THE LUMP OF toast moulded into a ball in my mouth, my throat restricting its passage into my stomach. I still felt nauseous. My eyes were held open by only grit, the lack of sleep making my brain hazy.
“Connie?”
I lifted my head to my father who stood in the doorway with his suitcase in his hand. I quickly flicked my hair so it covered the bruises on my cheek and gave him a forced smile. “You’re back early.”
He stared at me for ages, his narrowed eyes roaming over my face. “Are you alright?”
My heartbeat increased, my mouth drying further. Could I tell him? He was my father, a cop, and a damn good one at that. He would protect me. However, when Mae’s pretty smile filtered into my head, I gulped back the words and nodded. “Yep.”
He sighed and lifted a brow. “Then why aren’t you at school?”
I frowned at him and looked to the clock. My eyes widened when I realised I was already an hour late for registration. Where had the last two hours gone? “Oh, Lord. I’m sorry.”
I shot up, placed my still full mug of tea in the sink, and snatched up my satchel. Father watched me silently, and just as I reached the door, he called to me. “Are you sure you’re okay, smudge?”
I winced at his pet name, the name he’d called me since I was two when I painted him pictures consisting of red smudges.
Again, swallowing back the words, I nodded and gave him the best smile I could muster. “Women stuff, Daddy.”
He nodded, releasing me from his interrogation. I spun around and smiled to myself. Always worked.
“You suck his cock?” Tammy the school slut asked Bonnie when we were all in the showers after PE. I rolled my eyes when Bonnie nodded quickly. Lying bitch.
Mae looked over to me and smirked. I winked, tilted my head back and rinsed the suds from my hair. His face emerged in my mind when I closed my eyes, his cruel sneer making my stomach clench, and his vicious words making my eyes sting with the promise of tears. I shivered and snapped them back open just in time to witness a shampoo bottle skimming past my face, the velocity of it making me gasp. I snapped my head round, following its route, and growled when it hit Mae square in the face, her sharp cry triggering another snarl. “Oi, virgin, Mae. It’s your birthday next week. Maybe you’ll get some cock. Gift wrapped.” Everyone laughed. “Then again, I’m sure no lad will manage a hard on with your ugly fucking face.”
My blood shifted from my veins into my heart, my anger at their cruel taunts to my sister yet again making me scan the changing rooms for a teacher. Smiling when I found us alone, I leisurely switched off the shower and dragged the towel around my naked body as I scooped up the cheap shower gel the school supplied us with.
Mae blinked, trying to ignore Tammy as she turned her back on the bitch and carried on washing as I lazily walked past her. I kept my face straight forwards as I sauntered past Tammy who now had her face under the torrent of water. Smiling to myself, I squirted a liberal amount of gel onto the floor tiles around her.
As I exited the shower area I couldn’t help but grin when I heard Tammy’s squeal and then a harsh, hefty thud.
“Take that, you skank!”
I hissed as I ran through the field towards my house, the rain that had come on suddenly drenching me through. I regretted turning down Mae’s offer of studying for an hour in the library. Then I rolled my eyes to myself. Why she studied so religiously was beyond me. She was the cleverest girl in the whole school and she was the only student who didn’t actually need to study. Me, on the other hand, I was more interested in music, make-up and – Lee. I smiled to myself and re-read his note in my head.
Con,
I can’t wait until you see, and feel, what I’m going to GIVE you for your birthday.
L xxx
I knew without a doubt the silly twat thought he was going to get into my knickers at the party. I shook my head and chuckled. It was MY birthday, not his. He was going to be disappointed. No way would I ever let myself be as easy as Tammy. She thought she was clever because she’d lost her virginity, but what she didn’t know was what everyone called her behind her back. It frustrated me how all her so-called friends who talked about her slutty ways behind her back would call Mae out for her UN-slutty ways. Two-faced, or what?
I took shelter under a large tree as I looked up at the sky, trying to determine if it was just a quick storm and how soon it would pass. The clouds were black and I knew I was in for a bit of a wait.
