011 - Someone needs to be saved

Aurora

This time you were more scared by Grayson like never before because you didn't expect him to react that way when his eyes went totally black but it wasn't long before your touch brought him back to reality, hoping he will calm down. Once it did happen as he focused only on you with a harsh breathing near your face, a loud banging noise interrupted your moment as you jumped underneath Grayson, now fearing not only your safety but his too.

The man above you didn't waste a second. Jumping to his feet with an icy murderous expression, he went to the kitchen with fast strides, kneeled on the ground near the attic door and grabbed a hatch from the ground, just to open some secret door. Leaning his head down to look for something, his arm reached down to take something out of it.

Seeing something shiny, you realise that it's a gun. Your heart froze when Grayson took it in his hand and stood up. Checking for bullets inside, his head turns sideways to look at you.

"I suggest you to go the bedroom. I will go check the door. Don't come out till I say otherwise."

"But,-"

"Listen to me if you want to live," he interrupts with a glare and you shut up real fast.

Not giving you a single glance more, he looks away from you and goes out of the kitchen with silent steps till he is out of your sight. With shallow breath, your heartbeat increases when you scramble on your feet to put the dress back on, now fearing for the worst when the silence stretches all over the dark house.

Not wanting to be in the centre of the trouble, you hurried to the bedroom like Grayson told you but the longer you tried to hear what is happening in the hallway where was the entrance door, the faster you become anxious, imagining that your brother's enemies are by the front door and if Grayson opens it, he can face a bullet himself, not prepared to defend himself fast enough.

Putting your ear by the door, you waited seconds, minutes but not a sound was heard. It was like everything was dead in the house.

Almost deciding to go out and find Grayson to make sure if he is all right, you suddenly hear deep male voices talking. Scared out of your mind, you force yourself to stay still and listen to what are they saying.

"Our sister got lost an hour ago. Maybe by any chance you saw her? She is pretty small with light golden hair and was dressed in a red dress. We are trying to ask anyone but no luck so far, maybe someone saw her in this neighborhood. "

There is a second of silence when you catch Grayson's replay.

"Sorry but no."

"Oh really? Someone said they saw her near this house so we thought she might be hiding somewhere here. Can we check your backyard? Maybe she's in your garage or something. "

"Trust me, if she is, I would've known already, I can't let some trespassers come into my territory unnoticed so no, she is not here," Grayson sounds irritated now and you hear him trying to shut the door close but a hand stops it before it fully closes as you hear it smacking against the wood.

"Still, better to make sure to check anyway. So please let us,-"

"Gentlemen, I suggest you to leave before I call the police," your man warns them with a cold voice and the next words by them leaves you cold.

"Fine, you don't give us another choice then," drawing their weapons out, you hear a gunshot and you jump as you imagine them hurting Grayson so you don't even second guess and throw yourself out of the bedroom to go try to see what is going on.

And hope you can save him in time. Along the way there are two more popping sounds but much quieter. The image you see when you finally reach the front entrance makes you freeze on the spot.

Two dead bodies lay by the front door while Grayson stands over them with a gun still in his hand, gripping it tightly till you see his knuckles turning white. Forcing yourself to not look away from the disturbing sight, you see blood already seeping on the porch. Your hand accidentally covers your mouth in shock as you realise that Grayson just killed two people without hesitation or regret as you see him watching them with expressionless eyes.

"I told you to stay in the bedroom, didn't I, precious?" Grayson's icy voice makes you wince in surprise that he knows that you saw what happened.

"I-I thought you needed help," your voice trembles.

The man chuckles darkly and lowers his weapon against his body. His every move making you wince.

"They know you're here. The question remains for how long before they send more spies. If this is how they all are, it will be easier to get rid of them. They are weak, can't even take a straight shot to the target," scowling down at them, you don't know what to do as you keep standing there, just watching.

You were now alone with a killer as you realised this.

Grayson turns to look at you and gives you a tight-lipped smile showing his distain," What's the matter, love? Suddenly afraid?"

