Luminosity (Escaping Demons Saga Book 1)

by Stacy McWilliams

  “Jasmine, heaven started the moment you came into my life.” He kissed me once more then stood up, reaching down to me. As we were leaving he reached into his pocket and pulled out a bracelet with a charm in the shape of a butterfly.

  “Take this please?” he asked sounding nervous.

  “Ok, I will on two conditions?” I countered.

  He looked at me sceptically,

  “Depends on what they are, but go ahead and tell me them.”

  “First condition is you have to break up with Lisa.” I looked at him feeling more nervous than ever but he smiled and nodded.

  “Consider it done.” He laughed, sounding relieved, “and secondly?”

  “What is this?” I asked holding up the bracelet. It seemed like an odd time to give me jewellery.

  “Ha-ha. I thought you were going to say something like don’t ever speak to Lisa again. It’s a bracelet . . .”

  “I can see that Nathan.” He reached over and pulled me in to his chest. I smiled as he snuggled me into his side. We were standing at the edge of the stones and I knew once we stepped out things were going to change. They had to.

  “Ok, it’s a protection charm, I enchanted it to protect you. I f someone hits you or tries to hurt you then this will protect you from most damage, but not from everything.”

  “Why do you think I need something like that?” I asked him trying to sound braver than I felt.

  He sighed in exasperation, “Because if you haven’t already noticed you are forever getting hurt and I have to rescue you, which is exhausting and very difficult. I’ve hopefully done it so you will not feel the pain, but will know what’s going on.”

  He pressed the butterfly charm into my hand, closed my hand over it and leaned in to kiss me. It was a gentle kiss, but something changed and the kiss became fiercer, with his tongue invading my mouth and his hand running up to my head, holding it in place. We kissed for a few seconds our breathing speeding, when he pulled away unexpectedly leaving me wanting more. I reached up towards him with my lips, but he pulled further back. He leaned down and kissed me again, “you are gonna be the death of me. Why don’t we stay for a little bit longer?” He pulled me down on top of him and laughed as he leaned up to kiss me. My heart raced as I leaned on my elbow and looked down at him. His eyes were crinkled in amusement and in their depth I could see that he loved me. At that moment I realised I loved him. It hit me with the force of a bullet and I shot up onto my knees.

  “Jas, baby what’s wrong?” He leaned up on his elbows. I shook my head still reeling at the revelation. He kissed my palms and my fingers. Energy zinged through me as I leaned down to him and opened my mouth to tell him about what had just hit me. His eyes had tightened and his face was tense. I opened my mouth to protest as he leapt up to a standing position. My breath was still frenzied as I revelled in my realisation.

  “Be quiet,” he hissed at me. I slowed my breathing and looked at him. The worry lines were back. I stood up and stroked his face. He glanced down at me and kissed me on the top of my head. His arms pulled me closer and the answer to the worry lines walked out near to where we were standing. Nathan came closer to me and breathed in my ear,

  “They can’t see us because we are in the protected circle, but will hear us if we make any sounds.”

  I looked out at those walking by, Lisa, Lucca, Mark, Joe, Jemma, Lucille and Jenny. Jenny glanced around coldly,

  “Let’s split up. If you find any sign of them, let me know and I will deal with it. Nathan has not to be harmed, but that little cow, you can do whatever you like with.”

  I froze as she spoke and Nathan rubbed my arms. It was the only way he could offer me comfort. Nathan waited a few moments until they had passed and looked at me sadly,

  “I have to go. I’ll speak to you later. I have to find them before they do something stupid.”

  I nodded with tears in my eyes, but managed out a small smile of farewell. I walked towards the edge of the circle and just as I was about to pass through the barrier of the stones, he pulled me gently back into his arms.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered as he kissed my head and opened my palm and taking the bracelet back. He held it in his hand tightly while I looked at him in confusion as he reached down and picked up a stone. “This is gonna hurt, but if you don’t stay in the woods, then they’ll suspect something.”

