It's one thing to fall in love with vampires in books or movies because of their presence, their intensity, how well that extremely sexy actor portrayed him; it is another thing entirely to be confronted with one standing over your bed at two in the morning.

At first, I was positive I was dreaming. For one thing, I had dreamed this particular scenario several times before hand, and for another, it was damned near impossible to navigate the mess habitually left on the floor without running into something; I had thought I was the only one capable.

In the darkness, I could only see an outline, bereft of contacts or glasses. After several heartbeats, I summoned the courage to flip onto my side, one hand reaching for my glasses, the other darting for the light switch. In one blink, my hand, still unopened, had been captured halfway to the lamp, the other pressed gently on top of the glasses case.

"You won't be needing either of those," a soft voice said.

My heart trip-hammered in my chest for a moment, it's lost breath coinciding with a lack of air. This wasn't right; he'd never touched me before, just disappeared in shadows when I had my glasses firmly on my nose and a trembling hand turned on the light.

I twisted once again, hands still captured, trying to see him. Ominous strains of Night on Bald Mountain lilted through my mind for the thinnest of moments, and for that time, I imagined two great wings emerging from the shadow's back. He laughed, as if somehow he had heard the thought, and it amused him. Then I heard him sigh.

"If you insist."

My hands were released, and the glasses case taken from the night stand. I heard the cloth-tearing sound of the velcro clasp being undone, the gentle clack as the earpieces hit together. Then they were on my face, one finger pushing them into place. To my horror, the outlined figure didn't fade with this new clarity, it solidified.

"If you don't mind, I'd rather keep the light off."

My heart was pounding too loudly for me to be able to get any kind of answer out. Scooting up in bed, I was very glad of my flannel nightdress that left everything to the imagination.

"What do you want?" I managed to squeak out, while my much more collected sub-conscious berated me for asking such an idiotically inane question.

I'll be the first to admit that all of my knowledge of vampires comes from books and movies, no two of which extolls the same characteristics. That meant I didn't know what was true and what was tripe.

"No surprises tonight, not many anyway," he replied. I saw a shadow reach towards me. He held out his hand. "Come, get dressed. We're going out."

"Out?!" I demanded in a forceful half-whisper. "Are you nuts?! It's the middle of the night!"

Without an answer, he unerringly walked about the room, collecting items of clothing that I would need.

"Please," he said, holding them out to me. "I have things to show you and to discuss; topics that cannot be discussed here."

Throwing off the covers, I took the items from his hands and quickly dressed. That's when I noticed that he had opened my bedroom door. I balked.

"I can't go out there," I said. "It's too dark, I can't see. And I'll probably wake my parents." "Give me your hand, I shall guide you," he replied. "And your parents will not wake."

"But mom's got ears like an owl..."

Again the sigh. "Cherie, please trust me. I don't bite...often."

Choking back a hysterical giggle, I took his hand. It was cool and slender fingered, and wrapped gently around my own.

In moments we were outside. The street lamps did nothing to give me any more clues as to my visitor. Slightly more calm, but still on guard, I decided to get some answers.

"Why me?" I asked, then frowned at the cliche of it.

He laughed softly, lowly, as if finding some joke. "Isn't that usually asked to the heavens in tones of frustration?"

"Usually," I agreed. "But seriously, why me?"

He chuckled again. "Your mental state. It intrigued me."

My MENTAL STATE?!?! I nearly panicked then and there. Was I crazy like I believed myself most times??

"No, no...not crazy," he said hastily. "Not to me, anyway. You've just struck a curious balance that most 'sane' people would not be able to fathom." His voice became tinged with awe and sorrow. "And you've done this simply to survive."

I was confused. Did he consider it good or bad - I couldn't tell by his tone, so I just remained quiet. Flickering shadows chased each other across his face and over the houses, giving the scene a surreal feeling. I tried to look at him out of the corner of my eye and was rewarded with an amorphous fuzz. I'd forgotten my peripheral vision didn't exist with glasses.

