“Enough! This night has had its fill of drama. Everyone’s tired and probably havin’ some crazy emotions after what we just went through. I think y’all just need to shut up until we get some rest and then maybe talk without all this hostility,” I shouted at them. I stood from the spot I had been sitting, quietly watching the verbal war. My legs still shook, making me fall against the wall of the cave.
“You okay?” Shayla asked, gripping me under the elbow.
I let out a deep sigh. “Not really, but I will be one day.” She cocked her head but didn’t press me. I don’t know if it was my tone or my actions with Cree Crow earlier, but everyone took heed to my words, and silence once again surrounded us.
“Can I get some help?” Lance shouted from the cave entrance. I looked over the edge, and he had a pile of rope draped across his body. Shayla grabbed it, allowing him to pull into the cave. “We need to pull this up. It’s attached to an aluminum stretcher and some other stuff.” She helped him pull it along the side of the wall very carefully. Payne and Steele reappeared as both of them carried it to the back of the cave and sat it beside Liam. They unfolded a black cloth and laid it across the stretcher. They then slowly picked up his body and laid him on top of the stretcher and began wrapping it with the excess cloth until he was no longer visible. Lance grabbed some bungee cords and started strapping the body down to ensure its security.
“Let’s get him to the boat. We only have about fifteen minutes until the sun will be up,” Steele said quietly. He helped them carry it over to the edge and then disappeared down the wall. Payne and Lance began to lower the body to ground, and once it had reached the bottom, they disappeared after it.
“We better get outta here unless we wanna get closed up in this place all day,” I said, walking over to the rope. It was the last thing I wanted to do. Being trapped in that place would be torture, even if only for a matter of hours. Thinking about everything that happened was something I didn’t want to do.
“You aight to go down?” Abby asked. I looked at my feet and pushed some dirt around. I hated admitting when I was weak, but now wasn’t the time to be hard-up.
“Can you stay with me on the rope? I’m still kinda shaky and I can’t use this leg too much.” She smiled and nodded.
After we reached the bottom, I hobbled around the chopper and followed the small clearing we’d made in the brush. Jay-Bird stood guard watching the woods as if something was going to reach out and grab him in one quick motion.
“Thanks for takin’ him, Jay-Bird,” I said as I approached his boat still docked from earlier.
“Not a problem. I’m truly sorry for your loss. I know these guys act like their hard as stones, but don’t let them fool you. They’re hurting bad right now, I can tell.” I nodded as the guys reappeared from deep in the boat.
“We’ll meet you at the dock tonight to get the body. You better get this thing under water now before the sun hits it,” Steele told him.
“I’ll be there, don’t worry.”
The four of us started back to the chopper as the old boat disappeared beneath the dark, murky water. “Why can’t the boat be out in the light?” I asked, casting a quick glance back.
“He told me it can be for a short amount of time, it just takes a lot out of him because the sun dries him out, draining him of his energy. That’s why he prefers to do his traveling at night,” Lance said.
“I’m surprised he’d tell you anything, Lance. He looked at you pretty hard when he saw you were with Savannah. I think someone’s got the hots for your woman. You better watch out or she might run off with him,” Payne replied as he knocked a giant spider web to the side.
“I don’t think I have to worry about her goin’ anywhere. I got that girl on lock down. Payne, don’t be gettin’ all jealous over there just because you ain’t got a woman.”
“I don’t need just one woman because I’m one of those guys that shows all the ladies a good time. Jay-Bird probably just felt sorry for you anyway, that’s why he couldn’t be a dick to you right now.”
“I guess he thought he’d be a little nicer to me considering the current situation,” Lance agreed. As we reached the chopper we found everyone else already seated and ready to go back to the training camp. We climbed in and found an empty seat. I grabbed one up front with Dax because I didn’t want to be around everyone in the back, especially since Casey sat between Shayla and Jace. My head was killing me. I desperately needed a break to sort things out.
“Everyone ready?” Dax asked. The sun started to peak. Everyone nodded.
