I had never put much thought into how I would die, until my last misadventure.  

I was on my way to my first war.  I had just joined the military three days ago and they moved me to Italy.  For a few years a war has been going on; we were finally being sent in to help.  “Elicia, get up here!”  I jumped up out of my seat, walking toward my Lieutenant.  “Y-y-yes sir?”  my voice shaking with fear.  “You will be held back with a few higher ranks and from there you will be the advancing party.”  The Lieutenant spoke with certainty.  Because I passed the exams perfectly, he thought I would be a perfect candidate for his platoon.

     “Are you sure about that sir?  I mean holding me back is good, but sending me as the advance?”

“You will be the advance - no questions asked.”

“Yes sir!”  I was terrified.  He put the entire platoon’s lives in my hands.  One mistake and the entire team suffered.

The plane ride was long, but we finally landed.  You could tell we were in the middle of a war zone.  The sound of the bombshells, the screams of agony.  It was terrifying.  As my foot hit the gravelled ground, I was pushed into a whole new group of people.  Soldiers all around me pushed and shoved their way through the new crowd.  I only knew a few faces and figures around me.  Squeezing my small frame out from between a couple of bulky, broad-shouldered men, I could finally breathe.  Even though the air was dusty and thick, it was still breathable.

After a quick debriefing in the Captain’s tent, I found my sleeping quarters.  Tomorrow is when we move.

Sleep was not what I thought it would be.  The hard, lumpy beds were uncomfortable, so I didn’t get much in the way of sleep.  Me and the rest of the advancing team were up and ready to go at 4:00 a.m.  We were each issued a rifle and lots of ammo.  Our first duty was to get into Vampire territory.  That was going to be difficult.  Vampires have heightened senses; they could hear far better than any dog and their sense of smell - well, they could smell your blood from the coast.  Their eyes could see anything in the dark, and in light, even farther away.  That was going to be difficult to get past.  As the team trudged on through the water, I trailed behind slowly, looking over my shoulder constantly.  Before I knew it, my team was gone.

“Guys?.....Sir?”

I knew I wasn’t alone.  Everyone was gone, but I wasn’t alone.  I moved further into the forest and I knew I was in their territory now.  As I trudged further, every noise got to me.  It was probably just the wind.  The next thing I knew, there was the muzzle of a gun to the back of my head and a deep growl, growing more pronounced.  My breath escaped my lungs as the gun pushed roughly against my head.  “Move.”  The velvet soft voice was rough - if velvet could be rough - and proceeded to order me to walk.  My feet did not move, so he pushed harder.  I was going to have a bruise where the barrel met my head.  When he finally realized I wasn’t going to move, he picked me up, slinging me over his back.  

“You’re coming with me, whether you want to or not.”

The soldier ran with impeccable speed.  It frightened me.  He ran with speeds unreachable by human technology; a car could not compare.  What might have taken the platoon hours to reach, only took this soldier a few minutes.

Deep in the brush of the forest the enemy’s camp was set up.  Everyone’s face was beyond extraordinarily beautiful, even caked in dirt.  I remembered my Lieutenant saying something about their beauty, but his words could not compare.  Suddenly I was flung from his shoulders onto the ground with brute force.  As I started to protest, a hand shot out in front of me, stopping every word crawling on my tongue.

“Put her in the tent over there.”  A pale, yet gorgeous, hand shot out from behind me.  Before I could look behind me, I was yanked to my feet.

“Yes Captain Jasper!”.  The boy, obviously named Jasper, disappeared as I looked quickly back.  This time the Vampire walked with deliberate slowness, matching my pace.  He tossed me in the tent roughly.

“Hey!” was all I could force out from between my teeth.  I could not look away from the brilliant blood-coloured eyes that darkened into black closer to the center.  The boy, he looked of only the age of a boy, walked away, only to be replaced by two guards by the door.  I must have been sitting in the corner of the tent for an hour before I heard a new velvet-soft voice outside the
door.  I could tell it must be the Captain because of the way the two guards stood at attention.  

