Chapter 6 - Home of the cold ones.

I led still, my body stiff and tense on the hard bed. I vaguely remember dragging myself onto it,or how long I had sat and cried for on the floor. There wasn’t even a window in this tight, narrow cupboard, so I couldn’t see if it was still night or day now.

No matter how much I tried to go over what had happened, it just refused to sink in. I felt as though I was just in a real life- like dream, that I must have watched a scary movie before going to sleep and now I was dreaming that I was in one of my own.

Since I had been in here though, I hadn’t heard a sound, not a faint voice, a door opening or the creak of a floorboard. I didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing… Are they preparing to drink my blood maybe? Who gets to? Will they take turns?

My mind was my own worst enemy at this point. It was doing me no favours in calming my nerves or in any way rational right now! My imagination running wild with what might happen or what was lurking around. I was still trying to piece together the whole argument at my house, then being brought here! It all happened so fast it all just felt so jumbled. I couldn’t understand how I was here because my dad apparently owed them money! My dad was a quiet man, we were all a relatively quiet family. We just went about our lives like everyone else did, just sticking to the rules and doing what we were supposed to do! There has to be a misunderstanding… this can’t be right. Surely they’d mistaken my dad for someone else, right? But then why did he just stand there and not say anything? And why did my mum get so angry with him about him breaking a promise?

A loud knock at the door made my body jolt, then, without even having a second to mentally prepare myself for what was about to happen, the door swung open and there was Zekan, dressed in the same robe he wore when he met me.

“Lyra’s hungry”. He said, looking irritated. I bolted upright, sitting on the bed when fear made my skin rush cold, and my goosebumps appear as my hand went to my neck protectively. Zekan just smirked in amusement. “Calm down girl, she’s not hungry for you! Go to the kitchen, the staff there will give you what she wants”.

I slowly lowered my hand, but my body still felt as if it was about to turn stiff as ice permanently, refusing to move.

“Well, get a move on then! You don’t want to keep her waiting, you’ll only piss her off!”

“But… but” I stuttered.

“But, but what? Come on, you got to be of some use while you’re here”.

“I… I don’t know where to go… the kitchen…. The kitchen, I don’t know where it is!”

He huffed and rolled his pale blue eyes. “You go down the grand stairs, then straight through the main hall until you get to the archway, then turn left and carry on down the corridor. The kitchen is the first room on the left side, you can’t miss it! Understand?”

I just nodded with my mouth wide open like an idiot. He sighed and left the room, leaving the door wide open. I slowly shimmied off the bed, my feet not even wanting to touch the floor, trembling at the thought of walking out of that door to be surrounded by vampires that could possibly turn into a frenzy once they could see I was human and uncontrollably tearing into my neck! I read all the stories back at home…. I read all about what human blood does to them if they can smell it and how the need to taste it takes over them like a crazed zombie wanting your flesh.

I managed to get to the doorway, and I peeped my head out and looked left to right. The only thing to my right was Zekan’s room and to my left was the way to the staircase. My head was screaming at me to go back into the room and shut the door and sit quietly on the bed, in complete denial, pretending this nightmare outside my door didn’t exist. But the more logical part of me, could only remind me of what that Lyra would do if I didn’t do as I was told. I don’t know who scared me more…. Her or Zekan!

I paced as quickly and quietly as I could down the hall and the stairs, like a little mouse in search for cheese, hoping not to come across any hungry cats! I felt pathetic as I willed my scared shitless body to move and do what I was telling it to do! I finally reached the archway and turned down the white, stone walled corridor and I could hear talking and shuffling in one of the rooms ahead, with the clanging of pots and pans.

As I got closer, I pressed my body up against the wall and shuffled closer to the noise. Trying to hold my breath and stay as quiet as possible, I spied round the opening of the room. This one had no door, just another big arch through the wall. It was definitely the kitchen and there were about four people making food and taking out raw meat and clear flasks full of red liquid from a large fridge. But as I watched them, something seemed different. They didn’t look intimidating or pale white with red or cold dead eyes. Wait a minute! My head suddenly switched on and somehow I just automatically stepped into the room, right in front of them as I just looked from each one to the other in confusion.

A dark-haired, short, stout man stopped what he was doing as he held two eggs in his hands and looked at me. “Oh, looks like we have a new one!” He said to the others.

Another tall, skinny man stopped and looked at me, along with two women, who looked almost identical, with brown eyes, short brown hair and a friendly, easy smile.

