A Dangerous Woman

I glanced at the speedometer. Easily over 95. I sunk lower into the seat and put my head down. The pain in my neck was killing me. If I moved in one wrong direction, flares of pain would drip down my body. But sitting in one position for too long, it started to ache like crazy. Thirty minutes were driven in silence before the vampire peeled off of the highway and onto an exit ramp. We were literally in the middle of nowhere. Pines and forest in general surrounded us in every direction. The exit ramp pulled off into a smaller street, which just got smaller and smaller with every turn onto a new one. Eventually, it was just a rough dirt road and the trees were taller. He turned us down another corner and there was a house. A big house. Three stories, porches, a wraparound balcony, big windows, and a chimney. A damned chimney. It looked like one of those colonial mansions you’d find back in 1776. These guys had found a house that looked better than most modern ones. Damn.

The car pulled up to the front part of the porch and the vampire killed the ignition. He got out, came around, and opened my door. He offered a hand. “Can you walk?” I looked at him, trying to judge if there was any trap in the question. I certainly didn’t trust him enough to take my hand, but thing were different now. This was their turf, this was where they had the advantage. One mistake and I could have all six of them sucking me dry.

I passed his offer with a wave of my hand and tried to stand up. A huge wave of nausea hit me and I had to fall back down into he seat. “I guess not, then. Arm over my shoulder please. Like that... yep. Good.” He lifted me effortlessly and carried me inside without waiting for this Reese or any of the other cars to come by. Inside, there was a hall with a great staircase, and two off to the side that went down. He went down on of those. A couple more turns and I was completely lost. No way I was getting out, even if I wanted to when I was able.

That was the other thing. At this point, I could agree with anyone that all six of these guys were pretty hot. Would I want to leave by the end of this? The thought made me shiver. This was going to be too much. After I wasn’t dying, I might not be able to control myself anymore.

The vampire entered a bedroom. He set me down on the bed, my head sinking into the pillows pretty far. He ducked under the bed and grabbed a little white box. He opened it and found a little white packet, inside of it was a alcohol wipe. The vampire swabbed down his thumb and then bit it. Through the dull throbbing, I found it strange he would clean himself just to contaminate it again. A dark bead of blood blossomed from the bite. He looked at it to me, and I realized what he was going to do.

“Oh, no.” I muttered. “You’re not sticking your blood in an open wound.”

The guy sighed. “We can’t contract or give blood borne illnesses or pathogens. It’s literally impossible. But I promise you’ll be fine. You can do it yourself if you want.” He held his thumb out to me.

I gestured it away with a turn of my head. I was getting more frustrated by the moment. “It’s not that! I don’t know any of you, and I’m expected to just trust you? One of you just almost killed me. Hell, I don’t even know your name!”

I realized what a grave mistake I made in that moment. His face darkened. “Don’t group us with that vampire. Especially that vampire.” He must have realized something, because his expression changed suddenly. This was pretty odd. “Never mind. Tilt you head away, please?” I hesitantly did as he asked. “My name’s Ryan, by the way.” He pressed his bloody thumb into my neck’s wound.

A searing pain occurred, but it was gone before I could even gasp. I felt exhaustion take over my body, and I was surprised I could keep my eyes open to look at the vampire. Ryan, he said?

“Get some sleep. I’ll be right down the hall with the others if you need anything. No one’s coming in here unless you’re awake or there’s an emergency, okay?”

I shook my head. “S-sure. But how would you I was awake?”

All I received as an answer was a wink. Right before he closed the door, though, he responded. “Trust me, we’ll know when you’re awake.” Then he was gone. And despite the ominous-sounding reply, I fell asleep before I could blink again.

Dreams were a thing that occurred regularly, but today seemed to be an exception. Nothing happened, just blissful darkness. Quiet, timid, relaxing peace. My mood was dampened when I could feel myself waking up. It was like rising towards the surface after being underwater; the dark got lighter and lighter. I felt like I’d only been in the quiet for a few short, precious seconds. When my head broke the surface, color appeared again. I had been on the grayscale, but now I was opening my eyes and soft, muted colors surrounded me. The heavy sheets weighed me down the more I remembered what had happened only hours ago. Or what I think was hours. How long could I have been out?

My body didn’t ache at all like it had last night, or this morning... Or however long ago it was. The only thing hurting was the bite, it felt like a huge kink in my neck. I gingerly rolled my head along my shoulders and searched for how far I could tilt my head. Pretty far. That was good.

My legs were shaky though as I stood up and walked towards the door. Hopefully that could be fixed as I started walking again. Unfortunately, I was almost out of breath when I reached the door. Damn, the room was bigger than I thought. I was still completely wiped out from the incident. How long would this last? A small creak sounded behind me, and I nearly jumped. I spun around and planted my back against the wall. No one was there. The sudden adrenaline rush left me even more exhausted, but the little of it still pumping through my veins kept me going. I had to remember where I was: in a strange house in a strange place with six strange and incredibly good-looking vampires who wanted to suck my blood.

