“Aww, my best friend is mad at me,” Bianca said as she stepped closer to me. I stopped my struggle so I could glare into her. “That’s a shame. If anyone should be mad, it should be me; you’re the one who’s ignored me.”
“I didn’t ignore you; I just refused to play your games – this illusion. I know what you are, what you’re capable of - and I’m not afraid of you. Go to hell.”
“My favorite place,” Bianca said as she glanced to my side at Monroe. “Well, well, well...looks like you’ve made some new friends.” She tilted her head as she looked at Monroe. “Does daddy know where you are? I’m sure he’d want to see you.”
Grayson’s arms fell from mine as he pushed me behind him. Winston reached to hold him back, finding it harder than he thought. I used that distraction to push Bianca against the stone she was in front of. She tried to fight me, but I was either stronger than her or too full of rage to be stopped.
“You stay away from my life! From everything and everyone in my life! Do you hear me?!”
A wicked smile came to the corners of her lips. “You started this. At least I can agree that you have good taste in men.”
I braced my forearm across her chest and watched as she struggled to breath. “You came to me...you could have moved on to another couple...you – walked – into – my – life!”
She smirked. “No – you have this all wrong. I found someone, someone I wanted to be with that I actually gave a damn about - and what do I discover?” She tried to push me back, but I refused to budge. “That he wanted you, that he regretting not listening to you in a wicked past, and now he was waiting for his chance to know you, to have you as his own, to repay you for saving him from Silas - and he had the audacity to make me help him do just that.”
“Of all people, you should know that I don’t want to be with Britain.”
She rolled her eyes. “Right. Anyways, I’ve moved on…of course, before I moved on to a bigger and better idea, I had to see if there was a chance that I could steal Draven away…tsk, tsk, though; that was fun…I’m over it now…I know your little secret.”
“I have no secrets,” I said through gritted teeth.
Bianca laughed. “I beg to differ…if Draven makes a move for your power, if either of them do - Silas will kill them…I like the sound of that; it just proves that no one tells me no without paying the price. Revenge is mine, and I don’t have to lift one single finger; all I have to do is keep whispering sweet nothings into their ears, growing the dark side that called me to them in the first place.”
“You come near Draven again, I’ll kill you – do you hear me?!”
She laughed a wicked laugh. “Girl, he’s the one that keeps coming back for more. Apparently, he doesn’t want to be with me, but he doesn’t mind toying with the idea.”
My face fell, and she let out another laugh. I felt someone trying to pull me off her, but I refused to move.
“You’re lying!” I screamed through gritted teeth.
“Have a look, Charlie – or has he chosen to keep you blind so he can have his cake and eat it, too?”
I didn’t question her words; instead, I thought the question: When was the first and last time you saw Draven? In that instant, I wasn’t in the eerie graveyard; no, I was in a much darker place. One second there would be a town before me, the next a city - then out of nowhere, darkness; all the while, I heard thunder rumbling and lightning threatening the horizon. In the distance, I saw two figures: one man and one woman. I wanted to be closer, and in that instant I was. Before me was the most nauseating scene I’d ever witnessed: Bianca had her arms around Draven as her lips moved across his neck, then whispered into his ear. Though he didn’t smile, I could see the lust in his eyes, the hesitation he fought before he pushed her way and told her never to touch him again.
The world around us changed, and they were further away in a dark hallway. I wanted to move closer, and in that instant I was there. She was seductively circling him, letting her hand run across his firm body, and once again he did nothing to stop her. In fact, when she was behind him I watched him fight with a smile. She whispered, “You can have us both…I’ll never tell.” Once those words left her lips, he turned and grabbed her arms and pushed her into the wall. She bowed her chest out and smiled, enjoying the strength he was displaying. Draven leaned in, and through gritted teeth he said, “Never speak her name, never come near her again - or you will pay.”
Bianca reached forward, and in a passionate whisper she said, “Promise.”
I couldn’t stand still any longer. I charged forward, and when I did I found myself back in the graveyard, pushing against her. “You slut!” I screamed though gritted teeth.
“No…” she hissed. “I’m just a girl looking for power – and I’ve found it in another world; someone who has the power to command millions - but before I go and claim my new life – I’m going to make sure I destroy yours. You should have stayed on your side of the game...you should have left my world alone.”
“I never touched your world; it haunts me!”
She laughed and moved her head slowly from side to side. “Maybe you’re not as smart as I thought. Don’t you find it odd that all three of them – Draven, Britain, Silas - have chosen to keep you in the dark? That everyone in your life has put a veil over you? You’re too stupid to see how powerful you are.”
I let my arms fall from her shoulders, then reared back and slapped her as hard as I could. She tried to retaliate, but Winston and Grayson blocked her. My body was coursing with adrenaline as I turned and ran through the Iron Gate, then across the street and down the sidewalk to where I left my car.
