Captivated (An Affliction Novel)

by Raven

  He smiled at me and danced up against me. I nodded ‘no’ to him and smiled politely. Then I turned back to Tanya who couldn’t keep her laughter in. Shaking off the experience, I continued to dance with her. And there he was again. I huffed out in irritation and pushed him away without looking. I grabbed Tanya’s hand and pulled her to a different spot, away from Freako Suave. We danced for a moment and here he was again. Like a dog trying to hump my leg. I searched for Markus through the crowd, but he was nowhere in sight. Tanya was yelling at the guy in Spanish. It didn’t look like he understood her. She wasn’t fluent. She took a couple of Spanish classes, but had forgotten most of what she learned.

  A cold chill went up my back. Not just up my spine, up my whole backside. I whirled around to see what had caused it. Shane’s body was right up against mine. He stared down at me and smiled mischievously. Then Shane walked up to the guy. He said a few words to him in a language I didn’t understand, it must have been Spanish. The guy shook his head and danced away to another victim.

  “That was close. I thought he was going to hop on you and-” I cut Shane off before he could finish.

  “Don’t! Yuck! I’ll picture it.” I said scrunching my nose.

  “May I have this dance?” Shane asked while reaching his hand out to me. In that moment a slow song started. “I told him he could dance with you IF I walk away.” He looked me in the eyes. I couldn’t see the color that good. They looked red. Red and convincing. “Should I walk away Mindy?” He inched closer and raised my hand to his mouth. I couldn’t stop staring at his eyes. The soft kiss was cool against my hand. Like that first day of school all over again. With my mouth dropped open I shook my head no.

  Shane’s lip curled up as he pulled me close to him. The electricity was vibrant. He danced with skill. I was losing my step trying to keep up with him. I felt like a complete buffoon. “It’s time Mindy.” Shane sadly said after a couple of songs.

  “Huh? For what?” I asked.

  “For a little air. Don’t you feel crowded?” Shane asked and exaggerated a shiver.

  I looked around and felt the same eyes on me from the new faces. The club had gotten more crowded since we got there. Then I felt an urge to get some fresh air.

  “Do you mind? Tanya?” Shane asked. Still a smile on his face. It gleamed, even in this dark place it shone like the sun was hitting it directly.

  “No. Of course not!” Tanya excitedly called out.

  “I don’t want to leave you alone.” I said to Tanya.

  “Don’t worry. Markus will be here soon.” She called out while pushing me and Shane away.

  That’s right, I forgot that Markus wanted me to stay put. I decided to step out for a second, and then come back inside. It was way too crowded tonight. Shane led the way holding my hand. Everyone moved out of the way admiring him. His perfection beamed off of him, pushing everyone out of the way. When we reached the back door, he swung it open and led me out. It was quiet outside. The air was still. For a few minutes, we walked along the back of the connected buildings.

  “I think I got enough air Shane. I don’t want to leave Tanya alone for too long.” I said while coming to a stop.

  “Believe me Mindy. You’re friend is completely safe.” Shane squeezed my hand and tugged a little to keep me walking. “I assure you.”

  Shane’s tug was hard and I couldn’t help but go along with it. He assured me she’d be safe. Yet an unsettling feeling erupted in me. Something wasn’t right. Something was off. Shane didn’t seem like his normal cheery self. For some reason, it was forced, like he was trying to be convincing. He seemed determined somehow. I planted my feet on the floor, but he kept walking. His strong grip on me tugged me to walk again. For an unexplainable reason, I looked behind me. I wished I hadn’t. There were two pale people walking a few yards away from us. One of them was an Asian girl, she looked like a cute living doll. She had jet black hair that reached her skinny waistline. The guy walking next to her was huge, like a three hundred pound mass of pure muscle. Not the kind of huge that girls go crazy for, this sort of huge was gross.

  My breathing started accelerating. Something was scary about them. From the moment I saw them in the club, I knew it.

  “Shane. Please take me back. I don’t want to be out here anymore.” I tugged my arm trying to break it free. “Please?”

  Shane ignored me. Then two more guys came out in front of us. The craziest thing was that they landed in front of us. Like they dropped down from the sky. One guy had black hair that reminded me of a hedge hog. It was slicked back into spikes. They didn’t walk towards us, but in front of us. They were walking at the same pace as us. So were the ones walking behind us.

