Amy Story

It was another grey autumn day in Montreal, Quebec. The Villa-Maria students had just finished their classes and were filing out on the slope, trying desperately to get home and sleep a little. All except for one grey-eyed brunette girl called Amy. She was essentially indistinguishable from the other Villa girls: Average grades, in the Drama Club, 5 feet 4 inches tall, a bit stand-offish, but not anti-social. Amy pushed back her shoulder-length light brown wavy hair, sighing and wondering why she hadn’t gone to a boarding school like her parents had suggested. It wasn’t like anybody was waiting for her at home. It wasn’t like supper was on the table waiting for her. It wasn’t like she expected someone to care about her family situation enough to do something about it. Hell, the group she hung out with didn’t even know she hadn’t seen her parents in a month. They just thought that they were busy.

‘I wish someone would care enough about me to actually leave a note once in a while, telling me where they are. But no Mom and Dad are too busy to take five minutes off their busy schedules to call their daughter!’ Amy frowned.

Ten minutes later found Amy sitting in the bus, reading yet another vampire book. Everybody thought it was weird that she was so into Joshua, the vampire, but the way he took care of his progeny, the way he loved them without boundaries, not to mention his bad-ass attitude around everyone else, it made her want to be one of his childer. That way she’d get some attention without having to scream for it every time. Looking up, she noticed her stop was coming up. Closing her book, she rang for her stop, and proceeded to the front off the bus to get out. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a handsome man in his mid-twenties looking at her.

‘Hmm, he’s cute, but not my type. He’s not a vampire.’ She thought. Again out of the corner of her eye, she saw him smirk and wondered what that was about. Shrugging mentally, she got off the bus and headed home.

After a few hours, Amy was sick of reading that stupid Anne of Green Gables book for English class, and decided to go out for a walk to calm her nerves. She was so lost in her thoughts that she didn’t notice it was after dark until she was in a nearby park.

“Hmm, warm night air, how refreshing. I’m so used to being cold when I go out at this time.” She murmured to herself, walking through the park.

“Well hello there, don’t I know you from somewhere?” Amy was startled by the voice and turned to see who was talking. It was the cute man from the bus this afternoon.

“Umm, hi, we were in the same bus this afternoon. I need to go now, my dad’s waiting for me.” Amy lied and started to walk towards the nearest exit, but the man stopped her.

“Don’t lie to me, Amy,” he said.

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion, and she automatically tensed in preparation for a fight. Luckily, her mother insisted she get self-defense classes early on in life. Amy was a black belt in Judo and Kung Fu, as well as a green belt in Mexican Boxing.

“How do you know my name?” She asked, ready for any sudden moves.

“Darling, don’t you recognize me? You’ve read so much about me, yet you can’t identify me at first glance?”

“I’ve never seen you before, so how in the hell can I recognize you? And what do you mean, I’ve read so much about you?”

“Jesus, you’re slow.” The man said from behind her.

Amy was confused and getting scared. She hadn’t taken her eyes off him for a second, so how did he get behind her? How could a man move so fast? And moreover, how could she counter his speed?

“‘He was a tall man with bright brown eyes and jet black hair that barely reached his shoulders. He was tall in his time, being 6’2, but now he was just comfortably taller than the average. Almost 200 years old now, he was stuck forever in the body of a 25 year old male.’ Does that give you any clues, darling?”

It gave her a big clue: those were the opening phrases of her vampire books, the ones describing Joshua. Amy turned around and examined the man, finding him to be an exact physical replica of the quote. So, he was an avid reader of those volumes as well. But that didn’t prove he was who he was hinting to being.

“Amy, you have to learn to trust people. I am Joshua. I’ve come to fulfill your wish of becoming one of my childer.”

“That can’t be true, vampires don’t exist!” Amy was definitely scared now. How did this man know her thoughts? She needed to get out of here now.

With that, she bolted towards the nearest park exit, only to be grabbed by the supposed Joshua and pulled back into his arms. In a second, her feet weren’t touching the ground anymore: she was 50 feet in the air! Amy was bordering on terrified.

“Get me down! Now! I don’t deal well with stress! Please get be down before I get sick! I believe you now, ok? Just get me down!”

