I looked between Aveline to Xander and back again as they led me down the hall with me in between them. They only glanced at me, probably feeling my stare on them. I was just so happy to have people around me besides the kitchen staff lady. Plus, they weren’t bad to look at. In fact, they were actually a very cute couple. I nudged against Xander’s arm to try to get his attention, but he only flashed me a wink before continuing in silence. I sighed.

“Where were you two?” I asked curiously and pretty loudly. Just in case they didn’t hear me over their silent treatment.

“We had to guest at another coterie for a few days,” Aveline answered while Xander remained somber. She looked at me briefly, her eyes glancing over to Xander. “It wasn’t pleasant.”

“Did someone die?” I inquired in a hushed voice.

Xander scoffed. “I wish.”

Aveline met my confused expression and rolled her eyes. “It was the Bennett Coterie. Their territory is back in Chicago. Vincent had to play nice in order to make up for his attack on Jacobi during the gathering,” She finally explained. Now I knew why they weren’t in the best of moods. “By nice, I of course mean he apologized briefly to Jacobi and we had to bear his presence for five nights until Jacobi felt a battle wasn’t going to be necessary.”

“The only reason Vincent wouldn’t agree to a battle is because he knows he’d lose unless Jacobi wasn’t paying any attention,” Xander then flashed me his charming smile. “Even then, he apparently can’t win. Not with our little tiger watching.”

I felt odd at the statement. If I had been someone who didn’t know better, I’d think I was some sort of bodyguard waiting to protect people. When in truth it was just a mistake, one which had almost cost me my life.

We reached a set of doors, not the same double doors I had known to be an exit, but a new set which when opened I realized led outside as well. I hesitated when Xander stepped outside and Aveline waited with the door opened for me to walk through. For a moment, I just stood there in confusion. Were they really allowing me to go outside… into the actual darkness with nothing above me but clouds, sky, and stars?

“Come on, Elysia,” Aveline coaxed, waving her hand, “We’re not teasing you.”

Assured that I wasn’t being led into some sort of trap, I stepped through the doors and onto the cement pathway that led to the left and right following the building walls. There was a third path made of trampled dirt leading straight into what looked like a forest of thick trees. I looked up, blinking at the black sky sparkling with bright stars. We had to be far from a city. New Jersey didn’t have such bright stars in the highly populated areas.

The wind blew lightly, a pleasant cooling sensation in the warmth of the midsummer night. The trees moved with it. I felt like I wanted to roll around on the grass. I’d seen dogs on walks do that often. Maybe this is what I was: a dog on a walk. I swallowed a lump in my throat, feeling both joyful at being outside but mournful knowing it wasn’t true freedom.

“Elysia,” Xander called to my quiet musings. I blinked and looked at him. He gestured to the trees. “You can go. Not… go go.” He quickly corrected himself, preventing my hope from soaring at false words. “You can explore, is what I mean. We won’t follow.” I looked at the trees and back at him before glancing at Aveline, who nodded in agreement.

“Go on. Spend however long you want out here. We’ll know where you are now,” She said easily, but obviously was tense about it. I wondered if she worried I would try to get away. Or maybe she was worried I’d get hurt still.

“When it’s time for you to come back, if you haven’t come back, we’ll come get you,” Xander told me, “If you get lost, call for us and we’ll hear it. If you get into trouble, we’ll feel it. You’re ours now.” He gently brushed his thumb over my cheek at the claim. Again, I felt myself at war with what I had agreed to. I didn’t exactly want to belong to anyone, but I knew it was for a good reason.

I backed away from his touch and cast another look at Aveline before stepping onto the dirt path. I only hesitated as far as I could see them, but when I turned around to see trees blocking my view of them, I felt a sudden feeling of elation. It was something very close to freedom, but not quite the same. When looking at the forest terrain in front of me, I was glad I had put on a pair flats, though sneakers would probably work better. I wasn’t as glad that I only had on a light pink casual lace summer dress. My legs and arms would no doubt get messed up by wild limbs. At least I didn’t react to poison ivy…

All these things began to not matter as much. The dirt path faded into nothing ahead of me, but I still began to speed up. I looked up at the ceiling of branches and leaves, unable to see the defining features of each tree in the darkness. It wasn’t so black that I couldn’t see a thing, though. The moon was high in the sky, helping me through the cracks of the trees.

