Chapter Eight
Getting To Know
I felt oddly comfortable. Some sort of soft pillow was surrounding my head, making me feel safer than lately. Then whatever I was laying on seemed to hug the edge of my body protectively and gently, making the soft cloth resting over me finish the touch of ultimate comfort. I turned my head, not sure if I wanted to open my eyes. This feeling may just be imaginary and once I open my eyes, it could disappear. But the ultimate comfort did disappear when I moved to reach for the cloth that covered my body up to just under my breast. See, one hand did partially grab it... meanwhile, my right hand got choked by some tight wire that had the back of my hand pressed against a wooden pole type of thing.
My eyes shot open, and I looked at my hand before anything else. Sure enough, there was a thin wire that could resemble fishing wire wrapped around my hand, keeping me to this... bed. And even though I felt loads better now than I had before I slept, that wouldn't help in freeing me because from first glance I could tell that there was no knot to fiddle with. It was Satan wire; made specifically for vampires to keep innocent people tied to their bed. I tugged on it a bit, but quickly refrained to giving up earlier than usual.
"It was just in case you woke up and tried to run when I was gone awhile ago," I heard from beside me, and I turned sharply to see my vampire laying on his stomach on the bed almost boredly. I looked at myself quickly to make sure I wasn't missing any limbs. No, they all were there, and even the blood was gone. Luckily I wearing the same clothes, so that meant I wasn't stripped naked while I slept. I was relieved at the moment. "It's about time you woke up. I almost thought that you had decided to go into a coma. I would've killed you if that had happened. No use of keeping a person who isn't even really alive in the first place." He reached towards me and I flinched, but he merely tugged on the wire with what seemed like an effortless tug... it came off like water. I pulled my hand to me and rubbed my wrist. There would be a mark, but since I didn't struggle, there was no open wound.
"So, in case you weren't fully aware previously, you're going to stay with me until further notice," he said almost triumphly. If I wasn't afraid that he would attack me again, I would tell him to stuff a pie up his nose and ditch this joint. Instead, I just stayed quiet and thought the message. My vampire seemed to be waiting for a response, but when he didn't get any, he continued. "And also, in case you didn't hear before, the only way I get to keep you is under conditions. So if you want to try and escape, first you'll fail, and then whoever gets to you first will most likely kill you. Depends who gets to you first. All right?"
At first I didn't answer in bitterness. Then I figured the silent treatment would never last too long, so I asked, "Who will most likely kill me?" I like to be warned ahead of time. But I quickly added, "Not that I'm going to try to escape."
He scoffed in disbelief, "I'm sure you will. But out of the five vampires in this house, three of them would be glad to kill you in a heartbeat. Maybe four. It depends on whether or not you've gotten on my bad side." I stared at him, not caring much for the threat. I waited for him to continue. First of all, I thought there was only three others, but apparently there was four more... sooo... "Which ones would kill you? Well, Cecilian would just because she doesn't like humans. Katha would because she doesn't like you. And Drewdon would because... well... he likes whatever blood he can get. So when you try to escape, try to get caught by Mikel or me. Mikel would be your best bet. Unless you're dying already. Then you should try to get caught by me, unless you know I would kill you. Then you should hope you get away, even though you won't." He smiled in amusement of my expression.
"So in another words, anybody would possibly kill me," I suggested in doom.
"Oh, no. Just don't try to escape when you're dying. That way you have a one in five chance of not being killed," he assured certainly. But then he hesitated. "Well, then Mikel would bring you to me anyways, and if you pissed me off, you'd probably die. So don't piss me off and don't try to escape with you're dying... and don't get caught by Cecilian, Katha, or Drewdon."
I propped my head up on my hand to face him incrediously. "But wouldn't trying to escape get on your bad side?"
"Most definitely," he responded humorously, "So you get my point?"
"Yeah. No escape," I answered. I looked quickly around the room we were in. It seemed normal enough; with posters of bands on the wall, black carpet, c.d.'s and clothing thrown everywhere. Apparently the only partially clean area of the room was the bed. But I did take notice to the fact that there wasn't a window in here. "If I'm going to be staying here for awhile, can I know about those who will be here as well?" I hate his guts.
