I struggled underneath the weight of Nate. He was helping me as much as he could, but he seemed to be getting weaker with each step we took. I couldn't tell if we were going in the right direction of the truck or not. I was only focused on getting distance between us and the monster that was chasing us. My foot hit the root of a tree and I stumbled. Nate wasn't strong enough to keep us up and we collapsed onto the ground. 

"Ouch," Nate wheezed. He had landed on his face, and was struggling to get up. We both gulped in air. I got onto my knees, and put my hands on my head while I caught my breath. 

"Sorry," I huffed. We were both silent for a second and I took that moment to listen for the vampire. The forest was silent and I slumped against the tree in relief. My whole body shook as the adrenaline wore off a little. Nausea bubbled up within me, and I leaned to the side and threw up what little food was in my stomach. 

"We've definitely seen better days," Nate struggled to get out.

 I nodded in agreement. He said something else but I couldn't make it out as pain swiftly swept over my whole body. It felt like every muscle twisted into a knot. I cried out, and fell back onto the ground. My body convulsed as the worst pain imaginable continued to wreak my body. Everything was on fire. 

"Belle?! What is it?!" Nate hoarsely shouted. 

I couldn't form words through the blinding pain that had taken over my whole body. There was a rustle of leaves to the left of us, and all I could make out three blurry bodies that emerged from the woods. Voices spoke over me, but nothing registered. 

A familiar male voice cut through the overwhelming amount of pain, "She's shifting." 

A bone in my arm broke and a blood curdling scream escaped my lips. Then, everything went black. 

~~~

My heavy eyelids fluttered, and I struggled to open them all the way. I tried to rub at my eyes, but the metal cuff around my wrist stopped me. My eyes shot open with the panic that flooded my system and I took in my surroundings. The walls and ceiling were reinforced steel, and I was laying on a dirty blanket on the concrete ground. I slowly sat up, and every muscle ached from the movement. I looked down to find myself in a hospital gown. Where were my clothes?  I reached for my locket, but it was missing as well. A sharp pang of grief ran through me. That was all that I had left of my parents. 

 I rubbed at the goosebumps on my arms. It was freezing. There was a small window with iron bars that provided the room with light, and a solid door with a small cut out square that appeared to be as big as my hand. 

The memory of last night hit me like a truck. Confusion filled me, what happened to me? I had to get out of here. I needed answers, and I needed to find Nate. Hopefully, I wasn't too late. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I was too late. I examined the cuff on my right wrist. It was at least four inches wide, and one inch thick. A heavy chain led from it to the wall behind me. I stood up on wobbly legs and walked to see how far the chain would go. I could only make it halfway across the cell before there was no slack.

 I pulled on the chain with my left hand, but it was extremely sturdy. I remembered after a moment that my hand was injured, but it didn't hurt anymore. I looked down in shock at my left hand that had been burned what felt like moments ago. The ring was gone, and it was completely healed. All that was left was scarring on my thumb down to my wrist. I couldn't imagine how it was possible that it was healed already. Unless, I've been in here longer than a couple of hours. A lot longer than a couple of hours. Dread knotted in the bottom of my stomach. This wasn't good. 

Footsteps sounded from whatever was beyond the door, and I dropped back onto the blanket I had awoken on. I quickly turned my body away from the door and pretended to be asleep. I hid part of the chain in my left hand under my body. Keys jingled, and then the door unlocked with a click. I focused on making my breaths even and slow. 

From the sound of footsteps there was more than one person that entered my space. Their voices filtered in. It took everything within me to not move, and to keep my eyes shut. A girl stated, "Oh, good. She's finally shifted back. I've never seen someone take so long to shift back when it's their first one." Shifted? I listened intently for more clues as to what they were talking about. 

"At her age, it's a wonder that she didn't die from the impact of a repressed shift," the familiar male voice from earlier stated. 

The girl asked, "Should we move her now to the medical wing?" My heart raced. This was my chance to escape. I felt the heat of the girl as she leaned over me and unlocked the cuff on my right wrist. As soon as I heard a click I grabbed the chain in both hands and threw it over her head of dark curly hair. I tightened it when it was in place around her neck. She gasped for air and strained against me. 

"Anna B?! What the hell? Let her go! We're not here to hurt you!" The man shouted. I looked up at my captor and realized that it was Gavin. I dropped the chain and the girl I had gulped down air as she frantically crawled away from me. 

"What's going on? I don't understand..."I searched his face. Gavin helped the girl up, and I recognized her as the girl I talked to in the boutique the other day, Olivia. She rubbed at her throat and looked at me with wide eyes. 

"Olivia, go get ice on that. I'd like to talk to Annabelle alone. I'm sure she is just very scared and confused right now," Gavin said in an authoritative tone. Olivia looked back and forth between us cautiously, all while keeping a hand on her throat. She then nodded and quietly left the cell. As soon as the door shut behind her Gavin gave me his full attention.

"Gavy... what am I doing here? Where's Nate?" I asked with a tremor in my voice. As much as I tried to push my fear aside it kept bubbling up. 

"Nate is in the medical wing being treated for his wounds. It was a bit of a rough 24 hours, but he's pulled through. Luckily, our doctors are familiar with vampire bites and how to cauterize them," Gavin stated while running a hand through his short wavy hair. He had a dark green shirt on, and black shorts. His clothes were rumpled and he looked like he hadn't slept in a couple days. 

A weight was lifted off of me knowing that my friend was okay. I sighed in relief and then asked, "Where are we?" 

"I can't tell you exactly where we are yet. You're just going to have to trust me," He said. 

"Trust you? Gavin, I barely know you. We were friends when we were kids, but the guy standing before me today is not the same," I said in exasperation. 

I expected him to argue but he just nodded and said "I know. I know things are different now, but I promise that your old friend is still standing before you. Please trust that I would never do anything to harm you. Trust me until I give you a reason not to trust me. Okay?"

I searched his honey brown eyes, and felt that he was telling the truth. I responded, "Okay, but I want some answers." 

"I have some answers," He replied with a handsome smile that made his eyes crinkle at the edges.