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Young Writers Society



A Slight of Perception

by JC


Okay, so this is a short story to quiet the vampire within me. She's mad because We are the Flame sucks...so here's my attempt. Note to Reader: This is just how I want vampires to be made, it's my veiw on them. And I realize that when you read a lot of vampire books you develop a strick mindset as to what vampirism is like...BUT I would really appreciate it if you did not come to me and say, "That's not how it goes, ... this author say's so." Like I said, it's my thought, don't compare me to other vampire writer. Also, I have never read Anne Rice, or Dracula, or any other but vampire auther-y things. I don't want my perspection disfigured. Thanks. But I just got yelled at one of my friends for not understanding how vampires work. I would hate a repeat of that.

Enjoy! lol.

_________________________________________________

A Slight of Perception

Fangs dug into the space between my shoulder and neck earning a scream from me. A sharp pain shot down my body from the force of it. I felt trails of blood weaving their way down my body as I writhed in panic. The vampire continued, sucking blood and tearing at the flesh of my shoulder to bring the blood faster.

A cold numbness came to me, and a second later I knew why. I

felt something- some kind of liquid- come out of the monsters mouth and

enter me. It made it’s way through my bloodstream, trailing fire everywhere

it went. Or that’s how it felt.

I screamed again, panicking and scratching at the ground to get

away, but the vampire’s grip never yielded. Neither the cold or the numbing

did much to take away the feeling of fire bleeding into me. More stuff came

from the vampire’s mouth; knowing what would come from it I fought

harder.

Finally the vampire took his mouth away from my neck, blood

coated the lower half of his face and the pupils of his eyes were lost in pale

blue. Two serene orbs watched my eyes, the power of them pressing down

on me in such a real way I should have been scared.

I was cold, numb, on fire, bloody, and lost in the eyes of the

predator.

Though I wasn’t afraid of him; and that’s what scared me.

He stood up with me in his arms. My legs draped across one

arm, while my upper half rested against his shoulder. I dripped blood on

his white lace shirt.

The screaming had subsided with the calmness. He kept my

gaze as he walked further down the alley. We reached the door of a local

club known for vampires, and walked in.

The vampire boldly walked through the dancing people, none of

them even looked at us. It took me a second to realize that he had used

glamour to make me and my blood invisible.

Somewhere between the pulsing beats of the dance floor and a

bright white hallway I passed out.

***

I came to screaming. I was surrounded by darkness so

thorough that I could have poked myself in the eye and still not see my

finger.

The pain was back, without the cold or the numb it was like

thousands of iron-hot ants marching through my bloodstream. I writhed as

they circulated, marching on through me without a care.

The lid to whatever I was in opened, and light poured into the

coffin. I looked down at my arms, angry blue lines wove down my arm, I

soon recognized them as my veins. I watched as they grew darker, going

from blue, to purple, to maroon. A woman I didn’t know stuck something in

one of the dark lines, turned and said something to somebody. I was

screaming so loud I didn’t hear it or the reply.

I was dizzy again, and really tired. The lid closed and I was

asleep again.

It went on like this for what seemed like an eternity. I would

wake to the fire, look down and see the lines of blood as they began to

fade. The darkness lightened until I could almost clearly see my hands. I

was asleep less often, and the pain was lessening.

Finally my heart stopped beating. That night the lid to the coffin

crashed to the floor.

“Sylvie,” The woman I had known to put me to sleep

said, “Welcome to the new world.”

She extended one arm outward, to a room I never had a chance

to look at during my fire sleep.

I sat up and looked around. It was a normal room, white walls,

no furniture, except for the coffin I was in.

“Spiffy,” I said.

“Excuse me?” The woman asked.

“Nothing.” I shook out my arms and stretched my legs.

“I’m ready to go back to sleep,” I said, lying back down and

getting comfortable.

“Oh no,” the woman laughed, “You’re done sleeping, the

transformation is complete.”

I sat back up and looked around the room. Then I looked at

the woman.

