Not exactly mature but there IS some blood at the end of the chapter.

I woke up on the day his mother was supposed to arrive. With him going from ignoring us to suddenly being very set on capturing us I suspected that his mother arriving wouldn’t be a good thing. I looked at the clock, 6:30. I had a few hours until we were ‘allowed’ into the common room. The rooms he gave us were okay, but after seeing the rest of the house I was disappointed. But I guess ‘pets’ don’t deserve the best, do they? I hated him.

I got up and looked through the closet. I took a baggy sweatshirt and some sweatpants.

Always look presentable.

I put the clothes away and took out a crisp, white button-up shirt and some equally crisp pants. I HATED dressing like others wanted me to. I put on sneakers just to annoy him. Neon yellow sneakers. With neon orange shoelaces. And neon pink soles. I hated them but so would he so I pretended to love them. I brushed my hair and braided it, the end tied off with a black ribbon.

7:15

I used the bathroom and took out the notebook. I decided to start a journal to keep track of the days. I knew that I had entered the House of Horror on the 4th day of the 8th month. August 4th. We spent a week in the chamber. 5 days in this manor. And at least 2 days in the first chamber. So I’m going to say 2 days for the first chamber. So… August 15th. Let’s say it’s August 15th. I’ll check as soon as possible. I couldn’t actually write anything because today hadn’t passed yet so I put the book back.

7:30

I was quickly running out of things to do. The vampire had taken everything from us so I had nothing to organize. I sat at the desk and tried to think of a new plan. But I couldn’t. We didn’t know anything about the vampire of the manor. But what if the manor doesn’t change at all? Then maybe I could draw a map. It would be rough and partially inaccurate but better than nothing.

8:30

I finished the map and REALLY had nothing to do. I guess I could eat. So I went to the kitchen area and looked in the storage. I could make eggs, bacon, and toast. I’ll make enough for everyone. So I cut up mushrooms, tomatoes, onions, meat, and broccoli because why not. I fried the veggies before adding the meat and then finally the eggs. While the eggs were cooking I quickly put some ham on another pan. Then I added bacon to the eggs. Scrambled eggs were done. The toaster dinged and I took out the toast. Done. I took my portion and left the rest in the heating box. It kept food at the perfect temperature and texture for an indefinite amount of time. I stuck a note to the heating box and ate my food. Then I headed back to the room.

9:15

There were 45 more minutes of boredom before I got to go to the common room. Maybe I could even convince Adam to play chess with me. He did seem like a strategic person when we first met. To think he thought I could be manipulated. What a joke. I was about to sneak out when:

Stay in the pet’s quarters unless called upon.

Why did the rules keep popping into my head every time I wanted to break one? This really confused me. I frowned but stayed in the room. I decided to take a shower to pass the time.

9:35

I had never realized how good being clean felt until now. I relaxed on the bed and just daydreamed for a while.

10:00

FINALLY. I could finally go to the common room. I basically ran to the room and grabbed the first book I could find. It was a realistic fiction/adventure book about the adventures of some dude with a dragon. Not what I normally read but I was too comfortable to get up and get another book.

11:00

People started to enter the common room and talked vividly about anything they could.

11:30

The discussion turned to escape plans. I put my book down and entered the conversation.

“We could just run?” Nate proposed.

“Idiot! He runs faster than us? How are we supposed to run away from him?” Sharla glared at them as she smacked the back of their head.

“It was just an idea,” Nate grumbled, rubbing the sore spot.

“We could wait it out? Gather information and then try to escape?” Sarah tried.

“What if he kills us like he killed Kath though? I can’t die yet!” Gertrude argued.

“Hey, Eva, any ideas?” Adam asked me.

“I think waiting it out sounds reasonable. We could make a map and escape while there is a guest so that he is busy,” I mused.

“But what if ma- he finds out?” Gérald asked.

“Then we deny it and hope we don’t die. If he calls the bluff we attack. But only if he calls the bluff.” I noticed how Gérald started to say ‘master’ before switching to ‘he.’ What did that vampire do to him that makes him follow the rules so well? He was even dressed nicely. I pretended not to notice.

Suddenly Gérald got up claiming he had to do something. He slipped away silently. Interesting, why? I leaned back in the chair and started to read again. Nothing exciting happened until dinner that day.

