FORTIFIED

Chapter Nine.

"Hey, Dri. What are you up to?" Adriel was swaying on the make-shift swing in the garden behind their house. It'd been made by their father when they'd been kids.

"Hey, Luke." His blue eyes came into view. He was white though he looked like he had a slight tan owing to his mother, he'd almost completely taken after their father.

He plumped down on the swing next to hers and sighed. Something seemed to be bothering him.

"School sucks and not for the reasons you think," Luke said. He looked at her with deep eyes that seemed to know everything.

"I want you to be safe Dri." He said quietly.

"Why wouldn't I be safe?" She asked confused.

"The world is a truly terrible place, filled with all kinds of evil, some more palpable than others." He pushed himself forward, letting momentum do the rest.

Sometimes when her brother starts like that, he always sounded much older than he was and she always found herself being intrigued wanting to know more.

"What do you mean?" He turned to her.

"Sometimes the darkness reaches out to you on its own. You have to be careful not to allow it in."

"There are a lot of things you don't know and some things I pray you never will but I want you to promise me Adri, that you'll never give up on Him."

"Who?" He looked at her with soft eyes.

"God."

{¶{¶{¶{¶{¶}

Adriel gasped awake breathing hard as her eyes looked around her. She was in a hospital.

"Luke." The moment she said his name, she felt the familiar prickle of tears. She remembered his words that day. That was three months before he died.

Had he known she'd be in this mess?

She sat up and she winced. Her hand instinctively went up to her neck. Jayden had done this to her. Something dark and vile stirred up inside of her. It was fear, pitch black, undiluted fear that kept her rooted to her bed.

She didn't even know what he was. All she knew was that he couldn't be human, but then what was he?

He looked human but he definitely wasn't and that nearly drove her insane.

{¶{¶{¶{¶{¶}

"Nice party bro!" Someone whose name he could barely remember yelled as they walked past.

Jayden brought up his signature smile and shouted back.

"You know it, bro!" Jayden rolled his eyes when the guy was out of sight.

He felt an arm around his shoulders.

"Crisp, you look like someone pissed in your drink." It was Tyler. His hair was messy, yet he knew girls would still find it attractive. The ladies still fawned over him and before the night was over Jayden didn't doubt he'd have the ladies begging to take them back to his place.

"You got tired after the tenth party," Jayden replied pointedly. Tyler shrugged as he got another drink from the bartender.

"Not me. There are so many types to choose from." Tyler stood back scanning the dance floor. Jayden looked at his friend and saw the blatant blood lust in his eyes as they moved from one person to the other on the dance floor.