• Chapter 3

    “Where am I?” Is my second question.
    Everything that happened yesterday rushes back to me and I’m instantly alert.
    “You’re safe.” The voice says in a firm tone.
    “Where’s my brother?” I demand, still not seeing who the voice is coming from.
    “I’m sorry he’s--”
    “NO!” I scream.
    I launch myself out of the bed and run as fast as I can towards what looks like a door. My feet stumble and legs give out before I make it to the door. Warm hands catch my arms and bring me up slowly. Once I’m steady, I rip free of the hands. I leap towards the door but crash onto the floor with a loud thud just a few feet away from it.

    “You didn’t let me finish. What I was going to say was, I’m sorry he’s in dyer need of rest, so you can’t see him right now.”

    I see feet walking towards me, but of course when I look up I can’t manage to see the face. I stay there, motionless on the floor until the feet are within my reach. When they are, I grab at one and yank him down to the floor. I pounce on him, pressing my right knee across his stomach and using my hands to hold his arms down.

    “Tell me where he is.” I hiss.

    It’s still too dark to really see his face. All I can tell is that he’s in his early twenties and has a bit of scruff.
    The door busts open. I snap my head up to see the intruder.

    “Hey, sleeping beauty’s awake!” A tall guy with black hair and shocking green eyes yells with a smile.
    I stay where I am, keeping the older looking man in my control until I figure out what to do.
    Should I get up? The guy in the doorway seems nice, maybe he’ll show me where Damien is without all this trouble. I hesitantly raise myself off of him and walk to the guy who’s still smiling.

    “Would you please take me to see my brother?” I ask as kindly as I possibly can.

    “Sure,” he says, “but you might want to get dressed first.”
    I look down at myself and all I’m wearing is my bra and underwear!
    “Oh my goodness!” I squeal.

    Quickly, I try to cover myself but it’s really no use, my hands aren’t big enough. So I run to the bed, take the comforter off and drape it around myself.

    “Where do I find some clothes?!”
    “There’s some in the dresser to your left. Come out when you’re done.” The boy with the dark hair tells me.

    I look to where I had left the guy on the ground but he’s already up, walking from a corner in the room, holding a book, to the door. He closes the door and I’m left in almost-darkness.

    “Why is there hardly any damn light in here?” I say out loud…to myself.

    Well, I won’t be able to find any clothes that even slightly match if I don’t find a light somewhere, so I better start searching. First I walk over to the dresser and feel around for a lamp, but I don’t find one. Has it gotten darker in here or what? Yeah, it definitely has. I walk with my arms outstretched in front of me, zombie-style, as to prevent me from running into anything with my face. Making my way over to where I remember the door being, I notice that the air here smells slightly…like rain? And spices? And even a little like, well I’m not sure what it is, but it’s amazing. I get to the door and begin my search of the walls in the room.

    My fingers come across a slight bulge in the wall, I feel past the bulge and discover a small button. Well, here goes nothing, I hope this is the light and not some self-destruct button. I gently push the button with my pointer-finger and then BAM, the whole room is lit! Jackpot! It’s like the sun exploded in the room. I admire the purple and black furnishings and the extremely high ceiling for a few seconds, then rush over to the dresser. My hands can’t help touching the intricate swirling designs that appear throughout the beautiful black dresser. Finally, I realize that I’m supposed to be getting dressed so I pull open the top drawer and begin to sift through the neatly folded clothes.

    I grab a bright yellow shirt that has various smiley faces on it and a pair of jeans. While I’m walking towards the door I put them on. When I get to the door I’m fully clothed so I swing open the door and step out.

    The guy with the black hair is leaning against a wall to my left in a barely lit hallway (shock). He looks up, smiles, I think, then motions for me to follow him.

