Vampire Blue-Eyed Raven

It surprised me that a simple piece of paper could have so much power over me. I had finally gotten my wish, but there I stood shaking in my boots outside the security gates of LAX that day in June, with my father rambling on about some of his more ridiculous superstitions about vampires and witches. All around me seemed to be a bright new world of things yet to be discovered, but my older brother was holding my teary-eyed mother and I wasn’t sure if this was still what I wanted.

Bodies jostled for position in the long snake of a line that headed to the maze of scanners and security guards and it wasn’t much better outside of the line. Everyone had somewhere to be and my nerves weren’t sure that I belonged. If it weren’t for the sun streaming in through the overhead windows, I might not have moved toward the gate at all.

After holding my parents and big brother, T.J., for a long moment, I put on a brave face and joined the crowd only to sigh relief on the other side when the crowd dispersed.

When I was small, I dreamt of going to exotic places around the world. I had this crazy naive sense that I could make friends anywhere but I didn’t grow up with the income to support family vacations out of the country. On top of that, it was hard to convince my father to leave home at all. He liked his routine and he wasn’t a fan of leaving his comfort zone unless he absolutely had to.

I had fallen in line with this and lived at home while in college despite having offers to leave. I even took an internship close to home so that I wouldn’t have to pay for housing and my dad didn’t worry. The itch to travel was still there, but I knew that my straight-laced father would never approve and for some reason, I still wanted to please him. So it felt out of place when my family presented me with a ticket to Ireland on my birthday for a month away on vacation. In my excitement, I didn’t hesitate to jump on the opportunity but actually doing the act felt like a different story.

I stood at the giant windows next to my departure gate, looking out at the jetliners carrying hundreds of strangers to all corners of the world. Paper ticket held tight in my sweaty palm, I knew that I may never have another opportunity like this one. In the end, it came down to that single moment of hesitation before joining another line and relinquishing my crumpled ticket to the blue-clad flight attendant and a shaky deep breath with one foot in front of the other to the moment my life took a turn that no one could have seen coming.

Ireland was as gorgeous as they say and the people there were just as amazing. My first week was full of tours and listening to my parents’ warnings in my head. I was all for that kind of travel, but the child version of me had been right about making friends and I found myself riding through the lush green countryside on a bicycle, taking hundreds of pictures. The ancient stones had stories to tell but the fertile green land around them had other ideas completely and so did I.

It turned out that traveling within Europe was much cheaper than I had expected, so my new friends, Sarah, Evalyn, and Amber, took me to Paris, where the smell of freshly baked confections rose from bakeries hidden down wet streets as if climbing toward Heaven itself. My camera and I gorged ourselves on Notre Dame, Sacre Coeur, and The Eiffel Tour before I realized that my month had passed and I called my parents to beg them to let me stay in Paris for another month.

They were surprised that I was already in Paris instead of Ireland but begrudgingly called a friend to ask if I could stay at their house. I even agreed to take a French class at a university to make my time there more valuable and then promptly went out to celebrate with my friends. I knew I was being a little reckless but I couldn’t think of another time I would have the opportunity to come back to Europe so I wanted to make the most of it.

After that second month, I sent my parents a quick vague email to say that I wasn’t coming home yet and spent part of the money from my return plane ticket on a train ticket to Vienna where a friend introduced me to another friend and found me a job at their bar.

I worked as a bartender in exchange for a room at the attached hostel but got to keep my tips and I sold my photography on street corners when I had days off. If I was careful with my money I figured that I would be fine to get a new plane ticket home this way.

My dad threatened to come to drag me back home every time I called but Vienna was an art gallery masquerading as a country with too many opportunities for my photography and too many places left undiscovered by the time I had stayed there for two months. Somehow it was almost October already and the itch to discover new places just wouldn’t give up. I blame that itch for letting Sarah fly me to Australia to meet her family.

~

October in Australia was something magical for so many reasons.

