Follow the Screams (The Executioner Trilogy Book 2)

by Kindra Sowder

  As she was bent over I hit her with an uppercut and she went backwards, falling to the ground but rolling back into a standing position. She was back on her feet before I knew it, and ready to fight for her life. She was drawn to me and she wouldn’t stop till I was dead. At this point I wasn’t even worried about gathering the energy from her. I was more concerned with defeating her. That was what I wanted, and she wasn’t going to stand in my way. I wanted destruction, deep and pure.

  We circled each other in defensive poses. I was just waiting for her to strike first to fuel my rage. She came at me and I landed a roundhouse kick directly into her temple and she went spinning, but didn’t fall and countered with a swift strike to my injured shoulder. The pain sent me reeling and even more blood poured out, making me dizzy but I wasn’t going to stop. Not until she was dead and rotting on the ground. Escara, who was still in crow form came down and slashed at the creature’s face with her sharp talons, leaving bleeding claw marks down the left side of her face. Now she was even more enraged than before. She cried out and it was so high pitched I had to cover my ears, and my knees gave out instantly. I wasn’t sure if it was just the sound or the blood loss, but I was dizzy enough to want to lie down and let it be over, but I had two people to fight for now. Not just me. With her rage, nightmarish images flashed through my mind and I knew she had sent them my way. She was working her way inside of my head and using images from the time Lilith came into my life till now to take me down.

  That’s when my own monster took over. I was able to tolerate the sound in that moment and able to stand and walk to the creature and go for the coup de grace, but she had something else in mind. She came at me full throttle, and I was left to duck and dodge every punch and kick she threw in my direction. I ducked underneath one final kick and went for it. I knew exactly what I had to do. Once I was standing upright I threw a back handed slap which landed exactly where I wanted it to, causing her head to turn to the side, giving me my window. I placed my hand on her forehead and let all of the heat I could build into my palm flow out of me and into her head. Her eyes lit up and light filtered out of her mouth along with a few flames that managed to escape.

  I could hear her skin sizzle and steam and smoke rose from her ashen skin, I could feel the blood flowing through her veins boil and evaporate. I watched in awe as the power I had poured out and devoured her, leaving nothing behind. Not even a soul to speak of. I tore my hand away from her head and took a step back, letting her fall to the ground with a sick thud. I was right. There was indeed nothing left to call that body home, and I couldn’t have been more proud of myself. The beast and my position here in Hell had opened up so many doors as far as the level of power I had that, while mostly terrifying, molded me into a better hero.

  With her death I felt the beast begin to fade away and fold itself back into the darkness in the back corners of my mind. Once it was gone I could barely stand. Vertigo took over and I began to topple over. Gordon was there in a flash, catching me and lowering me slowly and softly to the ashy ground. The pain, which the beast had made a distant memory, was back full force and I couldn’t stop the moans drifting from between my lips. I looked at my shoulder and collar bone and was shocked by what I saw. It was much worse than I thought it was. The wound I had before that was almost healed had been ripped back open and extended farther than it originally had. It was all the way into the curve of my shoulder joint and it was more of a gash than it had been before. Blood was pouring from it and the sight made me quite nauseous. I had to stop the bleeding and there was only one way to do that.

  I let heat build into my hand until I could hear a slight sizzle from the sweat in my palms, drawing it away from the rest of my body. My breathing was coming ragged and my vision blurred as I lifted my hand to place it on the wound. I wasn’t even sure how I had enough strength to do that, but I did. I put my hand on the wound and the searing pain licked through me and radiated through my entire arm, neck, and ribcage. I couldn’t help but shriek out in pain as the torture of cauterizing the wound filled me to the brim. It sizzled and I could smell iron and cooking flesh. Between the blood loss and the pain my vision was blurring and coming close to blacking completely out. I had to continue to blink to stay awake.

  Escara flew in and changed back into her demon form as she landed. She walked towards me with purpose and knelt in front of Gordon and me, laying a hand on my leg as if she were comforting me.

