Phantom Girl

Chapter 4

Lucy POV

After showing the doorman my stolen invitation and my fake-ID, I was guided into a big elegant hall.
Avoiding eye contact, I make my way through the auction hall, until I reach the bar on the other side.

Since most people have already reserved their seats close to the auction stage, its relatively quiet there. A tall, blonde guy is leaning against the counter casually, but he's busy with his phone, not paying any attention to me. I take my place as far as possible from him, ordering a coke.

It's still quite some time, until the auction starts, so I decide to observe the people around me. Lots of fancy dressed people are crowded in the hall, men in expensive looking suits and women in elegant dresses, that are far from the one that I'm wearing.
Although all types of weapons were taken from the doormen at the entrance, I should still be careful. Most of them are probabbly mafia leaders and their followers, one more dangerous than the other.

"You're definitely not a member of the mafia, so how exactly did you get in here?", I suddenly hear somebody speak up right next to me. I flinch in shock and turn around, to meet a pair of piercing green eyes. The blonde guy, who used to be playing with his phone, is now leaning on the counter right next to me, giving me a mischievous smile. He seems to be around my age, but is a lot taller than me.

My mind turns completely blank, as I stare at him in shock, not sure what I'm supposed to do now.
„I got in through the back door, they really have a lack of security there." He speaks up again, chuckling a bit, while I stand in front of him, still paralyzed with my jaw dropped. I must look like a total fool right now.

„What?", I finally manage to pant out. My heart is still racing like crazy and my hands are slightly shaking, while clasping my coke tightly.
„Haha, I'm sorry for scaring you," the guy suddenly laughs, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. „My Name is Shalnark by the way. But you can call me Shal." And with that he holds out his hand to me. Still in loss of words, I shake it. „Lucy," I finally manage to answer him.

That guy is really something. Honestly said, I have no reason to trust him, but something tells me, that he has no intentions in harming me.
Somehow, he even looks kind of nice and easy to talk to. „Why are you here, then?" I ask him. „Considering, you came in through the back door, you probably don't belong to the mafia either."

Shalnark chuckles a bit, before throwing a warm smile at me. „Yeah, you're right," he answers, before taking a sip of his drink. „Some of my friends have business to do at the auction. I was bored, so I came too, but it seems like my help is not needed. Anyway, what is a girl like you doing here?"

Feeling kind of nervous about the question, I try to dodge it. "Ah, I was just kind of interested in the auction."

"You got through all the trouble to get in here, just for fun? I don't buy that", the blonde answers, raising his eyebrows a bit. I avoid his gaze nervously, since there is no way I could tell him the real reason why I came here today, and somehow I can't think of any explanation that'd make sense.

„Hey. Wanna go somewhere else then? It's kind of boring here anyway." he suddenly changes the topic, looking at his watch kind of nervously.
„No way, the auction is about to start. I wanna watch it," I turn his offer down, right when the bell announces the start of the auction. „Nah, let's just go, these auctions are boring as hell, trust me." he insist, emptying his beer in one go.

Just in that second, two suited guys are walking on the stage, drawing my attention back to the auction.

'No way isn't that...?'

„I would like to welcome you to the underground auction." The raven haired in the front guy speaks up in the mic. The tall guy, that I've also seen in town this morning is standing right behind him, arms crossed behind his back. „Well enough formality's, lets get right into business." The smaller one continues with his emotionless voice.

Then everything happens really fast. The guy behind him raises his arms, and in the next second bullets are shooting out of his fingertips, instantly killing the people in front of the stage. Within less than a second, the room is filled with corpses and blood. I stare at the scene in front of me in horror and shock, when I suddenly feel someone grabbing my wrist and pulling me towards the entrance.

A few minutes later, I find myself outside of the building, panting and shivering, still holding onto Shalnarks hand tightly. Thankfully none of us was hurt on the way out, but it seems like we're the only people who made it out alive. „Oh my god." I sob, while trying to breathe properly. „We need to call the police", I cry out, while pulling out my phone.
After taking the device out of my shaking hands, Shalnark gently wipes away my tears and pulls me into a tight hug.

„Don't worry I will take care of everything", he gently whispers into my ear. Then he quickly safes up my number into his phone, before handing mine back to me. „I will call you to check on you tomorrow, go home and take a rest, okay?"

Back in the hotel, I lay on my bed, blankly staring at the ceiling above my head. I knew, sneaking into the auction was a dangerous and foolish idea, yet I didn't expect such a violent outcome.

Anyway, something bothers me, nothing that happened tonight seems to make sense.
And then realization suddenly strikes me like a lightning bolt. He knew what was going to happen, which definitely leads to the conclusion that Shalnark was one of them.

What other reason would he have had to want me to leave that badly just right before the auction started? But anyway, why would he want to protect me? We only met a few minutes before, so why would he care if I got shot?

With countless questions running trough my head, I finally sink into a restless sleep...