The girl looked at me with sudden interest. Apparently humans weren't common around here, but what did that make them? Aliens? Maybe someone set me up and this was all a huge prank pulled by my old neighbors. Interrupted from my terrible thoughts, I heard her voice.
"I'm Vasilisa.", She said and extended her hand towards me. Two guys were behind her, one a muscly older man (Older than me I mean, he wasn't like grampa old) with brown eyes and dark brown hair, and one black haired and blue eyed, younger and slimmer than the more fit.
"Hi.", I said quickly, I wasn't always best at conversation. She was clearly going to say something after I'm Vasilisa but I didn't give her the chance. Instead, she introduced everyone else to me.
"This is Rose, my guardian.", She said pointing to a girl I hadn't even seen enter the room. She had a more normal build than the blue eyed guy and Vasilisa. I locked eyes with her only to meet a suspicious glare. She next pointed to the one with blue eyes. "Christian, my boyfriend, behind him is his guardian Dimitri.", the only left was the other muscly male. Well that meant blue eyes wasn't open, but maybe the other was. And who was Vasilisa exactly? Why did she need so many guards? Didn't someone call her Queen Vasilisa earlier? What was she the queen of, England?
"So I hear you've come a long way.", Vasilisa said sitting on one of the puffy chairs in the lounge. "How exactly did you get here?", she questioned. Her voice was controlled and proper, even relaxing. It made me want to tell her everything all at once, but I didn't.
"I found it hiking.", I lied. It wasn't a complete lie. I mean, biking, hiking, I could have misspoke. Her eyebrows came together for a split second.
"It was reported you came in on a bicycle.", She responded. "With a flat back tire?"
I took a nervous glance around the room; all eyes were on me. A sudden tug in the couch beside me made me turn my head. Adrian, the guy I'd met earlier was now seated at an uncomfortable distance next to me.
"I'm sure she meant to say biking.", He responded, picking up his glass filled with some sort of alcohol. I could smell the foulness from here.
"So why were you out here? It's pretty deep in the forest.. especially at this time? Shouldn't you be home?", Vasilisa questioned yet again.
"Well Vas-", I began, but was interrupted.
"Call me Lissa.", she corrected, finally saying what she'd held back earlier by the look of relaxation. She'd previously been tense, on edge to correct her name.
"Well.. Lissa.", I began again with a small pause, just in case anyone else wanted to interrupt. No one did. "I got evicted from my apartment. I didn't think the streets were safe so I thought hey, maybe I could camp out in the woods for a couple of days. I got distracted by the day and found a road which led to here.", I said honestly while I stared at my hands. I found it hard to lie to her. Flicking my eyes back to Vasilisa's soft expression, I felt bad for sharing that. Everyone's look around the room was solemn, except for Christian and Rose. Great, just what I needed. A bunch of weirdos surrounded around me making a huge ass pity party. When I finally managed to gather the courage to speak, we'd all been silent for a long, awkward pause.
"Where am I?", I asked finally. Everyone shared another long look between each other as Vas- Lissa decided what to do. It was the man beside me who spoke next.
"Oh you know, at St. Vlads, school for vampires and half vampires, definitely more interesting than area 51.", After this, Adrian kicked his feet back onto the wooden table with a smug expression. Lissa appeared to be shocked at the information he spilled, and me? I laughed.
"Adrian Ivashkov you do not make the decisions here!", Lissa squeaked. "You can't just tell a human about us!", Her tone was pretty serious, but I still didn't buy it. That is, until Adrian grinned. I saw the tips of very sharp teeth poke out through his lips. I wanted to touch one, but if he really was a vampire (which he wasn't) I'd.. trigger some sort of undying craving right? Then everyone would feast on me.
"Oh come on Lissa, you need to take a couple chances once in a while.", he rolled his emerald eyes. She looked at me to read my expression, seeing I'd taken the false information well.
"Uh.. well. That's not how I wanted to tell you, or even tell you at all but..", Lissa started, playing with a lock of her hair. "I'm a moroi, what we call a vampire. Dimitri and Rose here are dhampirs- half vampires.", she explained. "The dhampirs train here, to become guardians of us moroi; protecting us."
"From what?", I asked, accidentally cutting her off with my curiosity.
"Strigoi. They're the um. Bad vampires. They kill for blood, and we only take enough to get by every day-", Lissa was cut off by Christian, who spoke for the first time.
"They're coo-coo for our blood.", he said bluntly. "They'd do anything to get it, that's why we need guardians like them.", he motioned with his head to Dimitri and Rose.
