Shaxoa's Gift
Page 29
Prologue
I knew I was screaming. I could hear everyone else screaming, but my body kept moving, hurtling me to the Matwau’s side. My legs felt nothing. They pumped underneath me. Independent of any thought, they carried me toward her. I felt her heart beating in time with mine. Our eyes locked as she tried to run, but a great clawed hand swept in between us. Pain exploded across my chest and arm, but it was not mine. My legs wobbled as I saw her fall.
“Uriah, she’s dying! You have to help her.”
My breathing became labored as I tried to crawl over to her. I was shaking so hard I could barely form the word. “How?”
“You have to form the bond,” Claire said. “You have to touch her. The bond can heal anything. You know it can. You saw it happen with Daniel.”
“No, not that. Please. I can’t,” I cried. I had come so far. I had saved Claire’s life by finding her Twin Soul. I had given my own blood in an attempt to save her again, and save myself from a life of despair. I had given so much already. It was just too much to ask me to do this too. I wanted to go home. With Claire. Go home to my mom and my ranch and live my life. I didn’t want to touch her and seal my fate. There had to be another way.
1: New Experiences
As she watched her mother’s purple sedan drive away from her home she waved, completely unaware of the monster lurking in the woods. He could have kept it that way, attacked her without ever giving her a hint of his intentions, but that wouldn’t have been any fun for him. The Matwau purposely planted his foot on a fallen twig. His weight snapped it easily. As he hoped, the noise caught the girl’s attention and she turned to look in his direction.
The smile that spread across his mouth was in direct contradiction to the growl that rose in his throat. It was a deep sound, the kind that slipped under the skin and burrowed into the bone in a disquieting invasion. He girl felt it, flinching and taking a step back toward her house. The Matwau took another step, and another, the noises widening her eyes and harrying her retreat. He couldn’t let her get too far away, though. Just as her hand touched the door, he stepped out of the trees and into plain view.
Her hand paused in the middle of turning the door knob. Confusion mingled with her fear at the sight of a well-dressed man standing in her driveway. For a moment that was all he did. His eyes held hers in a way that made her shiver.
“Can I…help you?” she asked. The slight tremor of fear in her voice was delicious. The Matwau’s skin tingled with excitement. He did not respond. Instead, he started taking slow steps toward her. Her green eyes grew even wider as she fumbled with the door. He let her open it a few inches before turning his measured approach into an all-out sprint.
Her crystalline voice cried out in shock when he was suddenly right next to her, pressing her against the doorframe and smiling as he savored the taste of capturing his greatest victim yet. Her lips quivered in terror, and he loved it. He slid a hand up to her throat and squeezed. The girl’s scream pierced the air and the Matwau laughed because he knew there was no one around to hear her. He saw the realization dawn in her eyes, and took great pleasure in hearing her scream turn into a whimper.
It was a moment so sweet and satisfying that he could barely control his desire to take her life one bit at a time. Her luscious skin would melt like warm chocolate under his torture. The Matwau’s eyes closed, both to calm his desires and mentally indulge in them for a brief second.
Pain suddenly blossomed across his jaw, stabbing deep into wounds that had yet to heal. His vision blackened under the onslaught. He could not control the sudden weakness in his body. His fingers lost their hold and the girl spun away from him, into the house. The Matwau could hear her running from him, crashing through the rooms. She was clearly panicked, but the Matwau simply took a moment to stifle the pain, regain his control, and then he stalked after her.
She sat on the couch a few minutes later, pitched slightly forward with her hands tied behind her back. Her auburn hair had slipped over her shoulders, hanging against the sides of her pale face. The duct tape stood out sharply against her skin. Glowering at her captor, she never took her eyes off of him. The Matwau smirked at her defiance. The girl had surprised him with her attack and even managed to elude him for several minutes. It shouldn’t have surprised him, given whose Twin Soul she was, but in the end it didn’t matter. Even her surprising strength and tenacity was not enough to beat him.
She had shouted questions at him as he secured her, trying to draw out useful information. He refused to speak even a single word to her. She finally gave up, settling her angry glare on him instead. The Matwau watched her carefully. It was a new experience for him, holding a captive. He was not entirely sure how to proceed. That was also new. For centuries the Matwau had been the ultimate weapon, the ultimate hunter. Weakness, fear, and indecision had never before been a part of his existence.
First to reach him had been the fear, and then he found out that he was indeed capable of experiencing weakness. Staring at the girl, he now knew indecision. Should he hold her in the little house, or move her? He was not worried about Uriah showing up unannounced, he knew exactly how far away the boy was, but any other human could walk up to the house at any moment. The Matwau could feel the link that formed between Uriah and the girl, but he did not understand exactly how it would work in such a strange situation.
The exact location for his last battle with Uriah had already been chosen. All the Matwau needed was to lead Uriah to that spot. Slowly. Moving slowly was the key. If the Matwau raced ahead too quickly, Uriah might follow at his usual furious pace and reach the meeting place before everything was prepared. The Matwau would wait. He would wait long enough to make sure Uriah found the little house. If Uriah found the little house, he would be drawn in by the chance to learn about the girl. That would give the Matwau the chance to move along the path unheeded and make his preparations.
Glancing back at the girl, he smiled pleasantly. The shock on her face lasted only a brief second before her anger settled back in, deeper than before.
“What do you want from me?” she asked.
His smile widened. “Nothing.”
Confusion swept over her face.
It was true, in a way. If everything went as planned, he would require nothing more of the girl than her presence. Killing her was a last resort.
“Why are you doing this?” the girl asked. “I have nothing, no money, no jewelry. Please just leave me alone”
The Matwau almost laughed. He had tied her up left her sitting on the couch while he thought. Why would she think that he was trying to rob her? He could have taken her possessions long ago and been far away from policing eyes. No sane burglar would simply sit around waiting for the cops, or some poor passerby, to find him. The girl was most likely very intelligent, but her assumption made no sense. The human mind had always been a puzzle to him.
“Why are you doing this?” the girl asked. Her voice was rising in pitch with every question. She was struggling to hold onto her anger, the only thing that was keeping away her fear.
“I am not here to steal your possessions.”
“Then what do you want?” She was pleading for an answer now.
“I want you, nothing more.”
Her anger was gone. Terror oozed from every inch of her body as the implications of the Matwau’s words swam through her mind. At last, he thought. Terror was something he knew all too well. The Matwau could exploit fear in all its forms, the stronger, the better. Perhaps she would not be as difficult to control as he had thought.
About the Author
DelSheree Gladden lives in New Mexico with her husband and two children. The Southwest is a big influence in her writing because of its culture, beauty, and mythology. Local folk lore is strongly rooted in her writing, particularly ideas of prophecy, destiny, and talents born from natural abilities. When she is not writing, DelSheree is usually teaching yoga, coaching gymnastics, reading, painting, sewing, or studying about teeth as a Den
tal Hygiene student. Her works include Escaping Fate and the Twin Souls Saga. DelSheree’s newest novel, Inquest, set to be released by Briona Glen Publishing in 2012, is the first book in The Destroyer Trilogy. Inquest follows sixteen-year-old Libby Sparks as she tries to escape her destiny to destroy the world. But Libby soon realizes dodging fate might not be worth the price.
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