Expiration Date (Books 1 and 2)

17 Who's Trying To Kill Me Now?

Dedicated to TheWeirdPhilosopher for entering my Rafflecopter giveaway. She's got nine stories on here. Thanks for hanging out at the Story Fair! I hope you had fun! 

Iris~~

I toss off my blankets, sitting up in bed. It's dark in my room except for the moon and starlight that passes through the slit between the balcony curtains floating on the faint wind that blows through where the door is cracked open.

My hand darts under my pillow, wrapping around the hilt of my knife at the same time a hand closes around my throat, forcing me back down onto the bed. I rip the knife out from under the pillow and swipe up at the arm.

There's a hiss from the being who is no more than a mass of shadows above me. The hand slips from my neck before grasping at my arm, closing over my Expiration Date.

The hand feels as if it's searing into my arm, and I cry out. The being scrambles off me and hits the floor.

Before I can get off the bed, they're darting through the balcony doors. All I can catch is the silhouette of a male body and their dark hair.

"Iris!" Erik's shout comes from the other side of the door leading out into the hallway. It rattles. He must have thrown himself against it. "Iris, damn it, unlock the door."

"I will," I call back. Keeping myself angled toward the balcony, I flip the lights on and turn the lock.

As he throws the door open, he nearly slams me into the wall.

"What happened?" He scans the room, dressed only in loose pants and no shirt.

Still trying to catch my breath, my hand covers my arm. I turn it over half expecting to see angry red welts but it looks undisturbed, which I should have already known. Nothing was left behind when Jonas burnt me. "I was attacked."

"I guess it was foolish of me to hope you'd just had a nightmare," he mumbles. "Did you recognize them?"

"If I did, I'd tell you."

He heads for the open balcony door.

"Is everything all right?" the sound of Jonas's voice causes me to whirl toward my hallway door. The Preeminence stands in the threshold, his hand braced against the door's frame.

Out of the corner of my eye, near the dresser, something white on the floor catches my attention. An envelope.

"She was attacked," Erik says at the same time I assure Jonas, "I'm okay."

Jonas's attention is snagged by the balcony doors as well, and I use the moment to discreetly step on the letter. Whatever is inside, I want to read it first before handing it over. Jonas wouldn't stop me from reading it, but Erik would, and he wouldn't bother to tell me a damn thing that was inside.

"Someone finally tried to take her out?" Colton sidles up to my doorway and leans against the frame, his arms crossed. At this point I expect the entire Society will be showing up to my door. All three men wear similar pants, but both Colton and Jonas have shirts on. What time is it anyway? Will the rest of the Society arrive wearing bathrobes?

I am glad though to see the three of them, even Colton. It means that none of them could have been the suspect. They wouldn't have had time to get from my balcony, back into the Society, and up to my room.

Erik leans over the railing of my balcony. "No ladder. They must have had one though. I don't know how they could have gotten up here otherwise."

"They might have left fingerprints." Frowning, Jonas looks at me. "Did they hurt you?"