by Melody Raven
Her legs wanted to run, but she forced herself to go at a brisk but relaxed pace. If there was trouble, she would have to conserve energy. She repeatedly checked her phone on the walk, but she never got a call.
Because of the late hour, she’d brought her lock pick set along. She didn’t think there would be anyone coming or leaving the building at this hour, and hopefully no one would be around to pay attention to what she was doing.
Even though the city never slept, the people out at four thirty in the morning liked to mind their own business.
When she got there, she didn’t need to pick any locks. The doorjamb was broken, as if someone had pulled until the wood around the lock just gave. Little splinters stuck out from the broken door, and a few rested on the ground where they’d fallen.
That wasn’t good. Anna opened the door slowly, but there was no one in the entryway. It took a lot of strength to break a door. She supposed a human could’ve done it, but it was much more likely that a vampire had pulled on the door so hard the lock ripped out of the wall.
She wanted to go to Nicolas’s apartment to see whether he was there but knew that would be a stupid move. Then again, even coming to the building hadn’t been the brightest idea. Even if there were vampires in the building, chances were they wouldn’t care about her.
They probably wouldn’t know she knew Nicolas. She convinced herself she probably wouldn’t die. She took a quick look at the intercom buttons, and checked the name of the occupant of the apartment below Nicolas.
She went up the first three floors of stairs as quietly as possible. When she reached the third floor, she quietly took off her jacket and shoes. She slipped the mace into her jeans pocket. She called into a closed door, “Okay, okay! I’ll be right back!”
She then climbed the last couple stairs to the fourth floor. She no longer tried to hide her steps.
Nicolas’s door was also broken, to the point that it hung open. She didn’t enter, but she knocked on the open door rather loudly. “Hello?” she called, being obnoxiously loud.
Soon enough, a large man who wasn’t Nicolas walked up to the open doorway. She planted an annoyed look on her face. “Can I help you?” he asked.
She looked him over. He was very tall and wore an oversized coat. Strange for someone inside to wear. She tried to tell whether he was human or not, but just from looks she was unable to decide. He didn’t appear happy to see her and had a large frown firmly planted on his face.
Anna went full force into the act she’d come up with on the fly. “I’m Mrs. Zimmerman’s niece. She was wondering what all the ruckus was.” Anna’s voice clearly conveyed I can’t believe you annoyed her so much she made me come up here at four thirty in the morning.
The man didn’t respond right away. Anna imagined him deciding whether he should kill her or tell her a lie. Anna knew he would try to end this peacefully. She’d crafted her story to make it obvious she had someone waiting for her just one floor below who, apparently, could hear a lot through the floor. She’d also spoken loud enough so the other neighbor on the floor may now be awake. Her bare feet added to the illusion that she’d come from another apartment in the building. She couldn’t wear her jacket, because no one would put on a jacket to go up one story to talk to a neighbor.
Soon enough, he put on a smile. “I’m so sorry for the noise. I had an acquaintance over, and unfortunately it didn’t end well.” He looked down to the doorjamb, as if to emphasize his point.
“Didn’t end well?” She encouraged him to elaborate. If he was going to lie about breaking into Nicolas’s apartment, she would make him work at it.
He lowered his voice and leaned in closer to Anna. She fought the urge to lean farther back from him, but managed to stay her ground. He whispered to her, “It was over a woman.”
She put a knowing smile on her face and nodded at him. “Ahhh,” she whispered back. “I understand.” She really didn’t. She hadn’t seen many fights in her life. The one last night had been an exception.
Anna made a show out of sighing. “Well, try to keep it down. My aunt really likes her sleep.”
He smiled. “You won’t even know I’m here.”
She was about to leave, but then decided to test one more thing. As she walked to the stairs, she said, “I’m Jane, by the way.” Jane Doe had been the only name she could think of. She ended the statement with what she hoped was a flirtatious smile.
“Nicolas,” he said back to her, meeting her smile with his own.
That son of a bitch was stealing Nicolas’s name. She had the urge to pull out her mace right then and there and take the smile off his face.
She managed a quiet goodnight, and walked down the stairs.
She grabbed her shoes and jacket but didn’t pause to put them on. She wanted to get out as quickly as possible. She tried to be quiet, but she knew if he were really listening, he would hear her going down more stairs, and he would notice that no door had been opened on the floor below.
When she was finally out into the night air, she slipped her shoes on as quickly as possible and put her jacket on as she was walking.
She’d wanted to go into Nicolas’s apartment but knew he wasn’t in there. The man had probably broken into the building to look for Nicolas. The only reason Anna could think of him still being there was that he was waiting for Nicolas to come home.
That was good news, because that meant whoever this man was with hadn’t found Nicolas yet, and they hadn’t killed him.
So Anna was left to wonder who this man was and why he would want Nicolas. She refused to believe it was a coincidence this happened the same night she was supposed to meet Mr. X.
She supposed Mr. X could’ve seen him there, but why go through the trouble of tracking him down after he’d put Anna in contact with Nicolas in the first place?
