Chapter 2

By the time Josephine woke up from her unconscious state, it was morning already. She groaned and managed to sit up on the bed before noticing that she was in an unfamiliar room.

“Where is this place?” she muttered to herself and rubbed her eyes to have a proper view of where she was and that was when her eyes fell on a glass with red liquid inside.

The scene of yesterday suddenly flashed in her mind and she immediately got out of bed, flinging the sheet out of her body. Her eyes scanned the room again to make sure no one was there with her and she walked to the table where the glass was placed. She bent her upper body and placed her nose next to the glass to perceive it before dipping one finger inside. She brought the finger to her eye level to have a proper look at it.

“Did the bartender drug me?” she asked herself with a slight frown on her face and as she stared at the red liquid on her finger, the image of red eyes flashed across her mind and she gasped almost immediately.

Josephine stared at the glass on the table and raised it with her hand before bringing her nose closer again to perceive it. On taking a whiff of it, her eyes widen and she dropped the glass, making the content spill on the white rug, staining it.

This is blood! Definitely a human’s blood! Josephine screamed in her head and her stomach churned at the thought of it. A strong nausea hit her and she quickly located the bathroom. She threw up in the sink and coughed before rinsing her mouth with fresh water. When she was done, she wiped her mouth with the towel that was hung on the stand and she tried to steady her breathing.

She must get out of here before someone comes to the room for her, Josephine thought as she came out of the bathroom and searched for her small bag. Fortunately for her, she found it and all her things were intact.

She feared that if she stayed any second more, she would be caught, trying to escape and she didn’t know if they were going to murder her or do some unimaginable things to her. 

She realized that she had no one to call to ask for help as everyone she knew already left her or betrayed her. She was all alone and on her own. She clutched her purse tightly to herself and made her way to the door but when she placed her hand on the handle, about to open it, the door opened before she could and her eyes went wide immediately.

Standing in front of her, dressed in a white shirt tucked in a black trouser which matched his black shiny shoe, was Lucas Gray, the bartender, but not only that, the name sounded familiar now and Josephine realized that he was not just a bartender. The person who now stood in front of her was the popular Lucas Gray, the young handsome rich CEO in his thirties who had companies all over.

Josephine’s heart beat faster in her ribcage as she had not expected that someone like him would be standing in front of her at that moment. But before her foolish heart could fluster, she realized that it was this same person who had pretended to be a bartender and was the one she saw whose eyes turned from green to red before she fell unconscious.

Her feet slowly moved backwards and at the same time, Lucas stepped inside the room fully before shutting the door with a thud which made Josephine’s heart jump. She saw his eyes move from her to look at the drink she spilled on the white rug and she saw a look of irritation on his face.

“You spilled my drink,” was the first thing that came out of his mouth and Josephine’s lips slightly trembled.

“Yo-your drink?” she asked, looking scared and surprised at the same time.

She saw him take slow daring steps towards her and she gulped, her heart beating faster with every step he took towards her.

He came to stand in front of her and Josephine felt her knees go weak instantly.

“How are you going to pay for that?” he asked and Josephine could feel his breath on hers, making her shudder.

He stepped away from her and Josephine dared to breathe a sigh of relief. It was better to not have him close to her at all, she thought.

“You are Lucas Gray,” Josephine said, as if wanting to confirm and she saw him nod.

“Took you long enough to realize who I am,” he said and ran his hand through his neatly combed hair, making some of it fall on the side of his face.

“Why did you pretend to be a bartender?” Josephine asked him, wanting to know his reason behind it.

The corner of his lips pulled up and he said, “I own the bar and you happen to intrude while I was entertaining my friends, even after there was a sign posted outside. How rude!” he said and his expression looks like that of someone who got offended.

“You could have told me to walk out,” Josephine said, trying not to take the blame.

“How could I when you were looking all pitiful,” he said and clicked his tongue, staring into her eyes with his green eyes.

Josephine blinked her eyes several times and tried to distract herself from his stare. “Why did you drug me?” she asked.

“Drug you?” he threw the question back to her and tilted his head to the side a bit. “You asked for something strong, remember?” he said with humor in his eyes and Josephine gulped down nothing.

Her eyes moved to look at the drink she had earlier spilled and she asked him, “What was in the glass?”

