Page 164 of The Addict

Just as the guards turned to call, a man dashed past us, bumping into Delane roughly as he sprinted out the main doors. She stumbled back into my arms, yelping.

“Hey, watch it, you fucking jerk!” I yelled out, before I could even think about using proper language.

“Noah…” Delane’s voice was barely audible.

“Yeah?” I didn’t look at her, but stepped forward to watch the man as he ran off the premises. I scrutinized the figure, seeing him only look back over his shoulder once. Most likely to check if he was being pursued. The guards exchanged curious glances, unable to comprehend the man’s impatience to leave. I squinted. The man running was in a dark colored hoodie, which I found to be strange at a party of this caliber. He was pretty far away at this point, but when he had looked over his shoulder, I thought I might have seen that white skull mask. The same guy I saw acting like a weirdo at the beginning of the night.

I scowled. What a dick.

“Noah!” Delane screamed.

My eyes shot to her. “What is it?”

She didn’t need to elaborate. There was a massive red stain all over her lovely white dress.

Blood.

Blood coated her dress.

“Are you hurt?” I shouted and grabbed her, alerting the guards as I examined her for a wound of some kind. They rushed to attend to us.

With tears welling up in her eyes, Delane gave a forceful shake of her head. “That man—he bumped me and, and—oh god, Noah! He was just covered in it…”

“What the fuck…” I studied her carefully, trying to piece together just what the hell was going on.

The question that was on both of our minds was answered seconds later. I heard it—back from the direction of the dance floor. Like a chain reaction of terror, it manifested as piercing screams, each one growing more intense and setting off another.

I pivoted.

At first, I saw nothing.

But then I noticed that the once immaculate white tile of the ballroom was stained with blood.

David was sprawled across the floor, in the middle of the chaos, with a gash beneath his left arm. Blood poured out of him and onto the tile like water rushing out of a broken faucet.

Someone had stabbed him.

To Be Continued…