Eleven-year-old Anastasia climbed into the passenger side of her brother's mustang. He sped off out of the parking lot not giving her a chance to return Pam's wave as Bob and Tammy loaded up their car with her birthday presents.

"Did you have fun?" Niccoli asked, stealing a glance at the friendship bracelet around his little sister's wrist. They sat at a red light on the dark, vacant street.

"Yes," Nastia answered honestly.

He raised an eyebrow then shook his head. When they got home, he didn't turn off the car. As she made ready to get out, he grabbed her arm.

"Let's talk."

She narrowed her eyes. "Talk about what exactly?"

"Human friends. If you're going to have them, you need to understand some things." When she didn't say anything, he went on, "For one, they die."

"Thanks for the enlightenment." She opened her door to get out not in the mood to be patronized.

He leaned across her in a movement too quick for the human eye to see. The door was closed, and Anastasia's back hit the leather of her seat. "Listen. They die hundreds of years before we do. We can't live in their world."

"I know all this, Niccoli."

"If you want to have a human companion to play tag with until your fangs descend, that's fine! But you must be prepared to let them go. Without condition. Before you put yourself in this position, ask yourself if that is something you can do."

Nastia rolled her eyes. "That won't be an issue."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive. I belong with you, Mother and Father. The humans are annoying... and so is their world. I will be glad to leave it."

Anastasia dove into the nearest restroom without much thought. The same words echoed in her mind as she closed herself in a stall.

This isn't happening.

She needed to calm down to conceal the fangs. But she didn't know how. The more she tried to calm down, the more impossible the task seemed. Her breath came out as shallow, rapid panting. In that moment, she heard a knocking on the stall as Pam tried to talk to her.

"Nash.... please talk to me. A-are you... um, okay? I just... I'm so confused. Come out. Please!"

Years of memories flashed in front of her eyes. Seven years worth of memories seemed too short all of a sudden, but they were enough to forge this bond that tugged at her heart now. Those moments were perfect and clear but now they burned into ash as she recalled the horror in her friend's eyes. The smoke of those ashes stung her own eyes and gave way to an involuntary quiver of her lips.

The teenage vampire didn't see a way out. She could just shoved the human out of the way and ran home, but she tossed that idea away. Pam deserved more than that. She would have questions and Nastia knew her well enough to know she won't let this go. Time to face the music. She slowly unlocked the door and swung it open to reveal herself. From the widening of her best friend's eyes and that fear still in them, her fangs and eyes were still vampiric.

"Your eyes...," Pam started then seemed to falter with words.

Nastia stayed silent to allow her human friend time to gather her thoughts. Five minutes may have passed as Pam stood there looking at her, really looking at her and perhaps seeing her for the first time. Anastasia could almost see the cogs of her brain turning, shuffling, and processing this new information. As soon as she was about to speak, Nastia held up a hand stopping the words. "Do you mind if we go out to your car to talk? I don't want to be overheard?"

Pam nodded and they walked out to the emptying parking lot. Nastia kept her arms crossed, head down, and lips pressed together. She gulped down stagnant air when they made it inside the stuffy car without incident.

"Okay. Start talking. What is going on? Are you ... this is going to sound so crazy out loud! But are you a.... vampire?" Pam whispered that last word the way she used to whisper cuss words in middle school.

"Can you first turn on the car before I have a heat stroke?"

"Oh... right." Pam brought the car to life and the merciful A/C blew on the teens.

Anastasia spoke again in a faint voice, "Yes. I am. But not fully. Not yet."

"Fully? W-what does that even mean?"

"It means I haven't completely awakened. Look. I want to explain this in a way to make you understand, but I am not sure how to even begin."

"How long have you been like this? How old are you? Why are you in high school? No, wait. We grew up together. You're not undead, are you?"

"Pam, slow down... you don't understand. I was never human. I just seemed like I was. All vampires are born resembling humans until they awaken. I am just awakening. That's all."

"Awakening?"

"Yes. Most vampires awaken between thirteen and sixteen years of age. I am a little late. After we awaken, we are more like the vampires that you would read about: sunlight aversion, ridiculously fast and strong, and blood dependent." Nastia listed off the vampire attributes on her fingers, then shook her head. "Awakening is when a vampire feels bloodlust for the first time, specifically for our affinity." She paused. She did not want to explain what AJ meant to her to Pam, but the human urged her to continue.

"Affinity? What's that?"

"It's.... it is the term used to describe both the person whose blood an unawakened vampire feels drawn to and the bloodlust they feel. That is putting it mildly. Once a vampire starts feeling it, it doesn't go away. And they can't become a full vampire until they have drunk their affinity's blood."

Luckily, Pam was smart enough to put two and two together. "AJ is your affinity..."

"Yes, unfortunately," Nastia sighed.

"You were--just now-- were you going to bite him?"

Anastasia flushed to her toes. "Wow. That sounds so embarrassing when you say it like that, Pam! Do not make it sound so sensual! There is nothing romantic about biting someone hard enough to draw blood."

"I'm sorry. It's just... you two were so close... it looked...." They both fidgeted and looked away from one another.

