Hope Andrea Argent

Tattoo (Part 1)

Drops of blood glisten across the floor of a barely lit garage. The trail leads to a pair of shoes dragging past parked cars, an unconscious body pulled urgently by an unseen figure.

Gently but quickly, the body is laid on the floor. The hood of a car pops open and gloved hands reach in to attach jumper cables to the battery.

The shirt on the body yanks open, exposing a bloodied torso. The other ends of the jumper cables touch down on the pale skin and a burst of electricity lights up the garage, revealing the identity of the body, Isaac Lahey.

His eyes surge with a yellow glow as he's shocked back to consciousness. Blinking in confusion, he sees a beautiful but mysterious girl peering down at him,"Quiet!" She whispers harshly.

Surprisingly strong, she helps him back to his feet. But Isaac stumbles, nearly passing out again.

"Stay with me. We're almost there," She tells him.

The world blurs around him as they move, the Girl struggling to keep him upright.

"My neck..." Isaac says, barely able to whisper.

His head dips forward to reveal puncture wounds at the nape of his neck.

"From their claws. It's how they share memories," She tells him.

"But I don't remember anything."

"Also how they steal them," She says, pulling his hands around to the front of her body,"Listen to me. No matter what happens, you hold on, okay? You hold on tight."

An engine roars to life, headlight blazing on. Before Isaac can even realize they're on a motorcycle, they hurtle forward, racing into the darkness.

Bursting out of the shadows, the motorcycle rockets into an alleyway. Despite the wind at his ears, Isaac's hearing focuses, other sounds fading under movement. Feet pounding pavement.

"I hear someone. Someone's coming," Isaac says.

The Girl responds fast, cutting a corner and heading for an empty street. Open road ahead. As the Girl increases the speed, Isaac glances back. Someone races after them. Incredibly fast, eyes glowing red. It's an Alpha. And, most astonishingly, he's catching up to them.

"Faster!" Isaac shouts.

The Alpha moves to their right and a strikingly handsome face comes into view. A clawed hand rises to attack when he disappears, falling back, as if swallowed up by the shadows.

"Look out!"

The Alpha hurdles in from the left, claws swiping out. The motorcycle bucks, back tire kicking up gravel. Then, just as suddenly, the Alpha vanishes back into the shadows.

With a snarl, he appears on the right, hurtling at the bike to swipe at it again. But the Girl brakes hard, letting the Alpha surge ahead. She pulls into a turn, claws lash out, cutting at the back of the motorcycle, nearly crashing it.

The Alpha appears on the left. Then on the right. Bursting in and out of the shadows from each side, as if he's somehow everywhere.

But when Isaac looks back again, the truth is revealed. There are two pairs of red eyes following them,"Two of them!"

Equally handsome. Equally terrifying. They fall back as the Girl makes a desperate turn off the street.

Brakes squealing, the motorcycle comes to a halt. The alleyway ends in a wall. Isaac and the Girl are locked in. She quickly spins the bike around to turn back.

But the Twin Alphas appear at the other end of the alley. Catching their breath. Taking their time to approach.

"Remember what I said before?" The Girl asks.