Pretend With Me (Midnight Society #1) (14 page)

There was one person that stood out though, a boy
named Jason. Before Eric could introduce us properly, he
snatched me up in a bear hug, lifting me of the ground.
“Friend-in-law!” he cheered excitedly.
“Hi,” I frowned back awkwardly. He released me and
then stepped back looking at me.
“I'm Jason. I'm his-”
“Friend,” I said, already taking an instant liking to him.
In the sea of graceful, pretentious Gods, he was the only
real person.
“So Jen, I can call you Jen, right?” he asked and at my
side Eric let out a low groan. When I nodded, Jason
continued. “Eric’s never mentioned how familiar you
looked,” he frowned.
“Familiar,” I mused, “to who?”
“My first wife,” he smiled.
“Really?” I frowned at him. “Wait,” my frown
deepened, “how many wives have you had?”
“He’s never been married, Jen,” Eric said dryly, glaring
at him. It took me a minute to realize that Jason was
flirting with me, and when I did, I burst out giggling. “Jen,
don’t encourage him,” Eric frowned.
“Cool,” I grinned, “got anymore pick-up lines?” I
asked, enjoying having a carefree, fun conversation that I
didn’t have to think about.
Jason turned to Eric now. “Eric, I like-” His voice
suddenly dropped and I realized that the entire room had
gone silent and cold.
Everyone was staring at us, eyes all bugged out and
mouths hanging open. A horrified, shocked expression
plastered each face as they stared at the three of us and it if
felt me wondering what was happening. Why was everyone
staring at us as if we suddenly didn't belong?
Slowly and in a chain link manner the crowd began to
bow again. This time it wasn't as before, instead it was
more of a regaining composure gesture. At first one bowed
and the rest simply followed. Jason slowly turned and was
the last to do the same. It was then that I caught on. They
weren't bowing to us; they were bowing to what was
behind us. Immediately I turned and in that instant Eric
was at my side, one of his hands wrapped around my waist
pulling me closer to him, protectively.
At first all I saw was a hooded girl standing just beyond
the door frame. She had on a loosely fitting, black Chinese
cloak, with gold and dark red patterns that consisted of
lines crisscrossing each other at the ends. She was almost
as tiny as I was, with my height and size, but with the cloak
it was difficult to tell.
“Katalin,” Eric swallowed at my side, his hands
tightening around me. “Please,” he paused, “come in.” His
voice held a tense and hard edge to it, and I got the feeling
that he didn't like her much; he simply had to put up with
her.
A slow, amused smile spread across the girl's lips as she
crossed the threshold, gracefully gliding into the house.
Two things happened inside me then, two things that I
couldn't comprehend yet trusted as if my life depended on
it.
The moment the girl stepped into the house, a dark, icy
feeling washed through me. I felt myself shiver and the
need to get away took root in me. I felt cold and alone, like
death had suddenly stormed into the room, and something
deep inside me awakened, urgent and loud, shouting
warnings and sounding alarms in my head. It was
screaming at me that I should run, that I was in danger and
should get away while I could. My legs began to move on
their own backing away, but Eric's hand was hard around
me and I couldn't retreat. He wouldn't allow me to.
The girl, Katalin, glided to us and the closer she got the
more prominent the warnings going off in my head
became. For the first time in my life, I wanted to tuck my
tail between my legs, accept defeat and run away, and the
girl hadn't done anything to me.
As she got closer I realized she didn't have a hood on.
What I had mistaken for a hood was her long, waistlength, jet black straight hair. She had dark eyes that
seemed ageless, blank and focused at the same time. She
was beautiful in a way I couldn't describe. She was even
more gorgeous than Eric and his family. Eric's drop dead,
god-like beauty was a pale comparison to hers. Even in my
complete and utter fear of her, I was drawn in by her
beauty and absolute perfection.
“Eric,” she said stopping in front of us. Her voice was
like everything else about her, sweet and innocent yet
dangerous. It took all of the control I had in me not to
stamp on Eric's foot and run away.
“Katalin, welcome,” Eric said serious and calculating.
