Chapter Fourteen

Near Accidental

"Come on, nothing's going to hurt you."

"No, thank you."

"Hailence, you've been in here too long. You need to get out of this room for awhile."

"No. I told you, already. I prefer to be in here," I responded to Evanen's pleas as he stood with the bedroom door wide open. I prefered to stay in a spot where I felt less likely to be attacked by anyone. Unless Evanen himself went crazy. But beggars can't be choosers, and as long as I don't tick him off, I won't be the reason to be attacked by him. So I was firm in my decision of location, unlike Evanen. He was becoming worried with the fact that I had been refusing to leave this large yet small room for the past two weeks. Not even starvation was keeping me from staying in one area for eternity. And going three days without food scared him even more so that he had to bring food in fear that I would become sick.

"Look, either you can walk out of here, or I'll carry you," Evanen threatened seriously. I hesitated, looking him directly in the eyes for signs of weakness. It was like we were about to have a shoot-off as though we were in the western times. Except he had the gun, and my goal was to dodge the bullets. I'm no Neo, either.

But I took my chances. "Nope," I answered, and there was silence. Just as I saw the clicking of light in Evanen's eyes - which was the sign that said he was going to attack - I dove to the ground and he dove towards me. While I dove under the bed, he lunged over the bed. Still, seeing as he was the quick one, I didn't crawl to the other side of the bed before I felt his stone hand grip my ankle.

"I won't let you take my people," I screamed randomly, and thinking of the movie 'Braveheart', "FREEEEDDDOOOOMMM!" I finished it off with screeching of defiance, but it was cut off when I was pulled out from under the bed and quieted by a hand over my mouth.

"Stop screaming," Evanen requested, and I defied that by screaming under his palm (though it was muffled). "Stop screaming," he ordered again, but this time I felt the order snatch onto my thoughts until I was incapable of screaming. He lifted his hand from my mouth with triumph.

"I thought you said you wouldn't do that unless it was necessary," I said in frustration, feeling slightly betrayed. I got a good result because for a moment I saw the sudden guilt in Evanen's eyes that he quickly wipe away with humor. I felt the thoughts unlatch quickly so that I knew I could scream again if I wanted to, but I didn't.

"It was necessary. You might've gotten their attention, and they would probably think you were trying to run away and that I was trying to stop you. And who knows, maybe two of them would've held me back while the other killed you so that I couldn't defend you," Evanen answered with a shrug. The possibilities were wide. Another reason why I didn't want to leave this room unless I was leaving to go home.

Just as I was thinking that, Evanen lifted me up and over his shoulder so fast that I forgot to breathe. He walked me out of the bedroom and towards the stairs. And then I was freaking out. "No, no, no, no," I started to whine in a pleading voice, "Please. I don't want to... what if... I just want to go home." Evanen stopped in midstep, and then I was flung from his shoulder and shoved into a wall hard enough for the oxygen to be forced out of me, but not bad enough to actually hurt.

"Listen here, Hailence, you're never going home. Get that through your thick skull," Evanen growled into my face, holding me against the wall. I understood that. I was going to be stuck here with him until he got tired of me. God knows, he might just get bored of keeping me as company and end up ravaging me until I was nothing but a pile of trash in his bedroom before killing me himself. That didn't keep me from wanting to go home. And the fact that he didn't even want to think that I wanted to go home brought tears to my eyes.

Evanen sighed with frustration, his expression now a dark, omniscent look that made him look older than he actually was. "Sometimes I just...," He started, and I got furious before he could finish the sentence.

"What? You get sick of me," I hissed with rage.

He glared into my eyes, which were glaring back with just as much if not more flame, "Sometimes I get sick of you being so human. So scared and weak. I wish you'd just... I don't know." He looked away, frustrated.

"Well, so-rry, but in case you haven't noticed, I AM human," I snapped. "I was born one, and I will die one! And maybe I wouldn't be so afraid and weak if you hadn't brought me to a house of animals that EAT people like me!" I took noticed to how the word 'animal' hurt him as though it were actually a knife rather than a word.

