ᴛʜᴇ ɴᴇʀᴠᴇs ᴏғ attending my first college party were overwhelming. Was this how it was supposed to be? Enrica on the other hand was overjoyed. She spent hours trying to 'make me up' by brushing my hair, doing my makeup, and scavenging through her closet for outfits.
"Do you really need glasses?" she pouted as she put lip-gloss on my lips.
"To see? Yes." My eyesight was horrible. Without my glasses I saw a complete mess of blurry silhouettes, not to mention the painful strain it caused on my eyes.
"At least their black. It'll go with the shoes." She walked over to the closet and pulled out an outfit. It was a red, satin dress made from clingy material that rested god knows where on my thighs.
"Don't you think it's a little... too much?" I didn't want to grab everyone's attention and red was surely going to do that. Plus, I still had the warning Aziel gave me in lecture this morning. Despite that, Vincenzo wouldn't harm me in a public place. It would compromise himself, and with Enrica by my side the whole night, I should be in the clear zone.
"It's a party, besides, it's a sexy dress." She threw it at me and I reluctantly caught it. After spending several minutes in the bathroom, I managed to squeeze into the dress and walked out to find Enrica already dressed up in a little black number with her hair pinned to the back of her head.
She turned around and her eyes lit up. "Damn! You look stunning!" I didn't feel stunning, I felt exposed. I was jealous of girls who could wear such tight and short outfits without feeling an inch of insecurity. Some people called those girls 'sluts', I called them admirable. To be so confident in yourself was something I longed for. Maybe that was why people saw me as a bullying target, because of my lack of confidence?
"Thanks." I smiled nervously. "Where is this party?"
"Beta Nu Omega. I went to one they had last week; it was amazing!" it was a frat party. Oh god. "Hey," Enrica reached out and touched my arm. I jumped at the coldness of them. "Sorry." She cringed. "I just washed my hands, they're probably freezing." She let out an awkward chuckle. "I promise it will all be fine and if anyone starts being rude, I'll deal with them myself." Her words were reassuring as I had already seen her talk back to Jaqueline Rayford with such fierceness, but I was still uneasy.
It was already dark by the time we left but we weren't the only people out, it seemed like everyone was going to the Beta Nu Omega party and so we followed the line. Enrica's phone went off like mad halfway through the walk.
"It's Camden." She rolled her eyes as she tucked her phone into her purse.
"Did you tell him we were going to this party tonight?" I remembered her telling me how overprotective Camden was. It was for her brother's sake or so she called it.
"Pssht, no. He'd only convince us not to go and then drag our asses back."
"But he's let you go to other parties before?"
"Camden doesn't let me do anything. I let myself. Besides, he's lived the party experience and so has my brother, so why can't I?" she had a good point.
The frat house was packed by the time we arrived. There were beer pong tournaments and people already passed out on the lawn out front and when we got inside it was no better. The floor was sticky with alcohol under my shoes and I thought I saw pizza slices stuck to the ceiling. The music boomed through the rooms like a magnetic vibration, pulling everyone's body into a type of dance whether it was moving your hips or a sidestep but the main dancing was set in the backroom with a bar and DJ, laser lights blasting in all types of colours.
Enrica never let go of my hand as we journeyed our way through the crowds of people. "D'you want a drink?"
"Water please." I answered.
"You sure?" Enrica raised an eyebrow. It's a college party. A freaking college party and I asked for a glass of water! People would probably deem me as insane.
"No – actually – I'll have a beer." I've had beer before when my parents forced me to come down to interact with their parties, it was nothing new but the whole frat house atmosphere made drinking seem more daunting to me.
"You can come with me if you want but the kitchen is right next door and I'll be right back." That was fine, I could last a few minutes alone. I nodded as if to say it was fine and watched Enrica disappear through the crowd next door.
A whistle behind me made my body jolt around to see a 6ft, chestnut haired boy in front of me, he wore a tight, white T-shirt with black jeans and a denim jacket. He was stunning.
"I haven't seen you around here before." He said walking over to me. Act cool, Amelie. Please don't be weird.
"I don't really come around here often." I answered. That was smooth, right?
