As the last rays of light seeped down past the nearby mountain range, Sara went and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She had shoulder length black hair and her sea-green eyes felt like they were missing something, she was lonely. It was an eventful day, but having an old castle nearly fall on you wouldn't happen all the time.

Glancing at the pendant that she had forgotten to put back. Sara decided to keep it. It's main body was that of a beautiful rose colored crystal. Like it used to be a pure one, but had been hit with a single drop of blood. ( this is what the pendant looks like ) It was a lovely piece of craftsmanship.

Sara looked at the pendant for about five more minutes before placing it around her neck. Surprisingly, it looked good on her. But of course, her parents would ask where she got it from. So Sara put it underneath her pajama top.

Sara went and closed the window and sat on her bed. It was getting a bit chilly and she had grabbed another blanket to put, and sleep with, on her bed.

Now strangely sleepy, Sara got under her blankets and turned off the bed-side lamp. Snuggling in for a long night's sleep... or so she thought?

Draconis awoke from his slumber with a start, hitting his head on his crypt top. Something of his had just been taken. Not paying any attention to his now aching head he tried to push off the top, but it wouldn't budge. Getting frustrated, he let out a vampiric hiss like growl and pushed with all the force he could muster, and finally the top came off. A large wooden beam had fallen on top and had impeded his awakening. He got out and looked around, the place was an absolute shambles. It was nothing like the great beautiful manor it once was. He could vividly remember the decorated halls and rooms as if it were only yesterday. He stretched his body and felt around his neck for his amulet, doing this by sheer force of habit. He felt that it wasn't there, and stopped.

"Where is it?" Draconis said almost in a panic. "I wore it when I went to rest, where is it?" He checked his crypt but it wasn't there. He looked around the room, throwing debris everywhere looking for it. It was no where to be found. He stepped back for a minute to try and remember if he ever took it off, or ever had it taken off. No such memory. Someone must have taken it while he slept. He had to find it.

He conscentrated his own power and reached out with it, searching for its other half: the amulet. It finally connected, and an aura was revealed. It was faint, so it was far off. He grabbed his sword from his resting place and dashed out of the manor and into the night.

He followed the aura through a hillside and a small wood, filled with trees and brush of different assortments. He recalled when the wood was originally planted. It was unnatural for the variety of fauna that lived there to occure naturally, but since it was planted nature took its course, and it was as beautiful as ever. Taking large bounds, covering nearly ten feet with every stride, he finally came to the outskirts of a small country town. The aura was getting brighter, and eminated from a window off in the distance. "Whoever took it will die." he said under his breath, and continued on to the house.

It didn't stand out much, it was like many of the others around it, two stories, but rather ordinary and undecorated. He lept up to the second floor window where the aura came from, and tried to lift the window; locked. He used the power from the amulet that was inside, now much easier to reach, and undid the latch. As quietly as he could, Draconis slipped inside and drew his sword. He inched closer to the thief's bed and he readied his sword to strike, but then the new holder of the amulet rolled over in her sleep, and Draconis stopped. "Its a little girl?" He said, a little more loudly than he would like to have hoped, and he suddenly saw the girls eyes open.

Sara felt the cold breeze of the night when she moved in her bed, she never knew someone was there.... until she heard someone speak. Instantly, her eyes opened wide and she looked up at the man that now loomed over her. He had a sword unsheathed and that was the very thing what got her attention before the clouds outside moved from hiding the moon and meekly lighted the room for her to see the intruders eyes.

The man's eyes were like deep pools of orange... a strange orange, like something inhuman. Sara blinked and shook her head. Moving up in her bed and looked for a way away from this man's grasp. There had been rumors of a teen rapist going about the countryside, attacking young girls. But this man didn't fit the description.

Sara tried to move but saw the man watching her intently. It gave her the creeps. She wondered if he knew about her metal baseball bat next to the bed? If she could get to it and get on her feet... she just might have a chance if he decided to attack her...