---

We were all standing in a row against the wall. In front of us was the vampire and his mother. We were all silent. Gérald had made me change my shoes before coming here. I should probably thank him because now the vampire’s mother was looking us over and I did not want to stand out.

“Mother, so may I ask why you are here?” the vampire started.

“Not even a ‘Nice to see you,’ Victor? I thought you were better than that!” the vampire (Victor I presume) stayed silent. His mother sighed. “I heard you got some new pets and didn’t trust you to properly tame them,” she explained.

“Mother. I am perfectly capable of taking in a few pets. I do not need you breathing down my neck the whole time,” his voice didn’t betray any emotion.

“I’ll be the judge of that!” his mother huffed.

“How soon will you be leaving.” That did not sound like a question.

“Tomorrow.”

“Then can you at least get on with scolding me?”

“No. I want dinner first,” she motioned for Bel to step forward and drank from her. I could see how hard Bel was fighting to keep the tears in. Her hands were clenched at her sides and she was biting her tongue. Finally the woman was done drinking. Bel floated back to her spot in the line. “Well trained… hm. Maybe I did misjudge you. Maybe you really do see humans as pets,” she cocked her head to the side studying her son. Victor stiffened. “Looks like you're not. I was hoping for too much then,” she sighed.

“First off, you give your pets too much freedom. They should all be wearing the same thing. Plus I didn’t see any bite marks on the human I fed from. You should have fed from all of them by now. Make them understand that they belong to you. And knowing you you gave them all separate room to give the PRIVACY. They are HUMANS. The dirt under our shoes. They deserve NOTHING. They should be chained up in your basement? Do you even have it still? You know what it means to not have a basement. You’re too soft on these humans. And let me guess, you probably apologized to at least one of them by now!  And how many have you slept with?  Hm?  None!  That I already know!  Gave them CHOICES! THEY ARE HUMANS, VICTOR! STOP BEING SO SOFT ON THEM!” Victor’s mother was half screaming, half growling though the whole thing. We were all cowering as close to the wall as possible. I wanted to run.

Never run away from a vampire.

So I was stuck here, great. I decided to just ignore it. Ignoring stuff tended to work out well for me. The next hour was spent with Victor being yelled at or in silence. I was so happy to be stuck there. Please, do note the sarcasm.

20:30 (8:30 pm)

I just finished writing the day’s events down when I heard footsteps. It sounded like… someone in heels? That didn’t make sense… Who would be walking around in heels at this hour? I quickly hid any incriminating objects, in other words, the map. I sat down at the vanity and started to brush my hair. I had already brushed it at least 6 times today but it provided a good cover for doing nothing but staying in the same place for a while.

Someone stopped at the door next to mine. Sharla’s room. I wanted to do something but I just sat there, brushing my hair. A door opened. Then closed. A few moments later sobbing could be heard. That’s it. I stood up and went to Sharla’s room. Inside there was… no one? I looked in the bathroom and there was Sharla. But she was the only one in the whole room. Sharla looked physically fine from what I could tell. She was curled into a ball in the bathtub, sobbing. I frowned and approached her.

“Um… hey? Are you okay?” I hesitantly asked crouching next to her. She looked up at me, and I froze. Her face was ashen. There was blood coming from a cut on her forehead.

“You should run. She’s coming,” was all she said.

“Who? Do you want me to go get Arch? Or I could go grab a first-aid kit?” I asked.

“She’s coming,” she giggles. “She’s coming. She’s coming! SHE’S COMING! SHE’S COMING! SHE’S COMING! SHE’S COMING! You should run. Run! RUN!” now she was giggling so hard it was very hard to understand her.

“How about you tell me who did this to you?” I asked as I slowly stood up to get the first-aid kit from under the sink.

“She did. Now she’s coming for you too. She’s coming for ALL of us. This is just the beginning. Just the beginning! She’s coming!” the giggling was starting to freak me out.

“Okay, you are going to take a deep breath and I clean the cut, then we go to Arch. Understand?” I said. There was no way she would answer any question I asked her when in this state. It wasn’t uncommon for people to go insane while in the House or Horror. This was actually quite a normal occurrence. I took a deep breath and cleaned her cut as she giggled at me, still muttering something about ‘her’ coming. Then I looked into Sharla’s eyes and blanched. In her eyes I saw the reflection of someone. Someone I should probably be avoiding. Then something hit the back of my head and I saw black.