"Okay. I get it. But you'll be fine, now," Evanen said, calming down to reassurance. He lightly lifted the metal rose from my neck to my attention. "See? I'll always be able to know if you need me. You won't have to worry anymore. They wouldn't dare try to hurt you with me around, whether physically or not. And right now I'm here physically, so you can stop worrying at the moment and summon up enough courage to go get something to eat from the kitchen." I stared at him, contemplating his speech. He did have a point, but I still felt the fear gnawing at me, telling me one step further into this house is a trap that'll lead to my ultimate doom.

"Well...," I hesitated. I did need to stop being such a chicken. "Fine. I'll 'summon up enough courage', then." He smirked and I scoffed. It wasn't like the 'cuh' scoff, in which is a scoff uttered when disgusted. It was more a half-laugh type of thing, which is uttered when forced to do something you really don't actually want to do, but someone convinced you to do it. And you feel slightly light-hearted about it because it doesn't seem like a big deal now that someone persuaded you against the fear. Got it? Let's all scoff together, then. One... two... three... hauh... or whatever. That's more of a indian call, but we got the picture.

So Evanen, now my bodyguard, led me into the kitchen where I cooked up something nice - seeing as he can't cook because he never saw a reason to. But I was fine with eating my fried chicken, potatoe logs, and popcorn with Orange Soda on the side. The soda was specially requested not long before this time. I was never too good with eating popcorn, but I dealt with it this time. Every since I watched that news channel in which they told about this illness called 'Popcorn Lungs' or something, popcorn scared me. I took care not to breathe when eating the popcorn, as well. I'm not even sure if it's really an illness, but I prefer to have regular, meat lungs rather than lungs made from popcorn or something.

"Evanen, honey," Cecilian said sweetly, an actual smile of kindness on her face as she walked into the kitchen. The moment her eyes set on me, her smile wiped from her face, and she turned to Evanen with a sour expression. "We need to go over the invitations shortly to be assured that we're all satisfied with who's all coming." And she flicked her head back a bit to silently order him to follow her before she turned to walk away.

Evanen sat there across the counter from me, looking in the direction Cecilian had gone with an expression of deep thought. He turned his head to peer his blue eyes to me as I took another drink of orange soda without appearing to be bothered. I put down the soda and waited for him to leave or something, and he gave me a small smile of defiance towards Cecilian.

I raised an eyebrow. "If you're skin is practically stone, how'd you peirce your lips? And how do you keep it where it won't close up the moment you remove it," I asked curiously.

"Evanen," Cecilian snapped from another room, "Move it along!"

"Well, I'll be right back. You stay here," Evanen said to me, pushing himself up to follow the towering, evil witch. He paused before he left the kitchen. "I put the snake bites in my lips myself, and I haven't taken them out. If they did come out, I'd just have to put 'em back in there. Same for the tongue ring." Simple. He left, and I felt the sudden emptiness of being completely alone in a room of this large house.

It was unsettling. Any small noise I made was somehow made ten times louder than normal. And the more I heard the loud noise of any small movement, the louder and sharper it seemed to become. I was becoming smaller... and smaller... until the room itself would probably end up eating me whole. There would be no point in trying to eat; I've become so small that any size of food would choke me. No point in drinking; one drop was the Nile trying to drown me. No point in thinking about doing anything; my thoughts were escaping from the pores of my head and crawling over the walls, ceiling, and floor. They were mocking me. Alone, they whispered. Aaaaallll alone.

I scooted out of my chair quickly, wincing at the scraping of the legs on the floor. Still, I was going insane sitting in this room, doing nothing. I moved my issues out of the kitchen, moving towards the other parts of the house. As I approached the living room, inching my way as quietly as possible, I peered into the room carefully, expecting Katha to be there to kill me. The first thing I noticed was that the window was already fixed and the room was clean of any evidence of my previous actions. Then, of course, my eyes went straight to the figure of Mikel on the couch of the living room.

