"She's seen us," he said, voice too calm.
The tall one moved first. He stepped into the light, fast and silent.
And aria turned and ran no questions asked. Her sneakers slapped against wet pavement, splashing through water puddles. Her breath rushed out in ragged breaths, the cool night air pulling sharp in her throat. The alley narrowed behind her, the echo of footsteps too smooth, too close. Not running, just seamlessly moving
"Fuck. Fuck."she breathed
Her voice came out thin, more like a gasp more than a word. She rounded the corner hard, her shoulders scraping against damp brick, pain shot up the shoulder. A trash bin wobbled and clattered behind her, the metal banging off stone. For a second, she hoped it slowed them down, she didn't look back though, she didn't even dare to. She passed the bakery, its dark windows and the faded video store with graffiti on the glass. The scent of rain and oil and something metallic was it blood? She prayed it wasn't, curled in her nose. She held the keys in her pocket like that would help, stupidly like maybe they could somehow protect her.
The music still played in one ear lo-fi jazz, absurd in the panic. She yanked the earbuds out. Her lungs burned, from the running, her thighs screamed. She wasn't a runner. She cooked twelve hours a day, she stood, she lifted, but this was something else. Panic had speed, but it looks like it burns out fast.
Foot steps sounded behind her, closer. She darted into a side passage she barely registered. It was narrower, filled in by dumpsters, somewhere behind her, a soft laugh echoed.
"Don't." She whispered it to herself. Not a prayer. A plea.
The passage ended. A dead end.
Brick wall. High and wet
She spun, back pressed to the wall, eyes wide. Her fingers fumbled in her coat, looking for what ? Her phone? Her kitchen knife? She had nothing.
And then they appeared.
First the watcher silver eyed, lean, precise. Then the other. Broad shoulders, blond hair slicked back and wet with rain. His clothes were too clean, his hands too still.
"You ran," the silver eyed one said. He tilted his head, studying her like an animal caught in wire. "They always do."
Aria's voice cracked. "Please don't hurt me. I didn't see anything I promise. I won't say anything. I swear "
"We're well past that," said the tall one. His voice wasn't cruel. It wasn't anything. Just… bored.
He stepped forward.
"No please"
She tried to duck. Tried to move sideways. His hand caught her shoulder with terrifying ease. He lifted her like she weighed nothing and shoved her back against the wall. Her head cracked against the brick, a flash of white behind her eyes.
Pain real and Sharp. Her vision blurred.
"I didn't mean to please " she pleaded
He looked at the other vampire.
"She's afraid," he said, almost puzzled. "You smell it?"
"Yeah," silver eyes said, stepping closer. "Human fear smells like copper and..... rosemary?"
He grinned, teeth sharp but still human.
"Must've been cooking."
Aria shook. Her whole body trembled. Her bladder nearly gave out. She stared at them, chest heaving, eyes burning with tears.
"I won't tell anyone," she whispered. "I have no one to tell."
The silver eyed vampire tilted his head again. "Everyone says that. But people talk. Even when they don't mean to, a slip or a wisper."
Silence, for a heartbeat
Then the tall one sighed. Reached into his coat.
The gun was matte black. Silencer attached. Efficient.
"Why?" she asked, voice cracking.
"Because you saw us."
She didn't scream. Didn't beg again. Her breath caught in her throat, frozen.
The barrel touched her forehead, the cold metal shocked her.
The trigger clicked.
The shot wasn't loud not like in the movies. Just a flat pop, muffled by the silencer. But inside her skull, it was like thunder. A red bloom burst through her vision. Then black. Then nothing. She dropped, her knees buckled first. Then her spine gave out collapsing. The back of her head hit the wet stone with a thud.
Then stillness. There were sounds but distant ,a siren maybe, or tires hissing past somewhere nearby. But they didn't matter. None of it did. The pain had been there, sharp and white hot then just gone.
What remained was the quiet, just calm and quiet. She wasn't breathing. She knew that. Her chest didn't move. Her pulse didn't drum in her ears. She was lying in the alley, staring at nothing, and the world was peeling away from her like wet wallpaper
Then came the pull. It started from her fingertips a tingling, almost pleasant sensation. Then her ankles, her ribs, her scalp. Like her body was letting go of her, little by little.
She tried to scream but her mouth didn't work. Her voice was no longer hers. Instead, something inside her began to float.
It was light, this part of her. Not physically but spiritually. She felt like a balloon released into the air, free, drifting into shadowed rafters.
Her body stayed behind. Still cooling ,eyes wide open. But she felt like she was rising, she saw herself that familiar apron, blood now all across the collarbone, hair clumped and damp, eyes wide open
The alley stretched out around her like a crime scene no one would report.
Those men were gone.she was alone completely and terrifyingly alone with the last warmth of herself leaking into the stone. And then came the water, It started softly, a lapping sound. A cool mist that drifted through the space between her and her body. She turned or it felt like something like turning and the alley was gone.
In its place was, endless black water, she wasn't floating above it. She was just in it, arms spread. No pain or fear
Above her, light filtered down in little beams. Below her, nothing but deep, the water wasn't cold or wasn't warm. It simply was an impossible in between, just there.That was when she saw the girl. Far off, swimming. Her hair flowed behind her, she moved toward Aria with purpose, but unhurried. Graceful,each stroke parted the water effortlessly. Closer she got
Then her arms wrapped around her. The girl hugged her, very tight. As if she had been waiting for her in that water for years, her face pressed into Aria's shoulder, her breath warm against Aria's neck even here, wherever this here was.
The embrace didn't feel unfamiliar.
It felt like being remembered. Aria opened her mouth to speak to ask who, why, what this place was but the girl whispered first:
"Come back." Just like that the water bubbled. The light broke, and the world came to light.