Free Fate of the Vampire by Gayla Twist

so gorgeous that when we were together, it was hard to concentrate on anything but his face. To hear his voice, isolated over the phone, really brought home how beautiful it was, like listening to a perfectly tuned violin.
    “Hi,” I stammered. I couldn’t think of what else to say. It was just so weird to talk to a vampire on the phone. Even one I was madly in love with.
    “Would it be all right if I came to see you this evening?” he asked. He paused for a moment and then added, “Something’s happened, and I really need to talk to you.”
    My brain started spinning. For the last few months, Jessie had just appeared outside my bedroom window like a phantom in the night. Now he was calling up and asking, rather formally, to visit. My brain immediately went to a threat rating of orange. What was going on?
    “Of course , you can come over,” I told him, simultaneously shrugging at my mom from across the room.
    “I’ll see you shortly,” he said before hanging up.
    “What was that all about?” Mom wanted to know. “You seem a little tense.”
    “Oh, I don’t know,” I told her, trying to force myself to act more casually. “Something’s bothering Jessie , and he wants to come over to talk.”
    “Talk as in ‘we need to talk’ or talk as in, ‘I just need someone to talk to and you’re my girlfriend’ kind of talk?” Mom asked.
    “The second one, I think,” I told her, but I could feel a swell of panic building in my stomach anyway. Jessie was always trying to break up with me for my own good. It was a very annoying habit, and the last time he tried, I flat out refused to let him. I appreciated that he had my safety in mind, but sometimes it was a hell of a lot like trying to date Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights .
    Fortunately, I wasn’t kept waiting and worrying for too long. It was only about ten minutes before the doorbell rang. “My goodness, he must have flown over here,” my mother said.
    I was taking a sip of milk at the time and had several seconds of painful coughing. “I don’t think he called from home.” I told her once I could breathe again. The Vanderlind Castle was on the other side of town.
    “I thought you said he was the only teenager left in America who didn’t have a cell phone.”
    Heading for the door, I said over my shoulder, “There are still a few payphones around, you know. They’re not all in museums.”
    I opened the door, both apprehensive and eager. I always wanted to see Jessie, every second of the day, but things had been pretty stressful lately , and I had no idea why he wanted to talk to me.
    “Good evening, Aurora,” Jessie said as he crossed the threshold into our home. There was always that moment of hesitation he had before entering. It wasn’t so much reluctance as it was like he was bolstering himself. I didn’t even want to imagine against what.
    Jessie had an expression on his face that I didn’t recognize. There was definitely sorrow there, but also something else that I couldn’t put my finger on. Filled with trepidation, I hesitantly reached for his hand. “Hi,” I said. He immediately gave my fingers a reassuring squeeze.
    “Good evening, Ms. Keys,” Jessie said, directing his greeting over my shoulder to where Mom sat in the kitchen.
    “Hi, Jessie,” Mom said, getting up. “It’s nice to see you again.” She gathered a few papers she had been looking over. “I was just headed into the living room, but help yourself to anything from the fridge.”
    “What’s going on?” I asked, once we were seated at the kitchen table and I had provided Jessie with a half -filled glass of orange juice. My mom would think it weird if I didn’t give him at least something to drink.
    Jessie sighed, taking my hand again. I tried not to shiver, but his touch always sent tingles through me. “This is so embarrassing,” he began. “And just awful. I mean, truly awful.”
    “What?” I asked, starting to sweat a little even though December in