CHAPTER 11 : This Is The Hunt

Jealousy burned through me like a poison eating away at my soul.

When Abby and I had arrived at the party, it was already in full swing. The house blared with upbeat music, that seemed to come from all sides. It's base pulsing so harshly that it seemed to take over my body, disrupting the normal rhythm of my heart. We entered through the front door and found ourselves in what seemed like the living area. The room was dimly lit and filled to the brim with teenagers. Some were dancing, some chatting and some playing games, but all of them were drinking. The stench of alcohol and body odor wafted through the room. The sheer scent of it was nauseating.

Most of them were in customs, but lucky for me I wasn't the only one wearing normal clothes. Even Abby wasn't in a custom. She wore a knee length ivory dress, her strawberry blonde hair tied in a messy bun and her feet were fitted into black boots with a four inch heel. She looked beautiful.

My eyes scanned the room looking for Adrian but I hadn't spotted him. I assumed that he just hadn't arrived yet. Abby and I wandered around the party. I stayed away from the drinks, for obvious reasons. Abby wasn't so cautious, she grabbed a red solo cup from a table. Though she had promised to keep the drinking to a minimum, seeing as she was the one driving. I wasn't worried, Abby wasn't the kind of girl to get wasted at a party.

Eventually we bumped into Paige, Brent and Oscar. They were hauled up in the kitchen, where a game of beer pong was taking place.

"You made it!" Paige yelled over the music as she pulled both Abby and I into a quick embrace.

"Hi Paige," Abby greeted.

"Don't tell me Adrian is not here," Paige said incredulously.

"I'm sure he's around somewhere," Abby said.

The pulsing music, crowded room and stench of alcohol were making me a little too uncomfortable. Abby seemed to be enjoying herself. She was laughing with Oscar. As they joined in on the game of beer pong. After twenty minutes of awkwardly standing in a corner I decided I needed to take a break.

"I'm going to the bathroom, I'll be back soon," I told her before I slipped out of the room.

Paige's house was huge, I wandered for a while with no luck. I rounded the corner and that's when I saw them. My heart contracted painfully in that moment. Something burned hot inside me that I immediately recognized. Jealousy. And it hurt worse that a million stubbed toes. Watching her lips firmly pressed against his, my heart sunk. My world crumbled. My face paled and I struggled to breath.

Noticing my presence, Adrian pulled away from Lily and stared wide eyed at me, like a deer caught in headlights.

"Um, uh—I'm sorry. I-I was just looking for the bathroom," I stuttered nervously rubbing the back of my neck.

"Mark—" Adrian spoke but I didn't allow him to finish.

"I think I need air," I backed away heading for the patio. There were a couple kids seated by the patio, I walked past them heading towards the woods. I kept walking, battling the tears that threatened to spill. I had no idea why I was acting this way. I saw it coming. It was only a matter of time before Lily made her move. I knew it was coming but it still hurt.

I walked deep into the woods, forcing myself to stop when I feared I would get lost. I plopped down onto the trunk of a fallen tree. I dropped my face into my hands as I let out a heavy sigh. Maybe I really shouldn't have come.

"Mark," I lifted my head to find Adrian standing before me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked exasperatedly, folding my hands over my chest.

"You just took off, I was worried about you."

"I'm fine," I huffed "you can go back to Lily, now." I hadn't meant for the bite in my words but they were out before I could stop them.

Adrian settled next to me on the fallen tree. He didn't speak for a moment, instead he stared right at me. I jerked my gaze away, afraid he'd somehow figured out why I was so upset by just looking into my eyes.

"I don't like her," he simply stated.

"Then why were you kissing her?" I regretted the question the moment I uttered it. It was absolutely not my place. He was allowed to kiss whoever he wanted. I had no right to behave the way I was. But the knowledge of that didn't stop me.

"She kissed me," he explained and those words, three words, reignited a spark inside me. A spark of futile hope. I immediately tried to snuff it out.

"Why wouldn't you? She's pretty, and smart and she's really nice," I was making her case for for her and I hated myself for it. But it was necessary. I needed to point out all the things she was, all the things I could never be, all the things that he should like that I wasn't.

"Yeah, but I'm kinda into someone else," the world froze. I tried not to read into his words, he definitely meant someone who wasn't me. But when he scooted closer to me, my breath hitched and I swear I was going to collapse when our knees were touching.

"Oh," I said lamely, as my body tingled.

He inched closer to me. His pine and cinnamon scent engulfed me and I lost all sense. My mind turned into pudding. He was too close, it sent every nerve in my body on fire. But the moment he leaned closer and set his lips on mine I combusted. His lips merged with mine. And I swear I saw whole planets explode. His lips were soft and smooth as they devoured mine. I melted into him, giving into bliss.