  Before I even realised what was happening he raised the stone and cracked it onto my temple causing a whole world of pain and spots of light to pop up behind my eyes. He hit me in the same spot where I hit the gate today. I could feel the blood flowing, and as I began to lose consciousness, the last thing I saw was a tear running from his eyes as he pressed a kiss to my lips.

  As I started to become more aware of sensations it seemed as though I was an observer outside of my body. I was watching Nathan carrying me round the cliff face. I could see a clearing on the cliff top. I was hidden under a large rock. He kissed my head as he lay me down and it burned down to my toes. He stood and walked away leaving me with the wind blowing over me and the occasional wisp of water from the sea hitting my face. I heard him begin to run and drifted off again.

  A short time or perhaps a long time later I began to surface. Numerous voices sounded over me and through my lashes I saw a group of people standing at my side arguing.

  “We can have her, Jenny said so,” came one voice, a voice I recognised as Lisa’s.

  Joe answered her with a bite in his voice. “No. Don’t forget about the edict!”

  “The edict,” Lisa laughed maliciously, “she’s fucking trouble and we all know it. So why can’t we just finish her now, no-one would ever know.”

  “I would!” came Nathan’s voice from the shadows. He looked towards me and saw my eyes were open. His hands shook as he got closer. As soon as he noticed me peeking through my lashes, his eyes widened. ‘Close your eyes and keep them closed.” His voice hissed inside my head, and I immediately closed my eyes.

  “What’s happened to her? I left her to go and find James. She was fine when I left her, muttering some babble because of the memory enchantment I placed on her.”

  “We don’t know baby,” crooned Lisa in a babyish voice.

  I cringed at the sound of her voice and my head pounded a drum beat on my skull. The wind grew fiercer and Nathan came over to me. I could sense the familiar electricity that flowed through me. It was confirmed the instant he touched me because my arms felt as if an electric current ran up them He shook me, none to gently, and I slowly opened my eyes. I didn’t really have to try to look confused.

  “Jasmine, what happened to you?” he asked me furiously.

  “I don’t know. Where am I?” I spoke in a small voice.

  “Never mind,” he huffed at me, “go home everyone. Joe, will you help me get her home please.”

  “Yeah sure, of course mate.”

  Lisa was looking at him with puppy dog eyes and again spoke in a voice that made even Nathan cringe,

  “Nathan, do you want me to come back to yours as well?”

  He looked at her with a furious glare,

  “No Lisa, I do not. You were prepared to break my father’s edict about her, and to be honest I’m not fucking happy about it. I understand wanting to cheat, but to break an actual edict would strip you of your powers. I’m not getting involved in something designed to take away my powers just because you’re jealous of a fucking mortal. Get a grip.”

  She looked like he had slapped her and stormed over to her friends who were glaring at Nathan. They all turned and walked back up the cliff face and the other boys followed. Nathan reached down and ran his finger down my head where he had hit me. His touched caused the site to burn first boiling hot then freezing cold.

  “Are you ok to walk?” he asked me abruptly. I nodded in response so both him and Joe helped me to my feet. I stumbled slightly causing him to growl in apparent frustration as he grabbed my arm. He walked half pulling, half dragging me out of the crevice and wa
lked me up a very thin path, back into the woods. He began walking in a direction I didn’t know,

  “Where are we going?”

  “Home, you idiot. Where did you think we were going?”

  Joe watched at us during the exchange, but didn’t say a word. I stumbled and tripped over branches and debris of fallen trees. Nathan and Joe walked a few steps ahead of me. After about half an hour and what felt like a million slips, trips and falls, we finally made it onto the road.

  I looked down the road, but couldn’t get my bearings so I just followed them. Nathan wasn’t looking at me. I was beginning to feel dizzy, my head pounded and my heartbeat sounded louder and louder in my ears. I stopped and sat down in the tree line. I was hidden from view as I had shuffled behind a large bush. I lay my head down and the dizziness passed when I heard Nathan cursing from the road again,

  “God damn it Jasmine! Where are you?”

  I opened my mouth to answer when a pair of feet came into view, and as I looked up my fear kicked up about twenty notches, because James was back and he was glaring down at me.

