Young Writers Society

See, you must understand that being a vampire really isn’t all that glamorous. Its a difficult life for us and most people just think of us as a bunch of gothic freaks. That only goes for the people who actually think that vampires exist. Now, how are you going to tell me that vamps don’t exist when I am standing there with fresh crimson blood dripping from my fangs? It just doesn’t make sense. And all of those movies about vampires, like 30 Days of Night, they aren’t exactly correct. Have those director’s eyes ever seen a true vampire? We aren’t ugly like that and our eyes aren’t dark. Me, well I’m actually a very beautiful vampire, in a macabre sense. I have long black hair (but its natural) and sparkling green eyes. How gory and scary is that? And some of those books, like that Vampire Knight book, drive me insane. Vampire slaying guns? Do you honestly think that is possible? I do give that book some points cause of the whole pure blood thing. I am a thryce. You probably don’t even know what that is because we are never in the spotlight. All it means was that I’ve been bitten by vampires three times, and then I turned. And I think its time that a thryce explained her story. I am Kathryn, but I prefer to go by Thryn....

It was the year 1993 when I was born. My mother was a good mom, from what I can remember. I didn’t really know her. One day when I was around three years old she told me that she need fire wood. I didn’t think much of it, because I was only three and my brain didn’t really analyze things the way that it does today and she was always going to get fire wood. We lived in a cottage in the forest that was miles away from any other civilization. I never knew why we lived so far out, but we did. So, my mother left the house. About an hour went by and I grew curious. At three years old, the forest seemed gigantic. The trees always seemed to be waiting to grab me up and just devour me whole, tear me limb from limb, and leave my rotting carnage just lying there on the wet earth. I walked outside of my home and I saw something red glittering in the sunshine. It looked like a beautiful ruby and I couldn’t imagine what I had just stumbled upon.

“Oh lovely day, oh lovely day!! I have found something. Mom!” I danced toward the red spot on the mossy ground.

I looked at it. It didn’t look like anything that I had ever seen before. I bent down and looked at it. It was a slightly translucent liquid, but it seemed thick. The color was just so amazing and it looked wonderful. I was delighted to have found something this great. At my age, I had a weird habit of tasting almost everything I came across. I let my index finger just barely taste the substance. Then with a quick movement, I licked my finger clean.

“Tastes salty, sweet, irony.”

This new liquid had the most phenomenal taste. I love it. I quickly cleaned up all of it that I had found. My chin was covered in it. I had absolutely no idea what it was, but I wanted more. Suddenly, I heard a twig snap behind me. A gentle hand rested upon my shoulder.

“Mum, what took you so long?” I asked without looking up.

“Oh child, I am not your mum,” an enchanting voice replied in a very soothing yet assertive tone.

I turned my head around quickly. This person standing there was evil looking. She had something dripping down her face.

“I see you have drank your mother’s blood. Good child.”

And with that the woman snatched me up. She carried me off to some place that I have no recollection of. The only thing that I can vividly remember was my mother’s dead and limp body laying on a boulder. Her neck was savagely ripped apart. The same red liquid which I had enjoyed was laying around her in a perfect pattern almost like angel wings. I cringed at the sight of her death, but I really didn’t too much though. I was too busy being transported by some scary woman with gigantic teeth.

I woke up the next day in a strange hut that was filled with the most awful stench my nostrils have ever inhaled. The creepy woman was just sitting there watching me.

“Did you like that substance which you drank in the forest?”

“Uh-huh. I’d like more please.”

“Do you know what it is?”

“No, but I should like to.”

“You should like to. It is blood, darling.”

“Blood, what is that?”

“It is the thing that keeps you alive.”

“Oh. I like it.”

“I do too. Isn’t that funny.”

The woman grabbed me once again with a firm hand. Her hands were strong, yet very slender. I felt her cold, spine chilling breaths touching my neck. I didn’t think to panic because I had no clue what was going on. I wish that someone would have video taped this experience because I don’t remember all of it. I just sat there stiff and motionless as she bit my neck. It was a horrifying feeling, but some part of me thought it was entertaining. I giggled.

“Ha. The child is a third of the way there.”

“To where? Where are we going?”

“Oh, darling, we aren’t going anywhere. It was unfortunate that your mother wasn’t as cooperative as you were. It was fabulous though, her blood I mean. That which you drank, wasn’t it amazing?”

