All her life, Gabriela lived in the small town near the forest and all her life, she was warned to stay away from it.

“The ugly evil witch lives there,” the adults warned her and all the other kids. “She likes to eat the little children, if you go near there and get lost.... she'll cook you alive.”

The frightened children never went near the woods but Gabriela was different than the rest of the frightened children. “Those are just stories,” she told her classmates during recess.

“There true!” claimed little Erika, her brown eyes, wide with fear in the mention of the forest witch. “My mom saw her! She said she was ...” Erika lowered her voice, bit her nails and pushed her dirty blond hair behind her ear. “Hideous. She had red eyes, messy black hair, and sharp teeth!”

“Their lies Erika, made up stories,” Gabriela assured her. “Just meant to keep us out of the woods.”

“If they are just stories,” smiled Janice, her straight blond hair was pulled into a perfect French twist as she continued, “Then prove it. Go into the woods.”

Gabriela was shocked, that was the last thing she'd expect Janice would say. Sure, Janice wasn't the nicest person ever, but she wouldn't send someone into the woods... would she?

“I'm not going in there, to prove a point to someone so dumb that believes stupid stories of witches,” Gabriela retorted.

Janice shrugged, “If your scared, you can always admit that you are scared of the witch.”

Gabriela glared at Janice and said “Fine, I'll go.”

“You wouldn't,” Janice snickered.

Gabriela gathered her books and put them inside her messenger bag. “I'll go right now,” she told Janice, making everyone around her gasp.

“You don't have to prove anything Gabriela,” said Erika.

“No, I do. If I don't go, Janice won't ever let it go. She'll keep talking in her annoying little voice on how I never did it.” Gabriela stood up and turned on her heal. The teacher was inside the small school, and just behind them were the woods. There was a small fence but it could easily be jumped, it only reached Gabriela to her waist.

“Gabriela! Your going to get in trouble!” whined Erika.

“No I'm not,” sighed Gabriela and walked towards the fence.

The kids from her class ran after her. “No Gabriela! Your going to get eaten! No!” they called after her.

She was already over the fence when one kid yelled, “If you don't come back we're calling Ms. Lanes!” When Gabriela didn't answer until they screamed, “We can't let her die!!!”

“I won't die, you dorks,” Gabriela rolled her eyes and walked into the depths of the woods.

The woods weren't so bad, the trees were tall and bushy so she could barely see the sun, she only saw little rays of sunlight. There was no grass but yet there were tons of bugs and twigs on the dirt.

Gabriela wasn't sure how much she had to walk to prove that the witch didn't exist. The stories said the kids had to get lost first and Gabriela knew if she walked straight back, she would end up back at the school...but she had gone around a lot of trees... and then there was that huge puddle she had to avoid and decided to walk to her left...or was it her right?

Was she lost already?


“Where is Gabriela?” Ms. Lanes asked when recess was over.

“She went into the woods!” screamed the children. “Janice made her!”

Janice's eyes widened, “I didn't think she would do it!”

“Janice! Oh dear, we have to call her parents! The office! Oh dear me, we have to call the police too!”

“I didn't mean to!” cried Janice, the guilt overwhelming her.

Ms. Lanes rushed out the classroom to contact the office about the missing student.



Gabriela had been wondering around the woods for hours already, she kept denying the fact that she was lost.

No, it couldn't be.

The woods weren't that big. Were they?

She was getting sleepy and the air was getting colder, the light was getting dimmer and she was surrounded by silence.

Suddenly, a few feet away from her, she saw a silhouette of a person. She didn't think twice when she ran after it, but it was gone already.

“Hello?” she called. Nobody answered. “Please help, I've gotten lost!”
Gabriela sighed and was about to give up when she saw movement to her left. She ran after it but again, it was gone before she could get to it. She frowned and stupidly thought to herself that it must have only been the wind moving the branches.

Her knees gave in and she let herself fall on her knees. What was she suppose to do now? Stupid Janice! This was all her fault! Tears began to built up in Gabriela's eyes, not only because she was scared but because she was angry at herself for letting Janice get to her like that.

“Come this way,” she heard the wind coo.

“Which way?” she whispered, then she felt the wind blowing towards her left. She turned and began to walk along with the wind. She didn't even try to question that the wind was speaking to her, she just wanted to get out of the woods.

