Lost Girl (Soul Bound Book 1)

by E. M Jefferson

  My heart starts to increase as the effects of the drink Jasper gave me start to take effect. My head starts to swirl as the world changes around me. Memories that were once lost start to rise. The darkness swallows me whole as I take in the pitch-black night. Its not the recent memories I’m interested but one from the night I woke up in hospital.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Past Events

  The nights cold wind whipped around those who was not prepared for the frost that had settled in. The grounds surrounded in thick snow from the last few night’s heavy fall. There was a chill in the air, the time is almost upon me. Even in the night, there was barely any moon light for the long winter that was about to set. Days became shorter and the night’s got longer bringing the monsters out to play.

  I walked alone as I made my journey home from working late, working in the office was such a bore as I hated being stuck behind a computer. I would rather be in the library stacking books or restoring them. Unfortunately working for The British Library meant I spent most of my days cataloguing the books which have been borrowed and returned. Estimated to contain over 170 million books meant I had my work cut out for me.

  The rain started to pelt down against my jacket as I picked up speed hurrying to get out of the fast-approaching storm. There was no weather warning of it but like magic it had appeared out of nowhere. Big fat droplets smacked my face as I ducked underneath a tree. Lucky enough it was in time as hail started to fall from the heavens. The sound of hail stones batted the pavement to its own beat as the sound of thunder rolled through the skies.

  I was so going to get drenched good thing I can’t get ill. Sigh

  I needed to get moving before it got worse which was why I mental counted down from three before running. As my feet hit the pavement hailstones cut into my cheeks enough to draw droplets of blood before turning me numb. Within only a few minutes I was drenched from head to toe as I ran along the canal.

  There was a bridge which would provide shelter as I don’t think it was wise to keep going. My visibility was poor as it was like a blanket of white covering my eyes before it started to snow.

  “Just fucking great! What else can go wrong tonight?!” I screamed out as I was meant to be having a dinner date at mine with Blue. We had been dating for a few months now and was looking at taking the night step in our relationship.

  But that was soon to come to an end as I wasn’t prepared for what was about to happen.

  Time seemed to stand still as I regretted the words instantly. I put my hand out from under the bridge and could push the snow and hailstones away and around. I knew it was time to run as whoever did this was most certainly a powerful mage. I may be powerful with my own magic, but this was on a whole new level.

  Teleporting I could do, hell I could even curse people and summon lighting but this! This was dark forbidden magic as controlling time should not ever be controlled. There are always consequences and sacrifice with it. I should know as my father stopped time to save me, sadly the price he paid was ultimately his own life. To save a life, one must be sacrificed in their place.

  That was how I knew this would only end up bad as I needed to get away. Whoever was wielding dark magic was the cause behind the storm. I didn’t intend to find out as I started to summon a portal out of here. Its tricky and drains me which is why I only use it for emergencies. And this seemed like the best time.

  However, I couldn’t summon one, let alone touch my magic. Someone was blocking me which started to scare me more then I through possible.

  I steadied my breath to try and calm the panic rising in me, but it was no use as fear became tangible a living force that crept over me like some hungry beast, immobilizing me. I tried to take two small steps backwards as white mist began to cover the ground. Someone was approaching from in front of me and I really didn’t want to find out, but my brain didn’t want to cooperate as it held me captive to the spot.

  “Please don’t let this be how I die?” I said as my heart pounded in my ears. I wanted to scream but terror sucked the very breath from me as the figure came into view.

  She had a haunting beauty to her ,but I could sense the evil and cruelness deep in her soul. Sounds of tortured and tormented souls called out to me. I was not frightened nor was I afraid. What I felt was beyond such mere nouns.

  “Run before see chains you to her” A black spirit said shooting out of her chest before being dragged back again. It reminded me of something out of Harry Potter!

  I wanted to run for safety, but my feet would not allow me to do so. I tried to move them, but they were firmly rooted to the spot like someone had cemented them there.

  “You will do nicely, so beautiful and powerful” She said in a sadist way which made my blood freeze. She was a wolf in sheep’s clothing as unless you could see through her glamour then you wouldn’t be able to see her cold dead black eyes. Ones that belonged to the dead or those rotting in hell.

  “Please, no” I managed to push through my lips, but it only made her laugh hysterical.

  “Oh, how fun this will be when maggots feast upon your mind and madness consumes you until there’s nothing left” She promises me.

  I could no longer control my hands as they were shaking in an odd trembling rhythm as I knew I was about to meet my maker.

  “Such a waste but I will not let you destroy me” She says with pointy teeth and her caramel skin begins to crack and falls like dust.

  Fear may have crippled me, freezing every muscle of my body but my mouth would still work. “Hang on a second you delusional, deranged bitch! I have never meet you let alone heard of you! SO why the fuck would I destroy you, you crazy batshit thing?!” I shouted out at her as I wouldn’t just sit here and die quietly. At least I can say I throw verbal abuse at her. That’s something in my books.

