How To Be A Vampire

Krystal Woods did not plan on getting drunk the week before her last year of high school. It was her friends that ultimately coaxed her into it. She watched from the sidelines with a throbbing headache torturing her mind like sharp spikes, as the two girls that came in with her laughed their heads off and asked the bartender for another shot. Amelia Banks, the red-haired petite one out of the two, was still in the midst of celebrating her eighteenth birthday, which she apparently chose to spend at the club with her still-under-aged friends, which the brunette beside her, Naomi Reeves, did not argue against. A young man approached the three girls by the bar, and Krystal turned around from the laughter just in time to catch a glimpse of him before rolling her eyes upon realizing who it was. It was the fourth time she"d seen him trying to flirt with Naomi and it would be the fourth time he was rejected, but she was caught by surprise when her friend instead took his hand and allowed him to lead her to the dance floor. Krystal glared at the two, but her attempts to protect her friend were ignored as Naomi proceeded to the dance floor, leaving her two friends behind. "Just relax, Krys," said Mia as she waved a reassuring hand and downed her shot. "Let her be. It"ll be the only time she gets to do anything like this until next year. Same goes for you, too." Krystal sighed. She knew from the first place that coming here was a bad idea, whereas Naomi and Mia had no qualms about it because one of them was already of legal age that day and the other had parents who were part of the city council, so the bouncer had to let them in or the Reeves could"ve shut the whole place down. Not that they would want to after knowing their seventeen-year-old daughter was planning to have a night out at the club with two of her best friends. But the uneasiness at the pit of her stomach did not disappear even after spending an hour inside the packed building. The anxiety inside her built up even more after taking a quick glance around the room the moment she arrived here, at all the unrecognizable faces, all of whom had suspicious and hidden intentions that might involve one of them getting hurt. It might just be her paranoia, but she couldn"t shake that bad feeling away from her, no matter how hard she tried to. The shots she was taking didn"t help, either. Her thoughts wandered back to the last person missing from their group at the moment—the only male member of their group of friends, too. Daniel Hartford, or whom the girls affectionately called "Dan" or "Danny" since the day they met, was actually the person she was closest with out of the three, but he was still on an overseas vacation trip with the rest of his family before his sister Dahlia moved out to attend college. Thus, she was left with the girls who were much more sociable with people than she was, and found herself overwhelmed with loneliness upon seeing Naomi dancing with that creepy man amidst the crowd of partygoers, even more so when Mia decided to disappear as well when Krystal turned back to her. She really was alone now. Staring at her shot glass, twirling it around with her fingers and thinking about nothingness. She wanted nothing more than to return home where it was safe and away from people she didn"t know, people with hands that might wander to places she couldn"t see and grope something they shouldn"t have touched in the first place. She couldn"t even imagine what it would be like to be out there, rubbing bodies against other dancing drunks. She couldn"t even understand what was so appealing about the club scene that Mia insisted they helped celebrate her birthday here, out of all places, and Naomi gave no protest to that. She was so focused at her friends having fun without her that she didn"t notice someone coming up behind her, until she felt the sudden presence and snapped her head around to see who it was. She had certainly never seen this man before; a little short compared to the other men she"d seen around here, but with his messy, jet-black hair and a rough stubble to complement his excellent jawline, she could tell that he was quite older than her, but not too old. Seeing how he had the first few buttons on the top of his shirt opened, the typical modus operandi of a playboy flirt, she could safely assume he was at least in his mid-20s. Possibly single, and most likely desperate. If he was looking for someone to get to know better, she would be out of his league and anyone who was more than five years than her was out of hers. Not to mention about how much she didn"t seem to belong in a place like this, unsurprising considering the stature and appearance of a teenager two years younger than her age now that she currently possessed. So why in the world was this man here again? "Hello there, fair lady," he spoke in a deep sultry voice that would"ve made any other woman in the world collapse down to her knees, but he wasn"t going to get to Krystal. She"d seen worse than that. "Pleasure to meet someone like you in this fine place. To whom do I owe this honor?" "None of your business, that"s who," she snapped back, turning away from him and hoping he would get the message. She huffed out a breath when she realized men these days just couldn"t take the hint when she heard him slide into the bar stool right next to her, but she was more persistent than he was, and she wasn"t going to give him the time of her day. Not when she wanted to call it a day and end it as soon as possible, if it meant she could get out of this hellhole. "Huh, not the easy type, aren"t you?" he said, chuckling. He called the bartender and asked him to pour another shot, for both of them. She resisted the urge to