Episode 2
1090 Words
I can't look at him. I can't touch him. I just know. Everything inside me is wailing. Dead. Dead. Dead. My eyes cut over to Faith, who is staring at the floor, her mouth wide and her eyes sewn to Jack's slumped figure. I can feel the blood touch my feet. I'm not afraid, I decide, we'll be together in heaven. I jump up.
"Get out! Get out!"
The blood on my glasses clouds my vision, but I know I've never seen people who look like this before. Their skin is paper-white, shimmering softly like fish scales in the low cafe lights. Their eyes burn bright red, like stoplights. There's at least five of them, dressed in tactical all-black. And they're huge. Jack is--was--6'2. They dwarf him. To them, he must've really been a little jackelope.
A sound rips out of my throat that I didn't know I could make. "Get out!"
The largest man steps forward. "Little wolf." His deep voice lifts into a crisp, cutting laugh. My eyes meet his, that startling red. They are intoxicating. I can't look away. They're two delicious swirling pools that I want to dive into. The heart-wrenching ache starts to fade. All there is, all that ever was, is the desire to fall into those eyes. Those beautiful red eyes. The skin I want to drag my hands across. He sniffs the air once and his mouth curls into a lovely pout.
"No wolf. It isn't here."
The men break out into a loud array of equally musical voices.
"f**k! Just human bitches! We blew our cover for nothing!"
I step toward the end of the bar. Faith grabs my foot, her whole body trembling. I can't stop myself; my legs are moving by themselves. I drag her body weight with me with each slow step.
"I'm going to rip them apart," the strange man decides. "Limb by limb. I will drain every drop. First the blonde. Then the fake wolf."
Faith sobs. I can't stop; my foot takes another step. The wails won't come. The man looks at me expectantly, the fluorescent lights dancing off that shimmery skin. His large palms face open, beckoning me. I can't stop myself. Even the violent words melt into a seductive sweetness once they reach my ears.
"No, no! Anna! No!"
His skin looks so soft and so touchable, the large muscles begging to be traced. I tilt my head, catching more of those intoxicating eyes. My fingers reach, trembling, toward his. Just a touch. Just one. Faith's screams are a shrill chorus to what would otherwise be such a pretty song.
Something snaps my attention away. The door flies open, the café flooded with a burning white light. It sears my eyes and causes the figures to howl, the sounds no longer musical but shrill. The glass windows shatter, the men frantically clawing their way out into the darkness.
The smoke in my head clears, and so does my bravery. Another wail tears from my throat and Faith digs her fingers deeper into my ankle; that'll bruise. That I know. I sink to the ground. I know I'm crying because I can feel the tears splatter my face. I feel distant from myself, like I'm watching a movie. My eyes are in soft focus as the blinding light nears.
"Oy!" The voice is hard to describe; it dances with light. A happiness that reminds me of Jack. I feel my heart clench. Faith has wrapped herself around my shoulders, rocking me gently. She must be in shock, too, just like me. "Is anyone alive in here--ah--"
The light turns off, plunging my damaged vision into darkness.
"The little wolf."
Faith grips me harder. This isn't happening. I was supposed to be wed. The man I'm supposed to marry is dead.
"You have the wrong person." My mouth is bone dry. I only realize I've spoken because I can hear the words, raspy and weak.
Vision returns to my eyes in cracks. First the moonlight filtering in through broken windows, then the shape of a man. He's large and pale, just like the men who killed Jack. I squeeze against Faith even tighter, a scream welling up in my throat. Fingers, long and nimble, meet my lips in seconds.
"You're just human."
I look into his eyes. I should've learned my lesson, but I can't stop myself. Crystal blue, the color of a summer sky. A wisp of blonde hair covers the other one, dangling over a hook nose. He looks like the opposite of Jack, almost delicate, like a porcelain doll. His muscles, under an evergreen tunic, are thin but well-defined.
I start to sob. In the distance come sirens. His lips curl up in disgust.
"To think they barged into the human world for nothing. And to kill a Morrisette--what an annoyance. You know how much time this is going to take to clear up? Years. Years of mindless diplomacy with the human world."
"A-are you going to kill me?" My heart shudders. I can't help it. My pulse is a runaway. I know I'm going to puke.
He shrugs. "It's that or you go work at the School. You girls both. Are you going to college now?"
I nod dumbly. Feeling is returning to my fingers. I feel alive again, like a real person in real danger and not just an empty shell. I know I'm in shock, but something primal in me knows we have to get up. Faith can't meet the same fate that Jack did.
"We'll have to get your transfer papers. It's not ideal, but--aw, s**t! I'm wasting time. Worst case you can go into a zoo." He tucks his hair behind an ear, and that's when I notice it. The creamy skin comes to a long, sharp point. This man is not human. That, or this whole day has been nothing but a wild nightmare. He removes a roll of jute rope from his belt. "Will you come quietly?"
It comes crashing back. The men. My dead fiance. This stranger, talking nonsense and holding rope. I just need to get to the police, I can hear the sirens outside. Death is not something new to me. Death is a constant background whir to my simple life. I have to make it to anyone who can listen to me.
I grip Faith's hand. I eye the moonlight and the broken glass, a sharp mosaic on the ground. I pull her up and run.
We don't get very far.
- Writer
