Beautiful Sins: Leigha Lowery (12 page)

I Know The Truth About You

I turned, a bit startled to find the glorious figure standing over me.

"Leigha?" He called again, those wondrous chocolate brown eyes boring into mine. My blackberry fell out of my hands, and instead of it crashing to the hard kitchen tile floor, the swift movement of Alexander's hands caught it in midair. I didn't even see him move. He held the device for a long moment before handing it back to me.

"You should be more careful." He murmured.

"I know." I said. He grinned at me, and I couldn't resist inhaling the sweet scent of his breath.

"You know?" He stared at me bewildered. I drew in his breath once more, reaching fearfully out for the phone. He pulled it away from me, awaiting my answer.

"What do you know Leigha?" He asked curiously. His tone was soft, encouraging.

"I know what you are…" I said in a murmur. He smiled at me, his eyes suddenly glowing golden brown right before my very eyes.

"What am I Leigha?" He asked, moving closer towards me. I stood still, frozen in place.

"Leigha…" He spoke softly, his face just inches from my own.

"You're the son of King Thaneaddus. You're a Vampire. A royal one at that." I said fearfully. He frowned, backing away from me.

"I knew it wouldn't take you long to figure it out." He said. He seemed a bit saddened by it.

"Does my mother know what's going on?" I asked nervously.

"Absolutely." He answered flatly. I placed my hand on the counter of the bar, holding my body up for support. Hearing that was far worse than knowing that there was a mythical creature standing before me.

Alexander walked over to the kitchen sink and fixed me a glass of water. I stared at him in disbelief.

"Why?" I asked, unable to fight back the tears of betrayal.

"Don't be angry with her. She did the right thing by bringing you here. Now you will be safe. You'll never have to live another day in fear again." He assured me. His assurance only added fuel to the fire of my anger.

"How could she!" I screamed.

"Calm yourself Leigha." He warned. I didn't listen. I grabbed my coat and ran out to the garage. The doors were down and Alexander was at my side in seconds.

"Where do you think you are going?" He asked curiously.

"I—I have to get out of here. I need some air. This is too much for me to take in all at once!" I yelled.

"Leigha! Calm yourself." He scolded.

"No! Just stay away from me!" I yelled, quickly pressing for the garage door to open.

"I can remedy your pain Leigha." He offered, moving closer towards me.

"And ruin your reputation?" I asked, gesturing towards the crowd of curious neighbors. He scowled at me and took a step back.

"I will find you Leigha. How far do you think you'll be able to get before I catch you?" He warned.

"Far enough." I answered as I ran out into the crowd. I looked down at my watch, and Maria was pulling up right on cue.

She stared fearfully at Alex's angry glare as I climbed into her car.

"He doesn't look very happy Leigha." Maria observed. I rolled my eyes.

"It's all working out as planned. Now, we have a game to get to. Did you find someone to perform the spell?" I asked. Maria rolled her eyes.

"It's not that difficult to find a witch around these parts. She's supposed to meet us at the game." Maria said as she pulled out swiftly down the road.

"Does he know that you know?” Maria asked as she peeled swiftly down the road.

"Yep. I'm not really sure of his connection to me, but I'm sure that he'll know the exact moment that we encounter any trouble. So our safety is not something we will have to worry about.” Maria shook her head dubiously.

"We are going to get into so much trouble for this. I can just feel the torrent."

"Stop your whining and get us to Forest Grove High before he catches up with us.” I chided. Maria rolled her eyes and increased her speed on the highway.

The evening quickly approached as we pulled up into F.G. High's parking lot. I pulled my damp hair into a ponytail as we ran into the school's gymnasium.

"Do you see her?" I asked, turning to Maria for guidance.

"No. She said she would be with an exotic woman." I rolled my eyes at that one.

"An exotic woman? You have got to be kidding me. Is that the best information you could come up with?" I glared daggers at her. Maria shrugged her shoulders and pulled the pin out of her hair.

