Home At Last
As I opened my eyes the unfamiliar setting confused me. I looked around the room and finally my eyes settled on a blurry figure. I blinked a few times and he became clearer. The man from last night.
"You don't seem too shocked to find yourself here," he observed, sounding bored. His eyes were no longer red but more of a honey color. They stared at me unchanging, waiting patiently for me to reply.
"I'm not," I said shortly. I noticed that I was still wearing my coat and high heels from the night before. I sat up from the scarlet chaise lounge and stretched out the stiffness in my neck. Immediately my hands covered my throat and I looked at him with wide eyes. "Did you…" I trailed off, too startled to finished.
He chuckled, though without an ounce of amusement, "No."
My brows furrowed, "Why not?"
He seemed surprised, the first sign of emotion he'd shown yet. "Did you want me to?"
"No, I just," I stammered. "The woman in the alley…"
"Ah," he seemed to understand now, a small smirk finding his lips, "Yes, I was unexpectedly thirsty last night."
"Is she dead?" His eyebrows rose, and I was growing impatient. "Did you kill her?"
"Of course I didn't," he said, sounding bored again. "It's against the law."
"The law?" I nearly shouted, "You kidnapped me!"
"I wasn't referring to human law," he elaborated, walking over to a window. He ran a hand through his dark brown, almost black hair. It was unruly and clearly not styled, but still looked like he had come from a GQ photo shoot. "Vampires are forbidden from bringing death to humans."
I swallowed hard as he finally said the word. It was out, then. "Why did you bring me here?"
He turned to me and walked back to stand in front of me again. "That's a little more complicated," he admitted, stepping back to take a seat in an antique arm chair directly opposite of me. "See, when vampires drink from a human, we can drink to a point that we're able to inject them with a, venom I guess you could say. It heals the wound and prevents the human from bleeding out. It also erases their memory." His eyes flashed to me but I didn't react. This was a lot to take in.
"So she won't remember anything?" I asked, my mouth dry and a horrible taste climbing up my throat.
"Not anything from last night," he answered. "No."
"She's going to wake up in that alley," I couldn't help but feel for the woman.
"I took her home," he explained, and when my eyes bent in confusion he added, "She had a driver's license with her."
I nodded and ran my hands over my face, trying to stop myself from getting sick or crying. "When can I go home?"
He remained silent so I brought my hands to my lap. I waited while he stared at me, his eyes growing more intense. "You can't."
He made it seem so simple, like I had known it along. Perhaps I did and I just couldn't admit it to myself. After all, why would he have gone through the trouble of bringing me here in the first place if he was just going to take me home? Yet still, the gravity of his confirmation made my stomach turn and my heart fluttered in agony. I would have to stay here forever.
He must have been able to tell that I was coming to terms with these conditions. Not willingly, of course, but I couldn't see any other way out. Not at the moment. "Your room is down the hall near the kitchen. You'll be working there with a few other humans. They will teach you your duties around the mansion." His voice was detached and he rose from his chair. "Some of your belongings are already in your room," he said over his shoulder as he walked out of the room and disappeared.
I sighed and looked down at my hands. I couldn't bring myself to stand yet, so I fell back against the chaise lounge again. I stared at the ceiling until my breaths grew longer and eventually I fell back asleep.
