Morgan Sinclair
Out of Chloe's room I go to the last place I saw him; the den at the far end of the house. He sits at the bar running his hand through his dark brown hair on his with his other hand on an empty glass. I remain in the doorway just looking at him as an involuntary smile forms on my face.
I shouldn't feel this way about him. I shouldn't be looking at him with a smile. He's wild and careless, he feeds on humans like they're nothing, and he kills people. Any sane person would be revolted enough to walk away and never look back. But I find myself wanting to be around him more and more each day. I've never felt freer than whenever I'm with him- I don't have to feel bad or feel guilty over the things I do or want to do. I don't know if it's dangerous or beautiful; the way I feel about him. The way I feel like me when I'm with him.
He finally acknowledges my presence, turning his head to face me. He stands up leaving his glass on the bar counter, "I didn't realize we'd be leaving so soon."
"No, we're not leaving now. I think in like a half hour maybe?" I have no idea when we're going to be honest. My brain has tried so hard to ignore the way my body reacts to his eyes on me. The way my heart pumps wildly in his presence then subtly aches when he leaves.
"Do you want a drink? I promise no talk of blood or death or anything like that." He holds up his hands briefly then returns them to his sides. "Scotch good?"
"No." I say gazing into his blue eyes that have only tightened their grasp on me since I first saw them.
His lips press together. "Alright then what do you want?" He motions to the bar behind him.
I walk towards him only an arms length away, never tearing my eyes away from him. The closer I get the stronger the magnetic pull towards him feels. "I want to prove you wrong." I say. The air crackled with tension as those words lingered in the air. Thrill flashed in his alluring eyes along with a flicker of vulnerability like he lowered his guard for me and only me to see.
As if he's been waiting and ready for this since that night he swiftly grabs my waist pulling me into him. Our lips press against each other and I take his face into my hands. His hands slide down under my thighs lifting me up and placing me on top of the bar- his lips never leaving mine. I smile against him, letting my pure contentment in this moment surface as the world around me melts away leaving only the two of us. His vanilla and mahogany scent, his taste, his warm built body against mine, his hands tightening their grip around my thighs. The passion and tenderness I feel from him as his lips glide over mine, my legs wrap around his waist pulling him closer into me pressing his hardness against me.
"Everyone, we're going!" Kellan yells out from the front of the house, startling us.
As we pull back, our stare flickers between each others' eyes or lips. "Do you think he did that on purpose?" His lips upturn.
I laugh, "It's possible." He steps back from me and I get off the bar, already missing his touch but reveling in the lingering taste of him on my lips. "I'll prove you wrong tomorrow."
With a small smile on his face he looks me over and for a brief moment there's a distance in his eyes. "I'll hold you to that."
I questioned if how I felt about him was either dangerous or beautiful but I think it's both. Dangerous; how much I already feel for him, how he scares me, how with him I feel safe to explore the parts of myself that have lied dormant for 20 years. Knowing all that being a vampire entails- that's a risky thing. But beautiful; how much I already feel for him, how I feel comfortable to unapologetically be me in his presence.
He draws out my light and dark, and his gaze never falters at the sight of either.
These last three months have taken a toll on my mental and physical health. I've cried more than I've cried in my whole life, I've questioned my sanity, and I've been so uncertain about every choice I make and everything I do. But now with 100% certainty I know that I don't want to be without him.
*****
We pull into the hangar getting out of the parked cars. We all collectively but silently agreed that forcing Chloe and Dane to sit in the same car at least right now would be a tad awkward so it ended up being the guys and the girls in separate cars. Chloe and I talked throughout the entire hour long car ride, not about anything serious just whatever came to mind. Except the fact that I told her I want to see where things could go with Grayson. Aside from that- we both wanted a distraction from life so we stayed with lighter topics. Victoria drove us in silence only talking when needed in her usual short answers. She smoked the whole time, the poor car will never get the smell of cigarette smoke out of it.
Nearing the hangar door Victoria sent her jet to, we walk in a heavy silence. Grayson walks a few feet ahead of me and he must have felt my eyes on him because he turned his head to me making eye contact for a split second, flashing a grin before he turned back around. "Enjoying the view Morgan?" My smile exits my face and my cheeks burn up.
Victoria leads the group through the door and into the aggressively lit hallway. The fluorescence is blinding. "Have you ever been on her plane?" I ask Chloe in stride next to me.
"Nope." She says.
