Stalked by Death tod-2

by Kelly Hashway

  I sighed. “Please, Alex. I’ll be fine. I just want to end this.”

  He shook his head, but instead of refusing he said, “The door stays open.”

  “Deal,” I said, before Chase could object. Alex kissed me and glared at Chase before grabbing his shirt off the floor and leaving.

  I leaned against my dresser, the farthest point in the room from Chase. “Okay, so the prophecy says we’re destined, but I don’t think that means we have to end up together.”

  “What the hell else could it mean?”

  “That we’re supposed to work together. Use our powers to do something great. Maybe to finally get Hades off our back.”

  Chase sat up straighter in the desk chair. “You want to attack Hades?”

  “No. We’d never be able to defeat him. He’s a god. I think we could use our powers to force him into an agreement, though. Show him that fighting us is using too much of his time and energy. That it’s not worth it.”

  Chase nodded. “And you expect me to go along with this plan that could get us both killed, and gets me nothing in return? And on top of it, I have to watch you with Alex?”

  I thought about what Medusa had said about Ophi going bad. “Chase, what happened to you?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “You weren’t always like this. I know you weren’t. Medusa knows you weren’t.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He crossed his arms, guarding himself from my question.

  I walked over to the bed and sat down, closing the distance between us. “Every once in a while, I see a different side of you. You’re nice. Medusa seems to think that’s the way you used to be, but something bad happened that made you lose control of your emotions. Now, your anger fuels your power. It makes you act crazy, mean.”

  He laughed. “So, I’m some loony Ophi who couldn’t handle life and turned evil?” He was mocking me.

  “I’m trying to understand you, to work with you, but if you’re going to laugh in my face I’ll stop. We can part ways and never speak again. I’m fine with that.”

  “Are you threatening me now?” He sat forward and reached for my hand, but I pulled it away. “Looks like I’m not the only one whose anger is getting the best of them.”

  He was right. I was changing. I had been since he’d arrived. That was why I had to figure out what had happened to him. I had to try to make him go back to the way he used to be. Before his anger destroyed both of us.

  “I’m not playing games, Chase. Tell me what happened. Or you and your dad can leave.” His dad. Of course! Why hadn’t I put it together sooner? Chase was here with his dad. They’d both lied to us, and for what? There had to be a goal. I didn’t know what it was, but I had an idea why they were doing it. “It was your mom, wasn’t it? The awful thing that happened, it happened to her.”

  “Don’t try to psychoanalyze me, Jodi.” He tried to dismiss it, but I could tell by the pain on his face that I was right.

  “What happened to her?” I wasn’t letting this go.

  “Why do you care? You don’t want to be with me. You chose Alex, so why bother trying to make me get in touch with my feelings and be good like you seem so sure I used to be?”

  “Because you weren’t wrong about us.” I lowered my voice, hoping Alex wouldn’t hear me. I caught a glimpse of him leaning against the wall by the open door. I knew he was trying to listen in, but I couldn’t give up on Chase. Not when my future, and the future of the Ophi, depended on it. “I am drawn to you, Chase. There’s a part of me that does want to be with you. But I can’t be with a monster, and right now that’s what you are.”

  He leaned closer to me again. “Is this the portion of the conversation where you try to lie to me and tell me that you really do care? That you only want to help me so we can have a future together?” He laughed. “I thought you said you weren’t playing games.”

  “I’m not. I love Alex. I’m not going to deny that. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel something for you. That I don’t see what the prophecy is saying about us.” I reached for his hand. “Please, tell me what happened to your mom.”

  “She’s dead. End of story.” He pulled his hand away and laced his fingers behind his head. He wasn’t making this easy. I could tell he was hurting, but he insisted on putting up this wall.

  “Do you love me? Or am I a game to you? A prize you win if you can get me away from Alex?”

  “Don’t flatter yourself, Jodi. I’m here because of the prophecy. Together, we can be the most powerful beings on this planet. That’s what I want.”

  Finally, some honesty.

