RehzonatinShadowz: Hello? Anyone Home?

FleetingMind: Welcome back Rehz, where you ben?

RehzonatinShadowz: You no I have this interesting thing called a life, unlike you sad excuses of flesh I’m not glued to my laptop

NiteSoDeep: Ha ha, you’re such a faker Rehz, U no U luv us!

RehzonatinShadows: Yes, I want 2 marry all of you

SleeplessMoon: Yay! Kinky!

RehzonatinShadows: You guyz R Sik!

TruNight: Full moon tonight, beware of things that go bump in the night…

RehzonatinShadowz: *Howl*

TruNight: I’m serious, Rehz, you most of all need to be careful, things might get dangerous…

RehzonatinShadowz: Wat doz that mean?

NiteSoDeep: Tru, you’re weird

FleetingMind: Seriously weird

RehzonatinShadowz: Tru?

RehzonatinShadowz: Tru?

FleetingMind: He’s gone Rehz.

SleeplessMoon: He’s weird I think he needs mental help

NiteSoDeep: I think he just wants Rehz,he only talks to her

RehzonatinShadowz: No way! Nite freaks, time to go party, roommates home!

Her fingers hovered over the keyboard, the silver nail polish shimmering in the lamp light. She clicked off of the chat room and swung around in her chair,

“Abby!”

Her best friend and current roommate stumbled into the doorway, breathing hard, her cheeks flushed and a faint sheen of sweat covering her face.
Rehz clicked her tongue ring against her teeth sympathetically, filling up a glass of water and handing it to her,

“Did Coach Shane work yal extra again?”

Rehz’s cheerful country accent twanged in her musical voice as she smiled easily,

“No! The stupid elevator is broken downstairs! Basketball practice ended on time, for once! It took me thirty extra minutes just to make it up seven flights of stairs to get here!”

Abby’s voice was warm and rich and Rehz focused her hazel eyes on her roommate, unable to keep from laughing.
Abby had been a head recruit to Florida State from a small town in Wisconsin for the Basketball team. Her body was built like a rock, sturdy, with long legs that brought her to a total height of 5’11. She had chocolate brown hair that reached her shoulders and sunburned tan skin, a light splash of freckles across her sharp long nose. Her mouth was thin, her lips naturally dark, in shocking contrast to perfect white teeth.
When Abby had first moved into the apartment she had looked Rehz up and down, filling the whole doorway as she scrutinized her short frame and dark mocha skin, her long black hair, streaks of brown running through the strands, and her favorite purple barbell belly button piercing. She had sniffed quickly, smelling the food cooking in the oven, Rehz always cooked when she was nervous, and then she smiled, a dimple in one cheek,

“What’s for dinner, I’m starved!”

She asked before walking into her room and Rehz knew they’d be friends at once.

“You doing anything tonight Spunky?”

Rehz looked up and shrugged, Abby always called her Spunky, something about being only 5’3 but having the personality of an Amazon made her think of that nickname,

“Going out to meet some friends..”

Abby snorted,

“Friends, sure…”

Rehz winked and stood up, smoothing a lacy bright blue tank top over a pair of skin tight black jeans that flowed over zip up ankle high black boots. A silver sunburst necklace hung on a silver chain just above her bodice and long dangling silver chandelier earrings nearly swung against her neck each time she moved her head.
Rehz had recently cut her hair and now she swept it up into an elaborate hairdo, sticking two finely decorated chopsticks into the display to finish the look, her light brown highlights shining into the receding sun light. She brushed on a light coating of shimmering lip gloss, staring at her reflection in the mirror, a small button nose, large wide innocent eyes, thick lashes and high cheekbones before smiling to herself and walking to the door, slipping a watch on her left wrist and leaving the apartment.

Whoever he was TruNight had been right, a full moon bathed the campus in a silvery glow as she waked along a sidewalk. In the distance she could hear the waves crash against the beach and the night air was warm and thick with promise. She passed a couple laid out on a bench, entangled in one another’s arms, so close it was hard to tell where one body ended and the other began, and she blushed, turning away and speeding up, averting her eyes quickly. Palm trees grew sporadically along the pathways and except for her, the campus seemed deserted, so fast she had walked that looking back now she could not even see the couple on the bench. She had meant to walk along the beach for awhile but now, the night seemed to ominous, to alien. It appeared TruNight’s warning was going to her head. The shadows seemed to lengthen and twist beneath her feet and everything was bathed a milky color, like ash had fallen to coat the school. Her boots echoed as they hit the wooden boardwalk and she winced, trying to walk as quietly as possible until she snicked softly,

“What am I so scared of?”

She spoke aloud,

“ Will Dracula come now to suck my blood?”

But her words seemed to loud, echoing off trees before being swallowed by the night and she lowered her head, hurrying along.
Ever since she was a child Rehz had been fascinated by those darker tales, she had left her mother horror struck when, instead of Cinderella and Snow white, she asked for different legends, the Grim Fairy Tales, things filled with night and shadows, and each night she would dream of figures dressed in black clothes with long fangs who came to sweep her off her feet to their hidden castle. When she grew older her fascination for the night grew instead of dwindling and she began to sort through myths and legends, figuring fact from fiction.