He was leading me to the woods at the end of the road. It was still a good distance away, so I didn't voice my protest quite yet.

"So, what so intrigues you about my mental state?" I tried to ask casually, but failing to hide the worried tremor.

"So many contrasts, so many masks...you never let anyone see your true self." He turned to me. "Do you even know your true self?"

Shocked into pondering his question, I only half-heard him as he continued to speak.

"That someone not of my kind wears so many masks...it is unheard of. You are so much like us that it leaves one to wonder." His thumb began making soft little circles on the back of my hand, as if trying to communicate some sense of sympathy or understanding. "Do you know your true self?" he asked again.

I paused in answering, trying to come up with an answer. Eventually I shook my head. "I don't think so," I replied softly. "I've been caught up in so many names and my own imagination, I can't separate what's real."

With finally voicing the things that had been on my mind for years, I stopped dead in my tracks, coming to a realization.

"God...I am insane...aren't I?"

"This may sound trite, but please believe me. If you're asking that question, you're quite sane. The insane don't recognize their state."

Great....the vamp's going Freudian on me....I thought, starting to get hysterical again.

A choked-off laugh came from my companion. "Please...don't accuse me of being Freudian. He was a quack and nearly insane himself." He turned me to face him. "Have I made my nature known?"

"Well...no."

"Exactly. So dismiss my nature until later and regard me merely as a man...which I am."

"Alright," I agreed, with just the barest hint of suspicion.

I felt his lips on my forehead.

"This is another example of what I mean. Your innocence, naivete...the willingness to take things at face value. Yet always lies in your mind the cynicism and suspicion belonging to one with many more years than you. It rarely surfaces, but when it does, you seem a different person."

Somehow, during that speech, he had managed to guide me into the woods without me noticing. We were headed down a semi-familiar path, silvered by moonlight, and yet did nothing to increase my visual acuity...I was still as blind as a bat. The woods themselves weren't very deep, so it wasn't long before we left the path and entered a small clearing...one that seemed familiar to me...

"Hey! This is MY clearing!"

"Yes." He let go of my hand and paced away. "Why do you come here?"

"To get away from things."

"So you are a solitary soul."

"Usually."

"Do you enjoy solitude?"

I didn't answer right away. Instead I made my way over to my usual seat beneath the only large oak tree in this small section of woods. I hugged my knees to my chest and looked at the shadow that represented him.

"It's easier," I said at last.

He paced back towards me and crouched just in front of me, but still too far away for me to see his face.

"Easier than what?" he asked, almost gently.

"Easier than getting to know people, starting to trust them, then having that trust betrayed by the one person who you thought you could trust with your life." I was surprised by the torrent of words that poured out, and the tone of bitterness that accompanied them.

"You sound like you speak from experience."

"You seem to know a lot about me...why don't you tell me?"

If I wasn't mistaken, surprise flickered on his features for a moment, then he made a acknowledging nod, almost seeming pleased that I wasn't passively accepting everything he said anymore.

"Very well Cherie, no more games. I know very much about you, and I do know that what you said was nothing less than the truth for you and that you do speak from experience."

I nodded, too surprised at having my suspicions confirmed to do anything but nod.

"I wished to speak to you exactly because I know so much about you, about who you are and what makes you...." He reached out and gently tilted my chin up so our eyes would meet. Almost instantly, I was lost in twin pools of midnight. "And I wished to make you an offer..."

"Offer?" I asked weakly, starting to feel the effects of his eyes. Faintly, I realized that this was why vampires were credited with the powers of mesmerism...we mesmerized ourselves, they just were.

If he spoke further, I wasn't aware of it. I could see nothing but his eyes, completely untouched by moon or starlight. After a while, I felt him gently stroke my eyelids closed and moved so I was resting in his arms.

"Bonne nuit, petite coeur. Rest well. Rest well and dream."