The man relented to her pleas and let her down. The second she was on firm ground, Amy bolted out of the park and into her house, her mind working solely on a basic fight or flight instinct. Once inside her house, Amy raced to the bathroom and got over the toilet bowl just in time to throw up in it. After a nice half-hour spend on or near the bowl, Amy felt well enough to call her parents and beg them to come home now. She only got both of their voicemails. She then called her friend Jen to ask her to come over, but Jen was on a tight leash with her parents and couldn’t go out after hours for another week. Amy then told Jen to tell her teachers and friends that she was sick and unable to come to school the next day.

Amy spent the next three days in bed, watching TV to numb her brain and regularly doing the breathing exercises her psychologist had suggested she do whenever she felt a panic attack coming on. Her parents never came home, but instead sent aunts and uncles to check on her, which she appreciated. She didn’t want to be alone in the house right now.

After the third day, Amy felt well enough to go to school, but didn’t talk to anyone and headed straight home afterwards. She read her school books in the bus to avoid looking at anybody. Her Joshua books were temporarily shelved so as to not cause her further trauma. Finally, the week-end came and Amy thought she’d have some quiet time without all of her friends hounding her about her weird behavior, but she was wrong: Jen insisted on coming over and wouldn’t stop ringing the doorbell until she was let in.

After being set up comfortably on the couch, Jen started her tirade.

“What’s up with you, Aims? It’s not like you to be completely cut off from society, and how did you get so sick overnight? And why are your lover books all shelved? What happened? Why won’t you tell me?”

“Geez Jen, let me speak if you want some answers!” Amy said, smiling slightly. She was still in a bit of pain from her trauma the week before.

“Ok, I’ll shut up. So, what’s up hun?”

“Well, I know you won’t believe this, but I think I met the real Joshua, the one from my vampire books. He was on the same bus as me three days ago but it was the afternoon, so I’m wondering if I hallucinated that part, and that evening he cornered me in the park, told me he wanted to grant my wish of becoming one of his childer, and lifted me a clear 20 feet of the ground. And that’s why I got sick, I had a panic attack from the whole thing. Now I’m just wondering if all of that was real, if I’m sane…”

“Darling, that’s just not possible. Vampires aren’t real. Maybe your mind just played one helluva trick on you. Listen, it’s not that I don’t believe you, it’s that maybe the trauma you suffered came from elsewhere. Maybe you dreamed it all.”

“I really don’t think so. It felt way too real. Anyways, I’m still really scared because of it.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll take your mind right off it!” Jen said, smiling deviously “We’re going to go out and have fun tonight. I have two fake IDs with our names on them.”

Despite herself, Amy smiled. She always loved dancing, it always made her feel like all her problems were solved. “Okay, but please don’t leave me for a hot guy, ok?”

“I’ll try my best, but you know me and guys…” Jen winked. “Now let’s go change!”

Within an hour, both girls were dressed for a night on the town and headed for the Club. The building’s policy was straightforward: only dancing and drinking was allowed. Anything else and you were kicked out without a second chance. Amy always had liked that policy. With a wink to the bouncer, both girls got in without even having to show IDs: it clearly was not their first time here.

They both headed directly to the dance floor, knowing that, however charming their smiles may be, they would never coax any alcoholic drinks from the barman. The music playing was a cross between techno, pop and hip hop, just the way Amy liked it. Soon, she was so lost in the music that she never registered Jen leaving her for a guy, and never noticed she had been replaced by a very familiar male.

Until, of course, that man pulled her to him and whispered in her ear. “And we meet again, darling.”

She jumped, turned around, and instantly regretted it.

“Okay, you’re not an illusion, or a hallucination. So why the hell must you interrupt me in my favorite pastime?” She yelled at Joshua. Amy was not going to panic in this crowd, and she knew too many people here to feel guilty about causing a scene.

“Oh, by all means, continue dancing. You look entrancing when you dance.”

Amy rolled her eyes. “Yeah, sure, okay, I have to go to the bathroom though. So I’ll see you later.” He let her walk away from him, and she almost ran to the bathroom, grabbing Jen on the way.

“What’s up Aims? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Jen enquired, worried.

“He’s here, in the club, he’s here, why isn’t he a hallucination?” Amy asked, half-scared, half-angry.

