Chapter 3
TIME TO RUN
I couldn’t help but stare at the people standing in front of me. I couldn’t decide what they were doing, or what they would do next. Clearly, this couple were not his parents. I mean, they looked about the same age as me, well, the girl looked even younger than me. Biologically speaking, it was impossible for them to be his real parents. He must be adopted, and he sees them as his parents of all intended purposes, though it made me question why such a young couple would adopt a almost grown teenager and not a child. I shook my head, trying to clear my mind. Most people only adopt infants or very young children so they could raise them as their own. But these two adopted Luke. It didn’t make any sense. I stood there, deep in thought, trying to mentally figure out the puzzle that lay in front of me. I finally came out of my trance when I heard someone clear their throat; everyone was staring at me, now, looking more than a bit concerned.
“Are you okay, dear?” The short girl said, walking closer to me, as the guy followed close behind her, like he was afraid of her proximity to me.
Yeah, I’m sorry... I’m just a bit confused... If it’s not too rude to ask, when did you adopt Luke?” The lady’s hesitation made me feel very nervous.
“Luke, why did you bring this boy here?” She seemed a bit annoyed, noticing that Luke was sitting on a couch relaxing.
“I brought him here because I feel a need to have him around. I like him. He is a generally good person.” He was kicking off his shoes, which fell to the ground loudly
“You feel the need to have him around? You know what to do, then. Why are you bothering us with this?” The man’s voice was dark and rich, and seemed very powerful. He was obviously annoyed, and I was embarrassed somehow.
“I know, but it’s different. He feels it too.” When Luke said this, his ‘parents’ glanced over their shoulder at me. I was embarrassed and uncomfortable.
“You’re a Prince. Your mate will be a female to reproduce an heir with.” My ears perked up as the girl spoke.
“I know this mother. I brought him here, to be my second. But there is something else that I can’t explain about him...” I am sure my mouth was hanging open like a fool as I listened to their conversation.
While they were talking about being Princes, second mates, reproducing, my theory of reptilian people popped back into my head. I became lost in my thoughts again until I realized I was being watched. Luke and his ‘mother’ were standing a few feet in front of me, while his ‘father’ was next to a bookshelf looking deep in thought. I took a step back when I realized they had moved so close to me.
“What about a family member?” The man Luke claimed to be his father started walking in our direction.
“Maybe, I’m not sure about his family. It’s a typical family, I think, but he is the oldest son, mother is too old and married to their father. He does have a sister but she is still very young.” Luke was not not looking at me when he was saying this stuff about me, and I was becoming very angry at him for mentioning my sister to these reptile people who might want to eat her. “I don’t know about any type of extended family.” Luke finished speaking, as his ‘Father’ looked back at me, still deep in thought.
“How old is you sister?” His ‘mother’ asked me, and I glared at her.
“What does my sister have to do with why I’m here? You don’t need to know anything about her.” I was irrationally angry with the sudden interest in my baby sister.
“Luke, it might be best to explain things to Max. We can continue this conversation with him at a later date. Clearly we have made him uneasy and it is best not to push this issue right now.
They were watching me carefully, like I was a wild animal about to go crazy and attack.
“Fine, no problem. Max, take a walk with me,” I quickly followed as Luke jumped up and headed to the door. I really did just want to leave this room. These people were creeping me out.
We started walking down the stairs, which was a lot easier than the climb up was. Once on the main floor, he started walking in the opposite direction of large double doors. They were so massive it looked like you needed twenty people to open them. I glanced at Luke, who was walking quuickly away with his back to me. There was no one in the hall or on the staircase. I debated making a run for it, but had no plan as to where I would go once outside. I would never make it very far, not to mention I have no idea of where I even was.
“Max, we have a basketball court and a swimming pool out back. How about we talk while shooting some hoops?.” Luke continued to walk ahead of me without looking back.
I urge to run was still there, but I knew it would be hopeless. Plus, I was more than slightly interested in seeing what was down the hallway. It was a bad idea, I could feel it in the bottom of my stomach. I knew I should just demand he take me home and never come around again. I caught up with Luke, who had stopped in front of some beautiful bay windows, and was looking out.
“I thought you were going to attempt to run. I am so thankful you didn’t. I’m kind of tired, and not really in the mood for a chase tonight.” He began to walk down another hallway, at the end of which were some glass doors.
“Not going to lie, it crossed my mind. Technically, I don’t know where we are, so what good would it do for me to run?” I said, looking around. It was pitch black outside the glass doors, and I really didn’t want to go out.
Luke walked over to wall next to the doors and opened hidden cabinet and I could see a bright light turn on in outside. It illuminated the back yard like it was daylight. I was pretty shocked. The giant basketball court and what looked like an olympic sized pool with a fantastic deck with cabanas, chairs and tables surrounding it. There was also a massive canapé that covered the entire walkway to the court, hung over the court. It continued to the pool, and over the pool. I was an amazing back yard. I quickly remembered where I was, and that the person who brought me here seemed to be up to something suspicious.
