Cadaverous - Rewritten, P A Webster [best thriller novels of all time .TXT] 📗

bulging from their sockets at this point. A part of me had already accepted that I wasn't going to make it home, that I might possibly die here.

 Chase sat himself on the coffee table in front of me. He stared at me, his eyes lit with curiosity. His eyes grazed over every inch of me, he was studying me as if I were some kind of foreign species. His gaze was so intense and unwavering that it made me feel uncomfortable. My cheeks began to burn.

"How strange, you don't seem like Cruz's type at all," he said, breaking the silence.

"Cruz's… type?" I repeated, feeling quite baffled. "He's just a close friend."

"Of course," he sighed, shaking his head with a faint smile. "I'm sure you'd say just about anything to get out of here right now, but we're not letting you go just yet. We need you."

"For what?" I asked, my voice weak and unsteady.

"Leverage," he replied, now distracted by his mobile phone. I made eye contact with the other two who were just standing behind him. They were both expressionless, they almost looked bored. Is this something they're used to doing?

 "I have something that belongs to you," Chase said, drawing my attention back to him. I was confused for a moment until I noticed that he was now on the phone to somebody. He pulled the phone away from his face and turned the phone on speaker so we could all hear what was happening.

"Whatever it is mustn't be that important, I'm not missing anything that I particularly need or want right now," a voice said from the phone. It was a voice that I recognised, it was Cruz. Whatever Chase wanted, he was obviously planning to use me as leverage to get it.

"Think again, I'll give you a few clues. Blonde, blue eyes, short," he described me briefly.

"You're insane," Cruz laughed. "Lana is long dead, are you hallucinating? You know, you really should get some professional help for that," he added. Lana… that's the name that sent Chase crazy last time. So whoever she is, Lana is dead. No wonder Chase snapped at Cruz for mentioning her.

"Get fucked," Chase said, his expression now dark. He looked over at me, my heart began to race and my blood ran cold. He's going to hurt me, I'm sure of it. "Speak," he commanded me.

"Cruz," my voice broke. "It's Holly. I'm so sorry, I should've listened to you."

"Now that we have your girl, tell us what you know about Emmanuel and we'll let her go," Chase told him. "If you don't, we'll kill her."

"She isn't my girl, do as you'd like with her. I know nothing, leave me alone," Cruz responded boredly, hanging up on Chase.

 My heart stopped. How could Cruz do this to me? Tears slid down my cheeks as I sat there frozen in shock. Chase looked absolutely furious about the whole situation. His friends looked confused rather than angry.

"If you're not his girlfriend then what are you to him?" Chase asked, his eyes dark and staring at the ground.

"I… I'm just a close friend, or at least I th-thought I was," I stuttered.

"What are you?" He asked. His question left me even more confused. I was speechless. What am I supposed to say? A high school student? A seventeen year old girl? Your next victim?

"You know, she could just be human you dumbass," the pale guy cut in, rolling his eyes. Just human? What does that mean?

"No, her scent isn't quite human," Chase shook his head, standing up from the coffee table. I felt slightly more at ease now that he wasn't right in my face.

"She smells human to me," the muscular guy added. Chase shook his head and began pacing around the room, seemingly deep in thought. His expression had eased a little, he wasn't quite as terrifying as before and yet, I was still paralysed by fear. I wanted to tell them that I was of course human, but my body just wouldn't respond. I felt like I was going crazy. Maybe I was. Maybe this was all some kind of weird dream as Jenny had said.

 Chase suddenly walked back over to where I sat, he held out his hand.

"Give me your hand," he instructed me robotically. Not knowing what to expect, I slowly offered him my trembling hand. I looked up at him and watched in sheer terror as his canine teeth grew into fangs. He grabbed my hand and bit into my wrist with no sign of hesitation. I cried out as I felt his fangs pierce my skin, even more tears leaking from my eyes. At first the pain was intense, but after a moment or two I felt numb. A soothing sensation swept through me, I almost felt at peace.

 He dropped my hand and it fell to my side, blood dribbling down my hand from the fresh wound. Chase wiped the blood from around his mouth. Now he too looked confused. His friends just stood there looking at him, waiting for an answer.

"She tastes human," he announced. He turned back to me. "What are you?" he asked again.

"Chase, I'm pretty sure she's human. I mean, look at her," the muscular guy replied, motioning towards me. "She's petrified."

"We're so screwed. Did you really have to bite her? Now she knows what we are!" the pale boy exclaimed, he looked pretty annoyed about the whole situation. "What the hell are we going to do with her now?"

"I did say I would kill her," Chase responded, sending a chill down my spine. He placed his fingers under my chin and tilted my head up at him. He studied my face. I didn't meet his eyes. I didn't try to push him away or fight back, I knew it'd be no use. He was a monster. A vampire. Tears continued to slide down my cheeks as I stared into space, waiting for my end to come.

