Chapter 1
Blood Drinkers

I lie here paralytic inside this tomb,

screaming your name,

my throat is numb,

I need to break out, I need a way out,

I don’t believe it has got to be this way,

the worst is I the way that in this room I’m suffocating,

say your prayers are filling my lungs with oxygen,
I’ll take you when I die.....

Rebirthing now, I want to live for love want to live for you and me for the first time now, I kept alive somehow.....................

Singing along to rebirthing, I pulled on my black and red combat boots. The music was blaring at the top volume, but as always, I wished it would go way higher.

I hopped of my bed to take a look at my appearance. I was going out to the mall today, and I wanted to look my goth-ie-est. And yes, I know that is not a word. Deal with it.

I had my curly brown hair hanging halfway in my face, covering one of my icy-blue eye, but that was how I usually wore my hair. I had on my favorite purple ghost tank-top, one of my fave shirts. I had bought three of them in different colors. The bottom of the shirt was frayed, just like my mini-skirt, showing that these clothes were long-loved, but hey, in my opinion, I liked it better. The black tights I was wearing thankfully had no holes; I only hd two pairs of tights!
And then, of course, my boots were on, and both were on the right foot. I glanced at my seldom-used jewelry box, thinking about wearing the silver skull my mother had gotten me for my birthday. Nah, it wouldn’t go very well.

I hooped out my door and ran down the steps two at a time. I couldn’t wait to get to the mall! They were having a HUGE sale at hot topic, or so my gossiping friend Anna had said. Wither way, I was going there to meet her after she had so cruelly left for vacation at THE START OF SUMMER!  I know it was only the second week now, but still!

“BUY SHAME!” I yelled at my brother. He was 6 years older than me, and not even my real brother. See, when I was real little my parents had died in some sort of freak accident, and I had gone to an orphanage, yada-yada. Well, anyways, Shame’s parents had come to there to adopt a little black angel, or so they had said. They were the rare kind of parents, who had married goth, and stayed that way. I happened to be the only person in the whole building who thought vampires were cool, let alone when I dreamt of them, it wasn’t a nightmare. So Shame’s parents were led directly to me, and while I just stared stupidly at them, they signed the papers for my adoption. Well, I know they talked to me and stuff, and it was a few days before they actually adopted me, but hey, I was like, 3? How the heck could I  remember that! Anyways, Shame’s , and I guess mine too, disappeared about three years ago. My brother hadn’t cried a single tear, but had gone strait to the legal offices to sign the papers that he was my legal guardian. Somehow, he had know that his parents weren’t coming back. I knew he was sad though. For the first few weeks, Shame hadn’t left his room, except late at night, when he thought I was a asleep. But then one day, he just came out of his room, looking a little tiered, but otherwise back to normal. When I had asked what had happened to our parents, his only response was an icy glare. I knew not to bring them up anymore.

“SEE YA WHEN YOU GET BACK!” now that was the coolest thing about Shame. He didn’t have a care in the world to when I was going out and when I was coming back. So long as I was back before 2 in the morning. If I waited till that long, he got a little irked at me. I guess he had to draw the line somewhere.

I jumped out the front door, blinked a bit against the bright sunlight, before grabbing my purple-flamed black bike leaning and zooming down the street. I paid no attention to any of my surroundings, well, except things that might run into me or I might run into, but you know what I mean.

Right there waiting at the entrance of the mall, was Anne, all decked out in blacks and grays. Her black cargo pants hung over her shoes, obscuring them from view, and she wore a system of a down t-shirt, which was both of our fave band. Her usuall chained heart necklace was around her neck, and her hair was now lime-green, sticking out in all directions, probably stiff with a whole bottle of hair gel.

“MALICE!!” Anne yelled as soon as she saw me speeding toward her. I cringed at the shortened version of my name. I usually preferred being called by my last name, and didn’t mind being called by my first name, but I hated it when people decided that I should have a nick-name. Of course, Anne usually just ignored that.

“Malicious Disdain,” scolded Anne, grinning ear to ear,” You are 5 minutes late.” she crossed her arms, and waited for my response.

“Anne, I’m not late. Your watch is fast.” I said with a scowl. Anne changed her expression to match mine, and we stood there glowering at each other, until I broke the tension by sticking out my tongue like a 4 year old. Laughing, we headed of to hot topic.