A sound from behind me in the mass of other trees caught my attention and I spun round. A scream curled up my throat, and just as it was about to burst from me, he slapped his hand over my mouth. My eyes widened and I shook my head.
“Are you going to be quiet?”
I gulped but nodded, my fear of him making me concede easily. He was tall. I would say early twenties, and his dark blonde hair was long on top but closely cut around his neck. His eyes mesmerised me; their deep green glow utterly stunning. But they belied the evil inside him, the cruel twist of immorality that ran through every single blood vessel within him. He exuded raw power, a malevolence that physically touched me and made every inch of my skin erupt in goose bumps as horror made my heartbeat quicken.
“I didn’t tell anyone,” I blurted out when he removed his hand.
“I know,” he countered softly. For a moment he stared at me with an expression I couldn’t decipher. He looked like he was sad but then the glint of his vileness showed me just how dangerous he was. He blew out a breath. “You have got me into some serious trouble, Shadow.”
I squinted at him. “Shadow?”
He nodded, his gaze moving over my shoulder. “Mmm, your new name.” He brought his eyes back to mine. “Unfortunately my father is…. troubled by my decision to leave you and your sister alive.”
The way he spat out his father’s name made me aware of some issues but it was his other revelation that made the blood in my heart freeze. “What? But you can’t go back on it. Please,” I begged as I tore off my coat and tie and started to unbutton my school shirt, the rain pouring down on me and soaking me to the skin beneath the thin white cotton. I knew he wanted me, I saw it in his eyes, and if I had to lay flat on my back and let him take what he wanted to save Mae then I’d do it a million times over. “You can take what you want, but please, please, don’t hurt Mae.”
He grumbled at me, his words indecipherable as he took hold of my fingers and stopped me from continuing with my actions. “When will you listen, you defiant girl? I am not going to fuck you. You’re thirteen for fuck’s sake!”
“But...”
“There’s been a change of plan.”
I stilled, my mind tormenting me with the options now available. I knew he was going to kill me. I knew it. And when a forbidden tear dropped from my eye, all I could picture was my beautiful sister, her soft smile, her gentle manner, and her strength. I would miss her so much but if this man kept his word then she would most probably be joining me soon. I stared up at him, my body now lax as I accepted my fate. I couldn’t overpower him, as hard as I would try. The rain matched the storm in my soul but I nodded. “Please.” I slid to my knees before him, my submission making me angry with myself. “Please make it quick, and if possible I would like to go without any pain.”
He rolled his eyes and took my hair in his grasp, making me squeal as he yanked me up. “I’m not going to kill you.”
“And Mae?”
He shook his head. “If I were you I’d be more bothered about your own wellbeing right now.”
“But…”
He sighed again. “My father wishes you to join his family earlier.”
I couldn’t move. Although I had been terrified of what was to come, I still had the comfort of another year to say my goodbyes to the people I loved. Yet now, everything was being snatched away. “W... what?”
“Mmm,” he mumbled with a slow nod. “However.” I still remained immobile, the frantic beat of my heart making it difficult to breathe. “I managed t
o secure you another few months.”
I blew out a breath of relief. Thank God!
“Yet we have another problem.” I didn’t like the way his voice dropped and his tone turned apprehensive. “He’s rather… angry. And because I’m his son, he feels the need to make an example of me… and you.”
“Me?”
He nodded. “He’s going to make your initiation rather… awkward.”
“My initiation?” I felt stupid that I was repeating him but I couldn’t manage to find my own dialogue.
His eyes narrowed. I blinked in shock and flinched when he lifted his hand and tenderly stroked his fingertip along my cheekbone. My body locked up but my bones felt like jelly, the wobble inside me not matching the rigidity on the outside. His bright green eyes found my blue ones. “There’s something about you, Connie Swift, that makes me feel…” He coughed and dropped his hand, the softness in his expression disappearing until a more hardened one overtook him. “You’ll need training to be in with a chance of withstanding his torment.”
