Family Portrait (A Jasper's Sister Story)

01: Everything Has Changed

**EDITED: 5/15/17**

Two years had passed since Jasper left for the army. 

I had gotten many letters over the past years, and I wasn't all that surprised when Jasper had told me that they made him Major. He was a great leader, and I've never been more proud of him despite the constant danger he was put in.

I had relied on the letters from Jasper, needing a constant reminder that he was still alive and not just another fallen body. I was terrified that one day I would get a letter telling me that Jasper had died serving the army. He was the only family I had left, and I wasn't sure if I could handle losing him without saying goodbye.

I was writing a letter to Jasper; it was the letter that would tell him about my most recent scheme. I would tell him that I lied my way through the army and was now a nurse for the same army Jasper was fighting for. I was a Confederate nurse, and I was ecstatic. Our mother had died months earlier from a Northern ambush, and my father had died in battle the year Jasper left. I was alone and I wanted to help in any way that I could. It kept me busy and I felt like I was fulfilling something by being involved in the only way a woman can without cutting her hair and dressing like a man.

So there I was, stationed somewhere in Virginia, waiting for troops to come back from battle. The camp was quite, a usual occurrence. The silence was usually soothing, but something felt off about tonight. I jumped I heard a twig snap from outside the tent. I put down the quill and grabbed the candle holder, slowly walking outside my tent.

I nodded politely at the other nurses who were getting water or stitching uniforms in the tents next to mine, seeming unaware of the movement from the woods. I slowly made my way to the edge of camp. I looked at the woods, holding out the candle in front of me to try and provide better lighting, shaking my head when I didn't see anything. I turned around and gasped when I saw a man standing less than a foot away from me.

The man was not very tall, around my height or maybe shorter. He was wearing what seemed to be clothing that people wore on fancy gatherings, nothing like the old uniforms I've been accustomed to seeing. His dark hair was tied back in a ponytail, his skin was as white as the moon, and his eyes sent a chill down my spine. They were as red as fresh blood, a stark contrast to his pale skin.

I blinked, hoping that his eyes were just part of my imagination and they would disappear if I blinked them away. He was suddenly in front of me, a large grin on his face as he gripped my arm, bending it behind my back and causing me to drop the candle.

I screamed as darkness surrounded us, the only light from a torch near a tent several feet away from us. I felt a cold hand clamp around my mouth, the force probably causing bruises on my face. I struggled, trying to free my arm from his iron-like grip and kicking my legs trying to hit him. I felt him pick me up, the woods flashing by around us as he carried me away from the camp, leaving no chance of me being saved.

I was crying when he threw me against a tree, knocking the air out of me. He never said anything, but that was worse than if he were to talk. If he talked, I had a chance of stalling him. But there was nothing. He just walked slowly toward me, like a cat preparing to pounce on a mouse.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, he crouched down and looked me in the eye. He gently touched my cheek, making me flinch and turn away in disgust.

That was when he attacked.

I screamed louder when I felt his teeth pierce my neck, a burning sensation spreading through my body as it grew weaker from what I guessed was blood loss. That's when I realized he was a vampire; a tale my mother told Jasper and I to keep us from wandering outside in the dark.