 After moments of waiting and nothing happening, I looked up at Chase. His dark expression had softened, he almost looked like he felt sorry for me. As soon as my eyes met his, he let go of my chin and turned around, running his hand through his hair.

"Take her downstairs," Chase instructed his friends. They looked about as stunned as I felt. "Get one of the girls to patch up her wound. Make her feel comfortable. I'm going to call Odie and ask her what we should do," he added, walking out of the room.

 The muscular guy walked over to me, he slowly knelt down in front of me, as if he were scared that making any sudden movements would scare me away.

"My name's Hunter, and his name is Aiden," he said gently, pointing towards the pale guy. "What's your name?"

"I'm H-Holly," I replied.

"Holly, I'm so sorry that you got dragged into all of this. Don't worry, we won't hurt you. We're sorry that Chase did but he's been extremely… on edge lately," Hunter explained. For some reason I felt like I could trust this guy, I was still unsure about the other guy, Aiden. "Come downstairs with me, Aiden will go fetch our friend Lily who will patch you up."

"I don't know if I can stand," I admitted. "I feel really tired and sluggish."

"That's just a side effect of the venom from Chase's bite. It'll fade soon enough," he informed me, standing up straight again. He held out a hand. "Here, I'll help you up," he added. I took his hand and he carefully pulled me up on my feet. My legs trembled beneath my weight as I followed Hunter out of the room.

 He led me down a narrow hallway, the walls were plain and aged with no decoration at all. I knew the house must've been pretty big since it was at least two stories high. These guys are pretty young, I wonder how on earth they managed to afford a place like this, I thought. Then again, I know that Chase at least is a vampire. He could be a lot older than he looks. We shortly reached a large open space at the top of the old wooden staircase. To my surprise, I could see across from where we stood that there was another hallway full of doors to other rooms. This place is practically a mansion. The wooden stairs creaked as we made our way down them. They led down to what I assumed was the main foyer. We walked into the first room on the right. Inside there was a large vintage couch accompanied by a couple of matching arm chairs either side. They were facing a basic wooden coffee table and a big flatscreen television. I couldn't help but notice the Xbox connected up to the television. So even vampires play Xbox, huh.

 "Take a seat," Hunter said. I sat down on the edge of the big couch, he sat himself in the closest armchair. I expected that we'd have to sit there in an awkward silence for a while waiting for Aiden to come back with Lily, but they arrived moments after we had. Lily looked nothing like I expected her to. She appeared to be quite a few years older than me. She reminded me of snow white with her pale complexion, rose lips and extremely dark hair that fell in waves around her shoulders. She was dressed in a simple white collared shirt and light blue jeans, but even so, she looked ready for the catwalk. Her appearance made me feel quite self-conscious about my own, especially with how I imagined I would've looked in that moment. My school uniform was crumpled and now covered in blood. My face was probably puffy and red from all of the crying I'd been doing and I didn't even want to think about what sort of tangled birds nest had formed in my hair.

 Lily sat herself next to me on the couch, placing the small first aid kit she'd been carrying on her lap. Aiden remained in the doorway, watching us as he leaned against the door frame.

"Aiden, told me your name is Holly. I'm Lily," she introduced herself with a smile. "Would you mind letting me taking a look at that wound?" she asked. I held my wounded arm towards her, I was still trembling a little bit even though I had started to calm down a little. She gently held my arm as she examined the wound. "He really wasn't gentle with you, huh?"

"Are you like him too? Are you… a vampire?" I asked out of curiosity. I'd find it difficult to trust her to tend to my wounds if she was. Her pale skin was the main thing that made me suspicious of her.

"Oh, no. Don't worry, I'm not a vampire. I'm a shapeshifter. I won't bite, I promise," she answered.

"Not all vampires are assholes like him though. Please don't assume I'm just as bad as him," Aiden cut in. Ah, so he's a vampire too.

"What about you?" I asked Hunter.

"I'm a werewolf," he replied. My mind was reeling from everything that I was learning all of a sudden. I felt uneasy at the thought that I was probably the only human in the house.

 "It must be a lot to take in, we understand that," Lily said, starting to clean my wound with a damp cloth. I let out a small yelp as the wound began to sting. "Sorry about the way that Chase treated you."

"Is he always like that?" I asked.

"No, not always," she answered, examining the two jagged tears in my skin where Chase's fangs had pierced me again now that she'd cleaned them. "I know that it doesn't excuse his behaviour, but he has been through a really tough time lately."

"Is it to do with this Emmanuel person he's looking for?" My question prompted Lily to look towards Hunter and Aiden.

"Just tell her, she already knows too much anyway," Aiden sighed.

"Yes, that's part of it," Lily explained, now wrapping a