I wanted to run. It was a strange feeling. I was Elysia. I never want to run. But right now, I wanted to run through the trees. It reminded me of my dream. I began sprinting through the trees, avoiding roots sticking up from the ground and low limbs. As I ran, I felt something building around me. It was like electricity in the air, charged with each thud of my feet on the forest floor. I ran faster, wanting to know what it was.

Then, like a switch, I heard it. I felt it. That power. That low note that called to me. As if I were some starved animal catching the scent of prey, my thoughts shut down and instinct took over. I moved through the trees at such a speed that I felt I was flying. I didn’t let the fear catch up, though. I only chased whatever it was… that power. And whatever it was, it knew I was coming. I could feel it running away from me, but I didn’t know why. All I knew was at this rate I would catch up to it.

My breath was nonexistent as I raced through the trees. My heart was pounding loudly, begging me to run faster. Even though I didn’t think I could, I did. I leaped over a log, feeling whatever it was that called to me turn sharply to the left as if trying to lose me. It didn’t faze me at all. I followed rapidly, determined beyond my own understanding.

I stopped abruptly when I burst into a clearing that revealed a breathtaking sight. The call died away promptly at my distraction. It was a garden, with delicately placed bushes and flowers in a careful design. There was a path through the middle that led to a large lake. And throughout the garden were man-sized figures of what looked like statues. I stared only for a moment, then began to step forward to inspect closer. My view was blocked by a body quite suddenly, causing me to jump back startled.

Jacobi stood there, his eyes narrowed and his body tense to the point that I could have been convinced he was one of the statues in the garden. He was wearing what could have been the remains of a suit, only now it was just dark dress pants and a white t-shirt. At first, I didn’t feel fear. Perhaps it was because I considered myself unable to be harmed with my new claim over me. Or maybe it was because I had just run through the forest at supernatural speed and left my brain behind. Either way, I only blinked at him for a moment before I realized that he was the Master, meaning he very much could harm me if he wished.

Still, I tried to reign in any fear that was creeping in. I didn’t want to bring Aveline or Xander out here and get them in trouble as well.

“You were… hunting me,” Jacobi said suddenly, the accusation profoundly confusing me. Hunting him? I don’t hunt anybody. I blinked, tilting my head with confusion. My mom had always said when I was confused, my nose wrinkled and it amused her. Jacobi didn’t look too amused.

“No,” I responded finally, deciding this was a viable answer.

“You were. I sensed you and when I tried to avoid you, you followed,” He accused further. I was grateful that he wasn’t imposing his body further on me by snatching me and trying to hurt me like he usually did. I wasn’t so comfortable being told I had been chasing him through the forest. I huffed at the thought.

“I was… I felt…” I stumbled over my own explanation, not understanding it myself. I looked down and to the side almost guiltily. The way I chased that… whatever it was… it was very accurate to call it hunting. “I didn’t mean to. I felt…” I sighed in frustration.

I felt his presence moving closer to me. I looked up quickly. He was partially reaching to touch me, but obviously hesitating.

“Can I?” Jacobi asked deeply, his hand hovering in front of me. I was stunned. Was he asking permission to touch me? Was Jacobi actually asking me permission to do something? Who was this man in front of me? What did he do to the real Jacobi?

“I- uh… sure,” I stuttered.

His hand lightly touched my hair on the side of my face, trailing it down below my chin and to my shoulder. As he did this, he stepped closer, nearly aligning his body with mine. His fingers brushed against my skin, his touch hot to my flesh and raising an unexplainable blush to my face. While concerned with why I reacted this way, I didn’t notice his other arm had slid around me until I felt his hand raising up my back and stopping just below my shoulder blades.