In no time, Gabriela began to see lights. She ran towards it and began to cry tears of joy.

She ended up in her backyard. What were the odds of that? She ran to her back door but it was locked. She ran to the front of her house and saw that it was filled with people.

Oh gosh, was she in trouble.

Gabriela dragged her feet to the crowd, “There she is! Oh thank goodness!” her aunt Lily cried out when she saw Gabriela. Aunt Lily opened out her arms and hugged Gabriela. “Where have you been!?”

“I got a little carried away, I was walking in the woods,” smiled Gabriela.

“Go inside, I'll talk to you later,” Aunt Lily told Gabriela and turned back to the crowd. Gabriela ran back inside the house only to see her cousin, Henry sitting on the couch, his blond hair was pushed to the side so it wouldn't cover his light green eyes. He had the same features as most of the other residents of the small town but Gabriela always stood out. Her dark hair was rare in a town filled with blue eyes blonds. Her eyes were as blue as her mothers but the rest of her traits, she must have gotten from her father.

“Gabriela!” Henry exclaimed and stood up to hug her.

“Hey Henry,” she smiled and hugged him back. He was only a year older than her but they were still very close. Not like they had much choice, they shared a room.

“Where did you go?” he asked when they pulled away from each other.

“Woods, you know usual things. Got lost for a few ...hours and finally found my way home.”

“Your a crazy little girl,” he laughed and led them both to the room they had to share. They weren't the riches family, and although they weren't really poor, they were fairly close to being it.

While they were talking in their room, Aunt Lily came inside and said, “Gabriela, we need to talk.”

Gabriela frowned and Henry climbed up to the top bunk bed. “Hi Aunt Lily,” said Gabriela with a small smile in attempt to lighten things up.

“Listen honey, I know it was hard on you to have your mother leave you but that doesn't mean you should rebel. The woods are dangerous, the witch-”

“Okay, I get it. The woods are dangerous but you don't have to make up a story about a fake witch Aunt Lily. Seriously, a simple don't go in there, would do.”

Henry peeked out at then and said in agreement, “I know mom, we're old enough and know the witch isn't real.”

“Real or not, there is dangerous things in those woods. Stay away from them kids,” Aunt Lily told them.

“Okay Aunt Lily, but just so you know, I'm not trying to rebel because I don't have a mom anymore,” Gabriela said as if it were the most obvious thing ever.

Aunt Lily smiled and patted Gabriela thigh, “Okay honey, go to bed you guys.” Aunt Lily left the room and Henry let out a huge sigh.

“Glad she's gone,” Henry admitted. “We should probably go back to sleep though.”

“Yeah,” she agreed and laid down under her thin blankets. She was facing the window, admiring the bright full moon when she saw them.

They were breath taking and for a few minutes, she was speechless. All she could do was stare at the two dots right outside her window. She almost had mistaken them for blue stars, she just never seen anything like them.

For the next week, she kept seeing the two dots outside her window but every time she tried to wake Henry up to see them, they would disappear.

“Gabriela, your going insane,” Henry told her before he went back to sleep.

She stood up and walked to the window. “I swear I saw something... glowing,” she claimed. She opened the window and looked outside, somewhere in her front yard, she saw the two bright dots. “Over there!” she said in harsh whisper. Henry jumped up and out of bed to see what Gabriela had been talking about the whole week. “Come on!” Gabriela screamed and jumped out the window in only her nightgown and socks.

“What are you doing? Gabriela!” Henry screamed after her and followed her outside.

Gabriela began to chase the lights. “Over here!” the wind whispered to her and blew towards the bright lights.

“Come on, Henry,” she laughed.

“Gabriela! Stop your going towards the woods! We'll get lost! Gabriela! Stop!” Henry warned and ran after her.

Gabriela kept running towards the lights, “Look how bright they are Henry! Look!”

Henry stopped suddenly when he realized what it must be, a witches spell. They were getting lured into the woods. “Gabriela! Seriously! Stop right now! Gabriela!”

Gabriela didn't listen to Henry's pleads, instead she kept running while laughing.

Henry thought he heard the woods chuckle at his cousin's ignorance. She was usually never so gullible but today she was being beyond brave and idiotic.