  “Let me go!” I shouted to Shane. I dug my nails in his hands hoping that he would release me, but it was no use. He didn’t even flinch. Then I scratched frantically at his hands. Blood seeped out of the cuts staining his skin, but he still held on. I looked around hoping to find someone that could help. It was only us, the darkness, and dim flickering lights from the alley.

  “Shane!” Called out a voice from above us. I looked up. There were two guys walking on the buildings along side us. One on our right and another on the left. We were surrounded by these strange people like body guards surrounding the president. “We spotted Dean heading out of the club. He’s getting his bike.” Called out the voice.

  Shane nodded his head and picked up the pace. While it looked like he was speed walking, I had to run to keep up with him. It was humanly impossible to walk that fast. Besides, my stupid boots weren’t helping me much. That’s when it hit me. My heels! Kicking him should work. I ran a little faster and swung my heel at his leg. I knew I got him good. I stabbed him right in the calf muscle. That should have made him stumble at least. But once again, he didn’t even flinch. I punched him as hard as I could over and over again only to tire myself out. I kept punching and kicking whenever I had the chance to without falling. Even after my efforts not to, I fell to the ground with my hand still connected to Shane’s grip.

  “We really need to hurry Mindy.” Shane said while picking me up and flipping me on his shoulder in an easy movement.

  All of them started running even faster. I kicked at his torso and screamed, but Shane didn’t lose his grip on me. I heard something, a roaring cutting through the distance. So did everyone else.

  “He’s getting closer!” Called out the other guy on the roof.

  I looked up at the women walking behind Shane. They were glancing behind them. They looked scared. Like something was chasing them. Dean? Why were they so afraid of him coming? Why would they think he would even come for me?

  Then I saw him. He was gaining closer and closer on his motorcycle. I saw the fury surging out of his face. He pulled a long sword that was tucked in the side of his bike. He held it on his side at a position that looked like he was ready to swing at whatever he came across. He looked like he was coming fast, but it was weird to me that he hadn’t caught up yet. We were on foot and he was on wheels. I looked down at the ground. It was going so fast below me as if I were watching the road while on the freeway. In wild disbelief, I gaped at the blur of buildings along side us. We were going as fast as the bike. Shane and the others were running as fast as a motorcycle! Impossible. I thought. Impossible!!

  I looked back up at Dean. Just then, a body landed on top of him throwing him off course. While trying to get his bike to straighten up again, he was elbowing the guy on his back. Just when he almost threw the guy off, the other guy from the roof jumped on him. Dean’s bike went completely out of control crashing into the building.

  “Go back there and kill him!” Shouted Shane to the two running behind us. In a blink of an eye, they were gone. “You up there. Get behind us!” He shouted to the two guys running in front of us.

  They ran behind us as Shane finished his command. Then I heard the worst thing I’d ever heard in my life. My name was being shouted. Dean was shouting my name. What pained me so much to hear
was how he was screaming.

  It was a cry of extreme disparity. They had to be killing him.

  “DEAN!” I yelled back, but I heard no response from him. Just thudding, like bags of rocks being thrown against walls. Then…silence.

  “Claudius. Stay behind and make sure he doesn’t follow us.” Shane ordered one of the scared men behind us. Shane didn’t look scared like the rest of them. He looked more like a soldier during a mission. I couldn’t understand why the mission involved kidnapping me. Why were they scared of Dean? I knew Dean was strong, but not strong enough to take on six people. Right?

  My eyes darted in the darkness, trying to pick up any form that looked like it could be Dean. My breathing quickened. I saw nothing, even the dull lights were my traitors tonight. I had to go to Dean. I had to help him.

  “Stop it Shane! Why are you doing this! Stop it!” I screamed in his ear.

  Then he came to a stop. Shane set me on the ground without letting go of my arm. His perfection didn’t transfix me this time. His hypnotic ways of convincing me was not going to work with the anger I had. I hated him. I hated the white of his skin. The softness of his lips. I grew angrier at the memory of when he kissed my hand. He sent those pale people to hurt Dean and I hated him for it.

