As I put the clean dishes into the cabinet, I feel as if someone or something is watching me. I look out the little square window above the sink and see 9 sets of glowing eyes staring right back at me. “Hmm” I murmur to my self. In a flash the eyes leapt off into the forest in my back yard. “Probably just a family of elk.” I say and finish the dishes. Its sad when there is more game where you live then there are people. My name is Darner Jarvis. My Mother Cathy, my little brother Ashton, and I just moved to Anchorage Alaska. My parents just got divorced and my mom decides to move us to Anchorage of all places. “ I wanted to get away from it all, I needed some inspiration.” My mom said as we were driving the long 62 and a half hour drive from Scottsdale, AZ. I liked it in Scottsdale, It was somewhat big, but not as big as Phoenix, or Mesa. I had a few friends, I minded my own, and I was getting ready for a peaceful, quiet senior year. As usual, my mom had other plans. So I took it with a grain of salt, packed up my belongings, and climbed into the big U-haul truck.






I climb the large staircase to the bedrooms I was intercepted by Ashton, and was yanked into his bedroom. “What could you possibly want Ashton?” I yell a little peeved. “Look at what I just found on my computer!” I look over his shoulder and see a page devoted to vampires. “Not this again?” I huff and start to turn around. Ashton has been obsessed with these vampires since he saw two of our neighbors around the corner from us. A short man that looked a tad like the Grampa off of The Munsters, and a tall svelte woman who resembled Angelina Jollie. “Darner, just wait!” He shouts and I turn around. “It says here that if you invite a vampire into your house, then they can always get in. Also here it says, they can’t be in direct sunlight but they can be out if the cloud coverage is sufficient. And uh with an average of 239 cloudy days in Anchorage, all of the signs point to Miss next door neighbor and her little old grampa being vampires,” I rolled my eyes and turned around. “ Just be on the look out Darner!” He shouts. “Go to bed Ashton.” I say annoyed and slam the bathroom door. That night i had the weirdest dream; I open my eyes and see 10 shadows out side my window, all of their pearly white teeth shining in the moon light. I blinked my eyes, and they were gone. I sit up in my bed, cold sweat dripping down my shirtless body. In fear of another weird dream, I attempt to stay up. In the end, my heavy eye lids get the better of me and I end up falling back to sleep. No dream this time, just plain, quiet, and dead.

My mom’s feathery light voice was gently lifting me from my slumber. I sit up and look at my clock, quarter to eight. “Shiii I mean Shoot!” I correct myself seeing my mom still in the room with a ‘you better check yo self’ look on her face. I sheepishly smile and jump into the clothes that I had set out the night before. A purple hoody over a white tee, and some new skinny jeans. I get on my leopard print Nikes and jump into my black Titan, Ashton trailing right behind me. I drive up to West Anchorage High School. Home of the Eagles. I looked over to my little brother and he looked just as jazzed as I was. “Come on LB, we might as well get this over with.”

