Pretend With Me (Midnight Society #1)
Page 27
Just as my hand was about to slam into his face another time, firm rough hands grabbed me, trying to haul me back and away from Zane. I stretched my arms out, snatching onto Zane's body, refusing to let him go, scratching at his face and neck. My nails dug into his skin and warm liquid pooled at my fingertips. The person behind me yanked me away forcefully, ripping my hands away from Zane and putting distance between us.
“Haven't you changed into a fighter?” Zane smirked, wiping blood from under his nose. I stopped struggling, glaring at him and the person holding me slackened his hands automatically. I kept my eyes trained on Zane, targeting him. “But I guess I did deserve that,” he mused and flexed his jaw. “I did kill your boyfriend.” Immediately I ripped out of the person's hand and launched myself at his face again.
This time Zane's hand clammed onto my fist just inches from his face. “But,” he continued as if nothing had happened, forcing my hand down, between us. “He was also your protector, which meant that he would have died either way.” He raised his other hand and before I had time to react, he shoved it into my stomach, using force that was above a human's.
My hands curled around my stomach and I fell to the street as pain made my entire body throb. “Something is different about you,” I heard Zane mutter to himself and I made myself look up to him. He was standing over me flexing the hand he had just punched me with. He grabbed onto my hair and then yanked me up to meet his face, staring at me intensely. His eyes raked over my body, looking for something, but I couldn't figure out what.
“Fucking bitch,” he shouted slamming his fist into my stomach again. “You shifted, didn't you?” he screamed in my face, again shoving my hand into my stomach. This time he released my hair, shoving me into the ground hard as he walked away from me cursing in frustration. After a few steps, he stomped back to me, anger leaking from his every move and launched his boot into me. My body rose from the ground slightly at his solid blow. Before I could regain myself, I felt his boot crash into me again, and again, and again. Pain echoed through my body and I was instantly coughing up blood at his foot.
“Killing you has just gotten complicated,” he grunted looking down at me and all I could think was, this was it; Zane was finally going to kill me now, and in response panic and adrenaline mixed in with the fear rushing through my blood. I could feel it inside me, twisting my stomach into knots, quickening my already flying heart. But along with the panic and adrenaline came something else – something that was familiar and yet strange at the same time. It was a voice in my head, screaming and scraping at my body to be heard, shouting that I needed to stall him.
I gritted my teeth from the pain and forced myself to stand up, facing Zane determined to show no weakness. “Why?” I wheezed out, listening to the inner voice. I didn’t know why, but I knew that I had to, even if stalling Zane meant letting him beat me to a pulp.
“What does it matter to you, you’re dead either way,” he spat at me.
“I deserve to know what is it about me that you want...?” I screamed at him, “I want to know why you killed Daren and Brandon, what was it all for? What is this for?” I was still screaming at him.
Zane tilted his head to the side, his eyes studying me intently. A small wicked smile then pierced his lips as he took a step closer to me, raising his hand to cup my cheek. “Because little pureblood girl, for centuries the purebloods have been trying to create more of their kind… and you're not just one of their creations, but the one that lived… They can never know their experiment on you is a success…”
“But they already know. Katalin knows…” I groaned, ignoring my protesting body. My voice came out dry and cracked.
“Katalin can’t do anything until you awaken fully – meaning all stages of awakening, complete with inheritance and all…” I could hear the smile in his voice. “And if you’re dead, you can’t awaken… she’ll never really know if you’re a success or not. She knows this well, after all that’s why she had guardians and protectors stalking you day and night.”
“What?” I frowned and even that hurt.
“Did you think Daren was your only protector?” he laughed. “How naïve,” he chuckled and then dropped his hand to my shoulders, his fingers digging into my skin. “Make sure she's dead,” he then said to someone behind me, his voice blank and casual as he shoved me back. I landed on the street, my knees and hands scraping against the pitch, and suddenly found myself staring up to at least fifty different guys.
