Watching TV wasn’t distracting me enough as I sat in the waiting room for Nathan to come back inside. I was bouncing on the edge of my chair when I felt a sharp pain, stabbing through my chest. I gasped and shot up too quickly. The room began spinning and I put my hand on the wall to steady myself. The pain worsened and I felt as though a steel band was tightening around my chest. Walking helped and I finally made it to the lift, punching the button angrily didn’t make the lift come quickly enough so I stood on the balls of my feet, and as soon as the doors half opened I was inside, jabbing the button to close the doors.
I walked outside into the cold October wind and rain. The drops of the water on my face felt soothing and made me realise how much I had allowed myself to become a victim. I needed to stand on my own two feet and fight back without his help and as soon as this thought crossed my mind the pain in my chest eased. Thinking about doing this was hard, but knowing that it needed to happen gave me a feeling of power deep in my soul as I realised that, although I loved him more than anything ever, I was strong and capable of fighting any battles.
Standing in the rain with this new sense of power of my own, I glanced around the grounds and spotted Nathan sitting on a bench, staring dejectedly at his hands. I ached to go over to him, but I knew it wouldn’t do any good. He had made it quite clear, we were over. Watching him scowl at the ground for a moment, my heart broke for the boy I loved, fighting against the man he could become and I knew a piece of me would always be lost to the boy who saved me over and over again. I turned away from him and walked over to the doors where a shelter stood and I slipped inside, plotting my escape from the family of demons who held me captive. I was thinking through my bank account and where I would run to, when a cold hand touched my arm, causing flames to run up and down. Nathan’s broken gaze met my own and a piece of my resolve splintered, I didn’t want to leave him, but he shook his head at me before staring away from me and muttering so quietly I didn’t catch it.
“What?” I asked him in a quiet voice. He shook his head and spoke only a little louder this time. “My family’s here,” he said in a broken voice. “It’s time we went home.”
Looking at him, I fought the need to comfort him or hold him, even though he looked totally destroyed, I managed to hold firm and fisted my hands at my side. Walking away from him was one of the most difficult things I had ever done, but I managed and got to the car without looking back. As I climbed in, I saw him wipe his eyes on his hands and I realised that a part of my heart was broken. He had changed me so much in the short time I had loved him and he had returned the power I had let life take from me. How would I use it? This was what plagued me on the way home, sitting a few inches from the person who made my heart beat faster and made me stronger, but who wouldn’t even look at me. How could I make sure our relationship had meant something? These questions would be answered over the next few weeks, scaring me more than ever.
Once we arrived back at the house, I tried to follow the family, but something held me back at the porch, as if I couldn’t get through a charm. I fought it until Nathan’s voice sounded in my head, “Jasmine, do not break this charm. If they know you have powers, they will kill you!”
I found it incredibly difficult to stop fighting, especially after my epiphany earlier, but I did. I knew Nathan loved me; some inner certainty told me he loved me more than his own life…
“I do, but we can’t be together, especially now. They are starting to suspect something…” Nathan’s voice warned in my mind. Closing my eyes, I could see him sitting on his bed, staring dejectedly at his phone. Tears clouded my eyes and one rolled down my cheek as I saw him in my minds’ eye. I stood a moment and swallowed the lump in my throat as I thought about how hard it would be to forget and I knew I needed to forget he loved me, forget how his touch burned my soul and how his lips tasted. I had to keep him safe and become indifferent to him. I shook my head, trying to rid it of my melancholy thoughts and jumped as Mr Stevenson bellowed sharply, “Jasmine, follow me!”
As I turned to follow him, I saw Mrs Stevenson standing in the sitting room, watching through the window. Walking slowly because I still had my cast on, I followed him into the barn, which creeped me out, giving me chills. We walked into the externally decrepit barn. The tree in the middle drew my eyes as soon as we entered. I gravitated towards it, but I couldn’t get close to it, a protective barrier surrounded it, like the house.
