Evil Be Thy Master

"Hello? Hello?"

My timid voice echoed throughout the empty gray stone structure. Everything seemed so silent, and eerie. It bothered me. I continually felt like someone was going to jump out at me, or grab me and drag me away. I couldn't help it, I'd always been paranoid like that. But you can bet your ass that when someone did jump out at me and try to drag me away, my ass was ready.

A shrill scream echoed through the air, making me jump out of my skin. It literally sent shivers down my spine. Not just because of the horrifying nature of it, but because I knew it. I knew that voice.

"Rhian?" I asked in a shakey voice, trying to follow the noises, hoping that I would find my friend. Another gut wrenching scream floated through the air, making me cringe. What's wrong with her? And where is she?

"Shut up you little bitch!" A male voice roared, and I heard the sickening sound of bone cracking against stone. That made me speed up my pace. She wasn't just in pain, she was in trouble.

"Stop it! You're going to fucking kill her!" I heard Taylor plead as I turned another corner. I was getting closer and I knew it, they voices and sounds were getting louder. Maniacal laughter sounded, making my stomach cramp. It just sounded evil, and it scared the shit out of me.

"You girls really are silly," one of the laughing voices sighed, "That's the whole point."

My blood ran cold at that point. That was the point? Did he mean he was going to kill us? No. No, no, no, no, no. This can't be happening.

"Why?" Taylor asked in a weak voice. I heard at thud, and then she let out a small scream.

"You should know why," a deep, almost animalistic voice growled. "After all, it is your fault."

"We never did anything to you!" Rhian's groggy voice came. She must have been temporarily knocked unconscious. I rounded another corner before everything came into view. I could see my friends cowering in the corner, looking dirty and bloodied. Five shadowed figures stood in front of them. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to see past the shadows that surrounded them.

"You never did anything? Bull shit," another voice snarled, "Tell me Rhian, do you know what it feels like to be burnt alive?"

"N-no," she stuttered quietly. The men all chuckled to themselves, again emitting a vibe of pure evil.

"Well then, you're about to find out."

My eyes widened in horror as they grabbed her and pulled her to the center of the room, binding her arms and legs as two of the men held Taylor back.

"Stop! Don't! Please don't!" Taylor cried as she tried to fight. Rhian was sobbing, too hysterical and frightened to do anything else. One of the shadowed figures brought over a canister of gasoline and my breath hitched in my throat.

"No! Don't you fucking dare!" I screamed, walking over to hit him. My hand just moved right through him though, and he paid me no mind. He just continued to go about his business, dousing Rhian in gasoline. "Stop!" I screamed again, "I said fucking stop!"

But he paid no mind to me, neither did anyone else in the room for that matter. They just continued screaming, and hitting, and crying. It was a mass hysteria. And I couldn't do a damn thing.

"PLEASE! I'm begging you not to do this!" Taylor sobbed, trying once again to throw herself at Rhian, "Please!"

"Somebody fucking shut her up!" A deep, raspy boomed, literally shaking me to my core. The pure anger and hatred in his voice terrified me.

"Will do," a sinister voice laughed, "Does it matter how I do it?"

"No," the other voice responded, "Just get it done."

"So you like to scream, eh?" the sinister voice chuckled, picking up a knife and prying Taylor's mouth open. "Let's see how much you scream without a tongue."

I had to turn around to vomit when I watched him literally cut her tongue out of her mouth. Blood began to just pour from her mouth and she let out an agonizing cry of pain. I watched as her complexion quickly went from her usual pale, pink tinted skin to a sickly gray color. She was dying from blood loss, and fast, and there was nothing I could do to help.

"Hey, are you guys ready for the fire?" the man that had cut Taylor's tongue out asked. "I want her to watch that bitch burn before she dies."

"Yea, we're ready," another voice laughed, pulling out a set of matches. "Who wants the honors?"

"I do," another shadow spoke, "I'm the one she fucked over, I want to do it."

The match was struck, and thrown onto Rhian's soaked body. Her eyes watered and a lone tear fell before she burst into flames, screaming in agony.

"Nooooooooo!!" I screamed, trying to run to her, "Goddamn you! Goddamn you all!"

An arm grabbed my shoulder and I jumped, trying to fight it off, but it held on tight.

"Niki! Niki stop it! Stop!"

"Fuck off! Let me go!" I screamed, still trying to fight it.

"Niki! Wake up dammit! You're having a nightmare again!" Taylor yelled as she and Rhian shook my body. My eyes flew open and darted around the room, terrified that I'd find gray stone and shadows surrounding me. There wasn't any though. Just my normal, purple walls, covered in band posters. My heart continued to pound though. I knew I was home, but I still didn't feel right. That evil feeling still surrounded me. Almost as if those men were still here. I could still feel them.

