Monsters

I turned back through the door and ran straight into a brick wall. Or at least, that's how it felt against my already sore body. "Ethan!"

His hands, so quick I didn't even see them, were suddenly on my face. His face, so serious he looked almost pained, quickly dissolved my relief. "Stay quiet," he ordered in a whisper. "Mary, Hanna, and Jacques are safe. You need to come with me."

I nodded silently and grabbed one of his hands from my face. The force with which I was squeezing it was probably unknown by Ethan, but I refused to release it for even a second; I could be embarrassed by my actions later. He pulled me along behind him and into the library, shutting the doors soundlessly the moment we entered.

"What's going on?" I muttered quietly, my voice sounding as calm as I felt. After all, I'd been expecting this. Did Ethan honestly believe she wouldn't come back for me? After all of the paranoia, wondering if she was following me, it was almost a relief to know where she was. I guess I wasn't calm, more like hopeless.

"She's here," he growled, confirming my suspicion and running his hands through his hair. "She came back."

"I knew she would," I sighed as I slid down the wall into a sitting position. I propped my elbows onto my knees and let my head fall into my hands, exhausted as my adrenaline was slowly fading. "Why is this happening?"

"If she so much as takes one step into this house," Ethan snarled. "I'll tear her limb from limb."

"You can't kill humans, but you can kill other vampires?" I looked up at him.

"Not exactly," he gritted his teeth. "But I have acquaintances in high places who I'm sure would be willing to look past one minor indiscretion."

I watched Ethan while he paced in fury, his face contorted in anger. Never in my life had I seen an expression filled with so much of one certain emotion.

"We need to see her," I finally told him. "I need answers."

Ethan came to an immediate halt, his back to me, and I saw his body straighten stiffly. "No."

"We're never going to know what she wants if we don't confront her," I tried again. "If you want to kill her after, that's fine. Be my guest. But I'm sick and tired of not knowing anything!"

There was a quick flash and Ethan was in front of me. "I won't deliberately bring you to her," he denied. "She's after you, for whatever reason."

I raised one brow and felt my sick sense of humor bubbling to the surface. "Isn't that what you wanted? She'll kill me, and you'll be free. Double whammy," I grinned, though I'm sure it looked more like I was going to be sick.

Ethan chose not to reply and instead shot me a dark look, one even more furious than the expression he'd had on before.

"So what, you're going alone?" I asked, already knowing what he was planning in his stupid, beautiful head. "You're going to leave me here by myself? That doesn't make any sense." Ethan growled in frustration, which I took as a sign of his agreement. He moved to turn away from me, but I grabbed his arm to stop him.

He looked down at my small hand for a few quiet moments and I noticed his afflicted expression. The grimace he wore could have been directed at the situation we were in, or the fact that I was touching him, but which I wasn't sure. I released him and he glanced once at me before turning so that I was facing his back.

He reached down into his pocket and pulled out a small cell phone. He pressed a couple of buttons before bringing it up to his ear.

"We have a situation," I heard him mumble into the phone grimly and then there was a silence. "The vampire that chased Audra through the forest is here. Yes. That's a good idea. Alright."

Ethan stood motionless, his shoulders squared and his arms at his sides. I almost broke the silence until I moved to his side and noticed his eyes were closed. He took in one long breath and when he exhaled he opened his eyes slowly.

"She's in the forest," he told me, his voice low. He turned to me, his eyes suddenly intent. "Armand is on his way here now," he spoke slowly, as if speaking to a child. "Do not, under any circumstance, open your mouth, Audra. Do not speak to her."

"But I want-" he interrupted me.

"I will address her," he told me firmly, gazing into my eyes so intensely that I had to nod obediently. "Until we know why she's here, or what she truly wants," he pressed his next orders, "you need to stay quiet."

"I already know what she wants," I told him meekly. His eyebrows knitted together in confusion and frustration. "She wants me. Dead."

"What…?" Ethan's voice trailed off.

"My nightmares," I finally confessed. "She is in every single one of them, and every time she tries to kill me." I felt my hopelessness growing and I sighed, letting my body hang limp. "Sometimes I wake up and I can still feel her hands around my throat."

