Fated

by Liza James

  I fight against his hold, pulling myself back and digging my feet into the uneven ground, but he’s strong and he rips me harder against his body. His fingers dig in the flesh of my arms and the thin skin at the nape of my neck.

  “Be a good girl, little Luna and this will end far quicker,” his sickly voice scrapes and grinds against my skin while his body presses tightly to my back. He pins one of my arms behind me, strictly between his thick fingers and I do everything to hold back the whimpers of pain that are threatening to work their way out of my throat.

  We walk deep into the woods, the farther we go, the darker everything becomes. Sounds of the creatures around us should scare me, but I force myself to find comfort in the fact that I won’t be entirely alone out here. We make our way to a small clearing, where a single grand tree sets in the center. It’s dead, the branches bare and thin as they stretch out in a tumultuous mess towards the sky.

  He shoves me forward until I hit the ground against the tree and turn back to face him.

  “Why?” I demand, eager to know why he would spend so much time teaching me how to fight, how to defend myself when he planned all along that this is where we would end up.

  Camden crouches down to my level, his piercing eyes bore into me and a wave of nausea settles in my stomach in anticipation. “Because of what you are. Who you are. You shouldn’t be here. You’re a genetic mistake between supernatural creatures that should have never mingled. You’re a threat to all of us. You and Elijah are too big a risk to take, little girl.” His voice is clinical, as if this is just another day at the office. No hard feelings, not personal.

  But it is.

  He may sound bland and disinterested, but I can see the anger raging in his eyes. It’s barely there, professionally contained but simmering all the same.

  I slowly lean forward, lifting a hand to hesitantly rest on his cheek. I catch him by surprise and let my thumb brush against his lower lip. “I thought this was different,” I whisper the words as bile rises in the back of my throat. “I thought we were different.” For the first time, I let the tears I’ve been holding back spring to my eyes as I spit out the lie between us.

  I can tell he’s suddenly uncertain, confused not because he wants me, but because he didn’t expect this. I take advantage and I close the distance between us. I crush my lips to his and launch forward so that he falls back before he has a chance to fight me off.

  I kiss him, for only a second until I suck his tongue into my own mouth and bite. Hard. Really fucking hard. I bite until I feel my teeth meet again, taste the awful metallic flavor fill both our mouths as he yells out in pain.

  I shove myself off of him as quickly as I can and turn, scraping my hands and knees through the dirt until I catch my balance to stand and run.

  And I fucking run as far as I possibly can into the sinister woods ahead of me. I’m swallowed by the darkness and soon even the stars above are hidden by the wide expanse of the treetops. I see nothing as I become blind to everything around me.

  Camden is quick to react, and I hear the faint falls of his footsteps as he tries to follow me. “Luna, you won’t be able to hide from me,” he calls out. His voice is disturbingly closer than I’d like it to be.

  I scan the area around me quickly and find a tree that has a large trunk. Something I can hide behind as he runs past. I crouch behind it, holding my breath as the heavy hits of his steps hurry past me.

  Thank God.

  I take a moment to catch my breath, reaching out in the bond as I inwardly beg to find Elijah. But there is still no response, no hint to our connection being there and I fight back the anxious rise of panic as my heart rate increases and a sour pain hits my stomach. I’m missing a vital piece of my existence. An agonizing ache sits in the center of my chest and radiates through my blood. I can’t help but worry that it’s gone, permanently. That I’ve lost everything I had with Elijah.

  But I can’t deny the fact that even without the blood bond, I need him. It’s ingrained into my soul, in every fiber of my being that he’s it for me. Even in the midst of our fighting and raging anger, even when we’re pushing each other away and refusing to acknowledge this force between us, I want him.

  Now, I wish for the bond if only to be able to tell him how I feel. If I die tonight, he will never have known that I don’t actually need the bond to need him. Because I do, I need Elijah like he’s my last breath. I need his sun because I’m frozen in a winter storm without him.

  I need his presence like a Demon needs an Angel. To balance and harmonize, to feed and thrive off of, to bleed together as one strength.

  Instantly, everything around me flickers. The scenery, the woods. It all shifts to the night I was attacked seven years ago. I’m thrown back to that horrible moment and I’m terrified that if Amelia and Camden are around, they’re seeing this too.

  The vision keeps flashing, the woods are transforming into the alley and then back to the woods again. Over and over in quick flashes of pain and agony while I try to settle my disordered mind. I can’t let them see this strange ability that was forming and building with Elijah.

