Chapter 5

Emma

I hurtled down the staircase, each creaking board protesting under my weight, nearly toppling over a teetering stack of glossy magazines. Outside, the sky was a low, oppressive blanket of clouds, and a fine rain began to fall, each droplet igniting in the streetlights golden haze. 

   The wet pavement gleamed like obsidian glass, reflecting the sparse lamps overhead. From the misty gray gloom, a sleek black Range Rover glided into view; its glossy flanks swallowing the light. It came to a whisper-quiet halt and—A tall familar figure emerged; every inch sculpted in a perfectly tailored chauffeur uniform: charcoal waistcoat, crisp white collar, trousers with a precise crease, and polished gloves that glinted under the halo of street-lamps. His posture was so still it could have been carved from marble. But it was his eyes—that made me go still - glowing crimson—that locked onto me and sent a shiver skittering down my spine. He stepped forward with measured grace, each footfall a promise of cold precision.

Elijah opened the rear door with a silent, fluid motion.

“After you, Miss Carter.”

 The interior was all warm leather and the faint, clean scent of a lemon type cleaner wafted in the air.

I froze.

“Get in” Elijah’s voice rippled through the night—smooth velvet threaded with steel.

I slid into the back seat. The door closed with a soft click that sounded like a verdict, sealing me inside. 

“Fucking brat” Elijah mumbled to himself. “Doc’s going to have his hands full” 

The engine’s muted rumble became my heartbeat as we rolled away. The partition between the front and back seats was up, a solid sheet of darkened glass was half ways down.

I managed to speak , “Just so you know, the first chance I get, I’ll kill you for this” Elijah’s  crimson eyes flickered back to me in the mirror

“I have no doubt you would”

Rain streaked the tinted windows, warping passing streetlights. The world was nothing but shadows and wet asphalt.

The sound of Falling Rain drummed a steady tattoo on the Rover’s roof; beyond the windshield, Ahead, A glowing neon sign buzzed into life: DOC’S FUNERAL HOME. Its crimson red glow sliced through the night, casting a ghastly pallor over the world. Shadows leaped and writhed across the dashboard as if alive. I pressed my back into the cool leather seat. Elijah offered me a half-smile in the rearview mirror.

“What’s so funny?”  

“Be patient firefly, you will see”

We rolled through an iron gate that creaked shut behind us with a final clang. The funeral home loomed ahead— only a handful of lights burned inside, flickering like dying fireflies against the gloom. Elijah rose from the driver’s seat and his gloved hand on the door, gave it a gentle pull from the outside.

“I have something to do,” he murmured, voice low and almost reverent. “ Get out”

 "You're seriously not going to leave me here, are you?”

“Well, yeah. You're on the clock, And I'm not."

I palmed my face out of frustration. “ well so much for getting in and out” His head dipped close to my face, his crimson eyes never leaving mine.

“That’s, if he lets you leave” Elijah said.

What does he mean by that?

“A Word of Advice Miss Carter, try not to touch anything. He doesn't like it when someone plays with his toys, Especially the new ones he hasn’t broken in yet” he said pulling his face away. “Now get your ass out” 

“Asshole” i mumbled, jumping out of the back seat – my heels clanked on the wet asphalt. 

“Get your ass to walking” I said pointing to the funeral Home “He’s Hungry. And frankly so am I.”

I drew a steadier breath, my pulse thrumming in my ears, Each footstep on the wet Asphalt echoed like a distant drumbeat, announcing something irrevocable just beyond the parking lot.