Mermaids and Vampires

33: Arrival in Creepsville

~~~~OLIVIA~~~~

The car stops abruptly.

"Where are we?" I ask, staring out the window at the forest that surrounds us, and has been surrounding us for nearly the entire five hour drive.

Adam pops the door and gets out of the car along with Charlotte.

"What are you guys doing?" I ask, opening my door and joining them outside.

"Quiet." Adam commands. "Look around you."

I do so and still don't understand why we've stopped.

"You've got to help me." I say.

"We're here." Charlotte answers, annoyed.

"What? This is the vampire city? It's deserted."

"Take a closer look." Adam says.

"Still not seeing it." I murmur.

He walks into the trees, ignoring me. When Charlotte starts walking too I decide to follow, rather than be left behind.

We take a careful path which Adam appears to know by heart. I'm so confused. It seems like we're walking further and further into the middle of nowhere.

Then Adam stops.

He walks up to a thick tree trunk and stares at the bark for a moment. After a pause he knocks on it.

I raise an eyebrow.

We wait by the tree for a good long minute and when nothing happens I start to chuckle.

"Seriously, are you guys feeling okay?" I smirk.

Just as I finish a cracking sound erupts from within the tree. I stare wide eyed as a portion of the trunk swings forward, opening up to a dark area within. A face stares out as us from inside the tree.

"Adam," He smiles, "Good to see you, my friend."

We are invited inside and a banter of small talk goes on between Adam and this guy. I am the last one in and when I enter I can't see a damn thing. The door shuts behind me and it's almost pitch black inside. I can still hear Adam talking, he sounds much farther away than what should be possible.

I extend my arms and feel around.

"Watch it." Charlotte snaps as I touch her arm.

"Sorry, I can't see a thing." I whisper.

"Adam," she calls, "You got any matches?"

There's a pause.

"I thought I smelled human." The other man's voice beams. "Which one is it?" He asks more quietly.

Adam sighs. "Don't get too excited, she isn't food." He says.

"I thought we had a deal. Didn't I tell you never to show up empty handed."

"Good news, I've got a couple of rotting corpses waiting in the trunk."

"You know I like my meals fresh."

"Not this time." Adam says.

The crisp sound of a match being struck fills the air before light fills the hollowed out tree.

The innards of a house come into view and I take as much of it in as I can while the man, visibly much older than Adam, moves towards me. A jacko'lantern grin lights his face.

"Supple skin, ripe fresh blood." He murmurs to himself, eyeing me.

Clearly unaware of boundaries, he touches my arm, my cheek, squeezes it. I feel violated. Pulling back, I slip out of his grip. He leans in closer and takes a whiff of me.

I stare back angrily.

 "Cedric that's enough. Don't tease yourself." Adam finally says.

"Trying to keep the good ones for yourself?"

"Hardly."

"Cedric, I don't believe we've met." Charlotte changes the subject, stepping forward with a hand extended.

He fortunately moves on from me and shakes it engaging in a small amount of conversation. This buys me time enough to sneak over to Adam's side where I feel safest. I'm beginning to wish I'd put up a fight about coming here.

"You could have told me what to expect." I whisper.

"Why? So you could knot your stomach with worry the whole way here? I chose to spare you."

"Are they all like this?"

He contemplated.  "In degrees. I owe a couple people favours."

"Tell me we're not staying long." I say.

He smirks. "Long is a matter of perspective."