Sweetie You Had Me

Ever since the day Julie had lunch with Ryan, she’s been paranoid. She hadn’t gone anywhere without someone near her, or knowing where she was going or how long she was going to be there. Work had been a little bit of a problem considering that she always worked late. She had to switch hours with a few of the other workers so that she only worked until five o’ clock. For the past two weeks, she hadn’t had a problem with anything, despite all her worrying.

Julie carried holy water wherever she went, and made sure to have long gloves and a scarf wherever she went. She was scared, there was no denying that, but Ryan helped to ease her worries. Julie was really excited for today because Ryan was supposed to deliver her letter today.

It had been a pretty easy two; she had hung out with Ryan after work a few times, and hadn’t had to use Brendon’s friends. Everything was great until that day when Jazzell asked Julie to take the night shift.

“Hey Jules,” Jazzell said, as Julie rang up a blouse for a costumer, her last costumer of the day.

“Yeah?” Julie asked as the customer walked out of the door, turning around to face her.

“Do you think you could take the night shift tonight? Grayson called in sick.” Julie bit her lip. What was she going to do? She couldn’t say no to her boss in her time of need.

“Yeah sure,” Julie finally answered. Jazzell sighed in relief.

“Thanks so much Jules. There’s a raise coming your way.” Julie smiled at Jazzell as she walked away from her and out the door. “See you tomorrow!” Jazzell waved at Julie and disappeared only a few seconds later. Julie sighed. She needed to call Ryan. Immediately she pulled out her phone and dialed his phone, patiently waiting for him to pick up, but he never answered. Julie bit her lip. Oh dman it. What was she going to do? Julie tried to stop worrying about it, and focus on her work, but she was having a lot of trouble doing that. After the last few hours of her shift ended, she felt herself shaking with fear. She gathered up all her things slowly, and walked as slow as she possibly could. She bundled herself up in every piece of fabric that looked practical, which made her look like an Eskimo that really didn’t want to get cold. After all her struggle to go slow, she realized that there was nothing else that she could possibly do, she finally decided that it was time to try to walk home. With a heavy sigh She pulled open the shop door and stepped out into the Chicago night. She looked to her left and to her right, before quickly locking the door, and walking fast paced towards her apartment. She felt pretty good about herself, because by the time she was in front of her apartment building, she hadn’t been attacked.

The doorman pulled open the door for her, and she walked into the deserted apartment building. For some reason the building had an eerie feel to it that hadn’t been there the past couple of nights. Julie pulled her coat tighter around her body as she walked past the lobby and went towards the elevators. She pressed the up arrow and waited patiently for the door to open, and the second it did, she regretted it. William’s skinny face, popped out of the open doors, a large smirk on his face. Julie screamed in terror, but it was muffled by William’s Freezing cold hand. “Sweetheart, now there’s no need to scream.” William chuckled, running his fingers up and down Julies back in a way that made her squirm. Julie desperately tried to break free of his grip, but she couldn’t escape. William was too strong. Because his hand was still over her mouth, Julie found this as a tool to help her break free. As soon as the doors opened Julie bit down hard on his hand, and jumped away as William moved his hands off of her. William growled at her, after Julie had run away from the elevator. “You little bitch!” he mumbled walking out of elevator, calmly.

Julie was rushing to get inside her apartment building. She quickly turned her key as soon as she found them the bottom of her purse, and pushed open the door, locking it behind her. She didn’t have much time, so all she could manage to do was grab Macy and try to unlock the window. She had to get out of there. She heard William start to pound on the door, and she moved her hands around the window’s lock at an even faster pace as he spoke through the door. “Oh Julie! Open the door sweetheart.” He said, muffled through the door. Julie started to panic before she finally opened up the window. She jumped out and pulled Macy out with her, holding her in her arms as she stood on the fire escape. Julie quickly trotted down the stairs, after hearing William yell something, before breaking down the door. “Where on earth do you think you’re going?” William mocked as Julie jumped down onto the street. She didn’t look back at him; she simply ran in any direction that she could. Julie looked back after only a few seconds of running to see that not only William was following her, but also at least twenty other dandies. Julie ran even faster and harder as the men prowled behind her.

Julie had been running for what seemed like an hour, and the dandies were getting closer. There was no doubt in Julie’s mind that the vampires could’ve caught her before, or right at that moment even, but this whole thing was just a game to them. They lived for the chase. They loved to see their victims try and run away, but it wasn’t long before they had her cornered at the front of a coffee shop. Julie was pressed up against the door, banging on it as the vampires closed in on her, William at the front of the semi-circle. “Check-mate” William smirked, coming closer to Julie. Julie pounded her fists even harder on the door, begging for someone to open it. Julie was turned back around to face him. His smirk was wider than it had ever been before as he leaned his mouth into Julie’s neck. Julie could feel her body tighten up, holing onto her dog tightly, who had the same amount of fear that Julie did, too much to move. Another time she felt death crawling onto her fingernails was too soon for Julie. But this time, no one would be able to save her, no one would come to her aid, that was something she was indefinitely sure of, or at least until she was pulled into the small coffee shop forcefully. Julie didn’t even have time to see who her savior was before she was pulled up her feet onto strong arms. She was whisked away from the coffee shop’s door, and out the back door.

The man carried her into a dark alley, he walked as far back as he possibly could before the alley disappeared and everything around them became black. Julie couldn’t see a thing; it was like they were walking in a hallway of nothingness, because there was just nothing. Julie didn’t feel any different, she just couldn’t see anything. But almost instantly the blackness melted away into a dimly lit bedroom. Julie looked around as she sat in the man’s arms. The bedroom was simple. There was nothing special or mentionable about it. It was rather messy actually. It probably belonged to the man who was carrying her…speaking of him…Julie finally was set down and she was able to get a better look at her saving grace.

The man was tall, not extremely so, but much taller than Julie. He wasn’t super skinny like Ryan was, but you could tell he was a pretty healthy guy. He had short brown hair that fell at about mid ear, and a thick dark brown beard that surrounded his mouth, and grew all the way back up to his hair. He had large almond shaped brown eyes, and thin, soft pink lips. “Umm,” Julie said, after a few minutes of silence.

“Oh sorry, you’re probably wondering what’s going on.” Julie nodded. “Well, I’m Jon Walker, and you just happened to stop in front of the one coffee shop in town that supports the WDC.” Jon said, smiling down at Julie. Julie looked at him confused. What was this WDC that everyone was talking about? “The WDC stands for William Defiance Clan, which is for vampires who do not believe in William’s ways. We’re a rather small group, but we have definitely made our mark on Chicago.” Jon continued, pulling up his shirtsleeve to reveal the tattoo that Brendon said his friends would have as Julie nodded at appropriate times. “Brendon and Ryan told me to be looking out for you.” Jon added. “Unfortunately, I don’t think you’ll be able to go back to your home, it wouldn’t be safe there.” Jon said sadly. “But you and your dog.” Jon pointed to Macy, who was still in Julie’s arms, “May stay here as long as you like.”

Julie smiled, “Thanks, Jon.” Jon nodded, with a grin.

“Anything for a friend of Brendon’s.”