We park and step out, and go our separate ways. I pull out my schedule and try to make sense of this crazy campus,heck, i have problems trying to make sense of my life and why the hell I’m in Anchorage. I look up for a second and pause as my whole world came crashing down. It gets reassembled in a split second as the 9 most amazing looking people walk across my path. There were 4 boys and 5 girls. As they floated past me the last girl, probably the youngest, winked at me. My eyes melted along with my body into a big puddle of mush. Sarah Palin was not the only highlight of this state. I am slapped back to reality when the one minute bell rings, the song “Pop Goes The Weasel” comes on the intercom. The students who were just chatting away with long lost friends, immediately stop their conversations and make a mad dash for their home rooms. “Ha ha,” I laugh to my self. “Its like musical chairs.” A stingy old woman with crazy blond hair steps out into the quad and shouts “ You know the drill, anyone out side when the final bell rings will have lunch detention!” Shoot, I don’t know where my home room is. “Does anyone know where room 24B is?” No one is answering me and are pushing right past me. Rude. Just when I think I’m going to get detention someone’s deep voice shouts right behind me, “I’m going to 24B.” I turn around and get snatched up by one of the guys in the 9 amazing students. The wind was knocked out of me but hey at least we won’t get detention. “I don’t usually do this so consider yourself lucky. I’m Gideon. What is your name?” The wind was still knocked out of me so it was hard to form the words ‘Hi I’m Darner.’ A loud grunt was all that came out of my mouth. “ Ha ha, I usually get that response, its better than nothing.” He chuckled and set me down. “Her name is Claire ,” He could see the confused look on my face. “My sister,..the one you were making gaga eyes at with the long wavy chestnut hair.” We both stepped into the class and right at that moment the song halted and the bell rang. The teacher looked up and stared at us disapprovingly. “Cutting it close boys, take a seat.” She pointed her pink pen at a table with two empty chairs. We sat down right as I started to get my air back. “Hi, I’m Darner Jarvis. My Mom Cathy, little Brother Ashton and I just moved here from Scottsdale, Arizona. Random I know, but my mom is an artist, and thinks Anchorage will give her the inspiration she needs. Tell me your story,” I ask Gideon. Well, My full name is Gideon Clark, I have two brothers and three sisters. The three other blondes are adopted into our family. I’m the youngest boy and we have lived in Anchorage for a long time. I’m kind of quiet and reserved, but I really like to meet new people and make friends.” He explains. “Boys!” Ms Endal snapped her finger, and shot it straight to her lips, urging us to be quiet. We just laugh and get to studying. I sighed and smiled. Making a friend in this large state made me feel better.

The rest of the week consisted of the same old thing, like I said, Anchorage was really not exciting. The final bell rang and I was excited that it was the weekend. I grabbed my belongings and made a dash for my truck. Right as I stepped into the quad I could see that Ashton had made some friends as well. He saw me and jogged over. “Hey bro, how was school?” I ask. “ It went surprisingly well, I met some cool kids on the ski team, I’m thinking about joining. How was your day?” He questions. “ I met a friend myself. His name is Gideon...What are you doing tonight?” I ask. “Uh the boys want to hang out and maybe play some rock band. I already called mom.” He said as he pats my shoulder and turns toward the ski team.








***

The 9 beautiful people stood by their cars in the parking lot. They had a secret. They were vampires. Gideon thinks that they could use another guy in the group and is talking to Gregory and Zane. “He just seems cool, and he is really nice. As well as, he would be a good addition to our coven.” Gideon explained to his skeptical friends. “ I don’t have any problem with it. How are we going to get him to even come with us?” Gregory states as he leans up against his white Charger. “What about Samuel, And the girls Annette, Janice, and Julia? They are newborns, and I’m not sure if they could handle fresh...hot...tasty...blood,” Zane salivated as he looked over to the four with Hazel and Claire. Hazel hugged her boyfriend Sam. “ Speak of the devil.” Zane pointed over to the courtyard. Out walks Darner with backpack on one shoulder and keys in hand. “Watch this,” Gregory states and sprints at light speed to Darners car and zips back with wires in one hand and a smirk on his face. ***

I jump into my black titan and turn the key. Funny,...it wasn’t starting. I desperately try to get my brand new truck to start. I look up and see Gideon and his siblings conveniently standing next to their cars a few rows down. I wave him over, he has a smile on his pale face as he glides over to the dead car. He was at least 50 meters away but made it over in Olympic speed. “ What seems to be the trouble new friend ?” Gideon asks. “ My brand new car wont start, my mom is at an art convention and wont be home all weekend so I’m not in a hurry. Can you or one of your sibs give me a ride home?” I ask. “ Sure!” he excitedly says, and I get out of my car.

