I Kidnapped a Vampire

2- The Past

"What are you going to tell dad, Edan?" I look up to my brother walking beside me, my neck craning. He was always taller than most boys but he shot up even further when he went off to college.

He chuckles and gives me a small smile. "About dropping out of college? Not sure, Little Lina." Edan uses his pet name for me while he slows his pace and stares out at the ocean. The Virginia shoreline stretches out in both directions as the very tip of the sun sinks beneath the dark waters.

Even though I'm only 13, that doesn't mean I don't understand a little bit of what my brother is going through. Growing up, we've always been really close and Edan often would confide in me when my parents weren't around. Because of their job with the government, Mom and Dad never had much time for us. They would travel all over the place, but I never exactly knew why.

"You're only 19, Edan. That's still plenty of time to figure out what you want to do." I sit down on the sand and close my eyes while I listen to the waves crashing a short distance away.

He comes next to me and lays down, his arms underneath his head. The ocean breeze brushes across my face and I lie beside my brother, mimicking his position. We stay silent for some time until I hear Edan murmur softly.

"Have you ever seen something you can't explain, Lina? Something so life-changing that you can never even hope to be normal again?" He turns his head toward me and I glance into his eyes, confused. Imploringly he stares at me, as if hoping I will have an answer he can accept.

My brow furrows. "What do you mean?"

Edan closes his eyes and turns his head back toward the star-lit sky. "Never mind, Lina. I was just kidding."

Before I can ask any more, he turns his body opposite of me which officially shuts me up. When Edan gets upset, it's always best to wait it out. Taking my own advice, I close my eyes again. I must have fallen asleep because I later wake up to some commotion behind me.

"Lina! Run! Now!" I hear Edan scream. My eyes snap open and I look where the noises are coming from.

I see Edan wrestling with a man wielding a very large knife, aggressively trying to stab my brother. I gasp in shock and a hand flies to my mouth. My body remains frozen as I watch my brother suddenly lose his balance and fall to the ground.

"Edan!" I yell, terrified. My brother looks over to me and gives me a sad smile. What happens next I know will haunt me forever. My eyes widen as the man with the knife lodges the sharp object in the middle of my brother's chest. Edan makes a choking sound and clutches at it with shaking fingers.

As I watch the scene unfold in front of me, I don't realize the man has changed his attentions from my brother to me. Scrambling back in the sand, I can't seem to pick myself up to run. The shock from watching my brother stabbed is still casting fear throughout my limbs, rendering me immobile. Pulling the knife from Edan's abdomen, the man stalks towards me. His hat covers his face enough where I can't make out any type of facial features.

Knowing that I will probably have the same fate as my brother I clench my eyes shut, awaiting the inevitable. My body is shaking uncontrollably but I don't feel the fatal blow I thought would surely come. Instead, I hear a wet sound followed by what seems to be an intense struggle. My eyes open slowly but then widen even more than I thought possible.

The man that attacked my brother is embraced in the strong, stark white arms of another. This new individual's face is buried into the neck of the man with the hat and I notice blood trickling down to the sand. My scream echoes in the air and I finally find the strength to get up and run. My feet pound through the familiar sand as I head back towards the road.

Then all of a sudden I'm not running any more. My legs now dangle down to the ground as my arms are clenched tightly around the neck of a man. I frantically pull back and look into the eyes of the person who interrupted our attacker's mission. I become utterly speechless as I stare into his face. If I had gone my entire life without seeing this man, I would have never known what true beauty is.

When I get the courage to speak, my voice comes out shaky and distant.

"Who are you?"

The man looks at me curiously without speaking. After a while, a glint of something I can't comprehend flickers in his eyes.

"I am called Arius." He smiles and I see the light from the moon and ocean glint off of something sharp.

"Go to sleep now, Little Lina. You are safe from me this night." Before I can comprehend what he has said, my mind goes completely dark.