"Peter is usually very quiet and secretive about what he does but I've never seen him like this before." Cate pointed out as she poked at the food on her plate. "Is there anything strange that happened when Peter took you out shopping?" Cate looked up at me with her golden brown eye, concern written all over her face. I chewed what I had in my mouth and swallowed before I answered. "Truthfully I don't remember anything that happened when we went out today. It just feels like I slept the whole day away."
"Hmmm...That's strange. Maybe that's what happened and Peter went out to get those clothes on his own to cover for it."
"That could be possible, but doesn't explain what just happened to me." I pointed out.
"Yeah I guess you're right. Peter also doesn't have enough fashion sense to have picked out those new clothes for you. He had to have had someone help him." Cate got up from the table and took her plate to the sink. "Well there will be plenty of time to question him tomorrow. He is supposed to drop off my computer that he was fixing. Will you be alright on your own while I'm at work tomorrow?" Cate asked as I also got up and put my dish in the sink.
"I'll be fine." I assured her.
"Good." Cate smiled and walked down the hall to her room. "I need to get some sleep but you can stay up and watch a movie on the tele-screen or I have some old paperback books that I inherited from my parents on the shelf."
"Ok. Have a good night." I replied and listened as Cate closed the door to her room and crawled into bed. I wandered over to the bookshelf and read through all the different titles on it. There were actually a couple of books I recognized and pulled them off a shelf. They were in a series of books about dragons and brave dragon riders. I decided to bring them into my room to read. I went back down the hall to my room and shut the door behind me. It was nice to hear nothing but the quiet hum of the apartment and the soft breathing coming from Cate's room. It relaxed me and made me feel safe and at home. I snuggled down into the soft covers of the bed and opened the book to the first page. It wasn't long before the book fell from my hands and I fell into a deep and peaceful sleep.
The sound of voices pulled me away from the soft darkness of sleep. I did not want to wake up yet because I was so comfortable and content lying in bed but the voices kept on nagging in my ears that I slowly opened my eyes to the dim room to see what was going on. The sun was peeking in around the heavy drapes and even that little bit of sunshine stung my eyes. It wasn't until I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and stretched that I recognized the voices that had woken me up. It was Cate and Peter arguing in the living room.
"She is not some science experiment Peter, she is a human being!" I heard Cate yell at her brother.
"Are you absolutely sure about that? You have no idea what they did to her in that lab where we found her." Peter replied just as angrily.
"That is exactly why she needs to be treated like a normal person. They put her through hell in there!"
I quietly walked out to the living room and shuffled around the corner. I hadn't noticed until I felt the hot tear slide down my cheek that I was crying. The memories of yesterday started to come back and I remembered what Peter had done to me.
"You...you strapped me down to a table." I pointed my finger at Peter.
"No you don't understand." Peter tried to reply.
"You took my blood and experimented on me...just like they did." I was shaking again as a sob escaped my lips.
"Peter, is this true?" Cate looked at him with wide eyes.
"You don't understand what is going on. I..." Cate hit her brother across his face with an ear piercing slap.
"Hasn't she suffered enough Peter?!" Cate shrieked. "And you had to add to her pain."
"I can explain." Peter said softly as he rubbed his sore red cheek.
"I remember your explanation yesterday..." I wiped the tears from my face as I stepped farther into the living room. "Your so-called theory that I am humanity's Saviour from the vampires."
"Wait...what?" Cate looked over at me confused and then back to her brother. "This is what you were working on?"
Peter nodded as he sank down on the couch. I looked between the two of them slightly shocked and puzzled. "You knew about all this?" I asked.
Cate shook her head. "No, not everything. But what Peter says about the vampires is true. They killed our parents and nearly destroyed the whole human race." Cate said softly.
"So what Peter was saying was true?" Both Cate and Peter nodded. "I...I don't know what to say about that. It still doesn't make what you did to me right though."
"It is the only way to convince you that you are the chosen one." Peter replied in a more conversational tone. "What happened last night was your powers starting to surface. I didn't realise that it was going to be such a violent reaction though."
"Violent reaction is an understatement. I thought my head was going to explode!" I exclaimed a little exasperated at his casual approach to the matter.
