The Vampire Ball- A Short Story

Welcome reader, this is the story about how one winter night in Chicago forever changed my life. You see, ever since I was seventeen years old, I felt drawn to Chicago and wanted to visit badly. Why Chicago? I didn't really know other than the fact that I believed it was spiritually "calling" to me. That I was just meant to go. This story starts on one late Saturday afternoon, eight- fifteen on July eighth, twenty twenty four to be exact.

***

I walked out of the shadows of the entrance doorway and into the dimly lit, smokey ballroom. It was extremely spacious and filled with many people, mostly young adults, who were wearing vampiric styled outfits. Rock music played loudly over the ceiling speakers. The floors were made of what appeared to be polished black marble and the walls were a ghostly white. On the front wall, there was a huge mosaic of bright red and crimson stained glass. Hanging above everything was a large black chandelier. Along the walls sat entrances to various places such as an arcade, a bowling alley, and even an ice arena. There was so much to explore, but wanted to try and make some friends to adventure along with. So I looked over to the bar. There was one empty seat at the end next to a man with short curly brown hair, a leather jacket, and black jeans. I stood in place, hesitating whether I wanted to sit next to him or not. It's not that he gave me bad vibes, actually, it was the opposite. It's almost as if a golden aura enshrouded his body. I built up the courage and started walking towards the man. Once I made it over to the bar, I took a seat on one of the red stools. I turned my head to look at the man beside me. He instantly did the same. The man was wearing bright red contacts and looked to be in his mid 20s. He was a goregous guy with black stud earrings, long eyelashes, and thick black eyebrows. His demeanor was intimidating, I won't lie, but also so charming. I opened my mouth to say hello but before I could speak, the bartender approached me.

" What can I get for ya?" questioned the woman wearing black dress pants and a dark red blouse. She had a blonde ponytail, amber eyes, and heavy blush covering her cheeks and the tip of her nose.

" Do you have any Twisted Tea, just the original kind?" I asked, putting my elbows on the table and putting my hands together.

" Yep, how many do ya want?" The bartender questioned.

" Just one," I responded.

" Alright," the woman reached into the large black refrigerator and pulled out a can of Twisted Teas. She set it down on the counter in front of me.

" Thanks," I gave the bartender a small smile.

" Of course hun," the blonde woman smiled back. Once the woman walked away I looked to the man once again.

" Hey," I greeted, taking a gulp of my Twisted Tea.

" Hello, how are you doing tonight?" the man asked, a bright and curious look on his face.

" Its going good. How about you?"

" Now that I'm talking to be beautiful woman such as yourself, its going great!" the man smiled. He had pearly white teeth, glue on fangs, and dimples. I felt a warm blush creep onto my cheeks.

" Thanks, you're pretty good looking yourself," I complimeted him. Once the words came out of my mouth I wished to take them back. I sounded so stupid.

" So, whats your name?" the man asked.

" It's Stormie, you?"

" My names Kai, and your name is awesome by the way,"

I grinned and took another sip of my drink. " Thank you,"

" Why would you come to an event like this alone?" Kai lit up a cigarette and placed it in between his lips.

" I don't really have friends," I answered honestly. " I mean, I do, but we're not close,"

" I'd feel terrible leaving you alone. How about I ask my friends if you can tag along for the rest of the night?" Kai spoke. I couldn't believe how well this was going. Usually when I spoke to a man as attractive as Kai, I was ignored or downright rejected. Part of me was nervous to spend the rest of the night with Kai, I mean, he made my heart race.

" Okay!" I replied, nodding my head up and down. Kai turned to face his buddy, who was slightly taller than him with medium length platinum blond hair, glasses, and pale skin. All of his friends had similar red eye contacts and fangs. There were five of them including Kai. They were all pretty young.

" Ash, is it ok is she hangs out with us for the rest of the event?"

" Whats her name?" asked a pale and tall girl with long black hair, dramatic eyeliner, and a short black dress made of leather.

"It's Stomie," Kai replied.

" Yeah, that's fine," Asher spoke to Kai.

" Stormie, these are my friends Elizabeth, Asher, Haley and Jayden," Kai pointed to each friend, starting with the tall black haired girl, then the blonde guy, then a dark skinned woman with black and purple dreads, and finally a black man who wore a black hoodie with red devil horns on top of the hood and a silver chain around his neck.

" It's nice to meet you guys," I spoke politely.

" It's nice to meet you too!" spoke Elizabeth, a small smile on her face. We talked for a while, about how we all got into liking vampires. Kai smoked another cigarette and once that was put out in his ashtray, we all decided to go to the arcade. I paid the bartender for my drink and then got up off the stool.