  “Oh, how foolish you are to not realise your own destiny child!” I frown as she carries on “For if only you truly opened your eyes you would have seen how you wasted your life. Such a pity. In love and war anything goes”

  Rage and anger pour through my veins enough to cause a spark within my magic as I haul lightening straight for her heart. She didn’t expect it as her face turns to shock before laughing at me.

  A hole had been blasted through her heart and of course she doesn’t have one as black blood pours out of her. Leaving the smell of decay and death to linger around us. Knowing I cannot defeat her I turn and run as I feel the flight response kicking in, increasing my heart rate and flooding me with renewed energy and adrenaline.

  “There’s no escaping beauty” She shouts making me act stupid by looking over my shoulder and running headfirst into a brick wall. That wasn’t there before. “You won’t find an exit there”

  “No shit Sherlock as you put a fucking brick wall up!”

  “I can make this easy for you or … very fucking painful. Sit back and die bitch” She said sounding unimpressed as she flicks the dirt off her cracked and peeled fingers.

  “Fuck you and go to hell” I shout as shadows and echoes play on my senses warping shapes and sounds around me. My stomach turns to ice as she approaches me.

  “I’ve already been there, but you haven’t. What is it they say?”

  “To leave one’s life, one must replace them and take their place” I say at the same time she does.

  I prepare myself for what is about to happen as she draws the shadows towards her. I know this will hurt a lot as I struggle to pull magic from the earth. Even if its enough to shield me then I will jump into the canal and attempt to swim away.

  “Any last words before you die” She taunts me with victory in her eyes. I see her victory as I see my death as clear as day. But this cannot be my end.

  Drawing everything I can I pull on the string of life, the strings of death. Pulling it all towards me in an attempt to kill her before she kills me. She may have cut me from my magic but a price to darkness and light can summon more magic then one can control.

  “Wi
th my ashes I will rise again and burn” I say. Its my family motto that when we meet our death we will not die. But instead we will rise up once more and be stronger than ever. I just hope father spoke the truth.

  “That cannot be possible for that line had been killed” She screeches out. Fuck knows what she’s talking about as I pay the price they wanted. Sealing it in with the blood from my hands before hurling an electrical storm at her. She counters it with her own magic but I’m quicker to retaliate. Fuck this bitch who through she could kill me.

  “Ah yes, but of course…I see it now, one who has been hidden in the ages. A gift from the gods” She says before a cold calculated look enters her eyes.

  A tornado of smoke and flames circle me as I struggle to keep her advances and curses from touching me. I can feel my skin burning form the flames of death as they try to burn my soul.

  I float into a trance as the power becomes too great for my body to contain. Letting it fill me up I burn from the inside out before a wave of uncontrollable power exploded from my chest sending her exploding into dust. But the battle has yet to be won as she regenerates herself.

  The tornado evaporates as she begins to put herself back together. Before she gets a chance to become whole, I run towards her summoning a sword. Leaping the space between us I swipe out to behead her once more. However, it goes straight through her as she becomes a phantom.

  “What the fuck are you?” I roar out in frustration. Why can’t this bitch just die and stay dead!

  A pair of dark eyes stare at me as a wicked smile curls her lips before replying “I’m the destroyed, the heartless one. I’m the queen of shadows and death. And you will die”

  I couldn’t scream. I could only open my mouth in a silent scream as pain blasted through me. It felt like my insides were being melted and burn as my blood boiled from the inside out. I felt like I was being cooked.

  Part of me wished I had run when I had the chance, yet I knew I couldn’t as she would have hunted me down until she achieved her goal. The pain became unbearable as her grip tightened on my throat. I tried to shuffle away but she would not let me. Darkness swirled within my eyes. A flash of gold and blue lit up the night sky before hearing a loud roar. It was enough to cause her to let go as hot wet fluid dribbled down my face as I clasped into a heap of a pile.

  I could barely keep my eyes open as the world began to tilt on its axis or maybe that was me hitting my head against the floor. With the newcomer arriving I could hear her shouts and screams of terror, but it was too late as my life flashed before my eyes.

  There was a bitter taste in the back of my mouth as I began to leave this world and head into the next. Unfortunately like a sick twisted cruel fate I could still feel the pain from my body. It felt like someone had injected my body with lightening and fire as I let out a blood curling scream.

  “You will survive this night little one” A hypnotic voice says as he continues to pour magic and life into my body.

  “Time to pay the price young one” The creature demands for its sole purpose is to collect the debt owed for borrowed magic.

  “So, take it” I replied knowing how much it will hurt.

