I'm on my way back to the Church to get my bag- where I know a granola bar is stashed- when a familiar-looking black SUV catches my eye and stops me in my tracks. I watch in horror as Josh Holloway slips out of the driver's seat of the same SUV that I saw Jessie getting into the day Lex left. If I confront Josh about Jessie then I'm going to have to risk answering some questions of my own. A freaky space/time door sounds really good right about now. Fuck.
I straighten my shoulders, throw my head back, and march straight for Josh. When Josh sees me approaching he breaks into a huge smile. Not the reaction I was expecting, but I guess it's not a bad sign.
"Hey Evan, sup?"
"Sup?" I repeat, arching an eyebrow.
Josh laughs, the sound of it cutting through all the bullshit and warming my heart. It's difficult to ignore the easy connection that we have, but I try. "Nice car. Yours?" I ask.
Josh's brow crinkles in confusion for a moment before he relaxes back into his easy smile. "Nah, it's my mom's. I'm just borrowing it for the day."
"Interesting. Do you borrow it often?"
"What's with the line of questioning? Investigating a hit and run?" Josh grins and I can't help but grin back. Obviously I would be a terrible detective.
Subtlety isn't working for me, so I decide to just go for straight forward. "No, it's just, I saw my friend, you know, the one from the party?" Josh nods politely but I can tell he's having trouble following me so I cut to the chase. "The other day I saw her getting into a car just like that one. In fact, I'm pretty sure it was that one."
Josh frowns and then his eyes widen in understanding. "What day was it?"
"About a week ago. It was the day after the party at that beach house."
Josh's serious expression cracks and he starts to laugh. "Oh yeah, I remember that party. I was late getting there, but I got to hear all about how Magda Price's granddaughter showed up alone in some hot ass dress, got drunk, dirty danced with one guy, and left with another. It's all anyone's been talking about for a week."
I roll my eyes and give him my best who-gives-a-damn smirk. On the inside I'm pretty much dying from humiliation. "I bet. So, the car?"
"Oh yeah," Josh says nodding. "I was hung over all day after the party so I didn't go anywhere. I barely even left my bathroom. I have no idea who might have taken it that day other than the usual suspects: mom, dad, Princess Delia the First."
I snort. "Good one. I guess it might make sense if she was getting in the car with Delia; they seemed to hit it off at that party. I don't know why it bothers me so much, I just got a bad feeling about it."
"I wish I could help you. I..." Josh trails off, his gaze fixed on some point over my shoulder.
I turn to see what he's looking at only to be greeted by the unwelcome sight of Ezra walking straight for us. I glance back at Josh who's still staring open-mouthed at Ezra. "Dude, you're staring," I tease.
Josh's mouth snaps closed. He gives a little shake of his head and his eyes lose that glazed look. "Welcome back to the land of the living," I smirk.
Josh gives me a playful shove on my shoulder, but I can tell he's still completely tuned in to Ezra's every move.
"Evangeline, there you are." I shudder at the sound of Ezra's voice, all dark chocolate and silk. Josh's gaze meets mine and I can see the blatant disappointment there.
"Another one bites the dust," Josh says with a wistful sigh. "I'll see ya later, Ev."
I open my mouth to plead with him to stay, but he makes quick work of turning and heading toward the church.
"I'm glad to see you're up. I was afraid I might have...come on too strongly." I feel Ezra's warm breath on my neck when he speaks. He's standing directly behind me with barely any space between us. I want to remedy that, and put as much space between us as possible, but I'm frozen in place. He has this electric hold on me that I can't fight, not with all the power in the world. I'm not sure I even want to anymore. The promise of Ezra is the promise of darkness and oblivion, numbness to everything, but sensation.
I breathe in deeply. Clinging to the last shred of my resolve, I take a step forward and turn so that I'm facing him, an equal, not a captive.
"What did you do to me?" I spit.
The corner of Ezra's lips quirk up into an arrogant smirk. He reminds me of a spoiled prince and I hold onto that image because it diminishes him.
"I haven't done anything yet, love. But I can, if you'd like," he answers, taking a step closer.
"Ew. You know what, it doesn't matter. Just leave me alone," I say with as much disdain as I can manage. I do not want to even to try to analyze the feelings I'm experiencing right now. So, I don't. Without giving Ezra another second of my time, I turn and march toward the church. I'm not even hungry anymore, but I'm fairly certain that Ezra would burst into flames if he went inside a church, especially the Price Church of All That is Good and Holy.
I expect him to call out something ominous as I walk away, but he doesn't. His silence is more unnerving than anything he could possibly have said. Whatever. Maybe he's finally learned his lesson and is actually going to leave me alone. Miracles happen sometimes, right?
I politely step around a group of people and make my way toward the building's side door. The instant my hand makes contact with the doorknob, a blood-curdling scream rips through the air and stills my heart. There is a moment of absolute dead silence before all hell breaks loose.
People start running toward the main doors of the church where the horrible scream came from. More screaming follows, this time by the first wave of people to make it inside the building. I push through a group of teenage girls sobbing violently in the doorway. Inside, a few more people are sobbing, but most are just standing there, frozen, tears silently streaming down their faces.
