How many would tell themselves things like "that will never happen to me" or maybe go as far as to say something along the lines of "it only happens like that in shows and movies, there's no way someone could really pull it off so easily"? How many out there in the world took what they had in their life for granted, living their each and every day without stopping for just one fleeting moment to be thankful, grateful for something as unappreciated and unthought of as feeling safe? Better still, how could one ever be so certain that the horrors of the world could not and would not be able to touch them? It was always the ones that didn't believe bad things couldn't happen to them like they did to the actors and actresses portraying the unfortunate soul so unexpectedly caught, ensnared in the web of the monsters that lurked within the shadows. And even then, it was hardly those they laid in waiting during those twilight hours that were the most unexpected. No, it has been and always would be the predators that hunted by daylight that the blue-eyed blonde had always considered to be the ones any should be more fearful of. In the dark, it was easy to try and think of the nightmares just waiting for their chance to break through and shatter the barrier of wild imagination and reality. It was easy to be cautious in the dark alone as one would be walking down a quiet city street lulled into an eerie silence as everyone took shelter within the confines of their homes and apartments, behind locked doors, always slipping into their warm beds thinking themselves to be safe and sound with the ones that they loved. And most of the time, they were. For many, all those crime shows they would enjoy as they became enthralled if not left in suspense until the very end were just scenes and plots carried out by entertainment executives and directors. They would be sitting on the couch in their cozy living rooms beside their friends and family, curtains drawn and the light turned off to curl up together as they would watch horror movies of murder and mystery. When the criminal would jump out of the dark so suddenly, they would jump or perhaps even latch onto the person sitting next to them. Maybe they might even close their eyes as they buried their face into the shoulders of their dear one, only to ask if it was over yet before turning back to watch the rest of the movie, so they can see how it ends. But, when all was said and done, it was never their own life that hung in some delicate and deadly balance. It wasn't their own loved one that perished in the opening of that crime show before the introduction and cast names began to flicker across the pixelated screen. Perhaps that was why so many enjoyed them, being able to feel that rush induced by fear only for their minds to remind them that it wasn't real. All because they believed that nothing like what they'd just watched with their favorite late-night snacks could ever happen to them.

Beylani had never really cared much for horror movies or those murder and mystery television shows that seemed to be on nearly every channel at some point or another. She never saw the pleasure in watching some innocent person contentedly cooking in their kitchen humming an unknown melody to themselves, chopping vegetables in an empty home as background music played only for there to be someone unknowingly sneaking in through the back door with wicked intentions, gun or knife in a hand concealed by a black leather glove so that they could levy whatever it was they were there to take - whether it be the life of the soul inside or priceless possessions, neither ever having been meant for them to have or steal. Her friends had taunted and teased her for the reservations that the blue-eyed blonde woman had towards those things, going as far as to try and call her a chicken or scaredy cat so that she might be pressured into joining them."It's just a show, Lani. Those things like, hardly ever happen to someone like us", Jordan would say in an exasperated tone as the brunette would pull her long, straight hair back into a ponytail at one of the few sleepovers Beylani had gone to at her so-called friend's home."Yeah. I mean, they're pretty stupid for walking alone at night. As long as you don't do things like that, what can possibly happen?", Brittany would then chime in, the platinum blonde giving the more uncertain of the threesome a look that all but said "don't be a baby". It was impossible for her to forget those moments in her past where the ones were supposed to be there for her only ever seemed determined to pressure the blue-eyed blonde into breaking rules or doing things that she wasnt comfortable with. For a large majority of their attempts and efforts so often dragging her into what she truly knew better than to do or allow, they had been successful. Not one thing that they had ever coerced her into doing, watching, or saying had proven to go in Beylani's favor and she would always be left regretting ever having caved in to their reckless dares that could have surely ended up a lot worse than they had. So many times, when they'd wanted to turn on those crime shows, Beylani would tell them that the inspiration for each episode had to come from somewhere, that not all the bad people stalked through the darkest hours of the night, but they never listened to her. To them, Beylani was the goody-twoshoes, the cautious one that always thought things through too much. So, she would sit there with them, clutching onto one of the decorative pillows like it was her lifeline as the horrors unfolded on the screen before her, all the while thinking of how wrong Jordan and Brittany really were. She would wonder how they could so blatantly ignore what was a daily occurrence on the news channels and in the paper as men, women, and children were found dead or discovered to be missing only to never be found alive again? She knew that the people on the television were only actors, she knew the shows were - nine times out of ten - just fake and meant to get that "shock and awe" effect so that the watchers would become hooked and left wanting to know more, dying see if the bad guy ever gets caught or if the victim is saved in the end.

