VAMPYREBy Krista Hanson

• "Vampyre" A US Novella authored by Krista Hanson and is Copyrighted within the USA - Plagiarism is prohibited.

And now an excerpt from VAMPYRE, a novel:

Chapter One
Before I even opened my eyes, I knew something was different.  I could smell unfamiliar scents that I swore I remembered but could not concretely identify.  The mixture of scents almost overloaded my sinuses.  I sniffled a little as I listened to the voices talking lowly someplace below me.  I did not recognise their voices but could hear them as clear as a bell.  In fact, I could hear a lot of things fairly clearly.  A highway of some sort in the distance, a television airing commercials quietly and a gentle hum of a refrigerator.  My ears zeroed in on the voices below me and the clarity hurt my ears.  They were male voices.  Two of them.  Most like in their twenties or thirties.  Where was I?  A hospital?
I started panicking a little, noticing for the first time that it hurt to breathe.  I forced my chest to take in small, deliberate breaths.  But they almost felt useless and unnecessary.  It was then that I noticed the voices had stopped.  All was quiet except the hum of the fridge, even the television had been shut off.  I held my breath and squeezed my eyes tighter.
"...She's awake."  The more baritone of the voices said eerily.
"Finally"  The second male, sounding relieved, said with a swift movement.
My eyes flew open.
Light flooded into my eyes, giving me an instant headache.  I could see dust settling in the sunlight that beamed through a tall, victorian window.  My flesh felt like it was being burned, a raging sunburn eating ravenously at my skin.  Footsteps entered the room.  Two men stood in the doorway, one taller than the other - but my eyes could not focus on them with more intricate details demanding my vision.  I gritted my teeth in response.
"Whoops..."  The shorter male said, moving so fast that I couldn't see where he had gone.  The blinds flung closed and my vision settled and my burning flesh cooled instantly.  My eyes continued to focus and settle as the shorter male walked into view, I squinted my eyes as he smiled a small smile.
"Are you alright?"  He asked, giving me a small nod.  I blinked as I studied him.  Brown hair, like soft dirt, was side-swept into his emerald green eyes.  He was gorgeous and must have noticed me staring because he pushed the dangling pieces of hair out of his eyes.  I swallowed a raw, dry swallow.
"Yes.  I think so."  I sat up but even though I intentionally moved slowly, I still went too fast and fell back on my left elbow.  Emerald eyes moved toward me and I held my hand up, "I'm fine, just slipped."  I sat up and looked around the room.  It wasn't a hospital at all.
I was in a beautiful historic bedroom.  Something you'd see inside a Victorian Mansion or a refurbished Bed and Breakfast. Elegant drapes and the hand-craved dark wood four-posted bed I was sitting in were only part of the beauty of this room.  A timeless vanity sat in the corner of the room, the oval mirror turned around so no reflection could be seen.  "Where am I?"
Emerald eyes looked at the tall man in the doorway, he walked through the door soundlessly "Bey Manor.  Our house."  He gestured toward Emerald eyes and back to himself.  "How are you feeling?"
Emerald eyes stepped even closer, looking concerned "Do you remember anything?"
Suddenly a flash back of a faded memory clamored into my thoughts.
It was me on the ground, blood flowing from someplace my mind didn't acknowledge.  Then there, holding my hand as if my life depended on it was Emerald eyes.  His dark hair dangling in his worried eyes.  Fire crackled in the distance but the memory faded to black.  I shook the thoughts from my head.  "Just you..."
I said softly, meeting his gaze.  The tall man scoffed, "yeah... ok, but how are you feelings?  Any hypersensitivities or super speed or pointy teeth of any kind?"  Emerald eyes threw a pillow at him and the tall man ducked unfathomably fast.  I blinked and shook my head in response.  "Why am I here?"
Both men looked at one another.  "What's your name?"  Emerald eyes asked.
"Liv."
The tall man started laughing and tucked his hands around his abdomen, "really?  Are you joking?  Considering ..."  Before he could finish, Emerald eyes flitted across the room and pushed him out of the room.  The tall man continued to giggle, "What?  Come on, it's funny.  Live, like living.  Which we're not..."  His voice faded as Emerald eyes finally shut the door, leaving the tall man out in the hallway laughing as he walked away.
Emerald eyes turned around, "I'm Walter."

