\Laughter wakes me today. I blink my eyes open, but then flinch back at the extremely bright light I'm exposed to. Squinting, I gradually adjust and take in my surroundings.
The room is unneccessarily bright; the windows are blocked by blackout curtains; two grown men and a teenage girl stand in front of me; and Century and I are cuffed to a cement pillar, the only difference between us being that Century is struggling to free himself and growling at the people. I stare at him, his mouth foaming and his eyes wild. His hair is a mess, his fangs are bared, he's glowing with some sort of strange light and overall he looks like a vicious Vampire.
Shrinking back, I take in this new side of him. He's scarier than Infinity, scarier than Gale, and far more frightening than Mr. Reptilian.
"Hmm...I think we should take more blood from him," the girl muses sweetly. Her eyes flick towards me with hatred. "And we should kill her immediately." Century stops thrashing around suddenly, his eyes darkening and his growls becoming more prominant.
"Don't touch her; she has nothing to do with this!" He screams, struggling to pull free. I notice the blood around his cuffs, the metal cutting into him.
Why can't he break it?
"Those cuffs are infused with holy water, girl. I wouldn't try to get free," the girl continues to speak, the two men behind her just grinning.
I narrow my eyes. She can read my mind. Stalking forward, she grabs my face and grins. "Yes, I can." Century hisses, his eyes flickering with rage - literally.
The irises of his eyes flash different colors at the speed of light. I stare in shock at him. What is happening? His iris color freezes on a blood-like red color, invading even the whites of his eyes.
"What does red mean, Bart?" The girl asks one of the men.
"Normal fire intensified."
The room comes alive with flame, running up the walls and soaring towards the people in front of us. I gasp, taking in a lungful of smoke. Coughing and frightened for my life, I curl up as best I can, shielding myself from the world. Century, having pulled the cuffs out of the pillar, stands in front of me protectively.
"I told you not to touch her," he growls menacingly.
The girl laughs, "Why would I obey newborn scum like you?!"
"Newborn?" I question, confused. I thought Nicolae was the youngest. And he's over a hundred years old!
"He lied to you. They all did!" She laughs maniacally. I glare at her. She's having way too much fun for such a situation. The grown men shift from foot to foot, grinning as well.
"May we shift, Haven?" Bart begs, twitching. Haven nods.
"Yes, yes, of course!" She screams. Century slashes at the two, but Haven blocks him from touching her minions. "Ah, ah, ah!"
The men hunch over, their bodies growing fur and reshaping unnaturally. In front of me, two white wolves with grotesquely human-like faces and twisted, misshapen bodies growl and bark in anticipation. I stare in shock at the werewolves, their mangy, short tails swishing back and forth in the rapidly heating room.
"Those.....are werewolves?" I whisper. I was expecting wolfmen, or at best shapeshifters, or even Twilight-style werewolves. These things looked like Professor Lupin with white fur and slightly more wolfish bodies. These things looked like demons from the underworld.
Century suddenly leaps forward, slashing at the two wolves. Haven laughs as he wrestles with them. "You can't win, Century," she sings. "Those claws are deadly to you, and your fire can't hurt them in this state."
A yelp from somewhere else catches Haven's attention as Century bares his teeth at her in a hiss of defiance. Scowling, she whips around and stalks out of the overly bright room. Century struggles to survive his attack on the two werewolves, overwhelmed by their size and lacking in numbers for help.
Meanwhile, the flames dance around the enclosed area, steadily becoming closer and closer to me. I curl up as best as I can to sheild myself from the searing heat, but already it's like an oven in here. I know if I get freaked out, I'll go into Primal State. I can't do that. I refuse.
However much I chant in my head that going into Primal State is not an option, I can't deny my rising fear of being roasted alive while Century has his throat ripped out by a bunch of werewolves. Why is this my life? What did I do to deserve this? I managed to escape my fate when I was a baby, why do I have to deal with it now?
My panic rises and I'm not even sure if I'm thinking rationally. Without realizing it, I slip into my horrible state.
Too hot. Must escape. Why must I always escape from something? Enemies in combat, distracted. Open door. I try to run, but I am held back. The Heat is getting closer. I will be burned if I don't move.
Desperate, I tug at the noisy things holding me back, trying to free myself. Why am I trapped!? Let me go.
"Off!!!!" I shriek, bucking wildly against the entrapping noises holding me prisoner. I fall forward as I break free and rush toward the door. A threat stands there, looking angry. I slash at it and try to get past, but the threat grabs me by the scruff and throws my back inside the room of Heat. I hit a wall painfully and drop to the floor, unable to move in pain.
I screech as the Heat gets closer and closer to my paralyzed body.
Now, beyond Primal State, I rise to my feet, blood dripping from a cut near my temple and running down from the corner of my mouth like drool. I walk up to Haven slowly. She laughs.
"You think you can even hope of harming me in your condition?!" She mocks.
I don't respond with words, but grab her throat, constricting it with only one hand and digging my nails into her throat.
"You will let us leave, or you will die. Understood?" I question, giving her neck an extra squeeze until she nods. I drop her to the floor, taking a step towards the door. Something sharp and wet is pressed against my neck. I glance out of the corner of my eye to see Haven, her bleeding throat looking obnoxious. She presses the knife dripping with mercury harder against my own.
"Now who understands?" She laughs, then chokes on blood. The blood on her neck seems extremely appetizing.
WHAT!?
I shake my head, trying to avert my thoughts, but the smell of her blood is far too distracting. I look away from the wound, but the scent is too strong. Not able to control myself anymore, I turn at the speed of light and sink my teeth - no, my fangs - into her neck.
No thoughts occupy my head while I drink the blood. I am barely aware of ingjuries being inflicted upon my back by something. When there is no more blood to take, I back away from the body and look around, searching for something to put my mind to.
Century drinks from one of the werewolves, the other mysteriously missing from the scene. As he finishes off the blood supply of the creature, he turns to me, his fangs already gone and looking lost. I wonder if I look the same. Like some human cannibal.
On that thought, I remember my first impression of Pheonix and Gale. They really did look like cannibals.
What are you talking about, you are a cannibal! You just drank blood from a human, someone of the same species as you!
But I know I am far from human. Century looks at me and grins.
"I knew you were a Vampire," he states. I'm not a Vampire either though. I'm in between. Granted, I may be closer to a Vampire now, but I'm still human somewhat.
Right?
"What happened here!?" Eventide exclaims, appearing in the doorway.
YOU ARE READING
Just Classic
Teen Fiction"Who are you? What's going on?!" "Nick, could you please shut her up?" "So much work..." "Nick!" "What's going on?!" "It's called kidnap sweetheart. Now let's just put you right back to sleep..." Oh yes, Dominic has gotten herself into another mess...
