I had no idea what to expect of this "mystery person" but I sure as hell didn't expect this. The person in front of me appeared to be only about a year or so older than me. I looked over him quickly to that he was only wearing shorts and a t-shirt. He had a nice body build showing that he exercised regularly. He wasn't like one of those extremely buff guys you see on magazines but he wasn't exactly average sized either.
He had brownish gold hair that was sticking up on one side to show that he was sleeping. I looked to his eyes to see that they were a nice brown. As he was looking at my eyes the sleepy expression on his face left as it was replaced with a guarded one. He stepped to the side and gestured with his hand inviting me inside. I stepped inside and walked down the hall into what looked like a living room. He came up behind me and gestured toward a chair before settling into one himself. I quietly followed suit.
"What's your name?" He asks me, his face still guarded.
"Sage, yours?" I replied, getting a little irritated with the way he was looking at me, like I was some kind of threat.
"Raiden" He replies shortly. What kind of name is that? Weird. Not really knowing what to say next, I reach into my pocket to get the note from Kate. Raiden moves in his seat slightly like he was afraid I'm going to pull a gun on him or something, but he does nothing to restrain me from retrieving the note. Once I got it out of my pocket I reached over to hand it to him. He reaches over and while doing so his hand brushes lightly against mine and in that short second I feel like electricity passed from his hand to mine and his hand was freezing cold. Followed after that weird sensation I was flooded with images in my head. There's fire, crying, yelling, someone screaming for help. Somewhere in these flashes I feel a strange sensation of flying. Once Raiden hand wasn't touching mine anymore all the images were gone and I was still sitting in his apartment. What. The. Hell. What happening to me? Was it only me who saw those flashes or felt that electric sensation? I looked up at Raiden to see if he noticed anything. If he did, he didn't show any signs of experiencing what I just did, while he simply started unfolding the note.
I watched as he looked down at the note and in the time that I had to blink he looked back up at me. Whoa, did he really read the note that fast? Didn't he need more light to read it or something? There was only on light on in the room and it was coming from the other corner of the room.
"Do you remember what happened tonight?" He asks suddenly bringing me out of my thought. Huh, now that he mentioned it, I didn't remember what happened, nt even how I ended up in a coffin. Not I had so many questions. Does he actually claim to know what happened? Does he know how I ended up in a coffin? Or more importantly why? Instead of overwhelming him with questions I opted for a simple shake of my head and said no.
He sighed heavily and relaxed a bit into his chair and ran a hand through his hair obviously trying to think of what to say next. We sat in silence while I waited for him to gather his thoughts. I continued to watch him as he sat up in his chair and looked me directly in the eyes and said the words that would change my life.
"You're a Vampire."
And then it all came rushing back, all the events from earlier tonight flashing before my eyes. The strange feeling in my throat. Hannah's scream. Jacob. Mike. Red eyes. Fangs. Pain. And then nothing. My friends are dead, of that I have no doubt, and he, the other Vampire, killed them. Instead of feeling sorrow, I felt an immense amount of guilt and anger. Guilt for not saying something about going into the alley even if I didn't know what was going to happen. Guilt for not trying harder to save my friends. Anger at the Vampire who caused all of this. Both of these emotions however, were replaced with confusion as a strange sound emitted from my mouth. Ugh, what now?
Raiden stiffened in front of me and clenched his fists on his armrest. I looked at him with a confused expression on my face.
"Your fangs," was all he said. I quickly got up and moved to the mirror on the opposite side of the room. What I saw in the mirror captivated my entire attention. Not just because of the fangs that could now be seen when I open my mouth slightly but the eyes…they were red, just like the other Vampire who killed my friends.
"How long will my eyes stay life this?" I asked without looking away from the mirror. I already figured that he was a vampire since his eyes are brown. Mine should go back to their original color soon, right?
"They'll stay like that forever." He replied softly. My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion and I turned around to go sit back in the chair that was across from Raiden.
"Are you human then?" I asked observing his brown eyes.
"No, I'm wearing contacts and I wasn't sure if you were human or not when you knocked on my door so I put them on." He explained while pulling his contacts out to reveal red eyes like mine. I nod my head letting him know that I understood and he smiled softly.
