There's not a bunch of mature stuff but I thought I should mark this mature anyway.  There'll be a more descriptive paragraph about what happened to the pink-haired girl from last chapter.  There's also a nightmare that might be considered mature?

I squeezed my eyes shut against unwanted tears, this was too much. I thought he was going to kill me for looking through his stuff, and then he was kind to me. AND he wants me to call him master… I can’t do that. I’m going to die aren’t I? No! I need to be strong. I started to cry. I just sat there, in the middle of his rug, crying. Then I heard the door opening. I didn’t move. I felt arms wrap around me. They were… wet with something? The wetness was warm. I didn’t pay attention to that fact until later.

“Shhhhh, it’s okay,” a voice murmured in my ear. It was surprisingly calming and after about 15 minutes of the person just telling me it was okay and gently rocking me, I went from sobbing to just sniffling. I looked up to see who had comforted me. It was him, the vampire. I blanched, then I whimpered. The vampire had blood all over him. He just looked down at me while one of his hands was playing with a strand of my hair.

“I realized I never got your name, so what is it?” he spoke softly and his movements were slow, as if I were a scared animal he was trying to calm. To him I suppose I was. I took a deep breath.

“Gérald,” I answered, all in one breath. I didn’t stutter. Small victories. I don’t normally stutter but there’s something about this vampire that makes me scared.

“Well then, Gérald, lets go get cleaned up, shall we?” he said. I just nodded and he smiled. He got up and led me to a bathroom and told me to call him if I had trouble. The bathroom was beautiful. The whole thing was made of a blueish marble and there was some type of aquamarine gem embedded into any and all corners or just places where there was a right angle. There was a fluffy white carpet in front of the bathtub and the mirror had gold hinges, now that I looked around, all the hinges were gold. The hooks for towels were also made from the aquamarine gem. The towels were a soft, pastel pink.

For a moment I just stood there. Then I looked in the mirror and gasped. There was blood all over my clothes. Honestly that was expected since I had just been comforted by a vampire covered in blood. Wait- covered in blood? That’s when it hit me. Whose blood was it? I stared at the mirror in horror for a few moments then shook my head. I’ll ask him after I take a bath. I really needed one.

I had found some bubbles and sunk into the bath. I just sat there, in the calming warmth of the water. I smiled. Minutes later I was scrubbing all the blood away, getting it out of my hair was a hassle.

Once I was done I realized I had nothing to wear. Probably should have thought of that sooner. I looked towards the towels and was shocked. There, next to the towels there was a plain white long sleeved shirt, and an indigo turtleneck sweater that was slightly more purple than I preferred but I had nothing else. There was also a pair of black jeans that were slightly formal.  Socks and shoes were found underneath the clothes on the floor.  I dried off and put the clothes on. There was no denying it, I did like the clothes. Honestly I liked all pretty clothes.

I stepped out of the bathroom and into the vampires room to see him at his desk, writing something down. I was curious so I went up and peaked over his shoulder. He obviously heard me and knew I was there but he didn’t hide anything. He was looking at a plan… our plan… oh… someone must have betrayed us. That wasn’t good. He was mad at me for just being in his study and now he knew of the plan too. Running would have been a good option then but I was frozen in place. His hand shot out and grabbed me. Suddenly his fangs were on my neck, the turtleneck pulled down. I squeezed my eyes shut. I wanted to cry. I did too much of that lately. Way too much. He spoke.

“How long do you think I’ve known about this,” he growled.

“I- I don’t k-know,” I was on the verge of tears.

“‘I don’t know’ what?” he seemed so threatening.

“I-I don’t k-know, m-mas-master,” I couldn’t get enough oxygen.

“A couple days. Charlie told me as soon as he had the chance,” he explained. But why is he only acting now? He was so kind before… well, some of the time… he comforted me when I was crying, he gave me food, but he didn’t bring this up even once! As if he sensed my questions he spoke, “I wanted to give you the chance to be good, to tell me about this yourself, but you didn’t. I gave you time, a lot of time, but you didn’t say anything. Why? Did you honestly believe I wouldn’t find out? Do you think I’m stupid? That I don’t know what’s going on in my own house?”

“I-I didn’t t-tell you be-because th-then I’d b-be the o-one blamed f-for the f-fail-failure of the p-plan. I- we didn’t- didn’t expect y-you to find o-out s-so quick-ly,” I was sobbing. Fear controlled me. I would never escape from this vampire. I would die here. He hummed against my neck.

“I need to teach you a lesson then. Nothing comes before me. Nothing. But don’t worry, I won’t kill you… yet,” and with that he plunged his fangs into my neck and pain shot through me. It coiled around my chest, cutting off any air that managed to get there previously. My sobs became raspy as I fought the pain. Just as the pain seemed at dull a little a new wave came, this one took consciousness from me and left me in a terrible dreamy state.

Beasts the size of sky scrapes chased me. Ripped some of my limbs off, laughed at my suffering as the blood spilled out over whatever surface we were on at the moment. Then the surface would disappear, I would start falling. I would hit the ground and feel every bone in my body break, then smaller beasts would slowly extract every broken bone and rip my muscles, tendons, skin, anything that got in their way. They would take the strips of my body that were scattered all over the ground and ate them. Worms would wiggle around in me. Eating their way through the blob that was me. I felt everything. Every mind-numbing pain that shot through my body, rendering me useless. Every time I screamed they would do even worse. I was stuck there, silent, forced to go through this over and over again for hours. Then I woke up.

I was on a soft bed. It felt like a cloud. For a moment I thought I had died. But when I looked around I recognized master’s room. Master’s. I was really being affected by this. I started to get up and winced. I was still in the clothes from before and looked physically fine, but my muscles were sore and my thoughts were a mess. I couldn’t focus on one thing longer than a few moments.