I expected Ethan to laugh or call me dramatic, but he didn't speak. He didn't move a muscle. It was only too evident how unlike me he was then; no human could ever be that still.

Suddenly he turned his head to the door and said in a monotone voice, "She's outside. Come."

I had to practically jog behind Ethan to keep up pace with him. He moved through the halls like a bullet, only coming to a stop when he reached the front door. I remembered when I had tried to escape through the exact same door after only a few days of being at the mansion, and only now did I realize that what I really wanted was to stay. Especially knowing what lurked just outside the door.

"You remember what to do?" Ethan asked over his shoulder. His voice was still dead.

I looked at him quizzically, "Yeah. Stay quiet."

He nodded once and opened the door, the wintery air sweeping in around us. I hugged my arms around my body, wishing I had had the time or capacity to think about wearing something warmer. Though, I had never expected that I would be confronting Her tonight.

I peeked around Ethan's tall shoulder and caught a glimpse of a dark shadow, not too far off in the distance that I couldn't make out her features, but still close enough to see she was a 'she'. And she had blonde hair; wild blonde hair, floating in the wind like she was underwater.

"Ethan," she called through the snow, her voice lovely and sweet. She stood still, her feet apart with her body angled toward us. I glanced up at Ethan, who watched her intently with a look of determination. "It's been a while since I saw you last."

"Who are you?" He asked without hesitation.

"You don't remember me?" She feigned hurt. "From The Peacock? I was the only girl you talked to all night." I instantly recognized the name of the bar from my hometown. Of course; Ethan had been there with her and brought her to the alley.

"Christina." Ethan deduced, remembering the same night I was.

I could see her smile even in the dark and through the snowy breeze. She was absolutely stunning, like a foreign model in a magazine ad, or even a portrait painted hundreds of years ago that sat in a museum now while thousands of people marveled at its complete perfection. "You should really be more conscious of your eating habits," she scolded, her voice still sweet. "Two girls missing from the same place on the same night? That's a little risky, don't you think?"

Ethan made it obvious he wanted nothing to do with her games, "What are you doing here?"

The honey in her voice instantly disappeared, "You took everything from me," she hissed. "My family, my friends, my entire life!" I had spent countless nights awake fearing this woman. Just to be near her I felt my heart racing with fear. Only now, with her desperation and heartache evident in her voice, I started to pity her. "You took everything I had, and now I'm here to do you the same courtesy."

My eyes flashed like lightning to Ethan, waiting for his reaction. This entire time I'd been thinking she wanted me, wanted to kill me. What did she want from him?

There was a pressure on my forearms and as I looked down I realized there was a pair of hands wrapped around them. My head whipped around and I came face to face with Isaac, who had a severe look on his face. Despite the situation, I thought it strange to feel his skin as if it was the same as mine. Cold.

I looked back to Ethan and noticed Armand on his left, standing near his brother with the same dangerous look on his gorgeous face. It was a slight comfort to know we had Christina outnumbered.

Ethan again tried to steer the conversation, "What is it that you want, Christina? I have nothing for you to take," he held his arms out openly. "I have no real family. Do you want money? I can give you any amount."

"Don't patronize me," she shrieked, the sound sending shivers down my spine. "I've been following you. I know that you keep what truly matters to you with you at all times."

Curiously I looked over Ethan. Did he have some special heirloom he kept in his pocket? Something from his human days perhaps to remind him of his life before? He had never mentioned anything to me about an object like that, but then again, Ethan had many secrets.

Ethan's chin raised and his jaw clenched tightly. "I don't know what you're referring to."

"The girl!" She shouted, her loud voice carrying around the front yard of the mansion. "Her!" Christina's pale arm raised and she pointed one long, pale, dainty finger out at me.

I instantly regretted all of the time I dedicated to worrying about petty things such as what dress to wear to Ethan's birthday party or why Vivienne hated me so much. I'd taken advantage of so much time, I felt so foolish.