“Oh yes.”

I touched my neck where she had bit me. There was still some blood on the surface. I took my hand and wiped it off and then licked it. That was the first time I had ever tasted my own blood. And I liked it more than my mothers.

The woman’s name was Maria, and she raised me from the age of 3 till a few days ago when I left her house because she was really creeping me out. Maria was my ‘mother’ as she called it and said that I was a prodigy. Now, I am fifteen and I have learned an awful lot since Maria first bit me.

1) Maria is a pureblood vampire meaning that her mother and father were both vampires.

2) Maria needs blood to survive (as does any other vampire).

3) Maria thought I was a vampire the day she saw me sitting in the woods drinking blood.

4) Maria has bitten me once.

5) This is the most horrifying thing of all: Maria killed my mother because she wanted me to be her ‘daughter’.

I do suppose that Maria was a good mom, other than the fact that she let her boyfriend bite me and her brother as well. But that's another story that I do need to explain. She let me listen to all of the good ‘emo’ music for all of you stereotypers. I quickly became obsessed with From First to Last, and now I am really thinking that my teen angst will most definitely have a body count.

Maria’s boyfriend, Rossi, was just your typical guy. He fell in love with Maria at a young age and she liked him too. Maria was a pureblood, but had her genes altered so that she would stay 21 for her immortal life. I still don’t know how all of the alteration stuff goes, but somehow they scramble up your DNA, and you are that age. Oh, but that only goes for pure bloods. Rossi was 19 when they first met and Maria was 21. They dated for two years and Maria was still 21. Rossi began to grow suspicious. He wondered why Maria always panicked near churches.

“Rossi, I love you with all of my heart,” Maria explained.

It took a lot for Maria to say something. I do believe that this was truly something that came from the bottom of her cold and twisted heart.

“Maria, I feel like there is something you are failing to tell me.”

“There is.”

Maria went through the long and drawn out story of how her mother was from a long line of vampires and so was her father. They fell in love, and blah, blah, blah. For some reason, I remembered this story for a long time.

“I want to be with you always, Maria,” Rossi said.

That was his way of saying, “Dear Maria Count Me In.” He had just given her permission to bite him. She did, actually three times.

He sat there and screamed like a little girl. It was funny watching him change from mortal to immortal. He squirmed around and then he just sat there with a smile on his face. The whole vampire love thing was creepy. I was only 13 when this all happened, so I wasn’t all that hip to some relationship things because Maria sort of kept me sheltered.

“Rossi, you’ll need to take blood fast or, huh, I know this sounds funny, you’ll die.”

There were only three people in the house. It was me (the human), Maria (the vampire), and Rossi (the blood thirsty vampire). Rossi couldn’t bite Maria because he didn’t know the proper way to take another vampire’s blood without killing them.

It probably seems weird to hear that vampires can die. If they don’t have blood within 5 minutes after they are turned, its over. If they don’t have blood at least once every two days, they die. There are some other ways, but those were the most important at the moment.

Rossi had absolutely no clue how to bite someone. I laughed at him. He was an idiot. Maria’s brother came busting into the house.

“Aye Ross. Why are you messin with Thryn?”

“Who is Thryn?”

“The girl who you are attempting to bite. She has a name you know. You and Maria just refuse to acknowledge that.”

I had always liked Maria’s brother, Jae. He was perpetually sixteen and he was the coolest person that I knew at the time. Jae made sure to get to know me, but know I know he had an ulterior motive.

“Lemme show you how its done!” Jae said.

My trust for him became smaller. I couldn’t believe what he was going to do.

“Now Jae, you must wait. If you bite her and then Rossi bites her, she’ll be thirteen forever. You don’t want your precious Thryn to be thirteen. I told you, fifteen,” Maria said with a motherly tone.

Jae let me go and Rossi began to drink my blood. It wasn’t the most pleasant experience because he still didn’t know what he was doing. Something inside of me felt different. It was odd. My heart started to beat faster and faster.

For the first time in my life, I began to feel what love was. There was something about Jae that was mysterious. I liked it. I actually wanted him to drink my blood.

My fifteenth birthday rolled around eventually and the only thing that I got was to be turned into a vampire by Jae. It was kind of an odd birthday present, but in some way it was also very loving. He just made a promise to be with me forever.

