A Blood Kiss

ONE

I sat quietly in my room watching the bed curtains dance in the breeze. My french doors leading to the balcony were open so that I could hear what was happening outside. Tonight was the Feeding Feast for the vampires. The Feeding Feast is when we empty out our jails so that the prisoners try to escape only to be greeted by a fate worse then death. The vampires aranged this feast. It is their only time to come into our town legally. The vampires are only allowed to hunt the prisoners on Feeding Feast day. That doesn't stop the townspeople from hiding inside their homes till they leave.

I listen to the blood curling screams and begs for help coming from outside. The prisoners don't deserve this. Some only went to jail because they stole from the markets to get food for their family. I don't know what it's like to be starving. I'm the human president's daughter. My family is treated like royalty because president Visnic requested that. He said something about how high class families should be treated just like that, high class. I love my home, my clothes, my gifts, and the special care we get but I shouldn't; not when other familes don't get treated the same.

That's why my window is open tonight. I'm torturing myself by listening to their screams. Later their screams will haunt my dreams, giving me unpleasent nightmares. The sounds of screams are dying. The Feeding Feast is drawing to a close. Soon the streets will be quiet. Tomorrow the streets will be littered with dead bodies and blood. The town's doctor will gather the bodies so that he can burn them, it's a safety measure since we don't exactly know how vampires are created.

We know very little about the creatures that rule our world. We know they can't come into the home of a living person, they can be out in the sun yet prefer to hunt at night, are stronger then any human, faster then the speed of light, are dead, and can't be killed. That hasn't stopped humans from trying to kill them. Every once in a while we get a stupid human crossing the gate and attempting to kill the monsters. That stupid human is never heard from again. We know we will fail yet we try anyway. I'll never understand that.

The screams have ended now. It is finally over. I walk to my balcony doors. Hesitantly I step onto my deck. I watch the trees shake violently knowing it is the vampires jumping tree to tree to get back over the gate to their side. I turn my head and stare at the gravel road. I look at the dark crimson blood smeared all over the ground in every which way. I stare at the dead bodies thrown like garbage. Some bodies are missing limbs. We'll find them eventually.

I look straight ahead of me to stare at the long black gates keeping our worlds separated. President Visnic noticed that vampires were demolishing the human race in record time. Visnic needed to keep humans alive so that their was always a meal for them. That's why he put up the gate. He needed to keep his vampire minions in check. The gate is just an obsticle for the vampires. We still have rogue vampires crossing to our side, killing innocent human beings. So even though the gate is over ten feet tall and strong it provides no comfort for any of us.

I stare past the gate at the gravel road that leads to the president Visnic's home. I can't see the manor where he lives. Their side has all the trees covering their side from us. The only person to see the vampire's side is my father. He travels to Visnic manor to discuss things with Visnic himself. That's where he is right now; with Visnic. I try to keep from worrying. I trust that Visnic would never hurt my father, but I'm not sure about the other vampires. I feel my stomach muscles clench as I worry.

I take a deep breath and close my french doors. As I step back inside my room my bedroom door opens. Agatha, my father's assistant, looks at me with her usual sad blue eyes. For a moment my heart stops.

"Tia is here to see you. Should I send her up?" Agatha ask softly. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I nod and Agatha leaves to go fetch Tia.