  “Of course, you’re nice to look at, so there are other perks. Like all those times you couldn’t keep your hands off me.”

  I caught a glimpse of Alex’s black shirt. He was coming into the room. I put my hand up to stop him. “Not yet.” I glanced at him briefly.

  He was majorly pissed. I hadn’t exactly come clean about the number of times Chase and I had made out. Alex punched my open door, which slammed back into the wall. I jumped. Alex went back into the hallway, but this time he leaned on the doorframe, staying in complete view.

  Chase laughed, and I smacked him. “Knock it off. Can’t you act somewhat human?”

  “No,” he said. “Because I’m not, and neither are you.”

  Not anymore. “That doesn’t mean we have to act like monsters. Ophi weren’t meant to be monsters.”

  “So you say.” Chase leaned back in his chair.

  “Tell me about your mom,” I pressed.

  “Dump loser boy over there.”

  “That’s it!” Alex was in the room faster than I could turn around. He slammed into Chase, tackling him to the floor.

  I’d had enough. I didn’t want to do this, but I didn’t have a choice. I summoned the blood on the left side of my body and sent each of them a small dose of poison. They immediately let go of one another and curled into the fetal position on the floor.

  “I’m sorry,” I said. “But I’ll do it again if you two don’t stop this. Fighting isn’t helping.”

  Alex looked at me in disbelief. “It was one thing when it was an accident, but this…”

  “I didn’t know what else to do.” I tried to let him see how sorry I was. I didn’t want to hurt him. I reached out to him. “Here, let me help you.”

  He swatted my hand away. “No, I’m fine.” He got up and walked over to my dresser without looking at me.

  “Alex—”

  Chase got up, too. Except he came over to me and tried to take my hand.

  “What are you doing?” I pulled away.

  “I’ll take a little power boost. Or was the offer only for Mr. Cheap Shot over there?”

  Alex ignored him, which could only mean he was beyond mad.

  I glared at Chase. “Believe me, if I give you anything right now, it will be more poison.”

  “I doubt that, but I get that you have to hide your feelings seeing as he’s here. Still, I’m proud of you for using your powers on us. That’s what you should do.”

  “No, it’s not,” I said. “I was desperate. I’ve had to pull you two off each other enough.”

  “So end it. I can’t give up because of the prophecy, but he can.”

  “You’re right.” Alex turned around. “I can.”

  I stared at him, my eyes wide. “What? Please, tell me you’re not going to.”

  “I never thought you’d hurt anyone on purpose. I get that your emotions are out of control and that he does that to you, but this—what you just did, you stooped to his level.”

  That hurt. My heart felt like it was being squeezed to death. Alex thought I was like Chase. I couldn’t imagine anything worse.

  I walked over to him, and my blood began to mix. Oh God! My body wanted me to use my power on him. I looked down at my arms, watching the blood boil underneath my skin.

  “What, are you going to dose me with the good stuff? Make me forgive you?” Alex held his arms out
in surrender. “Go ahead, Jodi. Manipulate me the way he manipulates you.”

  I covered my face with my hands and started to cry. I was turning into Chase. How could I call him evil when I was doing the same thing to Alex that Chase had done to me? If Chase was evil, so was I.

  “How does it feel to be the one in control?” Chase asked.

  I looked at him, confused. “What?”

  “You’re in control. It’s nice, right? Except he’s fighting you the way you fought me. That part sucks. So, what are you going to do, Jodi? Are you going to make him give in to you? Take what you want? Or are you going to give me what I want?”

  Control or be controlled. Those were my options. Both completely sucked. I couldn’t force Alex to accept me like this, but I couldn’t let Chase have power over me. What was left?

  “You don’t have to decide,” Alex said. “I’m done. The prophecy is coming true. You’re changing to better suit him. You aren’t the same girl I fell in love with.”

  Something in me switched. Instead of feeling sad and confused, I got angry. “I didn’t hear you complaining when you were taking my power. When you were pawing at me and taking off your clothes. We almost—” I couldn’t say it, so I turned to look at the bed.

