Chapter Four - The Attack

[ Skylar's POV]

"Smell what?" I slurred, shaking my head as the alcohol fought against her warning. "No... no.... my friends... I have to check on Maya and the others... where are they?" I asked as I dismissed the voice in my head.

'FORGET THEM! WE NEED TO RUN!' the voice screamed, but I ignored her warning, forcing my heavy, uncooperative legs to march down the dimly lit hallway toward the main bar area.

As I rounded the corner, the world seemed to slow down into a nightmare.

'GO BACK SKYLAR!' the voice said again sounding very stern but yet, I paid no attention blocking the voice out of my head. Don't know how I did that, but it worked.

The pulsing music had cut out completely, replaced by an agonizing, dead silence. The main bar floor was entirely cleared of living people. Tables were flipped, liquor bottles were smashed across the floor, and pool of deep, dark crimson blood washed over the hardwood tiles.

Bodies lay motionless across the ground clubgoers, security guards, staff.

I gasped as my stomach turned upside down. A metallic, thick iron scent filled the air, so potent it burned the back of my throat. I was only gone for some minutes. "How did this happen?" I asked aloud to no one in particular.

As I moved closer, I made sure not to step on anything but... 'Look up!' the voice whimpered interrupting, her tone stripped of all her usual sass, replaced by raw, primal fear. 'Skylar, look up!'

I quickly paused as my trembling gaze drifted upward toward the elevated VIP balcony overlooking the main floor.

Standing near the railing, silhouetted against the dark blue strobe lights, was a tall, imposing male figure. His broad shoulders cut a dark, lethal shadow against the upper floor. I couldn't make out his face through the shadows and the hazy smoke hanging in the air. He hadn't sighted me yet.

He stood near the railing of the VIP balcony, towering over the whole room. I could make out his figure which practically radiated power. But it wasn't just that. It was the way he carried himself. I could notice few people around him seemed to give him space without him even saying a word.

Then, his eyes locked onto mine.

'Oh,' the gasped in my head, her frantic panic instantly melting into a strange, breathless hum. 'Oh wow. Who is THAT?'

'How would I know?,' I thought back, completely paralyzed. My feet suddenly got glued to the floor as I tried to move. I couldn't look away from his figure forgetting the current situation I was in. I was still frightened but careful not to show it.

The distance between us seemed to evaporate. His eyes were an unbelievable, piercing golden color, glowing in the dim light, which I found very weird. A violent shiver ran down my spine, but it wasn't fear. It felt like an electric charge shooting straight through my blood, knotting tightly in my chest.

He took a slow step closer as he rested his hand on the railing, his gaze fixed on me like a predator zeroing in on its prey.

'Is it hot in here, or is it just him?' the voice said hyperventilated. 'Skylar, look at those shoulders! Why does my heart feel like it's going to burst out of my chest? Is he looking at us? HE IS LOOKING AT US.'

'Will you quiet down?!' I scolded, though my own pulse was hammering against my ribs so hard I could barely breathe. How could she make out his whole figure dispite the darkness?

Suddenly, the lights came on. The then dark room became very bright it almost blinded my eyes. I quickly covered my eyes trying to adjust to the brightness. But when I opened them back, the guy was no where in sight.

But that wasn't what bothered me. Now the situation of the room became clearer. It seemed worse than what I noticed when I entered minutes ago. I covered my mouth due to the sight I saw.

Dead bodies everywhere while the floor was painted with blood. I even stepped on it. "Oh god." I said aloud with my palms covering my mouth. My hands started shivering. I shouldn't have come.

'I told you not to come. Didn't I?' the voice suddenly voiced making my fear double.

"My Phone!!" I said as I reached into my pockets as I pulled out my phone. My hands were shaking so violently that unlocking my phone felt like trying to defuse a bomb. I still couldn't move my feet.

I tapped on Chole's ID.

"Come on, pick up," I chanted frantically in my head, pressing the phone to my ear.

Dialing Chloe...Ring. Ring. Ring. The number.... Then straight to voicemail.

Panic tightening a fist around my throat, I swiped frantically and tried Tiara’s number.

Ring. Ring. Ring. Nothing. Just dead silence.

With my heart hammering a frantic rhythm against my ribs, I took a ragged breath and punched in Maya’s digits as a last resort. I gulped in as my thumb hovered over the screen, trembling.

