Bitten: Mark You Mine

"They are exceptionally strong and loving! Just be sure not to get into their bad side and you'll be spared, my love!" The woman's eyes twinkled, telling her daughter all that she knows about vampires.  The clueless girl gazes with her flickering eyes, excited to hear the next as she pictures them in her mind. "Tell me more, mother!" she exclaimed.  "But it's bedtime, my love. You should even be asleep by now." The little girl pouted as her mother took her, carried her to bed, and tucked her. "Now, now, I'll tell you more about them in the morning." "You promise?" the little girl asked.  "Of course," the woman answered and took off a ring she wore as a pendant. She gave it to her daughter to hold on tight. "Keep this with you at all times and eventually you'll find the answer, my love." That morning promised to be filled with vampire stories never came as she found her mother lying cold the next day.  ***   "I saw someone!" Aileen yelled, pointing at their open window. "The man was just there and he disappeared!"   Historia rolls her eyes, marching towards the window and sticking her head outside. She looked left and right and sighed heavily, turning back to her friend, her hands on her hips.    "There's no one there," she said with her eyes drooped. "If someone had climbed up to the 12th floor, where we at, and disappeared just like that, we would find him dead down there." She points a finger down.   "But I saw someone!" Aileen retorted, almost begging Historia to believe in her. "If not a human, maybe--"   "Peter Pan is not real!" she snapped at her roommate. "Just go back to sleep. We have work tomorrow."   Aileen pouted and headed back to her bed. Historia did the same and tucked herself in her thick comforter. It's a cold night. Nobody would dare rob somebody, especially ones here on the 12th floor. What would they steal from her and Aileen? Nothing.   "Your parents are scientists, right?" Aileen asked out of nowhere.   "They are," she nonchalantly answered.    "What do they research about?"   Instead of answering, Historia faced the wall and ignored that question. She heard Aileen sigh and told her good night. She didn't answer.           Historia works as a librarian. She didn't want to but as of the moment, she needed to. This job has kept her alive since she ran away from her father. She's been living on her own accord.   Her parents were scientists. At first, it seemed pretty cool but when you get too close, it's truthfully psychotic. They won't stop until they find answers and proof, and get to a conclusion. They are mad. And the maddest ones are her father and his team.    Henry's team is looking for proof of the existence of vampires. Her mother was part of it but she died and nobody, not even Henry told her the reason for her mother's death. She would only ever meet her father once a year, every death anniversary of her mother which is today.   "Vampires are myths," she muttered, handing a book to someone who had just burrowed one about vampires.    "They are my favorite next are werewolves and then demons." The young girl was giggling in front of her. Historia didn't think the girl would hear her.    She flashes a fake smile. "Aren't they all imaginations?" she sarcastically asked which wiped the bright smile off the girl's face.       While on break, Historia's cell phone chimed. She took it out and checked the screen. It's a reminder that today is her mother's death anniversary. How could she forget every time?    It's the day she meets with her father again. She doesn't want to but to pay respect to her mother, she needs to. They already know where to meet up so she just needs to be there for dinner.       Her shift ended pretty early so she went to go shopping for a dress to wear. Normally she doesn't buy new clothes but whenever it's to meet her father, she wants him to see that she's doing fine. After that, she went to the salon and have her hair fixed.    It was almost six in the evening when she exited the salon. There were a lot of teens and she had to waste hours in line.    Historia didn't bother going home just to change, she used the public bathroom, and when she was done waited for a bus to take her to the restaurant. Like before, they had a table reserved and she waited for her father.       Two hours passed and she was still waiting. She got tired of just sipping her wine and she decided to dial Henry's number. It ring but nobody was picking up. She tried again but it dropped.    "He can't be kidding me," she mumbles, annoyance in her voice.    Historia isn't going to waste her money buying a dress and getting a new haircut just so her father could ditch her. She wants him to see how good it is to live out of their beliefs.   Angry, she stormed out of the restaurant, leaving a bill for her wine, and got herself a cab. "This address, please." She showed a card and the driver nodded.    It took at most thirty minutes for them to arrive. She hurries out and into the building, showing her card to the guards. Since she was little she has had a free pass.    The hallways were the same. She remembers the facility, alright. The way it smelt of chemicals and rooms with researchers holding tubes containing blood, drawing out blood and some had stains of blood in their coats.    Everywhere you look, there's a shade of red. Lunatics, she thought to herself. Why don't they just research something that helps the environment rather than searching for a creature? They're not children anymore.       Historia is standing in front of her father's office, taking a deep breath when she heard a roar from someone somewhere else. That scream, she heard those before and she rushed to the extraction lab. There she sees a bunch of men and women in their coats, laughing and murmuring.   In a second, she went and looked through the glass, her eyes wide when she saw a man chained and bleeding to his death. He looked so weak.    "What the hell are you all just standing there? Do you plan to murder this man?" She couldn't help herself and shout.    Many were looking at her with strange expressions on their faces. Some just laughed and that's when she confirmed they are all mad.    She looks at the man again. At that exact moment, he looked up and darted his dazzling blue eyes at her. Instantly, she felt shivers down her spine.   A corner of his mouth slowly formed a smirk but before it did, a big guy had punched the man making him look the other way making her gasp. She couldn't understand it but she felt a sudden urge to save this man.    Historia with her card, march to the door, barging into the room. When her father saw her, his eyes widened.   "Hi-Historia," he stuttered.    "Are you that mad that you're killing men now?" she roared.    "Yo-You can't be here. We'll talk later. Guar--"   "No! You're trying to kill somebody! He's dying and all of you are laughing! Have you all gone mad?!"   While her father and she argued, the man who was bathing in his own blood slowly freed himself from the chains. And when he did, he was fast enough to grab a scalpel and put it on Historia's neck. He did those in a flash that had them frozen except for Henry.   "Move and she will be cut," he warned, feeling Historia tremble. It made him smirk, moving his lips closer to her ear, and whispered in a rough voice, "I've been waiting for you to come around."