by E. A. Abel
“You are so very welcome, Bella. And thank you in return,” Demeetrie said and sped out of the room through the double doors and disappeared.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Chace and Alivia were snuggling in front of the fire in the master living room when his cell went off. He pulled the phone out of his back pocket and answered it.
“Chace, something terrible has happened,” Mercy said.
“What happened?” he asked.
“It appears that Erica was knocked unconscious and Devin is nowhere to be found.”
“Okay, we’re on our way.”
Chace hung up the phone and slid it back into his pocket.
“That was Mercy. It seems Erica is unconscious and Devin has disappeared. We have to get to the church.”
Alivia stood up and nodded in agreement.
“We don’t have time to take the car. If you hop on my back and hold on for dear life we can get to the church much faster.”
Alivia leaped onto his back. Chace zipped out of the room and stopped in front of the main door. He pulled open the door and sped across the courtyard, through the woods to the church.
Once he had stopped at the church and was standing in front of Demeetrie, he let go of Alivia.
Alivia fell onto the ground.
Mercy ran to Alivias’ side. “She’s fainted.”
Chace knelt down and picked her up into his arms.
“What do I do?” Chace asked. He couldn’t believe he did it again. He caused her to suffer. He never imagined for one second that speeding to the church would affect her.
Damn, she’s only human, he thought, how could something so important just slip his mind?
Mercy stepped closer and began to tap Alivia on the cheek.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Chace said angrily and moved Alivia away from her.
Mercy eyed him puzzled by his outburst. “I was trying to wake her up.”
Demeetrie held an unconscious Erica in his arms. “Son, you need to relax a little. It is customary to tap a fainted person on their cheek.”
“Oh my, the world was spinning out of control,” Alivia said as she opened her eyes.
“I’m sorry babe. I wasn’t thinking what kind of effect speeding you here would have on you. Can you forgive me?”
Chace said and kissed her on the forehead.
“I forgive you,” she said trying to smile. “Can you put me down now? I want to check on Erica.”
Chace lowered her to the ground.
“Whoa,” Alivia said trying to steady herself.
Chace put a protective arm around her waist.
“Maybe you should sit down,” he said.
“No, just give me a minute and I’ll be fine.”
Chace nodded.
Erica started to wiggle in Demeetries’ arms. “Let me go!” Erica screamed and began to slap Demeetrie frantically.
“Erica, it’s alright. It’s me Alivia,” she said loudly walking slowly toward her.
Demeetrie let her down. Erica swung around and glared at everyone. Finally, she rested her gaze on Alivia.
“It was Miles.” Ericas’ voice was still a bit shaky. “He had a whole group of guys with him. He had some sort of selenite crystal skull. Alivia, the skull made Devin weak.” Erica brought her hand up to her face, touched her swollen cheek lightly, and then flinched. “I don’t remember anything after that because some guy name Jack hit me. From the looks of it I’m guessing he knocked me out.”
Mercy glanced at Chace, he shrugged, and then she looked at Demeetrie.
Demeetrie nodded. “The skullenite is a weapon used to weaken the sunvamps.’’. Artemis aided in creating the weapon many centuries ago. The sole purpose of this weapon is to have its host remain in a conscious state unable to move.”
“How do we take it out of my brother?”
Demeetrie thought for a moment before he said, “I am afraid that the only way to take out the skullenite is to remove it by force. There are only two methods of removal. One is to cut it out with a sharp object, or two, to pull it out with a forceful hand.”
“Okay, I suppose we can manage to get it out. But how do we find out where they’re holding Devin to do that? A witch cloaked Devin making it next to impossible to track him,” Mercy said.
Chace stared at her long and hard before he said. “Devin and I share a very unique bond. If I’m close enough, I can hear his thoughts and talk to him using telepathy.”
“Okay, you search for Devin your way,” Erica said. “And I’ll call Jules and she can bring Lawson. And I’ll also call Tucker.”
“Lawson cannot come here. He’ll suck Vanstrauss up in that freaky tornado thing and send him back to Hellsgrave,” Mercy said with a shocked expression on her face. “We won’t have anyone to bargain with if Vanstrauss is gone.”
“Mercys’ right,” Chace said. “Let’s just leave
Lawson where he is at the Cafe.”
“I’ll call Tucker right now,” Erica said taking her cell out from her pocket as she walked away.
Chace turned to Demeetrie. “You come with me and Alivia, Mercy and Erica can stay here with Tucker.”
Alivia stared at him. “There is no way I’m staying here. I’m going with you to help.”
Chace whizzed around and glared at her. “This time, you will do as you’re told.”
Alivia glared right back at him. “Well, who the hell died and made you my boss?”
“Alivia we’re not going to argue about this. I have stood by and let you do as you please. I have been totally okay with you putting your life in danger, up until this very moment.” Chace walked to where she was standing and wrapped his arms around her waist.
Alivia grabbed his hands and pulled them away. “I’m going with you.”
“Damn it, Alivia. You are the most stubborn headed person I know.”
Demeetrie interrupted. “Chace, Alivia may be of some use to us.”
Chace shook his head and flung his arms up in the air.
