Maybe Blaine was right. If I surrendered to the pain, maybe it would hurt less. But I refused to allow it. The darkness coursing its way through me could very well consume my body, turning me into something even more horrific than a Hellhound. I couldn’t let it take hold of me.
The van shifted as I heard the front door open and close. A moment later, Russell unlocked the cabin doors, gesturing me out. It wasn’t much brighter outside. Low rumbles of thunder resounded overhead, and the bleak landscape illuminated for a split second as lightning tore the sky open. Trees sat in the distance, nothing but a lush green field stretching out around us.
“Where are we?” I muttered, trying best to collect myself as I unbuckled my seatbelt.
Russell didn’t answer.
I staggered toward the backend, clearly seeing now that none of the other vans were there. Amid the burning in my veins, I couldn’t mistake the hot release of a rune igniting on my arm. I was in trouble. Russell wrapped his beefy mitts around my wrist, yanking me down to the ground. The only reason I didn’t eat a mouthful of grass blades was because he kept my arm suspended up, once again threatening to tear my shoulder out of its socket.
I’d barely managed to regain my footing when he started dragging me around the van. The vehicle was still turned on, its headlights cascading across the desolate field. Up ahead, I noticed the ground gave way. It was a hole.
I slammed my feet into the uneven soil, but it didn’t slow us down. It only made Russell pull harder. “What are we doing out here?”
“Cleaning up the mess your boyfriend made.” He gave me one last commanding yank, throwing me out in front of him. I caught my balance not more than a foot from the gaping hole in the ground. Again, Blaine was right. Mr. Reynolds had issued my death warrant, and Russell was about to make good on it.
I turned around, the headlights blaring into my eyes. The outline of his shadowed figure was unmistakable, particularly the long blade wielded in his hands. “Why didn’t you just kill me in the van?” I surprised myself saying that, but it wasn’t worth keeping up pretenses anymore. We both knew the score.
“Why bother having to tow your body when I can just make you walk here?” he retorted so matter-of-factly, nodding to the hole. “Plus, it saves on clean up. Blood would be hard to wash out of the van. And it seems wrong to stain the grass.”
Well, that was a lovely sentiment.
Thunder shook the earth beneath our feet just before a bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree. We both jumped as the sky suddenly exploded with a flash as if a miniature bomb had gone off. The electrical bolt raged for just a second, somehow reflecting bright blue, hot pink, and fiery red all in one short swoop. The tree split in two, the unstructured half crashing to the ground as flames still tickled the charred lumber.
Unsure if I had really been responsible for it, I still used the distraction to my advantage. Lurching sideways, I dashed around the hole, away from the light.
A peculiar feeling suddenly washed over me. I couldn’t explain it. It was as if I’d been here before, as if I knew what I needed to do. I took a step back and dropped out of sight, right into the cavern.
My stomach, as well as everything else, lurched as adrenalin kicked in from the freefall. The drop was a good fifteen, maybe twenty, feet down. Once again I crashed onto the soot-covered floor. Lightning struck again, highlighting the damp room. All the skeletons, all the remains. Hellhounds turned to ash when they were killed, meaning only one thing. These were Changelings, people who posed a threat to the order. This was where the innocent really went when they “disappeared.”
Russell’s head peeked out from atop of the hole, and I all-out screamed, scrambling out of sight as the trigger pulled. The singular sound of a gun blast exploded across the hollow space, leaving a high-pitched ringing in my ears. I could hear Russell curse as I faced the shadows of the three passageways. A swallowing draft kicked up the ash around me from the center opening, just as it did in the vision. This time though, I didn’t hear footsteps.
Instinct told me to leap away, but that meant placing me back into the line of fire from up above. There wasn’t a chance in hell I was going down that passage. Instead, I darted into the corridor to my left. I made it a whole ten feet in before the stench burned my nose, practically knocking me backward. I didn’t need to see it for myself to know what putrefaction lay ahead in the dead, stagnant air. Something, or more like someone, was decomposing. I ran back out to try the last passage when I noticed the same foul odor right at the mouth of the opening. I had no choice. If I stayed, I was dead.
