storm ◇ jasper hale ◇

chapter twelve ; ballet studio

"I can't believe we snuck away from Alice and Jasper. They're gonna fucking kill us," Madej muttered under his breath. The Uber driver didn't talk to them, which was easy enough. Maybe it was because of their weird conversation, or because of how it had gotten dark.

Beside Madej, Bella was shaking from nerves. "We had to. Thank you for coming. You didn't have to."

Madej gave her an incredulous look. "I didn't have to? The whole reason I'm here is to make sure your stupid ass doesn't do something stupid. Oh wait, never mind." He shook his head, sighing. "He'll not know I'm there," Madej reassured her, fingers moving to the jewellery visible on his wrists.

This is stupid, what are we doing? Madej thought to himself. Not a braincell between all of us.

The two stayed quiet as the Uber driver continued on the drive. This was so stupid. Madej could feel his heart pounding against his sternum, and he forced himself to calm down. Sure, the vampire wouldn't be able to smell him, but he'd be able to hear his heart if he didn't cool down.

It felt far too soon that the driver had gotten them to their destination. Madej and Bella thanked the driver as they got out, watching the car drive away once they'd gotten out.

'You OK?' Madej signed to Bella. She nodded, though looked nervous, which Madej thought was understandable. They were trying to get her mom from a murderous vampire.

Oh, they were so stupid.

Bella led Madej inside, gripping her pepper spray as she went.

This is so fucking stupid, what are we fucking doing? Madej thought to himself as they entered the studio. He followed Bella further inside, and his nerves sky rocketed. He had to make sure he wasn't going to lose control - not yet anyway.

"Bella? Bella? Bella, where are you?" The voice that had to be Bella's mom's came through the studio, and the two raced over to the only other door, only to be horrified to see the voice was coming from a video from years past, a younger version of Bella and her mom playing on screen.

Madej looked over at Bella. "We got fuckin' tricked." He flinched when a man laughed behind them.

Ah, so this had to be the nomad that was tracking Bella. Great. Madej thought he looked really ugly, which was odd because vampires were supposed to be the epitome of beauty. It was weird because he was reflected off a lot of mirrors, and it was hard to place where he really was.

"That's my favourite part. You were a stubborn child, weren't you?" he said as he got closer to them. "Even more stubborn for disobeying me. You brought a friend along. Though, that just means I get two humans for the price of one."

Madej stepped forwards in front of Bella, putting himself closer to the tracker as he moved closer to them. "Think again, you rat-faced prick."

James looked down at him, smirking. "You really think that?"

He moved quicker than Madej anticipated, and he found himself sliding on the floor, head hitting against a pillar hard. "Shit. Asshole!" Madej put a hand to his head, wincing as he saw spots in his vision. He was vaguely aware that his hearing aids had been knocked out. "Run!" he yelled to Bella, who managed to make an attempt at that.

Madej got to his feet, ignoring the way that his head pounded at his movements. James jumped over to Bella, landing in front of her before he grabbed her by the neck and threw her against a pillar too.

So the guy had a recurring theme when he tried to kill people. Cool.

Flames erupted in Madej's hands, and he grunted with the force as he sent them at the tracker. He dodged them, jumping closer to Bella, and then Madej could hear her faint screaming, muted by his deafness.