When I reached the corner I’d left it on, it was missing; in its place was Britain’s Aston Martin. The old Charlie - the one that didn’t know Silas, the one that hadn’t stepped into Bianca’s memories - would have run the other way or cowered behind the few lingering people along the sidewalk; but not this Charlie. I ran to the driver’s side door and flung it open. Britain seemed caught off guard at first, but then he smiled charismatically up at me.
“Get out!” I yelled.
He nodded, then grinned and complied with my command. As he closed the driver’s side door, I pushed my hands against his chest as hard as I could; my impact barely made him budge. He placed his hands on mine, then pulled them down and pinned them against my back. I knew I could get away if I wanted to because he wasn’t trying very hard to hold me still, but I let him hold my arms behind me; it was because I knew that this way I had his attention – that I could make him talk.
“Where have you been?” he said, finding my anger humorous.
“None of your freaking business.”
He laughed as his hands loosened. “I’ve missed this side of you. I was starting to think living this life had stripped it from you.”
“What the hell are you talking about?!”
“This passion, this will to fight for all that don’t matter – you lost it when you decided to focus on another…I rather regret refusing your pleas to save me.”
“The only reason I wanted to save you was so I’d know how to save Draven.”
He moved his head from side to side as pulled me against him. “No, love…I was your first attempt at stopping the source of the darkness. When I saw the price Draven paid for listening to you, I felt confident that I was the wise one…but now, seeing how it’s placed him in the perfect moment, the perfect opportunity to have immense power - I feel rather foolish.”
“So I’ve heard,” I said smugly.
His eyes grew curious as he let my hands go. “Who told you?”
I didn’t answer him; I just raised one eyebrow and waited for him to figure it out. “Silas,” he whispered.
“One of a few,” I said boldly.
Britain looked down the street, then back at me. “I would have thought that Draven would have been smarter about keeping you away from him; he must trust you.”
“Apparently, he’s distracted,”
I said shortly as rage seethed through my veins. Draven was going to pay when I saw him.
Britain turned his head from side to side, and for the first time I saw sorrow in his expression. “I never intended for Bianca to go that far. She just has a lust for power, and an even bigger desire to end anyone who tells her she can’t have it.”
“The fact that you even had a thought to send her after Draven is enough to make me hate you – everything about you!”
“I didn’t send her to him; she’s had her eye on someone else for a while. She’s just going after him because she wants us to destroy ourselves.”
“I don’t believe you. She lives with you – she’s always with you. For all I know, you’re just as twisted and evil as she is.”
He reached for my shoulders, but I stepped back. He sighed, then looked into my eyes. “If Silas has really told you everything, you’d know that I don’t stay in this realm. My house, my money – it’s all for show. It’s material, and in the realm I live in, it has no meaning. I’m here because of you.”
“Then go back because there’s nothing here for you.”
He chuckled as if I were oblivious to what he was saying, which only made me mad. “Listen – I owe you. You saved me from Silas. I thought…I thought that because I was the first one you tried to help that you’d still want save me, but it seems that I’ve been forgotten. I can’t let that happen.”
“You do realize that I have no memory of what you’re talking about; that all I know is this life – and thanks to you, what I know is vague and patchy. I will not be with you – ever.”
“You’ve made that clear,” he said calmly.
“Then why are you still here?”
“Because you’ve ruined me,” he said in a sorrowful tone – almost pleading for me to listen to him. It was the first time I saw this side of him, and unfortunately, it made me feel sorry for him.
“Whatever. How?” I said, looking away, trying to fight a compassion that was building for him – not in the way that two people love each other, but in a way that friends would help each other.
He reached his fingertips to my chin and turned my eyes up to his. “Your power, your light – you gave it to me when you tried to change me. It’s sustained me until now. I can’t pull enough power from the shadows to keep me satisfied – alive – in that world. I have no choice. To survive, you’re going to have to give me more. Being this close to you is the only thing allowing me to have what you might call life.”
“If you try to take my light – or whatever you call it – Silas will end you. You have to find another way,” I said as the sorrow I felt for every soul that was lost erupted in me. I had to find a way to help him – to save them both from Silas.
“I don’t think you understand. For me and Draven, we have no choice. You either give us your power, or we will end. Silas knows that. He’s always known that, but he let you try anyway because of that ‘compassion’ thing you’re kind believes in. You didn’t help us or the dammed; all you did was end us. Now I’m pulling every part of the shadows to me just to hold an appearance in this world….soon it will be like that for Draven, too.”
My eyes grew wide. “Why is it always silent around you? Why has it been silent all day long?”
Headlights flashed on us, and I saw my car racing down the street. Behind it was Evan’s Hummer. Britain looked at me and smirked. “This many dark people in one town. There’s no way there can be a shadow or whisper behind it. We’re feeding off them – using their power to sustain ourselves. They follow us to that world...they can’t help it; they want to be there...they’re called there.”