  “It’s okay, Executioner. Sleep. You will feel much better once you wake up,” she stated. “The closer you get to the pit the more you will be affected here.”

  At that moment I was so scared of losing the baby that before blacking out with pure exhaustion I reached out with my tentacle like tendrils and focused on the life growing inside of me. I could feel its consciousness and it put me at ease. I was able to relax once I felt the tiny heart beat reverberate through me. I let out a deep breath and let myself drift into the nothingness.

  Chapter 25: Unhinged

  I was awake, but could barely open my eyes. I decided not to even try. My eyelids were heavy, too heavy. My thoughts were slow and my mind was groggy, and all I was able to do was moan. I heard someone move beside me and grab my hand. From the rough calluses I knew it was Gordon. His palms were clammy from the anxiety he was feeling. Even with my mind all jumbled I could still feel it coming off of him and it was covering me like a blanket, almost smothering me while I laid there. I tried to open my eyes again, but all my lids would do was flutter slightly and close again.

  “Don’t. You need to rest. We have time,” he stated. I felt one of his hands move to my uninjured shoulder, but anxiety began to creep into me even though he was trying to be comforting. No, we didn’t have time. Not extra time anyways. We only had the time to get to the pit and get out, and who knew how long that would take. We had only gotten to the halfway point and I wasn’t even sure how long that took. Time was different here. Extremely different.

  I felt him reach over and check my wound, lifting the shredded remnants of my tank top. Damn it, now I was down to one strap to hold this thing up.

  I forced my eyes open in enough time to see him place his hand on my belly, close his eyes, and smile to himself. He had been checking on little bean too. It was too sweet and I couldn’t help but grin like a damn fool and sigh. So this was what happiness felt like? Besides the slight soreness and stiffness in my shoulder I was feeling pretty good and even wanted to try to sit up. Getting better and better with each second.

  “Gordon,” I said, clearing my throat. I held my hand out to him and he grasped it tightly, coming closer to me so I didn’t have to strain my voice. I smiled at him weakly and said the only thing I knew to say at the time. “Hey.” And I chuckled slightly. That was all I knew to say to him.

  “Hey,” he whispered back, like he was worried he would hurt me if he spoke too loud. To be honest, he could’ve yelled and I would’ve been fine. He kissed me softly and answered my silent question. “The baby is fine. Perfect, actually.”

  I nodded and looked deep into his eyes. It just made me want to kiss him, and I could swear I was falling for him all over again. I looked past him and could see Escara standing there with her arms crossed over her chest like usual. Apparently I had been out for a while and she was growing impatient. I couldn’t say I blamed her. I would be too if I were her.

  “I want to sit up,” I said, clearing my throat again.

  He stood in front of me, legs on either side of mine, and held his hand out. I took it without hesitation with my uninjured arm and he pulled slightly. I wanted to sit up faster, but he forced me to go slow, which was a good thing because I was so stiff I grunted as I sat up. The closer I got to a sitting position the worse it felt.

  “Go slow. No need to move too fast.” Yeah, that was stating the obvious. I let him lift my torso from the ground slowly and once I was sitting he kneeled down and held me there, holding my hand against his chest firmly so I wouldn’t fall backwards. I let him
even though I didn’t really need him to. Then a small wave of dizziness.

  My other hand jutted out and touched the ground to hold myself up while Gordon was holding me in a sitting position and pain shot through it in a flash. I was thankful for his hand clasped tightly around mine, no matter how sweaty it was. I felt like my hand could slip from his at any moment because of it. This only made me hold on tighter. I couldn’t stop my breathing from coming out in ragged pulls. I didn’t think that just the act of sitting up would take so much out of me, but it really had. Now all I wanted to do was lay back down and catch my breath, but I resisted the urge and stayed sitting. I laid my head heavily on his shoulder and breathed deeply into his neck and I couldn’t help but think about how good he smelled. Even covered in sweat and soot the natural smell of him was intoxicating.