“Who’s here? Is it your vampire stalker?”

“Yes, and he’s waiting for me, and he danced with me, and what the hell am I supposed to do? The only way out of here is through the front, and he’ll know if I’m not here anymore”

“Calm down sweetie, breathe. Don’t give yourself another panic attack so soon after the last one, you won’t recover from it!”

But it was too late, Amy was starting to see black spots and she knew she was going down. “Call the bouncer, get me home,” she whispered before falling faint on the ground

“Oh God, oh God!” Jen ran out to get the bouncer, but bumped into a man outside of the women’s bathroom. She completely broke down. “Please, please help me, my friend was having a panic attack! She fainted! I need help to get her to a hospital or something, she’s not breathing too well!”

“Ok darling, just calm down, we’ll get her to a hospital, just let me take care of it.”

“No! I’m coming with you! She’s my best friend and I don’t even know who you are!”

“Fine, wait here a second, I’ll go get her.” And with that, the man went into the bathroom and came out seconds later holding the unconscious Amy in his arms bridal style. “Clear me a passage in the crowd, please.” He asked Jen.

“Sure thing mister,” said Jen, and went right to work on accomplishing just that. Right now, she would do anything to not think about the fact that her friend was unconscious in a stranger’s arms and about to be brought to the hospital.

Thankfully, the hospital was just a few blocks away, and while the man didn’t look strong, he was strong enough to carry Amy while running faster than Jen to get there. In no time at all, Amy was in the Emergency Wing hooked on a respirator. The doctor treating her pulled Jen and the man away from Amy.

“Hello, my name is Doctor Revero. I’d like to ask you two a few questions. First of all, have you contacted Amy’s parents?”

“No, I don’t know where they are. There’s probably a phone number to reach them in Amy’s house, if you want me to go look for it.” Jen answered, eager to do more tasks. She really didn’t want to be thinking of what Amy was going through right now.

“That’s fine, you can do it later. I have a few more questions: had she been smoking or drinking at the time of the panic attack?”

“No.” Jen answered again

“What about drugs?”

“She’s never touched any illegal drugs in her life. The strongest thing she’s touched in the last week was aspirins.”

“Good. Was this her first attack?”

“No, she had one last week too. Said she was being stalked by this guy she read about in a book. She said the same thing tonight, and that’s when she started to panic.” The man shifted somewhat uncomfortably in his chair. Neither Jen nor Doctor Revero missed the slightly guilty look that passed on his face.

“And you sir, what’s your relation to Amy?” The doctor asked.

“ I don’t have one. I just happened to be at the right place at the right time. I carried her all the way here.”

“I see. Well then, you two should get some sleep. Jen, you should call me and give me Amy’s parents’ contact number if you can find it. Here’s my card. And feel free to pass by tomorrow to see her. She’ll most probably be awake and in need of friends.”

“Thank you doctor, can I say goodbye to Amy?” Jen asked

“Of course, but no longer than two minutes, visiting hours are over.”

Jen walked into Amy’s room and the man made to go out and resume his night, but quickly u-turned and headed for Amy’s room when he saw Jen coming out and her and Doctor Revero leaving.

He entered Amy’s room without a sound and closed the door, then proceeded to take a closer look at her. “Darling, why did you do this to yourself? I would never harm you in any way, I just want to make you mine. I thought you wanted to join my little family.” Joshua sat down next to Amy’s bed and looked at her until it was almost dawn. Then he slipped out through the window. Luckily, Amy’s room was situated on the ground floor.

Amy woke up around noon the next day, not knowing where she was. She felt a presence next to her and turned her head to the right to see who it was. The sight that greeted her brought tears to her eyes: not only was Jen there, holding her hand, but her parents and a couple of school mates were there as well.

“Hiya sweetie, how are you feeling?” Her mother asked.

“Fine, nothing I can’t handle” Amy’s voice was raspy, like she hadn’t talked or drank in days, but it brought immediate comfort to her mother, who, in a rare display of affection, threw herself on her daughter and hugged her tightly

“Mom, I need to breathe.” Amy said. Immediately, her mother got off of her.

“ I’m sorry honey, I was just so scared for you. What happened? Do you want to talk about it?”

