Queen

After driving for what felt like an eternity, I pulled into a gas station and parked. I needed something to drink. And considering how shitty everything was going, it was going to have to be something strong. I couldn't hold my liquor at all for the most part and I counted on that. I wanted to drink myself into a stupor.

I wanted to forget.

I wanted to pass out, wake up, and realize that this was just a nightmare.

I parked the car and when I got out, I took a look at it. I hadn't parked in one spot, but two. Oh, well. I didn't have the energy to fix it.

A cool breeze passed through my skin and I shivered, my insides running cold as they did these days. I opened the backseat in search of some type of jacket. Syn usually always kept a change of clothes in here. I checked the back and when I found nothing, I closed the door and opened the trunk.

Bingo.

A duffel bag sat tucked away in the corner and I reached for it. Once I opened it, I found one of his jackets. Sadness washed over me as I smelled his scent on the dark hoodie and that same prickly mass formed in my throat. I sniffed and shook my head, shutting the trunk.

I slipped my arms into the sleeves, getting ready to zip it up when my ears perked. Footsteps, and they were close. I slowed my movements, keeping my paranoia on a short leash. It was a convenience store parking lot. People were here.

I turned from the car to head inside and a man approached me with a smile, his hands in his pocket as he stalked the car. He whistled. "Sweet ride. What model is it?"

What? I furrowed my brows. I didn't know shit about cars. "Not sure, sorry."

"Well, it looks amazing..."

Hm. I muttered a thanks before locking it and walking past him to the glass station. Once I was inside, the buzzing brightness of the fluorescent lights above made me cringe. As if I needed a reminder that everyone was going to see how horrible I looked. I walked to the back and lifted the hoodie, Syn's cologne and smoky scent engulfing me.

I sighed as I opened the freezer where the drinks were. Beer, and lots of it. I pursed my lips in disgust. I was desperate, not crazy.

I closed that side and opened the other to find an array of different liquors. I grabbed the four strongest that I could recognize and headed to the cashier. "Hi, how you doing?" he asked me, glancing at the bottles. "Would you happen to have any ID?"

Fuck. I didn't have that on me. "Do I look underage?" I asked him. His eyes dropped to my breasts before crimson filled his cheeks and he met my eyes again. I raised a brow.

"N-no, not exactly," he said, licking his lips. "But it's policy."

"Policy on Earth..." I said. "Since when did Juva implement such a thing?"

"Since some vampires can look a lot younger than they truly are." He laughed and I figured he was talking about himself. "But umm, if you don't have any identification...maybe I can take your number and you can show me later."

I placed my palms on the counter and leaned forward, irritation sneaking its way up my veins like poison. He leaned forward, taking my move as an advance as a revolting smile spread across his lips. "I," I began slowly, "will cut your balls off and stick them so far down your throat that every time you speak or move, you and everyone around you will hear a jingle." I heard him gulp. "You fucking elf."

He moved back slowly, a look of terror on his pale face. I pushed the drinks towards him and took Syn's card out of my wallet. "So how much?"

"I-I..." he stuttered. When he opened his mouth to speak again, he was interrupted.

The man who complimented the car in the parking lot a few minutes ago set down a pack of gum. "I have my ID," he said, opening his wallet. "I'll pay for mine and hers."

"I can pay for my own," I told him, Syn's card still in my outstretched hand.

"I know you can, little lady," he teased, passing a few bills to the cashier. "But let's save the kid some trouble, aye?"

Not that perv didn't deserve the trouble...but I obliged.

The cashier took the money and bagged the bottles, passing the man his gum and giving me the bag. "Thanks," I directed toward the man.

"You are very welcome."

I gave him a forced smile before walking out of the gas station. The cool wind slapped me as I walked toward the car and I hugged the hoodie tighter to my body. When I reached the car, I got in and let out a deep exhale. Now I just needed to figure out where I wanted to go. I grabbed my cell phone from the inside of my purse, slightly dismayed yet not surprised to see no messages from Syn.

