The twelve humans were shoved off stage, with Sebastian dragging Alexandria behind him. Sebastian stopped by a door for every person with its corresponding number ending with her room, number thirteen. When she was shoved inside she saw that it was the same room as before, the decagon shaped mirrored room. Alex sprawled out in the middle of the floor, trying to piece everything together.

“This isn’t like me,” Alex said out loud. She closed her eyes and thought back to when everything started. When she first met Leon she wasn’t afraid of him until they locked eyes. In fact, fear only seemed to overcome her when she looked into their eyes. Alex found herself wondering if vampires had some sort of physic ability. “That would explain why I can’t seem to make up my mind on whether to comply or fight back,” she said to herself, as she opened her eyes again. There was something else about the past few nights that was also off. When Alex heard about vampires she didn’t doubt it for a second. Most people would have thought they were dreaming or hallucinating, but Alex just accepted it like it was a fact. “What if vampires have something to do with my missing past?” Alex exclaimed as she sat up suddenly. Maybe she accepted it so easily and never suspected vampires because her memory was blocking anything to do with vampires.

That could mean vampires had something to do with my lost memories, she pondered. For as long as Alex could remember she had been trying to get her memories back. She finally gave up on it when she graduated high school, so she could focus on getting into college. But if I have just found a new lead then… maybe being around these vampires will bring up some buried memories. Alex was getting excited just thinking about it. She knew that her memories were blocked for a reason, probably a good reason but she felt so empty without them. Whatever happened I will work through it, she told herself. But… what do I tell Keith… How do tell Keith!?

Just then there was a knock at the door, interrupting Alex’s thought. Claude and Lloyd walked in mid-conversation.

“-reveal who hired me, they have power over me,” Claude said looking at Lloyd, who laughed.

“So they are on the council then? That eases any worry. However, if they wanted her then why not hire you to take her when you picked her up for me?” Lloyd asked, looking at Claude.

“They bought her as a gift; they didn’t know that he wanted her until after I had already retrieved her for you, besides you know I would never betray you, brother.”

Alex had enough of this. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here,” she said angrily. Claude bent down close to her, unpinned her hair and ran his hands through it. She went to swat his hand away but he blocked it with a smile.

“Let’s get you out of those ridicules clothes, shall we?” he said holding out his hand for her. Alex looked at him suspiciously before ignoring his outstretched hand and getting up on her own. Claude gently took her hand and led her to the closet behind one of the mirrors. “Now let’s see what we have-”, he said as he began picking up different shirts and pants and holding it up to Alex before shaking his head and tossing them on the floor. Then he pulled out black slim female suit pants, a blue-grey button up long sleeve shirt, and a grey vest and held it out to her. “This is more your style, no?” he said arching his eyebrows before taking out some matching flats.

“I uh… I don’t really have a style…,” she answered awkwardly as Claude stuffed the pile of clothes into her hands.

“Let me see what it looks like on you anyway,” he said waving at her to put it on.

He’s joking, right? Alex thought to herself with a bewildered face.

“Oh! I’m so sorry mademoiselle” he said as he turned around and left the room to let her change in privet.

Alex just stood there and stared at the door blankly. Does he really expect me to trust him? She thought. After a moment of pondering how bad she wanted to get out of the slutty looking bartender outfit, Alex finally gave in and put on the pile of clothes. She looked at the pair of shoes for a while, debating on whether they would notice that she was wearing them or not. She finally decided to put on a pair of black monochrome converse instead. The whole outfit actually didn’t look bad, though Alex was still wearing the mask of makeup. She opened the mirror door slightly and stuck her head out.

“Uh..” she started awkwardly. “Do you have any makeup remover or…”

Claude smiled and motioned toward the chair in the corner. Alex sat hesitantly and Claude began to gently wipe away the cloudy smudged makeup.

“There!” he said “Votre visage naturel est le plus beau,”

“What?” Alex asked with a confused look.

“Ah! Excusez moi mademoiselle, I speak my native tongue when I get carried away,”

“Wait, you’re really French?” Alex asked looking at Lloyd in confusion. Lloyd sighed, clearly annoyed and walked over to them.

“Yes, He’s French and I am English,” Lloyd replied for Claude. “Our father was a bit of a slut,” he finished as he motioned to his brother about the time.

“Anyway, shall I take you to your master?” Claude asked with his hand outstretched politely.

Alex slapped his hand away. “My what!?” she demanded. Claude sighed as Lloyd facepalmed.

