The next day I woke up to the feeling of freezing water being splashed on my face. I sat up quickly with a gasp, rubbing the water from my eyes. When I turned my head, Jay wasn’t in sight at all. Instead, I was lying on his couch greeted by a smirking Iris and a snickering Keira.
“What do you want?” I asked them without bothering to hide the bite from my tone.
“Come with us,” Iris said. “There’s someone we think you’d like to see.”
I highly doubted whoever they wanted me to meet would be worth my time or energy, but seeing as I was currently wasting that away wallowing in my misery (and the fact that it would be pointless arguing with them as they were clearly far more powerful than I was), I got up with a sigh. Keira palmed the wall, and opened us a door to walk through, and I followed them like the lost stray I was.
We entered a dark hallway, so dark I couldn’t even see my own hand in front of my face. I stopped walking, not wanting to trip over my own feet in the dark or get caught in whatever prank Iris and Keira clearly had planned for me. Iris sighed somewhere in front of me.
“Already calling it quits, human? You must be afraid of the dark,” Iris said.
“I can’t see,” I said through gritted teeth.
Suddenly, another vampire appeared, this one with fire glowing from her hands, illuminating the path in front of her. She had long, straight, dark brown hair that swung in an elegantly high ponytail at the top of her head, and amber colored eyes that were striking even in the low lighting. She looked to be about my age and height, but it was obvious she’d been around much longer than I could imagine.
“Calm your tits, ladies. I know I’m late, but I’m here now,” the girl said. “I’m Leah in case these two haven’t warned you already.” Giving me a once-over, she asked, “You must be the newbie I’ve been hearing about.”
“Not quite. Jay wants to wait for her consent before he turns her,” Keira corrected.
“How romantic. Where is he anyway?” Leah asked.
“He went to help London,” Iris said.
“In the sun?” Leah questioned doubtfully. “If that’s the case then he must have…” A sudden burst of wind hit me, brushing my hair back. “Oh my goodness, he did! He drank her!”
“What an ass,” Iris said, shaking her head. “Leaving us on babysitter duty while he gets all the fun.”
“How kinky!” Keira said. “That must have been quite fun.”
Leah sighed wistfully. “Oh, yes. Jay really knows how to please a lady.”
I rolled my eyes, trying to figure out whether it was worth it to try to run away from them and find a place to sleep. My dream had been peaceful for once. Everything had been the way it was before this disaster of a trip. I’d been eating a plate of Nana’s special apple pie. It didn’t taste the same as when she was alive and making it herself, but it was her recipe so it was close enough. The whole family was gathered at the table, and Grandpa was about to draw from the vacation jar that would decide our fate. In my dream, I knew I would have a chance to pick something else, to avoid this terrible situation. It would be like hitting a reset button, and it would be wonderful.
But instead, I was standing in a cave with three vampire girls who wouldn’t stop talking about me as if I wasn’t right here in front of them. To make matters worse, they had made it pretty clear that they all hated me too. Oh, and my entire family was dead. Fun.
“Shall we carry on Blood Bag?” Iris asked, nudging me with her bony elbow.
I shrugged. It’s not like I had a choice in the matter.
“Right, right. I’m supposed to be the guiding light here,” Leah said, brightening the flames on her hands. “Follow me.”
I numbly followed them through the winding hall of the cave until we came to a dead end. Keira stepped forward, and opened up another section of the wall for us to walk through. I hated that I was getting used to these weird occurrences already.
As soon as we walked through, I was suddenly being embraced by some random person. At least that was my first impression of him.
“Grace! Oh my god! I thought you were gone! Oh, Grace! I’m so glad you’re here! I can’t believe it’s you! It’s really you!”
It was Derek, my brother.