punch the man in his teeth. She didn"t care even if it would bleed. He raised his glass, but she left hers alone. "Well, I can"t say that you"re my type, either," she said, rolling her eyes and pushing the shot glass away from her. She had enough of drinking tonight, and if she had any more, she might not be able to walk soon. He was clearly disappointed but took his shot anyway, downing it like it was just a mere drop. He set the glass back down with a firm but swift move, almost with enough force to shatter it that startled Krystal for a short moment. Shit, she thought, her fuzzy mind trying to think of better things to say so that this man would leave her alone. She had a bad feeling about him, and it wasn"t just the same feeling she had the moment she got here. His presence felt... dangerous. As if something was yelling at the back of her head to run as fast as she could, as far away as she could from this man. It was as if everything about him spelled out "danger," and she knew she had to believe that message. Unfortunately for her, she knew that this man wasn"t going to let her go that easily, either. She had to be smart—and fast. "The name"s Zeke," the man said, holding a hand out for her to shake but she kept still and stared at it until it retreated back to his side. He pursed his lips, and she knew she just got herself into more trouble now. "Now, you might be asking yourself why I"m here right now, instead of mingling with other women or making connections with the people with the big names here. It should be what I"m doing, in fact, and yet, I"ve found my way over to here, the bar, where a single, lonely but gorgeous lady is waiting for me, as if Fate had allowed me to find my way to you, and you to me." "Please," she said, trying to hide the contempt in her voice. "Enlighten me." Instead of answering, she found herself hating herself even more for saying all the wrong words when he suddenly grabbed her chin in his hands, keeping a strong grip that almost made her choke. She yelped in surprise but it was drowned out by the sound of the music blaring from all sides of the room, holding her breath as he tilted her face to the side and craned her neck along with it. His dark eyes darkened as they stared at her with so much intensity, it frightened her. It was like he was studying her, memorizing every detail of her skin, from her face to her neck and lower towards her chest and she felt her lungs deflate. "Because I want you, little girl," he hissed through gritted teeth, as the corners of his lips stretched back to form a smirk. It didn"t show arrogance like the first one did. This one was too devious, hiding suspicious intentions that confirmed the bad aura this place had been radiating since the moment she got here. "Because you smell delicious. Divine, more than anything I"ve ever experienced my whole life. Not to mention a feisty one, too. You"re going to put up a fight, and I like that." His eyes flashed a dangerous scarlet and she almost squeaked in terror. "I want you, little girl," he murmured, almost whispering, "and I always get what I want." "Get away from me!" She pulled herself away from his grasp the moment her strength returned to her, then her hand went up and swung itself across his face before she heard a loud smack echoing from where her hand landed a hit on his face. Staggering a few steps back after nearly falling off the stool, she felt her senses come back to life again, and felt every single fiber of her being telling her to run. When she turned back to the man whose actions turned terrifyingly violent in a split second, she instead saw the desire and hunger in his eyes turn into something more sinister, and more closely related to fury, which meant the longer she stayed there, the less likely she would get out of there alive. And so she ran. She didn"t know where to go, but she went for the first place that popped into her mind, which was the crowd. Her friends were there. She would be safe with her friends, or, the very least, she would be safe while hidden amongst the crowd, and could hope he would have trouble finding her if she played her cards right and avoided him long enough. She mumbled apologies and excuses as she made her way through the mass of bodies, ignoring the complaints coming from literally everyone around her as she bumped and nudged against them, trying to squeeze between the little gaps she could find to escape that man. She heard his footsteps advancing towards her just before she disappeared into the crowd, meaning that he was definitely going after her and she had definitely found herself in a chase where her life could be on the line, seeing how capable that man was of actually killing someone judging by the defined muscles she could see beneath his shirt. Looking around, Krystal tried to spot the faces of her best friends among the faces she couldn"t recognize, faces she was surrounded with. It was impossible to find Mia or Naomi among these people so she tried to call them, desperately yelling out their names as she swam her way through the pool of sweaty bodies, drenched in the stench of all sorts of natural fluids and man-made chemicals like worn-out make-up and cheap cologne mixed together, almost choking her out of her breath. It was unbearable to remain here, but she needed to find her friends and get the hell out of there as soon as possible, before that man catches up to her. And then she felt a hand clasping around her arm, and to her horror, she turned around to see that same man, a dark shadow casting over his face, giving him a look more sinister than the one before. "Found you," he snickered and jerked her towards him. She screamed but to no avail, as the people around her couldn"t even hear her