Twisted Ties

After everything that happened, she was sure she must be dead by now. She was slowly coming around however. The first thing she became aware of was the sound around her, something distant, like voices in a hallway. After that, she felt something painful on her arm, and the soft fabric beneath her fingertips. It was strange, the pain made her think everything had been real. But perhaps it was just a dream after all. No doubt she would be in her own bed at the house, and the people out in the hall were catering to her stepmother's every whim.

Claire slowly opened her eyes, the lighting was fairly dim considering it should be morning. In fact, the ceiling looked all wrong as well, it didn’t look like she was in her room. It looked more like a hospital room if she had to guess. Blinking away the cobwebs of sleep she risked turning her head to the side. That was an IV pole, which meant the pain in her arm from before must be the IV line. A quick glance and she was sighing.

Had something happened when she passed out after the party? Why couldn’t she remember anything clearly? Attempting to pull herself up made a shot of pain run through her side and shoulder. The shock had her easing back onto the bed pretty quickly. And as the pain ebbed away, she was reminded of the night's events all too clearly. She had been so sure it was a dream, but apparently not.

Reaching up to her left shoulder she gently felt around the injury before risking a glance. It was wrapped up pretty good, the bandage was clean so it must have been re-done recently. There was no blood seeping through which was enough to tell her she didn’t rip anything open. It didn’t feel like there was anything in there either, maybe the bullet had gone all the way through? If that was so, wouldn’t the back of her shoulder hurt as well? Probably. It was more likely that they had dug the bullet out before stitching her up. But then...who?

Wait, more important that that, if this wasn’t all just a bad dream, then had she really been running for her life? And if so, where was she now? Who had put her in the hospital like this? Ignoring the pain she felt she started slowly lifting herself up to take a look around. The room was simple enough, there was a window by the looks of it, but the curtains were closed.

What she needed to do, was figure out where she was, and how she had gotten here. Ever so slowly she shifted her legs over the side of the bed. The scratches and bruises surprised her a little, but she ignored them figuring they were the least of her worries. Which was apparently a mistake. When she tried to stand up, her whole world seemed to be turning. And by the time she realized she was falling, the IV had already left her arm and she was on the floor. A rough sounding gasp was all that escaped her.

The door slammed open a moment later, and the pale haired woman from before seemed to appear in front of her eyes from seemingly nowhere. “You gotta get her up.” Is what she said over her shoulder. Perhaps she was talking to someone? From her angle it was hard to see anything past the woman. And as glad as she was to see someone who might be able to help her, she wasn’t too sure the woman was someone she wanted to see. Not after having seen her last night when her whole world had been flipped over.

Claire didn’t hear the words that were mumbled after that. But it confirmed her suspicions of another person being in the room if nothing else. “I don’t care, get her back on that bed or I will tell Eliot you pushed her.” A sharp growl filled the room for a moment. Was there an animal in here? She hardly had time to question anything when hands were on her. The last time she felt that, she had been drugged and sent along with someone to be killed. Panic raced through her pretty quick, and the hands vanished from her as she moved to smack them away.

“Shit. Stay back.” That was a man’s voice, there was no denying that. Had he been the one to touch her? Frowning, she wished her throat wasn’t so dry. Maybe if she could talk to these people she could get some answers.

“Don’t be silly, we need to get her back on the bed.” She could see the woman talking, she didn’t appear to be dangerous, then again, a cup of tea wasn’t usually dangerous either. Claire didn’t know what to believe anymore. As the woman went to move closer, she watched the man grab her arm to stop her from getting near her, but when she shucked it off and stepped forward anyway, Claire tensed. What did they want? Couldn’t they see she just wanted to be left alone. No wait, it wasn’t that she wanted to be alone, she just wanted answers first.

“You’re making a mistake.” Strange, it almost sounded like the words were a growl. And the words the woman said afterwards to the guy had her head spinning.

“Oh please, she’s just a human what can she possibly do?” That didn’t sit too well. It was a strange thing to say, but after everything else she had already been through? What on earth did she expect? Fighting against the pain Claire hauled herself upright, she wobbled on her feet for a moment or two. Watching as various expressions crossed the womans face, Claire began backing up slowly until she hit a wall. A small sound escaped her lips and she flattened one hand on the thing. She felt cornered. This was not what she wanted.

