Lost in Technicolor

Feelings Getting in the Way

"I don't care about Damien, Jade," Erik said to her as he put his hand gently to her face. "We should just run away together that way we can both be free. Just command him to never even think about you again."

She looked up into his eyes, almost crying, "I wish I could, you don't know how much I wish I could! But Dane, says that if I leave Damien with him still in my debt it'll kill him."

Erik pursed his lips and looked as if he might scream at her, but suddenly it all melted into a weak paleness.

"Was I not clear?" Damien asked from behind her.

"Oh for goodness sake's!" She turned around to meet his demonic eyes, ignoring the fear building behind her words. "Leave me alone!"

He gave her a sour look as his body turned to leave, but Dane, who must have hurried over to the scene afraid of what might happen, took Damien by the shoulders and held him from taking another step forward.

"Jade, stop this," he barked at her. His anger stung her, making her insides twist. She had the odd feeling that she was three again and was in deep trouble.

She sighed and Damien stopped struggling to walk away, immediately turning on Jade and, wrapping his hand tightly around her throat, slammed her against the wall. She winced as the pain scattered over her skull. Struggling to breath she whimpered, "Damien, please s-"

However he closed his hand too tight for her to speak as his own face began to turn red. She was about to loose consciousness and was wondering whether Damien would kill himself in order to kill her, when Erik tackled Damien, forcing the two of them to the floor, where they wrestled a bit until Damien was on top of Erik, now holding him down by the throat as Damien himself gasped for air with Jade. His face was just as red as her's. He raised his fist high in the air and struck him directly in the nose, sending a loud crack into the noisy air.

Jade slipped to the floor, gasping for air and Dane tried to tear Damien away from Erik, which gave the bloody Erik the chance to kick Damien off of him, sending him across the floor to Drake's feet. Drake helped him up and then said to him through his own heavy breaths, "People are beginning to look and you're still weak from the healing, not to mention nearly choking yourself to death. I'd stop if I were you."

That stretched a smile across Damien's face as he gave a cough in between his heavy breaths. "If you were me? Imagine that."

Drake rolled his eyes. Did Damien's torment never end? He muttered, feeling completely out of breath, "Look you must understand that you cannot hurt her. Just let it be. Come on Jade, let's . . . . dance."

I can't believe you talked me into letting you do this. The least you can do in return is let me escape this scene.

Smiling gratefully at him and sympathetically at Erik, she took Drake's open hand and allowed him to lead her onto the golden looking dance floor.

The music was slow and she and Drake ended up simply swaying back and forth, her head on his shoulder. She watched as Damien passed the two of them without even looking at them, but taking hasty strides to reach Petra, who was beginning to be flocked by men and  few women.

"Jade," Drake's voice was rough probably from screaming over all of the loud music. "Jade, do you actually love Erik or is it all just to annoy Damien."

She let her eyes, slip off of Damien and Petra and onto the well polished floor, reflecting all of the dancing figures. "I don't know Drake," she yawned, keeping in time with the steady beat to the song, swinging back and forth like a pendulum on a clock.

"Well, do," he paused, "do you still hate me?"

She stopped swaying and everything seemed still. "Why are you asking? You obviously don't care about me. You treat me no differently than Damien does."

He stared into her eyes for a while and he seemed sad, "I know and I'm sorry for that."

"Stop," she said, pulling away from him completely. "Are you still role playing or . . ."

She shook her head it was a stupid question and when she looked up she expected to see him smiling at her cockily, but that wasn't what she found. In fact he was looking at her more seriously than she'd ever see him look at her before, "You can't tell?"

"You can't be serious-" She began, throwing her hands in the air.

"Jade, I can't help it, I-" He tried to explain.

This time she interrupted him though, "Help what, exactly?"

Before she even knew what was happening he had put his hand on the back of her head and had leaned down kissing her. She broke free, pushing him away from her as hot tears began to roll down her cheeks. She could feel the heat of Damien's eyes boring into her and Drake's thoughts trying to burst into her head the more she pushed them away. Running her hands through her hair, she turned around and ran, as fast as she could in her shoes, away from him and out of that ballroom. She found a bathroom and locked herself in it, not daring to look in the mirror and see the mess she was in. She slid to the cold tiled floor. How could he do something like that to her? Everything was already as confusing as it was, trying to decide whether people were playing games or being sincere and now he'd just tipped everything she thought she knew about him over. How many times had he kissed her, not playing his role? She buried her face in her hands, completely mortified.

Somewhere off in the distance outside the safety of her small bathroom, she heard a loud crashing noise, glass shattering and people screaming. No doubt some drunk people had broken a bottle of wine.

Lifting her head up she remembered when Drake had accused her of falling in love with him, was he simply in denial then. How long had this been going on? Because that very same night he had struck her. It was all so confusing! She felt like screaming and she had half a mind to begin as well, but a soft knock on the door, held her back.