You feel a lump in your throat as you answer, " Why would I be? Will you hurt me too?"

He gives no reaction, just stares at you blankly till you can't handle his unblinking stare and look down at your feet, the silence giving you all the answers you need but then you hear him approaching you slowly.

Trying not to seem fearful with every step, you hold your ground when he finally stops before you and takes your chin as he lifts it up so you can meet his dark eyes.

"Don't ever think that I will hurt you on purpose but If someone touches you, I will kill them all," promising you the deaths of your enemies, you didn't know if you should be relieved or terrified by that.

"Some time ago you almost did kill me, why sudden change of heart?"

He gives you a chilling smile when he leans closer to your face," You're too pretty to ruin. I will just keep you to myself. You already decided to stay here with me. Now you know what I am and what I'm capable of. If you want to run off now, it is too late, you already chose your fate."

You scoff at that statement," You can't keep me here forever."

There's a dangerous glint in his eyes when you say those words and you feel dizzy when he grins at you, ''Who said I will keep you forever?''

You furrow your eyebrows at that,''What is that supposed to mean? You will just use me and then kill me too?''

Grayson tips your chin higher and squeezes it in a warning, pinching it between his fingertips as you hiss in pain when he yanks you closer to lock eyes with you, the gaze so intense, you almost look away but the hold doesn't give him the satisfaction,'' You really think that I will kill you?''

Your silence makes him angry when you're too afraid to answer but he can't do anything to you when suddenly he yanks your whole body to the side from the door which results you landing on the floor with your back on it so he can cover your body with his as series of bullets rip through the air above you.

Turning, you hear many loud voices approaching the house when Grayson growls as he pushes himself up, wrapping his arms around your waist to hoist you up from the ground.

"What's h-happening? Are they after me?" Your shaken body doesn't seem to move from the shock you were in but Grayson didn't seem fazed at all when he takes you by the elbow and makes you run through the house, right outside to the backdoor where his garage was. While you two escaped, you realised that your enemies haven't made any movement or noise after the shooting. It was like they were waiting for you two show up and surrender yourselves.

He didn't answer your earlier question until you reached his motorcycle in the garage parked right next to his car. He pulled up the dusty cover, just for you to see a big black motorcycle. It was more like a beast than a transportation bike.

You stood there watching him try to check if everything works with it and it didn't help either that your legs felt weak from standing for too long so you decided to sit down on one of the wooden planks that were placed on the ground.

The feeling of exhaustion hit you fast and you weren't sure if it was because you haven't slept in the past few days or if it was due to being trapped in an enclosed space with your worst enemy.

You wanted to call for someone to get you out of here but you knew that couldn't do that, he was the only one who could save you.

You had no choice but to trust him.

While you watched, Grayson finished inspecting his bike and turned to you, "You ready?" His expression held nothing except a calmness, even though you were in danger and any second they can find you here and welcome you with more bullets.

"Yes." You answered quietly, nodding once in reply.

Your eyes followed Grayson's movements as he grabbed a shirt for himself to put in on and got on the bike, strapping himself up before starting up the engine. When he saw how worried you looked, he spoke again, "It'll be alright so hurry up before they catch us."

He started driving out of the driveway, the speed too fast for your liking once you were behind him on the motorcycle but you didn't complain because you needed to escape them faster, "I promise I will never let anyone hurt you." As much as it pained you to admit, this is probably the first time you actually believed those words he told you.

You trusted him but there were still things about Grayson that left you confused at times, like why would he give such a serious response, or even have his voice change its tone to reassure you and not threaten you. Maybe he meant them but there was something else in there, something that made him sound so sincere.

Before you could ask him anything further Grayson drove down the street towards the direction of town where people were living. You could hear some sirens, which wasn't surprising considering the fact that the shooting must've been heard from a mile away and most likely scared everyone out of their skin.

When he stopped at the stop sign he asked, "Can you hold on to my waist? I will not bite you."

