“Here it is,” she said, yanking on something. She produced a box from the depths of the closet that appeared brand new. Pushing her fingers into the cardboard top of the box, she forced the plastic handle out of its slot and pulled it up for easier carrying.
“Before we go, I want to get something from Caleb’s room.” I quickly scurried out of her room, walked into the hallway, and rushed past the railing.
I pushed open the door and Caleb’s scent assailed me, assaulting all of my senses—this was his space. I could smell him and feel him as perfectly as I did the first time he told me I was taking his room for the night. But things weren’t exactly as I’d remembered. Instead of a neat and tidy room, the comforter from his bed and dirty clothes were scattered across the floor. A multitude of bottles and empty cans littered the dresser and nightstand.
“I wanted to warn you,” Sarah said from behind me. “He hasn’t been back here since he brought you home.”
“What happened?” I asked numbly, walking toward the CD case that had been carelessly thrown to the floor.
“I told you he didn’t adjust well to your departure. He didn’t care about anything but fighting, eating, and sleeping.”
I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. That was not Caleb, not my Caleb. He wouldn’t live like this. This was someone else, someone in pain.
Sarah walked into the room, surveying the damage right along with me. I didn’t waste a minute, tossing the comforter across the bed before I started tidying up. If I knew Caleb, the last thing he needed was a reminder of the person he’d become. He was terrible when it came to dealing with guilt.
Sarah chipped in, placing dirty clothes into the overfull hamper and picking up discarded CDs along the floor. Even after our effort, the room needed work. The trashcan was overfull, the closet was disgusting, and the floors were littered with garbage.
I took a deep breath and walked into the closet. I followed my nose, removed a flannel jacket off one of the hangers, and brought it into my face. Caleb’s scent was all over it. I shoved my arms into sleeves that were several inches too long and walked out of the closet, grinning at Sarah.
“It smells like him, huh?” Her eyes warmed in understanding.
“Is that strange? It’s the weirdest thing.” I lifted my shoulders in a shrug to indicate I didn’t care if I’d lost my mind.
“It’s strange because you’re human.”
“What do you mean?”
“Smells are different to us. Everyone carries their own unique scent. Humans don’t notice that. Their noses aren’t attuned to it.” She tilted her head and observed me curiously. “But you’re not entirely human, and you’re bonded, so I would imagine that is the most logical explanation.”
“Maybe,” I agreed and pulled the jacket as close to my body as possible.
She nodded, shifting uncomfortably on her feet. I glanced at her, frowning in concern. Sarah had been acting odd for days. Even if she tried to play it off, something was wrong.
I could feel it.
“What’s wrong Sarah?” I closed the space between us.
Her chocolate brown eyes met mine and she smiled. “I just need to get out of my skin. All of this tension is starting to wear me down.”
“Get out of your—” My eyes widened in understanding. Of course. She needed to let her wolf release all that unbridled energy.
“I’ll be fine,” she reassured me, flashing a smile before bending down to retrieve the air mattress.
“Why don’t you take advantage of the woods? We have time. You could go for a run and no one would know.”
“You wouldn’t mind?” She paused midway to the box, speaking as if a huge burden had been taken from her shoulders. “I hate leaving you here while I go out.”
“Not at all.” I lifted an arm and indicated the damage that was Caleb’s room. “It will give me time to straighten this mess up.”
“I haven’t shifted since we came back from Scotland,” she confessed. “It’s difficult under times of stress to keep the wolf at bay.”
“Then go. I’ll be here when you get back.”
Her gaze flickered across my face and she grinned. “Thanks, Emma.”
She dropped the box, left the room, and hurried down the stairs. I heard her cross the threshold and I turned to gaze at the bedroom, trying to decide where to start in the clandestine pit of despair. An odd thump came from below and I spun around. I stepped into the door and looked down. The front door was wide open and I didn’t see Sarah.
“Sarah?” I called and listened closely.
