Alara

"So are you even going to attempt to explain anything or are me going to just sit in silence?" I posed the question to Cole who hadn't spoken for the past hour.

He didn't even look up which I found incredibly rude.

"Silence it is I guess," I began to play with the hem of my dress, trying to pick of the dried globs of mud, trying to salvage it in anyway possible. In the back of my mind, I knew I was doing it because this was the first real gift Cameron had gotten me and it held such good memories. It represented more than just beauty, it represented a bond that I had formed with Cameron. How unlikely was it for us to grow on each other, two people thrust into marriage that they were unprepared for and now it felt like I needed him in my life.

It was then I heard Cole's phone ring, he immediately picked up the call and strode into the other room slamming the door behind him.

And me being who I am as soon as he was in the other room, I rushed to the door, leaning against it to try and hear the conversation behind it.

"Where are you? She's driving me up the fucking wall, it's like she doesn't even know the meaning of silence,"

So he hated me, good to know.

"You better be here soon or I can't guarantee I'll be of sound mind when you get here," It was kind of satisfying to know the kind of affect I could have on him. It almost made me smile to myself had the situation not been so dire I probably would.

I heard the hang up tone and quickly sped away from the door before it was flung open. Cole narrowed his eyes at my precarious position on the edge of the couch. My face slightly red at how fast I had run away from the door.

I just gave him the most convincing smile I could and for some reason in an awfully chirpy tone said, "Hello?"

He looked at me with puzzlement on his features, a new show of emotion he had yet to display, like he was confused at my very existence.

Once again he chose not to respond, sitting back down on one of the dinette chairs and going back to silently scrolling through his phone.

Not five minutes later their was a heavy bang at the door. A three rapped knock against the smooth wood.

"Who's that?"

It was like talking to a damn wall. No response, no nothing. A slab of concrete would be a better conversation holder.

Ignoring me, for the thousandth time Cole went to open the door, in stepped a man who I did not recognize at all. I had hoped it would be Cameron but no it was another stranger.

His eyes immediately rested on me, and I felt my skin crawl at his unfiltered gaze. He had a brutish figure engulfing almost the whole door frame, his hair was a slicked back and greasy.

"You never told me what a beauty she was," his eyes gleamed with something dangerous as he took in my frame. And once again I wanted to melt into the floor just to get away from the leering looks at this much older man.

"Who is that?" I asked my question being posed to no one in particular.

"Morris, it's good of you to get here finally," Cole seemed exasperated and it was first real sign of emotion I had seen from him. Had I really worn him out that much?

"You still haven't explained what the hell is going on? Why am I here, why does everyone seem to want me, or kidnap me, I'm really nothing special." I began to rant for a moment becoming lost in my own words and frustration.

"That's where your wrong, there is something very special about you, something you have never been told. You are the key to the Blood Diamond."

My throat became dry at the words, flashing back to what Dane had shouted out to Cameron, that he too was looking for the Blood Diamond. Images of my ruined bookshop flared in my mind and a new sense of anger thrummed through my veins.

"What is it with this fucking Blood Diamond? I don't know anything about it, I don't know why you are all so obsessed with it. And I don't know how I will help you."

The sneering man who had just entered stepped forward closing in on me, "You're right. It isn't you that has the information about the diamond but rather your body," his gaze dragged over my figure and I felt so very vulnerable naked even.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he reached out a hand to touch my arm, to which I recoiled.

"Touch me, and the only way my skin is going to make contact with you is when I punch the living daylights out of you," my tone was harsh and I could have sworn I heard Cole stifle a laugh.

"Feisty, I like it."

"Old, I don't."

He sneered at me once more, before stepping back, "Fine, I won't touch you, you'll just show us."

"Show you what?" my confusion was evident none of this made any sense, how could my body have any answers to the location of the blood diamond that everyone seemed to be so obsessed about possessing.

"Lift your sleeve, you have a birthmark right, on your left shoulder?"

My face paled, my brown skin loosing its shine, "How the hell do you know that?"

He didn't give me any sort of answer, just waiting for me to obey his instructions, feeling that there was nothing else I could possibly do, I tentatively lifted the mesh sleeve of my dress, it dragged against my skin much coarser than it had been when I had first worn it. The material catching on my uneven skin.

Soon my shoulder was revealed, a small band of a birthmark wrapped around the side, I had always been told that it was from the medical instruments that had assisted with my mother's C-section.

"What about it?"

He looked closer at the rough patch of skin that was slightly darker than the rest of my body, "Fascinating, absolutely fascinating."

"Will you just get to the damn point," my patience was growing thin.

"Morris, let me explain to her," Cole suddenly spoke for the first time in a while. His cold eyes were studying my skin as well and more so than Morris they made me feel like he was looking straight into my soul and I hated that sensation. I felt utterly helpless, and I didn't want to feel that I had no control.

"That, Alara, is not a birthmark."

"What's that supposed to mean?" I pressed my fingers against the mark feeling the texture of skin, it was definitely skin, skin that had healed over an indentation.

"Well, rather than be a birthmark it is a map."

I had to check I had heard him right, "Excuse me what? A map."

"Yes, there is a map on your skin, a map to the Blood Diamond. A perfect place to hide it indeed, how would anyone ever suspect that the map was not a traditional one, but rather one that is on a person. Genius really."

"I'm not sure I follow, your telling me that this," I pointed to my supposed birthmark, "Is a map not a birthmark and if what you say is true who the hell decided to put such a miniscule map on me of all people."

"That you should ask your grandfather," the man named Morris responded.

"Pops? I haven't seen him in so long." I mused to myself.

"So how are you going to even look at this supposed map," I had decided it was better to believe them then to fathom any other sort of explanation for what was going on.

"That's what Morris is here for, he might not look it but he's a highly skilled surgeon,"

I did not like where this was going, so I laughed nervously, "Surely, you're not saying you're going to cut it off me, right," when I was met with silence I pressed further, "Right?"

"It's better than having to lug you around everywhere whilst looking for the diamond. Once we have it you'll be free to live your life without anyone chasing you."

I hands began to tremble behind me. This was utter madness.

I suddenly felt quite faint, what the hell was going on, this had to be some sort of messed up dream. There was no way this was my reality.

"Can't you just, like take a picture?" I asked half-heartedly knowing that probably wasn't a viable option or else they would have done it already.

"Don't worry dear, under the anaesthesia you won't feel a thing, promise doll," I did not like the way he called me doll, and I didn't believe him one bit.

I shook my head, "No, no I won't let you, this is insane. What the hell is my life right now?"

Morris' face fell, and a snarl ripped through him, "You don't really have a choice doll," he began to make his way over to me and I froze. I should have gotten into my fighting stance, done anything to protect myself I just felt completely numb petrified even.

That was when a deep voice rang out:

"Touch her, and you're dead."