  “As it is said, then so shall it be done” It says before pulling on the strands of my mind and soul. A single tear drops from my eye as I-

  “You shall not have what is mine” A dark voice says as I swim in the dark abyss. Everything fades away from me as I fall deeper into the shadows as they pull me down.

  Letting myself fall I go to close my eyes until I see a hand reach down and pull me up. Screeches and screams sound out at being denied their next meal. I struggle as multiple hands grab at me pulling me up and down. I fight and push them off shoving some of them away.

  But it’s not the physical pain I worry about. It’s the mental pain as I feel my mind being pulled apart and taken away. Memories I once had are being ripped from me leaving an empty shell of who I once was. Familiar faces become nothing but strangers as names are lost to the dark abyss within my mind

  Who am I?

  Where am I?

  No memories come to tell me about what has happened here, its blank. Empty. Devoid of any familiar faces or names. No background story to who I once was or what my life was like.

  Am I dead?

  Its this the afterlife of where souls go to rest before being reborn again. The land of darkness awaits me, waiting for me to walk onto its land. Will I find myself on the other side? Will I find anyone who can help me to regain what I lost?

  The pain of the event five years ago has tears falling down my face in pain. Jasper warned me what would happen if I dived to deep. But I didn’t listen as I allowed the memory to wash over me. if I didn’t pull away when I did. I may have forgotten who I was again.

  “Belle are you ok?”

  I am ok? “Yes” I said to her as I final know what happened that night. I now have a face and a name to put behind the person who did this to me. But what hurt me the most was how that voice I heard. I had heard it before and continue to hear it nearly every single day.

  For Dante was there that day.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Truth And Lies

  That night Jasper forced me to drink that liquid had my memories of the past few weeks return to me once more as I now had a new villain in my life. He came in the skin of sin bringing with him false promises and sweet lies. The rift between us was getting larger by the hour.

  With my ashes I will rise again and burn.

  I may not remember anything from before that night but what I do know is, if I wish to learn the full truth, then I need to become a major player in the game. No more will I be side-tracked nor will I let Dante walk all over me. So tonight, as I walk into work, I will act like I don’t know a thing. I will wait for the moment to strike and force him to tell me the truth.

  A deal was cut between me and the twilight being, one made from both the light and dark, life and death merged into one being. The power to take a life and grant it to another or, give power to one but only for a payment. A deal that hasn’t been fulfilled hangs above my head like a wanted woman waiting for the axe to fall. But that day will not happen, not before I get justice on my past self.

  I have a lot to thank that crazy vampire for as he has been like a guardian angel watching over me. Well if you add fangs, madness and delusion then anyone would be lucky to have him watching over you.

  I walk towards my floor where I see Ty and Kyle working tonight which I didn’t mind as it would be fun with them.

  “Belle, how is you head?” Ty asks as the night before I had drunk more than my share of alcohol as I needed something to take the edge of.

  “Its fine Ty … How was your night?” I say with a slight smirk. I think I hear fireworks going off as he disappeared with Alex. I wouldn’t have through anything of it apart from the fact he had answered Alex’s phone.

  A slight blush creeps into his cheeks as I laugh with mischief as he mumbles an excuse and darts away.

  “What was that about?” Kyle asks looking confused.

  “Don’t worry about it” I said.

  The bar picked up as me and Kylie worked on clearing customers away that wanted a drink. Wherever Ty had sneaked off to he sure came when we needed him the most as he gave us a helping hand. However, the first chance he got he had disappeared once more hiding from me. He knew I was going to question him about last night. I knew they got up to something and it might not be my business to get involved. But I just hoped neither one regretted it or ends up getting their heart broken. I liked them both and would find it hard to choose as that is what always happens during a breakup. Sides are picked and formed where friendships are tested, it can get quite sticky when one is my boss and the other my best friend.

  “Oh, Belle. Could you be a dear and take this to his highness over their?” Kyle said as I was pouring another drink.

  “Really?” I said in a bored tone as I wasn’t ready to see him. I mean what was wrong with se
nding the newbie over there. Sure, she looked very fragile and thin where you could see her bones, not like I’m one to judge or be cruel. But just for tonight couldn’t someone else not do it.

  “I’m afraid so” He truly looks regretful

  “Why me?”

  “Apart from the fact your dating. If I sent anyone else over their I’m not sure they would come back in one piece. Dante has been in a foul mood all day and it seems to have carried over into the night” Kylie says as the sound of breaking glass can be heard as Dante smashed it on the table.

  Letting out a loud sigh for Kyle to hear how unhappy I am, I pick up the bottle of champing and whiskey. Carrying it over I watched as some scary looking people watched me with rapid attention. For once I was afraid as the whispers started up about me. You would think people would have gotten used to the fact I had been staying here and sleeping in his bed. But apparently more people wanted to see the women who captured his attention. How I wish I never had as it is starting to turn into a nightmare.