Luke stood staring out at the backyard like I had been and it seemed he was deep in thought. He sighed deeply, then opened the door and started walking out toward the basketball court. I quickly followed, as it seemed I had no choice. He picked up a ball and started dribbling quickly, showing off. He turned around almost smiling as he spun the ball on the tip of his finger not even looking at it. He was not looking at it or was not even surprised at the fact he was able to keep the ball balanced for a long length of time. What the hell?
"Do you play?" he asked, letting the ball drop to the ground, dribbling again.
"I play a little," I answered. I was unsure of what was happening.
"Good. I play a lot, but I don't have many friends that do. When we do play, someone always has to sit out." He shot the ball in my direction. I was able to catch it pretty easily, but I really didn’t feel like playing.
"You don't have many friends? What, you're rich, you probably have more friends than people I've met." I answered, somewhat sarcastically.
"Well, there are a lot of people who claim to be my friend. But for those I choose to trust and consider my true friends, those are rare to come by for me." He ran down the court a bit , then jumped up to the net and for a dunk shot. This was pretty shocking because he was only a little bit taller than me, and I have never been able to reach the net.
"I guess I can see your point. Some people try to befriend you to take advantage of your money, but they really don’t like you." Luke laughed atthis.
“You didn't know who I was and you accepted me as your friend without knowing about my money or even knowing I had money at all," he said.
"Well, that’s not technically true, I knew you had money. Your car is worth a lot and the way you dress kind of screams money," I said, shooting the ball back toward him.
"Oh, guess I didn't blend in very well."
"Nope, not very well. But it didn't bother us that much. You seemed like a pretty cool kid." I exaggerated the “seemed”.
"It seems you do not think of me as “cool” anymore?" Luke asked, stopping and looking me straight in the eye.
"There is something weird going on here and I don't like it. I have no idea where I am, why you live in a place like this, or for that matter, why those people you call parents look younger than us. How is that physically possible?" I had raised my voice, but Luke just looked at the ground.
"Max I need you to not freak out or try to run, but those are my parents. They are my birth parents they just haven't aged in a long time. It is just a condition of what we are." Now I really wanted to run, but was was frozen in my place as I could see two figures walk out of the forest toward the court.
"My parents and I are vampires, and so are most of the people here. Besides you and a select few that work with the human government, and are like ambassadors..." I was trying to listen, but it was becoming increasingly hard as the dark figures were coming closer. I could tell one was similar looking to a giant and the other was around my height, but something about their approach was freaking me out and my heart feel like it was caught in my throat. "Max did you hear what I just said?" Luke was saying, as I finally was able to pry my eyes away from the approaching figures and look back at Luke.
"What?" I said asking him as my eyes went back to the figures that were just now coming into the light. I could see that they looked relatively normal except for the really tall, who looked like he could be a linebacker.
"Max, these are my friends, Josh and Bobby. Guys, this is Max." They smiled and came closer.
"Are we playing a game? It would be nice to have teams instead of always playing one-on-one," the giant one said. I wasn't sure what his name was.
"Guys not right now. I'm trying to introduce Max to our little world here." Luke was saying, grabbing my attention back to him. What was he talking about, our world?
I tried remembering what he had just said while his friends were coming out of the woods. All I could remember was that he was rambling and I wasn't able to focus on what he was saying. When I looked back to where the newcomers had been standing, they were just gone, like, poof, and I was standing alone on the court with Luke, who was studying me intently. I looked around in a panic, not sure where his friends had gone so quickly it was just weird. They were just there a few seconds ago and now they had just vanished.
"Max relax. I was trying to explain," he said, but I interrupted him I was sick of whatever game he was playing.
"No, I will not relax, why did you bring me here and who the hell are you?" I said scream and taking a few steps back to run encase I needed to.
"My real name is Luke Shallson, Prince of Vampires, my parents are currently the King and Queen" he said in a neutral face
I took off running toward the house hoping I could find the entrances and get to his care before someone caught me. I just hoped hot-wire a car was as easy as it looked in movies and shows because I need to get away from these people. I need to get away from them at least, I am sure they were some type of reptilian possible blood drink because they think they're vampires, sick weird cult that I want nothing to do with. I reached the top of the stairs and glanced back to see Luke just walking casually away from the court. I thought this was odd, due to the fact that I was running, but I just told myself not the time to think about others action it is time to run and run fast. I ran down the hall and turned at the corner that I was sure was the front door. I froze as I looked directly down the hall seeing a blockade of people standing next to each other blocking my escape route.
"Max just relax nobody here wants to hurt you" I heard Luke say as I turned and he stood directly beside me and I practically screamed as his sudden appearances.