Taken Ch. 04

"It's ok, Addy, calm down. I'm so sorry," he said, stroking her back in a soothing motion.

Frantic, she shook her head. "No, no, we gotta go now!" she exclaimed, pushing away from him.

She tried tugging his arm to get him to move. Why was he standing there? More importantly, why was he naked?

"Gabe, what...Where are your clothes?"

Not only was he nude, there was blood all over him. For a moment, Adele thought he might be hurt, but he wasn't. She looked down at the wetness she felt and saw that some of the blood had rubbed off on her.

"Addy, I need you to come with me."

"Gabriel, what's going on? Why are you naked? Whose blood is this?"

Adele started to cry as the realization hit her, everything her grandma had said, what she thought had been the ramblings of an old woman, was true. "It was you, wasn't it?" she gasped.

"I wanted to tell you, but I had to be sure."

"Of what?"

"That you would accept me."

"What are you?" she whispered.

"A werewolf."

Adele sucked in a breath, backing up until she was pressed against a tree. She couldn't move; it felt like her feet were glued to the ground. The man she loved, the one she was thinking of leaving everything behind for, was that thing back there. Everyone told a good tale once in awhile, of werewolves and vampires, but for them to actually exist was beyond comprehension. Even more troubling was the thought that she more upset over Gabriel lying than the fact that he had just killed someone.

Gabriel stepped in front of her, capturing her with his eyes. Those eyes, the eyes she thought were the bluest of the blues, the ones that stole her breath whenever he fixed them on her. How could he be a monster?

"Adele, come with me please."

He reached out his hand for her.

****

Alicia shot up and immediately regretted the action, as she winced from the pain.

"Alicia, you need to lay down, you fainted," Gabriel stated as he tried to push her back onto the bed.

Alicia turned her head, wondering how she gotten to the bed from bathroom, until she saw that the bathroom door looked as if it had been knocked off the hinges. Instead of dwelling on it, she allowed Gabriel to lay her back down onto the pillows. She was just too tired.

She stared at Gabriel, unable to say anything. Everything she thought was real, everything she believed in, she no longer trusted. Her instincts, hell, even her mind, were up for questioning at this point. But what she did know was that Gabriel was the cause of it all. He brought her there for a reason, all right. It all made sense now, the dreams, or were they visions, everything.

He planned this from the beginning, to bring her here to replace her. She couldn't explain it or even prove it, but she knew what she saw, what she felt, and it felt real, too real. This time everything was clear. The hair might have been different and the coloring a little off, but the moment she saw Adele's face, she recognized her immediately. There was no mistaking the resemblance.

Alicia was a dead ringer for Adele.