"Tim. Timothy, wake up." A gentle voice coaxed the boy out of his heavily lidded sleep.
"Huh?" Tim mumbled, before sitting up straight and rubbing a stray lock of raven black hair out of his face. He opened his eyes to see the smiling countenance of Louis de Point du Lac almost a little too close for comfort. The vampire's deep emerald eyes prying into Tim's own.
"It's an hour past sundown, you're going to sleep right through the night." Louis lightly teased.
"And why would that be such a bad thing?" Tim joked back as he rolled out of his warm bed and walked past Louis towards the bathroom.
"You look pale," Louis commented worriedly, "Perhaps it is time for you to feed again?"
Tim groaned, "Last time was such a disaster, I wouldn't want to embarrass myself once again so soon."
The last time Tim had been out to feed was with Lestat a few nights before. He was so nervous to be hunting and feeding along side the famous and beautiful vampire that he blundered severely in almost every aspect of the hunt. By the end of the night Tim's shirt was matted with blood from careless procedure, several women who had seen Tim bite the neck of his victim required much calming and persuasion, and Tim had almost left a victim's dead body out in the open without having covered his bite marks. Lestat was so angry he wouldn't even speak. However, after the initial anger subsided, thoughts of the night's events led right into amusement. Lestat howled like a hyena and made sure to tell every other vampire he knew all the details of Tim's childish blunders. Tim, being a perfectionist, was mortified. He had been trying so hard to win the other's approval, and now he would have to fight even harder to overcome the reputation of his first impression.
"Don't worry, tonight Armand has volunteered to watch over you, he'll probably be a bit nicer than Lestat." Louis tried to reassure Tim.
"Armand has volunteered?! People are lining up to help me? This isn't right, I shouldn't need any help, a good vampire doesn't need to be babied. God, this is awful, I won't be able to look any of them straight in the eye." Tim cried.
"Oh, I wouldn't say that. All of the others are very fond of you."
"It's because they pity me."
"In ways, yes, your story is a tragic one, and we're not cruel creatures, most of us anyway. The vampire who claimed you and blooded you was in the wrong, but that is not your fault, and we do not see it as such."
Tim realized he was whining and gave a short laugh, "I'm sorry I've been complaining so much. Thank you for waking me Louis, I'll be down shortly."
Tim smiled meekly at the handsome, dark-haired vampire before he shut and locked the bathroom door. Tim leaned against the door frame and glanced at the bathroom's clean, bright floors and surrounding walls. They were beautiful, just like the rest of Marius's house. Smooth white marble floors and gleaming cherry wood paneling shone with the bright warm light of the room's sun lamps. It was cozy and comforting, and this relaxed Tim. He was so cold all the time now that he was a vampire, and it was a chill that was ever-present and hard to mask, no matter how many layers he wore or how many hot water bottles he piled on top of himself. Armand told him that he would get used to it in time, and if anything it got worse as one aged. Great, thought Tim, but at least Armand was honest.
Tim shrugged off his blue cotton shirt, striped pants, and underwear and slid into the wondrously tall glass shower. He turned the taps to as hot of a temperature as he could stand without scalding his skin, and soaked happily for a few minutes. Tim's life had been a blur the past few weeks, and it was hard to believe his time as a human had come to such an abrupt and disruptive end. A few weeks ago, Tim had lived a pretty normal teenage life, a few good friends, a couple of random and short-lived girlfriends, good grades, and shaky relationships with his parents. He wasn't extremely sheltered, and lived in a dangerous town, Gotham City, with a bad crime rep, but very little sorrow had affected his life personally until now.
It all happened the night after the homecoming football game. Tim didn't really care much for the sport or for school spirit, but a pretty girl, Debbie Hurston, had asked him to accompany her to the yearly event. Gotham High won the game, and Tim cheered right along with the rest of his schoolmates, but something wasn't quite right. He could feel someone watching him, but in the packed stadium he couldn't quite make out who, or what, made him feel so uneasy. However, he was sharing his popcorn with a popular girl who had just kissed his cheek after the winning touchdown, and he didn't want anything to ruin his almost perfect night. Later, as they were waiting for their burgers at a local fast food restaurant, Tim got an urgent call on his cell phone. He briskly walked outside into the cool, black night to get better reception.
