Аманда Хокинг - Flutter

“Alice? Oh thank god you answered!” Jane sobbed in relief, but her voice was shaking. “I’ve run into some trouble, and… Oh god. I am sorry. I don’t know-” She sounded absolutely terrified, and she knocked any of the warm fuzzy feelings I still had out of me.

“What are you talking about? What’s going on?” I asked.

“I don’t know! They just made me call you!” Jane said, then she shrieked and her voice got farther away.

“Jane? Jane!” I shouted.

“No, its not Jane,” a male voice returned to the phone, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. It was strong and deep with an accent I couldn’t place. Almost British, or maybe German, but softer.

“This is Alice, I presume?”

“Where’s Jane?” I demanded, refusing to answer his questions until he told me what was going on.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jack hurriedly getting dressed. I’m not sure if he could overhear the conversation, or if he just saw the panic in me.

“If you want to see her again, I suggest you come and get her,” the voice said. There was something sinisterly playful in his voice, and I could hear Jane crying in the background. “Where are we again?” Jane yelped. “Where are we? You need to tell us if you want your friend to come rescue you.”

“You son of a bitch!” I growled. “Leave her alone! When we find you, we’ll kill you!”

“We?” He chuckled. “Even better.” Jane screamed behind him.

“Loring Park!” Jane sobbed in the background. “We’re at Loring Park! But Alice! Don’t come! They’re going to-” She screamed again, cutting off the rest of her sentence.

“As you can tell, we’re in a hurry, so act accordingly,” he said, then the phone went silent.

If Jack hadn’t already been moving, I might have just sat there feeling dazed. Immediately after he hung up the phone, I tried calling back, but it went straight to voicemail. Jack had already pulled on shorts and a tee shirt, and he was struggling to pull on his Converse as quickly as possible. My stomach lurched, and panic and hunger were mixing together, making me feel volatile and frail.

“Alice?” Jack said, trying to snap me out of it. “Where is she?”

“Loring Park,” I told him numbly. “I don’t know who has her, but I think they’re going to kill her.

And they want me to come. She’s bait for me?” Jack pursed his lips and looked at me thoughtfully for a moment.

“You stay here. I’ll go get her,” Jack decided and made a step for the door.

“No!” I jumped up, holding the blanket around me. “If this is about me, there’s no way you’re going without me.”

“Alice, it isn’t safe,” Jack shook his head.

“Exactly!” I ran to the closet to put on clothes before he left. I don’t think I’d ever gotten dressed so quickly in my life. Jack stood in the doorway to the closet and sighed. “I’m a vampire now. I can take care of myself.” This I said while I struggling to put on a pair of jeans and nearly falling over. “I beat up Jane’s boyfriend or whatever before. If you can handle it, I can handle.”

“No. I’m much more skilled than you are, and you just lost blood.” He crossed his arms over his chest and tried to look as resolute as possible.

“I don’t care.” I slipped on my shoes and walked up to him. “We’re together now, forever.

That means if you’re in danger, I’m in danger. Jane needs help, and we’re going together.”

“I don’t like it,” Jack relented.

“I don’t care.” I pushed past him, knowing that we had to hurry to save her, and I had to hurry before he changed his mind. He couldn’t stop me from going, but he could slow us down with unnecessary arguing.

“Alice?” Milo opened my bedroom door before I could even get to it. He had a bewildered, frantic look on his face, and my heart raced, fearing that he might be in trouble too. “Is everything okay?” He pushed the door open a little bit wider and stepped inside. “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. Why? What’s going on with you?” I narrowed my eyes at him.

“Nothing! I just… I thought something was wrong,” Milo floundered. Then I realized what had happened. Just like I was tuned into his heart, he was tuned into mine. It had been beating in a panic for the last few minutes, so Milo was concerned. He probably would’ve come in right away, but he misread it at first as being part of the festivities that me and Jack were partaking in.

“Jane’s in trouble.” I chewed my lip, looking at him, and Jack gave me a weird look. Milo was my little brother and I’d do almost anything to protect him. But he was a vampire, more powerful than me, and from the sounds of it, Jane had more than one attacker and she was terrified. We needed all the help we could get.

“She’s in the park. I don’t know who has her, but I think they want to kill her, and they want us to hurry.”

“What are you talking about?” Milo tensed up, and I could see his muscles flexing under his shirt.

Someday, he’d probably even be more powerful than Jack, especially since he had so much control.

“I don’t know! And I don’t have time to explain! If you want to come with, we have to go now!” I looked insistently at him, and I knew my invitation surprised Jack. He’d expected to me demand Milo stay here and try to protect him, and maybe I should’ve. But we were three vampires, and Jane might die. I didn’t think I had much of a choice.

“I’m in,” Milo nodded once. “Let’s go.”

We’d barely made it out the bedroom door when we ran into another snag. Bobby was in the process of pulling a sweater on over his head when he came of his room. He saw us in a hurry, so he caught up with us.

“What’s going on?” Bobby asked nervously.

“Nothing. Go back to your room.” Milo tried to make it down the steps, but Bobby wouldn’t stop following him. Jack and I paused at the bottom of the steps, but I wouldn’t be able to wait for long for either of them. The clock was ticking.

“Where are you going on? Why do you all look so freaked?” Bobby’s hair had been mussed when he pulled on the sweater, and he tried to smooth it out while keeping his eyes fixed on Milo.

“What happened?”

“Look, just go back upstairs!” Milo said sternly. “You can’t come with!”

“Why?” Bobby was only getting more and more freaked out. “What you are doing?”

“It’s too dangerous for a human. Just go!” Milo pointed up to the top of the stairs like Bobby was a disobedient dog.

“Dangerous?” Bobby blanched. “No! If you can get hurt, I’m going with you!”

“We don’t have time for this! We’re going now!” I waved my hands of it and walked to the garage.

Jack was a step of ahead of me, but Milo trailed behind me with Bobby at his heels.

“Bobby!” Milo snapped at him when we reached the garage. “You can’t come with!”

“No!” Bobby grabbed into Milo’s arm and looked as if he might cry. I wondered if this is what I had looked like when I was mortal. “I’m not gonna stay here why you go off to …”

“Get in the car,” Jack said, looking over the Lexus at Bobby.

“What? No!” Milo protested, and I gave him a questioning look. Jack refused to meet my gaze, and I knew he was thinking something, but I couldn’t tell what it was.

“Just do it,” Jack commanded and hopped in the driver’s seat.

Milo and Bobby did as they were told, although that didn’t stop Milo from arguing about how idiotic it was for Bobby to be coming along. I agreed with him, but I kept my mouth shut. Jack started the car, and we sped out of the garage, on the way to the park. It wasn’t until I was trapped in the enclosed space of the car with Bobby that I realized how hungry I was. He was afraid, so his heart was beating even faster, and my mouth started to water. I had to grip onto the door handle to keep my hand from shaking.