"Listen, you asked me to find a local witch. If you wanted perfection, then you should have just done it yourself." She grumbled.

"Whatever, let's find this exotic woman." I grumbled, looking through the crowd of cheering fans.

I was a bit surprised at first. For there to be a wild pack of animals on the loose, humans seemed to treat it like any other day. Oh right, I was freshly introduced into the reality of things. Had my eyes still been blinded, I would probably be cheering along with them. Tiffany and Jenny noticed me from the court and waved for me to join them. I feigned acknowledgement. I would apologize to them later. I had bigger fish to fry at this point. For example, like saving the town from these vicious creatures.

After a half hour of looking, I met up with Maria at the concession stand.

"Any luck?" I asked. Maria shook her head.

"Nothing." She said, as she turned to order a bottled water. I turned away, scowling at the cheering crowd as half time approached. Something captured my attention. Several young men hurried over to the concession stand, nearly battling for the front place in line. I pulled Maria out of the way, just as a huge jock nearly knocked her water out of her hand.

"Hey! Why don't you watch where you are going?" She grumbled.

"Shut up and get out of the way you stupid Goth!" He shouted. I grinned wickedly. Maria on the other hand, was ready to kill the huge blonde-haired jock.

"Maria, I think they're here." I murmured. Maria stared at me dubiously.

"We've been looking for almost an hour. We would have found them by now." She argued. I smiled and gestured towards the competing men.

"Look Maria, they are all buying water. What are the odds that they are all thirsty for the same beverage?" Maria grinned wickedly.

"Let's follow these dumb jocks to our exotic woman." Maria chanted.

As we began to follow the hurrying men, I paused as I noticed someone from the school flirting with Tiffany. The guy was awfully large to be a student, he stood almost seven feet tall.

"Leigha, come on!" Maria yelled.

"Wait, you go on ahead. I'll be right behind you." I said; my instincts to protect kicking into full gear. Maria groaned, and followed behind the drooling men. I hurried over to Tiffany.

"Hey Tiffany. I'm sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to come and let you know that I saw you waving." I said, pulling out my charm and putting it into view. Tiffany noticed and smiled. I turned to the tall, dark, handsome man to find him glaring at me. Something about the charm seemed to set off his mood. Tiffany pulled me into a tight hug.

"I'm so glad you decided to come. I hope it wasn't too much trouble for you come." She said. She pulled away, staring at me curiously.

"You didn't come alone did you?" She asked. I shrugged.

"I had to sneak out." I said, hoping to bait the mysterious man to follow me out of the building. Tiffany frowned at my confession.

"I can't stay long. I have to get back before they worry. I just wanted to come and see you for a moment. You know, be a normal teenager for once." I explained. Tiffany sighed, tucking a loose strand of hair behind my ear.

"Leigha, when are you going to realize that there's nothing normal about your life?" She asked. Boy oh boy, she had no idea. The word "normal" was totally out of the box when it came to my life.

"Well I have to get going. I'll catch up with you tomorrow at school.” I said. Tiffany pulled me into another hug and I walked at a slow pace, looking behind my shoulder often to see if he would take the bait. It worked. He was following me out of the building.

My ankle was still sore, but I was able to pick up the pace as I walked out into the parking lot. Where was Maria? Did she find the witch and the exotic woman? I turned to see that the tall man was no longer alone. Two other extremely tall men stood beside him, pointing at me. My instincts to run kicked in, and I fled quickly into the forest.

"Oh god, I hope Alex is sensing my danger right about now." I grumbled.

"Run faster! The scent of your fear is intoxicating!" One of the men yelled. The forest was so dark, only the bright moon giving me light through the trees. I tripped over a loose limb, injuring my ankle even more. I landed hard onto the cold wet ground.

"Oh!" I yelped. Before I could pull myself to my feet, I saw the men, jumping from tree to tree at an inhumane speed. They were of the Ilium clan. My observation of them was just right. In one swift jump, two of them, landed just inches from me; their eyes glowing silver in the moon light.

