Chapter Four

I gulped loudly. “Are you okay?” I nodded. “Look, I’m not going to let them hurt you, okay?” I nodded again. “Lie down.” I did as he said. “Breath deeply.” As if I couldn’t with his aroma filling the room. It made me feel better, if only slightly. I sat up.

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologising?” He asked, surprised.

“About the ‘I hate you’ thing. It was stupid. This isn’t your fault. I just felt like I should…that I should hate you”

“I understand.” He assured me. He stood up and begun to pace.

“What should I do, Ste?”

“Just stay in my bedroom. Don’t leave here, no matter what. I can’t be here all the time because they’ll get suspicious. But look Joanie, you cannot leave this room under any circumstances. Do you understand?” I nodded, unable to speak.

 

I think this was when my survival instinct’s kicked in. I suddenly felt terrified. I was stuck in this place. Actually I was stuck in this very room. Alone. I started to cry. I wasn’t like any other tears I had ever shed- these were hysterical sobs. Uncontrollable, frantic streams of tears. I was embarrassed by my outburst. But I couldn’t stop them. Ste watched me, he looked almost frightened.

“Joanie, are you okay?”

I nodded. He didn’t take my hand this time, but he did stop pacing. He knelt down in front of me and held my face in his hands. “Joanie, stop crying.” Somehow I managed to take control over my tear ducts and stop the river of tears. “Listen to me.” He waited. “Are you listening?” He spoke to me as if I was a young child. I nodded. “I’m not gonna let anyone hurt you. Do you believe me?” I nodded again. “Joanie?” He made my eyes meet his. “Do you believe me?”

“Yes.” I told him honestly.

“I have to go, to show my face.” I nodded. He looked at me once then left the room.

 

I sat for less than a second then I stood up and opened the door as little as I could. I saw Ste standing just within sight. He was smiling, but it wasn’t as dazzling as I’d expected it to be. I realised soon why. His eyes were tight and his smile was only polite. He was talking to a group of Clanimae I’d never seen before. Some of them must have been Ste’s family but there was too many for some of them not to be the new, strange Clanimae. They looked almost normal all standing together. I assume it’s because there was nothing else to compare them to.

 

It was weird. It was like looking at a family portrait, but the family members look nothing alike. I recognised Vicoretta, her light brown hair curled wildly around her vicious features. She smiled angelically at a boy who looked almost human, mundane, standing so close to Ste. He has blonde hair and copper eyes. He was good looking, but they all were to my humans eyes.

 

As frightening as they appeared, they were beautiful. Like a polar bear or a volcano. If you’re standing at a safe distance you couldn’t help but appreciate the beauty of the subject. None of them held a torch to Ste, but they were all beautiful. They look too perfect to exist. None had a bump, lump, hair or freckle out of place.

 

There was a girl who caught my attention. She was stunning. She had icy blonde hair that fell past her waist and silver eyes that looked boring in comparison to Ste’s diamonds. I saw her watching him, smiling slightly as she did. He hardly acknowledged her, but then again he hardly acknowledged anything. Her teeth were sharper than Ste’s; actually on closer inspection almost all of the other Clanimae had teeth sharper than Ste’s. I wondered for a moment what that meant. Then Ste caught my attention, he was laughing. It wasn’t a real laugh, more like a laugh that you would force out if a friend of a friend told a joke, but still it was mind-blowing. The sound was automatically registered in my brain, never to be forgotten.

 

I stared at him, I could only see the side of his face, but it was perfect. I saw his lips turn up slightly at the side. My heart went into overdrive. I was shocked by my overreaction. I hardly knew him. More than that, he was keeping me prisoner, keeping me away from Lucy. But still I didn’t hate him. I don’t think I even blamed him. That’s strange, I thought I did. The thought was interrupted by something as miniscule as Ste moving. He looked towards the door once, but I couldn’t be sure whether he saw me or not.

 

His possible reaction didn’t worry me enough to stop me from looking. I continued to watch the alien encounter. The grouping was unsettling. They just stood there, telling jokes and laughing politely. I wanted to get closer to hear what they were saying, but I know Ste would see me then. The icy blonde stopped talking half way through a sentence, she sniffed at the air. The rest of the group hardly noticed her. She continued to sniff and looked slowly in my direction. I shut the door quickly and sat still, hardly breathing. I looked through the gap between the door and wall. The girl was no longer looking in my direction, but Ste was. In fact he was walking towards me. I jumped up quickly, but not quick enough. He opened the door.

