by D. N. Hoxa
No, he was standing right in front of Luke. What the heck? How had I missed that, when they were both right in front of me?
I must have hit my head harder than I thought.
“Listen, just let us both go. Luke isn’t lying. We won’t tell anyone anything, I give you my word. We’re leaving tonight, just as soon as we get out of here. Just please, don’t hurt him. You’ll never hear from us again,” I said in a rush, afraid he wouldn’t even let me finish.
A second later, Red Tie appeared in front of me.
Yeah, poof, just like that!
That’s what convinced me that this was nothing but a dream. A nightmare, because I’d seen the man standing by Luke, and a blink later, he was in front of me, though there were at least seven feet between us. And let’s not even talk about his red eyes, or his sharp teeth. Standard nightmare material.
“The word of a human means very little to me, pretty girl,” he said and when his breath blew on my face, it was like steam. Too warm to be normal. “I’m still not going to take any chances, but you don’t need to worry about a thing. A young girl like you will move on easily.”
My breath caught in my throat. Everything else melted away: the other strangers, the dead men on the floor, the flashing lights of the club, even Luke. It was just me and Red Tie. Nobody had ever threatened Luke before, except my uncle, but he was a different story. That’s why the feeling that took over me after hearing his words caught me by surprise.
Before I realized it, I slapped him as hard as my body allowed me. When the palm of my hand connected with his cheek, time stood still for a second. I didn’t breathe at all. Even my heart had stopped beating.
Then, Red Tie laughed.
When his friend grabbed me by the hair for the second time, Red Tie waved him away. My skull still felt like it caught fire before he let me go, though, and my neck hurt as if it had been a split second away from breaking.
“Love your spirit,” Red Tie said, his perfect teeth shinning right in front of my eyes.
“Let us go, right now,” I demanded, my voice shaking. Obviously, begging wasn’t going to help with this guy, but making demands only made him laugh harder. What the hell else was there for me to do?
“And if I say no?” he asked, very amused by the look on my face.
“I’m going to kill you.” Even more laughter. Now, his men joined him, too. “I swear it. I’ll find you and I’ll kill you, even if it takes my whole life to do it.” My voice kept breaking on every other word but they all heard me.
“Nova, please,” Luke said, shaking his head, but I wasn’t going to stop.
I didn’t want to die! Not now. We were one hour away from starting our new life, a life we’d both dreamed of every single night and day. If these guys wanted to do something, they could either let us go or kill us both. Luke and I were one.
“I wish more of my people we like you,” Red Tie said. “And to show you just how much you impressed me, I’m not going to kill your boyfriend.”
Tears sprung from my eyes, but I had no interest in stopping them for once. A heavy weight lifted from my shoulders and in my mind, the sun had already come up. “Thank you,” I whispered with all my heart. I didn’t care if he was a cold-blooded murderer with red eyes and sharp teeth. All I cared about was that Luke and I got out of there in one piece.
Red Tie grinned, and the sight, though beautiful, made me think of evil. “But I didn’t say I wasn’t going to hurt him.”
The words had yet to make sense to me when he was already right in front of Luke again. He grabbed a handful of Luke’s hair and pulled his head to the side, then bit the side of his neck.
The scream that left my lips could have brought the whole building down if I had it my way. I ran forward but iron fingers wrapped around my arms and held me back. I continued to scream at the top of my voice while Red Tie did whatever he was doing to Luke’s neck. What kind of an animal was he?
A blink later, Luke’s eyes turned in their sockets. He fell to the floor with a loud thump.
My legs refused to carry me any longer and I fell to my knees. I called to him over and over again, but he wouldn’t open his eyes.
Luke wouldn’t open his eyes.
The whole world fell apart in seconds. My heart broke into a thousand pieces. Even my voice gave up on me and I could no longer make a single sound.
“Let’s go,” Red Tie said with a huge smile in his face. At the sound of his voice, something cold and hard settled on my chest and asked for control over my body. I gave it.
