The Carpathian Mortal

The Brothers

I awaken in the softest bed imaginable with a pounding headache and my body feeling like it's on fire. I feel the cuts and scratches and bites on my body as I struggle to open my eyes. I can hear voices speaking softly but can't make out the words because of this damned headache that plagues me.

"Take it easy there, don't rush to get up." I hear a voice tell me quietly. I peek my eyes open to try and see if I can see anything. I can barely see since the only light in the room is a lantern burning softly by my bed. I open my eyes all the way and I look to the side of the bed. I see a beautiful man with dark inky hair, writing on a piece of paper.

As I take in his appearance, he looks up from the paper and I see hauntingly beautiful green eyes with a red rim around them. When I see those eyes, I start to panic and back away from him. He looks concerned when I back away and he gets on the bed and grabs me, pulling me onto his lap. I am enveloped with the scent of honey and cloves. At this point, I'm hyperventilating and about to scream. "It's okay, just breathe, in and out, in and out. Slowly." As he tries to comfort me, I finally calm down.

I crawl off his lap and back onto the bed after the panic attack subsides. I still eye him warily because he has those eyes. He continues writing on the sheet of paper until he finally finishes and puts the paper in a leather binder. "So, I have questions that I need answers to that only you can provide. So may I ask these questions of you?"

I sit there for a minute pondering if I will before I hear a very loud sound of disgust come from the corner. "Why do we have to sit around and wait for the b***h to decide if she's gonna answer us or not?" I hear a fairly angry voice say. I look over to the corner where I heard the voice and see another beautiful young man with the same eyes but he has hair like silver. I see a flash and then I see a memory of a young man with silver hair and he is writing poetry in a beautiful leather notebook. So he's a poet.

"Yeah, Adam why do we have to wait for her answer? We have ways of making the b***h talk." Another voice says with exasperation. I look over to the owner of that voice and he has bright flaming red hair and still those same eyes. Must be a family trait or something. Another flash, except this time I see a young man with red hair painting a beautiful picture of a gorgeous sunset. Ugh, these flashes are annoying.

That's when I hear multiple voices start yelling at Adam asking him why they can't just force the answers out of me and why they haven't dumped my ass outside. I start to get angry because all those voices are making my headache worse. "STOP!" I yell over the din of voices in the room. All sets of eyes are now trained on me and it is quiet, too quiet. Finally, the one they call Adam chuckles. "Serves all of you right for making the girls headache worse." He looks at me again with concern in his eyes.

"Now that you've given it some thought, would you answer my questions please?" I nod my head yes. "Alright then, first question: What's your name?" I dig into my memories trying to figure out what my name is. "Well I'm not quite sure because my head is in a fog, but I recall a memory of someone calling me Serena. So I think it is Serena." He looks at me with a quizzical look.

"Next question: how did you end up here?" I try to recall the events of the night before. Then I close my eyes. "I was in a cave, I had just awoken in there, when I heard a pebble skitter across the ground. I knew I wasn't alone. I suddenly had this overwhelming urge to run. I ran out of the cave and I could hear something behind me, chasing me. I'm not sure how long I was running for but I was covered in scratches and cuts from running for my life in the woods. I stopped to listen for the sounds of pursuit but I didn't hear anything at that point.

I started walking through the trees until I found a road. I followed the road until I came across someone who looked like a man but he wasn't a normal man. I begged him for help and he looked up at me. He had the same eyes as all of you. He gave an evil grin and then jumped on me. He bit me on my neck. He told me I was sweet and spicy and he asked me what I was. I could feel my life draining out of me as he fed on me. I heard something that sounded like the crack of thunder and then he ran away. I was delirious and tired and I remember coming up on a wrought iron gate and seeing the mansion. I barely managed to make it to the front porch before I collapsed. I was starting to slip into darkness when I felt someone pick me up off of the ground. Was that you?"

Adam nodded his head yes. "That would explain all the injuries you had." He sat there staring at me pondering something. He looked at the others. "Well I'm not letting her leave until she is healed from this ordeal." I hear all the others in the room audibly groan. "This is your decision Adam? To just let this b***h stay here?" I see two young men speak in unison. Clearly they are twins. The first twin has long curly blond hair and the other one has short spiked blond hair. Other than that, they are identical. Another flash. I see the one with long hair playing the piano, while the spike haired one plays the flute. Musicians, huh. "Whatever Adam, if anything bad happens because she's here, that's on you." I look over to see the owner of that voice and see another one with short curly brown hair and again with those damn eyes. Another flash hits me. It's him and he is sculpting in a beautiful studio and he looks happy. I should feel afraid but I don't, even with all of their hostility towards me.

They all clear out of the room except for Adam. He sits there on the edge of my bed. "Don't mind them, they aren't all bad, they just don't trust outsiders. Not since the last one." I see Adam staring off into space with a sorrowful and angry look. "Get some rest Serena, we'll talk more tomorrow." As he gets up to leave, he stops at the door. He glances back at me. "Unless you want to deal with my brothers, I would suggest locking this door."

He leaves the room and I get up shakily to move to the door to lock it. I hear the click and let out a sigh of relief. I hobble back to the bed and curl up under the covers, before sleep takes me. I dream of silver eyes watching me in the dark. A voice speaks quietly "Sleep my precious daughter, I will always be watching over you."