The clown is wearing the creepiest smirk I have ever seen, and I’ve seen Norman Bates. I take a few steps back as the clown slows down when it nears me. Its smirk grows into a grin and my pulse is through the roof. You are supposed to run away right now but I’m rooted to the spot.

“Please, leave me alone” I plead with it

But he lifts me off the ground and over his shoulder. My lungs ache as my breathing is cut off by the sudden lift and I struggle out of his hold, even if I had to fall on my face onto the ground. I imagine my lungs struggling for the slightest hint of oxygen as I scream with every ounce of energy I have.

“Put me down!” I aimlessly kick and shove him. He’s as solid as they get.

“LOUIS!” I scream with all my might for him hoping he can hear me.

“Sam! Put her down, now” I hear a female voice shout, Ella.

I don’t care if my reputation is ruined because I’m the girl who’s scared to death of clowns; all I want is to go home. I want Nana to hold me now more than ever. The clown drops me on my butt in front of everyone and I scramble away from him. Ella holds me by my shoulders and hauls me onto my feet and I clutch her arm tightly, and I realize I am shaking.

“Lets go, Sam” Ella wraps her arm around me and leads me away.

My mom told me that I was too intelligent to be afraid of anything but when I was younger I had the worst possible experience with a clown and I have feared them ever since.
Dry coughs erupt out of me as we walk away, I don’t dare look back because I fear he is coming after me.

“Where’s your friend?” Ella asks me

“I-I don’t know”

We pass the kitchen and I see Louis running to me but stops dead when he sees my face. I look away, burying my face in Ella’s shoulder and start taking larger steps to the door.

My breath is still a little shaky as I tell Nana what happened over the phone after my shower. Despite my vigorous scrubbing I felt like the clown still had a grip on me. Ella had protested when I told her I was fine and that she could leave, she only left after I showered and she tucked me into bed like a little baby giving me a goodnight hug.

“Honey, I’m so sorry” Nana’s voice is soothing. She is the only one who knows about my experience with the clown, not even my parents.

“I’m tired, Nana. I’m going to bed; I love you and drive safely tomorrow”

“Goodnight, baby girl. Love you too”

My trachea and lungs are sore – which is nearly impossible – from all the screaming so I lay my head on the soft pillow and drift off. Tomorrow is going to be an awful day because of what happened tonight, not that I care. I dream of extremely red hair and black eyes and I awake with a jolt in the middle of the night and it takes me two hours to fall asleep again.

Tuesday passes quickly and by the end of the day, all my assessments were completed and ready to be handed in.
My alarm wakes me up at 08:30 on Wednesday and I hurry into my bathroom to shower and get dressed. I haven’t forgotten what happened last night but I have pushed it deep down into the depths of my memory.
I walk onto campus with my bag hanging heavily on my right shoulder. Several pairs of eyes look my way and laughter would break out soon after, a few even whispered insults as I passed them. Nobody could make me feel bad or inferior besides myself, so they can go to Hell.

After my final lecture the teacher asked us to hand in our assignments and all I could find was the essay and not the thesis. Panic builds up in me for the second time in less than twelve hours as I make my way down to his desk after everyone left.

“Mr. Dellarosa?” my voice is soft

“Ah, Sam how are you?” his smile has always made me shiver and feel very uncomfortable.

“Mr. Dellarosa, I have forgotten my thesis at home, could you please wait a few minutes for me to go get it?”

“Sure, you have twenty minutes. I’ll be right here”

I leave my belongings at my table and run out the building, through the parking lot and down the street. I hastily unlock the door and run up to my room. The thesis is lying on my desk but my name isn’t written on it. I scribble it on and run back downstairs. By the time I reach campus again it has started raining and I see Louis standing beside his car with a black umbrella. I run past him and into the building and into the classroom where Mr. Dellarosa stood reading a few assignments.

“Here, thank you for waiting, Mr. Dellarosa” I gasp

“Oh dear, did you run the whole way?” he sounds worried, in a fake kind of way.