Sara lunged over the left side of the bed, opposite the man and tried to get a good grip on the baseball bat. Tumbling a few times and tried to get up. All the while, the crystal pendant swung around her neck softly as if it felt at home.

Not knowing exactly who she was dealing with, Sara didn't know if the footsteps she heard were close or not. But she did take a swing. Hoping it did hit... pleading the man just didn't block or even catch her swing...

Draconis saw that the girl was extremely frightened, and she was no threat to him at all. He sighed and sheathed his sword. He tried to move closer but the girl fell out of the bed, trying to get away. The pendant fell out of her pajama top and hung from her neck, glistening in the moonlight. She looked at Draconis as if he were some sort of monster, there to do her some sort of evil harm; he just couldn't bring himself to do her any injury. The girl swung at Draconis with some large metal instrament, he had no idea what a baseball bat was, so he simply took it for some sort of large blunt weapon. He bulled his head back to avoid being hit and grabbed the end of it with his hand, accidentally crushing it when he stopped it.

Draconis put a finger to his lips, a sign for the girl to be silent for a moment. "I'm not here to harm you." he said softly, his gaze going from the amulet to her face and back. It almost seemed as if the amulet was comfortable around her neck. The amulet always seemed to have a bit of an attitude all its own, it did, afterall, carry the majority of Draconis' life force. He decided right there what he'd do.

He took the bat from Sara's hand and held his sheathed sword out in front of him, bowing politely. "I am Lord Draconis Vesparil of the Vampiric Order." he said. He looked up to see a confused look on the girl's face, Draconis xpected this. He looked outside, to check on the progress of dawn, and over the hill he saw a slight lining of orange. Dawn was only a few hours away. "Listen, I don't have much time to explain this." His tone suddenly became very hurried. "You are wearing an amulet that I crafted many years ago, it is a part of me and I apart of it. I was originally here to reclaim it but it seems to have taken a liking to you. So long as you hold that amulet I will put my life on the line to protect it and you alike. Whenever you are in need of me, the amulet will reach out to me and I will know." He looked back outside. He could survice in the sun with the amulet, but without it in his posession, he was affected like any other vampire by it. "I must ask a favor of you. I do not have time to reach my manor, I must ask you if there is a dark place I can stay for the day until night approaches again. A closet, a basement, anything. Please, lead on."

Sara nearly stumbled after the man had crushed the bat... but noticed that he wanted her to be quiet for a second.

After hearing out his story and learning his name was Draconis. Sara looked him over in more detail within the dim light. She was still getting over the fact that he had said he was a vampire... but when she remeniced about her bat being crushed in the palm of his hand... she was a believer. No one human could have done that bare handed. Sara sighed when she saw that the sword was sheathed... but became perplexed when Draconis had asked her to stow him away somewhere where he would be out of sight... too bad she didn't travel around her castle of a house that much.

Sara snapped back to reality and remembered her manners. She hadn't properly introduced herself to the lord. She was still mesmerized by his eyes and decided not to look them square in the eye. Too many horror flicks that said that a vampire could hypnotize women with their voice and eyes.

Sara quickly bowed and tried not to stammer. "My name is Sara... Sara McNeil. My family just came to own this place and have moved from overseas... I'm sorry if I took this. I had merely picked it up and the room collapsed on my head. It was only lying on the floor so I thought nothing of the danger of the deterating room." Sara finished and stood up straight. She looked around at her room which was barely un-packed. She knew he needed a place to stay... but she really didn't have anywhere to stash him...

Then, she remembered! There was something strange about the wall at the back of her closet... Sara wondered if it was indeed a secret passage? But she couldn't budge the wall and thought nothing of it since the first day, of her stay in her new home, and now.

"I might have someplace... But I can't tell if it's a secret passage or just my imagination..." Sara said as she walked towards her closet, walking backwards to keep an eye on Draconis. He still creped her out. But that would be natural for the time being... It wasn't everyday that a young seventeen year old girl would meet a vampire lord...

