“I understand.” Grabbing the handle on the door, I sit up, thinking about the pang in my chest. It’s horrible. My heart’s going to explode by the way it’s pounding―ice-cold blood rushes fiercely through my veins.
I try to focus on the twinge in my head. It’s not as bad as my chest, but it, too, is agonizing. Focusing on them both simultaneously makes me shake.
I try to focus on where my heart is, and it’s clearly in my chest. “Argh!”
“How is it going, Tracey? I need something.”
I throw my head back against the seat. Taylor is so impatient.
My hand burns vigorously. It’s full-black, and the vines are thick, charging up my arm.
My fingers spark with fire.
“What’s going on, Tracey? Are you lighting―? Oh my God, is that your hand? Tracey, your hand is on fire!” Rose yells hysterically.
“Tracey, you all did?” Taylor accuses, and I’m not ready to have this conversation right now.
“I know how we can find him,” I utter. I stick my hand out the window and will for the fire to help me find Nathan. Fire snakes from my hand, probably freaking out the people around us. I pull my hand back in the window after it has snaked from my palm. It takes the form of a real snake about the size of my leg and shoots off.
“Follow it!” I tell her.
Taylor floors it. I pull on my seatbelt. The flaring orange snake of fire quickly slithers through the streets and around cars on the freeway. It’s quick, and Taylor tries her best to keep up. The ground beneath it is cold and wet, but not enough to put out its slithering flames.
“You’ll explain this once this is over!” Taylor shouts, swerving through traffic.
We drive for an hour and arrive at a small cottage when Taylor finally slows.
Rose scopes out the area before we get out. “Are you sure it brought us to the right place?” Her doing so makes me wonder where the men of the family are.
“Where is everyone?” I ask, stumbling out of the car.
“That’s what I’ve been trying to figure out since I came out of the bathroom,” Taylor answers.
“What?” I squeal. “The bathroom?” A sledgehammer bangs against my forehead, and although I want to hear more details about what happened, I decide against it. “Never mind. We’ll talk about that later. Did you see where that fire snake went?” I ask, twisting around, scanning the grass and in the trees.
“No, and that is what we’ll be talking about later. You, me, Nathan, and that fire snake.”
I open my black palm, willing the fire to come to my side. We circle the small cottage before going in. Tracking the steps leading to the front door, the snake of fire comes back and slithers into my palm. It stings reentering and having something foreign enter and exit my palm is beyond weird, but I’m grateful for it and almost ask if it’s found Nathan even though that seems silly.
We step into the small, wood cottage. The door shrills closed behind us. It’s pitch-black. Not even the moonlight can enter through the boarded windows. The air grows muggy; the scent of wet, moldy wood burns my nose, and I suck in a breath through my mouth to give it a break.
“Taylor?” I call.
“Tracey,” she returns.
“Rose?” we say together.
“Yes,” Rose squeaks.
Without a gleam of light, I try to focus my eyes on something. There’s no way. I twist left, then right, trying to place where Taylor or Rose is so we can move from this spot. It’s just too dark.
If I could only see. We’re wasting too much time!
I blink and something red moves in my peripheral vision. I blink again, and it disappears. Turning my head an inch, I search for what it could’ve been. There’s nothing there. I blink once more, and the red figure returns in the shape of a human’s body.
Yelping, I jump away from it, heart racing.
“Tracey, what’s wrong? Where are you?” The strange figure speaks with Taylor’s voice, form twisting its upper body left then right searching for something.
I stare at it for a moment, recalling Taylor’s body shape. It is Taylor, just not in Taylor’s skin. Or skin at all!
“I think I can see you. But, you’re . . . red.”
“Like heat vision?” Rose asks from behind me. I brace myself before I look for her. Slowly turning to face her, there she is, in all her red-glowing glory.
“I guess you could call it that.” I’m still trying to make sense of this myself.
“Wait, Tracey.” I turn back to red-glowing Taylor, standing with her hands on her hips. “You’re telling me you have heat vision too?”
