Chapter 3
Sebastian stared at them, waiting for a punchline. A breathy, awkward laugh escaped his mouth, but when nobody else showed any sort of humor, his throat bobbed. “Have I been drugged?” he asked, looking down at his drink.
“Told you,” Charlotte said, leaning against the edge of a desk. “Sebastian isn’t spiritual. He doesn’t believe in anything supernatural.”
“You are crazy,” Sebastian said, shaking his head. Many people in the city claimed to be vampires, but they were all on something. Many parts of the city gave into its haunted history, but it was just a bunch of scary stories.
“Are we?” Leona asked. “Shall we prove it to you?”
Instinctively, Sebastian backed up. He felt even worse now than he had when he’d met them. “I want to leave.”
“We won’t hurt you, Sebastian,” Whitney said. “Promise.”
“I didn’t think you would,” he responded. “But whatever weird shit you’ve got going on, you aren’t dragging my friends into it. They have too much to lose. Have you two lost your minds?” he asked, turning to the blondes.
“No, Bas,” Victor said seriously. “We want this.”
“Want what?!” Sebastian exclaimed, completely exasperated by this charade.
Leona rolled her eyes, tired of his skepticism. She moved faster than any human could and pushed Sebastian against the wall, a few things clattering around them from the force. Sebastian stared at her, eyes wide, and his drink tumbled from his hand. She smiled, and when she opened her mouth to speak, Sebastian noticed fangs that absolutely were not there before.
“Believe us now?” she whispered.
His heart raced, and he felt more terror than he’d ever experienced in his life. Could she hear his blood pumping? Could she sense how afraid he was?—
“Yes, I can,” Leona answered, which only made things worse.
“Let me go,” Sebastian said, his voice wavering. “Let me go now.”
Leona acquiesced and backed off. Sebastian rubbed his chest and tried to keep his breathing under control. Ten minutes ago, it had been a perfectly normal evening, albeit slightly torturous. Now, he was locked in a study with his two best friends and three vampires.
Maybe he had been dropped off on an alternate planet. “Am I allowed to leave?” Sebastian asked quietly, his fists clenched together.
“Sebastian?—”
“Am I — allowed to leave?” he repeated firmly. “Or are you going to kill me?”
“We’re not killing anyone,” Piper said. “And we aren’t holding you hostage.”
Sebastian didn’t need to be told twice. He walked to the door and flung it open, before he left the party.
On the way home, he contemplated stopping in a bar and drinking himself silly; he decided against that.
For the first time in a long time, he felt like he was looking at his hometown in a completely new light. All of the spooky stories and crocks of shit people used to sucker drunk tourists into buying things all turned out to be… well, real. How was that possible? Why hadn’t anyone found out about this? It was the 21st century, surely other people had come across these monsters? Creatures? Fiends? He wasn’t sure the politically correct term for them.
He needed to know how the fuck his best friends had gotten roped into all this. He certainly needed to know how the fuck they had managed to get duped into wanting to be like them. Though that redheaded woman had literally slammed him up against the wall — something someone of her stature absolutely should not be able to do — he still was having a hard time believing everything. Were they really just on drugs? Maybe that woman was a bodybuilder and just hid it well? Maybe he had been drugged and all of this was some rancid fever dream?
Upon returning to his house, he paced back and forth, ignoring his phone buzzing in his pocket. He was sure one of them would follow him to his house at some point and try to make him see sense. He didn’t know if any of this was sensical though. Putting aside the fact that vampires apparently existed, why would his friends want to die? Those women had seemed normal enough, but… they were monsters. Unnatural. Murderers. Victor and Charlotte weren’t like that. He knew them, they wouldn’t want this.
He had more questions than answers. In fact, he had no answers. What would happen if they actually went through with this? They would become immortal, blood-sucking demons, and he’d be left behind or killed. Didn’t he mean anything to them? Didn’t their families mean anything to them? Their lives?
Sebastian ran a shaky hand through his hair, then reached into his pocket. He pulled out a packet of cigarettes and plucked one at random. Stepping outside to his porch, he lit one up and took a long drag.
Everything he’d ever known in life was not true, apparently. He had never given into religion or superstitions, despite growing up in one of the most famously haunted cities in the world. He had never trusted in a higher power to grant his wishes or make his problems go away. He had never gone to get tarot cards read or invested in voodoo. Everything he had was off his own back. He worked hard for the life he led, and other than the sanctuary Victor offered him in his youth, he had been on his own all his life. He had found religious nuts idiotic and had laughed at the thought of attending church every Sunday to pray to a deity that turned the other cheek at dying children and starving nations. Perhaps it was all real. Hell was obviously real and walking among them. Perhaps God was just as evil as Satan.
He supposed God just must be a better con artist.