Steal My Soul

“Why in the fuck do parents let their kids dress that way? I mean honestly,” I sighed, shaking my head with disappointment. Natalie and I were sitting in the food court, both of us drinking a caramel macchiato from Starbucks, and doing some good ole fashioned people watching. A couple of teenagers, who were probably no older than 13 or 14, had walked by us wearing daisy duke shorts that rode up their ass crack and low cut, skin tight tops. What bothered me the most was the fact that they both were wearing Ugg boots with their outfits. I inwardly facepalmed myself. Those were the ugliest things ever created by man and girls felt the need to wear them, not when it was cold, no. They decided to wear them with short shorts and a tank top in ninety degree weather.

Natalie shrugged. “What I don’t get is why the parents just lets these kids run amok throughout the mall. Shit, when I was that age my parents still wanted me to go no further than they could see me. Yet with this generation parents don’t seem to care anymore and they allow their kids to smoke, do drugs, have sex, and whatever else kids their age shouldn’t be doing,” she explained.

“But don’t they realize that by dressing like that their future relationships are gonna be fucked up because the only men they will attract are the jackasses that only want to get into their pants for one night?”

“Like I said, it seems to me parents just don’t care anymore.”

I took a long swig of my drink along with Natalie. “Probably because their parents were their age when they had them,” I grumbled.

“Probably,” Natalie agreed.

Natalie and I lapsed back into a comfortable silence as we continued to watch people walk by and silently question their judgment on style. When we had both finished our drinks, we tossed them in the trash, and made our way around the mall.

“So where should we stop first?” Natalie asked glancing around at each store.

“Well, let’s stop at Barnes & Noble last since we know we will be in there the longest,” I suggested with a smile.

Natalie laughed. “I can deal with that. So….” her eyes scanned either side of the mall as we walked. Her eyes landed on a familiar store. The same store I had been eyeing. “Hot Topic?” she sighed knowing me all too well.

“I thought you’d never ask,” I said with a chuckle as we headed in that direction.

As we neared the entrance of the store, a familiar figure walked out heading straight in our direction. Natalie and I stopped in our tracks. We glanced at each other out of the corner of our eyes.

“Is that…?” Natalie began.

I nodded. “I think it is.”

Just as I grabbed Natalie’s arm to race back in the opposite direction, he lifted his head up from the receipt he had been looking over. Ice blue eyes clashed with my honey browns. A slow, seductive smile spread across his face.

“Leighra.” Not a question of uncertainty to make sure it was me. No. It was a confident statement. He knew exactly who I was.

“Um…hi,” I greeted with a tiny nervous wave. Natalie ripped her arm out of my deathlike grasp and glared at me.

“How dare you touch me,” she quietly snapped. “Just for that, I’m going to leave you out here alone with him to squirm in your insecurities when around him.” She flashed me an evil grin before disappearing inside the store.

“Natalie, don’t—” I tried to stop her; my hand outstretched towards the store where she had vanished. My gaze slid over to see pale blue eyes watching me with amusement. He folded his arms across his chest with the Hot Topic bag still in his hand.

Today he wore a looser fitting, light blue v-neck that complimented the color of his eyes. His legs were clad in a pair of black skinny jeans with a skull buckle belt and chains hanging from the belt loops. On his feet was a pair of black converse shoes. My eyes traveled back up to his face where his lip piercings hooped around his bottom lip accentuating the fullness.

I gulped and darted my eyes away as his pink tongue caressed his bottom lip, moistening it, before returning back to his mouth. Even this man’s breathing was probably seductive.

“Fancy running into you here,” he said chuckling. As I was avoiding his gaze I noticed lots of girls slow their pace to get a better look at him and ogle him from the front AND from the back. Even a few guys stopped to stare at his godly beauty.

“Well, it IS a mall. A mall is a place where various people of all cultures tend to hang out and considering I told you I lived here…running into me at the local mall isn’t all that big of a surprise,” I said still avoiding his gaze. I didn’t want to be frozen the way I had been last night.

“I suppose that is true. Ah! Because I had a feeling I would see you again, I got you a little something,” he replied. I watched as he reached his hand down in the Hot Topic bag and pull something out.

My eyes widened as he strode towards me. He stopped just inches away from me. He was so close I could smell the subtle hint of cologne on him. He smelled of sex and dark spices. His scent wrapped itself around me and invaded my senses making me grow dizzy from intoxication.

He gently grabbed my hand that now had a light sheen of sweat on the palm from where I had been nervously clenching my fists. He dropped the item in my hand and curled my fingers around it. From the feel of it, it felt like not one, but two items: a necklace and a rubber bracelet.

He leaned down close to my face. His hot breath washed over my already flushed cheek. I could feel the heat radiating off him from the close proximity of his body to mine. I felt faint.

He licked his lips before speaking. “Wear these to our date tomorrow night. And dress...” he paused then to pull away to lock his eyes with mine. “Make sure to dress seductively,” he finished in a deep voice that was filled with raw, masculine desire. All I could do was nod my head in agreement. At that moment I would have jumped off a plane without a parachute if he asked me.

“See you tomorrow at eight at Olive Garden,” he said before brushing by me.

The further away he got from me, the clearer my senses became. That’s when it hit me.

“Wait!” I shouted pivoting around to face him. He stopped and turned back to look at me. Along with a few other random mall shoppers. Embarrassed that I had caught the attention of so many passers-by, I jogged up to him.

“You promised me your name when we met again,” I said reminding him. He glanced around before turning his gaze back to me.

He reached out and gently cupped my face; his thumb lightly tracing my bottom lip.

“Call me Luc.”

A sudden rush of cold air hit my face as he removed his hand and continued to walk away. I placed a hand against my cheek where his had been, but there was no bringing back the immense heat his touch had brought.

Luc…Somehow that name fit him, but I wasn’t sure why. I glanced down at my hand suddenly remembering the gifts he had bought me. How had he known he was going to see me again? Had he somehow planned it all out? Was he, like, stalking me?

I uncurled my fingers from around the items. The first thing I noticed was the big, gaudy black rubber bracelet. On it, printed in big red letters, were the words ‘Satan’s Little Helper’. What an odd choice of bracelet, but it wasn’t the bracelet that ended up catching my attention. It was the necklace. A small, circular locket dangled on a thin silver chain. I clicked open the locket only to have a small piece of folded up paper fall out into my hand.

Curious, I unfolded the paper and read the words scrawled along the tiny white surface:

Say no more prayers,
Your screams are for not.
I have you ensnared,
The soul I have sought.