Take Courage, My Heart

Chapter Nine

We all ended up seated in the living room that was attached to the kitchen. As soon as I sat down I brought my legs up and folded my feet together, warming up the bare soles of my feet and toes with the fabric of my sweatpants. Keisuke had snickered at that and assured me that we would be going to get me some clothes and shoes for me as soon as possible. When I mentioned my lack of current funds Annerose brushed it off with a wave of her hand.

"You look very young," Keisuke said after that. "You weren't a minor when they got you, were you?"

"No, but part of me wishes I was," I replied bitterly. I looked down at my folded legs instead of the looks I was receiving from everyone in the room. "Maybe if I was, someone would have been looking for me."

"How do you know someone isn't?" Annerose asked, leaning forward a little to look at me better.

Ezra and Keisuke had sat next to each other again, Ezra's arm casually thrown over Keisuke's shoulders, while Leander chose to sit the closest to me, making sure to give me enough space to myself. Annerose had sat the furthest away, her legs crossed, and her elbow set on them and supporting her head.

I wasn't sure exactly how to answer her question. It was mostly a gut feeling; knowing that my family wouldn't bother to find me after everything. If they cared for me I never would have been taken to the facility and I never would have escaped only to end up in this mess. My choices had led me here, but their reactions to my choices were telling.

Did my parents even know I was no longer in the behavior modification facility they had sent me to? Had they been told? Were the faculty still looking for me? How long had it been since I ran?

"What day is it? And where are we?" I asked suddenly, bypassing Annerose's question altogether.

"We're currently in Vancouver. And it's Thursday," Ezra replied. I got more alert at that.

"No, I mean. What day? Month? How long... How much time has..."

"Vincent kept you that much out of it?" Keisuke whispered in a horrified tone.

"In three days, the year changes. It's the twenty-eighth of December," Leander said.

My eyes went wide, and I hid my face in my hands. I was admitted into the facility at the end of the third week of October. Meaning I had been taken by Vincent just days before the start of November.

"Two months. I lost two months," I muttered and then laughed bitterly. Christmas had come and passed, and my family had probably celebrated without a second thought about my whereabouts. "You said that as I produce more venom I will grow fangs, heal quicker, and become faster and stronger. What else will it do?" I asked, in an effort to distract myself.

"Your senses will explode," Ezra deadpanned.

"Don't listen to him," Leander quickly intervened, as my eyebrows started traveling up to my hairline. "They'll just get better. You will hear, see, smell, taste, and feel things that as a human, and even now, you can't."

"You'll get hypersensitive to the most mundane of things," Keisuke sighed and Annerose bitterly nodded along.

"It totally makes our living arrangements a struggle," Ezra said and Leander groaned and fell back into the plush cushions.

"Okay, okay, I get it, you all are big babies and can't live in the city. Can you give it a rest for a goddamn second?" Leander huffed out and I watched as the other vampires tried hiding their smiles and laughs. "They kind of do make a point. It's better since this apartment is so high up, but going outside will be a struggle for a little bit. Loud noises, harsh lighting, intense smells, and tastes will go as far as to give you a blackout."