Beware, this is going to be very long... And a lot is going to happen

I wake up in a room that is unfamiliar. I fully wake up and scream from the pain in my arm. Someone quickly rushes over to me and I pull away until I recognize it's Thomas. He gives me a small smile and his green eyes give me a strange sense of... home? Wait a minute... What am I saying? These boys have trapped me in this mansion are keeping me here against my will, yet... I decide to get up and spout questions but the pain in my arm prevents me from doing so. 

"Mm... what happened? Where am I? What time is it," I ask sleepily as my head begins to pound as well. Thomas lifts his head from where it was resting beside my stomach. 

"Hey, hey, hey. Don't try to get up yet. You're severely injured, Krista. Here, take this," he says handing me, what I assume is, painkillers and a glass of water. I take them gladly and he walks over to a nearby chair. Strange... this is the softest I've heard his voice yet...

"I was bringing you back to the dining room for lunch when we were attacked. I tried to hold it off but when you slipped, it got past me. It pounced on you and scratched your arm, causing you to fall and hit your head. This is the new bedroom Dale gave you upstairs. It's around 11 o'clock at night. You were out for about ten hours. 

"Ten hours?"

"Yep"

"Ok. I think I remember the rest of it. By the way... before I passed out, I saw this blinding green light kill the thing that attacked us. What was that?"

He sighs, "It was..." Thomas is cut off by Dale coming in the room. 

"What was what," he asks.

"Nothing," Thomas says roughly, returning to his usual tone of voice.  Dale then runs over to me looking thankful. 

"You're awake," he says with a breath of relief. I nod in response. "How do you like your new room? You should get some rest, Krista. You're still hurt badly." Thomas is standing in the corner of the room when I see him roll his eyes. Dale grunts at him and they both leave as I fall asleep. 

I wake up lost in my own thoughts. Why was Thomas so nice to me last night? I felt something... What was it? There couldn't have been anything there... Their kind don't feel such things... I get out of bed to find a note from Thomas on the vanity.

'Hey, once you're up, get dressed in whatever you wanna wear from your closet and meet me in the dining room by following the candles. I have a surprise for you.'  It blows into smoke once again and I'm about to get a quick bath when another note pops out of nowhere in from of the mirror. 'P.S. Make it quick or you know what'll happen. And I won't be so forgiving this time.'

I sign and rummage through the closet of intricate dresses and find a simple but pretty one. I go into the bathroom and spend about 15 minutes to bathe and clear my head. Once again, I am greeted by an armada of candles barely lighting the hallway as I leave my room. Following the candles, as I was told, I make it to the dining room and am confronted by Thomas by, once again, being pinned to the nearest wall. "I thought I told you to hurry!" he growled at me, eyes glowing. I stood there just staring into those eyes and shaking. A few moments later, something seemed to flicker in his eyes and they slowly faded and softened. "So, about that surprise?" I ask. He looks at me for a moment then removes his arms from trapping me.  "Oh, um, yeah. Follow me, I wanna show you something," he says. He reaches for my hand but I pull it away. "Oh, um, sorry. May I," he asks holding out his hand for me, "I can get us there faster then if we walk separately." Reluctantly, I take his hand and he locks eyes with me for a moment. I could have sworn I saw hurt in those red-tinted-green eyes. We start walking, still holding hands, and begin to slowly speed up. Within minutes, it seems almost like we're flying down the dark hallways. We slow down and begin to stop as I realize I'm being carried and still clinging to Thomas's hand. He turned his face to me, eyes glowing a soft red. "Now close your eyes and I'll guide you if you want or you can stay there. Either way, we're almost there and you'll have to get down at some point." I say okay and get down from his arms. I close my eyes and am easily pushed forward by his hand on the small of my back. 

We walk for what seems like a couple of minutes taking about five different turns when he stops me and tells me to keep my eyes closed. "Now, before I show you this, you have to promise me two things," he says. 

"Alright, what is it?" I ask, hoping I'm facing him. 

"First, promise you won't freak out because at first, it's kinda weird. Second, you have to promise you won't tell Dale I let you see because or else, he'll go off and trust me, you don't want to see Dale angry. He may seem like a nice guy, but don't trust anything he says. He won't find us back here so it's safe," he pauses," I decided to show you this because it might clear up any suspicions you have about what we are."

"Okay, I promise, but only if you answer some of my questions. You can answer them after you show me though," I say and he agrees and I see the same blinding green light through my eyelids as before. "You can open now," Thomas says, sounding a little unsure. I open my eyes and what I see before me is barely believable. Thomas. Is. A. BAT! I go to scream but he quickly covers my mouth with his green and black wings. "Shhh... you promised you wouldn't freak. If you scream someone will hear you and we'll both be in trouble. Now if I remove my wings, promise you won't scream?" I nod and he removes his wings slowly. He stares at me for a moment, periodically flapping his wings to stay airborne. 

