Trapped in a Vile World

I could hardly breathe. That wasn’t my Jimmy; that was a hunter. His crystal blue eyes were not warm, but cold with fury and hunger. His lip was curled over his sharp teeth in a vicious snarl. His hands were curled into claws. Blood dripped down his face and off of his chin. I couldn’t really see the body; he was standing in front of it. His nostrils flared as he raked my body with his icy eyes. I trembled. His eyes locked onto my neck, and he bent down, ready to pounce.

Brian was suddenly in front of me, pushing me to the ground and blocking the doorway. I heard a crash and I looked up, horrified. Brian was struggling to keep Jimmy back. Jimmy was snarling inhumanly, trying to dodge Brian’s arms, and snapping at me. He was acting like a crazed animal, and I didn’t know what to do. My eyes watered, and I laid still. Brian looked over his shoulder. He was panting from all the effort it took to restrain Jimmy.

“Move, Tera! Go!” I was still frozen, looking into Jimmy’s cold, heartless eyes. “Move, damn it!” He was yelling, but I was still in a trance. Jimmy bit Brian’s shoulder, and he yelled out in pain. Blood began to soak his shirt, and my eyes watered even more. “God damn it, Tera! ZACKY!” Zacky was there almost instantly. He looked between Jimmy, Brian, and I, then scooped me up into his arms. I started to cry. I just couldn’t handle all of this. I sobbed into Zacky’s chest as he took me away.

The sounds of fighting grew silent, and everything seemed still. I looked up and realized I was in a room I hadn’t seen before. There was luscious, deep green velvet covering the four-poster bed. The carpet was plush and black. The walls were all made of mirrors, but they were shattered pieces. The only wall that wasn’t made of mirror fragments was a huge pane of glass behind the headboard that showed a beautiful garden. I gasped. It was breath taking. Zacky set me onto my feet and I walked over to the glass wall.

“Zacky, where are we?”

“This is my room.” I turned to look at him. His green eyes glowed with pride from my obvious approval. “And, I was hoping that maybe soon it could be your room, too.” He was in front of me, his fingertips caressing my cheek. I smiled, but I wasn’t really in the mood for this.

“Zacky, what’s wrong with Jimmy?” he sighed, whether out of sadness from my question or my blatant disregard for his suggestion, I didn’t know.

“He was in a state you never should have seen. Vampires are first and foremost hunters. We hunt for our blood.” He looked over to see my reaction; I didn’t let myself cringe. “It’s our only means of survival. When we drink blood from a body, the hunter in us comes out. It’s really hard to control. A lot of us just lose it, and our instincts take over our entire bodies. We become pure animal, thriving on our senses and instincts.” Okay, that time I cringed. “Tera, we’re naturally born predators; we’re hunters. The only reason Jimmy would lunge at you like that was because he wasn’t in his right state of mind.” Well, at least that explained why Jimmy had changed so much. I sighed.

“So, what do you do with the bodies?” Zacky looked at me funny. “After you drain them,” I said quietly. Enlightenment dawned his face.

“Well, most of the time if it’s a stranger, we just make it look like an accident, but rarely ever do we attack humans by accident unless we’ve been starved.”

“Jimmy wasn’t starved…”

“Jimmy also wasn’t draining a human.” I looked at him incredulously. Wasn’t draining a human? How does that make any fucking sense?! “Tera,” he said, sitting on his bed, motioning for me to join him. “Jimmy wasn’t drinking human blood.” I sat down and listened intently. “Sometimes, we drink vampire blood. It’s nowhere near as good, believe me, but it will sustain us. And we regenerate much faster than humans do; we practically have an endless supply.” I nodded.

“I guess that makes sense,” I mumbled, looking out the window. I felt so out of the loop even though I’d been here with the boys for days.

“Besides, Jimmy’s a pureblood. He can have whoever’s blood he wants.” I cringed. He looked over, and grabbed me, pulling me into his chest. “Tera, I didn’t mean you. Jimmy would never even dream of drinking your blood.” I sighed.

“Well, he certainly seemed to be thinking about it pretty hard.” He narrowed his eyes.

“Tera, you know he wasn’t in the right state of mind. He’s going to hate himself when he gets back to normal and realizes what he did. He really cares for you.” I looked at the floor.

“Zacky, I don’t understand it. Why does Jimmy treat me the way he does?” Zacky’s green eyes filled with sorrow.

