by L. C White
“Daniel… is here?” I choke on my words.
“Of course,” Lillian says, turning to the bed. “He’s a little off. But I’m sure he’ll perk right up when he sees,” she pulls back the silk sheets on the bed, to reveal a short bright white negligee, “you in this.”
My wide eyes glance across the bed. Not only is there a revealing satin and lace nightdress, but there are fuckin chains and cuffs.
My legs burst into a spontaneous run to the open steel door, but Laurie is there like a lightning bolt, with his back now pressed up against it.
“Now, are you going to put this on, or would you like Laurie here to do it for you?”
I can’t breathe fast enough. My booming pulse is caught in my throat and it’s choking me. Now I’m showing how weak I really am, sobbing, and shaking in terror.
Lillian holds out the negligee. “Daniel will be quick, you won’t feel a thing. You can join your daddy, and I’ll have my brother back.”
I don’t want to take it, but I have no choice. A bile is already filling up my throat. If Laurie’s hands so much as touch me, I’ll probably pass-out, then they can do what they want to my body. I need to keep hold of some sanity. I need to figure a way out of here. I snatch the negligee, looking down to my dirty pumps.
“Damn it,” Laurie jeers. “I would have liked to have a peek at that sweet little tight ass.”
“Laurie, manners,” Lillian warns with a smile. “She’s going to be good for us, aren’t you?” She sweeps her fingers behind my ear, making me flinch away. “Thought so.” Her boots squeak toward the door. “You have ten minutes to get ready, Maeve.” They both leave me alone.
I count in my mind, my pulse jumping as each lock clangs shut. Four bolts. Four fucking heavy duty bolts. I have no way of escaping this room. I scream out as I weep, chucking the nightdress at the door.
My sobs quieten as I shuffle toward the bed. I perch on the very edge, my trembling fingers covering my face. Did Daniel order this? Is this what he’s always wanted from me, my life? Have I done the most stupid thing ever, offering myself to him on a plate? I can’t escape him. He’s in my thoughts. He’s in my heart. It feels like he’s the reason blood pumps through my veins, and it’s not frigging normal! Even when he left me in France, I couldn’t think badly of him. The normal reaction would be to brand him a first-class dick, and to avoid him at all cost. But as I sat in that interrogation room, waiting for a ticket home, all I could think of was finding him. Is this an obsessive post-virginity thing, falling for the first? God, I’m so stupid.
The bolts on the door squeal open. I spring off the bed and run into a dark corner of the room. My fingers scrape at the damp bricks behind me as the door opens. Lillian and Laurie walk in with Daniel’s arms over their shoulders. His head is drooped forward and his boots drag along the floor behind him. He’s groaning and mumbling, like he’s been drugged.
Lillian’s eyes find me cowering in the corner.
“I told you,” Laurie says, as they both drop Daniel’s body by the wall. “I should have dressed that sweet little body.”
Daniel is sitting on the floor with his back against the bricks, and his chin to his chest. He groans out loud, failing to lift his hand.
“It doesn’t matter,” she says. “He’ll take her anyway. Let’s leave these two eternal lovers to it. He’ll come around, soon enough.”
Laurie turns in the doorway and points to a small camera above the door. “We’ll be watching.”
The door slams shut, and again each lock clanging makes the air I breathe, catch in my throat.
I remain in the corner, nervously watching Daniel. His breathing sounds drunk and irregular. I don’t know what to do. I want to believe he’s not going to hurt me, but I feel like I’ve been tossed into a lion’s den. I’m this weak frightened deer, waiting for the beast to wake.
I shut my eyes and count to three. I need to calm the fuck down. I need to know if Daniel is still Daniel. I need to know what I’m facing,so regardless of the fear icing the core of my body, I take one baby step away from the wall.
“Daniel,” I hiss, but there is no response from him. “Daniel!”
The top of his bowed head twitches, and his boot flicks out to the side. I hold my chest and wait, studying his body, from his ripped black jeans, to his black V-neck t-shirt.
“Maeve.” His raspy groggy voice makes me stumble back into my corner. “Maeve. Fuck,” he growls deep, his hand rising up to his head. “You in my head again, Maeve?” he utters.
