Fallen

Chapter Fifteen: "Centuries"

"So legends are told
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me
Remember me for centuries
-Centuries, Fall Out Boy

I broke away from Riven, turning to the spot where he was. It was empty. As if he weren't there at all.

"Siberia?" Riven said worriedly.

I turned back to look at him. All the blood had drained from my face. For someone with brown skin, I knew I had to look pale.

"I can't... I have to go," I said, running away quickly.

Everyone watched me go. I felt like I was going to puke. Bile rose in my throat and I swallowed, trying to push it back as I ran out of there as quickly as possible.

The cool air hit me as soon as I opened the front door. It washed over my fevered skin like a prayer.

I closed my eyes and breathed heavily.

He was here. I wasn't going crazy, was I? He had been here, standing right in front of me, taunting me.

"Siberia Lane?" said an eerily familiar voice that was laced with a thick French accent.

I turned and my eyes met the same grey eyes from my dream, but they were set in a younger face.

Phillipe stood before me, dressed in a black suit. He looked dashing with his blonde hair and his perfectly straight nose. He looked like something from a painting.

Yet his eyes, they told a different story. They were cool, calculating. Frightening.

I stood up straighter. I remembered his conversation with Riven and Raveena. I recalled him saying he'd cut a girl's heart out. Needless to say, I was nervous.

"We were never properly introduced," he said politely, smiling at me kindly though his eyes portrayed menace. "I'm Phillipe."

I swallowed. "How do you know my name?" I asked.

Before he could answer that, Raveena came bounding outside, Riven close on her heels.

Her eyes flickered over to Phillipe and her lips pulled down at the corners in an attractive scowl.

"What the hell are you doing here?" she snapped.

Phillipe didn't seen fazed, though. He merely smiled and said, "I'm somebody's plus one."

Riven had stepped outside now. The mask he had been wearing at first was off, every line of his impressive face was visible.

He and Phillipe eyed each other, both of them sizing up the other. Riven was tall and his body was muscular - not too muscular but muscular enough-and he walked with an air that said he could take care of himself in a fight. Phillipe was an inch shorter than Riven and he wasn't as muscular, but Phillipe carried an air of danger. An air that whispered that all who opposed him didn't live to see the light of day.

Riven's gaze shifted to me, then to Phillipe, to me and then back to Phillipe. I saw him ball his hands into fists.

"If you're someone's plus one, shouldn't you be inside and not disturbing our other guests?" Riven said, his voice laced with distaste.

"I got bored," Phillipe said simply. "I was just talking to good 'ol Siberia." Phillipe put his hand on my shoulder and I stiffened. I didn't like the way his touch felt. It felt like...death.

Raveena and Riven had stiffened as well. They both eyed his hand on my shoulder warily. Raveena looked appalled and Riven looked like he wanted to snap Phillipe's neck.