Bitten – Episode 8

Chapter 8

 

ly? Emily? Emily, wake up.”

 

My eyes snapped open when I heard my name being called. Disgruntled, I sat up too quickly, sending my head reeling. A soft chuckled erupted from the person hovering above me and I found myself staring into a pair of brilliant emerald eyes. “Good morning Sleeping Beauty,” the brunet greeted me, his eyes twinkling in amusement. “Congratulations! You survived your first night, if you don’t count the night you first arrived here.”

 

Blinking in confusion I took in my surroundings. Everything was pink. Suddenly memories came back to me in a rush, and my mouth dropped open. Sebastian raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at my reaction. I gawked at him, unable to believe it. He was right. I didn’t remember when I’d fallen asleep, but I made it through the night without a problem. In fact, I’d gotten probably the best sleep that I had in a long while.

 

“Ah, morning,” I responded, remembering my manners. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but why are you here? And where’s Fiona?”

 

Sebastian chuckled again. “I’ve come to wake you up. You wouldn’t want to miss breakfast would you? Especially since Vince might not be so willing to cook twice in a three hour time span.”

 

A yawn escaped my lips and I rubbed my eyes tiredly. Hearing vampires ate breakfast still threw me off guard a little. It was hard to believe how human they were. All those horror movies were so misleading… Fiona’s warning ran through my head, but I quickly shook it away. Even if those types of vampires did exist, I could pretend they didn’t. “Who’s eating with us?” I questioned, pushing myself off Fiona’s flashy couch.

 

 

“Just Fiona and Vince,” Sebastian responded, leading me out of the room. “Only the whole family gets together for dinner.”

 

“How many people are in the whole family?” “Around thirty.”

 

My eyes widened. “Thirty? Do they all live here?”

 

Sebastian shook his head. “No, they live on our estate though. We quite a few acres of land.”

 

“Where are we?” I asked, realizing I had no clue where they’d taken me. You’d think I’d ask that sooner? I thought with a grimace. “Massachusetts.”

 

My eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. We were still in Massachusetts? Well, maybe it shouldn’t have been such a surprise. When Vince and Joel kidnapped me, we weren’t in the van for too long. “Where in Massachusetts?” “Look Park.”

 

I froze, a startled gasp leaving my lips. “ What? ” Sebastian gave me a concerned look. “What’s wrong?”

 

“Why are you lying to me?” I demanded, feeling a little hurt. Sebastian seemed so nice. “Why does it matter if you tell me where you are? Vincent told me a little about you guys!”

 

“Emily, I’m not lying,” Sebastian responded smoothly, looking confused. “I don’t have a reason to lie about it.”

 

I shook my head at him. “We can’t be in Look Park. It’s barely big enough for the house, let alone the many acres you say you claim.”

 

.

 

.

 

A mysterious smirk appeared on his lips. “This might not be something a human

 

can comprehend.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“There’s a little bit of magic involved,” Sebastian explained. “You can’t get to our estate if you’re human.”

 

I frowned. “I’m confused.”

 

He smiled in amusement. “Since you’re human, if you were to take a walk around the lake before meeting us, you’d just be walking around the lake. If you walk around this building, you’d be taking the same path. But since a vampire brought you here, you’d walk around the lake…” He trailed off, his cheeks reddening. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t even try to explain things.”

 

 

“Don’t worry about it!” I rushed, feeling my own blush coming on upon seeing him blush. Could he get any cuter?

 

No , I admonished myself roughly. He’s a vampire . No thoughts like that. I huffed at myself. Now that my fear was gone for the most part, wasn’t it okay for me to be a normal human for a moment? People were still good looking whether they were human or not!

 

“I guess in simpler words why I’m trying to say is our estate can’t accessed if you’re human,” Sebastian continued, oblivious to my inner turmoil. “You’d walk right through it.”

 

I nodded my head slowly. “I gotcha. Is it okay for me to know that?”

 

Sebastian laughed. “You’re a human who knows that vampires exist. You’re free

 

to know anything about us that you want. It’s not like we have to keep it a secret.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Really.”