I felt the second my mind was no longer my own. I watched myself as if from across the room. With shaking hands, I grabbed the closest beer bottle on the floor and I broke the bottom of the glass on the tiles. Every cell in my body screamed murder, and I was already on my feet, looking back at Red Tie and his men, walking toward the doors like they had all the time in the world.
I didn’t think. I didn’t plan. All I did was run, the broken beer bottle in my hand. If they took my whole life away from me in a second, without mercy or regret, I was going to do the same to at least one of them. That was all that mattered now. Revenge swam in my veins and nothing was going to remove it except Red Tie’s blood.
The last man walking behind his boss must have heard my footsteps because he turned his head back. He did so just in time. I swung my arm forward with all my strength, and the broken glass of the beer bottle buried in his cheek.
Thick, warm blood on my hand. The man fell back, and I went down with him. With my legs on either side of his torso, I pulled the beer bottle out of his cheek, then stabbed him with it again. And again. And again…until the man no longer moved. His eyes were wide open, looking at the ceiling, never blinking. Good enough for me.
I stood up and tried to wipe the splatters of blood from my face but after the first attempt, I stopped. It didn’t matter how much blood I had on my skin. I was going to die soon, anyway.
Red Tie and his three remaining men were looking at me like I was an alien. They still hadn’t drawn out their guns. Maybe I would be lucky enough to get another one before they got me. And with that thought in mind, I ran toward the closest man to my right.
He jumped back, his eyes wide, looking as terrified as Luke had looked before he fell to the floor. The broken beer bottle was in my hand, ready to take another life, and I swung it forward as far as I could.
It wasn’t far enough. The man bent back, and I couldn’t even scratch him.
“Drop your weapons!” someone shouted.
The madness that had taken over me made me laugh as I tried to cut the man in front of me again. The goddamn police. Now they had come! Now, when Luke was already dead!
But now, I no longer needed them.
Gunshots filled the club like music. Red Tie and his men began to run to the back where they’d come from. With the broken bottle in my hand, I followed. I didn’t bother to get down. If the police were at the door, they’d see me. I had no reason to be afraid for my life. Not anymore. So I chased after the men…except I blinked once and all four of them were at the end of the club.
My body froze because it knew there was no chance in hell I could catch up with them. I definitely didn’t have whatever it was that made them move like that. My brain tried to come up with a decent plan—any plan that would get me close to Red Tie. But I was blocked. Even my imagination couldn’t create a scenario like that.
Letting go of the beer bottle, I ignored the people that were running toward me. With shaking legs, I went to Luke’s body. Crying wasn’t something I thought to do. I was numb. The lights of the club, blue and green and pink, fell on Luke’s pale face, half covered in blood, just like the right side of his neck. His skin was cut open and I could see all the way to his collarbone. Taking my jacket off, I tried to cover the wound. My fingers shook violently as I touched his cheeks.
No heart beat inside of me. No blood coursed through my veins. It wouldn’t, until Luke looked at me again.
I’
d lost him. I’d lost all the will to live. Red Tie’s face pictured itself in front of my eyes. I was probably going to go to jail for killing his friend, but it didn’t matter. As soon as I got out, I’d find the red eyed devil. I’d find him and then I’d fulfill the promise I made him. His life was mine to take.
When someone touched my shoulder, my body let go. I fell on my back as three masked faces loomed above me. I couldn’t hear anything. One of them pulled the mask down under his chin. I could see his lips moving but I couldn’t read them. Not like I could read Luke’s.
Darkness sucked my consciousness little by little and, two seconds later, the faces above me disappeared.
Chapter Two
Someone slapped me. Hard.
My mind reacted but my body seemed to still be asleep.
“Wake up!” they shouted right at my face. My eyes opened in a rush.
The man in front of me was so close, our noses were almost touching. Instinct took over. I pushed him off with all my strength.
Good to see my body was working again. Standing up probably looked a lot easier than it was. I barely made it to my knees, then fell back on the floor again, before my legs agreed to hold me upright. I was going to ask what the hell had happened but then, the memories crashed onto the walls of my mind and my stomach turned.
