The Picnic

The Writer's Cramp Prompt
Write a STORY or POEM with the following as the LAST line of your item. It must appear exactly as it is written below, with no edits or changes of punctuation, it must be the last line, and it must be bolded.

"There are no nice vampires," she said coldly.

The Picnic

         “You remember, when we were kids, how I used to scare you before bedtime?”  I tried to keep my voice low and ominous.  Her eyes never left me. 

         “Yea, so?” 

         I slowed the car at a gravel road.  Making the turn, we could hear the wheels grinding on the rough gravel.

         “Where are you taking us?”  Anxiety in her voice, she looked ahead, the narrow road seemed to disappear into a dense forest.

         “You’ll see!”  I couldn’t keep a little anticipation from leaking out. 

         The road twisted and turned for over a mile.  It was dark; the thick canopy of the forest shrouded the bright afternoon sun.  “This had better be good!”

         Five minutes passed before we sensed light, the road twisted to the right and we rode out into a clearing.  “You told me you wanted to get away from people.  This is as secluded as I could find.”

         It was five o’clock, the warm sun hung low in the sky and shown on a small grassy meadow surrounded by this thick, overgrown forest.  The ruins of a burned down structure jutted out of the ground in the center. 

         I stopped the car and hopped out beside a flat area that had once been a tiled patio beside the huge cracked foundation.  “Believe me, this is as private a place as you’ll ever find.”

         She looked around with wide eyes.  “How did you find this?”

         “Researching old real estate transactions.  This place is available.” I pulled out the heavy wicker basket and padded blanket. 

         She snickered.  “To buy a burned to the ground building?”

         Setting the basket down on the tile, I spread the blanket on the ground.  “No.  It said haunted house for sale.” I kissed her and we knelt down to open the basket.  “I drove out last week after the Collins meeting broke up early.  This is what I found.”

         “So you planned this for a week?”  Her face lit up with a bright smile as she place a diner plate beside me.  Her picnic diner was perfect and the wine sweet.  As twilight blanketed us, not a sound could be heard.

         She turned her head, “It’s getting late, maybe we better pack up.”

         “No rush, we’re not going anywhere…”

         “Ha?”  She looked at me puzzled.

         “I brought our sleeping bag.”  We stood up together.

         She looked around, “What if it rains?”

         “I got it covered, literally.  I snooped about and found the basement is intact and dry.”  Opening the back door of the car, I pulled out the rolled up sleeping bag.  “Ta Da!”

         She frowned, “I don’t know, what about bugs… I hate bugs…” She shivered.

         Reaching in again, I produced an empty can of bug spray.  “Took care of that last week also!”  She still looked wary of the idea.  “I came fully prepared, the small ice chest has a cold breakfast and four LED lanterns.”  I poked her in the rib and put on a big broad grin.  “Come on, be adventurous?” 

         “Oh, alright, but if I get bit, you’ll never live it down!”

         It was getting dark by the time we had unpacked everything.  Susan and I had not done anything as daring as this since we were eighteen. 

         Leaving one lantern on.  We undressed and slipped into the sleeping bag.  Cuddling together, carefully investigating and probing each other, as we have done every night, since we were eighteen.

         The realization that we were not alone became blatantly clear with the appearance of a pair of dirty bare feet standing beside my head.  We looked up in total surprise.

         The young girl was wearing rags, she was pale and unkempt; hair straggly, eyes were penetrating and cold. 

         I reached for our underwear, “I’m sorry, who are you?” As my arm came out of the warm bag I brushed her leg and felt the chill.  “You’re freezing, are you okay?”

         Still no answer, she stood looking down, her skin was so pale, except for those eyes and her deep purple lips.  She finally spoke.  “What are you doing here?”  She had a lilting, child like voice.

         “We thought this property was abandoned.  Do you live here?”

         She looked up and all around as she spoke.  “Since the fire we live in the deep in the woods.”  She spoke as if distracted. 

         There was a rush of air and suddenly two boys appeared, also gaunt and tattered.  The girl held up her hands and pointed at them. “NO… Go back, this is not your place…” She was now forceful and loud.

         We lay there between them, looking up.  Susan had managed to wiggle into her briefs and so did I.  She pulled my T-shirt over her head and we unzipped the bag.  Almost instantly we were in their vice like grip.  The whites of their eyes had turned blood red and they expose fangs and deep purple tongues. 

         “Put them down!” She roared at them with a growl.  The boys released us and disappeared as fast as they had come.  “You can see you wandered into the wrong place.”  She closes her mouth and smiled at me.  Drawing her long clawed fingers across my bare chest left red welts.  “My brothers hunger, they have no manors. My name is Silvia, what is your name?”

         I stammered as I spoke. “Rrr…Robert”

         Susan stood shivering beside me.  Silvia reached up and ran her fingers through Susan’s hair.  “And your name?”

         “Susan” She sputtered.

         “Do not be afraid, my brothers will not hurt you.”  Silvia stepped up beside Susan and caressed her back.  “You will be fine…” She smiled at Susan as she continued to claw at my chest, creating tiny rivulets of blood.

         Trying to appease Silvia, Susan caressed her stringy hair, “You are a nice person and you wouldn’t hurt us…”

         Silvia’s head twisted, her eyes turned red as she sunk her claws deep into my chest and gripped Susan’s head…

"There are no nice vampires," she said coldly.

Word Count = 995