At the end of the hallway the doors are open and I can see some people standing about in cavernous hangar. "Now I can cross fly in a private jet off my nonexistent bucket list." I say to Chloe as we walk through the doors to the hangar. She smiles and in a split second- I mean I literally blinked and a blade bursts through her chest. Shock rushes through me as her blood splatters on my face. I see the sharp end of the blade sticking out of her and the woman behind her who just stabbed her glaring at me.
She removes the blade, throws Chloe to the floor, and takes a step to me. Impulsively I punch her in the face. I think I just pissed her off more, she swings at me with the knife- I take a step back trying to dodge, feeling the tip of the blade cut across my chest. I grunt in pain from the sting of the tear. Stumbling backwards hitting into someone behind me, I turn around to the tall man towering over me. His irises turn red- they're vampires.
Where is everyone?
He violently grabs my throat and the woman who cut my chest steps in my peripheral. I frantically look around seeing everyone fighting people off. I make eye contact with Kellan while the man begins walking, forcing me to walk backwards with his hand tightly wrapped around my throat. I grab onto his arm digging my nails into his skin, squeezing down as tightly as possible. Tight enough to draw blood and I continue to tighten my grasp just as he tightens his. The woman to my side steps closer and I feel a pinch in my neck instantly sending an uncomfortably cold liquid into my veins. The coldness turns to straight fire in a fraction of a second- sage. When my grip loosens, he lets go of my throat as my legs struggle to keep me standing. The sage weakening me with every passing second. He picks me up flinging me over his shoulder and walks with my body.
I look to Kellan, he yells something but I can't make it out with my senses taking a major blow with that amount of sage. Kellan breaks the neck of the vampire in front of him and sprints over. A second later I drop to the floor. The harsh concrete wakes me up a little bit, then the bloodied heart that falls to the floor in front of me wakes me up even more. I start to stand up turning to Kellan as he blocks the woman's attempt to stab him, taking the knife and driving it into her chest.
He hurries over to me helping me stand. "Are you alright?" His eyes wide and concerned looking me over for any damage to myself. His eyes fix on the blood staining my shirt from the cut across my body and anger floods them in an instant.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
He takes my arm. "We have to go."
"Where are the others?!" I yell, before he could run off with me.
He looks around quickly. "I don't know we just need to get you-." His words come to an abrupt halt by a knife tearing into his neck. My body recoils as the blood of yet another person gets splattered onto me. The knife rips from his neck leaving him gurgling on his own blood on the floor. I meet the red irises of the man holding the knife staring at me with loathing and yet some level of fear within.
I feel something hard hit against the back of my head but before I could respond to that attack, the man in front of me plunges his knife into my stomach. The sharp pain of a blade tearing through every layer of skin is not something I wanted to ever feel again. "Your friend killed my friend." The man comments then twists the blade inside of me forcing an agonized scream out of me. The even sharper pain of a blade twisting in my insides is also something I never want to feel again.
These two seize my arms dragging me away. I focus on where I'm being dragged to, a small inlet off to the side with three black Cadillac trucks and several men and women standing still around them. I finally notice that there's no plane here.
Nearing the cars a man steps out of one of the black Cadillacs. With pain starting to blind me I can't get a good look at him. I turn my energy on trying to remove the knife from my stomach but unfortunately my hands are being held so I can only stare at the sight of my blood dripping out of the wound and creating a trail behind me.
The man holding me on my right tenses. "Your Majesty, I didn't think you'd actually be here." He says.
"You think I wouldn't show up to meet my daughter?" My eyes shoot up at the sound of that deep menacing voice. Daughter.
Lucien. The second I make eye contact an alarming chill shoots down my spine. I don't have to look at him long for paralyzing fear to completely take over my body.
The man tears the knife out of me. Groaning in pain, I fall to the ground as both of the men let go but remain next to me. I force myself to stand up despite pushing through whatever pain and fear is ransacking my body.
"You're- oh my god." I frantically stand up but my heart remains on the ground. On impulse I turn on my heels and move to run. One of the men next to me tries to grab me but with the newfound fear for my life giving me an adrenaline boost I whip around to him, fighting through the sage and punch him in the jaw sending him to the floor. I sprint away using my enhanced speed only getting a few feet before another hand tightly seizes my arm stopping me from going any further. Filled with fear and anger I turn around attempting to hit this one too. My fist connects with the palm of his hand instead of his face, clenching down to stop my punch. I peel my eyes away from his hand covering mine to the man's face. Relief rushes my body, it's Grayson.
