Run Over

I followed meekly behind Nate as he led me up a flight of stairs and through hallway after hallway to the room where I would be "kept". Great.

The image that my mind would not stop showing me at that moment was of Belle following the Beast as he led her through his castle to her room after she sacrificed herself. I hoped that I could also not die at the end of this little adventure.

Nate stopped abruptly in the hallway, the jerk. I was lost in my hopeless fairytale thoughts and dreams and walked into his back, almost falling while dragging my thoughts back to reality. Damn, he was heavy.

Nate chuckled and turned around, smiling widely. I—in my infinite embarrassment—was looking at the ground blushing again.Damn the redness to hell.

I mean, even though this guy was the one who kidnapped me, thoroughly freaked me out by smelling me and could drain me dry if he felt like it, I admit he was ethereal. The way his messy black hair fell over one of his piercing green eyes that stared with such intensity that–

Whoa! What the hell was I thinking? I mean, this guy was the creep who kidnapped me and I'm going on about his hot looks? I had serious attention issues. Oh God, what if I got that Stockholm syndrome thing? Great. Just frigging great.

I was jolted out of my thoughts once again as Nate slid his lean arm around my waist in my moment of distraction, smirk firmly in place. The sudden closeness caused me to back up in surprise as I tried to get out of his iron-grip. I only succeeded in backing into the dark grey hall wall.

I’m a poet and I didn’t even know it.

I mentally slapped myself, Attention! Pay attention! Quickly looking up at him, I fought the blush that was threatening to rise to my cheeks, and summoned the dirtiest look I could throw at a guy who looked as glorious as he did. I only succeeded in making him chuckle and smirk (again). I could have screamed in frustration.

What is with him and smirking? Seriously.

"This is your room." He motioned to the door next to me. Of course, I didn't take my eyes off of him, I didn't trust him with that display of weakness. "Mine is two doors down. Just in case you need anything," he added with an amused look in his eyes.

Ew. Just. Ew.

I was quickly getting over my disgust of his over-sized libido when I realized something.

"So, I'm not going to be locked in my room?" I asked in disbelief, eyes widening slightly.

Was there hope that I could possibly escape and make a run for it? I held fast and waited for him to answer.

He smiled to himself, in a way that told me it was some kind of private joke. "Where we are, you couldn't escape if you tried..." With that he turned and strode back the way we came.

I am so fed up with these cryptic messages, I thought as I turned to the door of my “holding cell”. How bad could it be? I sighed as I thought of what this aggressive warden could have in store for me, and turned the handle.

As soon as I entered the room I forgot about where I was and what purpose I was going to be used for. I began to wonder if we were in a castle because it hadn't seemed that big from what I had seen walking through the halls. I let my eyes take in everything.

The king-sized, four-poster headboard was against one of the navy blue walls and directly across from it was an open door that revealed a enormous bathroom made up of white marble. It was equipped with a pool-sized tub and a standing glass shower behind it with a variety of grey stones as the back wall. Another door on the far side of the bed was open for me to see a walk-in closet with all of the clothes I would ever need. My feet brought me to the closet first.

I stepped inside and quickly glanced around at the honey-toned hardwood floor. My eyes roamed over the grey rug covering the center of the floor, leaving about a meter wide track of exposed wood floor to edge the room. A sudden thought occurred to me, bringing me somewhat back to reality.

Why did Nate have a closet full of women’s clothes? As I walked further into the closet, I let my fingers brush against a few garments that hung in small alcoves in the walls. The thought bounced in my mind and many others were quickly being added to it. I noted that all of the clothes seemed to have a vintage touch to them, like they belonged in a different era, but could still be worn in this day and age. I wondered at the reason behind the theme. They might entertain a lot of lady friends who liked to stay the night quite often. I shrugged to my own theory and sighed, resigning myself to my fate, somewhat.

I could get used to this...but why was I here and not in a dingy cell with dripping water like a real prisoner?

