I stood just outside the property of the dilapidated old mansion on the hill. It was rumored that a clan of vampires lived here, but no one had ever actually seen them.  I looked down at my black, slightly tattered dress that stopped just above my boots with dark grey specks in it. The sleeves stopped at my elbows and had stay threads that hung around my forearm. I had a brown belt wrapped around my waist that had my twin daggers hanging from it. I sighed, not really wanting to do this but I knew once these two got a bad idea in their head there was no talking to them,

"Don't be such a baby. It'll be fun! Besides, there aren't actually any vampires here. That's just a myth meant to scare people off. If there were any, the hunters would've taken care of them."

Jackson said, eyes brimming with excitement as he looked at me. I looked over at Bex to find that he was already hopping over the gate. I looked back at Jackson and, against my better judgment, nodded,

"Alright. Let's do this."

I said as we hopped over the gate. I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel some kind of a connection to this place, like I was coming home for the first time in an eternity. We walked up the winding stone pathway and finally reached the door. I felt eyes burning into my back as Jackson tried to open it,

"Damn. It's stuck."

"Lemme try."

Bex offered, moving in front of Jackson and pulling on the door with all his might. After a few minutes, he gave up and walked away in a huff with Jackson in tow,

"Let's try and bust a window."

Bex told Jackson as I approached the door. I took the dirty, golden handle and pushed it slightly, causing the door to open with a loud, cliche creak. The boys must've heard it because in a flash they were next to me,

"How'd you open it?"

Jackson asked in surprise. I laughed slightly as I responded,

"I pushed instead of pulled."

I could almost see Bex and Jacksons' ego deflate when I told them,

"Ah. Well, um, good work."

Bex said, as if this was his plan all along. I scoffed at him as we entered the mansion. Despite the run down exterior, the interior was actually quite beautiful. The floor was clean, there was no dust on the tables, paintings, or chairs. As we went further into the house, the feeling I had of being watched came back tenfold. I felt someone watching me from the shadows, as if they were waiting for the right opportunity to reveal themselves,

"What's in there?"

Jackson asked as he headed into what appeared to be the kitchen,

"Wait up!"

Bex shouted as he ran after the blue haired idiot, leaving me alone in the dining room. I decided to wander around the house a bit and explore. I left the dining room and made my way to the library. I don't know why, I already knew where it was. When I entered I saw a portrait of a young man sitting in a maroon chair. He had beautiful raven hair that fell just above his vibrant violet eyes. His gaze seemed to burn right through me the longer I stared at the painting, almost as if he knew something about me that I had yet to discover,

"Well now, who would you be?"

I heard someone behind me. I turned around only to be met with the same young man wearing a black dress shirt, black jeans, black boots, and a deep maroon cape that flowed behind him. His hair made his face look almost ethereal, but the crimson glow of his gaze told me he wasn't human. He sniffed the air, then sped over to me with inhuman speed,

"You smell incredibly sweet. Just like she did."

He commented, his voice slightly deeper than normal as he leaned closer to me,

"Your heart is beating rather quickly. Do you like having me this close?"

He asked as his gaze locked with mine. I found myself unable to look away from his captivating crimson eyes,

"Who are you?"

I asked, slightly confused by his actions. He smirked at me,

"That's not important. Why are you here, love?"

He asked as he stepped back. I furrowed my brow in confusion,

"I came here with my friends. They thought this would be fun. I didn't want to come here--"

"--but you did anyway."

The man finished my sentence for me, leaning close to me again. I nodded, 

"Yes."

I answered truthfully, my voice coming out in a whisper. I did not understand why the presence of this stranger seemed familiar to me. I never broke eye contact with him as I continued to speak,

"What are you doing here? Do you live here?"

I asked, finding my voice again as he moved away slightly. He nodded,

"In a manner of speaking. I reside here with my brothers."

His movements were graceful as he gently pulled me towards him, 

"Are you a vampire?"

I asked bravely, knowing full well that he could kill me at any moment. The man hummed in response,

"If I say yes, will you fear me?"

He asked me softly, yet his tone held seriousness to it. As I looked into his eyes I felt as if he had  asked me this question before, and I knew what I was supposed to say,

"No."

I whispered, unsure why I felt this way. The man lowered his head to the crook of my neck and I felt his lips ghost over my skin. Before he could go any farther, the man was ripped away from me by another vampire with burnt orange hair that wore a dark grey shirt that was half buttoned with black jeans and boots,

"Don't you touch her. Not after what you've done."

The man growled at the other, triggering something to surface in my memory. It was a blur of names and faces, jagged bits of events here and there. I began to shout to them before I could stop my self,

"March! Riki! Stop!"

