Once Bitten, 1985 - A vampire Countess needs to drink the blood of a virgin in order to keep her eternal beauty. It seems that all is hopeless, until she bumps into Mark Kendall.
“The Countess has a problem. She is a 400 year old vampire who will cease to look young unless she is able to feed on a virgin three times before Halloween, a week away. She sends Sebastian, her servant and all of her lesser vampires out to find one. Finding a virgin is difficult in Los Angeles. Mark has a problem. He wants to 'do it' with Robin in the worst way, but she wants to wait. Jamie and Russ, Mark's goofy friends convince him to go to a Hollywood pick up spot where Mark meets the Countess, on the prowl. Robin's not going to understand.” ~Written by John Vogel <jlvogel@comcast.net>
I loved this movie where Robin wants to wait to have relations with her first boyfriend, and poor Mark Kendall is dying to give up being a virgin. It shows strength of character on both their parts. Then here comes a vampire with an even bigger problem. She has to have a virgin to feed off so she can remain eternally young. It’s pretty difficult to say no to such an offer. Especially when the woman is willing and her powers of seduction due to her vampiric charms are so persuasive. What can a guy do? But drift away from his true love and give into a false one.
But Robin sees the woman for what she is…an ancient predator that only wants to use her boyfriend and throw him away. Or maybe keep him for her own. But he won’t be his own person ever again.
That’s the thing with teenage love, to learn to trust and respect and compromise. If her values are such that she wants to wait, if he truly loves her, he will respect her and wait.
Have you ever heard of: pick your battles?
When the issues are just not that important: where to eat, what to do on Saturday, who to see…then compromise, or don’t make it an issue.
But if it’s something that is at the core of the person’s belief system, for an instance, he doesn’t drink, either because of religious beliefs or maybe alcoholism in the family, so he doesn’t want to attend parties where there’s a lot of alcohol being served, then it’s time for his needs to be considered.
A lot of times it has to do with motivation. If he or she has a really good cause for feeling the way he or she does, maybe there’s a reason the girlfriend or boyfriend should give weight to their decisions.
Which all goes back to trusting and respecting each other.
If the person doesn’t respect their friend’s concerns when they have a legitimate reason for feeling the way they do, then perhaps the relationship isn’t right for them. In other words, if it’s something that they can’t deal with, she loves to drink with her friends and he abhors the idea, then the differences in their value systems might not be something they can ever overcome.
Mark wants his needs met in the worst way. But Robin wants to wait because it’s really important to her. In the end, if he gives up the ancient vampire sucker and sticks it out with the girlfriend that truly means something to him, their relationship will endure. But what if the only way to save him is to give up her beliefs? Well, that shows true love.
Finding the one that is right for you is the key. No one should feel they have to do what someone else wants in a relationship just to hang onto that relationship. It should be a mutually loving bond filled with trust, respect and compromise (when the compromise is for things that are just too unimportant to make issue with).
Terry Spear/Terry Lee Wilde, The Dark Fae, where the fae rule…
You can learn more about Terry at her website, or follow her on Facebook and on Twitter. And you can learn about her awesome books on Goodreads.
Thanks so much for visiting with us, Terry. This is such a great post and a wonderful life lesson, too! I know I learned this the hard way myself as a teen.
So what about you, gentle readers? Did you ever comprise on your own beliefs to get or maintain a relationship? As Dr. Phil would say, "How'd that work out for you?"