your kiss goes deeper than skin

your stare makes me crawl with sin

your hair is as black as night

but the night is far brighter

the nights nearly over

when we depart my life's over

the sun started rising

your skin started burning

your is turning to ash

my love is starting to crash

i wake to find that i was just dreaming

until i find my love my heart will be dying

-        From “Vampire of my Dreams” by Corey Latham

        I finally got home from my shopping trip, well trips, about 10 PM and yawned, pleased with my haul. New shoes, lingerie, toys, pants, skirts, tops, basically a little bit of everything from everywhere we went. I must admit, I was extremely tired. So I stripped out of my outfit, took a quick shower, and then put on the new nightgown I bought, sans panties, like normal. Almost as soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light. And that’s when it happened, another dream like the first.

        The woman with red eyes and black wings had been awake for several hours. As soon as she got up, she flew as high as she could and, after some internal debate on a direction to fly, she ended up going North. “I wander how furious the Vampiress is, I’m sure she’s heard of my escape by now,” she muttered to herself.

        “Oh well. It’s her own damn fault for not doing it herself, yet. She should know by now the only way she can capture me is if she comes after me herself. The Usurper Queen, that I was exiled by when she stole my Throne. Eventually I’ll find my way home to my Clan, despite everything happening now. It should be a few days, or even weeks if I’m lucky before whoever she sends out next comes after me.”

        She sighed in boredom, ‘Hmm… Should I stop and ask for directions, or should I keep guessing? On one hand, I can get home that much quicker, on the other, I could also get caught just as quick. Tch. I guess I’ll stop and ask for directions; either way I’m probably going to get captured, either that or end up farther from home than I already am.’ She thought to herself, opting to stop at a backwoods gas station.

        She dropped down behind it and came around the front, putting on her best smile along with her ‘lost blonde girl’ voice, “Hi! I’m so sorry to bother you, but I seem to have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque. Can you help me find my way home?” she asked in a very bubbly and very annoying – to her at least – voice.

        “Uh sure. Where are you trying to go?” the confused attendant asked.

        “Well, first I guess I should ask where we are.”

        “Oh, well, technically we’re not in any city, with the closest being Jacksonville about 20 miles away.”

        “Hmm… So that would put me… how far from Los Angeles?”

        The clerk spit out his drink in laughter and sighed, wiping away a tear, “You wouldn’t mean Los Angeles, like L.A., in the middle of California where Hollywood is located, would you?”

        “Um, unless there’s another Los Angeles somewhere in these great United States I haven’t heard about, that would be the one.”

        “Oh, darling, darling. You are way off of L.A. Practically on the other side of the country.”

        “Oh well, which way do I go from here? You said we’re close to Jacksonville, right? Isn’t that, like, in Florida?”

        The clerk merely nodded and pointed West, half-noticing the slight change in the woman’s demeanor.

        “Like, thanks! Hope I don’t see you again, because if I do, it means I’ve got issues that are bleeding into the rest of the world!” she said as she stepped out of the gas station, went back around behind it and took off in the direction the kind clerk had pointed out.

        ‘Thanks to that clerk, I’ll be home within days now. I can fly as fast and high as I want from here on out,’ she thought to herself as she flew up high enough to where she was in the clouds but not quite above or under them.

        Meanwhile, the clerk was confused as to what just happened. “That… wasn’t a blonde bimbo, was it?” he asked himself, his confused boner still raging.

        Sighing he yawned and sat down, going back to work – well, sleep. Hardly anyone came by here, being way the fuck out of the way of any major roadways. In fact, the little station was so far out of the way, he was surprised he even had that random lady asking him directions. ‘Besides… What was with her last words? ‘My issues are bleeding into the rest of the world?’ What issues? And just what, as well as who, was she?’

        Meanwhile, Ember had found the Vampire Queen’s trail and was close to it – well, sort of. The trail didn’t stay too close to the ground, so she had to guess which direction the vampire had went. ‘I made a name for myself as the best damn hunter and tracker in the world. Why is it so fucking difficult for me to track one fucking female vampire?!’ she mentally yelled at herself.

        Sighing and yawning as she made camp and the day ended, Ember set her sleeping bag up and lay down, gazing at the stars as she slowly fell asleep.

        The Vampire Queen contemplated on the names she’d had since taking the reigns as Queen: Pandora, Laetitia, Joscelyn, Jakkie, Killjoyce; of all of them, the only one she truly took to was Pandora, due to the myth about Pandora’s Box. ‘I wish I could find it, and then it would be mine. My name is Pandora, and it IS Pandora’s Box, so therefore, it belongs to me,’ she thought oddly. ‘I just wish someone would call my true name for once and use it to set me free.’ The passing thought occurred multiple times a day and she always passed it off, but it always came back.

