DEAD SEED (AKA "Vampires Don't Exist")

ONE: Happy Birthday

October 18th. Four years after the car accident, Aralyn celebrated her twenty-first birthday with friends at an Irish Pub. She tried to have fun, but her birthday had become a reminder of what she had lost that terrible foggy night.

Every year, her friends tried to distract her from it, but no matter what they did she could never stop thinking about her mother dead in the driver's seat. The empty seat where Claire should have been. The screeching of the tires. The mangled front end of the car. The way the air had reeked of blood and spilled fluids from the vehicle.

They had never found Claire. It was assumed the impact had thrown her out when the door flew open and she had plunged into the cold water below the bridge. The police had searched the water for her but found nothing. They said the body would wash up on shore in the following weeks. It never did.

Aralyn had never been able to properly say goodbye to her sister, her Irish twin — Claire and Aralyn had been born only eleven months apart. Claire's twenty-second birthday would have been next month. Aralyn often felt guilty for being the only one to survive.

"Drink up Ari," her friend, Alex, said. He placed a drink in front of her. "It's called an Apple Pie: Strongbow and Fireball."

"Don't call me Ari," Aralyn said, taking the drink and sniffing it. It did smell good.

"Just teasin' ya," Alex said, taking his seat beside his latest girlfriend. Aralyn thought she had been introduced as Heather, but she couldn't remember. Not that it mattered if she remembered the girl's name or not; Alex changed girlfriends as often as he did underwear.

There were seven of them total at the long table: her three friends with their girlfriends and boyfriend, and Aralyn — the only one without a date. She just wasn't interested in anyone. The only "dates" she had was with her therapist. When she wasn't in therapy, she was working as a receptionist at a dental clinic. When she wasn't working, she was wallowing in front of the television or staring at the ceiling.

Four years.

It had been four years and she still couldn't get over it. She had been diagnosed with severe depression and was on medication for it. She also took medication to help her sleep. It seemed like she was always having to take some sort of pill throughout the day....

Technically, she wasn't supposed to be drinking because of the medication she was on. But her friends had insisted since it was her twenty-first birthday, so she agreed to enjoy at least one drink. Alex, Haley, and Shelby were the only friends she had left from high school. Everyone else had grown tired of her brooding and stopped including her in things — not that she blamed them, she could be a buzzkill.

Before the wreck, Aralyn had been described by her teachers and friends as a ball of sunshine. She could brighten up a room just by entering it. She was always laughing and smiling. Always helping people. She befriended everyone and had few enemies.

Now? Well, she was lucky her three friends had stuck around.

They ate and drank until their bellies were full and their heads were buzzing.

Afterwards, Aralyn thanked her friends and hugged each of them.

"You sure you don't want a ride?" Shelby asked.

Aralyn shook her head. "I have somewhere to go."

Her friends nodded in understanding. They knew she was going to go visit the site of the crash, like she did every year on her birthday. They understood she needed the time to herself and didn't push; she liked that about them.

"Call if you need anything," Haley said, giving her a hug.

Alex squeezed her too tightly, like always — he was a teddy bear.