"Niki, are you alright?" Rhian asked slowly, making my eyes snap to her.

"Who's here?" I asked sharply, making her frown.

"No one," she answered. I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself.

"You're sure?" I checked. Both she and Taylor nodded.

"We're positive," Taylor told me, looking me over carefully. "Are you alright? Did you drop some acid again or something?"

I looked up at her for a second, debating on telling her, before shaking my head. "No, no, I'm fine," I assured her. "That nightmare just freaked me out."

"Oh, ok then," she smiled, "Get your ass up and get ready. We've got to get to the mall."

I rolled my eyes. She was so excited for this, it was hilarious. I'll admit, I was pretty damn excited too, there's nothing better than fucking with a bunch of guys and messing with their heads. But that nightmare had sucked a little bit of the fun out of today. It was still disturbing me, and I knew my friends were still alive.

"Alright, give me an hour to get ready," I sighed, climbing out of bed and stretching.

"You have an hour then," Rhian laughed. "I'd advise you're ready by then, otherwise Taylor very well may just self-combust."

I laughed and shook my head at the two as they left the room. They're such goofs, and they take nothing seriously. Wait, let me rephrase that... Rhian takes everything seriously, until Taylor and I make a joke out of it. Then they take nothing seriously. I mean seriously, what's the point?

I just hope that damn dream gets out of my head.

Taylor's POV

"Is Niki ready yet?" I asked Rhian as I ran my hands through the short back of my hair, making sure it was laying down flat. It had become a habit of mine since I cut it. That, and making sure that my bangs weren't tangled. Rhian shrugged, plopping on the couch next to me.

"I don't think so."

"No, don't go look or anything," I laughed, shaking my head. She raised a brow.

"I don't see your ass running in there to take a look," she pointed out. I shrugged.

"Eh, I was sitting down first."

"Oh my God," she mumbled. "You're so fucking lazy."

"Nope, just comfortable," I smirked. Sometimes it was easy to tell I was the youngest. I tended to have this I don't give a shit attitude that never disappeared. And there's also the fact that I cause a lot of trouble. And Niki and Rhian help pick up the mess most of the time. Not saying that I don't clean up my own messes... but if you understood the amount of trouble I can cause... let alone adding Niki to it... Heaven help you.

"You shitheads ready to do this shit?" Niki asked as she walked from her bedroom... finally.

"You fucking know it!" I laughed, jumping up as a slightly reluctant Rhian followed.

"So how will we know who they are?" Niki asked as we strolled through the Huntington mall.

"I have no fucking clue. They said we'd know them when we saw them," I yawned, looking at the shoe display Journey's had put out. Rhian groaned.

"We've seen hundreds of fucking guys, and I still haven't been immediately drawn to any of them. This was just a bad idea, admit it. Now, can we just shop?"

I raised my brows at her little rant, laughing with Niki.

"You done Sug?" she asked, making Rhian glare.

"Seriously guys, I don't think this is a good idea. We should just shop and have fun with the rest of our day."

"Rhian, you never think anything we do is a good idea, yet you always have a blast. Just chill the fuck out," I laughed.

"That's what you said the night you got arrested," she said dryly.

"Hey now! That was a misunderstanding, and no charges were pressed," I defended. Niki simply laughed at the two of us, making me roll my eyes

"Excuse me."

All three of us froze at the sound of the voice as a cold breeze seemed to sweep over us. I'm pretty sure I actually saw Rhian shiver.

"Yes?" Niki said politely after we were all silent for a few seconds. She turned and looked at the man standing behind us. He had slightly messy looking straight black hair, and piercing green eyes. They seriously seemed to stare straight into your soul, it was slightly freaky. He had full, pouty lips, with snake bites on the bottom. And you could see sleaves on his arms from where his hoodie was pushed up.

"I was wondering if you had those vans in green and black?" he said, pointing at a pair of shoes Niki was standing by. She stood there, speechless for a minute before snapping back to reality.

"Oh! I, uh, don't know," she mumbled, not knowing how to react.

"Well why don't you ask your manager?" he suggested with a slight attitude. I scoffed.

"Look, we aren't fucking employees, we're customers, just like you. So you need to quit getting shitty before you piss me off," I snapped. He stood back slightly and Rhian sighed.

"Taylor, can you please try not to fight, for once?" she asked.

"Nah, she's always got to argue," A deep voice chuckled, making me jump and spin around. I took in the man before me,whom was very attractive I might add. He had short dark hair, just a shade lighter than black. And he was a few inches taller than me, putting him at six foot two or a little over, and my God did he have muscles. If he hadn't already pissed me off, I'd probably be drooling.

"Excuse me? And how the fuck would you know?" I growled. He simply smirked at me, showing an adorable set of dimples as his hazel eyes glowed with mischief.

