2. Peaches

Chapter 2

Peaches

S uddenly I was up and out of the chair just as the fortune teller did the same. Her eyes were wide and wild, like she could still see whatever horror my life had played out in her mind's psychic eye.

"It's… it is impossible," she stuttered, shaking her head as if trying to rid herself of the memory.

"What is it… what did you…?" Stacey started to ask, only I quickly cut her off.

"No! I… I don't want to know," I shouted.

"But…" Stacey tried again, but I turned to face her, and my look must have said as much as the unshed tears did.

"I… I just want to go," I told her quickly.

"Okay, we can…" Stacey replied but I cut her off again, not wanting to ruin the whole reason we came here in the first place. For her.

"No, just me… you stay here, okay? Get your reading. I'm gonna go for a walk, clear my head… I just need some air," I told her, and she nodded, despite looking like she wanted to argue more. But she knew me. She knew I liked to be alone whenever my emotions got the better of me. She knew the signs.

"I'm sure your reading will go better," I said, looking back at the horrified woman who was watching our exchange with a strange look on her face.

It was almost like she knew me now and I hated that. I hated the idea of her knowing anything about me. But my words had been a warning… and one she didn't miss because she nodded at me.

So, with nothing else to say, I left, feeling like the longer I was there, the more my lungs struggled to breathe. The scent of incense was suddenly suffocating, I left the room and practically ran out the old store, surprised to find it dark already. Had we really been in there that long?

What had she seen? What was so horrendous that she had recoiled in horror? I didn't know, but it had freaked me out enough that I needed to escape.

Escape … now why was that word striking a chord with me? Why was that one action clinging to me, as if a seed had been planted? Exactly what was I supposed to escape from?

"ARH!" I yelled in pent-up frustration because I just didn't know.

The icy-cold malevolent feeling still crawled along my skin like I had been infected by a simple touch. I looked back at the door and wondered if I should have left Stacey in there after all. Perhaps I should go back in and check on her? Strangely, the second I thought this, another desire, one far stronger, came over me. I started walking down the road toward an old cemetery we had passed on the way here, like something was pulling me that way. The small stone wall was easy enough to step over if I wanted to, but I soon realized that wasn't where I wanted to go.

So, I continued walking along the sidewalk, glancing nervously at all the old gravestones I could see paled by the full moon. But even as I asked myself what I was doing or where I was going, my feet continued to walk me closer to what I could now see was a large brick building. An old warehouse of sorts on the opposite side of the road to the cemetery… and one I found myself crossing the road to get to.

I looked around, not seeing anyone but hearing voices all the same. They were muffled, only getting louder as I approached an open piece of fence that surrounded the warehouse. It was as if it had once been a gateway inside to the back but now it had been taken down. A sleek black SUV was parked close by, and it looked out of place in this part of town.

What was I doing here…? I just didn't know. All I knew was that I couldn't stop. It was like something was compelling me to move closer, despite another part of my brain, no doubt the rational side, screaming at me to run. But run from what?

Or from who?

The thought took me off guard, like somewhere deep within me knew something that the rest of me didn't. Like my mind had been carved in two and the less cautious one was now leading the way. So, I continued walking until I was in full view of the back of the building, one littered with discarded pallets in front of what appeared to be a loading dock. I spotted a huge industrial sized dumpster, and decided it would be an ideal place to see what's going on without being seen myself.

Seconds later, I was thankful for my instincts to hide because I wasn't alone. Three darkly dressed figures came from around another part of the building, and I had to hold back a gasp because the sight was such an intimidating one. I instantly became frightened.

The men looked huge, with the tallest one in the middle and striding with strength and purpose. I had never felt like prey so much in my life and they hadn't even spotted me yet. Fuck, what had I been thinking coming here?!

Idiot, Vanessa!

Okay, so why wasn't I running yet? The fear was certainly there and the panic was making my heart hammer in my chest like it was close to saying fuck it, before giving up and stopping altogether. But I couldn't seem to move, despite knowing that I should. Especially when I caught another shadow from the corner of my eye. Someone else was hiding but unlike me, they didn't have a chance at running because the men knew he was there. I knew that when I heard a strong, confident voice call out,

"Here Piggy Piggy… come out come out wherever you are!" The man in the middle was the one talking, his tone dangerously mocking, making my mouth drop open.

