Pallido

Five

"Sydney!"

I winced and left the rag on the floor beside the spray bottle. I went down the hall to Peter's room and walked into the room. His closet was torn apart, clothes and weapons strewn all over the room. Some on his bed, some on the floor, some lying on his dresser.

"Do you know where my Valentino suit is?"

"No, sir." When it was the five of us, Chloe was the only one allowed in his room. I didn't know what clothes he had unless he wore them.

"Dammit," He growled, tossing a few shirts behind him. "I can't go in just any suit."

"Maybe you could try to call where Chloe is and-"

"What, you think she's going to be able to talk to me on the phone? Be realistic, Sydney." He snapped.

My heart started pounding in my chest. Vampires tended to have a temper and they were also unpredictable. The combination was deadly for humans.

He sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Look, I didn't mean to yell at you. I just have this really important meeting tomorrow and I can't look like a mess in front of these - There it is." He reached into the far side of his closet and pulled the hanger out with the suit neatly hung on it. He held it out to me. "Take this and iron it for me. Don't ruin it, understand?"

I nodded, afraid of even touching it in the wrong way. It was nice and expensive. It was a dark blue with a white dress shirt and a black tie. It could have been worth a million dollars and I wouldn't have been able to tell it apart from a thrift store find.

"You're staying here tomorrow while I'm gone. There's far too much that needs done around here and I can't let that go just for a meeting. I'll leave a list of stuff for you to do before I go."

I nodded.

"When you're done cleaning, come back here. I need to feed."

"Yes, sir." I hated when vampires called it feeding. Yes, my blood was food for them but I wasn't a meal. It made me uncomfortable but what was I supposed to say? I couldn't stand up for myself and tell him it made me uncomfortable. His needs came before my wants. That's how it always was and always will be.

I didn't want to make him mad so I cleaned the rest of the bedroom in record time. I made the bed then turned the light off.

Peter couldn't go into Chloe's room without getting upset or depressed so he made me. I cleaned up the room, threw out her belongings, and made it look like she'd never been there before.

I closed the door then put the cleaning supplies back in the cabinet below the sink in the kitchen. Then... it was feeding time.

I walked up the steps, my palms feeling sweaty. It wasn't the first time Peter drank my blood. It happened plenty of times before. But being alone with Peter meant he had to feed from me all the time. When it was the five of us, he only fed from me every few weeks. I knew it was because he liked Chloe more but I told myself it was because he rotated us so we weren't so weak.

I opened the door and was immediately pushed against the wall just inches to the right. Peter pressed his lips against mine urgently, his hands reaching into my hair and grabbing fistfuls of my hair.

He picked me up and walked over to the bed where he dropped me onto the mattress. I didn't have much time to breathe as he slid down on top of me. He started kissing me once more.

I turned my head to the side and his lips met my cheek. I gasped for air, my cheeks heating up. And not because I was embarrassed.

Peter grabbed my chin and forced me to look at him. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Don't do this, Peter." I whispered, trying to sound comforting instead of demanding.

"You don't get to tell me what to do." He growled, threatening me.

"I know you don't want this."

"I want to have sex with you. No, I want you to shut up and then I want to have sex with you."

"Peter, please don't do this."

"I said shut up." He growled, holding my gaze.

"No," I whispered, not sure why I needed to be so bold with him. Not sure why I thought I could be.

He slapped me hard across the face, making me cry out in pain. He got to his feet and pointed at the door. "Get out."

I was glad to leave. Vampires had horrible tempers and I didn't like being on the receiving end of them.

I left the room and went to mine. I was mad too. Just because I was a human didn't mean I deserved to be treated like dirt.

I looked at the mirror and saw my cheek was slowly starting to turn red and was already swollen. I didn't want it to get worse, to show Peter that he'd done any damage, so I went to the kitchen and filled a plastic bag with ice.

I could hear furniture being thrown around in Peter's room along with curses. The sound was loud enough that the sound of my feet running would be muffled.

So I opened the back door and started running.