My feet padded semi-silently through the hallway outside my door. I was glad for my NASA hoodie, because I was sure it was colder than sixty. Ryan had said he’d be down the hall with the others, but there was two ways I could go. He had also said they would somehow know when I woke up. Did that mean they knew now, and they were waiting for me? It was quiet, and I found it too quiet for the six vampires milling around here to be near. Which mean they were probably somewhere else in the house. I wandered, coming instinctively to the staircase. Good luck to find it, I guess.

I jumped up the stairs to find the hall again. I wandered through the hall, going behind the stairs and into another, smaller hall. That led to a great room, much bigger than possibly my entire apartment. There was the fireplace, but I wasn’t sure it connected with the chimney outside. Couches circled it, and above the mantle was this huge-ass TV as thin as paper. Damn. It wasn’t on now, but I was sure they were awake somewhere.

Another creak popped, this time in front of me. I jumped that time, the dense quiet being broken so suddenly. Someone couldn’t be following me, right? No one was there. The thought sent shivers down my spine. I kept going.

Another yet shorter hallway led to a kitchen. An incredibly big-ass kitchen. An incredibly big-ass kitchen with a vampire. Just my luck. He was just leaning against the counter, a coffee pot sitting on a modern stove. Spasms of fear gripped me. He must’ve sensed it, because he looked up and offered a subtle smile. God, he was just as hot as Ryan. That was it, there was no way I’d be getting out of here.

“Coffee?” He asked, opening up a cabinet holding mugs.

My breaths were shallow. “N-no thank you.”

He humphed, only taking out one mug and pouring some creamer into it. He took the coffee off the heat and poured it in until it was practically brimming over the cup. The vampire took a long pull and set it down, leaning over the huge island counter and resting his head on his fist.

“So, Layla, huh?” His eyes danced with an unnerving light. It turned my stomach in knots. I stepped closer, barely even inside the kitchen. He rolled his eyes playfully. “Oh, come on. If I’d want a bite, you’d already be pressed against this counter, slumped in my arms and my fangs piercing your soft neck. But I don’t. You can come as close as you want.”

I swallowed, creeping closer. “How comforting to know I wouldn’t stand a chance.”

He smirked, leaning back a bit. “Sarcastic in the face of potential danger, are we? It’s adorable, really. No wonder we’re all obsessed with you.”

I felt a blush spread over my face, much to my dismay. “So it’s not the blood for you, then?”

A chuckle. Deep and light, all at the same time. God, he was creeping me out. “Oh, no. It has everything to do with the blood. You don’t know how rare it is to find someone as... pure as you. It’s a fifty-fifty thing. You’re obviously quite beautiful and we’re all head over heels for you, and the blood entices us to take action.” He sighed, narrowing his eyes. “You’re a very dangerous woman, you know.”

I didn’t realize I was at the counter now, but I was. He was only four feet away. I decided to venture into this very bizarre conversation. “I’ve never been called dangerous.”

“First time for everything, right?”

“I don’t think even threatening could apply to me.”

“If only you knew.”

I shook my head. “Wait, which one are you?”

Another chuckle. “Reese.”

I looked at him. So he was the one in the backseat that night. “No last name? Ryan didn’t give one either.”

Reese shrugged, hardly seeming to care. “Layla, in terms, we’re so old that last names don’t apply to us.”

“How old would that be?”

Again with the shrugging. “It depends on which vampire you meet. I’m just over four hundred. Ryan’s over a thousand. Gavin’s over... well, let’s just say Gavin’s what we might consider a newborn.”

“An estimation?”

He made that so-so gesture in the air. “Give or take just under a century.” He put his now-empty coffee cup into the sink behind him. “Afternoon, Ryan. Jonah.”

Adrenaline pumped through my body agin as I whipped around. Two vampires were standing less than a foot behind me. I fell back against the counter on instinct to create more distance between us.

Ryan coughed. “Layla, there’s no need for that much fear. We could smell it miles away when it’s this strong, never mind upfront.”

I closed my eyes, trying to calm myself. The saying ‘dancing with the devil’ couldn’t apply to a situation better than this one. Except I was dancing with six of them at once.

A tender smile was on his lips. “Layla, this is Jonah. He’s the one who fought the other vampire this morning.” This morning, so I hadn’t been out that long. The other vampire, Jonah, offered a timid smile, the tips of his ears red. He was embarrassed. A vampire was blushing in front of me. I filed Jonah into the back of my mind; he would be a good starting point to get more comfortable. “I was going to introduce each of them one at a time, but seeing as you’ve already met Reese, that idea’s had pretty much gone out the window.” He took a moment to perk back up. “Anyway, Gavin will make himself acquainted when he wants to, and I suppose I can introduce Mark and Anthony to you tomorrow.”

I nodded. “I don’t care what you do, just a little space please.”

Ryan nodded. “Of course, I’m sorry.” He stepped back with Jonah, and then kept stepping back after Jonah stopped. “I’ll just leave you with these two, then. Get to know each other.” He stopped looking at me and looked at Reese, his eyes saying something I couldn’t quite catch. ‘I’m trusting you, don’t fuck it up.’ They seemed to say. Yay, now I had them turned against each other over me. Maybe Reese was right.

Maybe I was more dangerous than I ever could have imagined.