by Rae, Alexa
She rolled her eyes. "They live in Waxhaw, a town just outside of Charlotte. There's a hospital he's been assigned to in Uptown. I'll be staying in a hotel somewhere in the city so I can be close to him."
"When are you leaving?"
"Tonight," she gave a small apologetic smile. "I'm only planning on staying a week so I should be home around this time next Sunday."
I searched my mother's face, looking for alternative motives hidden behind her expression. This was more than just being there for my grandfather. I knew she secretly hoped that my dad would show up. I hoped the asshole stayed far away from my mom. I hardly knew my dad. The only memory I had of him was the night before he left. I remember his face as he tucked me into bed and kissed me on the forehead. I remembered his blue green eyes and dirty blonde hair. That was it. I didn't want to remember anything else. He didn't want me. He abandoned my brother. He dropped my mother. He was nothing, but another asshole to me.
Twenty-Four
"She totally wants to see your dad again."
"I know!" I threw my hands onto the counter and let out a breath of frustration. Two freshman girls from my school, sitting at the bar, sharing a chocolate milkshake, shot me wide-eyed stares. I flashed them a blank stare while Hayley, sitting a few stools down, spun her index finger around, pointing at them, telling them to mind their business.
"You have to let her do her own thing, El. It's her life, if she wants to waste it over your dad then that's her decision. We've all tried talking to her." Shiloh said with a sad smile.
"I don't blame her though," Hayley said. Shiloh and I shot her similar frowns. She shrugged, "My mom still has pictures of our parents in high school. Your dad was hot."
I always forgot Hayley's mother and mine were best friends. They had a fall out their senior year and they haven't said much to the other since, but I know they don't have any grudges because Hayley and I were able to strike up a friendship without any problems.
"That's weird and I don't care."
"You should," Hayley drawled. "He may be an ass, but he definitely contributed to the gene pool. You didn't just getcha' good looks from your momma."
I groaned, "Let's change the subject."
"Alright, there are a bunch of hot college boys on table six. Care to hand them my number." Hayley asked flashing me her most convincing smile.
I pointed to Shiloh, "That's her table."
Shiloh stared at Hayley. "You should just carry around business cards with your name, number, and favorite sex position on it."
"Can I do that?" Hayley asked. Her eyes widened as she contemplated the idea.
"No!" Shiloh and I shouted together.
A man came into the diner and slid onto the barstool at the very end of the bar. I gave him an acknowledging smile. I turned back to Shiloh and pointed to Hayley whose eyes were devouring one of the hot college boys. "Watch her." Shiloh waved me off with a roll of her eyes and I moved down the end of the bar counter, pulling my pen and pad from the black apron wrapped around my waist.
"Hey, are you ready to order?" I asked with a bright smile.
The man, in his late twenties, a strong build, wearing a suit that looked expensive, looked up. His eyes, dark and penetrating, threw me back. I had to control my expression to keep it composed. He stared at me for a long, uncomfortable moment.
I cleared my throat. "Do you need more time or I could get you a menu?" I said, trailing off when I realized he didn't have one of the laminated folds in front of him.
"That depends," he said, his voice thick with raw emotions. "Are you on the menu?"
I stood frozen with my heart in the pit of my stomach. I stared at him with eyes wide in disbelief. Feeling my hands grow numb I firmly set the notepad down on the counter.
"No," I said through clenched teeth.
One of his eyebrows arched. "You're scared of me," he commented, "Which means someone came clean about our messy little secret and I think I know who."
I narrowed my eyes, "Get out."
He tilted his head to the side. His hungry eyes raked over my body. The black orbs moved up to my face while I fought back a grimace. "I see why. You're beautiful. I'll give him that. Yet, still I never expected Benjamin to fall for a human."
"What do you want?"
"Don't ask questions you already know the answers to."
I swallowed. "I'm not going anywhere with you."
