Become one of us

I saw Hannah by the counter when I entered. She stood reverently behind an older woman dressed in a posh looking attire. By the looks of it, Hannah appeared to have been re-employed. She regarded me with a slightly shocked gaze when I entered, I almost felt embarrassed to be in there. After all, I wouldn't have been involved in any of the vampire drama if I had listened to her.

I was like a magnet of gazes, eyes were attracted to me the same way gravity would draw objects. Maybe it was because of the fact that I was the only human, or because of my weird dressing choice, or the fact that Angela had her arm coiled around mine. All in all, I was so uncomfortable that I started sweating. Ever since I was young, I had never liked being the center of attention, imagine being the only human in the midst of fifty or so vampires.

The center of the club had been cleared of the chairs and tables to make room for one large stone slab and seven regal-like seats. I didn't even want to think of what they were drinking, it was clearly deep red but I kept assuring myself that it was just red wine.

At the helm of the stone slab sat one papery old man. His skin was so pale and chalky that I feared that it would blow off in a gust of wind. The hair on his head were almost countable, like it had been trapped between baldness and stunted hair growth. He had piercing deep red eyes that resembled two hot coals just dug from a fire. His expression was ghostly and hollow, terrifying in a way that made Hades a joke. His thin lips were tightly shut like he never or rarely spoke unless he needed to. He oozed dread and horror, making everyone in the club regard him with respect. I was actually having a hard time accepting the fact that he was Angela's dad. The men sitting around him were just as old-looking but they lacked the death aura possessed by the head. Nevertheless, I would never wish to be locked in a single room with one of them, not even in my dreams.

Angela stopped a couple of meters away from the royalties.

The old head assessed me for a whooping three minutes before he spoke. Yeah, I was so nervous that I counted one hundred and eighty seconds. When he spoke, it was the deepest nasally voice I ever heard with a strange accent to it. His voice seemed to echo around the club even without use of a microphone, it was just naturally loud.

"Ethan Blaze"

"Angela's dad" I said silently

"Just say sir" Angela bumped me

"Sir" I said

"How are you finding FiendVille?" he asked. His attempt at making his voice sound friendly hit a dead end because it came out plain and emotionless.

"Startling and overwhelming" I said honestly

"Mm, never seen vampires before?" he raised his non-existent brows

Was that even a real question? I internally wondered

"I suppose it is" the old man answered

I was literally thrown off balance. How did he just do that? Didn't that mean he heard me describe him in my head? How I referred to him as a person more terrifying than the angel of death

"I'm so sorry" I snappily apologized

"Don't worry" he said "I enjoy it when people get petrified of me"

I gulped

"I see my daughter claimed you, "

"Not…" I started before Angela lightly pinched me in the back. This was definitely not the place and time to reject Angela's claim. Her claim protected me.

"Yeah, she did" I answered

"Now you are one of us"

"He is a human" another guy at the table complemented

"That's going to be a problem" the head added

I was confused at what they were getting at

"Before we go on, I would like to give you a brief history of your family, if you will of course"

I nodded my head in response. Definitely no room to reject or deny anything.

"First of all, your father was a close friend to me and the vampire community at large. He always aimed at uniting us, all the species and prevent conflicts. When news was out that his whole family had been massacred, I was saddened. His hope and dreams had suddenly been extinguished in one night. For a while, I thought that we'll never see more of his kind but then you came along. I learned that you survived the ordeal."

He paused and stood up. For a man his age, he was quite intimidatingly tall.

"Tell me, what would you do if you knew who murdered your family?"

"Kill them" I said sternly without even a second thought

"I know who did it, but you'd have to become one of us first"

"A vampire?" I widened my eyes "thank you but no"

"You have no desire for strength, power, speed, and money….lasting life?" he frowned

"I'm quite content with how I am right now" I replied

"I respect your morals" he nodded "but at this point, you only have two choices"

I feared this situation would happen

"Accept her claim and be one of us or reject the claim and still become one of us"

Still the same thing but "Can I think about it?" I took a heavy sigh and asked

"Yes, by all means" he faintly smiled then sat back down "take your time"

"Thank you" I said gratefully

"But as you think about it, know that the werewolves were responsible for your family's death" he said casually

"Were wolves?" I widened my eyes, anger rising in my heart

"Yeah, still want to think about it?"

"Yeah, I'll need a day "I said nevertheless

"I'm afraid that's not possible at the moment, you already know too much"

"You…"

I didn't even finish my sentence before I felt needle like objects piercing the side of my neck. It only took a couple of seconds before I became drowsy. The last thing I remember was Angela's mouth dripping red blood.