Obsession

Chapter VI

 Ezra Faceclaim: Cameron Porras

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Kaiser was standing at a distance from Finley now, nearly fully across the room, and anxiously tapping his red-stained finger on the nightstand, making a rhythmic beat that echoed in the eerily quiet room.

Kaiser was first to break the silence, like usual: "There are rules you should follow if you want to survive. The first, as I've mentioned, is never to leave this room. The second is never run from me. I can't guarantee anything if you do. And third, if you speak to anyone about anything that happens here or with me, I will hunt you down and make you regret opening your mouth. Do you understand?" Finley gulped as he stared at the floor to avoid making eye contact with the vampire across the room, whose entire aura shifted to something unhinged. He could feel the control of this man dwindling as seconds passed and the tapping against the pale wood nightstand grew quicker and louder, mimicking his heartbeat. For fear of breaking the thick and heavy blanket of silence that fell over them once more, he chose to nod in response, but that didn't please the vampire at all as he slammed his hand down suddenly, splitting the wood of the nightstand from the impact as Fin's heart struggled to recover from the shock.

"Verbal responses only. Please, Fox." The tone shift towards the end gave the boy whiplash, but he didn't dwell on the very momentary and quite possibly fake manners as he quickly went to oblige the request, so he didn't snap and split him in the middle like he had the nightstand.

"Y-Yes, I understand. But, um, can I ask a question?" This could be it; he was doomed for sure. Was this considered speaking out of turn? He didn't know and hoped not, but he was so damn curious, and nothing so far had been explained. If he were to die tomorrow, he'd be happier knowing some of his questions had been answered beforehand.

Kaiser seemed to consider it without immediately getting angry like Finley had assumed he would, brushing off the dust and splitters from his hand as he stepped just a few feet closer to where Finley was sitting in a pool of his own blood on the ground. "I assume so since you just did, but I'm not promising an answer." That was enough for the white-haired boy to almost smile; if anything could help him cope, it was learning something and asking questions; he was eternally curious.

"Where are we?" Nerves made his voice shake as he asked his first question, which felt like a sensitive topic. Kaiser seemed to slowly relax with a voice to focus on instead of a heartbeat and the strong smell of Fox's sweet blood. Sighing, he'd plop down on the edge of the bed and say, "A property owned by very old and very dangerous people. The Macabre family lives here, and this is their compound. There are only two currently living today, and they're both in this house with us as we speak." He had guessed that was where he was. The rumors that spread about this place had become local scary bedtime stories, ones you told your kids to keep them off the streets at night, but he never really believed any of them until now.

"Ok-" 

"You already knew that, though, didn't you?" It was stated, not asked. A sparkle in the vampire's probing gaze focused solely on the boy sitting on the floor. Blinking, Finley just shrugged before a rush of fear flooded and chilled his veins when he remembered he was supposed to respond verbally, "Uh...! N-No...? I mean, I guessed, but I wasn't sure of anything."

There was a deep hum, almost a purr, and Finley waited until Kaiser had finally looked away to continue asking questions. "Why... why me?" He would definitely regret asking this one just based on how quickly Kaiser's head whipped to stare down at him again with a different, heated look. "Why not you? Would you rather I had taken your twin?"

"No! I-I mean… I didn't mean it like that; I just... What are you going to do with me?" He had so many different questions, but the second he went to ask them, they all disappeared and were replaced with dangerous and pointless ones. He knew what Kaiser was going to do; he was going to continue doing what he's done until Finley dies young and covered in bite scars when the vampire grows bored of him. He was just a toy, a renewable snack to keep around. He felt like livestock, and he'd only been there for a night and half a day.