“Hurry Henry, the bright dots are going away!”

Henry stared at the two dots and realized what they really were. They were glowing eyes.

“The witch,” Henry whispered.

With those two words, Gabriela was snapped back to reality. “Henry! Where... We... We're in the woods!” Gabriela gasped in realization. “Look what I got us into! Henry you know the way back home don't you?”

“Of course,” he gulped and turned around. There was no light anywhere but the two dots that were getting dimmer. Gabriela had ran around so much they were probably about a mile away from home, and if only she would have ran straight, they would have only needed to turned around and walked straight back but Gabriela hadn't done that. Gabriela had ran randomly and in circles sometimes. There was no way to figure out what way was home.

They were lost. Again.

“Well? Where is it?” she asked scared.

“I- I- I don't know...” he sighed.

Gabriela screamed in frustration. “I'm so sorry Henry! I know this was all my fault! I can't believe I was so stupid!”

Henry took Gabriela hand and smiled kindly, “We can get out of here. Lucky we're together right?”

“Personally,” a voice boomed. “I wouldn't call it lucky, but to each their own.”

“Did you hear that too?” Gabriela asked in a voice that was almost mute.

The sky seemed to get darker and the wind turned colder. “Yes,” answered Henry. He put an arm around his cousin and began to retreat their steps.

They both bumped into something hard. Gabriela had thought it was a tree until she turned around and found herself face to face to a teenage boy.

He exotically beautiful. His hair was white blond, falling perfectly over his eyes. His eyelashes were dark and long over his electric blue eyes and he was pale. Gabriela had never seen someone so pale, it was as if seeing the king of frost himself. His thin lips were turned into a grin that showed two sharp canines.

Gabriela stared intently at him despite Henry's attempts to pull her away. His eyes were mesmerizing, the longer she stared, the more his eyes seemed to glow. He titled his head to the side and gently touched Gabriela's cheek. His hands were freezing but she didn't flinch back, she only let her skin grow goosebumps under his touch.

His grin was wiped off his face and he seemed to be examining Gabriela's face. He stared directly into her eyes and a warm smile formed in his gentle lips.

Gabriela's heart began to pound for a reason she couldn't explain because she wasn't scared of this complete stranger. She had forgotten about Henry's presence until he pulled her arm and away from the boy.

The boy turned to Henry and his dark eyebrows merged together in annoyance. He glared at Henry for a while until Gabriela asked, “Who are you? Are you lost too?”

“Lost? In my own forest? No, of course not,” he answered in a silvery voice.

“Your own forest?” Henry asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes. Mines. You have entered my side of the woods,” he stated calmly. “The depths of the woods belong to me, you've trespassed and for that you must be punished.” The boy began to walk around Henry and Gabriela, who was gripping Henry's hand. “Its very lonely in these woods... Until children stumble upon it. But of course, they don't last long,” he smirked. “There's hardly any food here and I must say, your kind is just delicious.”

“De-de-delicious? Our kind?” stuttered Henry.

The boy ignored him and turned to Gabriela, “Your the girl who came into my woods last time.”

Gabriela pressed her lips together and murmured an, “I'm sorry. I was being stupid.”

“I helped you out, this once. I felt an odd urge to help you and believe me when I say that will rarely ever happen,” he shook his head and laughed, “What am I saying? You were the only exception and that will never ever happen. But now, look at you little robin, you've come back to the woods. Haven't you heard how dangerous it is out here,” he grinned showing his sharp white teeth, “Haven't you heard about the witch.” In that moment his eyes began to glow, they were the eyes that watched through the window every night since she found her way home from the woods.

“You led me back here,” Gabriela gasped in realization.

“Your the witch,” Henry hissed.

The boy turned to Henry and chuckled, “I'd prefer if you didn't call me that. Pesky villagers always twist the truth don't they?”

“Then what are you?” asked Henry.

“My names Julian,” the boy smiled, his eyes still glowing like bright blue stars.

Gabriela tried out the name quietly, “Julian.”

The boy, Julian smiled tenderly at her while Henry glared at him and tried to hide her behind him. “If you helped her out of the woods, then why did you lure her back in?” Henry questioned as he tried to think of ways to run.

