It had been 3 days since that visit from the Arlow siblings. Since then, they’d been assisting the Daniels family in organizing for their nearing date to move. Slowly but surely, the family of three was finally ready to move to their new home in Ethereal where they were to be surrounded by creatures once thought to be mere myths.
“Evan sweetheart, wake up. Today’s the day we leave so we should get a head start.” Melinda’s voice rang through, rousing a sleeping Evan from his sleep. Ah yes, the day had finally come. His now bare room is a stark contrast to its initial state. It was new. Unwanted.
Downstairs, the bags they’d packed over the previous days now sat next to the front door along with those platinum blonde siblings.
“Rise and shine sleeping beauty. We’re supposed to get you there in the next two hours. Let’s move.” The family stepped out to be greeted by a luxurious, sleek black vehicle. A limo specifically.
“Oh wow. I’d never seen one of these so close up. And now I get to ride in it as well?” His mother’s delight eased his worry a bit though it still lingered at the back of his thoughts.
“Before we leave, I’ll need your phones. Hope you understand but we’re very particular about our safety.” The reasoning was understandable so they handed their phones to the young woman and the car was on its way. The trip went by in a blur, especially due to him falling asleep only 20 minutes into it. His parents, weirdly enough, had also slumped down in their seats, almost in sync. The vampire siblings looked back, ensuring their new guests were truly asleep and within a flash, the scenery around them changed.
Buildings that hadn’t existed were suddenly popping up into existence. A mirage of some sort? No. To protect themselves, all ‘mythical; or supernatural beings found ways to hide in plain sight from humans. Cloaking is the main method. Without special words, this drive would have been exactly like driving down a regular highway meaning the buildings now wouldn’t exist.
Ethereal was just ahead now, seen towering over everything from where it sat in the middle of the city of Central. The vehicle pulled up to the large gates, a guard asking for identification and they were soon given access.
“Should we wake them up or just take them up to their quarters?”
“It would scare them half to death if they just suddenly woke up in unfamiliar surroundings Marcus, especially poor Evan. Wake them up and we’ll take them there ourselves.” This plan wasn’t needed though as soon after 3 groans rang out from the back seats of the car.
“What on Earth- how did we get here? Were we asleep?” Chris groggily spoke, rubbing his eyes from the light.
“Strange. I didn’t feel tired at all. Must have just dozed off.” A yawn escaped Melinda’s mouth though only as a reflex of just having awoken.
“We put you to sleep with some slight gas in the vents. No need to worry about side effects you’ll be fine. It was just a precautionary measure.” Mark explained, no remorse whatsoever present in his voice.
“Why not just tell us before we left the house then?”
“Wouldn’t be fun that way, would it?” Dizzy smiled mischievously. “Come along then. We’ll take you to the dwelling area. Maybe you’ll make a few friends with the other humans.” The family of 3 grabbed their bags, following the siblings around the large manor. They were given a brief tour of places they would eventually need to memorise. Kitchen, dining hall, study, library, why, they even have a spa area.
“And these are your rooms. We weren’t sure if Evan would want his room to himself but we requested it to be next to yours in any case. You’re free to do whatever it is you feel like but in no way are you to leave the manor unless escorted by us or someone we assign to you. That should be all.”
“The phones, Dizzy.”
“RIGHT!.” She handed them their phones, though when checked, it seemed things were a bit different.
“I’m sure you’ve noticed a strange application on your phones correct? It’s to ensure that you won’t speak of our existence to anyone. Another precaution if you will. Don’t try testing it to see what happens. I’ve grown to like the three of you.” This sentence was enough to strike fear into their hearts, sensing the indirect threat. Whatever that app was, they’d be sure to abide by the rules.
“You’re pretty much free to do whatever. Explore, stay in your room we don’t care. Our numbers are on your phones so call if you need us. Chao.” In a cloud of smoke, they’d disappeared to who knows where.
“Ev, sweetheart. You should explore while we unpack. Get yourself familiarized with this place, you know?” He silently nodded, walking back in the direction they’d originally come from towards the living room.
None of the faces present at the time were familiar, though that was expected. The majority of the people here were adults who seemed to be in their middle ages though a few looked close to his age. They were all happily chatting away, smiles and laughter echoing through the room. They all seemed to be acquainted raising the question of how long they’d been here.
A few spared him curious glances though none of them seemed interested enough to speak to him. A curt nod and he was out of the room, now in the kitchen. He hadn’t eaten breakfast earlier so maybe his body subconsciously led him here due to his hunger.
The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.
“Oh hey.” A voice from the side startled him, body reeling back in defence. The person only laughed nervously, stepping into better lighting to reveal a boy who looked a bit younger than himself. The first thing that caught Evan’s attention was a bite mark that laid on his wrist as well as one on his neck.
“Sory about that. Didn’t think I’d scare you that bad. I just wanted to introduce myself since I saw the Arlow siblings bring you and your family in. I’m Jason, you are?” Silence. “Oh uh…am I making you uncomfortable? I’m sorry. It’s just not often we see a new face around here, especially near my age so I guess I got a little too excited.”
“Evan.”
“What?”
