Breathe Under Water - Shadows of the Night 1

Chapter 8

Hello, I'm back again!

Desperation has turned me into a restless writer as hopes that someone actually reads and likes my story are dwindling. The heck with it! I'll post, and if even one person is reading, it's worth it! So, this goes out to whoever is reading this. Things are picking up action-wise, and, next chapter we will definitely be leaving the State of New York.... Hope you like it.

Lara

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Chapter 8

At first all I could see was the color. Blue, everywhere. If possible at all, the whole room was choked to death by it. The walls were void of the shackles and instruments of torture I saw in the club outside. In here they were merely decorated by opulent, deep blue drapes.

Scattered along the walls, an assortment of blue furniture (mostly couches and chairs closing in on tables) formed a protective ring around the center of the room. Whatever kind of furniture was sitting in the middle of the room, it must have been the unhappy end result of a crossbreeding of a bed and a couch. Among other things, its surface was adorned with countless cushions in different shades of blue.

By far not scary enough to make me want to turn around and leave. Hell, there weren't even shackles or axes in this part of the Club. I had no problem with the color. I had a problem with the living – or in that case non-living living – things in the room.

There must have been about six or more people in there. Even without second sight I could tell that the two males, their forms sunk into the velvety blue of one of the couches along the wall to my right, were vampires. A feeling in my gut told me that the male leaning against a wall in the back of the room was human. While the two vamps to my right appeared to be engrossed deeply in a conversation, the human was watching me, and from the look on his face I could tell that I wasn't the only one who didn't want me to be here.

Three other people, and here was the crux of the matter, were draped on the oversized bed-couch-thing. Alexander and a female vampire were crouching over a scantily dressed blond human girl or woman – I couldn't tell from where I was standing. By the look of it I entered just at the right moment. They were feeding.

One arm pressed on the top of her back, Alexander's fangs were buried deeply in the human's neck. I stared and swallowed. Imagination had me believe that I could actually see how the blood left her veins to flow into the vampire's mouth.

Fangs sinking into flesh.

No. I felt the memory resurface and tried to fight it. Not now. Please, not now.

I clenched my fists as hard as I could, felt fingernails dig into tender skin. Maybe the pain would chase away the images that were coming to life in my mind. Vampires. The smell of blood... and death.

A second lost in time. Alexander's eyes darted up to meet mine. I shuddered, the core of my mind dangling over the edge of a familiar abyss. A pull of power, the need to turn and run. False and fleeting courage.

I swallowed and blinked slowly. My mind is my own. I live in the here and now. Not the past. Deep breaths. The dreaded memories receded, hiding in the caverns of my subconscious –for now at least.

Alexander let go of the girl and licked his lips, his blue eyes never leaving mine. She was willing. It was obvious in the eager way she snaked her arm around his chest, how desperately she was trying to slip her hand under his half-open shirt. Somewhere in the back of my mind it registered that Alexander was wearing a deep green shirt and black trousers. The information seemed outrageously trivial.