“She... is something special,” Julian whispered almost to himself. “I saw her eyes, they were filled with both courage and fear the first time I saw her. Her hair shone under the moonlight. I heard so many times men describe woman like that and I thought of the as fools...but now I see what they meant. They saw the beauty inside them, just as I see Gabriela's beauty shine both inside and outside.”

“I- I-” began Gabriela but Julian interrupted her.

“I helped her out the first time,” he repeated, “But I wanted her. I lured her in like I always do to the villagers when I want a snack.” He slid his tongue over his lower lip, causing Henry to shudder.

“You lured us back here... because you're hungry?” Gabriela asked quietly.

Julian tilted his head to his side and tightened his eyes, “Of course not,” he said as if it were the most obvious answer. “Although, your little ...boy smells delicious.”

“Gabriela,” Henry warned as quietly as he could.

“Gabriela?” Julian asked with a warm smile. “Is that your name, lovely?” Gabriela nodded shyly and stepped back behind Henry. “Come here, I won't hurt you,” he said while holding out his hand to her. She eyed it for a while but didn't take it. She stared at his long pale fingers reaching out towards her and hid her eyes with her lashes.

“Just let us go,” muttered Henry.

“Please,” Gabriela added.

“Come here,” he repeated.

Gabriela stepped around Henry and was about to take his hand when Henry pulled her back. “Leave her alone. Leave us alone!”

Julian glared at him, his eyes seemed to turn into fire. “Let her do as she wish. She was already coming to me on her free will, why stop her?” Julian asked bitterly.

“I'm not going to let my cousin touch a monster.”

Gabriela slowly walked backwards towards Henry and took his hand. “I'm scared,” she whispered.

“No need to be afraid my little robin. Take my hand lovely,” Julian smiled.

“No,” whispered Gabriela.

Julian tilted his head and repeated, “No?”

“No,” answered Henry.

“What a shame,” Julian shook his head and in that second he disappeared. He was gone in the blink of an eye and Gabriela almost thought she was safe.

Until she heard Henry scream and let go of her hand. She turned back and saw Julian with with his hand over Henry's neck. He was growling and his eyes were glowing again as he choked Henry. “Is that still a no my dear?” Julian asked facing Gabriela with a wicked grin.

Gabriela's eyes widened and she walked slowly to Julian, “Let him go,” she whispered.

Julian smiled and let go of Henry, who crumbled on the ground. “Henry!” Gabriela gasped and hurried to him but Julian blocked her. His eyes were back to normal, if you could call it normal.

“You really are lovely you know?” he whispered to her as he wrapped her in his arms. Gabriela drew her shoulders together in awkwardness.

Did this boy do this every time he had a new meal?

“What do you want?” Gabriela asked.

“You,” Julian chuckled. “Come live with me in my world, I'll give you everything your little heart ever desired.”

Henry, who was still on the ground, croaked, “No, leave her alone.”

“I want to go home,” Gabriela whispered.

“I can't give you that my dear,” Julian said softly.

“I can't go with you,” Gabriela croaked.

“Can't is a different thing than want my dear, you don't have to fight it,” whispered Julian.

Henry hissed and stood up, right between Gabriela and Julian. “Get away,” screamed Henry.

“I'll go...” Julian smiled, his eyes glowing once again. “After I do this.” Julian sunk his sharp teeth into Henry's neck. Henry yelped in pain and gripped Gabriela's arm. “And don't touch her,” Julian growled. “Don't even look at her!”

Julian disappeared leaving Henry bleeding from his neck. “Oh god! Henry! Your eyes!” Gabriela saw that his iris had turned into a milky green. “Henry! Henry are you okay?!?”

“Gabriela!? I can't- I can't see!” he gasped. His eyes were vacant but wide opened. “Gabriela what the hell did he do? My eyes are burning! Gabriela they hurt! I can't see, Gabriela help!”

“Henry, I don't- I can't- Henry I'm sorry,” Gabriela whispered and hugged him but he flinched away.

“It hurts when you touch me,” he whimpered. Gabriela had never seen him so vulnerable. “It's like it gives me an electric shock. Gabby I'm scared.”

“Me too,” she said and tried to hold his hand only he just pulled it away. Why couldn't he touch her? Why couldn't he see? Did Julian's bite do this to him?