When Sara had reached the closet, she opened the door and stepped aside. She would let Draconis take a look while she got out of his way... more so for her nerves than his personal space.

Draconis got into the closet and grabbed Sara's hand before getting all the way in. He handed his sword to her and said "Here, take this for now, as a token of my loyalty." He looked at her with an honest and kind face, he then shut the door in the closet and went to work finding the possible hidden passage. He pushed back into her closet, which as it turned out was a walkin closet. It was extremely dark, but Draconis could see as clear as day. A passage way... passage way, if I were designing a secret passage for a house like this, where would I put it? He'd run into such a scenario before, since he'd help build a few vampire manors in his day. He checked everywhere, behind clothes, around boxes of stuff that still hadn't been unpacked. He felt around the carpeted floor with his feet and didn't feel anything special. He finally sat down in a corner to think. Usually we'd have some sort of device or hidden item somewhere to activate a hidden passage, but this closet is extremely plain. he thought. He gently knocked on the floor with his fist in frustration, remembering what happened with the bat, and when the sound met his ears it was hollow. He knocked again, and got the same sound. He knocked around a small area and found that the sound only eminated on a square patch of the carpeting in the corner he was in. This has to be it. and he reached into the very corner of the closet and started peeling the carpet back. Sure enough, there was a small trap door in the floor, and he crawled inside.

The interior was filled with cobwebs and spiderwebs; it apparantly hadn't been used in quite some time. He slid down the ladder to the bottom and found an old wooden door at the bottom. He pushed on it to open it, but it wouldn't budge. He then punched the door, and the door broke through, only to reveal a concrete wall behind it. So much for that. The passage had been unused for so long that it had now been built over. He decided to climb back up the ladder and rest in Sara's closet, it was definatly big enough. He started climbing back up when the ladder started to give way. He lept up the last few rungs on the ladder, threw open the hatch and crawled up, just as the ladder snapped in half, and fell to the floor with a sickening crash. By Dracula's fang, I hope that didn't wake anyone else up. He closed the hatch and pulled the carpet back over it. He arranged some boxes in Sara's closet to create a makeshift tight sleeping space, and it would also sheild him from view should anyone walk into the closet. He shut his eyes and tried to sleep. His hybernation was more of a state of rest than actual sleep, so he had a few hundred years worth of REM cycles to catch up on. The last thought in his mind before he dozed off was I can see why my amulet chose this girl, she's actually quite beautiful.

Sara didn't like being pulled. but his strength was far superior to hers. She let it slide for now.... Trying to follow Draconis's movements in the closet was hard, but she did catch that he had found a secret... but to her dismay. He soon came back up and a huge crashing sound rang out. She winced and knew that her mother and father weren't heavy sleepers.

She ran out of the closet, after leaving Draconis's sword beside him, and raced through the house just as her parent came out. they were shocked and her father had a fireplace poker in his hands while mom held a candle out to see in the dark.

Sara quickly ran up, but ducked when her dad took a swing at her. She nearly yell at him and quickly ran down the other side of the hall. Her parents yelling at her asking where she was going?

Sara ran down one flight of stairs and jumped the other set. The place looked simple from the outside but it was quite huge inside. Sara ran to the kitchen and saw that nothing fell in the crash. Her bedroom was right above and to the right of the kitchen and her parents had alot of glassware. Sara looked around, after turning on the lights, and sighed with relief. She looked down at the amulet and it had a strange glow now to it...

Sara turned off the lights after getting a glass of water and a plate of food, from things left over from dinner that she warmed up in the microwave, and took them up to her room. Seeing that her parents had gone back to bed... She'd hear about it in the morning for sure... she just knew it.

