Betrayal (Blood Haze: Book Three) A Paranormal Romance

by Shuler, Tara

  The door slammed shut, no doubt the result of the wraiths closing it intentionally. Immediately, my connection to the wind was severed, and I could see the sky starting to lighten through the windows.

  “Liam! The doors!” I shouted, realizing my ability was useless indoors. “I can’t control it in here!”

  Liam waved his hand, and the doors flew open, bring a sharp gust of wind in. Quickly, I concentrated on bringing back the storm. The sky filled with black clouds, and thunder crashed. My body began to shake violently as I tried to hurry the process along, and I felt the familiar warmth of blood oozing from my eyes and my nose.

  I saw the doors begin to close, and out of the corner of my eye I saw Liam holding both arms out in front of him, attempting to keep them open against the power of the wraiths. His arms shook as though he was bearing an enormous weight, but it was slowly crushing him.

  “I can’t…” Liam grunted. “I can’t keep… this up…”

  The doors kept nearly closing, and then being thrust open again over and over as Liam struggled against the wraiths. I could tell he wouldn’t last much longer against the group.

  The black funnel began to descend from the sky, and I beckoned it into the room with my hands. The tip snaked its way closer and closer, and the wind began to flood the room.

  “Gah!” Liam shouted, as his power gave way, and he collapsed on the floor.

  The doors slammed shut, and my connection was broken.

  “Liam!” I shouted, kneeling beside him.

  He was slumped face down on the floor, so I gently turned him over. His eyes were open, but they looked distant.

  “Alexi!” I screamed. “Help!”

  “Wait!” Alexi yelled. “The portal!”

  In the center of the room, a dark vortex had opened.

  “Go!” Alexi instructed me. “I’ll get Liam!”

  “I’m not leaving you!” I snapped, but I jumped to my feet.

  “Please, Alice,” Alexi implored, hoisting Liam over his shoulder.

  I looked toward the wraiths, and I saw a thick mass of white fog crawling across the floor.

  “Gas!” I shouted.

  Suddenly, everything overwhelmed me. I tasted blood on my lips, and my legs began to tremble. Trying to control the storm had drained me, and I fought to stand. I reached for Kai, and he wrapped his arm around my waist to steady me.

  “I…” I started to say something, but my body gave out, and I started to slouch toward the floor.

  “Alice!” Kai gasped, and he immediately lifted me into his arms.

  “Take her!” Alexi yelled. “Go… now!”

  I fought to remain conscious, but the blackness threatened to steal me away. I felt myself being jostled as Kai ran across the floor. We lifted into the air briefly, and then I felt us falling. A few seconds later, we were jolted abruptly as Kai landed smoothly on his feet. He moved quickly out of the way, and I looked back toward the spot where we’d landed. Through a blur, I saw Max fall through the swirling vortex and land on his feet.

  “I can’t hold it open!” Hillary shouted.

  I looked at her, and I could see she was weakening. She was trembling, and her eyes were wide with fright. The others around her fought to concentrate, trying to give her their strength, but it was no use.

  “Put me down!” I yelled.

  “Alice, you…” Kai began to object.

  “Put me down, now!” I screamed loudly, wiggling violently to escape Kai’s arms.

  My legs wobbled, but held, and I raced over to the group. I grabbed Hillary’s wrist as well as that of the man beside her, and a jolt ran through me like I’d been shocked. The red haze grew thicker, and the clarity I usually noticed when it was upon me disappeared. I could see nothing but a vague redness, and blackness crept inward from the outer field of my vision.

  “Alexi!” I pleaded. “Liam!”

  I struggled to hold on as long as possible, willing every last ounce of energy I had toward Hillary, helping her hold the portal open as long as possible. I prayed the wraiths’ gas hadn’t gotten to Alexi and Liam before they could make it to the portal.

  I felt another hand close over my wrist. The touch was gentle, and I could feel love radiating from it. Kai. He was helping.

  “Please, Alexi,” I whispered. “Liam…”

  The blackness inched further and further over my vision, and the redness was almost entirely dark. My head began to pound, and my legs wobbled again. The room began to spin, and I felt the warm wetness of blood dripping from my ears and streaming down my neck.

