I made up my mind pretty quickly. Not long after Alec left, as soon as I deemed safe, I took a backpack from my wardrobe and skimmed through my clothes to choose what I would take. I tried to save as much time as I could because I had no idea of how long he would stay away. He said he would know of what I did in his absence but I felt like taking chances.

I felt like running for my life, quite literally at that point.

When I got to my desk I opened the first drawer and saw the necklace. It felt incredibly strange to be running away from Alec and still take his necklace with me but it felt even worse leaving it behind. It was so important to him and yet he let me have it. A symbol of how much he believed in me, as he had said. I felt a bitter taste on my tongue when I considered leaving it there, like I was betraying his trust and being ungrateful. I thought of how much it meant that he gave it to me and felt very warm inside, like I was valued and important too.

God, I am so damn soft.

I gave my room one last quick scan before I closed my door and left. I wished I could say goodbye to the girls and give them the journals I had made for them but I was pretty much racing the clock. I thought about where I should go as I jumped down the stairs and started running to Luke's house and in my desperate state of mind the idea of leaving the country altogether seemed like the best one. I could go to Confins and take an international flight. I stopped just once on my way to Luke's, to make sure I had my wallet with me and that my documents and my credit card were in there, and then I didn't stop until I arrived.

It was not so late that Luke was asleep when I reached his house but he understandably didn't want to talk to me. I could see the light in his room was still on but one of his friends got the door when I rang the doorbell and he wouldn't let me in for anything in the world. I was panting from running there but also from the nervousness of possibly being watched as I did exactly what Alec told me not to do if I didn't want to get Luke killed horribly.

"Marina, he is bad . He is not in any condition to see you, you need to let it rest. Give him time, you owe him that."

"I know that." I stressed impatiently "I would love to let it rest but I just don't have any time to spare. I swear to God if I could I would give him forever before making him look at my face again but I don't have that time, it needs to be now."

I must have sounded and looked urgent and sincere enough because his resolution got shaken and his firm expression turned into a frown. I pressed it, almost bouncing on my feet .

"Marcio, this is as important as it gets. I don't have time, I have to leave this city as fast as I can. I don't want to leave before straightening things out with Luke, he deserves that."

That was much more information than I was willing to give but it worked.

"Ok, fine. Come in. But don't go up right away, let me give him a heads up."

I nodded and followed him inside. I tried to sit down on the couch in their living room but I was too frantic, soon I stood up to pace around and try to organise my thoughts to no avail. I felt a new migraine approaching in waves and a knot in my stomach foreshadowing some nausea. Luke must have needed some convincing because Marcio took some long minutes to get back to me.

"I hope you know I really hate you right now" he announced when he saw me again, "you better have the best of reasons to be such a bitch."

That hurt me like a punch in the face but I tried not to show it.

"I understand. Thank you for letting me into the house in spite of that."

He didn't respond, he just eyed me angrily while I passed by him to go upstairs. As I walked to Luke's room I fought my body to keep a clear head and tried to choose my words carefully. It was an impossible task because I felt so sick and was in so much pain but I could not afford to ruin another chance of telling him what happened. I took very deep breaths and when I reached for his door I exhaled one last time and then knocked on it.

I didn't know what to expect. The last time we had a conversation it went completely out of my script. I was afraid that emotions would be too high on both sides to result in anything I could foresee and prepare myself to hear. He took a few seconds before he finally opened the door and I imagined he was taking deep breaths on the other side just like me, trying and failing to calm himself down.

When he finally opened it I could see Marcio was not exaggerating. He did look bad .

"What could you possibly still have to say to me?" That was the first thing he said, sounding just as pained as he looked.

"Can I come in?"

He seemed more inclined to slam the door in my face but reluctantly stepped aside so I could go in. I sat on the chair by his desk and he dragged his feet to his bed.

"Luke" I began with little idea of what to say, "I have not... been completely open with you."

He stared at me in confusion.

"I didn't tell you everything that happened... when I..." I trailed off, not wanting to repeat what I had done.

"When you kissed Alec" he finished for me bitterly.

"Yes."

He waited for me to go on but I was not so sure I should be doing that anymore. What was I trying to accomplish there? I was risking his safety, and for what? I couldn't take him with me, it would be his death sentence. Telling him what Alec had said would possibly end up in a conversation just like I had with Natalia, who I also probably put in danger when I shared my suspicion. I had been impulsive by going there, I should have just left town. It didn't matter that he would hate me forever, I couldn't be with him either way.

"I am leaving town tonight" I said instead. "I know you didn't want to see me so soon but I couldn't leave without saying goodbye. I might not be coming back so I really just wanted to see you one last time."

He got up from his bed and walked to me.

"You are leaving now ?" He asked in such a similar way I had asked Alec that I mentally scoffed at the irony.

"I have to. I'm really sorry that I hurt you. This is really difficult for me too."

I let two tears escape me before I could get a hold of myself but otherwise kept a neutral face. He got a little closer to me and analysed my face.

"Are you leaving with him?"

I should lie to him, it keeps him safe.

But I couldn't. I could no longer bear the thought of him hating me so much. I was selfish at that moment, I looked down and I told him the truth.

"No, he already left. He said he will be back so I am taking the opportunity to run from him."

I didn't look at him to see how that hit him but he sounded completely shocked when he spoke.

"You are running from him ? Why would you do that, I thought you wanted to be with him? Wasn't that the whole point of brutally breaking my heart and stomping on the remains?"

Damn, he was just as mad as he was sad. I sighed and met his gaze. He looked like he was both about to cry and to yell at me.

