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I. Endless Sleep1,137 words
II. New Beginnings1,196 words
III. Entrancing Discovery1,219 words
IV. Life1,888 words
V. Death1,609 words
VI. Rebirth988 words
VII. Love1,144 words
VIII. Spirited1,403 words
IX. Crimson Moon1,049 words
X. Unchained1,347 words

III. Entrancing Discovery

Clip, clop. This was the only sound that was audible, save for a lone owl hooting in the trees. As Moonlight and I walked to his house, we stared at the cobbled street, or the moon in the sky, or the old houses lining the road, or anything except each other, really. The awkward silence continued for the rest of the walk. It was now sometime around 9:00 at night, but I wasn't too sure.

"So, uh, this is it..." he said as we came upon a small free-standing house at the end of the road. All the other houses were either empty or closed up for the night, because not a one had a light on. Moonlight's house was not even really a house- it was more of a cottage or a shack. The old rotting wood panels probably used to be painted in a bright off-white colour, but the paint was peeling or faded so much that it was really impossible to tell. The tiled roof was a dull grey, and some shingles were missing or had fallen onto the dirt and grass. A few vines climbed up the side of the old building, but only one was in bloom. A wrought iron fence surrounded the house, where various weeds and plants grew.

"Charming," I half-lied through my teeth. It was interesting, but certainly not what I was used to. It was almost the exact opposite, really. I usually had at least three stories and a nice courtyard. While I wasn't the richest pony in town, I could afford a few luxuries to say the least.

"Would you like to come in?" he said as he held the door open for me. I walked in, floorboards creaking under my hooves. He flipped the light on, then closed the door.

Inside was nicer. A small brick fireplace was on the right side, surrounded by a duo of chairs and a small coffee table. On the mantle was a picture of a mare and stallion who I guessed to be his mother and father. In one corner, a table with two wooden chairs on either side was placed. In the other, a bed with a grey comforter was there, next to a window with a flower pot. In back of the room was a small hallway, probably leading to the bathroom.

"It looked smaller from the outside," I commented.

"Yeah, I guess it does," he replied awkwardly. For the next minute, we just stood there staring at the floor opposite each other and shifting our hooves about. Then he went down the hallway and came back with a blanket a bit later.

"I'll sleep in the armchairs, you can have the bed," he told me.

"Okaaaaay..." I muttered. When I turned to look at Moonlight, his face was a lovely shade of deep orange.

I crawled in between the thick, velvety sheets. Moonlight had said it was warm, and he wasn't lying. I had to cast a slight cooling spell to get comfortable. As soon as I was in it, I realized that it was a very large bed, big enough for two ponies at least, if you catch my drift. Within a few minutes of settling down, I heard small, whistling noises from the other side of the room, which I figured out were snores. An owl hooted outside the window, and this interrupted the uniformity of Moonlight's breaths.

No matter how hard I tried, no matter how many sheep were counted (I got all the way to 587,962, if you're wondering), I couldn't fall asleep. I was wide awake the entire night, and I felt fine by the time Moonlight was up. I guess that's one of the worst parts, I thought to myself. Not being able to actually sleep... This thought wandered off into other pathways, each having a different outcome.

"Good morning," I called across the room as I heard the stirrings of Moonlight. He groaned before replying.

"Did you- did you sleep well?" he asked me as I got up, stuttering due to sleepiness.

"I- I, uh," I stuttered. It's not exactly like school prepares you to tell someone that you're a vampire... "Not really."

"Oh, how come?"

"Um..." I just sat there for a few minutes, trying to figure out how to tell him without lying. All the while, he was staring at me expectantly. For around half an hour more, we just stared at each other. As I looked at him, he got up from under his blanket and walked over to me, the old wooden floors creaking under his hooves as mine had done the night before.

Inside the house, his smell was almost intoxicating. I was utterly surprised that I was able to have relatively coherent thoughts. The honeysuckle and rose scent alone was mouth-watering, but there were flavors I hadn't realized before- freshly baked bread, old books (they actually smell quite nice), and something resembling sunshine. This, coupled with the enclosed space and the moisture seemingly amplifying the smell made it almost impossible not to lose control of myself. I wanted to drift along with the smell, I wanted to taste it, I wanted to... Snap out of it! I told myself. I would not harm Moonlight.

As he walked closer, he still stared at me, completely unaware of everything else. I was the same. Without realizing it, I got up onto my hooves and walked forward to meet him. He was only a little bit taller than I, and as such he bowed his head down fractionally. I reached my muzzle up to meet his, and we kissed. Then, all too soon, he pulled away. His sweet taste was still lingering in my mouth. Then, overwhelmed by how wrong it was, but how right it was, I began to cry. Moonlight put a hoof on my shoulder and pulled me closer, despite the fact that he didn't have the faintest clue as to why I was crying.

After I had stopped crying, he began to look at me inquisitively, because he was probably wondering why I had started crying. It was now that I noticed that my throat was beginning to heat up. Not physically, but it felt as if it might burst into flames in a few hours. I couldn't shake his wonderful smell off, and it was taunting me now. I had to keep reminding myself that I couldn't hurt him in any way.

"I have a confession to- to make," I mumbled, still sniffing a little bit. He nodded to say go on. "I'm a- a-," I couldn't make the words come out. I used my magic to levitate my saddlebag over to me, then I dug through it to find a piece of paper and a quill. I wouldn't keep this from him anymore (it wasn't really that long that he had met me, so I kept it hidden for roughly twelve hours). On the paper, I wrote in big, scrawling letters,

I'm a vampire.

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