𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐍𝐄 ||𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑖 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠||

𝟎𝟔

✿✿✿

Nari had chosen to stare out of the window at the passing scenery, watching with trepidation as they traveled down winding road after winding road. With every second that passed, they were getting further and further away from civilization.

It was better to look boredly at the trees then to acknowledge how abnormal Alice and Rosalie were acting.

Thanks to the long day they'd spent in the overcast streets of Portland, traveling around the city and enjoying themselves despite the tense atmosphere she had come back to after her meeting, the sky was now quickly darkening and the black night was steadfastly approaching.

That fact wouldn't have bothered her if it wasn't for the strange behavior of her new friends, if it wasn't for the pained and almost scared look in both of her vampire companions' eyes. Nari had tried to ignore it, but the odd tension hanging in the air had become too heavy to disregard.

She was unsure if she'd made the right decision and she was unsure what had changed but...something felt entirely wrong with the situation now, her chest gripped by a tight feeling of anxiety she just couldn't shake away.

Against her better judgement, she decided to at least give them the benefit of the doubt. There was a strong chance she was just being paranoid like she so often was. There was no lie though that the expensive car was filled with an odd and heavy cloud of anticipation.

"So, um...is everything okay? You guys have been pretty quiet." Nari said, the smile that stretched across her face concealing her worries from them. Alice laughed, her delicate features twisted by nerves and her body movements jerky and stiff. It so out of place with her normally lithe and graceful movements that it didn't really help her case.

"O–of course! Everything is fine, Nari. Nothing to worry about." Her carefree voice was tinged with an undercurrent of falseness, stoking Nari's unease and suspicion. She frowned, flexing her stiff muscles from sitting in the car for so long, weirded out by Alice's fake happiness and Rosalie's unending silence.

That familiar tingle of warning, that clawing feeling of dread crept up and ensnared her mind, sharpening her senses and her instincts, increasing the anxiety festering away in her chest. The alarm bells in her head were ringing in warning, her mind allowing her to see the truth through Alice's falsehood.

Alice...was lying.

Nari kept her face impassive so she didn't indicate anything was wrong, but her mind was quickly working up a storm of torrential thoughts. She didn't know what they had done, or why the two women were somber as they grew ever closer to the home of their supposed family, but Nari now was thinking she had made a grave mistake.

She felt almost idiotic at having gotten in the car with them, at having trusted them. It was so unlike herself to follow others blindly, but they had made her feel safe. Welcome. Like there was no reason not to trust them. Cleary, she shouldn't have.