Darkness Falls - 5

I see a flickering lamp In the distance. I make my way towards it, it’s a dark night and the light seems safe. I sit on the curb under the street light and try to adjust my eyes to the darkness all around me. I can’t see anything. The moon isn’t even out. Then I hear footsteps. At first I just thought it may be people walking away or past me but they get louder and I can tell that they are walking towards me. I can’t tell how many people it might be. 2? 3? 4? I stand up and a dark skinned bald man stands in front of me. He looks to be about 25. "Where are you going in such a hurry? We’ve been looking for you." He says grabbing my wrist hard and yanking me towards him.

I cry out in pain and try to free myself from his death grip. Then I see three other figures behind him. Two of them are guys about the darker skinned guys age but the other figure is a girl. She was pretty and graceful. Her skin was a pale white and her blue eyes reflected so demanding against her long blonde hair. She puts her hand on the darker skinned guys shoulder and he releases his hold on me. I back away from the four figures but the girl grabs onto my wrist as hard and angry as the other guy had and pulls me back into the light. The light which I thought was safe.
"Your not going anywhere." She says to me.

"Who are you?" I ask. Trying to hold back the tears that are escaping my eyes. I needed to seem strong but my tears were betraying me.
"You’ll find that out soon enough." She spits in my face. Her grip on my wrist is even more painful now as she holds it tighter. Her nails digging into my skin causing me to bleed a bit. I cry out in pain and she smiles.

"Hey Danyel you don’t have to be so hard on her." I hear one of the boys say behind her. His voice sounds familiar and I try to look behind her to see who it is but her head blocks my view. She turns around in an instant and slams into the boy with what seems like a lot of force knocking him into the ground. I see her jump on top of him and they wrestle on the ground. I look and notice the other guys are distracted and I start backing away as quietly as I can trying not to cause any attention to myself. When I think I’m safe I turn around and run as fast as my legs can carry me. I hear shouts from behind and know that they saw I had disappeared. They would look for me so I had to get somewhere quick.

I see an alley up ahead and a gas station next to each other. I run into the alley thinking that they might think I went into the gas station instead like a smart person would do. But who said I was smart? I run blindly through the narrow space and hit something hard. A wall. I cry out in pain and feel my way on both sides of the wall. A dead end.
I hear the others run and stop in front of the alley. I hold my breath but my heart is beating so hard in my chest I guarantee they can hear it. I’m right. I hear the girl Danyel’s voice at the other end of the ally. "Shes in there. Sneaky one isn’t she?" Then they are running down the path.

I kneel on the ground trying not to cry. My heart clenches in my chest making it impossible for me to breathe and my stomach flips and flops that I feel like I’m going to be sick. I smell moisture in the air and wish that the rain would wipe this nightmare from my mind. I can tell that they are a really close to me and then like a dream a light flickers above my head and I see them all. The girl Danyel walks towards me. I jump back and she backs off as well. Smiling. I see a movement behind her and cringe. Etienne.

I automatically back away against the wall. Why is he with them?
"She cowers like a scared child." An unfamiliar voice says behind the five people. Its deep and harsh. I look passed them and see an older man. Wrinkles outline his cheeks but his hair is so dark it almost blends in with the night sky. "Kill her." He says suddenly. I snap back into the situation and place my fists in front of me ready to fight if I have too.
"But sir we can’t…we shouldn’t." Etienne says. Hes looking at me confused. He obviously doesn’t recognize me.

"I said kill her!" The older man says pointing a finger at me.
Danyel walks towards me. The older man grabs her arm and pulls her back. "Not you. No blood can be shed by your hands if your to rule one day." The man looks at the four guys and points at Etienne smiling. "You." He says.
Etienne backs away. "I won’t shed blood either." He says looking at me confusion on his face.
The old man moves so quick I jump back against the wall when I see him pinning Etienne against a brick building lifting him off the ground by his throat. "Kill her now or I’ll kill you." The man says squeezing Etiennes throat tighter. Etienne lets out a mumbled reply and the man smiles, "Good." He drops Etienne who lands on the ground with a thud trying to catch his breath.

"Come back to the mansion when your finished." He says walking out of the alley. I know hes talking to Etienne. I watch them leave. Me and Etienne are alone. He looks out into the darkness for a few minutes and wonder if hes going to run after them. Then he looks at me. "I’m sorry." He whispers so low that I can barely hear him. He jumps to his feet and runs towards me. I try to move passed him but the alley is too small and he bumps into me anyway making me hit the wall hard. I let out a shocked cry and fall to the ground. Hes on top of me and I cry out as his elbow digs into my ribs.

I look into his face noticing that he looks sad. I want to comfort him but I can’t move my arms. Hes pinning them to the ground. Then I notice his face start to change. His eyes grow angry and I see his mouth grow just a tad bit bigger like he just shoved something in his mouth and he can’t quiet seem to swallow it. He looks down at me, staring down at me. I scream when I see what has transformed his mouth. Fangs. I kick and scream and try to get out of his grasp but hes too strong, of course hes too strong. "Let me go!" I yell.
"Forgive me." He says opening his mouth and looking at my exposed neck.
"No! Etienne!" I shout. He looks shocked when I shout out his name. "Must have heard one of them say my name." He mumbles. Then his mouth is wide open and he lunges towards my neck.

"NO! Etienne no!" I scream. I close my eyes and then jump when I feel something cold press onto my neck. "No!" I yell again. I open my eyes and see Lexi staring back at me with worried eyes.
"Ely are you okay?" She sounds worried. I look around scared that the figures will pop out of somewhere and attack Lexi too. But I see we’re in her room. "How did I get back here?" I say breathless.
"Etienne brought you back. That jerk. I can’t believe he followed you two!" She has already forgotten that I just had a panic attack a second ago.

"Is he still here?" I asked scared.
"No. I made him leave as soon as he brought you up here." She says looking out the window. "He says you passed out when you were dancing and he brought you here. Is that true?" Lexi asks me. Her eyes boring into mine remind me of the Danyel girl in my dream.
"No." I say too quickly. "I was dancing and Lance was getting us drinks. I guess…It was just too hot." I say more calmly. Lexi looks at me questionably but nods her head seeming to believe me. "Well I called Lance and let him know that your okay." She says.
"Thanks." I mumble.

"You should get some sleep though. You look exhausted."
I nod and lay back down on her bed making room for her. She crawls in beside me and sighs deeply. "Are you sure your okay?" She asks.
"Yeah. Don’t worry about me." I try to make her feel better. It seems to work and in a few minutes I can hear her breathing softly. She definitely has the gift of falling asleep fast. I’m not so lucky. I stayed up thinking what happened at the club. Had I really kissed Etienne or was that apart of my crazy dream? I sure hope so. I sighed and rolled onto my side. Closing my eyes to a dreamless night.