• The early morning mist covered much of Old Lake Recreational Park. Miley was dragging herself up the steep hills. The park was almost deserted. She was going to get fit and this was the first day of her new exercise routine. Little did she know though, her life would change forever that fateful day, and it was not going to have anything to do with physical fitness!

    The mist made it difficult to work out which trail she was following. She had been to Old Lake before but it had always been with other friends. Nobody wanted to go with her this morning though. They were all busy with other things, so they said. Miley struggled on, panting as she climbed up each set of steps. After a while she felt as though she was being watched. A strange chill ran down her spine, which caused her to instinctively turn around to see who or what was behind her. A branch from a tree was slowly swaying, as if someone had just brushed up against it. Had she done it? Her imagination was beginning to play tricks on her she thought. Still, she decided that perhaps it might be a good idea to pay attention to things around her. She switched her iPod off. She was fed up with listening to Justin Bieber anyway.

    She felt herself wanting to hurry up. If there was someone behind her, she wanted to show them that she could outrun them if she had to. As she increased her pace, she lost her footing and tripped over a tree root. Initially, she felt embarrassed and looked behind her to see if anyone had seen her falling over. When she looked to the front of her though, her jaw dropped. She froze. A tall, pale figure was walking slowly towards her. He was thin and looked like he had black lipstick and black eye shadow on. He was in a strange outfit, similiar to a black tuxedo. He had slightly pointed ears and teeth which were unusually long and sharp. His hair was black and slicked back with gel. He looked like the perfect model of a vampire!

    She sat on the ground and stared for ages before he suddenly, and unexpectedly enquired, "Do you know who I am?"

    "You look like Robert Pattinson," Miley spluttered out. What a silly thing to say she thought.

    "Well, funny you should say that. He's my second cousin. His mother married my father's brother, or was it my father's cousin's brother. Wait a minute I'm getting confused, it was..."

    "But I didn't think vampires were real?" Miley queried, looking at him suspiciously.

    "we are, but there are not many of us left. A lot of people go back into society and become normal human beings. Once you lose the taste of blood you may as well give up," he replied in a matter of fact tone.

    His comment on blood should have made Miley panic and scream. She felt strangely calm though. She was more curious than petrified. They continued to talk and he explained to her that the wierd clothes were all part of the image vampires were expected to keep up and how he drank the blood of cats, monkeys and small bush rodents. He particularly liked squirrels, but they were hard to catch. She was relieved to hear he didn't like the taste of humans.

    The sound of footsteps came from below.

    "I must go, I cannot be discovered by anyone else and the sun is about to came out, I hope we can chat again sometime," he said desperately.

    "Sure, I look forward to it, I'll bring some dead squirrels for you next time," Miley commented in return.

    They smiled and waved at one another. "Wow, he was creepy!" Miley muttered as she turned around. "I think I'd better stick to Shahbandar Hills in the future," she promised herself.