The rough timber of his voice made me shiver, and I held my arms around myself, wishing for more than just a zip-up hoodie. Perhaps a bulletproof tactical vest. Perhaps an Ironman suit.

"Ah, here you are," the man in the middle said, before jerking his head toward the man trying to scramble up onto the loading bay.

I couldn't see any details in any of their features from my position, but for some reason my eyes remained glued to the man who seemed to be in charge and calling the shots. Because at his signal, the two men either side of him stepped forward and dragged the man referred to as Piggy down from the raised platform.

"Please, Mr. Erebus! I didn't do anything!"

The main man started laughing, the rolling timber of his throaty laugh a hypnotic sound. I would have loved to see the smile to go with it. Although that was most likely just as dangerous as hearing the sound I could have quite easily become addicted to.

"Oh, Dennis, dear Dennis, you stupid little fucker you. What are you to tell me next? That fucking fairies floated down and stole our shipment?" I frowned, wondering what they were talking about.

The man he had called Dennis was now being manhandled to his feet before being slammed into the wall by the bay, making him wince in pain.

"No, it… it was the Draconians, they came out of nowhere and… AH!" He stopped on a scream when the man in charge hammered a punch to his gut, making him double over.

My hands flew to my mouth to stop the frightened noise that wanted to escape. The sound of bones cracking echoed in the open space, floating to my ears, and that alone should have startled me enough like a siren to run. But I was rooted to the spot, unable to move a useful muscle that would have assisted me in escaping.

Escape … there was that word again.

Then why couldn't I move?

"Now let's try this again, should we?" The leader stated calmly, like he hadn't just crushed part of a man's ribcage with what looked like very little effort. "Who has our shipment?" he asked.

Dennis began shaking his head, panic washing over him as if he could see his imminent death looming over him, as though the man in front of him was the reaper.

"Mr. Erebus, please…"

"That is not the name I want, Dennis," he interrupted in a hard tone that spoke of pain.

As soon as Dennis opened his mouth again, the man named Erebus struck him so quickly it was a blur of motion. One second the man had been ready to speak, and the next his face was busted up to a bloody mess.

"Now that is an enticing color on you, one I will gladly rid you of if you do not give me what I want," Erebus warned, making me frown in question. What did he mean by ridding him of his blood?

This was when the man really started to freak out, struggling harder against the two that had him held to the wall by his arms. Something the man in charge didn't take kindly to because he suddenly had Dennis's throat in his hand and was lifting him up by one arm. Fuck me, how strong must he be to be able to do that?!

The beaten man began to choke, grasping desperately at the hand at his throat, but even I could see that it was useless. Erebus must have had enough because mere moments later, he dragged the dangling man closer to him and snarled a single word.

"Name!"

Dennis must have given up what Erebus wanted because I watched his lips move but didn't hear what he said, then the cruel hand of the devil let go of his neck, making him crumble to the floor. As soon as this happened, Dennis took his chance and started running. The problem with that was that he started running toward me, making my mouth drop in shock. But then the man in charge simply grinned, rolled his large shoulder and told the others,

"Oh, how I do love it when they give chase."

Then the unbelievable happened and my night of horror really twisted into the stuff of nightmares. He moved so fast, my eyes couldn't track the fantastic and implausible movements before he was suddenly on Dennis like some supernatural being. And was that smoke coming off him?

The formidable Mr. Erebus was behind him in a blink of an eye and grabbing him with a fist to the top of his head, practically tearing out his hair as he wrenched it to the side. Then the most shocking thing of all happened. Mr. Erebus sunk his lengthening fangs into Dennis's jugular and bit down into his flesh like some fucking Vampire!

This time my shock became something tangible enough to hear because a gasp of sheer terror escaped me like a personal traitor bent on having me killed.

Glowing silver eyes looked up at my yell while he fed from the man, and they found my frightened ones staring back at him in horror. This was when he extracted his fangs from Dennis's neck, the blood dripping down in long ropes of crimson as it dripped to the floor.

Then he grinned.

It was the most evil sight I had ever seen in my life and finally… fucking finally … it was enough to make me run! So, without waiting to see if he followed, I pushed away from the dumpster and started running. My quick-fire plan being if I could just make it to the road, then my hope was that someone passing would scare off my pursuer.

But that didn't happen because he suddenly commanded,

"Stop!"

And for some insane reason, I did as he ordered, as if he had just pulled on some invisible cords attached to my limbs.