Up top, it had gone quiet. The bodies down here had been moved, which meant there was a way to get out. And a way for Russell to get in. If I had any chance of beating him to wherever this came out, I had to move. Fast.
Feeling my way through the center passage, I could smell the fresh fragrance of evergreens coming from up ahead, but blindly stumbling over the rough terrain didn’t exactly help me on time efficiency. The path seemed never-ending, and I still couldn’t hear anything above the low roar of thunder.
The slightest hint of light poked out at last around the dank bend. The moon still shone through the stormy sky, helping illuminate the landscape. An overgrowth of moss and fern clung to everything nearby, from the rocks to the tree lines. The mouth of the cave sat on an incline, the ground sloping dangerously down to a small pond.
I couldn’t see any clear path that Russell might come from, but the surrounding landscape appeared empty. Climbing down, my vision swayed as I got snagged on a rogue tree branch. Wrenching myself free, I lost my footing and wound up tumbling to the bottom of the hillside. Plummeting right into a buttonbush, I woozily peered around.
Still, no one was in sight.
Pulling myself up, I made it over to the pond when my entire body locked up. I willed myself to move, but the fever in me hissed with fury, as if sensing my resistance. The harder I tried to move, the fiercer the fever sent that wave of fire to burn through my veins. I choked out a silent cry, collapsing into the ground. Red flooded my vision as my body seized up again.
Move.
Move.
Move.
I had to move.
My airways even felt like they were being singed. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t…I couldn’t die. Not like this. Not alone in the woods.
“Well, well, well. Look at what we have here.”
I began to cry for a whole other reason. It was Russell. I was turned the other way, but I could hear his boots crack over all the loose foliage. Not more than ten feet away.
Move.
Move.
Move.
…Attack.
A wallop blasted behind me, and all I could do was flinch, expecting a bullet to tear through my body. Instead, a large mass hurtled past me, crashing somewhere in the overgrowth ahead. I could feel the magnetism, the energy coursing through the air. Magic. But…had I done that somehow?
Heat spread across my chest. Not the fever. That familiar, comforting warmth.
Reese.
Russell’s frame staggered upright, and I could see the gleam of his sword in hand. He brushed himself off and reeled toward me, his face contorted with confusion. His eyes traveled behind me, and he froze.
“Miss me?”
No.
It wasn’t Reese. That voice…it was Blaine.
Chapter 35
Own Little World
No further words were exchanged. The two rushed at one another, steel clashing as they met each other’s proposals. With the flash of lightning overhead, I could make them out amongst the shadows. Blaine didn’t have a sword. Just two daggers primed in hand. Still, by a hair’s breadth, he continued to avoid each of Russell’s pummeling strikes, time and time again.
With the next attempt, Blaine narrowly escaped the sweeping blade by dropping to the ground. The brute swung his blade and prepared for the final blow, but Blaine chopped his legs around Russell’s and rolled over. The forc
e knocked Russell to the ground as well. Both of them tried to grab a hold of their mislaid weapons, and I could see one of Blaine’s daggers a few feet from me. I tried to speak, but nothing more than a grievous groan escaped. Russell scoured the foreground, still not seeing where his sword had fallen. He suddenly sprang forward and tackled Blaine, drilling him into the ground with an annihilating impact.
They escaped my line of vision, and all I could hear was a rasp of air as Russell climbed back to his feet. He staggered toward a clearing, returning with his sword in hand. Blaine was still on the ground, struggling for breath.
Come on. Use your runes.
Blast this son of a bitch into oblivion.
In my current state, I was lucky to lift a finger. But Blaine could do it. He just had.
Just do it again.
Lightning flashed, and I finally got a good look at Blaine. The guy was as pale as sheetrock, his own blood staining every inch of clothing. Whatever Mr. Reynolds had done to him with that silver, it had drained him.