He wasn't watching television or anything. In fact, he was laying horizontally on the couch, his legs spread out comfortably and his head laid back on the couch-end pillow, with his face smoothly expressionless and his eyes shut softly. Now if any one of the vampires looked like a statue, none looked so much like one as Mikel did at this moment. He didn't move an inch, not even breathing, and his whole structure was flawless in any wrinkles, blemishes, or any type of physical affliction. It was kind of a scary sight.

For a moment, I was just going to walk away as quietly as possible, but the moment I turned around, my hand hit the wall and a sharp pain shot the loud word "OW" from my lips. I pressed my mouth shut with a groan of pain, and when it subsided, I peered back into the living room expectantly. Mikel was still the same as he had been before, though. Wow. When vampires actually slept, they must literally be dead to the world!

Without even the thought of fear, I slunk into the living room with light feet. Even if he woke up, it wouldn't be as though I'd have to be afraid of him. This was Mikel; the only vampire in the house who didn't enjoy killing people. This was the one vampire that I could probably befriend well enough to guilt him into helping me escape from this place, after all. And right now, all I wanted to do was look at a presently dead Mikel. It wasn't as though I'd even have to talk to him.

I moved to the edge of the couch, hesitating at how close I was without him moving, but not even a small twitch of life came from him. At a second thought, maybe surprising him with my presense wouldn't be too good. "Mikel," I whispered lightly. He didn't move. I cautiously sat precariously on the edge of the couch just below his upper torso. "Are you awake?" No response. I didn't move or speak for a moment. Then I reached over slowly and moved my hand to swipe inches away from his eyes. No response. He was indeed dead to the world.

Never before had I actually been this close to Mikel and fully conscious. He was... gorgeous. I had not one doubt as to why Katha would fall for him, for he was so flawless that he just had to be extremely handsome even as a human. He looked stronger than Evanen, but maybe being born a vampire made Evanen stronger. I wouldn't know. Either way, he would definitely fit as one of those sexy, sports jock at my school. He'd probably be one that looked so good, yet being such a jerk would give people like me a need to block out any thought of him being attractive, making him out to be as ugly on the outside as he was on the inside. Except... from what I've known and heard of him, he seemed to be a perfectly sweet guy on the inside as well.

I moved my hand over to his face, and carefully laid the tips of my fingers to his cheek. I expected Mikel to jump up at any moment, but he continued in his death sleep, leaving no response except for his cold cheek to absorb the warmth of my fingertips. So I cautiously trailed my fingertips over his flawless, stone face. It was as hard as Evanen's face, as cold, except there seemed to be more of a softer touch to the topmost layer of his skin that Evanen didn't have. I lightly touched strands of his sandy brown hair, feeling its thick softness that seemed to absorb heat from my hand just as his skin had.

Suddenly, with a flash of movement, I felt cold fingers grip my wrist and another hand press over my mouth, pushing me against the back of the couch before I could scream. Mikel was now sitting up, moved in front of me, but his caramel brown eyes had that assuring, unharmful way about them that made any defenses of mine break down in seconds as he peered into my own eyes. Without saying anything, he let go of me in a way that seemed to show that he didn't trust himself to grip a human in his hands. He even lifted his hands to show that he wasn't going to hurt me.

I waited until my throbbing heart slowed back to a regular pace before I said, "I thought you were asleep."

Mikel smiled sheepishly, "I was trying to sleep like I used to before... when I was alive. I was just hoping you'd just... go away or something." And with the realization that he had been awake the whole time I had been poking around his face cause a wave of heat to my head. Not to mention that at the moment I was realizing just how attractive even his voice was.

"Sorry... I was just... you know," How do I explain this? "It's just, I've never actually..." I lowered my voice in embarrassment. "... touched a vampire. Except for Evanen. And he's like a special type, you know, so I was just wondering if you felt different. Because you do act different and all..."

"I understand," Mikel said shortly, now looking at my red cheeks. "You can, you know."

I hesitated, unsure what he meant. "Can what?"

He moved closer. "You can touch me if you want... if I can touch you." I felt immediately uncomfortable as to what that meant. This place is weird. But when he lifted his hand in front of me, he just held it there expectantly. And I realized he meant innocent touching. It would still be weird, but at least not that uncomfortable.

