Story One

by Malane

The dark night wind whistled through the trees, an eerie echoing sound. Sara wandered slowly through the woods. She'd been awakened at midnight by a hollowed, lonesome cry in a voice that sounded like that of her mother, who had disappeared only weeks earlier. Sara was wondering how this frightened scream had lured her to the middle of the woods this late at night. Where was she? All she could see was darkness and trees.
Still she heard her mother's cry. The sadness, the pain evident in her voice. Was it really her mother? She couldn't tell.
"Mom!" Sara screamed as loud as she could.
The only answer was her own echo as the trees began to close in. She glanced around. What's going on? she wondered. Why is everything moving?
The trees bent towards her, the ground swirled. Sara became disoriented. "Owww...OH!" She fell to the ground. "What's happening?" She sat there hoping the spinning would subside.
It didn't. "Oh, okay," Sara muttered. "Just stand up and walk." She told herself. She placed her hands to the ground and began to raise herself up. She got to all fours and fell again. "Help me," she whispered. "Please." Sara sat back down and clutched her hands over her eyes. "Please stop! Stop moving!!" Tears streamed from her eyes. "Mother?!" she started crying. "Where are you? Please help me!" Sara looked up from the spinning ground into the endless forest. "Huh?!"
Sara squinted through her tear-soaked eyes. Was that what she thought it was? There was a dark shadow standing in the tunnel of trees. She could see something moving silently, secretively through the shadows. "Hello? Is someone there?" The dark form wove through the trees without slowing. The repition was inhuman. How could it move so flawlessly? "Are you there? Help me, please." Suddenly, it was joined by another similar creature. The two of them drifted silently towards the frightened girl. She was frozen in place, unable to move. She wanted to run. Fear overwhelmed her. Then she felt something else. Intrigue. The two figures locked onto her thoughts. Soon she realized she could feel no pain and no fear. They were inside her. They were all there was. The trees vanished, the ground no longer moved. It wasn't there. They were there, nothing else mattered.
The first one was the taller of the two. It's coal black eyes peered into her soul. Its milk white face reflected the soft glow from the moon. Sara reached up with her hands and raked her fingers through its straw-like black hair. She felt no fear, only awe.
"I've come to take you," said the creature in a deep, haunting voice. Sara could smell its tangy, sweet breath. The scent of fresh blood, it radiated from it, yet she was not afraid. The desire to be with this thing, this demon-like animal in human form, was overwhelming. She wanted it to hold her, to touch her. The second creature came from behind her and picked her up gently and gracefully from the ground. She lifted with ease and the pain she felt began to subside. Still, she regained no sight other than that of the creatures. "Come with me, my child." Sara did not resist. Their arms locked with hers as they led her through the woods.
Two more dark creatures joined them. She knew she was surrounded, but she didn't care. She felt a strange, almost sad love for these things and from them. They were meant for her. She was meant for them.
She laid her head down on the second creature's shoulder. It's torn clothes tickled her nose with the warm scent of the blood. She felt joined to it. It was inside of her.
Sara began to lose conciousness. She clutched onto its shoulder and blinked to stay awake, but she weaved in and out. Finally, even the creatures disappeared as utter darkness swallowed her again.

