"Areyna Rose, open the fucking door!" This time it's Jason who shouts, even he doesn't sound right. I whimper, rocking my body back and forth. I'm beyond scared, not knowing what they'll do if they get in here. I glance around, searching for a weapon, anything I can use to defend myself. They were wrong, feeding on someone who cares about you is worse than feeding on someone who doesn't. It's like they have no control over their own actions. The obsession overruling their hearts and minds.
"Am I doomed to always being alone?" I ask the empty bathroom. My voice bounces of the tiles, creating a quiet echo. The banging stops as suddenly as it started, I'm tempted to take a look, see if they've really gone, but I can't bring myself to move.
Seven
Unknown
She’s right there, within reach but I can’t touch her. My heart beats for only her, yet she’s untouchable. Unattainable. My desire for her has never faded, no matter how many years have passed. Her beauty doesn’t fade. Her innocence still intact. She’s everything I’ve ever wanted. Everything I’ve ever desired, yet still I simply observe from afar.
Forever watching.
Forever wanting.
She will be mine, but not just yet.
The fool bangs on the door again, shouting for her to let him in. I can’t let him get near her while he’s under the influence of her bond. If he gets in there, she won’t be my innocent little ray of sunshine anymore. I’d rather kill the fool, but she needs him right now, so I cross the hallway and grab him from behind, my hands clasping tightly around his throat. It’s tempting to squeeze him until the life drains from his pathetically weak body, but I hold myself back. I do the right thing. He won’t have a mark on him and he’ll wake to take care of my girl until the time is right.
It’s over in seconds, he’s out cold and dangling from my arm like a limp noodle. “Remind me next time to knock you out in your own room so I don’t have to drag your ass across the house.”
With my task done, I creep back into the hallway, listening for sounds of movement. Creaks and groans from the house settling are all I hear, even Areyna’s sobs have subsided.
“It won’t be long now my love. Hang in there for a little longer. We’ll be together soon.” I blow a kiss to the closed door, sealing my words with a silent promise.
Eight
Areyna
Hours pass in a daze; the room grows dark as the night begins to set in. My entire Saturday is spent hiding inside my bathroom, alone, cold and scared. At some point I must have dozed off, I wake to the bright morning light shining through the tiny window. My head pillowed by the soft bathmat. As I stand, I stretch my stiff limbs. It only takes me a minute to get my bearings, before slowly turning the lock and peeking out into my bedroom. It's empty, the chair still forced beneath the door handle. I pad on silent feet across the room and press my ear to the door.
Silence greets me.
With shaking hands I pull the chair free, placing it off to the side. The door squeaks softly as I open it and peer out into the empty hallway. Again I creep across the wooden floors, this time over to the stairs.
Still, silence greets me.
Slowly, one step at a time, I descend the stairs, inching my way down to the kitchen. The sight that greets me has my hands beginning to sweat. Jason and Richard are sitting at the table, both eating breakfast like last night never happened. I turn to go back upstairs and hit a creaky floorboard. Freezing in place, praying they can't hear me.
"You going to stand out there all day or are you coming in for some breakfast. I'm pretty sure it's safe, the effects appear to have lessened today." Richard calls out.
With slow careful steps, I walk into the kitchen, prepared to bolt at the first sign of trouble.
"I promise, we're okay baby." I frown over at Jason, that's the second time he's called me that. Cocking my head to the side, I study him out of the corner of my eye, careful not to look at him too directly. "Next time I think it would be best if we were tied up or something for a few hours, we can't have a repeat of yesterday." As Jason laughs his eyes wrinkle at the corners, making him look slightly older than his nineteen years.
He's so handsome, smart, and kind, how could I possibly risk ruining someone as wonderful as him?"I'm never doing that again." I whisper as I grab a bowl out of the cupboard.
"You need to feed, we can't..." I hold my hand up, cutting off Richard's protest. "It's not safe to do it again, the bond makes you worse than it did Marcus." My gaze flickers between the two of them, piercing them with a determined stare. I can't risk them. Without them, I'd have no one.
"Okay, we'll find another way. Maybe we can find another blood bank, see if we can get the same deal going with a second person." I nod at Richard's suggestion, still refusing to get too close to either of them. "Would you like to go out today? We could go shopping, get our school stuff."
"Are you serious Jason? You can't still be thinking of sending me to school after what happened yesterday."
"We're very serious, you need to learn control and you need to learn to blend in, how else are you going to do that?" Richard gets up from the table, taking Jason's and his bowls to the sink. "You won't be alone at the school, at least not for the first couple of weeks, we've been given the assignment of investigating a couple deaths at the school. Senior Constable Sargent Myers is sending us under cover, we'll be attending the school with you." I snicker at their boss’s name, it gets me every time that a man named Sargent would end up being a police officer, then it sinks in what they’re saying, "You're fucking kidding right?"
"Language! We're not kidding, you'll be coming with us to the school and no one can find out that we're police officers." Richard growls cutting off the rest of my protest.
"Explain to me how you two are going to pass for students when every person in this street, kids and adults have seen you pulling into our driveway in a cop car." I raise my eyebrows in question.
"You'll see later. For now, how about we go shopping. Don't make me bribe you with ice-cream..." Jason laughs as Richard wiggles his eyebrows, he knows I'm a sucker for strawberry ice-cream.