"Obviously." His eyes teasingly scanned my body, I felt my nerves and insecurity heat up under his gaze. "But you should." He met my eyes and smiled. Green. His eyes were light green. "I'm Nathan." He extended a hand. I reached out and shook it.
"Amelie." I smiled.
Nathan pulled his hand away and scratched the back of his neck. "I don't really know why I asked you to shake my hand. That was embarrassing." He chuckled nervously. Why was he nervous? He was drop dead gorgeous and talking to me. Me of all people!
"No, I like it. Very... polite." Nathan chuckled once more and placed his hands into his pockets.
"I'm not very good at flirty if I'm being honest, but I saw you and knew I couldn't miss my chance." He was trying to flirt with me?! Amelie, stay calm.
"I'm bad at it too, why don't we just talk?" Nathen liked the idea and smiled. "Are you apart of the frat?" I asked.
"No," he answered, "My best friend is, they have parties every weekend here and he finally dragged me out to go to one."
"Me too – well, my roommate dragged me here."
"And how are you finding it so far?"
"It's okay." I smiled with a nod, "You?"
"Better now that I'm talking to you." He gave me a dazzling smile. Oh my god. My cheeks heated up and I couldn't help myself from smiling wider.
"Why is it? That you don't come to many parties." I flicked my hair behind my shoulder in nervous behaviour.
"D'you want me to be honest?" I nodded, "It might turn you off."
"I don't think you could." Did I just say that aloud? Oh god. But Nathan only smiled wider.
"Truth is, I'm a massive math nerd. I spend all my time in my dorm doing homework and taking extra lectures because I love it so much." How could this be possible? This guy was unbelievably hot with an adorable smile and was super intelligent?! I had officially died and been sent to heaven or this was the devil playing a horrible trick on me. He probably has a foot fetish.
"Do you have a foot fetish?" why the hell did I say that?! Nathan was taken aback, and I felt my chance with him blow to smithereens before he let out a hearty, beautiful laugh and shook his head.
"No. I mean, I don't kink shame but it's definitely not my thing." Perfect. That's what he was. Perfect. "Is that a disappointment or..."
"No, no!" I waved my hands in front of my face. "No, it's good." I let my smile widen just as he did the same.
"Hey!" Enrica appeared by my side with two cups of beer and handed me one. "Sorry for the wait but there was this couple getting it on and they were taking up literally the whole kitchen space and –" her eyes flickered over to Nathan. "And who's this?" a smirk overtook her lips as she looked back at me.
"Erm," I swallowed down my nerves by taking a gulp of beer. Why did I ask for beer? I hated it. "Enrica, this is Nathan. Nathan, this is my roommate Enrica." Nathan nodded his head.
"I should thank you." He said to Enrica.
"Why's that?" she asked.
"For dragging this one out tonight." He gestured to me. "I'm glad she's here, otherwise I would have been stuck alone on a sofa all night."
Enrica playfully nudged my shoulder and took a long sip of her drink. "Well, I'm about to hit the dance floor. Do you guys wanna come?" I looked back at Nathan who shrugged.
"Sure, why not." I noticed how his shirt hugged every single detail of his torso and I bit my lip to restrain my stupid smile. He looked back at me, catching me off guard. Oh god, he so knew I was checking him out.
"You in?" he gave a slightly cocky smile and returned the gesture by running his eyes all over my body. The excitement I felt was too much to bear.
"Definitely." I nodded.
For the next hour, Nathan and I spent the whole-time dancing. We ended up getting so close that one wrong step meant that I'd kiss him. I wanted to kiss him. His lips were so perfectly pink and soft, I kept wondering what they tasted like. We spent the rest of the party standing against a wall by the bar, talking about everything. The conversation between us was so easy, there was never a dull or awkward moment. Nathan grew up in Virginia and was on the college swim team, but his dream career was to be an Investment Analyst and hoped to one day buy an apartment in New York. He asked me about myself, but I didn't have many interesting things to say apart from the whole oracle thinks I'm a vampire prince's soulmate problem which was something I certainly did not talk about.
He told me he saw the video of me at Jaqueline's and commented on how disgusting it was of her to do such a thing. He also told me that tonnes of people hated Jaqueline on campus and tried to get the video taken down.