“This is Jenifer Kate Carson.”
Her eyes moved to me for a brief moment and then
back to Eric. “Pleasure I'm sure,” she dismissed me,
already deeming me unimportant and unworthy. “But I'm
here under orders.” The way she spoke it was as if she had
been pulled out of another time, an older time where
women were still in dresses. She also had an accent; one
that I'd heard before but couldn't place. Her eyes flickered
to me and I shivered. “We need to speak.”
Eric nodded and glanced around the room at his
guests, which were all still kneeling. Then his eyes settled
on me. “Jason, Jen is in your-”
“The girl comes as well,” Katalin interrupted, and
turned away from him before he could say anything.
“She doesn't know-” Eric began.
“I said she comes as well.” Her voice was gentle yet
held authority. Without waiting for Eric to say anything
more she walked away from us and disappeared up the
stairs. As soon as she was gone, time unfroze and the
room was suddenly a mess of noise and movement.
“We've been expecting this, Eric,” Dr. Wilson said,
suddenly at our side with his wife.
“I know,” was Eric's only reply. I was confused. I had
no idea what they were talking about, and I didn't try to
figure it out either. I knew I was missing a piece of the
equation, perhaps the most important piece and without it
nothing else made sense.
Eric took my hand and I forced myself to look at him.
“You should go, you shouldn't keep her waiting. We'll take
care of things here,” Dr. Wilson whispered. Eric nodded
and began leading me up the stairs. I forced myself to walk
even though there was a voice screaming in my head that
we were willingly walking to our deaths. He stopped in
front of a closed door, kissing my forehead as he always
did, only this time I felt different.

Slowly Eric opened the door, then seconds later we
were standing in Dr. Wilson's study - a huge room, filled
with bookshelves that were stacked neatly. There was also
a wooden desk and chair at the back and a huge
comfortable looking couch set in the middle. The minute
the door clicked shut behind us tension stuck to my skin,
easing into my bones. Awkward silence hung in the air
loudly like a thick blanket of fog that made me feel stiff
and frozen. It was all I could do not to turn around and
run from the room. As the silence dragged on, never
ending, Eric and Katalin held their stance, doing nothing
but staring at each other. Eric's hand remained wrapped
around my own though and for that I was beyond grateful.

“Why are you here, Katalin?” Eric finally burst out
after what seemed like forever. His voice shattered the
silence and I felt my breathing stop at once. At any given
moment Katalin would become angry at Eric. She wasn't
used to being questioned. I didn't know how I knew, but I
did with every bone in my body and I stood there
absolutely still, waiting for her anger.

It didn't come. Instead all she said was, “Orders.” Her
smile was sweet yet dangerous. She reminded me of a rose,
beautiful yet capable of wounding. Katalin seemed so
simple, gentle and beyond perfection. She was filled with
elegance and grace, I could see it in her movements, the
way she spoke and carried herself. It was in everything she
did yet at the same time, she was also hard and sharp like a
thorn.

She began making her way to the desk at the back of
the room, sitting down on the chair, gracefully, as though
she was floating. “Jenifer,” she said smiling, her dark eyes
shifting to me. “Come here,” she ordered. I looked to Eric
and after a short calculating moment he nodded. I wasn't
sure if he agreed because he had no other choice or he
trusted Katalin not to hurt me.

Slowly and hesitantly, I pulled my hand from Eric's and
began walking to the desk, calculating each step I took
carefully. As I closed the distance between us she opened
the top drawer at the side of the desk and got out five
small glass vials, resting each, one at a time on the wooden
desktop in a perfectly straight line. A ruby red liquid shone
from the vials.

“Do you truly wish to die?” she asked politely as if we
were talking about the weather. “Because if death is what
you wish, it can be arranged.”

“Katalin, what-” Eric began at my back. I didn't turn to
him; my eyes were stuck to Katalin.
“Be silent, Eric,” she commanded sternly, her eyes
flashing to him for a split second. “Now answer my
question,” she said and turned back to me.