  “Close it!” I heard someone shout, and then I heard a thud.

  I could take no more, and I succumbed to the darkness.

  Chapter Two – Weakness

  “Alice, I do not know if you can hear me, but if you can, squeeze my hand,” I heard a voice say.

  I felt a warm hand in mine, and I struggled to force my hand to move. I was unable to control it.

  “Please, Alice,” the voice begged.

  “Anything?” I heard another voice ask.

  “Nothing,” the first voice answered.

  I tried to open my eyes, to wiggle my toe, to shout. But my body simply would not comply. I must be comatose, I thought. How could I let them know I was okay? I knew they must be worried.

  “Alice, my darling,” the first voice whispered into my ear. “I love you.”

  I could feel his breath warm against my ear, and I felt his strong hand squeeze mine. It was Alexi. I tried once more to respond, but it was futile. Nothing I tried would work. I was helpless within my own body.

  I felt someone take my other hand. I recognized the love in his touch. It was Kai. The bed on that side lowered slightly, and I knew he was sitting beside me.

  “Please come back to us,” Kai pleaded.

  “Alexi?” I heard another voice chime in. “Anything?”

  “No, Liam,” Alexi said mournfully. “Still nothing.”

  I’m here! I tried to shout. I can hear you! But the words simply would not come out. It was as if my soul was trapped inside a dead body.

  “I’ll tell Max,” Liam said. “He wants to be here, but he still can’t get out of bed.”

  Can’t get out of bed? I thought. What happened to Max? Damn it! Why couldn’t I just speak?

  “Alexi?” I heard Hillary announce, her voice shrill and annoyed. “Can we talk now, please?”

  “I am not leaving her!” Alexi snapped.

  “It’s been weeks, Alexi,” Hillary complained. “It won’t hurt you to leave her for five minutes.”

  “No!” Alexi hissed. “I am not leaving her!”

  “Fine,” I heard Hillary growl through clenched teeth.

  Alexi sighed.

  “I’ll stay with her if you want to go talk to Hillary,” Kai offered.

  “I have not left her in all these weeks, and I will not do it now,” Alexi shot back.

  Weeks? I thought. Had I really been unconscious for weeks? I must have been. Hillary and Alexi had both mentioned it, now.

  “I have to get back to training,” Kai said.

  Training? I thought. But Kai didn’t have powers. What kind of training was he referring to?

  “Go,” Alexi told him. “I will be here.”

  I felt Kai’s soft lips kiss my forehead, and he brushed my hair gently away from my face.

  “I love you,” he whispered in my ear.

  He squeezed my hand, and I felt his grip loosen reluctantly. Then I heard his footsteps echoing across the floor as he exited the room.

  “Alice, my love,” Alexi whispered, his voice pleading. “Come back to us. Come back to me. I cannot live without you. I need you.”

  I felt his head drop to my arm, and in a moment the bed began to shake lightly. Something warm and wet touched my skin. He was crying.

  “Please…” he whimpered.

  Come on, Alice! I shouted inside my head. You can heal people back from the brink of death, and you can control storms! Just open your
eyes! You can do it!

  With every bit of strength in me, I concentrated and tried desperately to force my eyes to open. If only I could open my eyes, Alexi would be comforted, and he would know I was okay.

  Open your eyes! I yelled at myself. Just open your eyes!

  Alexi dissolved into choking sobs. He squeezed my hand tightly, and I felt more tears warm and wet on my arm. Alexi was always so strong and composed. I wasn’t used to being near him in a moment of weakness like this. I wanted to badly to comfort him, and to tell him I was okay. I couldn’t stand being so powerless to help him.

  Open your damned eyes, Alice! I shrieked in my mind. Alexi needs you!

  Just then, I saw a faint glimmer of light. Inside my head, I gasped. Come on, you can do it! I encouraged myself. I concentrated harder and harder, and I could see the glimmer of light growing larger. Soon, I could see blurry objects around me.

  Look! I tried to shout. My eyes are open! Alexi! Look at me!

