Blood in the Rain
POV: Aria
The monster in the road was bigger than anything I'd ever seen.
My car skidded sideways on the wet street as I yanked the steering wheel hard to the left. The creature's yellow eyes burned like fire in my headlights, and its huge body blocked the entire road.
"No, no, no!" I screamed, pumping the brakes.
But it was too late. My Honda spun fully around, tires screeching against the slick asphalt. The world became a blur of rain and darkness and fear. I felt the horrible moment when my car left the road and flew through the air.
The oak tree came out of nowhere.
Metal crunched. Glass burst. My seatbelt cut into my chest as my car wrapped around the thick trunk like a bent soda can. The airbag slammed into my face, and everything went white with pain.
Then silence. Just the sound of rain hitting what was left of my glass and steam hissing from my destroyed engine.
I tried to move and quickly wished I hadn't. Fire shot through my left shoulder, and something warm and sticky was running down my face. When I touched my face, my fingers came away red with blood.
"Help," I whispered, but my voice was so weak I could barely hear it myself.
Rain poured through the spider-webbed glass, soaking my clothes and making me shiver. My phone was somewhere on the floor, but I couldn't reach it. Every time I tried to lean forward, pain burst through my ribs.
That's when I heard the footsteps.
Heavy boots splashing through water, getting closer to my car. Relief rushed through me despite the pain.
"Thank God," I gasped. "Please, I need help! I think I'm hurt pretty bad!"
But the footsteps stopped just outside my door, and no one answered.
"Hello?" I called out louder, fear creeping into my voice. "I know you're there! Please, I need an aid!"
Still nothing. Just the rain and my own ragged breaths.
I managed to turn my head toward the driver's side window, and my heart nearly stopped. A shadow stood next to my car, tall and totally still. I couldn't see a face, just a dark shape that didn't move like a normal person.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
The shadow leaned closer to my broken window. I caught a glimpse of golden eyes that glowed in the darkness, just like the thing I'd seen in the road.
This wasn't a person at all.
I tried to scream, but only a tiny squeak came out. My throat felt like someone was squeezing it shut. The thing outside my car made a sound that was half growl, half whisper.
Then I heard voices. Human voices, speaking low and anxious.
"Is she conscious?" someone asked.
"Barely," came the reply. "She's bleeding pretty badly."
"Alpha's orders were to keep her alive," a third voice said. "We need to get her out of there before she goes into shock."
Alpha? What did that mean? And why were they talking about me like I was some kind of package they were delivering?
I tried to focus on the sounds, but my head felt fuzzy and strange. Everything seemed to be happening in slow motion, like I was watching a movie instead of living it.
The car door next to me groaned as someone pushed it open. Strong hands reached in and carefully unbuckled my seatbelt.
"Easy," a man's voice said softly. "We're going to get you out of there."
I wanted to fight, to run, to do anything except let these strangers take me. But my body wouldn't follow my brain. My arms felt like wet noodles, and my legs wouldn't move at all.
"My phone," I mumbled as the hands lifted me from the wreckage. "Need to call... need to call..."
"Shh," the voice said again. "Don't try to talk."
Through my blurry vision, I could see three guys standing around me. They were all huge, with muscles like bodybuilders and faces that looked cut from stone. But their eyes... their eyes glowed just like the creature's had.
One of them put something soft against the cut on my forehead, and I smelled something strange. Not quite human. Wild and dangerous, like the smell of a rainstorm mixed with something I couldn't name.
"Who are you people?" I managed to ask, even though my tongue felt thick and clumsy.
The man holding the cloth to my head looked down at me, and I saw something impossible in his golden eyes. Something that looked almost like... sadness?
"You're safe now," he said quietly. "No one's going to hurt you."
But I didn't feel safe. I felt like a mouse caught by a cat that was just playing with its food.
My vision started going dark around the edges. The pain in my shoulder was disappearing, replaced by a strange floating feeling. I knew I was losing awareness, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
"Wait," I whispered desperately. "I need to know... who are you? Why are you doing this?"
The man with the golden eyes leaned closer, and I caught another whiff of that wild, dangerous smell.
"My name is Kael," he said softly. "And you're Isabella Santos."
My blood turned to ice water in my veins.
That wasn't my name. My name was Aria Castellano. I'd never heard of anyone called Isabella Santos in my entire life.
But looking into those glowing golden eyes, I had the frightening feeling that this stranger knew something about me that I didn't know myself.
As awareness slipped away, one final, horrifying thought pierced through the darkness: What if everything I thought I knew about my own life was a lie?