“Joanie.” He said me name like a reprimand.

I looked up at him. “Ste.” I answered, trying to make a joke.

He wasn’t amused. “Did I not tell you to stay in this room?!”

“Technically I did.” I smiled, he didn’t.

“You could have been killed. Do you know what I had to do to stop Lynda from coming in here?”

“No.” I said, warily.

“You’re lucky.” He huffed. “You’re a stupid girl. You could have been killed. What part of that don’t you understand?” He wasn’t shouting, but his tone made me wish he was.

“I’m sorry.”

“Sometimes ‘sorry’ doesn’t cut it Joanie. Sometimes someone goes too far. I put my neck on the line to keep them from killing you and you gallivant around here like your life means nothing. If your life really does mean nothing then leave, go on. Try to escape and when they hunt you down, when they kill you, you’ll only have yourself to blame.”

I sat silently. I had no words to say back to him.

“I’m sorry.” Was all I had. He collapsed against the wall and slid down till he was sitting on the floor, his head in his hands. “Ste, really, I am sorry.”

“I know.” He said against his hands. “Look, Jo,” his new nickname for me reminded me of Matt. I had to swallow back tears. “I don’t know why I’m so stubborn about keeping you alive, but you better count your lucky stars that I am. Joanie, I don’t want you to die. So please, just do what I say. Okay?” I nodded. He stood up and was about to open the door again. Just before he did, I touched him on the shoulder.

When he turned around, I said “I am sorry.” He nodded then left the room.

 

I waited for Ste to get back. As the time passed I got more bored and hungrier. I looked around the room to distract myself. My eyes had grown accustomed to the dimness. Honestly, there wasn’t anything important or interesting about the room. It was quite empty except for a large double bed. Its softness was emphasised by the sharpness that radiated from the rest of the room. I checked under the bed and there was nothing except for the cold, hard floor. There were no cupboards, no drawers, no dressing table and no wardrobe. I wondered where he got his clothes from. That also reminded me that I’d never really noticed what he was wearing before, not that it was unusual for me. I didn’t really have an interest in fashion. After that I laid on the bed, with no hope of getting to sleep I just stared at the grey ceiling.

 

After what seemed like days, but what couldn’t have been more than a few hours he finally walked through the door. He was carrying a cheese sandwich. I took it off him before he’d even crossed the threshold, I ate it quickly hardly chewing. He also gave me a glass of water, which I finished in two gulps. He looked at me, worried.

“I keep forgetting to feed you. Sorry.”

I laughed once. “I feel like a neglected hamster.”

He smiled. “Look, Jo, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have over reacted the way I did.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Are you sure?” I nodded.

“I shouldn’t have opened the door. I know I’m making your life difficult. I’m sorry about that.”

“I know you are. It’s not your fault.”

“It kind of is.”

“It’s more Vicoretta’s fault than yours.”

“Okay, we’ll blame her then.” I agreed with a grin. He chuckled. It wasn’t a full-on laugh, but it was real. More real than that sad excuse for a laugh out in the corridor, and it was because of something I said. I couldn’t stop grinning. I went to go sit on the bed. Looking around the room reminded me of my query from earlier on.

“Where’s your wardrobe, Ste?” He looked at me for a second, confused by my question. Then he half smiled.

“We have a room filled with clothes.”

“Why?”

He shrugged, walking to join me on the bed. “That’s just the way we’ve always done it.”

I looked down and saw what he was wearing. He had a white polo shirt on underneath a navy blue and white striped cardigan, along with dark denim jeans and black trainers. His chestnut hair was a mess, in the most beautiful way. He had dark, long eye lashes that framed his diamond eyes wonderfully. The problem was, once you started looking at him it was hard to stop. He smiled when he noticed I was staring, and revealed white teeth that sparkled as much as his eyes.

“Do I pass?”

I blinked and my eyes refocused. I coughed once. “Sorry.” He continued to grin.

“It’s night time.” Ste suddenly said.

“How do you know?” I asked, searching the room in case there was a window I’d missed. There wasn’t.

