”
“No I am really happy to help! Man I could just hug you guys!”
I looked at the alien woman.
“I uh, won’t hug you….you scare me a bit!”
I left soon after that, taking Martha with me (who thought I was completely mad for wanting a cure, thought the research was disgraceful and gave me several lectures on the importance of ‘preserving my kind’)


I thought Victor had an assignment to study for that night, yet he was actually off on another secret solo mission. So, he’d promised he wouldn’t go and confront Herman…but didn’t promise not to spy on him! Well he believed someone must have an idea on what he is up to! Victor had sneaked round the back window; he knew the perfect place to hide as he used to go there when Herman would argue with his mother.

Victor turned pale, and stumbled back. What he had just seen sent chills down his spine. Poor guy is always the first to discover these things. He knew we were in immediate danger, and had to find me quickly before it was too late!

So prepare yourselves as I begin to reach the high point of my tale, prepare for all to be revealed. For it’s going to be a bloodbath!


To my cousin if she's reading.....i will know, and you will regret it! Quit snooping around!

[Lollipop_Girl]

Why, why do these things happen to me? Whenever something good happens to me something bad comes along to put me down again. That night I didn’t get to enjoy my happiness for long, I got about twenty minutes of feeling on top of the world. Before it came crashing down again. The events started when a very distressed looking Victor hurried towards me. He reached Martha and I who were walking home, stopped and gasped for breath.
“Victor hi! You’ll never guess what just happened! There may be a cure for me! Isn’t that great?”
“My dad…is sick, a really sick twisted freak!”
My mood sunk right down, what had Herman done now?
 “Great, just great, whats happened? Another murder?”
But something told me this wasn’t just another murder, which we were beginning to grow used to. I half didn’t want to know what horrid thing he’d come up with. But Victor didn’t have time to explain, as all three of us were about to experience it firsthand. As I was knocked unconscious for the second time in one night.
Herman stood by our motionless bodies, he thought about how stupid his son is to think he could slip away unnoticed. But it was good for him, Victor led him straight to us, it was all so simple. This was the first time Herman had seen me properly,
“Hmm pretty thing she is” he thought casually. “What a shame.”
  The street was quiet; he could load us in the back of his car easily enough without being spotted. Herman was enjoying this all, as he had a very creative idea. Creativity was always a big part of Herman’s killings; it was like an art to him. So if all goes well, this would be his masterpiece.


When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a tiled room. But instead of being clean and clinical, it was grimy and unhealthily dirty. The lighting was dim, and glowed an eerie red. Great, very pretty Herman. It was too dark to make out what else was in the room, I saw Victor had already woken, his face badly bruised.
“Serene? Are you awake?”
I replied, and placed my hands out to try and feel my way up. I touched the wall, it was damp, and I moved my hand closer to see what this was. This was not water. It was blood!
“Oh...OH! W-w-what the...”
“Shhhh! don’t shout! He’ll come back!”
I began to sense that there was more blood in this room. I was both sickened and craving at the same time, this was defiantly deliberate, again, very clever Herman.
“Victor where are we?”
“Well, this was…the kitchen, but it’s changed a lot since I was last here.”
I then thought of Martha, where was she! I really hoped it wasn’t her blood smeared across the wall, as annoying as she is, she was completely innocent!
“Martha? Are you there? Please speak to me!”
I was relived to hear her; we were all alive...For now.
“Ohmigod! Ohmigod! We’ve been kidnapped! Right Serene! This time its not scientists?”
”Yes, I think this time it’s for real”
Martha started to panic, and this time she had a real reason to. Suddenly, without warning, the lights switched on.


This was indeed a kitchen, but obviously one which hadn’t been used for a long time! The tiles were moulding, the place had a putrid smell. When I turned round, I saw this on the wall.

This was horrific! We were in Herman’s butchering room! I was disturbed; thinking of the poor hapless victim who must have wrote this desperate message in a state of anguish and desperation. “I am in ****”, a strong image. It made me think, who is the real demon here? I knew that it wasn’t me, Herman was the one dragging innocent people into ****, isn’t that evil?
I saw Martha’s face, her expression still haunts me. A look of pure terror. Her face was also badly bruised; I didn’t understand the purpose of this.
“Why are the lights on? WHY ARE THE LIGHTS ON?”
“Serene please don’t shout! He’s messing with us!”
Victor knew Herman’s behaviour better, Herman used to play little tricks like this on him when he was a child, things like leaving him in the woods at night to see if he could make it out on his own. For some reason, Herman was intrigued by human responses to fear so he would play these little games fairly often. In fact Herman used to do it to his mother too. Herman was a psychopath, completely heartless. He just had no feelings. Nothing would make him spare mercy.
“I am so sorry you both got dragged into this” He said sadly “I am so sorry, I don’t know how we are going to get out.”
Martha started sobbing. I was angry, why me. This was all so surreal, and I felt like I was in a horror movie. You never think the things they show in films could ever happen, and most likely they don’t. I am just so very, very unlucky.

