Chapter 7
The Cold-Blooded Killer and The Policeman
My eyes widened considerably when he scrutinized me with his pretty, jade green eyes. It was almost as if they reflected the distant light from my room and glowed. "Attempting suicide?" he assumed, setting me back on my feet. I stepped away from him to put space between us.
Suddenly suicide didn't sound so bad. I snorted despite though. "No, I wasn't. What I was doing isn't any of your business."
Rylan only studied me coolly. It almost unnerved me. How could someone remain so…so…stoic? "I suppose you have already heard the 'we own you now' speech, so I'll skip it." he stated. I almost smiled. He suddenly stepped to the side, as if allowing me to walk past him. I looked at him in shock. He held up a set of keys. "Take mine. It's the gold one and it's faster."
I nearly fell to the ground. "W-what?" How did he know what I was doing? Rylan took my wrist, and I nearly jumped in surprise. His skin was cold! He pulled my arm out and opened my palm. Then he set the keys in my hand and closed my fingers over them.
"I won't tell if you won't." he told me and then turned and walked back around the house. I stared after him, my emotions winding around in my head in questioning. Was it normal to have skin that cold?! How did he know what I was going to do?! Come to think of it, Brent had somehow known I hadn't set my alarm clock… What the hell was wrong with these people?
I shook my head mentally and started off to the garage. Much to my joy, it was already opened. A small UV light sprayed a dark illumination of the garage, and my eyes fell on the smooth looking golden babe. My mouth fell open in surprise. Hell, there were six beautiful cars in here! Six? Weren't there only five of the guys though? I made my speedy way to the gold car and fumbled with the keys in my hand. I unlocked it quickly and climbed in.
For moments I swooned and coddled over the beautiful looking leather seats and admired the smell of it. It smelled brand new. I put the right key into the ignition and then paused. Wouldn't they hear me start it? I sucked in a deep breath and turned the keys quickly. The only noise it made was a soft rumble and the car shook just barely. All the lights of the gauge's in front of me lit up a light, sky blue and revealed to me the speed of his car.
I nearly let out an overjoyed squeal. 238 MPR! I grinned and pulled quietly out of the garage, but paused a moment when the car rolled past Lukas's. I rolled down the window and took off one of the keys on Rylan's key chain, and then reached out my window and slid the key down the passenger's door of Lukas's car so it made a soft screeching noise.
I smirked when I pulled back and admired my handiwork. It left a foot long scratch, very, very visible. I rolled the window back up and left the garage completely.
As I drove away from the house, I saw the light go off in the den room, and I knew someone else would figure out I was gone. I hit the gas pedal hard, and let out a laugh.
"You are five minutes early." Max stated as he quickly climbed into the car. He too, admired the interior. I smiled at him and pulled out of his dark driveway.
"I had to be. I didn't want anyone to know I had left, so I hightailed it." I said. Well, only one person knew I had left, and I hoped Rylan wouldn't tell.
"So where are we going?" Max asked as we drove down the usual road.
"There's usually a cop sitting at the end of the guardrail next to the apartment complex. I take him in a u-turn and then drive away. That's when he calls his buddies. After he gets them, we do another u-turn and drive straight back towards the apartment complex. It pisses them off to no end." I explained. Max smiled.
"Well, it looks like we got our wish." he said, pointing a little ways ahead of us. Sure enough, there was a cop car sitting there, and I sped up to fifty miles over the speed limit. We zoomed by, and I looked at my rearview mirror. My mouth dropped. "What the hell?" Max demanded.
The cop hadn't moved. I spun around at the apartment complex guardrail and sat there, the front of the gold car facing the cop. It was then I realized the driver's door was torn open, and I saw that half of the driver's seat was ripped to shreds.
"Oh my God." I exclaimed, immediately unbuckling. I threw open the car door despite Max's protests, and shut it. The air was chilly, but I ignored it. Max quickly climbed out of his side and glared at me.
"Whatever the hell happened to the cop is over now. We need to leave. It could be dangerous."
"Yeah, and the cop could have been Joshua!" I retorted hastily, and began running to the torn up car. I could hear Max groan, and then he followed after me. When I got closer, the streetlamp just a few yards away lit up the dark red liquid stained on the shredded seat. My hands went to my mouth to stifle my shocked cry.
It was blood. It had to have been. Max put an arm on mine to stop me from going further. I couldn't move anyhow. My body was frozen in terror. It looked like the cop had put up a fight, and whatever the hell had gone after it ripped apart the door and threw it off the hinges. Glass from the window was scattered among the interior and on the ground, blending in with the blood.
