To Love a Human

*Ella*

I woke up once I hit the floor. I was sweaty all over, and tangled all up in my crimson red, silk comforter and sheets. I had had my nightmare again. I had it every night. It was the nightmare where I repeated my parents mistakes.

"I will never fall in love," I vowed to myself, as I did every night when I awoke from the miserable nightmare.

I got up and untangled myself from the massive, constricting heap of fabric. I opened the large oak door and started to descend the black, wrought iron, spiral stairs. The railing was cold to the touch, but it really did not affect me at all.

Marie and I live in a big Victorian house all to ourselves. We each have our own floor too, the house had the look and feel of a castle from the old times, which if you had known our parents, would have been perfectly understandable. Maybe.

Our parents had loved antique items and collectibles, and they could also afford all of them because they were quite wealthy in their time. However, they died four years ago, when I was merely twelve years old. Marie was sixteen at the time and is now twenty, but she could easily pass for any young age. She was beautiful and I envied my older sister. She had beautiful, long, ebony hair that felt like silk. Her eyes were a bold emerald with the most exquisite gold ring around the center, and her body was not something the boys shied away from.

The night my parents died Marie instantly snapped me to attention. I was to go back to our house at the time, when we had lived in Montana, and pack all the things I could and throw it into one of the cars.

I remember running home as fast as my legs could carry me and packing everything, all of my parents belongings, and mine and throwing them into the black tinted Ferrari. I was only twelve, but I could drive better than most adults.

Marie had instructed me to meet her at the foot of a mountain we would hunt on, and I waited their approximately five lonely minutes before she drove up in our Lamborghini.

I had pounced out of the Ferrari, "What the hell is going on!?" I had screeched.

"Mom and Dad ordered all four of us to death. Get in the car and keep driving until you reach a little town of Effort, Pennsylvania."

So I did.

That still was not anywhere close to the nightmare I had every night.

I finally came back to the present from the flashback as I reached the bottom of the staircase. I walked through some of our rooms to the kitchen to splash water on my face, a human instinct.

"What are you doing up?" I heard Marie demand.

I looked at the clock and observed that it was 5 in the morning.

"I had a nightmare. Why are YOU up?" I questioned.

"I have school today."



*Marie*

Ella's eyes grew wide as it sunk in what I was saying.

"YOU'RE going to SCHOOL?"

"Why shouldn't I? It was what we did back in Montana four years ago, and it's the human right of passage."

"One problem there, SIS," she hissed the word at me but I did not mind, "you AREN'T human."

"Oh pish posh," I replied, waving the air with my hand, "I have better control than those who are in their hundreds."

"You are going to get us caught!"

Ella was safe. She had always been that way. Me? I was more reckless. Even when she was born, if she thought I was doing something wrong she would scream a high pitched scream only our kind could hear as to warn my parents of my wrongdoings. And I hated it when she had done that.

Ella and I are sisters, yes. But we are exact opposites. Here I was with long, straight black hair, green eyes, and a bodacious body. There she was with medium, brown, wavy hair, hazel eyes, and a slim, pear shape. The only thing we did have in common was the gold ring that encircled our pupils.

"When they burn us to death, mother and father will not be there to console you in the afterlife because what you are doing is wrong," Ella snapped at me and went back to her room.

Ella may be correct, but I liked taking risks. Hell, I even enjoyed them. Making trouble filled you with this sort of addictive rush, almost as good as when I fed. Almost.

As always, I decided to ignore Ella's little tantrum and ascended the stairs to my room. My walls were a midnight blue velvet covering. Everything was circled around blue and gold in my room; magical, mystical.

I walked over to my wardrobe and opened it up to see what to wear to Pleasant Valley High School.

I had pretty much everything in my clothing collection. Louis Vuitton, Coach, Ugg, Prada, Armani, anything.

Picking out something casual enough for the average teenager was not an easy task. For all of my outfits were designer.

I decided on a pink polo and skinnys, got changed, and brushed my hair.

Going out into the human society was very dangerous and risky for my kind.

I liked risks.

I loved danger.



*Ella*

I watched as my sister pulled out of the driveway in the Ferrari I had escaped from Montana in. She raced down the road, and I could see our hopes of sticking in fly out the window. We would have to move soon. I would be forced to keep dealing with Marie's stupidity.

Unless...

That is when the thought occurred to me.

What if I went to school WITH Marie?