I just nod in response and put my hands on my knees as I try to catch my breath. I feel a hand on my shoulder pulling me up. I stand up straight and see Mr. Dellarosa smiling at me, with a dark glint in his eyes. Surely, this is against the code of conduct.

“Do you want me to drive you home? You’re all wet” he steps closer and I step backwards but get jammed between him and his desk.

“No thanks, Mr. Dellarosa. Bye” I try to escape his glare which is concentrated on my chest and going lower. He is taller than me and stronger which makes me squirm uncomfortably.

“You sure, Sammy?” he puts his hand on my waist but I grab it and bring it to his back where he screams in pain. I exert enough force to sprain his wrist and let go.

I say nothing and run up to my desk to collect my things and burst out of the building. The rain has gotten worse and I remove my jacket to cover my head when my hands get tangled and I begin to shiver again. At the last stair my legs give up and I fall onto my knees allowing my bag, hair and everything else to get wet in the pouring rain. A single tear rolls down cheek and onto the uneven stones in the parking lot. My hands form fists as I try to calm down. It happened again, why does it happen to me? What have I done to deserve this? I feel sore and cold when I see a pair of sneakers running toward me but they reach me much faster than they should.
Louis kneels down next to me and pulls me close, his body is warm and inviting as I hold him closer.

“Sam, what happened?” his voice is full of worry and pain.

“Nothing” I push him away and stand up. He follows suit and stands taller than me when he rises. I bend and pick all my stuff up shoving it into my satchel and pulling the strap over my head so it runs across my body. Shivers instantly run through me when my body separated from Louis’. I grind my teeth trying to hide how cold I feel, my black t-shirt being of no assistance.

“What happened? People don’t usually just breakdown in the middle of a parking lot for no reason, Sam” he pleads

“I’m fine” I walk around him and start my trek home but he walks with me.

He wasn’t there when I needed him last night, why would he suddenly care now? Besides, we don’t even know each other at all so it’s not like either of us have an obligation to one another.

“What are you doing?” I stop and look at him in the middle of the parking lot.

“It’s raining and you can’t walk home alone” he shrugs

“Yes, I can. I have walked home alone for a year now and I am just fine. Go home, Louis”
I push my wild and wet hair back and into an untidy ponytail while I continue walking home; thankfully he doesn’t follow me this time.

“Hey, Sammy” Nana greets me when I walk through the door. She could always make me smile even if I was having the gloomiest of days.

“Hey, Nana. I’ll be right down, just need to shower.”

“Okay, hurry up. I got something for you to do”

Curiosity flows through my veins as I rush up the steps and lay my things in the floor. After showering and drying my hair, I start laying out my things to dry and putting my phone to charge on my desk. I run downstairs in my emerald PJ’s and white socks to the kitchen.

“What do I have to do?” I ask. I decided not to tell Nana what happened, she didn’t need more stress and I’m not six anymore, nothing happened and I will forget it soon.

“The Garden Club just finished construction on the new animal farm on the other side of town, do you think you could get your crew to show up? It would help with publicity and such because the public loves you guys” she rushes

“Sure, I shall give them a call as soon as my phone is done charging”

“Oh, thank you, Sammy”, she hugs me tightly and I smile weakly, “Now come, help me prepare dinner”


After dinner I escape to my bedroom and make the calls to my fellow crew members. They all agree eagerly and it would be happening this weekend, so they want to do a photoshoot and create a collage that we can sign and put up on a wall somewhere. Nana is the president of The Garden and she agrees to have the collage hung up in the hallway where people come in to have lunch.

The rain has only gotten heavier when I check and lock all my windows to avoid them banging against the sill in the middle of the night.

“Goodnight, Sam” Nana opens my door a peek and tells me.

“’Night, Nana” I call back from my bed. She closes my door and softly walks to her bedroom down the hall.
I can’t sleep so I take my laptop from my desk and start surfing the net for anything to entertain me when my phone rings.

