A Dark Temptation 10

Cassandra woke up only to find herself lying on a bed. She stretched and opened her eyes wide. Memories came flooding back to her. The corpses, the fight, the kiss….

She looked around.

The room was dark. It was probably about midday, the sun made the curtains glow.

"Up already are we?" Cassandra gasped and whirled around. She backed up.

Mark smiled at her and took of his shirt to lie next to her. She gasped as she saw the bandages that were wrapped around his chest.

He saw her tortured expression and looked down.

"Oh, the bandages, well I’m sure you would know why they are there,"

Cassandra swallowed. Mark reached out to touch her face. She flinched back. His eyes tightened and gave a humorless chuckle, "What happened to that fierce girl that gave me a good stabbing?"

He sat up and leaned towards her, "Don’t worry I won’t hurt you," he breathed.

"Why should I believe you? Aren’t you the one they all fear, the one that slaughtered many innocents, so don’t tell me a load of rubbish!"

Mark sighed, "It’s not true, I have just always had bad luck, been at the wrong place at the wrong time," he gave a sad smile.

"Why should I believe you?" Cassandra hissed, "You hurt Eric and you took my mother. Don’t think I’ll forgive you for that."

"I thought you hated him," Mark said.

Cassandra paused. "I thought that I did too. But these last couple of days made me realize I can’t go on with out him."

"Damn it!" Mark yelled. Cassandra jumped back in a fright.

"Wha…what’s wrong?"

"Why does Eric get everything? Good house, good family. He gets you! But no. I’ll say this with no regret. I love you and I won’t let go of you that easily. I’ll fight to the death. His or mine."

Cassandra gasped, "NO! No! You can’t! Don’t you dare hurt Eric! Give me my mother and leave me alone!" she screamed.

Mark sighed and started unwinding his bandages. Cassandra shrank back, preparing herself to see the hideous wounds that covered his body. But to her surprise.

The bandages revealed nothing. Unthinkingly, she reached out to attentively touch his chest. It was as if there were no wounds. Before she knew it she was under him on the bed.

She gasped.

His mouth descended onto hers as he kissed her. Cassandra couldn’t fight back. She didn’t want to. It just felt so familiar.

But what was she doing. She just said that she loved Eric. Was she that fickle? She snapped back into reality and started pushing against his chest. She didn’t want this. She pounded against his chest and he let go on his own accord.

He pulled away with a huge smile on his face.

Cassandra stared, "What did I swallow this time?"

Mark laughed and ruffled her hair.

Cassandra thought for a moment. "Where’s my mother?" she asked.

Mark’s face went as still as stone. He looked away, "I don’t know what you’re talking about."

"I think you know very well what I am talking about!" she yelled.

Mark put up his hands as if in defeat. "Fine, fine, fine! She’s-"

Just then the phone rang. Mark sighed and picked it up. "Hello?"

Cassandra heard an enraged voice on the other end. It sounded a lot like….

"Eric…" she whispered.

Mark threw a side long glance at her. "Fine, an hour." He shut the phone.

"Hey!" she yelled. "I wanted to talk to him,"

"And tell him what? You’ve fallen in love with me."

"Listen jerk-face! I do not love you!" she raised her hand and slapped him across the face. His head whipped back. His hand reached up to touch his cheek. Her hand was stinging with pain. But she wasn’t going to let him know that.

She fell of the bed and backed up against the dresser. She waited for his anger. He stood of the bed and came forward. She went as far as she could. Her hands fumbled behind her. She found something sharp. She held onto it.

"You love me Cassandra, you just need to admit it," his voice was hypnotic. She half closed her eyes and with the biggest force she could manage she tried to ram the sharp object into his heart. He shrank back. He gasped and slid to the floor.

She ran towards the door. She managed to get it half opened, when a hand lashed out and slammed it shut again. She looked wide eyed at him. His eyes were angry. She had a feeling she wasn’t going to be easily forgiven this time.

***************************************************

Eric waited outside the library. They were ten minutes late. Where were they? Anger surged up in him. If Mark had touched Cassandra he was going to rip out Mark’s heart and make him eat it. He might do that anyway if he saw that she was treated badly.

His cell-phone vibrated.

"What?" Eric said.

"We’re here."

Eric snapped his phone shut.

It was time.