When Sara reached her room. She quickly put the glass on the floor, turned the knob on the door, picked the glass back up and headed back into her room. Reaching the closet, Sara opened the door and walked in. She nearly stumbled a few times, since Draconis had moved things around on her, and set the glass and plate down for him. She set out a fork and knife and left the closet. She closed it, looked back and shrugged. Putting her left hand to her face and shaking her head from side to side slowly.

'Why am I doing this?' Sara thought as she went to her Window, closed it. She then headed to her bed and moved the covers back, got into bed and placed her covers over her. She looked straight at the closet door. Wondering if her new room buddy would come out while she slept the last few hours before morning?

Draconis ran though a forest glade, and came upon a clearing with a small pond in the center. He aproached it slowly and looked into it, it was filled with blood. A smile of satisfaction came over his face as he knelt down to drink, and he cuped his hands and brought some of the blood to his mouth. He went to drink, but his hands were empty, infact, they were dry. He looked puzzled, and tried again; but the same thing happened; empty hands met his lips, void of any trace of blood. Draconis decided to go with a direct approach and put his lips into the pond, but the blood pulled away from him. He leaned over more and more, despirate to get the drink he wanted. He leaned too far over, and fell into the pond; but instead of a pond, he fell into a black void. He landed on a floor what felt like hundreds of feet down. When he looked up, he saw Sara beckoning to him. It almost looked as if she was offering her neck to him. Draconis got closer, his blood lust growing, now only inches away from the blood he had been seeking. Suddenly, chains wrapped around his wrists and neck and pulled him back. He struggled to try and break free, but nothing was working. He saw Sara again in front of him, laughing at his current situation, holding his amulet in front of him just barely out of his reach. He tried to grab it, but every time he got close she would pull the amulet away, and Sara would just laugh harder.

Draconis woke with a start, breathing heavily and with a severe case of blood lust. He felt as if he had never tasted blood in his life, and he needed it more than ever. He opened the door to the closet, and looked at Sara, she was asleep. Draconis walked like a phantom over to her bed; she was on her side, she would be easy prey. He looked out the window and saw the orange glow of dawn was closing in, but it had not yet arrived. He got closer to Sara's neck, bared his fangs and got ready to bite. He'd have his amulet back, and everything would be settled. He went to bite down, and he pulled his head back violently, clenching his jaw shut. He didn't even touch her neck. He was frustrated with himself that he'd almost bitten the one he swore to protect, and he was also upset that he hadn't satisfied his hunger. He took one last look at Sara in her sleep, she appeared so peacful...

Draconis went back into the closet and quietly shut the door, still questioning what he had just done. It was then that he realized the gift Sara had left for him on the floor. He picked up the food and looded at it observently. What he didn't realize was that he was analizing a slice of reheated home made pizza. He took a bite of it, trying it out. Seeing that it was actually very good, he ate the entire thing rather quickly. He downed the glass of water just as fast and set them aside. He went back to his makeshift bed and tried to get some sleep. Hopefully Sara's not having crazy dreams like I am. He thought. He didn't actually know what the affects of the amulet were on the human mind; but casting these thoughts aside, he found a comfortable position, and went back to sleep.

Sara slapped her neck in reflex and slumberily got up... she looked around and then to her hand. A dead and bloody mosquito was there. She frowned and went back to bed. She had a strange dream... but thanks to the bite and it now starting to itch. She never got back to it. It had something to do with wolves and bats. Utter darkness and a sole shadow looming over her. It kinda gave her the creeps but intrigued her at the same time.

Sara wiped her hand on her covers and moved around in her bed, unable to get comfortable. She got up and took the smaller quilt off of her bed and moved towards her closet. Once turning the door knob and moving in. She squinted to find Draconis asleep and placed the blanket over him. It had become a bit chilly and she knew that he had nothing but what he was wearing. She didn't know why? but she felt like she needed to get closer to him... in a trust worthy sense.

