Bella always thought that vampires were supposed to be sexy, at least that was how all of her books described them. The pale man in dark clothes and a cape currently raiding her kitchen was decidedly not sexy at all. Bella had originally come downstairs for a glass of water, but was met with something much more interesting. As if the being smelled her standing there, he turned around.
“Who are you?” crumbs flew out of his mouth and littered the floor. He seemed just as surprised to see her standing there as she was to see him.
“I’m Bella. I kind of live here,” she said slowly, trying to play down her fear. “Who are you?”
“My name is Blade.” The being licked his fingers and continued rummaging around.
“What a nice, normal, and totally reassuring name,” Bella murmured. “What are you doing in my house?”
“I’m just scavenging food. Do you have any idea how hard it is to feed yourself when you’re allergic to the sun?” He ripped the pantry door off its hinges and started to tear through it, shelf by shelf.
“Well you should really work on your execution. You woke me up with all the noise,” said Bella, who was growing more annoyed than fearful now. “My parents are going to be down here any second, so I suggest you get out of here.”
“No they aren’t, I made sure of that.”
“What?”
“Oh, I didn’t kill them, heavens no. Sleep dust, very effective. I guess I missed your room, damn munchies got the best of me.” The being continued to tear through Bella’s kitchen, unbothered by her presence.
“Don’t vampires usually drink blood anyway?”
He turned around this time and smiled, which revealed a set of terrifyingly sharp fangs.“Yeah, I’m just tired of it lately. Honestly, I was craving more of a sweet treat.”
Bella blinked. “The door to your left is the freezer, have at it.”
“Yes, chipwiches!”
“So is this whole ‘breaking into someone’s house, destroying it, and then eating all their food’ thing a regular routine?”
“Kind of. We aren’t exactly a huge population, so it’s not hard. When something like this happens though, that’s when we have to make a decision,” Blade sat down, leaning against the only intact cabinet in the kitchen and looked at Bella. “Some of us will actually consider killing humans as an option, but I won’t do it. I was human once too and I remember how scary it was to transform. So, I always go the sleep dust route. It’s non-violent, and only erases the parts of your memory that involve me.”
“How generous,” said Bella.
“Well, my other options are to turn you into a vampire and make you disappear leaving your parents in an endless state of worry, or to kill you. So pick your poison.”
“What if I swore to keep your secret.”
“People lie.”
“Okay, well what if I said that if I tell anyone, you can come back and kill me?”
Blade considered this.
“Deal.” Blade moved towards the door. Before he left, he grabbed Bella’s hand.
She hissed and pulled her hand back. “What the hell?” A small circular mark had appeared on her palm.
“If you break the promise, this little spot will kill you. It’s called a marker, and we can choose to activate it. It’ll be a quick death, but I don’t recommend it. Consider it an insurance policy.”
“Okay. Feel free to get out of my house now,” said Bella fearfully. Blade flashed his teeth at her in a sly smile, whipped his cape over his face, and disappeared. Bella stared at the empty water glass in her hand for a long time before crossing through the carnage in her kitchen to fill it.
I am a junior at Kutztown University majoring in Professional Writing.