Indecent Folks

The yelling went on for several seconds until it got louder and louder as if someone was striking the victim with something. Slowly, the noise blended with the familiar screams that echoed in my head. My heart pounded, and my temple prickled from a terrible headache. I stood in place, frozen and wobbly, while I could only hear my slow heartbeats and heavy breathing.

I walked down the hallway until my feet took me in front of the massive double door. The cold wind from the arched windows to my left blew my hair onto my face as I gently pulled the door, making the hinges creak. A cylindrical space greeted me, which enclosed a spiral staircase made of steel that leads to a basement. I walked down the stairs, seeing only a cemented wall until I reached the base and found another door. This one has three crossbars and four latches. "Help!" I jolted in surprise when a man screamed from the other side.

"Please! Is someone there? I am here! Please help!"

I unlatched the door in a rush and with trembling hands. The man growled in pain again, so I hurriedly took the crossbar off the door and reclined it against the wall. I pushed the door, and a deafening silence greeted me.

The room was dark, but sunlight passed through the hopper window just a few inches down the ceiling. My shoulder dropped in shock when I opened the door fully and found two rows of cells on both sides of the hall. This arrangement was like how they assembled the houses outside the mansion. Steels made the cell, and they have one for each prisoner.

The imprisoned men turned to me in unison, so I stepped back while the strong smell of urine and stool filled my nose. I cleared my throat and placed my index finger under my nose, looking for someone in pain. However, they all seemed fine. Wearing identical tunics and brown trousers folded to their knees, they stared at me silently.

I looked around once more and found a bed and a bucket in each cell. The man on the first cell to my left stood and gripped onto the bars, so I shot a look at him. "Why are you here?" I asked, walking closer to his cell.

He glanced behind me instead of answering. When I turned to the door, a man just entered the hall, but he quickly stepped back as he held his nape when he saw me. "What are you doing here?" he blurted.

I was about to answer, but he ran back to the stairs at full speed, so he disappeared in a snap. "If I were you, I'd be running for my life now," whispered the prisoner behind me. "He's going to report you," he warned.

I gave him one last glance before sprinting towards the stairs. My heart pounded as I thought of possible reasons why they would keep prisoners in this village. I took a deep breath when I reached the door and ran down the hallway. To my surprise, a pair of men already stood at the end of the hallway. They glared at me with their red and scary eyes, so I thought of just jumping off the window. I could never outrun them anyway, so I stood there frozen. They ran toward me and appeared a few steps away. I took a step back and laid my hands to stop them while I shook my head. "No, please...I won't tell anyone. I'm already leaving. Rougan told me that it's okay for me to leave!" "He's the one who told us to get you. He already knows what you saw down there."

My shoulders dropped as they began dragging me somewhere. We took a few turns until we entered a circular solarium. The glass from the domed ceiling allowed the morning sunlight to shed light on the area. I looked around and found tapestries and paintings on the walls, a coffee table and a pair of couches put in place at the centre, and indoor plants on the floor.

Opposite the door stood Rougan facing the large window in front of him and resting his clasped hands on his back. "Wait by the door," he spoke, prompting the vamps to walk away and close the door behind me.

I sighed and fiddled with the fabric of my robe as I kept my mind on the optimistic side of things. Maybe Rougan won't kill me...maybe. "Who are those prisoners?" I asked.

"Food," he replied swiftly.

My jaw dropped as I kept myself from throwing up. Shivers rushed down my spine while I took a step back, thinking of the worst ways of how they feed on them. "Y-you were keeping people for slaughter?"

He turned to me, nonchalant. "We feed them with decent meals and take some of their blood thrice a day. They don't die because we feed off of them. Unless they kill themselves."

"But they're humans! Like me! You turned them into a blood reserve for the entire village?!"

"They are criminals waiting on the death row...Like you," he taunted.

I was at a loss for words, confused at what he just said. Like me? How could I forget about this? "They were...they were the missing prisoners from the Penal Camp," I concluded.

He looked at me from head to toe. "Like you."

I clenched my jaw and gave him an equally nonchalant glare. "Now what? Were you going to send me down there too? Because I can't be compelled, and you won't let me leave here now after what I saw, will you?" He pursed his lips and looked away like he was seriously thinking about it. My hands sweated as I waited for his response. "You're too pretty for jail," he said tenderly like those words were supposed to sound normal. I slowly shook my head and stepped back. "Then let me go."

He ran at full speed towards me, making me jolt in shock. The gentle wind felt cold against my sweaty neck. I gulped and didn't move any longer as he carefully touched my cheeks with his fingers, tucking my hair behind my ear. His eyes did their wonders again like they were trying to console me. They provided me with a hint of security.

"This is just a simple deal, Dani," he whispered.

