Author's note

I just thought I'd say thanks for all the reviews - this is the first story i've posted on fanfiction so I'm pretty chuffed that people like it enough to tell me that :D Let me know if you have any ideas or questions etcetera. I should be updating quite regularly up till about chapter ten, because I've got all those chapters already typed up ;) hehe.

o3; seduced by heartless vampires.

My skin broke out in bumps, every hair on my body standing on end. Though I'd only spent a short half hour with Zoe, I'd grasped enough to realise that this was very bad. And combined with Erik's warnings and threats, I knew that I was in trouble. I looked around me, trying to orientate myself again, but Zoe seemed to have disappeared completely. Not that I didn't think she was crazy anyway - who would want to work in a place like this?!

"Zoe!?" I yelled, not liking the echo my voice left ringing in the twisted corridors. "Zoe?"

There was no answer, she must have continued on her way - or maybe even realised I had left her and was lost just looking for me. All I could hear was the whistle of air moving through the countless rooms, and a soft huffing, sobbing noise.

"Zoe!" I yelled again, to no avail.

"Hello...?" There was a weak, distant sounding voice calling to me. It didn't sound like Zoe - the voice was too hoarse and ill sounding, but still not threatening. "Is someone there?"

"Who is that?" I called out cautiously, moving tentatively in the direction the sound had come from - towards a darkened archway that gave me the shivers once more.

"D-diana," I think was what she said, but it was cut off by rapid wheeze. "Are you human too?"

Feeling less nervous about this - she was human, I was safe - I headed through the arch, peering about me. "Where are you?" I said, less loudly. There was another wheeze, and with horror, my eyes were drawn to a shaking figure, huddled into the corner of the stone room, pressing her torn clothes tightly to her heart. Her skin looked like it has once been a shimmering cocoa, but it now had a frightening pale grey tinge to it. Her brown eyes were wide and terrified as she looked up at me. The girl couldn't be older than me.

For once I felt too much pity to feel any fear. I knelt down to get a closer look at her, and my eyes widened with shock. Her bones stuck out from her skin in a way that looked sharp and painful, like she'd been starved.

"Thank you," she breathed, tears condensing in her huge eyes. "You don't know how long... I don't know how long I've been lost in this place."

"You've been lost?" I gasped, horrified. What if no one ever found us? No one had found Diana... "My name's Lilly, and I'm human. I was brought here last night... I, he, it flew. We've got to get out of here... But I don't think I can."

Diana nodded like she understood.

"When I was taken, I didn't know that he was a vampire." She whispered, her voice too feeble to do anything but. "About a week ago maybe - I lived in Boston with my family. I never knew vampires existed. But I went to a nightclub. I... I let him walk me through the park...Then... Then he b-bit me. I was so stupid. I woke up, tied up to a bed a-and..."

She pressed the ragged party dress harder against her, and I could guess exactly what had been done to her. I could see the bite mark on her neck too - an angry red wound on her ashen skin.

"I tried to escape b-but I never realised this place was so big..." She started sobbing again. I let her lean her head, her lank black hair on my shoulder. "You're the first human I've seen..."

"It's okay," I muttered, my voice angry. My blood was boiling. Because of heartless vampires, doubtlessly. Monsters. "I'll help you... They kidnapped me too. I don't know what they want from me at all."

She was still crying softly, and I tried to persuade her to stand and come with me. I worried if she could manage to walk, holding her torn dress around her still - she must have been freezing in the dark and the stone. I lead her carefully out of the shadows, towards anywhere that looked like out.

"It's impossible," she said dully, after we'd only gone a few paces. "I've wandered this castle for days, and I seen a lot of things... I don't think I saw the same room twice."

"There has to be a way out," I said back, feeling hopeless, just looking at the expression she had.

"Zoe!" I called again in frustration, and not getting an answer. I picked a door, and I got yet another winding hallway - this one only slightly grander, with a chandelier and forbidding portraits. Like I was ever going to find anyone in this place.

Diana looked so weak, I was afraid if we walked any further she'd collapse to the ground, so after nearly an hour of wandering the hallways, shouting out for help, I just sat down against a wall, so we didn't have to walk anymore. Diana wasn't able to talk anymore - she just stared blankly ahead of her, dead to the world. I tried waving my hand in front of her face. Nothing seemed to help.

