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As soon as the carriage stopped, I jumped out and ran up the steps to greet my father who was standing on the porch to welcome his family home.
“Jane, you seem to be full of energy, my dear. What in the world has gotten into you?” he asked when he saw my wet hair and disheveled clothing.
“Please Papa, you must come with me. There is a man...,” I explained hurriedly, almost tripping over my words as I grabbed his hand and led him to the coach. The rest of the family joined us as we went past, curious about what was happening.
“What man, Jane? What are you talking about? Are you sure you are feeling alright?” he asked, completely bewildered.
“I am so sorry, sir. I tried to stop her, but she would not listen,” Caroline groveled as I pushed her aside to reveal the man laying there in my blankets.
My father said nothing as he stared at the man, transfixed in amazement. Suddenly, he snapped out of his thoughts and turned to me.
“Jane, what is the meaning of this?”
“He fainted as our coaches passed him and I could not simply leave him there to die.”
“Which is what you should have done,” he said, cutting me off.
“I had to do something. He needed my help!”
“But you do not know who this man is or what he is capable of. Goodness knows, Jane, you could have been bringing a murderer or thief under your wing!” he scolded and my cheeks grew hot with embarrassment because I knew he was right. However, I would not let him send this man away. I had a strange feeling of attachment to him even though I had not spoken a word with him. I could not let him leave.
“Please, Papa, if you do not help him, he could die. Please,” I said, looking at him with pleading eyes, “do this for me.”
I saw it in his eyes and I knew I had won, for now at least. I felt guilty once more. I hated manipulating people, but there was no other way I could convince my father to let the man stay and that is what I wanted, what I needed. I was so selfish.
He sighed and closed his eyes and nodded as if in defeat,
“Alright, Jane, I will have him taken care of, but he can only stay until he has recovered,” he answered and I rushed to him and hugged him with all my force, something I normally would not have done.
“Thank You. Thank You so much, Papa.”
*~*~*
My plan had worked far better than I could have hoped it would. After Jane persuaded her father to care for me, I was swiftly carried by some of the household servants to a guest room on the second floor. There they quickly stripped me and put night clothes on me before tucking me into the most comfortable bed I had ever slept in, even in my former life. The bed and the pillows were so soft I felt as if I was floating on air. The blankets were soft and heavy, which would have been perfect to warm my body if that had been possible. Then the servants left me alone, something in their primitive nature told them that I was dangerous. I smiled at their natural superstition. Not all servants are as foolish as they seem.
I laid there for quite some time, which is saying something considering what I am, alone while the noises of the house floated down the hall outside my room. There was a soft breeze coming in from the open window that was across the room from the bed. I smiled as my nose caught the deep scent of the forest surrounding the house and licked my lips. My spine quivered with a shiver of pleasure as I tasted what remained of Jane’s scent that she had left on my lips. I sighed with discontent. If this was only a sample of what she tasted, oh, how satisfying she would be, her soft moaning and her blood flowing into my mouth; what ecstasy!
Suddenly I heard someone coming down the hall and I became lifeless once more, trying to calm my excited nerves. Three people filed into the room: Jane, a doctor, and Jane’s father. Poor innocent little Jane, her eyes filled with worry as she looked at my corpse-like figure. The doctor quickly examined me and was soon packing his instruments once more. He shook his head with a little sigh.
“I am afraid there is nothing I can do for him,” he began and Jane’s hand flew to her mouth, but the doctor smiled comfortingly in return, “Do not worry, Miss Jane, I merely meant that medicine will not cure him from this little spell. I am afraid that all you can do I wait for him to wake up, and even I do not know how long that will take. After he wakes up he will still be too weak to be turned out on his own even then. Yes, Mr. Harrington, I am afraid this man will be with you for quite some time.”
Mr. Harrington did not look pleased as he heard this news, but civilly bowed his head when the doctor tipped his hat to him.
“Yes, thank you for your services, Doctor Milling, you have been such a help to us all,” he said, sneaking a scolding look towards Jane while the doctor was not looking.
“My pleasure, Mr. Harrington. If there is any possible way I can be of service...,” he quickly paused and looked at Jane, who blushed slightly but otherwise showed no signs of noticing this gesture, “please, do not hesitate to ask.”
With another tip of his hat and a curt bow from Mr. Harrington and an elegant curtsy from Jane, Doctor Milling left the room with the same hurried pace as the servants. When the door was shut, Mr. Harrington turned to his daughter.
“See what you have gotten us into, Jane? What in the world ever possessed you to take care of this man?” Jane stared coolly at her father.
“I have previously explained this to you. I was merely being a Good Samaritan, Papa, surely you can appreciate that,” her father stepped back, enraged at his daughter’s tongue. “Or perhaps you would like to question Emiline or Diana why they passed by on the other side? I am sure they would give you a more reasonable answer.”
Mr. Harrington sputtered a few moments before speaking and I relished in his incompetence when it came to the female sex. After a few more seconds without being able to fumble together a proper reply, all he came back with was,
“W-Will you come down to dinner?” Jane simply smiled and curtsied once more.
“No, Papa, I am not hungry.”
“Please, don’t be this way. Think of your health,” Mr. Harrington pleaded, trying to recover things with his daughter.
“Really, Papa, I am not hungry. I will be fine,” she smiled reassuringly. “I think that the long journey has ruined my appetite for now.”
“Well, if you are quite certain...,” he mumbled and awkwardly left in silence, shutting the door quietly behind him.
We were all alone. She shivered as the cool air circulated around the room so she went over and shut the window. Bad idea. Instantly, her scent began to fill the room, washing me over and over again with waves of delicious ecstasy. It as so hard to remain still, to keep my breath even. I groaned inwardly as I imagined pulling her down to me and sinking my fangs deep into her delicate white neck, her blood trickling past the corners of my mouth.
Somehow, I managed not to move or at least not enough for her human senses to take notice. I had to give it to her though, she was sharp. She saw more than I gave her credit for. She began to pace about the room, looking at trinkets and paintings, stopping and staring at a few that had real meaning to her. She was so elegant with her beautiful stride when she walked and poses when she stood still. As I was in the middle of adoring her I decided once more to look into her thoughts.
I roamed freely through her mind, looking into every dark crevice and every vain desire. It was incredible. Even with what I could remember about my human life I do not believe I had neither the will power nor the intellect at the time to think of such things. I gazed into her imagination, into the heart of her book and I was spell-bound. Never before had I thought it possible that one human being could conceive things such as that. Yet, all the while, she was so quiet, so soft spoken except in the moment of anger. They had a trite saying for people like her, what is it? Oh, yes! Still waters run deep.
*~*~*
“Dear Diary,

