The bathroom door was pushed open, and beneath the stall one could see sleek black shoes that didn't belong to any woman despite it being the women's restroom. They stopped in the middle stall, leaning against the counter sink waiting, only the tap-tap-tapping of a finger on marble. "Come out, come out, wherever you are." An old rasp of a voice echoed out. "Take all the time you need."
Initially she'd thought Alaric had followed her into the women's bathroom and was prepared to tell him where and what he could do with his so-called kind words, when an unfamiliar voice taunted her. They sounded older.
The man was probably just confused or maybe he misplaced his own date. If it was going anything like hers, well, she couldn't blame the woman for running away.
They were standing between her and the only way out though. Something told her this wasn't a senile mistake but someone trying to get the better of her. They had another thing coming.
Ari wouldn't be some sitting duck for the taking. She reached down to slip off both her heels, brandishing them both like knives while pushing open the bathroom stall slowly. "Listen. I don't know who you are or why you're here but you need to leave. Now." For emphasis she pointed the sharp end of her heel at him. Slowly, stepping around him closer and closer to the door.
"I wanted to make sure you were okay. I saw what happened. I'm. The co-owner of this restaurant here ." The man smiled, lips wrinkled yet in an all too perfect manner. In his right hand was a long silver cane with the head of a wolf.
When he pushed off the counter, he put all his weight on it. "Would you like me to compensate you for his rudeness?" Those eyes were so dark, they were an endless abyss of grief and misery.
He stepped forward, grey hair elegantly parted on the sides of his head with a swoop curl matching that of the vintage Era.
When he moved forwards she moved back making sure to keep distance between them. The man seemed outwardly friendly but there was something unsettling about his demeanor. "I'm fine. There's no use in compensating for something I never paid for, although I appreciate the offer." Her makeshift weapons from her shoes now seemed silly so she lowered them.
Even if he was a creep, he was still an old man. There would be no satisfaction in whacking him with a good one. God forbid she accidentally breaks his hip or something.
"Thank you for checking on me but I'm fine. I should probably head back now. He'll be looking for me." Ari smiled a bit hesitant, hoping that would be the end of the encounter. Was this why she'd been told to stick close? In case of some weird situation like this? If only he would explain things or say things a little better then maybe this wouldn't have happened.
Now she'd made a fool of herself in front of the co-owner. Surely there'd be talk and rumors about the savage commoner that Mr. Draconis had so kindly treated to dinner before she went rabid and threatened some poor old man. The owner no less. "I'm really sorry about the misunderstanding. I'll go now if you don't mind."
"Uh, Uh, Uh, Uh." The gray haired man said in an antagonizing voice. Every crack and every low tone hit in all the wrong places as he extended his silver cane with the wolf head out, blocking her path and pressing it to her chest roughly. "And where exactly did Mr. Draconis meet you?" His white brow lifted, a bit too high towards his hairline.
Removing the cane from her chest, he swung it underneath and hooked the cane's curved head at the heel of her ankle, pulling her down onto her back. "You must be important for him to keep you around then, because you coming to his company for business reasons wouldn't bring you here. I don't smell money on you. You aren't an aristocrat. What do you have to offer him, miss broken down shop owner?"
His wrinkled upper lip peeled back from his teeth.
The air was knocked from her lungs and it took a minute to gather her bearings again. "I went to the company for business reasons." Ari insisted once she could breathe again. Not an entire truth, but why did he need to know that? The hair along the back of her neck rose and she shivered involuntarily. "He'll worry if I'm gone too long." She began to scramble backwards.
"Listen, I haven't done anything. I'm sorry if I offended you somehow but this is uncalled for!" Her jaw clenched to keep her teeth from chattering together nervously. A habit she'd outgrown except for when she was truly stressed. In the process of moving back, she kicked the old man's shin. "Get away from me."
"Did he tell you about the Ninth Coven?" He asked rather calmly for someone who had just thrown her across the floor like a rag doll, rolling his neck from side to side with the sound of his bones popping musically.
"Because if he didn't, then he shouldn't have brought you to a place like this. Especially without the mark of the beast. If he cared, that is." Bones cracked and his body jolted forward, then back, shirt splitting, a hand reaching out his mouth and peeling it further open until his skin bunched downward like some latex costume.
Another hand stretched out until a gray figure tore itself out, leaving the flesh of the old man on the floor. The thing which stood in its place looked almost human save for the complete black eyes, the multiple rows of razor sharp teeth and long claws. "You see the real me. This is punishment for partaking of forbidden blood for the originals." His tongue was a snake's tongue, slithering past the rows of jagged rotten teeth.
"Oh my I hope I've found one." He leaped forward, hissing and clawing towards her face but caught her throat instead, lifting her up. One shove and the tile on the wall splintered from the impact of her head.
Someone must have laced her drink earlier because this couldn't be happening. Her wide brown eyes went from the discarded skin on the ground to the creature holding her hostage. Ari kicked and clung onto its arm trying to pry away the inhuman grip. "I don't know what you're talking about! Let me go!" Her fingernails dug into the creature but it had little effect.
