Chapter 5

Max sat next to Nikolai, petting him as he made his little fox noises. Max laughed as Nikolai rolled around, showing his belly to Max. Max sighed, looking around Vincent's room. After that night, Ivan stayed true to their word and transported them to their house. He was sure that his mom and Delilah stayed in the rooms above him, but there was no way to check since he was forbidden to go upstairs. Max never understood why but seeing as this was not his house Max didn't argue. Although it has only been one day, he hasn't been able to see the rest of his family, Vincent left earlier and told him to stay here until he comes back. Sure, it was boring but again, not his house.

When Max came here last night, he had to share a room with Vincent. For some reason, he thought that it'll be like some romance books he's read where they had to share the bed. It doesn't matter where he read the books, he just thought he could share the bed. But no, Vincent had to be stingy.

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"I have to share a room with him?" Max shrieked. He stood next to Vincent the entire time his family was getting their rooms, but he never thought he had to share a room with the guy. Oh god, he wasn't gonna get rid of this crush, is he?

"Yes, there are no more rooms open." Alina smiled, cupping her hands in front of her. "Vincent, I do expect you to show your best hospitality." Vincent nodded before turning away, presumably up to his room. Max stood there, dumbfounded his backpack slightly falling from his hands.

"Max, are you coming?" Vincent called. Max turned to him seeing him waiting for him. "I lock my door when I sleep. I plan on going to bed now so unless you want to spend the night outside, I suggest you follow me now."

"Ah, yeah! Coming!" Max said, jogging to catch up with the man. Alina giggled as she went to her room. Max giggled as he almost crashed into Vincent as he started to open the door. Max followed Vincent as he walked inside, locking the door behind him. "Wait, why do you lock your door? You scared of the creatures in the night?"

"Well not really. It's more like a trauma response. I just feel safer with it locked." Vincent walked to his dresser pulling out some clothes before going into his bathroom. "By the way, get your pajamas out."

After a few minutes, Vincent came out and Max went in changing quickly then stepping back out. Max walked out to see Vincent sitting on his bed reading a book. "Hey, Vincent."

"It's actually Dimitri."

"Oh, Dimitri's fronting?" Max made a sound of recognition as soon as Dimitri nodded. Max then looked around the room seeing some bedding on the ground. "Are you really making me sleep on the ground? Your bed is big enough for two!"

"Sleep on the ground or sleep outside. There are no other options." Dimitri stared at Max, his glare almost penetrating Max's soul. Max grimaced as he walked to his bed on the floor sitting down on it. Taking out his phone he started to type on it, adding to his notes. He didn't notice Dimitri getting up to peer over his shoulder. "Dimitri is one of the assholes, not sure that they're the massive asshole yet."

Max felt a huff on his shoulder. Max jumped and threw his phone to the side, looking up to Dimitri in horror. Dimitri looked down on him before sighing. "You know what? I'm not mad, everyone calls me an asshole as well. At least you got my pronouns right."

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After that, if Max tried to even sit on the bed Dimitri kicked him off. By kicking him in the back. Yeah, in Max's mind Dimitri is a massive asshole. Max pet Nikolai's stomach, finding any anger he had at Dimitri was fading. Yeah, he could be a jerk, but this could help him with his newest investment of perusing the human brain and how they react in social situations. To be frank he only majored in Economics because his father ordered him to, threatening to kick him out of the house if he didn't. God, he didn't know where his father went, but Max is glad that he's gone.

When the door opened both Nikolai and Max looked towards the door. Hoping that it's Vincent, or any one of his alters. Instead, a lady with pure white hair and a pale complexion walked through the door, wearing a three-piece white suit that just added to her ghostly figure. To say that Max's heart didn't beat faster would be a massive lie.

"Hello, Maxwell. My name is Sophie Wright, Vincent sent me to tell you that you are now able to roam freely around the house. Within reason of course." Sophie smiled, readjusting the glasses that rest upon her face. How did Max just notice her glasses? Max opened his mouth then closed it again, looking away he felt embarrassed, for staring maybe? He doesn't know.

"Thank you, Sophie. Wait, why isn't Vincent here?" Max asked as he put Nikolai back in his cage.

"Vincent got delayed. He'll be contacting you shortly." Sophie handed him a map when Max looked at it, it turned out to be the layout of the house. Max looked confused then saw the red markings scribbled around the huge page. "The red markings are there to tell you which rooms you can go in and can't go in. Alina said that if you do go in these rooms, -" Sophie pointed at the rooms completely scribbled out in red. "- there will be dire consequences. She does not wish to inflict pain on you just like your father, but she will if she must."

Max gulped looking back down before nodding his head quickly at Sophie. Sophie smiled and held the door for Max, urging him to come out. Max walked out the door looking down at the map. The complete top floor was scribbled out, there were some doors crossed out on the second floor except for Vincent's room. The first floor was open, except for the master bedroom, probably the parent's room. There was just one more door he couldn't go into, one labeled 'Basement', that's understandable, Max didn't like basements anyway.

- - - - -

They walked down the dark hallway, metal doors lining the walls leading to even darker rooms. They looked down at the concrete floor, stained dark under some doors. Otherwise, the floor was rather clean; looked like it was pressure washed recently. They stopped in front of a door with light spilling out of the crack under the door and the rectangular window. They looked inside standing on their tippy-toes to look in. The sight horrified them.

David was hanging from his wrist against the wall, a whip lashing at him repeatedly. As he started to drift off, a dark woman came into view holding a syringe. She poked it in his neck and David jumped up eyes wide as he screamed through the gag. Another black man came into view talking to him before taking the gag out of David's mouth. David screamed something at him before getting hit on the back of the head.

They took a step back, their mind too foggy to see their dad like that.

