FicWad

Chapter 1: /The Meeting/

It was just a game, right?

That's what I thought when he first told me about it. At the time, I had only known him for about two weeks before he had mentioned it at all. After that, is when he really began to draw me in. Or maybe he had started when we had first met? The more I got to know him, the more it seemed like he had planned for me to speak to him that first night.

I blame that one on Lizzie, of course, if I'm going to blame that on her, I might as well blame everything that's happened because of it on her, as well. She was the one who dared me to go ask him about his clothes, but if I had just chicken out as usual, maybe things would have been better; but, I can't spend the rest of my life thinking on what could have been. I need to focus what will happen, and for now, what did happen.

Let's give a run through of the beginning, shall we? Lizzie and I had skipped school, and were at the mall. We had spent the whole day there, though we were pretty oblivious to the fading sunlight outside, as we went to most of the stores. Even the ones we normally would have avoided, like GAP, or Hot Topic. It wasn't that we didn't like these types of stores, it just that we would find something we liked, and then wouldn't have the money to afford it. But on this day, we went to them all, we only bought a few things though, food, some books, two movies, and one or two articles of clothing. We were broke.

We had been sitting at in the food court, sharing a plate of Chinese Lo Mien when we saw them. Four boys all standing together in front of the bathroom entrance. All of them were dressed much like what Lizzie and I thought Victorian Era men would wear, with top hats, and waist coats... and those really cool white silky shirts with ruffles. Okay, so that was more of a pirate thing, but it was cool nonetheless.

Anyway, I had mentioned to Lizzie how I would kill to have a top hat like those boys had. A real one, not one of those fake plastic ones that they hand out on Halloween. So, she told me to go ask them where they got theirs. I stated that they had probably found them in some old trunk in one of their attics, but she told me to go ask anyway. I tried to get away without going and asking, but she dared me. I have never, never, in my life, been able to say no to a dare.

So, I stood, and nervously made my way to the dark dressed boys. They were possibly a little older than myself, maybe eighteen or nineteen. Fiddling with the sleeves of my coat, I forced myself up towards them, but panicked when in closer contact, and moved to make it look like I was going to the Pizza place they were standing next too. I ordered a soda, and listened to the boys.

I couldn't make out quite what they were saying, but suddenly they all burst out in laughter. It was a sound that seemed to echo. I glanced at them out of the corner of my eye as the person behind the counter went to fill up a small cup with Pepsi, and my gaze locked with his for a moment. I dragged my gaze from him and to the lady in front of me. She set the soda on the counter in front of me, and I searched my pockets frantically for enough change to pay for it. I should have just ordered water, but I apparently wasn't thinking very clearly.

"Umm..." Emptying my pockets on the counter, I found three pennies, a nickel, and two safety pins. The lady looked at me with distaste, and I really couldn't blame her, I'd be annoyed with some teenager who had ordered something and then found they couldn't pay for it.

"I'll pay for it." A deep silky voice said. A pale hand passed me and handed the lady the exact amount, she took the money with a forced smile, before giving me a slightly pointed look.

Taking the Pepsi, I turned slowly to come face to face with the guy I had looked at... His eyes were a startling green, dark circles outlined them, but I couldn't be sure if was make-up or that they really were dark circles from lack of sleep. His hair was bleached white, and stood out against the sheer black top-hat, but almost blended with his pale skin tone. His face was a little to angular for my tastes, but it didn't mean he wasn't handsome, and his lips were thin, they moved, his voice came out, but the words were lost to me. I just concentrated on his face, and the tone of his voice. Deep, rich with a slightly German accent, and certain pitch I couldn't even begin to describe.

"Huh..." I heard myself say, and realized that I was to busy staring at him to pay attention to myself. I almost slapped myself when he gave a knowing smirk, and my cheeks felt warm.

"I asked if you were well, miss." His smirk faded into a rather charming smile, and lifted my free hand up. He brought it to his lips, and kissed it just above my knuckles. If I been red before, blood was practically pouring out of my pores now, that's how red I was. "May I ask for your name?" He asked me, still bent, his lips brushing the back of my hand.

"D-Darlene.." I wanted to get hit by a truck. Why, why then of all times did I have to stutter. But, he didn't seem bothered by this fact. He chuckled, a deep rich sound that shook his lean form lightly, as he stood to his full height and smiled down at me.

"Matthew." He said, the name was plain, normal, but the way he said it, made it seem like it was something exotic and strange. "It's nice to meet you, Miss Darlene..."

No one had ever called me 'miss' before. Not even when I was little and in trouble, it was always 'Missy', so 'Miss Darlene' sounded rather elegant and enchanting at the time. "I-it's nice to meet you too..."

