Vampire Heartbeat, chapter 1

The feeling built up inside her until it became uncontrollable. She turned, and the first person she saw was the last person she ever wanted to do this to.
'Run, Mike, please, get out of here!' she thought, mind racing, as she felt her canines lengthen, and her eyes turned jet black.
"Emerald, are, are you ok?" The young man stammered, looking at his friend in worry rather than fear.
His question jerked her back to reality for a moment.
"Mike, get out of here, run!"
"Emerald... "
"Go!"
He took one look back at his friend then bolted, outrunning her even with her added powers. She breathed a small sigh of relief, then turned her attention back to the problem at hand.
She needed to feed, but now she'd sent Mike away, she had to hunt... this was always the problem; whenever she hunted, she came across someone she knew...

"And breaking news just in. Last night, on the cliff tops at North Bay a body was found... "
It was always the same, always some unexplained murder, yet Emerald had the answer to every one that had occurred in the last 8 years. She had to feed to survive, but now her secret seemed to be out.
She woke to find herself in her bed, but with no memory of how she had gotten there. The last thing she remembered was telling Mike to run...
"Oh god, Mike... " she whispered, the full impact hitting her. He had seen what had happened, what if he went to the police? She jumped as she heard a knock on the door. Quickly pulling her dressing gown on, she slipped downstairs to find the very man of her thoughts standing on the doorstep.
"Mike, oh my god, are you ok? Come in."
He looked at her warily, not moving, and her heart broke in two.
"It's ok, I won't hurt you, I promise, I'm safe during the day."
He hesitated for a second longer, then followed her into the sitting room, closing the door behind him. She sat down on the crumpled sofa, and he perched on the arm of the chair opposite.
"Look, Mike, I'm sorry you had to see that, I didn't mean... "
"What are you Emerald? What was that? And the body they found... "
She ran her hands through her hair, trying to find the best way to voice her thoughts.
"Yeah, ok, I'm responsible for the body... I've been responsible for every unsolved murder in the last eight years." Her friend gasped, but didn't say anything. "I'm... I'm a vampire Mike, one of the walking dead. I have to kill to feed, that's why I told you to run last night, when the hunger takes hold I can't fight it and the last thing I ever want to do is hurt you." She looked up at her friend again, tears now running freely down her face.

Mike looked down at his hands, totally lost for words. He'd been brought up with the idea that vampires only existed in movies and horror stories. But then again, he and Tre had had a theory when they were camping, and that shadow had ran past the tent, they had a feeling everything wasn't as it seemed; Billie Joe had told them to stop talking shit.
"So... so vampires really do exist?"
Emerald nodded her head, her unruly hair bouncing around her face.
"I'm afraid so."
Again, he said nothing, just stared at the floor. Em sighed, and got up, wandering through to the kitchen to get drinks. When she walked back with two cokes in her hands, Mike hadn't moved a muscle. She sat on the floor at his feet and looked him in the eye.
"Look, I know this is hard for you, that's why I didn't want you to find out. I'm sorry, I really am, if there was some way to change who I am I would, but I can't."
He stared back at her, face straight, expression unreadable.
"I know, it's just a shock, I... I always knew there was special about you, I just could never put my finger on it. I guess the cat's out of the bag now."
"Or the bat," Em muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing."
"No, you said bat... wait, you don't turn into one do you?"
Em raised her eyebrow at Mike, and he laughed, easing the tension; she knew she'd been accepted for who she truly was.
"So, my mistress of the night, what do you want to do today?"
She tilted her head to one side, thinking whilst she opened her coke and took a sip.
"You wanna go shopping? I want some new clothes."
"Cool, should I phone the guys?"
She bit her lip. "I dunno... can't we just have a day when it's just you and me?"
"Sure, if that's what you want?"
She smiled, and got up off the floor, hugging him tightly. Mike stiffened slightly as she laid her head on his shoulder, and she giggled.
"Sorry, still a bit nervous."
"It's cool. Right, you wait here, watch TV if you want, I'm going for a shower."
"Ok, don't be long though."
She rolled her eyes, and pushed him down into the chair.
"I won't, and don't worry, nothing's gonna jump out on you!"
He smirked at her, and she laughed before heading upstairs to the bathroom.

She appeared again half an hour later, wearing a floor length black dress which made her seem even paler than normal; her shiny dark hair was swept back into an untidy plait. Mike gaped at her.
"Oh yeah, that doesn't make it obvious you're a vampire."
"Shut up you," she smiled back, plopping herself down onto the sofa and picking up her shoes. "For one thing, very few people know vampires exist, and for another, the idiots down the mall just think I'm a Goth, so no, it doesn't make it obvious I'm a vampire."
He grinned. "Ok, ok, I've been defeated. We going?"
She nodded, and led the way to the door, picking up her car keys and holding the door open for her friend. He nodded his head in thanks, and she winked at him.
They didn't speak again until they drew up in the parking lot, when Mike asked a question that had been bugging him since the previous night.
"Em, last night, when you told me to run, did you come after me?"
She turned off the ignition and stared out the front windscreen.
"Em, did you?"
"Yes." She turned to face him. "When I'm like that, I have added powers, I mean, I could run from my house to North Cliffs in a few minutes and not be knackered, but I couldn't catch you. Thank god, or you wouldn't be sitting here talking to me." She looked at him, confusion in her eyes. "I still don't understand how you did it. I can't stop myself hunting, even if it's someone I love, but you got away." Emerald looked back out the window. "It's all so weird...
"Anyway, I can worry 'bout that later," she smiled at Mike. "Right now, we have shopping to do, come on, first stop, wiccan shop!"

Her friend groaned, and she whacked him on the leg.
"Don't give me that, I know that's just an act you put on for Billie and Tre, you love my shops really, come on!"
"It's alright for you," Mike retorted as he climbed out of the car. "You don't have them repeatedly calling you gay 'cos you like shopping!"
She just shook her head. "They're twenty-one, when are they gonna grow up?"