At once I stood up backing away from them slowly. They all matched my steps and with each step that took me back, they all took one, coming closer towards me. My heart began hammering away in my chest and with each beat my body groaned with pain. Every move I made hurt, but from the sinister looks plastered on their faces, I knew that they were going to make my death a long and painful one. I didn't dare stop moving.
As this realization sunk in, adrenaline poured through my body again, heating my veins. I was instantly numb as strength came alive in my body, and as it poured through me I turned around, shooting off into an unknown direction.
As soon as I sped off, my body slammed into a hard thick wall and I stumbled back struggling to remain on my feet. It was then that I realized I hadn't run into a wall. Standing directly in front of me was a gigantic man, literally towering over me. A devilish grin stretched across his lips. Instantly I spun around and found myself trapped. They were all around now, closing me into a small circle.
“Hello there,” the one I'd slammed into grinned at me. I swallowed shutting my eyes tightly; my last thought being that Eric was going to be so pissed at me when he finds out I'm dead.
Almost as if my thoughts had conjured him I heard his voice in my head. “Hi” he sneered at me, his voice enraged and exactly how it’d be when he woke up tomorrow morning and learned that I’d stupidly gone off on my own in the middle of the night and gotten myself killed.
There was so much I wanted to tell him, but it was too late now. There was no way that he was ever going to know, yet nevertheless I whispered so low that only my lips moved, “I’m sorry.” And then I waited for God knows what Zane and his pack had planned for me. I was sorry for all the pain and trouble I’d put him through. He deserved none of it. I was sorry for not telling him that I loved him, and that I didn’t open up to him when I had the chance.
The pain never came. Instead the strong stench of blood filled my nose. The scent was thick in the air, filling my lungs with the sickly iron and salt smell. I could taste it on my tongue and it made me want to throw up.
My eyes shot open and I found myself – against everything that I thought possible - inches away from Eric’s back. Almost a quarter of the guys that had been surrounding me were now on the ground, lying lifelessly as blood dripped from Eric’s fingers, hanging loosely at his side. His entire arm, from elbows to fingertips glistened red in a glove of blood. In one fluid movement, Eric tossed something aside and then flipped our positions.
I was suddenly standing with my back to him, exactly where he had seconds ago once again facing the guy. Only this time, he wasn't grinning down at me. His face was in a mask of shock and confusion. Blood ran down the sides of his mouth as he gawked down at his body.
I followed his eyes and grasped when I saw a jagged, gaping hole torn into his stomach. Blood was gushing to the street from it and then he toppled over towards me. Frantically I began backing away from his dropping body, terrified of him falling on me.
He landed inches from my feet, right next to the thing Eric had tossed away. It was a heart; I realized horrified - a human heart but bigger than it should be. Dark red blood, poured out from the guy's corpse, crawling towards my feet and hysterically I backed away.
No matter how many steps I took though, the blood kept chasing my feet. After what seemed to be forever, it stopped coming and I turned desperately wanting to find Eric. Instead the image that met my eyes had me shaking in fear. I rooted in place at once, my body frozen. Directly in front of
my eyes a war was raging on.
It was a scene that I was sure I would always remember. This was something I would see every time I closed my eyes. It was a new image to haunt my dreams. Nothing would ever be more terrifying than the violent, deathly image unfolding before me, and in the midst of it all, was Eric.
As I took in the scene before me, loud vicious snarls and deadly growls tore through the air sending strong ripples of fear pulsing within my body. There were wolves much bigger and harsher than the one I had seen and attacking them were fierce wild animals that belonged anywhere but here.
Desperately, I searched for Eric through the mass of confusion, and after a while of raking through the fighting creatures I saw him. Immediately I found myself wishing that hadn't. For the second time in my life I was afraid of Eric Wilson. He was literally tearing the monsters apart, limb by limb.
Everything that I knew and understood about him was gone. He wasn't the Eric I was used to. I had never been face to face with this side of him, and now that I was, I was terrified. Everything about him that was calm and controlled was completely gone, now replaced by something dark, primal, and savage.