He smiled. "I think you will. We know everything about you, Ella Moore. Shiloh, over there gets off work in thirty minutes and my friends know all about that." A chill shot down my spine. My eyes trailed over to Shiloh who was taking orders from the table full of college guys. One of them looked up and met my gaze, his expression darkened and he shot me a smirk. I looked at Shiloh who was smiling and laughing, completely oblivious.
"Hayley is too easy. She personally told one of my friends that she preferred the name Slutty Princess." I turned back to the monster, biting down hard on my lip. "You can choose to put up a fight, but your friends will be dead before you even realize they're missing." His expression darkened. His head tilted to one side. My eyes caught the vertical line growing on the side of his neck. It stretched until the skin ripped open with a small pop. Blood trickled from the edge of his skin, down his neck, and inside his dress shirt. "If you make this anymore difficult than it needs to be I'll rip them to shreds myself."
"Okay," I said quickly. "I'll do whatever you want, but my friends stay out of this."
He smiled, folding his arms on top of the counter. "Continue working, you're closing tonight so we'll wait. When you leave the restaurant, go straight to your car, and I'm sure you understand what happens next." He leaned forward, his glare darkening. "If you so much as make one phone call. Your friends die. We're everywhere, Ella. Don't think you can send a message for help without it going unnoticed. Be smart about this."
The fear trickled down my spine. I shivered involuntarily and immediately regretted it because he was taking note of my reactions. He laughed, but it sounded more like a snarl. "I'm going to assume we have an agreement."
"I'll do whatever you want, but keep your fucking hands off my friends."
"You're beautiful and smart. It's a pity about your blood type, but I suppose that makes you even more desirable." He smiled. "I'll see you soon." His movements were quick and swift. One moment he was sitting at the bar and the next he was out the door.
I didn't realize I was still standing in front of the empty seat, my eyes frozen on the door, while holding my breath until I heard Shiloh call my name. I blinked once and turned to her, my expression calm and unreadable.
She frowned the second I turned. "Are you okay?"
I nodded once, "I'm fine. I just thought I saw something."
"Who was that guy?"
I played it off with a meaningless shrug. "I don't know. He wasn't hungry I guess." She stared at me with the frown still set in her mouth. She didn't believe me so I had to go with it. I matched her expression, "Are you okay?"
She shook her head. "I'm fine." Her eyes narrowed on me. "Don't do that. What's wrong, Ella?"
"Nothing, I promise." I feigned a smile. "Did you get any of those guys numbers for Hayley?"
Shiloh grinned. "That one on the outside of the table promised he would come back. It depended on his work schedule or something. Hayley left a couple minutes ago so I didn't have the chance to put her on display."
My eyes snapped to the end of the table and found she was referring to the monster whose eyes I made contact with before. His eyes shot up once and met mine. A malicious smile poisoned his expression. I silently thanked whatever reason made Hayley leave before he could latch onto her.
I looked away to notice Shiloh wasn't paying attention anymore. Her eyes were set on the cash register while she took the receipt of a customer.
My hands were shaking. I immediately hid them underneath the counter top of the bar, but I couldn't hide the cold bead of sweat that trickled over my forehead. A wave of naus
ea swept over me, clouding my thoughts, and triggering the rolling sickness I felt in my stomach. Every hair stood up on my skin. My heartbeat hammered inside my chest. My eyes skimmed the clock on the wall. It was a little past eight on a Tuesday night. I had about an hour before closing. I continued to stare at the clock until I lost focus and my vision blurred.
"Ella," I heard someone say, but the voice was far off. When they repeated my name I blinked once and I was brought back to the diner. I turned to the direction of the voice and found I had to blink again
Eli stood in front of the counter, his hands casually gripping the edge, while he stood waiting for me to respond. When he caught sight of my expression his features hardened. "What's wrong?"
"I'm fine," I managed to let out.
"No, you're not." He looked around the diner once. When he spoke again I noticed his voice had dropped several notches. "What is it?"
I shook my head. "It's nothing."
"Bullshit."