    “That took you a long time.” He remarks then turns his back towards me as we walk down a different hall.
    “Yeah, I uh, had to find a light.”
    Gosh, this is really bugging me that I can’t see anything!
    “That’s weird. Oh yeah! I haven’t even introduced myself,” he turns to me, “Hi, I’m Michael.”
    He just really has to do this right now, doesn’t he?
    “I’m Desiree. Um, I’m not trying to be rude or anything, but it would be really nice if we could hurry up. I really need to see my brother.” Because my patience is running so low that if you stop for five more seconds I’m going to rip out your throat and search every room in this place for Damien.

    “Sure,” He says in a hurt voice.

    Crap, I didn’t mean to sound mean. Now I feel bad.
    We walk in silence for just a few more minutes.

    “In here,” then he opens a door to my left.
    “Thanks.” I mutter.
    Quickly, I walk in, hoping to see his face immediately, but of course the room is covered in complete darkness.

    “Uh, where’s the light?” What is up with these people and light? Are they freaking vampires or something?

    Michael hesitates, then reaches around the wall he’s standing near to flip on the light.
    The light flashes on, but it’s dim. Still, I rush over to a large bed with deep red blankets and my brother laying under them all. His eyes are closed. He’s snoring slightly, just like he always has. There’s just a few scratches around his face and on his arms, but as far as I can tell that’s it. I smile in relief.

    “What are his injuries?” I ask as I turn around to an empty doorway.
    Oh well. As long as we’re both safe, everything’s going to be ok. I can learn the specifics later.

    Wait, who the hell are the people taking care of him? Who the hell are those two guys that I just met?!
    WHERE THE HELL AM I?!
    I run out of the room, burning with anger and confusion. I run the way I came with Michael, if that’s his real name. When I get to the cross-section of the two hallways I hear voices coming from below me. Great, where’s the staircase?

    I walk down the unfamiliar hall, opening tons of doors along the way but all of them are empty. Finally, I get to the end of the hall and there’s a spiraling staircase waiting for me. The first step creaks as soon as my bare foot touches it. Crap. I continue my descent slowly, carefully, and I hold my breath almost the whole time. About half way down the voices get louder, almost yelling. I keep walking.

    “What the hell did you do?! She could have ripped open her stitches!” A familiar voice says, I think it’s Michael.

    “I didn’t do anything! She just freaked! I knew we should have restrained her while she was sleeping, now it’s going to be impossible!” Another voice yells.
    “Yeah, what was up with that? How’d she pin you Dean?”
    “I don’t know.”
    “You don’t know? How do you not know?! You said Michael was your brother, so that makes her your sister. How do you know nothing about your sister?”
    “She’s not my sister! She’s not Michael’s sister! And Michael is not my brother.”
    “Well then, what the hell man? I risked my neck for two strangers?”
    “No. Me and Michael go way back. He called me the other night, sounded desperate, I thought something really bad was gonna happen. He said to bring backup, so I brought you guys. None of us got hurt, so get over it. It’s done.”
    “But you mentioned Donavan. With his crazy a**, we could have all been killed.”

    I hurry into the room I hear them talking in and can’t help blurt out, “Is he the guy that changes into a bird with red eyes?” Wow, that sounds ridiculous. I can’t believe I just said that.
    Three sets of fierce eyes immediately fix on me.

    Silence.

    “Hi,” I say sheepishly with a faint smile.
    The three of them just keep staring.

    Well, I can finally see Michael clearly. His dark brown hair slightly covers his small, emerald green eyes. He’s got an extremely pale complexion and intimidating height, but his face is kind. The guy next to him is possibly the one I pinned to the ground. Pale blond hair and light skin tone give him a very non-intimidating appearance. His face however, is sharp with piercing blue eyes. He’s got broad shoulders but he’s sitting so I can’t see how tall he is. The man sitting across from them on a couch, is massive. His mocha brown skin looks rough and scarred. I can’t help staring at the muscles bulging out of his arms. Woa. His black, terrifying eyes make me shy away from looking at him any longer.
    The longer they practically glare at me, the more nervous and scared I get.

    That’s it, I can’t take this anymore.

