Torn Between Souls

DRINK

We drove for over an hour. I had asked questions, but Matteo wouldn’t answer. He just stared stoically at the road. Did he seem...angry?

We were on the highway, and I knew we were going towards Washington. I tried to pay attention to the mile markers, but he was driving so fast, I couldn’t.

“Will you please just tell me what the hell is going on, and where you are taking me?” I finally said, my own anger bubbling over.

Matteo let out a low growl, almost inaudible, and slowed down slightly, before thumping the steering wheel with his hand, “Could you not just stay out of trouble for a whole week?”

He had practically yelled at me. I leaned against the passenger door, and glared at him, “What the hell are you talking about?! My life was normal until you and that stupid wolf showed up at the park!”

He laughed darkly, “Showed up? If I wouldn’t have been following you, you have been killed by that wolf in that forest. And if I hadn’t been there today, who knows what that wolf brute would have done to you?!”

“Wolf brute? James? He may be an ass, but he isn’t a wolf? What the hell are you talking about?” I yelled back.

“Oh come on Rose, think about it. You get attacked by a wolf in the middle of the night? Your boss gets aggressive with you, and comments on how I smell? Put two and two together why don’t you!”

My face paled, “Where are you taking me?”

My voice was small, frightened, and I saw his face soften slightly. He glanced over at me with those emerald green eyes.

“Somewhere safe,” he said, his voice calmer, “Until we can figure out exactly what is going on.”

I went quiet and turned my back to him as much as I could. My mind was battling. It felt like something was there, pressing, tugging, fighting against a wall in my head, and it was exhausting. For over a week, I had been questioning things, convinced I was losing my mind, and maybe I was, but maybe, just maybe, if this strange, lovely man was concerned about it, I wasn’t.

Which meant the real danger wasn’t in my head, but outside of it,

I felt the hair on the back of my neck stand up, just seconds before white-hot fingers rested on my shoulder.

“You should sleep. We have a ways to go, and you are going to need it,” he said softly, and then his hand was gone.

I fell asleep watching the trees race by, and missing his touch.

------------

When I awoke, we were pulling into a brightly lit garage. A man was standing inside that seemed to be waiting for us. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, as Matteo parked. He stepped out of the car, and spoke a few words to the gentleman in a low voice, before rounding to my side of the car and opening the door. He extended his hand. Tentatively, I took it.

As soon as I was safely out of the car, Matteo dropped my hand.

“Follow me,” he said firmly.

We walked to the opposite side of the garage, and into an elevator, where he pushed a few buttons.

“Where are we?” I asked softly, avoiding my ringing voice in the small elevator.

“My office. In Olympia. There is a place for you to stay here,” he said calmly. Before I could ask another question, the elevator door opened to a large office space.

To the far left, there was a fully enclosed glass area that read “Laboratory” on its door, and to the right of that, a long conference room that ran along the far windows. There a was a few people working in office spaces throughout the room, and a large office to the right, which I was guessing was Matteo's.

A shorter, dark-haired man with glasses who was wearing a lab coat appeared. He has a small smile on his face, but his brow was creased with worry.

“Christian, this is Rose Peirce. Have a room prepared for her, and then get Cleo and Celeste, and meet us in the conference room.”

The young man nodded quickly, and gave me a nod as well, “Nice to meet you, Rose,” he said before skittering off.

I smiled softly and gave him a little wave.

“Come,” Matteo said, his fingers on my elbow again as he led me towards the conference room.

Once inside, a young woman came in and set down a few pitchers of water, and cups, before excusing herself. Matteo poured me a glass and set it in front of me, his eyes staring at me intently, “Drink.”

I hesitated.

“I’m not going to poison you. I can tell you are dehydrated. Drink.”

My lips tightened into a thin line at the mention of poison, and I took a few small sips from the glass of water. Before long, two similar-looking blonde women entered the room. One had long hair, that touched almost the small of her back as mine did, and the other had hers chopped short. Otherwise, the differences between them were minute, and besides that, they were both drop-dead gorgeous.

Christian followed into the room before long and everyone took a seat.

“This is Cleo, and Celeste,” Matteo started, “Two of my most trusted employees. And you’ve already met Christian.”

I nodded softly and managed a meek smile. Both the women across from me gave me friendly grins, but their eyes flickered with concern between me and Matteo. I couldn’t help but wonder why.

The room was quiet. Nobody said anything. I’m halfway convinced nobody breathed until finally, Cleo piped up.

“You shouldn’t have brought her here. Jeremy will be mad.”

“f**k Jeremy,” Matteo spat, “He hasn’t taken this seriously enough. And none of you will breathe a word to him.”

