I Love You, I'll Kill You

When I got back to the house, Jeff still wasn't back from his dirt biking trip with his friends. My hands were stuck on the wheel of the truck. I was still trying to get the shock out of my system. It took me a while to register what had happened earlier, but the more I tried, the more lost I got.

My heart was still beating abnormally from being so close to Desmond. His touch was so cold and sweet that it sent shivers down my spine just thinking about it. Cain's was just as cold, if not colder. And I still couldn't understand Desmond's warnings. Why was he warning me to stay away from Cain? Was he really that bad of a guy, or was Desmond just jealous?

Again, I shivered at the thought and finally pulled my hands from the wheel and hopped out of the large truck before locking it. It was getting dark now that it was around six. I walked into the warm house, welcoming the sudden heat that washed over my chilled body. Ever since I had touched Cain's hand, my body had felt cold. It was as though his cold hand was still touching me.

I tried to shake it off as I walked into the kitchen to grab something to eat. As I walked past the phone, I saw that a red button was blinking, meaning that someone had left a message. I pushed the message button and listened to the memo. It was Jeff.

"Hey, Gracie—I was just checking in on you, wondering how you were doing. I guess you're not home. Well, I'm going to be out late tonight with the guys, so don't wait up for me." There was a pause, but I knew there was still more to the message when I did not hear a beep.

"Grace, I want you to go into town tonight. Don't stay in the house while I'm not home. Go to town and get Deloris to get you something to eat. She called me earlier and told me that you came into her store and bought a few things, so you two should get along fine until I get home. Take care of yourself and I'll see you when I get home. I'll call you on your cell when I'm on my way home." And then there was a beep, verifying that the message was over. I slumped back against the kitchen counter, sighing as I closed my eyes.

"Why in the world is he so worried? Can't a girl stay by herself in a house in this place? Damn." I cursed aloud. I was frustrated. I had taken my time getting home, driving at about 10 miles an hour, taking me a while to reach Jeff's. Now I had to drive all the way back to town, just to sit at dinner with an old lady.

I quickly ran upstairs to change my attire. They had gotten dirty when I had had my close encounter with the concrete. I searched my wardrobe until I found something that was somewhat nice and matching.

I grabbed my keys again and stomped to the front door fiercely. I was mad. I slammed the door before stalking to the truck again, opening the door hotly before slamming it and putting the key into the ignition. I didn't even care to look behind me while I backed out of the driveway. I put the truck in 'drive' before slamming my foot on the gas, making the tires screech as I took off to the town with an unpleasant look on my face.

*****

I smashed the door of Jeff's truck again as soon as I was out of it. I was acting careless, angry, and slightly crazy as I was walking. Anyone who walked by could notice that I was in an unpleasant mood by my face and stomping walk. Though, that was very unlikely, considering there were no people out walking about the town, except one: me.

I had parked further away from Deloris's shop, hoping that a short walk would calm me down. I did not want to hang out with her for the night. I looked up to the dark sky, looking at the dark clouds that stood out in the night.

"It gets dark around here fast," I mumbled to myself, walking across the street and to the sidewalk. I stared at the ground as I walked, my arms crossed. The cold chill had picked up when the sun had gone down and night had come. I stared at the cracks on the sidewalk, not looking to where I was walking, letting my feet carry me away.

"I wonder how mum and dad are," I thought aloud, suddenly remembering how worried my mom was when I had gotten on the plane. Moments passed as I followed the cracks in the sidewalk, not recognizing what time it was and how long it was taking me to follow the trail of cracks. While I was staring at the ground, I failed to realize where my feet had dragged me. I jumped and stopped in my tracks when the sound of a trash can fall came, echoing through the area. I looked around me, now realizing where I had been walking.

"Way to go, Grace. You've walked right into the darkest place in the town." Yup, I had walked into a dark alley without even knowing it. I was cursing to myself when it looked like the alley in front of me went on for a while. It looked the even longer the other direction. Either way, I was in a dark alley and alone.

"It's a perfect murder scene," I thought aloud, shivering at the thought of those horror movies where the teenage girl walks through a dark alley alone, only to come face-to-face with her murderer.

"Shut up, Grace! You've got to start thinking positively. It's just an alley." I thought that maybe if I talked to myself, I would feel better. All it did was make me feel crazy.

"Okay, just run as fast as you can in one direction and it'll seem like only seconds before you make it to the end of the alley." I looked down to my clothing, cursing to the fact that I had decided to wear a skirt on a cold night. I looked up to the alley that lay before me, a determined look falling over my face as I began to run as fast as I could. It took only about ten strides until I saw the end of the alley. I sighed in relief; I was almost there.

