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  The woman’s eyes closed as more tears started to pour. The man stopped moving.

  Erina had her hand in her bag. “I’m gonna call the ambulance”

  “No” he said, his voice sounded thick.

  She gulped. Something was wrong, she was sure of it now. I need smaller bags – she thought as she fishes for her phone. “But –” she stopped as he turned around. The road lights flicker as she stared at him. His lips were covered with thick red liquid, drops of them falling into his shirt and to the ground. Erina’s eyes went back to the girl lying next to him, silently crying now. Then back at the man, meeting his eyes for the first time.

  Right then, at that moment, as she stared at his grey eyes, she understood why the woman wanted her to leave. He wasn’t holding for comfort her.

  He was killing her.

  How, she didn’t know. Thought the red liquid - blood her brain screamed at her - was making her jump to some convincing conclusions, but she shook it away.

  Vampires aren’t real. They can’t be. They are fiction.

  This man however was killing that innocent girl. She didn’t care how. She just knew that he was.

  Erina stayed paralyzed; she couldn’t blink or breathe. Her whole body had became numb and weak from fear. Her hand was still in her bag and her mind was yelling her to bring out the phone and call the cops or turn the hell around and run. But at the same time she was all blank. She couldn’t do anything. She was trapped somehow in his gaze. He had ensnared her.

  Her soda can dropped out of her hand. That simple feeling of losing its contract brought her back into reality. She looked down at it. It seemed to be going down on a slow motion. The redhead watched as the can turned upside down, the juice coming out of it, flowing in different shapes in the air before spilling onto the road, the can hitting the walkway with thud. She stared at it. Then she stared back at him.

  The man – he was looking at her. The slow motion soda can didn’t hold his interest. His eyes in a shade of grey she had never seen before. They seemed to sparkle in the dim street light. His blond hair messed up.

  He didn’t make any move toward her. He just stared. His gaze making her sweat and squirm as she stood there.

  And then he turned away, back to the brunette as if he never saw Erina stand there in the first place. He bends again, his mouth next to her neck. Erina’s jaw dropped in the ground as she saw his ‘Fangs’ appear and pierced through the girl’s neck. The girl moaned twice, eyes closing and opening, tears coming out faster than Erina could breathe. A noise between a scream and moan, maybe even a whimper came from the back of her throat. And then she went limp. No twitching or anything…. just limp and still. And Erina knew what that meant, when someone became limp like that.

  He'd killed her by draining her blood.

  Vampire – the word echoed in her mind, but she pushed it away again. There is no such thing as a Vampires. Vampires aren't real. They didn’t exist. They were just fiction. Fiction. Simply made up fiction. She argued with herself.

  But it wasn’t important, was it? It didn’t matter what he was. Except one thing. One thing she was certain off though.

  He killed that girl. And she saw it. She was a witness and now he was going to kill her too.

  The man didn’t stand up from his place and she didn’t care enough to stay and know why. She took this as her last opportunity. She spun around gathered up all the courage she had in her and ran as fast as she could.

  And god did she ran.

  * * *

  Chapter Three

  Fear & Fate

  * * *

  Erina had never considered herself as the running away type. She never ran away. She instead stood her ground. She remembered doing this ever since she was a kid, she always stayed at the front – for whatever reason it needed to be. That’s how her parents taught her.

  There was this girl, Gina, at her playschool. She was quiet, shy and never really talked to anyone. One day another kid, Billy – the bully – attacked her for no reason. Erina was there playing with another girl.

  The other girl ran off, begging Erina to go with her. Because Billy had a reputation of being tyrannizing. But she didn’t leave. Hero’s never run away from danger. So she puffed her chest, stood all 3 feet tall and went over to them. She remembered her dad telling her just a few days earlier, “Running never helps. It’s good for your health but not for your life. Life is all about living not for running. We got tracks for that” He was a author.

  Billy was tall, a few inches over her. But that didn’t intimidate her. Instead she punched him with all her strengthen in the sides. Billy dropped the crying Gina in the ground, turning at her.

  She didn’t exactly remember what happened next. But Billy had multiple bite wounds on his arms and a black eye. Gina had lost a tooth and Erina ended up with a sling on her left arm for a week. Her parents were so proud of her for not running away like the others did, that they extended her bedtime for an entire hour for two whole weeks.

  It was a huge thing back then.

  * * *

  But in times like this running was necessary. Right now, running was going to save her life.

  And so she ran.

  And ran.

  Ran until she couldn’t. Her lungs were burning and her feet hurt. Adrenaline pumped in her veins until everything around her was just a blur.

  She turned to look back once. That was mistake.

  He was there, right behind her, smiling.

  She turned ahead, speeding off once more. Until she tripped over. She managed to scramble up quickly, her entire body shaking. Her left knee stung as she did. She touched it gently, it was damp with her blood.