Jacobi then moved me closer to him, his eyes intensely staring down where his fingers touched my hair. The feel of his hand on my back and my body pressed softly against his was too confusing. It had all happened too quickly. My heart was pulsing faster in my chest, but I still didn’t feel fear spill into my veins. Instead, it was just heat. I felt like my entire body was turning into a fire as red as the hair in Jacobi’s hands.

He suddenly moved the hair from my shoulder and then I had to feel the heat intensify when his fingers brushed over what I knew was the mark where Xander had bitten me. He moved to look at my other shoulder and I tilted my head to appease him. I wanted to get this over with as fast as possible before I had a heart attack.

After he had inspected Aveline’s bite, I expected him to move away, but he kept me close to him. I waited a moment before I finally brought my eyes to his face. What I saw there confused me. Was he angry? Or hungry? Or something else? His eyes caught mine and those citrine brown orbs burned into mine intensely. I was completely startled by how bright they looked in the moonlight. If ever there was a moment to stare slack-jawed, now would be it.

“Can I ask you a personal question?” Jacobi’s voice was rough with unsaid words. At the moment, I would have given anything to know what was going through his mind. What was it that made him look at me like that?

“I guess,” I answered in slow wonder.

“Did you…” He paused, I guess hoping I would understand what he was asking. Instead, I blankly stared at him. “Did you… you know? With them? When they…”

I paled. And then a blush came back with a vengeance. I turned my eyes away in embarrassment. “No, I didn’t have sex with them,” I responded sharply. I knew I had given him permission to ask me a personal question, but what was it to him? Was he some kind of pervert or something? “Could you, I don’t know, let me go?” He was too close. I was getting more and more confused by my body’s reaction to him as time passed. It already didn’t make sense that I had chased him through a forest on whim.

“Can I try one more thing?” I really didn’t think my heart could handle one more thing. But when I looked back into his enthralling eyes, I felt like maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.

“One more thing,” I submitted quietly. With my permission, his face settled into a deep determination. He raised his hand again, his hesitation spilling into his expression as he paused with it in front of me. I held my breath, not understanding why he looked so determined but feeling the intensity throughout my body.

Jacobi moved his hand closer to me slowly, as if he wasn’t meaning to actually touch me. It was then that I felt that familiar static in the air; a low hum as powerful as it was enrapturing. Only it was very different this time. This time, whatever it was, it was coming towards me. Then I felt it. That chill of electricity as whatever it was touched me. Only it wasn’t my flesh it touched. It was a part of me I couldn’t see or normally feel.

I inhaled sharply, feeling the static of the power move over my body in such a pleasant and demanding way that I felt like I could live in it forever. I knew then. I knew whatever it was, it was coming from him. I raised my own hand, lifting it to align in front of Jacobi’s, who was staring in complete wonder at my body. When my hand was aligned, I could touch it as well, caressing against me like it had been looking for me its entire life. It begged me to do more than touch it. It begged me to become enveloped in it, to become one with it.

Jacobi suddenly stepped away from me. I stumbled, feeling like I had been dropped into a void of darkness and reality. I was left panting, but I knew from Jacobi’s current expression that I wasn’t the only one who was stunned by whatever had happened.

“What was that?” I gasped, breathless from the encounter. My body was still on fire, as though any small touch would send me roiling into the flames of Hell. And it would feel so good at this point.

“It can’t. It’s impossible,” Jacobi was talking to himself, purposely avoiding looking at me. And then without further hesitation he was gone. I stared blankly at where he had previously been. Then I growled in frustration, nearly stomping my foot on the ground. How can somebody do something like whatever it was he had done and then just poof off into the abyss without a word of explanation? How was I supposed to not go insane after that?

How was I supposed to know what any of this meant?

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That's right! I call this: Double Post Derpday!!!

Feel free to express your confusion, love, hatred, and guesses. I don't get offended. ^^