4
“No!” I shouted, lunging for the door, but he managed to close it just before I could stop it. I tried the handle, only to find it child-locked again.
Twisting in my seat, I attempted to climb to the front and escape from there, but the two vampires seemed to guess my plan and before I could blink Vincent was in the driver’s seat, and Joel was in passenger’s, grinning back at me.
“Relax,” he told me.
“Relax?” I repeated shrilly, staring at him open-mouthed. “You… you monsters are kidnapping me! How can I relax?”
“Lean back and close your eyes?” Joel suggested, a smirk playing at his lips.
“Let me out! Let me out of this car right now!” I cried, resorting to slamming on the windows again. “This is crazy!”
“Well, Vivi, you really know how to pick your girls.”
“Just shut up,” Vincent responded, keeping his eyes on the road. “She’ll shut up eventually too. Just ignore her.”
“My parents will definitely file a missing person report!” I warned them. “They knew I was coming home tonight after the movies! They’ll definitely… definitely…” I trailed off, a hand automatically going to my pocket. My phone… it was still in my car. Unbelievable.
“Love, we’re vampires. People don’t know we exist,” Joel responded, giving me a pitying look. “Do you think we’ll care if you become a missing person? No one knows you’re with us, and no one knows who we are.”
“The… the blonde girl from before does!”
“Not anymore,” Vincent interjected, glancing at me through the rearview mirror. “Like any normal human, her memory has been wiped of the accident.”
“It’s not my fault you can’t erase my memory!”
“Ignore Vivi,” Joel said, gaining my attention. “He just made a mistake and knows he’ll have to admit it so he’s in a bad mood.”
“My name isn’t Vivi ,” Vincent growled.
Tears sprang to my eyes as I realized there was no way I could get myself out of this mess. Vampires, my worst nightmare, were kidnapping me. And there was no way I would be saved. I sniffed, rubbing my eyes frantically to stop the tears from spilling out. I couldn’t act so weak in front of these monsters!
Joel looked at me, his expression soft. “Don’t cry. I know it’s a lot to take in, love, but we aren’t actually that bad…”
“Emily.”
“What?”
“My name is Emily,” I told him, swallowing the lump in my throat. “Stop calling me
love “.
Joel grinned at me. “Okay then, Emily.”
“Where are you taking me?” I asked, glancing at the window. “Are you going to kill me? I want to go home!”
“To answer your questions in order; we’re taking you back to Vivi’s place, I don’t know, and for right now, that’s not happening.”
“But my parents-”
“Will survive without you,” Vincent said coldly, glancing at me through the rearview window.
I looked at him in alarm. Joel sighed from the passenger’s seat.
.
.
.
“Ignore him, like I said, he’s in a bad mood,” Joel told me, rolling his eyes. “He can’t accept he made a mistake.”
A grin came onto Joel’s face, and I caught glimpse of his fangs. Immediately I pressed myself back into the seat as far as I could, staring at the canines in terror. Vampires… out of all the mythical creatures that existed, it had to be vampires, didn’t it? The one thing I was scared of the most. And they were kidnapping me. Why couldn’t it be unicorns, or leprechauns?
“What’s wrong?” Joel asked me, his eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “Your heart rate just spiked.”
I stared at him with wide eyes. “How do you know?”
“I can hear it,” Joel responded as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Super sensitive hearing, remember?”
“No, I don’t, since vampires don’t exist!” I snapped back at him.
“Please,” Vincent snorted, glancing at me through the rearview window again. “You may be happy in your state of denial, but it’s pissing me off.”
“Pissing you…” I reiterated, staring at him in disbelief. “Pissing you off? That’s funny. You know what’s pissing me off? The fact that I’m being kidnapped by something that shouldn’t exist! And you’re angry because I want to deny that little fact! Oh, that’s grand.”
Joel started chuckling as Vincent rolled his eyes. This was unbelievable. I was going to go crazy! How could they act so normal when they were kidnapping someone? Did they not realize how serious the situation was? It was against the law! They were taking me from my friends and family! What was worse was that they looked like they were my age. How could people so young participate in such a hefty crime? But then again, they were vampires. Who knew how old they were. Or what they would or wouldn’t do.
A new thought popped into my head. What was going to happen to me? From the movies I’d seen, I figured vampires were capable of anything. Including killing. Panic began to rise in my chest. Was I going to be killed? Because they couldn’t erase my mind, or whatever? That was hardly my fault!
“If you’re thinking that we are going to kill you, we aren’t,” Vincent suddenly stated, once again looking at me through the rear view mirror.