I didn't know what to say. How could she know
already, after only spending less than five minutes in the
same room with me? “Jenifer,” she smiled warmly, “please
answer my question, I would like to return home soon.”
I took a deep breath, my mind racing. This was it, the
moment of truth. She already knew so what was the point
of pretending or denying the truth? I had made my
decision, now it was time to admit it.
I turned to Eric, not caring that I had just put my back
to the most unearthly, possibly dangerous girl I'd ever met.
Guilt and sadness flooded me as my mind searched for the
right words to explain. There wasn't any though and in the
end all I could say was, “Eric, I'm so sorry.”
He was silent for a long while, fitting the puzzle pieces
together. A deep frown pierced his face then as he stared
back at me lost and confused. “What are – what are you
saying...?” he spluttered even though he already knew what
I was saying. I could see the realization in his eyes and it
was like stabbing myself with a bread knife.
I had never expected this part to hurt so much. I hadn't
prepared myself to tell him this. I'd never deemed that Eric
would come to mean something to me, or that I'd feel any
guilt or pain over hurting him. This part wasn't supposed
hurt.
“Since I heard I was engaged to you, I stopped taking
my meds,” I said aloud. He stared at me shocked into
silence as a million different expressions crossed his face,
each one hurtful and replaced before I could name it.
“Your final decision, death?” Katalin asked and I
turned back to face her. “If I were you, I'd think extremely
hard and carefully of what comes next.”
“I don't want this marriage,” I whispered.
“Then so be it.” She rose from the chair casually and
gracefully. Then before I could blink, she was standing
inches from my face, smiling like a tainted angel. She
reminded me of a child who hadn't lost her innocence, but
was tricked into committing the most horrible, evil acts
one could imagine.
Her movements were so fast it didn't make sense to
me. My mind couldn't keep up with her. Before I could
finish that thought air whipped around me and in the same
instant I felt my body smash into something hard and flat,
a wall I realized.
Pain shot through my body at once. My thoughts were
in chaos, everything around me was spinning and moving
too fast. I felt as if the world had sped up, leaving me
behind totally lost and confused. I couldn't make sense of
anything. How could Katalin move so fast? What was
going to happen now? My thoughts flew to Eric and I
ordered myself to push through the pain and open my
eyes.
Panic flooded me when I didn't see him at the door.
Adrenaline surged through my veins powerfully as my
heart kicked off, and the stronger it got the more pain I
felt. Next I searched for Katalin, sure that wherever she
was, he would be too. She was standing exactly where she
had been moments ago, nothing had changed. She was
exactly in the same position as she had been in.
Seconds zipped by and then Eric literally materialized
in front of me crouching. A loud animal-like snarl tore
through his frame, sending a new spill of horror through
me. “You,” he growled in an inhuman voice, “will not
touch her.” The sound of his voice alone was frightening.
It was still smooth and silky but under there was
something primal and just as dangerous as Katalin’s. “You
can't do anything, Katalin, you're not allowed to,” Eric
growled. Katalin only smiled and began walking towards
us. Eric didn't move. He was still crouching in front of me
as if frozen by time. “By our law, you can’t touch me, and
because of the blood that runs in her veins you wouldn’t
dare harm her either.”
“Oh but I can,” she said gently as if talking to a child.
She held up three fingers at the side of her face. “For three
very important reasons. One, I'm higher than you are. You
may be of royal blood Eric, but I am heir to the throne.”
She folded in her middle finger and took a step forward.
“Two, your bloodline does not end with your death. You
may be the older child, but Christy Wilson will simply
carry the Wilson line forward.” She folded in her ring
finger and took a few more steps.
In front of me, a low threatening snarl was building in
Eric's chest, warning Katalin. I couldn't move. I knew
Katalin believed what she said and that I should try to get
away, but fear had me frozen and statue-like. All I could
do was watch and hope that they both forgot about my
existence.
“And lastly number three, you simply cannot stop me.”
Her lips curled slightly and she dropped her hand to her
side. “Now move aside, this is your only warning Eric.”
She waited for a second and when Eric didn't budge she
shrugged carelessly.
