A Vampire's Ballerina-1

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Gretta looked toward her left at the exit on the left of the stage, he was still watching her intensely.

Her legs wobbled nervously as she pivoted from one foot to the other, trying to keep time with the other dancers, trying not to mess up her performance in front of so many people. She was scared out of her mind, but she tried not to show it.

However, Gretta's nerves got the better of her during the second half of the act, as she leapt across the stage she didn't quite make it into the male dancer's arm. Instead, she landed dead center in the middle of the stage. Her left ankle began to throb terribly, but she knew she had already screwed up, she didn't want to make it worse.

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Ewan watched his ballerina float gracefully across the stage as he hide away in the darkness of the side curtain. All the dancer's were entering and exiting to the right so he knew he wouldn't be found.

"She is so beautiful." He whispered to himself.

Ewan loved the how her golden tresses glowed like a halo under the stage lights, and how her piercing hazel eyes commanded the attention of all that looked upon them. But most of all, Ewan just loved how passionate she was, he had watched her train for hours mastering her routines. She was as dedicated to her dancing as he was to her. She didn't understand his dedication to her, but she would soon.

Gretta left soon after the crowd clapped for her last performance, which happened to be a solo piece the director had written specifically for her. She had talent that should be shown off, Mr.Quin, the director, had told her confidently.

That was going to be her last performance on that stage.

She had a bus ticket to North Dakota in her dressing room and a duffel bag filled with the essentials. There was no turning back now.

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Gretta bite her lip nervously as she made her way to her seat on the greyhound bus. An old tired-looking man in navy button down suit seated across the aisle stared at her making her feel self-conscious. She could tell this was going to be long ride.

Eventually the man decided he wanted to make idle chat with her. She responded politely for a while, it's not like she had anything better to do on a seven hour bus ride. When he started to say 'suggestive' things to her, she got out of her seat and moved to the very front of the bus, this seemed to upset him, but not enough to bother Gretta further.

Gretta closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the bus seat. 

When she heard the screech of the brakes, she assumed they had arrived at the bus station.  

Gretta drowsily stumbled off the bus decided to just get a room at the Motel 6 across the street. The next morning, she woke up feeling incredibly anxious, like Ewan was nearby watching. It didn't help that she had dreamed about him that night.  She tried to convince herself she was just being paranoid and that it was just a dream.

She called the dance company she saw in the phone book, it was one of the ones Mr.Quin had spoken about before, The Heidner Dance Company; it was apparently known for it's strict standards, only allowing the best to work for and be trained as dancer's and ballerinas.

She walked into the dreary-looking theater,dripping wet from the rain, a flash of lightning briefly illuminated the tiny foyer. Gretta half-expected a bat to swoop by her head, or a beam to fall from the ceiling. She hoped the actual stage was in better shape than what she had seem thus far, because she really wasn't impressed.

"Ah, Ms. Alexander, I assume?" said the gray-haired lady sweetly. Gretta watched the thick gold chain attached to her large, thick, old lady-ish style glasses glimmer in the dim light of her closet-sized office, the whole room smelt like stale peanut brittle, she didn't bother to ask why.

Gretta politely folded her hands in her lap as she took a seat. "Yes, Ma'am."

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He had been tracking her all night, waiting for the right opportunity to take her home, his home.

It pained Ewan that she would go to such lengths to try and escape him, but it also made him more determined to win her affection.  

He thought about erasing her memories of him and start fresh. He quickly shook that idea off. He had tried, on two occasions, to tamper with her memory, which didn't work out so well. The first time, he tried to ease the part about himself that scared Gretta-the part that somehow knew he wasn't human-but it only lasted a day, she remember her fear as soon as she woke up the next morning.

The second time was much worse. That was the day Ewan grew too impatient about being with her and tried to convince her to come home with him, she screamed and crying for help, fear radiating off her like a thick wave of smoke. Taking her, kicking and screaming from a grocery store parking lot wasn't what he wanted, he wanted her to come because she wanted to. But he began to think that perhaps if he could have some time on his own with her, maybe then she could learn to love him.

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"Alright, Ms. Alexander, that will be all."

Gretta let out a relieved sigh, her ankle still twinged when she sprinted across the stage; ballerinas are used to a certain amount of discomfort, but this pain was a little more than she was used to.

Gretta tried her best not to think of Ewan that day, and for the most part she succeeded.

She hoped she could stay here and make a life for herself. She hadn't told anyone she was leaving so there was no one to worry about her in the event something happened to her, that was all she was able to do for the people she cared about the most, how she wished she could do more.

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