A Vampire's Charm

Time Out

Claire's POV

"It's getting pretty hot in here, isn't it?" I laugh at my humor. She stares at me blankly as I slap my knee and chuckle. I'm so funny.

My humor quickly dries away as I see a flashing red light. A piercingly loud 'RMMM' sound fills the building. The alarms are going off. Fuck.

Did I do something to trigger it?

Just as that thought goes through my head, a panicked voice sounds within the stairway. My eyes zoom into the woman's waist as I see that she has a walkie talkie. Was that always there? Focus Claire!

"We need armed defenses in quadrant sixteen! I repeat, we need armed defenses in-" the mans shouts quiet down and are replaced with a static-like sound. His walker talkie must have been crushed. Must have.

My eyebrows furrow as the woman's eyes slowly widen.

"Time out." She tells me as I look at her dryly.

"There are no time outs in war!" I spit out as she looks at me how you would look at a child that needs to take it down a few notches. I feel kind of- embarrassed?

"Fine." I grumble to myself as she takes out her walkie talkie. Would it be messed up if I sneak attacked her while in this time out and burned her alive like a cooked salmon? But I was seriously curious as to what the fuck was going on in quadrant sixteen, so I'll wait until I get some answers- cause I'm sure as fuck that I'm not in quadrant sixteen. And neither is my alpha friend. Can I call him that? Friend? No, he's an ally, and he's also in the basement, bottom level. Not quadrant sixteen.

                  So who the fuck is in quadrant sixteen?

                   The woman presses the walkie talkie button and furrows her eyebrows in worry.

                 "This is Emelle from quadrant 23, anyone there? Quadrant sixteen? Anyone?" She starts to repeat herself, her tone slightly filling with irritation. Emelle? Looks like I don't have to call her the woman any longer. Anyway, soon I won't have to call her anything because she's gonna be dead. Why so cocky Claire? Just confident.

                    She stands there waiting for a response, and she gets one alright.

                 The static sounds stop suddenly, and someone's screams of pain fill the room. I can hear something tearing- an arm? A leg? Something is being torn, flesh. I'm now familiar with the sound.

                    The screaming stops abruptly.

Emelle's eyes start to water, and I don't feel bad, not one bit. I mean, I'm kind of shook seeing as something monstrous is going on down in quadrant sixteen- but do I feel bad for them? Karma is not a bitch- she's a strong independent woman that gives people their shit back in ten fold. In short- an eye for an eye is real today.

Heavy breathing fills up the walkie talkie, and Emelle starts to shake. I raise an eyebrow curiously at what's going to come out of the walkie talkie next.

"Love?" Atticus's voice sounds within the walkie talkie, and it feels like I've been hit with fresh air, the smell of watered plants from a rainforest- a melody that makes my fire go crazy from the tips of my fingers to the ends of my hair. A song is in my head at the sound of his smooth deep voice- a soothing lullaby, telling me that everything will be okay. That he's here now, and I don't have to keep being a monster- because he's brought my humanity in a luggage with him. Does that make any sense? To me it does.