Prologue

"This is crazy, I've got to be out of my mind!" I kept muttering to myself as I drove up the long drive to their home, one of their many homes apparently. I barely knew these people, I knew them yes, but did I really know them? Was I driving to my own doom, trading my soul for one more day with him? If someone had told me that my life would have gone from what it was to what it is now, I'd have laughed at them and offered them the number for a good doctor. Not now, and nor would I ever again.

Chapter One: Graduation Present

"Holy shit! We are actually here, are we actually here?" I was beside myself with joy, I had saved up the money to come to this wonderful place since I was a freshman in High School. It took all four years of my high school life to get the money and I still had to split the bill with some of my friends, not my best friend though she still had another year of 'hell' school before she could really come, that and her mother would never let her go this far from home even if it was with me. "I know, this place is great!" Giggled Jessica, one of my friends who I had to split the bill with. She wasn't exactly my closest of friends but she offered to help pay so I couldn't tell her not to come. She was one of those friends that was there for you if it was good for her, and I knew that but at this point I just didn't care.

I suddenly heard an "Ohhh" from beside me, it was the other person I was splitting the bill with, Kalley. She was actually someone I enjoyed being around, she was kind but rather out spoken. If she had something to say to you, she'd say it and be damned if you didn't like it. I followed her gaze to the shop window we were coming up on, girly dresses- gross-. I didn't enjoy them as much as they did but I humored them because I did tend to find one thing or another in the stores I did enjoy.

We walked into the store, all of us our own levels of eager, me for any special finds and them for any gaudy overly girly find. "Told you this was a good idea." I said to them both as we all looked thru a rack of dresses, "Oh no, we won't find anything nice here, this is a podunk town, they wont have nice stores." I mocked them as I took an old dress off the rack. "Oh hush you." They both said in unison, and then we all laughed. We were in a small port town outside of Seattle Washington, they had wanted to stay in the big city where our hotel was, but I had wanted to check out this little town, who's name I could never for the life of me pronounce. I had read online about the scenery and of course the great antique shops and new age stores. They caved and agreed to come, Jessica, of course, didn't stop whining the whole drive up until she saw a few of the locals she had deemed 'total hotties'. I didn't really see it, they just looked like poorly dressed thugs, and one of them looked old enough to be my dad and he also had a serious vibe of a pedophile. She had wanted me to slow down so she could call at them, but I sped up. Which of course pissed her off, but I wasn't about to invite them over for tea. I liked being alive to much for that.

"What do you think of this one?" Kalley asked as she turned to face me, holding a deep purple spaghetti strapped dress to herself. It went well with her skin tone, which was a dark caramel sort of tone. She was a good three inches taller then me, and I was safely about five foot seven inches tall. Her hair was a dark brown cut in a sort of bob that shaped her long face really well, and her eyes were a deep green which always threw me, I'd never known someone who clearly had African American in them to have such green eyes. They, of course, made her look even more like a super model. Jessica, on the other hand, was about five foot three and sort of round, not fat by any means just full. She had brown eyes that seemed dull, and bleach blonde hair that anyone with eyes could tell wasn't natural. She was pale, but not porcelain, though you could never tell because of the level of make-up she always wore. "It looks great, totally fits you." Jessica said but you could tell she wasn't actually looking at the dress. "Here you try it on." Kalley said pushing the dress towards me. I laughed with very little humor, "Honey, there is no way in hell I could fit in that thing. It's like a size two, I am clearly not a size two." I laughed using my hands to show off my shape, I wasn't fat, I was actually rather fit but I did have a bit more in the chest then either of them and more of a butt then Kalley. "My boobs alone would rip the thing. You try it on, the color suites you better anyway." I had already moved away to another dress, having put aside the one I had been looking at. Kalley smiled, looking almost defeated, walking to one of the small dressing rooms to try on the dress.