"So do you remember everything now?" He asked, placing his contacts on the table in front of him.
" Yeah I do," I said. Now that he mentioned it again, my mind envisioned some of the events from tonight. Hannah, Mike, and Jacob. All of their lifeless bodies on the ground in front of me. This time when I remembered it was anger or guilt that I felt but sorrow and pain. I felt tears well up in my eyes but none fell, probably some Vampire thing. I didn't much at the moment to ask though. I must've been showing my emotions on my face because Raiden had a look of compassion and sympathy for me.
"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked. From the way he said it, it seemed like he really cared and wasn't just asking because it seemed like the "right thing to do". He really cared and seemed like he could empathize. I felt like I could trust him so I nodded my head and told him everything that happened. I started from when Mike invited me to the movie all the way to now. I even told him about the two times I had the strange feeling I had in my throat. He seemed confused about that but didn't interrupt. When I got to the part about the phoenix, a look of realization crossed his feature; I would have to ask him about that.
When I finished explaining he remained silent and left me to my thoughts but I didn't want to think at the moment not when all of this just happened all of a sudden. So instead I asked him the first question that came to my mind and what confused me the most.
"Why was I in a coffin?" The question obviously took him by surprise, but he answered it.
"Well, that part of the process of becoming a Vampire. To become a Vampire one has to have the body drained from your body by another Vampire and then placed into a coffin for two hours. After the two hours the transformation is complete and you wake up as a Vampire." He explained while looking slightly confused and disbelieving. He looked like he was trying to think of something but didn't believe the solution he came up with. His next words confirmed my suspicion; "I'm not so sure how you ended up in a coffin seeing as someone has to put you in one since you obviously can't do it and I doubt the Vampire you explained did it. But when you mentioned the phoenix, well let's just say, she may have put you there, but I don't see why she would."
Huh? "She? You mean the phoenix put me in a coffin to turn me into a Vampire instead of letting me stay dead?" Sounds crazy when you actually say it aloud, huh?
"As crazy as it sounds, yes. I have a lot to tell you so that this all makes sense, but I think you should call your parents or something before someone starts searching for you. Tell them you're staying at a friend's house or something and you can stay here until I can get you some contacts and make sure you're controlled enough before I let you go anywhere."
I completely forgot that I should be home by now; my mom's probably worried right about now. But what should I tell her? Hannah was the only girl with us and she's bound to come up missing soon so I couldn't possibly say I'm staying at her place. "What should I tell my mom?" I asked Raiden, hoping he could come up with something.
"Say you saw a friend and her family at the movie and you two got talking and she invited you to stay the night so you went with her instead of going back with Mike, Jacob, and Hannah. You could also say that they didn't have a phone on them so you couldn't call them until you got to their house. Tell your mom you'll be back home by tomorrow evening. It's only about 9, so say that the movie was shorter than you thought so you guys decided to hang out for a bit but lost track of time."
Huh, that wasn't a half bad idea. Yeah, it had some holes in it but I think it should do. So I nod while he gets up and walks into another room, probably going to get the phone. He came back with a black cell phone in his hand and handed it to me. "If your mom asks to talk to a parent of your friend, I'll talk to her and pretend to be the dad."
I nodded and he walked into a different room to give me some privacy.
The talk with my mom went fine. She was a bit worried at first but told me it was fine to say at my "friend's house". She did ask to talk to a parent though, but Raiden assured her that it was fine for me to stay and that I'd be returning tomorrow afternoon.
"I know you have more questions about all this but I'll answer them all in the morning, you should sleep now. While you were on the phone I set some clothes on the bed for you. The room you'll be staying in is down the hall and the second door on the left." Raiden said after coming back from his room to put the phone away.
"Okay, thank you." I replied, not entirely focused on what he was saying but instead thinking about all of the events from today, or I guess I should say tonight.
Raiden noticed that I wasn't really focused so he said good night and left me to think. Not really concentrating on my actions, I walked to the room Raiden mentioned and changed into the clothes on the bed, not really seeing what they were. For all I know I could've put the pants on top of my head and not have noticed. I lied down in the bed and settled in for what was most likely to be a restless night…..