I waited for a few seconds and shrugged, figuring she had jumped from the porch and one of the older slats of wood had cracked. Walking toward the dresser to close a few of the opened drawers, I heard another sound from downstairs and came to an abrupt stop, listening. The sound of footsteps climbing the stairs had me on alert. I knew something was wrong, and my body started to tremble involuntarily.
I stood tall and faced the door, waiting for the intruder coming up the stairs. My heart throbbed painfully inside my chest, beating steadily against my ribcage. My breath caught, and I struggled to breathe when a strange man appeared in the doorway.
“No.” The word left my lips in a soft whimper.
I had seen someone like this once, just before he changed into something indescribable. His black hair was swept back and off his face, his crisp clothing was neatly pressed, and a smile—the most unnatural and awkward of smiles—was plastered across his face.
“Hello.”
My eyelids fluttered. The voice was the same too. No discernible pattern to his voice, no variation to his dialect, no emotion. He was a halfblood; created when a vampire fed a human so much of their blood they warped their mind.
“What do you want?” I whispered, taking a cautious step away from him, toward the bed.
His insane smile widened and I saw his teeth. The edges were sharp and pointed, creating miniature triangles that would devour flesh.
“You.”
He advanced on me, pushed aside my flailing arms, and grabbed a handful of my hair. I struggled, screaming and yelling as he yanked me behind him. I clawed at his skin, thrashing and kicking, and attempted to break free. My fingers grasped at the doorframe. When I had a solid grip, I held on for dear life.
He twisted his fingers brutally, ripping hair from my scalp, and resumed his trip. I let go of the doorframe when my neck was forced back. My legs and thighs bounced painfully off each of the stairs he dragged me down. I reached out blindly, desperate to grab anything. When my fingers brushed against the iron railing at the base of the staircase, I wrapped them around and held on tight.
Another vicious tug of my hair caused my scalp to burn. I concentrated on the twisted piece of black metal, willing my hands to stay strong. I closed my eyes and searched for any supernatural energy to pull into myself. My eyes flew open and sheer terror and fear swept through me when I discovered halfbloods didn’t emit any energy. There was nothing to use, nothing to protect myself with.
Fists pounded on my fingers and I bit my lip until I tasted the metallic bitterness of blood. The halfblood stood, studied me, and strode to the pool table. I crawled up the stairs on my hands and knees, desperate to reach Caleb’s room.
I made it halfway when something grabbed my foot, fingers wrapped around my ankle, and jerked. As I tumbled back down, I cracked my chin on a wooden stair. The world shifted and blurred. Things seemed too close and then too far away. My head spun, blackness swirling, almost taking me below before blessedly fading away.
“No marks! The master said no marks!”
“I left no marks!” The voice of the one that dragged me down the stairs changed, elevating in pitch.
“Take her to the water. The water will leave no marks!”
The grip on my leg intensified, and I attempted to scramble away on my elbows and keep my face from ricocheting off the stairs. Each iron slat passed me by as I reached weakly for them, watching in despair as
each slipped easily from my uncooperative fingers.
My left shoulder hit the last stair and the wooden floor appeared, slipping past me as the stairs sped further away. I cried out, my wail of anguish piercing the air. I dug my nails into the wood, trying to stop the momentum of the creature pulling me. I twisted as best I could around the front door, folded my body around the frame, and used the last of my strength to stay there.
“Pull her free.”
Hands grasped my upper arms, forcing me away from the safety of the cabin, and thrust me down. My chest thumped against the wall and I collapsed onto the porch. I gazed at the thin trail of blood left behind as they grabbed my legs and continued dragging me.
“Sarah,” I wheezed, trying to formulate words.
My brain wasn’t functioning properly, and I argued with my languid arms, demanding they reach out to Sarah’s lifeless form on the porch. A thin trail of bright red blood flowed from her hairline, cascaded down her forehead, and dripped onto the wood from her nose.
“To the water!” one of them screeched.