“No,” I say in a cautious breath. “I’m here.”
His head slowly rises and hits the bricks behind him. His jaw crunches as he swallows and strains to roll his shoulders back. His eyes are still closed. I’m waiting for them to part, but they don’t.
“Well Maeve, you better find somewhere to hide.”
“Why?”
“Because sexy, I’m feeling kind of hungry.”
I slowly let my back slide down the wall. He’s just clarified I’m his next feed, and there is fuckin nowhere to hide. I smirk to myself. It’s an ironic smile, like an admission of foolishness.
“Why are you smiling?” His voice is beginning to sound clear.
“Why have you got your eyes closed; they too big for your stomach?” I mumble.
I can see this deep crease stretching across his forehead. He wants to look at me but is frightened to. Whatever is happening to him, he’s fighting it from within.
“Why did you come back here, to Laurie of all people?” I ask. “I know Liz and Adrien are, well, insane… But here.”
“I killed a man, Maeve,” he admits. “Just a random guy asking for the time.” He hits the back of his head against the wall to punish himself. “Lillian did something to me.”
“In France?”
“Yes. Fuckin bitch thinks I won’t kill her after this, but I will.”
“After what, you’ve killed me?” My voice pings anxiously. “I guess you’ll prove them all right then.”
“You’re being brave,” he smirks, his eyes still shut.
“Yeah well.” My nostrils shoot out the air. “What’s the point in pussy footing around this? It doesn’t matter.” I swallow down the upset. “I’m locked in here with you.”
His head falls forward again in a let-down movement. I just want him to look me in the eye and tell me the goddamn truth. Is he going to kill me? Did he ever love me at all?
He jumps up to his feet suddenly, grunting out a breath. The fear of him has me holding my knees tight into my chest. He stands in the centre of the room, and looks to the camera above the door.
“Oh Lillian,” he calls out in a tuneful sneering tone, showing the lens his middle finger. “See this finger, well take a good look sis, because the next time you see it, it will be wrapped around your fuckin neck.”
Like a leopard leaping onto its pray, he’s clinging onto the camera, ripping wires out of the wall. I grab my chest, holding in an astounded gasp. He’s just sprang the length of the frigging room, and clung to the wall like spider man. What the fuck!
His boots drop back down to the floor with a loud thud, and he tosses the broken camera across the room. I have to get out of here.
My eyes find a place to hide, a damn stupid childish place, but I have no other options. I let my body fall to the floor, and sniper crawl under the bed, holding back my terrified tears.
I cover my mouth, watching his boots move back to the wall. He slides down to the floor with his knees up, rubbing his face with his hands.
My shaky fingers reach out to move a section of hanging bedsheet, blocking my view of him.
“Really Maeve, beneath the bed?” he says in a huff.
I let the bedsheet drop back down, so it offers me a little more protection.
“I’m not going to hurt you. I’m in fuckin love with you,” his voice breaks. “They think I’ll take you and turn into some retarded power hungry god, who’ll be fine with all this. Well I’ll die before I lay a hand
on you. You have to believe that.”
I bring my hands under my chest. The short silence in the room is broken by his heavy distraught breathing. He’s just told me he loves me, and I can’t think straight. I can’t pick out the words for this, because it’s a fucking mess. There is no other way to deal with this. I’m going to remain quiet, and just hope someone comes to rescue me. I’m not moving out from under this bed.
“You don’t trust me?” He waits for my answer, but my lips remain sealed. “No one does. I deserve to die, all this shit I brought down on you. I’m sorry Maeve. About your dad, everything.”
My fingers reach out to move the sheet aside as sorrow hazes my view. He has his head in his hands, his fingers gripping and pulling at his hair. He’s destined for pain, and I guess I am, because right now I’m feeling his.
“Daniel,” I say, nervously.
He slowly brings his hands down to look right at me. He gazes, shocked I’ve spoken to him. I don’t think he realises what he’s done to me; what he’s done to my heart. His green eyes are not baying for my blood, they’re begging for forgiveness. He isn’t evil. He’s no monster. He’s being tortured by what’s inside, and he’s allowing it to happen.
