Reckless

Chapter 8 Part 4

Present Day

Character POV: David

I step into the back room, the bouncer following in behind me and allowing the door to click shut behind him. For a moment, all I see is black as my eyes adjust to the darkness. Then, gradually, I start to see in the purple-lit room. The bouncer shoulders himself around me, then leads the way down a narrow corridor. I look around and see a kitchen and a bathroom branching off from the hallway. In the very back are two more rooms. He pushes the door open to the one on the left. It is completely dark inside, but he switches the light on unceremoniously. I hear a woman hiss at the sudden brightness, but he ignores her and waves me inside.

The sight that greets me the moment that I step inside makes me stop dead in my tracks. Sprawled on the bed in front of me are three women. The one in the middle is wearing a black robe, the other two just lingerie. Their bodies as covered with what looks to be vampire bites, blood still leaking from their wounds. My gaze snaps back to the woman with curly brown hair in the black robe, her purple eyes fixed on me as she takes a drag of a cigarette. The cigarette's end glows red as she sucks on it for a long moment, and then she slowly releases a cloud of smoke from her lips as her eyes fix on me. But there's something in her eyes, some unfocusedness that shows that she's here physically, but she's not here mentally. Her lips purse as she looks me up and down. Hatred blooms in her eyes as she says, "You are the least impressive male specimen I have seen to-date, and I've been around for a long time, little boy. That's saying something coming from me." She takes another drag of the cigarette, reaching around one of the sleeping or dead women to stamp it out in a glass bowl before shifting back into her spot to look at me. Curiosity blooms in her eyes as she quirks her head to one side as she takes me in.

"You're not impressed, fine by me. I didn't come here for your approval," I retort, surprising myself with the forcefulness of my words. Some tide of hatred rises inside of me at the sight of this woman, at the thought of such a depraved individual being anywhere near the angel that is my girlfriend.

She rolls her eyes a little, more to herself than me, before she smirks and says, "Mission accomplished then. So, who are you? It's not often that Zeb will bring someone back here, especially someone like you." Like me, I'm assuming a man based on her comment.

Some self-preservation instinct rises up inside of me, telling me not to tell her my name. I'm not sure what she could do with a name, but I'm guessing nothing good. I see the two women move slightly, disturbed by the talking, and a weight lifts from off of my shoulders. The words are out of my mouth before I can think twice of them, "One woman wasn't enough for you? You just had to lure in two of them for your depraved tastes?"

A wicked grin spreads across her face as her eyes darken until they are almost black as she asks me, "What is it, little boy with his little member feeling jealous that I can get more girls than he can?" She laughs loudly as I feel my skin begin to turn a shade of red. Her face turns into a little pout as she continues to mock my by saying, "Do I threaten your fragile masculinity? Awe, poor little boy."

I try my best to push past my anger, to stop seeing red, but it doesn't work. She has successfully gotten under my skin as I snarl at her, "No, you don't, you absolute bitch." It's a cheap shot, I know it the moment the word is out of my mouth, and probably not the best come-back or the wisest thing that I could say to someone like her. I realize it and start pulling back mentally as best as I can, trying to restore my fragile calm.

Her smile becomes more subdued, her eyes flashing as she nods a little and quips, "Oh good, I was afraid that this was going to be civil. Between you and me, civil is just boring, isn't it?" She chuckles, winking at me. When I flush red again, which I know I've done due to the hotness in my face, she laughs a low sound that reminds of a predator about to strike. "For your information," she adds, suddenly serious as she gestures with one hand on each woman, "these were volunteers. They knew what they were getting into. They begged for this audience. They're vampire groupies. Twilight may not have been a very accurate depiction of us, but I've never had so many people falling over themselves for me to dig my teeth into their skin before, so there's that." She removes her hands from the women as she crosses her arms over her frame, arching a brow at me as she says, "Now, I'll ask you one more time before things become really nasty: who are you?"

I still don't want to tell her my name, but I also get the impression that I might not make it out of here alive if I don't give her something. I straighten up a little as I tell her, "I'm the new you." She arches a brow at that, and for a moment I think she's going to jump up and beat the shit out of me. Instead she just looks at the bouncer, Zeb, waiting for an explanation.

I glance back at him, seeing him leaning back against the wall, one leg crossed over the other as he shakes his head and looks down at the ground, answering her even though it seems like he doesn't think this is going to end well, "He mentioned 'Roxanne.'" The use of air quotes makes me feel like there's something pretty significant that I'm missing.

Unlike with Zeb, the name immediately means something to her. I see it click in her gaze as she says, "Ah." Then she shifts her attention back to me, looking me up and down in a way that she hasn't done since I entered the room, really looking at me this time instead of writing me off. When she speaks, there's this layer of disbelief in her tone that makes me suddenly angry again as she drawls, "You're the best that she could do?" There's a sheen of horror on her features that she shakes off as she climbs over the woman to her right, stooping down to collect a pair of pants and pulling them up as I look away. She mutters more to herself than to me, "I knew I was a hard act to follow, but fuck." I hear the sound of clothing brushing against skin, the snap of some sort of a button, before she snaps her finger and drags my attention back to her. Her expression is left carefully blank as she asks me, "What did she tell you about me?"

I could tell her the truth, that Roxanne told me very little about her ex, that the only way I was able to find out this information was by reading a stolen journal of Roxanne's. I think of the best way to summarize what Roxanne told me about her in our brief conversation, where she tried to send me away for my safety. The words just fly out of my mouth, "She told me that you were the worst mistake that she ever made."

Ariadne stands straight up like I have shot her through with electricity. Her eyes darken to being completely black as my words sink in, and then her expression of sassy iciness diminishes and I see something like hurt flash over her features, so briefly that I can hardly be sure. She gives a rough clear of her throat, running a hand through her hair and then brushing it down as she says, "And, on that note, I'm going to leave now. It's been a gigantic displeasure to meet you. I'm sure I'll forget you as soon as I leave this room, just like Roxanne will in a few years once she's grown bored with you." She winks at me, that wicked smirk rising on her face again. "Goodbye." She turns towards the bouncer and says in a more authoritative tone, "Get him out of here in one piece. If he turns up as mince meat, I'm sure I'll get blamed for that one as well."

She shoulders past me, deliberately bumping into my shoulder on the way out as some sort of act of dominance. Something about her words resonates deeper with me than I thought that it would, making me feel small. Am I really as forgettable and unimportant as Ariadne makes me sound? If Roxanne could write Ariadne out of her life so completely, after they had been together for so long, what's to stop her from doing the same to me?

There's only one thing that springs to mind. Ariadne might have been an experiment. That's all Ariadne was to her. The next words that come out of my mind are not carefully thought through, they just come from a deep hatred of this woman who tried to taint my girlfriend. I snap at her, "I guess she could only go so long before she needed a man between her legs."

She stops dead in her tracks, frozen to the spot. The bouncer's eyes go wide, and then I hear him say, "Ariadne, stop. Think this through before you. . ."

She whirls around on me, and then everything goes dark.