Masquerade (28 page)

“
I know what happened to
you.”

My hand fell away. “What do you
mean?”

“
Your attack. I know who
did it.”

“
You know who attacked me?
You know why my face is like this?” Denial – sharp and strong bit
through me. He didn’t know. How could he? If he did he would have
known something, he would have told me. He knew how much that night
haunted me. He knew that I looked over my shoulder everywhere I
went. He knew that I was frightened of every shadow that appeared
when the sun went down.

He nodded. “There are people out there
who aren’t completely human.”

“
Why are you saying these
things?” My head was swimming; he was saying things that made no
sense. First, he says that he knew what happened to me, and then he
says something completely ridiculous. Was he trying to be cruel? If
he knew how my face got destroyed why wouldn’t he just say it? This
is not funny. This is not a game.

The hazel of his eyes smoldered, and I
couldn’t look away, even though I was completely terrified. “Some
people can’t help how they are born.”

I hated the tortured look
on his face, the overwhelming sense of loss that was permeating the
room. I
wanted to go to him. To touch him.
To feel him. But I was too afraid to get that close. He was scaring
me.

“
I made choices that hurt
you. Choices I regret…” his voice broke. “I never asked for any of
this.”

“
If you know what happened
to me – then spit it out! Tell me!” The only way he would know
about my attack was if he was there…if he had been involved. I
wanted to gag. He couldn’t have done this to me. I trusted
him.

“
It was my family.” His
eyes begged for forgiveness.

“
Your family?” I squeaked.
My mind was racing and I couldn’t form a thought. He never talked
about his family; he’d said he didn’t have one.

He’d lied.

“
Yes.” He pushed his hands
through his hair.

I shook my head trying to
clear it, he wasn’t making sense. “I
don’t
understand
.” He couldn’t have done this to
me. The marks on my skin were made by an animal. I was almost
positive. In my dream something heavy and warm had pressed me down.
I felt sharpness of claws and heard the inhuman sounds it made. No,
I hadn’t been attacked by Sam. I had been attacked by an
animal.

“
I’m not like you,” he bit
out.

“
You’re
not?” An echo of his earlier words floated through my
head.
There are people out there
who aren’t completely human.
I swallowed
past the bile rising in my throat. I wanted to sit down, but
sitting made me feel vulnerable. I couldn’t let myself feel any
more vulnerable right now that I already did.

“
No. I’m
different.”

“
Are you
telling me that you aren’t human, Sam?” The words felt wrong coming
out of my mouth. How
could he not
be? I’d felt his heartbeat. I’d touched his warm, rough skin and
felt his chest expand with air when he cradled me against
him.

He flew across the room and grabbed
the mask on my face and tore it away. I flinched and stumbled away,
his sudden anger and violence scared me. I stared at the pieces of
the broken mask as they fell to the floor. I had a feeling that my
heart was going to look like my mask very soon. “They did that to
you!” Sam yelled. “That woman in the bathroom, she did that! She
isn’t human. Neither am I!”

Any other time I would have cowered. I
put a finger up to my puckered scars. The source of all my pain.
“You did this to me? How?”

He unbuttoned his tux jacket and
tossed it on the bed. Then he undid his tie, shirt, white T-shirt
and belt, tossing everything on the bed.

“
What are you doing?” I
couldn’t help but look at the door; he was standing in my
way.

His pants joined his other
clothes, and I began to panic once more.
I
backed up as far away from him as I could get. Why was he taking
off his clothes? What was he going to do to me? Too soon, my back
hit the wall. I reached around behind me and grabbed fistfuls of
the heavy curtains that framed the large sliding door. I was
searching for anything that would anchor me
–
that would keep me from collapsing
in fear. Then it dawned on me that I should be looking for a
weapon.

The very fact that I
needed a weapon to protect myself from Sam was enough to make me
hysterical. I released the curtains and grabbed up a heavy brass
lamp from the desk. I held it up high, over my head. “Don’t come
near me. I’ll use this.”

The thought of hitting him
with anything made hot tears spill over onto my cheeks. But I would
do it. I was tired of being scared all the time, and in that
instant, I decided I would never be helpless ever
again
.

“
Just watch for a second,”
he pleaded with me, making no move to come closer. He pretended
that he didn’t even see me wielding a lamp. Was I that
unthreatening then? Another violent shudder wracked my body, and I
nearly dropped the lamp.

I glanced to the side at
the sliding door. It led out onto a small balcony. I wondered how
far down it was and if I would survive the jump.

“
Don’t run.” He said, his
voice going deeper than it ever had before.

I shook my head. Given the first
chance I would run like hell.

“
I mean it, Heven. Please,
stay and give me a chance to explain.”

I nodded. I couldn’t help
but stare at the strong angles of his body. The rippling
bronze
muscles of his chest and arms. He
was so utterly beautiful. How could anyone so gorgeous not be human
– not be made by God? I forced my thoughts away from his beauty.
Beautiful or not, if he came at me, I was going to have to hurt
him. I couldn’t let my feelings get in the way of my
safety.

Some strange sounds drew
my attention, and I looked over to Sam. Or…what I thought was Sam.
He was hunched over, his face pulled taunt in pain, and it seemed
as though his body was tearing itself apart.

There were horrible
sounds. A sharp, popping sound that echoed through my ears, and
every time something popped, his limbs seemed to sag lower from
their sockets. There was a terrible ripping sound, and Sam arched
his back, the muscles in his jaw flexing. My hand flew to my mouth
as I stared in horror as his body ripped itself apart. I whimpered;
the sound was terribly weak compared to the sounds of Sam’s
destroyed body.