Yet, even when she knew that all it took was being too kind and not being careful enough for something terrible to happen, the young woman had allowed for herself to believe the same thing that so many did. It would never happen to her. Before, she'd had her mother and father to keep her safe. Even when she might have a nightmare and she would jolt awake in that familiar bed, she knows that her father kept a handgun in the drawer next to his side of the bed, and it had always been an easy thing for her to steady her racing heart and spinning thoughts before nestling back into the warm covers to find restful peace. And then, when she'd moved away from the comforts of her home in Willowhaven, there had been Andras. With the fae man, there had never been a reason for her to worry. Ever since that night, when she had been walking home from the Halloween party on the northern side of Sacrosanct only for her kindness to nearly be the end of her as that vampire had attacked her and Andras had somehow found her, only to save her life... there had never been a moment where she hadn't felt safe with him, near him. Perhaps it had simply been a fairie thing, but the man always seemed to know where she was, what she was thinking, and to some degree, what she had been feeling... and then again, maybe she had just been that easy to read, that predictable. She cannot remember where she'd heard it before, but it was once said that being too predictable and too routine in the day to day events of one's life was what made them easy quarry for those seeking a victim, a chance to fulfill their twisted senses of arousal and excitement in harming another. Perhaps that had been her undoing... Maybe, this truly was her fault somehow. She knows now that she should have listened to the warning that whispered across the back of her mind when Cass had appeared seemingly out of nowhere. And to think that she'd felt guilty for having been wary of the man! Looking back on that moment when her hand had reached out towards him to retrieve the camera she tries so hard to tell herself was nothing more than a gift given in the same guilt that she'd been evoked into feeling by her captor's easy smile and smooth words rather than true caring as she had once allowed for herself to believe, the blue-eyed blonde realizes that it had been this small and seemingly harmless gesture of kindness that brought her here... wherever "here" was. She had been so foolish! She should have told him no, that she was protective of the camera she now cradles in her hands, that it was a gift from someone very important to her and apologize for being so rude. But he had seemed so kind in that moment, even timid or bashful as he spoke of himself. He'd tricked her, playing on her vulnerable state like an instrument in his hands without her even realizing what it was that he had planned, what it was that he was doing. That was almost always how those crime shows started, though. It was the nice guy helping the woman carry her groceries out to the car that would be the wolf in sheep's clothing, waiting for that terribly small window of chance to reveal itself before an act of kindness became the reason her body was found days later in the woods.

All the wishing in the world for a chance to, just this once, go back in time and make the right decision this time couldn't save her now. Instead, she closes her eyes, and goes to the one place that she knows she can. Home. It was here that the young woman can see perfectly the warm and smiling face of her mother whom so many have once told Beyalni she looked so much like. Her father would be there too, grizzled and graying stubble lining his jaw as he would look down upon his one and only daughter with all the tender affection of a father that loved his child more than anything in the world. She could almost feel their embrace around her, so much like how they would hug her tightly when she might awaken in the middle of the night as a child, crying after a nightmare. Her mother would rock her gently back and forth, hum softly to her as she whispered that everything was okay. She can remember the way that her father would sit there and stroke her hair once so much brighter than it was now, telling her gently that they were only nightmares, that they wouldn't be able to hurt her. He would sit there with her, until she fell asleep once more, and perhaps even for longer. She did not know how long he would linger, only knowing that the last thing she would remember feeling that night was his strong, calloused hand brushing her soft head. The last thing she would smell was his aftershave or cologne. He hadn't needed to sing her melodies or tell her stories to help the girl slip back into the embrace of sleep, this time saved from the ghosts and ghouls that had originally called her awake and shaken, too young then to understand that it was nothing more than a world made by her wild imagination that was very well-known for running away from her. All he'd needed to do was sit there with her, his presence more than enough to return to the little girl she'd once been that sense of safety, the familiar feeling of thinking that nothing and no one could ever hurt her as long as he was alive and breathing. It was a child's naïve heart and mind that would allow for such securities, and it was natural for them to crumble apart and fall away as the world would come to show its true colors. However, that had never been the case for Beylani. She knew that her mother and father wouldn't always be there to protect her as she once thought as a little girl. At least, not in the same way as she'd imagine oh, so long ago. They were only mortal. They wouldn't be there for her entire life, but that did not stop her from finding comfort and safety in their arms as she did the memories she held tightly to heart even more so now than she had ever before...