“Training?” There I went again.
He nodded and turned around, his body retreating into the shadows of the woodlands. “Be ready. Midnight, the night of your birthday. I’ll come for you.” And then he disappeared, my eyes widening when he appeared to just evaporate in front of me.
My heart ached. I ran into the seclusion of the trees and bent, the vomit that surged from me dribbling down my nostrils when my mouth couldn’t cope with the fierce reflux.
It seemed that the year I’d had left with my family had now been cut down to a week. I heaved again when the thought of what was to come fractured my spirit.
THE MUSIC HAD stopped. The empty cups and plates were scattered about. Numerous presents were stacked on the sideboard, unopened. Food and drink was crushed into the carpet. All the party guests had gone, and I stood silently staring at my pretty sister, who was asleep on the large sofa in the front room.
Her long black lashes hemmed her cheekbones as her pink, plump lips parted to accommodate her deep breathing. She stirred, mumbling something I couldn’t understand as she shifted under the cover I had placed over her tiny body, and turned over, one of her hands tucking under her cheek as she nestled back down.
My parents had booked into a hotel for the night to give us space for our birthday party, and I’d said my goodbye to them hours earlier. Now, as I stared at my sister, my heartbeat became too slow for the rush of blood within my nervous body. I was terrified, horrified to even imagine what was to come. I knew the man wouldn’t back down on his word and that he would be here at the stroke of midnight.
I glanced at the clock – five minutes.
I knelt before Mae, tears forming in my eyes as my heart ached and refused to let the words flow. I couldn’t say it. I couldn’t bid her goodbye. She was my other half, the secondary beat in my chest. Although I’d been a bitch to her on more than a million occasions, I loved her with my entire soul. She was the gentility to my boorishness, the peace to my war, and the conscience to my immorality. But more than that, she was the regular beat in my heart and I knew, the moment I closed the door behind me, that it would never beat properly again.
“I love you so much, Mae,” I whispered, tears making my vision blur. “Live life and fall in love. Grant yourself the family you dream of and never, ever, give up.” I leaned into her, a teardrop falling onto her lips causing her tongue to involuntarily lick it off as I placed my own lips to her forehead. The door opened behind me but I didn’t turn. I inhaled her, closing my eyes to etch the smell and feel of her to memory.
A sob choked me and I reined it back. “I give you my strength, sister. I give you my soul and my heart.” I stared at her as I stood up, my crying becoming uncontrollable as he stood quietly waiting for me. “But most of all,” I whispered. “I give you my life.”
I turned and looked at him. His expression was as hard as he was, but sensing my devastation, he lifted his hand to me. I had a feeling it would be the last and only time he would give me any sensitivity. “Time to go, Shadow.”
I slipped my hand into his as I picked up my bag with the other and nodded. He led me out but not before allowing me one last look back.
As we silently journeyed farther out of the city and more into the moorlands, minutes turning into hours, my terror and apprehension grew until the rampant, horrific thoughts in my head caused me to turn and look at the dark silhouette of my captor. His cheekbones were defined against the backfill of the moon that bled light through his side of the car. His nose wasn’t large as such but, for want of another word to describe it, strong. His lips were thin, the stubble across his chin highlighted in the vague light. He wasn’t drop dead gorgeous but there was something handsome and unique about his features. I knew from his accent that he was foreign, maybe Russian or Romanian, yet his English was so good I knew he’d spent more time in Britain than his home country.
Sensing my inspection of him, he turned to glance at me. He didn’t speak but his eyes settled on mine as if warning me somehow. I swallowed, and trying to hide my nerves from him, I tipped my head and narrowed my eyes. “I don’t even know your name.” My voice was quiet and I hated that, but I was amazed I’d been bold enough to ask him.
He turned back to look at the road before answering me. “Isaac Marinov.”
