Page 82 of Beautiful Prey

“Lena,” April called. “Lena, can you come out for a second? There’s someone at the door and they wanna come in.”

I froze, my body tensing up all over again. I locked eyes with Lena and I knew she could see the anxiety on my face.

“Who?” she called back.

“I don’t know, some chick and her guy.”

She cursed under her breath. “I’ll go check. Just stay in here and I’ll be right back, okay?”

“Yeah…okay,” I said uncertainly. I got the door for her and April was waiting outside. She helped push her along down the hall. I shut the door and dressed quickly, my hands trembling. I looked for my bag and realized I left it in the car. I needed another xanax bad. I felt hot and cold all at once, sweat trickling down my breasts and yet I kept shivering. I took slow deep breaths and forced myself out of Lena’s room into the bathroom opposite. I washed my face and neck letting the cool water slip down my shirt. I felt my stomach twist in knots as I took a sip of water. I wanted to ask someone to go out to my car but at the same time I didn’t want anyone to leave the house. Any minute Liam would be here and I’d ask to get my bag before we left. It was going to be fine, we were going to go and get out of dodge and maybe they’d find Emery before he could find me. It was going to be fine.

As I came out into the hall to return to Lena’s room, I noticed people speaking in the living room and heard someone crying.

“Nathan swears he saw this guy start the fire,” a girl said, clearly upset. “I told him not to go after the guy, but he had been drinking and he goes all alpha male, you know.” She cried softly, then continued, “Elijah went too and I didn’t know what to do so I called 911.”

“Are you sure the fire wasn’t an accident?” Jamie asked in a low voice. “Maybe one of the OZ’s fireworks?”

“I-I don’t know. I didn’t see but they swore they did. They saw him. They went to confront him and…Oh god,” she moaned. “He smashed Elijah's head into the window of a car, glass all in his face. Then he grabbed Nathan and I’m sure he broke his arm. He hardly moved and he just broke it. Then he came after me and James and—and we were just so fucking scared we ran for it. James said he knew you were having a party and you were the closest so…”

I stood there in the dark hallway, unable to move. I heard Lena speak next.

“Did someone call about the fire?”

I turned toward the window in Lena’s room, I quickly went over to it and looked out.

I saw a dull orange in the distance, and I could hear sirens from far away, growing closer. As I opened the window a crack, I heard shouts and screams nearby and smelled the stink of smoke.

“It’s the OZ house,” Jamie said behind me from the door.

I stared out into the night, searching wildly. Then I whirled around and moved past him out into the hall and into the living room where everyone was sitting.

“What did he look like?” I asked the girl sitting in her cat costume, eyeliner smudged from her tears. The guy beside her in a batman costume was quiet.

“Eve,” Lena started.

“Tell me!” I shouted. I couldn’t help it. I was on edge, ready to crack. No, I already was.

The girl shook her head, more tears forming. “H-he looked like…” She turned her eyes away from mine to the patio door. Her face went ashen and her mouth opened wide, letting out an ear-shattering scream as she lunged off the couch.

We all turned toward the slide-in door. There he stood, a hulking shadow in the dark, his red skull face smiling at us. In his hand was a hammer. He threw his arm back and sent the hammer into the glass, shattering it into a thousand pieces that exploded into the room.

I shielded my eyes from the glass as I heard the others scream.

“Eve, run!” Jamie shouted.

I did. I went for the stairs, seeing them first. I ran up them, two at a time.

Halfway, I felt a vice grip on my ankle, dragging me down while sweeping me off my feet, my chin hitting one of the steps, cutting me open.

Jamie jumped him, hitting his fist across his back and head. Emery was hardly fazed, but he did let me go to turn and grab Jamie, throwing him into a wall.

“No!” I cried as Jamie collapsed to the ground. I scrambled to my feet and pushed my legs up the stairs as Emery turned back to me.

As he started to climb, his heavy boots thudding up each step, I flew into another small community room, cups and beer cans everywhere and the TV playingScream. Lena’s roommates and friends must have fled or hidden because there was nobody as I reached for the sliding balcony door.

I fumbled for the lock, a whimper rising in my throat. I unlatched the door and slid it open just enough to get through, breaking out into the chill night air.

I slammed into the balcony railing and looked back as he opened the door wider. Panicked and terrified, I flung myself over the rail and dangled over the edge. He lunged and tried to grab me, but I let go before he could.

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