It also still confused me as to why they would keep me. Would they eat me later on? Try to make my blood taste sweeter somehow before they harvested it? Sounds like what aliens would do... I furrowed my brow in confusion. That did sound a lot more sensible than keeping me here –in a room that I didn’t deserve if I was being held prisoner. They must need me for a different purpose. Maybe that had been the reason Nate was so interested in me.

"Why hadn't I heard this sooner? This is just what we need!" A honey-toned voice shouted from, what I guessed was, downstairs. A heated argument ensued and wove its sound around the manor, sometimes getting louder, sometimes softer, but as I kept my eyes trained on the wall I had first frozen my sights on, the sound extinguished itself outside of my door. I crept out of the closet against my better judgment. Curiosity had taken over the cat and my mind was screaming to get away.

My eyes flew to the golden handle as it turned, and I froze.

I knew what would happen to the cat.

But what could they need from me...?

The door flung open grandly to reveal a man in his mid-thirties, or at least that's what he looked like, with long, platinum blond hair and dark brown eyes. He seemed like a pleasant enough guy. Then again, Nate seemed like a hot guy, and he was a creep.
Stop thinking about him! I thought as I jumped at the sudden noise.

"Well, well, well! You seem perfect! We need to get you ready for the job!" he said brusquely. He had barely looked at me.

He's to the point. At least I don't have to decipher any cryptic messages in his guy's talk.
Plus, I've only been here for two hours and they are already planning to use me in their nefarious scheme...

How bad could this job be? Little did I know, but my mind had stopped on that thought and switched to another thought to process why this man was more flamboyant than quiet and menacing, like any other vampire would be. I was now able to think the word vampire, the fact that the blond man standing in front of me was giving me a wide smile, fangs obviously apparent. Maybe it had been just a stereotype.

"What is it?" I dared to ask. The man strode into my room and began to circle me like a hawk. Yes, he was clearly a predator now.

"What is your name?" he asked curtly.

"Winry." I replied instantly. There was no point in pissing this guy off; he gave off a weird feeling. An uncomfortable feeling that told me he could change his mood in an instant if he felt like it. I did not want to be on his bad side the first time he spoke to me. The man’s face faltered for a moment.

“Would you like to do a job for us?”

If my thoughts had not been thrown into chaos, I might have noticed the slight difference in
Nate’s face as the man said this, but I was preoccupied with the thought of doing a job for vampires. What could they not do that required the help of a plain human? Once again, if I had been paying attention I might have noticed the flamboyant man busy himself with something quickly while Nate scoffed almost inaudibly.

The man stopped in front of me and looked into my face, "Yes, they will like you a lot..." He turned and faced Nate, who was leaning on the door jamb with a dark look directed at this man. Maybe he didn’t like his flamboyant nature either. Maybe it was an embarrassment to his kind.

But if Nate doesn't like him, then he must be a good guy...Nate was mean, so he would want to be with other mean people therefore this guy was nice. Then again I could have been wrong. I hoped I wasn’t wrong.

"Get her ready with all of the communication and briefing on the situation. Then we will begin to train her to fit in with them, get them to want to be near her."

Nate had been staring at me intently, but nodded at the man anyway. The man glanced at me one more time, his face unreadable, and then walked past Nate and out of the room.

I don't like the sound of that...

"WHAT?" I screamed. This was not happening and could not happen. This was beyond not happening. I shook my head furiously as Nate sighed.

"Nuh-uh. No way. Not happening, bud.” His hard stare made me hesitate for a split second.

"Sorry, but you have to do it. Unless, you want to have one of those goodies from the garage wall visit you soon..." That last part made me shut up as he smirked, cupped the side of my face and leaned forward, placing his mouth gently on my neck. I froze for a split second, then my brain unscrambled itself

"Whoa! What do you think you're doing?" I cried, trying to flinch away from his stone grip. The last thing I wanted right now was some vampire biting my neck.

"I'm only going to nip you. It won't hurt and I have to do this.” I made a whine in protest, but he added, “I can hear your thoughts, but in order for me to communicate with you while you are in the werewolves' den I need to do this."