His voice sounded good, but I traced a hint of deceit. Although his eyes were the softest I've ever seen, everything else about him screams dominance. "What deal?" I asked.

His eyes landed on my lips. They were more solemn than I ever saw them be. Like a worshipper. "You keep our secret; we keep yours."

My shoulders dropped at his offer, but I mustered my courage to push him away. His jaw dropped in surprise while he gave me a stern look anyway. "But that means you're going to lock me up, aren't you? Then that is not a fair deal!" He furrowed his brows and stared at me with annoyance. "We will provide everything you need. What else could you wish for?"

"Freedom!" I blurted. "That's the reason why I escaped in the first, but if I were to be locked up again, then I better just die. I don't need a bigger prison."

He sighed and licked his lower lip without taking his eyes off of me. "Die then. I'll do the honour."

I trembled at his words, prompting me to take a step back as my eyes darted on the floor. "I stay here, or I'll die. Those are my options?" I whispered to myself. "What a life, Dani." I clenched my fists and turned to the door. It turns out that I managed my way out of the Penal Camp only to end up in this creepy village, where awful things awaited. I pulled the door and found the two vamps. "Where's Sawyer?" I asked. "In the workshop," one of them responded.

I sighed and walked away, trying to find the stupid main entrance. After several minutes, I finally stepped out of the mansion's porch and walked past the lawn. The grass was cold against my soles, but I was more concerned with my more significant problems. Some people started appearing in my vision as I stood at the edge of the lawn. I found women wearing lovely dresses and bodices and had their hair braided or tied in a bun while holding baskets and wicker trunks. At the same time, the men walking around in tunics, breeches, and boots carried logs, saws, and other tools. They're all vampires?

The few vamps who saw me stopped in their tracks for some time before looking away. I crossed my arms and looked around while the cold wind blew. This place makes me want to curl up in a ball and hide in a corner. I heard someone's footsteps on the trail behind me, so I turned and found Sawyer in his tunic and a pair of breeches. A thick fabric hung on his arm as he walked towards me.

"Where were you?" I asked.

Instead of answering, he wrapped the fabric over my shoulders and took my hand so I could hold the edges together. "Your bath is ready. Go upstairs," he said before walking away.

I grabbed his arm and forced him to look at me. "Rougan offered a deal."

"Let's not talk here." He looked around before dragging me towards the door on the mansion's right-wing. I stood at the bottom of the staircase and waited for him to talk. "What do you want?" he asked.

I balled my fist and took a deep breath. "I want to get out of here. You helped me last night, so I thought maybe you could help me one last time." His shoulders dropped as he slightly rolled his eyes like he already anticipated this. I grabbed the sleeve of his tunic to get this attention and make him listen to me. "Look. I already know that this village is not starving for blood. So last night, when you saw me on the road, you could've just killed me. You don't need me, Sawyer, and yet you took me here where someone could tend my wound and gave me a nice room. There's no food, but it's still kindness. If you have done it once, you could do it again. Please help me get out of here, just tell them that I escaped. It's possible since I'm...a fugitive."

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He clenched his jaw and gave me a stern look before grabbing onto my wrist to shove my arm away. "For someone who murdered six men, you were too reckless to trust another man."

I held my breath at his remark. Is this how he viewed me since we met? Too trusting? Naïve? I pursed my lips and looked away. Since when did I have a choice? I thought he's different. I shut my eyes to calm myself down. I want to retaliate and scream at his face, but where would that get me? He could grab my heart out in a second.

"That's Rougan's cloak. Give it back when you see a handmaid around," he said before stepping out of the door.

"Why did you help me in the first place?" I asked, clearly dismayed.

He stopped walking, but he didn't face me. "I'd kill you right away if Rougan tells me to. So don't think too highly of yourself."

"You're wrong. I thought too highly of you," I corrected him. "But you're no different from him after all." I headed upstairs and hastily pulled the cloak off my shoulders when a woman walked past me so I could hand it over to her. "I've prepared your bath and your clothes, Lady Jones," she said.

I turned to her in confusion and stopped walking. "Who told you about my surname?"

"We received directions and information from Sir Rougan last night. We are to assist you throughout your stay here."

"Did he say that it might be throughout my lifetime?" I scoffed. She remained quiet while her eyes remained on the floor. "Hey," I snapped my finger so she would look at me. "I'm nowhere near being a lady, so call me Dani instead," I said. She slightly bowed to me again before walking away, but I turned to her when I remembered something. "Where can I find Paige?" I asked.

"Doctor Banford? At this time of the day, she must be in her office, Miss Dani," she replied.

I sighed and nodded at her before heading to the arched windows in the hallway. I watched the thick smoke puffing from the chimney in the workshop. Sawyer won't help me, so in this case, Paige is my last chance.