"Always remember, his heart holds her, when his arms cannot."
The platform lay quiet in the dim light, like the calm before a storm.
Walking in silence, their footsteps echoing softly in the empty station. Chloe's heart raced as they approached the platform. The tunnel leading to her apartment was blocked, leaving them no choice but to return.
Her eyes scanned the deserted platform. Suddenly, four figures emerged from the shadows near the station entrance. Her breath caught in her throat as she recognized the long, shaggy hair of the approaching man.
Her pulse quickened. This was it. This was what she'd been waiting for, wasn't it?
The chances of making it out alive seemed slim with guns involved, but Chloe could not bear the thought of not trying. As she braced herself, that was the time when she felt an aura of power surrounding her, it was HIM, who exuded dominance and ferocity.
Her stomach churned as each man stepped forward, almost like they were expecting them. Chloe couldn't miss the glint of metal in their hands.
Time seemed to slow, and she couldn't help but wonder if this was it, her last night alive.
A small cry escaped Chloe as the station door crashed open, as if announcing their arrival. The sound of metal meeting brick echoed through the building.
Then, emerging from the shadows, came the Beast, his piercing golden eyes scanning the room.
"Just in time," Chloe whispered as he stepped into the light.
Their eyes locked, and Chloe felt herself shrink against the wall, overwhelmed by his intense aura. He was seething with anger.
He leaped forward and grabbed her by the wrist, his electric touch scorched her ice-cold skin. She stumbled as he yanked her behind him and faced the men coming in their way.
She was sure they could feel the aura of power radiating off of him, she wasn't sure if the men could feel it or not but judging from the sweat beads forming on their heads, they seemed afraid for their lives.
They hesitated for a moment, glancing between each other and Beast's towering figure. They must have not been very smart, as they continued coming forward.
"Neil …"
His name left her lips in a scared whimper. She wasn't only scared for her safety, but worried about him as well. In a motion that was calculated and slow, he flexed his fingers, eyeing up his targets.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as the men stepped forward and one began to raise his gun.
Neil moved faster than any human she had ever seen, in an instant he was in front of the man who had lifted his gun. He grabbed the man's arm just as a shot rang out into the night, in the subway.
Chloe stood, gaping at the man who had been apparently her savior, whose name still felt foreign on her lips.
The man's gun was pointed to the ceiling as Neil snapped the bone in his arm with one hand. The crack of bone-breaking was as loud as the bullet that pierced the air.
Things seemed to happen all at once, the man with a broken arm opened his mouth to scream, but the beast was much faster as his claws raked across the man's throat, spilling blood like a busted bike.
One man down!
The man she had begun to fall for had undergone a complete transformation into something beyond human justification. She had never witnessed nails elongating into deadly claws before; it was a frightening spectacle, almost otherworldly. At this moment, he was no longer the ordinary human named Neil; he had become the beast, far removed from humanity.
The other men rushed forward, guns drawn and raised into the air.
She pressed herself against the wall, her eyes widening in horror as she stared down the barrel of a gun.
The beast spun on his toes and grabbed the other man with one arm. He yanked the man's arm behind his back, and the gun clattered to the ground. He wasted no time toying with his victims. He looked like a blunt instrument with deadly consequences.
While one man had his arm twisted behind his back, the beast used his other hand to grab another man by the throat and kicked in the back of his leg; another sickening crack echoed down the poorly lit subway. Another throat was torn out. He dropped the dying man like trash and ripped the other's throat out as well.
Three men down!
The bloodshed was barbaric; it was as evil.
Some thoughts could come with reasons to kill, yet they were the devil's siren. We were born to love, not to become monsters of our own making. Even in our grief, we wish for peace, to reach out and heal with the "enemy," to find the ways that love conquers all.
But these thoughts did not make any difference because the Beast not only fought for Chloe's life, but he also enjoyed the kill. And the ones who enjoyed the barbaric act were the ones who could never be at peace.
It seemed as though this was pent-up anger he had hidden from the world, now unleashed tonight. It felt like the fury of someone willing to slay anyone who dared to harm the one who fueled his existence, anyone who threatened what was HIS.
He turned to the last man, who was much smaller than his companions. This man was smarter than his friends; as he turned to run, he had waited a moment too late. The beast grabbed the man by the back of his neck and slammed him to the ground.
Chloe wanted to turn her head; she really did. But her eyes were glued to the man lying on the ground; his eyes seemed to glow in the barely lit subway as the inevitability of his death dawned on him.
It was not just the blood that she hated the most, nor the gore of killing.
What she detested most about death was the expression in the victim's eyes when realization dawned. No one could fully embrace the end of their life until they confronted it head-on. The understanding that washed over them was both staggering and heart-wrenching—the moment they truly grasped that life, as they knew it, was over.
Death always brought back the haunting memory of that fateful night when she found her grandfather lying in a pool of his own blood, wearing the same expression in his eyes!
The Beast seemed utterly unrestrained as he plunged his claws into the man's chest, accompanied by a sickening tearing sound, and tore his heart from his body. Her gaze remained fixed on the bloody organ as he crushed it in his hand and flung it to the ground.
Four men down!
Chloe sucked in a sharp breath; she hadn't realized she had been holding it the entire time.