Sara opened her eyes. "Where am I?" She glanced around. "Hello?" Her voice was weak, she hardly recognized it.
She squinted through the dark. All she could see was an occasional rock and... stalagtites? Maybe. Was she in a cave?
Sara raised her eyes as a slender shaft of light broke through the darkness. Out of this light came a shadowed figure. It was the first of the two original creatures she had seen.
"How are you, Sara?" it said in that familiar deep voice. It wrapped its long, bony fingers around her slender shoulder.
"Okay," Sara managed to choke out. "Where am I?"
"Can you stand?"
"I think so. Who are you?"
"We're your family. Your new family. You are one of us."
"One of who?"
"The vampires."
Sara stared at the creature. "No," she said softly.
"What do you mean 'no'?"
"Vampires aren't real," came her calm response. "You're just some sicko that likes to kidnap people and mess with their heads. Vampires aren't real." She stared at the emotionless pale face, the only light in the otherwise dark cave.
"No?" the creature smiled, a devious smile. She could once again smell its breath.
"So, we aren't real, huh? Tell me something," it sneered inching closer to her, "tell me if this feels real."
The creature grabbed her head and thrust it back revealing her soft, tan flesh. Her neck was throbbing with fear as it began to sink its teeth into her. Suddenly, a shot rang out through the echoing cavern. There was a loud inhuman screech as a bullet penetrated the monster's shoulder. Then, it became calm. It looked towards the direction the gun had been shot and tauntingly said, "Silly human."
It got up, insulting the man as it walked towards him. This gave Sara the chance to escape. She ran blindly through the cave trying to find a way out. Finally, someone grabbed her.
"Let me go!" Sara screamed, kicking at her attacker, "Let me go! You can't do this to me!"
"Shutup!" said a young voice. "You want them to catch us both? Follow me. Quietly!"
Sara did as he told her.
She was led out of the cave and back into the familiar woods. The young man laid her tired body down on the hood of his car. She opened her weary eyes and looked up at him. "Who are you?"
"Sssh," he said, "don't talk, rest."
Sarah remained leary of the boy but slowly closed her eyes. She quickly drifted off to sleep.

Darkness. Darkness again. Sara blinked hard against the blackness. Great, now where am I? she wondered. "Hello?" she choked out. "Are you guys there?" No response. She laid in the darkness for awhile.
Finally, a stream of light shined towards her. What was it? "Hello?"
"Sara? Sara, are you awake?" came a voice.
"Yes, where..."
"Good, come with me." He picked her up and leaned her on his shoulder. She noticed her legs felt suddenly weak, and she wrapped her arms tightly around his muscular shoulders. "My name is Aaron, Sara. You have just experienced something most people thankfully never will. You know why they won't? It's because of people like us. People like us who go through these experiences and help to keep it from happening again, to someone else."
"I...I don't understand. What experiences? What did I do?"
Aaron smiled. "You'll understand soon."
He continued to lead her down a dark hall. They eventually came to a large room. The soft light shown comfortingly through the dark. Aaron set her in a seat at a large oval table. "Everyone," he announced, "this is Sara. She was attacked by vampires in the woods just outside her home. She..."
"Was she bitten?" asked a strong voice.
Aaron turned to her. "Were you?"
"I'm not sure." Came her weak reply. "He started to bite me." Sara then sat upright. "This is ridiculous! There is no such thing as vampires! He was just some jerk who likes to mess with people's heads! Just like all of you are! What do you want with me?!"
"Sara," the strong voice started, "this is a normal reaction. Maybe you should take a walk with me."
"Do I have a choice?" she replied weakly.
He let out a short laugh, then said, "my name is Alec."
Sara nodded. She said nothing for a few moments and just kept an eye on Alec. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties. Light brown hair and dark brown eyes deep in thought. He seemed to be kind of dignified, not the type of person who would go through the trouble of trying to prove the exsistance of mythological beings. "Where are we going?" she finally asked.
Alec looked down at her. He had noticed earlier that she was wearing a five-pointed star in a circle on a black leather cord around her neck. He lifted her necklace up to get a better look.
"A pentacle?" he asked her.
"Yeah," she nodded. "So?"
"The symbol of strength, the protection of the elements and of Spirit."
Sara just stared at him.
"You are Wiccan?"
"Yes".
"Very good."
"And why is that?" Sara asked.
"Well, Pagans are generally able to handle things better. As a Wiccan, I'm sure you've dealt with spirits."
"Uh, no. I told you, I don't believe in that stuff."
"You don't believe in spirits? How can you not? They are all around us. Don't you have a totem animal, a spirit guide, guardian angel? I don't mean the spirits like you see on t.v., I mean real spirits." Alec told her.
"You mean ghosts?"
"Sort of..." Alec paused and thought for a moment. Finally, he said, "you'll find out in time."