That was when Lizzie decided to make herself known. From there, it was no longer her fault. She had come to 'save me'. I said good bye to Matthew, and he kissed my hand again.

The next night, I went to the mall again, this time with my little brother and mother. Halloween was in just two days, and my brother wanted a costume, so we were going to the Halloween specialty store that would be gone after it had sold everything. Halloween, I had decided, was the best holiday, if only you could get out of school for it.

I was looking at a bunch of false silver jewelery when he showed up again. I didn't see him first, rather heard him.

"Miss Darlene," I jumped at the sound of those words, dropping the two necklaces I was holding and almost knocking down the display. Whipping around, I was face to face with him, his green eyes seemingly darker than the night before.

"Matthew..." His name slipped out of my mouth, my eyes locked with his own. I felt dizzy, and everything around us blurred out of my vision, all I could see was him. Wearing the same type of clothes as last night, this time though, rather than all black, his clothes were shades of dark reds.

Blushing, I opened my mouth to speak, but not a word would come. I just stood there gapping like a trout. The sounds of the people around became distance, and fuzzy, like I was hearing from a very quiet radio. In my chest my heart seemed to pick up it's pace, and pound against my chest; I could hear the thundering of the blood in my veins, and was extremely aware of how close Matthew and I were.

I watched his thin, pale, lips curl up in a smile, he leaned closer to me, his eyes were turning black, it seemed like the irises were engulfing the rest of his eyes. He moved closer again, his lips brushing against mine, sending a little spark from my lips to the rest of my body. My arms fell limply to my sides, and my eyes half closed. I couldn't turn away from his eyes, those darkening orbs, black seeping out of the corners of his eyes to lock with the black his irises had spread.

"Darlene!" My name ripped through the fuzzier sounds of the mall, and I twisted away from Matthew's eyes, to look over at my little brother. He stood about ten feet away, holding up a ninja costume he had found. "Mom said I could be this!" He said happily.

I gave him a weak smile, I was so dizzy my legs gave out. My view, still locked on my brother, blurred and sharpened randomly, and I was only half-aware that my brother was running towards me. I blacked out. When I finally opened my eyes, they locked with the almost completely black eyes of Matthew. He was kneeling on the floor, one arm behind my shoulders, and the other around my waist, my legs splayed on on the black tiled floor.

As I stared up at him, the same blankness wrapped around me tightly, and I found myself leaning up towards him, but then it came through...

"Darlene!" The sound of my mother had knocked me out of my trance, and brought me back to my surroundings. I looked up to see my mother pushing through the crowd that had surrounded us. She practically dropped to her knees and pulled me away from Matthew.

One moment I was in his arms, and the next, I was in hers. She held me close and asked what had happened, my brother stood next to her, looking just as confused. He babbled on about how I had passed out, and Matthew, or 'that guy', had caught me. My mother thanked Matthew many times for his help, and he smiled at her, with that charming smile that made my legs melt, and told her it was okay, we were friends after all.

I hadn't remember agreeing to being his friend, but at the time, my mind was so hazy, my thoughts felt sluggish, and they barely seemed able to keep up with the conversation my mother had with Matthew and my brother. I do remember her asking if I was okay, and my reply. Yes. Of course, I was okay, it was a dizzy spell, that's all. I believed it then, even after my thoughts had grasped what I had said.

Just a dizzy spell...

Two nights later, on Halloween, I took my brother trick-or-treating. We went to the mall, walked around the stores. There he was again. This time, his eyes were brighter than the first time I had seen them. He was wearing normal clothes, blue jeans, a white baggy t-shirt, and sneakers, with a black baseball cape, and his skin was a little rosy.

He had looked me up and down, taking in all the curves the tight black dress Lizzie had bought me for this night. I probably would have slapped anyone else silly if they had looked at me like that, but I just blushed and said hello. He took my hand and kissed it just as he had the first time we had met, "Good evening, Darling."

"It's not 'Darling', it's 'Darlene'," My brother said smartly, his dark eyes narrowing on Matthew.

"Ah, but you see, young one, the name Darlene, means 'Little Darling'." Matthew explained, his eyes sparkling, my brother just looked at him strangely before nodding and going back to what he had been doing.

"Are you here, every night?" I asked, hoping the white powder that covered my skin would hide my blush.

"Only when I'm not hunting.." He told me, giving me a smirk.

"Hunting?" I asked, smiling back in what I had hoped was filled with arrogant confidence.

He nodded his head, "May I ask, what are you?"

Blinking, I waved my arm, the long cut-up sleeves of the dress waving in the air, "I'm a vampiress." I stated. He raised an eyebrow at me, an art I was incapable of doing, and I laughed, "Or so says the bag this thing came in... My friend Lizzie, you met her the other night, brought it over, and she told me to wear it, so here I am..." I forced myself to stop before I bored him to death with the explanation of my outfit, and did what I was told worked with a guy, I asked him a question about himself, "What are you being?"

