Chapter 8: :Inject Me Sweetly: Chapter Seven

“What do you want to eat?”

“I get to choose?”

“Not if you don’t answer me within the next ten seconds.”

I blanked at Vincent, trying desperately to think of something I wanted to eat. Nothing was coming to mind. “Um, chicken?” I finally asked, more than said.

Vincent snorted. “Chicken? Really?”

“I-I can choose something else then,” I murmured, biting my lip. Did he have to be such a jerk?

“Oh come on, it was a joke. You know, since you act like a chicken.” Vincent rolled his eyes as he moved towards the fridge. “Are you always like that?”

“Like what?”

“So passive.”

A frown crossed my face. “I’m not passive. I just—”

“Shut up.”

I abruptly shut my mouth, grinding my teeth in annoyance. What a jerk!

“See? Passive,” Vincent pointed out. “If you weren’t you wouldn’t have shut up just then, would you?”

“Actually, I would, since you’re a fricking vampire who could kill me if I didn’t obey you!” I snapped back at him, feeling my cheeks warm up in embarrassment.

He smirked at me. “Passive and yet feisty. You don’t get many vampires like that around here. Most are just flirtatious whores that want you because of your status.”

I blinked at his harsh words, yet amused face. “I…”

“Do you want any seasoning on your chicken?” he asked, changing the subject.

“You actually have chicken?”

He gave me an “are-you-stupid?” look. “It’s not like we try to starve to death. I thought you already knew we ate regular food too? Or are you as stupid as you look and forgot already?”

Would it kill him to be nice for three seconds? “I’d like seasoning… Please,” I added as a second thought. “So if you guys eat human food, why do you need blood to survive?”

“We don’t make enough blood to keep ourselves alive,” Vincent responded simply.

That threw me off guard. “But aren’t you dead?”

Vincent’s head snapped towards me and he gave me the glare he gave me when we first met. My breath caught in my throat and I took a step back, suddenly terrified of the vampire before me. After a few seconds he set his jaw and relaxed, closing his eyes for a moment. I tried to relax as well, but found I couldn’t calm my heart.

“We’re not dead,” he told me calmly.

“Y-you’re not?”

Without warning, he was in front of me, barely an inch away. My eyes grew wide as I took in his emerald orbs. His cool hand gripped my roughly. I tried to pull it away, but he held it tight, making me wince.

“Feel carefully,” he growled, pressing my palm to his chest, where his heart was supposed to be.

I held my breath, my eyes unable to break from his gaze. After a few moments, I grew confused. What was I supposed to be feeling for? His nonexistent heartbeat? Was this supposed to prove something? Why… A quiet gasp of surprise left my lips as I felt the tiniest, feeblest reverberation through his chest.

“I don’t know who taught you about vampires,” Vincent started in a dangerously low voice. “But whatever you do know, I can guarantee it’s wrong. Humans know nothing about us.”

“I’m sorry,” I breathed, unable to pull my hand away from his chest. In fact, I couldn’t even move. Something was rooting me to the spot.

Vincent abruptly dropped my hand, flashing away from me. “Don’t apologize,” he snapped. “It’s not your fault humanity is ignorant.”

I licked my lips, trying to make the dry feeling in my mouth disappear. “No, I should apologize. I’m just as benighted as every other human. Before I met you and your family, I just assumed vampires were exactly how they are portrayed in movies.”

“Sparkly?”

I smiled. “I was thinking more 30 Days of Night than Twilight.”

“30 Days of Night is more correct,” Vincent responded flatly. “While it may not be completely correct, there are vampires that do live by brutally attacking humans. The rouges.”

“Rouges?”

He gave me an irritated look. “Look, I’m here to cook you dinner, not answer all your stupid questions.”

“Well sorry for asking stupid questions! You said yourself humans know nothing about your kind! I was just trying to learn something! What is with you? You’re talkative one second and then the next you’re an arrogant jerk!”

Vincent scowled at me. “I think I liked you better when you were the timid mouse.”

I stared at him in outrage. “Look, I don’t like you having to baby sit me just as much as you don’t, but I’m your responsibility! If we just argue all the time it’s not going to be a pleasant experience for either of us!”

“It’s hard not to argue with an idiot.”

“You are such a—”

“Vampires that don’t follow our laws,” he cut me off, turning the knob on the oven so fast I barely caught it. “That’s a rogue.”

I abruptly shut my mouth, cutting off any retort. Now he decides to answer my question. “Are rouges illegal?”

“Yup.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way,” I started slowly, debating whether I should ask my next question or not. “But… Why do you have a heartbeat? Why is it so slow? I mean I understand you’re not dead. But if you’re not dead, why…?”

Vincent snapped the oven closed with a loud bang. I flinched at the loud noise. I hadn’t even seen him open the oven. He came over to me again, stopping at an uncomfortable proximity. “I don’t know the reason why our heartbeat is so slow, but it’s probably because we have much less blood than humans,” he told me. “The reason as to why we have one is because we are alive. It’s not like you can be born dead from a dead person. That’s more like a zombie.”