“Now may not be the best time, Mrs. Lewis. She needs to build her strength back up, and I fear that a trip down memory lane might cause a relapse.” Doctor Revero said as he came through the door. “I’m glad to see you’re awake, Amy. You gave us quite a scare.”

Amy smiled weakly. “I’m really good at that, aren’t I Jen?”

Jen smiled at her friend’s attempt at a joke. “Yeah, you are. Don’t ever do that to me again, ok?”

“Deal,” Amy said, smiling back at Jen and squeezing her hand in reassurance.

“Umm, I need to get something to drink, I’ll be right back.” Jen said, suddenly getting up. Amy knew she was lying, she could see the tears forming behind her rapidly blinking eyes, but she let Jen go anyway. She knew her friend was too proud to show people her weak side.

After an afternoon full of visitors, she finally had some time to herself after supper. At least, that’s what she thought. No sooner had she finished her meal than the door opened, revealing Joshua.

“Good evening darling. How are you feeling?” He said, as he took a seat near her bed.

Amy was too tired from the past two day’s events to even bother to scream, call for help, or even tell Joshua to fuck off. She just turned her head towards the other side of the room and hoped he would get the idea. He didn’t, instead going over to the other side of the bed and standing near her.

“So, do you believe me now?”

“Yes, go away,” Amy answered tiredly.

“No.”

“Fine, whatever, I can’t deal with anything, much less you right now. Just do it, turn me into a vampire. I’ll be one of the few vampires out there with suicidal tendencies.” She once again turned her head away from him, so that he could bite her jugular.

“Darling, I won’t turn you right now, you wouldn’t mentally survive the change, but know that I am waiting, and once you’re better, I’ll be right here for you.” He patted her head as he said this, and the soft strokes lulled Amy into a dreamless sleep. She had had a tiring day.

As he had done the night before, Joshua stayed by her side, sporadically stroking her hair, until dawn chased him away.

The next week was one of recovery for Amy. Her health gradually returned to normal, and she even gained a few pounds thanks to the constant cajoling of the nurses. At last, she was able to return home, left on sick leave from school. Her parents decided to postpone their appointments and stay a few days with her, until she was able to go back to school.

Amy loved it. It had been so long since she had had a family dinner, or even some attention from her parents. It completely took her mind off of what Joshua had said to her. With her parents near her at all times, she felt safe. It was only when she went to sleep at night that she was scared, so much so, that she always ended up grabbing a blanket and a pillow, then headed to her parents room to sleep on the floor next to them.

After another week of rest and recovery, Amy was deemed able to attend school again and her parents promptly left her to catch up with the work they had put off for her. This time, however, they left a note on the refrigerator door listing their itineraries for the next month, and gave her their cell phone number so she could reach them should she need them. This was the first time they had done that, and it made Amy wonder how they knew she was in the hospital that day two weeks ago. She shrugged off the question, thinking maybe they had just come back at the right time.

School was refreshing. Amy spent more time with her friends than usual, and felt happier than she had ever been before. ‘Maybe I should get near-fatal panic attacks more often,’ she thought humorously.

“Hey Aims! How would you feel about celebrating your return to health with a little party next Friday?” Jen asked her.

“You know what? Sure, I’d love that, and since my parents are gone, we could do it at my place! But, it’s just going to be the gang, right? I do not want to end up with a rager in my house.”

“Sure! It’ll only be the gang, I swear.”

“Good.” Amy turned her back to Jen and continued talking to a blond girl sitting next to her, therefore missing the evil twinkle in Jen’s eyes.

Friday night came, and with it, the small party Jen had organized at Amy’s place, except that it seemed to become more than a small party as the night wore on. Somehow, the word had gotten out that someone was throwing a rager at her place, and Amy was sure that Jen was going to die a slow death from the looks the latter was getting from her.

“I thought I said a private party, just the gang. What the hell did you do to get so many people here?”

“Umm, I might have spread the word that you were throwing a party… Please don’t kill me! I just thought that the class would come, not the city! I swear I’ll help you with the mess afterwards!”

Amy growled at Jen, and retired to her room to calm her anger a bit. Of course, she wasn’t expecting her room to be occupied by two horny teenagers fucking each other on her bed…

“Get out!” She yelled at them, and they scrambled out as fast as possible, leaving a few traces of clothing behind. Not long after, she heard laughter coming from downstairs, and felt gratification: at least she wasn’t the only one being humiliated now.