  But he continued to sob against my arm.

  Move a finger, Alice. I demanded of myself. Wiggle a finger, and he’ll look at you.

  So I put all of my strength and energy into forcing one finger to move. For a long, agonizing moment, nothing happened. But then I felt my finger twitch very slightly.

  Alexi’s head shot up in an instant, and he looked straight at my face. Noticing my eyes open, he gasped.

  “Alice!” he uttered. “I am here darling!”

  He quickly jumped up and moved where his face was hovering just over mine. I felt his knee pressing against the bed beside me. I could barely make out the outline of his dark cloak through the blurriness.

  “Alice?” he asked. “Can you hear me?”

  I tried to speak or move, but I was still frozen.

  “I am here, darling,” he said, his hand gently brushing my hair away from my forehead. “Oh, Alice, please say something.”

  “I…” I managed to spit out.

  “That is it!” Alexi encouraged, still stroking my hair.

  “Ah… Alex... Alexi…” I finally muttered.

  “Yes, darling!” he breathed excitedly. “Good! You are doing it! Oh, thank God!”

  He wrapped his arms around me and buried his face in my shoulder. This time, I could tell he was sobbing with joy and relief. Mustering all of the strength I could, I was able to slowly raise one arm and put it on his side, trying to comfort him.

  “Alice!” he sobbed. “Oh, Alice! Thank goodness you have come back to me! I was so afraid…”

  His voice trailed off, and he embraced me tighter. I grasped his cloak and squeezed it, letting him know I was still there.

  “I… I…” I struggled to speak, but the words still wouldn’t come.

  “Shh, darling,” he comforted me. “It is alright. Just rest.”

  The situation was maddening. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t speak. I had so many questions I wanted to ask, but I wasn’t able to utter a single word. Most of all, I just wanted to comfort Alexi. He seemed to be in so much pain.

  I kept a firm grip on his cloak, trying to do anything I could to let him know I was conscious, and I wasn’t dying. My heart swelled with compassion for him, and I felt a little twinge of something more.

  “Alice, darling,” he said gently. “I am going to step outside and let everyone know you’re awake. I am not going anywhere. I will be right at the door.”

  He kissed my forehead gently, and I relaxed my iron grip on his cloak.

  “She is awake!” I heard him shout gleefully from some distance away.

  I heard a sudden scramble, and feet shuffled across the floor. I couldn’t move my head, and my vision was still extremely hazy. But I could see the shadowy outline of someone entering the room.

  “Thank goodness she’s alright,” Liam sighed.

  “Liam, go tell Kai,” Alexi instructed.

  “On it,” Liam agreed.

  I felt the bed sag at my side again as someone sat beside me, and then Alexi’s familiar touch took my hand. His warm lips pressed against it, and lingered there for several seconds. I could feel his breath, shaky and uneven, on my wrist.

  “Please do not ever leave me,” he whispered, his voice faltering, and he pressed his forehead against the back of my hand. “I cannot begin to express how much you mean to me. You are like the air I breathe. Without you, I would be lost.”

  I felt the same twinge I felt earlier. It was like a tingling sensation in my stomach that spread warmth toward my heart. For a moment, I was breathless, and I wanted to badly to be able to speak.

  “I know you do not feel the same way for me,” Alexi continued. “Maybe you never will. But even if you never come to love me, I swear to you that I will be faithful to you until my dying breath. You are everything to me, darling. Everything.”

  I swallowed hard and fought to speak, but all I could manage was a whispery, “Alexi…”

  His head shot up, and he hovered over me.

  “Yes, darling,” he said. “What is it?”

  I tried so hard to speak to him, but my lips wouldn’t move. I was drained. Just uttering a single word sapped all of my energy. I felt a lump swelling in my throat, and my eyes began to sting. A single tear squeezed out and slid down my temple toward my hairline. Alexi brushed it away.

  “Do not cry, my love,” he whispered. “Please do not cry. Whatever it is, it will be okay. I promise it will.”