“Take us home, D. I’m ready to leave this shitty hole in the woods,” Shayla said. The iciness of her tone gave me a slight chill. He picked the chopper off the ground and moved it slightly over the wood line when he stopped.
“What’s that?” he asked very quietly, almost to himself. I followed his gaze until, to my horror, I saw what he was staring at. Standing on the edge of the water line, a little ways in front of us, was Derek with Wheeler at his side.
“He’s supposed to be dead! I watched him get torn apart,” I screamed frantically as I stared at my ex-boyfriend in the flesh. A few started to make their way to the front when Wheeler picked up what he was holding at his side and placed it on his shoulder. Derek’s face turned up in an evil grin that seemed to poison my mind. Our eyes locked. Suddenly a jolt shot throughout my body. I felt dazed as my thoughts became lost in the utter pandemonium around me. I couldn’t move as I drifted away.
I lunged at him, but he was lightening quick and avoided it with ease. He was almost dancing around me, as if toying with me, unleashing an anger in me I didn’t even know existed. “It’s about time we met again, brother,” I told him.
“Do not call me that. I stopped being your brother years ago when you chose to side against me,” he replied.
His words hurt me like it was his sword ripping through my flesh. Though his face was menacing now, I could still see the handsome boy who would lay down his life to protect me. His body had undergone changes since I’d last seen him. His hair was still thick and brown as chocolate, but his flawless skin now bared many scars. I assumed he’d been in battles in order to prove himself to the night creatures. His small, frail frame was nothing more than a memory, because now he stood a massive man with muscles protruding.
“So be it, Dermetheus.”
“You can’t beat me, Nabea,” he replied as he wrapped his black essence around me. It snaked at my feet, making its way up my body, blinding me. He laughed, but I couldn’t penetrate where because it seemed to be coming from every direction. I trained for this. He had the power of death salt just as I had the fire of life. For years I learned to hone into senses other than my sight, something his essence blinded. I took a deep breath and focused on the sounds around me until I knew my target. In one quick motion, I spun to my right and stabbed my sword straight ahead. Almost at once, the blackness was gone, and I watched him back away from me, looking down at the sword I’d driven into him. He fell to the earth that was already polluted with blood as I walked over to him. I reached around and pulled my other sword out, preparing to finalize my kill when Talgon appeared at his side. He pulled something out of his pocket and chanted. Just as I caught the end, I knew he was trying to do a vaporizing spell.
“NO,” I screamed, and with all my might, stabbed the sword into my brother. It never reached him, only the earth. I dropped to my knees at the anguish in my heart. I’d lost him, and now I had no idea what he would try next.
“Everyone out! That fucker’s got a rocket launcher!” Steele screamed as he snatched the side door open, shoving people out. The vision had paralyzed me. Dreams were one thing, but now I was having them while awake. Thankfully, Steele grabbed me. The rocket pierced through the atmosphere and struck its target, making our chopper explode into a fiery image of oranges, reds, and yellows.
The water was ice cold as I plunged into its surface. I opened my eyes and saw my companions underwater with me. T
he powerful explosion shot a massive array of debris in the water like bullets for us to dodge. I darted to the right as one almost hit me. As I pushed my way back I noticed a red cloud engulfing me. At first, I thought I had been hit, so I looked down and saw nothing coming from my body. I turned around and found Jace sinking to the bottom with an immense hole in his stomach, blood pouring out.
Please don’t let him be dead.
I swam toward him. He was unconscious, so I wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled the two of us to the surface, ignoring the pain shooting through my wounded leg. The air was so sweet as I came up, gasping. I searched for the others and found Raven and Savannah floating a little ways from us.
“Is he okay?” Savannah shouted.
“I really don’t know. He’s bleeding pretty bad.” I heard yells from the bank and turned to find everyone else standing there or pulling themselves from the water. Savannah and Raven made it over to me, and between the three of us, we managed to drag Jace through the water. His blood was everywhere. It was as though we were bathing in it, and it made me sick to my stomach. When we reached the creek bank, Shayla and Casey let out a scream when they saw his wound. A large metal shard had hit him in the back and was barely sticking out of the front.