I motioned to the door. "You need to leave."
"Why?" Hi eyes narrowed as he tried to gauge my expression. His eyes suddenly widened with realization. "You're not in the dark anymore."
I stared at him without saying anything. I'd almost forgotten about our past encounters and every dark detail he alluded to about Ben. He knew what he was. Kellan and Chester knew it. I wanted to ask about what they knew and how, but I couldn't work up the nerve. They were listening to me. The diner was nearly cleared out. Shiloh was packing up to leave and there were two customers in the far back table. They looked harmless, but I couldn't be sure. If their hearing was as good as Ben said it was then they could hear our conversation from outside.
I wanted to ask Eli for help. I was screaming inside my mind. There was a way he could contact Ben, but there was nothing I could say or do that wouldn't set off the Undead who were watching me.
Eli nodded once. His eyes flickered over to the large windows overlooking the square and moved back to me. I wanted to know what he was thinking. Maybe he understood more than I realized. Did he know about the Undead?
"You know the one thing I regret about losing you?"
If anything, I could have hugged him for getting my mind off the Undead for a split second. The comment took me off guard. "What?"
He gave a sad smile. "I always thought you were weird for listening to that screamo shit, but I think if I would have just listened to your favorite songs a couple times, I would have understood you much more than I did." I watched the indention in his cheek as he bit the inside of his mouth. "I think I could have gotten into Parkway Drive, Chelsea Grin, The Masquerade," his eyes inadvertently flashed to mine for a quick second before his gaze fell on something behind me, "Bring Me the Horizon, and what was that other one you liked?"
He knew. A small, microscopic twinge of hope settled in the bottom of my stomach. My expressionless mask lifted. I could play along. I knew exactly how to tell him what was wrong. If he knew so much about The Masquerade he must have known about the Undead. My only hope was that he paid attention to my favorite music when we were dating.
He was waiting for me to pick up, his eyes resting intently on mine. "Was it August Burns Red?"
I shook my head. "No! Remember, it was The Devil Wears Prada. I begged you to take me to their concert, but you couldn't stand the noise. So to drive you insane I listened to "Outnumbered" off their EP album for like, three weeks straight." When I said the name of the song, I met his gaze the way he met mine before.
I wanted to let out a sigh of relief when I caught the look of recognition that flashed in his eyes after I said the song title. He remembered. There was hope. I didn't know what he could do, but he knew. I wasn't alone.
"The most annoying three weeks of my life."
I rolled my eyes. "You put up with it."
He gave me a smile. The one that exposed his dimples and made me feel like I was the only girl in his world. I hadn't seen that smile since before our breakup. I didn't feel the same way about it, but it still touched my heart that he could still smile that way.
"Yeah, I did."
Shiloh flew out of the kitchen with her messenger bag in one hand and her cellphone in the other. She froze when she saw Eli at the counter in front of me. She didn't even look at me. Once her eyes settled on Eli, her mouth set into a firm frown.
"I just took the trash out."
He twisted away from the counter with his hands up. "I'm leaving Shiloh."
She ignored him and looked at me. "Are you alright if you close tonight?"
I plastered the best fake smile I could afford on my face. "Go home and relax," I paused, "And don't stop anywhere. Go straight home and lock your doors." That wouldn't keep a zombie out, but it was the best advise I could afford.
Eli nodded before she could question me. "I'll walk you out." He urged her out the door with his hand on her arm. She looked over her shoulder to me and I smiled reassuringly. I'd have some huge explaining to do later, if there was going to be a later.
I busied myself at the diner with nonstop cleaning until I could officially lock the doors for closing. No one stopped by the restaurant within the next hour. It made me wonder if the Undead had something to do with it or if we were having a slow night. I wasn't sure I preferred it that way, there is an unmistakable feeling of security when you're around other people who are oblivious to a frightening or dangerous situation. It makes everything seem less real because they don't feel your fright.
