This fic is based on the fairytale, "The shoes that were danced to pieces", but with a gothic twist. Updates will probably be slow due to school and such, but please r & r. Thank you! –Tamberlyn

"Misty Lake?" Kass surveyed looking at her mother who seemed lost in thought.

"Come on Kass...give it a chance. The house is what I’ve been dreaming about. Its perfect, I’ve had Roger check over every inch just to make sure that I haven’t been scammed," Evelyn Carlson told her daughter.

"Roger..." Kass frowned thinking of her mother’s boyfriend. He was one of those Mr. Fix its, who thought it would be better for her mother if she packed up everything she’s ever known and come live with him in a brand new house in a brand new town, and of course Tag along Kass could come too..if she wanted. If she wanted? What choice was that? Kass had no where else to go. Her father had disappeared years ago, and her grandparents were busy spoiling her sisters who she hadn’t seen in years.

Kass realized that a cardboard box on the street would have been better than this...

"You’ll love the lake out behind the house," Evelyn went on, even though she knew her raven haired daughter could care less. "Its beautiful. Roger says there’s a legend behind it."

"Oh, heaven forbid! A legend? How exciting!" Kass stated sarcastically.

Evelyn sighed, "Kass, why can’t you just make this a pleasant experience? You know I need a change. I can’t live in that huge empty house all alone."

"You aren’t alone...you’re with me..." Kass stated.

"You know what I mean Kass," Evelyn told her daughter. "Your father isn’t going to come back anytime soon, and I don’t want to wait my life away."

Kass had now tuned her mother out of her mind and was looking towards the new house that she was to live in. It wasn’t as bad as she thought it was going to be, and it was in her mother’s taste. It looked like a towering old castle built with gray looking bricks. ‘And this is suppose to be small?’ She thought to herself looking the place over.

Evelyn had been holding her breath as she watched her daughter. "What do you think Kass?" She asked looking the place over once again. "Do you think you could give it a chance?"

Kass wanted to scream "No!" and go back home, but she knew that her mother would never leave her dream. Why make a bad situation worse?

Kass bit her lip and replied painfully; "I guess..." She could feel her teeth letting little drops of red copper seep into her mouth and leave a metallic taste of life.

"Good," Evelyn stated shutting off the engine and then getting out of the copper.

Kass let her eyes trace over the tower again. ‘What have I gotten myself into now?’

***

Kass had gotten most of her stuff unpacked before dinner, but put away was a whole different story. Every little knickknack or poster was strewn over her dark blue carpeted floor. Her mother had did exactly what she asked and left the walls white so her acrylic paint would run over it smoothly whenever she felt an urge.

Kass walked over to the folded out card table, which was serving as their kitchen table for their first night. "I hope you like hamburgers," Roger stated.

"She loves them," Evelyn smiled to Roger placing a small kiss on his stub lips. Kass still felt queasy whenever her mother and Roger showed affection, it was like a natural reaction that wasn’t likely to go away anytime soon.

Kass unwrapped the juicy, greasy hamburger covered with oozing cheese. Just how she like it, but she suddenly didn’t feel as if she was hungry. Kass watched as Roger stuffed his face, and her mother ate daintily.

Evelyn caught onto her daughter’s uneasiness and asked, "Honey...why aren’t you eating?"

Kass looked to the hamburger and stated without looking at her mother with her sapphire eyes, "I think the paint is getting to me. I’m gonna go outside and get some air."

Evelyn noticed that her daughter hadn’t made eyecontact. Usually a clear sign that something was wrong, but Evelyn knew not to push it. Her daughter would come to her when she thought it was necessary.

Kass walked out the back door and out to where her backyard overlooked Misty Lake. Kass had already heard the story of the mist that seemed to collect on the surface of the water. It could make the best sailor lose his way.

"Its a curtain that just encloses you," She remembered Marjorie, the old woman that ran the grocery store down the way state. "You can’t see ahead of you, behind you, below you, or above you. Anybody smart enough would keep his or her hide out of those waters. They’re dangerous ya hear me?" Marjorie stated her coal black eyes drilling holes into Kass.

"Of course she won’t go in there," Evelyn smiled to the old lady. "Our Kass is afraid of water, so I’m sure her rump will be far away from those shores..."

"The farer the better..." Marjorie added still watching Kass curiously. "Ya heard about Misty Lake and what it can do?"

Evelyn smiled to the old lady. "My significant other knows the legend. He planned to tell it over dinner tonight."

"It ain’t a legend, and if I were you, I’d take it seriously," Marjorie replied making her words powerful so they sunk into Kass’ ears.

"Hosh Posh," Evelyn stated when they were in the car. "You don’t listen to that old lady. If you want, stick your feet in the water when you’re out there, but I would agree in the not going out in the waters. The Mist does look very thick and unsafe. Promise me you won’t go out there?"

