||Friends Don't Let Friends Date Vampires|| Prologue

"In the beginning, there was only death." --Emma Levi Sterling

The floor boards creaked under Emma's small feet as she made her way down the long hallway. A loud crash had awoken the ten-year-old from her deep slumber. Still drowsy, Emma wondered if her clumsy mother had dropped a plate again. Although Diane Poole was brilliant in almost every aspect of her life, cooking and housework were not her forte.

A shuffling noise coming from her parents' bedroom told Emma that her mother was not in the kitchen. Moving forward at the pace of a turtle, Emma inched towards the bedroom door. A feeling of dread formed in the pit of Emma's stomach and rooted itself there. Something told Emma that she should turn, run back to her bedroom, and hide under her bed. But being as stubborn as her mother, Emma continued forward, instead of retreating.

Once she reached the mahogany door, rather than opening it, Emma placed her ear against the cool wood. She could hear voices, but she couldn't tell what they were saying. Right as Emma's hand grazed the doorknob, she heard a bloodcurdling scream come from other side of the door causing Emma to jump.

Maybe her mother had seen a rat. Diane was deathly afraid of rodents. Anytime Dennis, Diane's second husband and Emma's stepfather, had taken the family to the zoo, Diane would run out to the car screaming after seeing the prairie dogs.

Deciding to take a peek, Emma positioned herself so that she could look through a crack in the old door. Through the slit in the wood, Emma could see two people leaning over her parents' bed. Although the small lamp on the bedside table was on, it was still too dark for Emma to make out their faces. The two people seemed to be looking down at something on the bed. Moving her eyes from the two figures to the bed, Emma gasped at what she saw. Blood. Everywhere. On the white sheets. On the wall. On the hand peeking out from under the comforter. Something on the small, pale hand caught the light and glittered. It was a ring. Her mother's wedding ring.

Emma watched in horror as one of the figures bent down and pulled on the hand. The ring came off, fell, and rolled across the wooden floor, disappearing under Diane's night table. The body connected to the hand emerged from the bloodstained sheets. A strangled scream lodged itself in Emma's throat. Lying in the arms of the unknown figure was the body of her beautiful mother. Her mother's brown hair was now red and matted. Her frail white body was bruised and bare naked, with cuts, scratches, and bite marks covering it. The figure pulled her mother's limp body up and bit down on her neck. Emma couldn't believe it when she saw blood pouring from the neck wound. How could her mother still have blood left within her, when it was splattered all over the walls and king-sized bed?

Not wanting to watch anymore, but still wanting to know the identity of the figure who was feeding on her mother's blood, Emma's eyes fluttered up to the darkened face. The figure dropped her mother and turned his head, so that his face was in full view. His crimson eyes met Emma's, and he grinned wickedly, revealing two blood-dripping fangs.

Emma jumped back and landed on the floor. Scurrying to get to her feet, she stood up and raced back down the long hallway. As she rounded a corner, she could hear the bedroom door swing open.

In a matter of seconds, Emma arrived at her bedroom and threw the door opened. A pool of light from the hallway flooded the darkened bedroom. As Emma's eyes adjusted to the change in lighting, she saw the small, sleeping figure of her five-year-old brother, Joey.

Earlier that night, Joey had thrown a tantrum. He wanted to sleep in Emma's room, and she had blatantly refused. After crying to Diane, Joey had gotten his way. Looking at the situation now, Emma was extremely thankful that Joey was in her room, instead of in her parents'. It was the same with Emma's baby sister, Macy. Macy wasn't even a year old. Emma had begged her mother to allow baby Macy to sleep with her that night. Diane had been nice enough to allow her to do so.

Knowing that whoever or whatever had bitten her mother was following her, Emma quickly scooped Macy up out of her crib. Running over to her dresser, she pulled open the bottom drawer and placed her baby sister inside. Ensuring that Macy would not suffocate, Emma partially closed the drawer.

After hiding Macy, she ran back over to her bed and nudged Joey. Joey groaned in protest and kept his eyes closed. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Emma picked up her brother and carried him over to the open closet. She placed him down behind a box and covered him up with some of her clothes. When she was finished, she closed the closet doors and crawled under her bed.

Emma waited for her bedroom door to open. Not even five seconds had passed before the door opened. Emma watched in terror as a pair of combat boots trudged into her room. She prayed that both Macy and Joey would not wake up. The last thing she wanted was Macy waking up and crying, alerting the intruder to her presence and location.

As the combat boots made their way past her bed and towards her closet, Emma held her breath. Don't open the door. Please do not open the door. Emma closed her eyes. She felt utterly helpless. Please just leave. Go away.

Opening her eyes, Emma screamed when she saw a pair of blood-red eyes staring back at her. As a pale hand reached under the bed for her, she did the one thing she could think of: she sunk her teeth in it.
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