Sara then saw that the glass and plate were empty and she smiled. Moving back to her bed, after closing the closet door, and got back in. She laid on her other side and watched out the window before falling back asleep before her parents came to get her up a few hours later.

*** Five hours later***

Sara got dressed, in the clothes she had placed out the night before, and went downstairs for breakfast. It was the normal thing her parents made. Bacon and eggs with toast, jelly and orange juice. Sara had a plate of bacon, scrambled eggs, two pieces of toast and a glass of O.J. but only ate half of everything. She would give the rest to Draconis if he wanted it...

'But, if he was a vampire? Wouldn't he prefer blood instead?' This thought perplexed her and Sara didn't notice her parents getting ready to leave for work before her mother came up to her and kissed her on the cheek.

Sara instantly came back to reality, looked up and smiled her fake smile. Her father looked at her and was still mad about last night. But couldn't figure out what happened because of no evidence of anything broken could be found where ever he looked.

Sara walked her parents to the front door and after they left, she locked the door and ran to the Kitchen. Grabbing a new plate, putting everything that she hadn't touched at breakfast onto the plate, grabbed a tall glass of O.J. and walked back upstairs and into her room. Sara put the food down and looked at the windows and closet. The suns rays were flowing directly onto the closet door... Sara knew that she'd have to block it out.

She went over to the drapes and looked at them. She didn't know quite how they worked... but she'd give them a try.

Moving the large tassels that held the one side. Sara found a small rope behind it and after undoing the tassels... the rope easily gave way and the drapes closed. Making that part of the room as dark as it was five hours ago. Sara quickly went back over and got the food, headed to the closet and went back inside. She placed the food down and took the other dishes with her to go clean downstairs. Sara didn't want to really wake Draconis.. but she did hear something stir... She just hoped it wasn't one of the two rats that had ran across her room for the last few days.

Draconis woke up again, this time to something that was in his ear. Instinctivly, he threw his hand down on it; but it was sort of big, and hairy. He opened one of his eyes to see that he had just crushed a rat, his fingernail dug into its neck, killing it instantly. Draconis pulled his finger out, there was blood on it. Suddenly his eyes went wide, and he was fully awake. "Blood!" He exclaimed, still half asleep. He picked up the rat in both of his hands and bit down onto its neck, hard. It felt like the elixer of life trickling down his throat, and the rat was sucked dry within a matter of seconds. He dropped the rat from his hands, and not a single drop of blood remained in the animal. He leaned back, his eyes closed, almost entranced by his first real meal in centuries. He licked the blood that was trickling down his chin, then wiped the rest with his finger and licked it off. It wasn't so much a meal as it was a snack. There wasn't much blood in the animal, but it had satisfied his hunger for now and he fell back relaxed. His thirst was quenched, and now he was hungry. He looked out of the cracks in the door frame to see if it was day out. He could see small shimmers of light, which meant that the sun had risen, but it wasn't too bright.

He looked down and saw another plate of food, and a blanket that had been covering him before he awoke. Draconis got up and stretched. He'd only had a few hours of sleep, and after finishing off the meal Sara left for him he was going to go back to rest until nightfall. The food was nothing unfamiliar to him. The glass was filled with some unknown orange liquid, and he set it aside. The food was a little cold but he didn't mind too much. Usually a vampire lord would detest having a cold meal, but considering his current circumstances, he wasn't going to complain. He finished the food and once again set the plate aside. Now for the orange liquid.

Vampires didn't have orange juice, there was blood and there was water; that was all and that was all vampires ever really needed. He'd seen humans drink a similar yellow liquid - lemonaid - but never this orange variety. He smelled it, and it smelled sort of sweet, but tart all at the same time. He figured Sara wouldn't poison him, so he took a drink. It wasn't bad, and tasted a lot like how it smelled. Draconis was able to drink three quarters of the glass before being completely full, and he set it next to the plate. He once again, went back to where he had been sleeping and got comfortable. He pulled the blanket over his body and closed his eyes. He could smell Sara on the blanket, and upon closer examination, it had been one of the blankets in her bed. The smell was very soothing to him, sort of calming and even relaxing. He had no trouble going to sleep this time, and didn't wake up to anymore horrible nightmares. His last thought was of how Sara somehow looked familiar from somewhere, but Draconis couldn't quite remember from where.