 

“So…” I hesitated for a moment, trying to choose my words carefully. Vincent nearly bit my head off when I asked, but surely Sebastian would be more accommodating. “About Fiona—”

 

Sebastian suddenly stopped, making me run into him. Pain spread through my nose at contact with his hard body. Another shock ran through me when I realized Sebastian was opening the door to the kitchen. I hadn’t even realized we’d started walking again! My mind raced back over the past few minutes, trying to remember when I started walking, but nothing came to mind.

 

“Taboo subject,” Sebastian whispered in my ear as he brushed past me.

 

I stared after him, my heart speeding up the slightest bit. So even Sebastian wouldn’t talk about it? I clenched my fist. Even though it wasn’t any of my business, I was now extremely curious.

 

“Are you coming in or are you just going to stand there?” an irritated voice snapped.

 

My eyes shot to Vincent, who was scowling at me, a spatula in his hand. I glowered back at him. Did he have to be a jerk so early in the morning? Fiona flittered towards me, smiling widely.

 

“Did you know you talk in your sleep?” she inquired. “You must have been dreaming about your boyfriend.”

 

I raised an eyebrow. “I don’t have a boyfriend…” “Who’s Jake?”

 

The name made me blank. Jake…

 

 

Jake ! Panic coursed through me now and my eyes widened significantly. Sebastian said he could change my parents’ memories, but what about my brother’s? Did he think I was on vacation too? Or did he think I’d been kidnapped and my parents were crazy? What about Leah and Alli? How could I have not thought about them once this whole time? What was wrong with me? .

 

.

 

“Emily?” Fiona called, placing a gentle hand on my shoulder. “What’s wrong?” “Me! That’s what!”

 

Vincent snorted from the corner, earning a glare from me. He gave me a sarcastic look. “Maybe your brain is the problem.”

 

Sebastian gave his brother a disapproving look. “Vince, can’t you see Emily is upset?”

 

“Can’t you see I’m not interested?”

 

Fiona sighed lightly. “Is it something you want to talk about?”

 

“I’d rather not talk about the family and friends I’ve seemed to forgotten,” I muttered darkly. How could I not have worried about them?

 

She smiled gently at me. “Emily, I think you’re over-thinking it…” I gave her a deadpan look. “Really?”

 

“You were kidnapped to a house full of vampires… I think you’re excused.”

 

I blinked at her. Was I excused? That was a pretty good reason… And it’d only been two days since I’d left. Technically only one since I’d been asleep most of the time. Maybe I shouldn’t be too hard on myself… After all, I still had been kidnapped.

 

“So,” I started, deciding to change the subject, “what’s for breakfast?” “You are.”

 

Before my mind could process the words, somebody slammed into my back with enough force to send me sprawling. Just as my feet slipped out from under me a hard arm wrapped around my waist, setting me straight again. I turned, the top of my head bumping into someone’s incredibly hard jaw. A chuckle erupted from the person holding onto me and I raised my eyes to see Joel smiling at me in amusement.

 

“I expected more of a reaction than that.”

 

“What did you say?” I responded, quickly pushing myself away from him. His brown eyes twinkled mischievously. “I said you are .”

 

 

“What, are you resorting to cannibalism?” I joked, and then paused when I realized that was close to the truth. An awkward silence washed over us. “Er… That was too close to home plate, huh?”

 

Joel pursed his lips at me. “We’re not cannibals.”

 

“You suck other people’s blood. That’s cannibalistic,”I pointed out, half grossed out at my new concept, half-amused.

 

“Cannibals eat human flesh, stupid.”

 

I turned to scowl at Vincent. “Stop calling me stupid!”

 

“Does it irritate you, stupid?” he responded with a self-satisfied smirk. “I don’t know. You tell me, Vivi .”

 

He rolled his eyes. “Whatever, stupid.”

 

“Vivi—”

 

“Call me Vivi again and I will put poison in your mean,” he snapped, shooting me daggers.

 

I resisted the urge to blow a raspberry at him. No, I was too mature for that, so I settled on glowering at the back of his head as he returned his attention to the frying pan on the stove. “What are we even eating?”