“You mean my drink?” he asked and then said, “You sure ask lots of questions.”

“Whose blood was that? Did you... murder someone?” she gathered the courage to ask him as she doubt if he was really into illegal stuffs.

“Ah!” he suddenly exclaimed and his lips curved into a smile. He then asked in a dark tone, “Why is your heart beating so fast? Scared that I may do something to you?”

Josephine’s eyes widen almost immediately as she could not tell how he knew that her heart was beating fast even after she tried to compose herself in front of him. And that was when it happened. She saw his eyes fluctuate from the green they were to red before it finally settled on red.

“Oh my!” Josephine exclaimed. “This can’t be real,” she said and blinked several times to make sure that she was not dreaming. “Your eyes...” she whispered and saw a look of annoyance on his face.

“I am thirsty,” he hissed and ran his tongue across his teeth and that was when Josephine noticed the two long teeth.

Her fear increased and she wondered what he was. It couldn’t be what she was thinking, or was it? 

“What are you?” she dared to ask him with trembling lips and took a step back when he took a step towards her.

“A vampire,” came the nonchalant response from him and then his eyes returned back to normal. He said, “You walked into my bar and made me serve you. Also, my friends saw you and they all wanted to take a bite from you but I saved you from being their meal and brought you here to pass the night. I came to check up on you and went out shortly to attend to a thing and you woke up and thought you could repay me by spilling my drink on this expensive rug?” he sent a glare towards her and Josephine gulped.

“I-I’m sorry,” Josephine apologized immediately, not wanting to offend him more. Never in her life had she thought that she would come face to face with the popular Lucas Gray but no one ever talked about him being a vampire. Even she could not believe the thought of it. And now that she knows what he is, what does he have in mind to do to her?

“Sorry doesn’t make up for anything. How do you want to repay me?” he asked, staring into her eyes with his striking green eyes.

Josephine gulped down saliva as she thought of what to say. All she wants was to get out of the place and run far away, if possible, travel out of the country, so she can have a new life to herself and be free from all these misfortunes.

“I will pay for the rug as soon as I gather some money,” she said, hoping he would understand and let her walk out freely.

But then, she soon realized that vampires are not people who would let someone go easily. She had watch movies like Vampire Diaries and Twilight and she knew they were bloodthirsty animals and what they were capable of doing. All they needed was one bite and that would be the end. Just the thought of that made stomach churn.

She saw him look away from her like he was giving it a thought and when he looked back at her, she heard him say, “Get dressed.”

“Huh?” Josephine blurted before she realized it.

“You don’t plan to go out with me dressed like that and also, without shoes, right?” he asked and lowered his eyes to look at her feet before looking up at her.

“Go out with you?” Josephine asked as if she had not heard him clearly. She never said anything about going out with him so why was he bringing that up? She thought.

“It is only right that I keep you under watch so you don’t run away without repaying me, isn’t it?” he asked her and Josephine could not believe that those words were coming from his mouth.

He is filthy rich, so why would he want to keep her under his watch all because she was going to repay him for his expensive rug when he could buy another one? Except he has another motive in his mind, thought Josephine.

“I don’t have extra clothes with me,” she said and then she saw him point to the drawer in the room.

“Your clothes are there. I am giving you just fifteen minutes to get dressed as I have some important things I need to attend to urgently,” he said and went to take his seat on the chair at the corner of the room before relaxing his back, but his eyes watching her.

Josephine knew right there that he had planned out everything right after she passed out yesterday, or why else would he tell her that her clothes were in the drawer? One part of her was grateful towards him because he had offered her a place to pass the night and also gave her clothes but another part of her was dreadful towards him because she now knows what he truly was and he would not let her go easily.

She looked at him as he watches her and she asked, “You are not going to sit there and watch me dress, are you?”

Lucas lips set into a smile and he replied her, “I can’t let you out of my sight as I fear that you might run away. You have thirteen more minutes and if you keep stalling, I guess you want me to dress you up then.”

Blood rushed up Josephine’s cheeks as she felt embarrassed and she moved her feet to walk to the drawer before pulling it open. She saw a packed dress and a shoe and she took them out. She looked at Lucas with dreadful eyes before walking towards the bathroom and she shut the door closed.