When Reality Diminishes

She sat there for a moment before becoming aware of all the eyes watching her. Though Damon had left, no one else had. Austin was eyeing her funnily, as if he expected her to try attacking. Part of her wanted to attack, but she knew that the effort would be futile. She was no match against vampires, even with her daggers it was still a risky thing to attempt.

Slowly, she stood up, keeping her eyes on Austin. He seemed likely to be the most prone to attack. When she was positive he wasn’t going to rip out her throat she quickly walked into the hallway, closing the door behind her. She then walked down it, going to the room she woke up in.

Her eyes stayed on the ground until she felt her body collide with a rather hard object. First she thought she ran into the wall, that is until she saw Damon’s shirt. She slowly allowed her eyes to look up to meet his annoyed ones. Blue. She thought as she stared into his eyes. Before he could speak, she did.

"I’m not being your slave! Kill me for all I care, but I’m not going to be enslaved again!"

"Who said you were?" He asked, a lazy look coming to his face. She stared at him confused for a moment before shaking it off.

"Then why am I here?" She asked, anger now etching into her voice. This caused his eyes to flash for a moment before he pushed her against a wall.

"Why you are here is non of your concern. If I wanted you to know, I would have told you. But I don’t! So get out of my face before I decide to ruin that pretty little face of yours." They both glared at one another before Damon shoved her harder into the wall then walked away.
She pulled her body away from the wall and ignored the pain that now dwelled in her back. It was nothing compared to previous pains, and she should be thankful that he hadn’t decided to punish her worse.

But why be thankful when things were just going to get worse, she knew they would. They always did. Just when she thought she was out of the clear and almost out of The Dark Lands she gets caught by some crazed vampire. Just as she was about to walk into what she thought was her room, a voice stopped her.

"Come here. Now." It was Damon’s voice. She glanced back just in time to see him disappear behind the door to the living room. She frowned before debating disobeying his orders. In the end she decided to go, not for fear of punishment, but for curiosity. Maybe he was going to tell her why she was there.

She allowed her feet to carry her slowly until she finally reached the room. Without looking up from her feet, she sat down on the empty chair, ignoring all the eyes on her. Why were they staring like that? Had they never before seen a human girl? Surely they had, but what made her mind burn was the fact that they had no slaves in the house. Every house she knew of had at least one slave, but this one had none.

"I thought..." he started bitterly before shooting one of the vampires she yet to know the name of a dirty look. "That you should tell us about yourself. Name? Age? Why you were wondering alone with venom daggers?" So that’s what they’re called. She stared at him for a moment before breaking the gaze. She hated to stare at vampires for too long, she had found out that the longer you look at them, the more they can read you.

"If you tell me about you." She stated, now looking back up. "Age? Why no slaves? Why am I here?" Damon growled at her last question, reminding her of the previous conversation they had just had not even five minutes ago.

"You first." He finally spat out, venom dripping off his voice. She glared at him some more before obeying, a rare thing in her case.

"Audrey. Seventeen. Ran away and stole them." She said as simple and fast as she could. "Your turn." Damons glare intensified as she said that.

"Stuck at nineteen. Slaves are stupid. Stop asking that!" She scowled before crossing her arms, he had done what she did and turned it against her, which was something she didn’t expect to happen. This only brought another question to her head.

"Why haven’t you hurt me?" He stared at her for a moment, and for a second she thought he was going to. But he remained sitting.

"It’s my turn to ask a question." He finally said, leaving her slightly shocked. Most vampires would have either said they were waiting for a certain opportunity or merely because they were going to sell her. She hoped it was neither. "Why did you run away? And why did you collapse the other night?" She frowned, he was almost as bad as she was with the questions.

"And if I don’t answer?" He growled threateningly.

"Do you want to make me mad over a simple task such as this?" He had a point. Why jeopardize her well being just not to answer a few questions.

"Point taken." She mumbled. "I ran because I hate enslavement and I had enough. I blacked out because I hadn’t eaten in a long time." Before he could even comment, she spoke again. "Why haven’t you hurt me? Who are they?" Her eyes glanced at the five other vampires. Damon also glanced in their direction looking bored.

"The blonde is Anders, the spiky red hair one is Axel, the hazel is Colby, the light brown is Clarence and the short blonde is Jax." He said, referring to their hair colour. He looked back to her and she waited for her last question to be answered, but it didn’t come. Instead he asked her another question.

"Are you squeamish at the sight of blood?" She frowned. What type of question was that coming from a vampire?

"Depends how much of it." She answered slowly, eyeing him. He gave a small nod before shutting up. He sat there looking extremely bored until a cell began to ring. She looked to where the noise was coming from curiously as Damon opened a drawer and pulled it out.

"What?!" He snapped as he opened the phone. She frowned slightly, why did he have to be so mean about it? Why did all vampires have to be cruel just because of their species? Why couldn’t they be like humans, some good, some bad? But so far she hadn’t found any nice vampires and she doubted she would. She hoped that she would never have to meet a new vampire "I’ll call you back." Came Damon’s voice which snapped her out of her thoughts.
She looked up slowly to see Damon holding the closed phone staring at her with a weird look on his face. She frowned, this couldn’t mean anything good. Why was he looking at her like that?

Not waiting to find out, she stood up and headed for the door. Too bad Damon beat her to it and slammed his back into it so he was leaning back against it, facing her. She didn’t flinch as he did that, she didn’t even jump or gasp in surprise, but she did narrow her eyes.

"You’re a wanted girl, you know that? I just found out that your masters would do practically anything to get you back." He paused, allowing the information to sink into her. "They actually have the kings armies after you." He then smiled widely, exposing her fangs. He pushed himself off the wall and began to advance her.

Against all her better judgment, she began to back up. Sure she shouldn’t be showing submission and fear, but something about him made her feel weak and vulnerable, something she hadn’t felt in a long time.

"I had been wanting to do something for a long time, and when I found you I thought well what do you know? I have my bait..." he started. Bait?!

"Bait?!" She voiced allowed, anger and slight fear in her voice. He was going to use her as bait. Bait for what? Damon chuckled slightly before smiling even wider, showing just how big his fangs were, and how sharp.

"Yes, bait. Now, do not raise your voice with me. I am in a good mood and if you ruin it," he flexed his hands before allowing the claws to come out of his nails. He then studied them and continued. "I may... lose my cool. And trust me, you don’t want me to lose my cool." He then made his claws go back into his hands and looked back up at her. "As I was saying, I had my bait. But now that I know armies are after you... well, that just makes it all the more sweet. You know how easy it will now be since you’re so wanted? I hit the jackpot by fluke, and you, human, you just got yourself stuck in a big mess."