Chapter 4 | Changed

Raya

I follow behind the man with shaky legs, scared of what may happen to me if I don’t do as he instructed. He doesn’t wait for me and continues his long strides, if I don’t try harder to keep pace then I’ll get left behind.

I push myself to get closer to him and try to maintain my breathing, not wanting him to think that I’m weak for panting as I try to keep up with his long strides.

He opens the door to a large office where two other vampires both turn to look at us. They look similar to him, both of them are just as striking. Truly, these three vampire men might be the most stunning men I’ve ever seen, but they are also just as terrifying as they are gorgeous.

One of the men has his dark hair shaved on the sides with the middle part of his hair being longer and framing his face. He seems more relaxed than the other two. His shoulders are relaxed and although his eyes widened upon seeing me, he now has a lazy half smile. The other vampire sits behind a desk, his hair is perfectly cut, he’s in a designer suit, his hands closed together in front of him, and he looks at me with a furrowed brow and seems annoyed.

The man that brought me here commands, “Sit down, pet.”

I frown, not enjoying the way he speaks to me, but I do as he says. The one that looked annoyed asks, “What the hell is going on?”

The vamp that brought me here plops down in a seat and says, “Arthur Locke believes she should be enough to cover his debt.”

The relaxed vampire makes a snorting sound as if he didn’t believe my life was worth whatever Arthur owes. The annoyed one looks me up and down and asks, “What’s so special about you?”

The question feels like a trap. My stomach rolls at the thought of answering. I force my voice to remain steady, but it’s soft as I reply, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The annoyed one pushes himself to his feet, like he’s trying to intimidate me. I blink and he’s now towering over me. I gulp, my eyes meeting his. I notice a spark in his eyes and he says in a soothing almost hypnotic voice, “Tell us, what’s so special about you?”

There’s an urge inside of me to tell him everything, but it quickly goes away as I realize what he’s doing. I tilt my head to the side as I ask, “Are you trying to compel me?”

His head moves back in surprise and the spark leaves his eye and he looks at the other two men, both of them looking just as shocked.

The relaxed one now seems confused, his whole face contorted in this confusion as he asks loudly from disbelief, “How did you evade the question?”

My eyes flicker between the three of them, noticing the different shades of red for their eyes. The relaxed one has the brightest red almost like candy apples, the annoyed one has the deepest shade of red almost a dark as blood, and the one who brought me here is in between more of a burgundy shade.

Before I answer his question I ask, “Can I know your names so I can stop thinking of you as the grumpy one, the strong one, and the cheeky one?”

The cheeky one laughs at my description of him and gives me a charming smile as he says, “I’m Luther.”

The one who brought me here huffs, “Blade.”

And the grumpy one mumbles, “Adam.” He pauses before asking, “How did you evade my question? You should’ve told us everything when I compelled you.”

I shrug in response, “I’m part vampire and from what I’ve heard and I assume it’s correct, you can’t compel other vampires.”

Adam, Blade, and Luther look at one another and then back at me. Luther takes a seat in the chair beside me and says, “I think we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot here. Tell us more about you. What’s your name?”

My eyes flicker between him and his brothers. Although, Luther seems more relaxed with me, the other two don’t as they cross their arms and watch me harshly. I say, “I’m Raya.”

I can’t help but squirm to make myself more comfortable as they look at me so intensely. Blade asks, “Is Arthur your father?”

I shrug, “I guess. I’d think of him more as a sperm donor. He wasn’t a part of my life until he ripped me from my home a little over an hour ago.”

Adam’s gaze hardens and Luther asks, “Is there anything else you can tell us?”

I try to focus on Luther, he looks at me like he cares, smiles softly as if letting me know that I’m not alone. I say, “I’ve always known I was half-vampire, my mom always tried to keep my identity a secret. Um, I don’t know if silver bothers me, my mom would never risk it. I can see my reflection although it seems to fade at night. I heal faster than regular humans do. Sunlight doesn’t really phase me too much.”

The more details I give the more inquisitive looks pass between Blade and Adam. Luther tries to keep me focused on him, but it’s hard whenever Adam and Blade look at me as if I’m a science experiment.

Adam walks back to his desk rubbing his head as if he has a headache. I ask Luther, “Who are you guys? Like what clan or house do you belong to? Sorry, I’m still trying to understand the vampire lingo.”

The corner of Luther’s mouth twitches up and he answers, “We’re the Ambrose brothers. So, a part of the Ambrose line.”

I nod my head as if I knew what that meant, but honestly, I don’t know much about vampires. Most human societies don’t and my mom tried to keep me from doing research. It’s a miracle that I even knew Arthur Locke’s name.

Adam looks up at Blade and commands, “Take her to a room.”

I don’t get a chance to ask anything before Blade grabs my arm and leads me away. He walks quickly, but I know he’s not using his vampire speed. We make it to a room and he opens it up for me and says, “Make yourself at home.”

When I hesitate to cross the threshold, he pushes me across and closes the door behind him. I hear the lock click in place and I gulp as I try not to panic knowing that I’m trapped here.

My eyes flicker around the room. It’s large and spacious, bigger than anything I could’ve imagined. Hell, I think it’s bigger than Arthur’s whole cottage.

But regardless, knowing that I had no way out made the walls feel like they’re closing in on me.

I slide to the floor, my back pressed against the door as I try to steady my breaths. This day was supposed to be good. I turned 18, and yet… it doesn’t feel good. I’ve been taken from my home, handed to strangers, and I don’t know what will happen next. All I know is that my life has been forever changed.