Fact: Vampires drink blood.
Myth: Vampires can turn into mist
Fact: Vampire don’t like garlic, but only because of their heightened sense of smell
Fact: Vampire can possess the minds and/or bodies of one animal
Myth: Vampire explode in sunlight. Sunlight makes them uncomfortable and maybe weak but not to the point of combustion
Fact: Vampire as dangerous.. Vampires Kill.
Fact: She was insanely obsessed with them anyway


Rehz had told her parents she chose Florida State for the veterinary program and the dance line of her dreams, she hadn’t mentioned the world class Mythology minor or the local “blood” bars in its downtown streets.
It wasn’t until the door swung open that Rehz realized se was already at on of the most famous blood bars in Florida, the Manuscript, names after the paper signed by Vlad Dracul, the first vampire, when he made a pact with the devil himself.
Her professor thought she came here for research and she did, sometimes, but a part of her thrived in the darkness of the club. In the Manuscript she was Rehz, she was strong, mysterious, bold, and, dare she say it, sexy. Here no one had heard of Rehzema Collins, an out of place girl from Colorado, here she could be wild. She walked in gallantly, her hips swaying from side to side, her eyes locking with several people who dared let their eyes stray to her, and one after another she stared them down. Heavy rock music pounded through her body and as she sat by the bar, her long fingernails tapped the counter in time with the beat.

“Hey Rehz.”

The bartender smiled a toothy grin, mixing a drink as his eyes raked her body up and down, his pale skin looked green in the dark room, and the twisting lights reflected off his shiny bald head,

“Hey Tobe…”

Her voice drawled as she took in the piercing in his eyebrows, the bar through his nose, and what looked like a bolt through his bottom lip. He once told her they made him look mysterious, dangerous, a chick magnet. It had been hard to swallow her laughter that night.

“The usual babe?”

Tobe never failed to flirt with her every night, and he was convinced one day his charming ways and dashing good looks would win her over. She loved to lead him along,

“Of course honey…”

The music changed to something slower, more raw and Rehz smiled to herself. She turned around on the stool,looking out onot the club.
It was warm and sleek at the same time with dark gold wooden trim and velvety gold curtains. Long booths filled the middle of the room, covered in black leather. Dark almost black mahogany wood spread across the floor and here and there small black and gold cushions littered the corners, some already occupied by couples.
The bar seemed to be the exact opposite,sleek and modern complete with a cold silver countertop shaped like an ‘L’, with silver and black swiveling stools. The floor was a thundercloud, a storm of black and silver speckled marble. Behind the counter rose large shelves holding every kind of liquor imaginable.
A glass clunked to the counter behind her and Tobe’s voice broke through her thoughts,

“ One Bloody Mary on the rocks, hold the Blood,”

He grinned wickedly,

“When you gonna walk on the wild side, my little lioness, try some blood, you might like it, what’s your preference, B+, O- ?”
She laughed, he asked her tis every night and she always gave the same answer,

“Maybe next time Tobe…”

She sipped at the drink, the tomato juice and rum mixing together as she drank, smooth as it ran down her through, coursing through her body, making her limbs feel heavy and warm.
As she looked about he club, her eyes halfway closed as she drank until a pair of eyes caught her gaze, and refused to let her go.
The eyes were a smoky gray, speckled with dots of green, large and wide, cat-like and framed with thick long lashes. The skin was creamy, a shade darker than her own, vanilla coffee with melted chocolate mixed in. The face was full of angles, high prominent cheekbones from a strong Latin descent and a sharp nose above full lips, slightly turned up into a half smile.

“Its not polite to stare….”

The words were whispered against her ear but as she swirled around, Tobe was all the way across the room, his back turned to her and no one else seemed to be taking a special interest in her, except him.
His cat eyes still watched her, and for all her might and easy bravado, she couldn’t hold his gaze and she looked away, glancing up behind the safety of her bangs as she watched his smile widen. Her blood boiled and before she knew it she was striding across the room until she stood before him, his body lounged out on one of the booths, the picture of ease, faint amusement sparkling in his shadowy eyes.

“its not polite to stare at people you know…”

The words were out of her lips before she could stop them and she willed her voice to be dangerous, soft and silky but all that came out was a high pitched squeak. She could have kicked herself but he smiled again, and she lost her train of thought as she looked in his eyes,

“My apologies….”

He stood, he was taller than her, maybe 6’2 but his body was filled out to match his height and he moved with a feline grace,

“I couldn’t help but stare, it is not everyday one sees Guinevere reborn….”

She blushed and her tongue stilled in her mouth, but she still could not look down, could not break his gaze,

“My name is Rehz….”

“ Of course….for even Guinevere does not do thy beauty justice, nor Juliet, nor any timeless Rose of history….”

His lips brushed against the skin of her hand and she trembled, a longing she didn’t understand crying out in her heart,

“Like a distant star you shine from within and it is your solitude that shows your beauty…”

His fingers brushed across her cheek. She didn’t pull away.

“Like a rose, you share your splendor with the world, but none can come close lest they be pricked by the thorns….”

He stepped away suddenly, his eyes releasing her as he looked at something over her shoulder, his gaze darkening and for a moment she grew afraid, his eyes showed only darkness, black clouds rolling in before a thunder storm, and she took a step back before he smiled at her, and her fears washed away like the summers rain,

“It seems that I must go…”

He still held her hand and now raised it to his lips once again,

“ Until next time, my sweet Rehzema….”

She stood paralyzed for a moment before sputtering awake,not even caring yet that he somehow knew her full name,

“Your…name…”

Her voice was barely a whisper, even she could not hear it and yet, though he was already ten steps away from her he turned and bowed dramatically, causing another blush to rise in her cheeks,

“A name for a name, forgive my horrible manners…”

He smiled a slow, sensuous grin,

“Hector Castile at your request madam though for now, I must say adu‘…”

And before she could blink Hector Castile disappeared into the throng of body pushing through the crowded club