I could see my cell phone covered in snow outside the entrance right where I had left it, no doubt ruined from the moisture and making it of no good use to me anymore. A few more paces and I would be out of these death grounds.
A sudden jerk in my hair snapped my head back, knocking me backwards and onto the cold, wet ground. Sharp rocks scraped along my back as whoever had hold of my hair dragged me back toward where I was running from.
I turned my neck, hearing my hair tear slightly; to see who my abductor was that was dragging my half-naked body along the ground. There were only two possibilities, neither a better choice than the other. All I was able to see from this angle was the hairy brown arm of Xander; the grip he had on me didn’t let me see any further than that. Kicking and screaming wildly, I fought against him, but nothing loosened his strong grip from my hair.
So I did the only thing else I could; bringing my arms up above me, I brought my hands around his thick forearm and sank what was left of my nails as far as they would go into his skin, raking them down his arm. He squealed, dropping my head into the ground. Pieces of thick skin stayed beneath my nails. I pushed myself off the ground and ran toward the entrance again, only to run straight into Dalton’s were-form.
His long gnarled fingers reached straight for my throat, giving me no time to move myself out of the way before our bodies skimmed across the air into the hard iron fence, slamming my back into the metal and pushing all air that was left inside me instantly out.
He lifted me off the ground by my throat so that I was eye level with him now, heaving his warm breath in and out making smokey puffs into the cold night air -something that never happened with Davin’s icy breath.
Hate had to be the only emotion this creature could feel because it radiated so deep into his eyes it was impossible not to feel its poison throughout my entire soul. I felt a warm, sticky tear trickle down my cheek and fall below me. How could this ferocious creature be the semi-attractive punk guy in the club, or even the seemingly normal looking long-haired man? (Personally, I liked him better as the Sid Vicious replica).
His voice spoke inside my head. “I am a shapeshifter. I can be whomever I choose to be, Adelay.”
With that, his face morphed into a strong jaw with pearly white teeth smiling from behind full lips, his hair into dark silky strands messily styled to perfection, and black eyes with violet specs bursting throughout them. The face I had given my heart and soul to. I blinked in shock, and when my eyes opened a split second later, I was facing a bloodthirsty werewolf again.
“Why are you doing this to me? You already have enough power! Just let Xander and me go!”
“One can never have enough power, just like a heroin addict can never have enough hits. Xander is already one of us; there is no going back for him.”
I watched Xander creep up chillingly behind Dalton on his freshly mutated legs. His back was slightly hunched over, which still made him tower over me, bringing himself to stand behind Dalton and wait for whatever fate he had in store for me.
Dalton ran his thumb down my cheek, still keeping me firmly pinned against the fence. “You really are a ravishing creature. Too bad your time is about to run short.”
I turned my head away from him, cringing from his touch.
“I am sorry it has to be this way, Adelay. If I could keep you alive and still have your blood then I would do so…actually I probably wouldn’t, but either way this is just the way it has to be. My master asked and he shall receive, and I shall forever reap the benefits.”
“Go to hell!” I spat in his face.
He flinched before looking back at me with rage. His hand reared back, slapping me hard across the face. Instantly a metal taste formed on my lower lip.
“You little bitch! I will make sure your sacrifice will be very, very painful.”
“Thank you for your hospitality, asshole.”
He tossed me into Xander’s arms with more strength then I had ever felt before. I coughed from the impact, spitting a little blood from the skin he had broken with his powerful blow.
“Take her to Gorman’s tomb.”
Xander roughly flung me over his shoulder, bounding toward the iconic tomb in Hanover’s cemetery that ironically rose above every other gravestone.
CHAPTER THREE
A large gold plaque mounted securely above the small wooden door of the tomb read: GORMAN. Xander kicked open the closed door, slamming it into the wall and making it nearly rip right off its hinges. Since this was a tomb, the presence of a body was nowhere in sight. Though what actually was inside would’ve made a dead body more welcomed. Hell, even a rotted, decomposed body would have put my stomach more at ease.
Placed in the middle of the tomb stood a worn wooden sacrificial table with rusted metal shackles bolted to all four corners of it. A thin line unquestionably made to catch the running blood was grooved deep into the edge of the table and ended at a small hole drilled through the wood at the bottom, where a gold chalice sat beneath it, ready to catch whatever liquid came through the hole to graciously fill it. Perfectly centered underneath the table was an upside-down pentagram built solely out of smooth black rocks. The sign of the devil.
A small altar covered with a silk black cloth sat catty-corner from the table stocked with an array of black candles flickering on top of it, their light was reflecting off of a skinny gold dagger with foreign words and symbols inscribed down the smooth shiny blade. Everything must have been made from gold, since silver was deadly to werewolves; even if Dalton was part demon too.
Xander tossed me off of his shoulder and onto the cold cement floor. My elbow scraped the cement leaving a smear of blood behind, and the wound stung like a fresh rug burn.
“Xander please, it doesn’t have to be this way. I know you’re in there somewhere!”