"So...?" he asks sounding unsure.

"What?" 

"What do you think?"

"It's really cool. So I guess you guys are what I suspected..."

"What is it that you suspected?"

"You and Dale are vampires. Yet, you don't follow everything that we've been taught about your kind."

"Yes, we're vampires. I really can't say much more, I'm sorry. You said you had some questions? I'll answer the best I can."

"Yeah, and it's fine. I'll find out all this stuff eventually," I pause and think for a moment, "Why aren't all the legends accurate?"

"Simple. Humans tend to make up lies due to fear without actually getting the facts."

"Okay, is it true you have to drink blood to survive?"

"Yes and no. That's all I can say for now."

"Why am I being held here?"

"All I can truly say is that you are important Krista. Your entire life has caused you to eventually come here. Fate brought you here."

"What are you talking about? There's no such thing as Fate or Destiny."

"Oh, there is, Krista. And because of it, you are so much more than you would ever believe."

"Ok well, I also have one more question."

"Shoot"

"Why did you start being so nice to me all of a sudden? When I first met you, you acted like a total a-hole and a real jerk."

"Oh... um..." Thomas says looking away. Automatically, I reach my hand out towards his face, but pull it back quickly and stare into his eyes. 

"You don't have to tell me I was just Curious."

"I don't really know. Now how about we go back to the dining room," he says pausing for a moment, "just look away for a moment so I can change back without blinding you."

I say okay and turn around like he said. Once again, I see the green light out of my peripheral vision. Once the light goes away, I turn back to see Bat-Thomas replaced by his usual self. His brown hair is even messier than it was before and he holds his hand out for me.

"It's almost dinner so we can either go straight to the dining room, or I can walk you back to your room."

"I think I'll just hang out in the dining room."

"Ok then. Try not to jump into my arms this time though," he says as I grab his hand, both of us laughing. We start walking hand-in-hand when he stops us for a moment and turns to face me. 

"I want you to remember something, Krista. I want you to remember that no matter what happens and no matter what I do around Dale, that's not the real me and I would never ever do anything to hurt you," he says. We stare into each other's eyes and a shimmer of red goes over his for a second. I nod and we continue walking.

In what seems like moments later, Thomas stops us and lets go of my now cold hand. His intensity seems to change instantly as he closes his eyes and looks like he's focusing on something. 

"That's what I thought..." he murmurs barely loud enough for me to hear, "damn it."

"What is it?" I ask curiously.

"It's Dale. He's in the dining room." That one sentence was enough to set him on edge. "I hate to get you in trouble, but the only way to make this work is if you play along."

I nod my head and hope to God my acting skills work better now then they have in the past. He grabs my wrist and I begin to whimper as he shoots me a quick sorry. He pulls me forcefully which causes me to trip and land on my butt in the dining room. He looks at Dale and I continue trying to make my whimpering sound real. 

"Look what I found, Dale. It's the trash you insist on keeping," Thomas says, sneering at Dale. "Oh, poor Krista," he says mocking him now. He stops and flashes that devilish smile I was shown when I first met him. Dale is just standing near the table staring quizzically. 

"I found her roaming around the back halls," Thomas says pausing for a moment, "probably looking for a way out." He pulls me to my feet and traps me in his embrace, us both facing Dale. I try to look scared, but I can't tell how well I'm doing. 

"Maybe I should kill her for trying to escape?" he asks Dale, leaning his head down to where I can feel his hot breath about an inch away from my neck. 

"Enough Thomas. Let her go. That's no way to treat a guest or even a lady for that matter," Dale says taking a few steps toward us. Thomas lets me go with a nasty scoff and I fall to the floor almost crying as he steps back from me. 

"Now Krista, would you tell us why my brother found you wandering around?" I stay quiet. "Well?" Again, I stay quiet.

"I asked you a question Cylest," he yells stopping abruptly and covering his mouth, "I mean... Krista." His blue eyes are blazing the same red I saw in Thomas'. I look over at Thomas to see a look of surprise that mimics my own and a shrug of his shoulders. I look back to face Dale.

"I-I was trying to find the library without wanting to bother either of you..." I answer quietly and shaking.

"Okay, but next time you need to call one of us to take you. There are dangerous things that live within these walls and I don't need you injured again," he says then glares at Thomas. He growls back at him, eyes blazing. 

"Okay sorry," I say.

"Thomas, will you take her to her room after dinner?" Dale asks and Thomas scoffs loudly.

"Sure, but just to be clear, I'm NOT her babysitter," he says, glaring at Dale. They continue to glare all through dinner. Thomas and I leave shortly after. 

"Thank Royal that worked. You did great in there and I'm so sorry if I actually scared you," he says once we reach my bedroom door. I nod quietly and return to my room as we both say goodnight. I fall asleep not long later wondering how I got myself into this cataclysmic mess.