  “If you make a sound, I will kill you.” He walked over to me, placed his boot upon my throat and pushed down causing me to pant for breath. I was struggling to breathe and beginning to see spots again, when I realised that I was powerful on my own. I didn’t need Nathan to save me I just needed to believe that I could save myself. I had to believe I was worth saving and Nathan had given me that confidence.

  I placed my palms on his foot and drew power from all the things around me, the ground, the bushes and the trees as I shoved him off of me. He flew high up into the air, fell down like a rock and almost landed on me, but Nathan yanked me away at the last second.

  I gazed over towards James and then up at Nathan who was staring at me open mouthed. He looked at Joe and, following his gaze when I looked at Joe, I saw the same look mirrored on Joe’s face. Nathan leaned down and looked me in the eyes,

  “How did you do that Jasmine?” he asked me sounding scared.

  “I don’t know. I just knew I wasn’t going to let him hurt me.”

  “Ok,” he answered, “but you cannot ever do that again. If anyone realises you have powers already they will kill you. Do you hear me? I mean never, ever again. Joe, you can’t say anything. Please, they would kill us for letting a mortal do that to one of our own.”

  Joe looked torn and began pacing up and down,

  “What about him, when he wakes up, there is no way he’s gonna keep quiet?”

  “I’ll take care of that,” Nathan countered and he walked over placing his hand on James’ temple. “There problem solved. He will remember coming in and attacking Jasmine, but will see me throwing him across the space again. He won’t remember anything else. Let’s go before the animal wakes up.”

  The rest of the walk home passed uneventfully and getting inside was easy because Nathan’s parents were out. We walked upstairs in complete silence, partly because Joe was still with us and partly because we didn’t know if Jenny was back yet. She was and she walked over to me in her black housecoat with a towel in her hair and slapped me hard across the face before turning and storming into her room, slamming the door behind her.

  My temper flared and my fingers itched. Nathan looked at me wide eyed and shook his head. I stormed away from him and slammed my door closed. I stood under the water of a shower for a few minutes. I was still fizzing with restless anger and I glared at my reflection in the mirror. Images appeared as I stared but after a few moments they all past and all I could see was bumps and bruises from the day. I examined myself more closely and noticed a butterfly shape over my chest, like a red outline with faint lines. I moved closer to the mirror and jumped a mile when my bathroom door opened. Nathan smiled at me as he stood watching me. He was casually leaning on the door frame.

  “You look like a perv standing there.”

  “Maybe, but you are very beautiful. That’s not why I’m here though. You need to be more careful. Joe could easily expose you and that would be incredibly dangerous.” He glanced behind him and stepped towards me, placing a gentle kiss on my head before he strolled out of my room, closing the door gently behind him.

  I went to bed, not even realising that it was only half past eight but I was exhausted and within a few minutes I was out like a light.

  By the time I got downstairs in the morning Nathan had already left for school so it was down to Jenny to walk with me to school. I had wondered why they did that, had someone walk me to school but now I knew it was because I was a liability. I could talk and their world would come crashing down.

  The day in general passed quickly but James walked up to me in the corridor and whispered maliciously,

  “Nathan won’t be around forever and when he slips up, I’m gonna torture you till you break.”

  With that he walked away and didn’t look back. Danni walked over at that point and said,

  “Well I take it from the look on your face that your date didn’t go well.”

  “Not really,” I answered trying not to sound scared of him just disappointed.

  “Well tonight should cheer you up. You’re still coming right?”

  “Of course she is,” Katie’s voice sounded right behind us, “She wouldn’t miss it. Would you Jasmine?”

  “No, of course not,” I lied through my teeth. I could think of a thousand things I would rather be doing but I couldn’t back out now.

  In the lunch hall I was about to text Nathan only to realise that I had left my phone on the table in my room. I resigned myself to going out with the girls, although something was telling me not to go. After school myself and Danni went over to the bank before meeting the rest of the girls at the clock tower.

  As we were leaving school, I heard Nathan shout after us, asking where I was going. I just shook my head at him. After everything that had happened the previous day he hadn’t spoken to me once all day. In fact I hadn’t even seen him all day which I was furious about. I didn’t know if he had split up with Lisa and until that happened I would not be telling him anything.

