Chapter 4: The Taste of Terror

Chase’s P.O.V

I shook my head hard, trying to push this nightmare away. “No… no way,” I muttered. “This isn’t real… You’re not real…”

But Alex steps closer, smooth and quiet, like a hunter.

“Stay away!” I yelled, stumbling back until I hit my back against the wall. “I don’t know what’s happening or what you are… just stay away from me!”

My heart hammers in my chest so fast that I was unable to calculate the number of the pace, a wild drumbeat that drowns out everything else from my soul.

This can’t be real. It can’t. I stumble backward, my sneakers squeaking on the polished floor of the school hallway, my eyes locked on Alex steady and fixed.

His smirk is sharp, predatory, like he’s enjoying my panic. “This isn’t happening,” I choke out, my voice cracking. “You’re not real. None of this is real.”

I slap my own cheek, hard. The sting is immediate, a bright flare of pain that makes my eyes water with tears, but it doesn’t wake me up from this horrid dream. Instead, the throbbing in my forehead, where I hit my head falling down the stairs, pulses hotter, wetter.

I touched it, and my fingers came away red.

Blood. My blood.

The sight of it makes my stomach churn with nausea, and I look back at Alex, praying this is some kind of sick hallucination, some kind of shitty horror show that is about to stop any moment, because otherwise, I don’t even know what I’m supposed to do.

But he’s still there, standing at the base of the stairs, his dark hair falling into his face like a dark hallow. He took a step forward, slow and deliberate, and that smirk widened. “Oh, Chase,” he says, his voice low, almost a purr. “This isn’t a nightmare. You’ve finally woken up to the real world.”

My breath catches immediately. The real world? What the hell does that mean? I shook my head, trying to clear the fog of fear clouding my thoughts, but then I saw it, his mouth opened slightly, and he licked his lips. Inside, sharp, glittering fangs catch the fluorescent light overhead.

Fangs. Like something out of a horror movie. My knees buckle, and I grab the wall to keep from collapsing. “No,” I whisper, my voice barely audible. “No, no, no.”

I was unable to think straight. I just move. I sidestep Alex, my body acting on pure instinct, and bolt down the empty corridor. The hallway stretches out endlessly, the lockers a blur of red and gray as I sprint. My lungs burn, my head pounds, but I did not stop. I can’t. I have to get away from him, from those fangs, from whatever the hell just happened back there.

The other students, the ones with glowing eyes and hissing mouths were gone now, but I can still hear their eerie and dark whispers in my head, like a nightmare I can’t shake out of.

I glance over my shoulder, half-expecting to see Alex right behind me, but the hallway is empty. Relief floods me for a split second. Maybe I lost him. Maybe he didn’t follow. I turn my head forward, ready to push harder, to find the exit and get out of this freak show of a school.

And then I came to a sudden halt, almost tripping over my own legs.

Alex was there. Right in front of me, leaning casually against a locker like he’s been waiting for me all along. His arms are crossed, his head tilted, and that damn smirk still plastered on his face. He doesn’t even look winded. How? I was running full speed, and he just… appeared. My momentum carries me forward, and I nearly crash into him, but I skid to a stop just in time, my chest heaving indiscriminately.

“Going somewhere, little brother?” he asks, his voice dripping with mockery and maybe anger…I don't really know. All I see in front of me was a monster in the disguise of a human.

“Don’t call me that,” I snapped, my voice shaking with a mix of fear and anger. “You’re not my brother. You’re a freak!”

His eyes narrow, but the smirk doesn’t falter. “Ouch. That hurts, Chase. And here I thought we were starting to bond.”

I took a step back, my hands balling into fists. “Stay away from me,” I warn, though it sounds pathetic even to my own ears. My head is spinning, the pain from my wound making it hard to think straight.

I need to get out of here, find Mom, tell her we made a mistake moving to this creepy town with these creepy people. But Alex is blocking my path, and something tells me he’s not going to let me just walk away like that.

Before I could react, he moved faster than should be humanly possible. One second he’s leaning against the locker, the next he’s got me by the shoulders, shoving me back against the wall. The impact knocks the air out of me, and I gasp, struggling to break free. His grip is like iron, pinning me in place. “Don’t move,” he says, his voice low and dangerous, his icy blue eyes boring into mine.

“Let me go!” I screamed, twisting in his hold, but it’s useless. He’s too strong, unnaturally strong. My heart raced, my pulse pounding in my ears furiously. Up close, I can see the sharp angles of his face, the way his eyes seem to glow faintly, like embers in the dark.

He’s not human. I don’t know what he is, but he’s not human.

“Chase,” he said, almost gently, like he’s talking to a spooked animal. “You need to calm down.”

“Calm down?” I spit, my voice rising. “You’ve got fangs, you psychopath! You’re some kind of monster, and you expect me to calm the fuck down?”

He chuckles, a low, dark sound that sends a shiver down my spine. “Monster’s a bit harsh, don’t you think? I prefer…vampire.”

A…what?

He leans in closer, his face inches from mine, and I froze, my breath catching in my throat. His gaze flicks to my forehead, where the blood is still trickling down the side of my face, and his expression changes, his eyes darken, his smirk fading into something hungrier, something brutal and lethal.

“Alex, don’t,” I whisper, my voice barely audible. I don’t know what he’s about to do, but every instinct in my body is screaming that it’s bad. I tried to pull away, but his grip tightened, keeping me pinned.

He did not bother to answer. Instead, he leans forward, and before I could protest, his tongue flicks out, licking the blood from my forehead. The contact is warm, slick, and it sends a jolt through me, part revulsion, part something I don’t want to name.

A hiss escapes his lips, low and guttural, and his eyes flare a deep, crimson red, shining like something out of a nightmare. For a moment, he looks like he’s lost in it, like the taste of my blood has done something to him.

I’m frozen, my mind blank with terror. This is it. He’s going to kill me. Rip my throat out or drain me dry…or whatever monsters like him do. But then, just as suddenly, his eyes clear, the red fading back to blue. He blinks, like he’s waking up from a trance, and he steps back hastily, releasing me.

I did not hesitate. The second his hands are off me, I bolt out of the building.

“Chase!” He called after me, but I did not bother looking back. I ran, my sneakers pounding against the floor, my breath coming in ragged gasps.

The hallway blurs around me, the exit sign at the far end glowing like a beacon. I don’t know what Alex is, what any of those kids back there were, but I know I can’t stay here. I need Mom. I need to tell her we have to leave Devil’s Lake, pack our bags, and never look back.

The double doors stood ahead, and I slammed into them, bursting out into the cool afternoon air. The sunlight stings my eyes, but I didn't stop.

My head throbs, my lungs ache, but I keep on running, the school shrinking behind me. The Marshall mansion isn’t far, just a few miles through town. I can make it. I have to.

“Mom,” I mutter under my breath, like a prayer. “Please, Mom, we gotta get out of here.”

I don’t know what I just saw, what Alex did, but it’s real. Too real. And if he’s a monster, what does that make his dad? What does that make this whole damn town?

My stomach twists as I sprint down the sidewalk, dodging a woman walking her dog, ignoring the curious stares from a group of kids on bikes. All I could think about is getting home, finding Mom, and convincing her to leave before it’s too late.