Help! I'm Arranged to Marry a Vampire? - 2008

Chapter 1

It is a night of darkness, a song of sorrow. The beautiful one rises. Wisps of death shrouds her gaunt form, an everlasting fear. Now a night of new fearing, I smile vaguely.

Emmery Wilson

If I knew how my life would be, maybe I would have been more against the whole marriage idea. I mean come on, say you came home one afternoon and your parents told you, you were apart of some plan that you weren't able to object to?

My name is Emmery Wilson. I thought I was an average sixteen year old but then again, who is? I wasn't exactly the world's best kid but I wasn't the worst either. Sure I was a scene kid and I got into a few fights but hey, a girls got to stand up for herself - especially when it's some snot nosed cheerleader blabbing her mouth about something she doesn't know anything about. Gossip in my small town spread like wildfire. If one person knew it then it was only a matter of time before everyone did. My dad, Roy, left my mother, older brother and I a couple of years ago - four to be exact. He set up the whole marriage thing. My mom, Ana, didn't even know about it! Technically, I belonged to this guy before I was even born but is that even possible? 

Sometimes my brother, Eli, tells me when I was little I used to have horrible nightmares and I would wake up screaming, "I'm not free!" Whatever that meant at the time. My mom thinks it was because of some horror show I watched on TV but I don't believe it. 

I was rushing home from school because Eli was supposed to be stopping by for the week. I barely saw my brother now that he lived on his own. He thought college was the best thing that ever happened to him. He was finally able to get out the house whenever he wanted. He rented a small apartment two towns over and was studying at some fancy building that barely passed as a college. I really missed him but I envied his profound freedom. I couldn't seem to go anywhere without my mom trailing after me. The most freedom I got was walking to and from school because we literally lived four houses down from it. As I got closer, Eli's car came into view and I was more eager than ever. 

"Eli?!" I yelled the moment my foot crossed the thresh- hold. There was complete silence through out the house. "Eli?" I ran into the kitchen, dropping my backpack and my sweater on the living room couch. My heart stopped, my eyes filled with the grossest sight I hoped I would never see. Eli sat on the kitchen counter with his legs wrapped around the waist of some cheeky brunette girl. They looked the same age and she was beautiful but I guess I was selfish. I never liked it when he brought other girls home, especially when they were pretty. 

"Hey Em." he smiled, the usual toothy smile he always managed to carry. "This is Alyssa." He squeezed the giggling girl in his arms, causing her to laugh with excitement. 

"Stop it Jakey." Jakey? Jakey! Who was she to call him Jakey? Jake was in reference to his middle name Jacob but no one ever used any name that made reference to it - except for her. "Hi, Jakey's told me so much about you." She forced a smile; the kind that asked to be slapped off the barer's face. 

"Funny, he hasn't said anything about you." I ignored her extended hand as I shyed away from my brother's stern glare. I knew he hated it when I treated his dates like dirt but I couldn't help it. I had been waiting months for him to come home and when he does, he drags this bubble headed ex-cheerleader with him. 

"I'll see you two later!" I called with a fake plaster smile as I grabbed my things and headed for the door. They continued to talk inaudioably about something I probably wasn't interested in. 

I ran down the front drive just in time to see my mom's car pull around the corner. She couldn't be home now! I quickly circled the house and let myself in the side door, avoiding Eli and Alyssa when I got back inside. The only place I could think of going right now was downtown but my room will have to do for now. The comforting at of my individual space provided me with a false sense of protection. I let myself fall onto my bed, the dark yellow and black plaid comforter swallowed me in it's grasp. I heard the car door shut and a minute later my mom's cheery voice fill the house, "I'm home!" 

"Hey mom!" Eli yelled back, a serenade of giggles followed. 

"Eli! I thought you were coming tomorrow." By now my curiosity has gotten the best of me and I was in the hallway before I even realized I had gotten up. I peeked around the corner of the hallway door to see Eli introducing prep-wanna-be to our mom, how was he not embarrassed by her!? She smiled like she did for all the girls he brought home, not wanting to be rude. I on the other hand could care less. 

Jeremy Jones

The new moon rose over the grayish puffs of nightly clouds. The sky was beautiful during the day but at night was when the city truly came alive. I sat in my bedroom, my sanctuary, the place I went when I wanted some peace away from my family. I mean yeah they're cool and all but no guy wants to hang around their parents forever - and believe me, it would be forever. 

"Jeremy?!" I turned my head to face my father, William, who now stood in my doorway, semi leaning on the door frame. 

"Yes?" My eyes darted back to the lights of the city, I wished I could be normal for one day before I was tied down but that wasn't gonna happen. My father is very old fashioned and he still believes in arranged marriages. I didn't much care for them but I had hoped he had enough sense to pick a vampire bride instead of a human but he took it as a chance to extend the population. Granted there was only a few of us in existence but that doesn't give us the right to change another person. 

"Every time I call you are staring out that infernal window. This isn't some story son where you make a wish on a star and it comes true. This is reality and -" 

"And reality needs me to get my head out of the clouds. I know father but there's such a big world and -" His eyes narrowed at my choice of words, they were more modernized then he liked to hear but I couldn't be caught in the eighteen hundreds for the rest of my life! 

"That world ceases to belong to you. Our world was destroyed but long ago." 

I stood and made my way over to him, " But couldn't this world be ours too. We do live here after all." 

He placed a steady hand on my shoulder, " Son, you are to turn eighteen the week after next and I can't support you forever!" 

"Who said I needed supporting!?" I shrugged his hand off and returned to the window, not wanting to face his wrath for what I just said. With a loud sigh he exited my room, leaving me alone once again. I never fully understood his mindset but he was still stuck in the medieval period. 

"Better watch your tongue boy or you'll get a thrashing you'd wish you hadn't." I heard his footsteps down the hall and I sighed with relief.  

He was never really the type to exactly father - he was more the type that thought you do what I say or your eye gets blackened. He's backhanded me a few times through the years but nothing that left a real mark for more than a week. My little brother, Asher, on the other hand was a different story - he was beaten almost every night for the stupid decisions he made. He came home drunk a couple of times and my dad had a field day. Seriously, where would a fifteen year old get alcohol anyway? What can I say, he was a stupid guy who thinks he knows everything. I've tried to cover for him a few times but it was hard when all the evidence pointed to him instead of me. I really missed my little brother, I haven't seen him in almost eight months. He's written me a few times - phone accessibility was rough to get to in this house. I wished I had all the letters, my father found them and burned them in the nightly fire. He was enraged when he read what Asher wrote about never coming back home. I envied him for having the guts to leave, I wanted to desperately but I couldn't bring myself to do it. He was technically still a kid so he had the right to make the stupid decisions he did, thinking back, I never made any of those stupid attempts that built character. I was too busy letting my father live my life for me. With my few last days of being a 'kid' dwindling, I didn't have much time to really live, before I could change my mind I pulled up on the window sill. All at once my room went cold, I crouched through the opening and my dark clothes seemed to vanish in the night sky, making me virtually impossible to see. With my first step of freedom I headed off toward the city and if I was lucky - I would find Asher.