“I’m Evan.” The younger boy beamed at him.
“Nice to meet you, Evan. What’s your story? How’d you find them?”
“They saved me. Human trafficking stuff.”
“Oh cool. Wait, no, sorry that’s not cool! It must have been pretty traumatizing. I just stumbled across one of them hunting when I was younger so ever since then I’ve been living here.”
“Do they…does everyone go through-” He pointed to the marks on the other boy who realised what his question was about and smiled softly.
“No this was something I asked to do. You see, the reason I saw that person was because I lived on the streets at the time. They’d been starving and couldn’t resist taking down an old guy that lived in an alley I stayed at. He offered that I live here so I said yes. Ever since then, I’ve been repaying them by offering my blood. I don’t mind it. They practically saved me as it is.” He rubbed the mark on his wrist unconsciously, a faraway look in his eyes.
“Ah I was rambling wasn’t I? Sorry about that. I’m quite the rambler when I’m excited.”
“It’s fine…What’s there to eat? I forgot I was hungry for a minute.” Jason laughed lightly and pulled him to sit on the island while he searched the fridge.
“Anything you’re allergic to? We’ve got bologna, strawberry and pineapple jam, peanut butter, some ham or bacon, eggs-”
“PB&J sounds good. I’m not too hungry.”
“Coming right up.” The younger then proceeded to prepare the sandwich for his friend, making an additional one for himself. The two sat on the stools, side by side, engaging in idle chatter. Evan talked about his life at school while Jason spoke of what usually happened within the manor as well as mentioned a few of the vampires he’d grown to know and hear about.
“Oh, then there’s Lord Kas. He’s the head of the central faction. If you ever see him or his family, you should bow. They’re practically the royal family of the faction.”
“What’s their family like?”
“Ok, so they’re the Nolva family. We’ve got the head Lord Kas and his wife Lady Idati. They’ve got 3 sons, Volak, Alesh and Mizak and a daughter, Malara in that order. They’re all pretty chill but I’ve heard Lord Kas is pretty scary when someone pisses him off or betrays the faction so it’s best to stay on his good side.”
“Is there a way I should address them?”
“People around here usually just call the ‘Young Lords’ or ‘Young Mistress’ so yeah.”
“Alright. Thank you for explaining all of this stuff to me. I’m not too fond of new environments and situations so this move has been pretty hard on me.” A hand was placed on his bruised shoulder causing him to flinch. Additionally, the gesture had caused unwanted memories to surface, images of his attacker’s face swarming his thoughts.
“You okay there? Did I hit you too hard or something?” Jason scanned his face, having seen and felt the older boy flinch from his touch, quickly removing it.
“The person who tried to kidnap me bruised my shoulder. It hurts when I apply pressure and brings back memories when it’s touched. It’s not your fault so don’t worry.”
“Dude you wanna talk to a therapist? One of the ladies who stay here works as a therapist and usually, she takes care of those of us with trauma and all that junk.” The idea surely wasn’t a bad one. He’d never visited a therapist even after the accident. He never trusted anyone enough to tell them his problems. It’d taken numerous attempts of coaxing from his parents to get him to agree to go to school but that was it.
“I’m not pressuring you or anything. I just think it’d be a good idea for you to get all that stuff off your chest. Closure, ya know?”
“I’ll think about it.” Jason nodded with a close-eyed smile before glancing at the clock above the stove.
“It’s almost 7. I gotta go. Maybe we can talk again some other time? Got a phone?” Evan pulled his device from his pocket, unlocking and sliding it to the younger who typed in his number, saving it under ‘Jace’. “Later!” And he was gone to, Evan assumed, give blood to whoever it was he’d wanted to repay.
Noticing Jace had left his dishes on the island, he gather them along with his own and took them to the sink where he washed and put them to dry. Walking back to the dining room, there seemed to be more people than when he’d first walked through. Maybe they’d grown bored and wanted company, he didn’t judge. People get lonely sometimes.
“Hey, kid!” A heavy voice called out to him. He swivelled to see an older, heavyset man beckoning him over to a group of people. He slowly crept over to them, being sure to stand a distance away from any of the males.
“Saw yous getting all friendly with Jace over there. Yous one of em types is ya?” He blinked, staring at them quizzically. Seemingly having noticed his confusion, the same man spoke again.
“Yous ain’t know? Guess I was wrong then. See, yer Lil buddy Jace over there is what you call an addict. The little guy’s been going out every week twice a day to give his blood to some vampire he said saved his life. Bullshit if ya ask me. Everyone thinks he’s just hooked on em loopy hormones they put in ya when yous get bitten and hell I believe em.”
“Loopy hormones?”
“Right right. Yous and yer folks only came in today right? See, when em bloodsuckers sink their teeth into ya, they gotsa make sure it ain't gonna hurt so they fill ya up with some kinda hormone that makes everything feel ‘good’ if ya know what I mean.” A bulb flicked on. Their fangs contain an aphrodisiac. This guy was saying that Jace became addicted to the feeling and has been going back ever since.
“Looks like you do understand what I mean. Don’t ever let one of ems getcha. You'll get hooked on it real quick.” Noted.