I spotted a dress in the rack next to Jessica, who was still staring off at something. It looked vintage, something from the forties or fifties, I wasn't sure but it looked pretty. It also looked like it would fit me. I picked it up and held it to myself as I went to look in the mirror, it was a straight cut dress, well for the fifties anyway, in a solid color. It was tan with black buttons going down the front, stopping just above a thick black belt. It went well with my skin tone, which had always been a sort of olive tan. My eyes were a deep brown, that turned into a soft chocolate color when I was in a good mood, and almost a dark black when I wasn't. My hair, I had cut short, it shaped my slightly square jaw and high cheekbones nicely, I had let the hair dresser give me bangs because the cut would look 'so much cuter' that way. That's what the hair dresser said anyway, so I didn't argue. My hair was naturally a medium brown with red highlights, but I had opted to just dye it all red. It wasn't a bright red, it almost looked like a blood red if the light hit it just right, I loved it. "Hey Jess, what do you think of this dress?" I called over to her not looking right away. "Hmm, yeah nice." She replied, I could tell she wasn't actually looking at me or even paying attention to me, so I looked over at her and saw what she had been eyeing for the last twenty minutes. It was her eye candy from the road, minus the creepier old guy. I sighed and draped the dress over my arm and walked over to her. "Either go say hi to them or do something else please." I muttered in her ear, elbowing her lightly. Her head jerked around to look at me with a little sign of shock in her eyes. "No, no way. I couldn't" She said quickly, she sounded like she was out of breath. "Ah well, bigger back bone in a car hm?" I asked teasing, I knew how far to push and I wasn't about to push to the point she would go over there and talk to them. "Come on lets go." She said moving past me to the dressing room that Kalley had entered. "Come on stretch, lets get out of here." She said banging on the door. "Okay, okay I'm coming." Came the muffled reply from behind the door. Kalley came out shortly with the dress over her arm and a frown on her face. "It didn't look as good as I'd hoped." She said with a crease coming between her perfectly tweezed eyebrows. "Bummer, come on lets go." Jessica was getting impatient now. Kalley looked from Jessica to me with a confused look on her face, I shrugged and nodded my head discreetly towards the men at the front of the store. Kalley nodded, understanding at once the sudden need to leave. She hung the dress back up and followed Jessica to the doors, Jessica was already halfway thru the store when Kalley caught her. "You guys go ahead" I said walking to the counter "I want to buy this." I held up the dress then laid it on the counter. Kalley nodded and Jessica rolled her eyes as they left me in the store.

"I'm starving!" I moaned as we left yet another store, we had been shopping for three hours and I had only come away with a few things. I wasn't big on shopping, but they wouldn't let me go somewhere else while they shopped till I dropped. "Yeah, we know you've said that already." Jessica complained as she tried to force more bags into the trunk of our rent-a-car. "Jeez, Jess just put some in the back seat for crying out loud." Kalley rolled her eyes and shoved her bags in the back seat, taking the rest out of Jessica's hands and doing the same to them. "Just get in the car Jess, I'm hungry too." Kalley said as she climbed into the passenger seat. Jessica pouted but climbed in the back seat, she still wanted to shop but she was out numbered. "YAY! Kal, you are my hero!" I yelled happily as I started the car. "I saw a really great diner up ahead, we can go there." Then I saw them out of the corner of my eye. "Oh hell." I muttered, the eye candy was heading towards us with stupid grins on their faces. "Jess, don't say a thing okay." I said as I started to drive ahead. "Hey ladies!" One of them yelled, slurring just those simple words, stepping out in front of the car stopping me from going further without risking running them over. I instinctively locked the doors and then revved the engine hoping that would get him to move, it didn't it just seemed to call his buddies to him. "Come on, we just wanna be your friend." Another said, slurring his words as well. I could hardly tell any of them apart, they dressed almost the same and their hair was just as crusty as the next. I honked my horn three times trying to make them move, they just stood there leaning against the hood. "Come on baby!" the first one called, and that was all it took. I revved the engine and punched the gas pedal they just barely got out of the way as I nearly ran them down. I kept driving even though I heard the men curse at the top of their drunk voices behind me. "Lets go somewhere else." Kalley said, seeing how close the diner was to where we were. "Yeah." I said thru my teeth. "Jess, you alright?" I asked as I turned left trying to turn around to head the other way. "Yeah, that was just to real." She said in a weak voice. "Yeah, it's okay though. We wont stay much longer here and then we will head back to Seattle." I said trying to use a calm voice, even though I was still rattled.

We found a nice little pizzeria and pulled in. "Not exactly what I had hoped for but, ah well." I said as we got out of the car and headed inside. "Smells good at least." Kalley said taking in a deep breath, smelling the pizza and bread sticks. "And the guys aren't half bad either." Jessica said, her mood seemed to have gone back to normal as she checked out all the men in the room. I half laughed as the waitress came up to us. "Three?" She asked with a smile. I nodded with a smile as she grabbed three menus and lead us to a corner booth. "What can I get you girls to drink?" The waitress asked with another smile. "Sweet tea, please?" I asked sitting down and looking thru the menu. "Coke for me." Said Kalley. "Sprite." Jessica said not really looking at the waitress, more like looking past her. The waitress took our drink orders and left. "What's the deal Jessica?" Kalley asked looking in the direction Jessica was. "Another hot guy catch your eye?" She laughed a bit when Jessica just ignored her. I had gotten use to Jessica spacing out when she saw cute guys, meant she was visualizing their future together. I just rolled my eyes as I looked over the menu.

