Blood on Roses [COMPLETED]

Ten: Revelation

"No matter what, you can't trust vampires. Stay far away from them."
~ Alecx Harris

TEN

I began to feel defeated after seven long minutes. No matter how I tried, I couldn't prove Zach wrong; I couldn't lay a single finger on him. I bounced off a wall to surprise him, but even so, he was faster. He didn't even need to predict my movements; all he had to do was react.

"You're getting faster. Good work. Three minutes left," Zach announced. I paused our superspeed tagging and stood in the center of the room. I was exhausted. He too slowed down in the corner of the room, but he didn't stop moving his feet. 

"Too tired?" he asked, making my blood boil.

I wiped my brow and gritted, "Not even a little."

The moment I pushed off my feet, Zach spun away as if driving past someone in a basketball match.

"Surprise attacks are encouraged," he commented, which only furthered my frustration. He was treating me as if teaching a newborn baby how to crawl.

I desperately reached out, hoping even to graze his shoulder, but to no avail. I was building up quite a sweat, and he was barely trying.

Gosh, darn it! I wish I could go faster! Faster than him. Even for just a minute!

If I knew this would happen later in life, I would've taken the game tag more seriously.

Suddenly, Zach zoomed in in my vision much quicker, surprising both me and him. My shoulder bumped into the wall due to the unprecedented speed. I grunted in slight pain and glanced at him behind strands of loose hair.

He stood relatively far from me with the same expression on his face, but when he pulled his hands out of his pockets, I knew he was taking this game a bit more seriously.

I let out a slow, shallow breath. I focused my eyes on Zach.

When I pushed off of my right leg and glided toward him again, I was only a few inches away from his arm before he evaded in the nick of time. My fingers crashed into the mirror he was standing in front, but I couldn't feel the pain of the impact at all.

For once, I felt like the predator.

My blood began to boil in a whole other way as I whirled around. My hair was a mess, but I couldn't care less. The only thing I could think of was what I could do to corner my prey. I was no match for Zach's reaction time, so I'd have to outrun him.

He had an analytical look plastered on his features, and he was on high alert. Pride swelled within me that I could get him this rattled.

For the next two minutes, all that was happening in the room was two shadowy figures zipping around at high speed. Many times I nearly succeeded in cornering him, but I wasn't agile enough. Instead, I smashed into the walls. My adrenaline overran the pain.

I completely didn't hear the beeping from Zach's stopwatch, indicating that time was up, and the game was over. He got momentarily distracted, and I didn't let that slip. I couldn't control my pace and crashed into him directly.

"Gotcha!" I beamed happily at my accomplishment. I no longer felt so useless. I finally beat Zach at his own game!

"Yes, princess." He chuckled deeply. The rumbling in his chest shook me awake. I realized my arms were supporting my body, which was hovering above his. He watched with a perpetual smirk while my face grew warm. I flipped off right away.

"Did I win?" I asked after clearing my throat as I sat crossed-legged on the floor. He sat up and slipped out his stopwatch. Hesitation crossed his features for a brief second before he said, "Yeah. You still had ten seconds left. You got lucky."