when they call my name | ✔ [𝑼𝑵𝑫𝑬𝑹 𝑬𝑫𝑰𝑻𝑰𝑵𝑮]

chapter sixteen

alexandria black

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How could someone feel so much nostalgia for a place you've never been before? Feel so much love remembrance and courage from just four walls?

The lights disappear to mark the end of the concert, and that ache in my stomach hasn't gone away. This is all so very new to me – this forbidden romance thing, if that's what you want to call it. Watching Christian give it his all sparked so much inspiration within me that it only makes me want him more. Everything about this moment brings me a sense of nostalgia and comfort in the worst and best ways possible.

The entire band takes a bow, and the venue roars with applause. I get Gabriella's number, and we go our separate ways, but not before she waves up at the stage to get someone's attention just like everyone else. I figured I wouldn't be the only one tonight, but knowing that Christian is all mine makes me feel better.

It feels as if it is only him and I in this room. His eyes lock on mine, and the oxygen is hitched in my throat, waiting for his next move.

He straightens his posture and disappears off stage with the rest of the band. The rest of the lights come back on, and the bodyguard escorts everyone out of the venue. I try to make my way toward backstage, but I'm caught in the large crowd heading toward the front door.

In the dark Los Angeles Street, I feel my phone vibrating inside my purse and see CHRISTIAN STONE printed across the top. Before I can answer, a shadowy figure brushes past me, almost knocking my phone out of my hand.

"Excuse you!" I cried out, but the man kept going. The figure almost looks like the man that Christian has warned me about, Antares. He wouldn't try and ruin this for me, right?

Follow me, little angel.

Antares' voice is in my head, and I know more than ever that the man who just bumped into me was him.

I try to narrow down where he went and follow him. All sorts of danger flags are ringing in my head, but it's time I demanded answers. How did he know about my mother? Why is he following me?

The alley is cold, too cold for comfort, and the smoke hanging in the air is so thick it chokes out any trace of fresh air. I can't see much except for shadows and the dim light from the far end of the alley, but I feel him.

I feel Antares suffocating me.

I know who he is - I've always known. It's not just the nightmares, the whispers in the dark, the shivers that crawl down my spine whenever I'm alone. It's everything, and yet, standing in the here this thick fog and facing him in the flesh - it's worse than I ever imagined.

"I know who you are!" I cry out, but my voice cracks in the silence. My heart beats erratically, like it's trying to escape from my chest. My palms are sweaty, my knees are shaking, but I can't back down now. I can't show him weakness. I'm vulnerable and alone, and I know he'll strike - like the predator he is.

And I am the prey.

"Is that so?" His voice is smooth, low, and mocking. It slithers through the smoke like a serpent, and it makes my blood run cold. "Tell me, little angel, what do you know?"

I grit my teeth, searching for him through the haze. "I know who you are," I say, more firmly this time. "I've seen you in my nightmares. You're the one who's been haunting me, following me... controlling everything!"

His voice emerges from the mist again, calm and mocking. "Is that what you think?" There's a slight, predatory edge to his words. "I've been following you your whole life, human. You think you've had a choice in any of this?"