A loud bang exploded in my ears, and Eric suddenly
vanished from in front of me. In just a split second Katalin
was standing in his place, smiling at me with her hand
stretched out, palm facing the door.
As soon as my mind caught up with what had
happened, I followed her hand and found Eric kneeling on
the floor, just outside the room. My heart picked up
beating faster and harder as another dose of adrenaline
shot through my veins. My body reacted and I found
myself scrambling off the floor half crouching, half
running to the door. As soon as I was up, the door
slammed shut, sealing me in the room with Katalin.
My hands clamped onto the doorknob, desperately
turning and twisting it, silently pleading for it to let me out.
But no matter how much I tried or how much force I
pushed it with the door was sealed, trapping me. Realizing
it was no good, I turned back to the room pressing my
back against the door, praying I could somehow dissolve
into the material behind me.
Before I could react, Katalin's hand shot out to me and
then in a split second her fingers wrapped around my neck
and I was off the floor, my feet dangling inches in the air.
“This is what is going to happen, Jenifer, so listen
extremely well,” she said in a monotone. I raised my hand,
clawing and digging at her fingers in a desperate attempt to
loosen her hand. Instead, her fingers only tightened, just
barely cutting off my air.
“You have two choices. Either you marry Eric or you
don't. If you should choose to marry him, you will have a
comfortable life. Everything you desire shall be given to
you without the slightest bit of hesitation. You shall never
have to work a day in your life for as long as you live,
unless you should choose to... Every whim, every want,
every need, shall be met... though I cannot promise you
will love Eric.
“However should you choose to reject him, then you'd
have become utterly useless to me. I gave you life, Jenifer.
I can very well take it away and I will, if you are not of any
value. Your parents and friends from the Caribbean will be
considered as loose ends, and those ends will be tied up.
Those who know of your illness will be silenced as they
will be considered as threats to the secrecy of my world.
That's a long list of deaths and blood spilt because of you.”
Her hand vanished from my neck then, and I fell to the
floor with a heavy thud, coughing as I sucked in air.
Katalin turned away from me and began walking back to
the desk as I slowly began picking myself up.
My parents, my friends, everyone I knew and loved was
being threatened. If I didn't marry Eric she was going to
kill them all.
“And what of Daren?” she wondered, turning back to
face me. “Did his life mean so little to you, that you'd
choose death after everything he did?” Her voice was
blank. In her mind she was simply stating the facts, yet to
me her words were like knives.
Guilt washed through my body as I realized what I had
been doing. I wanted to kill myself, and he died for me. He
gave up everything so I could live and I was throwing it
back in his face. I had been so selfish and stupid.
A small smile pierced Katalin’s lips as she stared at me
with a knowing look. It was almost warm. She then turned
on her heels and gracefully glided toward the couch, sitting
down. “Sit, Jenifer, now that you are no longer suicidal
there are some things you need to know. Firstly though,
you need to drink this,” she said holding out the glass vials
she'd placed on the desk to me.
The seconds dragged on as I did nothing but stare at
her. My mind was reeling, and I felt as if at any moment
my head was going to explode into a million pieces. My
eyes never left her. She was calm and perfectly at ease.
Taking a deep breath, I ordered my voice to work. “Let
Eric back in,” I mumbled, my voice barely audible and my
breath shaky.
“Drink them first.”
I hesitated for a moment, and then at a turtle's pace I
began inching forward, towards Katalin's open hand. I
took the vials out of her hand, rolling them in my hands. I
kept my eyes on her, waiting for any sign that told me she
was about to attack. She gave none, though.
“Relax, Jenifer,” she said dropping her hand, turning
away from me. “I am not going to harm you...”
“What is it?” I asked, forcing myself to act bravely,
even if I really just wanted to tuck in my tail and run. A
dark and strange raw power leaked from her, and it made
her presence known and feared.
“It’s a stronger, purer form of your medication,” she
answered and my fingers rolling the vials around tightened.
Any moment they would give in and break under the
pressure. “Now drink it.”