"Tim, are you alright son?" His father asked breathlessly.
"Dad? What's wrong?" Tim could hear the fear in his father's voice.
"Where are you?"
"At Betty's Burgers, where are you?"
"Are you alone?"
"No, I'm with Debbie and some of the guys, everything's alright. I'm fine. Where are-"
Just then something blunt came out of nowhere and struck Tim hard in the back of the head. The ground rushed up to meet his face, but just before impact he was lifted, and that's when everything went black.
Hours later he found himself in some sort of underground chamber. There was only the glow of a single stump of candle to light the huge stone room. Tim sat up quickly, and that was a mistake, the world began to spin and his stomach lurched with the urge to vomit.
"Oh God, where am I?" he questioned aloud, curling into a more comfortable position on the damp floor.
"Hello, Timothy." A velvety voice spoke out of the darkness.
"Who, who are you?" He knew he sounded scared and uncertain, hell he was scared and uncertain.
"A friend, a follower. I'm your guardian angel." The voice sneered.
"My what? Where the hell am I, and what have you done with my family?!" Tim was pissed off now, the nights previous events had just rushed back into his memory, and he could still hear his father's voice, so afraid. Tim jumped to his feet, his arms outstretched in the darkness.
"Your family is fine now, I just stopped by your house to pick up a few of your things, leave a goodbye note in your handwriting, the usual. You won't be seeing them again for a long time. Unfortunately, they came home from their dinner early, and I had to subdue your mother in a most ungentlemanly way."
"What have you done to her?! I swear to God if you've-"
"Easy now young Drake, no one has been seriously harmed. She cooperated quite easily under my charms and allowed me to slip away unseen. Your father must have discovered her and your note sometime soon after, luckily I reached you before he could."
There was something wrong with the man who stood before Tim, he felt different, everything about his presence felt different, but Tim couldn't quite place why. In the candle light he could make out a figure. The man was about 6'5", 215 pounds or so, much of his body muscular. Tim was small and light for his fifteen years, and had a black belt in Karate, but he doubted he would stand a chance against his mysterious kidnapper.
"What do you want with me?" Tim liked to get right to the point of the matter.
The man laughed, "What do I want with you?" He mocked.
"Money?"
"Oh no, I've plenty of money."
"Information?"
"I doubt you have anything of use to me stored in that little brain."
"My…," Tim cringed and begged it wouldn't be true, "..body?"
"Yes," The man laughed again, "but not in such cruel, sexual ways as you might imagine."
"You have a task of some sort for me to perform?"
"No, I actually have several tasks. I tire of your guesses, I suppose I'll tell you right out. I want you to become my assistant, my apprentice."
The man stepped closer so that Tim could make out his face. He had extremely pale skin and bright gold eyes that glowed like tiny suns set into his broad features. As the man opened his mouth to speak, Tim could see a pair of small, gleaming, eye teeth, sharp as a wolves might have been. This was no ordinary human!
"My nature is one you may find somewhat, unfamiliar, perhaps unbelievable." The man chuckled, amused with the conversation.
"Shit!" screeched Tim, backing away fast, "You're one of those things, those, those night creatures!"
"You could say that. Do you know anything else?"
"You drink…the blood of humans, right? But wait," Tim snapped back to reality and logic, " You're just a myth, Dracula and all that nonsense. Did you have your teeth surgically sharpened? You could just be some nut who wishes he was a..a.."
"A vampire, is that the word you're looking for? You are correct. But no, all such accessories of my person came with the accursed blood. But I am getting ahead of myself, this is not the time for such talk, the sun will rise soon and I will fall into a deep, coma-like sleep. You are to stay in this…cell, until nightfall, when I come to fetch you. There is no way out, so it would be a waste to look. And don't bother yelling yourself hoarse, no one can hear you down here, we are deep within the earth. I have left you some food under one of the loose stones. Have fun finding that stone, and stay out of trouble young Drake. I'm in charge of you now, and I wouldn't want my precious little apprentice killing himself off before he is due. Nighty night."
And with that the mysterious vampire disappeared into the shadows. Tim listened hard for the sound of a closing door, but none came.