A/N:
Date 5-25-17

Hey everyone! I picked out the picture above for the newest character in this story, Dalton.

I thought it was funny :)

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Chapter 20: Unusual Allies

This must be my first visitor. I knew his name from earlier in a boring hallway. His name was Dalton. The few seconds that I saw him, I was completely disgusted. He wasn't ugly or anything. In fact, he was the exact opposite. Dalton was handsome when I first saw him, and that hadn't changed.

Dalton's soft looking, light brown hair was spiked up to look tougher. I thought it completely worked. That didn't mean I liked him at all though. The smirk on Dalton's face completely ruined whatever sweet, good boy image he could've had. In the hallway he looked at me like food, and it wasn't any different now.

Dalton smiled at me as I stared at him. I crossed my arms and luckily, my newest chains allowed me to. Cubs smiled happily and said, "Alicia, meet Dalton. You two will have fun, I know it." Cubs said that last part with an evil twinkle in his eyes. I knew visitors wouldn't be good. Dalton turned and watched Cubs leave.

I stood a few feet away from the wall I was chained to. I might be able to fight better that way so I had a little room. Once Cubs closed my door and locked it, Dalton turned to me. Keeping eye contact with Dalton to show I wasn't scared, I sent a message to Ash in my head. "Hey Ash?" I listened hard to hear his thoughts over my pounding heart.

I heard Ash think, "Yeah Alicia?" Dalton took a step toward me. I asked Ash quickly, "Are you still watching me?" Ash was thinking about a lot, panicking actually. But I knew he thought yes at some point. To myself I thought, "Oh gosh." Then to Ash I said, "Wish me luck." I focused back on Dalton and saw he was now only a few feet away from me.

Dalton looked straight into my eyes and said, "I'm glad I got to you first." I scowled and stopped myself from growling. I decided staying silent wouldn't really help me. So I said, "So am I! You'll get to be the first one I send back crying." Dalton didn't flinch. He actually laughed. "So the rumors are true, you are feisty!"

Dalton leaned in slightly to emphasis his next sentence. Then he said very seriously, "I like my women that way." I kept my face neutral, but inside I was screaming to fight. "Well I like my men with a pulse." Dalton leaned back and said, "That's not what I've heard." I was thinking of another snappy retort when Dalton started talking.

"I heard your boyfriend is right in that room, and you are lonely without him." Dalton playfully wiggled his eyebrows and said, "I can help with that." I opened my mouth to say Ash wasn't my boyfriend, but suddenly there was a loud ringing noise. Dalton ran with super speed to the door, which opened for him. Someone handed him two chairs.

Dalton flashed back to where he stood a second ago, still using his vampire super speed. He gave me one chair and put down the other chair for himself. Dalton sat down, smiled and looked at the camera in front of the door. Then he turned back to me and scooted closer. Now he was only a foot away from me. I moved slightly away from the chair.

Dalton frowned slightly and said, "Come on Alicia, sit down! I'm not going to hurt you." He seemed so sincere, which made me very confused. I looked at Ash and saw him shrug. His chains rattled and I went to look back to Dalton. I wasn't fast enough though because when I looked away, Dalton grabbed me.

He pushed me down into the chair and I sat there, very stunned. Dalton looked calmly at me. Then he said, "The text I just got told me the security cameras are down." Dalton leaned forward, closer to me. "Now that means you can beat me up and run, but you won't make it out of here."

I stared at Dalton, thinking he was crazy. "You're lying to trick me." Dalton shook his head and said, "No Alicia, I'm not." Dalton leaned back in his chair, looking comfortable. "My name is Dalton Evers, and I've come to help you, Alicia Marie." I sensed Ash was as confused as I was, because he could hear everything we said. "Why?" I asked Dalton.

Dalton sighed and said, "I don't have a lot of time to explain, but I'm stuck here too. I decided it's time to leave. I heard that Storm wanted you, so I decided to help you." I was interested now but suspicious. "Why would you help me?" Dalton looked away and said, "I kind of need your help escaping." He actually looked embarrassed.

Dalton looked at me and hurried on. "I need you and the boy you came with to help me take down some guards so we can leave. I need someone brave to help me. When I heard what you did to Zane, I knew you had to be brave, or really stupid. Either way I didn't care. I needed your help." I probably would have blushed if I was still human. Vampire skin is naturally cold, so it doesn't heat up easily.

So no blushing. The new me just stayed cool and collected. I knew I was strong before, but I've been more confident than ever since I was turned. A lot of small things like that have changed since that day on the bus. I was facing death head on, and I survived... kind of. I still couldn't decide if all this was a good thing.

"So why did you walk in acting like a creeper? When Cubs left you could've acted normal." I said to Dalton. He looked very confused. I couldn't think of why. "Who's Cubs?" I was surprised because I hadn't even realized I called him Cubs out loud. Again, I probably should've blushed just then. I could hear Ash laughing from the other room.