The widening of my eyes showed him my surprise that he’d answered. A slow, smug grin stirred his usually stern mouth. “You thought I wouldn’t tell you?” I nodded. “It doesn’t matter, Shadow. You won’t get the chance to tell anyone your abductor’s name.”
His smart declaration angered me but I wisely held back the need to tell him that. Instead, I ventured on with my rambling. “Why do you keep calling me Shadow? My name is Connie.”
“Not any more, love.”
My mouth dried when a sinister smile accompanied his response yet I chose to ignore it. I was scared to death already and if I took note of all his severe expressions and his unkind words then I knew I’d have a heart attack before we reached our destination.
Shifting around in my seat, I blinked at him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Something else?” he mocked, pursing his lips in amusement. Then he sighed and glanced at me again, his stern face even colder than before. “Let me tell you, this will be the single and only time you will ever ask me anything again. You’re a Phantom soldier now, Shadow, and I am a Phantom commandant. You do not ask, you follow orders and do them without deliberation, and without disagreement.”
I stared at him, my eyes wide. My heart raced at his words. Who the hell was he, and who were these Phantoms he kept talking about? They sounded like an army, or at the very least a clan. I had a feeling I should have allowed him to kill me when he first came for me because I was sure what was to come would be worse than death.
“Speak, Shadow!” he barked, making me jump.
I couldn’t form the words when my mouth dried and my throat started to close in. I was going into panic, his cruelness making my stomach heave.
“This is your last chance to ask your question!” he spat. “Don’t disrespect my leniency because you won’t receive anymore.”
I blinked back my tears and jutted my chin out defiantly. “Who wants to kill me, and why?”
He quirked an eyebrow then laughed. “I did wonder when you would ask me that.”
I gritted my teeth, his ridicule making me furious as my emotions shifted gear briskly. I was surprised I’d held it together for so long. “Stop laughing at me!”
I cried out when his fist connected with the side of my face, knocking my head into the window. Amazingly, the car never veered off course, his skill keeping the wheels straight. My hand automatically came up to my sore cheek when pain shot out in all directions from where he’d fractured my cheekbone in one precise blow. My ears hummed and my temple throbbed from where it had thudded against the glass.
“Do – not – ever – talk – to – me – like – that – again!” he st
ated firmly and slowly through clenched teeth, as if I was too stupid to understand. “The next time you do I will cut out your rancorous tongue and feed it down your throat with my fucking knife!”
I huddled my body into the door, crushing my face into the window and hiding from him and his rage as the tears that had threatened for the past two hours finally came with a torrent of grief and misery. I knew he meant every single word and I contemplated taking him up on his offer just to stop the agony inside my chest from tearing me up slowly and painfully. His way would be a much quicker method of death than the slow death happening inside me.
“Unfortunately, I do not know who gave the order for your death, Shadow,” he stated calmly, with a tender smile, as though nothing had happened. It was this coolness and relaxed composure he conveyed that made me aware just how dangerous and malicious he was. Going at lightning speed from violence to softness required an extraordinary control of emotions, and if someone could cause you so much pain then, in a flash, talk to you softly with a gentle smile, I knew they had no soul to give them a conscience. “You will soon learn that Phantom assassins are never given specifics about a mark. Only the basic information.”
I blinked, wincing when the action caused my cheek to ache. “Why would I learn that?” I tensed, expecting him to be angry with yet another question, but instead he looked at me with a frown, as though I had just asked the most knowledgeable question.
“Because you’ll learn all the guidelines about how you will kill someone.”
The nausea that had laid heavy in my gut throughout our journey finally turned into vomit and rushed up my throat at a speed I couldn’t hold back from. The few sandwiches I’d eaten at the party hit the dashboard when his meaning reached the part of my brain that understood exactly what he meant – what I was to become.
He tutted and blew out a bored sigh, his disregard to my redecoration of his car making me wonder how many girls had been in this situation. My blood chilled when he spoke again.
The Beginning of Connie and Isaac (The Blue Butterfly #3) Page 2