  I was sitting up so it was time for my mental checkup. I reached out with my consciousness into every crevice of my body and checked every cell. I was okay except for the shooting pain in my shoulder and collarbone. Then I reached down to my little bean. That’s what. Everything was okay as far as I could tell. My little bean and I were okay and I couldn’t help but thank my lucky stars for that. I pulled my head up and stared at Gordon and smiled, still breathless but getting better as each second passed.

  “We’re okay. Everything’s okay,” I reassured him. My voice came out breathy and in a whisper. I was so glad I was able to say those words and mean them, but I think I said it more to convince myself then him. I still couldn’t believe our little bean had made it through that. I guess it was stronger than I thought. Possibly even stronger than me and possibly stronger than its father and I put together. “Why did you pull back?” The question came out before I had a chance to think about it.

  “I,” he stammered, “I wasn’t sure if I should step in or not after she hit me. I didn’t want to take a chance in hurting you. It’s a part of myself that only comes from an evil place. I don’t want to go back there. I’m terrified that I’ll become what I used to be again. I couldn’t bear that now that I’ve had you. I just can’t.” He shook his head and I understood enough not to say anything else about it.

  “I could really use a shower,” I joked half-heartedly.

  Gordon laughed and kissed the back of my hand saying, “Me too.” I was glad he was able to admit it too for some reason. Looks like I wasn’t the only one who was wishing things lately, and maybe a little selfish.

  We laughed together for a few minutes just sitting there, Gordon holding me up because I still couldn’t hold myself just yet. I was regaining my strength, just extremely slow. I could still feel Escara standing behind Gordon, annoyance creeping from her every pore, but I didn’t care. I was ignoring her for now.

  Blood loss was seriously no joke and I was learning that the hard way. I would be leaning on him for a little while once I could stand. I was certain he would be perfectly fine with that. Heck, he would even carry me the rest of the way if he had to, but I wouldn’t let him. I wanted to be able to do this.

  What was it that they said? All is fair in love and war? Well, I was about to call bullshit.

  “Alright, I think I’m ready to stand up.” And I meant it.

  Gordon looked at me with the question of my certainty in his eyes and I reassured him with a quick nod. He nodded in response and stood, still holding onto my hand with everything he had in him. He tensed his arm and began to pull me up, my legs protested and my knees nearly gave out on me. My feet slid a little bit in the ash that covered the stone ground but stopped once I put some more pressure on the balls of my feet. Then my vision blurred for a second once I was on my feet and Gordon grabbed me around the waist when I swayed a little bit.

  “Whoa, steady there,” he whispered. I couldn’t help but giggle. It was just too funny to me because he sounded like he was talking to a horse. “What’s so funny?”

  “I’m not a horse,” I laughed. That was all I could say since my breath was now gone.

  What?” He looked confused. I guess he had never been around one in his life, or just not recently enough to remember.

  I shook my head and said, “Never mind.” I guess I was the only one who would understand my weak attempt at a joke. I sighed and put my hands on his shoulders trying to steady myself while still in his arms. I just wanted to stay there forever, but we had work to do and, well, I was the glue holding the whole job together so better get cracking. I planted my feet as much as possible and gave him the go ahead to take his hands away slowly, but to stay close just in case. So far so good. My legs didn’t tremble or anything. I felt like I deserved a cookie. He raised his eyebrows and looked at me. I could feel the question coming.

  “You okay to try to stand on your own?”

  “The sooner the better,” I said. Was I ready for that? Well, I better be because I was about to take my hands off of his shoulders and pray to stay on my feet. He was still standing in close proximity with his hands hovering over my sides like I would fall at any moment. I moved my hands and let them hover over his shoulders for a few seconds. I was okay for now, but who knew what would happen once I put my hands down at my sides. My hands began to shake, but I wasn’t going to let that hold me back. Gordon’s eyes dug into me and he seemed to realize how hard this was for me.

  “It’s okay. I’m okay. Just a little unsteady,” I said. I let out my breath in a rush, and I felt his hands lightly touch my sides. I could do this. Well, it was more like I had to do this, and I had to do this without his help. “Gordon, please.” I was aggravated, and I didn’t mind letting him see that. I needed to be able to do this without him holding onto me because our little family and the world depended on that.

