“Yeah, I know,” I replied.

There was a silence for a while and during that time, there was a knock on the door. As I got up to answer it, Keegan grabbed my arm and got up to get it instead. When he got to the door, he reached for the door knob slowly, timing it precisely so that he had just enough time to take a look at who was there and reaction time to defend himself against the man who stood at my door. He wore a mask over his face so I couldn’t see who he was, but I knew that it was the same guy that had attacked me the previous night. I ran toward the kitchen, shut the door, and ran for the armory to see if there was anything I could use to defend myself if he came in after me.

I burst through the door to the armory and scanned the walls, looking at all the swords and knives and other weapons that I had know idea what they did. I ran over to one of the walls that was filled almost completely with arrows and bows. I had taken a class in archery when I was in seventh grade and still remembered a little bit of what I had learned. I grabbed one that looked about the same size as the ones I had used back home. I also grabbed some arrows and put them in a quiver, slinging it over my back. I knocked one of the arrows on my bow and slowly advanced toward the door. I placed my ear against it, trying desperately to hear if anyone was on the other side over the loud pounding of my heart in my head. No noise seemed to come from the other side, so I slowly eased the door open. Unfortunately, our unwanted guest stood by the door I had come through to get from the kitchen to the armory, calmly leaning against the door frame. Preparing to fire my arrow, I squared my shoulders and aimed at his torso so as to injure him instead of killing him. He reached his hand up to his face and I tightened my grip on the bow and arrow. But all he did was remove his mask and I gasped when I saw who it was. It was Erik, the vampire who had taken me to this dimention in the first place. He laughed at the look on my face, the sudden action and movement making me pull back tighter on the string. He put his hands up in a surrendering gesture, but I didn’t lower my arrow. He took a step forward and I almost let the arrow fly, but decided not to because he hadn’t yet threatened me. I knew that I was no match for a vampire anyway so what was the point of even trying to defend myself? So I lowered my arrow, but still kept it gripped in my hands.

“Now that’s safer, isn’t it?” he asked calmly.

“Not really due to the fact that this wouldn’t be a fair fight anyway, would it?” I retorted.

“Yes, that’s true, isn’t it? I suppose that could be true, couldn’t it. Yes, it would,” he answered, half to himself, half to me.

“So, what do you want anyway? Why did you come here? You’re not exactly welcome. No vampire is right now.”

“Why?” he asked.

“As if you didn’t already know. I was attacked yesterday by either two werewolves or a vampire and a werewolf. I was hit with an arrow covered in vampire venom and then dragged into the forest by a werewolf where I was knocked nearly unconscious. That answer your question?”

“Yes, that does. I can see why a vampire wouldn’t be exactly welcome here,” he mused.

“Yah think?” I answered.

“But I had nothing to do with that. I swear,” he said.

“Sorry, but I can’t trust anyone but my friends right now and so far you aren’t exactly my friend.”

“Oh, but I see no reason why I shouldn’t be.”

“I see no reason why you should be either,” I answered.

“True. Very true,” he said.

“You’re evading my question, Mr. Fladel. Why are you here?”

“On official business. Actually, I was just checking to see if they had gotten to you yet. You see, I’m not exactly supposed to be here. I snuck away from their security to check on you.”

“Well, you’ve checked on me, now leave,” I said, pointing to the door.