Chapter Two

CHAPTER TWO
         What else was there to do other than watch her walk away?  I was chained up and waiting to be sold, as if I were some piece of meat.  My Layna, taken away to be a slave.  Her hair was flailing in the winter air as she looked back at me; that beautiful hair, not just brown, but shades of the darkest brown and caramel sheen, each strand smooth and soft as silk.  When would I again see those piercing grey eyes that made her the image of Pallas Athene?  When would I again see the soft features of her face?
         All I could do was hope and pray that she would be safe and treated gently.  That was also all I could hope and pray for myself.  Who were these people who looked like they had arrived out of a time machine?  As they laughed at and mocked us, children were crying in their chains, young men were cursing, and girls were begging for freedom.  Amidst all the noise and confusion, I tried to remember how I had come to be in these shackles.
         I had been in my bedroom, sitting at my desk.  I should have been sleeping but I had decided to stay up late and finish reading Brave New World.  The house was completely silent until the moment that I heard movement downstairs.  I thought that perhaps it was my mother coming in late, since she should have been home two hours earlier.  I grabbed a shirt and pulled it over my head on the way down the stairs.  Just as I reached the bottom step and was about to call out for her, the butt of a gun rammed into my head and knocked me out.  Sometime later I came to and woke up on the lawn, at which point the man with the gun chained me up with all the other young people from the neighborhood.
         Dad was living with his new family in Maryland, and I was sure that something had happened to Mom.  I had this awful gut feeling that she was... gone.  And now Layna...  I had to find her.  She would probably want to find Evelyn, too; after all, they had been best friends since childhood.  Evelyn was on the other side of town though, and I would have no way of getting there.  Layna would have to be my main objective.
         While all of these thoughts were racing through my mind, I had noticed that a peculiar man, tall and lanky, was staring at me.  It felt as though his eyes were burning into my soul, reading me and seeing me for who I was.  The light of the street lamps reflected off of his jet black hair which, to a certain extent, grew untamed.  He stood before me in a black suit, his hands adorning white kid gloves and holding a top hat; he looked like a parody of a 1920s Chicago gangster.
         "You think my appearance is amusing?" he suddenly asked.
         "What?  I didn't say anything," I responded defensively.
         "You didn't have to.  It's a sixth sense.  I can tell what you're thinking.  Don't worry though, you'll get used to it.  I'm taking you with me."  He called out to the trader for his attention.
         "Oh, Mister Landon!" the trader reacted excitedly.  "Come to buy another one, eh?  Soon ye'll have an army!"
         "Jesus Christ, Porter, just take the money and unchain him," the man replied, rolling his eyes and handing the trader his payment.  The trader's pride was hurt, but the money would heal it soon enough.
         One of the men with guns was ordered to let me go and so I was freed from the line.  There was no way to escape, but there was one thing I felt obligated to do.  Still standing before the trader, I raised my hands above my head and to the side, and slammed the shackles of my wrists onto his head, knocking him to the ground.  I spit on him as the armed men pulled me back.
         "Don't you touch another woman with that cane, you hear me?" I yelled in anger.
         The man who had paid for me was bent over and gripping his sides in laughter.
         "Oh, I think that I'm going to like you.  I definitely don't trust you though, so I'm sure you won't be surprised that I'm making you ride in the trunk," he said, somewhat amused.
         We walked over to his car, a renovated fourth generation Lincoln Continental, and he popped open the trunk.  I stood there, looking down into it in silence.
         "Well?" he impelled.
         "I'm not getting in there.  I'm a human being, not a grocery bag, and I am not riding in the trunk of anyone's car," I replied, surprised at my resoluteness.
         "Well, I'm not a human being," he retorted with an evil smirk, "and I told you to get in the trunk."
         I continued to stand there in silence for a few more moments, staring him down.  I was then taken by surprise as he grabbed the back of my neck with astonishing strength and threw my body forward into the trunk.  Before I even had time to react, he had slammed the door shut.
         The ride seemed to go on forever, the confined space dark and the air stagnant.  In order to keep what was left of my sanity and remain clam, I thought of Layna and my mother.  I remembered our time spent with each other before this god-forsaken night.  More than anything I wanted to devise a plan to find Layna, but there were too many unknown variables at the moment.  Where would I be staying and where was that in relation to her?  When would I have the time or be prepared to make a break for it?  Maybe if I went along with this freak's plans, things would be easier.  When I wasn't preoccupied with my thoughts of escape, I was consumed with grief over having lost my mother.  Why did they find it necessary to kill her?  Had she died quickly and painlessly?  If I could have only seen her one last time...
         After what had seemed like a good half hour, the car finally stopped.  I could hear the man laughing and talking outside of the car to whom I supposed to be the chauffeur.  He then approached the trunk and opened the door.
         "Did you enjoy the trip?" he sarcastically inquired while reaching out his hand to help me out.
