9 9 Beautiful Creature

"You! You are the voice in my head." A shudder runs down my spine as I am staring wide-eyed at the man in front of me.

He is a beautiful creature. Too handsome. His blond wavy hair almost white ends upon his shoulder. His jaw is angular and sharply chiseled to that of a perfect man. His eyelashes are thick and long, same with his thick black eyebrows. His lips are full but pale like he hadn't had a drink for too long. He is pale, too pale, and paler than the man who killed mom.

"You are a vampire." I step back feeling the world spin around as I found myself staring at many different glasses, each holding a woman, young and old, captive with different cords and apparatus just like the man in front of me. I am at the forbidden section.

I remembered Dimitri telling me about a room full of captives used by the researchers. This must be it. They all seem sleeping though.

Yet I can't take my eyes off longer to the man in front of me. My guts telling me I should run away from here now, leave this place and find Dimitri...but my feet are glued to the ground.

'Go nearer. I need to see you up close.' He demands. His voice is full of dominance, the compelling kind.

I blink my eyes several times. "H-how? Your eyes are close."

'Just do it sunshine.'

I hesitantly step forward, all the while my mind is screaming at me to go out and leave this place.

'Nearer my Amber. Nearer'

The way he says my name gives me goosebumps and butterflies. I blame it all on his good looks. Dimitri is quite handsome no doubt at that, but the man in front of me is perfect, gorgeous, unworldly handsome, that kind of face who sticks on your mind even if you close your eyes.

I inch closer. Each glass wall is full of liquid, I think chemicals and each vampire is drowning on it aside from the different cords and wires connected to their body. Most part is full of colorful chemicals and fog covering almost the whole wall.

"Why are you the only man here?" I ask, curious of why he is the only retained man, mostly women or young girls about ten of them. "Are they too, awake?"

'No... I am the only one. You are scared of me sunshine.' He states.

"Who wouldn’t? You are supposedly dead." I confess.

'Sleeping my sunshine, just sleeping...not dead.'

"Then why are you awake?" There is no movement from him. His eyelids are still close. He is not even breathing.

'I'm not awake. I am still sleeping.'

"But--how?"

'Touch the glass sunshine, don't be scared. I won’t hurt you.'

There is something in him that makes me just do it and follow whatever he says. I took a deep breath, debating whether to touch the glass or not. I already break the rules and I know for sure that Dimitri would not be happy to know where I went. They might throw me out of here or worse, kill me.

Should I be alarmed? What if it is a trap? What if he already put me under his spell, the reason why I could not resist him? But against all the good, I found myself flattening both my palms on the surface of his glass cage. The coolness of the glass tickles the insides of my palm. I inch nearer and examine every detail of his perfect face.

'I feel the warmth in your hand.' He laughs as if he is so excited to feel some warmth aside from the coldness his body has been used to.

'You are so beautiful sunshine.' He murmurs.

"How'd you know, you can't see me. Your eyes are closed." Of course, I am correct, he is not moving at all. I did not see him open his eyes.

'Rich strawberry blonde hair compliments with the fairness of your skin. You got these thick eyebrows and eyelashes that tons of girls would die for. A button nose and high cheekbones. Lips that are not too plump, yet a heart shape. And your eyes are odd, the color of fresh leaves and the sky in summer days.'

I gasp, how can he see me?

'Promise me you'll see me tomorrow night my sunshine.'

"What are you saying?"

He did not say anything more. Then I heard footsteps coming my way.

'I'm screwed.' I mutter under my breath just as Dimitri comes in and looks at me suspiciously.

"Amber, what are you doing here?"

A deafening silence scatters in the room in a serene and still form, except for the occasional beeping of machines and equipment connected to each retainer by cords and wires. Dimitri watches me with his calculating eyes under his penetrating gaze.

"Amber, what are you doing here?" He repeats with a skeptical look. I give a blank face of my own. If there is something I am good at, it is hiding my emotions.

"I-uh was lost." I lie smoothly. "There are so many turns and corridors. I am not really good at directions."

"You could have called me." He replies sternly, eyeing the glass wall behind me, something crosses his eyes but it is gone before I could decipher it. "The tablet is supposed to do its job."

"I know...I'm sorry, okay? You were so adamant to leave, I tried..." I feign annoyance.

There is a glowing light on his hand and with this dim-light room, it is impossible not to notice it. It is a small glass container about a size of a cup, full of bright red liquid substance. It is glowing and moving spirally, creating bubbles inside the glass.

He must have noticed me observing it because he quickly put it in his lab coat pocket. "That's not how I remember it. You didn't tell me anything."

"Did you think I'd randomly go into rooms out of sheer fun?" I chuckle bitterly, dramatically gesturing my hands for effects. "My dad is missing. The least I would do is to explore a place as dull as this."

He narrows his eyes, still did not utter a word. His mind probably swirling and weighing the lies I made. Not that I would tell him about the voice. It is too soon to trust him.

I hold up my hand in surrender. "Fine. Fine. I went inside this one, but only because it opened randomly. The door just blew open." Which was, partly true on my part.

"This is the restricted section, Amber. You can't blame me for asking. No one is allowed to go inside except a few who knows the code. How did you manage to bypass the system?"

"I told you the door blew open. I didn't do anything. And what are these anyway? The retained subjects?"

"Sort of." He blows a breath away and avoids my eyes, obviously to evade further questioning. "Let's get 'outta here."

He extends his hand for me to take. I can't help but look behind me once again, memorizing the vamp's hypnotizing features. He is peacefully sleeping like a child. A pang of envy crosses me, wanting that tranquility for my own.

Dimitri clears his throat, looking expectant as he nods his head as if telling me to trust him and to take his hand. I did and he clasps his hand to mine. I follow him but not before taking another look at the vamp who would surely haunt my dreams.