“Sometimes the only way to forget everything is to go to sleep, forget and get away from things such as this,” Greg wheezed, his frightened laugh coming in sharp exhales. “This—this is just a dream. I’m back home, in my bed, and I just have to go to sleep in this dream to wake up, right?”

He laid against the cool, black colored grass and closed his eyes. The foul scent of decay covering the trees like deathly sap; the sky a dark, foggy green with two bright shining orbs extending no effort to brighten _anything_.

“Yeah, that’s it.”

❥ ❥ ❥

_THE BITE OF ROSES ~ A Vampyre x Mortal Love Story_

Greg grimaced, looking at the book’s title in his hand. “What the actual hell,” he muttered, shoving the book back on the cluttered shelf where he found it, “No wonder it’s in a Goodwill. That shit’s cringy. After fucking Twilight took over the paranormal romance world, I can’t find nothing good.” He sighed. “I wish I was born in an earlier time period,” but then he remembered what happened to people like him _earlier_, “—you know what, nevermind.”

The young man, who was almost twenty and standing at a startling…5 foot 6, was trying to find a cheap lamp that he could use for midnight studies. So far he had found nothing. Nothing in this Goodwill. Greg really didn’t want to go to the “real” stores; they were always so expensive.

Greg looked around once more, and there it was! In a tiny tucked in corner, there was a old style lamp that had a little metal arch that connected the light bulb to the pad holding it upwards. He would have to find a covering for it so it wouldn’t be too bright, but other than that, Greg had finally accomplished his last task on his college room list.

Now, well next week, was the time for the college-ing.

Greg left shortly after purchasing the lamp—the nice old lady at the register had wrapped his lamp in some paper and put it in a bag for him, how lucky was he that day?!—and drove to his apartment complex near the college he would be studying at.

“Annoying roommate, but good price,” Greg muttered to himself absently while watching a car make a ridiculous (and illegal) u-turn on the highway, “luck is on my side this month! Finally!”

The light turned green and Greg started to drive forward, a rare happy smile on his lips and a twinkle in his brown eyes.

“Nothing _will_ or _can_ ruin this.”

❥ ❥ ❥

Greg, panicked and whimpering, opened his eyes, thinking he would see the nice, warm light of his cheap lamp shining on his face from his desk.

He did not.

“Oh god, oh god,” Greg shook his head and stood, “Alright, there is a chance that this may be real, but I will calm down. I. Will. Calm—“

A twig snapped, causing Greg to shriek and rush into a sprint through the thick, foggy forest.

The green sky lurched above him with it’s murky swirls.

The dark, snapping grass below him grabbed at his ankles.

The air felt too thick, too toxic.

There were eyes, many, many eyes watching him silently, waiting, waiting.

For some reason, Greg felt an awful, twisting pain in his stomach. This whole atmosphere was trying to kill him.

“Ugh.” Greg collapsed on the ground and closed his eyes. This was supposed to be a new life for him, not a another worse introduction with Death.

I guess he really was what his mother thought.

Greg relaxed as the ground below him began to sink and eat at the threads in his clothes. Nothing mattered anymore.

His one and only chance of new life had failed.

❥ ❥ ❥

Twila was on her third patrol for the night. Adorned in her gold and sliver armor and accompanied by Plunge, her sword, the vampyre was ready for anything that tried to attack her Emperor’s castle.

Twila looked around the Forest of Remorse and found a large, red looking stone. She narrowed her eyes and tilted her tall frame into a crouch, silent as she approached the peculiar stone. Then she saw it breathing, eyes shut on a brown, masculine face. It looked almost like a vampyre herself, but it wasn’t.

She pressed a sharp finger to its soft skin and watched grimly as a ball of red, crimson blood rose from the wound. The creature stirred at the disturbance but soon fell still once more.

Twila growled. Not again. Not another one of these—these _things_.

Her brother’s heart would not be broken for a second time.

❥ ❥ ❥

(I can’t take a break. When I do ideas overwhelm me. But I can read again and my brain won’t black out! 🙂‍↕️🙂‍↕️ Please critique me on this! I really like this story and the characters (some more in progress) I made—in the past two days— and I want to continue writing this. But I actually want it to be good. This is my first time writing it down and I don’t like the character of Greg, at ALL. So I would like some help on to make him a consistent and likable character.

Also, I have never been good at the world describing, though I have plenty of worlds made, or descriptions in general. So if you could help me with descriptions I would be most appreciative.

Thank you for reading and have a good day!)