Yes, that last part is right. I, the person who had been kidnapped a few hours ago, had been assigned to infiltrate a club full of werewolves in order to gather information on their plans against the vampires. Personally, I couldn't care either way, but seeing as how I had a vampire crouched over my neck – I wasn't going to argue. But wait—

I froze again as the information sunk in.

“You can read my thoughts?” I breathed. Then that meant that all those skirmishes I had against myself...

He chuckled deeply, amused at my ignorance. “Yes. I heard everything loud and clear. Not everything about vampires is legend, you know. You’ll find that out soon enough. It’s more fun that way.” I could hear the smile in his voice; he kept his lips close to my neck.

I scoffed, but it came out weaker than I had wanted it to. “Yeah, fun,” I agreed weakly.

“Now can I get on with this?” Nate’s voice held some undermining mockery in it.

“Yeah, go ahead. Have fun.” My stomach didn’t feel too well. I was about to be bitten by a, supposedly mythical, man in order to spy on other, supposedly mythical, creatures. If I hadn’t been so scared I would have laughed.

I sighed and slowly tilted my head to the side to give Nate a better angle to bite my neck.

The last part ran through my mind multiple times.

To give Nate a better angle to bite my neck... Shivers ran through me.

I could feel his cold breath on my neck as he pressed his lips against my skin, opening his mouth over my jugular vein. I squished my eyes shut and braced myself for pain and then—a short pinprick, like getting a shot at the doctor’s office. I barely felt it, and then to my surprise, he drew away and left the feeling of his breath to envelope my throat. It hadn't hurt at all, but my head felt a little weird, like I had been hyperventilating. Luckily, I was already sitting on my bed or else I would have fallen to the ground right then.

"What did that do?" I slurred. I felt drunk– not that I would have known, being nineteen and all– and I was swaying slightly, my head swimming. Nate chuckled; making me shiver visibly, his face was still near my neck—his breath still causing chill bumps to rise.

"I connected your mind to mine." He pulled away and looked at my face, now in between his cool hands. The small warmth I felt before must have been from an earlier...thirst. I shivered despite his hands.

Nod if you can hear me... An unfamiliar voice sounded in my head.

My eyes shot Nate’s, my gargled thoughts clearing instantly. He seemed to be waiting and I nodded skeptically. He let a smirk grace his features.

"Good." He seemed smug at my shocked expression. I closed my mouth as soon as I realized it had fallen open and I let my face fall into a grimace.

Great, now I have a vampire sending me thoughts messages. This just keeps getting better and better...Why are you still looking at me? I thought without really thinking it through.

"Everything will get better, don’t you worry. And I'm still looking at you because I like the expression on your face when you seem annoyed.”

My body and thoughts froze as I kept staring at him.

He let the smirk on his face grow slightly as I let out an exasperated sigh and fell back onto the fluffy bed, throwing my arms out above myself. I heard him chuckle a little and lifted my head up to glare at him.

"This is not funny at all..." I spat, wrinkling my nose. He simply went on smirking; I didn’t get what was so amusing about all this.

Ugh, that smirk is starting to piss me off royally...

"Get used to it." I jumped a little.

That's right. I have no privacy.

"So...What was the point of invading my mind again?" Having forgotten in all the fun I was having.

"I can hear you, but you can’t hear me. Well now you can, but I was not able to project my thoughts to you."

I slowly nodded my head; I had thought he was lying to me. There was no getting out of this
I came to realize. If I tried to run they would kill me, if I slipped up on my mission the werewolves would kill me, if I didn't follow orders they could hurt me or my family- as Nate had been so kind to tell me, even though I hated my parents I still couldn’t have them die. I was stuck. This could be fun. Better than going to college for four years, getting an ordinary, everyday job, and raising a family.

No offense to those who want that, but I've always wanted something that wouldn't make me beat my brains out of my skull in boredom. I just wanted...different.

I laughed out loud, causing Nate to look at me curiously. I had certainly got my wish. I'll have to be more specific next time: Please give me a life that is interesting and doesn't involve hitting a gorgeous guy who turns out to be a vampire, getting kidnapped and forced to infiltrate a nest of werewolves. Yeah, I'll remember that for next time.