Luke.
I turned to look at where I’d last seen him—right by my side—but the spot was empty. Luke wasn’t there.
“Where is he?” I asked, my voice emotionless. The two dead bodies were still there, covered in a black plastic cover, but I couldn’t see Luke. Limping and dragging my feet behind me, I circled the VIP section twice, but he wasn’t there.
“Miss, we need you to calm down,” the man said as he slowly approached me, his hands raised up.
“Don’t come any closer!” I shouted. “There was a guy here.” I pointed at where I’d last seen Luke. “Where is he?”
“We’ve taken him into custody,” the man said. Custody…
“What does that mean?” Was he the police? Because he didn’t look like one. He had no uniform, just a suit and a weird looking black hat on his head.
Come to think of it, where were the police? The whole club was empty, except for us and the dead bodies. That couldn’t possibly be a good sign. I’d seen the police officers right before I lost consciousness, so where were they now?
“I mean, he’s been taken to the hospital,” the man said. “I really need you to calm down.”
“Hospital?” My heart almost gave up on me. Tears blurred my vision. My knees shook but I held myself from falling. “He’s…he’s alive?” I’d seen Red Tie tear his fucking throat up. I’d seen Luke fall on the floor with his eyes closed. He hadn’t even been breathing…had he?
“He is, for now,” the man said, putting his hands in his pockets.
“For now? What do you mean, for now?”
The man lowered his head. “I’m afraid your friend is in a coma.”
My hands were in front of my face, as if to shield me from the view around me. I allowed myself a second to just cry out loud, my body shaking as I gasped for air. Just minutes ago, my whole world had come crushing down. But Luke wasn’t dead!
And now that Luke wasn’t dead, everything was coming back in place. He was in a coma. I’d take coma over death any day of the weak. I’d wait twenty years for him to wake up if I had to. What mattered was that he was going to be fine.
“Can you sit down, please?” the man said. He was right in front of me now, pointing behind me, at where he’d put one of the white VIP chairs with the ribbons tied behind them. I didn’t need to be told twice. “I know this is a lot to take in, but I’m going to need you to tell me exactly what happened here. You’re the only witness.” I couldn’t figure out whether he really was sorry for asking me, or if he was just bored.
“I’ll tell you everything, but can we do that on our way to the hospital?” I stood up again. It didn’t matter how exhausted I was. Luke was waiting for me.
“I’m afraid we can’t, Miss…” the man raised his brows in question.
“Vaughn. Nova Vaughn.”
He offered me his hand. “Nicholas Terrin.”
“Are you the police?” I said as I shook his hand.
“I’m a detective, yes,” he said. I was going to ask for a badge, but then again, why would he lie? And why would I waste time when Luke was in the hospital, in a coma, all alone?
No, I definitely didn’t need to see anything. I just needed to speak fast and be gone.
“Okay, so, I’m a bartender. Luke was a waiter. We heard gunshots and the whole club emptied out in minutes. We—”
“Just a moment, please. What time was this?” He took out a leather covered pad from the pocket of his jacket and began to write something on it.
“I’m not sure. Probably two am. Anyway, Luke was being held by the guys who killed these two,” I looked at the bodies under the plastic cover.
That’s when it occurred to me. I’d killed a man, too. But the man I’d killed was gone.
My whole body froze. What the fuck? I’d stabbed the guy with a broken beer bottle! I had the scars and the blood in my hands and face to prove it.
How come the body wasn’t there?
“Tell me about those guys,” Terrin said with a sigh. Suddenly, he seemed very exhausted, too. Almost like I was boring him, which could work to my benefit.
Did I want to lie? Did I want to skip mentioning the guy I killed altogether? If there was no body, how were they going to tie me to it? So…did I really want to lie?
Heck, yeah.
Luke was in the hospital. Nothing was going to stop me from going to him.