"How do you.. get the blood?", I asked a little quieter. I swallowed back a nervous smile and kept my face neutral.
"We have feeders.", Lissa explained. "Humans who've willingly volunteered to give us our blood every day. They're addicted to the bite, it's kind of like a drug I guess.", her cheeks turned to a soft shade of pink.
"Can you guys turn into strigoi?", I asked after a moment.
"If we kill a human, by completely draining them of blood... yes.", Lissa said. "We no longer have control of our actions, our souls are trapped."
I let this information sink in. Okay, I'd be on board with the crazy train for now.
"So.. are you going to kill me?", I asked casually, not letting my fear for the answer get the best of me.
"Of course not!", Lissa said on alert, sitting straighter. "I don't know what to do yet, but we certainly wont allow your death, you aren't the only human to know about us.", she had a hand over her chest now.
"She can stay at my place.", Adrian offered, getting a cold look from Lissa.
"We have guest houses.", She replied dryly.
"What would I do? Help fight? I mean, I wouldn't mind that..", I said and allowed a small portion of my nervousness to seep into my words.
"You wouldn't be strong enough." Rose replied. "Dhampirs are stronger and faster than humans and moroi by far.", she uncrossed her arms to push herself off of the wall.
Lissa bit her lip. "Well uh, you could maybe try. If it doesn't work out we'll find something else for you to do. Adrian could escort you to classes and everything." she stood from her seat. "That is if you decide to stay, are you staying?", she asked me. I was shocked the possible ax murderers gave me a choice.
"Yes.", I replied. "I don't really have anything else to do."
"What about your family?", Lissa asked. I shrugged it off.
"They wont notice, trust me.", with that, she left. Rose followed her out. Shortly after them was Christian and Dimitri, leaving only me and Adrian in the room. Alone. I stood quickly.
"So where is my room? I'm tired.", I quickly uttered.
Adrian shook his head. "I'm going to at least show you around before you skip off to bed.", Despite him being slightly creepy and suggestive, he kept staring at me. I wasn't sure why, but he did, and it was bothering me. I didn't say anything though, but silently prayed there was some sort of cop that could stop vampire rape.
We'd been walking a while, and Adrian had made sure to point out every cafe and shop along the way. Eventually our feet came to a stop at the gym. He led me in, showing me around. Mostly there were mats and few work out machines, but those were in the very back. At the front of the room was a mini fridge packed with water and sodas, energy drinks, and snacks. Towels rested on top of it. Something caught my eye in the back of the room, so I walked over to it. I picked up the object in my hand- a spike. Adrian's wide-eyed look told me what the spike really was; a stake.
"What are you planning to do with that?", he asked, watching me toss it from one hand to the other. I stopped when I felt a hand on top of mine, and when I lifted my head, his green eyes were bearing into me with a small amount of fear. He took the stake away, putting it up on a high shelf I couldn't reach even if I jumped.
"I was just getting the feel of it.", I grumbled in disappointment.
"You did look pretty sexy with that whole dangerous act.", Adrian replied with a wink. He took me to the guest rooms next- well, the guest dorms I suppose. I had my own room, own kitchen, own bathroom and living room, and it was way nicer than my old place.
"So, where is everyone? It seems pretty dead around here.", I said, not realizing I'd made a joke. "Excuse the pun.", I added quickly. I mean, they were vampires.
"Oh classes haven't started yet, they begin at 5pm.", he explained. Sweet! More sleeping in for me.
"Moroi classes anyway, dhampirs start at 7.", And there went my hopes.
"Shouldn't the dhampirs be out then?", I asked. A head shake substituting for a 'no' crossed my eyes.
"They're in the middle of the end of the year test. All students get a moroi assigned to them they have to protect, the teachers pretend to be strigoi and attack them."
"So did anyone get assigned to you?", I asked.
"No.", he replied. "But I'd let you guard me any day.", with yet another wink, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes, lit one up, and walked out of the door.
I sunk down into my new bed, in my new home, wondering what the hell kind of new life I was leading.
A/N: Hiya guys! So I actually had time to write another chapter before I move! I will be moving next week (we're getting internet connection the day we move in, so don't worry!), so I won't have time to put out chapter three. (my whole room still needs to be packed x_x) Let me know what you think of the re-write in the reviews, leave any suggestions in my pm! Also sorry for this being a little short, I just needed to get it out before I moved, the anxiousness for your reactions killed me. Thank you for reading! -Sam