What the fuck?!

Why had I stopped?!

Jesus, did I want to fucking die!?

Well clearly, I had walked away from the fortune teller with a death wish… unless… had this moment been the one she had seen in my future? But if that was the case, then why the fuck had she not warned me?!

The questions fled me the moment I felt him approach slowly from behind, making me flinch and suck in a frightful breath the second he laid his heavy hands on my shoulders. Christ, he felt like a brick wall at my back. A solid, unmoving presence that made me feel like some tiny insignificant creature in his presence.

"Now what do we have here then?" he asked, his tone full of dark amusement, like a cat toying with a mouse for fun. Then I felt him lean down, his bloody lips close to my skin, and my entire body basically turned to stone. But instead of biting me just as he had done with the other man, he breathed me in deep and muttered the last word I would have expected coming from his sinister lips.

"Mmm… peaches."

I shuddered under his hands, and he chuckled at my back. I then felt something drip down my neck and the revulsion rippled through me at the thought of the other man's blood. Then his hands left me, and I let out the first breath I could take since he'd caught me. However, if I thought that this was him letting me go, I was mistaken.

He walked around me like the predator he was, only stopping when he was standing in front of me. And Jesus fucking Christ, if I thought he looked big from far away, then now he looked like a fucking giant!

It was a comical sight, no doubt, as my eyes rose up and up and up some more until finally coming to his face. A face I was only barely brave enough to witness as I got my first real look at the man who would most likely become my killer. Holy shit, did he really have to be the most handsome man I had ever seen in my entire life?!

How the hell was that fair?!

The man had the face of an avenging Angel, like some heavenly warrior fallen from grace and turned into a nightmare version of what he once was. His face was sculptured in flawless lines, and his chiseled jawline was dusted with stubble framing his seamlessly shaped lips. Lips that were currently lifted at one side as he smirked down at me. The blood that stained the lower part of his face gave him such a sinister edge, it should have detracted from the picture of perfection.

His dark blonde hair was cut shorter at the sides and longer at the top in a styled mess, that looked like it took him all of two seconds of running his hand through it to achieve the perfectly handsome look. And as for his body, well, he was a powerhouse of muscle because clearly the guy spent time in the gym. That or he just built his muscles up from breaking guys in two because, clearly, the guy had no issues with breaking bones.

He had a straight noble nose, and his nostrils flared slightly like he was scenting me again. But it was those light green eyes that were no longer glowing silver that made me truly squirm. His low brows gave a dangerous element to what I knew could aid him into looking fierce and menacing in a second.

But right now, he continued to look amused as he did the same as me. His eyes scanned the length of me, and it was like he was memorizing every feature… although I had no idea why. It wasn't like I was getting out of this alive. For one, I had just witnessed him committing murder and second, I had seen so much more than a murder because clearly…

He wasn't human.

"Such a shame… you were a pretty little thing," he said after he raised my face up by first taking hold of my chin.

I swallowed hard, unable to forget that he was speaking in past tense, like I was already dead. It was enough for me to take a quick step back, leaving his hand suspended in the air where my chin had once been.

However, in my retreat I didn't get far because he was suddenly behind me in another blur of movement my eyes weren't superior enough to track. It was as if the shadows were aiding his movements, leaving inky smoke in their wake. To the point that my retreating steps actually took me into his chest, and I was forced to stop trying to escape him seeing as he was once again at my back.

"Enjoy Heaven, Angel," he whispered down at me before suddenly my head was yanked off to one side. Although it had to be said that his hold on me felt far gentler than what he had bestowed on the other guy. One hand covered my forehead instead of being a fist tearing at my hair, and his other arm banded like steel across my chest as I was held in an unbreakable hold.

The pain of his fangs piercing my flesh had me crying out, his bite cutting deep in my mind and staying there until something strange started to happen that I didn't expect. Something that increased with every pull of my blood he drew from me, sucking me deep.

I never expected…

The pleasure.

One that had started to build and had me gasping as I reached up and dug my fingers into his forearm at my chest. The leather of his jacket creaked under my desperate hold. Was I even trying to get him off me or was I holding him there?

However, it seemed that I wasn't the only one who had something unexpected happen because the second he felt me begin to sag in his hold, he suddenly pulled back. His fangs were no longer in my flesh. He then snarled down at me a single word.

One I didn't fully understand the meaning of.

"Mine."