Tears of a Vampire

Katya
When most people hear vampire they think of sleeping in coffins, fearing a crucifix, death by garlic, stakes through the heart, burning in the sun, or having no reflection. That’s not really true. I do not sleep in a coffin, for starters. My identical twin, Kammaya, spends an awful lot of time looking at her reflection, admiring her blonde hair and big blue eyes. Vampires are not afraid of crosses or shy away from garlic. The sun has no effect on us as long as we feed regularly. Of course there are exceptions to the sun rule, but we pretty much live our lives like normal human beings. Do vampires drink human blood? Yes, although we don’t have to. Aya and I prefer an animal diet.
“Katie!” My head snapped up. Aya was standing in the doorway with my human best friend, Renée. Renée has lived with us ever since her family died in a fire that destroyed their home.
“What?” I asked, putting down my pencil.
“I want to go to Luke’s party,” Renée said.
“Does it matter what we wear?” I asked, jumping up. Aya made a face. She didn’t like the way I dressed.
“No, and Aya won’t go.” Renée frowned. I laughed and rolled my eyes. Leave it to my sister to bail out on a party. She was little miss hang-out-with-the-right-sort-of-friends girl. God forbid Luke wears all black.
“Yeah, I’m not going. Who cares? But are you two seriously going to wear that?” Aya asked, making a face again. I was wearing bright pink skinny jeans and a band shirt with a plain black zip-up hoodie, my usual attire. Renée had the same look, but with black skinny jeans and thick black eyeliner.
“Yes, we are,” Renée said speaking as though Aya was mentally handicapped.
I couldn’t help but laugh. “No. We’re wearing short skirts, tank tops, and hooker boots.”
“Yeah buddy! Hooker boots!” Renée said, laughing as well.
“Well, you two might want to leave,” Aya grumbled, glaring at the two of us.
“Bye Ay, I looove you!” I called as Renée and I walked out the door.
Renée and I walked silently up the long driveway. Our house was set back pretty far in the woods, providing us with plenty of privacy. As Renée and I approached Luke’s house, I could hear the music pouring out of the house and down the street.
Being a vampire isn’t as hard as all of the lovely novelists like to make it out to be. We don’t go crazy over human blood. Can we smell it? Most definitely we can, we are predators after all. We smell things humans can’t. Humans do smell insanely good, but we do have some restraint. Vampires have a sweeter smell. This heightened sense of smell was the reason why when Renée and I walked into Luke’s house, I froze.
A sweet smell wafted into my face. A vampire had passed through there not that long ago.
“Katie…Kat?” Renée said, tugging on my arm. “What’s wrong?”
“Vampire,” I hissed. I looked around, my eyes searching for them. “Come on.” I grabbed Renée by her wrist and drug her across the room, following the smell.
“Katya… please loosen your grip. You’re killing my hand,” Renée said. Whoops.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, slackening my grip but not letting go. The last thing I wanted was a bloodthirsty vampire killing my best friend.
As I moved through the people, I realized there wasn’t only one vampire but two. How big are they, I wondered. I really hoped they were small innocent vampires. It would make my life so much easier.
The trail led into the kitchen and back out into the living room. I felt Renée shudder as I dragged her along. She knew what we are, and what we are capable of. Her violet eyes flickered around.
The vampires’ trail led to the back of the room where Luke stood talking to two guys. Luke looked over at us through dark brown eyes. “Hey there Renée and Kat. You made it. I have to go take care of something, and then I’ll be back.” He walked away, slowing disappearing among all the people. I let go of Renée.
“Ow, that’s gonna bruise,” she muttered, and I saw her rubbing her wrist out of the corner of my eye. I wasn’t paying her much attention—I was focused in the guys Luke had been talking to.
The one was huge. He stood a good six inches taller than me, and had bulging muscles. He reminded me of a body builder or a football player. He had short brown hair and matching eyes. The second guy was only a few inches taller than I was, with brown hair that fell forward over his eyes. He, too, was muscular just like his friend, although nowhere near as big.
“So, Kat and Renée, huh?” big and intimidating vampire said.
“Katya, actually.” I said a little coolly.