  “Damn it” she hissed through gritted teeth. She turned around again. This time however he wasn’t behind her. She stood fully and sprinted again. She was glad that Sara or Parker wasn’t with her. If they were then they both would had been dead by now. Or this would had never had happened, in the first place.

  She stopped again few more minutes later, her breathing heavy and hard. She looked at her surroundings; she had no idea where she was. Even if she did know where she was, she couldn’t tell. She couldn’t remember. Everything looked different but rather same. The night was getting darker and the street lights kept on flickering.

  She cursed at herself. Why do I have to be the biggest idiot in the world? – she yelled angrily. She decided to just keep running again until she reaches home or find someone. She took one step but froze.

  There he was standing there, right in front of her with a smile dancing on his lips.

  He took a step towards her as she took a step back. Her mind racing to form a plan. She had to get away from him. No! She needed to get away from him. She looked at the road behind him. Her shoulder squared up, she breathed in and her eyes focused ahead.

  She sprinted.

  The man sighed, blurring out of sight before appearing in front of her once more. She tried to back away but he had already pinned her against him. His hand holding her in place while the other covered her mouth. His hands were cold, but she was anticipating it, she already knew who he was.

  She didn’t believe it but she knew, deep down. She knew from the moment she saw him.

  She struggled under his hold, trying to wiggle her way out. But his hold on her didn’t falter.

  He looked at her. Erina still struggling. His hand still covered her lips. His head slowly tilted, blond hair falling over his grey eyes as he smiled.

  She understood. She understood his game. He was enjoying her struggle, her fear. Erina shut her eyes closed and stopped moving.

  The next thing she felt was him sniffing her. The hair in the back of her neck rose up. A content sigh left his lips, brushing them up against her skin. “Worth it” he whispered in a low voice next to her ear.

  A cold shiver ran down her spine. Her eyes shot open and her breathing sped up. She was going to die. He looked up again at her, smile still present. His grey eyes were very lum
inescent up close. She just stared at them, unable to blink or even close her eyes.

  Internally, she was screaming as loud as she could. He was ensnaring her. She wanted to get out.

  The man smiled once more before slowly inching close to her. His hand moved over the hairs from her neck. Sweat formed. The chilly night’s air or his cold hands did nothing to her as she desperately tried to break away. But she couldn’t. She just couldn’t.

  And then she stopped trying altogether.

  I am going to die – right at that moment, that was all going in her mind – But I won’t let him enjoy it.

  Tears rolled down her cheeks as she waited. Waited for him to bite and get this over with. But he didn’t. Instead he looked down at her again. His brow scrunched up together.

  Was he having second thought? – She asked herself. She got the answer instantly. He smirked, his fangs in display.

  He was trying to scare her. She scoffed into his hand as she stared straight back at his eyes. A low growl left his throat before she felt his breath in the crook of her neck.

  “It will be over soon” he whispered, his voice raw and animalistic. Then a sharp pain ripped through her. Her breathe hitched and her eyes widened in realization that he had actually bitten her. He bit her.

  Her skin ripped as his fangs went deeper. The scream died in her throat. Her breathing stopped as she could feel him gulping down the blood. Tears were coming in more freely now as she couldn’t even think of moving herself. Her body was getting numb by the seconds and her vision darkened.

  This is how I died in my dream, alone and weak – her thoughts were barely coherent, her head swinging before it dropped at her murderer’s shoulder. Her legs gave out long ago. She would had been in the ground if he wasn’t holding her.

  God, Sara is gonna freak out about it – a small smile in her lips. She felt oddly light.

  All of a sudden, she felt someone pulling her, her scream became audible as the fangs were ripped from her neck, deafening the area around her.

  Someone cursed, something fell, a loud thud.

  Wind blew in her hair, something cold pressed against her head.

  Her heart kept beating. Loud but still pumping, making it all she could hear.

  Maybe… I’m dying? – Erina mustered.

  * * *

  Chapter Four

  Panic & Attack

  * * *

  The redhead jerked up from the bed. Her breathing heavy and hard. Deep breath. Calm. Deep breaths. In and out. In and out – she chanted to herself. Her hand pressed against her chest, calming down her panicked heart.

  “That’s a new one” she mumbled, swiping away the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand. The dream…nightmare was so real, it was like it had actually happened.

  The drinks, the excitement, the exhaustion, the fear, and the…bite everything felt so real, so true. She lied back in her bed facing her ceiling a deep sigh leaving her lips, “Thank god that was just one of those crazy dreams”

  Erina stared up at the ceiling, her head tilting to the side. Something is... wrong. She could sense it, but what it was she couldn’t tell.

  “What is it?” – she asked.

  She kept looking at the plain white ceiling. She shook her head. That dream is messing with my mind – she thought, turning to face the door only to find that the door was bare.

  She was almost about to go back to sleep when it hit her. Her green eyes shot open and looked over at the door, then again at the ceiling. She jumped up so fast that her blurred. Erina sat, looking around the room.

  This is not my room! – she mentally screamed at herself. It was close to the same size but it wasn’t hers. “It’s not my room” her voice barely audible to herself.

