The burning red eyes stared at me, and I stared back at them. In the thick darkness, the sudden glimpse of them started me.
"Turn on the light, Syl." A voice rang across the place.
A moment later, the room was lit up. A guy was standing in front of me with an evil smirk plastered on his face.
And I'm not joking when I say evil.
If I wasn't already standing in a room with dead bodies scattered around, this was the moment when I would have started getting bad feelings.
"Is this the girl?" I heard another voice. My gaze was stuck on the guy standing only a quarter meter away. It felt like I would die if I looked elsewhere.
"I can't tell for sure," He said while scanning me head to toe. An icy gaze from a pair of eyes burning like fire.
His gaze fell on the book, and I clutched it tightly.
"You tell us. Why are you here?" He asked, looking at me.
"I... I'm here to look for my friend," I choked out. He pointed his thumb toward the bodies.
"One of them?" There was no sign of sadness or sympathy in his voice. It was a blunt question.
Still, I glanced at the ground. It was an indescribable sight. I wasn't that strong at heart when it came to these sorts of things. It was hard for me even if it was in a movie. But this sight was live in front of me.
Corpses, blood, and coldness.
I looked away and shook my head.
"My friend has red hair," I mumbled, recalling her unusual features. Her hair made her stand out from the crowd. So I could tell she wasn't part of this red crowd.
His face lit up. "Hannah Carter?" He asked, and I nodded, thinking this was a good sign.
He snatched the book from me.
"And what's this for?"
"She told me she's in danger and to bring the book here," I answered. He scanned through the pages.
I didn't know what was so important about the book. If anything, it was probably a scrapbook.
He burst out laughing, making me flinch.
"Look at this," He threw the book to the other guy.
"How can someone laugh in a situation like this?" I mumbled under my breath.
The guy looked at me with raised eyebrows.
"Naïve little girl," He spoke. He probably heard me. "What could someone possibly do with a scrapbook when they're in danger?"
I didn't have a good answer. "It could help somehow..."
"Do you know what's going on in the town?" He asked, laughing again.
I didn't answer.
"You can figure it out in your afterlife," He said, taking a step closer. My heart dropped to my stomach hearing this sudden remark.
I should have stayed in the dorm.
"Please don't kill me," I begged.
He looked at me with a raised eyebrow.
"We'll decide that later." With that, he grabbed my neck. His ice-cold hands felt like they'd cut through my skin.
Wait. Why wasn't he pulling out some weapon? How...That was freaking not the thing I was supposed to worry about.
I felt something sharp pressing into my neck, followed by something cold and soft, and my vision went blank.
I wasn't dealing with a normal, psychic maniac, was I?
I knew a few things that could kill with a bite; snakes, carnivores, mosquitoes, and nonexistent creatures of multiple kinds.
Darn it.
My heart was slowing down with each passing moment. I could barely breathe.
People say that being on death's doorstep makes you realize the importance of life.
I already knew the importance of life.
Was it already my turn?
When the sun went out, I prepared myself for the soon-to-commence death. But nothing happened.
Now when I was getting used to living, death was calling me. The irony.
My breath had almost stopped when he released my neck. I dropped to my knees, feeling a sharp pain flow through me.
"Amias, what's wrong?" I heard the other guy asking.
"I don't know. She must have done something." I looked up, hearing the illegal accusation.
"How can you say that about someone you almost killed?" I asked.
He looked at me, blood dripping from his lips. He stepped toward me, and I thought he would try to kill me with his hands this time.
But he gripped my glasses instead.
He snapped it in half and threw it away before I could react, then stared at me.
A confused stare turned into a surprised stare then a death glare. His face morphed so quickly that I barely caught the emotions.
"Fucking damn it!" He stepped away, swearing loudly.
The other guy stepped in front of me and looked at me curiously. His eyes found mine, and he looked...amused?
They were doing a good job making me worry I was the culprit here.
"You should have paid attention," the second guy said emotionlessly as he walked over to the other.
The guy, whose name I guessed was Amias, ran off in a second without another word.
"Get up," the other said in an ordering voice. I stood up, taking support from the wall.
"Do you know what just happened?" He asked me.
"Someone tried to kill me," I answered.
"And do you know you have a weird set of eyes?" It was my eye, so of course, I was. Now I couldn't say that unless I wanted to get in more trouble.
"I know that they are weird," I answered honestly. My eyes were a mixed shade of purple and golden. Mostly purple at its lowest shade.
And I've been through a good number of questions regarding this. The glasses helped me mask them quite well.
"Do you know anything else?" He asked, and I shook my head. What else was I supposed to know about them? Did they want more sleep? Medicine? Eye drops?
"Well then, you have a lot to know," He said. "But let me tell you about your friend first."
The way he talked indicated that he wasn't accepting questions. His voice was calm but commanding. Not to mention cold. And also his accent and wording were weird...no offense.
"Hannah Carter had been trying to allure our kind for a while. You probably know what kind that is," He said.
Which kind? There are a lot of mythical creatures.
"Um..."
"Vampires," He spoke. Ok.
"Hannah killed multiple people across the month and placed them in different parts of the town. She probably thought they'd draw our attention," He added.
I couldn't believe him.
"This room is also her doing,"
He was lying, wasn't he? Hannah wouldn't do such a thing. It was impossible.
"But seeing none of it worked, she turned to you. She faked the situation and used your naiveness to get you here." There was a pause.
"She wanted to use you as bait," He finished.
"You're making things up," I managed to say.
"The whole town is in search of her. You'd know if you looked at the news," he said.
I couldn't believe it.
"Why isn't she here then?" I asked.
He shrugged.
I started walking out, but he stopped me. "You're not going anywhere."
I looked at him, scared.
"If you're not as insane as your friend, then you have a larger problem now."
Now what? I was barely standing and I bet my blood pressure was way below average. There was nothing much
"So I suggest you do as I say."