I slumped further down the wall, wishing I knew where I was. Wishing I was home.

There was suddenly a noise like guncrack, and I looked up in surprise. Diana barely seemed to notice. I glanced, shocked, at the amused dark eyes staring down fathomlessly at me.

"Oh, Erik won't like this at all," He laughed, his fangs flashing in the light.

I glared at him, aware that this was probably another one of the most beautiful people I'd seen in my life. His face was slim and angular, his eyes were the darkest possible brown you could imagine, with thick lashes. His ash blonde hair hung just out of his eyes, just slightly too long, and his slim athletic physique was dressed finely in what was surely designer. He looked conceited, infinitely cruel and almost feminine - but not quite.

He leaned towards me, taking a deep breath, breathing in the scent of my blood no doubt. I leaned away compulsively.

"You do smell good," he chuckled humourlessly, "...Not to mention we seem not to affect you. How curious..." He watched me closely, examining me. Uncomfortable, I turned and looked at Diana. She was gazing up at the strange new vampire moonily, as though she'd forgotten what they'd done to her already. Like he was hypnotising her.

"What are you doing to her?" I asked sharply, but pulling myself against the wall, as far away from him as I could.

"It's not what I'm doing to her, sweetheart," he smirked, but his expression turned annoyed. "It's what I'm not able to do to you... Any other human female would be incapacitated by me standing so close - they normally have no power to resist us like this. Vampire pheromones, they lure in our prey... Dazzle them, you could say."

I was silent for a moment as I considered this. Was it really true?

"So, Lilly, I believe?" His eyes had narrowed.

"What do you want from me?" I hissed, wondering where I got the courage to be so outspoken.

"Relax, darling," he rolled his eyes scornfully, "If I was going to kill you, I would have already done it by now. You're lucky I came to find you... Incompetent human staff, I have no tolerance for them. Zoe will be punished severely for losing track of you, when I find her. You're really so insignificant for such a fuss to be made over, don't you think?"

I was unable to answer, number by his nonchalant attitude. I was thinking with worry for Zoe - she was friendly, it wasn't her fault that I'd gotten lost.

"Hmm, not very bright, are we?" He muttered at my silence.

"W-who are you?!" I stammered angrily, my hands clenching into fists.

"Alexei Federov, a vampire," He looked at me sourly. "One day I will own this castle, and command the whole of the vampire species.." He trailed away, saw Diana, lying nearly comatose, and gave me a pathetic look. "You were trying to save her?" He laughed. "Any human brought to this place is guaranteed never to be truly saved, sorry. Her blood looks so weak, I don't even think I want to put her out of her misery."

"You're going to kill her?!" I nearly shouted, seething. "How could you do something so... So heartless! Is that what you're going to do with me? It's... Ugh!"

"I'm a vampire, and technically, we do have hearts, but we have no need of them." He answered flatly. "Do you want me to prove it you, or will you shut your mouth, leave that corpse here, and come with me?"

It took me a moment to realise he was speaking about Diana. I glowered at him.

"If that's how you feel, then I guess I'll have to prove it to you." He took a breath, and made as though to pounce at me, his eyes had turned horrible inky black - but out of nowhere, a strong arm had restrained him. Attached to it was the mysterious vampire from last night, and if I thought he had seemed angry then, his face now was furious.

If Alexei had reminded me of a wildcat, sleek, sly and haughty, then Erik reminded me of a wolf. His broad shoulders pulled Alexei back before he lunged for me roughly, snarling noises ripping from his throat.

"Harm her and I'll kill you," I heard him growl in a low warning. He looked down and his piercing eyes caught mine - I glared up at him too - he was still a vampire after all. The fact that he had saved me hadn't warmed me to him at all. For all I knew he could have been the one who had abducted Diana... Yet somehow I didn't think it was. His eyes fell on her and he looked irritated. Then he turned back to me.

"I told you not wander around by yourself," he said gruffly, a trace of his previous fury, and distaste for me, still evident.

Alexei looked ruffled, but immediately found his bearings, sneering at me and Erik in one quick movement.

"Manners are a virtue Erik," he glared pointedly, but Erik looked like he was about to snap at him again.

"Maybe you should have remembered that before you tried to slit her throat," He replied bluntly, his emerald eyes narrow.