A few minutes later, her bedroom door opened again, and a shy Jen came in.

“Are you still mad at me?”

“… No, but promise me you will never pull a stunt like that again, or I’ll be forced to kill you.”

“I solemnly swear that I will never unintentionally throw a rager in your house without your permission ever again. Now come back down! The music’s great, and I need a dance partner.”

“I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Yay!” said Jen before leaving the room to get back to the party.

After gluing a sign on the doorknob that said “Do Not Disturb”, Amy went back down to the party as promised. She and Jen danced for hours, Jen never leaving her for a minute. Amy guessed that was because the last time she did, it didn’t end well.

“Hey Jen, it’s ok if you want to dance with someone else, you know. I promise I won’t faint on you again.”

“Nah, I’m good with you as a dance partner.” Jen replied.

“Well, you may be, but that guy checking you out over there sure isn’t. He’s been trying to dance with you for the past half-hour.”

“Really?” Jen squealed, “Do you mind, though?” She asked out of concern for her friend.

“No, now go. You’re scaring away all the cute guys staring at me!” Amy responded jokingly, and Jen made a beeline for the guy Amy had pointed out.

‘Good, I’m finally alone! I swear, you’d think she was my mother!’

“She probably feels she is, especially since your parents have left for unknown parts of the world again,” said a voice behind her, startling her. She turned around to face the only “man” she knew who could read her mind.

“Don’t read my mind, you asshole, and how did you get in here?”

“This is a party darling, I felt it would be offensive towards you if I didn’t come. And you do look most entrancing when you dance. I couldn’t very well miss that, could I?” Joshua replied.

Amy rolled her eyes at that statement. “Get out.”

“No.” With that said, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her all the way to her bedroom. Thankfully, the “Do Not Disturb” sign hadn’t been disturbed, showing no one else had claimed her room. He pushed the door open, pulled her inside, and shut the door behind him.

“Let me go, Joshua! I don’t want to be part of your family anymore, I have my own. Leave me alone!”

“No. Darling, you know better than anyone that I don’t give up until I get what I want, and I want you.”

“Listen, you arrogant bastard, you can’t have me! Get that through your thick skull! If you could’ve had me, I wouldn’t have had two panic attacks in a week trying to get away from you! In fact, if you could’ve had me, I’d be a vampire right now and would have been one for at least two weeks! Therefore, you can’t have me!”

“Oh yes I can, and I can make you want it. Just you wait.” And with that, Joshua moved behind Amy with lightning speed, pulled her neck to the side, and bit into her jugular. After a few gulps, he let her go. Her pupils were dilated, and she looked about ready to faint. He picked her up and deposited her gently on her bed, then cut his wrist just wide enough to let a few drops of blood pass through. Pressing his wrist to her lips, he whispered softly in her ear.

“Drink this. It will make you feel stronger than ever before. You will feel the invulnerability I feel, without the hindrance of not being able to go out in the sun.” Dazed, Amy drank the few drops of blood deposited in her mouth.

“Good girl,” he said, stroking her hair with his unoccupied hand.

Immediately, Amy felt the changes the blood caused in her, but was too weak to do anything about it. As she sank into unconsciousness, all she could say was, “Asshole.”


She woke the next day at dawn, feeling strange. It seemed that all of her senses were heightened. Then it hit her: Joshua had bitten her and given her some of his blood! Apparently, he did neither fully as she was still alive, but that might explain her heightened senses.

“That asshole! How dare he! Does he really think I’ll cave and willingly become a vampire because he fed me some blood? Geez, he’s more egotistical than I thought.”

As she came down the stairs to grab some breakfast, she was met with the consequences of the rager the night before. The living room was littered with beer cans and bottles, plastic cups and suspicious stains. And no one was there to help her clean the mess they made. Amy growled low in her throat, trying desperately to keep her temper in check. Maybe the blood Joshua had fed her heightened her emotions as well, or maybe she was just cranky. Suddenly, a sweet smell hit her and bade her look at her hand: In her anger, had made four bloody half-moon designs on the palm of her hand with her nails. The droplets of blood coming from the half-moons smelled absolutely delicious and, without thinking, she licked the wounds clean of blood. It tasted even better than it smelled and Amy suddenly wanted more.