“No. Well, I’m not sure. But this may help us move from this spot.” I look around the room, now able to see objects too, though I can’t make them out. Maybe I see them because they give off a temperature.
“Okay, lead the way.”
Should have seen that coming. “Umm, can one of you stay at my side? This kind of creepy.”
“Tracey, go! We’re running out of time. You go first,” Rose urges.
I don’t know where to go. I think for a minute, deciding to let the pull of my heart direct me. “Okay, I’m going out on a limb here, but I think we should go down.”
Taylor quickly agrees. “You’re right.”
“This is unsettling you two.” Rose pauses. “Something’s wrong.”
“It’s her ability to sense situations and occurrences,” Taylor says.
“That doesn’t make me feel better,” I state.
“We have your back, Tracey. Anything happens, we’ll take care of it. You just hide somewhere.” Taylor’s red figure looks in my direction. “From all of us.” Her mouth moves, but I can’t read the words she mouths.
My heart skips. Nathan? It’s worth a try. Nathan, where are you? You’re killing me here. My confusion and frustration weigh on me. I want to stop, drop to my knees, and bawl like a baby. Come on, Tracey. Ignore the pain and push forward, I convince myself. I’m stronger than this pain.
I lead us through the small cottage. “We’re in a kitchen. There has to be a door around here somewhere that’ll lead us down.” Looking for a door in the dark is like searching for a needle in a haystack in the dark.
We split up, searching the walls, finding nothing. Meeting back in the middle, Rose trips, falling flat.
I bend down to help her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. I tripped.” She picks herself up.
“Wait.” I stop her from turning away. “Let me try to find what you tripped over.” I follow her legs to her feet and feel around on the floor. Rough, cold metal brushes my hand. I take it in my grasp. “There’s a padlock.” Further dragging my hands over the dirtied wood floor, I scrape my hand on a crusty wood corner of a hatch. “Rose, don’t move, I’m getting Taylor.”
“Okay.” We put her feet right in front of the lock of the latch. “Not moving,” she sings.
Taylor’s standing in the middle of the floor. I bring her over with me to Rose as I’m explaining my discovery. “How are we going to get into it?” Taylor asks.
“I have an idea.”
“Care to share?”
“Not until I see if it works.” I place my hand on Rose’s shoulder. “Step back a little. I’m going to try something. I hope this works.” I make my hand hot, so hot the heat warms the air. Now that I know what’s going on, it doesn’t hurt me as much.
My hand’s the brightest red in the room, close to burned-orange. I crouch down and clutch the heavy padlock in my hand. Within seconds it melts down, and I break it off the latch. A bliss of pleasure rushes through me and for a moment, I’m relieved. It’s short lived as I’m struck in the back of the neck. The pain comes and goes, like earlier.
“Tracey,” Taylor startles me. “You’re burning the lock off. The metal’s burning in your hand,” she says, enthused.
“Yeah.” I strain as I’m pulling up the hefty latch. My heart goes insane, stealing my breath. I drop it, falling back on my butt.
> Taylor kneels down beside me, patting my knee. “He’s down there, isn’t he?” The strain is too excruciating. I can’t answer her. “I can feel it too. Just remember you have to breathe, Tracey.” She takes a pause. “We have to keep moving.”
I drag in a breath. She’s right. Rose kneels down and lifts the latch. A dim light illuminates through the small, rustic kitchen.
Nervous flutters erupt through my stomach, making the hard pounds of my heart worse. You can do this, Tracey, I motivate myself. You can do this.
A ladder takes us down to the lower level of the cottage. Taylor goes first, and I follow her. Rose is right behind me. We stay quiet, unsure of what or who could be down here. The floor’s wet from drips of what I hope is water from low hung pipes. Condensation has gathered on the cold concrete walls, giving them a slimy black look instead of the gray I think they should be. Sewer gas turns my stomach, and I pull the collar of my shirt over my nose.
We creep down a dimly lit hall and come to a fork. Taylor turns right. I follow her, and my heart rams against my spine, redirecting me. I grab her arm to direct her in the opposite direction. The pounding isn’t as hard, telling me we are getting closer to Nathan, and I breathe from the relief.