“Yep. I’m Renée,” Renée said, watching them warily. She took a step towards and slightly behind me. Smart girl. She knew where she was safe.
“Katya then, and Renée. You have a interesting name Katya,” the small vampire said.
“Thank you. And, what, may I ask, are your names?” I asked the question dryly but thank you was sincere. I half wondered if he was making fun of my name, but brushed the thought aside.
“Xavior,” the big guy said.
“I’m Dimitri,” the other guy answered.
“Well, I don’t mean to be rude, but I have to go find my sister,” I said, grabbing Renée again. I backed away from them right into the crowd again before turning around. I could sense them following us and feel their stares boring into our backs.
“I think they’re following us,” Renée commented.
I ignored her and said, “We have to find Kammaya.”
“But you already—“ she started to say but I cut her off with a vicious glare. I led her outside and into the cool fall air. All my senses were forced into acute awareness. I dragged Renée into the woods. I didn’t want to confront two vampires in the middle of a house full of humans. Coming to a stop in the middle of a little clearing I turned to face them. They took their time and came to a stop a foot away from us.
Dimitri had unzipped his jacket, his bare chest showing. I sort of wanted to laugh at this but didn’t, because I was finding it hard not to stare. He had a very nice body, one hard not to admire. “Do you live around here?”
“What are you doing here?” I shot a question of my own at him.
Xavior’s eyebrows shot up. “Relocating.”
“We don’t mean to bother you. We won’t cause any trouble,” said Dimitri calmly.
“I hope not,” Renée said from behind me.
I smiled at her. “Alright then. That was all I was concerned about.”
Kammaya
I was sitting in my sister’s room, flipping through her beautiful drawings. Katya’s latest drawing was of a dog. The dog sat in the middle of the woods, looking directly at me from the page. You could see the moon reflecting on the dog’s glossy black coat, and its blue eyes were full of friendliness.
I looked out the window and up at the real moon. I was leaning on the windowsill. A slight movement in the shadows among the trees caught my attention.
Constantine
I watched her as she flipped through the papers she was studying. I kept myself back amongst the shadows. Every so often her eyes would sweep out among the trees, the skky, and right past me. She had long beautiful straight blonde hair and full lips that were as red as roses. I shifted my weight so that I was leaning on a tree. The angel-in-the-window’s eyes snapped upon me.
Oh… I was going to have lots of fun with this girl. She had no idea what kinds of games I play, let alone my existence. What I needed to do now was find out what her name was.
The girl began to shift her weight to get a better look out the window at me, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. Then I heard laughter not that far away. She must have heard it too, because she straightened up, looked over her shoulder, and shot me one last look before walking away.
“Don’t worry babe, you’ll be seeing me again,” I murmured, a wicked grin spreading across my face.
I walked among the shadows of the trees to be able to see who was approaching. Four girls, and two boys were the ones laughing, but the one caught my attention. She looked like the girl I had been watching. The only difference was the girl there had curly hair and my girl had straight. So she had a twin sister… This would only make the games more fun.
“Kammaya!” the taller of the two black haired girls said as the window girl opened the front door. So her name was Kammaya? Excellent.
“Katya, you’re back early!” Kammaya rushed off the porch, enveloping her lookalike in a hug. Katya and Kammaya. It was even better now that I knew both of their names.
I turned and left—there was no need to stay and get caught, though I would have loved to have seen Kammaya’s facial expression if she did catch me. As I walked away I began to plan what I could do with the beautiful twin.
Let the games begin.

Katya
As Renée and I led Xavior and Dimitri to our house we ran into some friends, Naomi and Aphrodite. Naomi had beautiful dark skin, dark brown eyes, and black hair. Her hair was shoulder length, just like Renée’s, only Naomi’s curled slightly at the ends. Naomi had a great personality. She was the writer of our group.
Aphrodite had straight brown hair that fell past her shoulders, and had had stunning green eyes. Aphrodite was shorter than I, and acted a lot like my sister. She was closer to Aya than she was to me.
“Kammaya!” Naomi chirped when Aya stepped outside. Aya’s eyes lit up.
“Katya, you’re back early!” Aya ran down the porch stairs and hugged me. I laughed.