        It was also usually on that note that she’d found a place to sleep, in this case, the top of a tree almost 100 feet up. Soon after she’d had the thought, she closed her eyes and dozed off into a deep, dreamless sleep.

        I woke up again, less sweat-drenched than last night, but pretty close. I yawned and sighed, getting up to shower; quickly this time, having class today as well as the time being 7 AM this time. Once I was done I made a bowl of cereal and some toast with a glass of O.J. By the time I was done it was 8: 15 AM, so I got dressed quickly; settling on something more professional than what I wore yesterday, but still slightly revealing.

        “Well, class, today we’re going to discuss Java and touch up on what we’ve learned as far as HTML coding,” the teacher, Mr. Cross explained as I walked in, trying to not get noticed.

        “Ah, there you are, Ms. Rosalyn. I was wondering when you’d show up, since you are 5 minutes late, you have the esteemed opportunity to summarize what we’ve learned thus far.”

        “Mr. Cross, might I remind you that not only am I your substitute when you aren’t here and can get ahold of me, but also the fact that you’ve hardly taught us anything in the last few days? We’re only a week into the Spring Semester and are learning new information. Information, Mr. Cross, that you’ve hardly begun to delve into, so I suggest you rethink the idea of having me summarize anything.”

        “Touché, Ms. Rosalyn, though I was wanting you to summarize what we’ve learned thus far and by that, I meant everything we learned in the Winter Semester.”

        “Touché to you, Mr. Cross, though I must point out that nearly half the class is new and wasn’t here, so summarizing the Winter Semester’s teachings to only half the students, whilst confusing the other half, would be too confusing and split us up onto too many different pages, unless you want to reteach an entire Semester’s worth of teachings within a 2-and-a-half-hour period?”

        “I… Uhm…. Ms. Rosalyn, find a seat and let me continue with the lecture.” Mr. Cross said in frustration as he wiped his brow.

        I smirked, knowing I’d won our little game as I sat by Jenna and yawned, sighing softly as Mr. Cross returned to his monotone drone of a lecture.

        “Hey,” she whispered, “That was amazing how you handled him. How’d you do that?” she asked quietly.

        “Oh, it was easy. Once you know what I know and how much I know, telling off teachers like Mr. Cross is simple. Especially since it’s true, summarizing last semester to an entire class with half of us being newbies was such a stupid idea and he knew it. I think he wanted the confusion so that way we’d have to relearn last semester and then we’d never get anywhere.” I responded softly, making it look like I was working every time I saw his eyes cross over me.

        “What do you mean by what and how much you know?” she asked confusedly.

        “Simple, I’ve been coding for half my life so I already know everything he’s going over for one, and two he knows I can outtalk him any day of the week. Granted he’s getting better, but he still can’t best me in a game of wordplay.” I responded, already done with the assignment by the time the bell rang.

        “Oh, class is over?” Mr. Cross asked as the bell rang and he looked at the time, “Oh, well I guess it is. Well, class, I’ll see you all again in two days and we’ll continue from there. Whoever doesn’t have the homework done by the end of the week will be late and you’ll have all of next period to work on it and ask questions if you don’t have it done by then.” He stated as he packed up his gear and everyone got up to leave.

        I sighed aloud as I packed everything up, Mr. Cross putting a hand on my shoulder as I left, “As for you, young lady, double homework. This week’s assignment and next are due by next class.”

        I shook my head and sighed, “Mr. Cross, check your email. I’ve already turned in the assignment for this week, next week and on until the end of semester. May as well just give me the Mid-Terms and Finals now.”

        He stepped back in shock as he hurriedly pulled his laptop out and logged in, quickly getting to his emails. “I. But how. You. Ms. Rosalyn, how did you do this and within this period?” he asked.

        I shook my head, “First off, it wasn’t just within this period. I’ve been working on all of ‘em since Christmas break. Second off, it isn’t that hard when you put the assignments up online for all of us to study and attempt to do before we even get to that material.”

        He slowly closed his emails and shut his laptop again as he packed it, hands shaking, “I um, Ms. Rosalyn. It’s going to take me a few days to grade these and make sure they’re right.”

        “Stop right there, Mr. Cross. Don’t waste your time with checking them over; you know they’re going to be right. I’ve got other classes to get to, and you’ve already made me late. I’ll see you in a couple days, Mr. Cross. Good-bye.” I retorted, getting annoyed with this conversation and the direction it was heading.

        I turned on my heel and left Mr. Cross standing, his mouth agape in an ‘O’ shape as he watched me walk away, which I hurried to do. I checked the time on my phone, “Shit. 11:30. I’m late for Basketball.” I groaned as I hurried as fast as I could in my heels, holding my bag with one hand as I bolted.