The Problem With Fairy Tales

Chapter 4

There was a herd of elephants in her head.  Doing a tap dancing routine.  With stilettos.

At least, that's what it felt like to Valerie, as she slowly regained consciousness.  Her brain steadily regained function, and the first coherent thought that popped into her head, was that she was never drinking that much again.   But as she became more aware of her surroundings, much more worrying thoughts came to mind. Like, Where the heck am I? and How on earth did I get here?

She was in a bland white room with bare walls and no furniture other than the small bed she was now sitting on.  There were no windows and only a single door that was closed.  Valerie had the sneaking suspicion that it was locked.

Panic surged up in her as all the posible scenarios played out in her head.  The Top 3 Most Nerve Wracking Possibilities (in no particular order) included:

1.) Being used as an organ donor.
2.) Being a victim to human trafficking.
3.) Being held for ransom.

Number three was particularly worrying, because Valerie knew that nobody would be willing to pay, and thus she would probably fall victim to Possibly 1 or 2, just with the added humiliation.  If she had to die, she would prefer doing so with at least a bit of dignity left.

All thoughts vanished as she heard the door knob turn.  Without having a chance to think things through, and with very limited options available, she did the first thing that came to mind:  she hid underneath the bed.  The space was so small that she had to suck in her stomach to fit, and even then, it wasn't very comfortable. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.  She'd rather die of suffocation than at the hands of some crazed kidnapper.

Said crazed kidnapper, who preferred being called Hayden, walked into the room with a tray of breakfast.  Upon seing the 'empty' bedroom, he sighed.

"I'm not going to hurt you.  I just brought you some food."

Silence. Or, at least as silent as it could be with Valerie's heart beating against her chest.

"Look, I know that this must be weird-" That was an understatement.  "-but you have no reason to be afraid.  I brought you here to keep you safe and explain a few things to you."
If rolling your eyes had made a sound, Valerie would surely be caught. Seriously, did this guy think she was an idiot?

"There's no point in hiding."  Valerie's heart painfully constricted, her breath becoming more and more frantic.  "Bright red sneakers aren't really the best shoes to play Hide and Seek with."

Shit.  Curse those freakin' Converse.

Since hiding any longer would be fruitless, Valerie scooted out from under the bed, all the while muttering curses to her shoes under her breath.  When she was on her feet, she dragged a hand over her dark hair in a pointless attempt at fixing the curly mass, and then crossed her arms with a confidence she didn't possess at the moment. Fake it 'till you make it, right?

"Look, I'm really sorry about all this," Hayden started to explain gesturing around the room with a hand, "but I couldn't just leave you at the party, and I didn't think you'd appreciate me breaking into your house."

Oh, goodness.  She'd completely forgotten about the party.  All the weird things that happened before she had fainted.  The other guy, the fight, the blood...

"So you thought I'd appreciate you kidnapping me?"  Careful.  Valerie had to be very carful.  Snapping at a possible psycopath wouldn't do her any good.

"I didn't- I mean-" Hayden swore under his breath and put the tray of food on the bed.  Letting out a frustrated breath, he dragged a hand through his bed of brown hair, tucking a strand of his long locks behind his ear in a nervous habit.  His ear, that had previously been hidden by his shaggy hair, was now on full display in all of its pointed glory.  And not pointed in the sense that it was a bit deformed or 'unique', but pointed in the sense that it resembled Mount Everest's peak.

Valerie's brows furrowed, her mouth opening slightly in awe.

"Who the heck gets plastic surgery on their ear?"  But it didn't look like plastic surgery, it looked real. Like something out of a mythical creature book or something you saw on low budget theorist shows on TV.

Hayden quickly covered his ear with hair again, muttering something about venom. He really didn't need to further confuse her with that bit of information.
"That's not important at the moment.  What you need to know is about whatever happened last night-"

"You mean the part where you killed someone."

"- you can't tell anyone about. Especially the part of us killing someone."

"Us? As in, you and me?" Valerie's nostrils flared in anger.  "I certainly don't recall me sinking a blade into his neck, thank you very much."

Hayden clenched his teeth in irritation.  "Who did what isn't important - even though you did hit him with a heavy-ass lid.  You just have to promise not to tell anyone about it."

"I don't have to promise you jack squat.  You killed a guy for goodness' sake. I have to tell the police."  She was walking a very thin line, and she knew it.  But somehow, she couldn't get her mouth to shut.  She had always known that her short temper and sharp tongue would be her downfall.

"Listen, everything I did, I did to protect you."  Hayden was definitely irritated now.  "You were there, surely you're smart enough to understand that what happened wasn't what humans would call 'normal'. You saw the blood, you had his teeth in your neck, and now you have his venom coursing through your veins."  He angrily tucked his hair behind his ears so that they were on full display.  "That's why you're able to see this, see me.  And if you really think the police would believe all of that, then you're really dense- even for a human."

Valerie clenched her teeth so hard that it hurt. "Then if you're so much smarter than silly ol' me, why don't you just magically take my memory of last night away? That's what they do in all the Men In Black movies, and since this feels like a scene out of one of those, surely you can do the same thing."  Valerie crossed her arms and cocked a brow.

The brown haired male let out a defeated sigh, rubbing at his temples.  In a much calmer voice, he said, "I could have- I wanted to.  Believe me, that would have been far simpler."  Valerie's eyes widened in shock. She didn't actually think that it was possible.  "But if you're going to be part of this world, you need to know. I don't want there to be secrets between us."

"Excuse me?" Valerie's sass level was reaching all time highs. "And why on earth would I want to be 'part of this world'?"  Oh, if looks could kill, Hayden would already be six feet under.

"You're already a part of this world. Part of me." Hayden hadn't planned on telling her this way, but he couldn't stop the words from spilling from his mouth. "You're my soulmate."

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Heyyy!  Chapter 4 is out!

What are your thoughts?  I know the whole soulmate thing is kinda cliché, buuut I promise that it gets better.

Please leave your thoughts in the comments and/or vote.