Do Mine Eyes Deceive Me...A Gorgeous Sadistic Vampire?

I looked at my reflection in the window of a random parked car. Black leather leggings, spandex long-sleeve shirt, and black converse high-tops. I looked like a spy or a burgular. I almost laughed at the irony, because I would never spy on someone of steal something. It would be much too immoral.

The reason I didn't laugh because of the addition to my originally single-person party.

"Sari, go home." I commanded, wheeling around to face her, and getting whipped in the face by my own hair as I spun.

"As if I would really miss an oppurtunity like this. I mean, come on, Joan. I am the most reliable gossip resource at school. If I didn't get this scoop, my reputation would be ruined!" she exclaimed. Unlike I, who had dressed for stealth and indiscretion, Sari was wearing some plaid miniskirt and a neon tank top with high-healed pleather boots.

"This isn't about reputation, Sari. Don't you get it? This is a life-or-death situation. I'm a qualified black belt, but you'll just get in the way. You need to get out of here," I hissed at my pig-headed friend.

"I'm not going home, and if you try to ditch me, I'll scream and be loud and follow you until I blow your cover and the killer comes to slaughter us both," she sneered.

I groaned, but bit my tongue back, motioning with my hands for her to be quiet and follow me. Such immature behavior. Sometimes, I wonder if it would have been better for me to have been born a century earlier where nine-years-old was considered an adult.

The whole time I crept slowly closer to Strawby Lane, I could practically feel Sari's smile gleaming in the night.

Then I saw it. Strawby Lane was poorly marked by an old wooden sign hanging above the space between Cunetto's and AutoShop, just like Sari had said. But she had been wrong about something. This was not a road. It was a narrow, dark, dirty, alley.

It was about four feet wide. And I was slightly claustrophobic. Perfect.

"You're kidding me, right?" Sari whisper-shouted at me. "There is no way we're going in there!"

"Not kidding," I mumbled, barely loud enough for her to hear. "And, maybe you're not going - you really shouldn't you know - but I am. See you tomorrow at school."

I suspected an inward groan as she stomped after my subtle footsteps. I would’ve carried her home if it was up to me, but I knew that she would scream and make a big scene and then we really would both get killed. Obviously, I couldn’t do much ass-kicking if I was dead.

Strawby Lane smelled musky, and the ground was so slippery with grime, I had trouble keeping my balance even with the rubber soles of my converse.

Sari, on the other hand, grabbed onto my shoulders every six seconds to keep from falling over, herself.

I couldn't see but four three feet in front of me, so I had no idea how long the alley was or when I would see the warehouse.

It didn't take as long as I thought it would. The narrow street came to an abrupt end where a wall stood. I couldn't see how high, because the building was obviously taller than three feet.

In this brick wall was a big wooden door, and two glass windows on either side. I pulled a pair of leather gloves from and within my sneakers; they didn't exactly put pockets in leggings.

"If the rumors have been flying so freely around our high school, then how come the police have yet to come check this out?" I asked.

"Oh, they have. But they did it during the day. All of this guy's attacks have been during the night, so obviously he wasn't here during the day. They didn't find any evidence, so they left it alone," Sari whispered back, grabbing onto my shoulder again, as I felt her scrambling to maintain in the upright position.

I sucked in the inside of my cheeks and bit down. This was standard concentration procedure for me. I don't know why, but it just helped me focus.

I had put my gloves on because I assumed I'd have to crawl through the glassy shards of a broken window. But, I tried the door first anyway.

It opened with a horror movie screech. Sari gasped and I bit my cheeks again. This was far too easy. This murderer must be seriously sick. He wanted people to try and find him. Evidently, he was quite confident of his abilities. But so was I.

I stepped carefully, but confidently through that intimidating wooden door. Sari followed behind, a bit more hesitant.

When we were fully inside the dark room, the door closed behind us. Sari hadn't touched it.

I bent down to reach for a flashlight also hidden within the confines of my sneakers, but a single lightbulb turned on overhead. The room we were in was only about seven feet high , but that was all I could tell. The lightbulb didn't shed much light but for a circular patch of light on the ground about five feet in front of me.

"Who dares enter my sanctuary without my permission, you worthless humans," a deep man's voice commanded.

Funny, he said 'humans' as if he weren't one of them.

I detected the faint outline of a form just beyond the light's reach. The voice had sounded so far away, and not from any specific direction. It was like it had come from all around where Sari and I stood.

Like I would ever tell this guy who the hell I was.

"My name is Sari and this is Joanalie Rivers. We go to the highschool where the girls that you've murdered went to, also," Sari chirped nervously, fumbling with something in her hands.

Yeah, I like how she decided to leave out her last name. I could have killed her if I didn't believe that the deep-voiced guy would do it first.

"State your reasons for being here before I kill you both," the voice said boredly. I couldn't believe it.

"Show yourself, you coward!" I demanded. "I came to bring you to justice. You, who has been murdering my friends, will no longer continue!"

A dark menacing laugh penetrated the room, and I felt a breeze trickle past my ear, as if someone were breathing . . . right beside me.

I jumped away, trying to land a strategic kick in his direction as I did so. I got nothing but air as I hit the floor.

Sari, on the other hand, was not so lucky. I heard heartrending screeching, and the sound of something being ripped apart.

I lunged in the direction of Sari's screams, and felt myself collide hart with something that felt like a marble pillar. I had thrown him off of my, now dead, friend. She gasped out her last breath, and then Sari was no more.

I couldn't move. Fear of loneliness, and the agony of another friend's death pervaded my being. So when a hand as cold and hard as ice, began to pull me along, I did nothing to stop it.

Now it was my turn to die.

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