Adrenaline pulsed through my body and I spun around ready to shoot out again, but before I could fully spin, I found myself staring at Zane. His hand shot out towards me and tightened around my neck, cutting my air off. The next thing I knew, my feet were off the ground, dangling inches in the air and I was abruptly staring at Zane's face.
“You escaped me two times already; there will not be a third,” he sneered into my face, tightening his hands around my neck just about crushing me. At the back of him, I saw Eric's head snap up staring directly at us. Without taking his eyes off me, he bit into a wolf's neck in front of him ripping its throat open. When the wolf dropped to his feet, he kicked it aside stalking towards me.
Zane's fingers were suddenly ripped away from me and immediately I fell to the ground, grasping for air and clutching my throat. In front of me, I saw Zane was also on the ground flat on his back. Two black, sleek paws were on his chest. My eyes travelled up those paws and I saw a huge snarling jaguar, lunging for his neck. Zane's hand shot up and grabbed the jaguar instantly throwing it off him. In the same moment he was on his feet.
Zane locked eyes with Eric for a second that seemed to go on forever then without warning he exploded into a giant wolf that was bigger and meaner than all the others. He slid down on all fours and throwing his head back, he let a loud, smooth and ear shattering how l out that ripped through the air.
In an instant air whipped around me and then Zane and half of the fighting werewolves were gone, as if they had never been here. I forced myself to get up off the ground. My body was groaning in pain and I could barely stand. The jaguar was directly in front of me now. My eyes locked onto its eyes, fear rooting my feet in place.
My vision blurred for a second, but before it could fade completely, I forced myself to focus as the jaguar in front of me began fading into a human form. My feet swayed, sending me tumbling to the ground, and this time I didn’t fight the darkness.
* * *
My head was on fire and every part of my body hurt. Even in unconsciousness, I could feel every sore cell in my body pulsing with intense pain, and as I breathed in and out it only got worse. I struggled to open my eyes, but my eyelids felt as though heavy weights had been placed on them. A soft, dry moan escaped my throat as a new stronger wave of pain tore through me.
“Hey, I think she’s waking up” a confused unfamiliar male voice said, but I couldn’t make sense of what it was saying. All the words were jumbled together making them difficult to understand. “Dude she’s waking up, go get Dina and that pureblood kid,” the voice said again.
Finally, I managed to open my eyes and slowly the world around me came into focus. I found myself staring into bright, brown eyes that were directly above me. Another wave of intense pain pulsed through me and along with it came some of the memories of what I had just lived through.
Instantly I shot up off whatever I was laying on and bolted away from the stranger. As I moved, my body throbbed with pain and immediately my legs shattered under me as if they were made of fragile ice. I fell to the ground with blood abruptly pouring out of my mouth now.
Light flooded into the room or whatever I was in for just a second and then Eric was kneeling down at my side. After torturously slow minutes of coughing up blood, I finally stopped and looked up to him, meeting his face for the first time in what felt like a long time.
“Hey…” he whispered cupping my face. “Can you get up?” I didn’t answer him; instead I found that I was completely frozen with shock and fear. The memories of him ripping those things apart flashed in my mind making me flinch away from his touch.
I was absolutely still, searching him – his face - for any sign that the cold Eric was staring back at me. That person wasn’t my Eric. My Eric was in control of himself. He was kind and caring and human. The Eric I had seen earlier was anything but human. He had been wild and emotionless, as if nothing mattered to him. It was like he had lost control, and even though I knew he was protecting me, I was still terrified of him.
When I found only my Eric staring back, I wrapped my arms around his neck tightly ignoring the searing ache in my body. “Can you get up?” he whispered again when I released him. My only response was a slight nod. Eric then wrapped his arms around my waist, helping me up and back onto the small rectangle cot I’d been on.