"Now," Nate started. I sat up and gave him my full attention. "We have to start talking about strategies."

I cocked my head to the side. "Strategies?"

He gave me a look that told me it should have been obvious. I became irked, and I usually blurt things out when that happens. "Sorry. I'm not used to these situations. My bad." I scoffed. The look he gave me after I said that, that told me... I shouldn't do that again. So, I closed my mouth, made a mental note to build a speed bump from my brain to my mouth– which made a small smile grace his perfect lips– and let him continue.

"Strategies to get the werewolves to let you in to their little coven," he continued nonchalantly, looking at me in a strange was. I wasn’t paying attention to that, I had stopped breathing. I stared at Nate waiting for him to say he was joking, waiting to be able to give a weak laugh and a weary smile and for him to tell me that it was a joke and he was really going to drink me dry.

He didn't.

The color instantly drained from my face.

Okay, so the vampires had known me for what, a few hours? All of the sudden, they’re taking away my sanctuary of thought, sending me to spy on werewolves, and making me stay with the beasts? I mean, it should have been obvious that I would have to spend a lot of time with them to let them feel comfortable around me, but I would have to live with them?

Not come back here? Well, what connection did I have to this place? My car?

Yeah, that's a good enough excuse... ‘Can I stay here with my car? It needs me!’

This was going to be a wonderful experience. ‘Gift of God’ my ass.

"Alright, now when one of them approaches you, how will you act?" We were sitting in a parlor that slightly resembled an old-fashioned bar, dark paneling lining the bottom half of the dark red walls and a frosted gold chandelier hung from the center of the ceiling. The French doors in the back of the room looked out to the garden and the forest beyond.
The man–er...vampire from in the garage before was here pretending to be a werewolf, well, he could just be pretending to be a guy that I had to hit on like my life– well, my life did depend on it. I had to be "persuasive".

I sighed and shook my head to clear it, I needed to get this right so that I could assure my head would stay in the same place after I first interacted with the werewolves. The vampire, Syd, strolled over to me and sat in the chair next to me, his dark red dress shirt rumpled as it pulled out of the waist of his black jeans. He tried to start a conversation and I smiled politely, opening my mouth to respond–

"No!" Nate shouted from the dark corner of the room. I rolled my eyes and snapped my mouth shut with a look of annoyance that I couldn’t quite hide. Syd chuckled lightly, his frame shaking slightly from his laughter. He was much nicer than Nate was after he had gotten over the fact I was going to stay here—probably because of the fact that I was going to be waltzing into a place swarming with werewolves in a short amount of time. It was probably the tenth time Nate had stopped me. "You have to smile more seductively. Try again." He waved his hand at us like an unsatisfied director. I held in the undermining look I would have given him.

Instead, I heaved another sigh and sat back in my chair, shifting the black shirt I was wearing and crossed my legs encased by a pair of skinny jeans. Then, I leaned forward resting my head in my hands, my elbows on the table. I tried to look bored, but with a sexy pout. It took a few moments, but Nate nodded in approval.

Syd walked over again and I perked up a little and smiled coyly, or attempted to. I wasn’t that experienced with boys except for the occasional date, I had been too intent on my education, but there were no interruptions yet... He introduced himself and kissed my hand, which caught me off guard for a second. I let out a giggle, not too high pitched – but real – and turned away like I was bashful, which I didn’t have to make up. He started the simplistic conversation.

"So, is this your first time to one of these places?" He let his eyes wander around the room.

I nodded and leaned in giving him all of my attention, yet made it seem as if I wasn’t that interested, "You?"

He shook his head and smiled seductively, leaning in as well.

"Alright," Nate stopped the skit, "That's great. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to use you for this..." He began the head bobbing that guys do when they don’t want to admit they were wrong, like if they don’t nod properly they aren’t giving you the full satisfaction of being right.

Even though I hadn't been there long, I feel strangely at ease. Maybe I was meant to be there, destined to have hit Nate and end up at this place. I felt in the zone. Cheesy, I know, but that's how I felt—even though I was in a room with vampires that could kill me in the blink of an eye. I never said that it made sense...