We tiptoe down this new hall. The butterflies in my stomach fly faster as I grow more nervous. I want to throw them up. The uncertainty of these ventures is making my knees knock and palms sweat.
Making it to another fork, Taylor turns to me wearing an expression that asks ‘where do we go’ with her hands out and shoulders lifted.
I shrug.
She rolls her eyes and then looks at me head on.
I slow myself, concentrating, trying to focus on my heart rather than these damn butterflies.
A loud bang echoes through the halls, causing the three of us to jump. My heart pulls toward the direction of the sound. I wish it didn’t.
Taylor and I look at Rose, with her keen sense of situations. She shakes her head.
They look at me.
I nod.
We cautiously look down the brighter hallway.
My heart pulls me to go. It’s forceful, pushing against my chest, making me step forward. I take another deep breath as we approach the area from where the light is shining. Taylor pulls me back, stepping in front of me. Her eyes swirl dark, outlined in a red glow. She places a finger to her mouth.
Rose steps around me, sniffing the air. She mouths, burned flesh. I smell only metal, dampness, and sewer gas.
Two gunshots ring out, accompanied with two different hollers.
I leap forward, and Rose catches me midair. She shakes her head as she lets me down to the ground, mouthing, wait.
I can’t wait! My body’s reacting to the scream! I’ve never heard Nathan scream, but my body confirms it was him. I need to see him now and save him from whatever is hurting him. Hurting us.
Taylor extends her index finger.
I motion for her to hurry. Rose nods and shrinks down to the floor, morphing into a rat, right by my foot. I jump back, bumping into Taylor. Eww!
Rat Rose corners the wall.
We wait. And wait and wait.
Taylor shakes her head and motions for me to follow her.
We creep through the opening.
I don’t need to scan the open room to know we’re in a concrete dungeon that smells of bleach and ammonia.
I couldn’t look around if I wanted, because my attention is captured by a sight that sucks me dry.
My knees buckle, and I crumple to the stone beneath my feet.
A boulder climbs from my stomach to my throat, but instead of hearing my scream when my lips part, it’s Taylor’s. So loudly she cries. My ears ring out, silencing the world. Everything, every beat of the Earth moves in slow motion as I raise my hands to my slack jaw.
No longer a rat, Rose stands at her father’s side. Mr. Newcomb’s gleaming eyes settle on Taylor, a satisfactory smugness in his victorious smile. Dragging his gaze away from her, it slices across me and turns up near the ceiling.
deception
With glistening metal chains wrapped around their ankles, Justin and Nathan hang upside-down from the ceiling. I can’t recognize the face of the man on the right, but I can feel he’s my Nathan.
Bodies battered and beaten, they hang in only their jeans, appearing lifeless. Black, blood-like fluid drips from their hands and heads to puddles formed beneath them.
My heart stops.
Taylor shoots up toward Justin’s hanging body. Rose knocks her against a wall before she can make it, and they fall to the floor. They quarrel, and I’m awed.
Rose. . .
No stories from her, no death threats, no evil looks―nothing. This was greater than anything I could’ve imagined.
“Tracey, nice of you to join my little family affair,” Nathan Sr. articulates, pulling me from my realization. “Nathan looks better this way, doesn’t he?” He smiles with his eyes, looking up at the ceiling as if some trophy hung there instead of his son.
I stare at their psycho father, awed by something I’d never expect. Rage replaces my fading headache and my heart stops aching and desires revenge. It’s powerful. Both my hands burn, and I clasp them behind my back as I take in the deceiver. As I stare, a light film covers my eyes and my vision slightly changes, darkly tinting the room. Unsure if it’s visible, I avoid eye contact.
“No need to shy away, Tracey. You were going to be a part of our family.”
Ignoring him, I scan the room, finding Taylor resisting the urge to kick her sister’s ass. Rose isn’t, she claws and jabs at Taylor, death seeming to be her intention.
Nathan Sr. steps to me. “How have you been?” he asks as if we’re late friends. “We haven’t seen you in a few days.” He extends his hand.
