Captivated (An Affliction Novel) (23 page)

I couldn’t do it to him. I didn’t want to put him on the spot. But this was the best opportunity I was going to get for my line of questions.

“What was in that bag?” I sighed out in defeat.

Markus turned to me with his eyes wide. “The bag?” He gulped. “You-ah…wanna know about the bag?” he asked in disbelief.

“Yeah…dork.” I said.

He let out a breath of air that was probably in him since he got busted in the house. A smile appeared on his face and his body relaxed. Then, a look of disgust replaced the peace.

“You don’t want to know.” Markus drawled out.

he Impulse was pretty packed tonight. I didn’t
go there often, but for some reason, the atmosphere felt different compared to the couple of times I had been there. The usual people went to The Impulse, but tonight it didn’t seem like it. The new faces that I was able to point out were beautiful. They were dancing so smoothly and elegantly. They reminded me of Shane because they all had the same skin color. Chalky white. They didn’t look like they were together because they were spread out in different locations of the room. There were a couple of girls and I couldn’t count the guys that well, but it seemed there were five or six. They were definitely not from around here. I wasn’t sure if I was being paranoid, but I could have sworn they were all looking at me.

“Alright. Ready to dance with me?” Tanya asked while pulling my arm to the dance floor.

“What? Already?” I asked confused and tugged away my arm in defiance.

“That’s what we dragged you here for. Besides all the seats are taken. We can’t just stand around like losers.” Tanya said while moving to the beat.

“I’ll be back guys. There’s something I have to check out.” Markus said while scanning the same pale figures I was studying. “Stay inside.” Markus said to me. Not to the both of us, it was to me in particular. And he was gone.

As Tanya danced, she kept egging me on by hitting me with her butt. I gave in before she could throw me off balance on purpose. I kept feeling someone bumping into me constantly. I knew the club was packed, but this was ridiculous. I moved to the side to avoid the bumping. It followed me. I turned around to see what the heck was going on and found myself staring into the eyes of a short young man. His hair was black and slicked back, now I knew why they called it a cow lick. It looked like a huge tongue caked with gel licked his head. The Hispanic guy had on a pair of tight white jeans that looked impossible to get on even for me. He had pointy black boots on that kept moving to the music. What caught my attention the most was…well, he had on a purple button up shirt with the top buttons unbuttoned. A few proud curls came bursting past his thick gold chain. There was absolutely nothing attractive about his scrawny body. He seemed to think otherwise.

He smiled at me and danced up against me. I nodded ‘no’ to him and smiled politely. Then I turned back to Tanya who couldn’t keep her laughter in. Shaking off the experience, I continued to dance with her. And there he was again. I huffed out in irritation and pushed him away without looking. I grabbed Tanya’s hand and pulled her to a different spot, away from
Freako Suave.
We danced for a moment and here he was again. Like a dog trying to hump my leg. I searched for Markus through the crowd, but he was nowhere in sight. Tanya was yelling at the guy in Spanish. It didn’t look like he understood her. She wasn’t fluent. She took a couple of Spanish classes, but had forgotten most of what she learned.

A cold chill went up my back. Not just up my spine, up my whole backside. I whirled around to see what had caused it. Shane’s body was right up against mine. He stared down at me and smiled mischievously. Then Shane walked up to the guy. He said a few words to him in a language I didn’t understand, it must have been Spanish. The guy shook his head and danced away to another victim.

“That was close. I thought he was going to hop on you and-” I cut Shane off before he could finish.

“Don’t! Yuck! I’ll picture it.” I said scrunching my nose.

“May I have this dance?” Shane asked while reaching his hand out to me. In that moment a slow song started. “I told him he could dance with you
IF
I walk away.” He looked me in the eyes. I couldn’t see the color that good. They looked red. Red and convincing. “Should I walk away Mindy?” He inched closer and raised my hand to his mouth. I couldn’t stop staring at his eyes. The soft kiss was cool against my hand. Like that first day of school all over again. With my mouth dropped open I shook my head no.

Shane’s lip curled up as he pulled me close to him. The electricity was vibrant. He danced with skill. I was losing my step trying to keep up with him. I felt like a complete buffoon. “It’s time Mindy.” Shane sadly said after a couple of songs.

“Huh? For what?” I asked.

“For a little air. Don’t you feel crowded?” Shane asked and exaggerated a shiver.

I looked around and felt the same eyes on me from the new faces. The club had gotten more crowded since we got there. Then I felt an urge to get some fresh air.

“Do you mind? Tanya?” Shane asked. Still a smile on his face. It gleamed, even in this dark place it shone like the sun was hitting it directly.

“No. Of course not!” Tanya excitedly called out.

“I don’t want to leave you alone.” I said to Tanya.

“Don’t worry. Markus will be here soon.” She called out while pushing me and Shane away.

That’s right, I forgot that Markus wanted me to stay put. I decided to step out for a second, and then come back inside. It was way too crowded tonight. Shane led the way holding my hand. Everyone moved out of the way admiring him. His perfection beamed off of him, pushing everyone out of the way. When we reached the back door, he swung it open and led me out. It was quiet outside. The air was still. For a few minutes, we walked along the back of the connected buildings.

