Hide Seek Kill - A Thriller Novel || Draft One

Three: Chase

the young teen to flinch. This is something that has not gone unnoticed by Chase.

A tall girl wearing high-heels storms in from the right of the room.

"Where have you been, kid!" the girl is walking up to the German, making to grab his arm.

Chase cautiously clutches his knife, eyeing the girl warily.

"Relax, we've already met, pretty boy." She scoffs, flicking her hand dismissively. "Remember?"

No, he does not. Unless...

Oh goodness.

Seeing his expression, the girl laughs bitterly. "Last Friday's coming back to you now? Honestly, I shouldn't have been surprised when I woke up and you weren't there next to me. I was warned you weren't any good."

The boy looks between them, unable to hide the confusion from his face. The girl turns back to the German, disgust coming to her face.

"Nothing you'll ever have to know," she tells him. "Although you might. What are you, thirteen?"

The boy laughs, a bittersweet sound. "I'm seventeen, actually."

Chase wonders if people always think the dark-haired boy is younger than he really is.

"And lady, maybe he didn't find the night as enjoyable for him as it vas for you. Especially if he saw all zat." The boy gestures at her in a sly way, a mischievous grin tugging at his lips.

"How dare you, you little bi–"

"Whoa, there!" Chase steps in front of the German, shielding him from the fuming lady. The German's grin disappears from his face, which is starting to turn pale.

"Get out of my way." She moves to go past him, but Chase quickly blocks her again.

"You need to chill, Viv." He regrets calling her that when her face turns redder. She grabs his shirt and pulls him down to eye level, her nose touching his.

"Call me that again," she growls. "And you won't be able to say another word." She shoves him backwards, causing him to stumble into the boy.

"And you, kid," she points a finger at the German, "you need to learn when to shut that mouth of yours."

"You need to learn vhen to shut your mouth!" The German retorts, pointing a finger back at her.

This causes Vivica to pull out a hidden pocket knife, which is decorated in several jewels.

"You will not tell me what to do!" Vivica says, pointing the tip of the knife at the German. "And you," she turns to face Chase, wrinkling her nose. "You disgust me." Without any warning, she throws the knife at the boy.

Thinking quickly, Chase turns his body away from the knife, shielding the boy once more. The knife wasn't thrown well enough to stick and slices Chase's arm, causing a thick trail of blood to slide down his arm.

Vivica is distracted by the blood and her eyes leave the teen. Taking this chance, he slips from behind Chase and grabs the knife.

"Apologize." The boy says, pointing the knife at Vivica.

"Ha! Me? Apologize? You must be joking!"

"Apologize." He repeats, putting the knife closer to her throat.

"If you think you can hurt me, kid, you've got another thing coming." Vivica steps closer, so that the knife is pressed against her throat. "You're too much of a whiny, idiotic, brat."

A dangerous gleam flashes in the German's eyes, "You'd be surprised vhat I'm capable of."

Vivica is about to say something, when a noise draws their attention to the top of the staircase.

"I thought I heard voi–Oh! There you three are!" a brown-haired girl chirps from the top left of the grand staircase. "See, I told you!"

The guy next to her seems less than amused. "Get out of my way," he says gruffly. The girl simply laughs.

"No need to be so harsh, silly!" she lightly scolds.

She sits on the edge of the railing and spirals down it with ease, beating the tan-skinned guy to the bottom. When he finally makes it to where his cheerful companion is, Chase, Vivica, and the boy are all staring.

The guy's features pull into a smirk upon seeing Vivica. He whistles lowly and slinks up to her.

"Well, well, well, what's a beautiful creature like you doing in a mansion like this one with these two idiots?" he asks, taking the back of her hand and kissing it.

Chase has already decided that he doesn't like this guy. That's his thing. Or, it was, anyway. I'm subtle, he thinks, which girls like way more.

"Ugh!" the German groans. "If I have to vatch you two flirt, I'm outta here!"

"There's the door," Vivica flicks her hand in the direction of the small entry which Chase had come from before turning her attention back to the guy.

"I'm nothing compared to Mr. Handsome standing before me," she purrs, batting her eyelashes.

Chase mockingly gags. Although he had no desire for her to be doing that to him, he couldn't help but be jealous of this indeed incredibly good-looking man.

"Shut up!" the brown-haired girl says, watching the two attentively,

"If you don't like it you can leave too!"

"Okay, I'm outta here." The boy strolls to one of the doors on the left. "See ya, you loonies." And with a salute, he's gone.

Something in Chase compels him to follow the German into the small hallway.

"Hey, wait up!" he calls. The boy turns around and puts his hands in the pockets of his trousers.

"Vhat's up?"

Chase hesitates, not quite knowing what to say. The teen surprises him by laughing.

"How about zem flirting, huh? I don't like zat guy. He's worse zan you." The boy steps closer, offering his hand. "I'm Otto. Otto Müller."

Chase finds himself taking the hand and giving it a firm shake.

"Chase Cummingham."

"Zank you for defending me," Otto says sincerely. "Even though I can defend myself."

This elicits a smile from Chase. "You weren't half bad. You surprised Vivica, that's for sure."

"She needed to be surprised." Otto says, "She's too used to having everything go her way."

"Ain't that the truth," Chase mumbles.

The sound of footsteps draws their attention to the entry. Under the dim candlelight of the halls, Chase can make out the figure of a girl.

"Mind if I join you guys?" she asks. It's the brown-haired girl.

"As long as you don't plan on killing me, then we're cool." Chase replies.

"Ya," Otto nods.

The girl smiles. "My name's Jennifer." She hooks her arms around each of their necks. "Call me Jen."