“I’ll deal with this one today.  You two are dismissed.”  His voice was a low murmur, not quite low enough for me not to hear.  I cringed away from the luring voice on the other side of the tent wall.  I slipped as far away from the door as the little space allowed.

As the young blonde boy walked through the door, my jaw dropped.  He was not like the others.  His features were not sharp; his face not cruel beautiful; it was softer.  The blonde hair framed his all-too perfect face in a messy cropped cut.  His shoulders were broad and muscular, the uniform clung to the bands of muscle around his arms and chest.  This was the most beautiful creature I had ever seen.

He closed the door and zipped it down.  My eyes never left his butterscotch coloured eyes.  The warmth that radiated from them was all too confusing.  When he fully looked at me, he froze as if I was the monster.  It frightened me further.

There were two things I was positive of, one- he was sent here to kill me and two- I was uncontrollably in love with him.

My body eased, all the muscles in my body relaxed. I had every reason to be afraid of him , but I could not feel fear, not even in this close of proximity to those sharp, gleaming fangs. After a few minuets of silence, I finally broke it.

“H-hi?” my voice broke and I stuttered. It sounded raged against his velvet smooth voice.

“Hello...” We were both stunned. I pushed my dark, black bangs out of my eyes. “Please, sit” He urged, gesturing towards a table and chair in the middle of the tent.

I got to my feet awkwardly, never taking my eyes off of him and sat in the chair clumsily. He walked slowly, for him, to the end of the table and leaned forward, placing both hands down. Unconsciously I leaned in to.

The smell coming from his skin, no cologne could match. It was absolutely intoxicating.

“Is it possible for someone to love their enemy?” That came out more steadily than I thought it would. That took him off guard because he leaned away and straightened up. I could feel my cheeks heating up, then it suddenly felt cool, like ice. It was the tip of his fingers brushing against the red on my cheek bones.

“Depends on the intensity of the love and on the person.” His velvet voice smoothed out along with his face, the perfect poker face. Like me and you are absolutely impossible.” He drew his hand back, my face dropped. That wasn’t the answer that I was looking for. His fingers left the icy trail on my cheek.

“And why not? Nothing for you is impossible, I’ve come to that conclusion.” Just then his flawless lips pulled up on one corner into the most beautiful crooked smile. It left me breathless.

“This is something impossible, even for me. To answer your first question, yes, it is possible to love an enemy.” As he winked I watched his full eyelashes brush against his cheek.

Before I could stop myself I blurted out “My name is Elicia.” My blush deepened, he just smiled more.

“And mine is Jasper.” I felt like a total idiot

“I was sent here as an advancing party for my platoon.” I couldn’t stop talking, before I had to bit my tongue off Jasper interrupted me. “I had already known that.” His velvet soft voice always happened to render my speechless.

Suddenly I could feel his marble fingers wrap around my chin and pull my face up. My cheeks started to burn a new red. He placed his other hand behind my neck, leaning down closer.

My heart started to beat frantically, until I felt the cool marble, stone lips upon mine. Skipping a beat then suddenly coming to a hault, my heart did. I kissed him back crushing my body against his. He froze unexpectedly and was looking towards the tent door.


I turned slowly, halfway around I caught a glimpse of another body and then I felt a sharp pain of a fresh bullet wound in my back. My ears filled with an agonizing shrill sound, it wasn’t till Jasper was holding me up that I noticed that the sound came from me.

The legs beneath me collapsed. Jasper’s cry was even more painful then the new wound between my shoulder blades. Jasper’s voice became harsh, fast. “You did this” The growl was coming from deep in his chest. The man at the door stood there stunned, he did not understand why his Captain was yelling at him.

“Bit sir-“ He was cut off quickly.

“I loved her!” Jasper’s voice was only a cry. I was curled up in his arms, in pain, the bleeding would not cease until I was dead.

The violent growl came out quickly. “Leave! Now!” He hissed between his tight lips. The man scurried out in a blur.

My eyelids began to droop, I could feel my life slipping away. He was there by my side the entire time. I could feel his cool fingers tracing over my face, memorizing it.

“I love you to.” I managed to pull my mouth into a smile, and I slipped away.


The End