"I am not here to justify myself." I wasn't so sure of that when I truly appraised the situation but I was not there to be forgiven, so it seemed close enough to the truth to be said. "I am here because I kept something from you and someone made me realise that I shouldn't. You deserve the full picture."

He quietly waited for me to continue.

"After I kissed Alec I told him it was a mistake. I said I shouldn't have done it and he got very upset."

Luke furrowed his brow.

"How upset?"

"Violently upset."

Something started to dawn on him and I watched as slowly but surely his confused face relaxed into an expression of sheer incredulity.

"He threatened you?" He finally got close enough to me that he could touch me, kneeling in front of me to better look me in the eyes and resting his hands on my knees. "Why wouldn't you tell me something like that?"

"He didn't threaten me" I corrected him, "he threatened you."

He snorted.

"And you are scared of him?" He asked incredulously. "Marina, I can't believe you put us through such an awful situation because you are actually scared of a little boy. And now you are leaving town because of him? That's insane. He can't hurt any of us, even you can take him."

I knew through experience that was not true.

"I can't, believe me. I have tried."

His eyes widened at my implication.

"He didn't hurt me" I said before he escalated it, "but he held me and I couldn't get away, he is much stronger than he looks."

"God, what did he do? What got you so scared of him?"

I glanced at his watch and got anxious about the time I was spending there, still so close to where I lived and in the first place Alec would think to look for me if he couldn't find me in my own house. I suddenly got up and he did the same.

"I'm sorry, love, but I don't know how much time I have. I don't know for how long he will be gone and I can't be here when he comes back. I need to go."

I tried to reach for the door but he gently grabbed my arm.

"I'm going with you."

Fuck. Congratulations, Marina, you'll have him killed.

"No, you can't."

" I'm going ." He locked his door and took a backpack from under his bed. "You are not leaving without me. I don't know what made you so afraid of that boy but if you are so sure that he is actually dangerous then I can't let you leave by yourself" he said as he gathered some clothes and hygiene items. "Whatever it is you can tell me on our way out if you are in such a hurry."

This is crazy, what am I doing? And taking Luke along in this madness, why the fuck didn't I leave him be?

There was no persuading him. If I was going he would be going along and end of story. When he was done packing he unlocked the door and crushed me in a tight hug.

"I wished you had told me everything." He said, muffled by my hair. "Why would you let me believe you didn't want me anymore? That hurt so much, I thought I was being ripped apart."

I felt a chill run along my spine at his choice of words and quickly shook it off. I took some time to enjoy his embrace, his scent and the feeling of his hair in between my fingers but I was too anxious to get moving to let him linger for too long. We would have time when we made it out of the state. I had a feeling we would need to leave the country to be anywhere near safe but I could allow myself to relax and let my guard down a little if we successfully left Minas Gerais.

"You should stay," I tried one last time to convince him, "I don't want to be responsible for anything bad that happens to you, please ."

"I can handle it, Ma. You are not going on this insane crusade on your own, not a chance. You're too scared of these people for me not to take you seriously."

"I never deserved you, you know that, right? You are a much better person than I'll ever be." I told him still in his arms. I cried some more but quickly forced myself to let go and leave his room. He followed right after me.

When we passed by the kitchen he made a quick stop there to scribble something on the board they kept on the refrigerator door.

"Just so the folks don't think I died or something like that."

Let's hope none of us end up like that .

I didn't know for sure I wouldn't get killed too if I bothered Alec too much. I didn't know what he or his superiors wanted with me, I could be in just as much danger as Luke. I was so worried about Luke that I hadn't actually weighed that possibility until I had him by my side and saw that he was safe with my own two eyes.

Would Alec kill me? He seemed to like me but perhaps not enough to care if I had to die, even if by his own hands. My fear of his actions was getting out of control if I was honest with myself and I usually tried to be. The unpredictability of his reaction to my escape made the whole situation a thousand times worse and my lack of knowledge about him and his job had me pretty much in the dark regarding the best course of action to be taken.

Thank God I had Luke there because he was a little more sane than I was even in the chaos of the panic I installed in him.

"Let's go to Confins and catch a flight" I told him, grabbing his hand and walking as fast as I could while dragging him along.

"A flight? Where to?"

"Let's decide on the bus to Belo Horizonte."

"Marina, this is crazy. You are not thinking clearly. Please stop for a second and talk to me." He baulked and tried to put himself in front of me to block the way. "It's a two and a half hour ride to BH, at least, think about it and talk to me for a moment."

I looked around the dark street where we were standing with our backpacks. We had been out of his house for a while and no-one had stopped us or seemed to be around to watch us so I stopped too. He was pleading with me even after he finished speaking, trying to convince me with his eyes.

"Ok. Sorry. I know this is crazy but I don't know what to do. I think Alec is dangerous, I think he works for dangerous people and I think he is coming back with others to snatch me away to wherever he lives for reasons he never told me."

Luke stared at me wide-eyed and didn't say anything for a few seconds. Then he closed his eyes and covered his face with his hands.

"We should talk to the police." He finally suggested.

"They can't do anything."

"Who do you think these people are ?"

He was getting frustrated but didn't want to be too rude to me, as if I was a child naively raising havoc out of unfunded fear.

"I told you, you don't have to come. But at least don't get in my way because I know what I am running from." I tried to push past him but he held both of my arms and didn't let me through.

"Then tell me . Tell me what you are running from, let me understand what is happening."

He wouldn't let it go, I accepted that as he held me firmly in place in that street. I had to give him something, anything, or we would both be there like sitting ducks when Alec returned from wherever he went. I braced myself for his reaction and said it shortly and fast, like ripping off a Band-Aid.

"Ok, fine. Alec is a vampire."