• Later on that day, October was walking to UTPA to meet up with Mark. "Where are you going," asked a familiar voice. She turned to see her nosy, annoying neighbor named Brian standing behind her. "None of your business. Just go way and leave me alone." October said with pure hatred in her voice. "What if I don't want to?" Brian asked looking cocky. "I don't care. Leave me alone." "I don't think I will. I'd rather have much more fun messing with you." "I'm not scared of you. I can feel what you are." "Well what am I?" "You're a vampire, but don't worry I'll be one soon." October stated smiling sarcastically. "Not if you die first." "What makes you think that I'm going to die?" "I think that because I'm going to be the one to kill you." "Oh wow. I'm so scared." October replied still being sarcastic. "You should start running now." "If I don't, what would you do to me?" "I told you. I'll kill you, but even if you do run, I'll still kill you." "It surprises me how you keep trying to scare me. I mean why don't you just give up loser? You don't scare me. You never have, and you never will." "We'll see about that." Brian had October by the neck in less than a millisecond. "Do I scare you now?" Brian chuckled. "No." October gasped with a smirk. He tossed her aside, and lightly kicked her repeatedly but with the strength of a vampire it still felt like heavy rocks being thrown at her. He was holding her again. This time against a wall made of bricks. "You still don't scare me." She breathed with a smile. "How can I not scare you? I just put you through so much pain. I've even threaten to kill you." "It doesn't matter. I have been through alot of pain throughout my life, so I have learned to just deal with it and not fear it. I don't fear death either, so if you want to kill me, stop talking and just do it." "Well this should be easier then I thought." He was about to bite into October's neck when he was grabbed and tossed himself. "Stay away from her! Don't ever touch her or get near her again!" Mark yelled. "What are you, her new bodyguard or something?" Brian asked looking up with rage in his eyes. "No. Just leave her alone." "Oh I see. You have a thing for her. That's why you've been so attached to her lately. You can't stay away." "Shut up before I kill you." Mark raised his voice. "Go ahead and try." Brian challenged with a silent laugh. Mark sped towards Brian with shocking speed. He punched Brian and, Brian flew back. He dodged the next move as he got up. Then he disappeared. Mark was about to go back to October to see if she was ok, but when he turned Brian was suddenly behind him. Brian now had Mark by the neck, lifting him as high off the ground as possible. Mark didn't have to struggle much to get out of his grip. He kicked Brian hard making him fly back once more. Brian hit the pole making it fall to the ground. Altough everybody was asleep, October knew that somebody could have heard. "Mark stop." October shouted. She got up and tried to walk towards Mark, but she was still too weak. Mark didn't turn to look at her, but he didn't continue either. He just stood still glaring at Brian with hateful eyes. Brian just glared back. "You're just giving him what he wants." she added,"you need to calm down." "I know. That's why I haven't killed him yet." He replied still glaring at Brian shaking furiously again. "Fine. You're just wasting my time. Don't worry October," Brian warned now glaring at October, "I'll be back for you." He turned to walk away. Mark stopped shaking and fell to the ground on his knees. October finally gathered enough strength to reach him. "He's right." Mark whispered staring at the ground. "What?" October was confused. She didn't know what he was talking about, but she also didn't know if she wanted to know what he was talking about." "I do have a thing for you. I fell in love with you the first time I saw you. When we first met, I could not stay away from you even though I knew it was probably the best thing to do. I thought you were the most beautiful girl I've ever met. I still do. The reason I agreed to turn you into a vampire is because I hoped we would end up together. I knew there was a chance you might love someone else, but at least I could still spend time with you." October could not believe what she was hearing, for she had fallen in love with Mark the first time she saw him too. She believed that he could pass for an angel from heaven. "Why didn't you tell me this before? Why are you barely telling me this now?" "I've wanted to tell you, but I was scared you would not feel the same way. I guess I was scared of what every guy is scared of." "Which is...?" She asked although she already knew what the answer was. "Rejection." "You never know unless you try." "I know. I just don't know how you feel." "Why didn't you just ask?" "I don't know. How do you feel?" October looked down at the floor. She didn't know what to do. She was in shock. Mark had just saved her life, and now he was telling her he loved her. She thought it was all a dream and would be waking up any minute, but when she looked up into his dark eyes, she knew that it was all real. She was scared to tell him that she felt the same way because she wasn't sure if she wanted him to know or not. She wasn't sure it was the right thing to do especially after he just put himself at risk for saving her. "Do you feel the same way?" An awkward silence filled the air. "Do you?" He asked again this time lifting her chin."No." She whispered regretting the fact that she told him to ask her how she felt. She wanted to tell him, but she just couldn't. "Oh...well that's ok." "I'm sorry." "You don't have to be sorry. Nobody can help the way they feel." "I know, but...." "But what?" "Nothing. Never mind. I think this was a bad idea. I'm just going to go home." She said as she got up and slowly ran home crying. She didn't care if she was still in any physical pain. She still kept running because she had just caused herself the worst pain possible. When she got there, she called Jake and told him everything including the way she felt about Mark. "Why didn't you just tell him the truth?" Jake asked. "I wanted to, but I couldn't." "Why not?" "Because I'm scared. I