I gather up the strength to speak. “Whatever is happening to you, remember you’re not like Lillian. It’s not about your genes. It’s not about destiny. It’s about what you know, who you love, and what you want your life to be. No one can control that, but you.”
His desperate gaze is electrifying every muscle in my body, willing me to move out from under this bed. He needs me, but I’m so fuckin confused, and still scared of him. There’s a voice shouting in my head, ‘you stupid girl. Two heads are better than one. Are you forgetting you’re in love with this beautiful monster?’
“You’re the only one who has made any sense to me,” he says through a gulp.
He pushes himself up from the floor and his boots move toward me. Still cautious of him, I shuffle back. His hand hangs down and his fingers wiggle.
“I’ll let you decide,” he says.
I find myself reaching out for his hand. As soon as my fingers touch his, he grips them like it’s the only thing that matters in the world. Clumsily, I pull my body out from under the bed, and he helps me up to my feet.
I brush down my damp dirty coffee stained shirt. I see his boots before my pumps, toe to toe, nearly touching, and as stupid as it is, the sight of them so close, fills me with an anxious need.
I fiddle with my middle button, too nervous to look up to him. He sighs as he backs away. As his boots reach the wall, my view, bit by bit, elevates onto him. I’m unable to blink. The intense apprehensive emotions bouncing between us, stop my breath. I want him to tell me again he loves me, I might say it back to him. But he doesn’t.
“Well, I’m here.” I bite my lip to stop it quivering. “Are you going to speak, or have I to just crawl back under the bed again, and hide away from you?”
“Maeve, I meant what I said. I’m in love with you,” he says as he looks to the floor. “And everything Gwen said is true. You are this energy that somehow, wherever it exists, gets tangled up with mine. It’s hard to fuckin digest, but it’s true.”
I’m frowning so hard my head hurts. “So what are you saying?”
I take a small step closer, feeling a mixture of frustration and anger. He still won’t look at me, and his shoulders are all tense and hunched.
“I’m saying, that if we get out of here, then I want you to stay away from me.” His head rises, his green eyes shimmering with anguish.
“What the fuck is this Daniel?” I’m unable to hold my tongue. “You have real shitty timing issues. In case you can’t see because… because,” I choke up, “you’re too wrapped up in yourself. We’re locked in this damn room. I…I…”
That’s it. His stupid need to push me away, again, has the floodgates wide open. I don’t need to deal with his selfish supernatural sulk right now. I foolishly need his arms around me, and for him to say, ‘it’s okay, I’ll protect you.’ I don’t need questions about our strange connection whizzing around my head. There’s still a part of me that sees us dating, like normal human beings, and that’s the part of me that wants him still. After everything that has happened, my father, being kidnapped, all because I fell for him, I thought he understood me more than anybody else. I have to get the hell out of here.
I stride to the door and pound my hand on the cold steel, screaming.
“HELP. HELP. LET ME THE FUCK OUT OF THIS ROOM!”
I shudder as Daniel’s arms wrap around me and embrace. He lifts and carries me kicking and screaming, then releases me in the centre of the room. I spin around to face him. I’m consumed by a fury and I can’t stop it. Gasping, I hit him in the chest with the side of my fists, until my legs give way. He catches me and holds me in his arms.
I weep into his chest as he squeezes me tightly. Everything I’ve lost has exploded, and is in total control of me. I do now understand. We can’t do normal, and that reality kills me.
“Maeve, I can get us out of here, but I need your help.”
I slide my head away from his chest, and quieten down my sobs. I squeeze the last tears from my eyes, and look directly at him.
“I need some of your blood. I’m not strong enough without it.”
“Fine,” I say straight-faced, cold and willing, tilting my neck for him.
“Just like that?” He exhales a drawn out, let-down breath.
“Yeah, just like that.” I keep my head slanted, unable to look him in the eye.
I hear his heavy steps approach as I swallow in fear. I’m frightened, but so drained by all this, I don’t care anymore.
