Is it Halloween yet?

At an early age I became fascinated with Dracula. I read every vampire story I could get my hands on and watched way too many vampire horror movies. They gave me nightmares and a phobia about having the blood sucked out of me.

My mom once found me lying in bed practically suffocating myself with a thick Korean blanket wrapped around my neck while sleeping. My rationale for doing this made sense at the time. If a vampire ever came into my bedroom while I was sleeping, he wouldn't be able to bite through the thick Korean blanket and suck the blood from my neck. I even had one of those rubics cube snake type contraptions/toys that you can shape into different things. The first and only thing I made it into was a cross. I'm not even religious. It sat on my dresser for protection. (And whenever he could, my brother would sneak into my room and change the cross into a ball which would infuriate me to no end.) My family thought I was nuts.

To this day I hate having my blood drawn. I'm fine with needles and shots, and I have a high tolerance for pain, but it's just the irrational phobia that wraps around my mind, which I have to overcome each time with deep breaths and thinking about something else (i.e., going some place else in my mind) until the doctor is done. And when you become pregnant they have to draw a few vials of blood to test for various diseases, etc. and this was oh so NOT pleasant. I get weak in the knees when doctors/nurses tell me I have good veins or I'm a good bleeder. Eeeeek!

I've even been known to flinch when anyone gets too close to my neck. It's downright ridiculous I know. So I was happy that it didn't seem to apply to Astrid. Holding her close, she could put her mouth on my neck and even suck away and it didn't bother me in the least.

Until tonight...
I was trying to put her to bed. We were in her bedroom with the lights turned off and I was holding her. She looked up right into my face. In the dark her eyes look black. So I see these two black eyes staring up at me and she gets this smile on her face as she wraps both of her hands around my neck. Now I've already mentioned that she has a penchant for pinching, but this time she was being gentle so I let her explore Mommy's neck. As she's staring up at my face she suddenly sinks her fingernails into my throat and has a death grip on my neck. I'm holding her, so with one hand I pry her right hand loose but she's still clawing away with the left hand. Oh my goodness. I had Nosferatu images flashing in my mind and it seemed an eternity before I could get free. She would latch back on with her fingernails and thought it was the funniest thing, while I'm freaking out but trying to remain calm. I think she actually pierced the skin on one side of my neck.

How's that for an early Halloween story?