My eyes travel from the faces of people, whose names I don't know, to the walls. Something is off about them. It takes a second before my brain recognizes the change: blood. Blood is everywhere. It's splattered on the walls like a bad Pollack painting and it's smeared across the two-hundred-year-old stained glass windows. It's dripping from the simply, elegantly carved pews and it's soaked into the fine, delicate paper of the hymnals and the bibles. My gaze drops to the floor where a thick, dark, shining river of blood streams around my shoes on its way to the door.
I'm sickened and enthralled by the sight of it. I step forward into the mess that everyone is slowly inching back away from. I'm functioning on pure adrenaline, my mind shut off to the reality of what's happening. I take measured, automatic steps toward the source of the chaos. The blood is coming from the altar and the two bodies that lay limply on it.
As I near, their slack, empty faces come into focus. The body closest to me is unrecognizable. It's an older woman, probably mid-forties, with a tiny delicate frame and dark hair shaped in a pixy cut. She's wearing a blood-soaked gray linen skirt and a silk top that looks like it used to be white. My eyes stray to the deep slashes across her neck and wrists where the blood is beginning to congeal.
I tear my attention away from the woman and set it on the other lifeless body. The sight of it cuts through the numbness and rips away the last shred of sanity it was protecting. This body belongs to another girl, one my age. Her bleach-blonde hair is pink from the blood that's soaked into it. She's clothed in a simple white shift dress and her feet are bare. Her wrists are slashed, too, but her neck, though caked in dried blood, is otherwise unharmed. I drop to my knees at Jessie's side and reach for her limp hand.
The skin on the back of my neck and arms prickles and I freeze with my arm still outstretched. Slowly, I turn toward the source of the sensation and lock eyes with a strangely familiar dark-haired, sad-eyed woman. One I've only seen in my dreams. I glance around frantically to see if anyone else notices her when I see Mattie standing near the doorway. She has a horrified look on her face, but it's not because of the blood or the bodies. Her gaze is fixed on the same strange woman that I'm seeing.
From what I can tell, we're the only ones w
ho can see her. Mattie jerks her head toward me. Her eyes widen slightly when she comes to the same realization. I look away from her and back to the strange woman. I want to get up and go to her, but I'm rooted from the shock of everything that's going on. The moment seems to stretch on eternally. I'm starting to think that we're all just going to stay frozen in time forever when the silence shifts and becomes charged with electricity.
I blink and then she's standing there in front of me, her dark endless eyes swallowing me up and consuming me. When she speaks, her voice is barely more than a whisper but it rings and carries on from our tiny point on earth to the farthest reaches of the universe. "It's here."
Chaos erupts again. Someone starts to pull me up from the floor, but I jerk away from them and stumble towards the door. I need to get the hell out of this place before I find out what that creepy lady means. People are shouting to each other to call an ambulance and the police; some are even shouting to me. I don't slow or stop to find out what they're saying.
I trip over the threshold and stumble blindly down the steps onto the front lawn of the church. I can't think anymore because there are sirens everywhere clogging my mind and there is blood on my knees that doesn't belong to me. I heave myself off the ground and break into a sprint.
I have no idea where I'm going; I just need to go. My mind begins to clear as I weave around dressed-up picnic tables and make my way toward the circle of ancient trees in the middle of the town square. Once I'm inside the paltry refuge of those trees I collapse onto the pine needle strewn ground.
My breath comes in painful, choking gasps. Every part of me hurts, from my skin to my very soul. I am coming apart one cell at a time. I wrap my arms around body, trying to keep it together, but it's not enough. I am going to dissolve into the air and no one will notice. Why should they? Wherever I go, darkness will follow. That's clear to me now. The trees around me break out into a frenzied whisper, but I ignore them. Whatever they're trying to tell me they can save for the next girl. I'm done.
I hear footsteps approach and the whispering stops. Whoever it is doesn't say anything. I will them to leave but they only come closer. I sense them drop down behind me. Before I can yell at whoever it is to go away, they wrap their arms around me and pull me tight against them.
The relief is instant. Lex. It has to be Lex. I sink into his warm embrace, a soft sigh escaping my lips. He reaches up and brushes my hair aside, exposing my neck to his hot, quick breath, and trails kisses up my neck and along my jaw. Instead of the familiar electricity, I feel a pulsing, liquid blackness roll over my skin and sink into my pores, filling me with unending ache and desire.
I've realized too late that it's wrong; the wrong person with the wrong arms and the wrong lips. "Ezra?" I whisper, confused.
I turn my head to look into his hooded, gold-streaked eyes. Ezra reaches up and presses a finger to my lips, silencing my scream. His triumphant smile is the last thing that I see before the whole world goes black and I drop into absolute nothingness.
About the Author
Crystal Groszek is the author Evan Elemental, the first book in a new paranormal romance series. Crystal began thinking about and plotting Evan Elemental while attending Utica College where she earned her bachelor's degree in English Literature. She currently lives in Little Falls, NY with her fiancé, Patrick, and her lovably insane puppy, Lenni. You can find more information about Crystal and the Evan Elemental series by visiting her at www.evanelemental.com. You can also reach Crystal on twitter at www.twitter.com/crystalgroszek and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/crystalgroszek.
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
About the Author
Evan Elemental (The Evan Elemental Series) Page 20