"About your housemates," he restated, and he rolled over on his back. "Well, Cecilian is the bitch of the house. She's the one with the short, black hair and the voice that says 'I am better than you. Worship me.' She's only been a vampire for around fifty-six years, but she believes she's the master at it. Ultimately, all she's concerned about is the power of vampires and the destruction of humans... at least she wishes. At first, I was never sure why someone would want to turn her, but Mikel says that she was attacked one night and lived. She ended up spending a great deal of her life searching for vampires after the attack, and when she found one, she attacked him, kept him as a lab rat, and ended up using his blood to turn herself into one of us. It was all for the power, though. And she likes to overpower people, so usually she attacks the strong men for food.
"Katha is the real demon of us all. She's the blonde beauty, but on the inside she's a jealous killer. When Katha was human, she was supposively a very ugly girl, but it turned out that all she needed was a little time and immortality before she was godly. A vampire turned her based on sympathy because she was dying a leper around 150 years ago. Since then, she's based her killings on those of jerks who reminded her of the men who would throw things at her for fun. And one other vice: jealousy. Which is why you should be afraid of her."
I frowned, "Because of jealousy?"
He smirked slyly, "Katha believes no human should be pretty. She believes that only immortals should be allowed the ability to be physically attractive. So she likes going after pretty, teenage girls, and instead of just drinking their blood, she completely destroys their physical attributes that make them beautiful before killing them. Notice the before part. She likes to hear them feel their punishment for having the beauty she never got to have as a human. And as for why you should be worried... she thinks you're too pretty for a human. So she's just itching for the time to rip your face from your skull and more." I bit my bottom lip. Self esteem issues lead me to believe they're just saying that to make me nervous.
"Anyways," he continued, "Katha was the one who made Mikel a vampire. Most of us agree that it was a bad choice. Mikel isn't made to be a constant killer, and it will probably be the reason for his early death. But Katha made him because he reminded her of the one who made her, so instead of being unselfish and letting him live in peace of mind, she forced him into vampirism. For the longest time, he wouldn't kill at all. Then again, when Mikel was made, he was made to naturally torture humans. His fangs are wider and longer than a lot of others, so when he bites someone, it's more painful than most vampire's bites." I looked down at the wide holes of the freshest bite on my left wrist, remember the electric pain when he had bit himself.
"So he just starved hisself, and Katha started to get really worried. I was the one who suggested the mercy killing theory, seeing as someone who would be dying would be used to the pain he would give. And so now he'll only kill a person if they're terminally ill, dying physically, in a vegetated state, or just plain old. It still bothers him, no matter how he puts it in his head, so I believe one day he'll just walk into the sunlight and fly away in the wind as ashes. But that's why he'll be one of the last vampires in this house to worry about; he wouldn't kill you unless he had reason to believe it would be a mercy killing. And even then, all you'd have to do is beg for survival and he wouldn't be able to handle it.
"And the last vampire in the house is Drewdon. He'd actually the leader of this whole Draele group. See, even though we're not actually related, we share the same last name. And whenever we're on our own, we'll be able to go under whatever name we want. But anyways, Drewdon usually stays hidden inside his own area. He'll go out to feed a lot, but it's never in a specific order. While Mikel does the mercy killing, Cecilian does the overpowering of powerful people, and Katha kills beauty and beasts, Drewdon will go for whatever is in front of him. Not that he believes in equality; he just believes humans are all the same and diserve to die equally. Which is why him and Cecilian get along fine. I don't think you've seen him, yet. He'll be the dark, depressing one with all the glares and growls. I do a pretty good immitation, but he masters it all. And nobody knows how Drewdon came along. He seemed to have shown up sometime in the early 1720s. I think he could have been a nice human, but probably changed to be breeded into vampires-shall-rule living. He kinda looks at me like his son for some reason, but I think he's just doing it to be a sneak. I haven't fallen for it though.
"And that's about all there is to know about your roommates," he finished off. It was all very interesting and slightly creepy, but I wasn't finished.
"You forgot one," I informed him.