“I think I got enough air Shane. I don’t want to leave Tanya alone for too long.” I said while coming to a stop.

“Believe me Mindy. You’re friend is completely safe.” Shane squeezed my hand and tugged a little to keep me walking. “I assure you.”

Shane’s tug was hard and I couldn’t help but go along with it. He assured me she’d be safe. Yet an unsettling feeling erupted in me. Something wasn’t right. Something was off. Shane didn’t seem like his normal cheery self. For some reason, it was forced, like he was trying to be convincing. He seemed determined somehow. I planted my feet on the floor, but he kept walking. His strong grip on me tugged me to walk again. For an unexplainable reason, I looked behind me. I wished I hadn’t. There were two pale people walking a few yards away from us. One of them was an Asian girl, she looked like a cute living doll. She had jet black hair that reached her skinny waistline. The guy walking next to her was huge, like a three hundred pound mass of pure muscle. Not the kind of huge that girls go crazy for, this sort of huge was gross.

My breathing started accelerating. Something was scary about them. From the moment I saw them in the club, I knew it.

“Shane. Please take me back. I don’t want to be out here anymore.” I tugged my arm trying to break it free. “Please?”

Shane ignored me. Then two more guys came out in front of us. The craziest thing was that they landed in front of us. Like they dropped down from the sky. One guy had black hair that reminded me of a hedge hog. It was slicked back into spikes. They didn’t walk towards us, but in front of us. They were walking at the same pace as us. So were the ones walking behind us.

“Let me go!” I shouted to Shane. I dug my nails in his hands hoping that he would release me, but it was no use. He didn’t even flinch. Then I scratched frantically at his hands. Blood seeped out of the cuts staining his skin, but he still held on. I looked around hoping to find someone that could help. It was only us, the darkness, and dim flickering lights from the alley.

“Shane!” Called out a voice from above us. I looked up. There were two guys walking on the buildings along side us. One on our right and another on the left. We were surrounded by these strange people like body guards surrounding the president. “We spotted Dean heading out of the club. He’s getting his bike.” Called out the voice.

Shane nodded his head and picked up the pace. While it looked like he was speed walking, I had to run to keep up with him. It was humanly impossible to walk that fast. Besides, my stupid boots weren’t helping me much. That’s when it hit me. My heels! Kicking him should work. I ran a little faster and swung my heel at his leg. I knew I got him good. I stabbed him right in the calf muscle. That should have made him stumble at least. But once again, he didn’t even flinch. I punched him as hard as I could over and over again only to tire myself out. I kept punching and kicking whenever I had the chance to without falling. Even after my efforts not to, I fell to the ground with my hand still connected to Shane’s grip.

“We really need to hurry Mindy.” Shane said while picking me up and flipping me on his shoulder in an easy movement.

All of them started running even faster. I kicked at his torso and screamed, but Shane didn’t lose his grip on me. I heard something, a roaring cutting through the distance. So did everyone else.

“He’s getting closer!” Called out the other guy on the roof.

I looked up at the women walking behind Shane. They were glancing behind them. They looked scared. Like something was chasing them. Dean? Why were they so afraid of him coming? Why would they think he would even come for me?

Then I saw him. He was gaining closer and closer on his motorcycle. I saw the fury surging out of his face. He pulled a long sword that was tucked in the side of his bike. He held it on his side at a position that looked like he was ready to swing at whatever he came across. He looked like he was coming fast, but it was weird to me that he hadn’t caught up yet. We were on foot and he was on wheels. I looked down at the ground. It was going so fast below me as if I were watching the road while on the freeway. In wild disbelief, I gaped at the blur of buildings along side us. We were going as fast as the bike. Shane and the others were running as fast as a motorcycle!
Impossible.
I thought.
Impossible!!

I looked back up at Dean. Just then, a body landed on top of him throwing him off course. While trying to get his bike to straighten up again, he was elbowing the guy on his back. Just when he almost threw the guy off, the other guy from the roof jumped on him. Dean’s bike went completely out of control crashing into the building.

“Go back there and kill him!” Shouted Shane to the two running behind us. In a blink of an eye, they were gone. “You up there. Get behind us!” He shouted to the two guys running in front of us.

They ran behind us as Shane finished his command. Then I heard the worst thing I’d ever heard in my life. My name was being shouted. Dean was shouting my name. What pained me so much to hear was how he was screaming.

It was a cry of extreme disparity. They had to be killing him.

“DEAN!” I yelled back, but I heard no response from him. Just thudding, like bags of rocks being thrown against walls. Then…silence.

“Claudius. Stay behind and make sure he doesn’t follow us.” Shane ordered one of the scared men behind us. Shane didn’t look scared like the rest of them. He looked more like a soldier during a mission. I couldn’t understand why the mission involved kidnapping me. Why were they scared of Dean? I knew Dean was strong, but not strong enough to take on six people. Right?