The memories have a knot rising in her throat as it so often does in these past few days, the young woman sitting there upon a dusty and unkempt bed pressed up against a stark white wall, locked away in a strange room, in some strange place. She pulls her knees closer to her chest as she sits there among the sheets, arms bruised from the rough handling she'd endured, baby blues staring out the iron-barred window facing the setting sun. She felt like that little girl again, scared and alone, clutching tightly to her favorite stuffed kitten doll as though nothing could touch her if she had it. Only, in place of that tattered and worn toy, it was a camera that she holds in her hands like it was the only thing keeping her from falling completely apart all over again. She wonders if anyone notices that she was missing, regretting having not told Ellie where she was going. She worries for her mother and father whom she'd spoken with the morning that her heart had been broken into a million small pieces. They had to be wondering where she was by now, right? It broke her heart, thinking of how worried for her they might be... How long had it even been? There were no clocks or calendars in this room, all sense of time seeming to stand still though it was thanks to the sun that she hasn't entirely been rendered uncertain of if the world had stopped. It felt as though it had. Again, she casts her gaze, tired and fearful, across the barren room once more. There wasn't a dresser or a closet, no nightstand or lamp... It was so eerily empty. Who else had been here before her? Surely there had been others... Her mind carries her back to the day he'd taken her, remembering the sheer strength of the fae man that pulled her towards his own car, her struggle against him so terribly futile. He'd bound her hands with rope like in all the horror movies she never wanted to watch, muzzled her with cloth so that she couldn't bite or scream, placed her â€" none too gently â€" into the trunk of that Oldsmobile and she'd felt the car beginning to move, leaving her own there on the side of the road. Would someone find it? Would they even stop to investigate? She'd kicked and writhed, but her energy from the restless night before had proven to fade faster than she'd expected, and soon she was still, breaths shallowed and shaky as her heart hammered wilding in her chest. What would he do with her? Where would he take her? What was going to happen next? All she'd been able to think of then as she laid there for what felt like hours upon hours, all she could think of now as she sat there in that room with only a bed and her camera, was how she would become just another "missing persons" case. I at least hope they can find me.. after... She isn't able to finish this thought as her heart again begins to race painfully in her chest, tears unable to be held back slipping down her cheeks as slender shoulders begin to shake. It was bad enough that her heart still ached beyond anything she'd ever thought possible with the emptiness that Andras left behind, the young woman having once thought that things couldn't have possibly gotten worse... How wrong she'd been.

