Chapter 7

This particular street was darker than the rest. It was directly off of the main road where we were walking, and was not quite small enough to be an alley way, but was surrounded by immensely tall brick buildings allowing very little light to enter. The glowing red eyes seemed absolutely still, refusing to shift gaze or even blink.

"Come on, Bree, let's keep going." Nate wraps his arm around my shoulders and begins to pull me down the street. He leans down and whispers in my ear, "Do you see that small building straight ahead, the one with the lights out front?" I merely nod my head; the building is less than a block away. "When I say so, I want you to run there, just get yourself inside; don't worry about me, okay?" I can barely move.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," The husky female voice stopped us in our path before we could move past the opening of the dark street. I looked back at the eyes, and for the first time they shifted towards the direction in which we were headed. The main street had a hand full of people still walking around, but not very many. There was a woman in a dress and heels who passed us with her umbrella under her arm. A man on the other side of the street was attempting to wave down a taxi, and only one other man walking on our side of the street. This man was wearing a black coat and a matching hat, but when his gaze shifted from the wet sidewalk up to meet my face, his eyes were a matching red.

Before I could look around again something hit me. I suppose it must have been the feeling of a car hitting you at full speed. Did Nate try to push me out of the way into the street? Is this the feeling that my brother felt before he … I couldn't even bare to think about that. And then I felt it. There was something cold and hard against my body, but it was wrapped. One bit was around my head, covering my mouth, and another was wrapped around my arms. I couldn't move. I wasn't standing anymore because I couldn't feel the ground beneath my feet. The wind rushed past me in such a burst that it forced my eyes open again. It wasn't the wind that I was feeling, I was moving, being pulled. I couldn't focus on any surroundings and I tried unsuccessfully to scream; scream for help and scream for Nate. The more noise I made the harder the cold surface was pressed to my face.

There was a sudden slam of a door and the temperature got slightly warmer. The wind was gone, but before I could get readjusted to the change there was another slam, although this time I could feel it. My back hit the floor first, shortly followed by my head. The impact made me dizzy, and a sudden pain filled my upper body. Besides my own breathing there was only one other sound, a gasp from someone nearby.

"Nate?" my voice was suddenly weaker than I could have imagined, and there was no answer. I blinked my eyes, trying to focus on anything identifiable to suggest where I could be. The ground beneath me was cold and slightly wet, like moistened cement. The room was so dark that I could barely see a foot in front of me. As I sat there, trying to calm my breath, I heard some soft, muffled voices. The first was a man's.

"May I?" his voice was eager, impatient, and agitated. I could hear his footsteps growing nearer and nearer.

"Wait, just one moment," a cold hand suddenly grabs my jaw, pulling my face upward. I can now see her glaring eyes, but that is the only feature recognizable. A chill runs through my body.

"Bree?" I can now hear Nate's concerned voice. His breathing has calmed as well. He is closer than I thought, probably about a couple feet away. As the woman releases me I reach out, trying to touch Nate, unable to find my own voice. "Bree, where are …" before he finishes there are another two loud sounds. The first sound is like a slap, although louder and harsher, like a stone being thrown against a wall. The second I have heard before; it was the sound I heard when my own head hit the cement floor.

I went to scream "No!" but it comes out less than a whisper. I drop my hand to the ground. a pit in my stomach is forming as my breath slows to a stop. There is a sudden warm liquid that meets my finger tips, and I finally form a scream as I recognize the red liquid.

"Vict…"

"Riley! Fine, the boy is yours, have him before he looses all of his blood, but leave the girl, she could be of use to us."

I'm still; I can't find the strength to move. My voice is lost, and I'm deaf to any other sounds in the room. Nate laying there, his head cracked open; blood everywhere. This would be the second person close to me who I would lose. Tonight would have been the night that would be the beginning for me and Nate, and now it's the end.

And then I feel it. The cold hands grab my shoulders as what feels like knives are jabbed into my throat, my shoulder, my arms, and then black.