The door swung open.


Herman stepped in the room; you could see in his expression he was loving every minute of this. I saw he had a knife hidden in his pocket, but he wasn’t intending to use it. Victor glared at him, if looks could kill we would all have been saved right then. But unfortunately this just served to please Herman even more.
“Hello son, I have missed you. It’s just so great to have you back. You know Victor I can’t believe I haven’t been properly introduced to your friend before. It’s nice to finally meet you Serene. Welcome to our home.”
The way he acted the caring father at times was disgraceful, his obviously sarcastic manner was callos.
“Dad, what is with all this huh? So you want to frame us, why set up this death-trap? Why do you have to be cruel?”
“Victor, you are deeply stupid. And I wasn’t talking to you then. I was talking to our guest!”
Herman had designed all this specifically to upset me. Right down to eerie red lighting. And he just couldn’t wait to explain it.
“See Serene, you’re a special girl aren’t you? A vampire, you don’t see many of them around! It’s so great; I must say how happy I am to have you visit. Now, I left you something on the table over there.”
On the table in the corner, was a bloody butcher’s knife.
“Now my idiotic son has been very rude, and nearly got me in a bit of trouble. Now I am not prepared to go to jail, which is where you come in dear Serene. Vampires are natural killers, so I set up this little place where you can do what you do best for me.”
Martha’s sobbing grew stronger, I felt for her. I wanted to cry too. But I couldn’t.
“Why did you bring Martha here? What has she got to do with this?”
Herman grinned coldly; everything about this man gave me the creeps.
“She has a purpose, she’s very important indeed. Now I know you don’t like to bite people. Its ok, I understand! I don’t eat my victims either. That’s why I left the knife for you. Now I need Victor to tie you to this all, but Martha is great. You are going to kill her. If you don’t, I will. And believe me it will be much slower and more painful. It would be cruel not to spare her from that! She is the sacrifice.”


Herman, I don’t think I could describe the immense rage I felt towards him. He was going to set this up to look like a ritual, devil worshiping sacrifice! And then I saw behind him, Herman had even set up a giant pentagram on the wall. It all looked pretty convincing! Herman noticed me ‘admiring’ his work.
“Pretty good isn’t it! Now if you choose to be difficult, and I have to kill Martha, then you’ll just have to kill my Victor. He can quite easily ‘offer himself as a sacrifice’. And again if you don’t obey, he will die slowly like Martha. Then if you still refuse to take blame, I’ll just have to start work on you, and believe me, you would rather go to jail, I am very experienced in this area.”
Victor couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
“Yoouuu b*****d! This is the worst game you’ve ever played! Why can’t you just use me, I’ll take blame! Let them go!”
“You really are just as stupid as your mother, remember, people don’t trust vampires. I can’t stress that enough! They won’t question Serene before determining a verdict as much as she is a demon! It will be so uncomplicated! I can’t be bothered to have them over investigate to prove you guilty.”
Herman addressed me once more before he left.
“My fair guest, I bid you farewell for now.  I shall give you some time to make your decision. Remember the knife is on the table. I hope you understand, killers think alike. Oh and I am terribly sorry about all the blood, then again you vampires don’t seem to be too squeamish. Good luck Serene!”
Then he left, firmly bolting the doors behind him. All the windows had been boarded up too. Martha started shrieking, she didn’t want to die! I didn’t want to kill her! But I didn’t know what to do.
Victor had gone quiet once more. I could see how guilty he felt, it was in his eyes. And this saddened me even more. It seemed there was no way out for us, to kill or not to kill, that is the question.  

