Fated Fangs

Eleni's body swayed as she passed between the tables of the cafe she worked at. Her bright red lips uttered a curse directed at her boss, Josh, as she swept under the tables and chairs. Standing 5"5', with dusty aubern hair, a full figure, and steely grey eyes framed by long lashes, Eleni was a breathtaking beauty that brought a lot of customers in. Eleni understood that Josh wanted to take advantage of the draw she brought to his business, but she didn't understand why she always had to be the one to close up. She didn't dare complain. After all, she needed the money. Rent was ridiculous in the city, and Eleni found it hard enough to keep up on bills, even working these long hours. Eleni thought buying a car would be nice, but she could never seem to keep her savings. She wasn't looking forward to the creepy walk home in the dark. Eleni had first come to Ottawa with high hopes. Her father had moved overseas when she was just a teenager and had left her with her aunt, Josephine. Her mother had never been in the picture. She had died shortly after Eleni was born. Her father had always been just a phone call away, but he rarely made time to come see her. Josephine had a son and daughter of her own, but she had always treated Eleni like her own child. Her cousins weren't quite as kind as their mother. They resented Eleni for the extra attention she always got from their mother and everyone else. Eleni had always been beautiful and kind, so people were immediately drawn to her. When her aunt passed away, Eleni had been devastated. Josephine was her only real parental figure. Her cousins had taken full advantage of their mothers lack of a will and had claimed the house, leaving Eleni with nothing but her personal belongings and savings, which didn't amount to much. She had moved to the city to find work while she worked on her lifelong dream of writing. She had started off optimistic, but she wrote less as time wore on. She didn't have many friends, but she didn't have much time for them, either. It felt like all she did was work and sleep. She did her best to squeeze in as much writing as possible. Eleni had found work at the cafe as soon as she had landed. Her father had suggested it, along with a few other places, when she had called to tell him about her plans. He was always so supportive, even if she hadn't seen him in half a decade. She had walked in with a resume and had met with Josh the same day. He had barely looked over the resume before throwing an apron at Eleni and asking her when she could start. She had worked there ever since. It was a late night cafe, so at least she didn't have to do ungodly early hours. Getting off work at 2 in the morning was scary, though. It didn't quite make up for not having to be awake in the early hours of the day. Eleni had always been more of a night person, but walking alone at night in the city was no joke. Eleni had worked hard for the first year she had been in the city. She had saved money, had written in all of her spare time, and had finally gotten a rough copy of a book put together. She spent a decent amount of money sending the rough copy to editors, but after all of that work, she didn't get a reply back from any of them. She tried many times over the next few years, working on different books and editing the first, but to no avail. All of that, and she still worked at the same cafe three years later. Eleni let out a long sigh as she knelt down to sweep the dirt into a dustpan. At least she got to work with Athan for most of the shift. He was only a part timer, so he didn't work until super late, but his bleach blonde hair and chiseled features always brightened the place up while he was here. Eleni had tripped earlier in the night, and Athen had caught her. She still felt flustered as she remembered how toned his arms had felt as they easily held her. She walked over to the garbage and dumped the dirt in as she blushed. She had been so stunned he had asked her if she was going to get up. Her face was on fire thinking about how embarrassed she had been. She was always tripping over herself, or bumping into tables and chairs, and sometimes even dropping things. She had even cut her finger, once, on a mug she had dropped. It had shattered on the ground, and she had sliced herself trying to pick up the pieces as quickly as she could. She hadn't bled much, but any amount of blood was too much for her. She had fainted on the spot. Josh had carried her out back in the cafe and had called an ambulance. Eleni was terribly anemic, and the sight of blood just threw her head for a loop. Eleni shook her head, clearing it of such thoughts. Even thinking about it was enough to make her feel light-headed. At least she seemed to heal quite fast. She went back to going over and over how Athen had held her in her head instead. She grabbed her bag and phone, locked up the cafe, and started on the long walk home. Athen was a hot distraction, but not hot enough to distract her from her own fear. The walk home was dark. She had to walk through the city a bit and through a small nature park to get to her apartment. The streets weren't too bad. It was a decent neighborhood, and there were a few stores still open at this hour. Eleni held her breath as she drew closer to the worst part of the walk; the park. It wasn't so much a park as it was a few paths and a pond surrounded by trees. Lights lined the path, but half of them had burned out a long time ago and had never been replaced. Eleni felt a shiver go down her back as she walked on the gravel path. Everything felt so loud at night. Her shoes crunching on the ground, the wind rustling the tree branches, the sounds of the city not far away, it was all too much. What was more, Eleni suddenly felt like she was being followed. Eleni quickened her pace, but her nerves began to get jumpier as she neared the underpass. The worst part of the walk was the short tunnel under the bridge she had to pass through in the park. She cursed herself quietly as she hurried to get it over with. Her spine tingled as she neared the mouth of the cement walls. Her steely eyes shot around the dark park behind her. The wind blew lightly, sending a few leaves scattering behind her. There was no movement anywhere, but Eleni still felt nervous. She scanned her surroundings and tried to steady her breathing. Her heart felt like it might burst at any moment. She swallowed hard, digging deep to find courage. She felt so silly getting scared over a few scattering leaves. She didn't see anything no matter how long she stared,so she plucked up the courage she needed to turn back to the tunnel and carried on. The nagging feeling that she was being watched didn't leave her, though, as she entered the underpass. Eleni clutched her arms as she shivered again. She found her pace had quickened to almost a run. She wanted to run, that was for sure, but she kept her current quick pace. It wasn't a very long underpass, and she could already see the other side coming up fast. She breathed a sigh of relief and sped up a little more. She was almost to the exit and began to feel like she was just being silly when a hand wrapped around her arm, pulling her back. It all happened so impossibly fast that Eleni didn't even have time to utter a sound. She was spun roughly around, and two very strong hands pinned her to the cement wall of the underpass by her arms. One hand quickly clamped over Eleni's mouth as her attacker pressed their body against her, further restricting any resistance she could have put up. She felt a scream rise in her throat, but it was too late. All she could do was let out a muffled protest. "Don't make a sound." A rough voice commanded.