The turning itself was very odd and I’d prefer not to talk about it at all. It was miserable, but sadly I think it was well worth it. Its one of those situations where you put up a mental block and hope to never have to deal with it again. Being a vampire isn’t the same as choosing to block out someone because they call you a name. There is no way to escape being a vampire.

That show Moonlight is about the stupidest show ever. There isn’t a vampire that is like him. His eyes get all freaky and he looks ugly. I’m not saying that all vampires are as extremely glamorous as I am. He is just his own type. There isn’t a cure like that either. Its not that simple. The whole thing is just so odd.

Like I said earlier, I think that when Jae turned me, it was purely an act of love. If you’ve ever seen the movie “Perfume” you’ll see that when the main character is devoured by a group of cannibalistic peasants they think it is loving. It is much the same situation, its just I am no where near dead.

Many people think that vampires are the “living dead”. That is an oxymoron! We can’t be alive and dead at the same time. Vampires are very much alive. So what if we like black and some of us have the power to summon bats. Big deal. I bet that half of the people in the world could train a bat and it would come to them. I myself am not talented in that department, but I don’t really care.

Well, I’ve already gotten you caught up to about today. So from now on, the stuff that I write is basically journal entries. There are plenty of things swirling around in my mind to talk about. Like Rossi, Maria, and especially Jae. And more importantly how I plan to seek revenge on Maria for the day she killed my mother. It makes me think of the MCR song “Its Not A Fashion Statement, Its a Death wish”

For what you did to me,

And what I'll do to you,

You get, what everyone else gets,

You get a lifetime!

Let's go!

Do you remember that day when we met

You told me this gets harder

Well it did!

Been holding on forever,

Promise me that when I'm gone you'll kill my enemies,

The damage you've inflicted temporary wounds

I'm coming back from the dead and I'll take you home with me

I'm taking back the life you stole

We never got that far,

This helps me to think all through the night

Bright lights that, won't kill me now, or tell me how

Just you and I, your starless eyes remain.

Hip Hip Hooray for me, you talk to me, but would you kill me in my sleep

Lay still like the dead

From the razor to the rosary

We could lose ourselves

And paint these walls in pitchfork red

I will avenge my ghost with every breath I take

I'm coming back from the dead and I'll take you home with me

I'm taking back the life you stole

This hole that you put me in

Wasn't deep enough

And I'm climbing out right now

You're running out of places to hide from me

When you go

Just know that I will remember you

If living was the hardest part

We'll then one day be together

And in the end we'll fall apart

Just as the leaves changing colors

And then I will be with you

I will be there one last time now

When you go

Just know that I will remember you

I lost my fear of falling

I will be with you

I will be with you

March 29, 2008

Sometimes I find myself thinking that being a vampire is the worst thing ever and then I see all kinds of internet posts about how people wish they were vampires and whatever. Its sort of lame. I don’t really think that everyone realizes that its not all fun and games.

I can’t even handle one second of ultraviolet light. My skin just burns off as if someone was pouring acid all over it. Some vampires have a higher tolerance for sunlight than others. Maria said that its because the vampire who turned me was a pure blood with a high sensitivity to sunlight. But I can go out in the daylight. I just have to b covered up. And I do go to a normal school.

Most vampires just attend school for the fun of it. Personally, I go because I don’t really have anything better to do. I just sit there and hope that nobody does anything stupid. If they did, I’d probably end up erasing their memories.

No one knows about my immortal state except for the vampire society. Its kind of a given that all of the others know. I don’t have any friends at school, so I don’t have to worry that much. Most people just think that I am gothic and leave me alone.

For that reason, I hate stereotyping. It is just so hurtful and wrong.

Why does Jae always have to play his music so loud?

I forgot to mention that after I left Maria and Rossi’s house, Jae had me move in with him because I have no other family. Maria was just too creepy. She began to draw pictures of my mother’s dead body and I just couldn’t handle that sort of thing. “Jae!” I screamed over the blaring Chiodos.

“Yes my love?”

Jae had begun talking like he was some proper gentleman after he turned me. He said that something inside of him reacted to the taste of my blood. I didn’t bother to ask what it really was.

“Can you please turn down the music?”

“Let me embrace you with this kiss and together we’ll float like angels.”

“Turn down the music.”

Jae could be very irritating sometimes. It seemed as if all he wanted was a relationship. I just wanted a somewhat normal life.