“There were five of them. One of them was in charge. He was broad shouldered, kind of handsome in a…demonic way,” I said, swallowing hard as I remembered Red Tie.
“Demonic?”
I flinched. Maybe that had been the wrong word to use. “Listen, I was really out of it. I think I was in shock. I saw things that weren’t there and I really don’t think I’m the right person to tell you about what happened here.” Terrin was tired, bored, and wanted to get out of there as fast as I did. He would have done both of us a favor if he’d just written what I said in whatever report he sent to his superiors and let us get on our way.
But he didn’t write anything in his pad. Instead, he put it back in his pocket and looked at me with a new wave of curiosity. Suddenly, he was analyzing every inch of my body. His brown eyes sparkled with something I couldn’t quite put into words, but it scared me, and not a little.
“What things?” he finally whispered.
I shrugged to try and play it like this was no big deal. Like even the air in the empty club hadn’t suddenly changed. “Just things.”
“How would you know that they weren’t really there?”
Regret took over my chest and I bit my tongue. Damn it, I should not have mentioned anything to him. “Because I saw things that aren’t possible.” I was going to have to be a lot more careful now.
“What things?” Terrin said, no longer bored or tired. Alert and angry instead. I took a step back.
“Look, this isn’t going to get us anywhere. Please, just let me go. I’ve got to get to my cousin. He’s all alone.” I’d beg him if I had to for this to be over sooner.
“Tell me what things, Nova Vaughn,” he said and stepped closer to me. Goosebumps on my arms. Who the hell was this guy?
Lying no longer seemed like the best option, because I’d gone and blown it by practically telling him I’d lost my damn mind. Now the only way out of this seemed to be by telling him the truth. If I did, he’d know that I really had been out of it. In shock. He’d have no reason to hold me there anymore. So, with a deep breath, I spoke.
“He…one of them had red eyes. And he had sharp teeth. He moved really fast, too. He bit Luke on the neck, and he…” I began to laugh. Saying those things out loud made me sound like a lunatic, perfectly fit to be locked up i
n one of those white rooms I’d seen in the movies, wearing those weird shirts that wouldn’t let you move your arms. “See what I mean? I was in shock. I can’t be a witness to anything. I just really want to go now.”
Terrin had gone really pale suddenly. He no longer even looked angry. He looked sick.
“Are you okay?” I asked, and regret filled me once again for telling him all of that. What if he really took me to some sort of a mental health institute or something? Way to go, Nova.
“I’m going to need you to come with me, Miss Vaughn,” Terrin said.
“What?”
“I need you to come with me, right now.”
Heat crawled up to my cheeks. “No! Are you kidding me? Luke is in the hospital! I already told you everything I know. You have to let me go!” I shouted. My voice echoed in the club, but I’d had enough of this. My mind was already made up. I was going to run to the door and out, and I wasn’t going to stop until I found Luke.
But then… “Put your hands behind your back, Miss Vaughn.” Terrin had a gun pointed right at my head.
My mouth went dry. “What are you doing?”
“Turn around, real slow, and put your hands behind your back,” he said. He was back to being angry, only now, he looked kind of demonic too.
Oh, no. What the hell had I done?
“Please,” I whispered as I realized what was going on. God, how could I be such a fool?
“I’m not going to ask you again.” And he put his finger on the trigger.
“You’re not the police, are you?” I asked halfheartedly.
“I’m afraid not,” he said without hesitation. The urge to cry again grabbed me by the throat but I held myself. He moved his gun in a circle, and slowly, I began to turn around.
There were still broken pieces of glass and broken bottles all over the floor. I could grab one and attack him. Kill him, too. A bottle of vodka was right next to my foot, and I reached for it, but Terrin was faster. He grabbed both my arms and pulled them behind me, and a blink later, I felt the coldness of the handcuffs that locked around my wrists.
“This is a mistake,” I breathed, my voice shaking, my eyes squeezed shut. Why the hell was this happening to us? Hadn’t we gone through enough, Luke and I?