I pleaded with them, fearing they would kill each other. March and Riki immediately turned to me,

"Is it really you?"

March asked me, his voice cracking with relief and pain. I shook my head,

"I don't know. I don't understand. I don't know either of you, but somehow I know your names."

I said, confusion lacing my voice as March approached me,

"It's been so long. So, so long. We thought we'd never see you again."

He said, his tone becoming more hushed as he drew closer to me. I looked up at him in confusion,

"Why? What happened?"

I asked as I heard someone coming down the hall. I turned and saw a man with blonde hair and glowing crimson eyes,

"Senri."

I said, before I could stop myself. He looked to me with wide eyes,

"(Y/N)..."

In a flash he was in front of me, holding me close to him as if some unseen evil was going to rip me away from him. I wrapped my arms around him instinctively, as if my body remembered him even though my mind didn't. When he pulled away he searched my eyes, as if searching for the girl they lost long ago. His face fell when he realized I wasn't her. He turned to March,

"How is this possible?"

March shrugged,

"I honestly have no idea. She knows our names, but that seems to be the extent of it. She has no memory of her life with us."

While they were trying to figure out what was going on, I slipped away to find Jackson and Bex. I wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. I quietly crept back into the kitchen only to find it empty. Not wanting the others to hear me call out to them, I silently made my way out of the kitchen and up the stairs to the second floor. When I arrived at the second floor, I saw Jackson's hoodie on the floor. Picking it up, I began searching the rooms for my friends. After the first room I heard Senri downstairs,

"Where'd she go? Find her! She can't leave us again!"

I heard someone ascending the stairs and, panicking, fled to the closest room and shut the door, pressing my back against it as I looked at the room I was in. The walls were a light lavender and the floor was a light grey carpet. There was a large canopy bed in the center of the room with the headboard pressed against the wall opposite me. On the left of the bed were two glass doors that led to a balcony overlooking the the forest surrounding the mansion. Against the right wall was a vanity and a small screen for a person to get changed in private. I turned to my left and gasped in shock. On the wall hung a large portrait of a woman who looked exactly like me in a beautiful ballgown with Senri, Riki, March, Jackson, and Bex around her. Below the portrait were several bouquets of flowers. I went over to the painting to look at the woman,

"Beautiful, isn't she?"

I jumped in surprise and turned to see Jackson and Bex standing there, each had crimson eyes and wore a black button up shirt with black jeans,

"Who is she?"

I asked them. Bex began explaining,

"She's you and you're her. a century ago, my brothers and I lived in this house. We had been threatening the town for quite some time, telling the nobles that if they didn't send people to our mansion as food, we would kill everyone in the town. The nobles, not wanting to sacrifice their own children, forced the poor and orphaned children to be sent to us. One day, a young woman came to us claiming to be a sacrifice. She was unlike the usual prey we had. She did not fear us for what we were, and she always met our gaze with unwavering resolve. The more time she spent with us, we began to fall in love with her as much as she fell in love with us. One night, she came to us and wanted to be turned into one of us so we could be together forever. We turned her, and we were happy. Not long after that, an angry mob showed up at our door. That's when we found out that she was a noble's daughter and that they thought we kidnapped her. What we didn't realize was that while we were dealing with them, vampire hunters had broken in and taken her from us. Riki blames himself because he was with her and he failed to protect her, March blames him as well. By the time we realized what had happened, the vampire hunters had killed her."

Bex's voice had become distant and broken when he spoke of her death. Jackson began explaining where Bex left off,

"When Bex and I saw you, we knew that this was our second chance to save you. When we got to know you, we fell in love with you all over again. We knew we had to get you to remember, that's why we decided it was time to bring you here. We want you to remember and come back to us."

When he finished, the door opened and the others came in,

"We want you to come back to us, (Y/N). Please, don't leave us again."

March pleaded with me. I looked at the others and I felt my heart ache at the thought of hurting them,

"I won't. I want to be one of you again. I want to be with all of you."

I said as Riki moved over to me, a genuine smile on his face,

"This will hurt for a moment, but you'll be with us forever. After what happened, I want to turn you."

I smiled at him,

"Go ahead."

I said as he bit his wrist, gathering his blood into his mouth before kissing me passionately. He pushed the red liquid into my mouth as we kissed, and held me close to him as we pulled apart. Gazing down at me with loving eyes, he spoke,

"Are you ready?"

I nodded as a smile formed on my lips,

"Yes."

His smile is the last thing I remember before my world went dark.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I woke up, Jackson was laying next to me on the bed,

"You're awake!"