"Aww, come on Miss Murder, how many times have you and I argued in chatrooms?"

My eyes widened. "No fucking way... Shadows?" I asked, almost not believing it. Was I really talking to someone this fucking gorgeous the entire time?

"Found you," he laughed as a group of three more men joined him and the original green eyed man.

"Wait, you guys are our chat buddies?" Niki asked, looking at all five of them. They looked at each other and nodded.

"How did you know it was us?" Rhian asked, staring at them all warily. She still must not feel right about this.

"Intuition," the tallest and thinnest of the five grinned, making the rest of them laugh. His blue eyes seemed to have something hiding within them, hinting that there was more to this than Rhian, Niki, and I understood.

"Ok..." Niki said warily.

"So, do you girls want to go get something to eat in the food court?" the shortest guy with the blond mohawk asked. Rhian looked at Niki and I with pleading eyes, still not feeling comfortable, but we were all hungry, and they'd probably buy. We might as well.

"Sure," I smiled, "Lead the way."

"I have to say, you girls are a lot hotter than I thought you would be," the green eyed man said, making us all laugh.

"You know, you guys should tell us who you are," Niki suggested. "It would make talking to you easier."

"Well, I'm FallenShadows," the muscular one said, his eyes locked on me, making me slightly uncomfortable. "But feel free to call me Matt."

"I'm MachoShit21," the shortest man announced, making me grin.

"Is that an oxymoron?" I asked, not being able to help myself from being a smart ass. He glared.

"Fuck off," he laughed, "But you can call me Johnny."

"I'm Zack, the Italian Stallion," the green eyed man laughed. Niki rolled her eyes.

"I should have seen that coming. You just look Italian."

"So who are you?" he asked. She smirked.

"I'm ForeignBitch101. But the name's-"

"Niki." The silent man cut her off. I'm pretty sure I hadn't heard him speak a word yet, but boy had he kept his eyes on Niki. I have to say, he wasn't bad looking. His dark hair was spiked up messily, and his brown eyes had small traces of eyeliner surrounding them. He was probably about six foot one, and muscled.

"Uh, yea," Niki swallowed, looking at Rhian and I with worry. "Which one are you?"

"HotBeefySexDude," he smirked, "That's the last time I let Zack make me a screenname too. Call me Brian."

"Ok, Brian," she said warily. "That's-"

"Rhian. PerfectSkin," the tallest man laughed, "I'm CupcakeKnownAsRev, and I was high as a kite when I made my SN. So Jimmy is probably easier to say."

How the hell did they know who we are? It just seemed weird. I mean, I suppose we may have let it slip in convos, but still, who remembers that shit?

"So tell me," Matt said huskily as he leaned toward me, his breath tickling my neck as his hand crept up my thigh, "Why did you pick MissMurder6661 as you name, Taylor?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, leaning back slightly. Normally I'm fine with guys being flirty, but Matt's close proximity and all around aura was making me uncomfortable. And judging by the looks on Rhian and Niki's faces, they felt about the same. The blue eyed man had been getting increasingly closer to Rhian, making her look more intimidated by the minute. And the brown eyed man that had been staring at Niki since they had approached us was nearly hanging off of her, refusing to be separated. And while that may come off us cute to some, he didn't look right doing it. It was almost like he was trying to keep her from getting away instead of just wanting to be near her.

"Well, there's got to be some reason for you to pick it. What is it? Skeletons in your closet?" He asked, raising a brow and scooting closer yet again. I gave him a questioning look. "What, did you murder someone or something?"

"Not that I'm aware of," I mumbled, sending Niki a save me look. She scoffed at me and sent back a bitch, I'm stuck, save yourself. Some help she is.

"Maybe in a past life then?"

I frowned and turned to look at him. "Pardon?" I asked, wondering where in the flying fuck that logic came from. I mean, past life? what the hell has homeboy been smoking?

"Well, you know, some people believe that things we do in our past lives carry over to our new ones and influence us," he shrugged.

"And you believe in that?" I said with a hint of laughter in my voice. He frowned and shrugged.

"I don't know. I only remember one life. It's not like I get to see if I had a past one or not. Why are you so snappy?" he asked, rather gruffly. Just that little bit of irritation that seemed to seep out of him nearly scared the piss out of me. I just don't feel comfortable here. I want out. Rhian was right, fuck it, I don't care. I just want out of here.

"Niki! Taylor!"

All eight of our eyes snapped up to look at Eric, one of the guys that works at the bar with Niki and I. Yea, we're bartenders, so what. It pays the bills and gets us through school. Besides, it's a little better than Hooters, which is where we were working before.