He stands over me. My eyes close as his warm hand glides over my neck to move my head. His lips come down on mine. I gasp into his mouth, kissing him back. I need his kiss, his touch, his love. I don’t want it to end.
My fingers press against his cheeks as desperation spills down my face. Taking my wrists in his hands, he pulls away from me. He has a tear hovering on his eyelid, and he’s biting down, hard.
“When we get through that door, you run through the back shutter, and you don’t look back,” he says. “When I turn Maeve, it will happen quickly, and I won’t have a lot of time before it takes control of me. Stay behind me, out of my sight. I’ll stop anyone who tries to get to you. Get as far away as you can, and if you hear me inside your head, you don’t fuckin listen,” he says so sternly, kneading my wrists.
“I love you,” I cry.
“Well, that’s tough Maeve. I won’t let you.”
His rough fingertips press over my cheekbones, tenderly. He angles my neck to a position of his liking. My pulse beats forcefully, as I wheeze out a tight breath.
“It won’t change you. It will only hurt for a second. I only need a little,” he says as his lips part.
I see his eyes wavering red and his jawline swelling. I close my eyes, feeling his gentle soft mouth on my neck.
“Forget me Maeve.”
I whimper and claw his forearms as his teeth sink into the flesh below my earlobe. I calm and my body sways, as the briefest moment of peace washes over me.
“FUCK!” He growls out, aggressively stumbling away from me.
I clutch my throbbing neck, feeling the blood on my hand. He keels over gasping, then like a clarity has hit him, he straightens up. I try to breathe in time with my billowing lungs, as he reveals his smiling Dhampir to me.
Oh shit. Have I just allowed his monster loose? Have I just signed my own damn death warrant?
“I told you there wasn’t much time,” he says, eyeing me up and down. “Remember Maeve, run, don’t look back, and forget me.”
He turns to the door so smoothly. He has this air of powerful unsettling grace. Calm yet masterful. He walks to the door, lifts his right leg, and plants his boot so the whole concrete and stone structure, tremors with the thud.
“Lillian,” he shouts, kicking the door again. “I think I’
m ready to join you now.”
Once more his boot swings back and lands centre of the steel. The frame crumbles, the steel squeaks, and the hinges tear. With my hand still pressed against my neck, I jump back as the door and frame, fall in a heap of dust and rubble.
Daniel steps up onto the door, and disappears into the dust. I linger as the sound of his heavy boots on the metal fades into silence. I don’t know whether to stay here, or fuckin run.
A scuffling noise, along with the sound of grunts and painful howls, echoes as the concrete haze fades. Oh god, blood has just splattered across the floor, landing an inch from my pumps.
“I told you to run,” Daniel’s deep and disturbing voice makes my feet spring into action.
My weak shaky legs rotate, my feet scurrying over the steel door. I’m trying not to look, to just run, but he’s holding a vampire feet high in the air, as many others close a circle around him. He’s surrounded by over fifty. Surely he can’t fight them all. Shit, they all have their fangs out, and blades in their hands, ready to take him down. I can’t leave him to die like this. He’s being swarmed by them.
His big red eyes land on my frozen body. “GO!”
He growls, tossing the vampire meters across the warehouse. Sobs blurt out of my mouth as I run as fast as I can, listening to the sound of the painful battle behind me. I feel the cold outside air flow over my skin, cooling the blood on my neck as I spot the shutter door.
“Oh god,” I rasp, as I make it outside.
My legs revolve on autopilot, as my feet move from the hard tarmac onto the wet grass. Fine rain sweeps over my face as my view bounces around in the dark. Breathless, I head toward a small cluster of trees.
I squeal out as my legs propel me forward in flight mode. I’m only feet from the trees as I catch the sound of running behind me. I look over my shoulder as I continue to charge forward, to see the black eyes of a male vampire. Fuck. I scream out as the vampire reaches my back. I can feel his grunts in my wet hair.
“Maeve,” a voice from nowhere calls. “Move!”
A speeding haze zips by me and I’m thrust to the ground. Adrien stands over the vampire. Oh shit, he’s broken the vampire’s neck, as easy as flicking on a light switch.
