1. Countdown

 At last the long-awaited Saturday had arrived. And from the beginning of the week until now Julio Cesar had done nothing but follow in Soraia's footsteps.

 The stranger with the green eyes did the same. Soraia took advantage of the sunny Saturday to go for a walk in the neighborhood like so many other people, but she felt that someone was following her, but what made her sigh of anger was that she didn't see anyone following her.

 Suddenly a whisper came through the wind to her ears -Soraia, be careful with the witch- and the hairs on her arms stood up, by instinct, she rubbed them as she took a good look around her and once again saw nothing.

 Julio Cesar forced himself to turn into a bat and get out of there because he didn't want to risk a confrontation with that wretched race in front of witnesses.

 The whispering wind continued its alertness because the voice knew that a whispering wind, not even a vampire with acute hearing, could hear. Her problem was that Soraia was afraid and retreated away from there which was good since she felt Julio Cesar's presence around her constantly, but in her fear she would not understand him, but she would not give up her mission:

PROTECT HER.

 In the vampire house Brenda and Marcus were sitting on black leather sofas with white iron tables in the center with a single glass vase with a very opulent arrangement of red roses talking while they were alone.

-So Marcus, will you tell me how you ended up in Chile?

 Marcus smiled all charming and dull.

-I felt death embracing me, Brenda, but somehow it rejected me." Suddenly her smile vanished and a dark cloud passed over her face as she concluded.

Brenda then got up from her armchair and walked over to Marcus who smiled fondly at her as his hands were wrapped around hers when he said- you don't have to worry about her anymore, because Julio Cesar wanted to get rid of her too.

-Thank you," he had said, and it was then that Brenda dared to speak what had been burning inside her since the moment she had gone

to look for Marcus' ashes on the cliff and found nothing.

-I was afraid of what might have happened to you.

Marcus then did the only thing the moment demanded and like a son hugging his mother he hugged Brenda.

 The night came starry with a magnificent new moon rising into the bed of the sky.

 The school hall was packed with people both inside and outside. Colored lights of various shapes danced on the black marble floor; tables were spread out against the walls with various food and beverages; white muslin curtains partitioned the room like an Arabian tent in the desert; and huge speakers spread the music throughout the school. throughout the school.

 Conversation, laughter, and fantasies mingled, but one caught her eye because of the silver sheen on her cape and jumpsuit and the long white wig.

 Distracted Amy shuddered when a voice reverberated behind her as she said, "The storm's here, but where's the lightning?

-Wow!

 Soraia laughed, but when Amy turned around and saw that her friend was really dressed as a catwoman her jaw dropped, because the costume included the tail in the pants and the nails, but one thing was missing and Amy took the cue-lost the whip on the way? on the way?

-Very funny.

 Julio Cesar and his gang left the house because they couldn't wait to get 'stuffed' with free blood at the party, because for months they had been saving their supplies at home so they wouldn't hunt more than they needed to avoid suspicion.

Brenda also opted for not escaping her reality by dressing as a witch, the difference was the pointy hat.

 Lais went for the costume of a very sexy vampire, like Alira from the movie Van Helsing, since her dress revealed more than hid her body due to the transparency of the fabric she had chosen.  In my opinion, the only one who didn't like the 'life' he had was Marcus, who was very simple when he chose an army soldier costume.

 In the middle of the way a very interesting surprise happened after all, meeting old acquaintances not seen for a long time is always a surprise, right?

-Well, well, if it isn't the new residents of Lacrimal city -says an aristocratic voice coming from a guy dressed as the exterminator from the future with the difference being the light blond hair sticking up and the eyes in the same tone.

 Julio Cesar narrowed his dark gaze at the demand with a nod-who are you?  

The stranger smiled as he introduced himself as Lucas and nodded to the boy beside him dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow except for his blue eyes as his brother Lucian.

-My name is Julio Cesar," he said in his driest tone.

The brothers looked at each other in the typical up-down look at strangers.

-Are you going to the dance?

 An ordinarily unnecessary question since everyone was in costume, but not to let the 'climax' of a bad conversation start

Lucas spoke up.

-You know it's for the hospital that had its blood supply looted- and looked suggestively at Julio Cesar and his group- and one or two broken things.

-Don't tell me," said the latter ironically, "and have you found out who did it?

-No, and the most interesting thing is that the security cameras didn't record anything. 

