I had crawled to the entrance of the tent, when we heard the earth-shattering sound of the doorway caving in and the unmistakable sounds of laughter retreating further down the slope. I looked out into the darkness and couldn’t see anything. Hesitantly, I turned around and searched with my hand, until I found the torch, but Nate’s hand closed upon my wrist before I could turn it on.
‘Don’t,’ he said, the fear in his voice unmistakable.
His hand shook. I turned around, crawled back towards him, and put my arms around him. The closer I was to him the more I could sense his terror. He told me, his father, upon realising that he would never turn me over, had told him that when he caught us, he would make him watch me being killed and had sent him a picture of this, which was why he had gasped and shuddered, almost giving us away.
We just lay there in the silence of the cave, listening for the sound of them approaching, but all the while praying that they had left. After a while, Nate fell asleep. This gave me the opportunity to get up and re-double the protection around us. I crawled towards the exit of the tent, picked up the torch, and went out into the cave, still feeling scared and worried that somehow they would find us. I walked over to the plants I had gathered and picked up a few sprigs of lavender, walked back into the tent, and placed them under Nathan to allow him to sleep free and unencumbered dreams.
Using the lowest setting of the torch, I cleaned out the bowl with the water from the cave. Mixing basil, garlic, rosemary, sage, thyme, oak leaves, and a tiny bit of water, I made the potion more concentrated than before. I walked over to the entrance and saw a sliver of light through it. There was a hole in the cave and as I looked through it, an eye looked right back at me.
The eye was the single most menacing thing I had seen in a very long time and I jumped about ten feet into the air. The eye was twice the size of a normal eye and pitch black, almost all over, except for the slightest rimming of red around the iris. I poured my mixture over the stones, hoping and praying all the while that the creature hadn’t seen me.
While I poured the potion, the creature cackled. The sound was terrifying; it made the hairs on my arms and my neck stand up. I was deathly afraid. I got to the end of the line and I heard the creature whispering through the cracks. “Jasmine, you can seal the cave up, but you can’t keep us out forever. We will get into you and when we do, we will make what the Minotaur’s did to you look like a parlour trick. Sleep well, for a while.”
I walked away, not realising I shook like a leaf blowing in the wind, until I tried to zip the tent up after placing more potion around the tent. I couldn’t believe we had another creature after us. I climbed into the tent, still shaking, and crawled into the bed beside Nate, wondering what could be worse than a Minotaur. Nate reached over and put his arm over me. Instantly I felt safer and comforted. Eventually I fell asleep.
I awoke the next morning to find the bed beside me empty, which made me jump. I was almost convinced the night before was a nightmare as I woke; finding Nate missing convinced me otherwise.
I looked around in the dark and saw him over in the corner, having a shower in the dripping water. I walked towards him and he shouted to me to stop. I didn’t stop. I walked over to him, put my arms around him, and gave him a kiss on the mouth. The kiss went on and on, and all too soon, he pulled away. I felt so disappointed and rejected that I spun on my heel and walked back into the tent. He followed soon after, but seemed embarrassed by what had happened earlier.
I didn’t look at him as he came in, preferring to concentrate on eating my cereal bar rather than look into his eyes. He sat for around ten minutes without speaking or moving, and then with a move like a cobra, he was beside me, pulling my chin up to look in my eyes. There were so many questions in his eyes, but they would have to wait. At that exact moment, there was an almighty roar from outside. We both jumped and then laughed, but the laughter soon died when we realised that the creature outside was trying to break apart the rocks and coverings to get into us.
I knew the only way to save us was to go outside and face this creature, but at that moment, I didn’t want to. To delay some, I explained to Nate about the eye from the night before and he looked terrified, becoming a recurring theme with us.
He couldn’t speak, just opened and closed his mouth a few times, but didn’t say anything. We sat there for five minutes, listening to the constant roaring of that creature, but Nate just looked more and more scared.
He eventually found his voice and spoke to me in barely more than a whisper, “Jas, the thing outside is a Manticore, one of the most vicious and deadly assassins of my dad’s people.” He closed his eyes and couldn’t look at me as he continued, “It will find a way in, they always do. That’s why demons use them, because they can get in anywhere, but when it gets in here, we’re both dead. I don’t know how to defeat one.” He ran his fingers up and down my cheek as I watched him and I knew that I had to go outside and face this thing head on, it was the only way.
“Nate, I need to go outside and fight this thing. It’s the only way I can save you and us.” His whole body shook and his eyes shot open in terror as he stared at me, “NO FUCKING WAY!” he bellowed at me, and I jumped back, moving away from him. He lifted his fingers to his head and rubbed between his eyes, before he swallowed and tried again, “Jas, there is no way. None, that I would ever let you go and fight this thing. It’s a fucking monster and I’m supposed to protect you from monsters…”
I leaned in and kissed him, stopping his words and he pulled me tightly against him, kissing me hard. I moved back a little and whispered against his lips, “Nate, you have protected me for almost two years now, but I’m not a weak little girl anymore. You need to trust me. I can do this.”
