3 is a Crowd

* * *

The convertible drove out of my field of vision, and I turned away from the window. I went over to my sleeping bag and settled it again, punching my pillow a few times more than necessary. I should have known that, with my luck, even a “new life” wouldn’t help much. Now I had no friends and I was in a house with two Vampires, or whatever those creeps were. I heard someone clear their throat. I whipped my head around to find Damon standing at my now open doorway.

I dropped my head on the pillow and muttered into it, “Go away.”

“I want to, trust me, but first I need a little information.”

I felt like sitting up and telling Damon that he could kill me if he wanted, but I wasn’t going to be his source of entertainment or a toy to play mind games with, and then maybe I’d unpack my stilettos and throw one of them at him. I was going to, but then I decided that I was just too tired, so I rolled over and looked at the ceiling.

Apparently Damon saw this as a green signal and said, “What’s your name?”

“Donald Duck,” I mumbled, “I was named after my great-grand uncle.” I wasn’t going to tell him my real name, though I had a vague feeling that he-and Devlin-already knew it. But it was going to take some work to get even a proper fake name out of me tonight. I didn’t let people get away with ruining my mood. The shadow of the cherry trees outside had cast a web across the ceiling.

Damon didn’t respond. Either he didn’t appreciate my sense of humour or he really thought that my name was Donald Duck. I sighed. “Scarlett Dawson. Can you please leave me alone now?” I had just contradicted my thoughts. Maybe I was too tired to even be stubborn. Then again, that wasn’t saying much. I was a little more submissive than I’d have liked to be most of the time.

The shadow of one particular branch looked like an outstretched arm. “Scarlett.” I heard the faint smile in his voice, “Suits you.”

In spite of myself, I smiled. He had meant my eyes. My irises were such a strange shade of brown, they looked crimson, and so Scarlett was indeed a suitable name for me. “Shiny suits you for the same reason.” I retorted. Knowing that I’d ask sooner or later, I opted for sooner, “Are you a Vampire or something?”

“Do I look like one?”

I rolled my eyes. I thought that evading questions was my job, but for now I decided to play along, “Nah. They’re way paler.” The outstretched arm-like shadow swayed lightly.

“How would you know?”

“I don’t.”

“I’m not one, though.”

The arm-shadow grabbed onto a bird-shaped shadow.

Then what are you? I thought to myself. Knowing I wouldn’t get a straight answer, I asked, “What do you want from me?”

“Devlin is the one who made you stay.”

The bird-shadow got away from the arm, but its wing was bent.

“Why?”

“You opened the door.” He said simply.

I looked over at Damon still leaning against the threshold. I left it to my look to ask my question for me.

“Whoever unlocks the door to our mansion doesn’t get to leave it all that easily.”

I sat up. “So this has happened before? I mean, you’ve held other people imprisoned here, too?”

But Damon wasn’t the one who answered me.

“We take no prisoners.”

I jumped, startled by that voice. Devlin. He walked past Damon, into my room, and as the moonlight fell onto his form, I wished I had not seen him. He was about the same height and age as Damon. His straight, jet black hair hid most of his face but his eyes were clearly visible. Like twin pools of blood. I was somehow not able to look away from those eyes. They seemed so cold, calm, yet tempting. The light reflecting in them made his eyes look like garnets, but the moment a shadow fell on them, they became so dark. They resembled an abyss, and I wanted nothing more than to look away. But I couldn’t. His gaze was just as captivating as his voice.

I forcibly shifted my concentration back to what he had said. ‘Take no prisoners’ was a policy followed centuries ago during wars. It meant that all warriors of the opposing army-including the wounded and the ones who had surrendered-wouldn’t be held captive. They would be killed.

So they had killed all the others who had ever opened the door of the mansion. And most probably, they were going to kill me too. Why wasn’t I scared? I knew that I should try to get away, hide or fight, even if it seemed useless, me being a feeble and frail human and all. Still, I didn’t feel the need to.

“You know,” I said to Devlin, “my immortal spirit will be a lot harder to get rid of, and I promise you it’ll be double as annoying as I may be now.”

“Your immortal spirit would be sent to the fiery pits of hell where it couldn’t annoy an amoeboid cell.” Damon informed me, and Devlin just smiled to himself before saying, “However much we’d all enjoy that, for now, you’ll be staying right here.”

“So you won’t kill me?” I asked, half incredulously and half gleefully.

“No.” was all that Devlin said.

I was getting increasingly impatient. I wanted to know why I was being kept here. They weren’t asking anyone for a ransom, they weren’t going to kill me, and they didn’t seem like they wanted to-god forbid-“try anything” with me. I just sincerely hoped that they wouldn’t make me clean the mansion and cook food for them. I hated housework. Wait! Food. They weren’t planning to eat me, were they? Sure, Damon had said that he wasn’t a vampire but that didn’t mean that Devlin wasn’t one either (he was the one who wanted me there, after all). Secondly, vampires weren’t the only non-humans that could eat humans-or even just drain their circulatory system.

Finally getting up, I asked, “Why exactly do you want me here?”

“No reason.” I saw a ghost of a smile on his lips. He said it with such nonchalance, so softly; he could have had me swooning, had I not known of the little thing about him not being human.

I quickly got over my trance-I had to get used to hearing that voice and not phasing out if I was to stay here much longer- and rolled my eyes. “Listen,” I said to Damon since I couldn’t handle talking to Devlin, “If any of you’re planning to have me for dinner any time soon, just tell me now or I swear I’ll poison you.”

Why was I getting the feeling that I was the only one in the room who didn’t find this situation amusing? Devlin gave a questioning look to Damon, who answered it with, “She thinks we’re vampires.”

Devlin chuckled in his soft voice and Damon just smirked.

I frowned, “I do not!”

“Oh, but you did.”

“I was just guessing!”

“Well, maybe you c-”

“Shut the hell up!” Devlin announced, his voice rising only the slightest decibel, “We’re not werewolves, fairies, lycans or anything out of a fiction book, and we’re certainly not,” he practically choked on the next word before saying it, “vampires.” He continued, “We’re…” I waited impatiently for him to finish. His eyes looked into my own, wide ones, cold and expressionless at first. But then I saw a hint of emotion. I couldn’t really catch what it was. It was as if he’d suddenly realised something that made him change his mind. Whatever it may have been, it was gone in a flash, and he said, “…We’re not gonna hurt you.”

What I did next was probably a very stupid thing to do, the type of thing I’d usually never even consider doing. But I did it anyway. I believed him.