Just when I felt relief, all of it went rushing out of me, watching someone step from the shadows, standing right in the way of my wanted destination. I slid to a stop, taking a step back when they took one step towards me. I let out a scream when my back came in contact with another body behind me, but it was muffled before I could project more than a squeak. One hand surrounded my waist while the other hand was a tight hold over my mouth.

I stared in fright, watching the figure that had stopped me walk forward and now stood in front of me. I could tell he was smirking at my terrified face.

"Well, well, well, look at we caught this time. Not bad. What do you think, Zane?" I was frozen; panic taking its toll over my body, feeling two pairs of craving eyes on me. I could tell the person who was in front of me was a young man no older than I was. I tried to scream into the hands of the capturer behind me when I saw the young man’s eyes flash red for a second while they roamed across my body.

"I think we have found a lost kitten," the person behind me, Zane, said with amusement. I struggled against him, trying to kick him in the groin from behind or do anything to make him release me, but his tough hold on me was unbreakable and barely budged when I flailed to free myself. I shuddered, feeling a cold breath on my neck. I became a living statue; unmoving.

"She smells sweet, don't you agree, Bryce?" Zane asked, his cold breath against my skin feeling like needles. The young man, Bryce, walked closer to me, bringing his hand up to my cheek and stroked it with the back of his hand.

"Yes, I agree. It's such a disappointment that we have to get rid of such a beauty that smells so great." I stared in horror, unable to flinch away from his cold touch. It was just as cold as Cain's, possibly colder. I knew it; they were going to rape me and kill me!

I tried to kick Bryce when he walked closer to me, but with lightning bolt movements, he caught my leg before hitting him and walked even closer to me. He was now less than a couple inches from my body. I could feel nothing but cold radiating from both sides of the bodies that were close to me. I tensed up, watching Bryce lean forward, towards my neck. Just like Zane's, his breath was cold and felt like needles as it hit my neck.

"Don't worry; it will only hurt for a second," Bryce whispered against my neck when I felt something pointed slide across my neck. I shut my eyes tight, not wanting to know what they were going to do. But before I knew what was happening, I felt both Bryce and Zane being forced away from me.

I opened my eyes and gawked in shock, seeing that they had both had been thrown to the brick wall, making it crack as they slammed against it. I looked beside me and gasped, seeing that it was Desmond who was standing protectively next to me, a look of fury in his eyes as he snarled at the two forms of Bryce and Zane while they stood to their feet. He revealed his teeth to the both of them, growling. That was when I took a step back from him in fright, noticing two teeth that stood out from the rest.

They were fangs.

Bryce and Zane glowered at Desmond while they both stood to their feet, but within a blink of an eye, they had disappeared into thin air. I was, once again, speechless. As soon as they were gone, I felt all fear in me fade when I looked to Desmond who stood straight, his face turning passive again. My lower lip was trembling from the distress and traumatic moment that I had just gone through. He finally turned to me and looked at me with serious eyes.

He asked in a low voice, “Are you okay?” I could feel tears ready to come out. Before I knew what I was doing, I jumped forward and threw my arms around Desmond's torso, letting all my shock out as I began to cry my eyes out in his chest.

"I was so scared!" I whimpered into his chest, telling nothing but the dull truth. His body was tense while I kept my arms around him, not caring if he returned the embrace or not. I just needed to feel safe with someone. After a moment, he slowly brought his arms around me, even though he was still as uptight as could be.

"You're safe now, Grace," he said in a hushed voice. I didn't care if I was acting like a little girl; I had never been so scared in my life before.

After a few moments, he pulled me away from him, obviously feeling very uncomfortable with my nearness. I wiped away my fallen tears until my face was dry and red from the salt. I sniffled a little before trying to slow myself down and try to act like I hadn't just had a nervous breakdown.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Desmond suddenly snapped loudly, yelling at me like he was scolding me. I cringed a little from the sudden loudness of his voice and looked up from the ground to stare at him. He was glaring at me, just as I had expected.

I mumbled back, “I’m sorry,” looking at the ground, hating his glare. It was intimidating. He growled at my response.

"Sorry? Sorry?! You could have been killed!" he snapped again. I flinched again when he said the word “killed”. I finally looked up from the ground to stare at him.

"Why did you come down here in the first place? How careless could you be?!" he shouted yet again. He must have been really mad.

