It had been over a week since Anna’s engagement to Fredrick had been canceled, and the pain finally seemed to be dying down. She hadn’t cried at all today, though she still felt numb inside. The despair of losing her fiancé to her best friend had been almost more than Anna could bear. She loafed around all day, still acting as if she were in a daze. Her mother had somehow managed to convince her to come to town with her today. It had been a long, exhausting trip and Anna was glad when it was finally over. That night, after brushing her hair and putting on her favorite pink nightgown, she wearily crawled under her down comforter and blew out the candle on the nightstand next to her bed.
She was just starting to fall into a blissful sleep when she thought she heard something. It wasn’t a loud noise – just enough to pull her from her much desired slumber. Anna opened her eyes a sliver, listening intently and trying to figure out what it could have been. She had almost convinced herself it was just her imagination when she heard it again. It was a soft creaking noise, coming from across the room.
Now fully awake, Anna turned and propped herself up on her elbow, trying to see better. In the almost total blackness, she could just make out the outline of the curtains framing her window. They rustled slightly, showing a sliver of night sky between them; the window must be open. So that’s what had woken her up.
She started to get out of bed but stopped. Something was wrong; the window was still swinging open. Anna watched as it continued to slowly arc its way through her room. She wasn’t afraid – her room was on the second floor, and what could possibly happen all the way up here? It was just the wind pushing the window open. She doubted very much that anyone would be able to scale their way up here. After all, there wasn’t much to climb on, just some spindly-looking tree that didn’t appear as though it could even hold a cat without breaking. It wasn’t until she saw a big black boot slowly making its way over the sill that Anna became truly frightened.
Anna sat bolt upright in bed, panicked. What should she do? She couldn’t think. Instead, she just sat there, watching as the boot softly touched the floor. Long white fingers reached out and grabbed the window frame. The figure hoisted itself through the opening. And as the second boot joined its mate on the floor, the gravity of the situation finally dawned on Anna. Someone was in her room.
The breeze from outside moved the curtains, letting in the light from the full moon and illuminating Anna’s small bedroom. As the unknown terror moved towards her, the moonlight caught his face. Anna gasped as she realized she knew who it was: Fredrick.
Anna let out a sigh of relief. She was so glad it was just him! She had been terrified at the thought of some stranger sneaking into her room. Then, a thought struck her: why was he here?
Despite herself, Anna was glad to see him. She found herself hoping that he’d come to apologize to her – to tell her that he really did like her. Maybe things could work out between them after all.
As Fredrick approached the bed where Anna still sat, she could see him smiling. Anna started to smile too, until she caught the look in his eye. Suddenly, she could see that the smile he was wearing wasn’t a friendly one. It was the kind of smile that said he was about to do something horrible – and enjoy it all the more for that. For the first time since she’d met Fredrick, a cold chill ran down her spine at the sight of him.
“Wh-what do you want?” she stammered. She’d meant to sound angry – threatening. But the shrillness in her voice gave her away. Fredrick gave a short laugh as he continued walking slowly towards her.
“I want to apologize.” he told her smoothly, suavely. “For everything that’s happened. It wasn’t supposed to be this way.”
Anna began to relax just a little at this. If he wanted to apologize, he couldn’t be here to hurt her like she’d suspected. Despite everything, part of Anna still liked Fredrick. And that kept her from believing he could really be as bad as he’d seemed recently. It was this part of her that asked in a soft, almost hopeful whisper, “How was it supposed to have been, then?”
Fredrick smiled warmly at her, the way he had before she’d discovered him in that barn kissing her best friend. He had a faraway look in his eye, as if he were reliving a fond memory.
“We were going to be married, you and I. Everything would have been fine. Normal, even.” Then, his eyes became cold once again as he told her, “You were never supposed to find out about Jacqueline.”
This last statement hit Anna like a blow to her stomach. Her eyes widened, and she found it hard to breathe. She looked pleadingly up at Fredrick, who by this time was towering over her bed.
Anna started to protest, but stopped. Instead, she found herself staring deep into his eyes, transfixed. As she stared, Anna thought she could see tiny flecks of gold in his irises. Funny, she’d never noticed before.
Anna continued to stare into Fredrick’s eyes, and as she did, she could feel all her worries melt away. A tiny part of her brain screamed at her that something was wrong, telling her to look away. Anna ignored it; she didn’t want to look away – couldn’t be bothered. Eventually, the warning faded away, just like all her other thoughts had before it, and her mind became completely blank.
She barely noticed that when Fredrick smiled at her this time, his incisors seemed to have become sharper, longer. They almost looked like fangs. She almost didn’t realize when Fredrick started talking to her again. It was so difficult to focus on his words – she was so sleepy. But liking him as she did, she just had to hear everything he had to say.
“You weren’t supposed to find out about us – about me.” he told her. “It was all planned out. It was going to be so simple – so easy. But you ruined everything.”
His words barely penetrated the fog in Anna’s brain. It was just so hard to concentrate. She heard him, but she didn’t understand. She did, however, manage to understand the malice in his next words: “You won’t interfere with my plans again; I’m going to make sure of that.”
Those words managed to find their way through the fog. And although it didn’t lift by any means, things did start to get a bit clearer. That nagging part of her brain was back, screaming even louder that something was horribly wrong. This time, Anna listened to it. She blinked a few times as her brain started to clear. As she slowly started to break free of Fredrick’s trance, Anna realized more and more that she was in terrible danger.
She looked up at Fredrick, who was now hovering only inches from her. His eyes shone bright gold, and his mouth was wide open, ready for the attack. He reminded Anna of a snake just before it strikes. He struck like a snake, too – lightning-quick. Anna opened her mouth to scream, but he was too fast. Before Anna even had a chance to move, he had already sunk his fangs into her neck, biting down hard. Anna could feel the sharp stab of pain as Fredrick quickly jerked his head, making the wounds in her neck bigger – the better to get more blood.
Anna was sure she could feel the blood as it gushed out of her veins and into Fredrick’s mouth, and she knew without a doubt that she was going to die. How could she possibly survive this? It was a horrifying experience that, fortunately, didn’t last long. As her blood drained away, Anna began to feel lightheaded. After a few terrifying minutes, lack of blood caused Anna to lose consciousness completely. She slumped back into bed as everything went black.
Chapter 18: The Panic Starts