Her skin was pale to the verge of translucent. From the right

angle I could see thin blue lines trailing over her. She was dressed in all

black. Thigh high killer spike boots that laced up, and a black silk button

up shirt. All of the black offset her skin and white-blond hair. Her eyes were

a clear lake blue. She was inhumanly beautiful. She was a vampire.

“Wha-what transformation?” I asked cautiously, unsure of

whether or not I wanted the answer. My heart was beating, and for some

reason, that felt very, very wrong.

“You’re a vampire now. I’m Lyssa, buy the way.”

I froze, looked down at my hands, the skin was lighter that it

had been before. I should have been able to see blue veins, but all I saw

were the tendons as my fingers moved.

I realize I hadn’t been breathing, but I didn’t feel short of

breath either.

“No,” I said quietly. “How could this have happened?”

With a jolt I remembered.

It was my best friends twenty-fifth birthday, we had gone to a

club to celebrate. A vampire club. We were all on the dance floor, a few of

us had found partners, but I was busy dancing to eyes across the room.

He was handsome, tall, shoulder length wavy black hair and

astonishingly pale blue eyes. I kept making contact with him as I wove and

swayed.

The memory skipped to us walking away from the building. His

arm was around me and I was laughing up a storm. I think I was drunk.

He stopped at an alley and looked down in, “I want to show you

something,” he said.

I laughed more and followed him.

“Sylvie,” the Lyssa said. She was shaking me lightly by the

shoulders. I realized I was lying down again. When did that happen?

“Where is he?” I growled.

“Where is who?”

“The jackass who did this, that’s who. I want to talk to him,

now!” I tried sitting up, but Lyssa’s hands on my shoulders stopped me.

“No,” she said, “You must remain calm. Trust me.”

“I want him ripped apart for this!” I continued to struggle

against her grip.

“If you keep this act up it will be you in his place.” Lyssa

seemed like there was no struggle in holding me down. I stopped thrashing

and stared up at her.

“Why?” I asked.

“Do you mean, why did he do that?” She asked.

“Yes.”

“That’s not my story to tell.”[/i]


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Mon Apr 07, 2008 7:06 pm
KJ wrote a review...



Hey. I realize that this is super old, and that's you're most likely done with it, but it was at the top of the list in Fantasy Fiction and I usually always comment on anything at the top. So here goes my extremely short critique:

This is pretty well-written. You have some great detail and description. The only thing I would change was how fast you began it all. We've had no idea of who the MC is, or what her background is.

Other than that, I enjoyed it.




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Mon Apr 07, 2008 12:50 pm
Swires wrote a review...



Fangs dug into the space between my shoulder and neck earning a scream from me. A sharp pain shot down my body from the force of it. I felt trails of blood weaving their way down my body as I writhed in panic. The vampire continued, sucking blood and tearing at the flesh of my shoulder to bring the blood faster.


A messy opening. "Earning" is far too detached, how can a bite earn a scream? A little far fetched description. I think you need to "zoom in the camera" as it were, immediately so we can taste sweat etc... Also starting on a high is always good but at this point I really don't care about your character because you've not introduced us or warmed the audience to (it).

Ok, I have read the rest of the piece but I have already found several flaws in the writing style (which is so different from your usual style, I don't know what has gone wrong here).


:arrow: You are simply listing. I did this, I did that, and sometimes your sentences are messy. "A numbness came to me..." its just cluttery - why not "I felt numb" or "My arms went limp" or something like that.

:arrow: The atmosphere hasn't been created at all, I feel nothing for your protagonist because you've thrown us right in, if there was perhaps a chase scene before - or maybe in the perspective of the vampire it could be a much better story.

:arrow: You start in present and end in past. Sort your tenses out. "Fangs dug..." present. "I passed out." Past. A very bad business. Select a tense and stick to it, I would choose past because you can go into so much more detail.



The second scene is loads better than the first in terms of style. Your vampires are unique, and I applaud you. But for your first scene you need to make the cliche "Vampire Attacks unsuspecting victim" much more defined and original.

Regards.




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Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:53 pm
JC says...



wow. This is such an old story...It almost hurts to read. hehe. Anyways, for those of you interested, the vampire in me has decided that I need to write an actual book, so it's called Evil Angel, and it's really soft vampirism, but I think it's good. I'll be posting the first chaper rather soon, so I hope you get around to reading it!