"Human."

I felt rather puzzled at the reply, repeating his reply, and tilted my head, "But your supposed to dress as something you aren't."

"Oh, but I am." He stated.

After that, my brother came out of the store and began to babble on about something. I wasn't sure what, I was only half listening. My little brother, the annoying little dweeb that he is, asked Matthew to come with us through the mall.

I had twisted the thin clothe of my costume sleeve in my fingers, and resisted the urge to bite my bottom lip. Matthew said yes, and I felt nervous the whole time... But, I found that it wasn't so bad. Matthew talked as much as I did, and after the first five stores, though still nervous, I was able to stop stuttering, and not blush. Though, for the whole night, he called me 'Little Darling'. I kept telling him that if he was being human, that didn't sound right, but he would just chuckle and brush it off.

Before we parted ways, I gave him my phone number. The next morning, he called me... He came over that night, and hung around until my brother went to bed at nine. After that, he started to come over every night. After Halloween, I never saw him in normal clothes, he always wore the dark lolita clothes. His skin was only that nice rosy color one day, and after that it got paler and paler with each passing night.

But I grew very comfortable with him. He even let me borrow his top hat! I didn't want to give it back, so he took me to an old store with the most beautiful old-fashioned clothes I'd ever seen. I didn't have money to spend, but I wanted to try the clothes on. I was trying on a long dark red velvet dress with a top you had to tie in the front, when he first mentioned it.

The Game, he had called it. Just, 'The Game'. He told me that a bunch of people got together on certain nights to listen to music, and play vampire. It sounded fun. He told me about how intricate this game was, everyone who went to The Game regularly, had a whole persona as a Vampire. They had a different name, a way of acting, a age, and history. It was amazing. He told me, that the players all had two guest passes, and he had one left, for a guest.

But he had stopped mentioning it after that. I had walked out of the dressing room, and showed him the dress. It was sleek, and rather beautiful, with a corset like top that push my small breast up, making them look far more appealing, than they had ever looked before; the sleeves were off the shoulder, and long enough to end just below my finger tips, the corset top ended in a V, and became a loose skirt that glided down to the floor. All of it was red and black, it looked to be older than the clothes he wore, but still, I loved it. I spun for him and the mirror, my eyes glistening at my appearance.

His hands rested on my shoulders, and he leaned over me to rest his head on my shoulder. His green eyes glittered, and my cheeks flushed as his hand slid down my arm to pull the sleeve up and twine his fingers with mine. He did this sort of thing often, as though making physical contact with me was some great thing, but he never tried to kiss me, not after the time at the mall had he even leaned that close to me.

"This one, we'll buy." He told me, pulling away from me and walking towards the front desk.

My shock faded when I heard him tell the lady there that he would like to purchase it. Gasping, I quickly followed him, pulling the long dark skirt up, so I wouldn't kill myself walking, and so that it wouldn't get ruined, "Matthew! I can't afford this..."

He gave an amused look, "I'm paying for it."

"B-but! It's way to much, I won't be able to pay you back for it..."

"You don't have too." He smiled, "It's a gift, for all the birthdays and christmases I've missed."

I remember trying various other ways of making him NOT buying the dress, but he bought it for me. As we walked home, I just glared at him, but he hadn't seemed to mind. After we reached my house, he handed me the box with the dress, and gave me another charming smile. He leaned up and kissed my cheek, "Tomorrow, night, would you like to go with me?"

I hadn't had to ask. I knew where he was going. The Game. He had talked about the whole walk home, though I hadn't replied to any of it, I had listened with rapt attention. The information I gained made me think about it being a Vampire Role Playing type of game. I loved Vampires, this was something he knew, and he had told me it was a rather exclusive thing, not many got to go. I felt excitement at the thought of going, maybe not participating, but seeing it... watching. "S-sure..."

His smile widened into a grin that made me think of the Chesire cat for a moment, his eyes sparkling, "Good, wear this dress." He kissed my other cheek, whispered, "Good night, Little Darling," and left.

I stood rooted to my spot, unable to make my legs move even a little. After a while, my mother opened the door, and I was shocked out of my stupor. She asked a few minor questions, had I had a good time? What was in the box? How was Matthew doing? I answered them all half heartedly, as I walked up the stairs to my room, my thoughts dancing with ideas of what the game would be like.

I wish, I had thought more about it all in what it truly seemed to be. I vaguely remember a tiny voice in my mind telling me not to be so happy, that I should be worried, but I guess I ignored it... wish I hadn't...