Who Said Vampires Don't Exist? Well, I Did, Until Now

Chapter 5: The Smell of Home

Chapter 5

Time went by even slower than I imagined. Every second seemed to drag on, and the tension in the air only grew stifling. My wrists burned worse as time passed, and I regretted hurting them more. The blood that leaked from my hands got on the seat and left a very noticeable stain. If I wasn't being kidnapped, I might have apologized.

I still couldn't understand why in the world someone would want to kidnap me. I wasn't pretty, and I was nobody important. My family is similarly ordinary and unimportant. What help could I be to anyone?

Even stranger, who was that man from my dream? I didn't think I'd ever seen him before; he wasn't familiar at all. I must have just come up with him in my mind and associated him with Sam. I'd never had a dream like that before. I usually had the same dream with Sam in the pool. This dream was... different. It felt more real.

After an hour, I became incredibly hungry. I hadn't eaten breakfast in the morning, and it had been an entire day since my last meal. I deeply regretted refusing Tony's offers of stopping for food. I didn't want to ask these guys for anything, but the hunger consumed me to the point where I couldn't take the silence any more.

"Hey, are we going to stop for dinner? I'm really hungry." I spoke timidly. After a long pause, I thought maybe they didn't hear me. "Are we-" I began again in a louder voice, but Reuban interrupted me.

"We heard you. No, we aren't stopping." He didn't even look back. After a long pause, my stomach growled. All their heads snapped in my direction and looked at me strangely. Reuban even stomped on the breaks of the car to look at me.

"What? I told you I was hungry." They continued to stare at me; they almost looked worried. That gave me an idea. "Yeah, I think I might die if I don't get food. I haven't eaten in so long." I said it sardonically, but their worry only seemed to increase exponentially. Were they actually stupid? They acted as if they'd never heard a stomach growl in their lives.

"Since this 'guy of importance' needs me, I bet he wouldn't be too happy with you guys if you let me starve to death." They all shared a look, and Reuban nodded. He started the car again.

"Fine, but you're going to eat whatever we pick out." Reuban said as the car accelerated more. I nodded and covered my smile with my hand. How did they fall for that? They had to know that people can last longer than a day without eating. I was thankful they fell for it, but how could they?

Reuban pulled the car up to a gas station that had a café. Since we were in the middle of nowhere, I was surprised he was able to find a place so quickly.

"Seth and I are going to get you food. Alex, watch her." Reuban and Seth got out, and Alex and I stayed in the backseat.

"So... not that I'm not grateful you guys are getting me food, but why did you all seem so concerned?" I glanced over at him. He was looking out the side window.

"We have to get you back alive or else he'll be very angry."

"Who?" I waited for an answer, but Alex just shook his head no. Why did they have to be so enigmatic? It wasn't like I had anyone to tell their secrets to.

The time ticked by intolerably slow. Every second felt like an hour as my stomach curdled uncomfortably. I didn't think I'd ever been so hungry. It occured to me that coming down from being in shock might be making everything feel more hightened. Alex continued looking out the window, and I took slow breaths so that I didn't scream out in frustration. After what seemed like an eternity, Seth and Reuban got back into the car with a brown paper bag.

I snatched the bag from Reuban's arms and opened it hastily. There was a plain hamburger and some burned fries. Um... yum? I was too hungry to complain, so of course I ate every crumb.