Capture

Chapter 18: Subterranean

I based Smat on Frat guys that I have met.

Chapter 18: Subterranean

Topher introduced me to the other humans. He was right,  Smat was different. He liked to invade personal space of others, but would freak out if the same was done to him. He was probably the most abrasive and tackles person I had ever met.

I had a seat in one of the available lawn chairs. Topher moved one from a crossed the room to the side of me and set it up. Before he could sit down, Smat was there. Grumbling, Topher flopped himself in Smat's recliner. Smat wrapped a large freckled arm around my shoulders.

"So," He drew out. "You a blood whore?"

"W-what?" I exclaimed in shock. I went to stand but his arm kept me from rising.

"Smat-" One of the girls protested.

"Relax, she's got a mark on her neck," I clasped my hand to my neck, where I recalled Manu biting me during the internal fire experience. "No one will blame you for having a from-the-vein kink. I couldn't deal with all the biting, personally." He shrugged and gave me a squeeze.  

"I-I don't!" I objected. Horrified for others to know, I was sure it was a subject looked down upon. Hell, I felt dirty thinking about the idea. I was particularly embarrassed that that was how Topher discover it.

"Okay..." Smat turned to Topher and kicked his leg. "So Tufo, you up for a little shopping later?"

Topher's eyes narrowed at the nickname. "You know that I only go on raids. Remember trying to save fellow humans? Not nicking booze." He told him sourly, kicking him back. Harder.

"Oh ho ho, is that how its going to be pretty boy?" Smat challenged, his chair falling behind him as he rose.

"Bring it, Ginger." Topher stood up as well. 

With that, the two threw themselves at each other. It wasn't like the Naturals I had seen fight or the humans back at the territory. No, the way they fought was swift movements of grappling and dodging. The skilled style eventually died away to a version of rough-house wrestling.   

"Why do they hangout if they can't stand each other?" I asked the girl closest to me, pulling her attention from a tattled book.

"Hm, what? Oh, well they enjoy getting a rise out of the other. Smat usually starts it, Topher always finishes it though." She smirked as her eyes darted up.

Topher currently had Smat in a headlock, calling him degrading names. 

"But why be friends at all?" I inquired following the fight as well.

Smat had released himself and was riding on Topher's back while boxing his ears.

"Its a limited selection here. We got lots of young families and middle aged-plus peoples, but not a lot of humans around our age." She sighed.

"Oh? Is this it?" I asked. Surely there couldn't be only a handful of us in the entire colony.

"No," She told me. "There are a few more guys but they tend to hang around the older adults. Not many females here. A girl escaping to here, is unheard of, especially by herself." She gave me an admired look.

There was a thumping sound as Topher was ramming his back against the wall, trying to knock Smat off.

 "Is that what you have heard? Because Manu was a lot of help." I felt the need to give him credit. 

"Oi!," Smat shouted. "Your new girlfriend might have a thing for biting but I don't!" Smat shook his pinched hand, the one he hand placed over Topher's mouth. The flesh was there was indented but there was no blood.

"She's not my girlfriend!" Topher combated. He jumped horizontal, land upon Smat.

"We all know but we don't really count the vampires." She ignored the boys, as did I to the best of my ability.

That's how the rest of the day went. The girl next to me, Ismene, and I talked for the most part. The fighting lost its hype, Topher won. I got my own room, well a shared room, but one assigned to me. A few doors down are the bathrooms with shower stalls. My roommate allowed me to share clothes with her. 

My official assigned job to partake in the system was to do laundry with an older man. It was a job that involved going to the surface for better ventilation. Most of the time it was easier to allow the clothing to air dry in the sun. It also gave me a chance to clean Manu's clothes and get them back to him. I didn't get to see very much of him. Our schedules were so different but I tried to stay up late and as would he. We would meet in his office and talk while he poured over paperwork. 

It was he who gave me the first warning.

I was lounging a crossed his office chairs. It was about four hours after night fall. He had gotten up earlier today but was  rather tense. I could see it and feel it from the weird binding thing, I was getting better at deciphering it. I  had been telling him about Smat's and Topher's most recent row at each other, in the stairwell. He wasn't paying me any attention. I stopped talking and allowed us to be eloped in silence, minus his ever-moving pen. 

I gave a loud sigh that briefly had his eyes glance my way. I tried a more pitiful moan and got even less of a reaction. I decided rather then siting there, I could be in my bed listening to 555 snore. The rest for tomorrow's shift would do me better than staying with Manu and letting him ignoring me. I griped a goodbye and made my way to the door when he said my name.

"Natalie, please do not leave," he pleaded. His intense dark eyes captured me.

"Are you going to talk to me or are you going to continue to pretend that I don't exist?" I questioned, my arms crossed. 

"Yes, we are in need to converse," Manu mumbled. "I have much to say, but I worry over your reaction." He began fiddling with his endless files.

"Just tell me," I sighed, siting back into the chair. 

"You and the rest of the humans are going to be confined to the underground chambers," he swept his hand a crossed his desk, as if to swipe away dust. 

"Why?" I hedged. Manu almost seemed...nervous. Is that what it was? It was a strange sensation when the emotion wasn't your own. I began to worry when his eyes wouldn't meet mine.

"There will be a pack visiting the coven. No human is to be detected." He gauged my expression.

I gulped. Topher had told me that this would happen on occasion. The colony was to hide in the deeper rooms while the coven would be masking any trace of our existence. There had been times when approved humans had claimed by the Naturals, and by treaty laws, the vampires couldn't stop it. The protocol was to keep us safe from the Naturals.

I just hadn't expected it so soon. I slept underground but my duty allowed me the sun, with the pack here I wouldn't see the surface for sometime. I felt a sliver of fear go through me as I though of staying below for a prolonged time. 

"Oh," I breathed. "How long d-do we have? Will I still get to see you?"

"Its best if you were to remain underground from now on until the Moon Beast depart. I'll visit with you if it calms you, only below." He pinched the bridge of his nose, a trait that I had seen shared between Manu and his Guider.  

His admittance calmed me a bit. Manu had protected me since the binding, he would protect me now.

"When are the beasts arriving?"