He nodded once and kissed me, “I know you’re not weak, god you are the strongest person I have ever met, but please Jas. I’m begging you, please just stay here. Stay safe, in here with me.”
I watched him, feeling his terror affect me, but I decided I would not sit in here like an animal ready for slaughter. Nate heard me resolutely decide this and looked at me in complete and utter horror. “You cannot be serious, Jasmine. This thing is more viscous and terrible than any other monster we have faced. Please, please stay with me and stay safe.”
I looked at Nathan, knowing my mind was made up and told him I loved him, before transporting myself out of the cave, out onto the riverbed. I could tell Nathan was running around, trying to get out of the cave, but he was too weak.
I saw the creature look down at me, and felt it run towards me. There was power there that I never imagined. While the creature ran, I looked at it completely disgusted with what I saw. The body looked like that of a lion, but the fur was dark brown, with spikes coming out of the head, huge teeth, clawed feet, and an enormous black wingspan.
Terror washed over me and I froze as it moved closer to me, assessing me as Nathan’s voice pleaded with me, to come back to the cave, but I ignored him. It was time I protected him. I wouldn’t be the girl who always needed protection, not from anyone, anymore. If they wanted me, here I was and I would fight them for every single breath I would take for the rest of my life. I was sick of running, sick of hiding and it was time they all knew it.
As the creature drew level with me, it stood for a moment and looked at me. Before I knew what happened, spikes flew out of its hands towards me, but I flicked them away before they reached me. The creature lunged at me suddenly and I flew backwards, almost landing in the river, saved only by the root of a tree.
I hung onto this tree, trying to get my breath back, when the claws dropped over the side of the ledge and tried to scratch me, but I knew I couldn’t let that happen. Nathan screamed at me, telling me that the claws of a Manticore held venom, from which there was no cure. I kept hold of the root and swung from side to side, as the Manticore tried again to get to me, worried about the freezing water below. I felt as if my life swung in the balance.
The creature then decided to cut th
e root to make me fall into the river and I knew I had one chance, and one chance only to make it safely onto the ledge. I waited until he loosened the root and, just before he cut it completely, I transported myself using all the power I had back up onto the ledge.
Standing just beside the creature and with one push, I threw him into the water. As soon as it made contact, the Manticore screamed in agony, or rage. I couldn’t tell which. The creature floated down the river, glowering up at me. I was so weakened by having to shift myself that I sat down in the shade of the tree whose root saved me.
Nathan appeared beside me and transported us both back into the cave. I lay beside him, trying to heal him, as he looked pale and listless. His breathing came in short sharp gasps, and as I healed him as best I could, I could feel my powers ebbing away. I collapsed onto his chest and the sound of his heartbeat lulled me to sleep.
Waking up in the cave was terrifying; it was so dark, dank, and cold and I was worried that my eyes weren’t properly opened since I couldn’t even see my hand in front of my face. The wind howled, the rain battered on the stones covering the mouth of the cave, but something was missing. It took me a moment to realise that Nathan, the sound and smell of him was missing. Looking around the cave, I could barely see. I called out for him, sounding hoarse, and my voice thick with sleep.
“Nathan?” As it echoed around the cave, I realised I couldn’t call out; doing so would risk us being discovered and wherever Nathan was, he would be in danger. The sound continued to bounce off the walls, until it became incomprehensible over the wind, but I was painfully aware that he was again in danger.
I sat in the dark for hours, going over different scenarios as to why he was missing. Where was he? What was he doing? Why would he risk exposure? What could be the purpose of his going? He was supposed to be with me; he wasn’t supposed to leave. I couldn’t think in the oppressive gloom of the cave. I was suffocating in the darkness. The cave smelled like dampness and terror, metal and cold on my skin.
Had he been captured? How would that have happened? Had he realised we’d been discovered and taken off to save me? Why wouldn’t he have awakened me to tell me? Had he left me? We hadn’t been right since that night on the beach, but I loved him with all my heart, surely he wouldn’t just leave me. I began breathing quickly and feeling dizzy. Sitting with my head in between my legs, I forced myself to calm down. I was just panicking because I was in this cave, surrounded by nothing but darkness and fear.
I forced myself to think back to all of our moments together over the past fourteen months. How Nathan had risked his life again and again to save me. I thought about all our moments, kissing, hugging, and talking in the barn, the woods, and our other safe places. I knew for certain thinking back on this that the only reason he would leave me, was to either save me, or to protect me from his family.
On the thought of his family, I heard a noise, a dull shuffling and shifting of the stone floor. Holding my breath, I opened up a window, out into the cave, and saw Nick and Jenny looking around again.
“What are we doing here, Nick? Nate has been spotted in town and you know wherever he goes, she goes. We need to be the ones to catch him. I want to make him suffer for betraying us, for betraying our father. I will tear him limb from limb and make her watch, before I end her.”
“Patience, Jenny. We will catch him and you can enact whatever torture you see fit, but she was seen around here. I just want to make sure that she is not here. I want to find her and make her wish she had never been born. Looks like no one is here. Let’s go.”
