A Touch of Scarlet

29

[ Valentina's P.O.V ]

I quietly walk into the abandoned building.
Continuing to follow Lydia's scent.

The room that I stand in appears to be completely empty ...

"What are you doing here Arsen?" A growl comes from behind me.

A sickening shiver runs down my spine at the sound of my last name coming from his lips.

I turn to face him,

"The better question is: Why is Lydia here?" I hiss.

He doesn't answer so I continue,

"You've got issues with my brother not an innocent girl"

"I'll tell you what ... You call up your brother to come down here and I'll pass Lydia over when his dead corpse is laying mangled right over there" he hisses back, pointing his finger towards the corner of the room.

That crossed the line.

I reach into my back pocket angrily, he growls

"Chill the hell down its just my phone" I hiss.

I type out the address of the building that I stand in, as well as the message:

'Get your arses down here, he's got Lydia'.

I send the message to Reece, Jordan and Nate.
Instead of waiting for a response I simply slide the phone back into my pocket and glance up.

Nicholas stands there, just watching me.

It's a shame that he's a morbid, ancient vampire, Cause he's quite cute ... in an 'I've spent the majority of my life trying to find your brother so that I can kill him' sort of way.

I expect my brother and his friends to get here any moment, I want to get a head start with this freak so I reach into the sheath strapped around my calf and extract a thin, long dagger.

I know that they'll check on Lydia before they come up for me so I have about eight minutes.

My fangs extend and I let out a combat growl,

He lets out a growl of his own, bares his fangs and comes at me.

He pins me against the wall, using his large hands to cut off my air pipe, his hands squeeze my neck aggressively.

I choke but refuse to give into the sleep that passing out would bring me.
I bring my knife up and slash my wrist around blindly as fast I can, trying to nip away at any piece of flesh that I can find.

He howls out in pain as the knife is plunged into the tip of his left shoulder.

He releases my neck and brings his hand up, dragging his sharp nails across my cheek in a fast motion.

My face is slapped to the side, I feel the quick bursts of fresh-painful wounds.

I gasp silently in shock, not expecting his reflex.

I drop onto my knees and quickly drag my knife through his calf. At this he lets out a loud howl. I drag my knife down again, watching his blood spilling out on the floor.

He lets out a loud growl and kicks me into the wall before I can get up.

My eyes water as I feel my ribcage concaving.
Damn this will take a hell of a lot longer to heal then I'd like it too. I think to myself.
⋆⋆⋆

[ Back to Lydia's P.O.V ]

I look down at my mangled dress.

The pretty blue and white pattern that once gracefully fell to my mid-thigh is now ripped and coated with dry blood and dust from the concrete floor.

Over the past few hours I've been waiting for the vervain to pass through my system.
I sit up tall against the wall and roll my neck,
I can feel fresh energy coursing through my veins.
"Lydia?" A familiar voice comes through the door.

"Jordan?" I whisper uncertainly, worried that the voice is just in my head.

All of a sudden there's a: "she's in here" and then the door is being kicked through the wall.
The room fills with a dusty, cloud-like substance, then as it begins to fade I'm embraced by three familiar sets of arms.
"Get off I can't breathe" I choke out,

They back away.

"Lydia" Nate whispers sadly as they all take in my weak, broken state.

"I'm going to kill him" Reece hisses his canines fully extended and his fists clenched against his sides.

"I'm really going to kill him" Reece repeats and with that he darts out of the room.
Nate glances worriedly towards the door that Reece had just run out of,

"I've got to go help" he turns to Jordan with pleading eyes.

"Go kill that rogue" Jordan says under his breathe, his voice completely void of emotion. However his eyes are deadly serious.

With that Nate gives me one more reassuring smile and runs out of the room after Reece.

Without a word Jordan takes my raw, blood-coated wrists into his hands and begins to break apart the chains that shackle them together.

"How did you find me?" I ask,

He waits a few minutes before responding "Val texted us the address".

Bless that girl I think to myself.

"Jordan?"

He doesn't respond.

"What's wrong?" I ask,

"Jordan?" I repeat warily.

He finally looks up, his expression shows a mixture of sadness and disappointment,

"Lydia this mess is on you"

"What are you taking about?" I ask confused.

"Why the hell would you go on a date with some stranger?!" He shouts.

I look down, my anxiety starts to return.

"He wasn't a stranger, he was one of the new instructors at the Art studio".

He traces a circle in the palm of my hand for a few seconds before slowly meeting my gaze, "I'm sorry".

"Don't be" I reply.

"Dammit Lydia!" He shouts, standing up and slamming his pale fist against the concrete wall.

I stay silent, rubbing my wrist slowly where the shackles had been just seconds before.
He looks down at me his gaze softening.
"I'm such an idiot" he states,

"No your not" I argue, taken aback.

"I thought we were something",

"Something?" I ask bluntly.

"Something Lydia, I thought we had something".

This time it's my turn to remain silent.

"Then I come home to find that your out on a date with some random guy, you agreed so quickly that you didn't even realize that he's the exact guy that my brother and Reece have been talking about for the past few weeks"

I look down, my mind feeling completely numb.

"Then I get a text from Val that you've been taken" he adds sadly,

"And I race down here searching the building like a mad man, for you.
And every time a door opened and you weren't behind it all I could think was that you were going to be dead by the time I finally got to you, and that I'd never get the chance to tell you that I-" he stops abruptly, looking around as if unsure of himself for the first time since he walked into this room.

"Tell me what?" I whisper,

"To tell you that I like you"

"I like you too"

"No Lydia I really like you"

"Sorry, I'm not sure I'm following"

"Lydia I think I might love you"