“You should have no fear of that. I dare not attack you in your home without cause. You refrain from violence against me and I will do the same,” Ethan stated diplomatically.
“Very well, then how may I be of service to you?” he asked eloquently.
“I need you to relay a message to your Master.” He looked over to Steven and nodded his head in the direction of the truck. “I will find my way back to the house,” Ethan informed Steven. Steven led me out the door. Once the door closed behind us, I ran toward the back of the house with Steven close behind me. When I reached for the door, he pulled me away. “What are you doing?” he hissed in a low voice.
“I need to go to the basement,” I stated anxiously.
“No. We need to leave,” he responded decisively through clenched teeth as he tugged at me.
“Steven, if it’s there, then this all ends tonight. Please.”
He pulled air in deeply through his teeth making an annoying hissing sound as he weighed in on the idea. Looking around, he inhaled the area thoroughly, assessing for other vampires.
“Okay,” he reluctantly conceded. I walked down into the dark room. Absorbing the energy in the room, it felt familiar to me. Perhaps it was because it was the location of my future murder—if the vampires had their way. I took a couple of steps, bumping into something hard. I ran my hands across it as my eyes adjusted to the darkness. It was a coffin. A plain, wooden coffin with three locks attached to it.
“It’s for punishing their own. They drive them to madness locked in it, depriving them of all stimulation, food and interaction. Then they kill them by taking them apart, piece by piece. They are horrible creatures with few rules; if by chance you violate them, the punishment is quite severe,” he whispered in my ear. He handed me a small flashlight. I roamed it over the obstacle. I leaned my ear toward the coffin; I heard movement. Someone was in there. How horrible was this creature in the coffin that even vampires deemed it bad enough to punish.
I knelt down, trying to get a sense of the gem. But there was nothing. Would they hide it in here with the punished? I considered breaking the locks to open it, but Steven shot me an angry look that quickly deterred me.
Several ritualistic drawings and runes were on the walls of the relatively empty basement. They were prepared for my arrival. I rubbed my hand over the drawing, slowly walking through the area. Still I felt nothing. Damn. This is where I would be murdered. The exact chains were attached to the wall. My heart started to beat fast against my chest. I didn’t want to give up. A certain level of relief came over me as we started this adventure, hoping that after tonight it would all be over. Frantically I searched throughout the basement once again looking in, over and under everything.
Frustrated and discouraged, I walked over to the wall with the runes. Pricking my finger with my teeth, I went to touch it hoping that I could establish some type of bond that would lead me to the gem.
Steven growled as he wrenched me roughly from the wall, “What the hell are you doing? We are not trying any of that weird shit here. You have no clue how it works and how to control it. Come on, we are out of here,” he commanded, pulling me toward the door.
“Steven, we may never have another chance,” I argued. “Please. If this works, then it all ends tonight.”
“And if it doesn’t and you bind yourself to magic you have no control over, then we are screwed! It wasn’t even forty-eight hours ago that you bound yourself to that thing. Did you forget the feeling that soon? Where is your head?” he stated agitated.
I was so desperate for this to end that I was behaving recklessly. The taste of defeat was acerbic against my tongue. We were so close yet so far away, and I just couldn’t walk away empty-handed without doing everything possible to find the gem. There was that line, however thin, between reckless and tenacious. I wasn’t sure where it crossed, but I wanted to get as close as I could so that even if I failed, I knew I did what I could.
I considered ignoring Steven and spilling blood over the runes. But if I made things worse, once again opened the gates of hell and fell into an abyss that I couldn’t get out of, then I would have crossed the line. I would have been reckless and put others in harm because of it. I couldn’t do that.
“Sorry,” I whispered, following him as he led me to the door. When we finally got to the car, Steven’s face had softened some, but I was still looking at icy green eyes as he glared at me.
He let out a frustrated sigh. “I know you were just trying to help, but stop playing with magic for now. You don’t know what you’re doing, and playing these binding tricks is only going to get you in trouble,” he stated, his face grim with anger.
