I briefly considered taking Jane up on her offer and joining the party. I wouldn’t drink, but at least it would be good to be around people. But then I remembered how much I avoided the very seem people in school, so it would be rather awkward to strike up a conversation with them.
The fog made me feel even more alone as I walked home. It blanketed everything around me, making me feel like the only person on a deserted planet. I shuddered at the thought, and I tried not to pretend like everything wasn’t getting to me. It was pretty amazing that Jane was a crying wreck, but I was holding up still.
Maybe it was all the denial. I just kept trying to tell myself that eventually things would have to change.
Somebody would have to talk to me. Right?
I had been so lost in thought that I didn’t notice the footsteps falling behind me until I heard that familiar helium laugh echoing off the fog, making it sound far away and right next to me at the same time. I froze because I have absolutely no flight or fight reflex, and I was completely unprepared. It was just me, alone on an especially deserted street, and nobody had any clue where I was, except maybe for one drunk girl. There would be nobody at home to miss me, and it would probably be a few days before Milo would notice if I didn’t call him.
I was going to die, and not only would nobody care, nobody would even notice. Deciding that it was better to die with dignity, I turned to face my attackers. I wouldn’t be able to out run them, and besides that, since they were probably stalking me, they knew where I was going. It was pointless to run or plead for mercy. For whatever reason, I had gotten under Lucian’s skin and he wasn’t keen on letting me go.
“So, I know you’re there!” I announced into the fog.
I still couldn’t see them, but that wasn’t saying much. They’d have to be almost directly in front of me, but I heard they’re odd echoing footfalls and their dark silhouettes started to materialize. My heart was racing, and I knew they could hear it, but I planned on hiding all the other evidence that I was terrified. My stomach was doing flips but I swallowed hard, and I clenched my fists to keep from shaking. I stuck my chin out defiantly, even though that meant that I would expose my neck more. It didn’t really matter. They would find a way to get to my veins no matter what I did.
Then they were in front of me. Lucian’s pitch black eyes looking at me like I was a piece of meat or the holy grail. His greasy black was slicked back, and he smiled widely, revealing his ridiculous fangs. There was still something enchanting about him, his flawless skin and cheek bones, but I tried not to let myself be entranced. I glanced over at Violet, and the fog made her purple hair fall flat and dull. Her thick black make up had smeared, and instead of looking pleased to finally catch me, her smile seemed to falter.
“You spoiled the chase,” Lucian said, his voice sounding like venom.
“Well, she’s not very much of a catch,” Violet pointed out in her freaky gothic Tinkerbell voice.
She looked at me contemptuously, then shifted her gaze to one of pure lust when she looked at Lucian.
That’s why her smile faltered. After her original appetite for me, she would’ve been content to forget about me and go on with her life. But Lucian was the one that wouldn’t let go, and she was becoming increasingly threatened in his interest in me, which only frightened me more. Generally speaking, people wouldn’t be jealous of a hamburger, so it didn’t seem right that Violet would jealous of me either, unless Lucian’s intentions for more were more than strictly food.
“Okay. Let’s get this over with,” I declared as evenly as I could. I wasn’t exactly eager to die, not that I really had much to live for anymore, but I didn’t want a long drawn out death. If it’s got to happen, the swifter it is the better. That’s always been my motto.
“What’s the hurry?” Lucian reached out to touch my cheek with the back of his hand, but I flinched and his grotesque long, black nails barely brushed my skin. He smiled sweetly at me, and I had swallow back the vomit. “You’re still feisty.”
“Who cares?” Violet scoffed, and they were my sentiments exactly. I never commented on my celery’s spunk.
“I’ve just decided that today is a good day to die, and midnight is rapidly approaching, so we better get this done,” I explained quickly.
Despite my proclamations that I was in fact ready for this, I had unconsciously taken a step back from them. My legs felt like jelly, but they were burning to run. My racing pulse was suggesting that I bolt, but I knew I wouldn’t get very far before I felt Lucian’s arms around me and his hands on me, and that thought just made my skin crawl. That’s when I decided that my best bet out of this was pissing off Violet and hoping that she’d just kill me.
“You’re make up looks stupid,” I spouted at her. It wasn’t really as witty or as painful as I had hoped, but panic was starting to clog the really helpful parts of my brain.
“You look stupid!” Violet countered, giving me a disgusted glare.
“Ladies!” Lucian held up his hand to silence, and I noticed for the time this fingers were bedazzled in rings and jewels. From his exaggerated fangs to his long black coat, his was every vampire cliché that Jack refused to be.
At the club, Violet had even accidentally confessed that his name was really Hector. He had probably been some horrible computer geek that had somehow stumbled onto the vampire underworld, and I’m sure that he completely sought out this life. He wanted the gothic romantic vampire lifestyle, even when it ended up just being kind of tacky and making him into a Halloween caricature.
“This is stupid!” I shouted, surprised by how strong I sounded. “If you’re not gonna kill me, then I’m just gonna go home.”
I don’t even know how that was really a threat or why it made sense to me, but Lucian looked a little surprised and Violet did her shrill little laugh. I was beginning to wonder if she had surgery on her larynx or something, because she did not sound human at all. Technically, she wasn’t, but every vampire I had met sounded human. That was part of their disguise. But her disguise really sucked.