His sarcastic tone made you roll your eyes but you complied without asking anything and wrapped your arms around his middle tightly as Grayson sped off down the highway. Even though you knew he wouldn't hurt you, you were still scared shitless, knowing that Grayson was able to fight and that you weren't.

As the minutes passed by and it seemed like neither of you heard any more gunshots, you started to feel better, the anxiety slowly dissipated. After another five minutes, you could tell where you were going and soon enough he pulled over into a small park in front of a small house that was built in the shape of a diamond, you assumed. It was a small wooden cottage.

You hopped off the motorcycle quickly, careful not to touch anything on the way off and walked up to him. You noticed that Grayson had already unbuckled himself and gotten off the motorcycle.

You didn't realise that Grayson had walked away from you, he hadn't spoken at all since he got off the bike and it kind of unnerved you. You tried to focus on the surroundings instead of thinking about him walking away, "Where are we?"

"Just stay close," Grayson told you before disappearing behind the door.

There was no lock on the door because of course not, his other house was even in more bad condition, "Why we are here? What is this place?"

"Don't think that you're safe just yet." You didn't know where he was going with that and honestly you didn't care. This situation has turned into something weird and scary and you wanted no part of it. However, when you turned to face him, his expression told you differently. It wasn't his usual smile, it was more of a smirk.

With that said and done you followed him to wherever he was taking you, you figured this would be a good opportunity to try and catch him off guard but instead you were the one caught off guard when you both reached the backyard which was leading to some gate far ahead as you walked up the trail. The further you got, the more you started to see changes in scenario and landscape.

When you reached the iron gate, your mouth agape, words failing you, you watched Grayson go to the side to open some hatch to show a keypad. Pressing his digits inside, the automatic voice of someone startled you.

"Welcome home, Mr. Byrne. All the systems unlocked."

Not knowing how to react, you just waited for the gate to open and you followed the man inside. How many secrets will continue to unravel, you didn't know.

In a few seconds later you were surprised to find yourself in front of a manor that resembled a castle. "We have to go in?" You weren't sure why you were still skeptical about this whole thing when you already agreed to it.

Grayson nodded, "Yeah." He grabbed your wrist and dragged you forward, the grip on your hand tightened as you felt him pulling you closer to him. "Let me explain what's happening."

You raised an eyebrow and continued following him inside. You noticed how big it was compared to the rest of the manor because of how quiet and empty it seemed. He took you through what appeared to be a large foyer and through multiple doors that lead to more rooms.

Eventually he found what appeared to be a kitchen area which was surrounded by huge windows that allowed sunlight to stream through and brighten up the room. He stopped in front of an island where was a tray with two cups and two plates sitting on top. One cup had a bunch of fruits in it and the other contained coffee.

"Do you have something for headaches?" You asked suddenly, now only feeling dizzy from all the running away and feeling scared. It completely drained you from all the energy you had.

Grayson poured some coffee into one of the cups and handed it to you. "This should help with the headache and will calm you down." He sat down across from you and waited until you sat down before continuing. "I'm not entirely sure why I brought you here, this wasn't supposed to happen. The hideout I was using was to stay low so no one knows where I am but since you showed up, you had to bring them along."

You gave a slight scoff but didn't comment on the matter anymore as Grayson grabbed his cup of coffee and drank from it. You stared at the untouched apple on your plate, thinking about your options. "I didn't know they will follow me that far. How could I know that I will bring danger to your doorstep too?"

Grayson laughed bitterly, making you look up at him to meet his eyes. They had dark circles underneath them which almost looked like bruises from the amount of sleep he has missed.

"How about I tell you the truth, precious? That wasn't just an ambush. They wanted to scare you so you are prepared for what's coming next. They don't know who I am yet but when they will, it will be too late when they find themselves bleeding under my feet."

He downed the rest of the coffee, causing you to flinch slightly when it was gone. He then leaned in closer to you, his arm resting against the table with both hands clasped together. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before opening them and looking straight at you, "I'm a killer, love. That's another truth. "

You blinked slowly, "What? Why?" You didn't really understand.