“What are you writing?”

“Oh just a scheme for Maria. You know....” I explained.

I sat there and wondered if the song that Jae kept playing over and over had a significance to us. Will the words ‘best friends’ become redefined?

April 6, 2008

I was just trying to lead a normal life and watch some television on Friday night and I was watching Bravo TV and the UK version of Make Me a Supermodel was on. In one of their shoots they were dressed up as vampires. Why do people always think that vampires wear lots of eye makeup and always walk around with their fangs showing? I don’t really wear too much eye makeup, and Jae certainly doesn’t wear eye makeup

Maria tried to call me earlier, but I let it go to voice mail. I am still constructing an evil plan to kill her. In all honesty, it really isn’t easy to destroy a vampire. I had thought of some ideas, but sometimes I still think like a human. The only thing I can think of is to show her Jae’s ultra violet lamps that he keeps in the basement (hmm.....). Jae is completely tolerant to the UV rays so all is well.

“Thryn?” Jae yelled from the other room.

“Huh?”

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“Maria wants to talk to you!”

“Nope. Tell her I don’t wanna.”

Secretly, I did want to talk to Maria, but I wasn’t ready to confront her about how she savagely killed my mother. Its one of those never forget, never forgive situations. Only I don’t know which part of the phrase is supposed to come first, but that didn’t matter. Technicalities aside, she was a murderer and she’d turned me into a killer.

Well, I’m not really a killer. You could say that the fifty or so lifeless bodies I’ve left behind in the past week are just sleeping. Its different because its my life, and their death.

I really hate the word death. Its so overrated. All of those ‘emo’ kids think they are so cool by cutting themselves and making themselves bleed. Do they really now how precious blood is?

And the term ‘emo’ is probably my least favorite word. If you think a kid with fringe in their face wearing band t-shirts and skinny jeans is emo, well then you got a problem. Emo is just short emotional. If something weren’t emotional, what would it be? A person with out emotion is useless. There is no happiness, joy, sadness, or love. They are just there. Kind of like Maria. And if music weren’t emotional, no one would listen to it. So, how emo are you now?

“You can’t avoid Maria forever,” Jae said as he walked into the room, “She really didn’t mean to hurt you, ever.”

“Tsk. She did. But I’m over it. I have you now.”

“What? I don’t think that there is really anything between us, other than the fact that I’ve been attracted to you for years.”

“Shut up. You are really an asshole sometimes.”

“I know and that’s why you love me.”

It was sad, but true. I did love Jae because of his attitude. It was cute and beguiling.

“Hahaha.”

“Thryn, do you love me?”

“Yes.”

“Will you learn to love me?”

I smacked him.

“Ouch. That hurt.”

“Want me to kiss it to make it feel better?” I asked.

“Hmm....yes.”

April 28, 2008

I keep replaying all of those events in my head. Everything is a swirling chaotic mess and I don’t even know what I’ve done. I regret it more than anything.

“Thryn? Are you okay?”

I looked down at the blood splattered floor. Maria’s perfectly pomegranate colored blood coated the carpeting. I looked at the knife that was in my clenched hand. I slowly released my fingers and laid the dagger down beside her. She exhaled one final time. I felt myself smiling somewhat.

“Jae, I’m soooo sorry. I swear I didn’t mean it.”

“Thryn. Please stop.”

“No, I won’t.”

I felt sorry for what I’d just done. I couldn’t believe that I had killed Maria. I put my finger in the blood. It had a weird texture, unlike anything that I had ever felt before. I stared at Jae and then realized how much I’d just hurt the person that I truly loved and cared for. I picked back up the knife. Hang on a second. I’d just murdered a vampire with a knife. That wasn’t supposed to be possible. Maria was dead.

“Jae. How did I just kill Maria if she was immortal?”

“Oh my god. I just noticed that myself.”

“But she’s dead.”

“I know. What the hell just happened?”

“Jae I’m not really sure.”

I took the knife and put one horizontal slash into my wrist. Blood started to gush forward from the spot.

“Thryn you need to stop this.”

I looked down at all of the blood and looked at Jae. He moved in closer towards me and I drove the knife straight into his heart.

I knew that stabbing him in the heart would do absolutely no good.

“Its not going to do any good to physically break my heart when you’ve already emotionally torn it in two.”

