Bloodl.u.s.t

My stomach growled in hunger. On our way to my 'personal prison' Nicholas had been kind enough to stop by for grabbing something to eat or maybe it was just because he was hungry as well and didn't want me to just stare at him while he ate and thus agreed to share but anyways, that was three hours ago. Now all that had been digested and assimilated and I was feeling hungry yet again.

While following Samuel into this room I had kept a close watch on the way and yet now if you asked me to go back to the living room I would've got lost. This house was a hundred times bigger than my little apartment. Getting up from the couch I walked to the bed and let myself fall on it. Aah. Nothing was more comfortable than this. Where was I going to sleep? Samuel wouldn't mind sharing his bed with me would he? The very thought heated up my cheeks though my whole body felt cold.

I freed my hair from the hairband and let the loose curls fall on my back. A few strands interrupted my field of vision so I pushed them aside only to see Nicholas walk into the room, his face devoid of any expression, "Where's Samuel?"

"I'm hungry." I complained while playing with the strands of my hair.

"Last time I checked, I wasn't your mother. Go cook and feed yourself." My mother wasn't alive anymore. Somehow I wished his words hadn't hurt as much as they did.

"I don't know how to cook." I confessed and recalled the only experience I had of cooking and if it made me feel anything, it was regret.

"Fine, starve then. Not my problem." He barked and I had to suppress the urge to kick him where the sun didn't shine.

Penelope entered the room looking all hurried and confused, "Oh you're here? I've been searching you everywhere!" she spoke in the lovely-housewife voice and yet again Nicholas smiled. "Dinner is ready. Umm Diana, could you please help me and Dad with serving?" she literally batted her eyelashes and I had to supress the urge to snort. Instead, I nodded and got up from the bed sending a glare to Nicholas while exiting the room.

~~~

Dinner was filled with fake smiles from me and Samuel, eyelash-batting from Penelope, silent nodding from Nicholas and even awkward glares from Mr. Gibson in between. Even he couldn't disagree that his daughter was stupid.

"So when did you two meet?" The focus of the conversation landed on the fake couple that is me and Samuel when Penelope finally got tired of talking about her rich-bitch life and her boyfriend aka Nicholas who she assumed shared everything with her. Yet again I tried to supress a snort but failed and immediately turned it into a cough when I felt Nicholas stomp her feet.

"Highschool."

"2 years ago at The Hangout Spot."

Both of us answered at the same time and for a few seconds the room was devoid of any sounds except for the occasional slight swooshes of the December winds.

Uh-oh. He couldn't be less specific, could he? If we went along like this, it wouldn't be long till the truth came out.

"Two years ago at the Hangout Spot when we were in Highschool." Samuel was the brighter one in that moment and immediately fitted both the sentences into one making the room roars with sounds yet again.

"Oh, I met Nicholas two years ago too, except I was lost in the woods and he saved me. There were a lot of animal attack cases going on that year. I was so scared." Penelope recalled the day and a look of fear replaced her happy one.

"What were you doing in that forest, Nicholas? Were you investigating the animal attacks?" I asked with a smirk and as a result received an angry glare from him but then he realised that everyone had their attention on him. He was trapped. The thought of him actually being behind those attacks swooped into my mind since no one really found which animal actually caused them. And the victims couldn't really remember much which gave a strong indication that he could've indeed compelled them to forget.

"Umm well… I was," he looked at Samuel probably for help but when he realised he wasn't going to get any he turned his gaze to me. Clearing his throat, he spoke, "We were camping. Don't you remember, Diana? Your friend Opheliah was there too." He finished with a satisfied evil grin.