“So, what has the great Malice been up to lately? Any boys?” she asked nudging me.
I blushed and mumbled,
“No. I’ve never liked any of the boys here. What would be the point of asking one out?” Anne shrugged and stated simply.”To have a boyfriend.” I rolled my eyes. No matter how much me and Anne were like sisters, I would never understand her attraction to boys. All the ones that lived here were real jerks anyways.
“How about you?” I said, trying to switch the spotlight.”Got yourself a new hunk?”
Anne waved her hand dismisivly,”Nah, I’m still goin’ out with Stephen.”
“He’s a dork.” I stated bluntly.
“No duh, but a cute dork.” I couldn’t help it. I burst out laughing. I never thought I’d hear her say that. Course, half the things she did say I’d never think anyone would say. Anne sent me a dry smile, before shifting her gaze to the direction of the way were absent-mindedly walking. She pointed a finger and started jumping up and down, squealing,
”Look! See? Hot Topic DOES have a monster sale today! I told you!” With that, she half dragged me towards the entrance to hot topic. We were going to shop till we dropped dead!

xX.........................................................2 hours  later...............................................................Xx

We stepped out of the mall, our arms loaded with new clothes and gothic makeup, and also some hair coloring for Anne. I loved that I had only spent about $80, and I’d bet Shame would be glad too. He never got why a girl needed to shop so much. Then again, he was a guy.
“Come on,” Anne said to me,”I’ll drive you home. Unless you want to chance your bike with all that.” she looked pointedly at all the bags I was carrying.
“Thanks,” I breathed a sigh of relief. There was no way I could have made it back on a bike, with about 20 shopping bags.
We loaded all the stuff into Anne’s beat up van, including my bike, and as soon as we got in, Anne turned on the radio to The Point, at the highest loudness it would go.
The hairs on the back of my neck suddenly raised, and I got the strangest sensation that someone  was starting at me. I turned to look out the window.
Right below the shaded spot of trees, stood a teenager boy. A seriously hot teenage boy. His hair was long and messy looking, as though he never combed it much, and he wore a worn leather jacket. He had no shirt, which I could understand with it being so hot outside, but usually, if guys took off their shirts, they didn’t go and put on a super warm leather jacket. The jacket hung over some baggy black faded jeans, held up with a belt that had a skull for a belt buckle. You could barely see his shoes, but from the looks of the toes of them, they were just as rugged as the rest of the guy’s outfit.
I looked back at his face, and almost gasped out loud. His eyes were blood red, but that wasn’t the creepiest part. He was staring right at me! When I met his gaze, the guy’ mouth quirked up into a wicked grin. When I blinked, he was gone.
“What the-“ I muttered under my breath. I shuddered, even though it was smoldering hot in the car. The guy had really creeped me out.
I turned my attention away from him and back to the present blaring music, and Anne who was still yammering on about who knows what.

