Аманда Хокинг - Fate

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.