“I’m not going to kill you,” Lucian assured me, and it was just as I suspected. He had something worse planned for me. Just the same, he wasn’t about to let me go. His placed his hand on my arm, and something about his touch set something off inside me. It made it real somehow, and my panic really kicked in.
“Get off me!” I screamed and struggled to pull my arm out of his grip. I knew it was futile before I even started, but I couldn’t stop fighting it. My skin was crawling and I wanted to throw up. “Don’t touch me! Let go! Let go!”
“Alice!” Lucian hissed and then his other hand was pressing firmly on my mouth to quiet my screams.
I had never been so scared in my entire life. Complete panic blacked out everything else. I was flailing and kicking and hitting and pulling on anything I could. I kept screaming, and I wanted to bite his hand, but the thought of tasting his skin or his blood was far too revolting. It was already everything I could to keep from vomiting on him.
He was going to do horrible things to be me, and that certainty was the most terrifying thing I had ever felt. Surprisingly, it was even worse than the awful dismal feeling I got when I thought about living the rest of my life without Jack. That was more of slow burning desolation. This was instant and desperate and rabid.
“Let her go!” a velvet voice boomed out in front of me, and I opened my eyes.
He was far enough away where the fog partially masked him, but his fierce emerald eyes were unmistakable. Magically, Peter was here, which was simultaneously reassuring and frightening.
He would save me from whatever Lucian had planned for me, but then he most likely kill me and Jack. So it was a win/lose situation.
“What?” Lucian sounded bewildered, and my fight against him lessened. I would’ve gone completely slack, but he was still touching me with his wretched hands.
Once, I had fallen in the woods, and my hand had somehow ended up in the carcass of an animal full
of maggots. I wasn’t in any real danger, but that was most disgusting thing I had ever done and it totally freaked me out. That’s exactly how I felt when Lucian touched me. Like I was covered in maggots.
“Let her go!” Peter repeated and took a step closer towards us, his eyes burning with rage.
Even though Peter wasn’t very large, there was something incredibly intimidating about him. The way his jaw tightened and his fists clenched, it only hinted at the uncontrolled anger and power he had inside him. Lucian’s hands were strong on me, but I could sense a hesitation growing in him.
“What the hell is with this girl?” Violet asked incredulously.
“She belongs to me,” Peter growled, and he actually extended his hand out to me, as if he expected them to just me hand over after that statement. Like it was all some misunderstanding, and not an obvious kidnap/murder/rape situation.
“What about the other vampire she was with?” Lucian retightened his grip. He must’ve thought he’d found a chink in the armor, but he hadn’t really.
Peter already knew everything about Jack. He had to have. The dream I had the other night, that wasn’t a dream. Peter had found everything out, and he’d been laying in wait over the last few days. But for what? Suddenly, whatever Lucian had planned didn’t seem quite that bad.
“He is of no concern to you. Let her go.” Peter glared intensely at Lucian. “Now.”
“You have to be more careful with your things,” Lucian tried to sound light and playful, but Peter had unnerved him.
Finally, he let me go, and I jumped away. I think everyone kind of expected me to run into Peter’s arms, and trust me, that was rather tempting, but I didn’t. My skin was still crawling too much, so I just stood off to the side of them, closer to Peter than Lucian, and shuddered. I fought the urge to wipe at my skin and try to brush off Lucian’s touch.
“You’re the one that has to be careful,” Peter corrected him.
Before Lucian could say anything more, Peter pounced at him, reminding me very much of the way I lion pounces on his prey. Lucian made a surprised scream, and Violet yelped and jumped back from them. I stayed frozen in place, watching as the shadows blurred and disappeared in the fog. I heard Lucian yelling and Peter growling, and then there was an awful gargling sound and things that sounded suspiciously like tearing and breaking. Violet had chased after them into the darkness, and she was screaming at them to stop. Then there was a rather horrific ripping sound, followed by Violet sobbing, and I heard her lighter, high-heeled footfalls vanish into the night.
Trembling and trying even harder not to throw up, I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to do.
Did I wait here for Peter? Did I thank him and try and convince him not to kill me? Or did I run off to my place?
Did I try to call Jack, knowing that he wouldn’t answer? There didn’t seem to be any clear answer, and on top of my rampant panic, there was that incessant longing inside me that was trying to pull me towards Peter.
When he finally emerged from the mist, I was still firmly planted where he had left me. His shirt was stained dark across the front, but his skin was completely clean, even though it looked there would’ve been some splatter. He must’ve cleaned himself up a bit, and I wondered if it was for my benefit.
My body tried to pull me over to Peter, but I refused. He ran a hand through his dark hair and didn’t look at me, but it was better that way. I tended to get lost in his eyes whenever I had the chance. A fading pink scratch ran across his face, amazing me at how quickly they healed. There were several tears in his shirt, but the skin it revealed underneath was perfect. Overly perfect, really, just like everything about him.
“What the hell you are doing, Alice?” Peter asked quietly, looking down at the sidewalk.
