Cassandra's Fate

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

"........Happy Birthday to you!"

Cassie's friends joyfully sang and cheered at the round table in the middle of Jack's Steakhouse.

Cassie's heartfelt blush reddened even deeper as their applause was accompanied by all of the surrounding patrons throughout the main dining room. She typically wasn't fond of being the center of attention but at this moment she just felt like it was nice to be seen.

"I know its technically your birthday-eve but I really hope you're having a great time tonight, Love" Ben smiled at Cassie as he kissed the back of her hand.

"I am," she smiled back at him. "I really appreciate all of you guys" she added looking across the table at Holly and Addison.

"Well, you can show your appreciation by having a drink with us" Addison pushed with a sing-song voice.

The waitor came by the table with an over-sized vanilla cupcake that was topped off with a blazing sparkler. He set the desert in front of her and gave her a dashing smile as he said, "the gentleman at the bar has offered to send over a drink of your choice."

Everyone at the table immediately snapped their heads towards the bar to see who had made such a brazen gesture.

Addison was salaciously curious, Holly was guarded and Ben was angry.

Cassie herself was surprisingly amused as she searched the bar area through the dazzling light of the sparkler.

All were taken aback to see the incredibly handsome stranger who lifted his glass towards them wearing a confident grin.

"Who the h*ll is that?" Ben demanded.

"I don't know" Addison answered with a heavy breath. "But I'm going to find out!"

Addison was quick to abandon her friends and saunter over to the bar, subtlely tugging down her already-too-low-cut top, revealing even more of her abundant assets.

"Eh hem" the waitor was waiting patiently for Cassie's response to the drink offer.

"Oh, uh, I don't know really. I'm not a big drinker..." Cassie lightly chewed on her bottom lip.

"The gentleman suggested a Bloody Mary" the waitor offered.

"Ok, I guess. I'll try that" Cassie relented looking back over towards the bar.

Addison was throwing out the charm, giggling at everything the beautiful man said and playfully patting him on his firm chest.

The man was very tall and had a strong slender build. He was wearing black pants and a black suit jacket that was casually flung open, revealing a white dress shirt with the top several buttons undone, exposing just enough of his chest to reveal a distinctive line between his thick muscles. He looked like a business man that had just gotten off of work and was easing into a relaxing evening.

Cassie found herself oddly intrigued by him. He was indeed a very handsome man, perhaps in his mid thirties, but his demeanor from a distance was catching her interest more than just his physical appearance.

He seemed to be entertaining Addison's obvious advances but it had not been lost on Cassie that he would look past Addison and lock eyes with her quite frequently.

It was his dark eyes, his stare, that Cassie found captivating. He kept looking at her as if he were trying to read her thoughts or look into her soul.

Cassie shook her head in an attempt to break the stranger's gaze and try to put her attention back on her birthday dinner. Without thinking she reached up and stroked the gold lily around her neck, sliding the pendent back and forth along its chain. She pulled the chain up over her chin and hid her lips behind her grasp.

Her eyes floated back towards the bar again. The man's stare was still fixed on her. Cassie smiled shyly behind her finger tips, iliciting a return, sly chesshire cat grin from the handsome man.

Cassie was quickly brought back to reality when

the waitor delivered her drink. She eyed the thick red liquid and then glanced over at Holly who giggled and asked, "What were you expecting? Something with an umbrella?"

"Kinda! I don't know, I don't have a lot of experience in this area!" Cassie laughed.

She shrugged her dainty bare shoulders and took a drink from the tall slender glass.

Cassie set the glass back on the table while making the most horrid face, giving away her obvious distaste for the drink. "Oh that's awful!" she confirmed, Ben and Holly laughing hysterically at her reaction.

"You've been 21 for a few months now, Holly, what do you suggest instead of this vile concoction?" Cassie asked in a humorously dramatic manner.

"Hhmmmm..." Holly ran her delicate finger along her full bottom lip as she thought..

"Probably something with an umbrella in it!" she finally answered cheerfully.

Cassie playfully pushed Holly's shoulder. "OK, Lady, I'm following your lead! Order us up something good!"

Ben wrapped his arm around Cassie's shoulder and planted his lips on hers, happy with her change in mood.

Cassie had initially had her eyes closed during their kiss but when she opened them, she saw past Ben and locked gazes with the strange man again. She felt a warm tingle low in her belly...

