Chapter 5

"Stefano?" she whispered, voice hoarse

She felt his shoulders stiffen and the muscles in his arms bunch. He made no noise and simply carried on walking.

She reached up to where she suspected his face was and his head jerked away from her searching fingers.

"Stefano what's going on?"

Still he said nothing and Liz decided not to push it. She felt a twinge on her cheek she hadn't noticed before, and put her fingers to it feeling a sticky wetness. She raised her fingers to her lips and tasted the tell tale sign of copper.

"I'm bleeding" she mumbled out loud

"I know" he growled

She hadn't been expecting an answer and his sudden input made her jump slightly. His voice sounded strained and evidently uncomfortable.

Before she had chance to question his comment, the sound of a generator grinding into life broke through the silence, and the fluorescent bulbs around them sparked into life, blinding them both momentarily.

When she gained her sight again, Liz looked up into the face of the man she most likely owed her life to twice, and let out a shrill piercing shriek.

His face was contorted and his eyes were bloodshot and red veins circled his eye sockets, his lips were stretched back from his mouth and two pointed canines hung from their corners, as sharp as a cat's tooth, and as large as a dogs.

He dropped her unceremoniously onto the floor, bruising her already battered body and turned in panic, racing away from her down the path they had come.

Shock consumed Liz and all she was aware of now was her own uncontrollable screams, erupting from her body, which was now shaking uncontrollably. She could hear running footsteps and shouts as the cave walls around her began to spin. The last thing she felt was the cold dirt under her cheek where her head lay, her fingers clawing the floor beside her, trying to get a grip onto the spinning ground, and she finally let go of all sense and fell into a deep darkness.

"She's going to be ok, she just needs some rest. She seems to have hit her head."

"Does she need to go to hospital?"

"No she'll be ok, there's not much we can do for her except let her sleep it off."

Voices wavered in and out of Liz's subconscious as she struggled to get a hold on her thoughts. Was she back in England? It would be nice to go for a run before school started, she always liked mornings.

She attempted to open her eyes, and felt a bright blinding light above her pierce her eye lids.

"She's stirring, look she's going to be ok" whispered a slightly hysterical female voice she recognised.

"Mum?" She mumbled, still unable to open her eyes properly, her whole body feeling like a paddling pool of water had been placed on top of her, restricting and slowing her movements.

As she gathered her thoughts, everything came rushing back to her in one go. The caves, the school, the lights, and finally, bright blue eyes, surrounded by red veins watching her like she was a piece of meat.

Shock coursed through her body and she attempted to sit up to make sense of the situation, but was met with resistance.

"Sit back honey" Crooned her father's voice, pushing her shoulders back down to the soft bedding below she dropped back down.

Forcing her eyes open and rubbing away the sleep that stuck her eyes lashes together she took in the scene before her.

She had been placed in her own bed back at the house, (calling it home didn't seem right just yet) and surrounding her bed were her parents and an unknown man with a stethoscope around his neck in a slightly too tight blazer, his tie loosened at the knot and a harassed look on his face.

"Liz," Her mum addressed her, "This is Dr Edison and he's just checked you over to make sure you don't need to go to the hospital. How do you feel?"

Liz silently assessed her body as she moved individual body parts, still trying to gather her scattered thoughts.

"I think I'm fine... what happened?" She questioned her voice hoarse

"What do you remember honey?"

"Um... the school trip... then it was dark... then I hit my head...and then...umm..." She didn't know why but something was holding her back from telling them about Stefano, so she just dwindled off into silence waiting for someone to fill in the gaps, unsure as to why she didn't want to tell them about the confusing she felt after seeing Stefano's face.

"Well honey, when the lights came back on, one of the tour guides heard you screaming and came back to the tunnels, and found you out cold. You were taken back here in one of the teacher's cars and we called Dr Edison here to come and look you over."

Liz digested this information slowly, realising that no one knew about Stefano's part in her rescue and she irrationally wondered where he was right now. She couldn't get the image of his face and his teeth out of her head, and although she was terrified by what she had seen, for some reason she thought that maybe he didn't want to hurt her... after all he had saved her...twice.

"Honey," Her mum interrupted her train of thought, "there's a boy here to see you to make sure you're ok. Is it ok if he comes in?"