    “Uh, I’m just gonna go now.” Then I run for the stairs.
    Once I’m at the top of the stairs, I stop.
    There’s something about this place. It’s different. This house, the air, the light, the people, are all different. It’s not bad, but I’m not entirely sure that it’s good either. Hhmmm….

    Why didn’t they take Damien and me to a hospital? That’s weird.
    And why aren’t I freaking out about not being in a hospital and being in a stranger’s house instead?
    I think it’s this place. It just doesn’t feel like anything…Earthly. Yeah, I’m on another planet, that’s it!
    Not.

    Well, I haven’t been attacked here yet and I think the guys down stairs care about Damien, so I should just calm down. Better yet, I’m going to do some exploring. There’s nothing like venturing off into a dark place that you’ve never been before.
    Where to first?

    There’s a door right in front of me, so how about that one? Yeah. I open the door, only to find complete darkness. Boring.
    I open the one a few feet to the left of it. There’s a small light in this room. I walk in stealthily, heading to the flickering green light in the corner. When I’m halfway to the light, I stop. There’s someone breathing in here. They sound panicked, with short painful sounding breaths.

    “Hello?” I whisper.
    A whimper echoes through the room.
    I tilt my head to try to hear where exactly this person is. The breathing is louder to my right, so I carefully inch over in that direction.
    “Are you okay?” I murmur.
    No response.
    A loud thump makes me shriek. Oh crap, what was that? I jump into a half-crouch stance, preparing myself for whatever follows the thump.
    “You shouldn’t be in here,” the person chuckles.
    My breath gets caught in my throat, I choke.
    Ok, this was a bad idea, very bad idea.
    What to do, what to do, what to do?
    How does he know I’m here?……
    The light. The little green light. If I take it out, then I can walk out of here without a problem. He won’t see me, I won’t see him.
    Without another thought, I dive for the little light and yank it out of the socket. I speedily crawl to where I was just seconds ago.

    Silence.

    I hold my breath as I stand up.
    Before I begin my walk out of the room I feel a hot, unsteady breath rush down my neck. I shiver in fear.
    Another hot breath runs down my back.

    “You smell,” he breaths, “wonderful.”

    I attempt to step away from him. He catches me mid-step and runs me into a wall. I yelp as his heated hand presses against my throat.

    “Like fear and exhilaration.” He says in a wild voice.

    My heartbeat skyrockets.
    He pushes me harder against the wall and raises me by the throat. I claw desperately at his hands, but it’s useless. I resort to kicking, but once again, he seems unaffected. His grip never loosens, never tightens. “Are you going to kill me?” I ask in the most solid tone I can manage.

    The lights flash on. I blink rapidly, trying to adjust to the light again.
    “Why would I do that?” A gentle, confused voice says.

    My sight comes back.
    I find myself looking into the face of a scared little boy. His eyes are a little red and puffy, like he’s been crying. I look closer, to find the most amazing colored eyes I’ve ever seen. His eyes have sparkling white dots and other colored specks against a lush, dark blue, almost like a galaxy. Amazing.

    He lets me down gently with the confused look still on his face. My eyes wander up and down his body in amazement. He’s got no shirt on. Holy snap, this is a man, not a boy.
    I can barely bring myself to stop staring at his defined abs and chest.
    “I’m really sorry about. I don’t have much self control.” He says, sounding embarrassed and ashamed.

    I look back up to his eyes. He continues to stand close to me, almost touching. For a moment we just stand there, both of us tense, both of us holding our breath. He finally breaths out and something in his eyes change.
    Hmm…it’s hot, I should take my shirt off. I grab the bottom of my shirt with both hands and start to pull up.

    “Damn! I’m doing it again,” he jumps back, “no. I’m sorry,” he grabs his head.
    For a while, he stands in the middle of the room, holding his head with his hands, just mumbling things.

    Great.
    I have officially been welcomed to the house of ultimate insanity.
    Lucky, lucky me. I’m in a house with a man who looks as if he’s never seen the sun, another one taking massive amounts of steroids, and the mayor of crazy town.