“This is where you’ll be sleeping from now on,” Mr Stevenson interrupted my thoughts, pointing into a horse stall, equipped with a tent and sleeping bag.
“What? Here? I don’t understand.” I answered snappily.
“Yes, here. You will be brought a laptop each day between half past three and five p.m. You will not come into the house. A bucket is there for you and you will have your meals in here. You will get into the house at half past seven each morning for a shower, but that is all.” He walked away, but stopped at the door. Turning with the scariest look on his face, he said, “You will stay away from Nathan and Jenny. I want you nowhere near my children from now on. You will only see them when you walk to school. Do you understand me?”
Nodding seemed to be the best option since being spoken to like that strengthened my resolve to get the fuck off out of here. Could I really leave Nathan? I turned away from him and saw an oil lamp, a halogen heater, and some water bottles. I walked over to them, sitting down on a foldout chair. Putting my head into my hands, I thought about my options. I could run now and never see Nathan again. My heart throbbed painfully as I contemplated that option. Or I could stay, fight them, and fight for him. I knew option two could get me killed, but I couldn’t leave without at least trying to fight for him. I loved him and I was willing to risk my own life for him. I realised in that instant that without him, my life was meaningless. I had to fight, if I didn’t fight for us then no one would. I needed him to know that, no matter what, I was strong enough to stand at his side and strong enough to bring him from the darkness into the light.
I awoke shivering in the middle of the night, with Nathan standing above me, looking down on me with a pained look on his face.
“I have to fix this,” he muttered before fading away into the night, getting fainter and fainter. Just before he fully disappeared, he reached out and stroked my cheek, causing my arms to erupt in goose bumps. Rolling over on the straw, I snuggled deeper into my sleeping bag and awoke to a cold breakfast of sandwiches. No one was around so I sat stiffly, remembering the middle of the night. I glanced around to see nothing had changed, until I looked at the back of the tent where another thicker sleeping bag lay under a pile of my clothes.
Put this inside your sleeping bag and it will help you keep warm. I will try to fix this, but I need you to be patient with me, please? All my love Nate xxx
When I opened up the new sleeping bag, there was a large green thermos of hot chocolate in it with a smiley face sticker on it. Nathan was being sweet. I retreated inside my tent and zipped it up, changing into a warm, fleecy jumper and some jogging bottoms. The hot chocolate tasted good, but when I heard the creaking of the barn, I went out of the tent to see who had come in.
I stood at the exit to the horse stall, watching, waiting for whoever it was to come closer. It was Mr Stevenson, “We are going away for a few days as a family. My brother will be here watching the house. You may go in for your shower, but that is all.”
He turned and walked away, but I saw Nathan standing at the barn door looking anywhere but at me. His father walked over to him, clapped him on the shoulder, and they turned and walked away. Pulling out the foldout chair, I sat and picked up my hot chocolate, wondering what the hell had happened while I was unconscious. Nathan wasn’t speaking to me at all, his family were treating me like a leper and taking Nate away so I didn’t corrupt him and I was sleeping in the fucking barn.
I sat and ruminated over the changes that had been forced on me for a while, until I heard their car pull away. As I finally moved the
pain over loosing Nate hit me, and I crumpled on the floor in a heap. I pulled my knees up to my chest and allowed myself to cry over the loss of my first love. “I’m not lost,” came his voice in my head. I shook my head and sat up on my heels.
“Please, Nate, don’t do this. Stop talking to me in my head. I can’t take it, it hurts too damn much.” He didn’t speak again and I splashed some water over my face to hide the tracks of my tears and ran outside, glad to see it was raining as I made my way over to the house to shower.
As I went into the house, all was quiet, too quiet and I had a hot shower, turning the water up scalding hot to distract me from the pain in my chest. I focused on each step of the shower, talking myself through things as I washed myself and since I was allowed to dry my hair before I was forced to leave I was completely focused until I completed that task.
As I left the shower no one was around, but I felt myself shunted out of the door. I would fight it, and was about to, until I remembered Nathan’s message the previous day.