“I can handle it from here,” Eric said firmly staring at the boy with the brown eyes. Without saying anything he nodded once and then turned, pushing at the glowing ember wall and I realized I was in a small tent. There was nothing in it but the cot, a few cardboard boxes and some duffle bags stacked against one end.
I turned back to Eric only to find him kneeling in front of me. Slowly and hesitantly, he raised his hand resting it at the sides of my face. His eyes raked over my body and I watched as millions of emotions flashed through his face with each passing second. All he saw in that moment was the damage; the cuts and bruises on my skin that was soon to be blue-black patches.
His eyes travelled down to my neck as he held my chin gently and tilted my head back and to the side. As soon as the dim glow from outside the tent touched my neck, his breath caught. Eric slightly brushed his hand along my neck and even though his touch was feather light, my skin burned. I didn’t have to ask to know what he was seeing. I could feel Zane’s hands around my neck still. I could feel his fingers tightening and choking me even now.
Next Eric took my hands in his and turned them over so my palms were now facing up. Both my hands were damaged. My palms were red and blistered, and the skin on the heels of my palms had been scraped away. My right hand was worse. It was swollen and the skin of my knuckles were bruised and torn from punching Zane. I could barely move it and I knew beyond doubt that some, if not most, of the bones were broken.
Eric then slowly released my hands and began unzipping the hoodie I was wearing. He pushed aside the material to reveal my t-shirt which now had huge spots of blood soaked into it and then gently tucked the t-shirt up. I didn’t know whether the blood was my own or not. I heard Eric's breath hitch again when he revealed my stomach and in response I looked down to find that large patches of blue-black spots stained my skin, spreading over my belly and ribcage. Now I knew why it ached to breathe.
His fingers lightly began tracing over my ribcage and every now and then, he muttered a number. When he reached three, I stopped listening. I didn’t want to know how many broken ribs I had. When he was done, he gently pulled down the t-shirt. All the while his touch had been soft and light and I knew that he was trying his best not to touch me so he wouldn’t hurt me.
I looked down at him and saw that he was staring at me. His eyes were glowing blue, like the heated centre of spitting fire, and just for a second I saw my Eric disappear before my eyes. Immediately my heart picked up, shooting me up with another dose of adrenaline and fear at the sa
me time. “That son of a bitch is dead,” he sneered.
“I’m sorry Eric,” I heard myself say. “I’m so stupid. I should have never gone out alone. I’m so sorry.”
“What?” he blinked. “Jen, it’s not your fault. It’s…” he trailed off cupping my face. “Jen, if you’re willing I can make the pain go away. My blood, it can start healing you…” Eric didn’t wait for me to respond; to agree even. Instead he brought his wrist to his mouth, biting into it and then he held it out to me. I didn’t make a move to take it. “It’ll help you, Jen,” he urged when I remained unmoving.
A long minute passed us, and then hesitantly I took his hand, watching as the warm red liquid poured out of the four, sharp holes that formed a perfect crescent on his wrist. Slowly I began to pull his wrist to my mouth but then stopped, staring at him. “How will I know when I’ve taken enough?” I asked, not taking my eyes off him.
“You’ll know,” he whispered and shoved his hand to me. Eric’s blood poured into my mouth and as it did, I drank deeply. It didn’t feel or taste like blood should. It was thin and sweet and warm. With each gulp that I took, I felt the white blanket that had been cloaking the world since I had woken up slowly thin. It was only now that I was realizing how dim the world had been before. Everything became clear as the pain sizzling inside me slowly began to fade. I could focus better now and all the memories of what had happened flashed through my head, all at once and at full speed.
“How do you feel?” Eric asked when I stopped. I didn’t answer, instead I remained quiet and still as my brain struggled to play catch up with everything that happened tonight. “Jen?” he tried again.
Hesitantly I nodded not knowing how I really felt. Physically I was fine. I wasn’t in any pain anymore. Before I could figure out anything the opening of the tent widened as someone walked in. “How is she?” Light bathed around her, making the outline of her body seem to glow amber and impossible to see any of her features.