Russell strolled back to us, sword raised like a guillotine ready to deliver Blaine’s execution. The moment the Reaper reached his feet, the boy suddenly kicked his legs up towards his head, jack-knifing back upright in front of Russell’s face. Slamming an elbow into Russell’s nose, Blaine brought the man to his knees with a crushing blow to the left kneecap that made a sickening pop upon impact. The guy still rallied the strength to bring up his sword, forcing Blaine to cower back before it could slice into him.
Using every ounce of energy I could muster, I kicked the nearby dagger, and it skittered across the pebbled ground towards Blaine’s feet. A whisper of a smile danced across his lips as he knelt to snatch it up. And just in time.
Russell came barreling at him, driving his sword through the air with devastating momentum. Blaine sidestepped by a hair’s breadth, seeing sparks erupt from the blade as it slashed against the rock face behind him. That wasn’t a normal sword. I could feel its power pulsating from the hilt.
Blaine ducked the next sling of the blade and pushed right up to Russell, barely managing to drive his dagger into the Reaper’s side before the sword hurtled at him again. He tore the knife free from the brute’s flesh, trying to use it in an attempt to deflect the attack. It only managed to slow its impact. The blade came right at him. Blaine threw his arm up to avert the full brunt of the blow to his chest, and the steel sliced him down the entire length of his forearm. A sickening hiss seared the skin as the flesh was carved open.
Blaine collapsed, a guttural scream ripping through his lungs as smoke actually billowed out from the wound.
That wasn’t just silver in the blade. Something unnatural stirred inside it, absorbing the blood staining its blade until the sword spotlessly gleamed in the pale moonlight.
Russell swiftly brought his blade up again, and I suddenly cried, “Stop!”
The Reaper cocked his head over his shoulder and smirked. “You want to go first? Fine by me,” he sneered, snickering at the beaten boy writhing on the ground at his feet.
“No!” Blaine gritted through clenched teeth, watching Russell turn to me. He tried to get his knees under himself to stand, but he slumped back down, his whole body shuddering from sheer agony.
The faintest glow ignited from under my sleeve. Anger.
Focus.
I pinched my eyes shut, trying to picture what I needed to do. An invisible force slammed down on me as I managed to wave my hand. Whatever enchanted that sword didn’t want me controlling it. It yanked itself in the other direction, ripping free from Russell’s grip. The blade flung aside, disappearing into a collection of overgrowth.
Russell turned back to Blaine, clearly believing him to be the culprit. “Stay put, you little shit. I’d hate for you to miss this.” He snatched a handful of my hair and yanked me upright to my knees. I choked on a stifled breath as cold metal seized my throat. I gasped, but it served no good. Metal rattled as the grip tightened. It was a chain. Blaine’s guttural screams bellowed across the valley.
Russell jeered, prying me up. My knees were now suspended off the ground, but I didn’t have enough space to gain my footing. He continued to squeeze. Tighter and tighter. Gray began invading my vision as I reached up, clawing at his hands, his wrists. Anything to find relief.
But something else was wrong. It felt and sounded like a clothing iron was being dragged across my neck. It burned like hellfire! My fingers grappled at the chain, only to meet the same scalding.
“What the hell?” Russell sneered.
Even through my blurred vision, I could see it. Smoke. It was rising up from my neck.
“I fucking knew it. You blood whore!”
My body began convulsing. It was shutting down.
Save that for later. Blaine’s words slammed into the forefront of my mind. Save that for later.
I drew my leg up and pried out Reese’s knife. Before Russell could even figure out what I held, I reached behind me and plunged the blade into his thigh. I could feel muscles and tendons ripping apart under the drag of the dagger as I yanked it down.
Sweet relief finally flooded my lungs the moment I pulled the blade free from his flesh. The chain clattered to the ground, but a heavy boot hammered into my back as Russell called me every rotten name in the book. The impact knocked the wind right out of me again, and I face planted into the grass, gasping for air.
