Soul Keepers (Editing) #Wattys2020

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Millie didn’t mind crowded places but she hated crowds. She hated the press of bodies against hers and the continual inane chatter that surrounded her. Yet still here she was in the midst of a crowd waiting for a vampire to come find her.  She sighed and rubbed her arms, it wasn’t that she was cold she was just uneasy. All the warm bodies gathered here, all were potential victims.

To her it seemed like she was leading the lambs to slaughter. A very bloody, gory slaughter.

She stood against a wall her eyes, watchful tracking the movement of everything in the cramped room the sensation of being watched washing over her.  It was a rare moment—and it had only been two days since the attack at the diner—that she was without someone guarding her. It was sweet of them of course if not a little irritating, but she knew that they needed to feel like they could help even if she knew that they couldn’t, not really.

If and when Micah decided that he was going to Spirit Call no one could stop him. She couldn’t see them now, but she knew they were and that knowledge was a reassuring thing.

Thumping Electronic Dance Music bled from the speakers and people gyrated on the make-shift dance floor. The smell of sweat and alcohol burned her nose and she really wanted to just leave, but she couldn’t, not yet. This was after all her idea and she needed to finish this. She was tired of running, tired of existing just to be Micah’s entertainment.

It had taken a lot of convincing to get Theo and Kate to even consider letting her be bait. She was given stern nos. It was as if she were a small child and needed their permission to do things and that was very bothersome. Drake was her only support in the room even if all he did was stand next to her and stare intensely at the walls. 

Some sadness clouded over her determination to fight when she thought of Theo. She wanted more time with him, needed more time with him but she didn’t think that she would have any.

“Millie?” Jeff called hesitantly moving to stand next to her. His eyes trailed her from head to toe, in a slow male perusal before he hugged her. She stood awkwardly in his grip her arms hanging loosely at her sides unsure of how to respond. She was suddenly nervous. “How have you been? I haven’t seen you around the house for a while.”

“Yeah, I well,” she trailed off tucking her hair behind her ears, feeling like she owed him an apology somehow. “I moved across town, with a, friend.”

“Oh, okay. Do you maybe want to go out to dinner with me?” She hesitated. “Or just lunch? I miss seeing you.”

She stared at is earnest face unsure of how to answer him.

“You okay?” a hand slipped around her waist and gently drew her against a warm body. She gathered comfort from him and leaned into the shelter of his arms, it was an involuntary action now.

Guilt assaulted her as she followed the line of Jeff’s sight when he noticed the way Theo’s hand was possessively resting on her waist. His eyes, just a little saddened met with hers and she very much wanted to explain to him. But before she could Theo held his hand forward and introduced himself, the seductive drawl in his voice was one meant to soothe.

Jeff looked at the hand before taking it, unsure as to why he was being so cordial to the man, when red-hot jealousy was arcing through him. He couldn’t help but notice that Millie did nothing to move away from Theo—he couldn’t help but sneer the name even in his head—and how he held her with the familiarity of having done so times before. He shook his head hating the direction of his thoughts. He wasn't usually a jealous person, yet still some part of him couldn’t help but think that Millie was his.

She had said that she needed time, that things in her life was just a little crazy but he didn’t think that meant that she was going to have some guy touching on her like that. “I’m a friend of Millie’s,” added Theo, but Jeff just nodded feeling a little betrayed. Was this the friend she’d moved in with?