Vampires Will Never Hurt You

"Sorry!" I blurted in a rush, grabbing my fork and avoiding his gaze. I was almost positive I was losing my mind. But the way that he said it... It was impossible. They weren't real. I calmed myself down slowly, still afraid to look up and meet his gaze. I burned holes in my plate with my eyes until he shifted back in his seat. I looked up at him cautiously. The waiter had brought him a glass of wine. The thought struck me that he wasn't old enough to drink. I opened my mouth to say something, but then I took a closer look at his glass. It wasn't wine.
I had no choice. I had to look at his face. His expression was grim, but still unearthly handsome. "No." I whispered, as he swished it in his glass. He just shook his head and sighed before throwing his head back and downing the entire thing. My stomach lurched as his head snapped back up and I saw the red stains on his lips. "You were in the sun..." My voice was soft and sounded hopeless, even to me. Vampires were not real. They were not. My parent's biological daughter would have known this.
He let out a bitter laugh that made me wince in my seat. "Do you believe all of those fairy tale stories? Going to ask if I sleep in a coffin?" I looked at him, suddenly angry at the injustice. Not only was he trying to convinve me he was a vampire, but he was taunting me for being disbelieving.
"Prove it." I said, setting my fork down and giving him as blank of a look as I could muster. This was where I learned one of the many lessons I learned during the time I spent with Gerard. Do not tell him to prove anything, ever, under any circumstances. In a flash he was up and behind me, his large hands gripping my shoulders almost painfully. I gasped, still trying to comprehend how he had moved so quickly. I felt like I might be sick as 'he wasn't lieing' rang through my head. His face was incredibly close to my neck. When he spoke, I felt goosebumps rise underneath Nana's sweater.
"There are a lot of ways I could prove it to you Sugar. Some you might like, some you might not."
Everything in my mind shut down. I suddenly felt very close to tears as my body shook. Maybe if I fainted I could wake up and realize that I had merely fallen asleep outside of the prom and dreamt this all. The feeling of his grip loosening on my shoulders tore this hope away from me. I was here and this was happening. He let out a sigh and a soft chuckle.
"I wouldn't hurt you Annalise. You should know better than that."
His voice sounded so genuine that the knot in my stomach couldn't help but loosen. He could be lieing, but my gut instinct told me he wasn't. But if he wasn't going to rip my throat out, then I wasn't sure what else he might do. I considered asking him to turn into a bat, but thought that might not go over too well. He seemed to read my mind because he laughed again, this time softer, with his mouth closer to my neck.
"I think I know how to prove it to you."
Before I could protest he had my chin in his hand. He forced my head to the side, our mouths crashing together. In a heartbeat I knew the truth. I felt like I was kissing a statue. He was cold against my sensitive lips and I let out a little whimper of suprise. Don't get me wrong. There was nothing unenjoyable about kissing him. His cold hand brushed the back on my neck while he worked his lips against mine, and everything else in the world faded away. When we pulled back I looked at him, reaching up to touch my swollen lips. He smiled a full-fledged smile that exposed a beautiful set of white teeth... and a pair of fangs. Suddenly I knew why he always grinned the way he did. You couldn't see the fangs that way. I let out a short, hysterical laugh before dropping my head into my hands, shaking it back and forth.
Gerard laughed and walked over beside me. "Come on Sugar. I need to get you back to school."