"I named that general guy Cubs." I rushed on to explain so Dalton wouldn't think I was crazy. I don't really know why I cared though. "He said to call him commander or sir. So I called him Commander Bossy Vamp Sir." I took in a breath that I didn't need as I waited for Dalton to respond.

"I still don't understand the Cubs part." I nodded and explained in more detail. "The abbreviation for Commander Bossy Vamp Sir is CBVS. If you say CBVS fast it kind of sounds like Cubs." I felt crazy as soon as I said it. It made sense in my head but not out loud. Dalton suddenly laughed, interrupting my thoughts.

When Dalton stopped laughing he said, "I get it now." Dalton thought for a second. Then he said,  "I have to pretend to be like the other men around here. If you aren't like that you will be treated poorly. Then you get sent to Storm. They automatically assume you're a good guy if you don't act like a bad guy."

I nodded quickly to show I understood. "I had a friend turn off the cameras for a short time. No one will notice for a little while." Dalton paused and I quickly asked a couple questions. "Is that friend coming with us? How long do we have until someone comes down here?" Dalton looked from the wall to me. "My friend thinks we won't make it, but I have a plan."

The fierceness in Dalton's suddenly bright eyes made me nervous. He looked away and released the tension in his shoulders. "I'm not sure exactly how much time we have. Maybe 30 minutes." Dalton sounded anxious, like he was getting impatient. Was it because I'm asking questions? Or is it because of how little time we have?

I frowned slightly and said, "Ok... What should we do?" Dalton had his face turned away from me. Dalton reached up and ran his fingers through his hair. It looked to me like a nervous habit. "I've been contemplating whether my plan is too stupid to pull off or stupid enough it just might work." Finally! It was getting exciting.

"What's your plan?" I asked Dalton, wondering how stupid a plan could possibly be. Would this quickly turn into a suicidal mission? Or would this be our salvation? I obviously had to find out. "I don't think I should tell you. We really don't have a lot of time." I looked at the clock and saw he was right. We'd been chatting for too long.

"If I can't know the plan and neither can Ash," I looked over at Ash when I said that, "Then what are we supposed to do?" Dalton sighed a tired sigh and looked away. He looked right at the door leading to the hallway. "Have faith." Dalton said. "Have hope." I was surprised at that answer and thought he couldn't be serious. But something about the way he sat told me he wasn't joking.

Dalton was still looking away when I said softy, "I don't understand, Dalton." He turned to look at me but his gaze was no longer a hopeful one. Dalton's eyes were red and glowing, and he didn't look too happy. I couldn't imagine what I did wrong. Dalton practically hissed, "Just stay here and look pitiful so no one suspects anything!"

I was stunned into silence, but I wasn't mad at Dalton. As soon as he said it he looked like he regretted it. "I'm so sorry Alicia, I didn't mean to do that. We don't get fed here very often, and I'm weak right now. They have starved me and sent me in to scare you. And for that I am sorry." Dalton reached out as if to touch my arm, but his eyes cut to the side suddenly and he pulled away.

I found myself oddly disappointed, but I couldn't say why. I turned my head to look and see what Dalton saw, but I didn't get to see. Dalton had swiftly grabbed my chin and forced my head the other way. That made us become face to face, up and personal. I thought maybe he grabbed my chin to break my neck, but I felt guilty immediately after I thought that.

All because when I stared into Dalton's eyes, I saw nothing bad at all. He leaned so close I felt his breath on my face. With Dalton this close I could smell his scent more strongly and I was forced to recognize it. Not that it was bad. Nope, not at all. He smelled like a sunny day right after it rained. I could sense a lot of things from that scent.

It was like walking outside right after the rain stopped. You could feel mist as if the rain might come back, but for now it was gone. The bad was there but not there yet, and the good was there but couldn't stay forever. I had always liked that moment in time. I wanted that feeling to always stay. What can I say? I liked taking risks but staying on the safe side. And now here's this feeling was in person form.

When Dalton spoke I almost jumped backwards because of how deep in thought I was. "Just stay hopeful inside," Dalton ran his hand down my arm. "And stay cool outside like you've been doing." I thought Dalton was going to kiss me, but he pulled back. Then he stood up and picked up his chair. I stood and he took mine too, being careful so my chains wouldn't catch on the chair.

"I'll come get you when it's time. Keep your energy up until then. You're going to need it." As Dalton turned and walked to the door, his phone rang from his pocket. Dalton sat the chairs down and checked the text. I'm pretty sure I heard him mutter a curse word, then he shot out of the room. Before I could move an inch, someone walked in and took the two chairs away.

The someone was, of course, a vampire. And for the second time in a row I recognized him. It was Five. First Dalton, then Five. How many other vamps in this place would go against everything they worked for? Who would go against Cubs or Zane? I couldn't get hopeful about that though. No one would be mentally strong enough to go against what Storm wants. I knew that for sure.