‘No. No. No. No,’ she thought anxiously as she rose from the floor. She called his phone, and it went straight to the voice message again. Her hand reached for the pistol.Picking locks was not her specialty. She hoped he wouldn’t mind what she was going to do. Her gun clutched in both hands, Danica took a few steps back. She sprinted to the door and shouldered it open. It broke with a bam.Immediately she pointed her gun behind the wall, in case somebody was hiding there. It was empty.Before her was a slightly messy apartment, with a few things lying about. That was strange, because unlike her, he was quite particular about how things should be in the exact same places. That she knew within three years they became friends. Right after she had broken up with Dave, she went to a bar, with a fake ID. Three hours later, she was awfully drunk, but dragged herself out before throwing up on the sidewalk. By that time, she was barely conscious anymore, holding onto something: probably a tr
Her eyes stung after long hours of staring at her laptop screen. Too tired. In baggy pajamas, she slumped face-down at the edge of the bed, not even crawling to the pillow. Her eyelids fluttered shut instantly.These walls were thin. When everything went quiet, she would hear passing conversations and sometimes footsteps from the corridor. Her consciousness was drifting away before faint sounds wrestled into her sleep-addled brain.There was somebody outside her door. Somebody was walking about, which itself would be typical. Something about it, however, was strange. The footsteps were slow and steady; someone was taking a stroll right along the narrow corridor before her apartment as though it was a fun place. It had been quite some time since he or she was pacing. Besides, they sounded intentional like they were meant for somebody to hear them: in this case, her.Danica reached across her bed for the gun. Perhaps it was a harmless weirdo, like the ones who talked to themselves in
“What do you want?” she glowered at him. Both her voice and body trembled, as she was straining every part of her nerves to move, uselessly. His smile stopped, and for a while, there was no answer.“You are so ignorant, and willful,” he remarked quietly.“What is that supposed to mean?! You’re just another bloodthirsty parasite, aren’t you?” she rambled on, trying to hide the fear inside. “That’s why you’re here. You want my blood. You bloodsuc—,” Suddenly he stood right in front of her, having crossed the distance between them in a blink of an eye. She tried to attack him, forgetting she couldn’t move. “So impudent. I don’t like mouthy females,” he spat out. “Or males, for that matter.”‘What the hell? He insulted her first.’His height towered over her, standing too close. She couldn’t and didn’t need to look up to know if he was angry. He was. And that made her even angrier than him. Who was he to invade her home and treat her this way? She didn’t care why he was here anymore.
It was a brief conversation. Sage claimed he didn’t even know about the case and he wasn’t lying. He had never lied to her before and she could think of no reason he should start now. “Did you hear anyone talking about the case at least?” She was clutching at straws.“This is a big station, Dani, and with my rank, I don’t have enough clearance to know half of the cases. And…,” he turned to look into her eyes. “… some cases we simply aren’t aware of.” That’s true. He was only an officer, partly because ranks went up slower in ORP than in the ordinary police. However, what came out of his mouth next caught her off-guard.“But maybe I could dig around and tell you what I found over dinner? What do you think?” In the car, Danica looked at Sage as if she had never seen him before. He was not unattractive; he was, with his prominent cheekbones and deep grey eyes. It was that she wasn’t attracted to him, and he had even struck as he disliked her by his avoidance—not that she could blame h
And yet, after a half-an-hour wait, Danica was still alone. The whispers had stopped for a long while. For her age, ‘she’ might need more time to prepare. With that thought, she tried to relax, but couldn’t with all the worries. She stared at the colorful shapes on the table and the carpet near her feet, trying to calm herself. Through the stained glass of the windows, near the ceilings, the sunlight had transformed into red, yellow, and blue patterns. After staring at them for an unbeknownst amount of time, she shook her head and headed out of the study room to ask if everything was alright. She couldn’t go back empty-handed. Marc’s life was in danger. Steve was nowhere to be found; neither in the entrance hall nor in the kitchen. e living room was the same. She approached the stair to take a glance upstairs or call out, perhaps. As she stood at the foot, she heard people talking: two, most likely Steve and Ms. Donna. This time was a lot more than mumbles. “Why didn’t she bring t
“You…” she uttered in amazement. Her mind was on her weapons beneath her dress. If she threw a dagger into his heart, he would likely avoid it. He was too fast.“Be careful,” he warned behind her. The simple two words sounded like a threat, just like the little pet name he uttered earlier. Was that intentional or an accident?For a few seconds, he stood right behind her. He put his hands on the back of her seat briefly. ‘What was he trying to do?’ she wondered in frustration. ‘This was ‘him’! It must be!’When she was about to jump up and face him, he strolled past her, towards the other end of the table. The suit as pale as bones hadn’t made the person appear softer. It just made him colder, and out of place despite the environment with the similar shade.The words caught in Danica’s throat as he, none other than the vampire prince, sat down opposite her. He was a beautiful bastard, and she now despised it. How could everything be an accident?Her eyes trailed his movements. The devi
The table was stained dark red. The wine glasses were overturned by the swish of air he had caused. The heady liquid had dripped down and dampened the hemline of her dress. Since she had not taken a sip of her glass, it seemed to soak everything. Danica looked up at his fiery eyes as he towered over her. The pigments of deep scarlet had taken over the irises, which sometimes appeared to be drained any color. With his jaw set and his eyes burned, he might set her soul on fire if he could. “Ugh,” she gasped, from the dull pain in her right hand. His long fingers were around her wrist, to wrestle away the gun. He was almost twisting it. Hate filled her heart. “I’ll kill you,” she declared.“Do it,” he enunciated. “Kill me.”She jerked her knee towards his most sensitive parts. He avoided it, but doing so, he dropped her arm. She took that opportunity to slide out the wooden dagger. He stopped it, and his hand ended up on her thigh. She felt his fingers brush her inner thigh briefly.
A few of them glanced in her direction, from talking by their vehicles, one of which was slightly different from the other two. Four in uniforms and two in suits—a man and a woman. In a heartbeat, their gaze changed from curiosity to animosity. A couple too many people for a simple patrol; this was serious.“Danica Galant?” the man in the suit strode forward, in front of the headlights. Behind him, all of them drew their guns.Likewise, her hand reached for hers before she reminded herself that being armed in front of the uniformed people was not the wisest decision.“I am her. What happened?” she asked calmly.“Put your hands up where I can see them,” he raised his voice. “Why?” “Stop. Walking,” he spat out, raising his gun. The others did the same. “Stop right there. Not another step!” “Okay.” she halted in her tracks, puzzled by their aggressive stances. “I said. Put your hands up,” he repeated, his tone thoroughly hostile.From one of their cars, indistinguishable voices rang