"I promise," Kass had heard herself echo in her head.

***

Kass looked at the milky fog that had collected itself on the lake. "They should have called it a bog," She surveyed picking at her nails as she sat on the soft ground.

"I’m sure that was a last resort," A voice stated from behind Kass, making her jump. Kass swiveled her neck around and saw that it was only Roger.

He smiled warmly at Kass, but she knew that was only one of his false facades. "So...Evelyn told me that while you and her were in town you got warned about the Lake."

Kass didn’t answer; she just watched the lake as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world to her.

"Well, I just thought I’d tell you the legend behind it. If that was okay with you," He stated edging closer to the seventeen-year-old.

"Go ahead," Kass stated knowing that she wanted to hear about it, but not from Roger.

Roger positioned himself beside Kass on the ground trying to be friendly. "Well...legend has it, there is a kingdom hidden somewhere behind that mist. Back in the Victorian Era, there were many milk maids that lived in this area and would bring their cow to drink from here being that the water was so crystal clear." He paused and brought out a cigarette. He stuck the tobacco tubing in his mouth and then lit the ends inhaling deeply. Kass could just imagine his lungs filling up with the tarred smoke.

He then pointed back to the mist, "And the prince that lived in the kingdom was being forced to marry, but every maiden that was brought to him he found fault in. He would look out his window at all the milk maids who would meet their true love by the waters, and he himself wished that he could marry a girl that he truly loved. Not one that was thought to be a good counterpart."

"How sad," Kass heard herself whisper.

Roger nodded and then continued, "So one day, he ran from the kingdom, taking a small boat out to the shores of the water to meet some of the maidens on his own terms. None of the poorer girls on the shore had ever seen the prince, and he himself was dressed in pauper clothing."

"He fell in love with one of them didn’t he?" Kass replied meeting her cool blue eyes to Roger’s hazel.

Roger smiled, but didn’t say anything. He went on with the story as if he had never been interrupted, "He met a milk maid who had fell on one of the rocks and had been scraped up pretty bad. Her name was Adrina, and he had carried her back to her house out of the goodness of his heart. When her father had heard of this act of kindness, he asked the Prince to stay to dine with him, which the prince agreed to do so to oblige the wishes." Roger took one last drag off the cigarette before he smashed the butt in the ground.

He exhaled the smoke and spoke, "After dinner the prince took a walk with Adrina and promised to meet her the following night. ‘Just listen for the music’ He told her. So every night for about a week the prince met Adrina, but by the eighth night the king had caught on to his son’s absence."

"And la di da di da...to make a long story short they were forbidden to see each other again?" Kass stated sarcastically turning her cool blue eyes to her mother’s boyfriend.

"No, not exactly like that," Roger answered.

"Well then Aesop, fill me in on the rest," Kass told him narrowing her eyes and then looking back to the lake.

He smirked, "The king talked to the prince, telling him that the commoners and upper class would not accept his marriage to the milk maid, but of course the prince would not listen. On a last resort the king went in disguise into town to see the local witch who gave him a secret potion. She commanded the king to serve the potion at dinner mixed in with the wine."

"And that night, he drank the wine?" Kass guessed.

Roger nodded and picked at a blade of glass he had uprooted. "Of course being that the witch was a witch, she knew the true identity of the king. She had smelled him a mile away. Instead of the wine granting his wish...the wine cursed his son. Its sort of a explanation of where the vampires had come from."

"Vampires? Now this story is getting interesting," Kass responding leaning herself back on her elbows looking towards the lake.

"The prince fell into a sleep for three straight days and the king had realized the error of his ways sending for the milk maid to be brought to the kingdom for when the prince woke up. Adrina stayed by his side night and day until he woke up, but when he woke up he had changed. He was a child of the night with the taste of blood in his mouth. He attacked Adrina not realizing exactly what he was doing until he had drained her dry. He begged the king to put him in the prison, which he did. Only the prince drained all of the prisoners in the cell. The prisoners had tried to kill the prince, but his gashes and cuts always seemed to heal. The king also saw this, and pitied his son."

"The king had hid Adrina’s body, and the rumor that the prince had taken her as a lover spread fastly around the town," Roger went on. "The king had heard about the rumor and decided to capitalize on it. He didn’t understand what had happened to his son, but he knew what he needed. He needed the blood from young maidens to keep him alive. So each night the king sent the prince to do his song which lead a lonely maiden to the shore..."

"The prince would spoil the girl for a day in repayment for the life he would later take during the night..."

"You mean..." Kass responded her blue eyes glittering.

Roger looked to Kass and shrugged. "Very possible, but of course it is only a fairy tale..."

"Of course," Kass replied nonchalantly. "Just a fairy tale," She repeated and then looked towards Misty Lake which held so many secrets.