         Surprisingly, I took his hand and as he pulled me out mockingly replied, "Every minute of it."
         "Good, good.  Come on then, let's go inside.  You'll be staying in the soldiers' quarters.  I'm sure you'll make lots of friends here and maybe even enjoy yourself, if you do what I say."
         We entered through the ornately designed front doors of a large villa.  Everything inside seemed very fine and lavish, from the lush oriental rugs covering maple floors to the magnificent paintings that adorned the walls.  All of the furniture was made either leather, fine wood, or steel.  One of the rooms, which appeared to be a parlor, held a grand piano.  Many items of décor appeared to be antique.  How was it that this man could afford such luxurious things?
         "The servants' and soldiers' wing is all the way upstairs to the left.  If you want to go running in and out of the women's rooms, that's not my business, just try not to get any of them pregnant," he jested with a slap on my back.
         He led me up the stairs to the wing I would be staying in.
         "There's only one room to fit you in, and you'll be sharing it with Rai.  He doesn't talk much, but maybe that'll work out for you.  It's the last door on the right.  There's always clean clothes in the dresser.  Breakfast is at 5:30 sharp; you miss it, tough luck.  You start your training tomorrow at six.  If you need anything, don't come to me."
         With this, he briskly turned and went down the stairs.  Training?  5:30?  What time was it now?  Surely after midnight.  What was it I would be training for?  Maybe this Rai guy would know.  I made my way towards the end of the hall and lightly knocked on the door before opening it and stepping inside.
         The room looked simple compared to the rest of the house.  A full-size bed, a dresser, a closet, a desk and chair; it was basically my room back home, minus the bookshelf.  The lighting in the room was dim and everything seemed drab; it was lacking in personality.  I directed my attention to the young man laying on the bed on his stomach, staring at a photograph.
         "You must be Rai.  My name is Owen.  Looks like the other rooms are full, so I'll be staying in here with you," I remarked, hoping to start the conversation with an introduction before bombarding him with questions.  Apparently this conversation would be one-sided, due to his lack of input.
         "So...  How long have you been here, working for this guy?  I have to admit, I have a lot of questions he left unanswered.  I thought maybe you could help me out and tell me a little about this place."
         He rolled over on his side and went from staring at the photograph to staring at me.  He had the air of a warrior.  His almond-shaped eyes were black and savage like a wild animal's and his body was obviously built and capable.  Anger and fury emanated from his very being, yet his face showed no expression.  At that moment, I would have rather been spending the night in a doghouse.
         "You don't ask questions around here, you do what you're told; if you want to live, that is.  The ‘he' you're referring to is Landon, and he's one of the six that are fighting for control of this territory; this territory being the Americas, of course.  In their circle, he's a pretty big deal.  Just try not to make him mad," Rai finally answered, in a contemptible tone.
         "Whose circle?" I wondered aloud.
         "You still don't know?  I've been here for three months and they've just now officially taken over?  They're vampires.  I see that look you're giving me, so before you decide that I'm crazy, listen.  They took over by becoming the government, and now they've disbanded it.  It's all about territory and power now.  They're on top of the world and we do their dirty work.  The world's coming to an end.  They're running this place like it's the damn Middle Ages!" he shouted in frustration.
         I would tell this guy that he was crazy and needed some serious help, but how could I?  I always knew everything would go up in flames, but not like this.  Vampires?  Shouldn't it have ended with nuclear weapons, or great balls of fire?
         "So, they're... vampires?  Blood-sucking, light-sensitive, cross and garlic hating vampires?" I asked.
         "No, don't be ridiculous.  From what I've learned while I've been here, it's a disease or virus of some kind.  It's transferred sexually and through blood.  The strain is fatal; it can take anywhere from three months to a year to recuperate, but it never leaves the body.  If you survive, not only do you eventually regain your strength but you become stronger.  They technically aren't immortal but after being infected can live for up to a few thousand years.  They are only sensitive to light while trying to survive the first stage of the virus.  They can eat food just like you and me, and don't need blood to survive.  However, it is something they have wild cravings for at times, so they'll drink it until they're sated.  Fortunately, they also become sterile, so they can't sexually reproduce."
         I stood there awestruck, taking in all the information that Rai had relayed to me.  These were vampires?  Why had they decided to take over everything?
         "You better get some sleep.  You don't want to miss breakfast; you won't get to eat again until dinner," Rai's voice broke through.
         After tucking the photograph away under his pillow, he rolled to the right side of the bed and turned off the lamp on the end table.  I walked over to the left side of the bed and awkwardly crawled underneath the covers.  I had never had to share a bed with a stranger before.  How was I going to get any sleep under these conditions?  I didn't see an alarm clock anywhere in the room, so hopefully Rai would wake me up when the time came.  I had no clue what to expect in training.  I closed my eyes and tried to relax, hoping that sleep would soon find me, but my mind still wandered to Layna and my mother.