“Seriously, it isn’t as dramatic as you make it out to be
Chace,” Mercy said eyeing him.
Chace eyed her angrily. “If I wanted your opinion, I would have asked for it.”
“Okay, there Chace. Maybe you should calm down and concentrate less on Alivia and a little more on finding your brother,” Mercy said.
Within seconds, Chace had Mercy by the throat.
“Take your hands off her!” Alivia shouted.
Chace did as she asked and pulled his hand away from her throat. He stared at Alivia briefly before he sped off into the woods behind the church. Within seconds, he was a raven soaring through the woods.
☼
Alivia used Mercys’ first aid kit that she stored in the trunk of her car on Ericas’ cut on her cheek.
“There, almost as good as new,” she said smiling at Erica.
Erica grabbed her hand. “You’re not upset with me about the Chace thing are you?”
“No, I thought about it and Chace did all that stuff before he met me.”
Erica nodded.
“Besides, I discovered something wonderful about Chace tonight.”
Erica raised her brows.
“He truly is in love with me Erica. I threw myself at him. I wanted him to make love to me and he pushed me away.”
Erica smiled. “I’m so happy for you Livy,” she said and hugged her tightly.
“Don’t ever have sex with him again though,” Alivia whispered in her ear and stepped back away from her.
“I would never do something like that to you.”
“Good, just as long as it’s all out in the open then we shouldn’t have any more problems.” Alivia smiled.
Tucker and Jules walked up to where they were standing.
Alivia turned her gaze away from Erica and stared at Demeetrie.
“You, Mercy and I, will go to look for Devin together. Tucker, Erica and Jules will stay here.”
Demeetrie nodde
d and followed them to Mercys’ car.
Mercy took out her keys from her front pocket and they slid into the car.
“Where to?” Mercy asked once she turned the car on.
“Let’s start at the cemetery,” Alivia said.
Mercy nodded.
“Wait Bella, let me out,” Demeetrie said. “I’ll go on ahead and search for any danger. If something happens to you, Chace will never forgive me.”
Mercy pulled over to the side of the road.
Demeetrie sped off through the woods.
“Thanks for protecting me back there when Chace tried to choke the life out of me,” Mercy said once she pulled the car back onto the road.
“You’ll have to excuse Chace. He’s had a rough couple of days.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t hold a grudge. Chace is upset about his brother. It’s all completely understandable.”
Alivia nodded and stared out through the windshield.
Seconds later, Mercys’ cell phone rang. Alivia shifted her gaze and watched Mercy hold the steering wheel with one hand while she used the other hand to pull the cell out of her pocket.
Alivia turned back and looked out the windshield.
“Look out!” she screamed.
Instead of Mercy slamming on the brakes, she pushed on the gas pedal.
Mercy swerved the car, but it was too late. They hit the large animal resembling a werewolf with full force.
The horrible sound of crunching metal echoed in her ears. The car flipped over and continued flipping down the road. Alivias’ body went from one spot to another. Her head hit the dashboard, and then her back smashed into the passenger side window. From there she flew back between the two seats and her head hit the back dash. Finally, the car landed on all four wheels again and crashed into a huge tree at the side of the road. Alivia was thrown through the windshield and everything went dark.
☼
Once Chace shifted back into his human form, he thought about Alivia and how stubborn she could be. What would their married lives be like if Alivia kept on being as stubborn as she was? He worried about her safety. She always managed somehow to put herself in dangerous situations. He didn’t understand how she kept managing to do that, but whatever the reason was, he knew that she needed his protection.
“Hey son, have you had any luck as of yet?” Demeetrie asked as he stood in front of him.
“I was heading for the road that leads to nowhere,” Chace said.
“Perfect, I’ll join you.”
“Where’s Alivia?’
“She’s on her way here in the car with Mercy.”
Chace shook his head.
“Shall we?” Demeetrie asked.
Chace nodded and sped toward the woods right behind the cemetery.
I’m going to kill you, you bastard.
Chace stopped and listened.
If I ever get out of this, I promise you, you will suffer.
“It’s Devin,” Chace said to Demeetrie.
“Where is it coming from?”
Chace looked around. “There, from that bus.”
Demeetrie nodded. “Okay here’s the plan. I’ll go on ahead and distract them. You search for Devin.”
Chace nodded and followed Demeetries’ lead.
Demeetrie stood in front of the bus. “Hello, is anybody there?” Three rather muscular guys came out from behind the bus.
“You don’t belong back here,” the guy in the middle said. “Get out of here before we hurt you.”
Demeetrie bowed. The guy in the middle launched himself at Demeetrie. In one swift movement, Demeetrie snapped his neck.
Chace smiled.
Then the second and third guy rushed toward him. Demeetrie lifted his leg and kicked the taller guy in the jaw. He stumbled back and fell to the ground. The third guy punched Demeetrie in the face. Demeetrie grabbed the third guys face and squeezed.
Chace sped to the front of the bus, opened the small door, and went inside. Devin was lying on the floor with his eyes wide open.
“Devin, it’s me Chace. I’m going to get you out of here.”
Chace lifted Devin in his arms and went through the door.