At the Clarks humongous home, I’m sitting at the grand table waiting for Miss Clark to bring food to my plate. I look across the table and see 9 picturesque humans staring back at me. To my right was Gideon. Dark brown curly hair is hidden by a basketball cap. Sitting next to him is Claire. Very angular but elegant face. Topped off with long chestnut brown hair pulled back in a loose bun. Next is Janice. She stiffly stares at me and makes me feel a little uncomfortable. Janice, like her twin Julia look somewhat angry but still look gorgeous with their long golden blonde locks. In the next seat is Hazel and Sam, yes in the same seat, To me it seemed as though those two could not stand the idea of parting ways. They were total opposites as well. Hazel was happy and always danced where she walked, and her head was full of teased, thick, jet black hair. On the other side of the spectrum was Sam, who was even more stiff and angry looking than the twins. He actually looked like he was in pain being in the same room with the others let alone me. His short blonde hair was topped off with a baseball hat. On my left was Gregory. He looked a little like Gideon, but had two diamond studs in both lobes. His hair was the messy bed head look. And to my immediate left was Zane. His reddish brown hair gelled up into a messy faux hawk. I smiled as Ms. Clark stepped into the room with a large steaming pot of spaghetti. She serves the table and sits down. “Darner would you like some parmesan cheese baby?” She smiles. The rest of the table smiles as well, all except Sam of course. I take a huge bite of the pasta. It was delectable. Before I take another bite I smile and shove the fork into my mouth.”

After I downed probably half of the spaghetti, I start to feel a bit woozy. “ I’m full, and kind of tired,” I start. “ Can I take a little nap on your couch for a few?” For what ever reason, I was really super tired. “ Sure honey bun! Gideon take him to the guest room, thats way more comfortable. And you are going to stay the weekend with your mother being gone.” She wouldn’t let me protest, or get a word in edge wise.

As he hands me a blanket he elbows me in the ribs. As I check to see if I have a bruise on my side he whispers, “ I would sleep with one eye open.” He smiles and walks out of the room. Was that a warning? This family was extremely weird. I brushed his comment off and lied down on the bed. Sleep got the better of me and I fell into a deep sleep.

It wasn’t yet dawn, maybe 3 am. I’m having the weirdest dream. I’m running in the forest. Away from someone, or something chasing me. As soon as the dream started, it ended. It came to a terrifyingly immediate halt when I felt a sharp prick in my neck. I woke up in a snap, and attempted to get the creature off of me. I got a little more acclimated to the darkness and noticed Annette and Gideon wrestling at my feet. “RUN DARNER RUN!” Gideon shouts. I barge open the glass French doors out to the back yard that led to the gargantuan forest. It felt like I was on fire but I could not slow down. I sprinted what felt like 800 meters into the dark. I stopped to catch my breath. Was that Annette biting my neck? It was quiet, deathly quiet. I can hardly stand the pain now. It feels as if my whole body is engulfed in flames. As I lie there, begging for death to come, a pair of cold lips come to my neck. I slip into darkness.

I wake up in a bed. Not my bed. The same evil bed from the night before. The room seems to have more color. I felt different. Like more alive, but dead inside. I glanced at the little handheld mirror on the bed side table. I grab it and look at my face. I was gorgeous! I couldn’t believe what I saw. My face looked clean, and somewhat like glass. My eyes were a dark hue of red. I smiled in the little mirror and noticed my teeth were sparkling. Claire prances in and sits at the edge of my bed. “ Darner, I’m so sorry you had to find out like that, But the Clarks are Vampires. Annette did originally bite you, but she would have killed you. I found you in the forest and saved you. Sooo now you are a vampire. Some weekend huh?” She apologized. I chuckled. “ Where is my mom?” I ask. “ She is going to be taken well care of. She thinks you are spending the whole weekend here.” She sang. “ Thank you for saving me. Will I be like Annette?” I asked. “I don’t think so.You are a really chill person and i think you will be that much more laid back now that you are a vampire.” She explained. “Uhm, do ...I get to be with you?” I inquired. “What do you think?” She kissed me on the lips and pulled back. She smiled and flipped her long chestnut brown hair and looked at me. And I looked back at Claire and knew that I would be with her ...well forever.