We were half way thru our pizza when it happened, when he showed up. "Holy moly!" Jess exclaimed in a low whisper. Kalley and I both looked over, pizza in our hand. "What?" I asked before my eyes followed Jess'. There he stood, tall and gorgeous. I couldn't make out the color of his eyes, but his face was a pale white, not ghostly but just as mysterious. He had a square jaw, perfect cheek bones, and full amazing lips. Not so full they looked off balance with the rest of his face, just perfect. He was at least six foot three, if not taller. His hair was a deep brown, nearly black, and it was probably curly had it not been so short. You could tell he was solid muscle under his sweater and jeans. I was doing my best not to stare when his head turned and our eyes met. His eyes were beyond blue, they were dark but you could tell they were blue, almost like glaciers against the shadows of his face. My breath caught in my throat when he smiled a very subtle smile at me, it was like watching the perfect sunrise and I quickly looked away, feeling my face burn red. "Holy crap, he just looked at us!" Jessica said in a whisper. She didn't seem to notice that his eyes were looking at me, she must have ignored that fact, but Kalley didn't. "No, he was looking at Re-Re over here." Kalley said as she nudged me with her boney elbow. I glared at her, she knew I hated when people called me Re-Re, my name was Renee' for a reason. "Shut up." I muttered trying not to look up. "Aw dang." Jessica said, not hiding the snide tone in her voice as she said, "Looks like you're out of luck Renee', he has a girlfriend." She was watching as a girl a good foot shorter then him came out from the kitchen. "Guess he was picking her up." I muttered. "I wasn't going to go propose marriage to the guy anyway Jess." I could feel my face cooling as I looked up finally and watched him leave with the tiny girl, thats when he looked over his shoulder again and caught me staring. This time I didn't look away, I forced a weak smile and felt my face turn pink when he gave his subtle smile again. I heard a deep chuckle that sent shivers down my spine, and I realized it was coming from him. I quickly looked away, staring down at the half eaten piece of pizza on my plate.

"Oh my god!" Jessica kept saying as we made the long drive back to our hotel. "He was so hot! The HOTTEST guy there, I'm serious!" She had been oozing about the mystery man for the last hour. "Yes, yes you've said, now can you shut the hell up?" I finally snapped as I watched my knuckles turn white as I gripped the steering wheel. Kalley and Jessica both laughed, they had found it very amusing to see me blush and get all nervous over a guy. It was something I didn't make a habit of doing. "You're just upset he had a girlfriend." Kalley teased as I pulled into the parking garage. "No, that doesn't bother me. What bothers me is how two, supposedly mature women can get this stupid over one guy." I said thru my teeth, it wasn't that it was about him it was more how they kept talking about him and me like we were a destined couple. "You two are aware we will probably never see that guy or his girlfriend again right?" I asked as I got our parking ticket and drove ahead, trying to find a parking space that wasn't to far from the elevators or stairs. "Yeah, yeah we know. Don't be total buzz kill Renee'." Kalley said as I found one and parked. "I'm glad one of you is aware of that fact." I muttered as I got out of the car and popped the trunk. "Come on lets get some sleep 'kay?" I asked half heartedly as I began to help un-pack the trunk, this was going to take more then one trip to get everything into our room.