He exclaimed happily as I sat up and looked around,

"Where am I?"

I asked in confusion as Jackson gave me a concerned look,

"My room. I locked you in here with me, remember?"

Suddenly the events from earlier came flooding back to me,

"Oh yeah."

I sighed slightly before turning to him,

"Sorry. I had a really weird dream and I guess I was a little confused."

"What was it about?"

Jackson asked curiously as he moved to sit in front of me,

"You, Bex, and I were best friends.You guys wanted to go explore this old mansion near our town that supposedly had vampires in it. When we got there we were separated and I ran into Senri, March, and Riki. They were all vampires and they thought I was a reincarnation of a past love who had been killed by the town a century ago. I quietly slipped away from them to go find you and Bex. I ended up in a room that belonged to my past self. It turns out she was real and she fell in love with all of you just as you fell in love with her. You guys turned her, but it was right after that when the town killed her. You guys begged me to give you a second chance, to stay and become a vampire and live out my life with you."

"Did you?"

Jackson asked, interested in where this was going. I nodded,

"I did. I chose to become a vampire and stay with all of you. That's when I woke up."

The sapphire haired teen nodded in understanding, 

"Hearing that makes me really happy. I hope in the end, you make the same decision as you did in your dream. I'll always be here to protect you from anyone who'd ever want to hurt you."

He said, reaching forward to take my hand. I smiled at him,

"You really scared me earlier, but I'm not going anywhere for a while."

He frowned,

"I didn't mean to scare you. I guess after Naomi I just didn't want anyone else around you except me. I didn't want anyone else to ever hurt you. When you said that Bex might have feelings for you, I snapped and that was wrong of me. I don't regret locking you in here with me though. I'm happy I got to spend the day with you like this. I hope you're not mad."

I smiled warily, not wanting to say the wrong thing and set him off again. He might be fine now, but an offhand comment could set him off again. I squeezed his hand in mine as I spoke,

"I'm not mad, Jackson. I understand why you locked us in here. Senri isn't going to be happy when he gets home, though."

Jackson nodded,

"I know. He's gonna be so mad at me."

His voice shook slightly as I squeezed his hands in mine,

"Hey, it's gonna be okay. Maybe I can run some interference, okay?"

Jackson's fearful gaze snapped up to me,

"You'd do that for me?"

He asked in shock. I smiled,

"Of course. I've never told anyone this, but yelling kinda scares me. My parents always fought when I was little. I didn't understand why they were yelling, but I knew I didn't like it. I remember sitting in my room hugging a stuffed animal and crying. I just wanted the yelling to stop. I'll do everything I can to keep him and everyone else calm, okay?"

Jackson smiled at me and nodded,

"Okay. Thank you, (Y/N)."

He leaned forward and pulled me into a warm embrace. I hugged him back as I spoke,

"Hey, um, can you keep the yelling thing between us? I don't really want the others to know."

He pulled back and looked into my (E/C) eyes, smiling,

"Anything for you, my darling."

I smiled back, hoping my unease at the term of endearment didn't show,

"Thanks, Jackson."

Before Jackson could respond, we heard what sounded like someone hurrying up the stairs,

"Jackson, open this goddamn door!"

Senri shouted through the door to make sure we heard him. I looked to Jackson,

"It's okay, you can answer."

I whispered to him. He quickly kissed me before responding,

"Okay. I'm gonna open the door."

He turned back to me and smiled,

"You're blushing, (Y/N)."

He said with a giggle. I scoffed,

"Am not."

I said, turning away from him, causing the teen to laugh,

"Yeah, sure. Whatever you say."

He said sarcastically as he took my hand in his own. I sent him a questioning look as he explained,

"Holding your hand makes me feel safe and confident. Please?"

He sounded so vulnerable that I didn't have the heart to say no,

"It's okay. Let's go."

I said gently as we stood up and made our way to the door. Jackson took a deep breath as he pulled the key out of his pocket as unlocked the door.

A/N: Hey guys! Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'm not doing as well I'd like in some of my classes this semester and if I can't pull my C in bio up to an A I'll lose my scholarship. I also have to start getting my volunteer hours in so I can get into a masters program, along with studying for the grad school test. I haven't forgotten this story in any respect and I do plan on continuing it and finishing it, I just have a lot going on this semester that has prevented me from updating. Thank you guys so much for supporting me and not yelling at me and insulting me for not updating in a timely fashion. It means a lot to me that all of you support me and respect that I have a fairly busy schedule. I promise that I will do the best I can to make up for the long breaks between chapters! I love all y'all xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

~Niah