Ice Cold

24: Wings

Scarlett

I lay awake in bed, thinking. After everything that Chris had told me today, I was feeling slightly dizzy and nauseous. With my mind so active, there was no way that I would get any sleep tonight. Sitting up, I rubbed my head and grabbed the glass of water on my bedside table, taking a few big gulps. As I lowered it, however, I spat it back out in shock.
     A man was standing at the end of my bed, staring at me. His intensely bright blue-green eyes bored into mine and I shuddered, knowing that this couldn't be good. He grinned suddenly, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth.
"You must be Scarlett." He purred softly and I nodded quickly, praying that Chris would appear at the door.
"Yeah, that's me." I said, swallowing hard.
"Ah, I know all about you! Although Chris hasn't told me anything, unfortunately."
"You know him?" I asked, stalling.
"Oh, yes. He's an old friend of mine." He chuckled and there were a few seconds of silence.
"Sorry, but...who are you?" I asked him and he smiled.
     "My name is Carlos."
"Umm, do you want me to go get Chris?" I asked, slightly confused and he shook his head.
"No. You're the real prize." Suddenly his eyes flashed red and he was instantly at my side. Before I could react, we were both flying out of the window at an incomprehensible speed and landing softly on the ground. His arm was tightly around my waist, keeping me safe, but I wriggled away when I was sure that he wasn't going to make any more sudden movements.
"The...prize?" I murmured quietly, but I knew that he'd hear. It was obvious that he was a vampire like Chris, but he seemed different, somehow.
"Did I say that? I just meant that you were special, that's all." He said with a smile that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end.
"What do you want?" I said, turning to him with a sigh. He looked slightly shocked but brushed it off almost instantly.
"I know what you are. I just want to teach you about yourself and what you can do." He whispered and I pursed my lips, conflicted.
"Okay. Well, what can you teach me?"
"You have power beyond belief, Scarlett. You have the ability to fly, to manipulate people's minds and to even kill someone with a single thought." My mouth was hanging open in amazement and I watched as a smirk started to form on Carlos' face.
"When do I start?" The words tumbled out of my mouth before I even knew I was saying them. I had let him win.
"Come with me." He said slyly and started walking into the woods, gesturing for me to follow. I shrugged, looking up at Chris' house one last time, before following after Carlos and entering the mysterious throng of trees. I stayed close to him, worried about what could be in the woods, before he suddenly stopped, causing me to bump into him.
     "Why did you stop?" I asked nervously and he took a couple more paces before turning back towards me.
     "We can't just walk all night. I'm gonna teach you something." His eyes glinted with excitement, like a child in a toy shop.
     "Well, okay, I guess..." I muttered. I still refused to trust him until I knew everything there was to know about him, but I would at least have to do what he said. After all, he could help me and he seemed to know far more about angels than Chris did.
"I'm gonna teach you to fly tonight. Well, to at least get your wings." I frowned, remembering my dream. "Do you know anything about them?" He asked. His question caused me to delve deeper into the dream, uncovering the emotions that I had been feeling.
"Well, I think I was scared when it happened in my dream..." He turned to me suddenly in surprise.
"Your dream?" The excitement was evident on his face. I had forgotten that I hadn't told him about that.
"Yeah. I dreamt that I was running away from...something, and my wings came out." I decided not to say the part about Chris being the reason that I had been running. There was still something strange about this man that I had yet to uncover. If he really was an old friend of Chris' then why hadn't he wanted to see him? Why me?
"Well, you're probably going to have to be scared again, then. It might not work otherwise." Suddenly, his eyes narrowed mischievously and the pretty turquoise irises became the colour of fresh blood. As he smiled, I noticed the fangs protruding from his perfectly straight teeth. I didn't have time to register much else before I was running, playing along with his little game. I dared a glance back. His face, which had once been of a similar complexion to Chris', was now much darker, almost seeming to have been stretched painfully over his skull. Every bone in his face jutted out prominently, somehow making him look scarier. What was he? I had originally thought that he was a vampire, but he couldn't be. The only things that changed when Chris became a vampire were his eyes, teeth and ears. Carlos looked as if he had undergone plastic surgery that had gone horribly wrong.
A guttural snarl came from behind me, elevating my levels of fear. I knew that he was just doing this to make me scared, but I couldn't help but feel that it was a little too real. He had either practised this many times or was just used to killing people. Either way, it was working. I feared him.
My breathing sped up and my heart was beating so loudly that I thought it was going to break out of my chest. But it wasn't the only thing trying to break out. My back was beginning to ache, just like it had in the dream, and I knew what was coming next. The pain suddenly stopped and I felt myself lifting off the ground.
     I was flying.