My Happily Ever After

I am an adult now and I really do miss being a child sometimes.  I miss playing Barbies, were we could control people and not be called a bitch.  When we had no idea what apps were.  When we told time by mom yelling "Kids! Dinner!" into the big tree in the backyard. 

I love to read and write books, I love to lose myself inside the pages of a novel and breathe in whatever the characters are inhaling. 

When I was young, my mother used to read me book after book.  In fact, the book snob that I was, I REFUSED to go to sleep until my mother read me a fairytale or a Berenstein Bears book.  Even though I knew these books were works of fiction, I banked on what I knew HAD to be facts:

• I was a princess ...duh.
• All apples were poisonous, so avoid all healthy food just in case... 
• Prince Charming on his noble steed or a Knight in shining armor would rescue me.
• All 'Happy Endings' were almost always 'Happily Ever Afters.'

I slowly, but surely, found out that I was not a princess (I fart at least once a day, come on).  No matter how hard I tried, fairies would not sprinkle dust to help me fly nor did woodland creatures flock to me when I sang a charming tune.  I started to wonder if The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Charles Perrault and Lewis Carroll had, in fact, lied about all of it.  The glass slippers, the big bad wolf, Wonderland and houses made of candy.  It was all lies.

*sigh*


As I grew older, things became more and more clear that (despite what Peter Pan said), it was time to grow up and stop believing in childish stories.  I tucked all my fairytales, Berenstein Bear books and Super Fudge books under my bed and began believing what I could touch, see, taste, smell and hear.  I became more interested in science, the biology and chemistry of it all.  I fell in love ...or at least I thought I did.  The hero in this story though, folks, turned out to be a the villain.  He hurt me in more ways than one and I ran away to save myself.  I never saw him again.  Then I thought I'd found a Knight, a real hero, courageous enough to battle evil and lead our lives into goodness.  He was unfaithful and this princess felt more broken than she ever imagined possible.  But again, she was wrong.  She fell again, more slowly and cautiously this time, after taking a small break from dating anymore.  This one seemed perfect.  Gentle, genuine and a gentleman.  This facade soon faded as well, and what I thought was the sweet, loving soul I could trust - exposed his fangs and turned out to be the big, bad wolf   :(

This last relationship shook my faith the most, as I tried to do everything right.  We fell slowly, instead of all at once, cautiously and whole heartedly without holding back.  Even sometimes to this day, I feel what I can only describe as 'homesick' when I think about the gentle, tender, loving care, devotion and adoration he loved me with.  This one was the HARDEST to break off and left me in beyond heartbreak - it left me in ruins.  My faith failed and I lost so much more than a best friend, boyfriend and lover.  I lost my love for myself.  I really, really hated fairytales now.  I could just strangle the soul who thought 'soulmates' was an actual thing. 

Time continued on as it usually does.  After all, the world tends to unfold as it should.

'True love cannot be found where it does not truly exist, nor can it be hidden where it truly does.'
This is what my current boyfriend and soulmate, Kasey, has proven to me.  We fought and fought against falling in love.  We retreated away from each other even though we were pulled into one another.  We were both scared, absolutely terrified, of the love that was most obviously blooming between us.  It soon occurred to both of us that we didn't want to live in a world, a day, a minute, where the other one did not exist.  I couldn't live without him, which was new and beguiling for me.  No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't shake him.  I couldn't push away the spark that made me never want to leave his arms. 
...and here we are, over two years later.  We have an 8 month old baby girl and my birthday is just 2 days away (for which, Kasey has given me a 'promise ring' - my first real ring from a man) and I cannot wait to spend tonight, tomorrow, next Thursday and forever and ever with him. 

Conclusion:  So while my story does not prove that fairy tales are real, I finally believe that happy endings are possible and our lives CAN be our story.  Kasey Wright IS my happily ever after.  And if I WERE a princess, if Tinkerbell could make me fly, then I am more than happy to have a kissed a few frogs and loved a few toads before finally landing my very own Prince Charming :)  




** Second star to the right and straight on til morning **
                    *Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust*