SECT
I heard multiple voices when I opened the bathroom door after my shower.
Even feeling the water on my skin made me flinch at first, it was almost pounding even though the pressure wasn't high. My hair was as dry as I could get it but it hung around my face like a depressive curtain. I looked like the grudge.
Rhys's hoodie was soft and dark brown and oddly comforting. It smelt like lavender. He'd even given me some socks.
The voices gave me pause. Being able to hear them from not only the doorway of the upstairs bathroom but the calming clarity of them as well was unnerving in itself.
My anxiety hadn't quelled in the shower even though I tried to take an interest in what products were in there to take my mind off of it: head and shoulders two in one, Loreal men expert face wash, a few bars of soap each in their own dishes, lynx ice chill body wash.
It hadn't gone away but after getting cleaned up a little I felt a tad better, but stepping out into the dark hall and hearing voices I didn't recognise made my teeth set on edge.
"--gotta be shitting me," someone said from below.
"Shut up, Isak. You did the right thing bringing her in, bro," another said, just as unrecognisable as the first.
"You know how this works, both of you. Don't make any sudden moves. Don't startle her. You'll remember well that anything that moved like prey in the first few days was something to hunt. To eat."
A violent shiver raked through me.
A grumble came. "I don't like strays."
I leaned forward a little, trying to hear more but alas, stealth was not on my side and I set off a creaking floorboard.
Rhys appeared at the bottom of the stairs a moment later. "How was your shower?" His voice was low, almost a whisper but I heard him crystal clear.
I didn't answer for a moment, my body tingling with unexpected adrenaline. Who were the people he'd called over? What were they here for?
"Ah," Rhys said like he realised my unspoken anxiety and gestured for me to come downstairs. "My brothers are here. I'm sorry, I should've told you they were coming."
His brothers? I glanced at the other doors. "Do they--" I stated then cleared my throat when my voice broke. "Do they live here, too?" I clenched the damp towel I'd used in between my hands. I'd never been an anxious person before, but it was like my body was ahead of my mind and it sensed danger. Hostility.
Rhys smiled kind of lopsidedly. "Yeah. Come meet them. You're safe here, I promise Lyla."
Despite my body gritting it's teeth and resisting, I pushed through knowing I couldn't very well stay upstairs forever. Rhys gave me a somewhat calming smile and a reassuring nod to the lounge. I sucked in a sharp breath, brushed my hair out of my face and went in.
There were two of them. One was massive and the other lean. The massive one had long dreadlocks tied back into a half ponytail. Everything about him was big, his arms, legs, shoulders. He looked like he worked out for a living.
He gave off no bad vibes, it was the other one I was sensing the hostility from. He was sat on the sofa, arms crossed with a deadly scowl on his otherwise nice face. He was pale with fine blonde hair, the type of guy that was all elbows and neck.
They were both, undeniably, vampires.
"Ah," the massive one said, standing slowly from his previous seat on one of the armchairs. "Hello, Lyla. I'm Aaron."
"Hello," I mumbled, feeling rather odd and embarrassed. I didn't want to meet the one who was obviously Isak's eyes, they were narrowed and glaring.
"This is Isak," Aaron said, jerking a thumb to the scowling blonde. "Don't mind his face, it's usually like that regardless of what's happening."
I understood he was trying to joke with me but I wasn't in the mood to play around. Rhys side stepped me came into the room. He nodded at Aaron and he sat on the armchair closest to the wall.
"Why don't you sit down, Lyla?" Rhys asked, looking at the armchair Aaron had just been sitting in.
I was too nervous to sit. "I'll stand if that's okay."
Aaron chuckled. "Feels like there's ants all over you, right?" he asked me directly. "I don't miss that feeling."
I nodded at Aaron, sort of grateful he knew what I was going through. They all obviously did. We were all the same now.
Then, something made me frown. Isak was sitting in the sun. He'd opened the curtains a bit and some of the sun was hitting his neck and arms.