  This room…it didn’t had a single poster of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ or 'Ian Somerhalder’ or ‘Flynn Rider’. Erina’s books and clothes weren’t scattered around it. The walls weren’t blue, the ceiling didn’t had any of her neon stars. It just wasn’t hers.

  She slowly spun around, taking it all in. Again and again. Trying to make some sense.

  This was different, quite artsy. On one side of the room, the walls were painted in bright yellow and red, mimicking the horizon and on the other, dark emerald green with a black silhouette of tree…like some sort of dark scary forest. The windows were closed off with dark curtains; one couldn’t even say if it was day or night outside. It was clean but had a few t-shirts and socks here and there.

  Her head spun. “This isn’t my room” she mumbled, “This isn’t my room” Erina started to hyperventilating as she looked down at herself. Relief flooded through her when she saw that she still was wearing yesterday’s clothes. Not naked, that’s good – she soothed to herself, but then the panic kicked in.

  She scrambled off the bed, remembering every single detail from last night. She could feel sweat forming on her brow whilst goosebumps broke up all over her body. With trembling hands, she slowly touched her neck where she remembered being bitten. Oh God!

  Rough and raw skin, black and blue in color was what she was expecting. Instead she felt smoothness. Eyes widen in confusion. The trembling stopped as she frantically searched for bite marks, but nothing met her hand except her own smooth skin.

  It didn’t had any marks, let alone bite marks.

  She leans against the bed. Head spinning, eyes closed shut. She sighs. Heart running wild in its own track. Through her exhales were full of relief, a small part of her was disappointed. What the hell is wrong with me?– Erina moaned to herself.

  She stood up then with shaky legs. Memories of last night played in her mind as she paced. She paused, putting it into fast forward and remembered it in slow motion, reliving every single glorifying detail.

  But still she couldn’t find anything that would explain why she was here or how she even got to this place. And where the hell were those bite marks disappeared too.

  Unless…

  She stopped, her eyes widening.

  “Unless I'm still dreaming and this is my nightmare!” she spoke silently, a smile coming in, “I am dreaming of having a nightmare in a nightmare!” and as soon as that realization came to her mind, she pinched herself.

  It didn’t work.

  A few moments ago, she had felt disappointment when she thought the vampire wasn’t real. Now as she stood there like a statue in a room she’s unfamiliar with, she could feel nothing but fear and horror creeping its way through her body. Nothing made any sense except that what she saw was true. But then she was still alive. She sat on the bed, her head pounding, trying to work out the answers.

  “Why am I here?” she asked aloud. But only silent came as her answer. Erina rubbed her forehead, a massive headache was on its way. Why would he bring her there? Why would he keep her alive?

  Unless…

  He had brought her here to kill her later.

  She shook her head. That’s what’s happening. He brought her to kill her. A late night dinner or snack. She shivered at the thought. Yet, she didn’t felt like sugar coating it. Finally with an understanding of the situation, she looked at her surrounding for a make shift weapon. Though there was good chance that she was wrong.

  But…what if she was right?

  Erina took two deep breaths and got of the bed again. She couldn’t even stand for three seconds without crumpling to the floor. She felt weak, pathetic.

  “I’m not weak” she reminded herself, getting her hair of her face. “You are not weak, Scarlet!”

  She got up to her feet once more, walking toward the door as fast as she could. She tried to open it but it was locked. This didn’t stop her from trying, grabbing the knob then pulling it. Nothing happened. Next, she slammed her body against it, hard. The whole door shook from the impact but it didn’t open.

  Anger filled her as she slammed against the door once more. But like before, the door didn’t cracked. “Open the door!” she yelled. But only silence came from the other side. “Open the door, yo
u freak!” she slammed against it, “I said open it” Erina yelled as she kept on hitting the door with full force. “I will break it” she warned, hitting it once more.

  But only silence came from the other side.

  Time and energy wasted, she turned around, leaning her back against it. Her eyes scanned the room once more. She was going to get out of there, one way or another.

  The brown satchel – a copy of the one Flynn Rider had – easily caught her attention. A breathless chuckle came from her. “My bag!” she gushed walked toward it, numbly. She was too tired, too spent. Grabbing and tearing it open, she looks inside. Her phone was still inside.

  She sighed in relief, almost crying. Too much happy. There was so many missed calls; 20 from Lynette, 21 from Sara and 8 from Parker, all throughout the night. She didn’t dial them back, knowing that there wasn’t anything they could do. She instead dialed 911.

  She turned back at the door as the phone rang. Her heart pounding with it.

  It rang once.

  It rang twice before turning silent. The phone had turned black.

  “No! No no no!” she cried, her hand in her forehead as she stares at the dead phone. She sat; her legs no longer could support her. “No” she whisperers.

  She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there and she didn’t cared either. Her mind was blank, nothing coming to mind which could help her. Erina didn’t had any options except to wait there and wait for the door to open.