The smile the pale haired woman put on, reminded her of those fake little grins her step mother often wore. And when the woman approached, she didn’t have time to think things through. She lashed out, slamming an open palm in her direction. The motion had her panting from the pain in her side, and apparently swinging one’s body one way can affect the side not in use as well.

The woman dodged it by stepping back a bit, but she tried coming closer again anyway. Claire didn’t want her closer, she didn’t know these people. For all she knew they were no better than the driver that had been taking her towards the middle of the forest to shoot her. They could be more hired goons that offer a false sense of safety, and when she least expects it one of them will kill her. Or worse, take her back.

“It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you. Promise.” Yeah right, she had heard that before. Too many times from too many different people. It was a damn good thing a cup of tea couldn’t talk, she could imagine it saying the same thing before she took a sip. Okay scratch that. That would just be downright creepy.

As the woman took another step closer Claire lashed out once more. Fear took her twice now, once for the approach, and a second time when she realized she had blood on her hand. When had that happened? She was fairly certain she had left her palm open, so this shouldn’t be possible. Her heart was still racing however, and her eyes flicked up just before the woman spoke.

“You little-” The woman had nail marks in her cheek, and the blood was starting to drip down towards her chin from the thin slashes. Apparently she had managed to dig deep enough to cause a little damage, even if it wasn’t her intention. The woman’s expression had changed as she started moving forward again. She looked more than just angry and hurt, maybe she had been right to assume these people were not friendly. It never crossed her mind that it would be over the claw mark on her cheek. All she knew was that she was out of energy to fight.

Claire closed her eyes pressing herself flat against the wall, waiting for the strike to come, but nothing hit her. There was a tense moment where she wondered if perhaps they had left. At least until the words erupted into the silence. “What are you doing? Let me go! I said let me go! God damn it Dare! Let me go!” Cracking open her eyes, she risked a glance. The man from before had his hands on the woman’s wrists, and try as she might, she wasn’t moving anywhere until he let her go by the looks of it. Funny, Claire hadn’t looked at him before, she had been so consumed by the woman who had been closer. And yet how could she have missed him. He was practically twice her size in every way.

“I warned you to stay away.” He seemed to be talking to the woman in his grasp but he cast a glance in her direction next. “You try anything and I will kill you.” His tone was half threat, half growl. And oddly enough, the vicious truth in his words had her relaxing slightly. Twisting his gaze back to the woman he kept talking. Something about knowing a cornered animal when he saw it. She retorted with something about how humans didn’t behave like that. Clearly, she hadn’t dealt with too many by the sounds of it, or at least not some at the end of their ropes.

A shudder ran through her as she realized what she had just thought about. There was no way these people weren’t human, they looked human. Then again so did vampires and werewolves in the movies. Was it possible? If so, she had to get out of here, and fast. Ignoring her pain she made a run for the door. She nearly stumbled as she wrenched the thing open. And she heard a curse behind her followed by arguing. She didn’t bother looking around, she ran for the first thing that looked like an exit.

In nothing but an oversized button up shirt and panties, she ran down a fairly quiet hall. It didn’t look like a lot of people were out and about, and it helped support her idea of vampires and werewolves. The drawn curtains in the room, the words about her being a human. Turning when she reached the end of the hall, she twisted to her right and saw a door just down another short hall. There was one person just stepping out of a room, and with a broken arm by the looks of it. No threat there, or at least she hoped.

Pushing her way through the door she barely paused to look at one of the people standing outside, she gunned it for the tree’s. Maybe if she got a far enough head start? Sounds from behind her had her glancing back. The woman from earlier was scrambling out the door. “Don’t hurt her!” Hurt? She had repeated it a time or two and a few people that were outside all seemed to pause and look at the woman. Twisting her gaze back around she didn’t have enough time to stop before slamming into him. Looking up, fear struck her hard. How had he gotten in front of her? She hadn’t even seen him pass her.

Stumbling backwards as fear gripped her she turned right and started running again. The run was slow going, painful, and probably more than a little clumsy. Everything seemed to be screaming at her in pain. Once or twice she had tried to look behind her, but had stumbled, so she pushed forward until she found a short length were there was little in her way, casting her gaze back when she didn’t have to worry about tripping over a rock or root.