 

.

 

.

 

“Food.”

 

I ignored, Vincent, turning to Fiona. She smiled at me. “Bacon, eggs, and ham.” “You guys eat that?”

 

Joel slapped me on the back, none too gently. “We eat normal food, Em. If you don’t consider that normal food, you aren’t a true American.” “You aren’t,” I shot back. “Remember?”

 

Joel gave me a sarcastic look. “I didn’t mean true that way.” “Sure.”

 

He frowned. “You know, for a prisoner you’re awfully mouthy.” “You think?” Vincent interjected loudly.

 

I squared my shoulders. “Actually, I’m not a prisoner. I’m a guest. The queen said so herself.”

 

“You are a guest,” Sebastian told me with a smile. “Joel’s just joking around with you.”

 

“Food’s done. Sit,” Vincent commanded, turning toward our group. “Last one seated has to do the dishes.”

 

A gust of air ruffled my hair, and I swatted away, noticing how greasy it felt. I definitely needed a shower. When I looked up again, all three vampires who had

 

 

been standing around me were now seated at the table. Joel snickered while Fiona simpered. I blinked at them. Vincent appeared in my field of vision, taking a seat next to Joel, a complacent expression on his face.

 

“Looks like the human does the dishes.”

 

“Don’t you have maids for something like that?” I protested. I didn’t even do dishes at my own house!

 

Vincent nodded. “Sure. We recently got a brand new maid too. She’s a human. Named Emily.”

 

“Haha,” I laughed sarcastically, stomping over to the table, and taking a seat between Fiona and Sebastian. “Do you guys eat breakfast together every day?” Sebastian nodded. “Our parents like us to.”

 

“Force us to,” Vincent corrected him, “because apparently we don’t see Sebastian enough. Personally, I think I see him more than enough.”

 

Sebastian sent him a disapproving look. “We hardly see each other, Vince.” “I’m okay with it.”

 

I copied Sebastian’s look. Why was Vincent so cold to his own brother? He was civil to Fiona! “Why don’t your parents eat with you guys?”

 

“They’re busier than me,” Sebastian informed me. “Being King and Queen isn’t all

 

fun and games.”

 

“I know that…”

 

Fiona lightly slapped Sebastian on the shoulder. “Let’s talk about something else.” Sebastian tensed, stealing a quick look at Fiona. She smiled at him and he slowly relaxed his stance. “Fine.”

 

My eyebrows furrowed at the silent exchange between the two of them. Joel and Vincent seemed to not have noticed it. Sebastian caught me staring at him and offered me a small smile. “Would you like some eggs, Emily?” “Ah, sure,” I responded quickly, adverting my gaze.

 

“So what do you plan to do today?”

 

My eyes snapped back to him. “Huh?”

 

“I’m not going to allow you to wallow in your room the whole day again,” he informed me with another gentle smile. “There are lots of things to do in this house. I’ll have Vincent show you around—” “Not happening.”

 

Sebastian frowned. Joel quickly spoke up. “I’ll do it!”

 

“Why can’t you do it, Sebastian?” I questioned, throwing Joel a quick look. “No offence!”

 

He held up his hands. “None taken.”

 

 

“I would love to show you around, Emily, but I have matters to attend to,” Sebastian responded forlornly. “I’m sorry.”

 

I quickly shook my head. “No! It’s fine. Joel will be fine!” Vincent rolled his eyes. “Devloping a crush?” “No,” I stated firmly. On a vampire ?

 

Ha . It was impossible for me to develop a crush on a vampire. Even if he was handsome and talked so gently and his eyes were the one of the prettiest colors… I shook my head. No. Impossible.

 

I caught Vincent staring at me and I cocked an eyebrow curiously. He gave me a hard look. Taken aback, my heart skipped a beat. What was that look for?

 

“Eat your food before it gets cold,” he demanded. “And afterwards take your iron supplements.”

 

“You remembered?”

 

“I’m not stupid like you.”

 

I held back my retort. This was going to be hard to get used to…