Twilight in Retrograde

Chapter 4

The halls were a blur as I ran. Everything was spinning, my legs unable to stop. I didn't know where I was or where I was going. I'd completely forgotten what turns I had made come from the bathing room. My mind wasn't functioning beyond what I witnessed. Beyond his fixation in her neck, the look I saw in the mirror, the blood soaking into the already red sheets. Making them black.

Seeing what occurred made this all too real. Took it from a haunted house with people playing roles and thrusting everything into reality. These were real vampires, these were beings who truly fed on people. I hadn't fully accepted that until now.

As those thoughts sunk in, I rammed into something hard and fell back. Before I could hit the ground steel-grip hands caught me by the shoulders. I couldn't hide my shaking, couldn't lookup.

"I thought I told you to wait," Felix hissed above me. His voice sounded thick.

I didn't answer, staring straight into his dark grey chest.

He shook me, growling. "Look at me."

There was a pause.

Then he gripped my face in his fingers and roughly forced me to look up at him, meeting his eyes. They were an even brighter red. Those red orbs almost glowing in the ridiculously dark hallway. Felix's lips were stained red, his bared teeth showing further evidence of what he'd just done. That he had just fed.

"I told you to wait," he hissed again, "you should have stayed."

"I didn't see anything," I blurted.

Felix laughed. It was a dark thing paired with his smile, "You're an awful liar."

I watched as his pupils dilated, watched as his eyes roamed down my face and down my body. His eyes only seemed to get brighter as they raked back up and settled on my neck. My skin was burning, fear gripping my chest.

"Did you like what you saw," he purred as his face inched closer, "I could hear your heart when I was with her. When I touched her...when my lips touched her neck."

His voice was a low rumble. My skin heated and prickled, his lips just barely brushing my neck. I tensed as my eyes closed and expected the feeling of his teeth ripping into me.

But it never came.

"Felix," a commanding voice came from down the hall.

There was a rush of cool air as Felix was suddenly several feet away from me. Soft steps approached as I caught my breath, Alec coming into view. I glanced up at him then away, my cheeks red.

"You forget yourself," Alec sighed, looking at Felix then turned to me, "are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a misunderstanding."

Alec frowned, looking at Felix again. His eyes hardened with warning. It was strange to see such a young face so authoritative, so commanding.

"Learn to mind yourself, Felix. Aro would not like to hear of you threatening his guest."

Felix's eyes glinted in the darkness like a cat, "Of course. Won't happen again."

Turning sharply, Felix faded into the darkness and silently walked away. As he left, I felt myself return to my body. Felt my fingers uncurl from the tight fists they had formed. My palms ached from the deep impressions my nails left behind. The air returned to my lungs as I turned to Alec, swallowing.

"Thank you."

"You don't need to thank me, Felix needs to learn to keep his hands to himself. You would think after so many millennia," he shook his head, looking down the hall after Felix then brought his eyes back to me, "May I walk you back to your room? Walking around on your own is unwise."