I covered my mouth, trying to block the nausea as my car stopped short behind Britain’s. Evan’s Hummer pulled up in front of Britain’s car to block it from leaving. I couldn’t breathe; my shadows, my whispers - the ones I promised I would save - were being dwindled away...not by some dark force, but by people I knew – some that I trusted...loved.
Winston stepped out of Evan’s Hummer and crossed his arms, daring Britain to say or do something. Grayson climbed out of my car’s driver’s side and glared at Britain as he came to my side. Britain held his stare but didn’t bother to say a word as Grayson led me to the passenger side of my car. Numb, I sat down and stared forward…I didn’t know what to do.
Chapter Eleven
Grayson threw my car reverse, then raced down the back streets, taking all the shortcuts out of town. When we got to the last stop sign, I watched him put his blinker on – he was turning the wrong way, toward the old high school, not my house.
“Take me home,” I said shortly.
He glanced to his side at me. “Draven and everyone else are at the school. Don’t you want to see them?”
“Draven is the last person I want to see right now – take me home.”
“I think you need to talk to him – not run.”
I heard a horn honk and looked behind us to see Evan’s Hummer. “Look,” I said, reaching to put my car in park. “This is my car and my life – get out.”
I didn’t wait for an argument; instead, I opened my door and walked around the front of my car. Grayson had gotten out of the driver’s seat.
“Listen – I don’t think you should drive; you’re too upset,” he said in an alarmed tone.
Monroe climbed out of the passenger seat of the Hummer and ran to my car and slid in the passenger seat. Grayson bent down to look at her. “Is this safe?”
Of course, she didn’t say a word, but she must have somehow convinced him that it was because he stood up slowly and backed away.
“I’ll tell him you’re going home,” Grayson said
“Don’t bother – I’m sure he’s having fun with Bianca in whatever freaking realm all of you enjoy playing in. I’m done with all of this,” I said as I sat down in the driver’s seat and slammed the door closed. I looked at Monroe and said, “buckle up.”
As soon as I heard the click of her belt, I floored the gas. I didn’t speed, but I was on edge – not paying attention to where I was going or what I was doing. In my rearview mirror, I could see the lights of the Hummer following me, and that just made me madder; I wanted to be alone, not babysat by anyone. I took the next right, not knowing where I was going, then turned on every road I came across – with the solid intent of losing them, for them not to know for sure where I was or what I was doing. After the fifth street I turned on, I pulled into a driveway and turned off my lights. A second later, the Hummer raced by. A satisfied grin spread across my face.
“Well, that was fun,” I said glancing at Monroe.
She smirked in response.
As my eyes moved across the dark house and yard I was in front of, the silence broke my heart.
“Are you feeding off the shadows?” I asked in a voice just above a whisper as my eyes moved to hers.
She shook her head no.
“Was Britain lying to me when he said that there were too many dark people in this town? That…because of that, it’s silent now?”
Her dark eyes told me no.
“Please don’t play the silent game with me; not in a patient mood.”
“He was honest with you,” she answered.
“What is this feeding thing? Explain it to me. Is it as horrible as it sounds? I mean, are those souls lost forever now?”
“It’s just energy… the shadows have forgotten what they’re made of – how important their energy is…so they give it up freely.”
“To those who are dark?” I asked.
“To anyone who asks for it.”
“So what happens when it’s all gone?”
“When it becomes dwindled to near nothing, they can’t sustain in this world, so they’re drawn to the dream realm.” She looked down at her hands and twirled her rings in place. “In a way, they are what makes that world so powerful…what’s left of their energy is combined with every soul that was lost…it’s what the world is made of.”
“What do you call this p
lace? A dream world? Realm?” I asked as I tried to put this place into perspective.
“It’s whatever you need to call it – but it’s not this reality…that’s for sure,” she said as she looked up at me.
“Are your brothers – Britain, Draven – taking this energy?”
She sighed as she searched for the words to explain to me what this place was, this power that everyone seemed to be fighting for. “It’s not a command; it’s a pull. The energy is moving to them - but not because they called it; because this energy sees them as a pathway to another realm – the dream world.”
“So they want to go? They want to be dwindled down to where they can only survive there?”
She shook her head no. “They don’t know any different…they’ve forgotten love, light. They feel alone, so they want to join with others that are like them, to feel connected - but it’s a shallow promise…in that world, it’s hard to remember a reality, a life that had love in it. They have no idea that they’re sacrificing themselves.”
“Can your brothers and Draven just refuse the energy – save them instead of taking their energy?”
She nodded. “It’s hard, though…it’s like telling yourself to breathe out of your mouth instead of your nose…it can be done, but it’s not your body’s instinct…they have to fight their natural instincts to turn away what gives them life here.”
“Why all of a sudden, though? Draven has never had this problem before. The way you describe it, you’d think they weren’t human or something - and Draven is very human.”
“It’s like a coming of age.”
I furrowed my eyebrows at her. I knew Draven and Aden’s birthday wasn’t until May; then they’d be twenty. “There’s a certain age?”