5. Verisimilitude

Cori's close to having her answers

The next day I woke up early and quickly got ready, throwing on a pair of skinny jeans and a plain black tank top. Kit picked me up on time which was a relief from pacing in my room as I watched the clock change slowly. I decided not to tell him about all the crazy things that were going on. I wasn't sure he would understand and I knew he wouldn't approve.
"Are you ok?" Kit asked after we'd been driving in silence for a few minutes. I hadn't realized I'd been ignoring what ever he had been saying for who knows how long. I felt terrible for telling him about all the strange things happening lately but its not a big deal, right? He doesn't need to know every single detail of my life. The look of concern on his face now, however, made me feel like I was betraying him. I'd tell him after I heard what Teo had to say. There was no point in bringing it up right now.
"Of course." I said, offering a reassuring smile. How could I expect to reassure him when I felt so uncertain myself?
"You seem a little off today." He gave me a sideways glance as he observed me again, making me feel like a fragile doll that's about to break at any minute.
"Just.. you know.. full moon this week." I lied. Full moon was our code for the wonders of mother nature bestowing her five day long gift of being a "woman" upon me.
He puckered his lips in a way that told me he was trying not to give away the fact that he was morbidly disgusted, which made me laugh.
"You asked." I said, smiling at him. Leave it to him to be a good heart lifting distraction from the chaos of my life.
"I'm sorry I did." He said, giving me a bright smile.
I was just happy the topic had changed. Not too thrilled I had to use the period excuse to change it though.

I got into my first period class to find I was the first one there and I quickly took my seat. Less than twenty seconds later Damon entered and made his way straight over to me with a friendly smile on his face. The guy was so back and forth with his emotions. I hadn't seen him after his quick departure from class yesterday.
"Good morning, lovely." He said as he took the seat next to mine.
"Lovely?" I asked, scrunching my nose as if finding the word foul. Were we at a point that we were calling each other pet names now?
Ignoring me, Damon turned so he was facing me and clasped his fingers. He looked so young and innocent like that I almost laughed.
"Have you thought any more about our project?" He asked in that smooth cool tone, as if there was some hidden message under the question.
"A little." I lied. But he wouldn't know that.
"Liar." He said with amusement. Damn.
I was silent, sitting there like an idiot with my mouth open, staring into his eyes. He held my gaze until the bell rang, snapping me out of it. I could feel the heat rush to my cheeks as a looked around the room to see that all the students were now seated. Had I really been staring at him like one of the doe eyed cheerleaders around college guys? What was wrong with me?
Damon let out a soft smooth chuckle and shook his head.
The class went silent as Mr. Stone entered the room but my head was still buzzing with thoughts of Damon. I felt consumed by him.
When the bell finally rang I started to gather my belongings but was halted when a cold hand grabbed my wrist. Damon pulled my hand to him, palm up. I didn't even attempt to pull away even though I really wanted to. He took out a black ink pen and started writing. My breath caught in my throat at the coolness of his touch and his focus on my hand. His eyes quickly flicked to my stare and I was frozen. Like a fly in a spider's web, I was trapped by him. He held my hand a moment longer and his cocky smirk crossed his lips again and before I could remember to take a breath he released me and was gone.
I looked down at my hand to see what he had written.
'Tomorrow. 6pm. 210 Withers drive.' Under that was a heart with Damon written in elegent writing.
"Really?" I sighed to myself. "Couldn't have used a piece of paper?" No one else was in the room to hear me. I took out paper and wrote down the address. I don't see why he couldn't just wait until tomorrow to give it to me.

I was anxious to see Damon again so I could ask him about the things he said yesterday. At least, that's what I was telling myself. The more I was around him the more I wanted to be around him but I didn't feel like it was my own will but one that was forced on me. I settled with the sad conclusion that I did, in fact, like the guy. I did not, however, want to like him. There was still some small speck of hope for me yet.
The only problem was that Damon wasn't in class.
"Mrs. Hunt?" I called out, raising my hand before she could start class.
"Yes, Miss Farrow?" She asked, adjusting her mason jar sized glasses.
"Do you know where Damon is?" I asked. A few curious students turned back to confirm that he wasn't there.
"Yes, my dear. " She said softly, as if about to break terrible news to me. "Damon is going to be out until Monday. Family emergency, I believe I was told."
That explains why he gave me his info this morning. I felt my heart sink because that meant I had to wait until tomorrow night to bombard him with questions. I still had Teo though. Only one hour until I could interrogate at least one person and hopefully get to the bottom of all of the madness. I sent Kit a quick text saying I had another ride home and that he could go on without me. He didn't question it, which I was grateful for but still felt guilty all the same.