“It’s like a sixth sense. I can feel it.” I watched him while he looked at the wall as if there was a window there. He looked as if he was gazing at the moon.

“Are you going out?” I asked. He snapped out of his mesmerisation, to look at me.

“No, not tonight.” He smiled. I smiled back, grateful. He looked at me apprehensively. “Humans need a lot more sleep than we do. Aren’t you tired?”

“No.” I said, but it was followed quickly by a yawn. He smiled again.

“Sleep, Joanie.”

“Are you sure you’re not going to go out?” I asked, suddenly nervous to be left alone.

“Joanie, I’m not leaving.” I yawned again. He reached for my hand and began stroking my hand with his thumb. He may have let go of my hand a few minutes later, but I wouldn’t have known.

He mumbled something, his voice troubled and hardly audible, “we’re always apologising to each other. It’s quite sad.” I fell asleep quickly.

 

When I woke up, Ste had let go of my hand and I was wrapped up in the duvet. I searched around the room for him and when we saw me looking he stood up.

“I’m here.” He assured me with a smile. I smiled back. “Are you hungry?”

“Not really.” He nodded. It was silent for a while. After about ten minutes it started to get awkward. I sat up in the bed.

“You know yesterday when you said that I had no idea what you had to do to stop that girl…”

“Lynda.” He corrected.

“Right. To stop Lynda from coming in here. What did you have to do?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“That bad?”

“Well, no.” He paused. “A little bit.”

“Tell me.”

He looked down. “I had to…” He laughed once. “Kiss her.”

“Oh.”

Suddenly, the girl who had seemed beautiful to me earlier, started to morph in my mind. Her eyes were too close together. Her hair was too thin, and the icy blonde colour of her hair made it look grey. Her silver eyes looked tacky and her pink lips made her look like a superficial doll. The shape of her lips proved how malicious she was. And the way she stood made it clear to me that she was clingy and needy. All in all, she seemed like terrible girlfriend material. But you know, that’s just my opinion.

Ste laughed again. “Jealous?”

“No.” But I answered too quickly, he grinned. “It’s not funny.” I told him stubbornly.

“It is.” He disagreed, with a smirk.

“Look I don’t care who you kiss.” I shouldn’t care. But I did. Maybe it was that whole ‘captive falling in love with their captor’. I heard that was quite common. Not usually over such a short amount of time, but then again these were extraordinary circumstances. Ste was still standing grinning at me. I smiled back at him, brightened by my latest epiphany.

“You don’t care?” He taunted. “Then I’ll just go and find her.”

I worked to keep my voice blasé. I replied, “I don’t care. Do whatever you want.”

He reached for the door. I watched him, having to try hard to keep the smile on my face now. He turned the door knob. The smile started to falter. I couldn’t help but picture him with her, her lips on his. I didn’t even want her to touch his hand, I didn’t even want her to think about touching his hand. Let alone have her hands all over him. He opened the door. The smile had completely gone from my face now, I had to clamp my teeth together to stop from calling out to him. He took a step outside.

“Last chance, Jo.” He smirked.

I shrugged. “ I don’t care.”

“Liar.” He muttered. But thankfully he walked back in and came to sit next to me on the bed. I turned to face him.

“Question…”

“Okay, go on.”

“You smell absolutely amazing.” I instantly regretted saying that, but I continued. “But the others they smelt, well awful.” He let me speak, his face changing from amused to surprised, then back to amused. “Why is that?”

“They all smell ‘absolutely amazing’” He mocked me. I glared at him, but he wasn’t bothered. He continued, grinning. “But you have to get up close to them to smell it, when he group together the different smell merge together and it creates an unbearable odour.”

“But why?”

“Well, when we’re alone we work like a Dionaea Muscipula.” I looked at him blankly. “A Venus fly trap.” I nodded. “We tempt people in with our smell. But that becomes unpleasant when different smells are mixed together. It’s like when you eat a lot of your favourite food, you don’t enjoy it after a while. It becomes sickly.”

“That weirdly makes sense.”

He laughed, but it wasn’t a pleasing laugh, it was more of a mocking laughter. But I’ll take what I can get. “Do you really think our species are that different?”

“I can’t think of anything that connects them.” I admitted.