“Well, tell magic to stop playing with me,” I mumbled under my breath.
As we sat in the back seat, Josh listened to our back and forth, and gathered the gist of what had occurred. He looked at me, unable to mask his frustration with me or the situation. I couldn’t tell which. “It’s here. I feel the presence of dark magic,” he breathed out. We sat in silence in front of the house. As strong as Josh had proven to be, he was limited when it came to dark magic. Josh looked at the house once more before he started the car. “It was too big of a risk. We shouldn’t have come here,” he finally acknowledged. I didn’t like the tenor of his voice; it held fear, and the withdrawn look on his face didn’t do much to improve things.
I sat in the living room, my legs bouncing nervously against the sofa as I gnawed at my nails. Watching the door, I waited impatiently for Ethan to return from vampires’ house. As a vaguely familiar scent approached me, I tensed. I heard a hard step pattern descending the stairs. I stood up at his approach and found myself face to face with Gavin.
His lips curled slightly to form something that should have been a smile if it didn’t hold such an air of disdain. Dark, piercing, almond-shaped eyes with a distinct shimmer of malice stared back at me. His midnight-black hair was pulled back with a tie, while stragglers from the binding hung down to his neck brushing against his deep tawny-colored skin, hollow cheeks and broad features. He was slim, built perfect for agility and stealth, comparable to that of a swimmer. He stepped closer, invading my personal space, siphoning out the air and replacing it with his indignation and strife. The look on his face displayed his contempt and his overwhelming desire to wrap his hands around my neck and squeeze. I imagined him watching me struggle minute by minute, second by second as he pressed the last breath out of me.
“I guess I should apologize for the other day,” he stated coolly.
“Why? Are you sorry?” I asked. There wasn’t anything about his disposition that expressed remorse. I was no fool; he was using this opportunity to own up to his actions. He was proud of himself and was here for the sole purpose of gloating. He wanted me to know that he was the panther that wanted me dead in the woods.
He didn’t answer; instead, he focused on that little corner of my eye that seemed to draw everyone’s attention. Daily I checked for it—it was gone, but the results of its existence remained my sin and burden to bear. I was different, an anomaly, something that most people didn’t want to exist and those who did only wanted me for a short time, until I served the gem’s purpose.
“Terait, strange magical abilities, a sergence that clearly shows that you are not one of us. What have you done to Sebastian that he protects you when your life should have been taken?” His gaze chilled me. It was a rhetorical question, but there was intrigue coloring his words. “You are just an abomination of oddities, and yet we continue to let you live when, by all accounts, we shouldn’t.”
How surprising, a were-animal wants me dead. This was becoming so repetitive that I barely felt threatened anymore. I was tired of being threatened, tired of people wanting me dead without any qualms about voicing it.
Gavin was a transfer from the East Coast, Brooklyn to be exact. Steven said that being the strongest pack in the country had it advantages but one disadvantage was that other packs dumped their “problem children”
with them as a last resort. I wondered why he was transferred. Was he transferred because he was too much for his pack to handle? Was it common practice for him to take on the role as judge, jury and executioner? As he glared at me, he’d completed two of the three roles and was waiting out the final. “You are vermin, something that should be exterminated. I should be the face of your death.”
I stepped closer to him.
A person can only hear how terrible they are, how wrong their existence is, how much others want them dead so often before you just want to scream, fight and yell. You want to tell them, show them and make them see that you should be here, and you damn well planned on staying. “But you won’t be. You may feel it in every bone in your body, sense the desire so deep that it hurts. But it will continue to be a hunger that you can’t satisfy. Go ahead and wish I was dead, hope for it with everything you have; but as long as Sebastian says I am protected, you won’t do a damn thing about it.”
