Liam held open the basement door, revealing a steep staircase. Or I assumed it was anyway, I could only see the top few steps clearly. Beyond them was pitch darkness.

I shivered, both from the cold air coming up from the basement and nervousness at actually sleeping down there.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Liam asked. "Keep standing there and I might push you down," he said, tone jovial and sing-songy. There really wasn't any other option, so I began the descent.

The creak of steps behind me told me that Liam was still behind me, but other than that, silence. I couldn't even hear him breathing.

I stepped carefully, trying to anticipate the end of the staircase. It probably wasn't that long, but not being able to see the end, it was endlessly nerve wracking. Oh, how I hate the dark.

I did reach the end though. My feet instantly noticed the change from the creaky wood of old stairs to concrete so cold I felt it through my cheap shoes. I noticed something else too.

Breathing. Fast, high pitched, low, growly, every kind of breath imaginable, really. All right there, in an almost silent chorus. But, oddly enough, not a single voice.

"Uh...hello?" I nearly whispered before I could think better of it. I heard a few gasps, maybe even a shh, but still no words. I felt a cold hand on my shoulder. I'd almost forgotten about him, what without the breathing.

"The first lesson you'll learn down here is no talking," Liam whispered. "Talkers get eaten, and since there's always at least one of us down here, we will hear you."

"The darkness...the silence...why? How does keeping people like this help you at all?" I hissed back, a strange, sick feeling bubbling up inside me.

"We can't have you planning a rebellion, can we? If you can't see where you are, you can't escape. If you can't talk to other people, you can't share any pesky ideas. Also," he snickered, "it's kind of funny."

"You're a sick goddamned bastard, you know that?" I whisper-yelled. Liam sighed, like I was a misbehaving little kid.

"And you don't learn, do you? It was that mouth of yours that got you put down here in the first place. So I suggest you take a hint from your fellow humans and be quiet."

I shoved his hand off my shoulder. "I don't have to listen to-"

"Let me rephrase that. Shut your mouth before I kill one of these humans and drown you in its blood. You don't want that, do you?" Liam whispered, gripping both shoulders this time. My eyes widened in horror. Even if it was a bluff, I wasn't willing to take that chance, especially at the expense of someone else. I shut up. "Good! Now go sit down with your new friends."

I sat down, feeling the warmth of other people on both sides of me. Judging by the noise, I guessed there were a whole lot more behind me as well. I shivered. Just how many people were down there?

"Well, I'm off to bed now. Have fun down here, okay Blythe? I'll pull you up sometime tomorrow so I can better explain our...arrangement." Liam said rather ominously. I let out a grunt in response, then heard the creak of the stairs as he climbed back up them.

I curled up into a ball, squeezing my knees to my chest and closing my eyes. Not that it made any difference. It was so dark that I could barely tell when my eyes were open from when they were closed. I held my hand less than half an inch from my face. I couldn't even see that.

For some reason, that just completely shattered me. I started crying. I covered my mouth to control my sobs, but they just ended up coming out as pathetic little wheezes. I bit my thumb, desperately trying to still my shaking body, to collect myself in the face of all these strangers, but I couldn't. I felt shameful, I felt weak, I felt helpless, I felt terrified-

I felt a hand on my shoulder. Then another, but on the opposite side. The two people next to me scooted closer, wrapping two pairs of warm, human arms around me. Ordinarily, I would hate having strangers hug me like that, but I embraced them right back, letting my tears out in their arms.

Suddenly, I felt arms from behind me as well. I heard the sound of material rubbing against concrete as more and more people that I couldn't even feel joined the hug. I squeezed them tighter.

"Thank...you," I said under my breath, so quietly I wasn't sure if anyone had actually heard.

But after a couple of seconds, the person next to me responded. "You're welcome," she said, just as quietly as me. I tensed up for a second, worried a vampire had heard us, but nothing happened. No red-eyed monsters jumping out to tear off our limbs or anything. I relaxed slightly, suddenly very tired.

I yawned, instinctively putting my head on shoulder of the girl next to me. Realizing I probably should have asked, I jerked back up, but she gently pushed my head back down. I chuckled a little, and so did she. Feeling comforted, I began to drift off.

I saw my mother. Though, not really. She was completely sober, her blonde hair longer than I'd ever seen it, grinning so big I thought her cheeks might burst. She was looking at me, hugging me, kissing my forehead. I squeezed her back tight. Oh, how I missed her.

Suddenly, her arms became unfamiliar. Bigger. Colder. They wrapped around me tightly, not letting me escape.

I jerked awake with a start, eyes darting from side to side. I couldn't see a single thing, but I heard snores, and still had an arm or two wrapped around me. No sign of the panic that an attacking vampire would have caused. I sighed. Just a dream. A strange one, yes, but nothing more.

I closed my eyes again, trying to find the deep sleep I'd just been in, but that dream bothered me. Those arms squeezing me so tight I might have popped. Were they an omen of something terrible to come?

But no, that didn't really feel right. Just a figment of my imagination? No, probably not. Honestly, it felt more like...

No, never mind, I told myself. It was just a dream. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to think of nothing at all.

Eventually, sleep reclaimed me.