I sighed, shaking the alarm and fear from my face. "Look, I didn't know where I was walking. I was kind of out of it." I was speaking the truth, which was the best answer I could give. I began to think I should have lied when Desmond's glower darkened.

"You were out of it?" he growled, speaking through clenched teeth. This was the most emotion I had seen out of him before. I looked down and saw that his hands were clenched into tight fists, looking as though he was struggling to fight back his rage. He probably was. I took a step back from him when he turned to the brick wall behind him and slammed his fist into it. I watched as the wall cracked all the way to the top.

What was he?

He turned around after a moment, closing his eyes, sighing and pressing his fingers to his eyelids, suddenly looking very tense. Maybe he was tired. I looked to his fists, expecting them to be bloody. There wasn't even a sign on him that would said he had just punched a wall that should have at least broken a couple of fingers, let alone crack the brick wall.

"What are you?" I whispered, taking a step back, suddenly feeling panicked. This was not a normal human. He opened his eyes to stare straight at me, noticing I was backing away from him. I gasped, seeing that they were now a lighter color than before. When he was yelling and protecting me, they were almost red; now they were just about a caramel color. His face was plain and serious.

He sighed again. "Come on, I'll take you home," he said, shaking his head slightly; looking like he was trying to push his thoughts away. I stared at him like he was crazy, lost that he was now pushing this whole thing off as though nothing had just happened. My face got defensive. I was going to get to the bottom of this!

"What the hell just happened?" I shouted just as loud as he had only moments ago, stopping him in his tracks before walking away from me. He turned to me, a look in his eyes that held warning. My hands moved to my hips, my eyes glaring at him. His hands were in his pockets when he began to walk back towards me. My defensive attitude faded and was replaced with fear, his sudden actions nerve-racking. But I refused to back away from him. He stopped, standing right in front of me, staring at me with darker eyes.

"I'll explain after you get something to eat." I was going to complain and shoot a snotty remark back at him, but he shut me up when he grabbed my wrist with quick movements that I had no time to react when he began to drag me down the alley. I struggled against him, slapping and punching his arm with him dragging me down the alley, not phased at all by my beatings and restraints.

"Desmond! Release me at once!" I yelled over and over while he continued to drag me down the alley. By the time I had given up fighting against him, we were out of the alley and back on the main street. He finally let go of my wrist and walked to the car that was parked in front of us. My mouth dropped a little. It was another one of my dream cars.



It was a Dodge Viper...and black.

"What is it with you people and hot cars?" I thought aloud. Desmond opened the driver's door and climbed in. I looked over the car one last time before beginning to turn away from it to head to my crappy truck. I heard the window roll down before I could turn.

"Grace, get in the car," Desmond demanded in a stern voice. I turned back to glare at him. Who did he think he was? He was treating me like a kid again.

"Why? My car is right across the street," I protested, receiving a dark glare from doing so.

"Get in the car," he spoke in an even more dangerous voice. It sent shivers down my spine. I sighed, giving up and walking over to the car, opening the door before climbing in and shutting it. The car smelt amazing, just like Desmond did.

"Deloris is going to have a heart attack now that I haven't shown up yet," I said quietly, looking out the dark tinted window. Desmond started the car and began to drive off with speed.

"I told her I'm taking you home," he said beside me. I turned to give him a shocked, but lost look.

"What do you mean? No you didn't. You were with me the whole time." This was true. There was no way he could have told her.

"I spoke to her before I went to go find you." Again, he replied directly. I didn't understand how this all could be.

"But...how did you know-"

"I will tell you in a moment. Just...let me slow down a bit." He ended with a sigh. It wasn't until now did I realize he was still edgy and had his hands tightly on the steering wheel. I patiently waited, having a tough time keeping my questions and emotions in. I wanted to blush, not believing that I was sitting next to Desmond in a car; his car! He took couple of deep breaths before looking straight ahead of him. I looked out the window and realized that I had no idea where we are going.

"Um—you know, this isn't the way to my house. It's the other way," I pointed out.

He nodded his head in agreement. "I know. I'm not taking you home."

I stared at him, a sudden panic feeling while my stomach felt like it was tied in a knot. "What do you mean you're not taking me home?" I tried not to yell, now being in a closed area. My heart was racing so fast, I was sure I was bound to die from it pounding so rapidly.

Desmond glanced to me, and then back to the road. "That would be the first place they would check for you." He had a bit of concern in his voice.

I gave him a quizzical stare. "Who? Why would somebody be looking for me?" I asked quickly, feeling fright rush through me.

He glanced to me again. "Because…you know what we are."