The mention of Sebastian was enough to make him straighten and control his ensuing wrath. It was my only trump card or rather my wild call. That’s what he was—a wild card. A trump card overrode all. A wild card was fleeting, changing at the dealer’s discretion. Sebastian had chosen to protect my life, and anyone who disobeyed would pay with their life. That is how he felt now. If he ever changed his mind, removed his protection, I was screwed.
With that, I started up the stairs before my fear betrayed me, leaving me exposed in front of a predator who wanted me dead.
“You won’t be protected forever,” he cautioned.
Without turning around I responded, “Perhaps, but until then killing me will be nothing more than just your arousal fantasy.”
Ethan returned soon after my run-in with Gavin, but he had been in the office with Steven, Sebastian, Gavin, Josh and Winter. She had returned minutes before Ethan. Her attitude toward me hadn’t changed as she greeted me with an ill-intended glare. They stayed in the office for a long time. Most of the words remained indistinguishable so I eventually gave up listening at the door and retreated to the kitchen, which I was sure would be his next stop.
“Yes, Skylar?” Ethan asked in a rough unapproachable tone as he entered the kitchen. I didn’t speak, waiting until I could see his face to determine my approach. His voice was anything but welcoming and so was the look on his face. The marking of a long day, unease and exasperation turned his face into a mishmash of unpleasantness. He went straight to the fridge and started pulling out food. “Go ahead; I can wait till after you’ve eating,” I said as I sat down at the table.
After he had warmed up leftovers of tenderloins with a side of chicken, he sat at the table. I looked at his plate and shook my head. I didn’t think he’d ever eaten a vegetable, “I know you identify with the wolf, but your human half needs vegetables.”
He looked at me smugly, walked to the refrigerator, broke off a small stalk of broccoli, took a bite and swallowed it, barely chewing it. “Satisfied?”
I shrugged. “It’s your health.”
He attacked his food the same way I’d seen him do to the poor unsuspecting fawn the first night I went on a run with them. Once his plate was empty and the only traces that food ever existed were the bones, he pushed it forward and waited impatiently for me to speak.
“What happened with Quell?”
“We are trying to negotiate with Demetrius.”
“Negotiate? For what?”
“We asked for the gem, and, in return, we would overlook certain indiscretions that we haven’t in the past,” he admitted.
“Indiscretions?” I asked, unable to hide the disgust in my voice. “What type of indiscretions? Did you agree to let them kill a certain number of people while you turned a blind eye? Do they get to kill expectant mothers now or maybe children? Can they now turn children and kill whoever without any recourse? Or will you provide carry-in for them once a month?” I asked, outraged.
The look on his face confirmed that I may not have been exact but I wasn’t far off. Disgust left a dank taste in my mouth.
“Skylar, you need to calm down,” he ordered.
“No, I won’t calm down! What the hell did you do?” I demanded, coming to my feet.
He stood too and approached me. “This isn’t a good situation. It is a necessary evil. It is a much better alternative than them actually gaining possession of you and all boundaries that restrict them lifted. I assure you, they won’t stop until you are theirs,” he stated. He stalked toward me, backing me to the wall. His hands rested on each side of me, blocking me from moving. I couldn’t look at him. Sliding down to the floor, I pulled my knees up to my chest. “I know this is a bad situation,” I admitted. This situation was an absolute mess. The amount of guilt I felt was too much to handle at this moment.
He sighed, but it came out more like a suppressed growl. “The cards are dealt and we have to play with what we have. You can’t wish them away nor will tears wash the situation away,” he stated coolly.
I looked up at him, showing him a face free of tears. He was truly a piece of work, a real douche extraordinaire. “I’m sorry that loss of life is so frivolous to you. We can’t all be as callous as you seem to be,” I snapped.
“If I were as emotional as you are, I could never perform my job. Sitting on the floor, overwrought with emotion is a luxury this pack cannot afford. We have to make very hard decisions, decisions I wish came with a better resolution, but we must weigh them all and go with the one that is easiest to live with.”
I knew this. I was just too angry to allow reason to have a place in my rant.