Why would Grayson tell you something like that?

"That's what you need to find out." He answered simply, leaving you speechless.

You stared at Grayson for a while, trying to figure out the answer but after what seemed to have been years of staring at each other he sighed heavily, "Do you know what happened to me after I left to study abroad three years ago?"

"No, you never mentioned it. What exactly happened to you?" You answered truthfully.

Grayson kept staring at you, deciding if maybe it wasn't such a good idea to bring up the past to you but seconds later, he continued.

"I don't remember much of it," Grayson began, his gaze expressionless, trying to fight his inner demons, you suppose it was hard to remember what really happened. That's the thing you were most curious about. What suddenly changed the sweet boy into this....this...monster? You thought back and couldn't imagine what could change him like that.

"I just remember one day I woke up in my dorm room and there stood people around me. At least six men in masks. They didn't even answered my questions when I asked them what they want from me but one thing lead to another when they forced a drug on me and then it was just nothing. " His eyes darkened at that.

"When I woke up later, I was in a dark cage. Completely alone and I started panicking. I screamed for help but nobody came. Eventually, I passed out. When I woke up again, the next time I was in some sort of room with just a single light bulb and I was tied to a chair with rope on my wrists and legs."

A sick feeling grew in your stomach as you realised Grayson has been kidnapped and probably tortured. How can he be so calm and composed all the time, yet still seem like a victim.

"They said they would kill me if I tried anything." He continued, looking away.

"But why? Why would they do something like that?" You couldn't control your emotions anymore as you felt wetness on your cheeks.

Grayson clenched his fists on the table, trying not to lose himself too but your next words made him freeze.

"Did they hurt you? That's why you have that voice in your head?" Grayson looked at you surprised, clearly not expecting you to notice. But you had noticed it, ever since he started telling you about his life he seemed more relaxed and open than usual.

He slowly nodded his head, unable to say more. The memories he wanted to forget resurfaced and he closed his eyes, trying to keep himself together.

"They kept me there for weeks, months, I don't really remember. In that cage, time seemed to blur together. " You watched in shock as he broke down completely, tears streaming down his face and shaking his head.

"I was tortured, beaten, cut every day. And you know why they did it?" You heard him sob, your heart breaking at how broken he sounded," My fucking father was a coward enough! He fucking took his own life so his problems goes away but no, they took me instead. Only for fucking money my father owned them," he laughed which sounded evil to your ears.

"But probably it was for the better. They showed what I've become. The monster in the dark." Grayson finished talking with a small grin, wiping off his tears but the sad look was still present in his eyes.

You weren't sure what to make of any of this. Grayson looked so vulnerable right now and despite how strong he is you can't help but feel bad for him. Your mind starts racing as you stood up from the chair you were sitting on and slowly approached him.

"Hey..." You began softly, reaching for him and grabbing his hands in yours. Grayson snapped back to reality and looked at you confused. He stared at your hand for a few seconds, seemingly trying to understand what was happening until he finally looked up and met your gaze. You could see the vulnerability and sadness in his eyes and decided to continue.

"I'm sorry for everything you went through. I wish I could take it all away but I can't. All I can do is try to help you get through it. I promise I'll always be here for you." You smiled at him, hoping he understood what you meant by those words but in reply, he chuckled as he pulled you roughly to him and kissed you.

His lips moved passionately against your own as his free hand grabbed your cheek and pulled you even closer, causing a shiver to run down your spine. His tongue traced across your lower lip asking for entrance and you gladly accepted.

After what seemed to last ages, he pulled away and rested his forehead against yours breathing deeply as his grip on your arms loosened.

After a few minutes Grayson spoke first, his tone still rough, "I missed you." He breathed. "So damn much."

Your smile widened at that, not expecting him to admit that. The words you longed for so long were finally said to you.

You didn't care about his past or anything, you just wanted to be with him. No matter what happens.