Chapter 1: New Beginnings

Hello and welcome to all the mortals reading this right now (I know only mortals will read this, as vampires aren’t particularly interested in technological inventions, like the computers or smartphones you’re reading this on). My birth name is Rosemary Elizabeth Thorne, although I go by Rose, and this is my story.

A year ago, I was turned into a vampire by none other than the infamous Count of Forgotten Hollow, Vladislaus Straud himself. He has all the local mortals fooled with his story that he is the descendant of the original founder of Forgotten Hollow. Mortals…they are oh-so gullible and easily fooled. I always knew there was something off about him, even before that fateful night when he turned me.

Before my transformation, I was just an innocent young woman living with her parents in Willow Creek. My parents were very wealthy and they loved spending time in our garden. That’s why they named me Rosemary…roses were my mother’s favourite flower and it was the first flower my father gave her on their very first date. Mary was my mother’s name and Elizabeth (my second name) my grandmother’s. Although my parents were very busy with their careers, they always made time for me. In the evenings, we would play together before they read me bedtime stories when it was time to sleep. When my father wanted to teach me a lesson, he would always say that there is a vampire who likes to come out in the late evenings and capture naughty children. Little did he or I know, that one would come for me…just not as a child.

I graduated high school last year and after my graduation ceremony, I headed home quite late in the evening. I went out with my friends for old time’s sake, as many would go to different places in the world and we’d never see each other again. When I got home, I took a long bubble bath and climbed into bed. I felt very uneasy and restless the whole night…I could feel an unwelcome presence in the room and at first I thought it was just my imagination. I pulled the blankets over my head, hoping that when I stick my head out again, the presence would leave the room. It didn’t…

Before me, I saw the ugliest, most fearsome creature I’ve ever seen. He had blue, glowing eyes, long, pointy ears and razor-sharp teeth. He was smiling at me. I wanted to scream, but no sound would come out. He mesmerized me and the next thing I knew, he sunk his teeth into my neck. It was the most intense pain I’ve ever experienced and after I could feel the blood leaving my body, he disappeared as if he was never there in the first place. I truly died that night and I became a completely different person than the one I was before Vlad’s visit.

I left home when I started to see myself changing…my skin became as pale as snow, my eyeballs have become as black as night and my once-beautiful green eyes have changed to the colour of blood. I could feel a burning sensation in my throat, an unquenchable thirst for living blood. I didn’t want my parents to see the monster that their daughter has become, nor did I want to sink my teeth into them.

I built my own underground lair a while ago, on an open spot in the sleepy town of Forgotten Hollow. Vlad took my life a year ago and one day, I will take his…