  “Alright, I’m sorry.” He moved his hands back away from my sides and let his hands hover there just like before.

  The world swam for a second and I had to place my hands back on his shoulders. I had to hold down the urge to vomit, and I knew this wasn’t the blood loss or the effects of my injury. That was the proof my little bean was okay and wanted me to know it was there. Yes, I hear you in there little bean. My hand flew down to the place right below my belly button, and Gordon’s eyes flitted to where it came to rest. He smiled.

  “That wasn’t from blood loss,” I chuckled, and I knew he understood. I was trying to think of how I was going to kill Lilith when I would be bent over a toilet vomiting everything I had had for lunch that day, or didn’t have as the case was now. At least I was able to hold it down. There was no telling what would come out here since I didn’t have to eat. There was no need for it, and I kept wondering to myself how our little one was growing so well in there. That got me a little worried, but I would keep checking in on it until some comforting information came along. That was all I could do until we were on the surface. I was falling apart at the seams on the inside, but I kept up a good front on the outside. I was freaking out, and managed not to let Gordon in on it, but I was certain Escara could feel it just like I could feel every emotion coming from her. With all of the annoyance and irritation I felt something in her that I wasn’t expecting. She was concerned. I found that to be quite interesting, but all I did was take a glance at Escara as she stood mere feet behind Gordon. Her arms were crossed over her chest. She was trying to close herself off from us, but I could tell she didn’t bet on me being able to tell anyways. I could and I had a feeling she knew it somehow. I wasn’t sure how, but she did.

  I took my hands completely off of Gordon’s shoulders and dropped them to my sides. The quicker the better as far as I was concerned and I seemed to be okay. This was another way I knew that the blood loss or the massive energy the beast used had nothing to do with the feeling like I could fall over at any minute. It had before, but not now.

  Chapter 26: Executioner

  I had my tendrils stretched out for a mile radius, and I could still feel nothing hinting at another Executioner in our midst. I was at a loss as I stood there and looked up at the blackened and burned trees of the forest. We still
hadn’t crossed into the tree line which I was thankful for, but we would have to cross over it at some point.

  Gordon stood beside me, hands placed on his hips and looking at the trees just like I was. He could feel the same thing I could. He could feel all of the creatures crawling and rolling through the darkness, yowling and licking up the blood of anything they killed. I didn’t want to be one of those things Gordon sighed and looked to me. I was trying hard not to look at him. I didn’t need him to see the fear behind my eyes, but he could probably feel it pouring out of me and hitting him in the face. All I knew is that I was absolutely terrified and there was nothing I could do to hide any of it if I looked him in the eyes. Escara was standing behind the both of us, staring up at the trees just like we were and she could feel even the most sinister creatures.

  “Well, I guess we should go in then. No point standing around her like idiots,” I said as I took a hesitant step forward. Escara followed suit, but Gordon stayed put. I knew he was scared. I could feel it and it was hitting me harder than any emotion from him I had ever felt. Even his happiness and joy never hit me this hard. It was like he knew about something in there that we had no idea about. I wasn’t going to dwell on that while we stood here. I was going to move forward and it just so happened that the next step was going to be heading straight into that forest I hated so much. I groaned and took another step and I was officially inside the forest. I could feel the lurch in my stomach that signaled I was somewhere I shouldn’t be.

  I swallowed the hard lump that had formed in my throat and took a few more steps. My heart was pounding and I could feel the beast rising within me and it was threatening to take over like a massive tidal wave. I felt it trying to reach out but I pulled it back and it was like the whole world was on my shoulders all over again. The tension was palpable. It was like I could reach out and squeeze it and roll it around in my hands like a tennis ball. It sure was an interesting thought. I turned around after standing there a few minutes, but no one seemed to be as eager as me to get this over with. Escara was right in the line of trees and Gordon was still standing a few feet away from her like his life depended on not crossing it. What was wrong with him?