Crimson

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I had no idea for how long I had slept or what time it was or anything of the sort when I woke up. The room I was in didn't have any windows, so I couldn't even tell if it was night or day. I briefly wondered if any of the rooms in the house had windows. Then I wondered if the house even was above ground.

My musings were short lived, however. The scent of food slowly hit me and I looked over at the table again. A new plate stood there, that time with a pile of sandwiches wrapped in foil on it.

I quickly went over and took one. I groaned in satisfaction as I took the first bite. It could have been because I was starving, but it was the absolutely most delicious sandwich I had ever eaten. There wasn't anything particularly special about it, just salami, cheese, vegetables and some sauce, but it tasted heavenly.

I ate two of them without a pause. When I started on my third, my hunger was satiated enough that I could eat it at a more normal pace. As I ate that one, I looked around the room I was in more carefully. There wasn't much to look at though. No paintings or decoration, no bookshelf filled with books to read. The only new thing I noticed was another door than the one that led out of the room.

I went up to it, opened it, and gasped. On the other side was a bathroom and it had to have been the most luxurious bathroom I had ever seen.

First of all, it was huge. As big as the room it belonged to. And then everything in there looked like it cost a small fortune. There was a bathtub that looked more like a jacuzzi. A shower that probably a dozen people could use simultaneously. What looked to be gold handles on cupboard and the sink was made out of marble. The color scheme of it shocked me as well. The room I slept in was dark and red, but the bathroom was white and spotless.

A rumbling laugh came from behind me. "It is quite something isn't it?"

I turned around and was met with a man. He had a body that seemed suited for a fit twenty-year-old, but his hair that had started to turn grey and the wrinkles on his face that told his real age. He smiled at me and I instantly felt that he was someone that easily could get along with anyone.

"I'm Kyle," he introduced himself. "I'm the chef here."

"I'm Crimson," I answered and looked over at the plate of sandwiches. "And I've been shamelessly stuffing myself with your cooking."

He laughed again. "I'm glad to hear that you've enjoyed it. And I'm glad to see you awake. I was getting worried when Lamech said that you were sleeping again."

Again? I thought to myself. How had the vampire known that I was sleeping again? He hadn't even known that I had been awake, let along that I had almost immediately gone to bed.

"Is there anything that you can't eat?" Kyle asked, seemingly unaware of how surprising his words had been for me. "Or something you dislike?"

"No. Nothing. Or well, smelly cheeses aren't really my thing."

He chuckled. "So no smelly cheeses, that'll be easy enough to avoid. The vampires generally don't like it either. Sensitive senses of smell or something. So there's almost never any in the house as it is."

His answer irritated me, probably irrationally much. But I didn't like having something in common with the vampires, even such a small thing as disliking certain types of cheeses.

Again, Kyle seemed oblivious to my change in mood. He went over to the sandwiches and took one himself.

"Make sure to not eat too much," he said. "Considering how long you've been unconscious, you must be starving but if you eat too much and too fast, you'll risk puking it all up."

Goddess, I wondered if he could say anything that didn't shake me, for I realized at that moment that I really had absolutely no idea for how long I had been there.

"How long?" I asked in a quiet voice.

"Come again?"

"For how long have I been here?"

"About six days."

I felt a crashing sense of guilt. Saida. Goddess, she had to be out of her mind with worry, and I hadn't even thought about her once until then.

"Is there a phone I could use?" I asked and heard the slight panic in my voice.

Finally, Kyle seemed to react to my change in mood. He looked quite startled at it, but nodded.

"Yes. But..." He hesitated and a trace of sadness entered his eyes. "You should probably ask Lamech about it. He should be in his office. I'll take you there."

For a moment, I was about to decline his offer. I didn't want to see the vampire. But I didn't because letting Saida know that I was alright was more important than anything in that moment. So I nodded.

The corridor outside the room was long and filled with doors on either side of it. Kyle led me to the left and to the end of it where you could turn in either directions. He took a right and I followed. Then we went down a stair and straight ahead from it, though it was possible to walk to both the left and right. In the middle of the corridor, we took another turn and at the end of that one, yet another.

The place really seemed to be more of a labyrinth than a home.

We reached the far end of a final corridor. Most of the doors we had passed had looked very ordinary, but not the one we stood in front of. It was bigger than the rest and looked older. It had beautiful carvings on it of flowers and trees.

Kyle knocked on it and a familiar voice sounded from the other side.

"Enter," was all he said.

I took a deep breath as Kyle opened the door, and then walked in.