Looking away from this piercing gaze, I pressed my lips into a thin line. “How do I know you won’t?”
“Vampires have laws too,” he said simply. “Murder is just as big a deal for us as it is for you humans.
“But you were going to kill the girl from before!” I protested, looking back into his mesmerizing eyes.
“No, I wasn’t.”
“She was covered in blood!”
Vincent glared at me through the mirror. “That’s because some idiot interrupted us, and she fled before I could heal her and erase her memory.”
“I didn’t interrupt you,” I responded. “I walked by.”
“And she saw you.”
“But that doesn’t have anything to do with interrupting you.”
“Yes it does.”
“The point is,” Joel interjected, turning around to look at me again, “that while we are allowed to feed on humans, killing them is out of the question. Killing a human can result in a sentence to death.”
“How do I know you’re not lying?” I asked, narrowing my eyes suspiciously.
“You’re very mistrusting,” Joel commented, a small smile gracing his face.
.
.
I stared at him skeptically. “Am I wrong not to trust you guys? You’re kidnapping me! How can I trust you?”
“Ow, it hurts,” Joel said, putting a hand to his heart in mock pain. “She thinks we’re untrustworthy, Vince.”
“I don’t care,” Vincent responded flatly.
Joel frowned for a moment before sighing. “You’re no fun, Vivi.”
“Don’t-”
“Call me that,” Joel finished for him. “You can say that as many times as you want, but I’m still going to call you Vivi.”
Vincent didn’t respond, making Joel chuckle quietly. For a moment they amused me, but a smile still couldn’t find its way to my face. Not that I actually expected one to. I mean I was being kidnapped. How could I smile? I was happy enough that I wasn’t hyperventilating.
Suddenly the smooth motion of the car became rough, making me bounce in my seat. I glanced out my window for the first time in what felt like ages and realized woods now surrounded the car. The road the car was traveling down was uneven and made of dirt. Obviously we were on some sort of back road or trail.
After a few minutes of being jostled in the car by the uneven road, we switched over onto a paved road. Confusion ran through me as I stared into the pitch black forest that still surrounded us. Why pave a random road in the middle of the forest? It seemed like a waste of money. Surely no one used this road…
My thoughts were suddenly lost as an immense, Gothic mansion entered my vision. The building was at least four stories high, and twice as wide as my school. As we grew closer I noticed a towering, black, speared fence surrounded the estate. The building looked like it had been taken straight out of 12th century Europe!
Vincent drove the car all the way up to the fence, and through an open gate that was attached to it. The mansion looked even more staggering as we grew closer. I could make out vines climbing the edges, but instead of making it look unkempt, it made it look more breathtaking. However, the mansion still had an eldritch air to it. Goosebumps rose on my skin. Creepy.
Vincent pulled the car all the way up to the front of the estate before cutting the engine. Immediately Joel was out of the car, opening my door, and pulling me out roughly.
“Let go!” I cried as a reaction, flinching away from him as he set me on the ground.
“Take off your jacket,” he ordered, keeping a tight grasp on my shoulder.
“What? Why?”
“Because you smell too human,” a condescending voice commented from behind me.
I turned to Vincent with a frown. “What?”
“Just take it off.”
“No!”
Before I could blink Vincent was in front of me, his hands at the base of my jacket. In one swift movement he had the article of clothing over my head, and off my body. He tossed it into the car, and turned to Joel, gesturing towards me.
“Put this on,” Joel ordered, handing me the coat he was wearing five seconds before.
“No,” I stated stubbornly.
“Do it,” Vincent growled. “Or I’ll do it for you.”
After a short glaring match with Vincent, I finally took the jacket out of Joel’s hands and put it on. A shudder made its way through me as I pulled it around me tighter. It was freezing!
“Let’s go find Sebastian,” Vincent said, turning back to Joel. “Hopefully he can sort things out.”
I looked up at the building again, becoming entranced by its height once more. It was actually a very awe-inspiring building. “Where are we?” I asked without even realizing it.
“My house,” Vincent responded, our eyes coming in contact again.
“Your house?” I repeated, my eyes widening.ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
“Welcome to the Rutherford manor,” Joel said, sweeping his arms out in a welcoming gesture.
I stared from Joel, to Vincent, to the house, and then back to Joel again. This definitely wasn’t a very welcoming welcome.
“Now let’s go find Sebastian,” Vincent said, grabbing me by the upper arm and dragging me towards the magnificent estate.