I make the most disgusted face I can at his gesture. Avoiding his devilish greeting, I glance around the four cement walls, ground, and ceiling. Just one-way in and one-way out. The little cottage above does this place no justice. It’s too much space for something to happen without anyone hearing a thing. I didn’t realize how deep in the ground we’d come until looking up at those two hanging high above our heads.
Nathan’s dad has taken this way too far. And for playing a part in this, Rose is going down too.
Numb, I rock back on my knees and lift myself from the ground, leaving my heated arms behind my back. The vines are swooping and circling around my right arm, and the thorns dig deep into my skin. With a glance over my shoulder at Nathan, I promise, I will get you out of here. Just don’t be dead. And then I let my rationality go and allow the boiling rage to take me over.
“Tracey, don’t let seeing him like this get you down. Believe me. He didn’t deserve to have a mate. They’re all evil, including Justin. To be honest with you…” he squints and rubs his thumb and index finger over his hairless chin. “I mostly tortured him because I hate Taylor. But, he’s just as revolting, a Hybrid Sephlem, turning into God-knows-what that is.” He rambles on, talking more to himself.
All I need is for him to look away. I’m not sure what I’m going to do, but my body is.
Rose and Taylor go at it. Taylor blocks every attack but doesn’t attack back.
Nathan Sr. follows my gaze and the snake slithers out of my palm. “Yes, I know,” he says, gleaming from ear to ear. “Sisters fighting.” He admires with pride. “It’s wonderful, isn’t it?”
This man is so sick. “Why?” I ask, wanting him to look at me as the snake slithers behind him.
“Why not?” He does. “They deserve nothing we have the honor of having or anything we are blessed with. The devil himself fills that beast! A demon courses through their blood and lives within them.” His voice raises an octave as he thrusts an angry point over my head. “They need to die and go back to hell where they came from! The only reason you don’t see it is because he’s your mate.”
“I don’t believe that,” I say, shaking my head. “They didn’t request this. They were born this way. And
neither Nathan nor Taylor shows demon characteristics, unlike your precious Rose, selling out her sister and brother to a murderer like yourself. It seems like you two are the ones filled with the devil. For killing your own flesh and blood!” I snap, hostility thick in my words.
His brown eyes narrow into a threatening glower. “Does it not bother you that you’re mated to a monster?”
“Does it not bother you that you are one?” I glower at him, hoping he sees the threat in my eyes.
Nathan Sr. grits his teeth, thrusting his index and middle finger in a harsh point.
There’s a snap, and the room goes pitch black.
“Dad, grab her. She did this!” Rose shouts from the other side of the area, voice bouncing off the walls.
I’ve already moved. The film covering my eyes helps me see things lacking heat, casting the world in a dreary gray. It helps me maneuver through the darkness. The only light in the room is the fire snake, and it’s doing a good job going unnoticed.
“Rose, I can’t find her.”
I stay as quiet as I can, making my way to Nathan and Justin.
A heavy thud hits the ground. I scan the room. Taylor finally hit Rose, but I don’t know them well enough to tell them apart.
The heat of Nathan’s body glows brighter than any of them. He has to be about over five feet above me. And I have the slightest idea how I’m supposed to get to him without making any noise.
I rise on my tiptoes, reaching for him. A cold drip falls onto my fingertip and rolls down my middle finger. Lowering my hand, I stare at the line from the black drop and ball a fist. My blood pumps with rage, driving me into action.
Nathan’s dad searches for me, cussing and calling out my name.
The other body―Taylor or Rose―stands there, not doing much of anything, besides looking back and forth, trying to see in the dark.
“Dad, she’s going to go for Nathan. Go back to where he hangs.” Rose’s voice rings out, but it doesn’t look like it’s coming from the standing body.
The body that hit the floor is gone.
Remembering Rose can shift into something and reappear somewhere else, there’s a smaller red figure standing two feet from where the body once laid. That has to be Rose. So the other body, a quarter of the way to the middle of the floor, must be Taylor.
Plight: A Dark Paranormal Romance (The Sephlem Trials Book 1) Page 29