• Today was like any other regular day, in my pitifully regular life. Up until I got home from school.
    “We’re moving!” I very nearly screamed at my mom.
    “You know how it is with your father’s job.”
    “But I finally have friends and I finally fit in here. Can’t we stay.” if this didn’t work then nothing would, and I am not getting on my knees and begging. This is the fourth move in two years.
    “Honey, Dawn, you need to calm down. You’re going to burn the carpet.
    She was right I could already smell the smoke.
    Five years ago when I was eleven, I discovered that I had an afanity for fire. My mother and father are some of the most trained and skilled vampire hunters. All of my life they’ve been bragging about how I can control fire. That means that in my life, I’ve also been taught how to fight and defend myself from the ones my family kills. I’ve been learning to control it, but it’s so closely intertwined with my emotions that it’s quite difficult to handle.
    After the whole super power thing I started to notice the super naturals (but only when they want me to know), vampires children of the night, and werewolves children of the moon, and the ones like me, mortal but with and afanity.
    My old Boyfriend was one of the children of the moon. He was transforming and I wanted to help, I got to close to him, and he lashed out at me. The good thing about fire is that it heals if you know how to. Heat up your hand press it to the cut hard enough and with luck it will only be a scar. That is why I have one going from my left eye brow to the bottom of my cheek. My black side bang covers it enough for people nit to notice.
    I was still lost in thought when my mom was talking to me, “… your stuff.”
    “What about it” why was she talking about that?
    “I said go pack your stuff. We’re leaving in three days.” she snapped with just a hair of irritation leaking into her voice.
    `So they already bought a house without asking me. Smart. As I was stalking up the stairs to go pack, my mom called to me, “I think you’ll like the house. It’s on the beach.” she yelled.
    I believe I set a new record of fastest mood swings in a minute, content, furious, ecstatic.
    Houses on the beach have always been my personal favorite. I can calm down faster then normal listening to the wave’s crash on the sand.

    Face down on my pillow I was thinking about what I was going to tell all my friends. Mom knows that I never keep long distance relationships with my friends. Look on the bright side of leaving in three days; they won’t have enough time to throw a going away party.
    I looked up to see all the clothes I had thrown at my door. Sighing with frustration I got up thinking I would soon have to pick them up off the floor. I glanced up at the clock that said 4:36. I decided to go to the library to return some books and waste some time till it was late enough to sleep. I collected all the books I had to return and I grabbed my favorite black sweatshirt with a fake fur hood. I snuck down the stair case hoping that my mom was watching TV. Score, I heard the TV blaring over the noise of the vacuum cleaner. I quickly raced to the front door and stopped. I should probably tell her where I’m going. “I’m going to the library.” I yelled. And with that I opened the door and stepped out not waiting for a response. Then I started my journey to the library in the dead of winter.
    The snow was packed down hard on the sidewalks so I could walk with steady steps. Three blocks from the library and the sun was starting to get low in the sky. In an ally way between two apartment buildings something glimmered in the receding sunlight. I walked over to it to discover it was an earring. A blue sapphire surrounded by tiny diamonds. I cautiously backed out of the ally step by step. On my way out, out of the corner of my eye a spot of discolored snow caught my attention. A slight tint gave away what was underneath (or what I thought was). I shifted the snow; it was growing darker by the kick, now a dark red. The fear and anxiety of knowing what was underneath was almost unbearable. With the toe of my boot I nudged something hard, but it gave way easily. I stifled a kick, with the encroaching horror of what it could have been. One final speedy life of snow revealed that the obstacle of my lollygagging was a spilled cherry slushy.
    That still didn’t explain the earring.
    Who would misplace such a beautiful piece of jewelry? I decided to keep it incase someone stopped me for it.
    It was sweet relief to finally get into the warm heated library, where snow was not falling in huge clumps. I closed my eyes for a moment to breathe in the familiar scent of old, musty books. I opened my eyes to see the same worn gray carpet, the same brown wooden chairs, and the same isles holding the hundreds of books I had walked by and not noticed.
    Some woman was talking to the librarian in a worried tone. “Do you think that someone found it? It looks exactly like this one.” She moved forward her hand; wound around her fingers was the earring that matched the one that I had found. How did she lose it in an ally way?
    The librarian sitting at the main desk glared at the woman with annoyance. “I will notify you if anything turns up about it.”
    I quickly paced up to the desk. About ten feet away I said, “Are you missing this?” I knew she was but it felt right to ask.
    She abruptly turned to me mid sentence that I didn’t hear. I held my hand up with the second of the pair up to her eye level.
    Now that she was facing me, I could see what she looked like. She had long dark brown almost back hair shaped at an angle so that it was long in the back, thick bangs that framed her dark chocolate eyes. Full lips traced with blood red lipstick that revealed white as can be teeth, slightly showing her real nature. “Yes. That is mine. I am forever in your debt.”
    She swiped the jewel from my hand and strode past me without a word and out the door
    I moved backward two steps before knocking into someone who held onto my shoulders a little longer then necessary. “Don’t worry about her, she’s a regular here.”
    When he let me go I sighed from relief or longing for him to hold me longer. Not knowing which emotion was stronger scared me. I turned to face him; he had shoulder length dirty blond hair, and blue or green eyes. He looked like the kind of boy who is on the foot ball team and dates all the popular girls. So far he had been nice so I decided to give him a chance. “If you see her here everyday, then you must be here everyday also. What do you do to fill all of that time?”
    I noticed that all of the time we were talking his eyes were studying me. “I come here to do research.”
    Who would come to the library to do research every single day? “What type of research do you do here, that you can’t do at your house?” What is he hiding? And why?
    He leaned in so close to me that I felt uncomfortable, and could feel his breathe on my face. In a steady and smooth way that gave me goose bumps he whispered in my ear, “Do you believe in myths?” a pause. “Like vampires and werewolves.”
    Was he one of them? My muscles locked and I got ready to run. I pulled back to get a better look at his expression. It showed nothing but pleasure. I wanted more info, but I didn’t want to show the extent of my knowledge on the topic. “Yes…I do believe in them.”
    His smile widened until it looked wicked. “I think I should tell you my secret.”




    To be continued...