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Chapter One: Snow is innocence, when stained by blood, it's tainted.


There was blood on snow. Bloody footprints tinted the cold, white blanket, fading from crimson red to a light pink. The night was lit by the full, bright yet still too dark. Tall forest pine trees swayed softly in the chilled breeze. Scattered snowflakes fell slowly to the ground. The bloody footprints led into the dark forest. The scent of human blood lingered in the air, making it too hard for me to resist. The more I followed the footprints the stronger the scent became. They ceased deep into the forest and so did the scent. On the cold blanket of snow lay a human corpse, drained completely of blood. When I touched the body, it was cold, pallid, and lifeless. It's wounds resembled bite marks, but not just any bite marks though. Bite marks of my kind, vampires. They were few bites, but still fatal. Before I could guess who had done this, I felt eyes watching me. I turned around and saw him. His snow white hair was beautiful and silky. His face was pulled into a grin.His skin was pale, like the skin on a dead body. But his eyes were bright red, glowing darkly in the night. His chin was stained a bit by blood, just a small trace of it, but blood nonetheless. "Hello Rose," He said. His voice was soft, like velvet. He held out his for me to take it and mindlessly I did. I took his hand hesitantly, not thinking about what I was doing. He pulled me close to him, holding me gently. At this point my thoughts were racing. My instincts telling me to run, but I couldn't. Somehow, a tear escaped from my eye, and he ran his thumb down my cheek to get rid of it. He pulled me closer now, and pulled my chin up to meet his gaze. I stared into his eyes, they seemed so dark and evil. His lips crashed into mine. They were soft and gentle, but painful, almost as if to say goodbye. He broke the kiss, but left another on my forehead. He whispered softly into my ear. “Goodbye.” He said and then chuckled a bit. I stood still and wide-eyed. I wasn’t sure what to expect now. He looked so evil. His red eyes glowing, silver white hair swaying in the cold breeze. His long bangs covering his eyes every once in a while, but his bright red eyes still showed through. He bent his arm back, his hand was open with his fingers tightly put together, I knew this attack. He’d used it many times to kill other vampires, and now he was going to kill me. It was too late for me to run, so I braced for impact.
“Rose,” A shrill female voice called my name. I recognized this voice. It was my English teacher, Mrs. Beleux.. My thoughts snapped back to the present. “Rose,” Mrs. Beleux said again..
“Yes, Mrs. Beleux?” I asked.
“Would you please read the last stanza from the poem?” She asked me, in her shrill, old voice. “And would you wake up your classmate, Caden, after you’ve finished?” She added.
“Of course, Mrs. Beleux.” I answered. I stood up and picked up my tattered, old, English book.
“ ‘And the Raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting
On the pallid bust of Pallas just above my chamber door;
And his eyes have all the seeming of a demon's that is dreaming,
And the lamplight o'er him streaming throws his shadow on the floor;
And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor
Shall be lifted - nevermore! .’ “
I sat back down in my chair and placed my book on the desk.
“Thank you, Ms. Rose. “ Mrs. Beleux said, with a small smile on her face. I simply nodded my head. Next to me sat my best friend Caden, sleeping soundlessly on the desk. The right of his face was flat and squished against the desk. My cold hand would surely wake him up. I laughed internally at the possibilities if what his reaction would be if I did that. It would probably be a little too cruel to do that, so I decided to nudge him awake instead. I nudged his arm that had been laid out across the desk a few times. He woke up after a few nudges. He looked drowsy, as if he’d taken a bunch of sleeping pills. He looked around the room twice, taking in the classroom surrounding him and stares from our classmates.
“ What’d I miss?” He whispered groggily when his eyes met mine. I guess he hoped no one had heard him, if that was the reason for why he was whispering.
“ Not much,” I said calmly, as my gaze drifted toward the front of the class, not really focusing on anything.
“Just the whole class.” I finished, a teasing smile creeping up on my face.
“Mr. Maxwell,” Mrs. Beleux began, her aged shrill tone was serious, “ Since you missed my class I suggest you get the notes from one of your classmates.” She said.
“Yes ma’ am.” He said. I automatically knew he’d ask me for the notes. Sure why not get the notes from the smartest person he’d ever known.
The school bell rang for about a minute. The chairs screeched against the floor and footsteps stomped loudly. 25 pairs of footsteps all heading for the same goal: to go home as usual. I stuffed my notebook and pen into my book bag and Caden waited for me patiently, his book bag already slung over his shoulder. His eyes were still droopy with sleep. I slung my bag over my shoulder and headed out the classroom door, Caden in tow.
We exited the three-story, cream-faded colored building as we usually did. The First to greet us was the warm sun, the car filled streets as students climbed into their parents’ cars or their own, as well heaps of snow lined up against the roads and the weak trees that had lost all their leaves during autumn. Also there to greet us was Caden’s number one fan girl, Gabriella. She was the most popular girl at our school, as well as the prettiest. Caden mentioned that I was on the imaginary list of popular kids a few times, not that I really cared. He also mentioned that he was not interested in Gabriella in any way. Gabriella was a perky blonde, captain of the cheerleading squad, secretly considered the school whore, and she was possibly the most annoying girl I’ve ever met in all of my life. I was thankful that Caden wasn’t interested in her because I don’t know how I could live my life with that girl. Gabriella sat on one of the wooden benches outside the school, waiting for Caden. Her eyes lit up when she saw him. Caden didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were still droopy. She started walking up to him, he still didn’t notice her.
“Hi Caden!” Her voice was as high pitched and happy as it would be for a little girl opening her gift on Christmas morning. Caden turned his head in her direction but he kept walking with me. She followed. A love-struck puppy.
"Hey." He said boredly, still walking. The puppy, still following.
"So...Caden, I was wondering if you wanted to go to the Winter Wonderland Dance...you know....with me?" The puppy shot a glare at me as she finished her sentence. I didn't care much for it though. Her nervousness overshadowed her mask of false confidence.
"No thanks." Caden answered, only a second after she finished her question. Of course, for him, there would be nothing to think about. We kept walking home, and the puppy still followed.
"Well why not?" She asked, her voice was whiny and full of disappointment, then came the puppy eyes.
"I'm just not into those type of things." He said. This time she stopped following.
"I-It's ok, I understand." Her voice broke at the end. I didn't look back at her, but I felt her gaze on me, like sharp daggers peircing into me.
"Glad that you do." Caden said. His tone showed signs of relief.
"Ok, bye." Gabriella said. Her voice kept breaking as she broke into tears. The poor puppy was rejected.
"'K, later." Caden's last word of departure made Gabriella cry even louder. He cringed when it got much, much louder. The farther we walked, the louder her crying got. I wonder how much louder can her crying get. Then again, I don't think I want to know. It was now official. Gabriella Sterling was now the nost annoying girl on my list. We walked far enough that Gabriella couldn't be seen or heard anymore.
"You think I was a little too harsh?" Caden asked me. I didn't really know. Gavriella was an overly emotional person. She cried for many stupid reasons in the past.