Thorns and Roses

Chapter 3 | Brothers

She awoke to quiet voices and forced herself to calm down, when she started panicking, so they wouldn't know she was awake. She couldn't make sense of what they were saying.

"What were you thinking? Did you just think I wouldn't notice?"

"I didn't have a choice. She looked upset, so I helped her. No big deal."

"Yes, it is. And you know it too. I even told you to stay away from her kind. You know how I feel about it. Yet you still pursued her."

What did they mean her kind? She was human. Wasn't she? No, she thought, there's no such thing as anything else. Or was there?

"Like I said before, it doesn't matter. Why can't you just let it go?"

"Why? Probably because one, you are of the dark selection now, and didnt tell me, and two, you know how I feel about her kind interacting with your kind."

"Oh, so it's my kind now? Just because I am what I am doesn't mean we aren't the same species."

"Wait, I think she's awake," the mystery guy number two says. Geez, she really needed to find out what their names were. Since they already knew she was awake, she opened her eyes and looked around at where she was.

The room was painted a deep blue and she was sitting on a plain bed that had a white comforter on it that said Deal with the consequences. She swallowed thickly, already looking around to see if she could escape. She saw a big steel door and noticed the room looked like someone slept in here. It was decorated with maps and scattered pictures of things she didn't quite understand. The only light was coming from a small elephant lamp sitting on a brown and black desk, decorated with symbols she couldn't make sense of.

As the guy started coming closer to her, she backed away until she could no longer do that, and hit the wall. He kept coming closer until he was sitting next to her on the bed. She tried to stay as far from him as possible--by that time having curled into a ball to protect herself--and wondered if he could tell she was frightened by him. He frightened her just by looking like his twin. Or, at least, she assumed they were twins.

His eyes scared her the most. It wasn't just him that she was confused or scared about. It was the other guy at the beach that was also here. The two of them looked exactly the same. The only difference was their eyes.

"Would you still like to know my name," mystery guy number one asked, smirking. He was the one that now had dark red eyes with speckals of brown instead of the light green she saw earlier. The one sitting next to her had a mix of blue and grey. It was the prettiest colors she'd ever seen in an eye color.

"N-n-no thanks," she stuttered, shaking her head. She hated how weak she sounded but she couldn't help the fact she was scared of them. Especially guy number one. The last thing she remembered was his razor sharp teeth and another voice, which she assumed had been guy number two.

"Stop it, Sykear," number two growled, "you're scaring her."

Hmm. So that's what his name is, she thought

"Oh. Like you aren't doing the same thing."

"At least I'm not trying to. I know you love to see weakness. To see someone so frightened."

She could feel how pained he was over it and it made her heart clench although she didn't understand why. She'd barely met him five minutes ago and already she was feeling--well--she didn't really know what she was feeling. Just that it was strong.

After a long pause he says, "I suggest you leave," while giving him a stare that said he anything but suggested it. He demanded it.

When Sykear made no move to leave he finally yelled, "LEAVE!"

The moment he started yelling Misty's body began to tremble. Not just because the guy was yelling, but because Sykear, the guy who now had a name she could put to that evil face, was staring at her in a hungry way that made her shiver. What had happened to the nice guy at the beach?

She was still shaking when Sykear finally left. Leaving her alone with the guy who had yet to have a name.

He reached toward her but stopped short when she began shaking even harder.

"I'm not going to hurt you...uh, what is your name," he asked quietly--so as not to spook her

"W-why--who a-are you? W-what do you want with m-me," she stammered.

"I want to protect you baby doll. That's it. I promise."

"But you don't even know who I am...do you," she asked hesitantly.

"Physically, no. I've never seen you before in my life. But at the same time, I feel like we've known each other forever."

"R-right...do you have a bathroom I can use?" Already thinking of how she could escape. She didn't really want to leave him--but she didn't want to stay with him either. She hardly knew him and was still half scared to death that he would hurt her. In her gut she somehow knew that he would never do that but she was still hesitant about it.

"I do, and I assure you that I will not hurt you. I'm here to protect you...from the very thing that my brother is."

She felt his sadness and was confused for a second before she could no longer sense what he was feeling. She had thought she had imagined it and was about to ask about what his twin was, when she remembered what she had planned to do. As if reading her mind, he suddenly said, "Don't think of running away. I will find you no matter where you go. Running will just make things worse. If my brother happens to catch you-- I can't even imagine what he'd do to you. What that would do to me."