When we reached my house, there was a sleek black convertible with gray flames in the driveway. Anne turned off the music and let out a low whistle.
“Did your brother get a new care, Malice?” I shook my head no, as we both stared bumble at the new car inhabiting my driveway.
We sat there for a few minutes, until I saw the front door open, and my brother step outside, his face grim. He was wearing one of his usual ripped jeans, with the big X on the bottom, a short sleeved red and black shirt with the cross-bones on the side, and he had his hair in the latest style of his; long hair in the front, growing shorter the farther it went back. The front of his hair was died blue, while the rest of it was the natural white he was born with.Anne had the biggest crush on him, but i never let her talk about that to me. I mean, he was 22, and my brother. So if she asked me if he looked hot today, i couldn’t really answer.
He beckoned me with one of his hands, and I got out. Anne did the same, and helped me unload my bike and my bags. I glanced at Shame, expecting him to roll his eyes at the immense load of junk I bought, or maybe yell at me to hurry up in that nice way of his. But instead he just stood there patiently, watching me get everything out of the car. Anne went up and put my bike where it usually goes, before handing me my last bag.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” she said, trying her best to look as if nothing was wrong. Even she could tell that trouble was ahead. I dragged the bags up the driveway and to my brother. He held out his hands to take my bags, something he usually never does. I handed them to him carefully, making sure that none of the bags lost their contents. I looked at Shame questionably, but he wouldn’t meet my gaze. Instead, he said,
“There is someone in the living room who wants to meet you. Go and meet him. I’ll be there in a minute.”
With that he headed inside, and left me standing there dumbly.
“Malicious, come on!” he yelled from up stairs. How he knew that I hadn’t gone inside I had no idea. I hesitantly stepped into the foray, and made my way into the living room. When I reached the doorway, I stopped in my tracks. Sitting on my couch was the same guy from under the tree! I stupidly just stared at him, while he seemed oblivious of my entrance. He was pointedly looking at his finger nails, as if trying to detect anything wrong with them, which from what I could tell, they were just as good looking as he was. The guy glanced up at me, and smiled chillingly.
“So,” he began, his voice soft like a feather, and sweet as chocolate,”You must be Malicious Disdain.” I just stood there dumbly, then realized that he was talking to me.
“Oh, ah y-yeah.” I stuttered. What the heck was wrong with me!? I tried to make an actual question come out of me instead of just a bunch of jibberish.
“Who the heck are you?” a tad bit rude, I might say, but hey, at least it was a complete sentence.
The guy grinned slyly, and said in a matter of fact tone,”Haze. Haze Crest.”
Huh. Apparently my family wasn’t the only people who gave their kid’s strange names. I was getting uncomfortable, so I  said,”Um, do I know you?” it was blunt, but hey, I needed to know.
Haze smiled slyly, but otherwise ignored my question. I tried again.
“Yo-laa, Haze. Do I  know you?” this time he looked at me with his chilling red eyes, an gave a short,
“I don’t suppose you do, since you are asking me.” his tone was mocking, and I instantly decided that i seriously did not like this guy. Part of it was the red eyes, but mostly just because of his attitude.
I narrowed my eyes.”Just how old are you?” i asked. He could have 20 for all I knew.
“16.” was his simple answer. I nodded absently then turned to leave the room. My brother invited this creep in, so he could deal with him.
I walked right into my brother.
Shame put his hand on my shoulder and spun me around. He gave me a gental push towards the couch, where Haze was sitting, and settled himself into the arm chair. Great, just great.
I sat farthest away from Haze as I could on the small couch, and sent an icy glare at my brother, who smiled sheepishly back.
Haze was the first one to speak.”Well, I  assume she doesn’t have a clue of who we are?” I looked at him strangely. Who was he talking about? Then I saw my brother giving a slight nod in Haze’s direction, and my suspicion grew. What the heck were they talking about?
Haze seemed to think this over for a moment, before sending me a look.
“Fine, I will not tell her myself, but leave you 14 days to. And remember, my friend, do not blame this on me. My parents, as well as hers worked it out.” Shame’s face twisted, and he spat out
“But you didn’t have to hunt them down,” Shame stood up in a threatening manor, and Haze did the same. They glowered at each other for a moment before Haze sent another look at me, then uncomfortably straitened up
“I’ll see you both very soon.” he said loud enough for both of us to hear. He turned around and headed toward the door, but not before looking at me ans whispering,”You even sooner.” with that he left, and I was as confused as ever.
“What the heck did he want?” I wondered out loud., and Shame shot me a look.
“Nothing,” he mumbled,”He’s just an old...........acquaintance” the last word he said bitterly, and his brown gray eyes seemed to cloud over for a moment.  Shame looked at me, then sighed, and came over to sit next to me. He smiled, though it seemed to be strained.
”What did you do all day? Spend all of my money?” he tried at a normal conversation.
“Yeah,” I said absentmindedly, not paying attention. What was that guy talking about, when he said, ‘I’ll give you 14 days.” I knew it had some significance, but I couldn’t remember it.
Shame rolled his eyes, taking in the fact that I wasn’t paying attention.
“Well,” he yawned, after getting up and stretching,”I, am going to go and take a really long nap. Don’t wake till 5. Or 6. Better yet, just let me sleep through my day off.” he trudged up 2 of  the stairs, before turning around and saying in a nonchalant way,”Why don’t you go and call Anne? I’m sure she is dying to know who’s car that was.” he climbed the rest of the stairs, after sighing when he noticed I didn’t seem to hear him, and I heard his door slam shut. This woke me out of my dream-state. Shame never slammed the doors, except when something was really bothering him. I decided to take his advise and go and call  Anne.
I dialed in the number, and listened to the rings.
Ring....
What could be in fourteen days?
Ring.....
What’s on that say?
Ring.....
Wait....
“Hello?”Anne said.
In fourteen days, I would be 17.