Temptations

Nice to Meet You

Take off all of your skin,

And brave when you are free.

Shake off all of your sins,

And give them to me.

Close up let me back yeah,

I wanna be yours, wanna be your hero...

And my heart beats...

And it does, hard and lound in my chest. The only problem with this song is sooner or later, my heart might not be beating. Just like the rest of the people in this clan. Who knew that listening to Empire could remind someone of death? At least I'm alive right now and enjoying the time I have all to myself.

Well, not entirely.

There is one fault: Darren's back from the Paintball arena and I'm trying to avoid him. I have my earbuds in, already playing a different song, and jogging around with Anthony guiding the rest of the group. Why I chose to jog with a bunch of girly-girls, I don't know, I had to make a quick decision. I just know that Sam has already calmed down and is currently working on her flexibility with Anthony's girlfriend- an alternative to running around the forest.

We've been out for almost an hour now and saying I'm exhausted is an understatement. Most of the girls have already complained to the nth power about not being remotely close to the lodge and how he shouldn't be making them run so much when they can already run ten times as fast.

"I'm not just training your body, I'm also training your mind." is what he says.

Now I get why he's torturing us. Suddenly I have newfound energy and I run up to the front. "Discipline." I say and Anthony just glances at me. His lips slightly tug at their sides and I know I'm correct. "These girls... lagging... Suggest... race to... lodge... Absolutely... No... Fazing." I say between breaths. When we first started to jog, I discovered they call running faster than sprinting fazing. Anthony was pretty adamant not to let us skip through the forest with that ability.

He puts his arm in-front of me, slowing me down to a stop with him. Once all the other girls catch up to us, he speaks. "Before we go any further, I want you all to know that I am glad not one of you fainted." Some of the girls roll their eyes at his failed attempt at making a joke. "For the last half-mile, I want you to compete against each other. Whoever gets to the lodge first doesn't have to come to training for the rest of the week. The last person goes on a Starbucks run tomorrow morning." I heard a couple of the girls groan in relief and pleasure before Anthony continues, "The only rules I have are: no cheating, and no fazing-" He furiously points to the girls, "-or I'll make you weight-lift more than the boys and run twenty miles, got that?" Everyone nods.

Anthony points in the direction of the lodge and blows his whistle. "Get outta my sight!"

Everyone sprints towards where he pointed. Everyone except me. I stay next to Anthony, who is now looking at me in confusion. "Aren't you going to run?" he asks while gesturing into the trees.

"I'm saving my energy in order to go all-out and stay constant."

He lifted an eyebrow. "You better get going before you fall behind." He then fazes to the lodge.

Or just wait a little more... I think to myself as I begin to jog. Confronting Darren is one thing I'm dreading right now. I know that once he sees me, he is going to ask about Samantha and I'm going to have to tell him that I had to spill and no one knows how he'll react to that! I can deal with Sam's wrath, but I DO NOT know how to handle a guy who is a vampire. Ugh, this is too stressful, I'm supposed to be enjoying my alone time.