A Touch of Death

by J. J. Dean

  My eyes meet his, and I realise how important my last ability could be. Hope blooms in my chest, and my eyes widen a fraction. I whisper, "Invisibility. I can turn invisible. I have the ability to turn incorporeal and then entirely invisible."

  I've never seen someone look so shocked before. Quinn's mouth pops open, and he looks at me like I've sprouted a second head. He's quick to shake out of his stupor, but there's still a hint of awe plastered over his features. "You... can turn invisible? As in, no one can see you kind of invisible?"

  "That's what invisible means, right?" I roll my eyes, but I nod when he keeps staring at me like he actually expects a response. "I can turn incorporeal, and it takes more energy for me to vanish completely, but I can do it."

  "Do you have enough energy to show me?" he asks, intrigue lacing his words, hope making his violet eyes shine brighter.

  I look away, my gaze darting to the hallway, before looking back at Quinn. Without taking my eyes off him, I show him my ability. I can sense my irises fading from their blue and green and gradually changing until there's no colour left but white. I feel the moment my body goes incorporeal, like something pops in my ear, and every breath I take echoes eerily before settling to normal.

  I keep my whitened eyes on his, watching them grow amazed. Gazes locked, I lift my hand, already knowing it's now looking ethereal and somewhat see through. I lift it until it hovers over Quinn's chest. He looks down, watching my movements, and I do the same. My hand has a wispy quality to it, my skin looking as though it is made with tendrils of smoke.

  With us both watching my hand, I place it on Quinn's chest, feeling the thundering of his heartbeat underneath my palm. I then push through his chest, easily drifting through his torso. His entire body shivers, and his breath catches, but I keep pushing until I almost feel his heart thundering against my hand. It's my turn to shiver, and something inside of me clicks in place. Like a missing puzzle piece slots into the part of the picture it was meant for.

  Quinn's breath grows shallow, and my eyes widen when a feeling I know all too well grows in my chest. Quickly, I remove my hand from Quinn and turn corporeal again, my eyes changing back to their normal blue and green.

  "What the hell?" I whisper with a rasp.

  Quinn doesn't answer. Instead, he lifts his own hand and promptly presses it against my chest, straight over the rapid pacing of my heart. A shiver passes through me again, and the sharp intake of air I'm forced to take is audible in the otherwise quiet cell.

  Why am I feeling a mating bond that doesn't belong to the others?

  "Well, that wasn't something I was expecting, but at least that confirms my suspicions," Quinn whispers, his warm palm pressing harder on my chest. A comforting sensation seeps from his hand right through my chest, soothing the rapid beats of my heart. It's as though he knows his touch is all it would take to calm me down from the panic I'm beginning to feel.

  "Quinn, what's going on?" I shakily ask, my voice trembling despite the calm that's filling me.

  His gaze snaps up from the hand that's firmly pressed against my chest, and his violet eyes bore into mine with so much intensity that each one of my cells feel it. "We're fated mates, Novia."

  All I feel is truth. Not just from his words, but from the way my body is reacting. From the familiar feeling of a new bond shimmering at the surface. From the memory of my mother's words...

  There's another...

  I blow out a deep breath and mutter, "Wow," before I can stop myself. I can't begin to even process what is happening right now. My mind is in overdrive, and I'm struggling to keep anything straight. But one thing I know for certain: I have another mate.

  "I know you're probably freaking out right now, but we'll have to get back to this discovery. We need to get out of here, and we need a damn good plan. You with me, Dusty?" Quinn asks, a boyish grin growing on his face while his thumb idly brushes my collarbone where Spencer's shirt has slipped down to expose my skin.

  "Yeah. We'll get back to it. Plan. We need a plan," I mutter in a daze.

  Movement in the corner has my mind snapping back to attention, and my first reaction is to slap my hand over Quinn's. His body grows tense, but before either of us can do anything, soft words are spoken in a feminine tone. "We'd like to help."

  We? Who the hell is 'we'?

  As though I've spoken my question out loud, four figures walk from the shadows, slowly stepping into the light. Four women covered in dirt and tattered clothing, matted hair and painfully slim bodies. They all share similar features, yet each one looks entirely different from the next. Despite the awful lighting, I can tell they all have different hair colours. The one on the far left has hair almost as white as a summer day’s cloud. The woman beside her has hair the colour of fire, while the third has hair the colour of coal. The last woman on the right has dark blonde hair, the tips tinted a faded teal hue.

  They all look malnourished and worse for wear, but they stand together like a unit. The one with white blonde hair looks like she's suffering the worst, holding onto the hand of the woman beside her to keep upright, but the determination set in her face makes her look strong.

  "Who are you?" I ask, keeping my voice low enough for them to hear.

  Instead of verbally answering, I watch with confused fascination as each one of their eyes glow before changing entirely. A blue so light they almost look white, orange as bright as a lit flame, a green so bright they look like fresh grass in the middle of spring, and a deep teal that looks like the colour of the ocean.

  I hear Quinn inhale swiftly and curse under his breath. He stands quickly and pulls me with him, grasping my hand in a firm hold and tugging me to his side.

  In a voice filled with trepidation, he looks at me and answers the question I forgot I’d asked. "They're elementals. The Elementals."

  He looks back to the women whose eyes have turned back to normal. With a conviction that has the hairs on my arms rising, he says, "If they have the Elementals, then this is bigger than I thought. We need to get them out of here. We all need to get the fuck out of here."

  "Why? What does this mean, Quinn?"

  The redheaded woman answers with a rasp, "It means that this shitshow is about to get a whole lot messier."

  Quinn's worried eyes meet mine. "And it means their plans haven’t changed, but grown. And you're still a very big part of them."

  To be continued...

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  I’m going to keep this one short and sweet, because I feel like I’ve thanked those who deserve it a lot over the time it’s taken to write this entire book.

  So, thank you to Brandy, Ashleigh and Karen. Thank you for pushing me, for supporting me and for reading the words I wrote and offered great feedback. Thank you for the encouragement, the hype and simply being there to talk to about my ideas, struggles and future projects. Thank you for making this book possible.

  Thank you to my other half and my little human. You’re both the reason I keep writing. You’re both the reason I strive to be better and to write like there’s no tomorrow. I love you both.

  And last, but certainly not least, thank YOU, the person who decided to give my book a try, who decided to support me, my work and my dreams. Thank you for reading the words I poured my heart, tears and love into, thank you for the review you may write when you’re done, and thank you for allowing me to write worlds that I absolutely adore. I hope you love them as much as me!

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  ABOUT J.J. DEAN

  ***

  JJ resides in her very own land of fantasy created by many a da
ydream, reality often nothing more than an ancient myth. When she isn't lost inside her own head, she's buying one-way tickets to procrastination station, where she stays watching Disney movies, reading amazing books by incredible authors, eating all the food she can get her hands on, and falling down the rabbit hole that is Pinterest, seeking inspiration for her next book. She occasionally adults when the need calls for it, where she looks after her babies, both with and without fur.