His black eyes glanced at me briefly with no emotion behind them before he turned away, letting out a vicious snarl. So, maybe I was wrong. He was nowhere to be found, but I had to stall him from placing me on the table that would only lead to my impending sacrifice. He ignored my words, brushing the rusty shackles aside to make room for my body. My inner voice screamed inside my head for someone to help me.
Why wasn’t Davin sensing I was in danger like he had every other time? It had been way too long already and for the first time I feared Davin wasn’t coming to my rescue tonight. Xander made his way over to the wall I had scooted myself firmly against, roughly yanking me to my feet by my arm. My fight to pull myself in the opposite direction only made him tighten his grasp and force me further into him where he wrapped his huge arm around my waist and carried me to the table -despite my frantic struggling against him.
With an effortless turn of his wrist, he flipped me over on my back onto the hard wood surface, raising my arms above my head and quickly clipping the first shackle to my left arm.
Fear clutched inside my chest, pushing its way into my throat. “Xander don’t do this to me!” I kicked my feet at him as he tried to shackle them too. His clawed hand fit around my ankles, holding them both tightly in place. “We had so much planned together! It can’t end this way!” Tears streamed down my cheeks. “Dammit Xander, listen to me please!” I pleaded.
“Reminiscing about a future that will never be will not do you any good. He listens to only me. I am his master now.” Dalton stood in the doorway of the tomb and was back to one of his various human forms.
This time he was the man I had encountered on the road that first rainy night when Davin had come to my rescue. Tonight, his long black hair was pulled into a ponytail. His yellow eyes stood out amongst his gaunt face.
One more click at the bottom of my feet and the last shackle was closed. Dalton smiled snidely, walking stiffly towards the prepared altar.
One of the candle wicks suddenly popped, startling me while neither of the werewolves moved. Dalton picked up the dagger delicately, clutching its smooth onyx handle. He draped a red cloth that had been folded alongside it over his forear
m before walking back to where I lay, unable to move on the hard wood surface.
Grazing my ear with his warm lips, he bent over speaking in a whisper, “Are you ready?”
I turned my head away from him, looking instead at the monster that Xander had become. For a moment I thought I sensed sorrow in his eyes before he looked away from me.
A small voice spoke deep inside my head. “I’m sorry.” And as quickly as it came it was gone.
Movement from Dalton captured my attention again. “Je drainerai son âme pour vous, goûtez son sang mon maître. Prendre mon sacrifice et vous répondrez à ma demande pour la vie continue.”
Familiar words rolled off his tongue that made no sense anymore now than they had when they came to me in one of my dreams where my dad was the sacrifice. He repeated the chant before slowly raising the dagger above his head. His eyes began to illuminate faintly, resembling the eyes of a cat.
“I’ll keep you in my heart forever.”
Those were the last words I heard in my mind before Dalton brought down the knife, swiping it deep across one of my wrists. Warm liquid trickled down my arm. A smile pursed his lips as he grazed the knife across my other wrist. I winced in pain, feeling warmth spill down my other arm. My fingers began to tingle as the smell of iron filled my nose. I squeezed my eyes closed preparing for the next infliction he was going to bring to my shaking body.
Tonight, would be the night of my death. The thought brought chills to my body. Blood pooled around each of my arms.
“Le sang sur mes mains est le vin qui vous a été privé.” His voice had deepened.
“Does your demon not understand English? We’re a long way from France, it’s New Hampshire for fuck’s sake.”
He snapped his neck toward me, hitting me hard on the forehead with the base of the knife. I let out a painful squeak, feeling a trail of heat trickle down the side of my head.
“The blood on my hands is the life that was deprived you.”
I immediately wished I hadn’t said anything.
Hearing it in French didn’t seem quite as threatening as it did now that I understood what he was saying. He uttered the words over and over again, like a broken record, lowering the dagger to my chest just below my trachea and pressing its point to my skin.
“No, no, no, no!” Xander’s voice spoke to me again, just as Dalton pushed the point harder, easily breaking the soft flesh.
I gritted my teeth, letting a small moan escape through. I refused to scream and give him the satisfaction that each cut he made into me was excruciating torture. Sharp pain permeated throughout my upper body while he dragged the blade of the knife in a vertical line, stopping directly at the straight neckline of my dress that rested on my heaving breasts.
Fresh blood instantly dribbled down my sides, forming a thin stream out of the puddles that had collected from my wrists and descended quicker towards the end of the table. Each fresh cut was set ablaze in fiery pain, then throbbed in a suffering that wouldn’t cease. My normally fast beating pulse slowed with every ounce of blood that leaked out of my body.
The room went silent for a short moment -or perhaps my own fading mind was making it silent to me- before liquid pelting the empty chalice below severed the quietude.
Dalton’s lips touched my ear again, the moisture from his breath hot on my neck. “Soon you will have bled to death and with the awakening of the angel’s blood that has managed to stay dormant inside of you for all of this time, I will ascend into a higher power while you are left strapped here and nothing more than a short lived memory to your dear vampire.”
I tried twisting away from him. He grabbed my face with one hand, squeezing my cheeks together, forcing me to face him. “But while we wait my lovely, I think we shall have a little bit of fun with you so that your last moments don’t go to complete waste. I’m sure Xander will be thankful for this opportunity.” He signaled with his index finger for Xander to join him.