‘Skylar, put the phone down, we need to get out of here!’ Lyra snapped, her voice suddenly sharp and urgent again, shaking off her earlier daze.

Ring... ring... click. I gasped.

"Maya?" I breathed out, my voice cracking. "Maya, where are you guys? I've been looking—"

“I'm... hngh..gettin’ tacos.... by the... conven—ient st.. ” a muffled, heavily slurred voice groaned through the speaker, accompanied by loud background music and unmistakable sounds of someone chewing chips. Getting tacos? Maya wasn't running for her life; she was knee-deep in late-night post-club cravings and she was definitely with her boyfriend, completely oblivious to the massacre happening feet away. She must have left earlier. She always does this.

"Maya, listen to me, the club is—"

Beep. Beep. Beep.

The call dropped. I stared at the dark screen in utter disbelief. She had hung up. I was standing in a literal horror movie slasher set, surrounded by casualties, and my best friend was stress-eating tacos.

Suddenly, a sound cut through the heavy silence of the room. I stood still.

Clack. Clack. Clack

Soft, deliberate footsteps echoed from the direction of the entrance.

I froze instantly, every muscle in my body locking up like concrete. My breath caught in my windpipe. I slowly lowered the phone, my fingers curling tightly around the device as I strained my ears, listening carefully to the rhythmic, unhurried pace of the approach.

Whoever was walking was taking their time, and they definitely weren't hiding. They owned this silence.

I quickly squatted hoping not to be seen but who was I kidding. I was literally exposed.

Then the figure came into my view. It was a guy. His figure looked like the guy from the balcony but he looked like he was entirely out of a different tax bracket of human evolution.

For starters, he was so tall he practically made standard doorways look like a safety hazard. I was five-foot-seven, which meant I usually looked most guys in the eye, but this guy looked like he was almost double my height, a walking, breathing architectural anomaly who probably had to duck just to walk through the Earth's atmosphere.

As he stepped under the bright lights, his features came into sharp, breathtaking focus. He had a jawline so aggressively chiseled it looked like it could slice glass, framed by thick, tousled blonde hair that fell just above a pair of striking, ice-cold dark blue eyes. Beneath a fitted black shirt, his broad, muscular frame radiated an intimidating, effortless strength. He looked like an elite supermodel who moonlighted as an executioner.

‘Oh. My. God,’ the voice suddenly whispered, marking her presence. ‘Forget everything I said earlier. We are staying right here. I don't care if he’s a giant Viking god of death; look at those shoulders! He could bench-press a minivan and not even break a sweat.’

'Will you shut up?!' I panicked internally. 'We are standing in a crime scene!'

He stopped a few feet away from me, towering over my space. The air around him suddenly felt impossibly heavy, carrying a clean, sharp fresh scent that cut right through the metallic stench of blood.

He didn't look like he belonged in this kind of nightclub. He looked like a king inspecting a battlefield he had just conquered single-handedly and right now, his intense, fathomless blue gaze was locked entirely on me.

I noticed him part his lips slightly, a flicker of confusion crossing his dark features before it smoothed back into normal. He took another step toward me.

"Boss! We found them and.... ," a tall guy with sharp features stepped into view, breaking our eye contact instantly. While the rest rushed behind him. He paused as he noticed my presence like he hadn't noticed me before.

The guy glanced at his companion, flicked one last, burning look back in my direction, and vanished through the back exit with his group.

‘Wait! No! Come back!’ the voice whined dramatically in my head. ‘Where is he going? Skylar, we need to follow him! But why does he feel so... familiar?’ Then she gasped, making me freeze. ‘What if...’

‘What if what?! He's a complete stranger,’ I tried to reason, pressing a cool hand to my flushed neck. ‘You're making a big deal out of nothing. It was just... eye contact.’

‘Not that!!! I think he's...’

The voice froze again. The playful, dramatic tone vanished in a millisecond, replaced by a deep, guttural growl that echoed behind my ribs.

‘RUN!’

Without even arguing, I sprinted, throwing my shoes aside, but before I could move further, I fell to the ground as a heavy weight slammed onto my back. Growls echoed around me.

Pain exploded across my head then my ribs. My head hit the hard ground, and darkness swarmed the edges of my vision.

‘Skylar! Stay awake! Don't pass out now!’ the voice, no, Lyra, pleaded, her voice growing distant as darkness closed in.

I caught one last glimpse of dark red glowing eyes staring right at me...

Then, everything went black.