Trembling
Crawling across my skin
Feeling your cold dead eyes
Stealing the life of mine
I believe in you, I can show you
That I can see right through all your empty lies

~Breaking Benjamin-Dance with the Devil~

"Would you care for another dance, or are you getting tired of me?" Vincent smiled when he turned to Mikki. She took a peek at her table and saw that it was still empty.

"Sure, it's not like I have anything better to do," she shrugged. Jacque choked on his champagne and looked at Vincent. It dawned on Mikki that that wasn't the smartest thing to say to someone like him. "That came out wrong, I meant that I don't know anyone here and you seem friendly enough and Sharon kind of left me and-"

"It's alright Mikki." Vincent looked down at her with a kinder smile. "I get bored of people who don't tell the truth." He led her back out to the dance floor; Mikki kept her eyes looking over his shoulder.

"I also get bored of people who never look me in the eyes. Why don't you? You don't believe those rumors, do you?" He purred, leaning closer to her.

Mikki tried to step back a little, but wouldn't loosen his grip. "Rumors, what rumors?" She lied.

He gave her a skeptical smirk, "That I'm the devil. If you look me in the eyes something fatal will happen to you. I'm not stupid Mikki, I know what people say about me and I know that you've been warned. I'm also not blind; I can see the worried looks I'm getting from Lady Sharon and Lady Ada." He looked down at her, but she stayed silent. Vincent leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear, "I know you're different. You're a terrible liar and I can sense something wrong. You don't belong here, and neither do I." She could feel his warm breath on her neck as he got even closer and his lips brushed past hers as a blush grew on her face. She trembled as an icy feeling crawled across her skin. His lips finally crashed down on hers and she closed her eyes.

"Vincent! Hey there, I was wondering if I could cut in." Elliot interrupted as Ada roughly pushed him over. Vincent broke the kiss and glared at his brother.

"No."

"That's what I thought," he began to walk away but Ada pinched him causing him to quickly turn back. "OW! Vincent, you should learn to share."

"She's mine for the night," Vincent told him, grabbing Mikki by the arm and pulling her through the crowd.

"Stop it!" They heard Elliot yell. Soon he was back at their side rubbing his arm. "Vincent, please be nice. I really would like to dance with Mikki." Vincent stopped walking and glared at Elliot. "Please," Elliot whispered to him, "Ada's trying to kill me."

"That would be your problem, not mine." He continued walking and Mikki noticed they were going to the balcony she thought was locked.

Elliot gave a sigh of defeat. Out of the corner of Mikki's eye she could see Sharon beating Gilbert with her fan, pushing him in their direction.

"Vincent!" Gilbert finally broke free of the blows and came up to his brother. Vincent ignored him and took out a small gold key. When they got to the balcony, he unlocked the door.

"Stop Vince, listen to your big brother and stay inside. It's too cold out for the balcony anyways." Gilbert tried to persuade him.

Vincent finally turned around, but only to sneer at his brother. "Stay out of my business Gilbert. I'm in no mood to have to be harsh with you, but you are quite annoying tonight."

Gilbert got a hurt look on his face and headed towards a shadowy corner, Sharon hot on his heels with her fan. Sharon gave one final look back at her friend as Vincent pulled her outside and slammed the doors. Mikki could feel panic set in as he backed her into the railing and put an arm on either side of her so that she was trapped.

"Do you still believe them?" He asked as he fiercely grabbed her chin, trying to force her to look him in the eyes.

"Get off!" She screamed digging her nails into his chest trying to push him off; but he was too strong for her.

"Oh Mikki, I thought you were better than them. Prove to those judgmental people that they're wrong and look at me. I promise I won't bite." He gave a sinister laugh.

"Never!" She tried to slap him, but he caught her hand and began to play with her fingers.

"You're such a little bitch." He smiled at her. "Why must you make things difficult?" He put his arm around her waist and brought her closer to him. He tried to kiss her again, but she turned her head. Instead he gave a deep throaty laugh that she could feel. Tears began to form in Mikki's eyes when she looked through the glass doors and saw everyone watching, yet doing nothing. It was like they were mannequins in a store window.

"Why aren't they doing anything?" She whimpered.

"Fear," he hissed into her ear, "Fear can go a long way". She looked back at them and mouthed the word 'please' before Vincent blocked her view.

"It's no use," he cooed into her ear, almost sounding bored.

"Please Vincent, just stop, please." She pleaded one last time.

"Look into my eyes and show me that you're not one of them, then I'll think about it."

Mikki gave in; she turned her face towards him and her breath got shallow as she felt her life start to drain out of her. Just before she lifted her eyes to him she heard a sound of glass crashing.

"No!" Someone ripped Vincent off of her. Mikki looked up and saw that it was Jacque.

"What the hell!" Vincent growled.

"Leave her alone Vincent! You can't take her."

All of Vincent's earlier humor has disappeared; his face was contorted and Mikki instantly registered his face being the face of death. Vincent went after Jacque with a pair of scissors he pulled from one of his sleeves. Jacque quickly dogged out of his way and as soon as Vincent turned around to strike him again, Jacque grabbed his arm. They wrestled around until Jacque was able to throw the scissors out into the rose bushes.

Vincent watched them fall, then whipped his head back towards Jacque. "Bad idea," he said as he pulled out a gun from his other sleeve and pointed it at Mikki. "Heh, I can't believe the stupid girl actually believed my story of pirates. I almost had her too, until you had to come." He scowled towards Jacque.

"Mikki, I need you to listen to me," Jacque tried to lure her to look at him, but she was frozen at the sight of Vincent holding a gun towards her.

"She won't, because death is too strong." Vincent gave a malicious chuckle.

"Mikki! You need to believe in me," Jacque pleaded ignoring Vincent.

"Why should she, she doesn't know you."

"Mikki!" She finally was able to turn her eyes toward Jacque. He had an anxious look on his face as he told her one simple word, "Jump."

She looked into Jacques' eyes and broke free from the fear and did what she was told. Without hesitation she pulled herself over the railing and felt herself free falling. As she was coming closer to the ground she could hear Vincent scream a terrible demonic scream. She closed her eyes waiting for the final impact.

Mikki opened her eyes and all she saw was white. As her focus came into view she noticed it was a tiled ceiling with bright lights. She could hear birds chirping and felt a comfortable cool breeze. She turned her head to the right and saw a few monitors with flashing screens. She saw the window where the breeze came in and noticed two bluebirds sitting on the window sill.

"Mikki?" A young man's voice said. She blinked a few times before she turned her stiff neck to the other side. There was a blonde boy and a brunette girl standing by her bed-Oz and Alice.

"How are you feeling?" Oz asked. She tried to respond, but her throat was too raw from the tubes they had taken out of her earlier.

"Don't try and make her talk nitwit." Alice slapped the boy upside the head.

"Is she awake?" A man walked into the room.

"Yeah, she took the fall pretty hard; she broke all her limbs and three ribs. They said she was lucky she didn't break her spine or that she made it at all." Oz explained to the newcomer.

"Oz, you might upset her," Alice whispered.

"Sorry," he turned to look at Mikki. Once he got her attention he nodded towards the man. "This here is your hero. He's the paramedic that found you and saved you. If it wasn't for him, you wouldn't be here." Oz got up and pulled over the man that walked into the room. The guy blushed and shrugged his shoulders meekly. Mikki looked up at him and saw that it was Jacque.

~ The End! ~