Bloodbond

Chapter 2

I woke with a start and noticied that my room was still dark. I turned my head to look at the clock on my night stand and saw that it was only three a.m. When I shifted my body, I realized that I was still wearing the clothes I had on from earlier. Ugh. I hate falling asleep in my clothes. I always wake up feeling extremely uncomfortable and a bit dirty the next morning.

I hesitated a moment, but eventually decided to get up and change before going back to sleep. When I went to reach for the lamp on my nightstand, I heard a thump come from downstairs and I froze. My mind was still a bit foggy from sleep, but I hadn't imagined hearing that, had I? I waited to see if the noise came again, hardly daring to breathe. .

When another thump sounded from dowstairs, my mind went crazy. I distinctly remember Sara leaving earlier with her suitcase, right? Did I even remember to lock the door behind her? Crap! Okay, I really needed to get a hold of myself before I seriously lost it. Deep breaths, Cassia. Don't let your imagination get the best of you because it won't get you anywhere. I needed to think calmly and rationally.

When my heart rate had returned to a relatively normal pace, I slowly sat up and placed my feet on the floor next to my bed. I got to my feet and carefully made my way to the bedroom door, being sure to avoid tripping over any obstacles in my path. I reached out to turn the doorknob slowly, so as to make as little noise as possible. I had to work up a little nerve before finally pulling the door open, thanking all that was holy that, for once, it decided to open without creaking. After a moment's pause, I quielty made my way down the hallway to the top of the stairs.

While standing there, I started debating my options. Do I call the police or do I go and investigate for myself first? I know it's usually at this point in a horror movie where the victim heads down stairs and gets killed by whatever happens to be lurking down there. But this wasn't a horror movie and there wasn't any creepy music playing in the background to warn me of some impending doom. I would just have to wing it.

I couldn't very well call the police and say that there MIGHT be someone breaking in downstairs. What if it was Sara and she just came back to get something she'd forgotten earlier? Wouldn't I look like an idiot with a bunch of sirens showing up, scaring her half to death. Not only would Sara think I'd gone nuts, but the cops would probably think I was some fruitcake. I was in no mood to be lectured about the seriousness of wasting the police's time.

With a final nod of determination, I steeled my nerves and gradually inched my way down the stairs, being sure to ease my foot onto each step lightly so that the boards beneath woouldn't squeak and give me away.

When I finally reach the last step, I peak my head around the wall just a bit, praying that I'll be able to catch a glimpse of who-or what- happens to be there. It takes a second for my eyes to adjust to the shadows, but the moment they do, my breath catches and I immediately yank my head back and plaster myself to the wall. This was not happening. I was so terrified that I had to take measures to slow my breathing and control my frantic thoughts.

What I saw made little sense and only served to frighten me even more than I'd been before.

There were two figures standing close together in the middle of the living room. While they were bathed in shadows, their outlines were very clear and they just did not look right. They may have been standing on two legs, giving the impression that they were human, but they were much larger than any human I'd ever seen. The muscles of their arms and chests were huge and I had no doubt that they could easily snap me in half if they really wanted to. If that weren't bad enough, the silhouettes of their faces were elongated and distorted, making it impossible to convince myself that they really were just humans. All I knew at the moment was that, if I didn't rein in my fear soon, I would dart upstairs with little thought to the noise I made and I knew for certain that those things would get me before I even made it to the top. I did not want to contemplate what would happen when they caught me. I was pretty sure it wouldn't be good.