So vampires were born from other vampires… “Wait a second.”

“No what?”

“Fiona mentioned she was human at one point,” I notified him, furrowing my eyebrows. “How can she—”

My air was unexpectedly cut off as Vincent slammed me against the wall, holding me by my neck. I gasped for air as he gave me another of his death glares. “Don’t ever speak about that again.”

My eyes were beginning to water from my lack of oxygen. “I-I won’t,” I gasped, grasping at his hands. “Let me go!”

“Vincent!”

Vincent immediately let me go and I collapsed to my knees, taking in deep breaths. Did he have to be so physical? I was going to die before this week was over if he kept up like that! Maybe even earlier— I wouldn’t be surprised if I ended up having a heart attack after one of his surprise attacks!

“Emily, are you okay?” a soft voice said from beside me.

My head snapped in the direction of the voice and I found myself staring at Sebastian. He gave me a concerned look, putting a hand to the small of my back, and helping me to stand. I rubbed my sore neck, silently praying there wouldn’t be a bruise in the morning.

“What are you doing here?” I heard Vincent demand.

“I came to make sure Emily wasn’t dead,” his brother responded, frowning. “I guess I came at the right time.”

I shook my head. “He wasn’t trying to kill me, Sebastian.”

“Then what exactly was going on?”

“He…” My voice caught as I remembered Vincent’s words. Would it count if I told Sebastian what we were talking about? It was better not to risk it. “He was just showing me how strong vampires were because I told him he couldn’t beat me in a wrestling match.”

Sebastian’s brow wrinkled in confusion. “You were talking about wrestling?”

“I was planning on escaping,” I lied.

He sighed lightly. “Emily, there’s no way to escape. I really am sorry, but you just can’t go home right now.”

“I know,” I responded, frowning. I probably knew that better than he did.

“As everything goes according to plan, you’ll be out of here by this time next week,” he encouraged cheerfully. “It won’t be that bad, I promise. That is of course as long as you don’t ask me to make you dinner. Unless you like the taste of charcoal.”

“Please,” Vincent muttered, rolling his eyes.

I ignored Vincent, feeling a grin slip onto my mouth as I stared at Sebastian. Why did he have to be such a good guy? “Well I don’t hate it.”

He chuckled. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”

“Wouldn’t that be a sight to see?” Vincent commented in an amused voice. “The heir to the throne cooking dinner for a lowly human?”

“Lowly?” I repeated, narrowing my eyes at him. Did vampires think they were better than humans or something?

He smirked back at me. “If you’re the heir to a throne in human society, then forgive me, but since you’re obviously not, yes, you’re lowly.”

“You’re really a jerk!”

“I take that as a compliment.”

Sebastian sighed again. “Em, just ignore Vince. I think his status is getting to his head.”

“It’s better than someone who acts like they don’t have any at all,” Vincent snapped back at his brother.

I glanced back and forth between the brothers, feeling an awkward tension.

“But then again, I guess you do since you don’t really go near Fiona in public.”

“That’s for her own safety,” Sebastian growled, suddenly looking furious. “And you know it, Vincent.”

Vincent scoffed. “Okay.”

“No wonder you weren’t chosen as the heir. Juvenile doesn’t begin to describe your attitude,” Sebastian responded smoothly.

“Why don’t you leave before you’re caught with my mistake?”

My eyes widened when I realized he was talking about me. Then my attention shifted from Vincent to his brother, who looked guilty. Our gazes met and he gave me an apologetic look.

“Is there something I’m missing here…?” Besides the fact that you two obviously don’t get along well.

“You’re bad for our image,” Vincent told me flatly.

The corners of my lips twitched in annoyance. “Oh. We’ll sorry.”

Sebastian shook his head. “It’s not your fault, Em. No one blames you at all…” He trailed off, sending a meaningful look towards Vincent. “Although there are those who didn’t agree when they heard a human was staying with the Rutherfords, there were those who understood.”

“Oh… Okay,” I responded slowly, wondering why he was bothering with telling me this. I didn’t really care what vampires thought of me.

“Don’t worry about it,” he continued, obviously not noticing my lack of interest. He ruffled my head for a moment. “We won’t let anything happen.”

That threw me off guard. “Wait? What do you mean by that?”

“I…”

“Chicken’s done,” Vincent grunted and a second later the oven dinged. “You can leave now, Sebastian. I’ve got her covered.”

Sebastian looked relieved. “I’ll see you later then. Bye, Emily.”

“Wait!” I called as he flashed away from the room. For a second I was too shocked to move my eyes away from the empty place Sebastian had been occupying moments before. Vampires were fast.

“Do you need salt or pepper?”

“You have that?”

Vincent gave me a condescending look. “Don’t you have salt and pepper at your house?”