“Good morning”. The short man greeted.

“Uh… uhh”. I replied, lost for words.

“Are you ok?” One of the young women asked as she walked over to me. She took my hand in hers with a look of concern and my breath hitched when I noticed her skin was warm on my hand.

“You’re human!” I breathed out, stunned.

They all chuckled and she nodded. “Yes I am, and so are they”. She said as she motioned to the others stood behind her.

“How…. Why?.... are you stuck here like me aswell?” I asked, feeling alarmed that I wasn’t the only human that had been brought here.

“Nooo, we’re not stuck here!” She shook her head with a smile. “We came here on our own accord!”

“Why?” I asked in astonishment.

The short man came over with a frown on his face. “Because we had enough of Blue Bay, that’s why. So, we came here.”

“I don’t understand, why did you leave Blue Bay and decide to come here out of all places? Why put your lives on the line?”

“What’s your name?” He asked me.

“Ellie”.

“Well, Ellie, we had a shop in Blue Bay, it stood for many years and we had so many loyal customers, but over time, more and more shops came about and it was suggested that as we had been around for so long, due to my father owning it before me, that it was best, mine was shut down. I was forced out of it, and I ran out of money and was about to lose my home”.

“But why did you come here, why risk it?”

“Because we knew the vampires here don’t feast on human blood. They let us in without any problems and as long as we do our bit, then we can stay. In fact, we’ve been here for so long now that I forget Blue Bay even exists”.

“How long have you been here”?

“Wow umm…. About twelve years!

“Twelve?” I gasped.

The woman squeezed my hand with a sympathetic smile. “I’m guessing by your shock, you didn’t come here on your own will?”

“No”. I shook my head.

“Then, why are you here, honey?”

“I… I went home yesterday and two of them were in my house. Apparently, my dad owes a lot of money to Zekan, so they brought me here until he pays it”.

“Ohh, like a guarantee, for him to pay his debt!”

I shrugged. “Something like that… I don’t know, it all happened so fast and next thing I knew, I was here. I haven’t even slept”.

“You’re shaking”. The woman said as she looked at me with sad eyes. “Well, no wonder you’re so surprised at us being here and you look like you’ve seen a ghost!”

“Look”. The man said as he put his hand on my shoulder. “They’re not the blood thirsty demons you assume they are. We’ve all been here for so long and they’ve never come for us. We sit with them, we talk to them, there’s nothing for you to worry about”.

I tried to believe what he was saying but my brain and my body were still in shock mode, and it wasn’t getting through and relaxing me in any way at all.

“Are you hungry?” The woman asked. “I can make you some breakfast”.

“Oh umm, no, I just came down because I was told to get food for Lyra”.

“Oh”. The woman’s eyes widened in alarm and the short man quickly rushed over to the fridge and began placing things onto a tray. “Well, you shouldn’t keep her waiting. As much as we don’t fear the vampires here, she’s one that…. Well let’s just say, with her we do tend to watch ourselves”.

The man handed me a tray with a plate of red raw meat and a glass of red fluid and, by the strong copper smell, I could tell it was blood. “You better get this to her”. He advised as I took it from him, my head still whirling. “My name’s Stuart, this is Melanie and those two over there are Duncan and Faye”. He said as he pointed to the other two that just waved.

“Yes, we’re usually down this end of the castle, if you ever need us”. Melanie said as she started to usher me out of the kitchen.

I tried to walk all the way through and up the stairs without letting the tray slip through my shaky hands. When I got to their door, I didn’t trust myself to balance it so I could knock, so I used my foot to bang against it instead, trying not to bang too hard. The door opened within a second with Lyra glaring at me, then looking at the tray in my hand.

“Took you long enough! You want me to starve?” She asked harshly.

“Nn…Nnooo”. I quickly shook my head, her standing over me, making me feel like I was shrivelling up into a scared child.

She took the tray from my hands as she stared right at me with a sour look. “Next time, make it quicker!”. And with that, she backed away and slammed the door shut with her foot.

I quickly darted back into my room and grabbing hold of the sheets, I wrapped them all around me and hid under them, only letting my eyes peep over the top. My stomach started to grumble and even though Melanie had offered to make me breakfast, I’d still much rather stay in here, than step out there again. The sheets smelt so damp and old, I closed my eyes and thought of my warm bed and how I could be in it right now, sprawled across the mattress, happy and comfortable instead of in here.