He looked annoyed as he walked along after her. Besides that, he seemed completely unbothered by it all. He had his thumbs tucked in his pockets and a scowl on his lips. If she had to put words to it, she would describe him as a wolf bearing down at a helpless rabbit, as though he knew the thing was already doomed. He was giving it a last fighting chance before ending the things misery. And yes, wolf was more apt. The daylight kind of killed her theory of them being vampires, which made things so much worse.

When the pain started wearing her out she was getting worried, especially when she tripped twice. The third time it happened she couldn’t get back up, and when she looked at her side, the shirt she had on was full of blood. Claire felt more that defeated already, and hearing his voice didn’t help. “Are you done now?” Glancing up from where she was kneeling on the ground she observed the man carefully. “Looks like your stitches came undone.” She watched as he slowly lowered himself into a crouch. What was it about him? The woman earlier was so normal, every word and expression had been carefully picked. A liar like everyone else she had known, and yet this guy was different.

His dislike of her was so obvious she didn’t have to guess. The way his lips were pulled down a little she knew he was annoyed without asking. His tone was rough as though he half expected her to argue. The set of his jaw and the way he seemed tense told her not only was he annoyed, but he was ready to pursue her again if she tried to leave. As she studied him, she saw his eyes narrow behind the veil of dark hair. It was so thick she couldn’t make out the color of his eyes, but there was enough to see without the full effect anyway.

All in all, he reminded her of an animal. And while that was normally a good thing, since she loved animals, it didn’t help in trying to tell herself it was impossible for them to be wolves. Animal. It was written all over him, if she did something he didn’t like, he would snap her like a twig. He reminded her of a werewolf she saw in an old movie once, standing on guard watching as a possible enemy made their way around them. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Slowly, she felt her muscles start to relax. Her heart started to slow its pace a little as well. If he was more like an animal than a person, perhaps she had very little to worry about. Animals had tells, if they were going to kill you, you would know before it happened, and he didn’t look like he was going to kill her. Yet. “Why did you stop her from hitting me? I hurt her.” God was that her voice? She sounded terrible. She watched as he tilted his head to one side, arms resting on his knees. He seeme to be contemplating something carefully, or maybe observing her. He might think she is insane by now.

“Is that really the first thing you want to ask? Not why you’re here or where you are?” She could understand why the question didn’t seem normal now that he pointed it out, but she nodded anyway. She had intended on asking those two questions earlier when she first woke up, but with everything that had happened, it was no longer her first priority. Not if she could get even an ounce of information otherwise. Watching his expression was hard without being able to see his eyes, though a small twitch in his cheek she did catch before he spoke again.

“You’re in a strange place, waking up around people you don’t know, you were cornered and lashed out in fear. She was an idiot for not seeing how you flipped into fight or flight. If I let her lash out in anger, you would be dead, and my…” He paused there, as though trying to find the right word. What was he thinking, what was he going to say? Thankfully she didn’t have to ask, he did continue talking a second or two later. “..boss, wouldn’t be too happy about that. He plans on talking to you before he decides whether or not you get to live.” He explained it in a tone that told her he really didn’t care either way, and yet, it was too honest not to be true.

“If I run, will I be killed?” She asked quietly. As far as she could tell he wasn’t lying to her, then again he probably had no reason to. Even if he was just a human he outmatched her in every way, add on top of that the fact that she is injured, and it was by a landslide.

“Probably.” She didn’t care much for that answer, but hey, at least he wasn’t trying to sugar coat things. Thinking it over as she moved to sit she posed another question.

“If he talks to me, and decides he doesn’t like me. Will I be killed?” The answer was nothing more than a nod. Looked like the odds weren’t in her favor. “So why don’t I just run then, at least I’ll have a chance.” The smile that touched his lips was all predator, reminding her of an animal that thrived on hunting feeble prey. All kinds of things ran through her mind, what would he say?

“You want to try?” She had not expected him to ask that, and not in such a challenging tone. Did he want her to run? Depending on what she was now mixed up in, it might be easier to just give up, but what if there was a tiny chance of survival? Shaking her head she tried to stand. “Pity.” She heard him say then. Rising to his own feet he offered a hand. She was reluctant to take it, but it was better than landing on the ground again.