He smiled in amusement, "And who would that be?"
"You forgot you," I replied. "Unless I'm not much mistake, Mr. Draele, you live here, too."
I stared at him expectantly, and he sighed. "I am Evanen. I am the unique one of the group, I guess you could say, because while everyone had been turned to vampires and then killed, I have killed since I was born." He smiled evily, moving closer towards me with a sly motive flashing through his eyes. He was trying to scare me, and it was kind of working. "See, while everyone had been humans who were turned to vampires, I was born a vampire. I've never known what the sun feels like on my skin, indeed, I wouldn't have ever known what it looked like if it wasn't for tv and pictures. I've never known how it felt like to be blind in the dark, or the pain of illness. I've never felt the urge for food except when it came to blood. I've never felt the comfortable pleasure of being warm..." He traced a cool finger over my warm cheek with a sudden flash of envy in his eyes. It was gone the next second, though.
"I like going after the average disturbed teen, such as these gothic, emotional, punk, rocker types. And I dress to match so that I didn't look out of place when I'm hunting. And usually... usually, once I've made a decision on my prey, I never change my mind. I've been a vampire for the 19 years of my life. And once I turn 20, everything will change," he finished. Evanen. He moved back a bit, no longer engaged in making me nervous. After I thought about it, I realized that I could fall in love with him. Protective, cute, and disturbed. It's the usual bad boy I tend to fall in love with, so it would be easy. I could... but I wouldn't. It's not the matter of actually falling in love with him, where you literally fall without meaning to. It's more of the fact that you can actually control who you like with logic. And logic tells me this is more than a bad boy; it's a complete and total asshole who killed... my... best... friend.
And suddenly I turned away from him, grabbing my head to hold in the scream of rage that had suddenly boiled from my stomach. I could fall in love with him, but at the same time I could bash his head in with a tire iron. Logic tells me that neither is going to happen, so instead of screaming, I just let my mind's ear listen to the inner screaming. 'Attack him. Go ahead and attack him. Life isn't worth living anyways.' My inner demon was bugging me again. 'Attack him, die, and go to Hell. It happens.' And I felt Evanen's cold hand grip my shoulder lightly.
"What's bothering you," he asked curiously rather than with concern. Well, let's see. You're a vampire. And you've ruined my life. Thanks.
"You went off track," I said through my clenched teeth, not turning to look at him.
"I did?" Evanen moved away from me in confusion.
"You said you usually go after the gothic, emotional, rocker, punk teenagers," and I turned over to glare at him, "Do I look like any of that?" He stared at me with a sudden interest. As if pointing this out was amazing to him. "Well? Do I?" He didn't answer. He just started to smirk. "Why couldn't you have just left the store and gone next door to the mass of disturbed teens at the concert? Why'd you have to push your way into my life?"
Evanen moved closer to me, all the time looking as though I were the best birthday present he had ever gotten. He planted his face directly in front of mine, looking at my now lighter brown eyes with his electric blue ones. "Because you made the mistake of following me," he reminded. When I didn't make any response, he looked down at my lips in thought. Try to kiss me and I'll knee your vampire nuts. "See, what undisturbed teenager goes out to follow an obviously hostile guy after that hostile guy growls at her, even baring fangs? And to put it honestly, I didn't mean to do that... the showing the fangs bit. So when I noticed you following me, or trying to, I figured you knew I was a real one instead of all the fake humans walking around the store. So you may not look like the type I usually hunt, but a person always enjoys a twist in their meal every once in a while."
I sighed, moving onto my back to look at the ceiling. How do I say this without embarrassing myself? "It wasn't... it wasn't the concept of being disturbed on my part that made me follow you," I tried to explain the best way I could. "See, I've always been drawn to people who are weird... unique or disturbed in their own way, which is why I feel normal hanging around with all those people. And I was drawn to you because... well..." I looked sideways at Evanen, and he smiled arrogantly. Probably thinking I was meaning that he was hot, which is why I followed him. So I turned to face him like he had me, a slight smirk on my own face. "Because what undisturbed person shoves a random girl hard enough to lose her sno cone, and then growls at her for looking at him?" And I had gotten back at him verbally, though this thoroughly amused Evanen to no end.