don't want him to get hurt." "He won't get hurt. It will make him happy." "I know, but I mean after what he did today. He could have gotten hurt by trying to save me." "He can take care of himself. Just because you tell him that you don't feel the same way won't make him stop trying to protect you. It will only hurt him and break his heart. Is that what you want?" "No." "Then tell him the truth." "Ok I will." "Alright well I have to go. I'll talk to you later. Bye." "Bye." October knew that Jake was right, so she dialed Mark's number. The phone rang only once before she hung up. She was scared to call him and tell him she had lied to him. "You called?" She was startled by the voice behind her. She turned to see him looking at her with mysterious and confused eyes. "Ummm....yea. I needed to talk to you about something." "Which is....?" "It's about what you told me today." "We can talk in the back if you want." Yea I think that's a good idea." As they were sitting on a bench in the back, October explain everything to him. She burst out crying. Mark wrapped his arms around her and held her tight as she cried. She felt safe in his arms, like nobody could ever hurt her. "It's ok." "No it's not. I must have hurt you. I wasn't trying to. I just wanted to protect you." "I know. I forgive you." "How can you forgive me for hurting you?" "Because I love you, and I know you didn't do it on purpose. Another reason is because I know I did wrong trying to save you." "But there's a difference, I hurt you, and you tried to protect me. Of course I'm still a little upset by that, but what i did was worse. I did the opposite of protecting you, and I knew I was going to hurt you. I just didn't want anything to happen to you. I wanted you to be safe and....." Mark cut her off with a kiss.It was a kiss full of passion. October was shocked. She was not much shocked about him kissing her but because of what she felt. She felt like she wanted to be with him forever. She realized she loved him more than she could ever love anybody else. She knew he was the one and wanted no other. "I love you." He told her. She looked up into his eyes once again. "I love you too." She replied. She leaned her head on his shoulder. Another silence filled the air before he asked quietly, "Do you still want to become a vampire?" "Uh huh." "Are you ready to become one now?" He asked. "Yes since my grandparents are gone for the weekend." "This is going to hurt." "It's ok I'm sure I can handle it." "Then get ready." He replied as his fangs grew back. October tightened her grip on Mark's arm as his teeth slowly sunk into her neck. He felt the warmth of her blood flow into his mouth. It had a taste so delicious and sweet. He stopped quickly knowing he could get carried away if he didn't. He quickly picked her up and carried her to her grandma's room knowing it was the darkest room in the house. She finally loosened her grip. She began to fall asleep. When she woke up a few hours later, she noticed Mark was still there sitting beside her on the bed. She slowly sat up not knowing what to do. "Are you ok?" He asked worried. "Yea, but is it over?" She asked remembering the horrible pain she had just gone through. "It should be." "Good. It was alot more painful than I thought." "I told you it was going to hurt." He reminded her as he smiled. "I know, but it was worth it." "Why?" "Because now I'm a vampire." "Oh wow." "I know. Thanks for being here with me." "You're welcome." Mark lightly took her hand and carefully picked her up off the bed. "Come on. It's dark outside, and I want to explain the truth about us." "Ok." When they were walking out of the room, October noticed Mark was floating in the air. "How are you doing that?" "It's one of the things we can do." "We can float?" "Well we could fly, but I can't now because we're in the house." "True." He landed back on the ground. "I'll teach you how to do it later." "Cool." They walked to the back hand in hand and sat down where they were sitting earlier. Mark explained everything that he could think of at the time about vampires. He told her how they do have reflections and about the things they have, like speed, strength, and the ability to hear and see very well. "You know I was wondering." "Wondering about what?" "When you bit me, you seemed a little bit worried." "I was." "Why?" "Because I didn't want to hurt you." "What do you mean?." October asked thinking about how he was trying to warn her in the first place. "I could have gotten carried away." "Why?" "Because..." "It's ok you can tell me. I won't get mad." "Your blood." "What about it?" "It tasted so good in my mouth." "Oh." "If we want to stop, we can. It's not really hard. We just have to do it before we get carried away." "Oh I get it." "I never want to hurt you," he continued, "I don't ever want anybody else to hurt you either. When I saw Brian trying to kill you today, I wanted to kill him. I couldn't stand to see him even touch you. I was angry because I should have known you weren't safe walking alone." "It's ok. It's not like I blame you for it." October tried to reassure and comfort him. "I know, but...." He didn't continue. "But what?" October asked after seconds went by. "I blame myself for it.I should have been there sooner to stop him and to watch over you." "Hey I'm a vampire now. I can take care of myself. Nothing will happen to me as long as we're together." "You promise?" "I promise." She gently sealed her promise with another kiss. "How long do you plan on staying with me?" "It depends how long you want me. I just hope you'll want me forever." "Of course I will." "I love you." "I love you too. She replied. She looked up at the stars in the dark sky. The moonlight was shining on them. "Mark?" "Yes" "I was thinking about something." "What?" "Can we sleep?" "Yes why?" "Because I'm exhausted." October answered with a yawn. Mark smiled down at her. "Then I think it's time for you to go to sleep?" "What about you?" October asked sad because the day had come to an end. "I have to go home, but I'll be back by dawn to teach you how to fly." "Ok goodnight then." "Goodnight." October sleepily walked into the house. She fell asleep almost immediately after she was inside.