My dad managed to find me a job at a diner owned by a friend of his named Collins. Collins let me stay in his house and work to save money for wherever I was going next. My parents hated that I wasn’t home yet but they had managed to find someone to keep an eye on me there at least. Dad had people waiting for me to check in other places too but I was allowed to choose where I went next as long as I made arrangements through him instead of flying off on a whim.

By mid-October, I was running out of things to take pictures of in the sleepy beach town. I was thinking about going home because I was bored enough to begin to feel the effects of homesickness. I almost had enough money for a plane ticket and my parents would be glad to have me back but it was Jackson who told me to stick it out. He told me that I would regret it for the rest of my life if I came home in the middle of an adventure because a place was boring. He told me to take a day trip and find another new place to send him pictures of.

So, l made plans with some friends to take a trip to Sydney, throwing out plans to go home altogether. They wanted to show me their capital city and they teased me that they would get me to kiss a koala. I wasn't convinced that I would go anywhere near a koala but I let them keep up the game because it made us all smile. All I had to do was make it through my weekend shifts and I would be back at my adventure.

Saturday was always the worst day for the small diner. Teens and college kids would flock in as long as the weather cooperated enough for them to spend the day at the beach. Families came as well but we didn't see many of them in the diner because it was generally packed by a younger crowd. That Saturday came with gorgeous weather and awesome surf if the newscaster was telling the truth.

Breakfast came and went without any fuss but slowly the lunch rush came in at us like a massive tidal wave. I was doing my best to keep my cool but I was at my wit’s end by the time I made it to my tenth table because the surfer types only had three speeds; the flirt, the demanding pretty boy, and the smelly hippy. Sitting at that tenth table was one of each and an extra. This extra was a newcomer who seemed uncomfortable with how everyone knew he was out of place and was staring at him. I remembered that feeling and felt pity for him for a moment before his flirty friend pulled me into their booth by the waist.

I was about to elbow the flirt and make my move to get out of the booth but a pretty boy blocked me in before I even had a chance.

"Hey there, how'd you like to come to a party with us tonight?" the flirt asked as he played with my hair.

I looked around the table as I came up with an escape plan and happened to lock eyes with the curly-haired newcomer. I didn't think that he would do anything because of his new status to the group but he surprised me.

"Let her out boys," he spoke calmly.

No one moved. They seemed as stunned as I was that he had said anything at all.

His expression tightened and he stood up to take the pretty boy by the collar and drag him out of the booth in front of Collins who had been on his way to rescue me.

"I apologize for the behavior of my friends. They've let the sun go to their heads," he spoke, the lilting tones of his accent catching me in a momentary fog.

I slid from the booth, smoothing the skirt of my sundress to give me time to come to my senses.

"You four can see yourselves out now," Collins grumbled from behind me.

The newcomer nodded then pulled out his wallet and laid a bill on the table before flashing me a slight smile and leaving with his friends. I assumed I would never see him again so I shook myself out of my daze and finished my shift as if nothing had happened.

~

There was an impromptu beach party on Thanksgiving, for my last night there. My friends had convinced me that I could not stay in my room at my boss’ house another night. They insisted that I come out and see what it was like to sleep under the stars on the warm sand and get drunk around a bonfire—all of which my father would have disapproved of. So naturally, I went out with them, camera in hand to capture my adventures.

I drank and took pictures, laughing as the entire group shouted and howled at the full moon. I couldn’t help but notice the newcomer standing by what I assumed was his jeep, just on the fringe of the party. Seeing him again gave me a chance to really take in what he looked like.

He was tall and muscular, almost imposingly so, but he had a smile that lit up the night. His red-blonde mop had a mind of its own, twisting and turning in the ocean breeze and his skin held only the faintest tan where the freckles weren’t already covering.

Sarah wanted me to talk to him but I told her that I didn't think it would be fair to talk to him there only to fly to Spain to continue my traveling adventure in the morning. It wasn't that I thought we would fall in love right there or anything like that, it was simply that I figured I wouldn't have a chance with him in the first place.