  “But we didn’t. All because of him.” Alex narrowed his eyes at Chase.

  “She’ll thank me later,” Chase said.

  “Shut up!” My blood was boiling again. I wanted to poison Chase and use my power to make Alex stay. Every ounce of blood inside me was urging me to take control, but what would I become if I did?

  “Your blood’s never wrong, Jodi.” Chase pointed to my arms, which rippled like snakes were crawling under my skin. If only he knew what my blood was telling me to do.

  Alex shook his head. “I really wish things were different.”

  He was done with me. Unless I stopped him. “They can be.” I rushed to him and gave him more power than necessary. He bent under the strength of my blood. Pulling me as close as possible, he kissed me.

  “Apparently I was wrong.” Chase ripped me out of Alex’s arms. Alex stared at me, looking confused at first and then his expression changed to disbelief. “You really did it.” He shook his head and looked heartbroken. “I didn’t think you would. I thought I could snap you out of this. Convince you how wrong it was, but you gave in to the power. You chose to control me.”

  He looked at Chase. “You can have her. She’s not my Jodi anymore. She’s like you now.” He walked out of the room, leaving me to fall on my knees and cry.

  Chapter 27

  Chase picked me up and sat me on the bed. “Calm down. You’re better off without him. He wasn’t strong enough for you.” He held me and smoothed my hair, not using any of his power on me.

  After I couldn’t cry anymore, I looked up at him with puffy eyes. “This is the guy I was talking about. This is who you used to be.”

  “I don’t want to talk about that.” He leaned down and kissed me, just a small peck on the lips.

  “I need you to tell me about your mom.”

  “Shh.” He kissed me again, and this time he transferred his power to me. He wasn’t playing fair. He was making me forget what he didn’t want to answer. He was making me feel better about Alex walking out on me again. He was making me want him. I ran my fingers through his hair and kissed him back. The tingling coursed through me until my entire body felt like a live wire. All I could think about was Chase and wanting to be closer to him.

  Then the power stopped. Chase took it away, and he let go of me. For the first time, after the power connection ended, I still wanted him.

  “What are you doing? Kiss me,” I said.

  “Is that what you really want?” He looked different, sad.

  “Yes.”

  “What if I didn’t give you my power at the same time? Would you still want me to kiss you?”

  “What do you mean? Why wouldn’t you give me your power?”

  “I’ll give you all you want after you choose me. After you swear that you and Alex are history. Nothing more than a memory.”

  Alex. His name brought waves of pain. Heartache. “You don’t just stop loving someone.”

  “Jodi, we have to fulfill this prophecy, and until you commit to me, I’m cutting you off from my power.”

  “You won’t connect with me at all? Not even to bring my dad here? We were going to spy on Hades. See what he’s planning so we could be ready for the attack. I can’t do that without you.” I reached for his hands, sending him some of my power.

  He pulled away before he could be sucked in by it. “Don’t try that on me. I invented that game.” He stood up. “Sleep on it. Decide who you want. Be sure. Because whatever you decide, the decision is final. If you pick Alex, you’ll never see me or your dad’s soul again. If you pick me, Alex goes.” He walked out of the room, pausing in the hall. “Alex will never be able to do for you what I can. Remember that.” He left.

  I fell back on the mattress and stared at the ceiling. The decision should’ve been easy. Alex. I loved him. But Chase and I were destined to be together. He had the ability to be a good person. He just needed someone to help him get there, and if I didn’t choose Chase, I’d have another enemy. I didn’t need any more of those. But could I give up Alex? Would Alex even take me back at this point?

  Sometime around three in the morning, I finally dozed off. My questions all went unanswered, yet I knew Chase was expecting an answer in the morning. I woke up drenched in sweat, feeling like I was in the middle of a hellfire. I sat up and looked around the dark room. Even without any light, I felt the presence of someone in the room. I reached for the lamp on the nightstand. A corpse was standing at the foot of my bed.