“Jae, I’m not going to listen to what you have to say.”

“This is ridiculous. It doesn’t help to cut yourself or stab me. It won’t kill us. We aren’t human. You need help.”

“I don’t need help. I’m perfectly normal. Other than the fact that I’m a vampire and I don’t even know why or how. I have you to blame for it.”

“But I love you.”

“I just murdered your sister. How can you love a monster like me?”

“Oh, you’ve heard me listen to Chiodos enough. They say that all women will eventually become monsters. You aren’t a monster either. What Maria did to you was wrong and uncalled for. She should never have messed with you or your family. She was the real monster.”

“Thanks. Chiodos also says that this was probably the worst idea not to mention the best that I have ever had.”

“Don’t be so hard on yourself. You did what you thought was right.”

“I don’t understand how you can love me. I’m so messed up.”

“Because I’ve always loved you. Maria kept us from being together and know you’ve removed her from the picture completely.”

“So you aren’t mad that I killed her?”

“Uh, I guess so. I just hope you can handle Rossi.”

I didn’t even consider what Rossi would do to me once he found out that I’d killed Maria. The only reason he was a vampire was because of his love for her. I’d just crushed everything he had.

“Oh shit. He’s home.”

I looked at the front door and then the dead body on the floor.

“Thryn, come with me.”

“Take that dagger from your chest.”

He did. He winced as he pulled it out of his heart.

“What are we going to do?”

“Make it seem like a vampire slayer killed her.”

“Okay.”

I put all of my trust into him. I had to. I had no other options. Jae grabbed my hand firmly and we ran out of the back door. He knew exactly where to run to.

“Jae, thank you.”

He moved in closer to me and kissed me. I smiled.

“No time for this now. We need to get out of here.”

“Okay, whatever you say.”

We ran as fast as we could to his car. I could hear Rossi’s screams as we ran farther.

Jae and I hopped into the car and he put the keys in the ignition. We sped off as fast as we could.

Jae parked the car in an old motel parking lot. I looked around. The ground was coated with a perfect blanket of fresh white snow.

“Where the hell are we?”

“Far, far away from Rossi.”

We’d been in the car for a whole day and a half. I had no clue where we were.

“I promise, we’ll be safe here. I’ll protect you.”

I knew that he meant every word that he was saying. I could see it in his eyes. He did care about me. I knew that he did.

“I love you.”

“I know you have for a long time now.”

I laughed. He got out of the car. We walked into the motel lobby.

“I need a room for one night.”

“One room?”

“Yes, one room.”

“Do you have ID, sir?”

“Yep.”

He handed the woman his ID and she booked us a room. I looked at him. He’d just booked us a one bed room. I panicked silently.

“Okay, thank you for booking a room with us, Mr.--”

“Mr. Tamberlin,” Jae added.

“Thank you.”

We went back out to the car and then he parked it closer to the room. He smirked as we walked into the room without any luggage. We looked like a couple of kids who were going to a hotel to do something.

“We are gonna need to go buy some clothes.”

“Whatever.”

He giggled uncontrollably.

“What is so funny?”

“You are funny.”

I laughed with him. He unlocked the room. It smelled like twenty year old cigarettes. And looked like someone swallowed the sixties and threw it up in one place. It was the most disgusting room I’d ever set foot into.

“Do you think that Rossi called the police?”

“No. He couldn’t risk it. They’d know that Maria was a vampire if he did. He couldn’t jeopardize everything that the vampires had worked so hard to protect all of these years. The whole community of us would have to kill him then.”

“Oh, he would have to hire one of those vampire detectives then.”

“Yeah, but even if he did, they would never suspect you. It doesn’t look like another vampire killed her.”

“I’m not too worried. I have you.”

“Good.”

We sat down on the nasty hotel bed. It stunk so badly. I pinched my nose.

“This smells like rotten death.”

“You’ll get over it.”

I knew that I’d get over the awful stench. I looked at him blankly and wondered why he was being so nice. I was a murderer after all. He could have just as easily reported me to the cops or done some thing for revenge because I killed his sister, but he didn’t do any of that. He stayed calm.

“Jae.”

“What Thryn?”

“Thank you. I mean it. You could have done something back there. You could have made me face Rossi. You didn’t have to protect me and take me hours away from all of it.”