  The last person that stood with us was the hedgehog. He didn’t look as scared as the others. He probably thought there was nothing more to worry about since Dean wasn’t coming. His eyes were black with a gleam of red, more like a maroon color. Those eyes studied me appreciably, like he just found a lost princess. He caught my eyes and looked shocked at first. Then a smile slowly formed on his face. Between those lips appeared teeth made from the purest white. That’s not what stunned me. It was after the teeth were exposed when he smiled a little wider. I blinked with surprise at the sight of the two long fangs that looked like their only purpose was to shred things to pieces…vampires.

  I gasped and turned my astonished gaze to Shane. Asking him with my eyes if what I saw was really what I saw. He understood my silent language and nodded his head as he exposed his teeth. Then his canines extended out to two sharpened fangs. I had to get away. I crunched my fist and swung at Shane’s face as hard as I could. His head jerked to the side with the impact, but it didn’t look like it hurt him. I frantically pulled my arm to release his hold and swung at him some more. Nothing was working. I screamed and yelled even though my hoarse voice wasn’t loud enough.

  Shane turned to the hedgehog. “Stay here and guard the entrance. He cannot find out where we’re taking her.”

  I quit my struggling to be able to hear what they were saying.

  “I don’t think he’s still alive. He would have been here by now.” Said the hedgehog.

  “Don’t argue with me. He’s strong. Never underestimate Dean.” Shane said fiercely. Then he turned his attention to me. “You’ll lead him right to us with your screaming. You leave me no choice.” Shane said grimly as he held my arms in place so I would quit swinging. He nodded his head once to the hedgehog then looked away.

  “No choice? What are you gonna-” A crash came to the back of my head. So many colors were fighting to stay visible then they quickly faded. All I saw next was blackness.

  hen I opened my eyes, Shane was looking down at me. His eyes held a sort of excitement. His smile was mischievous. His silver hair fell elegantly down as he leaned in closer to me. Even with the dim lighting in this room, I could still see the paleness of his skin. For a moment, I thought this was a dream. One of those dreams you wake up from then when you go back to sleep and it continues. I was kidnapped by vampires and knocked out. Now I was here with Shane. My face was hurting, especially my nose. I reached up to feel it and it stung on contact. I moaned and quickly pulled my hand away.

  “Sorry about that.” Shane said as he reached his arm down to help me up. “I had someone punch you to knock you out and you fell face first to the floor.”

  “Sonic?” I mumbled out as I cleared my throat. The one with the slick black hair that looked like Sonic the Hedge Hog. I never saw it coming.

  “Who?” Asked Shane with a curious smile. He was acting so like himself, like this was a normal day. A normal conversation. Was this even real? I felt my head rushing as I rose to my feet. A dizzying feeling came strong.

  “Whoa now. You should sit back down.” Shane guided me back to a seating position. I didn’t realize this before, but I was on a bed, the softest bed I ever sat on. After my vision focused in the dim lighting of the room, I began to look around. Next to the blacked out window, there was a large plant that reached up to the ceiling. It didn’t look real. A real plant wouldn’t be able to survive in such darkness. Each nightstand had a lamp on it. The lamps looked like they were golden. Not made out of it, but the color of it. There was a dresser against the opposite wall of the bed. It had statues of heads with shoulders, and they had no bodies.

  Shane watched me looking around, still with that glee of excitement in his eyes. “This is our Roman themed room. You like it?”

  Why was I sitting in a Roman themed room with Shane? And just then…at that very moment a rush of remembrance came to me. This wasn’t a dream. All this was really happening.

  “WHERE’S DEAN!” I shouted as I shot up.

  Shane’s smile faded, but suddenly formed again in a matter of seconds. “Hopefully dead.”

  I shoved Shane and bolted for the door. Before I could even reach it, he was standing before it. Holding his hands out in front of him, signaling me to halt.

  “Mindy…you can’t escape.” Shane said matter -of-factly.

  “What the heck are you doing Shane! You can’t just kidnap me! Get out of my way!” I shouted in his face. “I have to go look for Dean!”