I raised my hands and opened my palm staring at the
red liquid. Slowly, I opened the first one. Then even slower
brought it to my mouth and inhaled. It smelled sweet, like
the scent of some exotic, rare flower. I brought the vial to
my lips, staring at Katalin and tipped it over. The liquid
was delicious and thin, and as it flowed down my throat I
immediately could tell the difference between now and
minutes ago without it.
Instantly I felt a change in me. Power and strength
burst through my veins. Having this wonderful, strange,
and addictive substance running through me was like liquid
fire running through my veins. It pushed aside all the
weakness in my body. Already I could feel my senses
sharpening and it made me realize just how dull and dim
the world around me had been for the time I refused to
take my meds. Colours were as they should be, brighter
and more alive. Sounds were clearer. The complete silence
had vanished and I could hear the tiny fragments of the
world speaking. In an instant the entire world had changed
around me. It was alive and pulsing now, like a giant
beating heart. Before I knew it, all five vials were on the
floor empty at my feet and I wanted more.
Katalin stood up then and walked up to me. Without
saying anything she took my hand that was still in the cast,
wrapping her slender fingers around it and began to
squeeze. At first I did nothing but stare at her, then
seconds later the hard cast began to crumble and give in,
until it looked like a dusty piece of cloth wrapped loosely
around my wrist.
Instantly I pulled my hand back towards me, yanking
and tugging with all the strength I had. It didn't do any
good though. Instead, Katalin's hands only tightened.
Tough, strong weight hugged my wrist and then, suddenly
a loud crack echoed in my ears. Pain shot up my hand,
through my body and in response a loud piercing scream
tore from my lips as my knees gave away. I was abruptly
on the floor groaning in pain again as hot tears ran down
my face, yet Katalin never let me go. Instead, her hand
only loosened a little.
Gradually, the pain began to die. Slow, long seconds
dragged on and then she dropped my hand at the exact
moment that all the pain vanished, and walked away from
me. I sat there on the floor panting, my thoughts once
again in a messy blur.
I flexed my hand, somehow not surprised when there
was no pain. I stared at it for a few seconds, and then my
brain went into overdrive. “What are you?” I demanded,
angry and desperate to find out the truth. I stared up at
her, my eyes meeting blank, expressionless yet dangerous
ones.
“I'm a vampire, the same as you.”
“You're... crazy...” I whispered so low that I couldn't
hear myself. My head was going around in circles. The
world around me was spinning. Nothing made sense. My
life was no longer sane. I was going crazy. A switch had
finally flipped in my head, and the outcome was that I was
now insane.
Vampires? They weren't real. How could they be real?
They couldn't possibly be real? Katalin was either lying or
she was crazy as well. Maybe we were both crazy?
Abruptly, the door flew open hitting the wall with a
loud bang and slamming shut on the same swing. I jumped
out of my skin, completely terrified. My breaths were
coming fast and hard, and yet I couldn't breathe. No
matter how many times I inhaled and exhaled, I wasn't
getting enough air. I didn't switch my gaze to the door; I
kept my eyes trained on Katalin.
“Am I now?” Katalin smiled and then the next thing I
knew, I was on my feet, once again being pressed to the
wall by her tiny fingers wrapped around my neck. She
wasn't choking me; she was only applying enough pressure
to keep me pinned. “Eric, I suggest you stay where you
are,” she commanded without taking her eyes off me.
All casualness had drained away from her. Now she
was all business, blank and hard like an emotionless
commander of an army. She tilted her head slightly to look
at Eric, now standing at the door. “There's a better way to
do this, Katalin.”
“There is,” she agreed, “and had you done it, I
wouldn't be doing it this way. Now one more step and
what follows next won't be pretty.” Her hands tightened
around my neck, emphasizing her point. My eyes flashed
to Eric who was now rooted in place at the door.
“Now, Jenifer,” she turned back to face me. Slowly my
eyes met hers and my breath caught as another, stronger
dose of fear paralyzed me. In that moment I found myself
wishing I was crazy. That people would take me away and
lock me safely into a small white padded room.