I sat in my stall all day, not seeing anyone, just staring into space. The more I stared the more worried I became about what would happen to me if I stayed here. I had to try to convince Nathan to run away with me; if we stayed here, I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, his parents would kill us both.
The mornings were getting colder as October chills set in. I had been sneezing constantly since the day before and my throat was scratchy. I shivered and burrowed deeper into my sleeping bags, trying to hide my face in the bag as I lay there. When I first woke up I thought that Nathan hadn’t bothered to visit the night before, but I knew he had visited when I found some extra thick socks, a fleecy jumper, and some fleecy pyjama bottoms sitting in amongst my clothes. My eyes prickled at the thoughtfulness, and I had to swallow the lump from my throat.
I got up and made my way to the door of the barn, when I felt something holding me back. I couldn’t put my finger on what it was, but I couldn’t seem to make my legs want to move across the threshold. I struggled for a few minutes, and then gave in, returning to my stall and sitting on the floor. I could smell Nathan on my skin and I lifted my jumper to my nose and sniffed. His scent lingered there and my heart shuddered at how much I was missing him.
Spending the day huddled up in the tent seemed to suit me well. I was reading a book, one of my favourites when Nathan’s uncle came into the barn. He walked around out of sight and seemed to be checking each stall out. He turned back towards the door of the barn before he reached my stall, not before I got a glimpse of short hair, stubble, and amazing eyes. He also had a well-defined back and sexy ass. I was taken aback by my thoughts, but this guy was as sexy as hell.
Watching him walk away, I almost breathed a sigh of relief. Just as I was about to breathe out in relief, he turned back and stalked towards me, with what looked like fire in his eyes. As he saw me sitting in the doorway of the tent, his mouth turned up maliciously into the creepiest smile I’d seen in my two months living with the Stevenson’s.
“Well, well, little Jasmine…” he said, salaciously licking his lips as he got closer to me. I shivered and tried to back away, but only managed to back myself into a wall.
I jumped as he got closer, and prepared to fight him off, with whatever I could throw at him when Nathan’s voice horrified sounded loudly in my head, “Don’t fight him! Please, Jas, just don’t fight him.” I shook my head, trying to clear it as his hand fisted in my hair and I allowed myself to relax my hands. He pulled me out into the barn area and threw me onto the floor. Watching him, I noticed again that his face was absurdly handsome, even as it glared down at me twisted in disgust.
He stared at me, running his finger over his lips, muttering to himself, “Oh, what to do with you little, Jasmine? What to do? Do I feast by myself, or do I want to wait for Halloween?” He licked his lips, leaned down and stroked a finger down my face. I scurried backwards and he grabbed my hair again. He pulled me up by the hair, and licked my lips.
My body shuddered as his tongue forced my mouth open and he bit down on my lip sucking some of the blood from my lip. He groaned and dropped me to the floor, rubbing his hands over his face and when he looked back at me, I could see the demon threatening to break through. He tapped his chin as I stared up at him in horror, “I’m not sure I can wait until Halloween.” His voice was relaxed, but I could hear the strain under his words. Nathan didn’t want me to fight him, but if I didn’t he was going to kill me.
My insides were frozen in terror as his face lit up. Chiselled cheekbones, gorgeous smile, and sexy brown eyes looked down on me. As he moved towards me, I scurried backwards, cutting my hand open on a jagged stone and he froze in his approach.
“Run! Run now!” Nathan’s voice came in my head as I scrambled backwards. “Hurry, Jasmine. I don’t have the strength to hold him back for long. Go to our cave. Supplies will be waiting for you. I will make him forget he has seen you, but run now, PLEASE NOW!” I tried to stand up and he started in what looked like surprise,
“Oh, the little bitch has powers, does she? Well, we’ll see about that…”
“JAS, NOW! FUCKING RUN! I can’t hold him much longer.”