Waiting was awful. Unable to tell how much time had passed, I sat and chewed on my fingers, feeling tenser than ever. After a few hours, I grew impatient so I lit up my torch and saw a note from Nathan, on his side of the bed.
Jas
I had to pop into town and get seen. We had to throw them off our scent. Plus I needed ingredients for my sleeping dust. I need to get nearer to a demon to enact this curse.
I love you and I’ll be back before you know it.
Nate
As I read the note, I wondered what ingredients he needed, or if he had planned to meet up with Joe and Lisa, as I was worried about them. We hadn’t heard from them in days and had no idea if they were safe.
I was broken from my thoughts by the sound of the water cascading down over the cave, but over that I could hear footsteps and loose rocks, which worried me. Where was Nathan? What was he doing? Then I remembered the previous night, talking about how to enact the sleeping curse on them.
“I need to get close to a demon, Jas. Just one demon and then they will all fall asleep and we can escape.”
At the time I hadn’t worried about it, but now I was terrified. He was letting himself get caught. I realised that I needed to go to him. There had to be another way, when his voice sounded in my head, “Don’t you dare. For this to work, I need them to catch me…” His voice in my head made me jump, but he sounded determined.
I muted the sound of the waterfall and heard Nick and Jenny. “He’s on his way back here? You are sure?” I heard Nick say.
Jenny asked, “What’s going on?”
“He’s coming. Get ready.”
Just then, I heard a shuffling at the mouth of the cave. As I began to move, Nathan said, “Don’t move. They will catch you and then it’s all over. I will come back to you. You have my heart so keep it safe. We will see each other soon.”
I opened a window in the roof and watched as he walked up to his brother and sister. His brother conjured up ropes and wrapped them around him. Jenny punched him in the face and drew her nails down his face. His brother booted him in the stomach and he fell onto the window. Seeing his face scratched with blood coming from his lip and down his cheeks, I was full of rage, but he looked at me, whispering into my mind, “I love you. Be safe.”
His brother stomped on his head and as his eyes closed, they dragged him away from me, back to his parents, and the world of demons. The only thing I knew was that I would do whatever it took to get him back to me. No matter the cost, I would pay it. I loved him more than my life.
The End
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Stacy
This is much harder than I realised, trying to organise my thoughts to make sure I include everyone and thank everyone for their support. To start with, I would like to thank my amazing editor Susan Soares; she has taken my books on and made them better in so many ways and I am truly grateful. I can’t wait to work with her on any future works, if she’ll still have me.
I would like to thank my amazing friend, counsel, and girl Laura. You totally rock and you are incredible, always willing to listen to me when I have a wobble or freak out. I appreciate everything you have done, more than I can ever express and can’t wait to go have wine with you.
Next up, I’d like to thank my street team. You are all incredible. Sophie, Katie, Danni, Jennifer, Sarah, Sarah, Lesley, Roz, Becky, and Cat, thank you for always being there and listening to me, giving me advise and reading first. Thank you for agreeing to be my beta’s/ proof readers, especially Sarah, Sarah and Lesley. You all give me amazing feedback and are my first eyes on the story. I can’t thank you enough for all of your support and sharing my stuff is appreciated. I have the most amazing team of
loyal, willing girls and I wouldn’t change a thing.
Danni, we’ve been friends for years and I always go to you for advice. Love you, honey. Thank you for being my rock and my girl. Thank you for always listening, making me laugh, and supporting me.
Katie, what can I say? You completely rock. Thank you for helping me, listening to me, and offering me advice. I really appreciate your advice and time, and I cannot wait to go to our signings and rock the place out. Love you, honey.
Next up, I want to thank my incredible writing girl Annie, you are an amazing author, incredible friend, and make me laugh with your wicked sense of humour. Thank you so, so much for the Ignition teaser and for always being there. Love ya chick.
To my amazing cover designer, Desiree, you seem to see into my head and pick out what my cover should look like. You are marvellous and I can’t wait to see all the covers together.
To my incredible formatter, Leigh, you totally amaze me honey with how amazing my books look. I can’t wait to work more with you over the next few years.
To my family, you drive me insane, push me, pull me, but I wouldn’t be who I am today without the support of my amazing family. I love you all more than I can say. Mum, Dad, Jen, Shaz, and Morgan, you inspire me every day and I hope I make you proud. Gran and Boab, thank you for sharing your stories with me and helping me to see the bigger picture. Love you both. Marie, Richard, Alison, Mike, Russ, Maxine, and Arran, thank you all for your love and support. I am so lucky to have the most incredible in-laws and I love you all.
My girls Allie, Donna, Lynne, Tracey, Aimee, Lindsay, Katy, Suz, and Debbie. You are fantastic friends, there when I need to laugh, cry, or vent. I love you all and here’s to many more years of friendship. To the boys, Blair and Steff, thanks for always being there and making me laugh with your stories. You guys rock.
Ignition (Escaping Demons Saga Book 2) Page 24