"Come on." Max insisted, pulling against me. I slowly shook my head. No. I had to find out if that cop had been Joshua or not. I yanked away from him and Max kept protesting to me weakly and quietly as I made my way to the car. The stench of metallic blood and something else wreaked havoc in my stomach, and I quickly held my breath as I peered inside the car.
With shaking hands, I reached forward to the glove box. I couldn't see anything else in the car, except the passengers seat and the illumination the streetlamp held over the drivers. I was too afraid to look in the back of the car. I opened the glove box and pulled out the only piece of paper in there. Quickly, I jerked back and sucked in a deep breath of fresh air.
I looked down at the paper and it had the policeman's picture on it, his name, date of birth…I let out a relieved sigh when I saw it wasn't Joshua. "Okay, you have your proof, now can we go?! Please?!" Max begged behind me.
"I need to call Joshua and Becca. Give me your cell phone." I said as I turned back to him. He was pale in fear and I almost felt bad for a moment. He nodded and reached into his pocket. He pulled his phone out and made to hand it to me. His eyes settled on something behind me and they widened to the point I thought they would fall out of his sockets.
"A-A-Ava…" he stuttered, backing up a step. My heart fluttered in my chest and I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. I could feel eyes on my back; someone was watching me.
I didn't have to turn to know it was the killer of the policeman. "Go!" I shouted to Max. He did. He turned and bolted towards the car as fast as his legs could carry him. I was right behind him. I heard a distant snicker behind us, and when I reached the gold car, I spun as I opened the door.
A dark figure sped towards us. I screamed when it slammed my door shut. Max was already in the passenger's seat. I stared in horror when the tall, sickly pallor man turned to smile at me. My hand was resting against the cool window of the back seat. Max was safe. That was good for now. But I was within feet of this psycho man. He had red smeared across his left cheek, like he had wiped nonchalantly at it. It was blood. His face was slightly narrowed, with a crooked nose like it had been broken a couple times in his life. There was an ugly scar above his right eyebrow.
He stared right back into my eyes with black ones. They nearly blended into the darkness of the night around us. My breath hitched when he raised a hand to my cheek. "I can have you as desert." he muttered. "And then I'll save the boy for breakfast tomorrow."
I realized his nails weren't nails. They were claws. Like animal claws. They scraped gently down my cheek, but I felt warm liquid sprinkle down to my jaw. This man had made me bleed with a touch of his claws. He pulled his hand back and licked his fingers, and I saw the faint glimmer of white fangs.
Oh my God.
I suddenly felt scared shitless. My knees were shaking uncontrollably, and I wanted to faint and just let my death be done and over with. This guy was insane.
And then suddenly the driver's seat slammed open at full force, knocking the man with fangs and claws away a few feet. "Ava!" Max yelled from the inside. I jumped into the drivers seat before he could tell me twice, and just before the man came back, I shut my door and locked them all. The body of the psycho slammed against my door, shattering the window. I screamed.
Max reached over and started the car, changed it into gear and told me to hit the gas pedal. In a flurry of emotions, I managed to do so, just as the man slammed his hand into my window. I took off, and his hand pulled back before it could be sliced off from the speed of the car. I drove at the cars top speed, watching with wide eyes where I was going. I wasn't going to drop Max back off, and he looked thankful.
He leaned back in his seat with a heavy, shaking sigh. "What…the fuck was that?" he demanded, looking over his shoulder. "He isn't following."
I nodded, and slowed down to 200 MPR when we neared the exit to the ten minute drive to the Darquecaster house. It would be less and my speed. "I-I don't know. But…it couldn't have been human." I replied, my voice sounded tiny and scared.
Max gave me a dumbfounded look. "Not human? Are you serious?" he inquired unbelievably, raising his eyebrows.
I shot him an angry look, my emotions ceasing into one. "What would you expect?! Fangs?! Sharp claws? Blood on his face?!" I nearly shouted. Max winced.
"Sorry. I just think maybe he was a psycho patient at the mental hospital."
I snorted, but it sounded more like a growl. This was not my night. Or day. It was nearly eleven-thirty, and I tried to calm my breathing as we turned onto the road leading down to the large Darquecaster mansion house. "He was definitely not human." I said, shivering at the way I remembered his dark eyes looking at me in hunger.
I changed gears to slow down the car, and my hand bumped into something. I glanced down at the book resting between mine and Max's seat.
Vampire Academy, it read. I stared at it a moment, before looking back up at the house coming into view. All the lights were on, and I could see the garage light shining as well. All the Darquecaster's were standing in there, and it looked like they were arguing.
"Well, then, Miss Know-It-All, what the hell do you think it was?" Max demanded. All the men in the garage turned as we parked in front of it. The only ones who didn't appear angry were Rylan and Brent. And then the pieces clicked together.
"They're vampires."