Chapter 38 Flicker
Flicker
Liam’s POV
“Are you sure everything is okay?” I watched Dylan ask the question and watched Vivian’s face fall apart.
“I’m not the one,” she said, almost jumping out of the chair.
Her words were straight up defensive even when nobody was attacking her. Nobody moved or said anything for a moment. Dylan put his fork down slowly. I stayed where I was and looked at her and waited.
“What does that mean?” Dylan asked. “Vivian, What does that mean?”
She opened her mouth and nothing came out. Her hands went to her phone on the table and she pulled it against her chest the way people hold things when they are trying to hide a secret.
Her eyes were moving too fast, between Dylan, me, the door, the window, and back to Dylan.
I teleported to her side in under a second.
She made a sound of shock as the phone left her hands, pulling back from me with her eyes wide, and I understood the shock in her face but I was already looking at the screen, pulling up the messages, scrolling through them. But everything was blank.
Her thread was empty. No incoming messages, no notifications, nothing that matched the expression she had been wearing at the table or the way she had been angling the screen away from Dylan’s line of sight. Either she had deleted it a few seconds ago or she’s not saying something.
“There’s nothing here,” I said.
“What? I just saw a message,” Her voice had changed. The pretense it usually carried was completely gone, stripped back to something underneath that I hadn’t seen from her before. She was genuinely frightened. “Something must be wrong somewhere.”
She took her phone from me and tried scrolling up and down but nothing.
“I’m sure of what I’m saying, how did it disappear.” She said in panic.
“What’s actually going on?” Dylan asked.
“I have been receiving these strange messages lately. Someone has been sending them since three days ago and I believe that they are also stalking me.” She said while biting her fingers.
“Are you sure this is not one of your schemes?” I asked.
“I’m not lying. I saw someone across the street when I went to get this food. The person was just standing behind a tree and watching me. When I noticed they were after me was when he followed me here.”
“Did you see their face?” Dylan asked already walking toward her.
“No, they had a black hoodie on.”
I looked at her for a long moment without saying anything because she seemed to be telling the truth.
“Viv,” Dylan said, and sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulders and she leaned into it with the exhaustion of someone who had been carrying something alone and has finally put it down.
I stood with the phone in my hand and made myself look at everything she was presenting without the filter of everything I already thought about her. Her hand was shaking and that genuine paleness of her face that had replaced her original color. I had to just believe that she was genuinely scared which wasn’t a pretense of distress but real fear.
I put her phone down on the table.
I went to the door and opened my senses outward into the corridor, into the stairwell, down through the building. I ran a full scan, the deep version of power that cost something, pushing my awareness through every layer of the building’s immediate space… But I saw nobody.
I went back inside and closed the door.
“We need to be careful. I didn’t see anyone but that doesn’t mean they won’t try to come back again.” I said and they nodded.
The three of us settled into an uneasy quietness. Vivian stayed close to Dylan on the couch and I stood near the window. I didn’t like the fact that Dylan and Vivian were sitting so close to each other, but I don’t want to add to the problem at hand because of my jealousy. We all watched the room and said very little.
“But what was that?” Vivian asked while turning to look at me.
“What?” Dylan asked.
“The way you moved towards me and grabbed my phone… I don’t get it.” She said.
Dylan looked at me and nodded that I shouldn’t say anything.
“Come on, we are into sport as a profession, we learn everyday how to move with speed. Doesn’t every sportsman do that?” Dylan lied, trying to cover up.
“But…”
“Stop bothering yourself, he’s the team captain, that’s pretty much how professional he is.” Dylan said.
“Okay,” She said, already convinced.
It was afternoon already and we didn’t see anyone or anything strange happening. The person must have found out that we are aware of his doings and decided not to come.
Dylan made tea at some point. Vivian held the cup with both hands.
I was near the kitchen entrance when I heard someone call Dylan’s name. It was so clear and close, coming from inside the apartment. The voice seemed to be everywhere but nowhere in particular. It was exactly the same voice we heard in the hotel.
“Dylan!” The voice called again.
“Did you hear that?” He asked
“Heard what?” Vivian asked.
“Was that one of you?” he asked. His cup halfway to his mouth.
Vivian shook her head, her eyes already wide again.
Dylan put the cup down carefully and looked at the room around him. Then the lights went off. The bulbs cut out all at once and every light in the apartment dropping to nothing. The only source of light was the sun which was gradually fading.
“What’s that?!” Vivian screamed.
“Liam.” Dylan called out my name.
I rushed immediately and grabbed Dylan, holding him tight.
“It’s okay, I’m here.” I said.
I opened every sense I had into the apartment, pushed hard and found nothing. I didn’t feel an extra person producing heat except Dylan and Vivian. Whatever was doing this was doing it from outside the range that I could read… The Blood Hunters.
I was lost in my mind when the front door swung open.
“What’s going on?!” Vivian asked.
“Calm down, nothing bad is going to happen to you, you know that?” I whispered to Dylan.
“Yes.” He said even though he was obviously scared and tightening his grip on my hand.
“So I will let you go now. I will check what’s going on, okay?” I whispered.
“Okay.” He said and let go of my hand.
He went and held Vivian who was already shaking in fear. I walked to the door and put my hand on it and felt nothing on the other side. I pushed it and closed it. I held the handle for a moment before turning back to them.
“I think it’s just the wind.” I said.
We stood in the dark apartment with our eyes on the door and didn’t move. Within an hour, the light came back.
“I think I have to start going.” Vivian said, already standing up to leave.
“I will escort you out. Please be careful.” Dylan said.
He grabbed his jacket and as soon as they reached the door, he stopped walking. His face became pale.
“Dylan, what’s wrong?” Vivian asked.
Then his hand came up and pressed against his chest. His breath caught in his throat and he looked at me with the look of someone whose body was giving up.