“Hey! Where’s my hug?” Naomi demanded, pouting playfully. Kammaya rolled her eyes but gave Naomi and Aphrodite a hug as well.
Kammaya’s eyes landed on Dimitri and Xavior. “Well, look what the cats dragged in this time,” She said, glaring at Renée and I.
“This is Xavior and Dimitri,” Renée said, waving her hands toward them. “Dimitri and Xavior this is Kammaya.”
“She’s my twin,” I chirped, wrapping an arm around her waist. “Come on, let’s go inside.”

I dragged myself out of bed and showered. I threw on a plain pair of jeans, a long sleeved turquoise V-neck, and a white hoodie. I walked downstairs in search of Renée but she was not where in sight. I continued my search, thinking about last night.
Xavior and Dimitri had fit right in with my friends, but Kammaya had remained wary of them. Aya spoke little, choosing to speak only when spoken to, making it clear she was not happy with me. Whatever. She’d get over it. Xavior, I learned, was the funny one. He was a lot like a really dumb teddy bear. Dimitri was the more serious one, although he too joked around.
I wandered outside, finding Kammaya on the front porch steps. She didn’t look too happy.
Constantine
I watched the jogging girl. She had to be at least eighteen. I was thirsty and she was an easy meal. I stepped out into her path. She stopped and looked at me, her red hair falling out of her ponytail.
“Hello,” she said.
I made my expression look panicky. “I need your help! Please! My sister, she fell! Do you think you could help me get the branch off of her? It’s too big for me to move by myself. Please?”
“Oh my god! Yes! I’ll help you. Where is she? What happened?” the redhead asked as I led her into the trees.
“She decided to climb the tree and a huge branch somehow broke and fell on her. Hurry!” I made my eyes dance around frantically and my voice get higher. I’d make one hell of an actor if I was a human.
We ran through the tall grasses and damp ferns, dodging trees, boulders, and vines that threatened to grab us. I wanted to get her far enough away that no one would hear her scream. I came to a stop in front of a creek. Perfect.
“Where’s your sister?” the redhead asked, looking around. It was a shame I was gong to kill her. She was actually very pretty. She had nice round green eyes, perfectly curved hips, and large breasts. Her skin wasn’t that too-pale color that most redheads had. She was, overall, a very good-looking girl.
My face turned from worried to a smug smile. Redhead acknowledged this, and I saw the war going on inside her as she tried to keep a poker face. Humans were so stupid. Didn’t they learn from all those horror movies not to follow a stranger into the woods? I could smell the adrenaline rushing through her bloodstream as everything clicked inside her head. “You sick bastard. You tricked me!” She glared. “This isn’t funny!” she snapped when I started chuckling.
“Oh, but this is,” I said simply, a cold smile spreading across my face. I started to circle her, like a tiger would its prey. She was exactly like the cornered animal. Her eyes darting around in search of an escape, heart beating like a hummingbird’s. And just like any animal would do, she ran. I snarled and leapt at her, taking her down with ease.
“Help!” she screamed, kicking and punching me as hard as her weak human muscles would allow. I let her go and she scrambled to her feet, taking off running again. I ran ahead of her, a blur of motion, cutting her off. She screamed and I laughed. She darted in another direction, and I, again, cut her off. “What the hell are you,” she shrieked, face contorted with fear.
“Your worst nightmare,” I answered with a cold laugh. Redhead ran again, with me stopping her. It went on like this for a while. Eventually I bored of the game and grabbed her before she could run again. I knocked her to the ground and sank my teeth into her neck. She let out a bloodcurdling scream, different from her others. This one was with pain. She writhed and screamed beneath me, unable to escape. Her screams turned into a gurgle, and her writhing eventually slowed and came to a stop. Draining her completely, I threw her body into the creek to erase signs of me.
“Didn’t anyone tell you not to play with your food, Constantine?” Zera Hardy emerged from the underbrush. She looked extremely sexy in her short skirt and a shirt with a neckline that plunged down daringly. Her hair brown hair was pulled back into a ponytail, her lips blood red, and her eyes a deep violet. To top her look she wore fishnets and high-heeled black boots—something no human could do in this wooded area.