"I get the feeling I'm no longer wanted here," sighed Alexei, smirking lightly. "I'll leave you to her, if that's what you want Erik. By the way, the resemblance is uncanny... I didn't suppose you noticed, had you?"

"Go," snapped Erik, ignoring him, his eyebrows furrowed. Alexei disappeared without another word, noiselessly. I was left with Erik, looking down at me imperiously. His expression never seemed to waver. He was like a perfect stone carving. I wanted to spit at him, do something bold and defiant, but I was caught somewhere between fear and amazement.

"Why did you kidnap me?" A shaky little sentence was the best I could come up with... Slowly the questions started pouring out. "What's this thing around my neck? Was it you who kidnapped Diana?"

He looked mildly disgusted at the last question.

"Not all vampires are the way you imagine them in stories," He said, though it was still clear he didn't like me. "Just a few. The vampire who took her was probably Jared. He's done it before, and he does it because he knows we don't like it. The girl's going to die regardless - it's too late, I can hear her heart slowing. There's nothing you can do."

I looked over at Diana, it was true, her skin felt chilling. I started to seethe again.

"How you calmly just take people from their homes?" I wanted to yell, but my voice was quiet again. "Like it doesn't matter. My family will be looking for me - they're famous, I'll even be in the news."

"Not like it matters here," he dismissed. "I told you, you are never going home." The velvety smoothness of the way he said it only panicked me further.

"Wh-why? How can you do that? It's, it's illegal and immoral and-"

He leaned down to my level, and looked into my eyes, dazzling me and stopping me midsentence. He pulled me up to my feet by my shoulders. I didn't struggle, because I knew I couldn't win against his overpowering strength. I did notice that his hands were warm today though. When he kidnapped me his hands had been stone cold.

I let him prop me up on the stone floor, sparing a glance down at Diana. Her eyes had shut. She was dead, I could feel it. Tears for her and me were on my face, and I turned away from Erik so he couldn't see them.

His voice was quieter. "You might have noticed, but there's something in your blood that's different from other humans. You don't react to the prescence of a vampire like other humans - when they're around us they gravitate towards us, drawn by pheromones, magnetism. You don't. I'm unsure why - maybe you were exposed to vampires as a child."

Not that I can remember, I thought to myself, but said nothing.

"Christoph has a theory," He continued. "He thinks that if you're immune to our pheromones, and his powers, then you are immune to our venom too. In which case, you are exactly what he has been looking for."

"And the necklace?" I asked, hearing my voice tremble.

"It's a marker; it shows that you're property of us. It allows us to track you, in case, somehow, you succeed in getting out of here."

I couldn't believe this. My mind refused to accept that it was true. But I didn't have a choice. I wiped the tears of my face with my sleeves, and took a steadying breath to calm myself. I turned to look at him, not really caring if there were red tear tracks on my face.

There was a snap from the other end as the door opened. I saw a shock of purple hair over a chalk white face. It was Zoe, looking more than just worried.

"Oh my god, Lilly!" She cried, and immediately shut her mouth when she saw the vicious look on Erik's face as he regarded her. She looked terrified. "P-please, forgive me, it was a mistake, I never meant to lose her - I'll do anything, just please don't-" Her face was so desperate, it was heartbreaking.

"For a mistake like this," said Erik, slowly, thoughtfully, his eyes trailed to her face, "I should have you destroyed."

"No!"

I barely realised it had been me who said that, until his eyes flickered to my face. His face still remained stony anyhow, without a trace of emotion - but I was sure I could see a slight tilt to his mouth, like he was amused by my impossibly human reactions. He was impossible to decipher. I looked at Zoe, who had tears of fear welling in her eyes, and then back to him, my heart thudding.

"It was my fault," I admitted, "I wandered off - I heard noises and went to look for what they were, Zoe didn't notice I was gone, I hadn't told her. You can't kill her - it's not fair."

I knew he couldn't kill me (could he?) if he thought that my blood was so "special".

A devious smirk spread over his angelic face. He looked towards Zoe.

"Is this true?" There seemed to be a new kind of emotion in his voice, like he found this hilarious. It was still an undeniably good voice, despite the cruelty in it.

Zoe nodded ferociously, looking at me gratefully. Her face was flushed.

Erik turned back to me, his teeth showing, just. I my stomach felt like it had bats swooping around it - vampire bats.

"Well, in that case, human," he laughed, "You'll have to be punished."