Onbekend(8)

Arianna opened her eyes as she heard the movement around them stop. She saw only a glimpse of the men disappearing into the shadows. As the last man vanished, a new person stepped out, and bowed to Arianna before he followed the rest of the men. Arianna gripped her escort’s shoulder tightly as the pain increased. It was beginning to feel as if her internal organs were ripping apart.

“Miss Arianna,” the young man said, quietly staring at her as she shook from the pain. “We need to get you to a safe house immediately.” The man reached into his pocket and removed a small, glass bottle. He drank the red drink. “Keep your eyes closed,” he directed, and she felt him begin to run down the street carrying her. As the pain momentarily subsided, Arianna realized the wind was whipping against her face quite severely. Suddenly, the pain began again, worse than before. Arianna gripped the young man’s shoulder as it continued. Arianna was numb to the world around her, while the pain continued to grow worse. The man stopped running, and darted into an alley between two stores. He carefully set Arianna down against a building with an overhang to protect her from the rain. Arianna glanced up as he moved a few feet away and turned his back to her. The pain grew worse, and she shut her eyes as he spoke on his phone.

“We won’t make it there in time,” he said into the phone. “She’s already turning.” Arianna waited, trying to distract herself from the pain by listening to the rain. “My tracker is on, get here as soon as you can.” The young man knelt beside Arianna.

“Can you make the pain stop?” she begged. He nodded.

“I was trying to make it to a safe house, but we’re still at least a mile away from the nearest one.” Arianna nodded, though she didn’t understand what he was talking about. “You need to feed, or the pain will get worse.”

“Feed?” she asked, confused. Arianna felt a jolt of pain rip through her body and she closed her eyes. With one fluid movement, the young man pulled a knife from his pocket and cut his own wrist. “What…?” Arianna began to ask, as she opened her eyes to find his bleeding wrist near her face. Arianna felt an urge come over her. Her eyes glazed over as she stared at the blood. Without thinking, she reached for his bleeding wrist and licked the blood away. Arianna felt the pain inside her subside. The world around her dimmed, and she passed out.





THREE




Arianna laid still, listening to the sounds around her. Outside, it sounded like there were birds chirping, along with the sounds of unknown people talking. Closer, possibly in a nearby room, she could hear her uncle and aunt quietly talking. At the sound of their voices, Arianna quickly sat up and opened her eyes, expecting to see her room at home, but instead, found herself in an enormous, dark room. Arianna first focused on the bed she was lying in. The grand, four-post, king-size bed was not her normal, small twin bed at home. The room was dark due to the curtains covering the windows across the room, but she could clearly see everything. Arianna gazed first to her right. There was a door directly next to the bed, and one on the wall to her right. Her aunt’s and uncle’s voices were coming from the door next to her bed. Arianna tried to move, but fell back into bed. Her body was sore. What had happened the day before to make her so physically tired?

Arianna then realized that the day before hadn’t been a dream. Arianna pondered the images she had all jumbled in her head. There was a meeting with a man who told her about her parents, the photo album that contained proof that he knew them, the deed to the house, and then the young man from her math class waiting outside the gate for her. She had seen him so many times before in school, and on the bus, but he never spoke before. In fact, she had never seen him speak to anyone before. After he picked her up, Arianna’s memory grew even fuzzier. There were large men with long white hair and ripped clothing. She could also remember the rain hitting her face as the young man carried her. What happened after that, she pondered. Arianna tried to remember as she lay there, but no concrete images came to mind. All she could remember was how it felt. First she was sick, and then she was thirsty, very thirsty. And after that, she was sleepy. What happened to make her so tired?

“You should stay in bed for now,” a voice next to one of the large curtained windows called out to her. Arianna turned to find the young man from the night before sitting in a chair, watching her.

“Where am I?” she asked, trying to will her body to move.

“The Randolph Estate,” he replied.

“What happened to me yesterday?” she asked. “I feel like I got run over by a truck.” Arianna tried to stretch, and found she was quite sore.