I lifted my hand cautiously and placed it on his. My fingertips didn't even reach past halfway up his fingers. At first, I was watching him carefully - just as he was watching me -, but the feel of that same soft top layer yet stone skin brought my attention to his hand. I poked at his palm lightly, and started to wonder if maybe his hand was literally stone through and through. If it was cut open, would there be muscles, bones, and blood in it? And where does the heat of my own hand go when his hand absorbs it? It seemed as though it just deminished.

Mikel curled his fingers over my hand, his hand swallowing mine like a wave of an ocean. I couldn't even budge my hand anymore, but I still found it weird how now my hand was numb from his. He moved his other hand towards me, but paused before continuing. "Can I," he asked, and I noticed he was reaching for my face. I nodded in permission, and he laid his fingertips over my warmed cheek before spreading open his hand to press his whole palm over the side of my face. The look on his face was that familiar yearning; envy even.

"I haven't touched actual human flesh... healthy and young... not since before I was turned," Mikel admitted gruffly. "And I can remember how then my own hand was warm, so that the heat from her flesh and my hand would combine and almost battle to keep each other hot. Now I can feel how even my skin is vampiric; sucking the warmth of your life from your own flesh and not returning anything." The pain in his voice brought a wave of sadness into my own heart, and I reached my hand up to lay on the back of his.

Mikel started to move closer to me, gripping the side of my head firmly to keep me from moving away. The sudden appearance of hunger in his expression brought a sudden appearance of fear in mine. I gripped the hand I had on the back of his tightly, trying to pry it off, while pushing the palm of my other hand against his chest. He continued to move towards me.. towards my bare flesh on my shoulder, and I started to panic. I attempted to scream, but only a small sound of disbelief came out of my throat.

When I attempted to scream again, I nearly got it out when Mikel ordered shortly, "Shh. Don't make a sound." And his voice moved to hold onto my thoughts in a more assuring, coaxing way rather than the dominant hold Evanen and Drewdon's voice had on them. Either way, all thoughts of making noises to get help disappeared ubruptly, and Mikel was free to kill me. Trapped. Tricked, unlike what Katha's approach had been. I couldn't even beg for my life like Evanen had said I would be able to do.

I closed my eyes as Mikel moved his head to the side of my face. Instead of feeling his cold lips on my shoulder and his painful fangs digging into my skin, I felt his cold, smooth cheek press against my warm cheek. I sat rigid, afraid of making any sudden movements. I could feel my heart pounding in my head, waiting for death to take ahold of me at last.

"If only my heart would pulse warmth through my body again like yours does," Mikel said enviously, and he breathed in the scent of my flesh, now cold from his. "If only I wouldn't have to smell that rich life anymore." He lightly put his lips over my skin, and I winced in preparation.

"Mikel, you let go of her or I'll grant your wish and make you not smell life ever again," I heard Evanen's sweet, angelic, bringer-of-life voice snarl from the entrance into the living room. Mikel hesitated, and as though he had been snapped back to realization, he shoved away from me in a way that suggested I had burned him. Without a word, Evanen gripped me from around my waist and pulled me away from the couch.

As we were walking back towards the bedroom, I felt the coaxing thought of not making a sound start to fade. And soon I whispered, "I'm sorry. You told me to stay in the kitchen. I didn't mean to..." I wasn't sure exactly what to apologize about. I felt the tears start to burn in my eyes once again. I've been converted into a cry baby.

"You have nothing to be sorry about," Evanen growled angrily, "If that idiot would just stop being a wuss and go drink some real human blood, he would know how to control his urges better. Stupid moron.. should've been killed before he was even turned." I looked back down the hall as we reached the bedroom door. As if in an afterthought, I lightly touched my cheek where Mikel had put his own cheek at. I could still hear how painful he had sounded when he had said even his skin was vampiric. He had been forced into this. A vampire's selfishness had put him through this suffering. How was I to blame him?

"Maybe you're right," Evanen suddenly said, "Maybe you should just stay in here forever." I sat down on the bed, looking at him, but I knew he wasn't serious about that statement. It was just an accident, after all.