There he was walking ahead of me, checking behind himself every so often to make sure I was still following him, that same soft smile on his lips. "Hey, wait!" I called over and over but he never seemed to slow down. It seemed so dark, I couldn't see anything to the sides of me, or even in front of me. All I saw was him, a beacon of light in the utter darkness. I suddenly felt uneasy, like something was behind me but I couldn't will myself to turn around. It felt as if I were to look anywhere but at this mystery man's back I would be lost forever. I ran faster, trying to put space between what was behind me and lessen the space of what was in front of me. "Who are you?" I called out to him, that caused him to stop and turn. His eyes no longer held the smile, neither did his lips. They looked cold and sad, his mouth opened slowly as if to say something. Then his eyes opened in shock then anger. I watched his face, not wanting to move but knowing I had to. Then it happened I felt a sudden searing pain run thru me as I heard his deep voice scream in rage. I turned to look at was had been following me, what had caught me, it was the small girl from the pizza place. Except she didn't look so small anymore, her eyes were dark and empty her teeth bared and dripping red. She seemed to be laughing, thats when I felt it and realized the red dripping from her teeth was blood, my blood. I tried to scream but nothing came, she towered over me as I fell to the ground. I tried to look for the mystery man but I couldn't seem to move my head, thats when she reached down and dug her hand into my stomach. I screamed them, feeling the pain. The next thing I felt was a sharp slap across my face, my eyes snapped open and I saw Kalley with her hand raised to slap me again, fear and worry in her eyes. "Renee'? Are you awake?" She asked fear in her voice. I nodded slowly, realizing my mouth was still open in the scream, I shut it quickly. "You were having a nightmare, you were mumbling in your sleep and then you sat straight up and yelled. I didn't know what to do. I tried to wake you up but it didn't help. " She was shaking, her raised hand lowering. "I'm---sorry." I said in a soft voice, realizing how sore my throat was. "It was a bad dream." I muttered feeling the sting on my cheek more fully. My hand went up to feel my cheek as I looked at Kalley. "Sorry about that, it was the only thing I could think of to wake you up." She said looking down at her hands. "It's okay." I muttered, laying back down on the pillow. "Where's Jessica?" I asked realizing we were the only ones in the room. "She went out with some guy she met down at the bar." Kalley muttered, pure disgust in her voice. "The bar? How the hell she manage that one? None of us are old enough to get into one of those." I sat up again rolling my eyes. "Fake ID." Was all Kalley said, she hated liars. Even something as stupid as lying about your age. "Oh, I hope she doesn't get herself hurt." As I said it, I knew she would be the one to do just that. I got quickly to my feet and began finding the clothes I had worn during the day. "We're going to go look for her aren't we?" Kalley asked as she looked for her own clothes, she knew the answer before she asked it. "Do we know what this guy looked like, and did she take our car or ride with him?" I asked as I found my wallet and the keys. "His car." Kalley muttered. "Damn, she left her phone." I groaned as I saw it laying on the bedside table.

We had to go to the bar and ask around for about an hour before someone finally told us where she had gone, and what the guy looked like who she left with. It didn't help either of our moods when we realized the man she had left the bar with was one of the very men I had tried to run over with our rent-a-car. "Son of a bitch!" I growled thru my teeth as we drove to the place the bartender had heard them talking about, apparently it was a favorite hang out for the badly dressed thugs and their pedophile leader. "I really wish I had thought to bring a weapon." I kept muttering to myself, I normally carried more then just a can of pepper spray with me, but that was all I had, that and a stake knife from our room. I had let Kalley hold the pepper spray but I had the knife stuck into my boot so if I had to pull it out I could. "I just hope we find her." Kalley kept saying as we got closer and closer to our destination. We finally found the place we were looking for, and it didn't help our nerves any more then drive to it had. It was a run down old building with boarded up windows and a 'Keep Out' sign hanging over the old door. I killed the engine of the car and parked farther away from the place then I would have liked, but I didn't need them knowing we were here. "Come on, lets get this over with." I said as I climbed out of the car. I had called the cops already but I didn't put much trust into the cops, no matter what city I was in.

We moved as quickly as we could without making to much noise, we could hear the sound of bad techno music coming from a room in the back. We hurried to it, praying it wasn't to late. "Woo, look at her dance!" I heard one of the men say, followed by drunken laughter. My stomach turned as I looked thru the door and saw Jessica standing there dancing with one of the men, she looked like she wasn't even awake. She seemed drunk, more then drunk she was drugged. I felt my blood boil as I thought of the things they had done to her, or were going to do and I reached down and pulled the knife from my boot. I then turned to look at Kalley, who's face was turning an odd shade of green. "Go back to the car, wait for the cops, call them back if you have to." I said in a very low whisper, moving my mouth more then actually speaking. Kalley shook her head, she wasn't about to leave me here alone. Just then we heard the sound of police sirens. The men jumped up and were getting ready to run for it, the one dancing with Jessica grabbed her around the waist and appeared to be trying to pick her up. They were going to take her and run, or kill her. I saw a silver knife in his other hand, she was going to be the hostage to get them out. The next thing I saw was the shocked look on his face as I stepped out and threw the knife in my hand at him, it hit him in his left shoulder causing him to drop his knife and let go of Jessica. I was suddenly thankful that I had been given older brothers who thought it a good idea to teach their baby sister how to throw a knife. I ran as fast as I could to get to him before he tired to pick up the knife, or to pull the one out of his shoulder. I lifted my knee up swiftly when I got close enough to him and it landed with a sickening crack into his nose. He fell back screaming, clutching at his bloody mess of a broken nose. I felt Kalley behind me and watched thru the corner of my eye as she helped Jessica to her feet. I heard the cops behind me come running in, and watched them handcuff the man on the ground.

I vaguely remember having to go to the police station, or the ride back to the hotel. Even the plane ride home was all in a blur. How had our gift to ourselves become a nightmare? When did it go from being a good time to something we would never talk about again? I didn't know, but I wasn't going to try and figure it out.