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Sun Apr 06, 2008 9:48 pm
ashleylee says...



I thought your perception of vampires was right on! I have no bad comments to make.

All I have to say is that I am on to part two!

Good Job :)




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Thu Jul 26, 2007 2:35 pm
Twit says...



This didn't read as easily as your other stuff, JC. The others all pointed out the main stuff. It was well written, but somewhat choppy in places.




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Wed Jul 25, 2007 2:57 pm
biancarayne wrote a review...



Fangs dug into the space between my shoulder and neck earning a scream from me.

The earning a scream thing sounds kind of awkward to me. The slight repetition of body is kind of distracting also. Also the repetition of blood, although I'm not entirely sure how that can be helped...

Two serene orbs watched my eyes, the power of them pressing down
on me in such a real way I should have been scared.

Serene and power seem kind of contradictory...I know what you mean I think, but serene makes me think of like a nice meadow in springtime, though it might just be me.


Though I wasn’t afraid of him; and that’s what scared me.

I'm not sure if the semi-colon is necessary, but don't listen to me on that, I'm not exactly the best punctuation person in the world.


I came to screaming.

Knew what you meant here to, but it did kind of confuse me at first...again, that might just be me.


The pain was back, without the cold or the numb it was like thousands of iron-hot ants marching through my bloodstream.

I'm pretty sure the punctuation in that one is off but again, don't take my word for it...

The lid to whatever I was in opened, and light poured into the
coffin.

Kind of sudden...maybe somehow hint that the character is in something before, because I thought the room was just dark.


I was dizzy again, and really tired. The lid closed and I was
asleep again.

More repetition that kind of interupts the flow of the story...

but I was busy dancing to eyes across the room.

Not sure what you meant by that...



But seriously, this was an awesome story, very intriguing and the imagery was vivid, the characters were awesome, and it kept me hooked throughout. Definitely a wonderful vampire story!




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Wed Jul 25, 2007 9:35 am
miyaviloves wrote a review...



This was great JC!!!

Magicman pointed out everything I could really see here, and I really like your descriptions. I always worry when I write Vampire stories that they will end up being cliche but I think you managed to avoid that so well done!

Nice names you used aswell :D

All the best,
Meevs
x




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Wed Jul 25, 2007 7:47 am
Black Ghost wrote a review...



Nice piece, JC! I really enjoyed your descriptions, they were very vivid. :D I found a few places that need fixing, but nothing too major.



A sharp pain shot down my body from the force of it. I felt trails of blood weaving their way down my body as I writhed in panic.


The repetition of body really breaks the flow here. The only reason I noticed it was because I felt a slight jerk as I read the second sentence. I think that's a good indication. :wink:

I was cold, numb, on fire, bloody, and lost in the eyes of the
predator.


on fire, seems a bit off here, really. How can you be cold and numb, and on fire? This creates a jumbled image, and what you need to strive for is vividness, which means you need to strip this sentence down to one image, not several. A bunch of adjectives strung together doesn't always make for vivid.

I looked down at my arms, angry blue lines wove down my arm, I soon recognized them as my veins.
\

Again, I felt that slight jerk as I read this part, because of the repetition. Which is a shame, because the "angry blue lines" part really is a beatiful description, and captures the vividness that brings a story to life. Rework this sentence, so that the main description takes center stage.

A woman I didn’t know stuck something in
one of the dark lines, turned and said something to somebody.


This sentence also felt a little...weird, for some reason. I think it might be because it sounds a bit vagues because you use something, something, and somebody. Try to replace a couple of those.

I was dizzy [s]again[/s], and really tired. The lid closed and I was
asleep again.


If you take out the first "again" this bit sounds better.

“That’s not my story to tell.”[/i]


Not sure if you wanted it italisized, or it that's just a bit of random button pushing. :P

Again, I thought this was really good, and once you clean it up a bit, it will really shine through. :D


MM





It is better to deserve honors and not have them than to have them and not deserve them.
— Mark Twain