“Claude, you polite idiot...” Lloyd said through his fingers, before pulling something out of his jacket pocket. Before Alex could say anything else, Lloyd was right in front of her holding a cloth to her face. Her vision began to blur. Of course, every movie’s cliché; Chloroform, she thought as her body gave out. Just before her body hit the floor Claude was there to catch her. Gently, Claude carried her out the door with Lloyd following just behind him.

“Next time why don’t we tell her we’re going to chloroform her too, huh?” Lloyd stated mockingly. Claude rolled his eyes at his older brothers scolding comment as they exited the auction hall.

“I did not think she would freak out…,” Claude answered, his lip curved into a pout. Now it was Lloyds turn to roll his eyes.

When they finally got outside they could see a sliver of sunlight just peaking over a car that sat there waiting for them.

“Don’t do anything stupid Claude,” Lloyd said, finally breaking the silence between the two brothers.

“You know me,” Claude replied simply as he shrugged and closed the door. Before Lloyd could say anything else the car zoomed off into the foggy morning light.

*********************************************************************

The next thing she knew, Alex was laying on something soft with her eyes still closed. She could feel the warmth of the sun on her pale skin as the cool wind blew through her dark hair. In the background, she could hear the pounding of horse hooves on soft dirt and the rings of mettle buckles clanging. The whole atmosphere was relaxing compared to everything Alex had been through lately, she just wanted to enjoy it for however long it lasted.

“So you are awake,” A familiar voice said. Alex finally opened her eyes to see the beautiful colors of fall blowing in the wind. She looked around and noticed they were in an open carriage on a long dirt road headed to lord only knows where. “Shall I take you to your master?” Claude’s voice echoed in her head. She sat up and saw Claude in the driver’s seat.

“How could you tell?” She asked.

“Your breathing changed,” he replied without turning around.

“What do you mean my breathing changed? You were listening to my breathing?” She questioned him astonished.

He sighed before he replied: “Vampire hearing is different from human hearing… It is hard to explain,” He stated.

“Try,” Alex pushed.

“Well... it is not like human hearing in how humans have to concentrate on a single sound to really comprehend it. Vampires can hear and comprehend multiple things at once as if it was second nature. So I can hear the wind, the creak of the wood, and your breathing; I can comprehend them all at the same time. So what I'm saying is I was not particularly listening to your breathing but I could hear it.

“Alright, that makes sense I guess.” She responded before giving herself a second to soak in the conversation. “Then… what is a ‘main branch’?” She asked. “Leon said I was a part of the main branch when I encountered vampires for the first time.”

“You sure ask a lot of questions,” Claude said turning around to give Alex a sarcastic look.

“Yeah, well maybe that’s because no one will answer them,” Alex replied crossing her arms in frustration.

“Well to start, ‘mainbranch’ is an Irish term for a race of human known as hunters. They are called mainbranch by the Irish because it is long believed that this particular race of humans started in Ireland and is the main branch of human life.”

“What is a hunter exactly? Like how are they different from any other humans?” Alex inquired as she took a seat next to Claude. Out of all the vampires she had met so far, he was the most approachable and the least threatening.

“Hunters are a race of humans that are faster stronger and have better senses than the average human. Their speed and strength on average are about half the strength of your average vampire, while a normal human’s strength is about a fourth. Their blood is also very unique because it tastes very similar to vampiran blood, which has been hunted down to near extinction.”

“Do vampirans drink blood?” She asked looking at the moving ground as she swung her feet. Claude laughed.

“They don’t. However, they do have fangs."

“There is something else I don’t understand; If Leon thought I was a hunter then why did Lloyd think I was a vampira?” Alex asked turning toward Claude. He sighed and rubbed his head.

“There was a rumor going around a couple of years ago that one of the last vampirans alive had a vampiran daughter. It’s rare for a hunter to be undiscovered and not be recruited by the other hunters, so Lloyd and Leon thought there was a possibility that you were that vampira from the old rumors. But as it turns out, you just have hunter blood and hunter blood is almost as good as vampiran blood.”

   So he was going to sell me off either way… then why did Grant give me that pill?Alex thought back to that night when she first met Grant. She remembered that she told him about how Leon said she was a part of the main branch. He must have known I was a hunter. “Let’s just say if you take it then they will think you aren’t what they were looking for.” She remembered him saying. So the pill was supposed to hide my hunter blood? But then why didn’t it work? She asked herself.

“Here we are-” Claude announced. Alex pulled herself from her thoughts and looked up. There was a huge plot of land surrounded by forest. Before them was a steel gate and a long dirt road that had trees curved alongside it. Right before the mansion was a beautiful garden and a huge fountain that the dirt road rounded to form a roundabout so that carriages could easily leave. Alex made a small gasp as she took it all in.

“Ezra’s estate,” Claude finished, standing up in the seat and opening his arms.