I was more than surprised when I woke up in a bed that was most definitely not mine. Clothes were strewn across the room in a messy fashion, but somehow had a certain order to it all at the same time. I couldn’t really turn my head much to look though, because I was in unbearable pain where I could barely keep myself up for long periods of time. On top of that, I had this really disgusting headache that just wouldn’t leave, so I shut my eyes and pressed my hands over my eyelids as if that would do any good. That was when I heard the sound of the door opening.

“You’re up,” It was a voice I’d heard a few times, but not many. It obviously wasn’t Niall and it most definitely wasn’t Harry. The voice was too high pitched and feminine for it to be Harry. I couldn’t place a name though so I forced myself to remove my hands from my eyes and let them open, though it pained me to do so. I was greeted with a warm smile and cerulean blue eyes. The male before me looked like he had just woke up as well. His fringe hung over his eyes, untidy, and he had a bit of morning stubble along his jaw line and circling his lips. Even with the sight of him, I couldn’t place a name and it frustrated me greatly.

“Yeah,” I grumbled and he frowned before walking over to the bed. I was still in my clothes from last night, so I was pretty sure I wasn’t sexually assaulted or anything. Plus there was something about him that made me trust him almost instantly. He sighed as he inspected my neck, but only with his eyes before he mumbled a curse. My eyebrows raised as I watched his features. He look so distressed.

“This might hurt a bit,” He said before pressing his fingers into my neck before I could so much as say a word. His other hand pressed against my mouth to stop the scream that had built up as quickly as the pain had. I heard a sound that resembled sparks coming from a cable while you pulled it out, like little crackles or fizzing. The stranger, who I was sure I knew somehow, had a look of deep set concentration. His front teeth had caught his bottom lip and there was even a bit of sweat that matted his fringe to his forehead. It looked like he had just got caught in the rain or something by the time he was done and he removed his fingers. This had to be some kind of dream or something because smoke was coming from the tips of the digits.

“You alright? Nod if yes. Do nothing if no,” It’s weird that he asked me to do actions or a lack of instead of actually answering the question, but when I opened my mouth to say something, I couldn’t speak. I nodded and then he smiled this breath taking smile. He blew on his fingers a bit before reaching over to a dresser not too far away and handing me a bowl full of something that looked like it tasted vile. I gave it a look of disgust and he sighed.

“I know it looks disgusting, but it’ll give you your voice back. I promise. I just didn’t want you to scream and wake up the pups,” He gestured for me to drink it, but my head was spinning. Who was he and what had he just done to my neck? Why couldn’t I speak? What was he trying to get me to drink and what the hell did he mean by “the pups”? I had so many questions and so little answers, probably mostly because I couldn’t speak at the moment. That was the only reason I decided to drink it and it tasted about as vile and disgusting as it had looked.

“Okay. Now who the hell are you?” The words come out quickly, as if I had vomited them up, but it didn’t really matter. The question was out there and I wanted to know. His eyes lit up a bit in amusement and it kind of pissed me off. I just wanted answers to my questions on top of just wanting to go home. Yet it seemed that this stranger found amusement in my questioning and slight fear. I just didn’t know what else to do and starting a fight with a guy who just had smoke coming out of his fingers is something I’d rather not do.

“I’m Louis,” He said simply and shrugged his shoulders. He wasn’t giving me much answers and it appeared he wasn’t going to. “You should get some rest, Desiree. The bite you experienced isn’t deadly, of course, but you need to sleep to pump the venom out of your system.” I had no idea what he was talking about. He said something about a bite, but he didn’t seem like a doctor and I didn’t remember getting bitten by anything.

“How do you know my name? What are you talking about?” I was more confused than ever. His voice had sounded familiar, but he himself wasn’t. I didn’t know him or what he was or what I was doing here. All I could remember was showing up at the club with Niall and the rest is just…dark. Was that how it was supposed to be? There wasn’t any alcohol and if there was, I wouldn’t have consumed any on purpose. So why was it that I couldn’t remember the night at all.

“Calm down. If I tell you this, you have to be calm and you have to be really open minded. You have to believe me when I tell you what I’m about to tell you,” Louis said as he sat down on the bed. He was wearing a loose fitting t-shirt and some pajama pants, so I guessed that I was correct about him just getting out of bed. He probably had done so to check up on me, but I didn’t even know what was wrong with me. Was there even anything wrong with me or was this a bunch of bull shit?

“Last night you were bitten by a vampire,” Louis explained as he carded a hand through his light brown locks, “If Liam had not been there and saw what happened and brought you to me, you might have died or worse, changed. I know this sounds weird and scary, but it’s true. We didn’t identify who the vampire was, so we have a rogue vampire on the loose and god knows who else he’s bitten or changed, but it’s not like we can run around playing vampire hunter can we? That’s not my job anyways technically,” This is all too much to take in at one time and I couldn’t really process it. Vampires? Weren’t those just creatures in scary books and sometimes those stupid teenaged novels where they turned all sweet and feasted on animals to avoid killing humans?

“Then what is your job?” It’s the first question that came to my mind that actually made sense, so it’s the first one to actually leave my lips. Louis merely huffed as if he’s reluctant to share this information with me. It kind of annoyed me that he was being so uptight about it. I felt like I needed to know this stuff and not be in the dark, because if vampires existed then didn’t that mean the other shit existed too? Like werewolves and witches and fairies and the likes? One answer had given me ten thousand more questions and I was sure I’d annoy Louis with all of them.