“We eat, drink and sleep. We mate is a similar way. We both breath in oxygen and breath out carbon dioxide. The list goes on.”

“But,” I countered. “You’re more than ten times stronger than me. You can eat whatever you want. You hardly drink, and you sleep for a fraction of the time I do. The breathing thing, I’m going to have to take your word for.”

He smirked. “What about the mating thing. You didn’t mention that.”

I blushed. “I’ll have to take your word for that too.” Stupid, grinning, smug…idiot.

His voice was suddenly serious. “But really, we aren’t that different. Hold your arm up.” Baffled, I did what he said.

He held his arm next to mine, my arm tingled where his touched mine. His skin was a few shades darker than mine. Without even looking past his elbow I could tell he was muscular, but I did look past his elbow. His bicep bulged against his cardigan, but in a natural way. He didn’t look like one of those exercise addicts, but he definitely looked toned. I smiled as I looked down. He took my hand.

“You’re warm.” I said in surprise.

He smiled. “What did you expect?”

I shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

He moved my hand so that I was touching his chest, just over his heart. His heart was hammering, it felt like how my heart would beat after a little exercise. It felt human. I left my hand there, liking how it felt to be touching him and feeling his blood glide through his body. I smiled slightly.

 

Suddenly he jumped up. By the time I’d realised he was gone, he was already halfway across the room. I looked at him, confused. He looked away from me, straight to the floor. I waited, for him to explain himself but he didn’t. We just stayed in silence. I was about to say something, anything to break the tension, when he opened the door and left the room in one fluid movement.

 

I sat stunned, unable to move and unable to speak. It’s official, he’s mental. What the hell was wrong with him? I hadn’t done anything. He asked me to raise my arm, he put my hand on my chest. He had done all of those things, I had simply played along. I waited, expecting him to return any minute shamefaced and apologising. He didn’t.

I went to the door pressed my ear against it. The hallway was silent. I opened the door slowly.

 

The hallway was empty. I took a step outside the room, checking both ways before I did. I took another step and then another, before I was certain I could make it. I walked down the hallway slower than I ever had before. I kept all of my senses on red alert, especially smell. I sniffed like a mad man every time I turned a corner. Soon, I couldn’t recognise my surroundings. The walls were foreign to me. I saw many doors but after cautiously opening them one after the other, I found they just led onto another maze of corridors, or a dark empty room. Some corridors were lined with wooden benches. Some were empty.

 

Just as I was about to turn around and attempt to find my way back to Ste’s room I saw something I hadn’t noticed before. A hatch on the ceiling. It wasn’t wooden like the other doors and the hatch you saw when you first arrived. It was metal, solid metal. Can you see the large bolt that’s miraculously left open? I couldn’t reach the hatch, I wasn’t anywhere near tall enough. I turned back and traced my steps until I found what I was looking for.

 

I carried the bench as quietly as I could until I was underneath the metal hatch. I climbed onto the bench and could easily push the hatch open. Just as I was about to pull myself through, a body dropped through the hatch. I stood as still as I could, I felt like an ostrich burying my head in the sand. If I don’t move they won’t see me. The person turned around to face me. They offered me their hand, I took it and climbed off the bench. They turned around and lit a candle I hadn’t noticed.

“Hi, human.” The blonde boy with copper eyes said.

“Joanie.” I choked out.

He nodded. “Sorry. Hi, Joanie.” He looked up at the hatch. “What were you trying to do?”

I shrugged. “Just…you know.”

“Leave?” I nodded. “Tut, tut.” He said, with a smile. “You know that’s not allowed.”

“I…I…I don’t know what to say.”

“I won’t tell.” He chuckled. “My name’s Adam by the way.”

“Hello.” I mumbled.

“So what’s a human doing in a Clanimae’s house?”

“Vicoretta…I…kidnapped…then Ste…he…errm…” I seemed unable to put together a coherent sentence.

“Vicky kidnapped you then Ste, what? Saved you?” I nodded. “Hmm, that’s interesting.” I worried if I’d said too much. “Ste never seemed like the compassionate type. Are you staying in his room?” I nodded. He took my hand and guided me through the corridors as easily as you would guide someone through your own home. We stopped in front of a door that seemed no different to me from the others. But when it was opened I recognised the room. I also recognised the boy sitting on the bed, glaring at me.