• When I awoke, the room looked worse than it did before. It took me a moment to realize what had happen, but my first thought was that a hurricane had came through. More furniture was broken, and some paintings were completely smashed. I glanced up and saw that they were at it again; and fear glue me to my place.

    Holy mother of cookie dough ice cream. That is not normal. Not normal at all.

    Markus was still trying to get to me even though he was pinned to the ground by James. He kept his mouth open, knowing that he was scaring me, as he growled deeply and tried to claw his way to me. James had finally got him off the ground, practically dragging him through another door when his eyes did something that sent shivers down my spine. His eyes, once the deep emerald green, were now completely different. The white part of his eyes was stained red and his iris was now a bright eerie green glow. I couldn’t take my eyes away from his, though I knew I should. It was like his eyes were pulling me in and like I needed to go to him. James broke the contact that me and Markus had by letting out a thunderous growl before punching Markus and finally dragging him out the door.
    I was in a daze for the longest time. The feeling to go after Markus was, though at first strong, slowly fading as time went on. The pull to be near him was less and I finally came to my senses. Which, let me tell you, wasn’t much better. To be honest, the type of person I am is widely known. You see them everywhere; the people who have the biggest mouth but rarely back it up. Well, yup that is me to a T. Or maybe I’m too hard on myself. But either way, get in my face and I’d talk so much mess; many back down. Want to actually fight? I get scared. For myself, for the person I’m fighting [no matter how mad I am I never truly want to hurt anyone] and the wonderful ‘What If’ type things. So you could imagine that one moment I went from sarcastic and not caring how I came off to my kidnappers to being a frighten little girl. I hated the fact that I couldn’t be brave for once. I hated that I was scared even before they fought.

    And what I most hated was the fact that Markus knew I was thoroughly scared of him.
    My pride was shot down because of this fact and my competitive side was fuming for a rematch. I lost and I hated it. Once the weird sensation that his eyes had given me wore off completely, my body was a wreck. I was shaking so bad, I reminded myself of this nervous baby Chihuahua I saw at the pet store once. Tears were slow to come at first, but when they did, it was a down pour. I cried for two reasons; that I was relieved that I was alive in one piece and that I was scared shitless. And it so didn’t help that Markus’ words were on replay in my head.

    They were vampires.

    I was trying to stop myself from crying at this point. My hands flew to my mouth trying to control the loud sobs as I closed my eyes to stop the tears. I didn’t even realize I had gotten on the ground in a crouching position until I felt a noticeably cool hand on my shoulder. I shuddered and moved away quickly from whoever it was instinctively and looked up to see James. His eyes pitied me, something I’d normally grunt in disapproval, but instead looked away. I was afraid his eyes would do the same as Markus’.
    I must be here to be their prey.

    Why else would I be here? I was shaking more at this thought, if that was even possible, and just knew I would soon break and fall to pieces. But at least my mom couldn’t complain; the woman loved vampires more than anything. If they found my body, seeing the two holes and my body drained of its blood, she’d turn on her heel, jab a finger at my dad and say something like ‘I told you they were real! I knew we should have gotten her the garlic spray’. I knew James was watching me still, I felt his eyes on me and I couldn’t help but wonder something. Why save me if they were going to drain me anyway? For their sick amusement to give me hope of surviving? Because they wanted to use me before killing me? Honestly my imagination was killing me here and it didn’t help that I had to pee. I was on edge and my mind was losing it. I thought I was prepared for my death. Not the type to fear it and only seeing it as an unavoidable end. But now I knew; I was lying to myself all along.

    The tears wouldn’t stop, but I still managed to look up at James, who was watching me carefully. My eyes darted to his lips, in mild curiosity to see if his fangs – it would take a minute to getting use to thinking that – were still there. They weren’t but the thought still made me shiver. We were silent for the longest time, but finally, I couldn’t bare it any longer.
    “Where’s your restroom?” I said meekly, surprised at the question I had asked. It wasn’t the only I intended to ask, not the one that would give me answers that I needed to know. Why was I here? James seemed equally surprised, most likely wondering why I hadn’t asked a more normal question. But he stood up, making sure to give me my space, as he pointed down a hallway. “Down that hall and up the steps. Second door on the left.” He said quietly, his eyes watching me like I was some fragile doll or something. I nodded my head, barely getting out a ‘Thanks’ before speeding away. I had to get away from the guilt in James’ eyes. They might have tricked me to feel sorry for him or something.

