I look in the rearview mirror one last time to do a final check on my makeup. After I give myself a small pinch on my cheeks, I touch up my lips with a fresh layer of red lipstick. Red is commonly associated with passion, but it is also a symbol of power.
It feels good to be powerful, and for tonight, I will be.
I decided to live life to the fullest, and this is something I have been wanting to do for weeks.
I don't usually worry so much about how I look before meeting up with Javier, but tonight is the night. I kept pushing it off since I have been busy graduating high school and Javier has been working hard, but those were just excuses to hide my nervousness. Yes, I'm a virgin. It was a personal decision that I made for myself. It certainly wasn't because I'm a saint, but I do want to be confident in my choice of partner.
We have been dating for six months already, and while our chemistry is great, he also has been a great friend and has been fun to be with. So I am looking forward to evening plans that do not include me sleeping alone tonight.
I reach for my backpack in the passenger seat next to me, and carefully lift it out of the vehicle. I bought a couple bottles of wine, candles and I am wearing edible underwear for his desert.
With the backpack securely on, and a quick shimmy to pull my little pink dress down, I lock my car and start to head towards his door.
Javier moved out of his parents house into a one bedroom apartment about eight months ago. He finished high school by doing independent study and working to be able to pay his bills. Outside of his parents thumb, he's been doing pretty well for himself.
Thinking about how proud of him I am puts a small grin on my face as I raise my hand to knock on his door. But right before my knuckles reach the wood, I pause when I hear a sound.
At first all I could hear is a rumbling noise, but it quickly became a deep and long growl. My heart stutters in fear. Is there an animal in his house? When I hear a grunt come from a male, it sounds like someone is in pain. My fight or flight instinct kicked it, because before my brain had caught up to my body, I was crashing through his front door with a warrior's yell and a wine bottle raised above my head ready to take out whatever wild animal has broken into his apartment.
Instead of an animal, what I see has me freezing in place.
Javier is covered in bites and is bleeding...but he's thrusting into a female from behind, who is also covered in bites on her neck. He is moving at such a fast speed, that my thoughts can barely latch onto what I am actually seeing right now.
My consciousness finally makes an appearance as it comes crashing back down to reality right about the time he grunts his release. I realize I am still in my pose with my arms raised and ready for battle, so I suddenly drop the wine bottle which explodes in an impressive display of deep red liquid splashed across the floor. It looks like Pollock painting inspired by too many violent TV shows.
Red. All I see is red.
Red on the floor from the wine I bought for our date. Red like the blood dripping from Javier's bite wounds. Like the red lipstick I wore for him tonight.
Red, like the red haze that is taking over my vision. Disbelief and heartbreak quickly change into rage. My world is tinted in a red rage.
How dare he!
"Shit" he spits out in shock as he removes himself from the female, who turns around to sit on his couch and sneers in my direction. "You're early, babe".
I'm not early, by the way. I clench my fists by my side and say, "I don't know, Jav, now I get to have dinner with a show. But rather than the dinner I had prepared for us, I think I'm going to cut off your balls and feed it to you instead."
His eyes widen and he takes a step back from me. "Don't be like that, Layla".
I scoff, "Don't call me, don't talk to me, don't even think about me. We are done."
I go to turn around and leave, but somehow, Javier is already in front of me before I can take a step. He grabs onto my arm and holds it tightly.
"Don't go! You don't understand!" he shouts frantically.
"Understand?" I hiss, "I understand that you cheated on me. You're weak. There's nothing to discuss!" I am seething now. He flinched at the insult, but I have no sympathy for any discomfort he might be feeling right now.
I try to tug my arm from his grip and step back to the door, but he stops me again.
"No! You don't understand! I couldn't help it. It was...it was instinct and I couldn't think or do anything else. I couldn't control it!"
He's not making any sense, he's incoherent now. I shake my head at him.
"Let. Go." I say tightly, through my clenched teeth.
He shakes his head at me. "No, you can't leave me - not until you listen. It was the bite. She bit me and I lost control."
"Well, I'm glad you found your kink, Javier. I'll leave you two to it then." I try to rip my arm from his hold again, but he must be much stronger than I ever realized because he didn't so much as twitch a muscle in effort to hold me there. Instead, he is gnashing his teeth in what looks like annoyance, like this is my fault! But when I look at his eyes, my heart begins to race and I start to back away from him in earnest.
His normally amber brown eyes start to turn into a golden yellow color that makes him look more beastly than human. I dig my heels in to try and get away from him, but with his unrelenting grip on my arm, my feet slide across the floor covered in the spilled wine. I lose my balance, and start to fall backwards.
He holds me up, though, just by the one arm.
"It's the bite, Layla." He says to me in a low and dangerous voice.
"W-what?" I ask him, my eyes wide in confusion and fear.
He stares at me before deciding on something and nodding his head once slowly. "You'll understand with a bite," he states unnervingly.
Before I can begin to decipher that whammy of a statement, he suddenly pulls the arm he's gripping and lifts my wrist towards his mouth. I begin to protest, but when he opens his mouth to reveal long canines, I start to scream.
It was pointless in the end, though.
Because Javier Knox savagely tore into my wrist like a wild beast.
As a burn traveled up from the bite, through my forearm, past my shoulder and spread to the rest of my body. Heat is licking up my veins, and I feel like I am on fire. I cry out in anguish before my red-tinted vision became swallowed by blackness.
And everything went quiet.