It was nice to know I wasn't the only one terrorised by her and that other people were on my side. After hours of talking, I started to notice how close we were becoming. I was standing against a wall and he rested an arm one side of my head as he leaned in to talk. He laughed and talked and laughed and talked some more and I felt time slip away from us. I watched his lips move perfectly as he spoke and his tongue dart out to wet them as his eyes stared deep into mine.
I took the plunge.
I leant forward and kissed him. Really kissed him. He was a little surprised and so I pulled back in sheer fear I had taken the wrong move. Was it too much? Did I do it wrong? I had never made the first move on a guy before but with Nathan, it just felt right.
I watched his lips form into a desiring smile and let out a breath. "I'm so glad you did that." He chuckled in pure relief. "I've been wanting to kiss you for the past hour but didn't want to scare you off or make the wrong move."
"I don't think you could ever do that." I smiled and looked down at his lips again. He inched closer.
"Can I kiss you this time?" he whispered.
"Yes." I pleaded. He rested a hand to cup my cheek and kissed me. It started off innocent but when his other hand crept around my waist and I felt his body melt into mine, I opened my mouth with a small moan and let his tongue caress mine.
This is what it is supposed to be like. I told myself and let myself get lost in the moment. My arms curled around the back of his neck and buried them into his hair, I pressed my body up against his and he groaned. This was perfect. This was how a kiss was supposed to be. I never wanted to leave this moment.
"You're so hot." Nathan groaned and kissed my neck. I sighed and pressed my body up against his, so our hips connect and his lips kissed my neck in delightful motions. I leant my head back against the wall and closed my eyes, unable to keep them open from the pleasure.
An image of Nathan flashed before my eyes. He was lying on the floor, blood pouring from the hole where his heart was supposed to be, pooling around his murdered corpse, his eyes wide open with dead horror.
I jolted back and pulled myself out of Nathan's hold.
"Is everything okay?" he asked concerned. "Did I do something wrong?" I shook the image from my mind and smiled assuringly.
"Everything's great. It's just a little... loud in here." Maybe I was becoming disorientated? Maybe I needed some quiet?
"We can go upstairs?" he offered. "Not to do anything you don't want to but just for some quiet." How was he this sweet? I nodded and took his hand.
"Yeah, let's go upstairs. For quiet." I turned to meet his gaze. "And more." Where was all of this confidence coming from?
Nathan guided me through the crowd, his hand resting on the small of my back. I imagined what it would be like, to be in a room alone with Nathan. No one watching us, the possibility of anything and everything. I surprised myself with my own thoughts, but I really liked him. I didn't have to have sex with him, I didn't think I was ready for that, but the thought of making out with him, on a bed, all alone... maybe shirtless. The way our bodies would press up against one another.
Just as we got halfway up the stairs another image flashed before my eyes. Nathan was beneath me, shitless but oozing with blood from several gashes and bitemarks over his skin. I looked down at my own hands covered in blood. I felt it drip from my mouth as the metallic taste swirled at the back of my throat. I jumped off the bed in horror and screamed.
"Woah! Are you okay?" I fell back on the stairs and tumbled down for only Nathan to catch me by his feet. Laughter surrounded us as I grabbed onto the banister and pulled myself up. Everyone was looking and embarrassment flooded my cheeks.
"Way to go, Amelie. But, next time, your only supposed to emotionally fall for the boy, not physically." Jaqueline Rayford. Just great. "Or maybe you're just that stupid you can't walk up a flight of stairs? God, if a girl can't walk up a flight of stairs then how good can she be at other things?" She was sitting on a guy's lap, playing with his hair as his hand rested dangerously high up her thigh, kissing her shoulder. "Oh, wait no, I forgot. You're a virgin so you wouldn't know much about anything anyways. Must be a stupid virgin then."
"You're a virgin?" Nathan turned to me surprised. "Sorry." He could see my humiliation, "That was wrong, I just didn't think anyone was still a virgin in college." Well, I was. Whoop-di-do.
"Nathan, right?" Jaqueline gave a venomous smile. "I had a great time last night. You really know your way around a woman's body."
I stilled and gaped at Nathan. I couldn't believe it. He went on a whole rant about how mean and horrible Jaqueline was and yet he still slept with her?! What the hell?! Did he do this all the time at frat parties? Flirt with a random girl, pretend to be perfect and then take them upstairs, hoping to get lucky. God, I was such an idiot.
