Chapter Five

Clarissa

“Shit” I muttered and stepped out of hiding. I walked towards the two and Silas chuckled in a rather dangerous way, his eyes glinting with malice.

“You sure she is with her? She looks rather pale and weak to me.” He asked as I walked towards them.

Now, I could see the room clearly and gave a quick scan of the place to see where were the nearest exits. 

It looked like a store room with piles of discarded broken chairs, ropes, and other forgotten things. The only source of illumination was a big bulb that hung down from the ceiling right above Miranda’s head. The rest of it was dark.

There were rectangular windows high above near the ceiling that I could not reach and only a single door, the same one we had walked in through.

I shivered despite not feeling cold. Dacre had gone completely silent as he saw me step out of my hiding spot. He threw a lingering gaze on me, his eyes raking me from bottom to top and then quickly dismissing me as a tissue paper. I felt his gaze stay longer on my face than necessary but it could just be my assumption.

I was never someone to long for someone’s appreciative gaze but somehow it hurt me. 

“All of them look the same to me,” Dacre said in a bored voice and looked at his watch. “Can you hurry up? I don't have all night to sit around and watch them wail”

I wanted to take that knife and twist it into Dacre’s abdomen as hard as possible. He was talking of killing us as if we were chickens to feast on.

While the two were bickering, I threw a look at Miranda who was on the ground. She had stopped sobbing and looked at me hopefully.

I looked at the door and then at her and then back at the two boys, hoping that she would get my point. My plan was to let her bolt out of the door and distract the two boys for as long as I could. 

Obviously, I was no match for them both. Dacre and Silas both were over 6 feet tall, looked like they were hiding a lot of muscles under their clothes, and obviously wouldn’t mind skewering me alive with their knives or whatever other weapons they possessed.

But, somehow I was feeling exceptionally brave, or extremely foolish. Possibly both.

“Now” I screamed and Miranda shot up from the floor and ran towards the door. The boys took a moment to notice her slip away but before they could pursue her, I shot forward, barreling toward them like an angry bull.

“What the fuck?” Silas muttered as I elbowed hard in both their abdomens with each of my hands, making them fall back on the ground with my unexpected attack.

The dagger clamored to the ground from Silas’ hands and I lept at it pointing it at them both threateningly. 

“Don’t you dare make a move? Who are you and what do you want?”

Dacre saw the girl slip out of the door and his face contorted in fury.

“Do you have any idea how many days it took for us to track her?” He yelled at me and I shoved the dagger into the air as if to demonstrate that if he came any near, his throat would be the one to get slit and not the empty air.

Silas shook his head in dismay, “Five days, was it? Or six?” 

Dacre rubbed his temples in annoyance and said, “Go out and see if you can find her. Meanwhile, I’ll deal with this one.”

Silas ran a hand through his blond hair and walked away after giving me a creepy smile.

The door fell shut and I prayed that my sister would stop eating up Kyler’s face and start looking for me instead. At least, I had one less killer to fight but that did not mean I could escape without getting hurt.

My fingers were sweating and my grip over the dagger’s hilt was loosening.

“Who are you and what did you want from her?”

Dacre chuckled, “You know my name and also understood it very clearly that I wanted to kill her and you as well unless you are a dimwit.”

I held the dagger in front of me protectively, “Don’t you dare come near me. Or I’ll kill you”

“Let’s see if you can”

He took a step forward and I took a step back as I glared at him. “I said stop”

I screamed but he didn’t listen. He kept advancing and I kept retreating until my back touched the wall.

“Don’t make me kill you. This dagger can go straight through your heart and I’ll twist it but I won't even blink”

Dacre closed the gap between us and now stood directly in front of me. Our shoes must be touching and I looked up at him as he towered over me. The dagger’s tip was touching his leather jacket. 

My hand was shaking as I looked at the dagger’s tip. “Oh, I’ll solve that issue”

He then reached for the zip of his leather jacket and yanked it down, revealing his bare chest hiding underneath.

A gasp left my lips. He was indeed made of nothing but muscles that were as hard as a rock.

Maybe he had the blood of virgins and stones for breakfast. 

I smiled stupidly at that thought and I saw his face smiling wickedly at me. 

“Like what you see?”

I hadn’t focussed on his face due to the terror gripping me but now I could see, really ‘see’ his features.

His black hair was dense and his dark blue eyes pierced into me. His face looked like it had been sculpted to perfection with angular cheekbones complete with a pearly set of teeth and a dusting of light stubble across his jaw.

How would it feel to brush my fingers across his jaw? How would it feel to kiss those full lips?

Wild thoughts were running through my mind, each bolder than the other.

He leaned closer and the tip of the dagger buried into his skin but he did not even wince. His hot breath mingled with mine as his eyes kept studying me as if I was a puzzle to solve.

“What are you?”

What. Not who.

The question confused me.

His gaze then dipped to my lips which were parted in surprise. I was the one holding the dagger but he was the one oozing with confidence while I shivered like a cornered chicken.

His left hand went around my waist to pull me closer than I already was and I took a sharp breath, shivering at the contact.

No boy had ever touched me like this before. His fingers brushed against my bare back and rested on it as my heart began pulsing erratically.

A smile was playing on his face as he raised another hand and reached for the dagger. I began to struggle, thinking that he was going to wriggle it out of my grasp. I felt like a butterfly pinned to a board while Dacre looked at me deviously.

Maybe, he liked to play with his prey before killing them.

But, he did no such thing. He only curled his fingers around mine and held the dagger tightly.

My nerves were tingling at the contact and my heart was almost leaping out of my throat. I felt my core throb and I fought to keep myself in check.

Why was I liking his touch when I had been asking my sister to stay away from Kyler?

I blinked rapidly to not let myself be drawn to him and bit my lower lip nervously.

His eyes darkened as his gaze lingered on my lips for a second too long. 

“Don’t do that,” He said in a hoarse voice and I felt as if it was almost painful for him to force himself to tear his gaze away from my lips and look up at my eyes again.

“Don’t do what?” I asked but I received no answer.

Instead, he pushed the dagger further into his chest just enough for the tip to cut his skin.

“What are you doing?” I gave a startled cry. 

My eyes traveled down at his chest and I saw blood blossom on his toned chest, staining the steel tip of the dagger red.

“Helping you kill me” He answered and leaned further, our lips just a hair’s breadth away.

As I stared at him in horror, he pushed the dagger completely inside his chest while his lips crashed into mine, taking me off-guard.