Jacob Black and Me

Missed

There was a chill breeze when I finally found my way out of school, but it was crisp and smelt like apples and new, sterile concrete. Filled to the brim with exhilaration, I glorified in the scent of an early autumn and the satisfaction that came from a well-spent day.

I dropped my bag into the boot, climbed into my car, and checked my mirror, my hand already halfway to the gearstick.

A flash of red eyes glinted at me in the reflection.

I opened my mouth to scream, but the creature moved with lightening-speed, clasping an icy-cold hand over my mouth, the other reaching around to encircle my neck with a death-like grip. My body began to writhe as I gasped for air. My heart was pounding, halfway into my throat; it was like I was back in the forest again, except here there was no-one to help me; the end-of-school rush had ended long ago. My hands scrabbling like little crabs, I attempted to free his hand from my throat; but those hard bones seemed to have melded to my skin.

The creature wrenched me backward with supernatural strength, pulling me into a lying position on the back seat. For a moment he relinquished his hold on me; I barely had time to seek a shallow breath before what felt like the tip of a very, very sharp knife was pressed against my throat.

What seemed like a body of stone was now resting on top of me, and a beautiful, harsh face glared down at me with a feral, animal like-hunger combined with bitter hatred. I felt like I was being crushed; I couldn't breathe; I could see nothing but the face of the creature whose fangs were now protruding in a graceless way from his gums. Finally he spoke; his voice was like rusty nails.

"Tell me, who bought you? What was the promised price?"

If I had not had a knife digging into my throat, and a vampyre atop me who was thirsty for my blood, I would have laughed out of pure confusion.

"What?" I gasped.

The creature's eyes narrowed. "Don't lie to me." The knife dug deeper into my skin, and I felt a trickle of blood crawl towards my collarbone. In the dimness that had now swallowed the car, I noted that the creature's pupils had dilated. I felt his excitement on the knife that now trembled in his grip.

I will not die.

I kept my breathing steady. "I don't understand."

His nostrils flared. "I can smell them on you! They killed one of us."

Again, I was baffled. Did he mean... he couldn't mean... the werewolves? And Jane?

He leaned down upon me, and I immediately stiffened. Raking a fang against my cheek, he rubbed his pelvis against me, grinning, leering. I was terrified, forcing myself to stay still, to not give him an excuse to hurt me.

"You know... I could drain you right now. I would make a bloodbath out of you, I would spread your remains throughout the forest so that all of your werewolf pals would know what happens to humans who align themselves with the wrong side." His voice was husky, but he ended on a hiss. He drew himself up, reveling in my terrified expression with the smirk he donned. He threw the knife aside, and I watched as it slide underneath the seat. He reached over and grabbed my chin roughly.

"Now tell me," he whispered softly in a sing-song voice, "what happened to Jane."

I sank to the floor slowly, maintaining eye contact. I didn't have to try to make my lip tremble and shorten my breaths. The fear was already rampant in my body. I let out a low sob, as if I had resigned myself to my fate.

"You'll let me live?" I made my tone desperate, high-pitched, pleading.

He smiled indulgently, but the animalistic hunger had not disappeared from his gaze.

"We...we... did this." I lunged toward him with the knife I had picked up from the floor; he let out a wild yell as the knife hit him square in the gut. Leaving no time for him to recover, I opened the car door as and grunted as I shoved him out of it, slamming it closed.

Locked.

I scrambled into the front seat, fumbling with the ignition. He was already in front of the car as it roared to life, grinning a manic grin that frightened me more than anything else. I spun the wheel, lurching out of the school gates, and sped away. 

I had gotten myself into a whole world of shit.

It was only later that night, after my dad had gone to bed and my thoughts were still churning with the memory of the creature, who had laid a knife against my throat, who had almost killed me, that I remembered with odd clarity Jacob's note. I had been supposed to meet him. And if I had never stayed back after Drama class, none of this would've happened.