Liz's heart started racing as her thoughts jumped again to Stefano. Maybe he had come to explain. Or maybe he's come to kill you whispered a malicious voice in the back of her mind. Shaking the thought away Liz asked that she be given 5 minutes first and her small audience left the room.

Looking down at her appearance, Liz realised she was still wearing her bloodied clothes and her hands were ingrained with dirt. Oh well, too late to do anything about that. She looked at the bedside clock having lost all sense of time and saw with a shock it was 7pm, which meant she had been out cold for around 3 hours. No wonder her parents were worried!

She attempted to tug at her long blonde hair to get out the knots when the bedroom door handle turned. She sucked in a breath of anticipation, and waited for him to enter.

"Chris!" She exclaimed. As his smiling, blonde 6ft frame filled the door way.

"Hullo" He grinned down at her, taking in her dishevelled appearance in one sweep of his eyes. "You gave us a bit of a scare back there."

"Sorry, I couldn't contain my excitement any longer and ran head long in love with the rocks" She joked, trying to cover her disappointment.

He grinned sheepishly and made his way to the other side of the double bed, sitting down gingerly, making sure to not bump her.

"How' you feeling?"

"I'm ok, feel a bit like I've had a fight with a bull dozer, but I'll be ok."

His cheeks seemed to be tinged red as he lay down on the bed beside her, head propped up on the head board. Liz was a little surprised by his audacity but didn't say anything in case he was offended.

"You know, I really was worried about you back there" He said in sudden seriousness.

Not really knowing what to say, Liz just looked at him and smiled sweetly, her mind a little bit muddled still, trying to comprehend everything that had happened.

As she looked up at him he caught her gaze and held it there for a little longer than she found comfortable. That was when she felt a hand tracing circles on her forearm. She looked down at it and back up at him with wide confused eyes.

"Liz... look..." He breathed, bringing his face down to her level so that their noses were only inches apart.

She realised she needed to stop this before he took it any further. Yes, she liked Chris, but she didn't want to be with him... not in that way... not when... not when Stefano is who she really wanted the voice in her mind piped up again.

But she would never be with Stefano. She could see from his cold harsh eyes his evident hatred for her. Why shouldn't she feel for someone else? Why shouldn't she have a bit of fun?

"Chris," she started, but was cut off when he brought his finger up to her lips, rubbing ever so gently at her bottom lip.

"I've wanted to say this for a while Liz. Ever since you arrived, I've wanted to do this."

And without a second hesitation he closed the distance between their mouths and pressed his soft lips to hers. His hand cupped her face, and his other moved to her waist, pulling her body to his across the bed.

To say the least, Liz was shocked. Of course she'd picked up on the signs of his flirtation, but she had never assumed it had gone this far. She felt his lips move against her looking for entry into her mouth, and she felt herself gasp at the feel of his body pressed against hers. As she did so he took the opportunity and slid his tongue into her mouth, his breath warm and his hands sliding lower down her hip.

Tingles were running through her body where he touched her, and she kissed back with nearly as much enthusiasm as he was now.

The kiss was beautiful and nice. Not the kind to set a heart on fire, but enough to make her want more. He pulled he arms around her and supported her against him, her leaning heavily on his chest and they broke apart momentarily.

He looked down into her eyes, a small smile forming at his lips, grinning as he took in her beautiful face and the feel of her pressed all down his body. He could feel himself stirring under his trousers, and shuffled around so that she wouldn't notice.

"Liz..." He whispered

But he was cut off by a sudden thump on the window. The two jumped apart and Chris ran to the window to see what was out there. It was dark now and the blinds had not been drawn. He glanced out at the darkness and looked back, shrugging.

A knock at the door informed them of her parent's presence, for which Liz was grateful hadn't happened a few minutes before.

Chris excused himself from the room glancing back with a smile at Liz as he left, and her parents shortly followed proclaiming that she had had a very long day and needed to rest.

She took a well needed shower, feeling the hot water bounce off her head and agitate the bump on the back, although the pain felt good. She washed away the blood on her cheek, and scrubbed at her body to get all of the dirt off.

Her room was warm from the evening sun and she was uncomfortably hot in her pyjamas, so changed into a pair of girl boxers and a small white vest that didn't cover much of her, using just a thin sheet to cover her, hoping no one would come and check up on her.

Although it was still quite early in the night, Liz didn't have long to think about Stefano or Chris as she fell into a deep and dreamless sleep almost straight away, the day's events overwhelming her.