"You must be out of your mind if you think I will walk into a car of a stranger," Emma said as she paced quickly away from the dark-tinted car.
"It's late now, miss," came a manly yet soft voice.
"Wait, that voice sounds familiar," Emma thought to herself and stopped. The window of the back seat rolled down, and she recognized his silvery hair immediately.
Emma sighed as she continued to walk away from the car.
"Miss, don't be so stubborn. It's already late; you need to get out of here."
"And who the hell do you think you are to tell me what to do, huh?"
"Don't I have the freedom of movement anymore?"
"You want this the hard way, I guess."
The silvery-haired man snapped his fingers, and two well-built men in suits and dark-shaded glasses stepped out of the car behind her. She hadn't even noticed it until now.
"Let go of me!" she yelled as she was being dragged into the silvery-haired man's car.
"Easy with her, will you?" he cautioned his men.
"We are sorry, sir," they bowed and left for their car.
Emma was now seated close to him, and her gown almost filled the entire car.
"Well, well, well, what do you know? People who preach about danger are the ones to be feared the most," Emma said, setting free her hurt toes from her heels.
The silvery-haired man only smiled as he signaled his driver to speed off.
"And where the hell do you think you are taking me to?" she questioned. "I am not some sort of call girl, you know."
"I see," he replied, giving her a once-over. "You are some sort of bride, I guess," he said and chuckled lightly.
Emma remained silent and braced herself for the worst.
***
Emma's thoughts began to drift to all that had happened—from the day she had met Alexander until earlier today.
Alexander was one of the workers in her company. She was drawn to him because of his dedication and hardworking nature. He was a perfect gentleman—or so she thought.
He was the kind of man she wanted to spend forever with. She lessened his workload, compensated him more, and even extended his leave period just to make him feel comfortable and notice her, but he ignored her like a fish dreads dry land.
She admitted she had everything she ever wanted. All thanks to her father, she had money, power, and companies all over the world to manage.
She hadn't felt so lonely until her father died in a plane crash two years ago. Ever since, she felt alone. Her best friend, Janet, had to come stay with her since then.
Flashback
"I like him," she had told Janet.
"Who?" Janet replied, confused.
"Alexander," Emma replied bashfully, playing with the hem of her nightgown.
"You mean the intern?" Janet laughed out.
"Don't be mean, Janet. His name is Alexander, and yes, I like him."
"Emma," Janet had started, "you can get any man you want in this world. Men literally worship the ground you walk on, and you are here liking that thing?" Janet said, giving a mocking body gesture, her hands pointing towards nothing in particular.
Emma gave her a look that indicated if she didn't stop, her head was going to be cut off.
"Huff... alright, fine, Emma. Do what you like," Janet said, clearly not happy with Emma's choice.
"Help me out, Janet. I don't seem to have his attention," Emma said.
"And you've been in the dating world like forever, so I was hoping you could share some tricks with me."
"Wait, what? Never! I'm not sharing anything with you to get that lowlife to notice you."
Janet moved closer to Emma, placing Emma's head on her shoulder.
"Come on, girl. You are too pretty for that. Don't let that man make you feel less of yourself."
"Well, I can't help it, Janet," she said, retrieving her head from her shoulder and pacing around the room. "I really do like him." She stopped and asked, "Why is it always this way?"
"And what way are you talking about, Emma?"
"Why is it that if you love someone, that person wouldn't love you back? And yet, others who you don't give a damn about are head over heels for you?"
"Well, maybe you're looking in the wrong direction, Em."
Emma grabbed a pillow and tossed it at Janet.
"I'm sorry, Emma, but that might be it," Janet said, as she missed the pillow and laughed. Emma gave up and joined Janet on the bed, her face disoriented.
"Don't worry, hun. I will help you."
"Really?" Emma asked, elated, as she hugged Janet tightly.
"You are the best, hun!"
"Anything for you, my love."
Emma and Alexander started dating shortly after. Emma felt so sure that he was the one. She got everything ready and proposed to Alexander, even willing everything she had to him to convince him more about marrying her.
Emma felt weak at the thought of reminiscing about all the stupid decisions she had made. She decided to give way to her emotions as the soft music from the car helped drift her off.
***
Emma nudged her eyes open at the soft touch of a man.
"Here you go, eat this," he said.
Emma was so deep in sleep that she hadn't noticed they had stopped to get food.
Emma sighed, hating the fact that she had been brought back to reality.
"I'm not hungry," she remarked bluntly.
"I wasn't asking. It's an order."
Emma turned to face him. That was when she noticed his pale face and green eyes—he literally looked lifeless. She had a strong desire to prick his skin to see if there was blood in it… He looked different now.
"What the heck? Did you also stop to get your face painted or what? Well, I'm not eating unless you want to shove it down my throat…"
He gazed down her neck as she was still speaking, and suddenly, he traced his fingers down her neckline. He felt his fangs elongate, and he stopped immediately, looking away, his body shivering.
Emma was too tired to make sense of what was happening. She dismissed every thought she had and tried to fall asleep again.
Clearly, she was hungry. In fact, she hadn't eaten all day, but she was too stubborn to admit it. Her stomach grumbled noisily from time to time, indicating it needed food, but still, she wouldn't give in.
Emma turned around in discomfort—both from the war going on in her stomach and the corset tightened around her waist.
The silvery-haired man chuckled as he heard her thoughts.
Surprisingly, he was back to normal. Emma couldn't understand what was happening. She tried to ask questions, but she was cut off.
"Stop!" he said.
"What?" she said to herself. "But I didn't say anything."
She looked at him, expecting him to go on with his statement.
He looked at her, anger flashing in his eyes, but it was immediately replaced with concern. She couldn't place her finger on it, but she felt drawn to him.
His face began to change into the pale, lifeless one she had seen earlier. But this time, his eyes lit up, shining onto her face.
He drew her closer to himself with no effort, trailing his elongated fingers down her neck, feeling his fangs grow as well.
"Sir," the driver called out when he noticed what was happening in the mirror.
The silvery-haired man snapped back to normal and turned to face his driver.
"What is it?" he questioned.
"We are here," the driver replied.
"Get out!" he yelled at her.
Emma shook out of her skin and stepped out of the car.
She couldn't believe she was here… In fact, she couldn't believe everything that had happened today had actually happened.
She turned to face the car, but it was gone. All three of them.
Was she hallucinating or what?
Clearly, she wasn't—because if she were, she wouldn't be here.
Or was she?