“Aims? What are you doing?” Amy looked up to see Jen staring at her strangely from the kitchen.

“I… nothing. I was just licking my bruises, because apparently they heal faster if you do that.”

“Oh, okay then. So, can I tell you about my night with Michael? You know, the guy you pointed out to me?”

Amy smiled. “Now I know you liked him if you bothered to remember his name. Sure, tell me all the details.” Amy went into the equally messy kitchen and pulled out a pan to make herself some eggs.

“Well, we danced some, and we drank some more, and we talked a little, and we… umm… had sex. Now don’t tell me I’m too young to have sex, I’m sixteen and perfectly capable of making my own decisions.” Jen rushed the last sentence out, seeing Amy’s eyes grow wide.

“No way! Did you guys use protection at least?” Amy said, worried.

“I think so… I was tipsy at the time…” Jen blushed and looked down. “He had this weird fascination with my neck though. I was wondering if you could tell me if it was normal.”

“How would I know? Listen Jen, I don’t want to sound all parental or anything, but I think you should take the morning after pill, just in case.”

“I already did. You know me, I may be crazy, but I’m not stupid.”

Amy let out a sigh of relief and hugged her friend. “Good,” she said.

After Amy had eaten her breakfast, the two girls proceeded to clean up the mess the rager had left. During the 5 hour cleanup, Amy felt the full effect of her newly heightened senses. The scent of the suspicious stains made her nauseous, and the small cuts she got while picking up broken glass disappeared almost instantly after the glass was out of her hands. On top of that, everything she touched seemed to have a new texture, as if she had never touched it before. The fibers of the carpet seemed to hold life within them, and she could even see all the micro fibers separately if she focused.

The second the cleanup was done, Jen got up from the floor where she was picking up the last few plastic glasses and stretched.

“Okay! We are done! Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take a well-deserved shower.”

Amy laughed a little, and said, “Make it quick, I want to take one too. My body feels like one big sticky ache.”

“Can I borrow some clothes, though? I didn’t think I was going to sleep over, so I didn’t bring my stuff.”

“Sure, help yourself.”

“Cool, later.” Jen ran up the newly cleaned staircase and made a beeline to the bathroom. Not 2 minutes later, Amy heard the shower come on and Jen singing.

‘Hmm, it seems super hearing is another side-effect of the blood transfusion. I just wish Jen could sing a little better, or at least know all the lyrics to the Backstreet Boys’ “Incomplete”.’ Amy smiled.

An hour later, both girls were done with their showers, dressed, and ready to go out. It was a beautiful Sunday, and Jen did not want Amy to stay cooped up inside.

“Come on Aims, we both need some fresh air. Maybe we could go on Saint-Catherine Street and do a little window shopping, what do you say?”

“I really don’t feel like shopping today. I just want to relax and do some of my homework. Mrs. Han gave us twenty problems on Newtonian Physics due next Thursday, and if I don’t start now, I’ll never do them. Maybe we can watch a movie tonight, how’s about that?”

“Okay, it sounds like a fair trade for helping you clean up your house and getting kicked out for it.” Jen replied, looking mockingly angry.

“Nice, so you’ll be back at 9 pm?”

“On the nose.”

“Cool, see you later!” Amy closed the door and headed for her bedroom to do her homework. She was done within a few hours and decided to eat and then take a nap until 9 rolled around.

She was awoken around 7 pm by a pressure on her mouth. Sharply opening her eyes, she noticed Joshua smiling at her.

“Did you just kiss me?” She asked.

“Darling, do you really need me to answer that for you?” His smile turned into a smirk.

“Okay, leave any part of your body off of mine, would you? It’s bad enough you bit me, but do you have to make advances too?”

“Amy, I have been making advances on you since we met. The kiss was no different, and it seemed like a good way to wake you up. Now, tell me, how do you like your new feelings?”

“No. Now get away from me before I kill you. I’m going back to sleep.”

Amy sat up in bed in an instant. “Stop stalking me!”

“No.”

“Why not? What the hell do I have that your other fans don’t?” Amy asked, exasperated.

“You caught my eye,” he responded calmly.