"Thank God." I let out a relieved breath. "Come on." I move to run only for him to yank me back.
He looks down to me. "Sorry love. I can't do that." He's staring at me. I know he is. I see it, but he's not looking at me. He's looking through me like I'm not even here. I tilt my head at him as I search for anything recognizable within his eyes at the moment. He turns away from me facing Lucien sending my heart to somehow sink even further. I open my mouth to say something but no words come before me. I don't understand what he's doing. Why he's now pulling me closer to Lucien.
I snap out of my daze realizing I have no time to reel or process this I have to get out of here now. Yanking my arm back trying to rip it away from him and pry his hand off with my free hand but another set of hands grabs my arm, holding me in place. Victoria. "What?" I stare at her in disbelief.
With her jaw clenched tightly, she refuses to look at me.
They walk with me forward towards the man these two spent the last 3 months trying to protect me from. There is no fucking way this is happening right now. What is even happening right now? Why aren't they running? Why is Victoria of all people bringing me closer to him? Why is Grayson doing this?
"You must be Morgan." Lucien smiles an empty, vacant smile. "Pleasure to finally meet you." He opens the back door of the Cadillac truck behind him. Motioning for them to bring me over.
I start fighting. Or at least trying to fight. I try to pull my arm away, push them off, anything. Kellan and Chloe yell in the distance providing me with an ounce of hope. Thank God.
Kellan runs over and rips Grayson off of my arm throwing him to the floor while Chloe plunges a knife into Victorias back. Dane sprints over and takes out two of the men standing around Lucien.
"Get her out of here!" Kellan yells at Chloe before resuming his fight with Grayson. I glance over at Dane as he gets stabbed in the chest by one of the women. He drops to his knees, wincing in pain while his blood dyes his white shirt red. He looks down at his wound then up at me with apologetic eyes.
I want to help him- do something but Chloe grabs me. We run off and through my deep sorrow that I'm leaving Dane and Kellan behind to deal with this I see a light in the midst of what feels like a whole lot of impending darkness.
Chloe stops in her tracks with a gasp. She lets go of my hand grabbing at her back. She tries desperately to pry a knife from her back and Victoria stalks towards us at a brisk pace. I go to help Chloe remove the knife but before I could even grip the knifes handle I get shoved to the floor by Victoria. She wraps her arms around Chloe's neck. "I'm sorry." I hear Victoria whisper as she adjusts her grip on her head, promptly snapping Chloe's neck.
I gasp watching Chloe's body drop to the floor so harshly. Then Dane's body plunging to the floor after one of Luciens men snaps his neck. One by one any hope I may have had gets stomped out.
Unintentionally my eyes fall to Lucien who hasn't moved a muscle since this blood bath started. He stares at me with absolutely nothing behind his eyes and a malevolent smirk. Ice nipped at my body making me unable to move. I froze. Just his presence scared me to no end. How can I be related to someone like that?
Grayson and Kellan continue their fight, going blow for blow. "Morgan run!" Kellan yells then punches Grayson once more. He pulled his fist back going to punch again but Grayson grabbed it and slams Kellan against the wall. He rips a pole off the wall next to them and stabs it through Kellans chest. Grayson stands for a moment watching Kellan choke on his own blood then takes Kellans head into his hands and snaps it letting his lifeless body drop to the floor.
Two of Luciens people come up from behind and grab me. Clutching my shirt, grabbing my arms and before I could react I feel the pinch in the side of my neck, followed by the cold liquid entering my bloodstream, instantly burning everything it touches- more sage. They start dragging me away closer and closer to Lucien and the open car door.
I scream and try to fight them off but the woman on my right twists my arm, dislocating it from my shoulder. I yell out as she continues dragging me from that arm. I can't form a coherent thought let alone formulate a way to fight my way out of this.
My body weakens along with any hope dying out with every step closer. I glance over at Grayson and Victoria who now stand a few feet over from Lucien. With a clenched jaw, Victorias stare, like Graysons goes through me. Graysons eyes meet mine for a split second before he looks away, his eyes pointed at the ground. I want to scream, I want to cry, I want to fight, but all I can manage to do is try to keep myself awake while the sage tries to put me out.
Only a few feet away from Lucien I see his eyes clearly now as they stare into my soul. It's horrifying. A deep endless void I cannot even begin to fathom.
I have his eyes. I realize. Hazel. His are infinitely darker and cold but I have his eyes.
And they're the last thing I see before the world goes black.