He was tense, it was strange and yet, stranger still was how warm he was. Or maybe it was because she wasn’t dressed for the weather? She could just be cold. Either way he was so warm it was like sitting next to a campfire on a cool night. “I suggest you behave when we get back, and don’t run off again. Not everyone here is...kind.” She seriously hoped he didn’t mean to say he was being kind right now.

The venom in his tone was almost palpable, and it was clear he didn’t want to drag her ass back to the building she had run from. Everything about him seemed to say something different. His stance was defensive, his tone had hints of annoyance, and she couldn’t see his eyes to guess how it all connected.

She didn’t have long to dwell on it however, they were walking back to the building before too long, and as they got closer the pale haired woman started jogging towards them. The woman didn’t even look at her friend, just at Claire which was a little strange. “Oh good, she looks….her stitches...Ugh...What did you do?” She was glaring at the man, not Claire, that was good right? Or bad? At least she didn’t seem angry over her cheek anymore.

“Well, let’s get you fixed up again okay?” She said sweetly, before turning to the man beside her. “I got her, you can let go now.” However that wasn’t going to work, once again the woman had that smile, the one that looked forced. Claire hated that smile, it reminded her too much of the liars back home. Just as the man went to let go of her, she clung on with both hands, though she didn’t miss how he seemed to recoil from it.

“The hell you think you’re doing? Let go.” He was...growling at her. And yet she shook her head. As the woman reached out, uttering words about how it would be okay, Claire found herself stepping backwards. That woman, why did that woman bother her so much, what was it about her that she didn’t trust. A hand on her wrist had her looking at the man she was clinging to. “Just let go, you’re better off going with her, get your damn paws off me.” Anger, he was angry. His expression, his tone, his body language, they all screamed the same emotion. And still she found herself shaking her head.

“No.” The two of them seemed equally surprised when she said that, and when he started growling again, she could actually feel the vibration of the sound in his arm. It was unnerving, and once again her mind flicked over images of man turning to beast under a full moon. But she couldn’t let that spook her. A monster was less of a threat than a pretended. “Please…” She half begged. “I don’t...I don’t trust her.” She could hardly even recognize her own voice, it sounded like it belonged to someone else. At least the growling stopped though, and the two seemed to exchange a glance before he started laughing. The sound was so abrupt and deep, it actually made her jump. Glancing between the two of them she tried to put together what was so funny.

“Are you kidding me? He is more likely to hurt you than I am! I’m the one who got you back here, and took care of your wounds, I want to help you.” The woman seemed to be pleading her case as well as trying to point out something obvious. It was strange, but it didn’t sway her in the least. She felt like the woman was hiding something.

“You should listen to her.” Was all he said after his little fit of laughter was over, and yet he wasn’t trying to shake her off anymore. He was tense however, it was clear he didn’t want her to be touching him, she didn’t have to try and guess that he was only barely tolerating it. Still she shook her head. And his expression flipped to the more serious side again. “Then I will put it to you this way, you don’t let go, I’ll break your ****ing wrist and make you.” As terrifying as that was, she shook her head. Though she did let go for the most part, choosing to hold his sleeve instead of him directly. His jaw clenched then, and she knew she should probably just let go altogether, but at this point, if she did, she would hit the ground.

The two argued for a moment after that, him saying a whole lot of the don’t care phrazes while the woman told him he should at least play nice. After a while, it was too much to bear. And she ended up snapping at the woman. “He might be a brute but at least he is honest. He isn’t parading around with a fake smile saying what he thinks wants to be heard.” The moment the words finished leaving her mouth, she covered it with her hand. The look on the woman’s face, it was as though she had struck her all over again. And the man just rolled his eyes. In the end however, she didn’t have a choice in what happened next. Something wet was covering her, she hadn’t noticed until her foot felt wet. When she went to look down, she saw blood. Her blood. She had forgotten she had torn her wound open back there. The pain had been numbed by her fear and scrambling thoughts.

The two of them seemed to be giving her a funny look, as though they hadn’t really noticed during their argument either. That made her feel a little better, but as she twisted to look at the guy she was holding onto something felt different. Her last coherent thought was mumbled almost inaudibly to the man beside her, before everything went dark.