Scrambling backwards, I ran for the door, but felt myself thrown against it as it slammed shut. It winded me, hurting my still sore arm and foot, but I stood and turned to see him standing there. Knowing that somehow he would try to kill me, I did the only thing I could think of. I pushed him back using the fire burning in my soul and I threw him as far away from me as possible without touching him. My arm tingled and I felt like a fire spread through my fingers.
The door flew open with a wave of my arms and I jumped in surprise. I took off running into the woods, manic laughter following me and Nathan’s voice sounding in my head, “What did you do, Jas? What the fuck did you just do?” I ignored him and ran as fast as I could, stumbling over my own feet and hearing Nathan grimace and feeling him disappear. I ran as fast as I could not stopping until I got much further into the trees, I realised I was soaked and shivering. I questioned everything. Where did those powers come from? I needed answers. I allowed myself to relax and reach out with my mind, searching for Nathan, but something blocked me.
Taking off again hurt my ribs, but I could hear footsteps on the dead leaves, getting closer and closer to me. My heart thudded in my ears and along with the sound of maniacal laughter broke through the silence of the woods. I ran a little further, slamming into trees and shrubs, scratching my arms, slipping on the wet leaves, and stumbling over branches until I reached the cliff face. As I climbed down to our cave, I realised that I needed to take more care with my safety. I slowed my descent and slipped on a stone, almost screaming aloud. Suddenly the sound of a crash as loud as thunder sounded nearby and I jumped as I tried to climb down faster again, but the path was treacherous and my feet slipped on more than one occasion.
As I almost reached the cave, I slipped in some mud, sliding right off the cliff face. My scream caught in my throat and I scrabbled around for anything to hold onto, but I felt myself slipping right off the path. I glanced down, seeing the jagged rocks that I would hit at the bottom. I began falling when a hand grabbed me.
My eyes scrunched up of their own accord, but I heard a familiar voice speak to me in low tones, “Jas, it’s okay. I’ve got you. Help me though please, grip my hand.” Nathan’s voice startled me enough to make me look up and I stared at him in shock, seeing him standing there, holding onto me as though his life depended on getting me back up safely. I shook my head and he glared at me, “Jas, please, don’t do this. I can’t lose you. You mean too much to me.” I shook my head again and he pleaded with me, “Jas, come on please, I can’t do this without you. I love you.” I nodded once and wrapped my hands around his, letting him pull me up.
He slipped with me into the cave and he held me while I shivered and sobbed on his shirt. “It’s okay, it’s okay. You’re safe. I’ve got you,” he murmured repeatedly until my breathing settled. He leaned down,
and looked into my eyes, kissed me gently, “you will not do that to me again. I love you so fucking much that I risked everything to get here and you tried to let go. How could you do that to me Jas?” He lead me to the back of the cave sat me down on a large boulder that was nestled against the cave wall.
My whole body shook as I answered him, “Nate, I don’t know. I just for a second thought how much easier your life would be without me in it. I’m just a complication for you.”
The look he gave me when I spoke almost broke me in half, “is that really what you think of me, of us? That I wouldn’t give up everything I have, everything I am up to save you? Have you no idea how fucking much I love you? I risked my life to come to you and you want to…” His voice broke off and he swallowed, rolling his eyes as I stood and watched him.
“Nate,” I moved towards him, but he stepped back, shaking his head at me and I dropped my hand to my lap, looking down as my own tears began again. His breathing became heavier and he paced around for a few minutes, but I didn’t look at him. I couldn’t, I had no answer for him. After a few more minutes he came back over and sat down on the floor at my feet, putting his head on my lap.
“That was the scariest few minutes of my life Jas. You can’t do shit like that to me. I don’t know what would happen to me if you died.” His voice broke and I ran my fingers through his hair. He sat for a few more minutes and I continued to run my fingers through his hair. His fingers reached up and laced through mine, as he pulled my fingers to his mouth and kissed them one by one. He sat up and I could see the fear and doubt in his eyes, so I did the only thing I could think of to make the feelings change.
Ignition (Escaping Demons Saga Book 2) Page 2