"How are you able to sit in the sun?" I asked incredulously, flashes of my boiled hand came over my eyes and I shook them away.
He rolled his eyes, looking at Rhys. "Wow, she really doesn't know anything does she?"
Rhys shook his head at him and turned to me. "It's an adjusting period, I should've explained earlier. A day after your first drink, you can go in the sun again."
Relief came over me, at least a little. I wouldn't have to live in the shadows like so many vampire novels depicted. Vampire... I didn't know if I would ever get used to that becoming a thing now. It was weird, so very weird and strange to feel like I'd been... violated in such a way it had changed me forever.
"Do you have any questions for us? Now is the time to ask, though it's not exactly like we will run out of it, either," Rhys asked.
I took a deep breath, though my lungs didn't seem to want to fill all the way. "I just want to know what happens now? I've got friends, and I'm enrolled at the university."
Aaron and Rhys shared a look then Rhys shuffled forward a little. "No family?"
I sighed, picking at my thumb. "My best friend is my family. I was in the foster system and just aged out. I need to go and find her soon since I can't contact her."
"You can use my phone if you want to make a call?" Aaron offered, reaching for his back pocket.
I gave him a small, grateful smile. "Thanks but I don't know the number off by heart."
"Well. Like I said, we can't let you leave for a little bit until your body settles," Rhys said.
I turned to him. "I just want to see if she's okay."
Rhys sighed. "Lyla, we have to help you take some control before you go out on your own. What if you come across some blood or anything in the streets and suddenly scale a building. The public aren't going to understand or be too forgiving about that."
Deep down she knew he was right. "I don't want to hurt anyone."
"We'll teach you control." Aaron sat back in the armchair.
"And drinking... drinking blo-- Oh my god, I had some earlier didn't I? I drank--"
"Animal blood," Rhys finished for me. "Aaron works at a butchers."
I blinked and shivered, thankful it wasn't human blood. "We can drink animal blood?"
"It has the same nutrients mostly, it's more sustainable for us," Aaron explained. "Though not as beneficial."
I blanched. "I was a vegetarian."
Aaron laughed. "Well that's going to change."
Rubbing my eyes I glanced up at Rhys. "So, no food at all?"
"We can eat small amounts if we need to eat in public. Though I doubt you'll find anything too cooked any good, raw things are better like fresh salmon and berries are nice in moderation."
"But it won't keep us healthy," I said slowly, the cog wheels of my fractured mind turning.
"Would you be able to survive on a strict water diet?" Aaron asked me. "No, it's just the way it has to be, but we find we don't feel too guilty about it since the animal is being used for human consumption anyway."
Human. Something I wasn't, anymore. Then my eyes stung, growing wet. "Hettie... she'll grow old, without me."
Rhys put a hand on my back. It was warm and yielding. He slowly rubbed a small circle between my shoulders. "You can have the next 10-15 years, maybe even 20 with her."
"And after that?"
Aaron blew out a breath from his nose. "We'll have to move on. All of us."
What the fuck kind of fucked up nightmare was I living? I would outlive my best friend, my sister, with no uncertain terms. I'd have to abandon her when the time came.
Aaron offered a smile that I guess was meant to be comforting. "One day at a time, life won't move quicker now that yours has lengthened."
I shook my head. God, please let me wake up from this nightmare.
"When do we hunt?" A sullen grumble came from the sofa. "I'm starving."
Hunt. To hunt. To eat. To kill... my stomach flipped. God, I couldn't do this. Don't make me do this.
Rhys sucked in a breath. "Well," he said and glanced at me. "No better time than the present to get the ball rolling. Tonight. We'll go tonight."
I almost blanched. "Can't I hide for an eternity first?"
Rhys's hand moved from my back to my shoulder, it wasn't an unwelcome touch. It was almost a little comforting. "How about an incentive?"
I glanced at him. The sun caught in the upper parts of his eyes making them spark like salamanders fire. "Incentive?"
"You'll see," he said, his mouth peeking up at the edges into a mischievous smile.