  “Not again.” I was about to release him when something hit me. The feeling of hellfire. Where had I raised this soul from? I got up and walked over to him. He turned so he was facing me. His movements were awkward, like the body was unfamiliar, not really his.

  “What’s your name, and where did you come from?”

  He opened his mouth, struggling to form words. Finally he said, “Derek Colgan. Tartarus.”

  I had to grip the bed to stop myself from falling over. “Dad?”

  He nodded.

  “How did I raise you? I wasn’t trying to, and you were in Tartarus. Hades has your body. It should’ve been too difficult to get to you without Chase helping me.”

  “Another soul said you were looking for me.”

  The woman Chase and I had raised!

  “I’ve been waiting for you to come for me. I felt you reaching out, and I grabbed hold of you.”

  I wasn’t used to souls being willing to come to me. “Was it painful? The woman said it’s like torture to be in someone else’s body.”

  “I’m okay. It was worth it to see you again.”

  I wanted to hug him. I didn’t care that he was a corpse or that my seventeen-year-old father looked like a sixty-year-old man. He was still my dad.

  “I have to warn you, Jodi. Hades is planning an attack. He says he’s free to claim all the Ophi after all the slip-ups you’ve made.”

  I’d figured as much. “What is he waiting for? I thought he would’ve come for me already.”

  “I don’t know. He’s hiding something.”

  “What’s going to happen when you return to Tartarus and he finds out you talked to me?”

  He tried to smile, but it came off looking like a lopsided snarl. “He can’t kill me, because I’m already dead, but his punishments are worse than death.”

  “Then you’re not going back. You can stay here with me. I’ll protect you.”

  “No. He’ll come for you.”

  “Maybe not.” That was it. My decision was made for me. I wouldn’t lose my dad again. He’d been taken from me before I even met him. Now I had the chance to save him, and I would.

  Corpses don’t exactly sleep, so Dad sat in my desk chair doing nothing but staring at me while I tried to get a few decent hours of slee
p. The sun came up too quickly, and after I showered to rinse the dried sweat of the hellfire from my skin, I got dressed quickly and took my dad downstairs for breakfast. I was the last one there, and we were greeted with gasps all around.

  “What in Heaven’s name?” Arianna said.

  Lexi smirked. “I don’t think Heaven had anything to do with it.”

  “Everyone, this is Derek Colgan…my father. I accidentally raised him in my sleep last night.”

  Tony dropped his fork. “Oh, Jodi, not again.”

  “That’s not your dad,” Leticia said. “He’s way too old.”

  “Hades took my dad’s body. Remember that day in my room? He took several bodies from us. I put my dad’s soul into a body from the cemetery.”

  “Oh, dear!” Carol said, looking frightened. “This is not good news. Hades is going to come here any second.”

  The table erupted in a panic.

  “Relax.” I sat down next to Chase, who raised an eyebrow at me, waiting to hear my decision. Of course sitting by him instead of Alex wasn’t enough. He was going to make me spell it out for everyone. “I have a plan.” I looked at Alex who eyed me over a forkful of mac and cheese. “I’m going to fulfill the prophecy. It’s the only way to save us. Chase and I are going to reclaim all the souls Hades took.”

  Tony shook his head and clutched his hands in front of him. “You’ll be declaring war if you do that.” He didn’t say it, but I knew he didn’t trust Chase to help me either. The only reason Tony and Arianna hadn’t kicked Chase and Ethan out was because they knew I didn’t want them to. They were only holding back because of me, and I could tell it was killing both of them.

  “I think it’s a brilliant plan,” Ethan said.

  “You would.” Tony glared at him. “You’re all about sneakiness and tempting the gods, aren’t you, Ethan? Or are we still supposed to call you Mason?”

  “Enough,” I said. “I’m in charge. I’m making the rules.” I looked around the table, waiting for everyone to get quiet again. My eyes lingered on Alex. He stared at my dad, and somehow I knew he understood why I’d made the decision to be with Chase. It didn’t make it easier on him, but he knew me well enough to know I’d do anything for the people I loved. That included using my powers on him in a moment of desperation.