“Hello?” I clear my throat

“Hey, Sam” It’s Ella

“Hey, Ella”

“Did you hear what happened today on campus?”

“Um, what?”

“Mr. Dellarosa was arrested for sexual harassment. Apparently a few students went and laid complaints against him at the station and since everything was proven, he was taken in”

“W-who complained?”

“No idea but all the police are saying is that he was charged similarly at the two previous schools he worked at. His wife knew nothing”

“Oh wow”

“Yeah so there’s a new teacher coming in on Friday and all Mr. Dellarosa’s classes are cancelled tomorrow which is good because we only have one lecture tomorrow at three then”

“Awesome” I fake excitement

“I gotta run, my dad’s calling”

“Bye then”

“Bye”

We hang up together and I toss the phone onto my desk. A sudden tapping on my glass door shocks me. I wake up from my bed and walk over to the balcony to see Louis standing in the rain with his fist against my glass door. I unlock it and slid it open.

“What the hell are you doing?” I whisper, Nana wouldn’t have fallen asleep as yet.

“I’m sorry, Sam. That I wasn’t there for you at the party and it’s been killing me. I heard about what happened with the professor and I’m sorry again that I wasn’t there to smash his face in” his imagery makes me smile a little.

“Come in, you’re getting wet” I move away from the door and go to the bathroom to get a towel.

“You can use the front door” I tell him as I re-enter the room and toss him the towel.

I take my laptop and put it on my desk but I accidentally bump into his shoulder and notice red liquid oozing from the material of his jacket.

“What happened to your shoulder?” I dump the things onto the desk and turn to face him.

“Nothing”

“Sit down and let me see” I point to my desk chair and run back to the bathroom to fetch the first-aid kit. When I get back he is sitting fiddling with my things at my desk without a shirt on. As I walk closer I can see the numerous tattoos on his arm clearly along with a large text across his chest.
I walk around the chair and stand with my back to the table. I kneel in front of him so that we are on the same level and open up the box. There is a long gash across his clavicle to his left shoulder.

“How did this happen?” I ask him while I try to concentrate on cleaning the wound.

“I fell down the steps” he answers warily

“Fine, don’t tell me” I place a bandage over the cut and tape it at the edges to hold it in place.

“You didn’t have to bandage it” he says softly

“Why? It was bleeding”

“Not anymore” He slowly raises his arm to the bandage and peels it away with his thumb and index finger to reveal a simple pink line of healing flesh in place of the wound. The bandage doesn’t have a single drop of blood on it. My hand automatically begins to move up to the line but it seems to be disappearing. My fingertips brush the smooth skin and I hear Louis gasp from the contact. I pull away but he grabs my hand and holds it in place so that my palm is flat against his chest above his heart. Our close proximity accelerates my heartbeat and I slowly look up lift my head to look at Louis. His face is inches from mine, lips parted and eyes staring into mine.

“Samantha, I have to tell you something”

I move away and get to my feet to put the first aid kit away.

“Tell me” I prompt when I get back

“Do you believe in a person having a soul?” the question sounds strange but I answer anyway.

“Sure”

A small smile appears on his perfect face, making it more perfect. He stands up and takes a different position leaning against my desk with his hands supporting him on either side. I sit on the edge of my bed waiting for him to continue.

“Well, do you also believe in myths?” he doesn’t look at me

“No, I don’t” the disappointment in my answer is visible as he slumps a little.

“What if I could prove it to you?”

“Prove what? A myth?”

“Yes”

“The word myth means fiction, how would you be able to prove fiction to be a reality?”

“I can, do you believe in vampires?”

“I know cannibals are real and I know that certain people are born with slightly longer canines than others but not in people sucking blood out of one another to survive”

“Do you trust me?”

I hesitate with my answer, he hasn’t given me any proof that I can put my life in his hands but he also hasn’t given me any reason to doubt him.

“Yes” I whisper and am rewarded with a wide grin.