All of the times I had felt eyes on me, there had actually been someone there. My stomach quivered uncomfortably and yet, at the same time while I felt like I was going to be sick, I also felt like I was going to smile. Christina had spent all of her time watching Ethan, and thus watching me, and the conclusion she came to was that Ethan loved me. To someone watching on the outside, we looked like a couple, and for some sick, demented reason, that thought made my heart twist and heat wash through my body.

"You don't want her," Ethan explained. "You overestimate her meaning to me."

I glanced from Ethan to Christina, my heart beating faster with every word Ethan said.

"What is it that makes her so special?" Christina laughed, an evil, menacing sound. "She must mean enough to you that you keep her human."

"Audra is just a servant," Ethan was saying. I was staring at him, unable to take my eyes away. His face was stone and blank. "She works in the kitchen at my home, just the same as the other three humans who work here."

"But you don't look at them the same way you do her," she sneered. "You follow her around the room like a satellite."

Ethan closed his mouth tightly with a frown and I shuddered. Isaac, who must have misinterpreted my shiver, held me closer.

If I thought I felt foolish before, I felt like a complete idiot then. I had started to think that Ethan didn't hate me, or at least as much as he let off. Whenever we were alone it was like we couldn't be more than a few feet away from one another. I felt a magnetic pull to him, and I foolishly let myself believe that he felt the same toward me.

This was Ethan I was thinking about. The vampire prince who was standing no less than five feet away from me in the freezing snow facing my immortal enemy. He was perfect in every aspect; Why would he waste his time with someone like me: a random girl off the street? It seemed like all of his behavior had hidden meanings, either that or I was reading too much into it.

Somehow along this strange and twisted path we'd taken I had mistaken his bloodlust for affection. He didn't want to be near me because he liked me; he just liked the smell of my blood. He'd clarified that on more than one occasion. I felt like some silly, lovesick little girl and I hated that.

I looked back to Christina who was standing patiently in the snow. Why wasn't Ethan telling her all of this? If she knew I didn't matter to him she would leave me alone. They would settle it among themselves however vampires do.

"Christina," I choked out, my voice hoarse from the cold, or maybe from the bitter taste of my sudden self-loathing. She turned her head towards me silently and stared, her eyes completely black. Her lips were pulling back in a sneer and her hands were balled up into fists. "Killing me won't solve anything." I didn't have to look at Ethan to know he was furious with me for speaking up. I could almost feel the tingling in my body from his radiating waves of anger. I avoided him and focused more intently on Christina.

"It's a perfectly fitting revenge," she argued. "Ethan should feel a loss as great as what I felt."

"You don't understand," I shook my head, my voice getting stronger. As I went to take a step forward, Isaac's hands slid from my arms to wrap around my middle so that he was holding me in place. Christina's eyes flashed from Isaac's arms around me back up to my face. "Ethan would feel no loss from losing me. I'm not even his to lose."

I knew that by holding me in his unbreakable grip Isaac meant only to keep me from putting myself in danger, but I also realized as Christina looked between us that she was assuming I was with Isaac, and not Ethan like she had previously thought. Obviously the idea was ridiculous to all of us, but if Christina thought Isaac and I were together and that killing me would do nothing for Ethan, she might move on.

Despite that I desperately wanted to avoid Ethan out of sheer embarrassment from there on forward, my gaze somehow met his. His eyes were focused on mine with such intent that I inhaled and my heart skipped a beat. My stomach flipped and landed low in my stomach, leaving me with the burning feeling creeping up my throat; the tell-tale sign that I was going to cry.

For a moment, Ethan's head dropped until he looked back up at Christina and lost all emotion again.

"You obviously have no reason to harm Audra," Armand spoke for the first time, his suave voice cutting through the tension easily. "There are other ways to solve your conflicts with Ethan."

Christina glanced suspiciously between the three vampires. "And it would seem that tonight I'm outnumbered." Armand, Ethan, and Isaac all remained silent in agreement. Christina nodded once and her body relaxed. "Then I'll be back another time, I suppose." She glared at me, "Soon," and turned to run and disappear into the night.