"I wouldn't text you either, bitch," I said to myself. I was emotional, not aloof. This was beyond selfish of me. I knew that much, but nothing in me right now knew how to go to him and admit that just yet.

I opened the navigation app on my cell phone and picked the first five-star hotel I could find. It was a twenty-minute drive from this place. It honestly served me right considering I drove straight to nowhere.

I pushed the button to start the car and the dash lit up before sputtering and going dead. Huh?

I tried a couple more times and still, nothing. I groaned. "Fuck me." Of course, of all nights for this to happen to me. I sighed and lowered my head to the steering wheel. Is this what I had to look forward to in a life without Syn? I knew I shouldn't have taken the fucking car.

Yet maybe it was for the best. If Syn had taken it and the car had broken down while he was driving...maybe this was a good thing. Better me than him considering the shit cards life had dealt him recently.

I lifted my head and opened the door to the car, searching for how to pop the hood on this car. When I found the lever, I pulled it and stepped out of the car. I closed the door and used my flashlight to look down at the engine. Nothing looked out of the ordinary...yet even if it did, I wouldn't know how to recognize it unless it was on fire.

I sighed. "I'm just a girl," I whispered and eyed the weavings of the engine, hoping the universe was listening. "Go a little easier on a bitch."

After a few more moments, I shut the hood and walked back to the driver's side. I'd just have to suck it up and either call Syn, or call a taxi and hope they'd come out to...I looked around...the middle of fucking nowhere.

"Taxi, it is." I sighed. Taxi. The last thing I needed was for Syn to get upset that I fucked up his car. I'd go to a hotel still and call for mechanics in the morning. Then...

Would it matter anyway?

Would he still be mad about a car he was planning to leave in seventy-two hours...

My heart fell at that once again and I prepared to open the door. Something silver down below, however, caught my eye. I narrowed my eyes, crouching down to see a small knife firmly lodged in the car's now flat tire.

Oh?

Someone had done this, and recently too. Probably when I was in the gas station. I pulled the knife out and eyed it, my mind going back to the man who bought my drinks. It could've only been him. He had complimented the car earlier too.

Fucking hater.

If he had slashed the tire, he might have also been the reason why the car wouldn't--

"Everything okay?"

I looked up across the front of the car to see the same man and I smiled.

Speak of the...you.

"Umm..." I looked at the car, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear before looking back at him. I tapped the knife on my thigh out of his view and continued. "My car is being wonky." I smiled and shrugged. Playing stupid came naturally at times.

"You're just having a horrible day, huh?" He closed a car door and I realized he was parked right next to me. It was definitely him.

"Seems as if I am..." I clicked my tongue.

"Have you called someone?" He asked me.

I shook my head slowly. "Not yet. I'm out here on my own and everyone I know is sleeping, I'm sure. I don't want to inconvenience them." I twirled my hair between my fingers and took a look around before setting my eyes back on the man.

The corner of his lip twitched up into a smile and I immediately knew I said the right thing. Sick fuck. "You should still try them. You're a beautiful woman, I'm sure your boyfriend will wake up to come and get you."

"I don't have a boyfriend," I lied, glancing down at the knife before looking up at him. The space on my finger where my ring used to be only hours ago felt dreadfully empty as I spoke. "But I'll try somebody."

"Good." He nodded. "Well, you have a good night, miss."

I gave him a nod goodbye and he turned around to get into his car. My smile dropped the moment his back was to me and I swung the car door open. I gathered my things. I knew men who put women in these situations so they could save them. The most infamous serial killers, rapists, and predators did this and I had a sneaking suspicion he was just like them.

If I was right, his goodbye wasn't really a goodbye. His poor, Good Samaritan heart wouldn't let him drive away when there was a helpless woman who was about to be stranded here, now would it?

"Hey!" I heard his voice followed by a honk and I rolled my eyes, tucking the knife into the pocket of Syn's jacket.

"Yes?" I turned around with a grin. His car stopped a few feet away and his arm hung out of his window, the thick ring on his thumb tapping the door.

