Chapter 17: Paint it, Black

"Who are you?" Katrina hissed through her teeth, a giant wave of mixed emotions came over her.

Adrian opened his mouth to speak, but there were no right words for this moment.

"So, that's it?" A rage burned in her eyes. "What- so I come to this party that you invite me to, only to find out you're some kind of monster. Were you planning to kill me after?"

"No! Of course not, and I can promise you I am not a monster."

His voice strained, as if he were holding back thousands of tears.

"I had no idea what my parents were planning. They'd thought about this party since we first moved here, but there was no predicting they would go on some killing spree…"

"What about what your father said to you.. On the stairs?"

Katrina glared at him as she sniffled.

"Oh, don't you Remember? it was something like: 'don't forget about tonight''"

"Yeah, cause he told me he wanted to meet with me for something about the party, there was no telling what he was scheming."

She scoffed as she ran a hand through her hair, staining it with red blotches.

"When were you planning on telling me? After everything was said and done? After you finished using me to get me to like you 'cause I was such an 'easy target'?"

"No…" he closed his eyes and shook his head.

"I trusted you, Adrian!" She couldn't stop the tears from coming as she practically shouted at him. "Why did you not tell me sooner?"

"Would you have believed me?!" His fangs flashed as he scowled at her.

She gasped as her eyes widened.

"What- you think within the three days of knowing you I would've just randomly been like 'Hey, I come from a family of vampires'." He sighed, shaking his head.

"The truth is, I wanted to tell you. But you probably would've just ran away like everyone else… I guess that's what I get for trusting mortals."

There was a longing sadness that lingered in his violet eyes.

Katrina wiped her tears as she stood, recalling all the memories she had with him:

The pumpkin patch, the drive in, the record shop,

She realized it wasn't him who was the threat, it was the fear of what she couldn't believe.

"Adrian… I-"

The wooden chandelier started to creak as it moved slowly, a strange rumbling began to arouse from the ceiling.

They both stared in silence as the chandelier picked up the pace,

Spinning in circles like a fan on max setting.

After a few moments of more rumbling and spinning,

The chandelier slowed to a stop…

Before snapping off its chain.

Time seemed to slow as Katrina watched the wooden light slowly drop towards her.

She could hear the faint echo of Adrian's voice as she was picked up and thrown towards the stairs.

A deep groan escaped her throat as her body slammed against the wooden floor,

She could barely notice his body buried beneath the wood…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian gasped as his eyes shot open,

He struggled to breathe underneath the crushing weight of wood and metal.

His eyes stung with smoke as small scattered flames began to spread,

traveling through the ground and up the curtains.

It wasn't long before the whole room went up in flames.

He turned his head to the sound of a muffled scream,

Eyes widening as he let out a strained gasp..

Katrina stood at the end of the stairs, tears streaming down her face.

A dark figure held its hand over her mouth, glowing yellow eyes scowled from the darkness.

For a brief moment she ripped its hand away,

Reaching out to where he layed.

"Adrian!"

She called to him in a desperate plea,

Before the figure dropped her to the ground, dragging her into the shadows…