"I know she is your roommate and that her name is Emily. You see, my dear cousin, I've been following you for quite some time. I know when you sleep. I know your class schedule, and I know where you like to eat lunch."
"That's enough." Skylar clenched her fists. Though she was afraid, she wouldn't show it. "You're sick, stalking me like that. Get a life. Just let her go and I'll give you what you want."
Looking offended by Skylar's words, Alena inhaled a deep agitated breath and let air out to calm herself. "Oh, but I do need her. I can't touch your blood. Besides, she's human. So actually, I need you both."
"What are you planning to do?"
"If I tell you, then I'll have to kill her because humans can't know of us. Oops! She knows now, so I'll have to kill her anyway. Now I can tell you." Alena stood on the other side of Emily. "Cooperate or I won't hesitate to kill her. I can always manipulate another biology smarty pants student."
"Hurry up and get it over with."
"Emily, draw her blood with this needle."
Emily looked at Skylar.
"It's okay. Everything will be okay. Just do what she says."
"But I don't know how," Emily mumbled, trying to stay composed. Her eyes were watery again. "Just because I'm a biology major doesn't mean I know how to draw blood."
"I don't care!" Alena shouted. "Just do it."
While Emily's hands shook, she picked up the syringe and carefully inserted the needle into Skylar's arm. Skylar cringed when she missed her vein. Emily tried again . . . and again. Finally, she punctured her vein and drew blood.
With a loud bang on the table, Alena produced a cell phone, a revolver, and empty bullets. Skylar jumped, steadily backing away as she protectively placed her body in front of Emily.
"Nice phone, Emily. It was sure fun texting with you, Skylar. Now, Emily, unscrew the bullets, squirt a drop of her blood inside each one, and screw them back up. Hurry!"
Emily flinched from Alena's sharp tone. While her hands trembled, she did as told. One by one, Emily put the bullets into the chamber while Alena held the revolver with both hands. Alena snatched the last one and slid it in herself, then cocked the gun. "There, now it's loaded and I have a deadly weapon."
"You have what you want. Erase her memory of what just happened here and let her go," Skylar demanded. "You have me."
"I wish I could, but I don't have the power to erase memories like the Grand brothers. So I'm going to have to kill her. It's a shame. We were biology lab partners. You didn't know I went to the same college, did ya?" Alena aimed for Skylar's head. "I was told to keep you alive, but now that I have what I want, accidents do happen. How ironic . . . killed by your own blood bullet."
Unexpectedly, an intense bright light radiated, outlining the door. Then the door flew across the room, slamming against the wall. The three Grand brothers and Amanda stood where the door used to be. Without hesitation, Alena started shooting. The loud banging noises jolted Skylar, putting her on high alert and in protective mode. She pushed Emily to safety and made a courageous effort to knock Alena down, but to no avail. Instead, thankfully, it made Alena miss her targets.
The Grand brothers and Amanda hid behind the tables, dodging the bullets. Knowing Alena would try to escape, Skylar gripped her shirt. Pointing the revolver at Skylar's heart, Alena pulled the trigger, but just before the gun discharged, Mason yanked Alena's body. The bullet penetrated Skylar's arm instead.
With the hit, Skylar's body whipped back, causing her to bump her head hard on the corner of the lab table and fall to the floor. Blood streamed down her arm, soaking into her sweater. As several drops of blood painted the white floor, she cradled her wounded arm. Pain burned through her whole body as she watched Alena escape Mason's hold and dash out through the other exit door.
"Don't go after her," Mason said to his family. "She may lead us into a trap. Remember what she said before: she takes orders from someone else. It's too dangerous. We'll get her next time. I think I know where she lives. I found her loitering around the diner a week ago and I've been following her."
The others did as Mason had said and the four of them huddled around Skylar.
Seeing Mason's face and watching him bend low to help gave her a sense of relief. Unable to move from the tremendous pain, she slumped over, supported by the table behind her. "Don't touch me," Skylar said softly, afraid she would kill him. "How did you know?"