over the sound of the music, so she was left to her own devices. She flailed her arm around, trying to release his grasp on her, and in a fit of panic she found his foot in between the legs of all the other people surrounding them, reached over and stomped it as hard as she could. "Gah!" He released her as soon as her foot crushed his and the moment she was free to move, she sprinted as fast as she could away from him, out of the crowd and straight to the back area of the club, ignoring the "Employees Only" sign. She ran as fast as her legs could carry her and her friends were now the last thing on her mind. She had to get out, now, and she wasn"t going to wait for them. They"d be fine without her, anyway. She found the large metal door which she figured served as the back door to the building. She threw it open with all her might and found relief as soon as fresh, cold night air rushed into her lungs and slammed the door shut behind her, even wheeling in a trash bin to hold the door down for a bit as to ensure he wasn"t going to get out through that exit any time soon, while buying her more time to escape. Turning around, she found herself staring at an empty alleyway, lined with nothing but dumpsters, trash bags, a few puddles, a couple of pigeons and perhaps rats hiding in the crevices of the walls of the buildings beside her. Beyond the corridor, however, she could see the concrete pavement and asphalt street in front of the nightclub, where several cars just zoomed past and disappeared as soon as they came. In other words, beyond the corridor was escape. She could hail a taxi and get herself back home, away from creepy perverts who might want to r**e her, or perhaps even murder her, and away from places she wasn"t even legally allowed to be in. It was a bad idea. She was sure of it now. Sighing in relief, she continued her quick pace while heading out towards the dim light provided by the street lamps, thinking they would be her savior, leading her towards the comforts of safety once again. No other sounds came from beyond the metal door which meant that the guy might"ve given up chasing her. Better yet, he might get caught by the authorities if they happened to be wandering around that "Employees Only" section, and she doubted that he was an employee there. Just as she was about to step out of the alleyway, however, she felt the wind rush past her and then felt herself being shoved against the wall. Yelping in pain, she didn"t realize she"d shut her eyes but when she opened them again, she saw him, staring back down at her, the twisted smirk on his lips and his eyes darkened with the same amount of lust and hunger clouding his eyes before. His hands were pressed firmly on her shoulders, so much that it hurt, and she had to bite down on her lip to hold back the pain. His knee was digging into her leg, pinning her there, rendering her useless and unable to move. He grinned down upon her. She couldn"t breathe. She knew she was going to die anyway. "Well, hello again, pretty girl," he sneered, curling his lips back to form a snarl. He pressed himself closer to her that she could smell his breath now. It was pungent, stinking of whiskey, tobacco and, worst of all, it smelt of blood. It made spiders crawl down her spine and nausea to resurface in her stomach. "Did you really think you can outrun me? Oh, my sweet little girl, you have no idea, don"t you?" He threw back his head and laughed. When his eyes met her again, his dark eyes now flashed a dangerous crimson and his wide grin—she gasped—showed his upper canines elongated into what seemed to be fangs, razor-sharp and pointy, that with enough force and pressure, they could sink into someone"s skin and pierce their flesh without much effort at all. "Goodbye, little girl," he hissed in a low voice, mimicking his monstrous appearance. The logical thing to do would be to scream right now, but she was too horrified to even flinch, much less call for help at all. "I wish I can say it"s been nice knowing you, but it"s not." With one hand on the side of her face, he gripped onto her chin and forced her head to snap to the side, exposing her neck to him and leaving her vulnerable. She watched in terror as he threw his head back once more but closed her eyes the moment he did, not wanting to witness her own death happening before her. Beneath the eyelids and the darkness, she saw her life flash before her eyes and she knew this was it. She braced herself for the pain and for the sweet relief of death. Only, it never came. She heard a loud thump before her and in a split second, his hold on her disappeared and another gust of wind followed. Swallowing the saliva pooling in her mouth, she opened her eyes. There, before her, was no longer the man with the monstrous appearance threatening her life. That man, she noticed, was now lying on the ground with his chest to the ground, his palms lying flat beside him, his fingers unclenched. Towering over him was another man, a little younger than the last, with dark brown hair and eyes to match, lips adorned with a smirk that showed arrogance than malevolence. Krystal couldn"t resist staring, but held her breath when he snuck a glance at her—just a single glance, but one that was going to change everything she knew. In his eyes was a glint of amusement, but deeper down inside, it held murder. He cracked his knuckles, the ones that made contact with the other man"s face, before he walked around the limp body, grabbed the man by the short strands of his hair, forcing him to meet his opponent. His smirk widened. "Zeke," he spoke, calm as ever, with the kind of voice that she knew she would remember for the rest of her life. "I think it"s time that you and I need to have a little talk."