Sara had gone downstairs and cleaned up everything in the kitchen. She even got out the vacuum and started vacuuming the main hall. It always needed going over for some reason? It always looked dirty. Sara was no clean freak... but her mom was.

After that was all said and done, Sara went back up to her room and closed the next drape next to the one she closed earlier and got her keys, helmet and her black leather trench coat.

Sara peeked inside and saw that Draconis was sleeping like a baby. She smiled once more and closed the door quietly not to wake him.

Sara left her room and locked it after writing a letter just in case she didn't quite get back before sun down. She then headed downstairs and went out a side door. She was now just below her bedroom and removed the tarp from her motorcycle.

Placing the tarp in a safe place, Sara got on her bike and started it up. Letting it rev a few times before releasing one of the handles and punched it. She left the yard and went down towards the beach. She'd spend her time there for the day since she had packed a small lunch in her back pack that she had made while washing the dishes.

Sara was there in about two hours, looking over the road to see the beautiful seascape that unfolded. She found a nice area that was shaded by a tree and set up there. She'd just stay there and go home in three or four hours.

Sara let the time pass as she laid out on the grass just above the sandy beach, looking up at the cloudy sky through the tree branches. the smell of the ocean was nice and she nearly fell asleep, holding the amulet in her hand as she looked it over. It seemed to get brighter as time passed. But there was no shadow to the strange light that came from it.

It seemed to glow the more Sara looked at it but stopped when she saw two other shadows loom closer to her. Sara got up and looked over. They looked like drunks.. the way they wee stumbling around.. but they also looked like her mom after just waking up with a mud mask left on overnight... they weren't moving too fast and the fact that they made chills go down Sara's spine gave her enough initiative to get her things packed up and ready just in case she needed to book it out of there.

When Sara did this however, the two started to come right at her and built momentum. catching up to Sara's position faster than she anticipated. Luckily for her, Sara had everything packed up and ran to her bike. the beach had gotten too quiet and she could see that two more were coming .... but they were coming straight from the ocean?

Sara didn't care. All she did was get on her bike and try to get it started... "Come on... Stupid piece of junk!" *Strange noises started to sound as Sara had kicked her bike.* "Okay, you're not a piece of junk... please start, precious?" *It started after giving the engine a tad more gas.* "Yeah baby, that's what I'm talking about!!" Sara exclaimed as she ripped up the grass and sped towards the road and zooming past the 'people' that had shown up. Not looking back to actually see them fall apart...

Sara slowed down after a few miles and kept at the speed limit. She would get home soon and it was going to be just past three when she got back. She'd have to go into town to refuel and stock up on some strawberries. She thought of making a strawberry short cake for desert after supper. It'd be a treat for her parents, when they got home after ten, and for Draconis after the sun set at seven. By that time Sara would be done everything else she needed to do and have supper almost done in the oven, A nice Beef roast, with sauteed Portabelo mushrooms, fresh from the butcher. Sara would save all the blood that came off of the roast for Draconis.. she didn't know if he'd drink animal blood... but it didn't hurt to try. Plus roasted baby potatoes with mint and fresh green beens soaked in butter. All fresh from their garden.

It'd be an all out dinner... she just hoped that Draconis and ever her parents would like it. Her parents were very picky. they'd just want take-out after work instead of sitting down and eating a big meal usually.

After getting everything else that would be needed that she didn't have at home, Sara started her way back home to start cooking the rest of supper. The roast was already in and probably half done already. She had set it to a lower temp as to slow cook it to keep the juices inside. She wondered if the smell hadn't woken up Draconis yet?