I tried to struggle, whipping my body around and kicking free of their hold. I staggered, unable to find level ground. My head was spinning, and a couple of steps were all I was capable of taking. The trees swayed in the distance and made me nauseous, whirling around in a blur of brown, green, and orange.
Arms locked around my neck, forcing my head down, and left me with no other option but to follow. I struggled, screaming and thrashing. My attacker didn’t slow, and I buried my face into his ribcage, bit down, and tried to rip his skin apart.
My head was released and I spun, unable to maintain any semblance of balance before I fell heavily to the ground. My ragged breathing lifted the dirt near my mouth, blowing the red clay into the air where it surrounded my face. Closing my eyes, I began dragging myself toward the porch on my stomach.
“To the water!”
A hand wound in my hair again and dragged me across the dirt and gravel, past Sarah’s car. There was nothing to grab onto, nothing to stop the inevitable path to the lake.
To the water.
A last surge of strength suffused my body and I yanked backward, feeling the hair in my scalp rip free. I shoved away, forced my feet to find some kind of balance beneath my shaky legs, and attempted to make a sprint for the cabin. My legs staggered as I failed to gain the equilibrium necessary to stand.
“She smells good. I want to taste her!”
“The master said no mark!”
“Just a taste!”
“It must look random—no mark!”
They bickered as they approached me, their voices too high to be anything human. Their snarls filled my ears, accompanied by loud shrieks. Dual sets of hands lifted me. I watched the lake as it neared. It was so beautiful, so crisp and clear. The final rays of the sun created a rippled image along the surface, so like the mirrored sunset I had witnessed with Caleb when we’d sat together along the bank.
I felt the toes of my shoes dragging behind me, leaving a snake-like trail that would lead to my watery grave. My eyes focused, seeing everything. I knew these would be my final memories. I felt the warm salt of tears against my mouth and experienced the cruel absolution of saying good-bye.
The water came closer and closer, until I felt the freezing chill of blanketed wetness embracing me. I gasped without making a sound as they pulled me into the murky water, staring down at my reflection that distorted with their frantic movements. They pushed my head toward the surface, showing me a terrified girl who was too young to die but was unable to change what loomed ahead.
The cold bite of water inside my nose and mouth silenced any protests. I struggled futilely, attempting to break free of the hands shoving my shoulders under the surface. My lungs protested, demanding essential oxygen, burning miserably with the need to breathe. I held my breath, feeling fire in my muscles, chest, and lungs as my body screamed at me to take what was necessary to live. But there was no air to be found.
When I inhaled, I knew I would die.
I fought the need until I had no choice but to drag the water into my lungs. Pain radiated inside my chest, flooding my mouth, nose, and throat with an ice-cold weight. I choked on the liquid, my body entering some strange, agonizing spasm that I couldn’t control.
Images flickered through my mind in those last seconds, my life remembered in frames—my mother, father, grandmother, Sammie, Trent, Sarah, Derek, Beverly, Chris, and finally, Caleb.
My final thought was of drowning, but not in water. I chose to suffocate in the deep indigo pools I loved so much, following the swirling currents down into the pupil until there was nothing but complete blackness.
Then, the pain was no more.
Chapter 11—Here and There
Blackness swirled, turning gray, bringing me out of the darkness and into something else—a pinnacle. I floated between the two, drifting freely in the abyss between here and there. The numbness receded, fading away, bringing on a newfound awareness. With that awareness came something else, something that built and shifted, becoming stronger and more insistent.
Pain.
Bursting from inside.
Pressure throbbing against my chest, pumping rhythmically, stopping, air shoved into my throat and out again. The crunch of bone giving way cracked inside my head. My sternum was giving beneath a force strong enough to sever the bone in two. It pounded forcefully, shocking my heart into a rhythm, steadily pushing up and down.
My throat locked in a spasm as water flowed from my stomach and lungs, spilled past my lips, and gurgled out. My body convulsed violently, shattering with each wave of cold water that flew from my chest and trickled down the sides of my face.