"You didn't answer my text. I told you if you didn't answer, I would know something was wrong and I would come for you."
"I'm sorry." She looked up to see Amanda, Everett, and Nick. "I forgot I had it on silent. I guess it was a good thing?" Skylar shrugged her shoulders sheepishly, feeling bad for not answering her text. The movement caused her to yelp softly, biting her lip from the sharp pain. She was waiting for it to heal on its own, but it wasn't. After the pain subsided, she asked another question, "How did you know I was here, at the bio lab?"
"When I lost her tracks, I had a bad feeling. We were already on our way to pay you a visit. I, ummm, had put a tracer on your phone. It's connected to mine so I know exactly where you are." He sounded nervous, most likely thinking he should've asked for her permission.
"Oh," Skylar said, thinking she liked his protective side, but at the same time she didn't know if she liked the fact that he would know where she was at all times, just in case.
Too busy dodging Alena's bullets, they hadn't noticed Emily, but now they heard whimpering sounds coming from underneath the lab table behind Skylar. "It's Emily, my roommate. Can you please help her?" In too much pain and unable to move, Skylar didn't have the strength to look over at her.
As Mason continued to squat next to Skylar, Amanda and Nick pulled Emily from under the table.
"Here she is," Nick said sweetly as if he'd just rescued a cute little puppy.
Emily was still shivering. Her eyes grew wide and more terrified when she saw Skylar's blood.
"I'll be fine. Don't worry," Skylar assured her, having a difficult time getting her words out. "Don't forget your cell phone."
Emily nodded her head.
"Why don't we take her home and help her forget all about today?" Nick winked.
"Sounds like a good plan. Why don't you take Everett and Amanda with you?" Mason suggested.
"Sure, see you back at the house."
"Don't be too long," Amanda urged.
"Be careful," Everett spoke for the first time since he'd arrived.
After they left, Mason examined Skylar's arm. "I'll have to take the bullet out. Thankfully, it's not lodged in too deep."
"Okay." Skylar inhaled and exhaled uneven breaths. The combination of the pain and the blood loss made her feel like the room was spinning and the feeling of nausea was rising to the surface.
His eyes looked mad as hell underneath those thick eyelashes, and he spoke with a scolding tone, "I told you not to be brave. Look what happened to you. What if . . . what if-?" he faltered.
"I wasn't trying to be brave. I thought you didn't care," she said wearily.
"I don't." His tone was sharp and cold, but Skylar knew why. He was upset with her for making him worry and for putting her life in danger. "And you definitely need time out in a naughty corner for not listening to me."
Skylar furrowed her brows, but despite her arguments she knew he was right. She deserved to be in a naughty corner or worse. This all could have been avoided if she had accepted the reality she'd been ignoring, but her reality was like a bad dream. Though she knew she was in constant danger, it was difficult to grasp. Everything had happened so fast that it was all a blur. There had been no time to breathe, no time to understand what was happening around her and to her.
Perhaps thinking danger couldn't touch her was her way of coping with it all, pretending that it wasn't real, even though fear had overcome her. She had reacted the same way when her dad left. Pretending to feel nothing was better than feeling the agonizing pain. Pretending that these new terrors couldn't happen was a way to cope, to shut out the world around her. Perhaps Mason was doing the same thing, but tonight she had woken up from the dream, smack in the middle of her reality. Not only was her life in danger, but now Emily's was as well. This couldn't happen ever again. Who knew? The next time it could be her mom, or her aunt, or even Kayla. She had to be careful, be more aware, and completely trust that Mason knew what he was doing. Most of all, she had to accept who she really was.
Mason released a relieved sigh and his eyes became soft. "I'll be right back." He stood up and looked around while opening cabinets and came back with some tools-rubber gloves, tweezers, scissors, cotton balls, and a bottle of alcohol. "It's going to hurt, but afterward when you start to heal you'll feel better. Squeeze any part of me if you need to."