Chapter One
Witches and ma cà rồng ______________________________________________________
It happened when I was fourteen--two years ago. It was my freshman year, but it felt like I had been here forever. I was waiting at the bus stop after having a terrible day. I wasn't exactly having what you'd call high school nirvana.
I had spilled strawberries on my new white jeans, and Korina made sure to point that out to anyone and everyone who would listen. So pretty much everyone.
Korina Douglas. The Wicked Witch of the West. Darth Vader. The White Witch. Ebenezer Scrooge. Rumpelstiltskin. Lord Voldemort. Adolf Hitler. bạn know- the bad guy.
Korina used to be my friend. I'm the only one here, except both of our parents that know her secret. She used to be quite unpopular. In fact, it used to be that tiếp theo to her, I was cool. We previously lived in Pennsylvania. Korina had big, ugly, old glasses, braces, and pigtails-your classic nerd. I was literally her only friend. Both of our dads worked at the same company, and their job got moved to the same place-Virginia.
We moved at the end of 7th grade. I didn't see her again until 8th started at our new school, Sherman-Polk Middle. I sure got a surprise. She had bought contacts, her braces had come out, and the pigtails had come down. Ever since then she's been too "cool" to hang out with me.
I remember vividly the ngày I realized what a backstabbing witch she was. It was the March of the 8th grade. Even though she had stopped hanging out with me, she knew me, and she saw the way I looked at Leonard Smyth.
He was smiling down at me, complimenting me on the poem I put in the newspaper, “Leo Myhst." Incidentally, Myhst is an anagram for Smyth. It's about a boy that seems oblivious to my undying tình yêu for him, the boy in câu hỏi being "Leo Myhst."
"Hey, Gynnifer. I liked your poem."
"Thanks," I replied, heat rising up my neck.
"It was pr--"he stooped in mid-sentence, faltering as his brown eyes became unfocused. He was staring blankly at something over my shoulder.
I spun around, and there was Korina, waving her fingers innocently.
"Hi Leo," she đã đưa ý kiến slowly and deliberately. The way she đã đưa ý kiến it reminded me of the evil women in the soap operas, saying their victim's name like so, before ensnaring him in her twisted affairs.
She winked with her enticing green eyes. Her smile was full of mischief. Such a grin draws bạn in. It makes bạn curious. Korina Douglas was wearing the smile that “killed the cat."
She then flipped her long, shiny, black hair and walked away, switching her hips, ever alluring him.
Surely he wouldn't fall for such obvious seduction?
As if in answer to my question, he started to follow her, then stopped and blushed when he saw me roll my eyes.
I tried to restart the conversation, but the chuông, bell rang, leaving me crestfallen.
Anyway, I was waiting at the bus stop. I was alone because I had missed the first bus, which was the one that everyone else got on.
The wind puppeteered my many red curls. I closed my eyes and listened to birds, to nature.
All of a sudden, someone grabbed me from behind and started dragging me backwards. A hand was put over my mouth, muffling my screams. I wasn't able to see my kidnapper's face, but I could tell from the large, rough hand over my mouth, and the muscular arm around my waist that it was a man.
Frantic, I groped around in my pockets for my cell phone, thinking to call 911. I realized with a sinking feeling in my stomach that I had dropped it when he grabbed me.
Oh my God, this psychopath's gonna kill me, I thought to myself.
He pulled me into a deserted alley and pushed me against the grimy, dirt encased wall.
"Make one move, one sound, and I'll kill you,” he growled.
He stared at me intently, as if trying to decide what to do with me.
I studied my abductor's appearance. He was tall and pale. He had thin blonde hair that hung freely about his shoulders, and light blue eyes. His mouth was half open and I could see that he had irregularly sharp canine teeth. They looked vampiric.
But ma cà rồng aren't real, bạn paranoid idiot, I berated myself. He looked at me curiously. But at the same time, I had this sickening feeling that he was a dog, looking at a piece of steak.
He stepped closer, just inches away from my face. His eyebrows were furrowed. I concluded that he was probably having an argument with himself. I prayed silently that his conscience won.
I was breathing so loudly, that I wouldn't have been surprised if God had heard me. And I had hoped he would, because I would've really appreciated his help right then.
He leaned in as if to Kiss me.
    What the heck? He threatens to kill me, and then kisses me? Who let this one out of the nuthouse? I thought to myself incredulously.
    But I was dreadfully wrong.
Instead, he bit me! He sunk his fangs into the side of my neck. It felt like my neck had exploded. I could feel the venom coursing through my veins. I was suffocating. I wanted to die.
My vision was blurring. All I could see was a tall, gangly figure receding. I was barely conscious.
At this point, I couldn’t feel anymore. My whole body was numb. But I continued to scream although I couldn’t feel any pain. It actually got to a point where I laughed at myself despite the severity of the situation I was in.
Darkness.
I was lying on something soft and light. I was very comfortable and didn’t want to wake up. I could hear a man shouting.
    “How could bạn be so stupid?”He yelled. ”Imagine if she had gone around killing people randomly!”He continued furiously.
    Who was this girl? And why was she going to go around killing people off?
    I opened my eyes to a dimly lit room. I slowly sat up and realized how extremely sore the side of my neck was. I raised my hand and felt my neck to discover that I had a big welt.
    I turned my head to look at the two men shouting. The first man had thick black hair and brown eyes. The other guy was the one who bit me. They were complete opposites except for their complexion. They had the same pale skin tone.
    The bellowing stopped abruptly as the two boys noticed me.
    “You need to lie down,” đã đưa ý kiến the dark haired stranger. He walked to my side in two long strides and pushed me down, gently, but firmly.
    “My name is Dimitri,” he said. “And I see you’ve already met my brother, Luke, here,” he added as he shot his brother a ‘You-Screwed-Up’ look.
    I looked at Luke, and then rubbed my welt. That’s when I realized that I was the girl they were talking about earlier.