[Lollipop_Girl]

An hour or so passed, and neither Victor, Martha nor I spoke a word. What could we say; it seemed to be the end for us. The only sound was Martha’s quiet sobbing, which just served to make me despair more. Victor blamed himself for all this, but I knew inside that this was all because of me. I was the person who just by trying to socialise, linked this all these problems together into this horrible mess. My condition is what gave Herman this sick idea, and what helped convince Prudence to assist him. I remembered the days when I was transforming into a vampire, and I thought that nothing could be worse than that. As I would stare aimlessly at my ceiling, I longed to leave that room. Now I wish I had never left.
I stared at the knife Herman had left for me. A horrible, brutal looking meat cleaver and it had been firmly wedged into the table. The amount of thought Herman had put into all this amazed me, with vampire strength, I would be the only one out of the three of us who could remove the knife. He knew that. The weapon had obviously been used for similar purposes before; at it had gruesome blood splattered all over the blade, lovely. I had spent time thinking of different possibilities in my head to get round this, I looked for possible escape routes, but found nothing. The only way out, was through the door, which was locked securely on the outside.
I just couldn’t kill Martha, I was sure that was not what I wanted. But, the aroma of blood was strong. If you remember, I momentarily showed my demonic side at the sight of blood. Sure it was only for a few seconds, but I completely lost control. In a circumstance like this, in such a gory room, I was beginning to worry how long would I last in this room, before I snapped…perhaps for longer than a few seconds, perhaps with extremely bad consequences.
I heard the bolt on the door being undone, I froze…was Herman back! Is Martha done for?


This time it wasn’t Herman, it was his partner in crime Prudence. Martha did not look too happy to see her mother was involved in this part of the plan. Prudence eyed the room, it seemed as if this was the first time she’d seen it.
“My goodness! What in heavens name have you done!” then she saw the pentagram, “Oh my! Demons! Demons! Ooooh that is an unholy sign of witchcraft! Martha! What have you done? Is your soul completely corrupt?”
I saw Victor smirk slightly, even in times like this, Prudence was still fantastically amusing.  Martha had stopped crying; now she was angry. Why is her mother always so crazy!
“Oh stop that mum! You are the one being evil by working with that Herman! Don’t act like you don’t know about all this, that holier than thou attitude of yours is stupid! GOD D**N IT WHY ARE YOU HELPING HIM!”
Prudence had never heard her daughter say the lord’s name in vain like that, and was shocked.
“Martha! That is a sin! Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain! Well in response to your rudeness, I must say that Herman simply warned me about your ungodly behavior. I know nothing of all this gore and witchcraft-like rituals! I am shocked!”
“What? What are you talking about mum?”
I had always assumed Prudence knew almost everything about Herman’s trap, but it seemed she was almost as clueless as us! Herman had clearly been manipulating the slightly mad woman to his advantage. Martha quickly began to realise this, and came up with an idea. Perhaps, a little careful manipulation of her own would go a long way.


When she was younger, Martha had a fail-proof method of sucking up to her mother, which was particularly useful when she wanted extra pocket money or needed to get out of trouble. Yet she never thought she would need to use it for something like this! Remembering bible quotes was always helpful to Martha.
“Luke 6: Do not judge and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven.…..Remember that one mum? Judging others? What are you doing, what proof do you have that Serene is a demon? What has she done?”
“I-I saw her at the devils gathering centre! Amongst children of darkness, as one of them. Don’t try to confuse me with your sinful thoughts Martha! The she-devil has clearly poisoned your mind. Heavens, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were already becoming a satanic minion too. I will not help the demon, for I do not wish to be daaaammed!”
Martha didn’t give up, “If I am a satanic minion, how can I speak the bible like you?”
Martha knew she had to play at her mother’s game if she was to get through to her. “Serene is no demon, she is a beautiful creature of the night!”
I sighed, here we go again. Those Peels are very good at long obsessive speeches; it must run in the family.
“Vampires are not demonic, they are just lonely misunderstood creatures, they are brought into the world of the night, sometimes not by choice. We should not fear them, we should admire them! Well…Serene doesn’t particularly like being a vampire, she’s mad, which is why you should help us! Not Herman! Whatever you think about vampires, Serene is not evil…just unlucky.”
I could have hugged her; she spoke so well (despite the whole creepy world of the night part). Even Prudence was silenced! Martha finished of her speech.
“If anyone is evil, it’s Herman! A man who killed his own wife, several other women, and is now trying to blame his own son, and Serene, who he had never even met! And he wants me dead too! Did he tell you that part? I bet not! If you can’t see him as evil, then you don’t know a thing about demons!”


