Chapter 4

The blood moved through me and surprised me with its warmth. My body felt less weak and more like nothing had ever happened but I was still standing in front of a guy I didn’t know in a room with a dead body.

“Feel better?” he asked when I put down the glass and impulsively ran my finger around the inside of it to get the last of the blood. I didn’t even realize that I was doing it until I had my finger in my mouth like a small child.

Considering my very few options at that moment, I decided that despite not remembering, the safest thing to do was to play along. With all the crazies around at least I could move among them and find a way to get out. So I smiled at Warren and hoped he would take the bait.

“There’s my girl. Let’s get you properly fed. Leo has been so anxious to see you.”

I didn’t know who he was talking about but I went with it, craving more blood only because he had mentioned it.

“Get dressed and I’ll have a fresh man for you downstairs.”

I waited for him to leave before throwing the bedsheet over the dead body. It still creeped me out enough to send a shiver down my spine that I had been in the same bed as a dead body but I didn’t feel like tempting fate by wondering if it could get worse. I couldn’t dwell on it for long, however, because my mind was spinning with questions and half-formed plans.

In a stroke of what I thought was luck, I found a cell phone on a dresser and didn’t hesitate to make a collect call to my brother, hoping not to freak out my parents.
I was itching to talk to Jackson. I had so many questions for him and it felt like I was on hold for an eternity before the operator finally spoke to me again.
“I’m sorry ma’am. The person you are trying to reach expressed that the name you gave belongs to someone dead for three years. He would not accept the call,” the operator returned to me after having spoken with Jackson and before she ended the call.

I hung up bewildered.

How could he think I was dead? And for three years?

Had I been a vampire all that time?

How could I not remember three years?

I gripped the cell phone tight in frustration and threw it at the person coming through the door without knocking.

“Hey, what’s that about? I was just coming to see you and give you the opportunity to blow off Warren.”

A tall, muscular, dark-skinned man stood just inside the doorway with one leg up and his hands protectively in front of his face.

“Are you done throwing things?”

“Maybe,” I returned, finally finding my voice.

His playful smile made me want to mirror it but then he shut the door and the feeling disappeared to be replaced with a silent threat of being alone in a room with a large man and a dead body. He could do anything he wanted to me and I would have no defense.

“Was that your cell phone?” he asked while using his toe to poke the body. “I called a million times to find out where you were before Kris brought you in.”

I watched him flop onto the bed, unsure of my next action and trying to understand what this man was doing.

“Are you just going to stand there or do you want to go out in your pajamas?”

“You must be Leo,” I began carefully, unsure how he would react.

We sized each other up carefully before speaking again. I didn’t feel his mood change so I wasn’t sure if he was playing around still or if I had made him mad. “You don’t remember me?”

I didn’t answer. I was trying to play along still but he was hard to do that with. He pulled things out of me somehow.

“Raven, I can see the fear in your eyes. Tell me what happened.”

He swung his legs over the side of the bed and I stepped back into the dresser nervous of his approach. He stood opposite the body with his hands in the air.
“It’s okay, Raven, no one’s going to hurt you. Least of all me. Yes, my name is Leo and we’ve been dating for almost three years. You can trust me.”

I wasn’t sure if I should trust him but my body betrayed me with my muscles relaxing and my mouth working of its own accord. “I don’t know you. I have no idea where I am or how I got here and my brother thinks I’m dead.”

Tears threatened to slide down my face but I swallowed them trying to be brave. My heart raced and I couldn’t peel my eyes off him as he slowly moved closer.
“Raven, you are dead. Warren made you a vampire three years ago. Do you not remember going out with me the night you disappeared?”

I shook my head slowly.

“You didn’t believe in vampires when you had first changed either. Even after bloodlust took over, you didn’t want to accept it. I don’t know if you ever really did. Have you drank blood since you’ve been awake? It may help you feel less like the world is out to get you.”

I didn’t answer him. I didn’t want to think about it, but there it was bouncing around in my head. I drank blood. I drank human blood. I drank human blood and didn't hate it.