  I was lost in thought as I walked with Danni but she never questioned me. I appreciated her leaving me to my thoughts while we approached the group of girls.

  As we got closer I saw the girls were Lisa and her cronies, Katie and the other Lisa. Katie was speaking in Lisa’s ear and she looked upset about something, but as we approached Lisa turned towards us and stepped away from Katie.

  “Hi girls. So glad you could come. Like I said Jasmine I want to bury the hatchet, so we thought that this would be a good idea.”

  The way she said my name made it sound like an expletive and the way she looked at me when she said bury the hatchet made me think she wanted to bury it in my head. I didn’t trust her at all, but I had promised to see this through. I was committed now.

  Walking along Lisa made a point of speaking to Danni and Katie leaving her girls to walk ahead. Eventually they both caught up with Lisa’s friends. I held back with Danni and Lisa,

  “Is something going on?” I asked them quietly, not wanting to draw attention to the fact that I was worried.

  “I’m not sure,” Danni answered.

  “Me either, but I want to know what’s going on?” Lisa walked away leaving me with just Danni and then Katie shouted on Danni as well. Danni walked faster, and just as we reached a junction this car came speeding around the bend with Mark driving, Marco in the front seat and Lenny in the back. The car swerved of off the road. I watched in horror as it mounted the pavement and smacked right into me, knocking me flying about ten feet. Just before the car hit me I saw Joe’s face and his face showed horror. I crashed into a tree and heard laughter from some of the girls from school. I opened my eyes and saw the horrified looks on Katie’s, Danni’s and Lisa’s faces, while the bitchy Lisa walked over towards me smirking.

  “You think you can come here and take Nathan. Nathan’s mine.”

  She kicked me in the ribs and walked away laugh
ing,

  “Come on girl’s, let’s go get something to eat. I’m starving.”

  Danni tried to come back but each of Lisa’s friends had one of my friends and they were being dragged away. I could only look at them through cloudy vision, which started to blur and then I couldn’t see through the blackness. I tried to stay awake, but I was pulled under after a few moments in the blackness.

  Waking up, I found I was lying face down on the grass. Rain drizzled on my face and I could feel the dampness of the grass under my nose. My whole body was aching. I felt like there was an army thundering up and down my chest. My breaths were coming in sharp pains and turning my head caused my vision to swim and my ears to ring. I tried to see through the cloudiness but I couldn’t.

  I heard footsteps approaching, and was only hoping that it was someone friendly when a hand touched my cheek, softly. He swore and then his knees appeared in front of my face as he leaned in closer.

  “Fuck, Jasmine, wake up please. Come on please. What happened?”

  I tried to answer, but I couldn’t get my throat to work and I couldn’t remember what had happened to me. I remembered going to school that morning and going to classes but after school was a complete blur of images: a red car, a tree, the school gates, Nathan shouting at me, and then the grass. I wanted to speak to him, but I couldn’t. I wanted to tell him I could hear him and that I loved him but the words wouldn’t come. I felt his tears on my cheek and tried again to see so I could tell him I was ok but nothing happened.

  Seconds later, I heard him pull his phone out of his pocket and dial someone, telling them he had found me and that I was in a bad way. He hung up and called an ambulance, holding my hand while he spoke. He kissed my cheek again and I drifted away, seeing my parents, but I couldn’t reach them because Nathan had me anchored. He was my soul mate and I couldn’t leave him.

  When I next woke up there were so many people around me. I panicked as I looked around the sea of faces, searching for the one face I needed to see. “I’m here baby. Don’t worry. Try and relax.” I spotted him as he gave me a tight smile and I relaxed back into unconsciousness. I moved closer to my parents and then suddenly I was in the back of the ambulance. People were working on me and I could see Mr Stevenson and Nathan at the doors. They watched as the crew stabilised me and I glanced over at Nathan. His face was showing how terrified he was. His lips were a tight line, his hands balled into fists, and he looked as though he was ready to rip someone apart.