The clock boomed again, ringing loud and clear through the frost bitten trees. My back was against the school, its lights beaming on my frozen stance. The ground was clawed; dirt flung everywhere, on everything. My eyes were wide with fright, staring at the most beautiful thing any human mind could conjure up. My fingers wrapped around my waist, as I fought to hold them still. The clock rang again.

Her crouched position was the position of death, and it stood just a few steps from me. Her fingers clawed through the earth like knifes, redoing the damage to where she had moments before.

“Ten more chimes.” She said in her baby high soprano. It was like a child’s voice, high and beautiful, ringing with full power and ferocity. So that was my death time then? The twelfth chime?

My knees buckled, giving way, and sending my limp body hurdling toward the frozen grass. I wanted to take in as much as my killer as possible; hypnotized by her beauty as I was. Her body was shaped as if she was made to be an hourglass, it curved and swayed even in the crouch she had herself positioned in. Her gracefulness was enough to make a ballet performer to commit suicide. It was completely unnatural, wrong and twisted, and yet, wonderful. Jealousy shot through my spine, even as I lay there, awaiting death. Her blond hair was to her shoulders, golden, like the beautiful rays of the sun. She had once been a human, like me, normal and wonderful, in personality.

She had never been someone I knew, nor wanted to meet, but she didn’t like me. As my slumped position in the grass obviously showed. The clock rang again.

She laughed then, her lips pulling over her fangs in another angelic wind chime peel of happiness. My stomach lurched.

I knew I couldn’t run from her, her legs could carry her faster than mine could. I was only human, running at normal human speed. Her body could carry her faster than the speed of sound; it wouldn’t even take her a second to stop me. Unless she wanted the hunt with the kill…

The clock sung again and she leaned over in her crouch, waiting to spring. Her eyes met the light then, and I was stunned by the beauty of them. They were wonderful, long eyelashes with unnaturally livid eye color. It was the eye color that had sucked in my breath though; they were a blazing color of red. The very color that twisted the mind and body into a never ending search to find what they wanted. Blood.

She didn’t care who it was, I was just the unlucky soul that a vampire just happened to want to kill. There was no motive here, she was just thirsty. I was sure my blood was sounding very appealing to her, quickened by my heart as it was.

The clock rang. Her eyes narrowed in on my body as I moved it, standing erect in hurried and clumsy movements. Her hair blew in the cold wind, but away from her. As the wind carried my scent more towards her, her nostrils flared and her eyes shot right through me like bullets. She wasn’t going to be able to resist for another seven chimes.

“Then do it then,” I encouraged her, my voice soft but not nearly as beautiful. “Make it quick and easy.” I begged.

She leaned more so into her crouch. Her body seemed to quiver as if she wanted to do as I was telling her.

“Please,” I whispered. I didn’t care now; I was going to die anyway.

“You are very strange, for a human.” She noted and her eyes widened as she smiled, her fangs hanging sharply over her lips.

She coiled and sprang as the sixth chime rang through the air. Her body flew as graceful as an arrow from a bow, her claws extended out towards me. Ready to tear my throat out.

I couldn’t move, I was terrified, stunned at her beauty, and at the fact that death was now flying through the air at me. Her fingers caught my throat and then pushed harder, blocking my airways. I gasped for air as her lips pulled over any exposed part of my skin. Her lips peeled back as her teeth ripped through where she touched. I screamed, but it was muffled, I couldn’t breathe.

There were kicks and punches everywhere on my body, everywhere there was something to break. Her foot came down like a boulder on my legs and the deafening cracks and crunches hurt, I was able to really scream when she lifted her hand from my throat.

The clock rang and her violence became more life threatening. Her lips brushed over my neck, piercing the skin and driving the venom into my system. But the sting was everywhere from every other breaks in my body, my legs, arms and waist were burning. But this burning was different it was inside me, more so than everything else. Her lips brushed over everything as the punches continued. I flew away from the wall and back into it as her foot caught my right shoulder. I lay there, bleeding and broken, as the puddle of blood poured around me, engulfing my hair.

She was laughing, ringing with happiness as she drank the blood from the grass. It seemed very right of her to do this; nothing this beautiful was ever good. Death wasn’t supposed to be this uncomfortable either.

I knew it didn’t any good to scream but I could help myself, the deafening crunching was getting harder. She should have just left, being satisfied with her thirst, and the fact that she was deranged enough to let my die slowly. But he was determined to end my life there, with her own hands.

She said something under her breath as she crouched before me again, awaiting another thing to crush. It sounded familiar. I was suddenly brought down into darkness as she mangled the rest of my body. I remembered my old neighbor, my best friend, with her short golden hair, her name I could never remember.

“Renee?” I whispered brokenly, I knew she would hear it, even if I couldn’t. There was a pause in the beatings. “Renee?” I said again.

“No!” She screamed in horror as her red eyes took in more closely my face. Her lips pulled down into a scowl as she lifted my body into her stone arms.

“I thought you moved.” I whispered and closed my eyes, unable to keep them open. “I didn’t recognize you.” I admitted.

“I’m so sorry!” She wailed and she was crying broken tearless sobs.

“S’not your fault.” I answered.
**************************************

I was suddenly brought back to the present. My fingers rubbing my eyes in an effort to stay awake. “Jeez, you need more sleep.” Renee exclaimed as she flung her cold arms around me.

I laughed as we walked down our school halls. My near death experience was something we never talked about after I was let out of the hospital. Renee had stayed with me, our friendship brought back to her after her thirst was back under control. I was happy to see her, even if she had been turned into a vampire.

But even as we avoided the conversation, we both winced as the twelfth chime of the school’s bells rang through the halls.