"I feel horrible leaving you out here like this. I'm sure the towing company won't be able to come out here until morning." I'm sure you do. Because this isn't your first time, is it? "Do you need a ride somewhere?"

"Uh, I don't know the area well." That part was true.

"I can help you...if you'd like."

"I would love that."

And that was the truth.

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I tapped my thighs and hummed along to the music as the man drove. I was truthful when I told him that I didn't know the area well but I wasn't a fucking idiot. I know which way I came from and he was going in the complete opposite direction. I acted none the wiser seeing as I preferred we were in a more secluded area anyway. I didn't want to be caught on traffic cameras with this man and as we were out of the city. There were hardly any out here. Nothing would happen, but they'd be a hassle to explain to Syn. Not that he'd be here anyway, I guess.

I sighed out loud and took another swig of the alcohol.

I heard him chuckle and I looked over at him, wiping my mouth with the back of my hand. "Don't you think you should take it easy, little lady?"

"Like you wouldn't prefer me drunk." I laughed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

He turned down the music a bit. "Are you drinking to forget something or somebody?"

I considered his question before replying, "Both."

"A man?"

"The Devil." I sighed.

He glanced at me. "Excuse me?"

I put my hand on my chest and sighed. "He has a hold on me, you can say."

He laughed awkwardly. "You're drunk."

"Mm." I swallowed. "Can I ask you a question?" I pointed to myself and then to him. "From one killer to another?"

"What?" He took his eyes off the road to look at me longer.

"Eyes on the road, lover boy," I instructed and I could see the confusion marred in his face. I could another swig of the liquor, my throat burning as it went down and I coughed, patting my chest. "I have a bit of an enigma."

"An enigma..." he repeated.

"Yes, and I could use some insight from a man such as yourself."

"Okay," he said slowly. "Go on."

"Say someone you love...very very much," I slurred, "is in danger, and the only way to save them is to kill a lotttt," I whispered, "of good people."

"Good people?"

"Angels, you could say." I looked out at the road and noticed the street lights were gone. All that remained was thickets of trees and an open sky out ahead.

"Well, I don't know," he said. "I've never been in love with anyone to kill for them."

"What about for yourself?"

"Myself?"

"You kill for yourself, then."

"W-what do you mean?" He asked me. "I don't kill--"

"Yeah, okay." I laughed. "And I just got into this car when I could've called anyone and they would've picked up."

"Wh--"

"Seeing as we're both liars, why don't we try to be honest now?" I said, leaning forward in the seat to look at the dark sky. A storm was headed this way. "Kind of crazy how the weather sets the tone for shit like this, huh? Almost like they knew."

"Knew what?" He cleared his throat.

"That you were going to die tonight."

He slammed on the brakes and my body jerked forward, my drink spilling onto my lap. I took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "See I'd be pissed if I were the one who bought this."

"Who are you?"

"Why?" I smiled. "Why are you so jittery all of a sudden? I'm sure you have a weapon somewhere in here. I'll let you pull it out if that'll put you a bit more at ease." He blinked a few times, shock and confusion mixing on his face. "How did I know?"

He nodded a slow single time. "You saved me twice tonight." I laughed. "And there's only one man I know who's saved me more than once without wanting or trying to take something from me."

"I wasn't going to hurt you," he finally told me.

"Then where are we going?"

"What?"

"Where the fuck were you planning to take me?" I asked him lowly.

"T-to the hotel you wanted."

"We've been driving for fifteen minutes yet we're twice as far from the hotel since we left the gas station." I lifted my cell phone to show him the navigation app open on my phone. "So no, you weren't trying to take me to the 'hotel I wanted'." I shut my phone off and placed it on my lap. "You're clearly an amateur, but this isn't your first time. How many were there before me?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," he said, panic evident in his large eyes.

I laughed a bit and settled into the seat. "Pull off to the side of the road."

"Why?"

"Because the police might stop to check out a car sitting in the middle of the road," I spelled it out for him. "And if they do so happen to come to this vehicle, I will scream and tell them about all the heinous things you tried to do to me. As you've seen I'm not a bad actress..."

꧁꧂