In The Right Key

Chapter 10: James

Chapter 10: James

He sauntered out from the trees, fresh raindrops spattering his pale, perfect face. His short brown hair split down the middle was plastered to the sides of his head by the water. The rain was light; his hair could only have gotten that way by him standing in one place for a long time. His face held average good looks and his body was well cared for. His stance suggested confidence and anticipation.

I was scared out of my mind. Why couldn't this be a dream? Why was I so frightened?

Because he could kill me.

And he probably would.

I was never one for dramatics, but I could feel it coming; my death. Or at least an attempt to make it happen. He didn't look like a murderer, but was a vampire; he was a murderer. The only thing that threw me off about his vampire demeanor was his violet eyes. Edward told me that vampire's eyes could only be gold, black, or red. . . Unless one did something to them.

Contacts! Assuming Jim's eyes were red and he were trying to hide them, he could use blue contacts. Red and blue make purple.

And, suddenly, it clicked. He'd been following me, watching me for I didn't know how long. And to void public suspicion, he'd been hiding in the shadows and disguising his nature with a flimsy piece of plastic. But the most pressing question was why? Why was he doing it?

He spoke. "Excuse me, do you know where the Swan's live?" As if he doesn't already know. "I've been looking for their house, but I got lost," he continued. I could tell he was acting because of how blatantly obvious it was. My intuition had been pretty good to me lately so I knew he didn't think I even had a clue who he was.

Play along, Bella! He doesn't know you're onto him! Confuse him. I listened to my conscience since my only other choice was dying.

"Yeah, I know where they live," I allowed. I cleared through the apprehension in my throat. "Who's asking?"

He did not look pleased to have things turned on him. Pissed, really. "Name's James." Ha! I knew I was close! Annoying Bella cheered at having been close to guessing his name. She needed to be locked up.

Stall. "No last name?" Good. That should hold him off a bit.

His eyes narrowed. "I don't like to give put too much information."

"Neither do I." I was really good at this. He folded his arms across his chest, obviously trying to calm himself and exhaled sharply. He was annoyed because I was acting like I wasn't who he knew I was; he only liked playing his own games. He closed his eyes and cocked his chin to the side. After a moment of me trying to stay in my spot and not run away, he turned his face back to me with a small smirk on his face.

"Well, 'Neither do I', I was just trying to pass along information to them. Something about a . . ." He paused questioningly, clearly better at his acting. "Renee? Yes, Renee." What? My mother?

I almost screwed everything up right there and begged him to tell me. Almost. I'm smarter than that. My expression faltered, but I put it back together quickly. I'd just have to continue to act stupid to get information out of James.

"Oh, really?" I acted politely interested. "What about her?" Tell me.

His arms dropped to his sides and his fists tightened. "What is it to you?" He was trying to get me to drop my act. The only thing I could think to do was stall more.

I swallowed. "What is it to you, James?" My bravado was wearing off due to how scared I truly was. I was proud of my acting skills, but it didn't matter because this wasn't going to end well; I could just tell. James started walking slowly towards me.