“Henry, you're bleeding. We have to get back.”

“How? I can't see anything Gabriela! I'm on the verge of freaking insanity and I can't think straight! I can't see and it hurts when I touch you! What the heck is happening! Gabriela I can't handle this!”

“I'm sorry-”

“You can't say sorry! This is- this isn't- your not- I can't- Ugh!!! Gabby just help me out here! Go get help!”

“I can't leave you here, we could both go-” Gabriela began.

“I can't see the path in front of me Gabriela! You can't lead me anywhere without touching me,” he groaned. “Just go, you could find a way back and look for me in the morning.”

“I'm only going to get lost and we're going to get seperated and Julian's going to find one of us and-” she babbled on with tears in her eyes. She was scared and she didn't want anything else but to get home safetly with perfectly healthy Henry.

“Gabby, Gabriela! Calm down please, we only need one person freaking out and trust me I have that covered.” Henry was looking straight ahead and his breathing was ragged. The collar of his shirt was stained with blood and there was a dark gap on Henry's neck.

“Can you...can you ...stay...” Gabriela started but then quieted down, not knowing how to word her question.

“Can I stay alive? Yes, I just... I'm really scared Gabby.”

“I know...” she bit her lip and looked down at her helpless hands. “Sorry I can't do anything.”

“Go find your way back Gabby, you can find it trust me. The way back home would be north... wouldn't it?”

“I don't even know where north is...” whispered Gabriela.

“Lets sleep on it,” Henry suggested.

“You can't sleep,” Gabriela said but she didn't admit the reason was that she was scared that he'd never wake up.

“We'll take turns,” assured Henry.

“No, don't go to sleep.” Gabriela mumbled as she leaned her back on the tree in front of Henry. “I can see you closing your eyes Henry.”

“I'm not going to die,” he sighed and leaned against the tree.

Gabriela spend the rest of the night huddled in a tight ball from the cold air, Henry seemed to be even more cold than her but she couldn't do anything to help.

Unless she'd find Julian. He could help him, he said he wanted her, he wouldn't have any trouble taking Henry back.

Would he?

“Okay, go to sleep Henry.” she decided. She was going to look for Julian once she was sure he'd be asleep.



A few hours later when it was pitch black, she knew Henry was asleep. She quietly called out, “Julian?” she knew it was a stupid idea but she had to try it anyways. “We can make a deal.”

She felt a shift in the air and suddenly there was a warm breath against her cheek. “What kind of deal darling?”

“Help Henry. Give his eyesight back and lead him back home.”

“In exchanged for what?” he breathed.

“I'll stay with you,” she whispered.

Gabriela felt Julian's lip brush against her ear, “For all eternity? You won't try to escape.”

“For as long as I live,” she promised.

Julian smiled, “Ive got ways,” he whispered, “To keep you alive forever. Immortal and by side, always. You'll agree to this if I help Henry?”

“Yes.”

“Then you have a deal my sweet,” he answered and kissed her cheek. His lips were warm and soft but Gabriela paid no attention to them. She only felt the fear for her cousin. In the dark she saw his eyes glowing before he whispered to her, “He'll wake up with his sight back and he'll know exactly where to go.”

Gabriela strained her eyes to see Henry, his blood was gone, it even disappeared from his shirt. It was unbelievable.

“Now you come with me?” Julian asked quietly.

“Nothing bad will happen to him if we leave him here alone?”

Julian shook his head, “He won't get hurt.”

“Okay,” she let out, her stomach twisting into a million of knots.

“Then lets go my sweet,” Julian said, lifting her up, bridal style. She hung on to him, afraid of falling and shaking from fear.

“Where are we going?” Gabriela asked.

“Our new home, I'll make you happy Gabriela. We'll be together forever and we'll be happy for all eternity.”

“But -” before she could finish, Gabriela felt Julian gently moved her dark hair away from her neck. “What are you doing?” she stuttered.

“I'm going to help you,” he whispered. “This is going to hurt a bit.” Julian bent over and gently bit her neck.

Gabriela gasped and clutched tightly to Julian. Her eyes began to glow and she felt her heart flutter.

“We'll be happy together my sweet. My darling puella cum oculis ardentibus.”