Fatal Attractions

Chapter Sixteen

     I sat at the edge of my bed, listening to the sound of Sam's feet shuffling as she paced back and forth in front of me.

     "Lena, I'm so so sorry," she said, for the billionth time.

     "It's okay," I said, for the millionth. Silence resumed, and I swallowed hard, my throat dry. Something was in the forest with Sam and I, and whatever it was, it clearly wasn't good. Alex had appeared out of nowhere just when things were getting bad, and now he was out there doing God-knows-what.

     "Alex is gonna' kill me," she mumbled, and I looked up to see her pacing faster, her arms wrapped around herself.

     "He'll get over it," I responded. Last I remembered, Alex wouldn't miss me if I left. Whether he meant it, or not, him and I weren't exactly on speaking terms.

     "No, you don't understand, Lena. The look on his face... God, he's never gonna' let me live this one down," she spoke fast, her sentences one big ball of words. She was genuinely scared. Scared of what could have happened to me. Scared of Alex.

     "Sam, he's just some jerk. Don't let him get to you," I said, looking up at her. Her eyes shot to me and they were wide.

     "No, Lena, no no no. This is serious. This is so serious. You don't-"

     The door suddenly burst open, slamming hard against the wall. I was sure there was now a large dent where the doorknob met the wall.

     "Explain to me how you could be so careless!" Alex yelled, stomping in and coming face to face with Sam. The white dress shirt he wore was rolled up to the elbow, exposing the large veins in his arms as he balled his hands in tight fists. Sam stood frozen before him, and I could tell she was trying to think of something to say.

     "Come on, I'm waiting! You had one job, one god damn job, and you couldn't even do it!" he yelled, and I suddenly came to my feet, adrenaline pumping through my veins.

     "Don't talk to her like that!" I yelled back, my voice louder than I expected it to be. Both their heads jerked in my direction, as if they just noticed I was in the room at all.

     "You," Alex growled, stepping away from Sam and over to me.

     "You think you're so invincible, huh? Well, you're not. You're a stupid girl with no common sense, what in the hell were you thinking?" he yelled at me, the veins on his neck so prominent, I could almost see his pulse. Funny. I didn't think vampires actually had pulses.

     "I didn't do anything wrong," I said, my voice challenging. He could yell at me all he wanted, as long as he knew I would yell right back. I wasn't going to back down this time.

     "You went outside. You left. That was wrong."

     "I was still on the property. If everything you've been telling me was true, I should have been safe there. That was your fault," I said, stepping closer to him, our chests pressing together. If we were animals in the wild, these would be clear signs a fight was about to go down. As for a physical one, I hoped not. There was no doubt Alex was stronger than me. But if he thought he could raise his hand to me again and I wouldn't fight back, he was so wrong.

     "I told you that you were safe here, inside the manor. Inside these walls. No one would dare break into this manor to get to you, in fact, they wouldn't even waste the time on you," he barked, his icy breath biting at my face. I swallowed hard, fighting the urge to not take a step back. Our closeness was suddenly making me uncomfortable, but I didn't want to back down. Not this time.