Vampire Kisses fanfiction
PLASTIC PROMISES
Claude Sterling/OC: Madeline Torrent

Chapter 10.

Claude grinned when he'd gotten his way. Maddie simmered down and stayed put in her place on the floor, staring at him with her bloodshot eyes. He walked inside the room, his combat boots echoing off the mirrored walls, the buckles on his boots and the chains hanging from his waist clinking with his movement. When he neared her, Maddie stiffened and backed away from him. This only made Claude chuckle, and he sniffed the air around her.

"Did you know the Japanese believe that blood type can predict what your personality is?" he suddenly asked, crawling towards her. Maddie narrowed her eyebrows, but didn't answer. "Like me? I'm the rarest of them all: type AB negative. I'm cool and controlled, tactful, and a natural entertainer. I'm well-liked, blunt, and I put people at ease." His eyes leered her direction and a smile of a fox pranced across his face. "So, Maddie, why are you so anxious right now?"

"I'm just doing what you're telling me to. We're talking. Now hurry up so I can get out of here. My mom's going to worry," Maddie demanded, trying her hardest not to stutter with fear.

Claude leaned back and folded his arms across his chest. "No, Maddie. I'm talking. Why don't you tell me about yourself."

"You're the …vampire." She muttered the word softly. "Can't you determine blood types, therefore my personality?"

"True," he admitted, "but I'd like for you to tell me yourself."

"I don't need to tell you anything," she snapped.

"You do if you want to get out of here."

"I can call the police and they'll get me out of here," Maddie shot back. "I don't have to play your stupid game."

Fed up, Claude growled and loomed over her within a blink of an eye. His nose touched hers and he could feel the warmth of her fast-paced breathing on his throat. His arms were outstretched forward, trapping her with them as the bottom of his torso touched her knees, which were brought up to her chest. Claude glared at her widened dark blue eyes, sparkling with a film wet substance that prepared him for tears.

"Get off of me," she demanded softly, almost as if she didn't want him to hear her.

"Why are you so afraid of me?" he asked. Maddie's expression of terror twisted into craziness.

"Are you joking? Why am I afraid of you?" she repeated, exasperated. "You're a monster! You've already tried to kill me! How can I not be afraid of you?"

"But shouldn't we learn to forgive and forget?" asked Claude, not fazed by her tone. His eyes searched her face, tracing her features. He lingered on her eyes, then trailed down her nose, and finally traced the outline of her lips, resisting the urge to just touch them with his fingertips.

"You're insane. You need to be locked up somewhere. How the hell does someone possibly forgive and forget something like what you've done? You've traumatized me!" she exclaimed. She hadn't admitted this to anyone until now, not even her family.

Claude recognized the weight of her breathing. It had slowed down, he realized. He slowly averted his gaze from her lips back to her eyes and smiled again. Talking this out had relaxed Maddie. He knew how she felt now. There was nothing to hide.

"So, you hate me? Is that it?" he asked.

"Of course!" she cried. "Of course I hate you! I hate what you've done to me."

"You hate me, or what I've done to you?" he teased. Maddie snarled.

"Both."

Claude sighed heavily and leaned away from her, although he had enjoyed the proximity between them. Maddie held her legs together tightly to her chin while Claude leaned against a mirrored wall adjacent to her. He stretched out his long legs and folded his arms behind his head.

"You still haven't told me anything about you?" he reminded.

"Why the hell would I begin to?" she snapped. Claude shrugged.

"Because it's your one-way ticket out of here."

"I've got another option." Maddie whipped out her cell phone from her bag.

"You don't get any service," Claude mentioned. Maddie glared at him again and rolled her eyes.

"Of course I get service here …" She flipped the phone open and the color drained from her face. Claude shrugged.

"Told you."

"Shut up!" she screamed and immediately started to cry. "Why won't you just let me go? Why are you so obsessed with me? I don't even know you!"

"Of course you do. I've already told you that my blood type is AB and that I'm well-liked and tactful, and also that I'm a vampire—"

"That's not what I meant and you know it!" she interrupted. "Ever since I passed you that night, that night you just stared at me like you were checking me out, you've been following me. You've been following me enough to the point where you attempted to kidnap and kill me! What the hell did I ever do to you?"

Claude's eyebrows rose and he stared at her for the longest minute before replying.
"You looked at me with those eyes," he whispered, and Maddie's eyes widened.

"I what?"

"What makes them so attracting, I wonder?" Claude continued. "Is it their beauty, how they allure you to stare at them? Or is it because of their vulnerability, how something—or someone—has scarred you in the past, before me, even?"

"I'm not vulnerable. You're psychotic," Maddie said.

"You're position right now is quite vulnerable. You're relying on me to set you free," Claude reminded.

"Right. Speaking of which, we've talked now. Give me the key to the doors," Maddie demanded.

"You still haven't told me about yourself."

Maddie groaned. "Oh my God! Fine. You want to know about me? My name is Maddie, I like to dance, and I hate Travis Mitchell. There. The key." She stood and extended her hand, flexing her fingers in unison demanding for the key. Claude stood with her and shook his head, chuckling.

"How about telling me something I don't know. Your buddy, Travis—whom I guess you don't, after all, think much of him—has already taught me your name. I've witnessed you dance, and, knowing that you come here almost every night, I've come to the conclusion that you are quite passionate about it. As for Travis Mitchell, witnessing you two bickering on the bleachers the night of the soccer game told me that you weren't indeed friends. So now, I ask again, tell me about yourself."

Maddie's mouth was glued shut as she curled her fingers into fists. Claude could read the infuriation on her face as he stuck his hand into his pocket and reached for the key. Maddie's eyes bulged at the sight of it, but held her place. He twirled the key around with his fingers, admiring it.

"You know, I probably know just as much about you as you do," he chimed. "Isn't that silly?"

"It's because you stalk me, you idiot," she snapped. "Now give me the damn key!" She lunged for it, but Claude swiftly moved it out of her reach.

"It's strange; I probably know more about you than you do," he added.

"If you do, then why are you asking me to tell you about myself? You're such a stupid kid!"

Claude glared at her and tucked the key back into his pocket. Maddie cried in protest and lunged for it again, but this gave Claude the perfect opportunity to clutch onto both of her wrists. He pulled her against him, holding her wrists above her head. Maddie squirmed in his grip, tried kicking him between the legs, but her attempts to escape failed.

"Do you know what's funny about personalities and their horoscopes?" he asked softly. "They're not always right. My cousin may be an idiot, but he would say that what my blood type says about me doesn't fit at all. Cool and controlled? He would disagree, and maybe he's right. So I get a little hotheaded sometimes. No big deal. Do you know what's funny about you, Madeline Torrent?" Maddie's eyes widened at the sound of Claude saying her full name. How he gained knowledge of that, she didn't know. "You and me, we're both the same. Same blood type, same personality. So maybe it's not your eyes that I'm connected to. Maybe it's your blood."