“Something very dreadful happened in Jimmy’s past. Now, you have to understand, that this was a long time ago, and things were different back then.” I nodded, pulling away from him and sitting cross-legged on his bed. He sighed, but continued. “Jimmy is the youngest vampire in a line of purebloods that dates as far back as we can have recorded. He’s also the oldest of the five of us.” I looked at him incredulously. How could anyone be older than Brian? He was in his 800s. “Don’t be alarmed, but Jimmy is 10,395 years old.” My jaw dropped to the floor. “He’s the eldest child in his family. He had a handful of younger brothers, most of whom he is no longer in contact with, but he had a sister. Her name was Victoria. She was the most delicate creature I’d ever seen.” I looked at him surprised. “Pureblood women, the daughters of the pureblood vampires, are still considered pureblood even though they aren’t vampires themselves. But the blood gives them special abilities, including that of long life, though they are not immortal.” I nodded. “I met her only a few thousand years ago.” I shot him a look. I was not grasping this timeline very well. “Oh, I guess I should explain a little more. I’m uh, turned 3, 204 in December.” My mouth dropped to the floor again.

“What about Matt and Johnny?”

“Johnny’s our youngest – he’s only about 500. And Matt’s a couple hundred years older than me, maybe in his 4,900s.” I gawked at him. How could he talk about such a large period of time as if it were nothing? I looked at Zacky, trying to figure out what exactly he’d done over the last few thousand years. He’d lived through so much. How could he remember it all? “Anyways,” he cut into my thoughts. “When I met Victoria, she was about 4,600 years old, and I was only in my early 2,000s. She has a few of the same features you do,” he said, caressing my cheek with one finger. “And you act a bit like her, only she knew how to mind her manners,” he chuckled as I made a sour face.

“Go on.”

“Well, not all vampires are good, and not all vampires try to refrain from hunting the humans. She had been begging Jimmy to take her to meet his friends. He took her to one of the fancy galas they used to throw back then. That’s when I met her. She’d always been so fascinated with us. She ended up befriending a vampire named Raphael. And well, long story short, he bit her. He turned her, on her own account.” Zacky’s eyes shimmered in the darkness as he remembered. “Jimmy was heartbroken. He had never intended for anyone to lay a hand on her. He was furious. He tried to kill Raphael, but Victoria took his side. She broke his heart. She blew him off and treated him like shit. She ran away with Raphael, and they started to build an empire. Now, we vampires don’t exactly have a government, but building an empire is not the best idea. They grew power-hungry and became a little reckless. As purebloods, it is their responsibility to keep basic order. They only step in when things get really out of hand. And Jimmy’s family had to step in and set things right. There was a bloody war. I fought side by side with the Sullivan’s. I saw Jimmy rip Raphael’s throat out. I saw the fury burning in his sister’s eyes while she screamed her hatred at him. Jimmy had always treated her like a princess. In the end, he had to kill her.” My eyes widened. “There were so many sleepless nights, so many nightmares, and so many tears for centuries. He’s finally come to terms with the idea that he did the right thing, but I don’t think he’ll ever truly forgive himself.” I took a minute to soak everything in. Okay, maybe I am still an outsider. “And he sees you like he sees her.” I looked up at him with wide eyes. “He’ll do anything he can to protect you from us, because I don’t think he could bear to lose you like he lost her.”

I looked down at my lap and fiddled with my hands. There was so much I didn’t understand; so much to the guys that I wanted to know. They may thirst for my blood, but I thirsted for their knowledge. I sighed, trying to sort out the whole story in my brain. I stood up.

“Where are you going?”

“To see Jimmy.”

“Tera,” Zacky said, standing up blocking my way. “I really don’t think that’s a good idea right now.”

“Zacky, I just want to – “ his eyes glowed with concern. I knew he was right, but I just couldn’t stand the thought of Jimmy being alone, hating himself for what he couldn’t really control. Zacky took one of my hands in his, and whispered softly.

“Stay with me tonight.” He’d done nothing but love and care for me lately, and I was starting to really trust him. I nodded, and his brilliant smile lit up his face. He threw me some large clothes, and went into the bathroom while I changed into them. When he emerged shirtless, I had to try not to stare. Sure he wasn’t the skinniest guy around, but damn did he look good. I stared at his tattooed torso until he cleared his throat loudly. I jumped and looked away, blushing. I can’t believe I let him catch me gawking. His arms slid around me.

“It’s okay,” he whispered into my ear. “’Cause I can’t stop staring at you either.” He swept me off of me feet and laid me on the bed. I giggled and laid facing him, about a foot away from him under the covers. I reached out a hand and gently placed it on his chest. He looked down at it smiling. I leaned in and kissed his cheek for a good minute before moving away. I turned over and curled up under the massive green blankets. He pulled me into his chest and shaped his body to mine.

“Goodnight, Zacky.”

“Goodnight, Tera.”