She really needed to talk to Nicolas. She looked at her phone again. No missed calls. She found his number in her contacts and called him. He didn’t answer. She cursed under her breath.
When she was a safe enough distance from his apartment, she stopped to lean against a wall. She didn’t want to go back to her apartment only to wait for a call that might never come. She could go to Central Park. This early in the morning, the joggers would be out, and it would be safe enough. But one o’clock was a distant memory now, so she doubted Nicolas would still be there.
There really was nothing more she could do. She headed back to her apartment. As she rounded the corner to her building, it occurred to her that she might have someone following her, but as long as she got into her apartment, no vampire could enter.
She supposed a human could be working for a vampire, but she could take care of a human. She was a good fighter and had plenty of possible weapons at her home. She just needed to get there.
She walked fast but didn’t run and didn’t look over her shoulder. She unlocked the door to her building in record time and slammed it shut behind her. She looked out the windows after she shut the door but didn’t see anyone looking back at her.
As soon as she was in her apartment, she checked the time again. The clock read five in the morning. Sunrise wasn’t for another two hours. Anna settled in and continued to play the waiting game.
It wasn’t until seven thirty in the morning that she finally got a call. She’d been in bed, trying to sleep after her restless night. When the phone rang, she practically flew off the bed.
She saw his number and almost sobbed in relief. “Nicolas?”
“Good morning.” His voice sounded tired.
“What happened last night? Are you safe?”
“I’m safe for the moment. We were set up.”
Anna frowned. “Set up? What are you talking about?”
“I’m saying this guy, Mr. X, whatever the fuck his name is, he never intended to show up but knew I’d be there. He set me up.”
Anna tried to sort out how Mr. X knew so much. “He knew you would be there? How would he know that?”
“I don’t know!” Nicolas yelled into the phone.
Anna practically jumped, unused to the harsh words coming from him.
“Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“Two of Aleksander’s men were having a meeting at the spot. They got a phone call telling them I was there. I’ve been evading them all night.”
“Aleksander’s men are after you now?” asked Anna. “That’s probably who was at your apartment.”
“What the hell were you doing at my place?” His voice got loud and angry again.
“You didn’t call, and it was getting late—or rather, early,” said Anna. “You could’ve been dying for all I knew. I couldn’t just sit at home and wait.”
“You couldn’t sit home and wait? That’s exactly what you could’ve done! What the hell is wrong with you?”
Anna was glad he was on the phone, because if he was in front of her, she probably would have punched him. “I think we established I have a death wish the second I ganged up with you,” she reminded him. How dare he threaten her as much as he had, and then berate her for getting in dangerous situations?
She continued, “Speaking of stupid moves, going off to a meeting with some strange guy at one in the morning completely alone isn’t exactly life in the slow lane. I wouldn’t have gone out if I wasn’t so sure you were in trouble.”
“I was in trouble! But what exactly did you intend to do about it? You can’t fight off one of Aleksander’s best trained men.”
“You’d be surprised at what I can do, Nicolas.” She surprised herself with that statement. She honestly had no idea what she would do if a vampire came after her. At least if he was killing her, Nicolas would have more time to get away. Anna didn’t exactly want to die for Nicolas, but tonight proved that she had a very strong desire for him to survive.
“I don’t want to argue about this,” she said. “What do we do now?”
“Right now, we can’t do much. The sun just came up.”
Anna walked to the window and looked out at the brightening city. “Are you sure you’re safe?”
“I’ll be fine for the day. What about you?” he asked.
“What about me?”
“You have to be careful today. I have no idea what’s going on, but it has to do with you somehow. You need to stay at your place.”
“It’s daylight. No vampires are going to come after me while the sun is up,” she said.
“They could have humans helping them. Do not let anyone into your apartment today, not even people you know.”
Anna thought about the lack of people who had ever come to her apartment. “Why would someone I know try to attack me in my home?”
“Some vampires, pure ones, can control mortals. Make them do things they wouldn’t normally do.”
Fear snaked through Anna. “That’s ridiculous. Can you do that?”
There was a moment of silence on the other end, and Anna sensed that Nicolas didn’t want to answer the question. After all, why would he want to admit that he could control Anna’s mind? “Oh my God. You can do mind control? That’s not fair.”
“I’ve never done it to you,” he said.
“But you could if you wanted to. How can I even trust that you’ve never gone inside my head? Did you make me kiss you?” she asked.
His deep voice chuckled into the phone. “No, Annabelle. That was all you.”
“Don’t you dare laugh at me! And my name is Anna,” she added.
Thankfully, he dropped the subject. “Will you stay inside today?”
Anna looked out again at the city that was just waking up. She hadn’t slept all night, so it wouldn’t be much of a chore to stay in all day. She would sleep through most of it anyway.
Part of her wanted to disagree, just because in such a short phone call, he’d managed to piss her off so many times. However, this was important. Someone was playing games with them, and it was dangerous.