“We need to wrap it, now!” Steele screamed as he ripped off his shirt and placed it around the wound in the back. Payne and Lance did the same, and Steele balled one up, placing it in the front and then tore the other in one long piece. He used it to wrap around Jace’s body and tie it tightly in the front. “If we don’t get him help soon, he’s gonna bleed out.”
“Oh, no! You can’t die, Jace! I love you, don’t do this to me,” Shayla wailed as she dropped to her knees at his side.
Casey backed away, her eyes wide. “Please … no. Jace …” she mumbled. Payne shoved her out of the way to help Steele.
“Can you believe her?” Abby asked Masey quietly.
“I’m ashamed to call her my sister right now,” Masey said, rolling her eyes. There was a huge splash as Jay-Bird’s boat ripped through the water.
“I saw a commotion under the water. What happened?” he asked.
“Derek is what happened,” Dax answered. The mention of his name made my insides cramp. Was he the man in my visions? He had to be, but he looked so different. Who was the woman always fighting him? He triggered the vision, I was sure of it. If it was me he was after, why hurt everyone else? That thought weighed heavily on me as I stared at Jace. Jay-Bird’s mouth dropped as he searched the area looking for him, but there were no signs of where him and Wheeler had vanished.
“Well, move your asses. Looks like we need to get that man some help,” he replied, throwing a ramp over the side of the boat.
“What about you? Are you gonna be able to manage gettin’ us back without harming yourself?” Savannah asked. Jay-Bird gave her a little smile.
“I’ll do just fine. I can’t have this boy out here dyin’ when I could help,” he said, obviously not wanting to seem weak in front of her.
Our trip back to the dock seemed to take an eternity. Jay-Bird had the boat moving as fast as it would go, and I could tell as the sun rose higher and beat down on him, he was getting weaker. It made me nervous to think Jace was barely hanging on to life a few feet from me. One friend was enough to lose in twenty-four hours. Shayla hadn’t left his side since we had boarded the boat, making it even more painful to watch. Casey sat a few feet from them, watching with red, swollen eyes. I couldn’t wait to get off and away from everyone. The visions and memories freaked me out, and I wanted to talk to someone about it. I needed to sort through the questions that didn’t make sense to me. I pulled my legs closer to my body and hugged them tightly. Who could I trust not to turn on me? My whole life I thought I was normal, but I was far from it. Who would understand that I wasn’t human and might be causing all of this?
“Are you okay? You seemed a little out of it in the chopper,” Steele asked as his gray eyes searched my face for answers. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I felt I didn’t have another choice. I wasn’t ready to have him think I was crazy … and not human. The visions weren’t normal. What if I was a monster, one of the bad things that killed people? I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I couldn’t live with myself if I hurt my friends or him.
“I’m fine, just a little shaken up from everything tonight.” I shifted toward him, but avoided his gaze. He loved me. I knew this since the night we spent at Shayla’s loft. There was no way I could hurt him. I might be dangerous. I had to be connected to Derek in some way, but how? The safest thing would be for me to leave until I found out what I was on the inside.
“That’s understandable. I’m here if you wanna talk about anything,” he said. His statement made me feel horrible. I wanted to tell him everything, but I couldn’t take his beautiful face looking at me as if I were the weirdest thing he had ever come across. Not him, not Steele. I wanted to keep the image of the girl that he was in love with strong.
“Thank you for always bein’ here for me,” I said, leaning my head into his chest. He put his arms around me and held tight. I inhaled his scent. My nose burned as it triggered tears, which I managed to stop. How could I leave him without him knowing? He would follow me if he knew the real reason for my sudden departure. I needed to figure something out soon.
“I’ll always understand anything you have to tell me, you know that, right?” My closed eyes shot open. Did he know something? Was I talking while I was in the dream state seeing this vision? It happened so quickly and things were so chaotic I didn’t think he would have noticed. I chose not to answer him but bury my head deeper into his chest. I didn’t want to let him go. Soon, he wouldn’t be in my reach any more. He said nothing else and stroked my hair. I felt the boat slow and turn so I picked my head up. The dock was a few feet from us.