“Why don’t we just pretend like none of it ever happened? That would be so much easier. I already told you that I wasn’t mad because you did that. She savagely killed your mother. Maria didn’t mean anything to me any ways. She was just my sister.”

“I’m so glad that you feel that way. And I’m sorry that I stabbed you. That was really uncalled for.”

“Yeah, it was. It doesn’t do any good, but I still don’t understand how you killed her.”

“I know. I did the exact same thing to her that I did to you, and you are still here talking to me.”

“Oh my god, you are right.”

“The only possible thing is that she was sick.”

“She must have been really sick if it affected her immortality.”

“That’s true, but she’s dead.”

“I know. Let’s not get too concerned about it.”

I sat there thinking about Maria had said a few months ago. She had been talking about trying to find a cure for being a vampire. Maria had told Rossi that she wanted to do something good for once. She knew that many thryces had no desire to be vamps, so she wanted to make something that would reverse the curse.

“Wait. She said something to Rossi about wanting to find a cure.”

“I did hear her mention that a few times. Do you think she tried one of the remedies on herself?”

“She might have.”

“We need to get whatever it is from the house then. We can’t leave something that potent just laying around. You never know what Rossi will do with something like that.”

“Yeah, but what can he really do?”

“Wipe out the entire vampire community.”

“He could really do that?”

“Sure, if he mass produced it and then somehow managed to leak it into the air we breath. The positive is that we wouldn’t die from it, we’d just become normal human beings. It couldn’t do anything that bad. We’d just have to be a lot more careful. We’d have no power to summon bats or fly or anything like that anymore. We’d be so normal it would almost be scary.”

“I know. I don’t know what I’d be able to do. At least I’d seriously be able to get a tan.”

“You always manage to see thinks positively.”

“The thing is that I’m not a pureblood, so I do know what it is like to be completely human. I kinda think I’m liking being a vamp.”

“Why?”

“Because if Rossi doesn’t make the cure go air born, I’ll be able to spend the rest of the world with you. And we’ll be this young forever.”

“Won’t that just be great? This age for all of eternity. I can just imagine it now.”

“The only bad thing is we are never going to be able to legally drink. Well technically.”

“I know. Its funny. Someone could have been turned when they were 7, but they are really seven hundred something.”

“That’s actually pretty cool when you think about it.”

“Yeah, it is.”

I laid down completely on the bed. He did the same thing. He glanced over at me.

“Okay, I don’t think I’m gonna be able to lay on this bed. It smells too much. Lemme take you shopping!” Jae squealed.

“Is there even a mall around here? And do you even have money?”

“There is a mall 5 miles down the road and I have a credit card.”

“That works for me!”

We walked out of the motel and he drove us to the mall. It was one of the first times I’d been to the mall in a few years. I did most of my shopping online ever since I’d been turned. It was easier and it didn’t require me to face the public.

“You know what stores you wanna go to?”

“Uh-huh.”

I grabbed his hand. He looked at it funny. Then he better positioned his hand to hold mine. His hands were so much bigger than mine that it made holding hands sort of awkward.

“Let’s skip!”

“Jae, people will think we are retards.”

“I don’t care what they think.”

We started skipping through the mall corridors. People turned their heads to look at us. I guess it was a little odd to see two kids wearing all black skipping and laughing, but we didn’t care. Just because we wear black doesn’t mean we aren’t allowed to have fun. People just have to make all sorts of assumptions about us. I hate that so much. We walked up to Hot Topic and went in.

I hadn’t been in that store for ages. I looked around.

“Let’s make a deal.”

“What Thryn?”

“You pick all of the clothes for me, and I’ll pick all of the clothes for you!”

“Okay. Nothing too crazy.”

“That goes for you too then.”

“Whatever. You always shoot down all of my plans.”

I laughed and immediately went off shopping. I’d been wanting to give him a wardrobe makeover since I met him. He needed one in the worst way. His clothes weren’t too bad, but he could use some style tips. He was so skinny that he needed to stop wearing those Tripp pants and wear some skinny jeans! I went over to the rack and grabbed a few brightly colored pairs.

I could see him picking out T-shirts and things like that. I think he realized that I was only picking girls clothes for him.

“Hey Thryn! I’m not a cross-dresser!”

“I know. You’ll look good in these!”

“Okay.”

We both got back to shopping and our piles grew bigger and bigger.