The sound of footsteps behind the locked door pull her immediately from her thoughts, and she holds her breath. She doesn't even need to wonder who it was that was coming for her again. The steps stop, and she can see the shadow of feet from under the door, pressing her back even further against the wall as if she could hide when in all reality she couldn't. There is the jingling of keys again, the click of the lock being undone, and then the quiet creaking of as the knob turns, the door soon opening to reveal the same man that had kidnapped her and kept her here in a place where all she could see was an open field and trees. That had been the first thing she'd done when he untied her and shoved her into the room only to close and lock the door behind her. She'd run to the window and tested the bars, looked for any sort of landmark... but nothing to tell her of where she was. Baby blues wide with fear look at the smug expression on his face as he moves into the room, the door being closed and locked behind him by another figure that Beylani knew existed with this man she also knew to be fae, Cass no longer making any attempt to hide the point of his ears beneath dark hair that fell to his shoulders. He holds a familiar glass of water in one hand, though this time he does not bring her a plate of food that she would refuse to touch despite her fierce hunger. Instead, in the other hand, there is a phone. Her phone. He stalks closer to her with a wicked grin, dark eyes predatory and causing her heart to race so fast that in her fatigued state she begins to feel dizzy."Hello, Lani. How are you this evening, hmm?", he says smoothly, as though he was not holding her captive, and it has her tired eyes tearing as she tries to move even further from him as he settles on the bed beside her, entirely too close."Please... let me go... I promise I won't tell anyone...", she whimpers weakly as she eyes him. Her gaze moves to the glass, and she finds that familiar parched feeling, reluctantly takes the water from his extended hand and finishing the half-full glass before returning it to his expectant and opened hand. He only chuckles then as he looks over her frame that was beginning to thin."Every night, you ask me the same thing. And every night, I give you the same answer. No", he replies, his voice so cooly."Tonight though, I have a special treat for you", he almost coos, and the young woman feels her blood turn to ice in her veins. Only now is she beginning to see something different, something more sinister in her captor."Let's make a â€"", he begins before suddenly the screen of her phone illuminates and a familiar face appears. His gaze turns into something so much more cruel, clearly recognizing the name before looking back up to the blue-eyed blonde."Well, well. Look at that. Just in time", he says with a wicked smirk on his face as his hand snakes out to wrap fiercely around her forearm. She winces at the pain of his grip as he pulls her to him, pressing the "answer" button and forcing it to her ear before putting his index finger up to his lips in warning for silence." Lani - I'm sorry, where are you?", the familiar midnight tenor tones edged with worry usher into her ears and she can feel her heart breaking all over again, unable to find her voice." I know you're upset with me, please can we-", the keeper of her shattered heart says then, but before she can dare to say anything, Cass pulls the phone away.

He does not let her go as he begins to taunt Andras so arrogantly, instead moving to wrap his strong arm around her strong enough to make it hard for her to breathe, a wicked smile on his features. She can't make out the words that Andras says, and a part of so desperately wants to call out, to beg him to find her, and yet she is uncertain of what Cass would do and she was far from being in any position to test him. His last words spoken to Andras startle Beylani and for a moment, she is confused, her mind hazy from lack of eating and only taking in enough of the water her captor brought to keep herself alive, should it be tainted. Suddenly, it hits her like a ton of bricks and she can feel her heart stop. Andras had mentioned something what felt like forever ago about dark magic, about what it took for a human to be turned... He bids Andras a cold farewell then, taking that phone in his hand and crushing it before suddenly those dark eyes are on her baby blues widened in horror."Time for that treat, Lani", he says then and she tries now to push away, using every ounce of her withered strength to try and push him away."No! Please! I don't â€"", he says breathlessly, but her words are cut off as he stands, jerking her up with him."Hush. It's much too late to end things now", he says in false softness, a tone that should have been meant to comfort though instead it only settles that sense of foreboding further into the young woman. Gasping from the grip on her arm, she desperately begins to try and pull away from him as the door is unlocked and another fae man with a grin just as cold and wicked walks into the room and takes her by the other arm, though not before again sealing her mouth with that white cloth. She pushes against them as they push her forward, the young woman wriggling desperately as she digs in her heels on the creaky wooden floors of the building they were in. It was no use as they forced every single slow step from her, leading her down the hallway and to a door leading downstairs the dark and damp, stagnant air of the cellar hitting her face as they begin to take her down..."Don't worry, it'll all be over soon", he whispers into her ear as he leans down, brushing a stray strand of loosely curled blonde hair behind her ear. His touch leaves her skin cold, as if her tired body was protesting against the foreign touch of the one that would be her end. And to think that all those months ago, she had been afraid for her own life as Andras towered over her, large wings seeming to reach for the still dark pre-dawn sky above. How different this was, this nightmare she so desperately wanted to awaken from... This time, there was no hope. This time, she knows that her fate is sealed. Her resistance wanes fast as they continue to descend, one step at a time. All she can think of are the ones that she loved most... I'm sorry, mom... I'm sorry, dad...

I'm sorry... Andras...