Prettiest Vampire

Chapter I: Lilian

Chapter I: Lilian

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is your Captain speaking. We will be landing in Bucharest in about ten minutes; you'll notice that the seatbelt sign has come on and so we ask you to please return to your seats and prepare for landing.

"We ask that you turn off all electronic devices at this time. We would also ask that you remain in your seats and leave devices such as cellular phones turned off until we have come to a complete stop at the airport terminal.

"We know you have a choice of airlines, and appreciate that you have chosen to fly with Air Romania."

Lilian barely heard the announcement. The pilot's bored, tired delivery caused the words to run together into a stream of background noise, easily ignored by all the passengers. If asked, Lilian couldn't say for sure whether he had told them to fasten their seatbelts, or grab a parachute.

"Excuse me Miss," said the flight attendant. Lilian looked up to see what she wanted. 'You'll need to fasten your seatbelt for landing, Miss."

"Oh, right, thank you," Lilian replied, searching for the ends of the seatbelt. Then he muttered as the flight attendant moved away, "And it's Mister, not Miss."

The flight attendant stopped, then turned around to look more closely at Lilian. "I'm sorry, sir," she apologized. "Did you switch seats? There was a woman named Lilian in this seat earlier. You'll have to return to your assigned seat. May I see your boarding pass?"

Lilian knew he shouldn't have said anything. If there was a graceful way out of this, he didn't know what it was. And he had been in this situation many times before. His long hair and youthful appearance (plus his stupid name!) sometimes caused... mistakes.

"No, this is my seat," he told her. "I'm Lilian. Lilian Van Schattigdame."

"Oh," replied the flight attendant, followed by a lengthy pause. "Oh, goodness," she elaborated, then turned and disappeared to the front of the plane.

Lilian looked around the plane. Everyone in his row, plus most of the people for several rows forward and back were looking at him. Lilian turned a vibrant shade of scarlet, and tried to ignore the stares, pretending to read the magazine he found in the plane's seatback pocket.

The plane soon landed, and people's attention drifted elsewhere. Lilian busied himself as well, collecting his belongings as best he could while still belted into his seat. The seatbelt sign remained lit while the plane taxied to the terminal so that no one could stand. Which was why Lilian was very surprised to have a man address him from the aisle.

"Excuse me sir," said the man in the no-nonsense voice issued to security personnel the world over. "I'm going to need to see your passport."

"What? Now?" said Lilian in confusion. He pulled out his carry-on case from beneath the seat in front of him, and searched the pockets for his passport. "I showed it when I got on the plane. What's this about? And I'm sorry but, who are you?"

"Air Marshal, sir," said the man as he took the passport and examined it. "We've had a report that you may be travelling under a false passport." Then reading the information the Air Marshal asked, "Are you Lilian ... Van, S – chat – ig... dame? What kind of name is that?"

"Lilian Van Schattigdame," Lilian corrected the man's pronunciation of his name. "It's Dutch."

The Air Marshal looked at the passport again. "This is an American passport," he said as if catching Lilian in a lie.

"The name is Dutch!" said Lilian, getting upset. "The passport is American. I'm American! Only the name is Dutch!"

"So can you explain why this passport in your possession has a Dutch woman's name on it?" the Air Marshal asked.

"Lilian is a perfectly acceptable man's name," Lilian tried to explain. The Air Marshal didn't respond and so he continued, "Look, it's very simple. I'm an American. This is my passport. This is my name. It's not a woman's passport. It says 'Male' right on it!"

The Air Marshal just stared. Obviously more explanation was going to be necessary. Lilian took a deep breath and began:

"My parents were Dutch. They had a family friend, a woman named Lilianna. They named me after her." The Air Marshal continued to stare, so Lilian explained further, "They read that Lilian was the masculine form of Lilianna. It just hasn't been used that way since 1885! My parents were idiots, okay? They gave me a girl's name, and it's on every paper and document I've ever owned, and there's nothing I can do about it!"

"Please remain calm sir, or I'll have to restrain you," said the Air Marshal. He pulled out his cell phone and dialled. "I need to check on a passport. American, passport number..."

Lilian sank down as far into his seat as he could. Everyone on the plane was watching, trying to see who was at the center of the disturbance. He heard laughter from somewhere near the back of the plane.

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A/N: Hi everyone! I am so excited to finally be publishing this story! My plan is to post a new section once or twice a week, so I don't keep people waiting too long. I've started off with two sections so you can get to know both Mirela and Lilian.

The next section introduces Daciana and Ilinca, two of the most innocent and evil creatures you will ever meet! You don't want to miss it!