Captive

Adriane's first thought was that he woman in front of her must have been some kind of angel, sent to Earth by God himself. Now, Adriane was not religious by any standard, in fact she was an atheist, but at that moment she could think of no other explanation for the woman in front of her.

The next moment, however, something started to feel horribly wrong. It was as if an alarm went off inside Adriane's head, warning her to stay away from this woman. She slowly brought her eyes level with the other woman's and had to fight to keep herself from backing away. The eyes staring back at her were deep black, but that wasn't what scared Adriane; it was that surrounding the pupil were tiny, blood-red flecks of color. Worse still was the look that emanated towards her, as if she were prey about to be lead to slaughter.

All of this had run through Adriane's mind in a matter of seconds, but she had a feeling that the woman knew what she was thinking. Adriane was surprised when at the next moment she smiled at her, flashing her view of her brilliantly white teeth. "Hi", said the woman, "my name is Heidi. I was just telling the group about the history of the Palazzo die Priori. Would you care to join us?"

Heidi's face was the picture of innocence and warmth, but it didn't shake Adriane's feeling that something was wrong. "No, I'd rather not, thank you. I already know the history of the clock tower", she said in what she hoped passed for a nonchalant voice.

The woman furrowed her eyebrows like she was trying to figure out a particularly troublesome math problem. Adriane started to leave. She had to fight back the instinct to run away as she turned her back on the woman. She had only gone a few steps when she felt something ice cold take a hold of her arm. She turned her head only to see that it was Heidi who had grabbed her. Adriane's eyes widened as she looked down at her arm. Heidi had linked their lower arms together at the elbow and was already pulling her along at an incredibly fast pace. Adriane knew that it was the other woman's skin that was touching her, but to Adriane it felt as cold and hard as marble.

She tried to pull her hand away but found it impossible to shake such an iron grip. "Enough", said Heidi, "Now, you will do exactly as I say, do you understand?"

Here Adriane felt Heidi's already firm grasp squeeze her arm until she thought that her bones were going to snap. "Yes", she agreed quickly.

The pressure was instantly released. "Now, you're going to take a walk with me. Smile and look like you're enjoying the evening". Adriane did what she was told and smiled, secretly praying that someone would notice the panic flooding her eyes. No one did.

Heidi brought Adriane over to a dark, narrow alley a couple hundred feet away from the fountain. She already knew that the alley would lead to a dead end, and that some unlucky person would happen upon her dead body the following day. Her evil side hoped it was the waiter.

It turned out that Adriane was only half right. While there was a dead end at the end of the alleyway, there would be no body for anyone to find. No there anyway. Adriane wasn't expecting another person to be there, however the silhouette of a man came into her line of vision. A man who was every bit as gorgeous as the woman walking next to her.

"What happened", growled the man against the wall. And yes, he did growl; a low, terrifying sound that sent chills down Adriane's back.

"Hush Demetri", Heidi purred, "you're scaring our guest".

The man named Demetri stepped into view a mere three feet from where Adriane was standing. He was tall, with the same pale, inhumanly beautiful features as Heidi. He wore a dark gray cloak overtop of plain, non-descriptive clothes. He glanced at Adriane, then turned his attention on Heidi, apparently waiting for some kind of explanation.

"She knew something was wrong", she stated simply, "not everyone is blind to us Demetri". Heidi gave a sort sigh, "I couldn't let her get away".

Demetri turned his gaze back toward Adriane, who lifted her chin defiantly. If she was going to die, which she surely would, then she was going to go out bravely. Adriane Moore cowered to no one.

"Caius will be displeased", said Demetri, "he is very thirsty". He paused. "Bring her, he will have had one at least".

Demetri turned around and walked to the very end of the alleyway. He bent and lifted up a grate in the floor that Adriane hadn't noticed. She marveled at his strength, the grate must have weighed a couple hundred pounds. Yet he lifted it up as if…suddenly everything came together in her mind. The beautiful faces, the pale skin, inhuman strength, and Demetri had said that a man named Caius was thirsty; vampires. She was being lead into a coven of vampires.

Fear seeped into every fiber of her being, locking all her muscles into place. She couldn't have just happened upon a creepy serial killer; she had to run into a group of vampires. And hey, while you're at it, just go ahead and ruin their dinner, she thought sarcastically. There has to be more than just the three of them, there were too many people back at the fountain for just them.

Heidi was pushing her toward the grate. Adriane knew that trying to fight or run away would be pointless; she should conserve all of her strength. She knew that she would need it for whatever was to come, so she begrudgingly moved forward. Demetri hopped lightly into the hole. It took a couple seconds before she heard him land lightly on the ground. She gulped, knowing she couldn't make the same jump without breaking something.

Heidi pushed her up to the edge of the hole. "Jump", she said softly. Seeing no other alternative, Adriane stepped off the edge and into darkness.

~I promise the chapters will get longer. I haven't written anything in a while and i'm getting used to it again. Please send me reviews and tell me what you think!!!