Authors: Alexandra Hope
****
The sun was still looming in the sky though its warm rays couldn't touch Mr. Martin who was tied to a chair in a dank room, engulfed in darkness. The air was faintly earthy as if he sat underneath a bed of dampened soil. His eyes were still shut but his fingertips stretched outward and pressed onto the arms of the chair as he felt around, not getting far enough as they were bound with rope. His face felt cool as droplets of liquid dripped onto it, forcing him to open his eyes and confront whatever was around him. He saw nothing when he opened his eyes, but continued to feel the drops trickle onto his cheeks and lips.
“Where am I?” he called out in a raspy voice. “Where am I?” he asked again in a louder voice.
A small light flickered on overhead, just barely illuminating the room. It was enough for him to notice that the room held no windows and he was more than likely underground. A smile was plastered on the face of the woman who stood in front of him, her arms half extended outward as if beckoning him forward. The droplets had turned into pools, wetting his face and forcing him to look upward in morbid curiosity. The woman's hands were slightly turned inward and painted red, the scene disgusting him.
“WHAT IS THAT?” he cried out as he tried to shift the chair away from her hands.
“Blood.”
He felt the constriction in his throat, his body forcing vomit up but held it back. Mar pressed her hands together, wringing the blood out and onto his head. She then motioned to her side where his eyes tried to follow but couldn't see through the darkness. A man, his body more muscular than most in the colony, dragged a young woman over to them, her body limp and her head bobbing as her legs slithered across the floor. He propped her up, her brown skin paled to gray and her black hair falling over her face.
“Nolan,” said Mar, leaving the formalities behind. The way she said his name, it almost appeared as if she had been sympathetic to the predicament he was now in.
“What have you done to JoAnn?” he cried out. His voice faltered as he looked at the young woman who was dead in the man's arms. Nolan recognized him as Tomas Stevens, their P.E. teacher who rarely spoke during their past meetings. Mar placed a palm to her chest as her eyes widened.
“
I
,” she began, “have not done a thing.”
“You murdered her!”
Mar nodded her head slowly with realization. “Oh dear, you must have forgotten...”
Nolan narrowed his eyes and pulled his lips back as he fought the quiver on them.
“You must have forgotten that you drank her blood.”
“I did no such thing!” he shouted.
“Please control your voice Nolan. My dear daughter is sleeping upstairs.”
“What are you?!” He fought to get out of the chair but was tied down too well. “What the hell is this?”
“This,” she extended her arms out, “is just my cellar. This is where I rest.”
“You're a vampire!”
A small smile spread across her face, not reaching her eyes which twinkled with malice. “I am something like a vampire but I am human
for now
.”
There was a table situated behind her and she turned to it, a large bucket sitting on top. Mar reached into the bucket and pulled out two bags of blood, one in each hand and turned back to Nolan. He grimaced at the sight of the bags bulging in her tight grasp as if they were going to explode under just a tiny bit more pressure.
“Is that blood?” he asked, terrified.
“Why ask such a question when you've clearly come to the conclusion on your own?”
Can she read minds?
He thought.
“No,” said Mar. “But I have trained myself to read facial expressions. It's funny how well the face mimics our thoughts, even the faintest of ones. Most are unaware that there face has contorted in such a way by the time I've picked up on it.”
The room had been overcome with a strong scent that made Nolan want to vomit. He figured it was JoAnn but even seeing her like that couldn't conjure up any sympathy as all his thoughts were distracted by her scent. It was awful. And to make matters worse, if they could even get any worse than being locked in the cellar of a vampire-like human, his fingertips felt as if they had left him and the veins in his hands began to run cold. He looked down and saw the deep purple color on the skirts of the rope that dug into his flesh. Each small shift made his skin burn and he could see the blood oozing from beneath them. Nolan wondered how they could have managed to secure him as the previous night faded into obscurity. He remembered the meeting but he couldn't figure out how such a skinny woman could have wrestled him and secured him to a chair and then his eyes fell on Tomas. He certainly had enough muscle, which made him look out of place, especially considering Tim Wilkinson, another man, was as small as the women.
“Are you wondering why Tomas is muscular? Well, he is on a special diet. You see, we only drink human blood but our weapons and training master must have protein and therefore looks a little bulky compared to the rest of us but please do not be mistaken, I am the one you should fear.”
There was a tiny wince on Tomas' face as if the words alone instilled fear in him and he knew them to be true. Nolan swallowed the knot that had been suspended in his throat since he had awaken. Tears were welling up in his eyes as he looked at Mar, her brown eyes ice cold. Despite the fear that begged him to hold his tongue, he shouted at her. “Let me—!”
Mar had kicked one leg up, placed the sole of her black boot on his chest and pushed him onto the floor. He cried out as he went down, his head crashing onto some cans before it met with the floor. His head was throbbing but he was still alive. Mar stood over him with just one blood bag in hand. She ripped it open and let the contents slowly drip onto his lips. Nolan forced his head from side to side in an effort to avoid the blood but Mar was persistent.
“You are a guest in my house and you are refusing my food?”
“You're sick!” he managed to get out and sound coherent.
“And you insult your humble host?”
Mar continued her torture while Tomas stood there with JoAnn's body in hand. Growing tired of his defiant behavior, she put her foot on his neck and managed to get some blood on his lips. Mar and Tomas heard a creak and turned their attention to it. Up the stairs, a sliver of light peeked through the crack of the door then some more poured in as the door was swung open then shut quickly, taking the light with it. A voice called to them as its owner rushed down the steps. “It is almost sunset.”