Celeste answered, “Then why did you bring her here.”

Followed by Cleo, “She puts us all in danger.”

Matteo’s fist hit the table with nearly enough power to break it, “SHE was in DANGER, “he yelled at them.

Both the women sat back in their seats. With a curious brow, Cleo continued, “What happened?”

Matteo sighed, “The wolves are getting more brazen. After I killed the pup in the park last week, several more have flooded town. And not just the wolves.”

“You’re kidding,” Cleo said, her eyes wide, “Not witches."

Matteo nodded darkly, and a laugh bubbled out of me. And another. Everyone in the room was staring at me, and laughter continued to bubble up and out. But no one else laughed. No one smiled. The room was grim.

My laughter subsided, and I looked around, perplexed. What is going on?

Matteo sighed again, and this time when he spoke, his voice was thicker, an accent I detected.

“Witches, Rose, are real. As are the werewolves hunting you. More so, I believe you are a witch. A strong one.”

I shook my head, flabbergasted, “No, no, no, I’m a nurse. I don’t have any magic potions cooking up in a cauldron in my apartment.”

“I saw what you did in the water today,” Matteo said, his voice hard, but his eyes on mine were soft.

A blush rose across my face. He had been on the beach. I wasn’t crazy. And that meant...he saw what I did in the water, the droplets hanging in the air, the stillness.

“Werewolves are real and vicious. They are strong and can hide their wolf identities from the real world easily. They can shapeshift from one form to the other with hardly a flick of their wrist, and they are extremely unstable,” Matteo continued, “Witches are real. They are not the pointy hatted, curly toed creatures you’re thinking of. They pull their strength, their magic from nature. And they can be dangerous too. Horribly.

He paused for a moment, and then gestured to the women in the room, who barred their teeth, “And myself, and Celeste, and Cleo, we are vampires. As are many others. Wicked fast, strong, and most of all, dangerous.”

My breath caught in my throat as I looked closer at Cleo and Celeste. Their teeth seemed to move, their canines lengthening, and tapering to a point, as their blue eyes flickered with red. Before I could blink, it was over, and their mouths were closed. I outwardly breathed as I realized I had been staring in fear of them.

Matteo leaned forward, “And most of all, for some reason, they all want you.”

I met his eyes, my mouth hanging open, and a tear stumbled it’s way down my cheek. I swear I saw a pang of sadness in Matteo's eyes as well, and then it was gone.

“No,” I breathed.

“Yes,” replied Matteo.

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No.”

“Yes,” Matteo said, moving a glass of water towards me.

“NO!” I screamed, flinging my hand out in front of me and forcing my eyes shut as tears began to stream down my face. Everything went quiet.

After a moment, I opened my eyes and looked to where my hand was pointing. All of the water from my cup, and all the pitchers on the table, hung in the air. There were droplets suspended everywhere. Celeste and Cleo looked impressed and...afraid? Christian was furiously scribbling in a notebook, and Matteo, Matteo just looked at me with a sad smile.

“If you wanted rain, you could have just gone outside,” he said softly.

I breathed in sharply and clutched my hand to my chest. All the water in the room instantly fell, wetting all of us lightly. I stood up quickly and backed away from the group at the table, Matteo stood and took a step towards me.

I put my hand out again, no water this time, as tears fell down my cheeks, “Don’t touch me.”

Matteo growled softly, and took another step forward, “Rose, calm down.”

“No! Stop!” I yelled at him, moving further away, the tears in my eyes threatening to overwhelm me, “I want to go home! Now!”

“Rose, it isn’t..”

“I want to go home, NOW!” I yelled back into his face.

Again, a look of pain twinged across his face, but then his face went hard again. Cleo and Celeste looked surprised when Matteo said, “I’ll arrange a driver.”

I instantly turned on my heel and strode out of the conference room, running to the elevator and jabbing the button repeatedly until it opened, and then again as I tried to force it to close.

In the garage, there was a limousine waiting, a man holding open the door for me. I frowned at the auspicious vehicle, shook my head, and got in. Anything to get away from these people, I thought to myself. The driver closed the door and started driving, and the waterworks arrived. I cried-hard. Ugly crying in the back of Matteo Volantin’s high-end limo. I could almost laugh at myself.

The drive home was long, and I spent most of it crying. At some point, the driver has asked if I needed anything, and I had shouted at him. I felt awful.

When we arrived, he opened the door for me, and I stared up at my apartment building, confused, discouraged, and upset. I gave him a meek smile and apologized before finding my way upstairs, into my bed. I shed my clothes, crawled under the covers, and tried to disappear into sleep.