***

6 minutes later..

The arcade carpeting was black with vibrant neon swirls of every color in the rainbow. Heavy metal music played from overhead speakers. First we walked over to a claw machine with adorable little bat plushies in it.

" Those are so cute!" I spoke, putting my palm against the glass.

" Which color do you like the most?" Kai asked.

" The teal one," I responded. Teal, also known as cyan or seafoam green, was my favorite color.

" Well I'm pretty awesome at claw machines, I'll win you one," Kai said. I stood off to the side while Kai tapped the arrow buttons that moved the claw around. He positioned the metal claw over a teal bat then hit the glowing "drop" button. He got it effortlessly.

" First try, nice!," I spoke. Kai picked up the bat plushie from the bottom of the machine and handed it to me.

" It matches your hair," Kai commented. I nodded and held the plush close to my chest, hugging it tightly as if I were a child. Next, we walked over to the dart boards. Me and Kai stood beside eachother and started throwing darts. I did an okay job, but Kai did amazing. The darts landed in bullseye area almost every time he threw them.

" Wow, you're really good at that!" I complimented.

" Yeah, thanks, I've been practicing ever since I was six," Kai spoke. Kai was pretty much good at every game he played, except the ones that relied on pure luck, like the wheel spinning games. I was throughly impressed and definitely a little, ok, a lot, love-sick. After we were done in the arcade, we went to a Pizza Hut inside the recreation center where the ball was taking place. We ordered a cheese pizza as well as some barbecue wings and then sat down at a two person table. The business was also serving dark red flavored water that was supposed to look like blood.

" What do you think blood tastes like?" I asked, dipping my slice of pizza in ranch and taking a bite.

" I've heard people say it kinda tastes like sucking on coins," Kai bit into a wing. "How's the pizza?"

" It's alright,"

" Well," Kai spoke in a hushed voice. "I was wondering... After the ball is over, do you want to come back to my place? Me and my friends all live together, I hope you don't mind," Kai said. My brown eyes widened. I couldn't help the rush of red that flooded my face.

" Oh, yeah, sure!" I replied.

" Sweet," Kai grinned. The ball went on for another two hours and thirty minutes. In that time we sat on and watched Twilight projected onto a wall. The tension between me and Kai only grew as the night progressed. Before we left, we got into a photo booth to take a picture. I combed my fingers through my hair to fix it up a bit. My dark brown eyes looked almost black on the camera screen. Kai put his arm around my shoulders and we both made peace signs with our fingers. We smiled at the camera, it flashed and took our photo.

" Now what pose should we do?" I asked Kai to see if he had any ideas. Kai put his fingers delicately on my chin and tilted my head backwards slightly. I froze. A stupid star struck look probably came over my face.

" I'll pretend to bite you," Kai spoke, a playful and humorous tone in his voice.

" Ok," I smiled awkwardly and closed my eyes. I felt the tips of Kai's fake fangs rest against my neck. For the final photo, I stuck out my tongue in a silly way and Kai did the same. Afterwards, we met back up with Kai's friends outside of his car. At this point my heat felt like it might explode out of my chest, but in the best way possible. Adrenaline coursed through my veins. It was like I was high, and I never wanted to come down. I looked up at the sky, the moon resembled a cats claw. It had become colder since I was last outside. I crossed my arms and rubbed them, trying to warm myself up. Kai took off his leather jacket and draped it over my shoulders. His muscular arms were covered in black and white tattoos.

" Thanks," I spoke. Wearing Kai's jacket calmed me down a bit. I got into the passengers seat of Kai's black car. He turned the heat on high and put a rock station on the radio. He turned up the volume and started banging his head slightly to the song. He pulled out of the parking lot and zoomed down the road.

" I love this song," I commented, nodding my head along to the music.

" You know this song? I've never met someone who's listened to this band," Kai smiled. We drove back to his place. He had a long driveway that was surrounded by pine trees. Once we arrived, I opened the car door, a cold breeze attacking my bare legs. We walked up to the porch. We had arrived before any of Kai's friends. His house was a dark red wine color. Kai took his keys from his back pants pocket and put them into the key hole. He twisted them and then pulled the door open. Kai hit the light switch and the room lit up. The living room was huge. It had black floor tiling and dark brown wooden walls. There was a fireplace with a large flat screen tv above it. I was admiring the vastness and fanciness of the place when all the sudden I was slammed face first against the wall. Kai grabbed my arms and held them behind my back. His hands were freezing cold against my skin. I tried to resist but Kai was much, much, stronger than me.