“I know that look. You’re panicking.”

“I-I have questions,” I blurted, uncomfortable with how well he knew me.

He sighed and leaned against the footboard of the bed. “Warren is going to be waiting for us. Can you trust me enough to go with me if I promise that I’ll answer your questions as soon as I get the chance?”

I thought about his proposition. I understood what he was saying and trusted him enough to turn my back on him and pull a pair of jeans from the dresser.
“Does he want me to do something?”

“He’ll have a human for you to drink. You need to get your strength back. I can explain better after Warren lets us leave. All you have to do is pretend to know me for maybe fifteen minutes.”

I wanted to hesitate but found myself nodding anyway. I guess I trusted him.

I pulled a black shirt from the hanger because it was the closest to the closet door, then headed to the attached bathroom for a moment of privacy.

“Don’t take too long in there. Warren isn’t a patient man even if you are his favorite,” Leo warned from the other side of the door.

I pulled on the clothes quickly and used a hair tie from the counter to pull back my hair. I looked at myself in the mirror for a split second to see that all my hair was in place but I didn’t feel like I had time to examine anything further.

Out of the bathroom, I felt more like myself and slightly braver than before. Something about not being exposed in my pajamas made a big difference in how I took on the world.

Leo handed me a pair of Converse with the British flag painted on them. Despite the oddness of their coloring, they felt like old friends and fit my feet comfortably. I’m pretty sure that Leo saw me smile as I put them on.

“Ready for this?” he asked gently, standing at the door.

With a sigh, I stood again, looking at the outstretched hand he offered, and decided to take it.

~~~

Warren waited for us in a grand foyer with vaulted ceilings and gilded molding that sparkled in the light. Standing next to him was a man who looked like a rock band roadie complete with hair so greasy it stood up on its own and tattoos of naked women on both shoulders. The man’s eyes were glazed over and he reminded me of a zombie from a bad horror movie with his blank expression. He made my nose crinkle before I even realized that he was there for me to drink from. I squeezed Leo’s hand but otherwise tried hard to keep my reaction inside. Why was he just standing there, though?

“I know that he isn’t much to look at but he has been chosen specifically so that you can drain him,” Warren began.

Did this roadie want to die? Why wasn’t he fighting or trying to run? Why did no one else find his behavior strange?

“Who exactly brought him in? The alcohol in his system alone wouldn’t be good for her,” Leo questioned, possibly trying to make things easier for me.

“He comes from the dungeon. He hasn’t had a drop in days. I promise I would not be so careless about feeding my daughter.”

My stomach grumbled before he finished and I could feel my teeth ache to pierce his skin and get to the red river just beyond despite the revolting appearance of my meal. I wanted to step up and simply take my meal but I wasn’t sure that I should. It wasn’t until Leo released my hand and gently pushed me forward that I even moved toward the shadow-eyed, greasy rocker.

Warren offered up the man’s arm, exposing the forearm to me as if trying to teach me how to politely drain the man of his blood. I still didn’t understand his lack of reaction; how could he not even feel the grip of Warren’s long slender fingers? Something powerful and hungry inside me took over when Warren cut along the forearm and released drops of blood that slid slowly down his arm and fell to the floor only to shatter across the tiles as if they were made of glass. I couldn’t stop myself from drinking it in until there was nothing left.

I was so hypnotized by drinking the man’s life source that I hadn’t even noticed Warren leave. When I finally looked up, only Leo was standing there waiting patiently for me.

I licked the blood from my lips and let the body drop, not fully aware of myself or my surroundings until I heard the soft thuds of the body followed by limbs on the tile floor. Blinking, I looked around me at the paintings and furnishings feeling as though I were standing in a museum surrounded by some unknown to me history.

“Did that take the edge off?” Leo wondered, yanking my attention to him.

I nodded, feeling energized though still slightly off.

“Okay then. Let’s go for a drive so we can talk like I promised.”