Strange, isn't it?

 Julio Cesar nodded, and as the conversation continued they headed towards the ball. Further away from them a stranger with beautiful narrow light green eyes, dressed as a demolisher, followed them like a lion on the prowl for prey. Amy and Soraia along with many other girls were dancing happily to the sound of remixed electronic music.

 Suddenly a sizable group of people entered the room, but the one who attracted her attention the most at that moment was a woman who came forward dressed as a witch and then that voice in thought came to her mind - watch out for the witch - and her skin shivered. But then her gaze was drawn to a stranger who had entered last and what she felt

But it wasn't long before other dark eyes devoured her, making her heart fear and long for something she didn't even know what it was.

 Amy noticed the distress in her friend's gestures and even asked her what was wrong with her, but she denied it.

Dracula dress and then glared at it as if it would fly at her, but soon her gaze was drawn to the honey-colored eyes and the air caught in her throat, but soon she looked away.

 Marcus felt a tightening in his heart that long ago did not even feel it beating anymore, and then a conversation older than his time came back to his mind- Marcus, in the near future you will come across a great love.

She had hypnotized you with an emerald gaze.

-Emeralds- she murmured as she came back to the present moment and smiled as she saw the emerald eyes drifting away from hers.

 Brenda felt Marcus's happiness emanating from her body, but she had also felt Lais's anger towards the green-eyed girl he admired.

Why? Lais, Lais, what are you hiding that I can't find out," Brenda thought with her gaze fixed on her, who in turn was angrily staring at the girl, and trying to dig something out of her.

It hadn't been that time...yet.

 The night went on calmly, despite everything. Julio Cesar and the stranger didn't take their eyes off Soraia who danced next to Amy who was surrounded by the eyes of both Lais and Marcus.

 Brenda kept everyone in her field of vision, but especially Lais and the stranger at the request of Julio Cesar who was already thinking of taking him out of the field if you know what I mean.

 At some point during the night Julio Cesar made the decision to change tactics, in other words it was time to move from defense to offense.

-Brenda? - called his faithful ally, who was leaning against the drinks table with an almost empty glass in hand.

Brenda answered him promptly with a servile look, standing upright and dropping the glass.

-What do you want, my lord? Julio Cesar looked at the girl laughing next to Soraia -Do you see that girl?

 The stranger narrowed his eyes and gritted his teeth when he heard Julio Cesar's request. But this one thing he had done.

- Soraia beware of the witch," he whispered in the air.

 Soraia shuddered as she heard that voice rumbling through her body and spirit.

Oh how she wanted to find out who that intense voice belonged to.

-Amy- whispers echoed in the air and reached the ears of Amy who was sipping a juice when she felt hypnotized by a voice that made her turn around smiling- introduce your friend to Count Dracula- she nodded.

 Brenda managed to look Soraia in the eye, but something had confused her. After all, never in all these centuries of life had a soul been hidden from her.

 Soraia hadn't even noticed that Brenda had tried to enter her mind. Apparently her mind had created a shield to protect her from intrusions, and little does she know that in the very near future this will be one of her greatest powers...

-How about if I introduce you to the Count?

 Soraia hadn't even realized that Amy was speaking to her, as her eyes searched for the owner of the mysterious voice, but unfortunately found nothing.

-What did you say?

 Amy snorted and took Soraia by the arm like a stubborn child to Julio Cesar who was already waiting anxiously for them.

-Soraia, don't go- whispered the voice, and in an instant of lucidity she didn't even know the reason of her attitude, but abruptly removed her arm from her friend's hand with a shout- no!

 Amy shook her head, confused not only by her friend's shout but also as if she had been plucked from a very dark place back into the light.

-I'm not going. And you're not going either," Soraia decreed as she reversed positions and led Amy away.

-Brenda, what happened? -screamed Julio Cesar staring angrily at the woman in front of him who also didn't understand what had happened since this had never happened before. 

-I don't know. Julio Cesar managed to control his scream of rage as he stomped away from Brenda who was certain in her mind that SORAIA WAS.

But who said Julio Cesar would give up?

-Marcus shouted, not that it was necessary for vampires and werewolves, not even the music as loud as it was now would have disturbed a conversation in a low tone, but anger drove his shout.

 Marcus sighed in dismay, for something told him that whatever Julius Cesar came to ask of him he would not like to do.