She was a mouse caught in a trap. Her heart thud loudly in her ears and she shook her head adamantly in denial. This isn't happening! This isn't happening. "Alaric! Someone! Help!"
Every cry for help left her head aching even more than the last and she fought away the black spots in her vision. Adrenaline coursed through her and she knew that if she gave up, there'd be no going home or seeing that stupid smug asshole or paying back the Sandlers.
Her fists curled and she swung and swung and swung not caring what she hit, just praying it saved her butt.
Whatever demon or monster had torn free from its prison of flesh, kept his grip around her throat even after she clawed and scratched, swinging one punch after another, but he didn't let go. Those bottomless black eyes kept boring into her own as his mouth tore open to expose those needle like teeth.
Especially after blood trickled down the back of her skull and dripped onto the floor. Nostrils expanded, only holes in the middle of the creature's face, its eyes rolling into the back of its head. "Ahhhh, mmmmm, yesssss." He growled out readying to come forward and take a bite.
But in the blink of an eye, Alaric appeared, tearing them free from her, leaving them skidding across the floor.
His arms were around her, holding her up against his chest. "Are you alright?" He asked, his eyes scanning her up and down. her.
Ari was sure that if he hadn't been holding onto her then her knees would have buckled beneath her. "What the hell was that thing? " All of the anger from earlier was replaced by fear that had her clinging onto him. By now she could feel blood caking her curls to her head and sliding down the back of her neck.
She trembled despite the brave face she wanted to put on. Even her coppery skin seemed pale after the experience. "Can we go? I don't want that thing trying to come back. Did you know about him? That he was a monster?"
Thoughts and emotions all flooded her in dizzying waves. All she wanted was to go home and get far away from the monster that crawled out of human skin. She'd never seen something so horrific in her life. And it wanted to eat her like their missed dinner!
"You fell," Alaric said while brushing some curls from her face. "You hit your head pretty hard on the wall and might have a concussion. Which means things you might be seeing things." His voice sounded as if he was underwater. "I'll get you out of here. Try to stay awake. Okay?"
The way he walked was fast but somehow fluid, like he was floating gracefully through the air without any heavy currents of wind affecting anything around them. Then they were out of the restaurant, in the back of the car that awaited them.
He put some ice on the back of her head from the glass container before him. "Can you see my fingers? How many?" He held up two.
She could hardly remember where they were, much less count fingers. Though she squinted to try and focus her vision despite the lines blurring around him. "Four. I think." Ari wasn't sure why exactly but something about his explanation sounded wrong.
There were a couple of trips here and there but she'd never been so clumsy as to bust her head open before. Her body had come down from its adrenaline high but she still felt the last lingering dregs or fear.
Ari was too tired to argue or try to tell him he was wrong. She was doing her best to keep her eyes open though they grew heavier with each passing second. "I thought I was going to die," Came muttered beneath her breath. Because that much she knew had been true regardless of what really happened.
"You need to go to the hospital, you are bleeding extremely bad." Even in the darkness of the car, Alaric's eyes were a deeper shade than their usual.
Everyone knew the ocean was blue, but the deeper you went the darker it got until it was no different than the midnight sky whenever morning was too far away. "Hold in there. Keep talking to me."
He shouldn't have ever brought her there. No one had ever disrespected him to this extent before, attacking someone sticking close to his side. Maybe he shouldn't have let her go alone. His jaw tightened as he lifted his hand that was covered in her blood. The aroma was so strong it kept causing his fingers to tremble.
While the driver drove fast beneath the bridge, something jumped on the lid of the car, sending the metal bending down Towards Alaric's head—the force sending slivers of glass all around when the windows burst upon impact. The car swerved but straightened. "Keep driving." Alaric growled out. Something was walking on the hood. He slipped Ari free from himself, laid her down.
"Take her straight to the hospital." Just as those words left his mouth, a grey, veiny hand snatched him through the broken window and out into the night.
"Wait!" Ari reached out for him but he was gone within moments, leaving nothing but the howl of the midnight air rushing through the broken window to answer.
She knew deep in her bones that this wasn't some nightmare she'd wake up from the moment horror struck. This was real and the monster had come back for her. Driven by an innate need to finish its hunt.
Moving her limbs felt like wading through quicksand. She wanted to help him but she'd been powerless the first time and now she was injured. If it was after her then maybe she could lead it away, or at least she would have if the world hadn't melted into a strange myriad of colors and vague shapes.
Sound faded away and Ari wasn't even sure where she was anymore. Where had Alaric gone and why did he leave her? For the first time in a while she felt impossibly alone without his steady presence. "What an asshole."
Alaric rolled across the hood of the car, ignoring the honking of cars and the screaming of passersby as they noticed what he was fighting. Dodging claws and jagged teeth, he swung himself down towards the side of the vehicles, pulling the monster with him and holding his face down to the ground. Skin tore away from friction until eventually its nails ripped free from the metal and he flew off.