When the bell rang I was the first one out the door and down the hall, walking as fast as my legs could carry me. I was stopped short by a cold grip on my elbow from behind. My first thought was that it was Damon but was surprised when I turned around to find Teo. I looked from him to his hand on my elbow, surprised at how similar it felt to Damon's cold skin.
"Teo..." I breathed out.
"You look like a girl on a mission." He smiled at me with amused eyes but they quickly turned serious when he caught my glare.
He sighed in defeat and nodded. "Come with me."
I let him lead me away to the student parking lot. The other kids were trailing behind us to their cars but most were chatting by the doors.
"Where are we going?" I asked as he lead me toward the back of the lot.
"My car." He said with a wink.
I planted my feet to the ground causing him to stop sharply but he still kept his grip on my arm.
"In light of the recent disappearance of a girl you can understand if I'm a little reluctant to get into a car with a guy I barely know." I said firmly.
He arched an eyebrow at me but dropped his grip on my arm.
"You want answers right?" He asked.
"Whats stopping you from telling them to me right here?" I asked, looking around.
His eyes darted to dozens of students all scattered around the lot. None of them were paying us any attention so I didn't understand his suspicious glancing around.
"It's not safe to discuss such things so publicly." He said so seriously that I allowed him to pull me after him when he grabbed my arm and started walking again.
We approached a brand new black Cobra Mustang and my jaw just about hit the ground.
"You're kidding, right?" I asked in astonishment.
He turned and saw my expression and a proud smile spread across his face. He might seem like something from another world sometimes but he was definitely still a guy when it came to cars.
"I have one rule." He said, blocking the passenger side door, not allowing me to get in yet.
"Okay?" I sighed, rolling my eyes.
"No questions until we get where we're going." He gave me a stern looking and again I rolled my eyes at him. "No eye rolling either." He said as he opened my door.
"That's two rules." I stated as I plopped ungracefully into the seat. At that he rolled his eyes at me.
I was going to point out that he just broke his own rule but he shut my door before I got the chance.

The drive was almost an hour. If I had known that I would never have agreed to this but since I couldn't ask questions I had to say things like, "Our destination is only 10 more minutes away.", since I couldn't ask questions. He finally got tired of my random guesses and told me and by then it was too far away to turn back.
We pulled up in front of a Royal Knight hotel a little after four. I sent a quick text to the Farrows letting them know I was working on a project for school and would be home late. They trusted me so much that they didn't even suspect anything. Again, major guilt trip. I needed this though. This was about my life.
"So, is this how you get other girls back to your hotel room?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound as nervous as I really was.
"Well, usually they aren't conscious," He said giving me an evil grin. "But you're special."
"That's comforting..." I replied quietly.

I followed Teo through the lobby of the hotel. It was immaculate, not only in size but also by the beautiful architecture. It was dark and vintage, much like the outside, the whole place looked like a restored castle. It was magnificent. The floors and walls were made of large stones, with much of the floor being covered by apple red carpet. To the right was a hotel bar, in which only a small handful of others sat and chatted in hushed wispers as we walked past. In front of us was a very wide stone staircase going up and next to it one that went down into what? A dungeon?
To the left was what appeared to be a check in counter with a tall handsome man standing behind the counter. His skin looked like porcelain, it was so pale. His hair was the darkest black I'd ever seen. The weirdest part though, as he smiled at us, was that his eyes appeared to be red.
"Welcome back, Thomas." The man gave Teo a slight nod of the head. His voice was so elegant I wished he'd say more.
"Thomas?" I asked Teo.
"Who?" He asked, as if he had no idea what I was talking about.
"You." I said flatly.
"Oh, just formalities." He shrugged.
"Okay." I replied slowly.
With the lack of an elevator in this place, we had to take the stairs up to the third floor to his room. I started to wonder if this really was a bad idea. Of course it was. A terrible idea that only an idiot would do. My nerves started to get the best of me but I quickly pushed them aside. I was already here. I wanted answers and nothing was going to stop me at this point.