Monsters

Chapter 14

John's P.O.V

I stare at him from across the room, my face blank but with a harsh glint in my eyes as he speaks with Phoenix, a smile on both their faces. "Aww, you're sweet." She said, smiling softly at him as he laughs slightly, giving a small shrug. "I didn't want to top and tail, or make the guys, and I don't really mind sleeping on the couch that much." Milo replies, his eyes scanning Phoenix's face as she turns to Eric while he starts talking in a way I really don't like.

He irritates me. He has such an innocence about him that contrasts on everything about me, but Phoenix still likes him. I don't think she's all that interested in him, even though he clearly is in her, which is why it annoys me so much when she pays him any attention. Though I do get some satisfaction out of the fact he is shit scared of me.

"Hey, Phoenix, you know how you've always said you'd want to go to a Gordon Ramsey restaurant?" Jinx asks as she walks into the room, papers in hand as she looks through them, her phone tucked under the pile. "Yeah?" Phoenix asks, finally turning away from the two males who she was chatting to in order to look over at her friend. "Well, I've got Maze Grill Mayfair and Plane Food on the list of restaurants I'm going to, and I think I can get you guys in." Jinx said with a smile, one which is then reflected on Phoenix's face. "Yes! When are we going?!" She calls out, still grinning widely as the other girl laughs. "Maze is tonight, and Plane is in three days, both dinner reservations." She replies, glancing down at her papers again to double check as Phoenix calls out in excitement, making me smile slightly.

I like it when she's happy, and that's something I haven't experienced before. I usually couldn't care less if someone around me was having a good time at life or not, but that changed since I met Phoenix. Back in the manor, when I was about to die, I felt myself floating off, I closed my eyes with tiredness, and then her face came to mind. I imagined her smiling, laughing, and I got a little grin on my face, and slowly I began to feel... Different.

I started to feel heavy, a weight slowly creeping up on me as her face became all the more clear, slowly, so slowly coming into focus more, and I started to feel my clothes, then my shoes, my hair, felt the dampness of the room again, smelt it as I felt air filling my lungs again as I took my first breath in a hundred years, and I could see Phoenix. But she wasn't smiling. She was yelling and crying, and before I knew it I was crouching down next to her, my hands on her shoulders before we were running, following behind Denis who was carrying Jinx. We ran out of the manor, through the grounds and I had half expected to be thrown back into the manor like I have so many times before when we passed the gates, but I didn't. We ran straight through. I was alive, and free, all because Phoenix came up to the manor, and I thought of her just before I died... She's the attachment I have to this time.

"We ready to go?" Grey asks as he walks into the room, shrugging a hoodie on as his brother stands. "Yep." He said, pushing his phone into his pocket while Milo finally catches my eye. "Yeah." He said, maybe a little more chipper than he meant to as he stands sharply from the armchair he was just sat in, and I smirk, standing also. "You are cruel to him." I turn to Phoenix with the same expression on my face, if not smugger, as she looks up at me. "It's not my fault he's shit scared of me." I say with a slight chuckle as she rolls her eyes, shaking her head lightly. "Sure it's not." She said, though there's amusement in her voice as she starts walking away from me, but I follow behind.

"What times the bus?" Denis asks as we walk out of the hotel, turning down the street as Jinx glances at her phone. "Ten minutes, we've got plenty of time to get there, and it lasts about two hours, which will get us back in time to get ready for dinner tonight since Maze is only a thirteen minute drive away." She answers as he looks over her shoulder at the screenshot of the information she found last night. "We're sitting up stairs, right?" Phoenix asks, looking between everyone as I give out a laugh. "What?" She asks, turning to me as I raise an eyebrow at her. "It's freezing out." I say, a smirk on my face as she shrugs, pushing her hands into her hoodie pockets. "It's not that bad!" She calls out, a smile on her face as she looks forward, my smirk growing. "Yeah, but you're a wimp when it comes to the cold." I say, making her turn to me with her mouth hanging open. "You cheeky cunt!" She calls, slapping me on the arm as I laugh, flinching slightly even if it didn't hurt.