The Vampire Mansion: Shiki and Rima

I had to sit down, for even his eyes made me dizzy and disoriented. I took a deep breath and looked up to see that he was staring out the window behind me, which he had stopped me from jumping out of. Concentration was all over his features and it seemed that nothing could tear him away from looking out that window. Of course, no matter how much I told myself I was ready for anything to tried, he was just as unpredictable as ever.

My eyes shot up and my mouth fell open, as he, without any warning, lifted me up in his arms and ran out the door. I screamed and fought to be freed, but to my disappointing realization, it was no use. He was a lot stronger than he seemed.

"Let me down!" I demanded. It started to occur to me that every demand I made backfired into the opposite. "Let me down this instant!"

He only laughed and in a blink of an eye he was jumping over the top of the stairs heading, or falling, I was too scare to tell which, to the floor below us. Things were quiet, I couldn't remember exactly when, and my heart eventually evened out and I was breathing normally again. I opened my eyes slowly and realized that from jumping all the way from the floor above, we were surrounded by four unfamiliar faces. As a reflex, my head moved around, looking from person to person.

"What is this?" I almost found myself whispering.

He chuckled and set me down to my feet. "I apologize," he said. "Was that too scary for you?" The way he said that, it almost sounded like it was meant to offend me. I had an idea, that it would amuse him to see me react to that. I wasn't about to give in that easily.

I scoffed and crosses my arms over my chest, turning my head slightly away. "No, not really." My stance only had the opposite reaction and made him laugh, like he was enjoying this truthfully. Honestly, seeing him laugh like that, other than the fact that it made me embarrassed, it was sort of good.

"Well, I'm glad to see you're enjoying yourself." I heard someone, a female most likely, say. "But we have an important matter to discuss." I turned my head to look at the beautiful girl standing next to three other fantasy like people.

The girl that had spoken was about my size, long beautiful dark brown hair, clear golden eyes, and she was so pale. In fact they were all pale, including the man next to me. The tall, black haired man with emerald green eyes was pale, the small blond boy with blue eyes was pale, and so was...another small silver haired girl with shiny brilliant violet eyes. I've never met or even seen such a perfect looking group of people who were probably stranger than they looked.

"I apologize, but I believe there's nothing to discuss," he responded. "I've already made m decision; she's staying."

Her expression hardened. "You can't decide that on your own."

"I'm not sure you understand my position in this family, Elisa." I finally understood that they were speaking about me, as well as that, what he said earlier wasn't exactly a lie after all.

"I do." Elisa's eyes were furious. The golden color turned into a more shimmering flame. "But do you realize what you intend to bring in here? A human, Shiki! A human!"

I forgot about how they both had mentioned "humans" like it was a cuss word as I heard the sound of his name. His name was Shiki...what a unique and peculiar name.

"I realize that what I'm doing is dangerous," he told her, still calm, though more like indifferent, "but I don't intend to go back on my word, and she is the only way."

"Listen, Shiki!" Her tone was icy, yet fiery and furious. "Are you really going to keep doing this? It is not your obligation to keep that promise!"

Promise? Now, I didn't have any idea of what they were talking about. They were not speaking about me, it was never about me. Yet, I still didn't know what it was...and for some reason, I wasn't sure I wanted to know.

"Wait."

We all turned to him. His face was expressionless, his body was as still as a statue and his eyes were directing their gaze outwards the window again. What was outside the windows that bothered him so much? There wouldn't be any harm in finding out. So I carefully took a few steps towards the window, before looking at him to see any reaction to that, like worry. There was none. I quickly walked over to the window and looked out, hoping to see something dangerous like a wild animal. I was confused to see that there was nothing in sight that would cause any danger.

"Rima!" I heard his voice, alert and serious. "No, get back!"

What was he talking about? I panicked and took a step back. Then, as he advanced closer to me, a fast and dark shadow crossed between us. Before I knew it, I was flying out the window, through the sparks of glass, within the shadow's grasp.