WILD HUMANS (previously After School, Extra Credit.)

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

    He held his hands together in front of him. He looked up at me and flashed a crooked smile. 

    "I was just as curious as you were. What's your name?" He laughed. I blushed.

    "Claire. What's yours?" I said quietly, sipping more water.

    "Grayson." He murmured. I liked the name... "How old are you?" He asked.

    "Almost 18. You?" I said, running my finger over the bandages on my wrist.

    "Twenty four." 

    "You look much younger." I blurted out. " Sorry..." I blushed. He smiled.

    "And you look much older." He smiled. I felt my face redden...

     "Anyway. We have about 5 hours before Master comes back, so I'll try to sum the basic things up." He winked, and moved his chair closer. I noticed the depths of his eyes even more.

    "I'm guessing you're not aware of exactly who your Master is?" He interrupted my thoughts.

    "I have an idea of who it is......." I grumbled, rolling my eyes.

    "Brody. Roderick. Kingrey." He spit the words. "He owns a Human trading company-"

    "What do you mean Human....What the hell is he..?" I interrupted. He glanced up at me.

    "He's a vampire."   The words seemed to echo in the room.

     The words sunk to the bottom of my stomach as a cold rock. My mouth went try, despite sipping more water. I had guessed it all along....It was just.......now.. confirmed.. It felt strange to hear it being said.

     "He hires other vampires, called Hunters, to go into the Human world and capture 'wild' Humans." His eyes began to quiver. "Like me and you." 

     "Wild...?" I asked...

     "We weren't bred in captivity." He replied, taking a sip out of a cup he had poured himself.

     "What the hell... like..there are Humans who are bred like..animals?!?!" I stuttered.  He sighed. 

     "Yes...It's hard to think about." He rubbed his temples. I waited for another response.

     "How long has this been happening......" I asked when the silence lasted too long.

     "Centuries. The Vampires... they're clever. They've kept it all underground pretty well." He said, filling my cup.  "They breed all humans in captivity, which is why it's easier to keep the Vampires hidden from the Human world. All are bred in captivity...except Wild Humans. Wild Humans are Humans who grow up living normal lives. Living in their world without knowing Vampires even exist. Hunters are hired by the extremely wealthy to capture some Wild Humans. Wild Humans are rare, and very expensive. Young Wild Humans can even start selling at $50,000. The ones bred in captivity are sold as servants to the middle class, and maybe some lowerclass- or those that can afford. A well-fit bred-in-captivity male human sells for about $2000. Females can get up to $10,000. Most owners get vaccines for their female humans, however."

      "Vaccines...?"

      "Yes. The vaccines prevent the Vampire's posion from turning the Human into a Vampire when they are bitten. Turning a Human is usually frowned upon; they're called Halfbreeds. Brody refuses to sell them. He calls them "dirty blood." But the Human females are often the ones who get vaccinated..." His eyes drifted towards my arm, where I had the several shots.... my eyes grew wide.