The Girl & The Vampire(A prequel to A Haunting Face)

A Little Support

Monday came quickly, much to the disappointment of the students. Elyse had been debating with herself about whether or not she would attend the support group that night. A part of her was scared to attend, not wanting to draw attention to herself, though she knew it was far too late. Cassie had done that for her.

After thinking for awhile, she decided that she would. She needed to. She needed to know who else had been a victim of Jeremy Balkner.

...

That night, she went to where the group was meeting. There were at least three other girls and a few boys(because boys are victims, too) when she got there. Lucy smiled when she saw Elyse standing in the doorway. "Elyse! You made it." The heads of the others turned towards where Elyse was standing, a small smile on her face. "Come on in. We saved a seat for you."

Elyse slowly made her way over to the group and took a seat next to Lucy. She nodded to the others once she adjusted, and they nodded back.

"Alright, let's start with introductions. Elyse, this is Alison, McKenzie, George, Naomi, Dylan, William, and Rae." Each of the students nodded as they were introduced. "You all know of Elyse. She was the most recent victim of Jeremy Balkner."

Elyse kept her eyes glued to the floor.

...

Elyse wasn't sure how she felt about the group, but she knew that she was relieved when she finally got back to her room. She collapsed onto her bed once she got there, sleep clouding her mind.

...

It was dark outside, the only light being from the moon and a few of the lights from the outside of the dorms. Elyse was walking alone, shivering from the cold night air. She wrapped her jacket tightly around her in an attempt to warm herself. She could hear her breath, the warm air coming out in a fog. The sound of screaming echoed around her, and she let out a high pitched gasp. Her head whipped around as her surroundings suddenly became foggy. Elyse swallowed, her breaths heavy. She took a step forward, then another, and another.

She heard another scream and she froze. She could see something through the fog, a dark figure hovering over another. She was afraid to come closer, but something was pulling her towards the scene.

Elyse was shaking slightly. Whether that was out of fear of what she was about to see or from how cold it was, Elyse wasn't sure. The hair at the back of her neck stood as she hesitantly approached the two figures. Once she was only a few feet away, she stopped. She gasped as she looked down. She could see clear as day that it was Jeremy's body. The figure looming above the corpse turned. Elyse froze, staring back into the blood red eyes that landed on her. Elyse jumped back, shrieking in fear. She struggled as she felt hands on her. "Elyse..."

...

"Elyse!" Elyse's eyes flew open and she sat up straight in her bed. She was covered in sweat, and her breaths came out in short gasps. She turned and saw Olivia looking at her with concern written on her face. "Are you okay?" Olivia asked.

Elyse nodded, trying to get her breathing back to normal. "Yeah..." Elyse sighed. "Yeah, just... bad dream."

...

"What was the dream about?" Olivia asked, handing Elyse a cup of water. Olivia had told her that Cassie and Aviva had gone out for a walk, leaving Olivia alone with Elyse. Elyse sipped the water. Her entire body was trembling in fear from her nightmare. It was evident that Elyse was very shaken up.

"It was about Jeremy," Elyse said in a hushed tone. "His death... I saw his death."

"What happened in the dream?" Olivia asked as she took a seat across from her frightened friend. Olivia knew how to deal with people who had had traumatic nightmares, which was why she was the best person to help with calming Elyse. "Tell me every detail that you remember." Olivia's voice was soothing, gentle, calming. It helped calm Elyse's nerves.

Elyse thought for a few seconds. "I was alone. It was dark out, barely any light. Then, I heard screaming, and the scene became foggy." Elyse paused to take a drink of the water.

"Then what?"

"I couldn't see anything at first, but then I heard screaming again. I saw two figures in the distance, and I walked over. I saw Jeremy's body, and I saw... something else. Or someone." Elyse shook her head. "I don't know who or what. The figure turned towards me, and I saw red eyes staring straight into mine. Then, I woke up."

Olivia bit her lip as she thought over everything Elyse had told her. Elyse was clearly frightened. "Don't worry about it too much, El. It was just a dream. The whole Jeremy thing has you stressed out."

"And what of the red-eyed figure?" Elyse asked. "What's that all about?"

"Aviva has gotten into your head with that vampire stuff. You've been annoyed at her about it for awhile. It's nothing to worry about. I promise."

Olivia was trying to be assuring, Elyse knew, but she couldn't help but feel that there was something more to the dream, something she wasn't understanding. Whatever the dream was, Elyse couldn't brush it off. This meant something, and she knew it.

...

A few weeks had passed. Thankfully, those weeks had been uneventful. The Jeremy case was still being investigated, but thanks to Detective Bruner, Elyse had been left alone, and was no longer considered a suspect.

Elyse's life had become rather dull. Aviva and Cassie had been going out more, doing everything they could to avoid Elyse. She had stopped seeing Olivia around as well. It was becoming odd, frankly. Elyse wasn't sure what was going on with Olivia, but she figured it was nothing.

When she returned to her dorm after another boring day of classes, Elyse found her three dorm mates waiting for her. Elyse dropped her bag on her bed. "What's going on?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Olivia has something she wants to tell you," Cassie said. Elyse turned to Olivia, eyebrow raised.

Olivia glanced at Cassie and Aviva before releasing a heavy sigh and turning back to Elyse. "I think you overreacted about Cassie telling the police about you and Jeremy," Olivia said.

"Excuse me?"

"Cassie was just trying to help, Elyse. She was worried about you, that's why she did it. I don't think getting angry at her was the right thing to do." Olivia was fidgety, which was normal when she was afraid of something.

"So, you're on her side now? I specifically asked her to keep quiet about it, and she chose to ignore me. I got brought in for questioning because of her."

"I didn't ignore you!" Cassie interrupted. "I cared about you, El. I still do. I only told them because I didn't want Jeremy to walk around freely on the campus without people knowing what he had done. I'm sorry you think I did what I did to hurt you, but that's not the case!"

Elyse rolled her eyes. "Do you hear this bullshit, Olivia? This is who you're siding with." Olivia sighed, shaking her head. "I need a little support, but what Cassie has done is and was not supporting me."

"It's all about you, isn't it?!" Aviva chimed in. "Elyse Devereaux, the girl who thinks she's better than everyone else. You are the most selfish person I have ever met! Cassie was just trying to help you, but you are so full of yourself that you will find any excuse you can to make it seem like Cassie is the one in the wrong."

Elyse's hands clenched into fists. Elyse was anything but selfish. "I didn't want anyone's help! I wanted to avoid all of the drama, but Cassie decided that it was worth the drama. I am NOT selfish. If anyone here is selfish, it's you, Aviva! You always have to be right about everything, and when people don't believe in the things you do, you keep bugging them until they share your beliefs!"

Aviva's eyes narrowed. "I was only trying to get you to see the truth, Elyse! Jeremy was killed by a vampire, and I bet you anything that it was your friend from over the break who murdered him!"

Olivia tried to get everyone to calm down, but it didn't work. Finally, Cassie fled the room in tears, unable to take it anymore. Aviva looked at Elyse angrily. "Now look what you've done, Elyse." Aviva ran after Cassie, leaving a fuming Elyse stood in the middle of the room. Olivia looked at Elyse sadly.

"Elyse-"

"No," she cut Olivia off. "Whatever you want to say, I don't want to hear it."

Olivia sighed and left the room, knowing that Elyse probably didn't even want to look at her.