"Well, well.. if you think we're ready to move on to another subject besides accusing each other of being disturbed, how about we find out what else we'd like to know," Evanen suggested, and I raised a brow in question. He got the picture and said, "As in I don't know absolutely everything about my own Hailence besides her name.. and not even all of that itself."
I decided to do the basic summary similiar to how he had summarized himself. "I am Hailence Wyn Truit, if you must know. Similar to you yet not similiar, I have spent my whole life as a human. It's not uncommon, so it doesn't exactly make me unique, but I'm still proud of it. I have never felt the eternal cold, the inner turmoil of taking life, the knowledge of eternal damnation both before and after death, the urge for the taste of constant blood, the feeling of not being able to enter the sun without exploding into ashes, or the ability of never becoming ill. In fact, for a long time I was a planet of illnesses, pulling them to me with a gravitational force like a magnet. I always figured my body was trying to quit on me, and if I just let it, I would've been gone long ago. I had been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, Asthma, Polyarticular Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis, Essential Hypertension, and Congenital Pernicious Anemia. Along with that, most of my life I've had to merely depend on my dad to take care of me because my mother disappeared from my life when I was five. So I believe the reason why I'm around disturbed teens so much is because I can't express myself while they can, and so I feed off of their expression in order to get by in life..."
Evanen listened with interest, and when I finished, he seemed to be automatically ready with a question. "Do you know where your mom is?"
I shrugged, "I've got a basic idea... which is a radius of about 2,000 miles around from where I live... lived." And I smiled sarcastically.
"Well, do you ever want her to come back," he asked sincerely.
I frowned at him, unsure why he wanted to know about my lost mother. "It's not like in the movies or books, Evanen. I've never made a goal in life to hunt her down and hug her and tell her how much I missed and needed her in my life. As far as I'm concerned, she's dead. And if she's not, good for her, because I prefer not to know. And it's not like I'm mad at her or anything, but I figure that if I can live this long without her, what's the point of having her in my life anyways? Obviously she didn't want in it in the first place. So I've accepted her escape from my life, and I couldn't care less." And I was officially done with that subject. But something seemed to click in my mind, and I looked at Evanen with interest instead. I sat up straight on the bed to ask, "What about your parents? Did you ever know them?"
I hit something in him, and all emotions of interest, amusement, and humor erased from his expression, being replaced with a complete lockdown. He no longer seemed to want to talk with me, but he leaned towards me almost angrily and growled, "Why would I care about my parents? I'm a monster after all, and monsters don't have parents." And I lowered my eyes to my hands so that I wouldn't have to look at that cold expression on his face. I heard a click, and quickly looked back up to see that he had vanished from the room.
I stood up for the first time in a while, feeling the soft carpet against the flat of my foot, and softly walked to the door. Quietly and carefully, I twisted the door knob. It wouldn't twist far before it would lock up, not allowing me to open the door. He had locked it. So I turned back around and looked around the room again. It looked like a normal teenager's room; a messy one at least. The only source of light was from the lamp next to the bed, and I had no idea what time it was. I sighed and went back to the bed, moving under the blanket completely, curling together, hugging my knees to my chest while laying sideways, and waited for sleep to take me away from this world.
If I hoped of surviving here, I was going to have to make as many friends as possible. Katha was probably out of the question, but Mikel would be a suitable helper. I wouldn't know about Drewdon, and Cecilian seemed to really not like me. But maybe if she saw that I wasn't just some stupid human -- complaining, crying, and trying to escape constantly -- she would come to like me in time. And the more friends I had, the more chance I had that they might agree to let me go; trust me enough to know that I would never tell a soul about this. As for Evanen, I couldn't be sure about him. I could try to be good friends with him, but it would be harder than trying to be friends with a vampire who had once been human. He wouldn't understand some things about being mortal. But I could try, and as long as I could handle what would probably come at me, then I just might have a chance. Once I can get out of this room.
And if things didn't start looking better after awhile, escape shouldn't be too hard. Right?