There was a brief silence in the room, and Amy turned away from Joshua so that he could not see her blush.

“Umm, okay then. I’m going downstairs now, please don’t follow me,” Amy mumbled nervously, looking down. He grabbed her hand before she could get two feet away from him and brought her face up with his fingers to make her look at him. Then, he kissed her, trying to convey all of his feelings towards her in a single lip-lock. Amy immediately melted into it, but quickly regained her senses and started pushing him away. Feeling the pressure of her hands on his chest, Joshua broke the kiss. She took a few seconds to regain her breath, then looked him in the eye.

“Get out. I need to think.” Joshua made to protest, and she quickly added, “please, just this once, humor me?”

With as small sigh and a drop of his shoulders, he nodded and left the house through the open window.

It took two days and several of discussion with Jen to admit that Amy liked her vampire stalker. Several more were needed for her to admit she liked his attentions and that she just might love him.

“Why can’t you just admit you love him Aims? I can see it in your eyes and in your tone of voice every time you talk about him, which, by the way, is a helluva lot more than someone who was not attracted to someone else.” Jen asked while the girls were walking towards their next class.

“Argh! Fine! I love him, I love him! Happy now?” Amy asked, exasperated at Jen’s insistence.

“Ha! I knew it! Now, when are you going to tell him?”

“…The next time I see him, which may be never. He hasn’t bothered me in days, which is annoying in itself. I mean, after a kiss like that, against my will, how can he just not come and see me?”

“Hun, you asked him to give you some space, remember?”

“Well, now I don’t want any space anymore. Thing is, how can I tell him that when I don’t even know where he is?”

“Well, the guy stalks you, so I’m pretty sure he knows what you just said and will be showing up any day now. Now can we talk about my guy problems?”

“What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t seen Michael since that party. I’m wondering if I made a mistake by giving him my virginity.”

“Oh hun, have you called him?”

“Don’t have his number. I gave him mine, but he hasn’t called yet.”

“He’ll call, I know it. Just hang in there, okay? And if he doesn’t, I have my trusty baseball bat at home, so I can just beat him to a bloody pulp next time I see him.”

Jen hugged Amy, and said, “Thanks. I hope he calls.”

“He will.”

That night, Amy went for a walk in the park, tired of sitting around the house and revising every aspect of her first kiss. She felt annoyed that Joshua hadn’t showed up for a week, but what irritated her more was the fact that she couldn’t get that kiss out of her head.

“Oh, for God’s sake, why do I keep thinking about that damned kiss? It’s not like it was wonderful. Okay, now I’m lying to myself… and talking to myself. Note to self: must shut up.”

“But darling, you have such a sweet voice, why would you stifle it?” Joshua said from behind her.

“Stop that, Joshua. I’m not in the mood. Listen, can we sit down somewhere? I need to talk to you.”

“Of course.” Joshua said, wondering what she was going to say. Her thoughts were too jumbled for him to read. They sat down on the nearest bench, not five feet away from them, and Amy turned towards him.

“Okay, this is hard for me to say, but here goes: what I said to you before, it was a lie. I do like you. I may even love you, but I’m scared. What if this is just a short infatuation for you? What if you don’t really love me, but just want to get into my pants? Or, even worse, what if you lose interest in me?” Amy went from looking him in the eye to looking at her feet during that little speech.

“Darling, I understand, and I assure you, you are not a passing fancy. Had you been, I would have stopped following you weeks ago. As for you not being sure you love me, I wouldn’t want you to make up your mind about that now. You barely know me, and most of the information you have is based on what was written in my books. Here’s an idea: let me take you out for dinner and dancing, and if you enjoy yourself, we’ll start dating. We’ll do things slowly, unless you say otherwise. I am a patient man, and let me assure you I would wait forever for you.” With this said, Joshua and Amy shared a kiss.

After two years of dating, Amy was turned into a vampire to show Joshua how serious she was about him. Michael called Jen, and they tried to become exclusive, but he was too much of a skirt chaser and left her for another. After that, Jen was turned too, feeling the need to stay as close as possible to Amy. Shortly thereafter, the three left for parts unknown, but still kept contact with their relatives, eventually becoming distant, mysterious relatives to their families, whom they kept an eye on as a way to cope with eternity.