Syd stood up, gave me a quick wink, and walked out of the room, I watched after him curiously. I almost felt bad that he was walking out of the room. Then Nate took his seat and crossed his arms over the grey long-sleeved shirt he was wearing with jeans and it became worse. I didn’t like the fact that Syd had left at a suspiciously opportune time.

Maybe Nate could communicate with him too. I mentally shrugged, Must be a vampire thing.

They could hear thoughts, so no doubt they could have a conversation in their heads.

"Okay, so we have the communication figured out, the attitude down…Now you just need to know who to aim for," he sighed, I concentrated on him once again. His eyebrows furrowed as he thought of whom I needed to target.

He looked so cute when he was thinking...well more sexy than cute and –

Ugh! I have to stop thinking like this!

No keep on going. I rather enjoy hearing you arguing with yourself.

I looked at him and narrowed my eyes. This was really getting annoying. It was actually the fifth day I had been practicing for the upcoming event and I still couldn’t wrap my head around the fact that all of the horror stories I’d read didn’t do the real thing justice. Vampires were more arrogant than the novels had said (not like the ones that fall in love with the girl and all that junk) and they loved to leave you in the dark with so many cryptic messages. It was a wonder that I hadn’t throttled Nate into telling me what the hell was going on. Well, at least attempt to. All I knew was that there were going to be a lot of werewolves wherever I was going and I still hadn’t gotten used to hearing his voice in my head.

"You only go in here," I pointed to my head and narrowed my eyes, "When you need to. I quite like the privacy of thought, thank you very much."

He chuckled lightly and put the famous smirk back on his face. Oh, how I wanted to smack that smirk off his face. The tone of my mind made the smirk grow. I held in a growl.

"Okay, so there will be at least three guys you can try to develop a relationship with." He folded his fingers together and rested his chin on them, his eyes focused on something beyond the room.

"Relationship?" I inquired, cocking my head to the side. I vaguely remembered him mentioning this before, but of course I didn’t get the implied meaning right away.

"Yeah, like being their friend, then girlfriend, then lover–"

I cut him off. "Whoa! You never said anything about this!" I shook my head and stood up backing away from him, the chair falling sideways to the ground in my haste. What the hell was he thinking? I didn’t want to be forced into a relationship! I had to get out of this, convince him that I wasn’t the right girl for the job, and tell him that–

The next thing I know he's pinned me against the wall, his face mere inches from mine, his cool breath flitting across my skin. I blinked a few times before the change actually registered in my mind.

"You have to do this unless, you want to die..."

I looked at his eyes and didn’t doubt his subtle threat, as I swallowed hard and started to tremble, his usual green eyes were a deeper shade of green than usual with an unknown emotion flickering in the background. His voice had gained a roughness to it; the start of a growl. He regarded me for a moment before lightly brushing his lips against mine and moving his mouth to my throat. Nate softly brushed his mouth up my neck then dragged one of his fangs down it. I tensed at the sudden intimate touch, not sure whether to be scared out of my mind or– no, there was no “or”.

I shivered violently. If he hadn't been holding my shoulder with one hand and my waist with the other my knees would have given out, but the more disturbing thought was that I wasn’t one-hundred percent sure that it was out of fear. He chuckled darkly again – probably picking up the confused and terrified tone of my thoughts – his breath making me shiver. His surprisingly soft mouth was feather-light against my ear lobe as he whispered severely,

"You're lucky I have an enormous amount of self-control." Nate let go of me instantly and I slid down the wall to sit on the floor, my bewildered eyes taking in the room quickly. He was nowhere to be seen. I quickly processed the current sensation in my stomach, a light fluttering that left me a little breathless.

That had to have been the most random action I had ever witnessed.

Why does he keep doing that? And why do I seem to enjoy it? I'm seriously sick... Crap, he might have heard that. In that case, I HATED IT AND CAN'T BELIEVE HE'S SO UGLY!

Yeah, that'd convince him.