“Would you like me to start a fitting room for both of you?”

“Me, I’m done. And all of this is for him.”

“Okay. Let me take all of this.”

“Jae, get yourself in that dressing room!”

“Here is your stuff, Thryn.”

I walked into the dressing room.

“Uh Thryn?”

“What Jae?”

“There is another girl waiting to try stuff on.”

“Okay, share the room with me then.”

“Oh yeah!”

I opened the curtain and he brought in his huge pile of clothes. I’d always wanted to be a personal shopper. We both tried on everything. Jae did a really good job of picking clothes that fit me and that looked good on me. I could tell that he was really trying. He looked skeptical as he held up all of the skinny pants, but he tried them on anyway.

“Whoa. I never thought I’d be able to wear girl’s pants!”

“Ha. They look really good on you.”

“Thanks for making me try them on.”

We wound up spending way too much money, but Jae didn’t care. He was too caught up in the moment. He was just too happy. I was too.

The mall was one of the funnest things that I’d ever done with Jae. He proved himself to be a good friend. Running around a shopping center made me feel normal again and I didn’t bother to think about Rossi and how he’d want to kill me if he knew. Jae and I drove back to the crappy hotel and put all of our new things in the bags.

“Thryn, that was really fun.”

“Yeah, it was. We should do stuff like that more often.”

“We should. Do you mind if I put the news on for a few minutes?”

“Nope.”

He snatched the remote from the bedside table and put on the local news.

The news person said, “We have an interesting developing story that is just coming in. Earlier this week a woman was murdered in her home and found dead. The woman was slain in her living room and her killer was no where to be found. Her age was seemingly about 32, but when she was identified as Maria Tamberlin her birth certificate showed that she was actually 214. The autopsy showed that Tamberlin was none other than a fabled ‘vampire’. Cops have alerted the local people to be aware of anything that seems strange or out of place. We’ll keep you posted on any new updates that we receive. We have a video clip from the man who found her.”

The screen changed to a video of Rossi crying. I hoped that he didn’t know it was me, but I had some strange feeling that he did.

“Oh shit!”

“What Jae?”

“He knows. You didn’t hear the last thing he said?”

“Nope. I was trying to not pay attention to him.”

“He said ‘All Nerids Beware’. He knows it was us. He wouldn’t have made that comment if he didn’t know.”

“Okay. Fine. Its going to be fine.”

“Thryn, he told the cops. Its not going to be fine.”

“Just lets not get all freaked out right now. We have to think about how we are going to make sure that we keep away from him. We can’t risk him knowing where we are. Its a good thing that we got new clothes, but we are going to need to change our look some more.”

“Wha--”

“Just your hair.”

I looked at him and he fixed his bangs.

“No, I like my hair way too much.”

“And you are saying you like your hair more than you like me?”

“No.”

“Just the color.”

I grabbed the car keys from the table by the bed.

“Where do you think you are going?

“To buy us some hair color.”

“What color for me?”

“Its a suprise.”

I’d been wanting to color my hair for a long time, but never thought it was necessary. I just thought it would be a waste of my time, considering I’d have to bleach it because I have naturally black hair. Now, the situation was different. I needed to do this. I walked out of the hotel room and found a beauty supply store. I bought some bleach and a few cans of Manic Panic.

I bought “Vampire Red” for myself and “Midnight Blue” for Jae. I was laughing to myself as the woman behind the counter said, “Vampire, huh. Did you hear about that vampire woman who was killed? This is a pretty macabre color. Does your mom know what you are buying?”

I drove back to the motel with my hair color products.

“Come ‘ere. I got you dark blue. I thought that it would suit you well.”

“Thryn, I’m blonde.”

“Yeah, that means we don’t have to bleach out your hair first.”

“Oh shit.”

“Stop it. This stuff is fine. I have friends who’ve used it all the time. Its safe.”

I looked at him and motioned for him to come into the bathroom with me. I opened up the jar of color and read the directions. I slapped the gooey blue stuff onto his head and worked it into his hair. I hoped that I was doing it right.

“Just sit there and let this stuff soak in or whatever it needs to do.”

“Okay. I’m anxious to see how yours is gonna turn out.”