Adrian North was kissing me. And it was beyond heaven. Beyond anything known to man. It was a million stars imploding at the same time, galaxies being born, a collision between two worlds. It was the chaos of creation, the beauty of destruction, It was bliss and I reveled in it. My lips moved with his as I attempted to mimic his movement. I hoped that my lips didn't convey too much of my inexperience.

By the time we pulled away, my lips were swollen and tingling. We were both out of breath. He kept his hand against my neck as we pressed our foreheads against each other, our breaths mingling.

"I like you," he breathed before his lips were pressed against mine, in a softer kiss.

"I like you too," I pecked his lips "a lot." I blushed, however under the pale glow of the moon it was barely visible.

I was in love with this moment. It was beyond surreal. I had the urge to pinch myself, just to make sure I wasn't dreaming. This was just too amazing. It was bliss on steroids. It was flying through clouds, I never wanted to come down.

But then a twig snapped, jerking my attention. I leaned away from Adrian, "Did you hear that?" I asked as I got to my feet, Adrian followed suit. The previously existing atmosphere rippled as the sound of something with heavy feet approached us. It snapped twigs and crunched dry tree leaves with every step.

"Stay behind me," Adrian ordered as a feral snarl resounded through the woods.

"What was that?" I barely got the words out before a humanoid beast leapt from the cover of trees and stood in front of us. It stood at seven feet, elongated sharp claws decking each hand, barred teeth and terrifying red eyes. It's skin was scaly and black. It reeked of sulfur. Petrified, a numbing chill went down my spine. This couldn't be real.

"Run!" Adrian yelled and instinct took over. I was fleeing through the woods in a matter of seconds. Adrian ran beside me as we dodged tree branches and our feet bet against dead tree leaves. The beast was hot on our tails. It moved quickly, barreling behind us.

We ran as if our very lives depended on it and they very well did. I ran until my legs felt like jelly. They ached for me to stopped, but powered by adrenaline and fear I kept on. It wasn't until the beast gained on us and leapt in front of us, that my knees buckled and I fell to the ground. Adrian was beside me in a second helping me back to my feet.

It drew it's mouth back in a snarl. I took a sharp breath as it circled us. We stood still hoping it would leave. No such luck existed. It made a lunge for me, grabbing hold of my forearm and I screamed as it tried to haul me onto its shoulder. Adrian grabbed hold of my other arm and pulled me towards him. The beast was stronger and easily jerked me away from his grasp. It tossed my body to the side before it went to attack Adrian.

It swung it's arm, throwing Adrian two feet into the air before he landed with a painful thump on the ground. I cried out as his body remained unmoving. My scream resounded through the woods for a brief second before it was lost to the wind.

A loud gulp sounded through me as the hell beast turned its focus on me. It stalked towards me and I scooted backwards, trying to escape the beast but my back hit the truck of a tree, the bark digging into my back telling me I couldn't go any further.

I shut my eyes tightly begged to the goddess to wake up from this nightmare. That's what it was, a bad dream. Monsters weren't real. But when I opened my eyes it was still there. It hovered over me mere inches from my being.

Its growl sent pins sticking into every nerve in my body. I was going to die. It's breath reeked of burnt flesh. It's drool was slimy as it dripped onto my thigh burning through my jean and into my flesh. I couldn't even scream, petrified, my voice was lost in my throat.

It dug it's claws into my arm tearing into my flesh and I screamed a loud agonizing cry, as it hauled me over it's shoulder. I kicked and screamed to no avail. It was going to kill me. Painful tears trickled down my cheeks as braced myself for the end.

"Let him go," Adrian fearlessly stood in front of the beast.

The beast dropped my body like a rag doll and I landed painfully on the ground. It turned its attention back on Adrian. I screamed for it to stop but it was too late, it charged for him. Adrian stood his ground only to duck out of the way, within inches from being smacked down. The beast crushed into a tree with a loud thwack.

Adrian was by my side helping me to my feet in a matter of seconds. My legs were shaky and I held onto him to keep from toppling over.

The beast rose with a ferocious roar. It glared us down before it started charging. Adrian jumped in front of me.

"Stay behind me," he commanded and I was more than inclined to obey.

His hands glowed white in the seconds before he blasted the beast. It burst into ashes that dissipated within seconds.

"A-Adrian," my voice shook as I stared stupefied at his still glowing hands. They were encased in a misty glowing white light before it flicked off.

Unable to hold myself up any longer, I let my frail body crumble onto the ground as unconsciousness weighed over me. The last thing I saw before I drifted off into the black abyss were green colored eyes staring into my foggy grey ones.

"You're going to be okay," his words drifted over me, lost to a sea of exhaustion.