Black Blood

Ethan took me to the most luxuriously decorated bedroom I'd ever laid eyes upon. It was like stepping into the bedroom of a cliche rich person; and honestly, Ethan was most likely just that.

He had me sit on the plush loveseat on one side of the room while he stood near one of the many cabinets, pouring a caramel-coloured liquid into two glasses. I trembled and wondered about what he had in mind for my punishment. I watched his shoulders rise and fall as he sighed. Did vampires actually need to breathe?

"What are you going to do to me?" I asked when the room had been silent for too long. Ethan took a sip from one of the glasses and kept his back to me.

"A fine scotch," he muttered. He finally turned to face me, carefully waving the glass around and swirling the drink around inside of it. He leaned back against the table. "I paid well for it, so any less would be a crime."

He raised his eyes from the glass to me. They were a cool gray once more, instead of the piercing crimson. It offered me some small relief; gave me hope that he wasn't going to hurt me just yet.

"I'm not going to do anything with you," he said. He took another gulp of his drink. "Not yet, anyway. I have other matters to attend to for now. Rest assured that I will not kill you. No, Kyle is the one to make rash decisions like that. It would seem he had forgotten who's in charge here. That's all no matter now though."

"What am I doing here then?" I asked. Ethan smirked and picked up the other glass. He sauntered over to me.

"You, little trouble-maker, are going to stay locked away in here while I deal with more pressing matters," Ethan said. He leaned down, offered me the glass, and I took it. "You are my food. I can't have you off making more escape attempts. I will have two of my men waiting outside the door, so I wouldn't try anything."

I stared into the glass, swirling the drink around inside it like he had. The alcohol didn't look appealing to me; I was never one to drink much of it. I would probably start if I ever made it out of there alive.

"I thought you all were supposed to be asleep right now?" I asked. It was one of the more important questions to pop into my head, distracting me from my grim fate. Ethan sighed and gave a shrug of his shoulders.

"There are only a few more hours left until sundown anyway," he said quietly. Our gazes met as we both looked up from our drinks. "And a certain someone ended up screaming loud enough to wake the whole planet."

It was meant to be humorous, but I shrank back, sinking as far back as I could against the love seat. Ethan shook his head and chuckled, and down the rest of his drink. He set the emptied glass down on the table beside me.

"Don't worry," he said. "No one is angry. Just a little lacking for rest. Now I really do need to go. Try not to trash my room. There is a fully-stocked mini fridge, and an en-suite through there." He pointed to the door I hadn't noticed before, concealed partially by a room divider.

"You're... quite accommodating for your snacks?" I said. He grinned and brought a finger to his lips.

"I'd hope we would get to be great... friends," he whispered. There was a flash of red through his eyes. And just as quickly all the humour was gone from him. "As I said, try not to trash my room."

With that he was gone, leaving me alone with my glass of scotch. I stared down into it again. As tempting as it was, it would be better for me to remain sober. Drunk- even just a bit tipsy- did not seem like a good thing to be in a lair full of vampires. I shuddered at the thought of whatever punishment was to come to me later.

I quickly set the glass down before I ended up downing it after all. I stood, making my way over to the gilded mirror hanging above the dresser. My reflection stared back at me, and it was not quite as dirty-looking as I had expected.

I took advantage of the offered en-suite and showered, even if I'd have to change back into my dirty clothes after. I needed the heat. I was in there long enough to have the hot water run cold, and even then I remained. I let the cold numb my core until I was shivering violently.

It might be the last shower I'd ever have, I contemplated as I dried off and redressed. Unless mister creepy 'let's be great friends' vampire had other plans. I shuddered to think what they would be, though the shudder was also due to the chill that still clung to me from the shower.

I explored the room to find more distraction. There were no clocks to be found, so there was still no telling what time it was, but I had to have been in that bathroom a couple hours at least.

I found journals.

I almost found myself joking about how ridiculous it was for a vampire to keep journals, like they did in teenage drama shows and whatnot. But these were the journals of a bonafide vampire. I grabbed several and dumped them onto the duvet of the four poster bed.

I picked one of them, a fairly old-looking journal; the leather was aged, and the pages within showed signs of rot. The ink was faded, but that was alright. I couldn't read the language it was written in anyway. Most of the pages were covered in maps. I was impressed with how detailed the maps were, though they were of no place I had ever been.

I opened the next journal, this one just as worn. But also written in the same language I couldn't understand. A quick flip through the rest of them yielded the same result. I sighed and leaned back on the bed.

There were shouts outside my door then. I sat up straight once more and leaned forward, straining to my human ears to hear what was going on out there. The shouts ceased, replaced by a couple of grunts. Thuds followed shortly after, the lock clicked, and then the door flew open.

A man with bright green hair and piercing blue eyes stepped into the room. He looked around, saw me and grinned, and wiped a streak of blood off his cheek.

"Hey, there," he said. "I've been looking for you."

"Looking for me?" I asked. The green-haired man nodded and continued to grin.

"Yes," he said. He brushed his hands over his blue button down, smoothing the fabric and smearing blood over it. He made his way over to me and extended his bloody hand. "I'm Claude."