"Stay away from me!" I yelled, pulling myself away. I bumped into something hard and warm. The third man grabbed me by my hair, pulling me to my feet. I screamed from the force of his strong arm.

"On your feet slave!" He yelled.

"Enough!" A voice shouted. The man released me by my hair, and I fell to my knees. I was tired and out of breath. The trio formed into a line, dropping to their knees and lowering their heads. Another tall man, an extremely handsome man approached me. He seemed unperturbed in his tightly fitted black sweater, in the blistering cold. I couldn't feel my fingers at this point. He was taller, bigger than the others. Their leader perhaps. He kept his long shoulder length hair cropped back, and he folded his large arms over his shoulders as he looked down at me. His glowing silver eyes staring directly into mine.

"I see you've brought me good bait this time." He said in a deep husky voice. The men rose and one of the monstrous men stepped towards me, pulling me to my feet in one swift motion. The leader moved closer towards me, closed his eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Yes, she smells mouth-watering. You've done your master proud." He spoke. Loud growls escaped their lips as they began to howl up at the huge full moon. The leader looked down at me, his huge fangs barred. I screamed.

"Help! Someone please help me!" The swift smack of his hand across my face silenced me. It quickly grew numb, and a loud ringing sensation filled my head.

"Ow." I grumbled as I fell to my knees. The loud roar of a large cat startled me. Before I could look up, the leader was suddenly falling over me, a large human cat standing over him. Loud growls escaped his mouth as he snarled back at the ferocious creature; their faces just inches apart.

"Tamera no!" Someone yelled. I rolled over onto my stomach to try to help myself to my feet. The large ferocious feline turned to me, hissing for me not to move. I froze in place. A familiar hand gently grazed her shoulder and she quickly calmed herself, jumping swiftly and flipping overhead to me in a crouch. She was so swift; she startled me, knocking me off my feet. I looked over to find Maria standing beside a very short young girl. He stood no higher than four feet, eleven. The girl looked over at the feline, worriedly.

"Tamera!" She yelled again. Tamera growled at me and leapt over to the small woman. I turned back to see Alexander standing over the leader. I yelped as someone suddenly pulled me to my feet. On either side of me, stood Mina and Caleb. I knew I was in big trouble. The leader flipped swiftly onto his feet, landing into a crouch. His minions drew beside him, growling and snarling at Alex. Alexander grinned wickedly.

"I see you've decided to claim these lands. But what you have to understand, is that are certain rules to abide by. You're disturbing the peace here, and that is something I cannot allow." He said calmly.

"You do not rule these lands! We have free claim to this territory!" The leader roared.

"We can handle this in a civil manner, or I have a better alternative to be more persuasive." Alex warned.

"I am not afraid of you Prince Alexander. You are no match for the three of us!" He roared. Alexander grinned wickedly.

"I would love to put that to the test, but my protectors would destroy you before I could even lift a finger, ruining my chances of crushing you with my own hands." He said, gesturing towards Mina, Caleb, and Tamera. The leader thought twice about that, and began to straighten up in surrender.

"The King will hear about this. You cannot just control territory that isn't yours!" The leader argued.

"My father will indeed be informed. However, until then…" Alexander turned to the small woman and the ferocious Tamera.

"Witch, will you please bind them into the forest?" He asked, stepping back. The monstrous wolves suddenly became hysterical and began to transform. The small woman stepped forward and held out her hand. A small red marble began to glow in the palm of her hand. She closed her eyes and began to concentrate. The small marble began to float from her hand, stopping just a few inches from Alexander’s face. Alexander grinned wickedly as the monstrous wolves began to charge toward him, only to be knocked back by the glowing shield in front of him. As the small woman opened her eyes, the glowing marble faded, and landed into her palm. The red horizontal light faded and the angry wolves climbed back to their feet, shaking off the hit and charging again. I braced myself for impact, squeezing my eyes shut and looking away. To my surprise, the shield was still there, simply invisible. Alexander looked towards the small woman.