"Amelie, I didn't –"
"I'm going to find my friend." I said before he could finish and ducked under his arm. I ignored all the giggles and sniggers no matter how badly they made me want to cry.
"What the fuck, Jaqueline?! Amelie, wait!" Nathan called after me, but I didn't want to hear it. I'd had enough.
I searched the house for Enrica but there was no sign of her. By the time I had searched the entire front lawn, asking whether people had seen her which was useless because they were all out of their mind drunk, I looked at my phone and saw it was already 1:30. Urgh! I gave up searching for Enrica and decided to make my own way home. I knew Nathan was probably looking for me, or maybe he was flirting with some other girl, either way I didn't want to see him. Enrica had either gone home or was too busy dancing with someone else.
I wrapped my arms around myself to fight off the wind of the cold November night and let out a long breath. I didn't want the tears to fall down my face, but they did. God, I was so pathetic. Why did I even come to this party? Why did I believe that the most perfect boy in the world liked me? Now here I was, crying to myself as I walked alone in a ridiculously tight dress that did nothing to fight against the cold. I could see what I loser I looked like.
I was so close to the dorms when I heard a rattle in the trees.
"You see what happens when you mess around with other boys?" a cool, seductive voice purred. I froze in my tracks. It couldn't be. No, there was no way. But I looked around and realised how alone I was, how there was no one to see or hear me. How available I had made myself to him.
What was I thinking? I was so hung up about Nathan and Jaqueline that I let my defence down. I didn't bother turning around, I didn't want to look at him out of annoyance and fear.
"Come on now, my love. You knew something like this would happen."
"Please leave me alone." I begged in exhaustion.
"You know I can't do that." His voice was full of something else this time. It was deeper, far more... menacing. Wanting. Desiring. Needing. I heard him jump down and I swallowed hard. "I don't like people playing with what's mine."
"I will never be yours." I said in a tone that surprised me.
"You were always mine."
"You're –"
"Turn around, my love." He cut me off. I refused.
"I won't –"
"Turn. Around." His voice turned deeper, authoritative. The voice of a true leader. The voice of someone that could kill with ease.
Slowly, I did so, and was met with the most devastatingly beautiful, frightening sight. There was Vincenzo, just as I remembered with but there was something different. The top buttons on his dress shirt were undone revealing the top of his sculpted chest, his eyes looked tired and haunted, the whole of his arms and hands were tensed revealing his veins. His hair was messed up revealing more of those lusciously soft curls at the top of his head, some curling down to his forehead, and his eyes were filled with a type of desire I had never seen in any male before in my life.
"You really hurt me last time we met, my love." He said calmly but I could see the rage ticking across that sharp jawline of his, but a sadness flooded through those beaming, scarlet eyes. "You really hurt me." I couldn't find any evidence of where I'd stabbed him. Maybe vampires had healing powers.
"I –"
"Yet, as much as I've been hurt by you, all my thoughts, my actions, every breath I fucking breathe. It has always been about you. You can never seem to leave my mind. I can't eat, because every time I want to taste something, it's your sweet mouth, and I can't sleep because all my dreams are occupied by you. Only you. I am never rid of you. You are always fucking there!"
"I –"
"But guess what, Amelie." My name on his tongue sounded so beautiful and I didn't know why.
"What?" I replied breathlessly.
"I fucking love it. I fucking love every single thought of you. I can't get enough. I haven't been able to have a single sane moment but I fucking love that."
My whole body froze more than I ever thought it could. He stepped a single step forward.
"Your heart's beating fast." He spoke. Vincenzo moved closer until we were inches apart. He placed a hand on my neck and tilted my head up to meet his gaze. I closed my eyes. "Do I make you afraid?" I didn't dare answer. "I am going to give you a choice." His lips grazed my neck. His teeth. The fangs that have killed hundreds before me. "You can come with me calmy, or you can run."
That was barely a choice.
"You can surrender and submit, or you can run and see what happens." He whispered gently. Surrender and submit. Submitting to this monster of a man. All fate that could end up with him, in my mind, was a fate worse than death. Being locked up, taken from every human freedom I had. What life would I live if none of it made me happy?
So, I opened my eyes. And I ran.