Natalie emerged from behind Tomas, carefully stepping over the things that lie on the floor. She had enhanced night vision as they all did but Natalie didn't rely on it often. It was just her sheer talent for remembering even the most intricate of spaces that navigated her through the dark rooms. She was a professional thief through and through and had robbed more than twenty banks with the utmost skill. Her methods were systematic yet not one cop could figure out her M.O., who had been stealing since before she had known Mar. They had met when a then seventeen year old Natalie decided to scale the gates of the newly purchased land by Mar and her husband. She had always gotten a rush out of stealing, much like how Felicity got a rush out of hunting, but when she had met Mar who was waiting in the shadows for her she found a better use for her skill. She then decided to join them and left her boyfriend and grandparents behind in confusion. At the time she didn't know she was pregnant but by then Mar had already given her a life so cushy she didn't think twice about returning to the world outside of the colony.
“Olivia will be up soon,” Natalie warned.
“Yes, she will.” Mar turned to Tomas, “Do explain the laws of the colony to Mr. Martin and let him decide where he would like to end up tomorrow night.” She stepped over him and followed Natalie up the stairs. When they opened the door, a bright light beamed on her, and she could see it was the afternoon sun spilling through the sides of the shutters.
“That shutter must be fixed,” she said to Natalie. “Excuse me while I clean up.”
Natalie stepped out of her way and Mar walked off, disappearing into the darkness of the cavernous house.
“
What are you doing?” asked a little girl no more than five years old.
“
Go away Olivia,” said another girl, shoving her against the wall. The girl's blonde hair was in two cornrows, red ribbons dangling on the ends. She stood a few inches taller than Olivia but was on the tips of her toes, forcing herself up higher over a desk. She spread her palms across the desk, flinging papers to the side in search of something.
“
My mom will catch us Felicity!”
“
No, she'll catch you because you can't run that fast!” Felicity teased.
“
I can!”
“
No, you can't. You're so slow Olivia.”
Olivia stomped her feet in protest and poked her lip out angry that Felicity continued to treat her like a baby despite only being two years younger than her. She knew she wasn't a baby but Felicity just wouldn't stop. Soon Noah, who was just a few days younger than her had begun calling her baby as well since she didn't want to upset her mother. Her mother rarely got upset though, so Olivia didn't have much to worry about. In fact, most of the time her mother was nothing but cheerful, taking Olivia in her arms and swarming her with love and kisses. It felt good to be the center of her mother's affection which was certainly different from how she treated Felicity and the other children. There was an older child, Seth, who was seventeen and was getting ready for his hunt or as he liked to say behind closed doors—ready for freedom. There weren't any other children his age so he was forced to lay out his master plan to a bunch of kids who really didn't know what he was talking about. Seth would go on and on about how he hated it in the colony but Olivia could never understand him. She was fed and she enjoyed hanging out with her friends, even if only at night, and most of all she had her mother there to love her unconditionally in the absence of her father. He would leave for extended periods of time and then he would come back briefly only to leave the next night until one night, he left and never returned.
It wasn't too bad for Olivia considering the most she had ever seen of her father was the back of his head as he was leaving but even at five years old she could sense her mother's pain from it all. Felicity yanked something off the desk and Olivia turned her attention to her.
“
Got it?”
“
Why? It's none of your business,” she snapped.
“
But you found it in my mom's study! I could tell—!”
Felicity clasped her hand over Olivia's mouth and wrestled the little girl to the ground. Olivia's hair was tied into a ponytail and she wore a pink dress that attracted dust as she fell to the floor.
“
Stop it,” she murmured underneath Felicity's palm. “I can't...”
The door to the study was pushed back and instead of the intimidating presence of the Matriarch, they were met with the less than intimidating presence of a barely five year old boy, his dark curly hair falling over his eyes. Felicity pushed herself off the floor and dusted off her pants.
“
Oh, it's just you Noah.”
A shadow fell over Noah and Felicity looked up while Olivia struggled to push her wavy hair out of her eyes. When she had managed to get the loose strands from out of her face and look up, she saw her mother glaring down at them, her hand resting on Noah's head.
“
What are you doing in my study?” asked Mar.
“
I was,” Olivia began. “Felicity...”
“
Olivia made me come in here!”
“
I did not!”
“
Did too!”
“
Did—”
“
Silence,” her mother bellowed. Her voice had quieted them mid argument, Olivia sucking in her breath and fearful to let it go. “Stay where you are Olivia. You two may go home.”
Felicity shot Olivia a satisfied grin before slipping between the Matriarch and the door behind Noah. Mar shut the door behind them and turned the light on, the glare in her eyes still not letting up.
“
I'm sorry mommy...” she said through sniffles.
“
Do not cry Olivia.”
Mar held her hands to Olivia and the little girl dragged her feet, falling into her mother's arms as she suppressed her sobs. Mar was bent over, her hands rubbing Olivia's backside as she whispered to her, “It's alright, I love you and everything will be alright.”
The little girl had been crying so much lately but she didn't know why. Someone had told her it was her body reacting to all the emotions that were pent up inside of her but she couldn't recall anything that would make her feel the way she did. Or maybe it was that she felt something slipping away from her, like the inevitable was now upon her. She gripped her mother tighter. “Felicity said I will die soon.”