“Steele, I think we should carry Jace and put him in one of the SUVs while Lance and two of the girls carry Liam and put him in another ride,” Payne said, standing up and looking a little over anxious to get his feet on land. I knew he was worried about Jace. Liam was close to the guys, but when it came to best friends, no one was closer then Jace, Payne, and Steele. Steele nodded.
“I’ll help carry him,” Abby said.
“Me too,” I said.
“You sure you’re okay to help?” Steele asked, glancing at my leg.
“I’ll be fine.” I forced a smile to assure him.
“You guys better head down there now and start moving him up here. Once this boat gets close enough for us to get off, we’re gonna haul ass to get Jace to the training camp because Fuzz has a doctor waiting. Shayla, I’m sure you’ll be ridin’ with us, right?” Payne asked. She nodded while wiping her eyes.
“Can I ride, too?” Casey asked, jumping off the barrel she was sitting on.
Payne froze. “I think you need to stay your ass with the others. This and him have nothin’ to do with you,” he said. Her eyes pierced into his back as she mumbled something under her breath.
“See you in a bit,” Steele said, leaning down to kiss the tip of my nose. His arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me tightly into him as if he didn’t want to let go. I didn’t want him to. When he pulled away, I fought the urge to call him back to me. Instead, I followed Abby and Lance to the bottom of the boat to a metal door. Lance unlatched several locks and struggled to push it opened. Abby and I both grabbed it to help, but it weighed a ton. Finally we pushed it all the way open, and the three of us crowded the stretcher in the tiny room. Lance lifted one end while Abby and I took the other. Very strategically we made our way back to the top through the tiny stairs. Steele’s group was nowhere to be seen. I scanned the parking area and one of the SUVs was missing.
“Let’s hurry guys, Jay-Bird isn’t lookin’ too good up there,” Savannah said. Jay-Bird definitely looked like he had seen better days. He was pale, even for his dark leather skin, and his eyes drooped. We walked quickly down the ramp to the car, yelling our thanks to hi
m just before the large boat pushed its way underwater, disappearing. Savannah and Masey laid the back seat down in the longest SUV, and we slid the stretcher in.
“I’ll ride in back with him to make sure everything rides smoothly,” I said, climbing into the back and sitting down cross-legged next to him. Savannah and Lance climbed in the front while the others got into the other car.
“Tonight was one hell of a night. I didn’t expect it to turn out this way, but I guess you can never prepare yourself for this type of thing,” Lance said. Savannah placed her hand on top of his.
“I don’t know how you’ve done this for so long,” she said.
“It’s somethin’ I know no matter the risks, I’ve gotta do it. I want this world to be safe for everyone because one day I’d love to have a family. For that to happen, things need to change. Liam wanted that too, and now he’ll never get to have that opportunity. I have to keep goin’ for him.” I swallowed hard as I stared at Liam’s body. Someone I knew had died. He trained me. This was the first time I’d lost someone I was somewhat close to. We should have been better prepared, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. Now he would never get to live the life he fought for and wanted. My heart ached. I just wanted him to pop up, like this was all a joke. It wasn’t though. As much as we tried to play off our fighting against monsters like a joke in training, it wasn’t. This was dangerous and we all learned that tonight.
“You’ll have that one day, sweetie. All of you guys will,” she replied. I felt as if this was a conversation I shouldn’t be hearing. It was intended to be intimate, like the one Steele and I had on the boat, and I was eavesdropping. I turned and started watching the cars go by, trying not to think about the dead young man lying beside me.
We reached the training camp and unloaded Liam, taking him into a room on the bottom level. It looked like a hospital room. I guess Fuzz didn’t want to tell us it was down there in case it freaked us out. Though I had never asked Savannah where they took care of Lance when he was injured, I was sure this was it.
Reckoning Page 3