Victor and I didn’t say anything; we waited anxiously for Prudence to react. Martha was doing excellently, and if anyone could talk Prudence round. It would be her. Prudence sighed.
“May the lord help us all, it seems I must assist a demon, to demolish a greater evil. The she-devil is the lesser of the two evils. I only pray that the lord can forgive me for this temporary alliance with darkness when judgment day comes this year.”
Martha smiled, she turned to face us. This crazy goth girl had potentially saved us all. Prudence reluctantly agreed to go to find help, and not to repeat a word of this conversation to Herman, but to act as if she was still on his side. I was sure in the fact that I could keep control of myself, as I knew we had a chance to escape. I just hoped Prudence wouldn’t be swayed by Herman again.
As Prudence left, Martha mad a cheerful gesture and turned to me and Victor.
“Yeeah! I rocked!”
“Martha! You were awesome! You totally sucked up to her!”
“Well you learn these things, when she’s your mum…so anyway about my reward, you know I still want to be a creature of the ni…”
“..Still no Martha! I could hug you right now, but nothings gonna make me bite you.”
I walked over to Victor; the look of guilt had left his face.
“Vic, perhaps we aren’t so screwed after all!”
“Even I thought we couldn’t get out of that one! I thought that was it!”
All we could do now was wait, and hope for the best.


Persephone, a woman who appeared to be in her mid twenties, stepped quietly out into the dark street, locking the door of her club behind her. Tonight she was closed. She began to stroll leisurely down the pavement, past a window. Persephone stopped and looked. No reflection, as normal. That is always annoying. You see, Persephone was just as ‘demonic’ as me, she was a vampire. It had been over one hundred years since she was turned, so she was pretty experienced with being undead. And somehow, she had found a way to live with this condition, although it took a long time to perfect.
From a distance, you wouldn’t notice that she wasn’t human. She dressed in pretty ordinary clothes, rather than PVC and black lace, she opted for floaty floral clothes, the kind which would make Martha want to die. This also she wouldn’t stick out. And she worked hard, trying to show that a Vampire can hold a steady job and be a respectable citizen, just like everyone else. She had seen and experienced discrimination against vampires in every form possible, from strange dracula jokes all the way up to crowds of angry Villiagers. and although with time the freakish angry mobs died down, she still didn’t feel times were any better for the undead, they were still singled out. And being constantly pestered by desperate scientists was never enjoyable either.

Although sometimes, there are the odd people who don’t run away in fear. This is usually young children. Persephone had a fond memory of meeting a child who was lost in the woods one night, a few years ago, quite unexpected as the woods of Strangetown are not known for being child friendly. As she comforted the small boy and lead him to safety at the edge of the woods, she felt a sense that she had done good. Another point to prove that vampires can be nice people.


Persephone smiled at the memory, that child was so sweet. She continued walking, and caught a glimpse of someone walking past her. She faced the stranger, who burst into a frenzied attack and pulled out a crucifix and held it in front of her.
“Aggh! Demon! Demon! Begone you vile wretch! The devils hold is worse than I imagined, there are more of you satanic creatures! Heavens! D-d-don’t come any closer! I’ll stop you with my sacred prayers! I can repel you with my blessed cross...I’ll…”
“Oh just shut up will you, jeez I am so sick of your type, blah blah demons, evil. I have better things to do than listen to this...d**m fanatics!”
“My goodness you are almost as rude as the Anderson devil.”
Persephone paused, Anderson….where had she heard that name before...
“Wait…Anderson…Victor Anderson?”
“Herman Anderson, but I am sure that wicked son of his has the devil in him too...he follows your kind by choice, heretic!”
Victor, he was little boy she saw in the woods. I mentioned earlier, that Victor said he had met a vampire before he met me, but I hadn’t really thought about it much into it. Persephone sometimes wondered what happened to that boy to trouble him so, he was so sad, he still seemed sad when she saw him at her club a few nights ago This curiosity overcame the extreme irritation she felt for Prudence, she wanted to know more.
“How do you know the Andersons?”
“That ungodly monstrous Herman has captured another demon…a demon of your kind, along with that Victor and my own daughter Martha! He claimed to be ridding our town of evil, but I now know his intentions are not pure! For he himself is a killer! And I now have no choice but to find help for the lower demon, to stop this man.”
Persephone was surprised to hear “a demon of your kind”. She had been working in Strangetown for a while, and the only other vampire she had found was an obnoxious teenage boy who was said to have died. Persephone couldn’t ignore this.
“Well if you are looking for help, you just found it.”


I guess Persephone knew the police wouldn’t be so reliable, or so keen to help a vampire. They would have to be called in, but we did not have the time to wait.
Back in the kitchen, our spirits had lifted a little. Martha no longer cried, yet we were all still anxious on whether Prudence would make it back before Herman decided to show up again, to ask for my decision.
The door unbolted again, Victor, Martha and I stood to attention. Is it Prudence, are we saved…or are we doomed?

Herman walked in, looked and noticed that Martha was still very much alive. He walked over to where I stood, smiled evilly...
“Well Serene…its decision time”