Killing Softly ✞ (gxg)

10 | nowhere to run

"I'm telling you, the Odyssey is only considered to be an amazing piece of work because it's Homer's most popular one. There are many other works that are—"

"Alright, Holden," Lily interrupted him, patting him on the shoulder and gently leaning him towards the door. "I would love for you to stay here and discuss literature analyses with me, but I'm quite exhausted as it is." Her cerulean blue eyes looked at him with gentle aggravation. They had been having a debate over classic literature for the past four hours, and she was quite ready to either punch him or herself.

"I mean, it's not common that humans are so familiar with things that are actually intellectually stimulating. It's a skill you should put to practice often." He slowly walked backwards to the door of her room, still wanting to talk more about art and literature since, as a guard, he didn't quite often get the chance.

"We can discuss Greek and Roman mythology another day?" she suggested while reaching behind him and opening the door for him, beginning to realize that Holden was quite annoying when comfortable with someone. The voice in the back of her head reminded her that there might not be another day, that they may actually escape the castle later that night or get killed trying. She looked at Holden a bit harder, at his obsidian eyes that made him look less intimidating than other creatures of his species, almost like he was a little puppy. She chewed the inside of her cheek and mentally wished that no trouble she would soon bring would be brought down upon him, for he had been nothing but gracious to her.

"I suppose, since you want me out of your sight that badly," he playfully countered, taking the door handle from her and swinging it open more, stepping out to the other side where the hallway was darkened by night.

Lily quickly leaned against the other closed door, casually slipping her hand over her shoulder and watching the guard closely as he bid her goodnight and then walked away, letting the door automatically close shut behind him. As soon as his back was turned, Lily moved her hand from her shoulder and into the bra of her dress, quickly pulling out a rag she had kept stuffed in there and letting it drop softly on the ground right between the two doors, grinning in success when the doors closed but did not latch due to the rag between them.

Turning away, she felt her heart beat against her chest like a metronome dauntingly reminding her of the extremity she would be acting upon later that night. She went over the plan in her head several times, memorizing each step and visually imagining it in her mind as if she were watching a movie play in front of her.

Falling onto her back on the bed, she remembered movies. She remembered the children's movies she used to see and how much she loved them. She had a huge collection of both VHS tapes and DVDs, since both were relative around the time that the invasion occurred.

That was her motivation. She remembered all the simple, meaningless pleasures of living a leisurely human life, even if things like that probably seemed foolish to the vampires. She wanted to go back to living a normal life, not as a refugee in the forest or as a mouse trapped in the cage that was that royal castle. That's what drove her to stay awake the next few hours to be prepared to go through with her plan. Even though she did not have the power to change the world, she did have the power to change her world. She owed it to herself and her family to at least try.

Pacing around the room, she glanced up at the clock sitting on her wall every few minutes. Her stomach felt liquified, and suddenly the plan seemed incredibly dangerous and ignorant to her. Reminding herself it was just her anxiety speaking, she took a deep breath and tried to melt away the talons gripping her nerves. She wondered if the Queen was still away visiting some Duke they were talking about. That would have been extremely fortunate if she was absent from the castle, but she still needed to be as cautious as ever.