The world fell silent, except for a lone gurgle, as something warm splashed my back and hands. Still croaking, I rolled to my side, only to have Russell fall down beside me. His hands clasped desperately at his throat. The sickening wheeze that rasped from his severed windpipe sent blood spraying everywhere.
One look at my own hands, and I shot up from the ground, still unable to drag in a breath. I collapsed backward, furiously rubbing my hands against the grass and the fabric of my pants. His blood was all over me.
What had I done?
What had I done?
What had I done?
I killed him. I killed him. How did I kill him? Had a rune ignited?
“Hey.”
I gasped, seeing crystallized blue eyes suddenly looming over me. Blaine. The hilt to Russell’s creepy filigree sword dangled in his limp fingers. Just as before, the blood evaporated from the blade. He let it fall.
“You…”
His arms suddenly cradled beneath my back and the bends of my knees. He was trying to lift me off the ground.
“No,” was all I could manage. I batted my hands and threw my elbows at him until he finally let me go.
“Kat—”
“Get away from me,” I rasped, mindlessly crawling across the grass.
“Kat, stop.”
The chain. It was lying in the dirt beside Russell’s body. I immediately snatched it up, ready to hurl it at Blaine.
He groaned. “Kat—”
The instant my fingers wrapped around the fetter, I cried. My skin sizzled, and smoke rose from the area of contact even after I dropped the manacle. “What…?”
Blaine’s hands cradled my own. “It’s silver.”
No, no, no, no, no!
I must have said it out loud, because he pulled me to his chest, pleading with me to calm down. Hot tears burned my cheeks as I beat his torso, trying to wrestle out of his hold.
Only the purest of evil is affected by silver.
Only the purest of evil.
I wasn’t evil! I didn’t want this! I never asked for any of this!
“Make it stop!” I wept, bundling my fists into the fabric of Blaine’s shirt. I was the one now pulling at him, burying my face into his chest.
He knew what I meant, and he only held me closer. “It’ll get better—”
“You did this to me! You made me into a monster!” My balled up fists slammed against him, but he wouldn’t budge.
“You need to calm down,” he murmured. “You’ll only make it worse—”
“Why?!”
And that was it. The fever roared harder than
ever. Blaine’s voice fell distant over my unbearable cries. I couldn’t control myself anymore. Every inch of me ripped apart as my vision went black.
Chapter 36
Bring Me To Life
I didn’t know how I got inside the SUV. I didn’t know where we were driving to. I didn’t even know how long I had passed out for. One thing I did know: Blaine was driving without any keys in the ignition. The very thought sent a strange wave of crackling electricity into my fingertips. Could we manipulate electronics too? My mind jumped back to the stranger landing on the hood of my car. He—Blaine—had shut down the entire dashboard by merely laying a hand on the vehicle.
The burns from my neck and hands had died down to a small ache, but the rest of me… I couldn’t put it into words. Between the unspeakable pains tearing through me and the fever that was at its very height, it took everything inside of me to stay conscious. Blaine’s hand cupped the bottom of my face, urging my bobbing head back upright.
“Hey, stay with me. You’re gonna be okay. Just hold on a little longer.” His voice was so assuring that it made me laugh. It came out as nothing more than a grievous sigh. Talk about déjà vu. For the second time, Blaine was driving me ‘somewhere safe’ as I sat in the passenger seat feeling like I was about to die.
His arm was bandaged in makeshift bindings that looked like a ripped up t-shirt. Blood soaked it all the way through, leaving tiny droplets to paint the center counsel. I whipped my face away from him, letting my entire body slump against the door. Everything blew past the window in a blur of black and blue hues. The moonlight caught the very tops of the towering oak trees, but darkness consumed everything below.
A single pale light flashed by in an instant, and I blinked to make sure I’d even seen it. Sure enough, another light flew past us as well. There was something on the other side of those trees. My vision dazedly swung to the front window just in time to see an advertisement sign that read, “Slippery Pete’s: Best Bourbon in New England - 0.5 Miles.”
Insidious: (The Marked Mage Chronicles, Book 1) Page 33