Scarlet Prison

Chapter 16

            I woke up panicked that I had slept through my alarm. I can't be late for school! I thought through the sleep fog. But I already had been late for school, and now I was here, in a crappy hotel room, pretending to be a vampire.

            I checked the hotel clock. 5:03 pm. The sun would still be up. I groggily dug my way out from the covers and located my blood draining supplies. I probably shouldn't have been doing this right after waking up because my pulse was beating at a nice slow pace, but I didn't want to forget and go to work feeling like my veins would explode.

            Filling the blood bag took longer than usual, but by the time I was done, I felt fully awake. I had more time than usual to shower, eat, and get ready for work, so I moved at a leisurely pace.

            Before I even got to work, Camoof was ranting in my ear about how he had heard that a Vein had escaped, and he would figure out a way to escape as well. I told him that it wasn't a Vein who had escaped, it was a human from a compound.

            "So it is true!" Camoof shouted. I wondered if all of the Veins were listening to this conversation. Probably. At least the only person they talked to was me. I really didn't need them spreading information that I wasn't supposed to know to other vampires. "Well I'm going to find a way to get out of here. In fact, I already have a full-proof plan in the making."

            "How can it be full-proof, if it's still in the making?" I asked. I walked by a lady who gave me a funny look. She probably thought that I was talking to myself. I pushed my smooth dark hair behind my ear to expose the earpiece.

            "I'm making it full-proof," he explained.

            "If that were true, then you probably wouldn't be telling me about it," I said. I honestly didn't know why I bothered responding to him. Maybe it was because I pitied him a little. He was a fellow human, and I could have just as easily been in his place, swearing to some vampire that I would find a way to escape. I almost wanted to help him. Almost. Aside from the fact that I found him incredibly obnoxious, I was not in a position to free every Vein I came across. I was saving that deed for Novashi. Liberating one Vein would be much less conspicuous than freeing hordes of them.

I swung by Vince's office when I arrived. "Hey, Vince," I said as I walked by.

"Nova? You're here early!" he called from his office.

"Only by a couple minutes," I shouted back.

I found Oksana in her usual spot. "Camoof was in top form today," I said to her.

 She ignored my comment. "Is it true that someone escaped?" she asked, on a sudden burst of bravery, "I mean, where would they go?"

I felt compelled to tell her the truth, but I couldn't take the risk. "I don't know," I said. I wondered for the thousandth time where Novashi and I could go after I found her. "I wish I did," I said so quietly that Oksana probably couldn't hear me.

***

As I was walking home from work on Friday, I found myself in a good mood. The pleasant weather of the emerging summer convinced me that my life was getting better. Vince had told me to not come in on Saturday, saying that he had hired new help. I was wary of the "new help" invading my territory, but having some extra time off meant that I could actively continue my search for Novashi. Maybe hit up a few auctions or something. I didn't really have a plan yet, but I was determined to not waste the opportunity. As far as my vampire acquaintances knew, I would be at work tomorrow, so there was no way they could surprise me with dates, vamp-sitting jobs, or mysterious announcements that they knew my real name.