Allured

Chapter 2- Nick

Normally when I retreat to the attic with a book, it takes only minutes to lull myself into the stupor that is the entirely new world a piece of literature has to offer. Today, however, I am unable to lose myself to the book. Instead, I am stuck in second period, with her.

The moment I had seen her as I had walked down the hallway with Alec, all of the air had whooshed out of my lungs. It was her. The one.

To the human eye she was one of them. She was another girl, with rich chocolate brown curls, warm brown eyes, and pale luminous skin. She had a faint smattering of freckles dotted across her cheeks. She was short, but with curves that were seductive.

Just a regular everyday girl.

Unfortunately not to me. And not to Alec or Jake.

"Damn it," I growl, slamming the book shut. I lean my head against the attic wall, considering the day's events.

I had thought we had more time. It was impossible to think that we could have made it through high school, but I still hadn't thought everything would happen so soon.

"Kira." I say her name, wanting to feel it in my mouth. Wanting to taste the way it rolls off my tongue and hear it's pretty ring.

"Kira indeed," Jake says. I jerk in surprise, my cheeks reddening, shocked to see my brother poke his head into the attic, climbing in. He offers a half grin as he sits across from me.

"I saw her with Alec in the halls today," he says casually, running a hand through his messy, yet carefully styled hair. "Not as hot as I would've wanted but who are we to be picky. It's not like we are a group of supernaturals born with the sole purpose of fighting to the death for some random chick we've never met or had any say in choosing."

Bitterness coats every word Jake spits out, and I have to avert my gaze as his face twists. I understand Jake's pain. Alec shares it as well, just as Matthew did at one point. But that doesn't make talking about it any less forbidden and wrong.

"This whole entire damned thing is so ridiculous," Jake continues. "I mean, Jesus, we are raised as brothers from birth and then told we have to go kill each other over a girl who we've known for five seconds. There's no way in hell I'm going through with it."

I study my brother's hard face. Listening to him now, it's hard to believe that he used to be almost sweet, innocent even. The Jake I knew a year ago was a romantic. He loved girls, yes, but it was the kind of love that made him give roses on Valentine's. He was sweet and adoring and had even dated a girl named Sarah for nine months junior year despite Matthew's warnings. And then he'd changed. His soft romantic side had grown hard. He still chased after girls, but in the end it wasn't for a relationship.

I shake my head, bringing myself back into the present. I look Jake in the eye, as I speak.

"Everyone says that they won't do it. Everyone promises when the time comes they won't kill. That they will beat the system by refusing to play the game. But in the end, they always do."

Jake shakes his head, leaning forward, his blue eyes bright and fevered. "You're wrong. And that's the kind of thinking that leads to people dying, and the system winning. You are just too weak to see it."

I stare at my brother coldly. "What happened to you Jake?"

He looks at me, his eyes turning distant as he is lost in some memory. I watch him, fascinated, then his softening expression turns hard, and he stands up. He gives me a dark unreadable look as he goes to drop down through the attic's ladder.

"I grew up," he says, and then he's gone.

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