Part 5

I woke up with a terrible pain in my lungs. The longer I waited, the more the pain came. Not just in my lungs, but in my throat, head, and ribs. I still couldn't see, but this time I was only blinded by darkness and not a bag. All I could do was listen.
I didn't hear any voices. And I wasn't moving. But I knew I wasn't alone. I could hear people breathing.
Just then, light flooded the room. The room was small, a closet maybe. And the people around me were tied up, just like me, except none of them seemed to be conscious. Two figures were standing in the doorway. I closed my eyes and layed as still as I could.
"What'd you drag me down here for?" One of the figures asked.
"I swear I heard someone moving around in here," stated the other figure.
"Why doesn't the blond have a blindfold on?"
"I swear I--"
As he walked over to me and bent down to see if I was breathing, I swung my arms from above my head and hit him in the back of the head, smashing his face into my ribcage, sending a shock of pain through my body.
He grabbed my arms automatically and put his foot on my ribcage, leaning and putting almost all of his weight on me. The other figure ran over and grabbed my legs.
They had me floating in the air when the man holding my arms said, "wait. Put her down, Sebastian, someone's coming."
They dropped me and I landed on top of someone. The door shut and I was left alone with my own thoughts again.
It wasn't long before I was hit with the bright light again. This time, the man shut the door so I could see his face, rather than his silhouette. This man was different than the other two. This man was very tall, with a thin, serious face and short black hair. He was wearing dress pants, dress shoes, and a button up shirt. He looked like your average business man.
He leaned down near me and untied my arms and legs.
"Hello, Sarah. Do you know who I am?"
I wanted to run away. This wasn't the life that a regular 17 year old girl was supposed to live. This life was dangerous, and different. I couldn't tell whether or not this man was a threat, but I knew I needed to get out before Sebastian and that other man came back.
"Sarah. You don't need to be afraid of me. Given the circumstances, I can understand why you would think that, though. But I promise you, you will not be harmed while you're in this castle, despite your blood status."
"Castle? And how exactly can you promise me that? Two men just tried to kill me! One was named Sebastian. Do you know them?"
"Yes, we're in a castle. Yes, I know them. And Sarah, I am King Kravchecko, I can promise you anything. Now let's get you out of the pantry, I'm sure this experience has been frightening enough for you. We can finish our conversation elsewhere."
He stood up and grabbed my arm, helping me up. We walked out the same door that had blinded me not too long ago. We walked into a room with a black marble floor. Everything else was white. We turned the corner and entered a room that help a big golden cross. Along the left wall. All along the left wall was rows and rows of books. It was like nothing I'd ever dreamed of. When I turned around, I saw a giant throne. It was gold with black, velvet fabric. There were big golden doors with beautiful patterns on it.
Before I could say anything, there was a hand over my mouth and the doors on the other side of the room burst open. It was Nikolai, he was coming to save me.
"Sarah?!"
"Good night, little princess," the voice from behind me muttered.
I felt pressure against my neck, but that was the least of my problems. Nikolai wasn't looking at me anymore, he was looking at the king. When I looked to see what he was looking at, the king was on the floor, with a silver stake sticking out of his chest. Sebastian was hovering over him, a deviant look upon his face.
"No! Dad! Sebastian, how could you? Do you realize what you've done?"
It was Nikolai. He wasn't focused on me. He was focused on the dead king and his assassin.
"I realize exactly what I've done, little brother. It's improper to question your king."
Then the pain hit me, and the lights went out again, for the 2nd time today.

Part 4

For the next month I was living in Nikolai's apartment. I had told Faith that I'd decided to drop out of high school and spend a month or two in Italy. Nikolai had said it would be safer that way. Although Nikolai and I had been living together for a few weeks, he still felt like a stranger to me. I refused to sleep in the same bed as him, even though he's constantly pointing out that we're soul mates. But, I will admit, I had been getting more comfortable around him. We'd been staying up late watching out favorite movies. I'd been telling him about my childhood and he'd been teaching me about vampires and their customs. I never knew that vampires could be so interesting. My whole life vampires had never even crossed my mind, but now they never left it.

It was going on five in the morning as I walked down the familiar, dim hallway of the apartment building. I stepped outside into the fresh air, only to see the sun rising through the clouds that were hovering just above the water. It was against Nikolai's rules to leave the apartment, but he was out doing whatever he does at night, so he wouldn't know, and I needed the fresh air.

I started walking down the boardwalk. The cold rain felt like thousands of tiny razorblades against my skin. It was calming, until I felt a presence. I turned and looked around, but found no one. Assuming it was Nikolai just trying to prank me, I laughed it off and turned around to take in the view one more time before heading home. Just then, everything went black and I couldn't breath. Someone had put something over my head and they were carrying me somewhere.