Xander's appearance had changed, leaving his eyes still a cloud of black, but his body had downsized to almost a man again. He breathed in and out heavily from his mouth, showing sharp wolf teeth that still remained inside. Sweat dripped off his forehead, and his body glistened with perspiration.
Dalton gently spread my legs apart so that he could easily trace his finger along my inner thigh, then circled it around to the outsides of my thighs before firmly grasping them with his hands.
“I want him to finally taste you. The stuck-up little bitch that has been playing with his heart like your own personal puppet, since the moment you met him then threw him out in the dirt for a fucking vampire, the same vampire that isn’t here for you in your time of need. You forgot all about who was truest to you before your new life, a new life that has only proven that it will let you down.”
Is that what Xander told him, and really thought about me? I swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. If this was truly the case then Davin was right and Xander had changed willingly. He gave himself over to evil out of spite towards me.
Dalton moved his hands up my thighs, making them disappear underneath my dress and continued to move them to my hips before making his way back down again, closely watching my every movement with hunger in his eyes. I couldn’t read if it was hunger to inflict more of his sadistic torture, or hunger to sexually violate me in every way possible.
He breathed in heavily, flicking his eyes all over my face, unsure of where he wanted to concentrate on first. My body quivered from his gentle touch, yet my stomach churned like I was going to be sick.
“If I didn’t have to kill you, I would make you mine,” he whispered, giving my legs a final squeeze, but keeping his index finger pushed into the inside of my thigh where my slowing pulse pounded underneath it. “I bet she tastes really good right about here.” He looked at Xander, ordering him to come to where his finger stayed firmly placed.
Xander hesitated, seeing the fear in my eyes then sheepishly looked to his new master.
“Xander, please…!” My voice cracked from the sand in my throat.
Xander moved his face obediently to where Dalton's finger was then shakily opened his mouth, piercing my skin with his sharp teeth.
“You coward, Xander! You turned your back on me and your entire life without even giving it a chance to be fixed!” I cried out, trying to kick his head away, but his mouth remained latched to my leg's surface like a carnivorous leech.
His mouth tightened with every drop of blood that touched his lips while he ravenously drank to nourish the newly found beast inside, using his strong hands to pull my leg further into his disgusting mouth. As though an invisible shock collar turned on, he abruptly ripped his mouth away, taking some skin from my thigh with him before backing himself against the wall.
Blood spread across his chin and dripped onto his bare chest in thick drops. His skin bubbled while his bones popped and shifted underneath his stretching skin, beginning another descent into full werewolf.
The torn wounds he left behind sent more blood raining into the chalice. My heartbeat thumped deep inside my head while I lay shivering violently from my body that had turned to ice. Dalton clutched the dagger in his hands raising it to his chest preparing to end my suffering by burying it inside me.
At this point I was welcoming it. I couldn’t go through this anymore.
“Just do it already, Dalton.” Tears trickled down, dampening the hair around my face. “Please. . .”
“I do love the way my name sounds coming from your mouth. Your begging is quite arousing to me.”
“You’re disgusting; I hope you rot in hell!”
“Oh, someday I will. But for now I choose to live like a god, and so I shall, thanks to you.”
“Get away from her, Dalton Edwards -you son of a bitch!” Sully’s deep voice was like music to my ears.
Dalton’s eyes snapped to the doorway where Sully rushed in. The scarlet ring around his corneas spread throughout his eyes, swallowing all traces of the glowing yellow.
“Ah, Sully Ashford to the rescue I see. Are you the hero nowadays? Has Davin finally handed over the reins? But wait, isn’t she Davin’s human?”
A large body blurred past me, and within seconds Dalton was pushed against the wall with Sully’s muscular arm pressed tightly into his throat. Sully’s fangs had dropped down. The dagger fell to the ground with a heavy clank. With one powerful swing, Dalton tossed Sully into the nearby wall like a rag-doll, sending pieces of cement crumbling to the ground.
Grabbing onto the end of the table, he quickly pulled himself up, charging straight for Dalton again which he gracefully dodged with another swing of his arm into Sully’s chest, sending him sailing to the floor once more.
“You have underestimated my power, boy. My master has been good to me throughout the centuries. You cannot defeat me. I will kill you along with your brother's cursed mortal who is already on her way out of this world.”
Sully looked at my bleeding, weakening body. My breaths had gotten difficult to take in. Rage possessed his entire body as he rushed at Dalton again with more force this time, crashing their solid bodies into the prepared altar and knocking everything over before both tumbling to the ground along with it.
Dalton curled his lip back, snapping at Sully with his razor teeth and missing a few times before connecting with his arm that he thrust up quickly in defense. Dalton spit the blood out in disgust, splattering the wall with a spray of red liquid.
Sully jumped to his feet first, giving Dalton a massive kick underneath his chin before he could attack again, forcing him to fall backwards onto the concrete with a nasty crack of his skull. Dalton lay there, stunned. Sully looked at me briefly, but it was Dalton’s sudden movement that caught my eye.
Within that split second of Sully’s worried glance, Dalton had already crawled to where the knife had been dropped during their scuffle and was holding it in his bloody hands.
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