Sara didn't remember getting home that night. Morning light came shining through her window just like it did every day, waking her up in time for school. She seemed have the faint memory of what felt like an odd dream involving vampires and a mysterious group of people. Had to have been a dream she thought as she shook her head and walked towards the bathroom. She stopped at the sink and splashed cold water over her face hoping it would get her thinking clearly in order to face the day ahead. She looked up as the drops splashed into the sink and realized how pale she was. "I look horrible!" she told herself. "What was I doing last night?" As she turned to leave she noticed bandage on her neck. What's this? she wondered. She cautiously raised her hand to the fabric and peeled it down slowly.
"Oh!" She looked at the two tiny puncture wounds on her neck. "Where in the world... " She moved closer to her startled reflection. "Where did these come from?" She noticed the bandage had something inside it. She could smell the pungent sent of garlic. This is some stupid prank she thought. Someone is just messing with me. Immediately, she thought of her older brother Josh.
"JOSH!!!" she screamed. "Josh!"
"What?" he said, sticking his head in through the doorway. "Gosh, you don't have to yell, we do live in the same house." He looked at the expression on her face. "Jee, are you okay?"
"Did you do this?" she pointed to her neck.
"Do what?" he asked edging closer.
"This!" she exposed her neck to him, revealing the two puncture wounds.
"You mean did I bite you vampire style?" Josh laughed. "Well, I'd have to say not anytime recently. Of course I could be wrong, I mean the full moon did just pass..."
"That's werewolves, you idiot!" she said, shoving him.
"Somebody did something to me and it happened last night. They put this bandage on me." She handed him the heavily scented peice of fabric.
Josh smelled it and looked closely at the shavings in it. "Well, it's real garlic," he told her. "It seems to me that anyone wanting to pull a prank on you wouldn't have gone through the trouble of shaving real garlic to put on your neck. I'd think they'd just put garlic powder, or something with a stronger scent so it would be instantly more recognizable, but not be concerned about the magickal qualities of the real herb."
"So what are you saying, that someone thinks I was really bitten by a vampire, and they were trying to help me?"
"Well, vampires as shown on t.v. are just a work of fiction," he grinned.
"I know," Sara said.
"But there might be someone who believed in them."
She nodded thoughtfully.
"Where were you last night?"
"I don't remember."
"Oh, that's great. So, you may have ventured into a group of vampire enhusiasts who performed the full ritual on ya, huh?"
"Oh, come on, Josh."
"You have a better explanation? I mean you don't honestly think you were bitten by a real vampire, do you?"
"Of course not!"
"Well, then, it was probably just some weirdo you ran into last night."
Sara looked at her neck in the mirror and sighed. "Yeah, I guess so."

Sara spent her whole day at school searching for her best friend, Jenna. The day was kind of a blur to her. By the end of the day, Sara had given up on finding Jenna. She was walking through the parking lot towards her car when Jenna's voice rang out through the parking lot over all the other after-school noises.
"Sara!" she called, "Sara, wait up!"
Sara quickly turned around at the sound of her friend's voice. "Jenna!" she exclaimed, excited to have finally found her. "Oh, Jenna," she cried, rushing to put her arms around her.
Jenna gave Sara a brief hug and pushed her away.
"Hey, Sara," she whispered. "Guess who I met today."
Sara looked at Jenna with surprise. "Who?"
"The hottest guy in the world!"
Sara rolled her eyes.
"Guess what else." Without waiting for Sara to guess, she added, "He likes you!"
"Me?! How'd he see me? I've been looking for you all day. I haven't seen you!"
"I showed him to you, but that's not important. You should meet him!" Jenna said.
"Jenna, I'm not in the mood. Go away. I had a really bad night."
"This'll make you feel better..." she insisted.
Jenna grabbed Sara's hand and pulled her towards the other end of the parking lot. "Sara," she said, "meet Bryan."
Sara forced herself to look up at him. She gasped. "I know you!"
Bryan laughed. "You do, huh?" He smiled. "You know, I believe I know you from somewhere, too."
"I'm serious!" Sara said. "Where have I seen you? You are so familiar. Your eyes..." she shook her head to clear the thoughts that she didn't understand.
"Hey, Sara, ya don't have to hit on him. I told you..."
"I'm not hitting on him." She looked back up at Bryan. "I'm sorry." she said. "I just... I'm not feeling too good."
"Are you okay?" Bryan asked. "You don't look too good. What happened to your neck?"
"Oh my gosh!" Jenna said seeing the bloodied bandage on her neck. "I didn't even see that! What happened, Sara?"
"Um, I don't know. I'm not sure, I...I just woke up like this. I don't know what happened. It hurts." She lowered her head and said, "I really have to go. I need to get some sleep."

More later...