He dropped onto hands and
knees, his arms looking like Jell-O. This weakness made me wonder
if maybe I would be able to escape
.
Then, he looked at me. His eyes were hard and
glowing. The gold that sometimes streaked through his eyes seemed
to catch on fire and light up. It burned through his stare and his
eyes changed…turned. They weren’t Sam’s eyes anymore, they were the
eyes of an animal – a predator.

I screamed and threw the
lamp. It hit the bed and bounced away. I ran toward the glass doors
and began tugging on the handle, trying to open them. They were
locked. I was trapped.
Think!
I began searching for the lock, trying to see
where to unlatch the door.

“
You promised!” Sam yelled.
His voice was not his own. It was deep and the words vibrated my
bones. “Wait!”

The last word he yelled
came out as an inhuman growl and I froze. I recognized that sound.
I’d heard it in my dreams. Slowly, on shaking knees, I
turned.

Sam stared at me, and the
rest of his form seemed to fall away. His face transformed,
elongating, widening. He made a sound like he was in pain and his
back arched up like a cat. He stretched out his arm
–
only it wasn’t an arm
any longer.

It was a paw.

And it was covered in black
fur.

Razor sharp claws shot out of the ends
and flexed, ready to attack.

Black fur seemed to spout
over his entire body, and I watched – terrified – yet morbidly
fascinated as his ears disappeared and sprouted up higher on the
top of his head. They stood up in angry triangles, reminding me of
my old neighbor’s Doberman pinscher.

Then his ears flattened
against a giant head and a horrible sound ripped from between its
teeth. Teeth that were so long that they stuck out from beneath its
black gums and hung forth in promise of harm.

“
Shit!” I screamed and
renewed my search of the lock with force. I finally found it and
yanked, the door giving way and the cool night air rushed in around
me. I tripped running out the door, my dress catching beneath me. I
tugged at it and got up, reaching for the balcony rails. My hands
closed around them, and I sobbed in relief. I didn’t even bother to
look down because I didn’t care how long the drop was. I would take
my chances.

I would rather die down there than be
eaten alive up here.

I hurried to climb on the railing as I
heard a commotion behind me. I held my arms out and stepped off,
closing my eyes and waiting to fall.

Instead, strong jaws caught
hold of the length of my gown and yanked me backwards. I fell, but
arms caught me. Black furry arms. I screamed when I saw the claws
so close to my skin. I fought
.
I kicked and struggled
.
I punched and clawed. It didn’t
matter. This thing was so much bigger than me. I was going to
die.

I found myself on my feet
as the animal walked, on two legs, back to the other side of the
room. He was so much scarier on two legs than four. He towered over
me this way, and I knew that even trying to kick him would be
stupid. My foot wouldn’t even reach its waist. At least when he was
on all four I had a chance at kicking and hitting it in the
face.

I made a move back toward
the door and he – it – Sam – growled. I froze and turned back. It
dropped to all fours and sat down. I took a minute to fully stare
at it. In a way it was beautiful – scary as hell – but beautiful.
The black fur that covered its body was sleek and shiny. It had the
grace of a giant cat and a long whip-like tail. Its eyes were
hauntingly gold, and they blinked as if waiting to see what I would
do.

It kind of looked like a
panther. A giant, ‘kick your ass; eat your mom’, kind of panther.
Except its teeth were bigger, its eyes were meaner, and it was
huge. “Sam?” I whispered.

It made a sound and lay
down.

A sob tore from my throat,
and I let it out, it hurt. This hurt.

He was a beast.

As tears leaked from my
eyes, thoughts of despair and disbelief ripped through me. This
thing…this beast…was the boy I
thought I
loved. How could I have spent so much time with
him,
loved
him and never sensed this?

“
Are you a werewolf?” I
asked, not even believing that I was standing here asking such a
ridiculous question. This stuff didn’t exist. This wasn’t some bad
horror movie where the girl ran screaming up the stairs instead of
out into the night. Well, I had tried to run into the night, and I
was dragged back into this room. By teeth. How could I deny what
was right in front of me? “Are you?” I asked again, watching the
beast warily.

He shook his head.

Then what the hell was he?

Suddenly, he shot into the
bathroom. I heard the same popping and tearing as before. I imagine
the pain on his face that I has witnessed earlier and felt a pang
of sadness. That little pang pissed me off. I shouldn’t feel bad
for him. I should be feeling bad for me!
He
was the reason that I was
disfigured.
He
was the reason my life was torn apart, and I was haunted by
nightmares and pain. Screw him! I was leaving.

I went to the hotel room door and
threw the lock and opened the door.

“
Heven, please wait.” Sam
begged mere inches behind me.

I turned. He was there, and
he was the Sam I knew. At least, he was the Sam with the
body
I knew. He wasn’t
wearing anything but a towel around his waist. I looked away from
his rippling, corded muscles. I would
not
be distracted by his golden good
looks.

“
I’m leaving. I never want
to see you again.”

“
You can’t leave,” he said
softly. Gently he reached around me and shut the door.

I allowed it, transfixed
by his rich, deep voice. And because part of me wanted to hear what
he was going to say. I mean a girl didn’t find out her boyfriend –
her ex-boyfriend – wasn’t human every day.

“
If you touch me I will
scream my head off.” I told him.

“
I won’t touch you.” He
said, watching me walk across the room. He grabbed up his clothes
and went back into the bathroom.

I watched him go feeling like
everything I ever believed had been a lie.