Chace spotted Miles the werewolf standing in front of Demeetrie growling as he showed his teeth.
Miles turned and stared at Chace.
In an instant Miles was heading right for Chace.
Chace dropped Devin on the ground and leaped up onto Miles’ back. Miles jumped, twisted and moved as fast as he could to get Chace off. Chace grabbed a handful of his fur and held on. Miles stood up on his two back paws and fell back on top of Chace. Chace grabbed his jaw and stretched it open. Miles struggled, but Chace opened his jaw wider.
Seconds later, Miles twisted out of his grip and
Miles’ jawbone broke in his hands. Miles whipped around, and stood behind him. Chace leaped to his feet and turned to face him baring his teeth. Miles leaped into the air and hit him in the chest with both paws. Chace flew back and landed on the ground. Miles pounced onto his chest.
“Chace catch,” Demeetrie said tossing the silver dagger in the air.
Chace reached up his hand and held Miles back with the other. Chace followed the dagger, but the dagger went right over them.
He looked back at Miles just as he was about to jab him with his sharp claws.
Chace had to think fast. He shoved his hand deep into Miles’ chest and ripped out his heart.
Miles lifted his head up toward the moon and fell dead right on top of him. Chace pushed him off and stood to his feet.
Demeetrie rushed to Devins’ side. He knelt down, shoved his hand into Devins’ chest, and pulled out the skullenite.
Seconds later, Devin was on his feet.
“You could have pulled that thing out a while ago. I wanted to kill that no good loser myself,” Devin said.
Demeetrie laughed.
“What do we do with the bodies?” Chace asked.
“Burn them,” Devin answered.
Chace nodded. He put their bodies inside the bus one by one.
As he laid down the last body, Devin came inside and looked around. He grabbed the can of gasoline from under the driver seat and poured it over the bodies.
“I never noticed this bus here before, did you?” Chace asked.
“The bus used to be over by the Whaling Bridge. They must have brought it here,” Devin said.
“Right, I remember someone said that it was cool to make out in here because all the seats were gone.”
Devin grinned. “Always got your mind in the gutter, eh Chace?”
Chace smiled and stepped outside.
Devin lit the blanket on fire and followed him. “I guess there will be a few teenagers missing this thing.”
Chace nodded and watched the bus as it started to burn.
“We should call Alivia and tell her the good news,” Demeetrie said.
Chace nodded and pulled out his cell.
“There’s no answer,” Chace said as it rang and rang.
“Try calling Mercys’ phone,” Devin said.
Chace hung up and called Mercy.
“Nope, it goes straight to voice mail.”
“Well, let’s head back to the cemetery and tell them in person,” Demeetrie said.
Chace nodded and sped through the woods with Demeetrie and Devin right behind him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“They’re not here,” Chace said.
Devin looked at Demeetrie. “Are you sure they said they would meet you here?”
“Yes, I am quite certain. Maybe they went back to the church,” Demeetrie said.
Chace pulled out his cell phone and dialed Ericas’ number. “Erica,” he said once she answered. “Are Alivia and Mercy with you?”
“No, why is something wrong?” Erica asked.
“I hope not,” Chace said and hung up.
“It’s okay Chace,” Devin said. “Maybe they just went somewhere else.”
“I don’t know
about that Devin. The way things have been working out lately I wouldn’t be surprised if she was lying in some ditch,” Chace said.
Devin could hear the frustration in his voice.
“Where did you see them last?” Devin asked Demeetrie.
“Come, follow me and I’ll show you.”
Demeetrie sped back through the woods and headed in the direction of the church. Chace and Devin followed.
Then Demeetrie just suddenly stopped. “You smell that?” he asked.
Devin did. It was the familiar scent of blood. But what had caught Devins’ attention was that the blood smelled a lot like Alivias’.
Chace was gone before Devin even got the chance to open his mouth. He sped after Chace and stopped suddenly.
Devin scanned over the horrific scene with a careful eye. The front end of Mercys’ car was crushed against the tree. Devin glanced at the huge werewolf that was bleeding out and on the verge of dying in the middle of the road. Devin sped to the car. Mercy was unconscious inside the seat and there was blood everywhere.
“Alivia, where are you?” Chace was screaming.
Devin looked at Demeetrie standing beside him. “Can you heal her?”
“Yes, help your brother find Alivia.”
Devin sped away from the car and followed Alivias’ scent.
Devin stopped at the side of the road and stood at the top of the hill, glancing around. He looked down the road. He sped down along the hill until he spotted Alivias’ body lying in the ditch.
He fell to his knees and froze as he stared at her. Her right leg was twisted up behind her back and her left arm was broken and twisted up underneath her body. Devin shifted his gaze to her head. The entire outer layers of skin on the left side were missing and her skull bone was shattered into tiny pieces.
Devin placed his hand over his mouth and stared at her. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t speak, all he could do was stare.
Within seconds, Chace was behind him.
☼
Chace rushed to her side. He knelt down. He didn’t know where he should touch her. There was a pool of blood all around. He was about to touch her cheek, but her face was much too swollen and he pulled his hand away. He started to move her hair away from her face, but changed his mind when he saw the layers of flesh torn off on the side of her head.