Under Hypnosis

Monette whimpered as she sat her parents down back on their chairs. Calixto sat quietly unperturbed by the commotion that he created at the dining table.

Iris watched with a mixture of amazement and curiosity. She felt a pang of pity towards Monette. She was never kind to her but she has a good relationship with her parents or as good as it gets since she had no idea what it feels like to have parents.

Monette wiped the tears from her face and returned to her chair, opposite Calixto who was pretending to sip a cup of coffee.

Iris knew for a time now that Calixto could not consume any kind of food that a normal person could. He can only drink her blood and nothing else.

"Master," Monette sobbed. "Please, take back what you did to my parents. I beg off you."

Calixto continued with his pretend coffee drinking and ignored a weeping Monette.

When Monette realized that Calixto would ignore her, she turned to face Iris who was gawking at them.

"Do something," she said in between sobs.

Iris has no intention to mind them. She didn't want to join them at the breakfast table. Nor did she want to play the game Calixto was playing.

She simply wanted to be left alone. She had this nagging feeling that she was wasting her time sitting here with them. And the antsy feeling had nothing to do with her boredom or annoyance with any of them.

The feeling she had had this urgency to be fulfilled. She bit her lower lips and shifted her buttocks on her chair. She stopped herself from wanting to stand up and leave the dining table.

"How?" She whispered to Monette. And she wasn't a smartass this time. She really had no idea what she should do.

"Talk to him!" She said in desperation. Her voice was laced with sheer panic and she had already swallowed her pride to even hide her fear from Iris or Calixto.

She had never seen before what Calixto did to her parents. Unlike Iris, she didn't see Elmer who was the first one to be under Calixto's hypnosis.

Iris darted her eyes to Monette's parents who were both sitting up straight, hands on their lap, and staring ahead with blank gazes. They were like a pair of statues, however, their glassy eyes were really something disturbing to see that Iris quickly shifted her gaze back to Monette, still staring at her as though she had the answer to her problem.

"I–I," she stole a glance at the vampire, sitting next to her before she leaned forward and whispered. "I don't really know-how. He's crazier than you think," she mouthed the last words.

She was telling the truth. Calixto had been doing a lot of crazy stuff ever since he had woken up. She would wake up sometimes with him staring at her in the dark.

He didn't touch her or do something that would cause an alarm but everything was just too creepy.

And the only reason why she didn't complain was that she had no one to complain to.

These people at the dining table would not lift a finger to help her and now Monette is urging her to do something to help her and her parents. She wanted to laugh at the irony of it all.

Iris sighed and gave up. She cannot hide away from them and she had a feeling that Calixto would stop her if she would leave the table.

It has been a while since Iris felt like Calixto wanted to show off in front of her. She didn't mind it before because what could be the reason for it when she was nothing but his meal.

But whenever something happened, Calixto would always ask for her opinion and what she wanted to do. Most of the time, she refused to give an answer and only asked to be excused

He seemed unhappy with her decision every time but he didn't say anything about it.

"Uhm," she looked at Calixto. "What will happen to Minerva and Theo?"

Monette kicked her shin under the table. And she glared at her in return. What does she want her to ask Calixto? It was not like she could tell him what he should do.

"They will stay that way until I deem necessary."

Monette's hand flew to her mouth to stop herself from wailing.

Iris asked again. "When is that?"

Monette gazed at her with so much gratitude in her eyes that she felt guilty. She didn't ask Calixto because she was helping her out but she was curious about what was running in Calixto's head.

Calixto put down the cup of coffee that was still full for he didn't drink a single drop of coffee. From afar people would think that he did but with her next to him, she could see that the coffee in his cup was untouched. The rim of the mug had smudges on a part where his lips touched but other than that, there was no indication of him tasting the coffee at all.

"If you're done eating, meet me at the garage in…" Hehe glanced at his Rolex watch and looked at Iris, "Let's say half an hour?"

Iris knitted her brows. She just noticed that Calixto was no longer awkward with his actions. If he would sit outside in a coffee shop, he would blend in with his surroundings. well, probably not really, because people would still gaze in his way but not because he looked strange but because he looked so appealing with his green eyes, high cheekbones, and lanky figures.

He will still look out of place but not in a bad way. More of because he was worth staring at.

"How about my parents?" Monette asked, staring expectantly at Calixto.

"Go back to your quarters and do not leave that place until I tell you so."

Minerva and Theo stood up in unison and left the dining room without a word.

"Mom…Dad…" Monette called her parents but they didn't spare her a glance.