“What are you doing?” I stammered out in reply. It sounded like I was being glib, but I really wanted to know. What was Peter doing? Was this just a warm up for his murder attempt on me?
“Alice, I’m being serious,” Peter sighed, sounding frustrated.
“So am I!” I managed to be more forceful this time, and he looked over at me, his green eyes mixed with irritation and affection. As of yet, he wasn’t showing any signs of murderous rage towards me. So that was good.
“You do realize that giving up and dying isn’t the same as being brave?” He looked at me severely.
“What other choice did I have?” I argued, and I tried not to let him haze up my mind. “If I ran, he would catch me! He’s too strong for me to fight off!”
“So?” Peter was incredulous. “You fight anyway! You run until he catches you! This is your life, Alice! Why are you always so eager to give it up?”
“I’m not!” I insisted, but I shook my head, realizing how pointless this argument was. “What’s it to you, anyway? Aren’t you gonna kill me in like ten minutes?”
“What?” He narrowed his eyes in surprise and confusion. “Why would I kill you?”
His genuine surprise startled me. Even after he had tasted my bitter blood, it hadn’t occurred to him to kill me. He’d known about it for days, and as far as I knew, he hadn’t killed Jack yet either.
In fact, the only thing he’d done was save my life. This wasn’t exactly the picture everyone had painted for me.
“You did already try once.” I crossed my arms on my chest, trying not to let on that I was just as bewildered as he was.
“That was a mistake, and I already told you that would never happen again,” he brushed me off.
There was something almost endearingly matter-of-fact about him. Sure, he had tried to kill me, but he said he wasn’t go to again, so what was I worried about? Once facts were in evidence, it should be accepted and moved on. When he encountered something he didn’t understand, I’d half-expect him to say, “That does not compute.”
“What about Jack?” I ventured, and my voice gave away how much that made me nervous.
Peter tensed up at the mention of his name and stared off into the night. He bit his lip, thinking of something, but I had no idea what it could possibly be. There was an agonizingly long span where he didn’t even move. I was fidgeting and scared, but I was afraid that if I pressed him for an answer, it wouldn’t be one that I liked, so I waited as best as I could.
“We need to go home and get things in order,” Peter sighed at length.
“What?” My voice went up an octave.
“There’s no other way about it.” He reached out so I would take his hand, and I did, but hesitantly.
I got the same electric surge I always did, and I hated the warmth of pleasure that flooded over me. His hand, the one gripping mine, could very well cause the death of Jack, who I was certain was my one true love.
That sounds far cheesier than I meant it to, but I don’t know how else to describe him, especially considering all these other mucked up feelings I have thanks to my blood and Peter.
I let Peter lead me through the fog towards his Audi, parked across the street. I tried really, really hard not to think about how wonderful it had felt when he bit me and how I kind of really wanted him to do it again.
Instead, I tried to think of a course action so that I could somehow save Jack. Maybe I could have Peter bite me again. That would at least give Jack some time to… I don’t know what. That wasn’t really a plan.
Once inside the car, I came up with the only plan I could think of. After Peter started the car, I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket. I thought about trying to hide it from him, but he’d figure it out anyway. He didn’t say anything until after I’d hit send and we already soaring down the road.
“Who did you text?” Peter asked, his voice devoid of emotion.
“Jack and Mae.”
“What did it say?” Peter looked at me out of the corner of his eye, and I swallowed hard.
“That I was with you and we were on the way to your house,” I admitted honestly.
He nodded once, and then noncommittally, he commented, “That’s probably f
or the best.”
I almost asked him if he planned on killing Jack, but then I decided that I didn’t want to know. If he said yes, there wouldn’t be any hope for this turning out okay. At least this way, I could sink down in the seat and think that maybe this is all a misunderstanding. Peter obviously didn’t have any intention of hurting me. In fact, he’d been kinder to me than he ever had been before.
Then again, maybe that was a rouse. As the old saying goes, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.
Chapter 23
When the Audi pulled into the garage, I noticed with some relief that the Lamborghini was gone.
Meaning Jack probably wasn’t here. Since I hadn’t talked to him in days, I had no idea where he might be, but as long as he wasn’t here, that was fine by me. Admittedly, I missed him terribly, but this wasn’t exactly the reunion I had in mind.
Peter rested his hand on the small of my back as he ushered me into the house, and I tried to pretend like I didn’t notice the tingles it sent through me. My heart was beating that funny way again, the one that drove everyone mad, and I hoped that Milo wasn’t home. While he had seemed to show immense self control, he’d only been a vampire for a month.
No one greeted us at the door, which surprised me a little since I had given Mae a heads up on our arrival. I thought she would be the best person to inform since everyone’s safety was her priority. Matilda was barking and scratching at the basement door, which led me to believe that Mae had stepped in to provide provisions. If Jack and Peter were going to start battling it out, Matilda would probably get hurt, so Mae put her in the basement to protect her. That did not bode well for my theory about Jack not being home, however.
“Hello?” Peter announced cautiously, his silken voice resonating through the entryway. He sighed loudly when Mae didn’t rush into greet us, the way she would’ve any other time. “She did always like Jack better than me. She needs someone to coddle.”
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