  He didn’t understand. He couldn’t. I couldn’t make him understand, because my mouth just wouldn’t move. Another tear slipped out, and he pressed his lips to my temple and kissed it away.

  A moment later, I heard the shuffling of feet again.

  “She’s awake?” Kai gasped, and I felt the bed sag as he sat on the side opposite Alexi.

  “She is awake, but she cannot speak or move much,” Alexi told him.

  “Alice? Can you hear me?” Kai asked, taking my hand.

  With every ounce of energy I had in me, I wiggled a finger on the hand he was holding to let him know I could hear him.

  “She can hear me!” he breathed. “She wiggled her finger! Oh, baby! I love you! I love you so much!”

  I felt his body lie down beside me, and his arm reached around to embrace me. I felt him smothering my face with dozens of kisses. His excitement was almost tangible.

  “Relax, Kai,” Alexi commanded. “We do not want to get her too worked up. She is exhausted.”

  “Oh, sorry,” Kai said, nuzzling my cheek. “I’m just so happy she’s awake.”

  “As am I,” Alexi stated. “But she needs peace and calm right now.”

  “Of course,” Kai agreed, taking a deep breath.

  I heard Liam clearing his throat somewhere near the door.

  “I’m, uh, going to go to Concentration class,” Liam mumbled, and I heard him making a hasty exit.

  “We should let her get some rest, anyway,” Alexi told Kai.

  “But, I just got here,” Kai grumbled. “Can’t I see her alone for a few minutes?”

  Alexi sighed.

  “Very well,” Alexi conceded. “But only for a few minutes. She will never get better without rest. I get the feeling it is taking a lot out of her right now just to hold her eyes open.”

  Alexi was right. Just holding my eyes open, even with the intensely blurry vision, was weakening me considerably.

  “I mean it,” Alexi growled. “I will be back in here in five minutes.”

  I smelled Alexi as he bent down and kissed my forehead, whispering, “I will be just outside the door, my love.”

  A moment later, the door clicked shut, and the room got considerably darker.

  My head was turned slightly away from Kai, and I couldn’t move it to look at him. Thankfully, he got up and moved around to the side where Alexi had been. I felt him put his knee on the bed beside me, and a moment later, I felt his warm breath on my face as he looked into my eyes.

  “I’ve been so worried about you,” he gushed. “I was so worried you weren’t going to w
ake up this time. Alexi’s grandfather said you might not, because you overdid it big time. Why did you have to do that, Alice? Alexi was so angry when he found out you did this for him and Liam. He said he’d rather have took his chances with the wraiths. I think I’d rather that, too. I mean, I know he’s done a lot for you, but he’s kind of getting on my nerves sitting in here with you all day every day. He’ll hardly let anyone else in. He says you’re ‘his responsibility’, but doesn’t he realize you’re my girlfriend?”

  Kai paused his tirade to take a deep breath.

  “Anyway, I don’t know how long you’ll be awake,” he continued. “I know I’m talking your head off, but I just wanted to say as much as possible while you’re awake and you can hear me. I’ve had so much I wanted to tell you for so long, but I didn’t know if you could hear me, and Alexi absolutely refused to leave the room the entire time, so I couldn’t get any time alone with you. Oh, and, Alice? I love you.”

  I felt his warm hands on either side of my face, and his lips touched mine very gently. Then they moved to kiss my nose, and then my forehead, and finally in several spots on my cheeks.

  “Oh, I also had something else I wanted to say to you,” Kai added. “I just wanted to tell you how sorry I am that I can’t protect you. I wish I had abilities like Alexi and Liam. I would give anything to be able to do something to help you when you’re in trouble. I feel so helpless, and it kills me. Max and I have been talking and… we think…”

  He sighed deeply.

  “I can’t do it,” he muttered. “I just can’t. Maybe I can later, but I just can’t. I love you too much.”

  I wanted desperately to find out what he meant. What had he and Max been talking about? What was so important that he felt compelled to tell me right now – when I was just barely coming out of a comatose state? And why couldn’t he just say it?

  I felt his body lie down next to mine again, and his arm wrapped around my waist. He snuggled up next to me, placing his cheek on my chest.