“I’ll stay inside today. When will I be able to leave, though? I can’t hole up in here forever.”
“I’ll get you tonight. We’ll leave the city and head for Aleksander,” he said.
“Will you tell me about vampires tonight?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
She had a feeling he knew exactly what she meant and was avoiding the topic. “I’m running off with a vampire tonight. I might be killing another vampire soon. Other vampires are chasing us. I have the right to know more.” He was silent. “Will you tell me? All I know are bits and fragments from our conversations, and we don’t talk all that much. I’ve been looking for you my whole life.” She realized how that last sentence came out, and quickly backtracked. “I’ve been looking for people like you my whole life. I deserve to know.”
“I’ve had a very tiring night, Annabelle. I will see you tonight.”
Anna wasn’t happy with his evasion, but she would have all night to pester him. “Okay. I’ll see you tonight then.”
“One more thing,” he said. “I would like to strongly suggest you change your rule about not having sex, because all I can think about is you.”
Nicolas hung up before she could respond, and Anna cursed at her empty bedroom.
Anna slept through most of the day, despite the troubles on her mind. She woke around five in the evening after a dreamless sleep. The hectic events of the night before had completely knocked her out.
She needed to get ready to leave. First she had to get through a long series of phone calls to sort out what to do with her classes during her absence. She called in a lot of favors and gave lots of promises in return for people to help cover for her while she was gone.
She gave a half lie as the reason for her absence. She said the police from her hometown found a possible lead on her father’s disappearance and she needed to go home and be with family.
With that taken care of, she needed to pack. She didn’t know how to pack for a trip with an indeterminate length. She had a nice large suitcase that was a hand-me-down from Abigail, but it didn’t seem practical for running from men who wanted Nicolas, and possibly her, dead.
The only other two bags she had were a backpack and a medium-sized duffel. The backpack was much too small, so the duffel it was.
She threw in one extra pair of jeans and sweatpants, along with two tank tops and two t-shirts. She packed practical underwear and some toothpaste and a toothbrush from the bathroom. She could survive without hair products and didn’t bother to pack any makeup.
It would probably be best if Nicolas saw her looking as plain as possible. If she had low confidence, his continual pursuit would be flattering, but her confidence level wasn’t the issue.
It wasn’t that she thought she was gorgeous or anything. It just had never occurred to her to worry about her looks. To her, the people with striking beauty always seemed to come by it naturally.
No matter what Evie did, she always managed to look like this beautiful, ethereal angel. She had this really thick, curly blonde hair, so when the light would hit it perfectly, a halo would appear around her head. But her beauty had seemed so effortless.
Anna didn’t see the point in putting so much time and thought into an end result that could never compare to Evie’s beauty. She supposed that sounded like a low self-image, but she didn’t think she was ugly by any means.
Anna had a large appetite, but running kept her in good shape. She had pleasant features that with enough work would seem exceptional, but she had never had a reason to work on being more attractive. In school, she’d never been as focused on boys as her classmates. In college, her life had become more about furthering her academic career than the social scene. She brushed the misplaced thoughts aside, deciding she had more important things to focus on.
She didn’t want to pack anything that was valuable, seeing as how she might have to abandon her things at some point, but she had to bring her laptop with her. It might come in handy at some point. After that, the only thing she added to her bag was her canister of mace.
She zipped the bag shut and heard someone knock on the door. She looked over at her clock. The sun wasn’t supposed to set for another half an hour. She wished she still had her gun.
She crossed over to her door and looked through the peephole. Brad stood in her hallway. What was he doing here? How did he even get her address?
She supposed Dennis could’ve told everyone about her short email, but how could he know where she lived? She remembered Nicolas’s warning about not letting anyone inside. It was unlikely that the vampires who were after him had used any mind control on Brad, seeing as how no one she knew was aware that Brad and she knew each other.
Only one person outside of the Stakes would know about their association. That was Mr. X.
Brad had never buzzed her to get into the building. He knocked on the door. That meant that somehow he slipped in.
Anna decided the safest course would be to ignore him until he went away. Brad, however, didn’t approve of that. Soon, he pounded on the door. His fists hit the wood over and over and he shouted on the other side of the door, “Anna! Open the door! I know you’re in there!”
Anna kept quiet. She had no idea what the neighbors would think, but they could go to hell. She wasn’t letting this guy in just so her neighbors would think better of her.
Unfortunately, Brad didn’t give up easily. He continued to pound on the door with renewed vigor. “Open the fucking door! What the fuck is wrong with you? I know you’re there!”
That gave her pause. How exactly did he know she was home? He continued to shout, and other various curse words spewed from his mouth. This was ridiculous. She should call the police, but with Nicolas arriving soon, she didn’t have time to deal with that. Besides, that would be more strange people in her apartment, which was exactly what Nicolas had told her not to do.
She couldn’t stay in here. Brad still pounded on her door, and by this point his hands must be sore. She had a feeling he wouldn’t be leaving any time soon. She made sure the chain lock was still in place and opened it the two inches the chain allowed.
