Prologue

The first thought I had was simple: It's so dark here.

Unbelievably dark.

The kind of dark that haunts you in your nightmares.

The feeling of terror was only intensified by my grogginess – it felt like I'd been sleeping for a thousand years, or at least very deeply. My mind tried to go back to my last memories of being awake – they were abruptly cut off, as if I'd gone to sleep very suddenly, or was knocked out.

My eyes scanned the darkness almost reflexively, looking for the one person who always comforted me when I was upset.

"Vaughn?" I whispered softly, expecting him to answer immediately.

I expected to feel his body against mine, or at least a soothing hand. But I did not. It suddenly dawned on me that I was actually in a very uncomfortable position – my spine was bending backwards, and my face was pressed against something scratchy.

My hand was pressed against something above me, and my legs were twisted around some kind of fabric. I rolled onto my back, a muffled cry breaking through my lips when pain jolted through my joints.

Like I'd been in this unnatural position for quite a long time, and my body was telling me about it . . . I realized that I could not straighten out completely – it was as if I was in some sort of suffocating box. I was grateful I wasn't claustrophobic.

Panic instantly clouded my mind, dominated my emotions. How did I get here? Why wasn't I back at the hotel with Vaughn? Where was he? So scared now, my limps jerked out of their own accord, desperately seeking a way out of this box.

I only succeeded in stuffing my face into the scratchy thing again. I let out a muffled scream into it, and a few tears fell from my eyes. I whispered Vaughn's name a few more times, though it was clear to me that he wasn't here.

Desperately now, my mind sought out my last memories of awareness. I'd been in the city, with her in that apartment . . . alone. It didn't explain where I was now, why I was here. As I was thinking this, suddenly I was bumped upwards. My brain put two and two together. I'm in a car, I realized, in a trunk.

And wherever the driver was taking me could quite possibly ruin my life forever.

A/N: So. This is the sequel to Love and Hate. The introduction is short, but it's intended to be that way. It's different than anything I've tried writing before, but I'd like to give it a shot ;) .

My updates might come later than usual for this one; just a guess. Because I'm working on other projects at the same time (See: Upcoming Projects on profile).