“Well, whattaya know? The slut returns.” I smirked at her.
“Call my sister a slut one more time, Constantine, and I’ll rip your head off your shoulders,” Zero, Zera’s twin, joked as he dropped out of a tree to my left. He, too, had brown hair and violet eys. They both were shorter than me.
Onyx Meer, my best friend, leaped out of a tree to my right. “Whatcha up to now?”
“Now? I think I am going to pay Katya and Kammaya a visit.”

I watched Kammaya come out and sit on the stairs to the front porch. The human girl followed her out and kept walking.
“Where are you going Renée?” Kammaya asked, propping her head up on her eldows.
“I’m going to visit Xavior and Dimitri,” Renée said. I wondered why they put up with the human.
“You hardly even know them. You sound like an idiot,” Kammaya said, looking disgusted.
“And you sound like a bitch in need of a major attitude adjustment,” Renée snapped at her and walked away. Kammaya looked like she’d just got slapped.
It took everything I had not to laugh out loud and fall out of the tree I was sitting in. Now I understood why they put up with her. The human was entertaining herself. Renée had bite. She’d make an interesting little vampire. Maybe I would do them a favor a turn her.
I watched Kammaya stare off into space, her eyes glazed over and distant. I could hear her sister inside moving around. After a little while Katya wandered outside with a faint smile on her face. The smile disappeared as soon as she spotted her twin.
“Where’s Renée?” Katya asked.
“She went to go find your new freaks.”
“Dimitri and Xavior are not freaks!” Katya snapped.
“They so are.”
“No they aren’t”
“Are.”
“Aren’t.”
“Are!”
“Aren’t!”
“Such a bitch,” Kammaya muttered under breath, with what looked like a smile beginning to form on her beautiful lips.
“Slut!” Katya was quick to retort.
“Whore!”
“Prostitute!”
“Tramp!”
“Bitch, slut, whore!”
“Whore, slut, bitch!”
Katya growled at her sister playfully and the two started laughing. Damn. I had been hoping for hair pulling and slapping. Now that would have been funny.
“Oh, what would I do without you, Aya? Whom would I argue with?” Katya asked, her cheeks an adorable color pink.
“Aya? Cute nickname,” I said, dropping out of me perch. Both girls jumped and Katya spun to face me. I chuckled at their bewildered expressions.
“Who are you?” Katya demanded.
“Constantine Harr. Spelled and pronounced like hair but drop the i and add an r,” I said with a smirk. Aya’s eyebrows came together as she tried to figure out what I had said, and my smile widened.
“Constantine,” Katya murmured, trying my name out.
“Were you trying to scare the hell out of us” Aya asked, peeved.
“Why were you hiding in the tree?” Katya demanded immediately afterwards.
“I couldn’t resist the temptation to watch two sexy blondes,” I said, looking at Kammaya. She shuddered and took a step closer to her sister.
Katya looked disgusted. “Creeper much?”
I strode forward and picked up Kammaya’s hand, pressing a kiss to the back of it. She cringed slightly. I forced myself not to laugh at her reaction to me. “I’m sorry if I scared you, Kammaya. I’ll leave you girls alone now.” I walked away then, smiling at the expression I had glimpsed on Katya’s face. It was almost as though she was wanted to hit me. I wondered how much it would take to make that girl lose her temper. What about Kammaya? I would find out eventually. It hadn’t taken much to learn one thing—Katya is the protector and Kammaya is the caregiver.
Katya
Constantine Harr was gorgeous, I’d give him that much. He had jet-black hair that fell into vivid blue eyes that I couldn’t find a word to describe. I wanted to say cerulean, but that wasn’t quite right. They were like a clear blue ocean. He was well built too, and tall. But, there was no doubt in my mind that he was a creeper. I wanted so badly to smack him when he had hit my sister.
“Creep,” I muttered as he left. Usually I would be flattered if a guy called me sexy, but there was something about him that I didn’t like. Something about him was off, something that irritated me. Was it the coldness I saw flashing in his eyes? Or was it the way he held himself, as though too good for us? I didn’t know, but I did know for sure that I didn’t like him.
“Now that there is what you call a stalker,” I said to Aya before I left.