**************************************************

As the night wore on, the drinks got stronger and Cassie's efforts to not be a cliche college girl on her 21st birthday were proving to be futile.

She felt like she was losing her grip on reality but instead of fighting it, she found herself embracing it.

Cassie let her gaurd down and was feeling more free spirited than she had ever felt before in her life. Everything was warm and fun and hilarious to her. She felt very light-hearted like she didn't have a care in the world.

She had always been under the impression that intoxication typically caused people to lose focus on what was happening around them.

Cassie, on the other hand, was becoming more and more focused as the night drew on. Sights were clearer, sounds were sharper, smells were more intense.

After leaving the restaurant, Cassie had a nearly uncontrollable urge to be outside. Her friends had succumbed to her strange wishes and taken her to the city park near campus which backed up to a protected wildlife preserve.

By this time they had all partaken in quite a bit of alcohol and where seemingly ready for anything so playing in the park at night didn't seem like too bad of an idea to them.

They all acted like children, swinging and climbing on the playsets under the light of the ever growing moon.

"I'm getting kind of tired," Ben eventually announced as he lay on the grass panting after their stumbling game of tag.

"No, come on, don't give up now!" Cassie tried to pull the big lug up off of the ground but she couldn't move his de*d weight. "Its my birthday and I still want to play tag" she playfully whined like a child.

"Technically its not really your birthday until midnight" Addison argue as she sat heavily on the grass, also trying to catch her breath. "You still have......" Addison lifted up her wrist and squinted trying to read the watch that she was not wearing.

"An hour" Holly finally answered. She was the only one who seemed to want to keep playing as much as Cassie.

"I can't. I'm done. Happy Birthday, Baby" Ben said moments before he passed out on the manicured lawn of the park.

Addison started to chuckle and hiccup at the same time. "You know, Cass" She slurred. "That super hot guy at the restaurant bar..."

Addison paused as if she were trying really hard to remember what her thought was.

"He's really into you" She hiccuped.

Addison furled her eyebrows in concentration.

"What was his name?" She continued, speaking more to herself than to anyone else. "Steven!" She shouted excitedly.

"Steven something-weird-old-timey-last-name" she mumbled before laying the back of her head on Ben's stomach and closing her eyes.

"Yeah, he's super into you. I think maybe he's your stalker." Addison barely got her last words out before she passed out cold.

"Great" Cassie put her hands on her narrow hips.

"Well, should we try to drag them back to the car?" She asked, feeling a little bummed out.

"Nah," Holly answered waving her hand at their two sleeping friends on the ground.

"I think we should race instead!" She suggested with moonlight gleaming in her eyes.

Cassie was flooded with renewed excitement. "Ready! Steady!" she started as she bolted through the grass. "GO!" she called over her shoulder but Holly was already close on her heels.

Cassie ran as fast as she could, shadowed images rushing past her, her heart pounding loudly in her ears.

"This way, Cass!" Holly called out to her as she angled towards the forest. "Catch me if you can!"

Cassie excitedly turned towards the forest. She burst through the trees without a single hesitation. Cassie found herself able to maneuver the increasingly dense branches and shrubbery with an agility she didn't even know she possessed.

"Over here!" she heard Holly's sweet voice call from the distance.

Cassie immediately bolted in the direction of the noise.

"You'll never catch me!" Holly's disembodied voice taunted Cassie.

Cassie didn't even know how long she had been running through the woods at full speed. All she knew was that she was feeling more free than she had ever felt in her life. Her heart was pounding, the soft forest floor seemed to help propel her forward, the white moonlight broke through the tree limbs in tatered shards and felt incredible on her pale skin.

Cassie was breathing heavily as she ran.

Her chest began to hurt with each thump of her heart.

She could feel her temperature beginning to rise.

Cassie knew she should stop running and cool down but the impulse to catch her prey was uncontrollable.

She was getting hotter by the second.

The pain in her chest increased.

Every muscle in her body was tensing up.

Cassie began to feel searing pain rush through her entire being but instead of causing her to stop, the ravenous intensity of the pain drove her to run even faster.

She could hear herself panting and groaning uncontrollably in a voice she didn't recognize as her own.

Just when she was about to pass out from the now excruciating pain and overpowering heat that radiated through her body, Cassie heard a heart-stopping monstrous howl close to her.

Cassie screamed with all the energy in her very life force... then everything went black around her.