JADE:
“L-Liam!…”
I could still remember the heavy fingers that clutched my throat until I had fainted last time. They belonged to the same person who caressed me and told me that he’d treasure me for a long time…
Now, I could only think how disgusting I was to have shared the same bed with Marian’s killer!
“Congratulations, hon. You made it.”
He was smiling like his usual self, except that his eyes held a glint of malice.
I eyed him viciously. He was standing against me and the door. If I try to make a run towards it to get back to the dark hallway, shall I make it?
As if reading my thoughts he, shook his head. “Oh no, you already entered here, Jade. You can’t come back.”
“You animal! Let me go!”
Despite his warning and the thought of doom, I still made a run towards the only exit in this damned place.
Liam caught me by the waist swiftly and picked me up effortlessly away from my sought after freedom.
“No,” I screamed and kicked about.
Still clutching me tightly, he planted me in front of the whole body mirror. He rested his chin in crook of my left neck as he hugged me from behind.
“Look, Jade, it’s almost complete! You look beautiful!”
“What do you mean? What was almost complete?!”
“Your induction… or maybe it’s more appropriate to call it our wedding!”
I tried to snatch away his hands snaking around my waist, but he did not budge and only hugged me tighter.
“Quit struggling… You won’t be going anywhere now, hon.”
“No! Get away from me, you murderer!”
Liam coiled an arm against my neck and tilted my head towards him, still looking at my reflection in the mirror.
“Aww, how did your feelings turn cold so easily, hmm? Didn’t you just promised we’d spend our vacation in your parents’ house last time? Why the sudden change of heart now, hon?”
Just then, I remembered my sharp nails. I dig it into Liam’s raised arm as hard as I could and bit at the fingers he used to hold my cheeks.
As such, I was able to escape his clutches as I backed away in a corner.
“Let me out of here,” I screamed.
He looked at the teeth mark I left in his skin and smiled a maniacal smile.
“Nice one, Jade. You’re turning me on more!”
I fumbled at my side where I had hung the knife I stole back at my hospital room using my wrist straps. I aimed the knife at him, shaking.
“Back the f*ck off,” I said as mightily as I could.
It didn’t frighten him at all. In fact, I think he thought of it as some sort of game…
“Honey… Did you honestly think you could wound me with a steak knife?” He was coming closer. I took a step back. “You still don’t know a single thing about me, don’t you?”
“You’re wrong! I know you killed them – you killed those girls!”
“Did I? Where’s your proof?”
“Y-You kept those mementos of them! You kept all those filthy souvenirs of their deaths, you bastard,” I screamed, wielding the knife in front of me.
My actions did nothing to him. He still continued to come closer.
“Jade, I think there’s been a mistake. I didn’t kill them,” he said. He was now a few inches closer to me now. I raised the knife more steadily towards his neck. “They died because they weren’t strong enough.”
“What,” I said exasperatedly. “Is that your excuse? You’re worst than an animal! How can you say that after killing three people? Do you even have a heart?”
“Jade, it’s more complicated than you think… Everything has its own reason. It’s for the greater good.”
“Greater good? How can killing ever be for the greater good? Did they ask to be killed? Did they do anything bad against you? Why? Just why?”
“Do you believe in miracles, Jade, or fate? Those women… They came at the right hour, at the right place… They came for their death. They were sent to us by an angel!”
I cannot believe the words I was hearing. His excuse right now sounded like the ramblings of a madman!
“We’ll, I can’t say you are mistaken about what you think of me, honey. Why don’t you put that thing down so that we can talk more reasonably, hmm?”
I was deathly afraid of Liam, but I was not a fool.
“Alright,” I whispered, lowering the knife in the process.
“Good girl…”
As soon as he was close enough, I raised the knife in my hand more steadily and stabbed him.
My hand landed on his rib cage. He staggered backwards, but I did not stop. I did not let go of the knife. I stabbed him again.
“Die! Just die,” I mumbled. I didn’t know how many times I had plunged that knife into his body, or how in the world I had gotten on top of him. I just suddenly realized that I had stabbed him far too many times when the upper part of his robe has been ripped into shreds…
“Hah!... Ahh!”
I staggered backwards, cold sweats covering me again from head to foot.
I hunched myself in a corner and covered my face, completely mortified. How many times did I stab Liam? How did I come to do that? Am I also a monster?
More importantly, how in the world did I get the energy to stab him like that?
“Are you finished now, Jade? Did you get the anger out of your system,” I heard someone speak.
Trembling, my hands were removed from my face - and the one who removed it was none other than the person I just stabbed several times in his trunk.
“H-How,” I asked unable to comprehend why he was still alive and seemingly unharmed.
“I thought you knew, Jade… Didn’t you always wonder why there was no blood in my wounds, or why my heart never beat loud enough for you to hear?... Didn’t you pay any attention to those signs?”
My eyes widened as I realized that, even now, the various cuts I inflicted on his body were not bleeding…
“Y-You’re a-a…”
He clutched my hand even tighter. “Yes, Jade, go ahead and say it.” He brushed his lips into my bruised and battered fingers and into my wrists.
“A-a vampire!”
I can’t believe it! Liam – the Liam that I knew, the Liam I had loved - was a true-to-life monster!