Their back hits something soft. They turn around. Another black woman is there.

"Beautiful sight to see, isn't it Smiths?" She knocked on the door.

- - - - -

Max walked to the kitchen, planning to take a snack from the pantry. Still looking at the map in his hands, he tried to read the black ink below the red ink, trying to see the words they are trying to hide. A hand pressed against his skull, "Max, you need to watch where you're going, you almost ran into us!" Max looked up and saw Eleanor.

"Ah, sorry Ele−" Wait, did she say us? Who else is with her? Max leaned to the side, seeing past the dark women in front of him. A full head of blonde wavy hair rest atop a girl's head with blue eyes. Was it…?

"Delilah…?"

Delilah stared into her brothers' eyes as he stared back. She suddenly snapped out of her trance, looking at the basement door then quickly looking back at Max. She did it a few times before she stopped, tears flooded her eyes as she looked back at Max. Max went to grab for her, to comfort her but a body blocked his way.

"Just be more careful next time Max. We have to go now; Vincent should be looking for you soon." Eleanor grabbed Delilah and headed for the staircase. Leaving Max in the middle of the hallway. He stared at where they went, at where Delilah went. He should have comforted her quicker.

Max looked at the ground, putting the map into his back pocket. His mind whirled with things he should have done to be a better big brother until his mind stopped and focused on one question: Why did she start crying?

Max got lost in his thoughts as his feet brought him to the kitchen. Once Max realized where he was, he thought, screw it, I need some coffee. He walked over to the counter where the coffee pot sat. He grabbed a mug from the drying rack and put it on the counter. He sighed as he realized the pot was empty.

He opened the cabinet above the pot, grabbing the coffee ground container inside; he set that on the counter and reached back in for the coffee filters. He stopped as he spotted a small clear bag right next to the filters. "What the…" Max mumbled; he grabbed the unknown bag and brought it closer to inspect it.

Inside there was a white powdery substance, it looked like powdered sugar but more crystal-like. What was this? Max continued to examine the unknown substance even as a shadow loomed over him.

Max looked down at the counter, trying to remember what he saw in health class back in high school. Max sighed, but quickly took back in the air he let out a second ago. He saw the bigger shadow completely taking out his own. Who was behind him to make that big of a silhouette?

Max quickly turned around, and in a flash, his body was lifted, and a hand was covering his mouth. The back of his head hurt, and his vision fully blurred. Max tried to set his eyes on the figure before him, the rest of his body not listening to him. His breathing started to fail, why was nothing working?! Max could only watch as the figure leaned forward, dark green eyes fully clearing in his vision.

"Занимайтесь своим делом."

Max couldn't understand what was being said, but the authority and downright hostility made him give up fighting whoever this was. The hand retracted from his mouth and Max could feel his body slide down the counter, all with an unpleasant slam to his head and knees as he came down. He sat there, his vision slightly clearing the more he sat there.

He didn't know how long he laid there, but a nap sounded like the best idea in the world. As he started to close his eyes, he heard footsteps coming closer to him. A voice cried out, "Oh deary me!" as whoever they were stopped to look at him.

There was another rush of footsteps that seemed to be getting closer. Max groaned loudly as soft cold hands moved him around. Those same cold hands felt around his head then went to his face opening his eyes. Max felt frustrated, he just wanted to sleep dammit! He fully opened his eyes and saw a dark figure right in front of him. She looked sweet, with dark brown skin and similar dark brown eyes. Jet-black hair was pulled into a ponytail and, was she wearing a doctor's outfit?

"Hello Max, my name is Rashika Wessex. Are you feeling alright, deary?" Another accent to rack his brain, great.

"Uhm… Fine...?" Max mumbled, trying to swat to woman's hands away. "I just want to sleep."

"No can-do Max. I just want to make sure you don't have a concussion!" Somehow, Max felt safe when she was talking to him. He groaned again, closing his eyes once more. She opened his eyes again then shined a light in his eyes, he winced but she kept his head still. "Hey, Max, what happened to make you hit your head?"

Max paused, what had happened? "Uh… Someone pinned me against the cupboards?"

"Do you remember their appearance? There are sparse people in here, so it'll be painless to locate the perpetrator." A familiar voice spoke, was that Alina? Can't focus on sounds, sounds hurt. Lights hurt.

"Oh sweetie, let's get you somewhere quieter." Rashika brought her hands under Max's armpits and with Alina's help lifted him up off the ground. Both the girls put one of his arms over their shoulder and dragged him back to Vincent's room. As Alina opened the door, both girls were surprised to see Aster sitting in Vincent's bed playing with a stuffed bear. Aster looked up and tensed at the new boy in the room.

Alina smiled, using her free hand she waved the child over. "Aster sweetie, can you come here for a second?" Aster nodded slightly, slowly getting off the bed to walk to Alina. "Can we use your bed for a little while? You can come downstairs to watch TV, or you can relax in our room."

Aster nodded again, staring at the redhead in between the two girls he whispered, "Okay−" Glass shattered around them as a loud crashing was heard. As Aster screamed Alina looked towards the window, another canister was thrown in. "Rashika! Out!"

Just as the canisters started spewing gas, the two girls left leaving the boys in the room.

An unrecognizable figure climbed in through the window, wearing all black, their breathing the only sound in the room. Walking over Max the person slowly walked to Aster, picking the boy up from the ground. "This is black, returning with the merchandise."

The person's earpiece buzzed before the said person turned and picked up Max as well. They made their way back to the window, each boy in hand. Just as the figure went to jump back out the window, the door broke open revealing Ivan and Alina with a bunch of other people in tow. With a small salute, the figure jumps out the window, screams of the Popov family rung in their ears as they ran.