“Come here then” he holds out his hand and I debate internally whether I should take it or not. My subconscious pushes me to take it and just when I think he’s going to close his hand and pull it back I find myself getting off the bed and moving toward him. I take his hand and he pulls me to him so that our chests are pressed together. The room is lit up only by the sudden bolts of lightening that flash outside and then plunging the room in darkness again. Thunder becomes faint sounds in the background when Louis is holding me.

“Don’t be afraid” he whispers and closes his eyes taking a deep breath.

A gasp escapes my lips as I watch Louis’ teeth sharpen and protrude from between his lips. Two glistening white canines are all that I can see. Louis’ hands are back at his sides, making no attempt to touch me. I’m left speechless by the beauty in front of me. By his facial expression I can tell that it was difficult for him to show anyone this, let alone show me.

“Fiction or reality?” I whisper the question

“Reality” he could always be lying but I don’t get that vibe from him now, nobody could fake the pain that is on his face right now. It made my heart hurt to see him in the pain that he is, I wanted to make it better, to show him that he had proven his point and I believe him.
Whatever part of me was the root of my next actions is unknown. I stand on my tip-toes and cup the side of his face with my hand. He relaxes slightly and opens his eyes. I give him a small smile and lean closer but keeping eye contact incase he wanted to protest.
I plant a soft kiss on each of the two teeth and I feel Louis’ hands wrap around my waist to pull me closer.


LOUIS POV

Showing her that was the most difficult thing to do and I have survived some of the harshest circumstances ever. I wanted her to know, more like needed her to know. When I saw her that first day on campus the feeling I’ve been avoiding for centuries resurfaced, pulling me into the world I thought I dreaded. But if she accepts me I will never think like that again, I will love her unconditionally, more than any man could love a woman multiplied by ten. I would protect her to my last breath and satisfy her every desire. If she is to reject me, I will return to where I came from and never come back for the rest of my existence. Roger assured me that she would not be disgusted by me, that mates’ love was eternal and could never be compromised. He promised me that love is the only emotion that cannot be ignored and I put my trust in him.

“Reality” I whisper back hoping it doesn’t frighten her.

She seems uncertain for a few moments but unexpectedly she leans forward and presses warm kisses on my fangs. Her actions are gentle and sweet, nothing like I have ever experienced before. She makes me crave more but I couldn’t force her into anything that she didn’t want to do, I had to respect everything she did because I must not do anything that would cause her to hate me, or worse to be afraid of me.

Her scent is so human, so fragile and innocent and making sure that bastard Dellarosa nearly took that from her, I couldn’t let him to that to her any other girl. Not being able to get to her in time when I heard her scream was killing me, no matter how many times she would tell me it was okay, I hated myself for not helping her after all I forced her into going with me.

I wrap my arms around her waist and hold her against me, to make sure she was real and wouldn’t disappear or I would not wake up in the darkness at home. But she was really there, her holding onto my shoulders for support and her breath shaky. I press my forehead to hers, her scent intoxicating me. I decide to take a risk and slowly lower myself until our lips are less than a centimeter apart. My eyes dart up to meet hers but they are closed so I press my lips to hers waiting for some kind of reaction before her hands travel up my shoulders and wraps around my neck. I pull her closer careful not to use too much force and hurt her. I keep our bodies molded together with a tight grasp on her waist.
The kiss was none like I have ever had before, she was shy and so was her touch. When she pulls away disappointment floods through me.

“Do you believe me?”

“Vehemently”

“Are you afraid of me?” the question pops out before I can stop it.

“No” relief courses through me


SAM POV

I hear footsteps in the hall and when I look at Louis to tell him he must leave, there is nobody there. I feel like everything was a dream but I bring my fingers up to my swollen lips – a reminder that what just happened really happened – and a blush creeps onto my face accompanied by the biggest smile I ever produced.

My door creaks open and Nana’s head pops through the opening. I really hope she didn’t hear us.

“Sam?” she looks at me as if she is seeing me for the first time.

I smile at her, “Yup”

“Are you okay, the storm is pretty bad. Why is your balcony door open?”

“Nothing, just wanted some fresh air”