“Sucks to be you right now, huh?” I finally let out, meeting his gaze. His face was so solemn and withdrawn; I think he felt the same way.
Leaning against the counter, he seemed to have drifted off somewhere. “I would love to go into their home and just wipe the place clean, rid us of all the blood suckers. But that would guarantee a war that would leave far too many casualties,” he admitted, shaking his head. I thought I would sooner ice-skate on the rivers of hell before I would ever feel sorry for Sebastian and Ethan, but at this moment, a wave of compassion was directed solely at them. Go figure.
Like everyone else in the house, I waited for Demetrius’s response. I heard the front door of the house open and her scent traveled throughout the house like a vapor. Standing at the landing at the top of the stairs, I watched Ethan and Sebastian greet Chris with sneers that might as well have been a welcoming hug the way she warmly smiled to greet them. She knew how to make an entrance.
Leaving Quella Perduta standing at the door, she took slow precise steps as the heels of her boots clicked against the hardwood floor. The fitted, white button-down and jeans left little to the imagination. For a person who oozed sex appeal, she made great effort to make sure no one missed it. The in-between remained at the door, uninvited into the home.
She smiled demurely. “He’s harmless,” she stated, directing her attention to Sebastian, “ask your Beta.”
“Maybe so, but a vampire will never be invited into our home. It is our misfortune that you don’t require one,” Sebastian stated abrasively.
She continued to smile, his insult rolling over her like a gentle tide. Steven went to close the door on the in-between, but Chris stopped him, holding the door half open.
“Demetrius received your message,” she stated as she stepped closer to Ethan. “He wasn’t too thrilled about your little visit to their home. I think his exact words were, ‘That damn wolf entered my home and left his stench in the house,’” she stated, amused.
“If I can stand his, he surely can stand mine.”
“That is not the point. You all know better. How dare you! I don’t believe you to be this stupid, so I assume the little doe-eyed wolf with all the gumption was behind this plan. She’s too new to this world and doesn’t know … ”
“ … Chris, I made Demetrius a proposition. What was his decision?”
“And it was quite a proposition, but regret
fully he declined. In fact, Quell what were his exact words?” she requested.
Quell took a step forward just short of the threshold as he acknowledged both Sebastian and Ethan. His face was still void of all emotions as he spoke softly and gently. “I apologize, my Master never responded but his declination was implied.”
“He laughed, sweetheart. Your offer never even got a response. It’s over. The fact you all are sneaking into their home and making bargains shows that you know this as well.”
“I assure you it is not over. Attempting to provide a civil resolution to a rather distasteful situation was our intention. If failure is what Demetrius desires, then it is what he will receive,” Sebastian confidently responded.
“Certainly you don’t value the little wolf’s life so much that you will risk the safety of your pack?” she asked incredulous.
He sneered, taking several steps toward Chris. He was quite intimidating, yet he had little effect on her. She smiled at his approach. “Her life has very little to do with this. It is the life of the many that we are concerned about. What would the body count be if the vampires were allowed the freedom that the powers of this world saw fit to deny them?” he challenged.
“When the were-animals’ restrictions were removed, not less than a century ago, so should theirs. At one time, the were-animals were tied to the Moon, Mercury and Saturn like children. Now your kind is no longer a slave to that which calls them; instead, you all are allowed to take animal form at will. This is something that more than a century ago was unthought-of. Back then, when the animal was unleashed, it was a vicious murderous creature unable to control its primal impulses. Were-animals were nothing more than death that traveled on four legs. Now you feel that you are superior to the vampires because you all somehow evolved to a lesser evil. Pshaw! You all are no better than the vampires. Dwelling just below the surface still remains that wild, ferocious animal—no matter how hard you try to assume domestication. Why do you think lone were-animals still exist—because some of your kind still long for the primitive ways—to be the very embodiment of death. They are what you use to be in its purest form—raw, uninhibited, merciless—true predators,” she sniped back.
Moon Tortured (Sky Brooks Series Book 1) Page 24