"If we promise not to strap you down to a table and stick you with needles will you let us help you?" Peter asked cautiously.
"I'll have to think about it." I replied grumpily as I crossed my arms over my chest. Cate got up and gave me a quick hug before walking back to her room. "I really need to get ready to go." I heard her state as she closed the door behind her. Peter got up off the couch and took a step towards me. I instinctively took a step back away from him.
"Please let me help you." Peter sighed. "There is something I want you to see, if you will come with me." Against my better judgment I gave him a small nod then turned and went to the washroom to clean up for the day.
My shower was short but the warm water made me feel better. I brushed my long fire coloured hair and braided it so that it hung down my back. I returned to my room in nothing but a towel and dumped my dirty nightshirt in the laundry hamper on my way down to my room. I picked out a pair of black jeans and matching t-shirt. I still had a hard time with the bra; I found it uncomfortable and tight. I guess that's what happens when you go through puberty in a glass tube. I gave up on the lacy black bra and grabbed the more comfortable sports bra and yanked it over my head. Once I was fully dressed and cleaned up I walked back out to the living room to the waiting Peter. Since I did not see or hear Cate around I assumed that she had already gone off to work for the day.
"Shall we go then?" Peter asked as he gave me a look over that made my cheeks burn a little. He smiled at the reaction he got. I just frowned and nodded at him. I walked out the door first and down to the elevator as Peter closed and locked the door behind him. We climbed into his vehicle, which I finally asked him what it was called and it actually was called a hover car. The car came to life with a few button beeps and a soft hum as it lifted up off the ground and we flew off to our destination.
We were both quiet for a long time until I asked where we were going. All I got out of Peter was "You'll see when we get there." So I occupied my time by watching the buildings and lights whip by as we slowly crept closer to our destination. After about two hours we stopped at some sort of tollbooth with an armed guard there dressed as if he was going to war. I wanted to ask but was afraid of the answer he would give me. Peter rolled down the window to talk to the guard.
"I'm sorry but you can't go past the city limits without authorization." The guard said to Peter who pulled a card out of his pocket and gave it to the guard to look at. The guard took the card and read it, and then it looked like he scanned it with something that resembled a penlight with a small monitor attached to it. The little scanner beeped and the guard handed the card back to Peter.
"Looks like you are clear to cross the border. Be careful it looks like they are on the move again and make sure you are back on this side of the fence before dark." The guard instructed before giving the go ahead to the other guards at the gate. On the other side of the tollbooth there was a fence that looked like it was about ten feet tall with barbed wire coiled around the top of it. This fence stretched as far as I could see to the left and right of the booth and I guessed that it surrounded the whole city. There was a gate built into the fence and more men in battle gear opened the gate so that we could drive through.
The road was nothing but dirt and gravel that was so dry it kicked up dust as we drove. There was no grass and the few trees we passed were dead with black branches twisting towards the sky. Another half an hour had us standing on a hill overlooking the barren land and the remains of a large city. "As big as our city is now, it used to be twice the size. Raindor was the biggest city for miles. We had lush green trees and fountains...then the vampires struck. They wanted to take over the city and make it theirs. We did not let them so they destroyed it in one night. They killed millions of people including my parents. It took five years for us to rebuild what we could and create a place that can withstand vampire and lycan attacks."
As I looked out at the ruins of a once beautiful city I decided that I needed to help in any way I could. "I still don't think that I am this grand Saviour of the people you say I am but I am willing to help in any way I can." I replied. I didn't feel as sure of myself as I sounded though. "But… no doctors and no experiments." My heart raced as I thought back at everything that had been done to me, then for the first time since coming to this strange world I felt the darkness brush at the outer boundaries of my mind, coaxing me to come back to the place I knew was safe. It was very tempting to just give in and forget everything around me.
You must not give up.
The voice whispered through my mind and chased the darkness away. It was so sudden that I felt dizzy and almost fainted. If it wasn't for the strong arms that I felt around my waist I would have collapsed onto the parched, dusty ground I was standing on.
"I think I better get you home." Peter said as he helped me into the car and drove back towards the city.