  Shane nodded his head and took a step towards me. I stepped back, but in a quick motion he gripped my arms. It was gentle the way he did it, like he was trying not to hurt me. Then, he guided me towards the bed again and sat me down. I struggled against his hold on me, but I couldn’t manage to budge an inch. Shane lowered himself to eye level with me and took a quick meaningless breath.

  “Deans dead. Believe me, he would have been here a long time ago if he was alive. He’s like the terminator.” Shane said.

  I gulped at the knot forming in my throat. “You killed him!” I accused. He was only holding onto my arms, which meant my feet were loose, so I started kicking at Shane. He jerked his body away from me so he wouldn’t get kicked releasing my arms in the process. Anger took over me; it was a horrible feeling that controlled my actions. I started swinging at Shane and smacking him. He didn’t hit back. He only blocked himself and backed away. I followed and shoved him against the wall, smacking at his chest until I was exhausted.

  I stepped back huffing with tears in my eyes. The tears poured out of my eyes and I covered my face with my hands to have a little privacy from Shane. I couldn’t believe Dean was dead. We weren’t together anymore. He didn’t want me, but I still was in love with him. I couldn’t believe I was left in a world without him. A picture of his smile and his bright eyes popped in my head. And the way he kissed me the first time behind the waterfall. It wasn’t a full blown make-out kiss, but something that meant so much more. The way he stroked my hair out of my face and kissed my forehead. A gesture that I treasured more than he would ever know. I sobbed and yelled out in anger and desperation. Then I felt Shane wrap his arms around me in an embrace to calm me down. Immediately, I broke his hold by waving out my arms and I shoved him away from me. “Don’t touch me!” I yelled out to him.

  For the first time, I saw him frown. It looked full of meaning, as if he were slightly saddened by my outburst. “Don’t tell me you feel that much for him?”

  My crying was calmed by my anger. I only stared at him as tears continued to rush down my face.

  Shane studied me. “You loved him?” He asked with the same frown on his lips. I still did not answer. After studying my face for what seemed like a very long moment, he got his answer. I caught
his eyebrows scrunching together as he turned towards the door. Shane opened it and stood at the entrance without looking at me. “Call out my name if you need me. I’ll be right outside.” Then he shut the door softly behind him.

  I shuddered when the knob clicked shut.

  HE SUN WAS BEGINNING TO RISE; I had never been more pissed to see it cast its light on everything. Usually it was because it scared off the vampires crawling around. Anything that prevented me from killing them was sure to be on my bad side. Today, this morning, it was different. The sun meant that too many hours had passed since my Lina was taken.

  I stomped across the grass wanting whatever bug or living thing that was under my foot to die with the impact. I would find no vampires with the sun scaring them off. The only one that was able to give up Lina’s location was a pathetic sack of shit that got sent back to guard the forest entrance. I should have killed him for making me lose the last chance I had of catching up to them.

  I stared at the waterfall. A wince of pain shot me in the gut. Just yesterday, Lina was here with me, bandaging my cut. How badly I wanted to reach down and stroke her hair. Her hair was as wild and fierce as the fire she ignited in me. I remembered her looking up at me with hope and pain in her beautiful eyes. She should have never felt anything other than happiness and because of me…she was broken.

  I was running out of time. I jumped on my bike and headed home. I walked through the front door and swung it hard behind me. The door hit the wooden frame with a strong impact. I would have to fix the cracked panels later. I should have stepped lightly down the wooden steps of the basement to prevent cracking them. I hadn’t dealt with this rage in a long time. Everything in my path was bound to get crumbled. I took my shirt off and balled it up. I paced back and forth in front of the thing, waiting for it to speak. All the black haired porcupine did was snarl, a soft warning snarl. The kind I imagined a pathetic kitten making with no effect on the menacing beast that stood before it. His jet black hair was slicked back into spikes last night. Now, most of it was missing patches and soaked in blood. His blood of course. The deep red eyes were staring at me with hatred that tried to cover up the fear. I threw my balled up shirt at his face. A split second of not looking at the thing was better than nothing. I grabbed a chair and flipped it around so that I could straddle it. I faced him with my arms resting on the backrest. He didn’t look too comfortable. Had he been a human, his hands and feet would have lost circulation by now. Each hand was tied against an armrest. The rope drilled into that pale skin so tight that it was beginning to look like it was one with the skin.