"Oh, hey Eric," Niki smiled, beckoning him over. He smiled and walked over. Eric was really a pretty cute guy. He had dark brown hair, bright blue eyes, and a lip ring. He always seemed to have a soft spot for Niki and I, unfortunately, he was just too sweet. But if he could get us out of this bad situation right now, I may fuck him out of pure gratefulness.

"What are you girls up to?" he asked, sending us a small wave. "Oh, hey Rhian, I haven't seen you in a while. Where've you been?"

"Hello Eric," Rhian said cordially, "I've not been able to get up to the bar. It's just been too busy. Sorry love."

"Who's this?" Brian asked threateningly, making Eric back away slightly. Hell, I would've too, these guys were fucking scary.

"I'm Eric," he said carefully, "I'm a good friend of Niki and Taylor's."

"Really now? How do you know them?" Matt asked in an interogative voice. Eric looked at me for guidance, and I just gave him a pleading look. Please Eric, please get us out of here.

"We, uh, work together," He stuttered out, still looking at the disgruntled men around him.

"How do you know Rhian?" Jimmy asked angrily, scooting closer to her. Rhian jumped slightly, and tried to move away, but he wrapped a tight arm around her, keeping her in place.

"She comes up sometimes and chills," Eric shrugged. "Maybe I should go?"

"No! Wait!" I called after him, making everyone turn to look at me. I bit my lip and looked up at Eric. Ok, think fast... how do I get an excuse for us to leave...

"Did Dianne end up needing us to come in early?" I asked, subtly nodding my head, hoping he'd get the point. He flicked his eyes to mine, then to Rhian and Niki, taking in our desperate looks before catching on.

"Yea, yea she did," he said, nodding slowly, "In fact, that's why I'm here. She sent me here to find you and tell you she needs you in as soon as possible. We're going to be swamped. So you'll probably want to leave like, now."

I breathed out a sigh of relief. I think Eric may have just rescued us. I sent him a thankful smile, which he returned.

"Well, if you give us a minute to say goodbye, we'll just go with you," Niki said, quickly standing up and breaking away from Brian. The guys quite honestly looked pissed. Oh well, we're out, they can be weird all by their lonesome.

"So I guess we'll see you girls some other time," Jimmy said as he stood up, still keeping a tight hold on Rhian, who looked nothing short of frightened.

"Well, you do have to let me go first," she said quietly, trying to pry his arms off of her. He chuckled.

"What if I don't want to let you go?" he asked with an evil smirk, making Rhian visibly shudder.

"Sorry Jimbo, but you've got to," Niki said firmly, pulling Rhian from his grasp. "We've got to go," she shrugged, moving us all over towards Eric, and safety.

"We'll keep in touch then," Zack smirked, making me scoff inside.

Dream on hun, we're staying away from your asses, I don't care how hot you are.

"Sure..." I mumbled, latching onto Eric. "See you guys," I said with a small wave as we walked away.

"Oh, we'll be seeing you, you can count on it," I heard Matt say. "See you later Darling."

I didn't turn around, but as the petname left his lips, something inside me seemed to break and I shuddered. No one had ever called me Darling, so why did that seem so familiar? And creepy...

After we finally got a safe distance away, I wrapped my arms around Eric.

"Oh my God E! Thank you so much for saving our asses back there!" I said, making him laugh.

"Did you get into trouble again?" he asked, hugging back.

"No."

"Yes," Rhian said sternly. "It would have been worse if you hadn't come along. Those guys were creeps, they gave me bad vibes."

"Everyone gives you bad vibes," Niki pointed out, "But Rhian's right, they were fucking weird."

"Well, at least you got out," he offered with a smile, making all of us chuckle.

"Yea, thanks to you," Niki chuckled, patting him on the back. "We owe you for that one."

"We do," I agreed, "We'll have to make it up to you."

"I may take you up on that," he laughed, "But you guys get home, we could actually use you coming in early, it's supposed to be busy tonight."

"Alright E, we'll see you later then," I smiled, sending him off with a smack on the ass. He blushed and walked away while Niki, Rhian, and I laughed.

"You're so mean to him," Niki told me as we walked to the car. I shrugged.

"It isn't my fault that homeboy blushes so easily."

"But still," Rhian sighed, "You torment him."

"I do not!" I laughed, opening the car door and getting in. "So... today was... interesting."

Rhian glared, and Niki scoffed.

"Interesting my ass. It was straight up fucking odd," she corrected, turning on the radio as she pulled out of the mall.

"Oh, and just so you two know. I fucking-"

"Told you so," Niki and I cut Rhian off in a monotone. It didn't take a rocketscientist to figure out what she was going to say.

"Just so you know," she said, looking out the window. I laughed and shook my head as we began to ramble on about absolutely pointless shit. I still couldn't get what Matt had said out of my head though.

Oh, we'll be seeing you, you can count on it...