Then a door opened. The door that leads from the bathroom to the bedroom. Ma- the vampire stepped out. He looked at me and took something from the table. I squeezed my eyes shut and moved as far as possible from the vampire, hoping that he wasn’t about to punish me again. I don’t think I’ll be able to make it through another nightmare. My breaths became ragged and I felt tears welling up in my eyes again. He sat down next to me. One of his hands pulled me closer while the other put something around my neck. It didn’t cover the place that he bit me though. Why would he want to cover that? How else would he be able to feed?

“I’m sorry,” he whispered in my ear. “I was stressed and needed to vent. You just happened to be there.” I stilled. He… apologized? Why would he apologize? I was the one at fault. I broke one of his rules. I frowned but relaxed into his embrace. For a moment we just sat there. I started to get drowsy. Sleep seemed so inviting at that moment in time.

“Hey,” he gently pinched my arm. “I can’t have you falling asleep yet. I need you to come with me.” I groaned. I really wanted to sleep. My muscles ached, my head was pounding, and I was exhausted. But I opened my eyes and looked up at my ma- at him. I looked up at him. The vampire.

“Yes, master,” I murmured sleepily. He smiled at that. Maybe he was happy I was finally completely compliant? Didn’t matter. He led me to a dark room that smelled of copper. I didn’t think much of that.

“Stay here, okay?” he instructed. I nodded and he left. He returned many times more before he stepped into the room and turned out the light. There were all the others in this room. Sarah and I were the only ones not tied up. I looked to the front, where there was a stage. On the stage there was mas- the vampire, and… a pink haired body? Wait, where was Kath? I looked around and didn’t see her. I paled. The body on the stage was Kath.

The body was burnt, but there were a few strands of hair that must have been saved from the… fire? Her toenails and fingernails had been ripped out and her teeth were missing. Her ribs were peeled open and one was stuck into her lung. Her legs were torn into long threads that were then… braided? As were her arms. A smile was forced on her mouth. Her eyes were gone. There was blood slowly seeping from her wounds into the wooden floor. Her ribs looked like mountains of blood, covered in the stuff. The wounds had dried blood all around them. She had worms instead of eyes. Dead butterflies were in her torso, she was so mangled up that you wouldn’t have been able to tell if she was a male or female if you didn’t know her. Master leaned down and ripped out her heart. It was still, blood oozed out of it slowly, falling onto Kath’s face. Mas- no the vampire, somehow managed to only get the blood on his hand. So this is whose blood he was covered in.

“Tomorrow my mother will be arriving and I expect you all on your best behavior, or you will end up like this,” he squeezed the heart until it burst, still not getting dirty. He then went on to explain what was to be expected of us;

1. Don’t speak unless spoken to. End everything with ‘ma’am’ or ‘sir’ depending on who you are talking to. If you're talking to him say ‘master.’

2. Stay out of the way. This meant close to the wall or trailing behind someone if they instructed you to follow them.

3. Don’t look anyone in the eyes. Ever.

4. Don’t take off your collars. (This is where I realized that the thing around my neck was a collar)

5. If someone wants blood give it to them.

6. Do not scream or cry when being fed from. (Here the master said that he understood it was painful and after his mother left we wouldn’t get in trouble for screaming or crying when being fed off of if there are no guests)

7. Never make a mess.

8. Never ask for anything.

9. Follow all commands that a guest gives you. If a command they give you contradicts with what your master says then tell the guest.

10. Guests are allowed to give punishments.

11. Do not struggle.

12. Do everything in your power to make your master and any guests happy.

13. Nothing beyond friendship is allowed between pets.

14. Master’s word is law.

15. Stay in the pet’s quarters unless called upon (Ma- he said he would show us where they were after this)

16. Thank the vampire that gave you something every time. Even if it’s just a small compliment or if they choose you to serve them over anyone else.

17. Always look presentable.

18. Never hurt anyone unless instructed to by your master or a guest.  But never hurt your master.

19. You are not required to serve anyone in an intimate manner.

20. Never run away from a vampire.

My head was spinning as I tried to remember all that. We were brought to a part of the mansion that was built less extravagantly. We each got a room. Bed, dresser, table, chair, mirror, small vanity, chest, small desk, bathroom. The dresser had dresses, suits, sweaters, pants, shirts, formal, casual, anything you could think of. The chest was empty except for 2 notebooks and a note:

This is where you may place any gifts you receive. The notebooks you may do what you wish with.

The vanity had some basic makeup, to conceal anything that needed to be concealed. There were some other things too, brush, hair bands, ribbons, and a few hair pins. There was also a jewelry box with a simple pair of earrings, a necklace, and a note:

For any jewelry that you may be gifted.

The bed was nice, not as soft as ma- the vampires, but was comfortable. The desk had a few papers, pencils, pens, erasers, and a ruler. All in all, the room was nice. Not too extravagant, but not too simple. I liked it.

We were shown to the laundry room where we were expected to wash our own clothes, the canteen/kitchen area. We could cook there, anything we wanted if the food was provided. Every night some of ma- the vampire’s servants (those smoke/air dudes) looked through what we had for food and replaced stuff if we needed it. We could leave a note for them to ask them for something specific if we wanted it and they sometimes left random food items in there. There was a common room with a few board games, a few couches, and a bookshelf. We were allowed in this room from 10 am - 7 pm. Then we were expected to return to our rooms. Breakfast could be eaten earlier than 10 am as long as we returned to our rooms after eating. There were clocks in every room so we wouldn’t have to worry about that. We were led back to our rooms and mast- the vampire left. I looked at the bed and didn’t even bother to change into something suitable for sleep. I was out in seconds and the last thing I thought was:

When I wake up, master's mother will be here.