    Nope. Not going to work on this one buddy.

    No telling how many times – no correction – no telling how many years he’s been using that look and how long it took to perfect it. I followed his directions, going down the hall and up the stair way without so much looking around me. I ignored all things except the second door on the left. I rushed in and did my business. Trying not to pay any detail to what was around me or else I might freak out thinking how I’m using a vampire’s bathroom. I finished, flushed and washed my hands and might have flew out of the bathroom had I not caught my reflection in the mirror.

    The girl staring back at me was vaguely familiar and it took me a moment to realize she was me. I knew I felt like s**t, but did I honestly have to look like it too? Ok, so I don’t claim to be a beauty pageant contestant but I don’t normally look this bad. The first thing I noticed – which is the first thing any person notice when they first meet me – was my hair. At the current moment, it was dyed a fabulous bright orange with a twinge of light purple thrown in. It was meant to signify how bright I am among the cool boring winter air.

    But now it only showed what goes wrong when you leave your hair neglected.

    It was all over my head, being far wilder then I was use to, as it revealed its clumps of dirt and knots to me. No plastic dollar comb would do for this hair – the only thing that could save it was heavy duty brush, comb and a good wash. But for right now, I had none of that for an option. So what did I do? I tried my best to claw the knots out, only making my already tender scalp hurt worse. But soon I gave up, letting the freakin’ knots win. They may have won the war, but I won the few battles I tackled.

    The next thing that was a shock was my raccoon eyes. I swear I looked worse than those clever bandits, a thick circle of black that surrounded my hazel eyes. I might have scared a zombie back to his grave and turn over to get away from it all. My teeth felt gritty from the lack of brushing and I knew my breath must not have been the most alluring smell. My face had a couple of bruises – one on my cheek and another on the side of my eyebrow – that have mysteriously appeared from nowhere. My arms were like that too, various marks and bruises that appeared from thin air. My clothes, a simple black Happy Bunny that had the cute little yellow bunny smiling as he said “You go girl, and you don’t come back” and jeans that hugged my hips snug enough to stay up but loose enough not to be mistaken for my own skin, were tattered. I hadn’t even noticed the big hole that was now in the middle of my shirt and just above my cleavage. I sighed, irritated with this whole deal, when I kept looking over the damage that had been down. My pits must have smelled pretty nice too; the need for a shower was a strong pull right now.

    No way would I though. I would not make myself better to end up a main course. Hell no.
    I ignored my looks for now, not wanting to look like a tasty meal but not having the energy to actually try to make myself look worse. I walked out the bathroom, almost forgetting where I was, until I saw a familiar shape in the corner of my eye. Ok, I admit I’m not the sanest girl you’ll come across on this blue planet; but I could have sworn it was Markus. I saw his blonde hair from the crack of the door across the hall. But when I looked back – my curiosity getting the best of me – nothing was there. Not even the light was on, which it had a second ago or the door cracked! I hesitated. Was my mind playing with me? I hope not; we would need to partner up if I had a chance to escape.

    As my mind rambled on, between staying and awaiting my fate or running the first chance I get, I felt something cool wrap around me. It sent goose bumps up my arms when his voice was in a dangerously low whisper, his breath teasing my ear slightly as his hand gently grabbed hold of my neck. “Do I scare you?” Markus asked as he rubbed his hand gently up my neck. A shiver wanted to be sent down my spine and the urge to fight was there – but instead I put on my poker face. He didn’t give me time to answer, that or he wasn’t really caring for an answer in the first place. “I don’t see why. I’m sure your far worse off than me.” He said and something in his voice ticked me off. Maybe it was the way his voice made it seem he knew more about me then me or that I was much more horrible then him. So I spoke my mind regrettably. “I’m no monster. I don’t kill people and drink their blood like some abhorrent creatures do. At least werewolves live by other means”

    There I go again. With my big words and little to back it up. You think I’d ever learn?
    Markus’ amuse tone was still there; though his next words showed how much he struggled from ripping me apart. “I think you have to know who you are. Get to know the monster that lives in your soul, dive deep into your soul and explore it.” He hissed at me before pushing me towards the stairs with such force that I was surprise I didn’t stumble down them and break my neck. But his words were etched into my mind, no matter how badly I tried to get of it.

    Things were just getting too confusing by the minute.