Raven's P•O•V

My first thought was that he was insane; a psychopath that kidnaps women and lets them stay at a very luxurious place before he kills them. My second thought was that I was the one going insane.

"What?" I raised my voice, my heart rate rising with it. He didn't say anything and was now standing instead of kneeling across the room from me. His incompetence to answer had my heart racing in pure anger.

"Tell me why I'm here! Tell me why I'm not in New York!" I yelled at him, my tone almost pleading.

"You're here because I chose you," He told me, being vague about his words.

"What do you mean, you chose me?"

"I went to New York with only a week to find my Soulmate," He said without the slightest bit of emotion. No arrogance in his tone; nothing. Just a blank and expressionless face. I didn't say a single word, just looked up at him and swallowed hard.

"In the beginning I was excited. Until I really thought about it..." He explained. I tensed and felt a chill run down my spine. I didn't care what he said. I couldn't listen to this.

"Stop," I shivered and held my head in my hands, feeling the pounding come back. My legs felt like jello and I could feel my blood pulsing in my neck.

"Raven I -" He started but my eyes shot wide open, staring him down in surprise.

"How - How do you know my name?" I stuttered. I felt the urge to pass out fill me and slowly start to get worse.

"I could hear you on the phone the other night. That woman called you Raven," He told me. I stared at him in shock.

"How could you hear her call me that?" I asked, completely dumbfounded.

"It's pretty self-explanatory since I just told you I'm a Vampire..." He muttered and I stared at him for a second. I shook my head and ran my hands through my hair. I could feel my stomach tighten into thick knots.

Holding my head in my hands only made me feel the wetness of my eyes. I shielded them from him and bit my lip to stop from making a sound.

"I didn't have a choice," His voice seemed tense and now he sounded just a few feet away from me. I looked up at him, not minding the uncontrollable tears falling down my cheeks.

"Why me? Why choose me?" My voice wavered when I said this. He was just a blurry image in front of me as the tears clouded my vision.

"I had no say in choosing you. Somehow it just clicked. I thought seeking out my Soulmate would be my choice, but it wasn't. I saw you and it was set in stone that it was you," He tried explaining, but I was too far gone.

"Can you reverse it? Is there any way I can go back home?" I asked hopefully. I looked up at him, my tears starting to stick to my cheeks. I looked at his facial features, taking in the sharp angle of his jawline, the pale skin, the dark maroon eyes.

"No there's not," Those words were unsettling. The reality was all too real. I'd never go home again. I'd never see my friends again. I'd never see Steven again...

Of all the times I'd believed that Steven knew all the right words, and knew exactly what to say to make me feel better, I couldn't think about a single damn thing that he would say that would make me feel better now.

I felt my whole self seem heavy, almost like a weight was holding me down. I stood slowly and stared him in the eyes. An unsteady breath came out of my mouth as I took a step towards him. I had no idea what I was doing, no clue as to why my body was starting to go numb. I could see the glass case that held the beautiful crown in it out of the corner of my eye. I didn't glance at it though, I kept my eyes on him, making sure he was unaware of my intentions.

By now I was just a few feet from him, standing tall, even though his height still made me feel obsolete. I stopped just beside the case and kept our eyes locked by keeping myself eerily silent, giving him the thought that although I wasn't speaking, maybe he'd see something in my eyes. Something like an emotion, or what I was doing...

I acted quickly. Smashing the glass case in with the side of my fist, I let it shatter. I plucked one of the pieces out of the edging, snapping it from the place where it still stood to attention after I had smashed the glass case. I gripped it hard, not feeling anything as I jabbed it into place. Just enough force to push the skin in above his heart.

It all happened in a swift second.

I didn't care what or who he was, human or some sort of fictional creature. I was getting out of here and he couldn't stop me.

He barely even moved. He stared down at me and only for a split second did a flare of amusement shine in his dark red eyes. His face kept still but his eyes left mine to gaze at my hand. The irises of his eyes glimmered for a second but faded once he looked back up to me. He swallowed but kept his composure.

"Keep your grip that tight and you'll cut clean through your hand," He stated. Only now did I feel the blood dripping from my palm. I didn't look down at it. I was too numb to feel a thing - too numb to feel the glass cutting into my hand deep.

"It doesn't matter. I don't care if you're human or what you say you are. I'm pretty damn sure that all that concerns me is that vampire," I mocked, "or just plain psycho, something sharp to the heart will be the end of you. So I suggest you listen up," I growled. I hadn't noticed that I had cornered him so he was pressed against the wall.

"Listen to what?" He asked smoothly, unfazed.

"To my demands," I said with a tone full of power.

"Your demands?" He scoffed, causing me to press the glass harder against his chest, now tearing through his white button-up.

"Don't test me asshole or I'll-" I snapped but he cut me off.

"Or you'll what? Stake me with a piece of glass?" His voice was steady as he asked. He wasn't mad. He barely even looked interested, which made rage burn deep to my core. Every part of me was charred in anguish.

"Do it," He taunted me, bringing his face closer to mine so I could see the daring look in his eyes.

"Do it and you can walk out of here," He kept provoking me, "Do it and everything you have planned will fall into place. Assuming," he paused and smirked at me mockingly, "that you have a plan after killing the Prince of Regatul Moroi." He spoke the last two words in a thickly accented voice. Romanian, I thought to myself, recognizing it from when I had had a Romanian exchange student my junior year of high school.

I stared at him with a deadly glare. Still holding the jagged glass to his hard chest, I pressed deeper into his skin and felt it dig into the hard flesh. Only before yanking it away from him with a frustrated grunt and threw it at the wall, shattering it into what looked like a million pieces.

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