Blood Diary

My eyes were fixed on the impressive closed doors at the end of the aisle. Walking through the oakwood doors, my shoes contacting the black marble noiselessly, doubts were starting to bubble up inside of me.

Maybe this was a bad idea. I already was balancing on a thin line with the other vampires and especially the owner of the House. She and the others are getting suspicious.

One of the rules about the vampires and donors is that it's prohibited to leave the House without permission.

Five years ago, vampires made themselves known to mankind. After an accident where a vampire was feeding himself with blood of an adolescent girl, humans found him and captured him. Because he was still a vampire in training, he didn't know what to do and out of fear he froze at his spot. He forgot all his training. He could have easily run them out, but he didn't.

It only took one whole day for all humanity to know about our existence. There was no other option for us then to make ourselves known. The humans knew about our kind, so we decided that we shouldn't live in the shadows anymore.

The first months were the most important ones. Because if they decided to murder us all, we wouldn't stand a chance. We were very outnumbered; we would never win the battle. We may be stronger and faster, but we also need rest and sleep.

There were two situations that could have happened; the humans are afraid of us and will pursue us until our entire species is exterminated or they will respect us and leave us alone and we will do the same with them.

It became the last. It was even better than all of us had hoped and thought how it would turn out. We became celebrities. They seem fascinated and under the spell of us. Our beauty, fangs, but the most about our immortality.

We made a deal; we, vampires won't kill anybody, and humans won't kill us. And every half year all seventeen years old can be chosen to be a donor for one of the Houses.

I hated the changes. I didn't want to ask a donor if I could have a drink, I wanted to hunt my prey by myself, but now the humans are coming to me. They're not scared anymore, what is a good and bad thing.

In the nights I sneak out of the House into the forest. There I hunt down an animal that has the misfortune to be at the wrong time and place. The others don't know what they're missing, when my fangs sink in the neck of the animal and the fresh blood touch my tongue, it feels like I'm in heaven. It's much better than the blood from the sucked-out donors, from which every vampire has already taken a sip.

Most of the time I don't ask for permission and just sneak out, but tonight I will ask for permission. I don't know why, but my presentiment says I should, so I'm following my instinct.

I hesitated for a second but grabbed the door knocker — a vampire head which was entirely made of buyer except the two red eyes — instead and knocked three times rapidly.

"Come in." A woman voice said softly at the other end of the door, but I heard her clearly because of my supernatural hearing. Her voice was soft and hard at the same time. A voice that I was all too familiar with.

Be calm and don't show any emotions. I swung the door open, after I said those words to myself. Most vampires aren't showing any emotions to other creatures, even to our own variety. They even don't like to notice that they have no expression on their faces; I can't see if they're happy, sad, hurt or angry.

Sometimes I wish I could also do that. I wish I had that power to control my face. But I don't. Everybody can easily see how I feel and how I feel towards them.

"Roselyn, what are you doing here?", the woman behind the chestnut wood desk asked me. Her red hair falls in wavy curls along her face and reaches just above her shoulders. Her piercing blue eyes boring in my soul.

"Hi mum," I smiled small at her and waved my hand. She only raised one eyebrow, clearly seeing through my facade.

"I'm here to ask for permission to leave the House," I chuckled softly to dim the tension in the room. I vow my hands behind my back, so my mother can't see them trembling. Don't show any emotions.

"And why so?" Curiosity filling her eyes. She didn't miss my little nervousness. I facepalm myself for my behaviour. My mother is ancient, even I don't know how old she really is, and I think she also forgot, but she still looks like thirty years old. I, a one hundred seventeen years old, am a 'new-born' vampire.

"Just to go for a hunt," I answered her question, looking her straight in the eye. I'm not lying; I'm going to hunt.

"Is your prey going to be an animal or human?", she asked me suspicious, rising out of her chair.

Human, I hope. "Animal of course, mum." I put my hand on where my heart should be. "and by the way, why are all those filthy donors packing their things. Are they finally going back to where they belong?" I hated those humans; they killed my dad.

But I really have a thing against the donors. They're all the same, all seventeen-year olds that think they rule the world and are better than us, vampires.