“Emma!” Sarah’s voice sounded so far away, so distant, frantic with despair.
Something pushed me to my side, allowing the water to trickle freely from my nose and mouth. I tried to tell her it was going to be fine, to reassure her, but I couldn’t talk.
My chest burned, a raw fire tracing the path from my throat downward, resting solidly inside my chest. I gagged and heaved until there was nothing left, leaving a flaming heat behind. My body was gently turned until I was once again on my back.
I struggled to open my eyes but the lids were heavy, making it difficult. I managed to lift the oppressing skin. Everything was blurry and out of focus. I weakly turned my face toward the sound of Sarah’s voice, her words becoming easier to understand.
“Oh Jesus, Emma!”
I felt her gentle hands lifting my head gingerly and brushing wet strands of hair back and away from my face. Her warm fingertips moved down, lingering on my cheek. The other cradled me close to her body as she rocked back and forth.
My lips attempted to formulate words, but my tongue was thick in my mouth, moving awkwardly. Everything was happening in slow motion, surreal and dreamlike. An odd gray haze overshadowed everything, covering me in a dismal cloud.
“It’s going to be okay.” Sarah brought her face to mine before lifting away. Her fingers lingered over a spot on my shoulder. Pushing aside the jacket, she gently touched and prodded my collarbone.
I heard her whisper under her breath. “Shit.”
My unfocused eyes barely made out her form. She was drenched, her dark hair hanging in wet clumps around her face.
A face smeared with blood.
Streaks of deep red formed at her mouth, cleaned away only at her lips. Her tanned skin was bare and I realized she was stark naked.
“Wha’ happen—” I managed to speak, the words barely audible.
“We have to get home,” she said tightly, shifting me in her arms. “It’s not safe here. I don’t want to think of what would have happened if I hadn’t woken up. The bastards got the jump on me when I came out of the door and bashed me over the head with a silver pipe.”
Memories came rushing back—the water, the halfbloods.
The agony of drowning.
I started to panic and Sarah tried to placate me with sof
t whispers. She placed her hands under my legs and shoulders, lifted me easily, and pulled me against her chest.
“Where are they?” I asked in a croak, my throat bitterly torn, dry, and sore.
She didn’t answer, spinning around instead. Both of the halfbloods were near the water, throats torn open and ripped apart. Their blood pooled around their bodies and soaked into the dirt, forming large brown puddles that seeped into their freshly laundered clothing. I closed my eyes and relaxed against her as she spun on her heel and walked to the car.
“Hold on,” she grated through clenched teeth, shifted my weight, and opened the door with the hand under my legs.
She leaned over and lowered me carefully onto the seat. I was drenched and covered the floorboard and seat with beads of water. Shifting, I heard the slurpy suction of liquid prying lose from slick leather.
Sarah slammed the door closed and I watched her run full speed into the cabin. She reappeared in moments covered in a black T-shirt and jeans. She didn’t look up as she grabbed the front door, pulled it closed, and bypassed the stairs by leaping off the porch.
The car shifted under her weight as she climbed inside and rammed the keys in the ignition. She turned it over and the engine roared to life, thrumming loudly. Her hands deftly maneuvered the gearshift and steering wheel. She turned the Camaro around and covered the vehicle in dust. She didn’t bother going in order of gears, speed shifting instead, and drove out of the gravel drive and barreled past the trees.
My body erupted in painful shivers, traveling through my body as my teeth clattered. I brought my legs into my chest, attempting to get warm.
Sarah cursed softly and said, “I forgot to get a blanket. You’ll freeze to death.”
I shook my head, teething rattling. I reached over with clammy fingers that were nearly blue. “Give me...your hand...”
Her fingers slipped into my hand but they were empty. There was nothing to take into myself.
“Need your wolf,” I whispered, my body quaking uncontrollably, causing the words to come out clipped.