Beneath the Surface

Elena's Point of view:

I woke up to just darkness and the soft sound of someone breathing next to me.

When I tried to move, my body felt overly rigid. Once more, the agony in my side erupted, but this time it felt like something worse.

My hand raced to my side and I gasped at the dampness under my fingertips.I was losing rapid blood.

Still, where was Donovan? The man who had attempted to save me lived where?And then I heard a low, strained, gentle voice just as terror started to chew at me.

Are you conscious? "I turned my head, or tried to, and there in the shadows stood someone I wasn't looking for.I crooned, my throat dry: "Where am I?"I froze as the man advanced.

For it was him. One individual I had been attempting to overlook. But there he was, his too kind, too knowing smile freezing my blood.

Then he spoke the worst thing I could have imagined hearing.

"You ought to have stayed out of this, Elena. It's too late to turn back now."I battled to keep my eyes open as the veil of suffering distorted my thinking.

My body protested, each breath short as if the planet itself were attempting to crush me. The man's form crept nearer, his silhouette becoming more clear in the low room light.

"You're not going to make it out of here," his voice sounded like gravel, coarse and sarcastic.

You never ought to have crossed me.I tried to talk, defend myself, but my throat felt raw, too dry.

Desperate to force myself up, my hand extended toward the shadow form, but the agony in my side brought a wave of vertigo over me.

I stopped thinking.

I lacked the quick enough mobility.

Every second seemed to last an eternity as my own mistake sank in.

From behind, the sound of feet reverberated, slow and intentional.

I hardly had time to detect the change in the air when a cold, steel grasp seized my arm and yanked me upward.

The guy hissed, pushing something hard into my chest, "don't even think about it".

Clearly cold metal from a pistol.When a door behind me exploded open, I hardly had time to react, the sound startling and deafening.

My head whirled around, terror starting in my chest. Then another dark and powerful man emerged from the doorway.

"Let her go," the new voice said, with unquestionable conviction.

The man clutching me tightened his hold, his chuckle resounding in the little space.

And should I not, what would you do?“Like stillness before a storm, I could sense the obvious tension in the air.

The man at the door stepped nearer, his face partly hidden by darkness, but his voice was unmistakable, relentless.

With a dangerously aggressive tone, he replied, "I will make you regret it.

"As the two guys squared up, my heart hammered in my ears and I became stuck in the center, a piece in a game I cannot grasp.

The pistol pushed harder into my ribcage, a frigid reminder of how flimsy my life had become in this warped game.

The tension was broken suddenly by the ring of a phone. The man gripping me tensely looked across at the gadget on the table.

My spine shivered with cold.

Something about that sound, something wrong about the circumstances, made my blood stop cold.

Someone may be phoning right now. And why was he particularly tense?The voice in the doorway urged, low and menacing, "answer it.

"The pistol pressed on me even more, and I heard the muted click of the phone answered, but the words on the other end froze my heart.

"You're not just looking for her.

"Every phrase revealed a menace; the voice was strange, deep and evil.

"Who the devil are you?"The man clutching me insisted, his voice tinged with rage.

The speaker only laughed, though, and I shivered along with her.

"You will find out shortly enough.

But be cautioned... Plans for her are not just yours.

Others have as well.The man clutching me trembled, eyes darting to mine in something nearly like terror. The gun fell slightly, but the room's tension just rose.

"Who is this?" he insisted once more, but the connection fell dead.I gasped as his words sank in.

"You're not safe anymore," he said, black eyes reflecting something far more perilous than simple wrath.

" None of us are."I felt a cold, immediate terror and heard a loud bang, a shot, echoing in the quiet as he turned to go.

I stopped the instant his mouth touched my ear. Except for my heart's quick pounding, the room was silent, loud in the abrupt calm.

"Don't say a word, but I need you to listen very carefully," he said.His warm breath shivered down my spine against my flesh.

Thick and oppressive, I could sense the tension in the air as if everything had led to one, intolerable moment.

Though I wanted to talk, scream, get away from his touch, but I couldn’t.

His words imprisoned me, rendered useless by something more than just terror.

It was the way his presence permeated every thought, the way his proximity made the air feel weighty, as though every instant was guiding me toward something I couldn't flee.

"Why?" I said at last, my voice faltering with confusion.

"Why do you always make walking away so difficult?

"His eyes dark and impenetrable, he moved back just enough for me to glimpse his face in the low light. Though barely discernible, a small, almost invisible smile pulled at his lips, there was nothing whimsical about it.

It was a warning, one I wasn't sure I understood.

"You don't get to walk away," he said in a cool yet harsh glass-like voice.

Not this time. My pulse sped in reaction as my heart missed a beat.

For the emotions whirling between us, the room felt too little. Though my feet were locked to the floor, my body was screaming at me to go.

With my voice almost above a whisper, the weight of my own words crushing me, "I don't want this, Dominic," I whispered.

"I can't keep living like this.

"His eyes clouded, and he moved another step forward, his presence overpowering.

"You're not running anymore," he murmured in a low, dangerously personal voice.

"You think you can, but I won't let you.

"Though everything inside me knew it was useless, every fiber of my being wanted to rebel against the grip he held on me.

His hold on me was not only tactile.

It appealed to psychology as well as emotions.

Until there was no more place for anything except him, the years of twisted lies and twisted yearning had curled around my heart.

Shaky breathing, swallowing the knot in my throat, "You don't control me," I yelled back, but even I doubted the words.

His eyelids closed and the familiar blackness flickered behind them.

He was experiencing a deadly sort of peace, and I knew I would not be able to fight this.

"You think you're the only one who's been caught in this game?" he questioned, his voice edged with coldness.

"You believe I alone am pulling the strings?"I knew not what to say.

His comments hung in the air, laden with a truth I wanted not to accept. What actual knowledge of him did I possess? Regarding ourselves?

The door behind me crashed open with such power before I could respond, echoing off the walls.

Heart beating in my chest, I whirled about.

"Dominate! a voice came out, crisp with power.

"Step away from her."

The man who walked into the room was strange; his face was chilly and inscrutable.

I naturally backed off, my breath stopping in my throat.

Turning to meet the newcomer, Dominic's lips curled into something nasty and quite predatory.

"And who the hell are you?"