"Rose," she shakes her head a little, looking disappointed. "You should know better by now, next week they will move out the House. Their job is done, and new chosen donors will replace them," she continued.

"And good, I almost thought that you forgot about the rules with the humans," she said referring to my previous answer.

Me? Never.

"So that means I can go?", I asked hopefully. My face lit up. Maybe this — asking my mother instead of sneaking out of the House — wasn't a bad idea after all.

"No." My mum — SarahAnn — said curtly.

•••

I walked through the thick forest. My shoes crackled when they contacted the fallen leaves. It was pitch dark, but the half-moon shone bright and dominant in the sky. There were no stars who lighten the forest, only the moon.

In the woods there was a heavy silence, sometimes I heard the flapping wings of a bird or the sound of a small animal that was making its way out quickly, when it caught my eye.

If I would want them, if I wanted their blood on my tongue, then I will. What I want, I get. I'm a predator and we love to chase our prey; we love a challenge. And when we get it, when we set our fangs in its neck it's one of the best satisfactions.

My nose suddenly picked up a faint scent. The most delicious scent; a mix of grass and cinnamon. My senses sharpen and I heard its heartbeat loud and clear reverberating in my ears, the other noises went into the background.

And there she was, a little girl.

A human.

I didn't ask myself why she was here. It didn't matter. My mother's words crossed my mind, saying that I shouldn't do this. That it will break the rules we made with the humans. But I ignore them.

I wanted blood, fresh and new blood. I hadn't eaten this day, the other vampires looked at me if I was crazy when I said that I wasn't hungry, but I stood my point. I wasn't hungry then, but now...

As quietly as possible I sneaked up to her, balancing on my toes and stood in my attack position.

The moment I wanted to attack, my fangs only a few meters away from her throat, she turned around and looked at me. Her frightened eyes met my red ones. My eyes widen, how did she hear me? Nobody has, none of my other preys, she's the first ever.

She didn't run away; she stood still frozen on the ground. Her straight blonde hair was gently blown by a light breeze, what caused a small tuft to fall in front of her eyes. The little girl didn't brush it away, her eyes stayed fixed on me. Looking at me like I was a vicious animal.

I am.

She let a small whelp out and then it hit me. I didn't want to hurt her. Not a little girl, she still had a life ahead of her and I knew that if I set my fangs in her, I wouldn't be able to control myself.

I would kill her.

I stepped forward and finally she moved backwards. I heard her heartbeat quicken, loud and clear.

"Please don't kill me," she begged me. Her eyes puffy and wide with fear.

I shook my head. "Too late little one," I said back, my voice low and dark. My eyes zoomed in her neck, where a big artery was visible.

I felt my fangs growing and in an instant, I stood in front of her, my fangs hovering above her neck. She had her eyelids closed, but even when I didn't saw her eyes, I could smell how afraid she was. This was wrong, a little voice in my head told me. But I couldn't resist my vampire side of me. It's in my genes. The urge was too big to resist. Her blood smelled to good. "Too late," I murmured.

And then I bit her.

My fangs bored deeply in her neck. Her blood touched my tongue and I let out a moan. I missed this, missed the fresh blood and putting my fangs in somebody other than those high-class donors.

I heard the girl under me scream and trying to shove me away, but I was too strong. I couldn't stop, even when I tried — knowing that if I didn't stop now, I drank too much blood and she will die — but the pull to go on, was too strong.

Suddenly I was pushed away with brute force, force that only a supernatural being can possess. For a second, I flew, but that ended quickly when my stature hit a big tree with a loud thump. My back made a snapping sound and I felt the air being sucked out of my lungs and coughing and trying to get up.

Wavering, with my hand leaning against the tree for support, I got up and looked around to find my attacker. I heard my father's words in my head. "Always keep an eye on your opponent, never lose sight of him. Otherwise, you're not the hunter anymore, you're the prey."

But as I looked around and saw nothing but trees, I panicked. I put myself off the tree and took a step forward. I heard a crackle of leaves coming from behind me. Quickly I turned around, but I was too late. I briefly saw the sparkle of a metal object coming towards me, before it turned black before my eyes.

But this time there wasn't a moon.