It finally came down to shutting off the lights. I gave the empty diner a quick once over, my heart pounding in my throat. My hands never stopped shaking in anticipation of what was waiting for me outside. Every ounce of my weight sank into my shoes. It took everything I had to lift my feet and move them properly, one foot in front of the other.
I kept my eyes glued to the empty street in front of the diner when I stepped outside. I managed to twist my body to the side in order to lock the front doors while keeping the road in my peripheral vision. I slipped the keys into my back pocket, walked down the sidewalk, and turned the corner to get to my usual parking spot.
The side road I turned on was deserted, my lone car parked by the end of the curb. If I didn't know any better I would have assumed they weren't going to show, but my hands were still shaking. The eerie chill draped like a curtain over the night sky. They were here.
I was done waiting for them. "You know I really hate surprises. Let's get this over with," I shouted, sounding like an imbecile.
"Finally," a voice breathed into my ear. I jerked feeling their arms snag around my stomach. "You smell delicious," he snarled.
"So I've heard," I scoffed. The man from the diner was in front of me, his smile was even more threatening when illuminated by the light cast by the street lamp overhead. "You again."
"I have to say I'm surprised you kept to your word," he mused.
The monster holding me forced me to move forward until we stood in the middle of the road. Two other men came to stand on either side of the man who appeared to be calling the shots. All of their faces were perfectly sculpted and expressionless, like porcelain dolls with hollow eyes and a haunted presence. These monsters were different from Ben and his brothers. They still had remnants of their past attached to them, their emotions were still human, in spite of what Ben believed. These so-called undead creatures were lost to their humanity. They were truly dead to the world.
"Did you?" I shot back, my voice fueled with anger despite the trepidation I felt below the surface of my skin.
He nodded. "Your friends are fine."
"They better be," I snapped. "I swear to God if you lay one finger on them, I'm coming back to haunt the crap out of your ass!"
He tilted his head to the side, his black eyes struck with amusement. "We're not going to kill you, Ella."
Something sank inside my stomach, but the feeling didn't last long. The monster holding me captive tightened his arms around my torso. I assumed it was for a better grip until his arms continued
to squeeze and I found it difficult to breathe. I gasped, searching for air that I so desperately needed. His strength was bruising my stomach and I cried out as a way to tell them I couldn't breathe anymore. Whatever threat they were trying to ensue was working. I would comply with whatever they wanted if they would just let me breathe.
The monster's voice rang in my ears. "Your thoughts are probably a bit disoriented right now, but that will end shortly."
I whimpered a response. A thick sheet of fog clouded my mind. Any coherent thought swirled away from my reach. I couldn't grasp the reality of the situation in front of me. Everything was beginning to blur together and I was seeing white. What were they doing to me?
An earsplitting scream pierced through the grey clouds. My mind snapped like a rubber band back to the street we were standing in. The white evaporated and my eyes blurred back into focus. One of the Undead who stood next to the leader was lying on the ground, his head sliced clean from the rest of his body. My eyes focused on the blood squirting from the open neck.
Eli stood behind the body with a machete coated with crimson in one of his hands. His eyes flared on the Undead moving cautiously towards him. My stomach squeezed when I noticed the leader was moving in on him as well.
"Eli!" I shouted.
The grasp the monster had on my stomach loosened, but it still ached from the forced he used on it. I struggled against him, thrashing my arms out and scratching at his skin but it was like picking a fight with a brick wall. He sneered at every attempt I made to escape.
Eli swung his machete at the Undead that lunged for his throat. He missed his neck, but took a nasty cut to the monster's bicep. I screamed in terror when the leader lunged at Eli from behind. He was inches from tackling my ex-boyfriend to the ground when someone intervened and knocked the leader off his feet. It was Ben. His large form was on top of the leader, pinning him down, his hands at his throat.
The monster Eli fought said something to him. My attention turned to them when Eli responded with a sarcastic bark, "Yeah, eat me," and quickly followed it up with, "Wait, no! You probably would."