“Vampires are people too…” The girl told him.

He smiled to her and kissed her forehead. “So you aren’t scared of me?”

“Scared? Not at all! I am excited to finally meet a vampire and to see that all of the old myths about their cruelty are totally not true. I don’t think you could hurt a fly if you wanted to.”

He smiled again and looked to the sky. “Maybe I can’t, but your father won’t be happy if you aren’t home in time.” He stood up and held out his hands for her. He gently pulled her into a hug and stood in the park, beneath the moon for a little while with her.

“We should have a picnic again something.”

He nodded and kissed her. “I am glad you enjoyed it.”

Silence fell on them again and they simply stood as he held her. Gently, his words broke the silence. “You know how I told you that I love you, that I would do anything for you? You know how I told you that I would never do anything to hurt you and I would stop anyone who would try? You know how I told you that I have never felt this way about anyone before, not in all my years?”

He could hear her smile and feel her heart quicken in happiness. With one arm wrapped around her shoulders, he touched her chin with his other hand, and brought her lips to his.

“Yes,” she told him, her smile brightening her face. “Yes, I remember.”

“I lied.”

He gave her long enough to realize that he was not joking. Her smile vanished and her eyes grew in horror. Before she could scream, he grabbed her chin and shoulder firmly and broke her neck with a single, fatal twist. She fell at his feet and he looked up to the moon. He shook his head and looked down at her. While he wrapped her body in the picnic blanket that they had laid on, he couldn’t help but talk to her corpse.

“Do you know why vampires love all the little girl books about good vampires? We don’t love them because, deep down inside, we want to all be shining knights in black armor, even though we will never be supported by society or their standards. We are not noble monsters all trying desperately to fight our inner demon to save off the the damsels in distress. We love them because they make it so easy to find prey. With every book, the game changes. With every book, we get to try new things and exploit a new weakness in human beings. That, and with every book, it makes the blood taste so much sweeter in the end when we take all of our faith in us and grind it to powder before we kill you or drive you insane.”

He threw her body beside the trail. Some joggers would be by soon, but they would probably just think she was some bum trying to take a nap. He couldn’t help but wonder how much she would smell by the time they thought something would be wrong with her.

He knelt beside her and kissed her forehead. “I have to admit that it does make it very, very boring at times. I do miss a good chase.”