The Silence

Chapter 2

Adriel

It was the fact that she wasn't scared or shaking that freaked me out. She sat calmly beside the dead body of a woman who was possibly her mother. She didn't seem to care.

The girl looked dead. Her eyes were gray and empty, her skin pallid. Her hair was an odd shade of white, not like an old person, but like something had leached the color out of it. She stared at me unblinkingly.

I cleared my throat, trying not to tremble. "Hey, kid," I said softly. "Are you okay?"

Kid. She wasn't really a kid. She looked about sixteen or seventeen. Besides, that was a stupid thing to ask and I wanted to take it back. A child, at least a normal one, would not be okay. But the girl didn't respond. Her eyes lingered on me for a few seconds more, then slid slowly, deliberately, behind me.

I whirled around, thinking one of my Packmates had walked up, but there was no one there. Goosebumps pricked my skin. The girl continued to stare eerily at the same spot.

I shuddered. "Lucas! Harley! Everyone!"

Footsteps erupted in the nearby rooms as my friends raced to meet me. Kaden reached me first, skidding into the room with a goofy grin on his face. "What didja find, boss?" he chirped like the idiot he was.

I nudged my chin toward the body and the being next to it. Kaden, being the brave guy he was, shrieked like a little girl and ducked behind me. 

My Packmates poured into the room, jabbering nonsense and being generally useless. Their reactions upon seeing the girl and the body were varied.

"WHY AREN'T YOU HELPING HER?"  Monique shouted. "ARE YOU USELESS OR WHAT?"

"Why is she staring at us like that?" Kaden hissed in my ear.

"She doesn't seem alarmed at all," Lloyd the Wise Guy observed.

"Everybody shut the hell up!" I ordered. 

Silence.

I sighed and approached the girl cautiously. "Hey, kid. My name is Adriel and these are my friends." I pointed to the others. Her dead gaze flicked slightly, then landed back on me. Taking a deep breath, I continued. "We're here to help. We want to find the people that did this and get you somewhere safe. Is that okay?"

She didn't answer right away. I began to think she hadn't understood any of it, but she finally gave a single, slow nod.

"Alright. Can you tell me your name?"

Once again, a few moments passed. Then she uncurled one fist and held it out to me. A small scrap of paper lay in her palm.

Biting my lip, I took the paper and unfolded it. In dark, loopy writing was a name. Quinn Lansing.

"Quinn. That's a pretty name," I complimented. By now I did not expect a reaction and she did not give me one. "How old are you?"

She gestured for me to turn the paper over. Frowning, I did, and immediately wanted to burn it. On the back was a 17. But it hadn't been there before. Had it?

"Can't you talk?" Kaden called out rudely. Quinn's gaze snapped toward his, her face appearing to come alive in the creepiest way, and I swore her eyes turned black as pitch. Kaden saw it too, judging by the way he yelped and latched onto Lucas's arm.

I reached for Quinn's shoulder, trying to calm her down, and flinched. She was as cold as a vampire. Was she maybe. . . but vampires had green or red eyes that glowed up when they were angry. They despised sunlight, although it didn't hurt them. And a vampire would not have left all this blood here. She would have sucked this person dry.