-What do you want?

-Have you seen the girl next to Soraia?

How could he not, because from the moment he entered the room his eyes were drawn to her, and in that second he knew he was in love. And when a vampire falls in love, it's for real and for eternity.

Marcus nodded, but what Julius Cesar ordered destroyed him, it was like driving a stake through his heart.

- The killer

-What? Why?!

-Because I want to," he growled, and shrugged without giving Marcus a chance to choose. Marcus felt the tears that had been dry in his eyes for centuries burn.

-Soraia wants to stop pulling me like this- Amy grunted as she let go of her friend's hand and looked around as if something or someone was going to jump out at her.

-I'm sorry.

-Soraia, what's going on?

-I don't even know.

 Amy frowned as if her friend was going crazy or had drunk something other than juice.

-I'm afraid of that man.

 This confession was enough for Amy to hug her friend like she hadn't done in a while. You know that hug that friends have had since elementary school, this was the hug they shared.

 The stranger looked at the two hugging friends and a nostalgia hit his chest as he remembered his mother and how much he missed her loving hugs.

 Amy walked down a corridor with many doors but no one there, and entered a door with a little sign with mirrored letters that said 'ladies' room'.

Amy walked in front of the huge mirror that went from the ceiling to the floor behind the sinks on the wide counter and started to retouch her lipstick when a bang on the door made her jump.

-My God!

 Amy found herself face to face with the honey-eyed boy staring back at her, and she nodded, saying something obvious and stupid, but better a stupid silence than an awkward silence.

-This is the ladies' room.

-I know," he said as he took a few steps forward while Amy took a few steps backward until she found herself wedged between the counter and that solid muscle frame of his.

 Marcus couldn't take his eyes off the shiny emeralds in front of him, but the straw that broke his will was when she ran the tip of her tongue over his lips.

Marcus stepped forward, and Amy swallowed hard, wide-eyed, when he wrapped his arm around her waist in a tight grip that brought her to his chest with hands clasped together with a hesitant question:

-What do you intend to do?

-To kiss you - he said and plunged his lips into that mouth that he already considered delicious and only increased his desire in the dance of tongues.

 A fervent passion was screaming between the two of them in the bathroom, and even though Amy had been scared at first, now she surrendered to the kiss of the guy she didn't even know where they had come from but certainly knew how to kiss.

Oh if she did.

 Lais, who had followed Marcus to the bathroom door, gritted her teeth as she saw what those bastards were doing there.

-Damn them," she whispered through her teeth with a fury burning inside her. And as time is the vampire's friend, lightning and thunder crashed in the sky, and such was the intensity that not only scared many people but also caused the destruction of some power poles which ended up in a blackout in the city. When the lights went out in the hall the euphoria overcame many, after all in the darkness everything is more exciting. But a generator soon did its job by turning everything back on, including the music, which was in a rock remix on the beats of a funk. And in this time without light, which despite being short, many things happened...

Amy found herself alone in the bathroom with the taste of the kiss from the boy who hugged her in the blink of an eye and disappeared in the next, but when she turned to fix her tangled hair in the mirror, written in her lipstick, she said:

BEWARE OF STRANGERS.

MARCUS.

Oh if only I knew.

So that's your name, soldier," she whispered, grinning like a fool. She still hadn't realized the danger that hung over her and the entire city. Yet.

A bat had swooped out of one of the many windows in the salon and into the tormented sky. Julio Cesar had taken good advantage of the blackout, because when the lightning brightened the room, he was already behind Soraia, inhaling the sensual musky smell of her blood. with a mysterious smile on his lips.

-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you.

She sighed a little - it's okay.

-I'm Julio Cesar," he introduced himself, always staring into Soraia's beautiful black eyes.

 The green-eyed stranger had come out of nowhere behind her and pulled her lightly behind his body, covering her from Julio Cesar's eyes, who growled, saying, "Stay away from her. Soraia couldn't deny that the fear she felt from 'Dracula' definitely didn't extend to that stranger, for when he touched her skin a shiver of pleasure and sense of security flooded her

both inside and out. Not to mention that her feminine ego loved being the target of these two cats' attention.

 Brenda, who was a little further away from them, caught the vocal waves of the stranger's voice in the air and immediately tried to act by sending other waves, only psychic ones to Soraia.