"You're taking this better than expected," Nastia noted.

"Yeah... well, I don't know! It is all so strange. But I guess all those vampire movies and TV shows prepared me to accept the fact that my best friend may be a vampire." Pam's voice shook with excitement. "It does explain a few things... like why I have never met your family. So, all of them are..."

"Vampires that burn in the sun. Yes."

"Hey, look! Your eyes are normal again," Pam pointed out.

Anastasia ran her tongue along her teeth to find the fangs had retracted as well. She leaned back in the seat, a sigh escaping her full lips. There was an unfamiliar weightless feeling starting to flow through her, as if a heavy boulder had been lifted off her chest. Deep inside, did it bother her to be hiding such a big part of herself from the person she felt closest to?

"I'm not supposed to know all this, am I?" Pam asked. The weight of the boulder came back, this time triple the size.

"No..."

"Then what happens now?"

Good question, Nastia thought wryly.

Vampires did not stay the best kept secret of all time for no reason. There were strict laws and regulations in place for breaches. Humans who just happened to see something they were not supposed to were easy enough to deal with. It doesn't take strong compulsion to convince a human that they were dreaming or what they saw wasn't really what they saw in the dark of night. Shadows play tricks on the mind often. No one would suspect that there were creatures in the deceitful shadows. Sometimes in these cases, those human's true memories will manifest as recurrent nightmares.

But this wasn't an easy fix.

Nastia glanced at Pam. She has never dared to even touch her best friend's mind. It seemed wrong. Not once has she ever been tempted to manipulate her friend's decisions like that, so she had no idea what her mind "felt" like. That hardly mattered though. This was a life-or-death situation.

Anastasia should compel her into believing she slipped and hit her head and dreamed that Nastia had fangs... but the vampire was too scared. If she tried and failed like with AJ, what were the consequences? No need to question. That image of Pam sprawled out on the ground lifeless resurged in her mind with painful clarity.

The idea of using compulsion on Pam went up in flames. That would have worked if Nastia thought to do it right when Pam saw the fangs... now this was a matter of memory manipulation, not compulsion. Erasing and replacing memories was something Nastia could not do. Not yet anyway-- not until after she drinks AJ's blood. Would she be an exception to the rule like with compulsion? She dismissed that thought. Even if that were the case, there were two concerns. One, she wouldn't like to test the theory on her best friend. If she went tinkering in Pam's mind, she could do more damage than good.

And two, trying to get a human to forget about the existence of vampires was incredibly difficult even for a full vampire or so she had been told. They didn't know why but once a person is convinced something is out there... they don't let the idea go even after you blanket the memories. And certain circumstances increased the difficulty. Considering Anastasia's proximity to Pam's life for the past seven years, Pam would no doubt fall into this category.

Nastia banged her head on the dashboard making Pam jump.

"That bad?"

If she doesn't get Pam's memories erased... then Pam would have to either be killed or she would have to become part of their world. Both prospects were not good.

She didn't want to worry Pam with all of this, so she smiled and said, "No, not bad. It's just difficult. My parents cannot know that you know."

"What would happen if they did?"

"Nothing good. But don't worry! No one is going to know that you know... because you won't tell anyone, right? Ever." Nastia's sapphire eyes bore into Pam's golden-brown ones, mentally reaching out for her will.

I'm sorry, Pam. I promised I wouldn't do this to you. But it's for your own good. Just this once.

Her will was like a sponge: soft, absorbent and adaptive. No trouble at all. In fact, it didn't take much compulsion to get the will to do what Nastia wanted. It trusted her unconditionally and ate the words up like a disciple would to their Messiah's scripture. The initial fear that consumed her eyes when she first saw Nastia's fangs was now nonexistent to the vampire's vast relief.

"I won't," Pam responded, unaware that her eyes had a dazed gleam to them, then shook her head. "Wait. If AJ is your affinity, you will become a full vampire soon? You won't be able to come to school anymore?"

"After I... become a full vampire, we will have to tie up loose ends and leave Portland."

"But why?"

"We don't belong in this world."

"What other world is there?"

"I can't really tell you everything."

"Oh no! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry. But ... can you just delay your awakening? Just a little longer?"

"You think I don't want to? I can't. I barely held myself back today. Just the thought of his blood gets me...." Her face was heating up and she wondered why it was so embarrassing to explain.

"Thirsty?"

"Yeah, that. Vampires can only resist their affinities for as long as it takes to stalk them and get them alone. But I can't even make it out of the school!" Nastia groaned and placed her head in her hands thinking about her lips on AJ's neck. So close and in broad daylight with the school only half empty! What was she thinking?

"Well... now you have me!" Pam patted Nastia's back comforting and started giggling. "I can help you not attack the hottest guy in school. What are best friends for?"

"No offense, Pam. But I don't see how you're going to stop me from myself."

"Well... why did you stop when you heard me back there?" Come to think of it... she was able to turn away from AJ despite having fangs bared and all sensible thought gone. "At least try to resist it," Pam continued, "You are the strongest, most stubborn person I know! I know you can!"

Well, at least one of us does.

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