I laughed and kicked him out of the bathroom. I couldn’t figure out how to do it if he was standing there watching me. I opened up the box of bleach and put it on my hair. When I washed my hair, it was as white as the snow that had been falling earlier. I cringed at it as I looked in the mirror. The beautiful and shiny black hair was completely gone. I couldn’t take it. I opened up the can of red and put it on. I looked at myself in the mirror as the color was processing. I liked the red I’d picked though.

I stared at my new reflection in the mirror. It was shockingly different.

“Thryn!?”

“What Jae? Hang on a sec.”

I walked out of the bathroom to find him laying on the bed watching Spongebob.

“Whoa. You look so different. Its beautiful. Its like the color of blood.”

He smiled widely.

“Thankies. I’m pretty happy with the outcome of it.”

“Well just be assured that I love it and you’d look pretty with any hair style.”

“Uh, thanks. I need to go back out and buy a straightener though.”

“Okay. I’ll go with you. Lemme change.”

He rummaged around in his shopping bag and grabbed a hot pink pair of pants and a Chiodos T-shirt.

“Is this Jeffree Star enough for you?”

“Eh, the blue hair sorta ruins it.”

“But you get the point.”

“Uh-huh.”

I put on some clothes.

“You look amazing.”

“Aren’t you just full of compliments.”

“I am. Lets go get you that straightener so that you can finish your hair.”

“You are the greatest.”

We went and got a straightener and ended up buying a few more things before returning to the hotel. I fixed my hair and then Jae put the news on again. I sat there and watched in agony, expecting to see Rossi’s face on the television. I didn’t. I hoped that he wasn’t busy tracking the two of us down because if he was, he’d probably end up finding us. Vampires have good skills at tracking down their prey. Its just something that we are given. We can smell a particular victim’s blood from miles and miles away. If Rossi knew that it was me, he could sniff out my blood in a second. It all depended on what sort of mood he was in at the moment.

“What do you think about that book Twilight, Thryn?”

I didn’t feel like answering Jae, but I honestly thought that book was stupid. It just seemed retarded and gave people a false image of a vampire. If you say vampire, they’ll think of Edward Cullen and be like, “Oh he’s hot.” How would they know that a fictional character is hot? Now, if Gerard Way was Edward Cullen, then I’d agree. Edward Cullen is just somebody’s imagination. I doubt that author has ever seen a vampire, because if she had, she’d have made Edward and Jacob different. She’d have made at least one of them like Jae.

“Thryn?”

“Oh, I was just thinking. Its good, I suppose.”

“Yeah, it gets crazy good reviews.”

“Uh huh.”

“You want me to leave you alone or something?”

“Yeah.”

Jae stopped talking and I laid down and fell asleep pondering my deepest thoughts and singing “Durch Den Monsun” to myself.

I woke up to Jae nudging me.

“Huh?”

“Thryn. I think he’s here. I can smell his blood.”

“Who?”

“Rossi.”

“Oh my god.”

“Don’t panic though. I’ll handle it.”

“Jae, you don’t have to do anything for me.”

“I killed her, not you.”

“But I’ll take the blame.”

“I won’t let you do that.”

“Well I wouldn’t let you tell him that you did it. I can’t let that happen to you.”

“And you want me to spend the rest of eternity without you?”

“No. But I don’t want to be without you.”

“Either way, one of us will end up lonely.”

“Yeah. But I don’t want that.”

“I’d rather be the one who dies.”

“And leave me here all alone?”

“I guess if that's what its going to take to save you, then yes.”

I sat there in an enraged panic. I didn’t want Jae to die for me. I knew that killing him wasn’t going to be that easy, but that wasn’t necessarily the point. If Rossi found the cure that Maria had made, he could slip it to Jae and then slowly and painfully kill him. I knew that Jae was doing it because he loved me, but I made up my mind that I would find that ‘cure’ and kill myself if he died. That was all there is to it.

Jae and I sat on the bed, his arms around me. I was shaking as I heard someone pounding their fist on the door.

“Jae and Thryn, I know you are in there!”

Rossi had found us and had arrived at the hotel. I winced.

“Its going to be alright,” Jae did his best to reassure me.

I smiled and looked him straight in the eyes.

“I said open up this damn door.”

“Rossi! Chill. Thryn isn’t here. Its just me, Jae. I’m going to be opening the door.”

He turned to me and whispered, “Go hide in the closet. Don’t make any noise no matter what happens. I don’t care. Just please stay silent. And know that I love you.”