Cut by Danielle Llanes

on the sofa in front of the television. I walked over to stand in front of her. She was sleeping. The apartment was smaller than my guest bedroom. It was filled with boxes that were largely still packed. I could see her clothing strewn about on the floor. I kneeled before her, staring into her face. She would be thirty now but you would never know. She had drank from me in a weak moment. I imagined she still was asked for identification when she purchased alcohol. I reached out to touch her as her eyes fluttered open. She jerked back and sat up quickly until she was scrambling over the sofa to her feet.
    “What are you doing here?” I stood up as I placed my hands on my hips,
    “I should ask you the same question.”
    “I thought you were dead!” I shook my head as I replied,
    “Impossible, you see I have this minor affliction. There is no cure for it.”
    “That’s a lie…you were as good as dead that night. Do you know how long I have been in hiding? I made a truce with Klaus but they still come after me.”
    “You tried to kill me, Samara.” Watching her standing against the wall I could see the anger building in her. She was looking around the room; she was without a weapon.
    “Why are you here?”
    “I asked you first.”
    “This is my home, Rent. I couldn’t keep running for the rest of my life.”
    “You made that choice long ago. Why didn’t you walk away?”
    “Why didn’t you just leave me alone? You were cheating on me! Do you know what it was like being made into a fool? Everyone knew you were seeing that girl. Everyone! It made me so angry. I didn’t understand how you could tell me you loved me and then go to her…it was wrong!” I frowned as I shook my head,
    “That’s a lie. It was all over with us. Everything had ended, you just didn’t want to move on. You killed my son. You took the one thing in my life that was good. He didn’t have a thing against you.”
    “He would have come after me.” I cursed as I moved across the room and slammed her against the wall.
    “Are you going to kill me?” Her voice was shaking as I stared into her face. I pushed away from her as I backed away. I headed for the door as I looked back at her standing in the middle of the room.
    “You can’t do it because you know I was right. You know what you did, Rent.” I shut the door behind me as I climbed down the flight of stairs and headed back into the cold night. I could hear her bounding behind me now. I was already crossing the street as I heard the snap of her crossbow. I ducked as I felt the arrow shoot past and shatter a car window. I looked back as she reloaded. I watched as she was knocked over by a shadowy figure. She struggled against her attacker as I made out the pale face of a boy. She was calling out his name,
    “Trevor, stop! Stop it!” I watched their violent battle on the lawn before me. I looked back as I saw Marc rushing to my side. I held up my hand as he stopped.
    “I said stop!” I backed away as the boy with the pale face looked up at us. His dark eyes were like orbs shining in the dark. I looked at Marc as he whispered,
    “He’s so loaded on Styce.” I nodded as he looked down at Samara, his mouth already wide open. He jerked down and clamped on her throat. She let out a scream as his teeth tore at her throat.
    “Shit, should we do something?” I stepped forward as the boy sat up and opened his mouth filled with her blood. He hissed at us as I stared down at her,
    “I don’t know.” Her eyes were wide as she opened her mouth to form words. She reached out as she grabbed her attacker. Her hair had come loose and was now spread out all around her. Her blood was pooled around her body now as he leaned over her and returned to drinking from her. I turned away as I grabbed Marc,
    “Let’s go.”
    We sat in the middle of Café du Monde now. I shook the excess sugar from my beignet into the café au lait. Marc sat quietly as a saxophone player sat nearby playing a