“Not a job so much as a state of being. I’m a sorcerer. You know, like the guys that do the magic and what not. I’ve been taking care of you since you got here and since the wound was merely on your neck, I decided not to be the one to undress you. I’m sure I have a pair of jeans and a t-shirt you’d likely be able to fit. The rest of the boys here are a lot…bigger than me,” Louis explained and my head was spinning at this point. Louis had done magic apparently to heal my wound, which was apparently a vampire bite, but they didn’t know who bit me and now there was a vampire on the loose. Well shit, this is what I got for going outside and being social for once. I made a note to myself not to ever leave the house again after all this was over. This was just further proof that being social led to very bad things and I did not want to take any part in these things at all.

“I have so many questions,” I breathed out and Louis rolled his eyes in obvious annoyance. His sassy attitude made him a little less attractive in my eyes. He just seemed annoyed by everything I said or did or asked. I hoped the Liam he talked about wasn’t as rude and a lot more welcoming than the sorcerer was. I needed someone to answer my questions after all and if it wasn’t going to be Louis, then I’d have to find someone else and since Liam was the one who found me, wouldn’t that be my best option?

“Well you can ask those to Liam or Zayn when I’m done cooking breakfast. I doubt you’ll get much out of them then though. They’ll be too busy stuffing their faces. I’ll be back with clothes and you can shower in the bathroom over there,” He gestures to a door with his head as he stood to his feet. “My scent might not be as strong as Liam and Zayn’s but you smell like vampire and it’s making me want to puke so just…go shower and I’ll leave your things on the bed. There’s towels on the rack,” And then Louis left me alone to my own devices.

I wondered what he meant by smelling like vampire, but I smelt pretty normal to myself. Either way, I still got up and went into the bathroom. It was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be and the bath and shower were separate. I didn’t feel like sitting down or anything and plus I’d feel pretty shitty doing so when it’s not my house so I quickly undressed and turned on the shower. I undid my hair tie and let my hair fall to my shoulders before climbing in. There was shampoo and conditioner along with this great smelling body wash, so I used them. When I was done, I wrapped one towel around my body and another around my hair so that it didn’t drip all over the place. There wasn’t a straightened I could use or a hairdryer so I had to make due with having my curls temporarily and though I hated wearing them most of the time, there was really nothing I could do about it.

The clothes were on the bed just like Louis had promised and the door was closed and locked from the inside. Maybe Louis wasn’t as bad as I was making him out to be. He at least had a bit of respect for privacy it seemed. I finished drying off my body before putting on the pants. I knew it was probably going to feel awkward wearing them with no underwear, but the ones I had were dirty and the thought of putting them back on kind of disgusted me. I had no problem putting my bra back on though and slipped the shirt over my towel covered head.

“Desiree, breakfast is ready!” Louis pipes from what seems like a lower level of the house. I frowned and unwrapped the towel from my hair, quickly drying it as best as I could before putting it up in a ponytail for a temporary hold. I unlocked the door and headed out of the room only to bump into a rather large male. I almost fell over but large hands caught my forearms and made my cheeks turn crimson. My eyes met with matching browns and a smile played on the male’s lips. His hair was a buzz cut, but it fit him somehow. He reminded me of a rather large puppy just looking at him, but I couldn’t figure out where he was Liam or Zayn. He didn’t look familiar at all.

“Good to see you’re up and about, Desiree,” He said before steadying me. “Not the first time that’s happened in the last twenty four hours. Don’t worry. I’m Liam,” He let’s go of me and sniffs at the air. “Is that bacon I smell, Tommo?” He shouts down the stairs, but I didn’t smell anything so I felt a bit awkward just standing there. It was just awkward being in a house that seemed like it was full of men and nothing else. I hadn’t seen one girl since I woke up and if there was one, wouldn’t Louis have given me her clothes instead? Well, that is unless she was a bitch or something, but I was seriously doubting that there was a girl here. It just smelt like dude everywhere I went.

“How about you bring your ass down here and see,” Louis retorted and that’s when it hit me that Louis was sassy with everybody. What a relief. Liam smiled at me then, grabbing my hand like an excited puppy and practically dragging me down the stairs and to the kitchen. The table was big, seemingly too big for three boys to be eating on, but all of the food that was there needed a table this big. I made note of what Louis had said earlier and Liam was a pretty big guy so he’d likely eat all of this alongside Zayn, though I hadn’t caught sight of him yet.

“It is bacon!” Liam said proudly as he walked over to where Louis was still cooking. He picks a piece right off the freaking pan and takes a bite, which leaves me shocked, because wouldn’t that have burned him? Why was he not yowling in pain? Then I remembered that Louis was a magical creature and that Liam probably was too, so I made a point to try to guess what he was, but I was coming up empty handed.

“Zayn, get your ass off that couch and come eat!” Louis then shouts into another room, “I did not make all of this food for you to lay around like a worn out pup. Hell, Liam did more than you did last night,” The small male scoffed and my attention moved to the entry way that I guessed was to the living room area and out came a dark haired male who had stubble much like the other two had or well Louis used to have, because it seemed he had shaved after he dropped my clothes off.

“Whatever. I had to sleep on the couch last night,” Zayn responded back simply before pulling up a chair and starting to dig into the food without another word. My eyes went to Liam then, who merely shrugged at me. These guys were most certainly strange, but I kind of liked it. After a short amount of time they already kind of felt like a second family and I would savor every second I could manage to get with them.