It has been two weeks since I brought him to the house and he still has not awoken. Is he dead or will he remain in this state for the rest of his existence? Nothing Caroline or I have done has called him back to consciousness. Honestly, I am worried. Not only because of his condition, but also because of my obsession, for lack of a better word. I do not know what has come over me. I cannot bear to be away from him, not even for a moment. Even when I must leave him for meals and my lessons, my thoughts never leave him. My writing is filled with him and I cannot escape him in my dreams.
It frightens me. Maybe this obsession is from my concern for his health, or maybe I could be... No, that is not possible; I have not spoken with him yet. I do not know his character. Or perhaps it is the feeling that I get when I am around him. It is not an uneasy feeling, something that would hold me back, but rather it is the feeling that he is somehow different from me. It intrigues me. It is probably my imagination running away with me again. Whatever it is, I hope I figure it out soon.
Oh, how I long for him to awaken. There are so many questions I have to ask him, so many questions I cannot wait to have answers to. I especially want to know wh-...”
My hand slipped as Caroline came through the door. She sighed and smiled gently at me as she saw that I, for the third time today, had my diary in my hands.
“Miss Jane, you need to go to your room. It is eleven o’clock, an untimely hour for ladies such as yourself to be awake,” she said. As she looked from me to the man and back again she added, “Come now, Miss. He will be fine without you watching over him.”
“Alright,” I quietly consented and followed her to the door. Before I left, though, I stopped and turned to the man to conduct a nightly ritual I had created. I smiled at his handsome face which glowed angelically in the moonlight and whispered quietly, “Goodnight.”
*~*
“Caroline?” I asked as she continued to brush my hair in preparation for bed.
“Yes, Miss Jane?”
I hesitated. I knew my speculation would make me sound like a lunatic.
“Have you ever gotten the feeling that he is different from us?”
“Other than the fact that most of us aren’t picked up off the side of the road after fainting, no I cannot say that he seems different from you or me,” she answered as she gave me a questioning look. “Why do you ask, Miss?”
“No reason,” I replied quickly, trying to hide my embarrassment.
I sat there, silence filling the room as she continued to brush my hair. My mind clouded over with drowsiness as I stared at the flames of the candles that danced with the night air that fluttered into the room. The breeze made the sheer white curtains that covered the doorway to the balcony gently curve and arc in beautiful waves.
“Miss Jane?” Caroline asked softly, as if she too was mustering up the courage to ask a question.
“Yes, Caroline?”
“If I may be so bold to ask because it is really none of my business...why did you stop to save him?”
Silence filled the room once more as I tried to patch together a coherent answer from the conclusions that I had drawn from my own speculation.
“I do not entirely know, Caroline. It seems so complex yet simple at the same time.”
“Well, he is quite handsome, miss,” she said, smiling at me in the mirror, obviously supposing my reasons would be that shallow.
“Yes he is, but I do not think that is what made me stop. I just had this feeling when I looked at him, that he needed my help. I felt like he was a lost soul and I was to be his safe harbor, like I had some purpose to play in his life that I do not know even now,” I paused and looked at her face in the mirror, “I’m sorry. I’m probably not making any sense right now,” I apologized as I looked to the balcony.
I screamed.
“What is it, Miss?!” Caroline asked frantically as I hurriedly ran and grabbed the curtains. I looked them over again and again. It was not there, “What is the matter?”
“There was a bat! I know there was a bat hanging from the curtain just a moment ago!” I exclaimed as I looked them over once more.
Caroline rubbed my shoulders comfortingly as she led me to my bed and sat me down. I was trembling uncontrollably.
“There, there, Miss. It was just your imagination getting the better of you again; you have such an active one. Besides, there aren’t any bats in this part of the country, anyway,” she rubbed my forehead as she tucked me into bed, “You’re just tired, Miss Jane. You’ve been staying up too late watching over him. You need to think of yourself, my dear, or you’ll make yourself sick again,” she gently said and blew out the candle beside my bed and added quietly, “Goodnight, Miss Jane.”
“Goodnight, Caroline.”

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Oohhhh! Chapter Two builds suspense, dun, dun, dun! ^_^ lol, just kidding. Anyway, I hope you guys liked it. There is more to come as soon as I can post it! ^_^ So, please read and review! *love and hugs for you all* heart

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