“Well yeah, sure, but—”

“We’re no different here,” he told me flatly, sticking his hand into the oven. “So stop looking so shocked when—”

“What are you doing?” I demanded, stepping forwards and trying to yank his hand out of the oven. “You don’t have a mitt on!”

For a second Vincent looked at me in surprise, and then he chuckled, pulling out the chicken pan with his bare hand. “We don’t need oven mitts, stupid.”

“My name is Emily,” I snapped.

“That’s stupid backwards.”

I blanked. “Wait, it is?”

He snickered.

I scowled, letting go of his arm. “You’re a jerk, you know that? Shouldn’t you try being a little nicer seeing as how I’m a guest here?”

“Guest?” he repeated, cocking his head to the side. “I was under the impression that you considered yourself a prisoner.”

“Your mom told me not to think that way, so I won’t. And in that case, guests should be treated courteously.”

Vincent shrugged, stabbing the piece of chicken with a fork and putting it on a plate for me. “You want courteous?”

“Yes.”

“Then go find Sebastian.” With that, he thrust the plate he was carrying into my hand. “I’m sure he’d love your company.”

I gritted my teeth. “Never mind. I’m going to find Fiona.”

Vincent paused, glancing at me over his shoulder. “You are?”

“That’s what I said.”

He nodded approvingly. “Okay. I’ll show you the way then.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Why so helpful now?”

“Fiona could use a friend,” he responded simply. “Even one as stupid like you will make her happy.”

“I’m not stupid!”

“Stupid enough to get yourself kidnapped.”

“By fricking paranormal beasts!”

He gave me a curious look. “Paranormal beasts… I think I like that.”

A heavy sigh escaped my lips. You really couldn’t put out a narcissist. Vincent let out a loud laugh, gesturing for me to follow him down the hallway.  I obeyed him, clutching my plate tightly so I wouldn’t accidentally drop it. With the amount of twists and turns we took while walking down the hallway, I knew I’d never be able to find my way back to the kitchen or my bedroom. A frown took its place on my face when I realized I’d have to ask Vincent for help.

Without warning, Vincent stopped, effectively tree stumping me. He didn’t seem to notice. Oblivious to my annoyed look, he rapped on the door we were in front of three times consecutively. Not even five seconds later the door flew open and Fiona appeared, her eyes brightening as they landed on me.

“Emily!”

“Hello to you too,” Vincent muttered.

Fiona grinned at him. “Hi, Vivi.”

I waited for a moment, expecting Vincent to snap at her, but he didn’t. My eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Didn’t he hate when people called him that? How come he wasn’t yelling at Fiona?

“What are you guys doing here?” Fiona inquired when she realized neither of us was going to speak up.

I held up the plate in my hand. “Do you mind if I keep you some company?”

“Sick of Vincent already?”

“It’s more like the other way around,” Vincent interjected.

“Hey!”

Fiona laughed. “I’d love to take her off your hands, Vince. I haven’t had any girl time in a very long time…”

Vincent held up his hands. “That’s my cue to leave. Don’t cause too much trouble. And stupid?”

I glared at him. “Don’t call me stupid!”

“Try not to be too much of an idiot.”

I gritted my teeth as Vincent smirked at me. In the blink of an eye he was gone and Fiona was ushering me inside her room. For a second I was taken aback as bright pink entered my vision. I blinked, trying to adjust my eyes to the color. Fiona definitely took girly to an extreme in her room. Almost everything was pink and white, from the carpet, to the walls, to the bedspread, to the window curtains. It was almost like Valentine’s Day!

She caught me staring and blushed. “Er… It’s a little girly.”

I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “A little?”

“I hope you don’t mind!”

I shook my head. “I don’t mind at all!”

She gave me a relieved smile. “Good. When I was alive I was brought up as a boy would, so I never really got to experience the girly side of things… I really missed out.”

“Yeah,” I responded distractedly. When she was alive… Curiosity bubbled up in me, but I hastily forced it away. If Vincent had a problem talking about Fiona, I was sure Fiona would also have one. It was better not to tread in dark water.

“So do you want to play Barbie?”

I blinked at her. “Um…”

She laughed, rolling her eyes. “I’m kidding, Emily. Why don’t you eat? We can watch some T.V too.” She gestured towards the wall, where a gigantic flat screen was.

My jaw nearly dropped. “That’s bigger than my house!”

“You must have a very small house then,” she commented, her eyes as wide as saucers. “I’m sorry.”

“Not literally,” I responded, trying not to laugh.

“Oh… I knew that.” She smiled sheepishly. “So… Up for some T.V?”

I nodded. “Sounds good. It’s nice to do something normal.”

Fiona grinned. “We’ll do lots of normal things together. Trust me, being here will be no different than being at home… Well, besides the constant risk of being attacked by a hungry vampire.”

I made a face. “Thanks for reminding me.”

“Anytime,” she responded, slapping my back none too gently. “Now take a seat.”

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Woo new chapter! Just so you guys know, you can have your own preference on what you imagine the characters to look like. The banners just show what other people think. :D

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