But I couldn't, I didn't have the strength to not take down every human that came within close contact with me.

And I had seen teen movies, everybody is close and all 'touchy-feely'.

"God dammit Marie," I cursed under my breath.

I walked over to my comforter and ripped it apart. No strain. No power necessary. It just ripped apart.

That of course did not help with the mixed emotions brewing inside of me. I had fear, boiling anger, and only a little touch of happiness.

Why was I happy?

Marie was going to be full of happiness now that she was going to be able to be Miss Popular...again.

When we had used to live in Montana and gone to Baker High School. The school used to have 403 students, but was now dropped down to 401. Marie was the girl every other girl had idolized. They all wanted to be just like her, and they all wanted to be her best friend.

Marie didn't even have to use her special powers to gain the popularity. Just by the things she owned and the way she looked she was 'All That'.

I hated that about my sister.

She was pretty, nice, popular, social, well-liked.

Me?

I was okay looking, shy, athletic, and awkward...not everyone's best friend.

But what was I supposed to do? Sit here in anxiety waiting for my sister to return to hear about what type of damage she has cost us? Listen to how she lured an innocent student into the locker room and fed? What was I to do?

I couldn’t go to school today, I wasn’t enrolled. I doubt Marie was either, but she probably was using her powers right now. Unlike Marie, I only used those when absolutely necessary. She used them for her own selfish purposes.

Was this a time of absolute necessity? Mother and Father had gotten us into our old school that way, so why shouldn’t I?

I decided I would feed and then come back and hopefully have a clear mind. I doubted this immensely however because I knew, I just knew, Marie was going to do something to mess it all up.

I find it ironic that we are living in a town called Effort, and Marie doesn’t put in any.



*Marie*

Hm, how could I cause attention on the first day? I was wondering this allowed when I saw an extremely hot guy looking my way, and he was wearing a football jersey and even more jocks were around him…perfect. In my old school this is exactly how I came to rule the school. Hook up with the quarterback, get him to fall in love with you, use him for celebrity, and then crush his heart and become a little sexy player. The perfect game plan.

I walked by him and held eye contact, a very important thing to do when flirting with a high school imbecile. Then when  I was across the hall for him I paused, batted my lashes, flipped my hair, and walked away.

And that is all it took.

“Hey, you!” I heard him call.

You can’t play it easy though, you have to make them work for it. So I made a right into the stairwell and ascended the stairs, getting lost in the bustling crowd of teens. I heard him call in his deep, attractive tone a few more times, but I had to play hard to get. I exited the stair well and found my history class. When I was in there I could still sense him trying to find me, and I felt very accomplished.

More and more students came in and I could tell exactly where the queen bee of this high school would sit. She would be in the center of the group of make up coated, hairspray overload girls all sitting in their chairs. They all had their desks aimed perfectly at the desk in the center as well. And this was another way to become Miss Popular in a matter of minutes.

I sat in her chair, and all of her little groupies gave me dirty looks. Ha, they would definitely regret that move in a little bit.

The teacher, apparently his name was Mr. Jay, came in and started taking role call.

I wasn’t nervous about the queen bee not being here yet, they always come late to the classes where they flirt with the teachers. And Mr. Jay wasn’t someone I would mind flirting with. He had to be right out of college, with gorgeous, sandy blond hair, deep brown eyes, and muscles visible underneath his Oxford shirt. Something was off about Jay though, and I couldn’t put my finger on it. But there was an attraction, especially when he called my name.

“Marie Viscioti?” he called out loud.

“Yes, Mr. Jay?” I made sure to make my voice be the sound of attraction for him and all of my “peers”.

He looked up and saw me, and his face blushed, how adorable. But something was off about that blush. It just did not seem humane. Not one single bit. But what was it that I was missing?

“Um…welcome to Pleasant Valley High School,” he murmured and continued with the few students left on his roster.

Then the queen bee walked in.

“Oh I am so sorry Mister Jay,” this girl said in her best sensual voice, “I had some things to take care of.”

Oh yeah, she obviously had something to take care of by looking at the size of that hickey on her neck.

“That’s fine Jacqueline, please have a seat,” he then continued to say the lesson plans for today but everyone just started talking instead.

“You look beautiful today Jackie!”

“So pretty!”

All of these minions of hers were giving her suck up compliments as she walked down the aisle.

“Excuse me,” she said in a snotty tone once she got to where I was seated, “you are in my seat.”

This is why I love being a vampire.