  Even though my back is pressed against a tree, I see the face of one of those men crouch in front of me again. The memory playing for me like a movie as he stares into my eyes, the black cloth still tied around his face when he speaks.

  “You’re wrong. You shouldn’t be here, shouldn’t be allowed to exist. You’re no good for anything but this.” The words etch themselves into my subconscious all over again.

  His eyes pierce into me, dark and malicious, as the words and the tone of his voice seeps into my skin, reaching my memories and pulling something familiar to the forefront. Instantly, everything flashes back to the woods and I scream uncontrollably as Camden’s face replaces the one from my memory. Exactly the same eyes, exactly the same stance.

  “Remember me?” he whispers, a sick smile spreading across his face as I scramble backwards but hit the tree behind me.

  He grips my legs and yanks me forward until he can flip me on my stomach. His hand falls heavily to my neck as he shoves my face into the ground and lands on top of me.

  “I should have fucking killed you that night. After we were all done taking what we wanted. I should have killed you. You shouldn’t be alive, you’re a twisted disgrace of perfection. A mistake in the world we come from. A failure. Worthless. Forgettable. Nothing.” He grinds the statements out across my ears. I feel his breath and spittle land on my cheek as his filthy words taint my mind. He rolls his hips forward, crushing his erection against my ass as he groans.

  “You’re fucking disgusting,” I say, tasting the dirt as it fills my mouth.

  He laughs but rolls forward again. I won’t beg him this time. I won’t ask for mercy or to be freed from his grasp. I know what he plans on taking from me, but I refuse to give him the pleasure from my cries and pleas.

  I mentally detach myself from the moment, hiding in my own mind and refusing to be present for what he’s going to do to me. I’m surprised to watch as everything around us changes again, only this time I’m still in the woods. It’s during the day, and I watch as two little girls are left alone. One is a baby, new and crying as the other, kneels to hold her little sister.

  “Okay, okay.” The older one says. She’s barely two years old, a toddler who’s face is pinched with fear and confusion.

  She rocks the baby as she looks around. “Ma! Da!” she yells out, but no one is around to hear her.

  Camden has paused his assault, watching the scene unfold around us as well. I hear him muttering something above me, like he doesn’t understand how I’m able to do this. Joke’s on him, I have no idea how to control it either.

  The older girl begins to cry now, both of them seem afraid as she tries to stand and hold her sister at the same time. But she’s small, and her little legs and arms aren’t strong enough to carry them both. She falls back to the ground and pulls her sister close, crying and saying “Okay, okay, okay,” o
ver and over again through her tears.

  I’m sobbing against the ground, tears flowing from my eyes, dampening the dirt below me. I’m lying in a muddy mess I’ve made on my own and my heart is cracking wide open inside of my chest.

  “It’s okay, little ones,” a familiar voice whispers, and I watch as Amelia steps in front of the little girls. She’s wearing a long, white, silk dress that wraps around the back of her neck as she picks up the smallest baby. She softly coos until the child stops crying, then bends forward to brush her thumb against the older girl’s cheek, wiping away the tears.

  Shock and confusion flash through me as Elijah enters the scene with Nathanial. Both large men walking up behind Amelia. They are wearing the same silky white cloth, but as long pants and completely bare on top. Elijah is still covered in tattoos, less than he has now, but that’s not what has me completely mesmerized by the three of them.

  I’m lost to the stunning beauty of what’s on their backs. Each of them carry a set of massive, white, feathery wings that span above their bodies several feet and fall almost to touch the ground below. They’re a heavy array of iridescent wisps, thick feathers that look dense and full against their smooth skin. They’re absolutely magical and my tears suddenly stop as astonishment replaces any fear I’ve been experiencing.

  God, they’re beautiful. Fucking striking and hypnotic.

  The older girl slowly ambles to her feet and pushes past Amelia. She looks up and lifts her tiny arms to Elijah, who immediately takes a hesitant step back as he watches her with curiosity. But she follows him, and I hear Nathanial’s confident laugh as he observes their interaction.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, little one. Don’t touch,” he jokes, but he crouches down to her and she stops in front of him as they eye each other warily. Elijah tilts his head just slightly, as if he’s confused by the little girl in front of him.

  She puts her arms out to him again, and this time he slowly inches forward and pulls her against his chest. Her tears have stopped completely, and a beautiful smile overtakes her features as she looks over his shoulders and notices his wings.

  I notice Amelia watching as well while she holds the smaller baby, her eyes shifting back and forth between Elijah and the little girl. I can see that she loves him, even if she chooses to hide it at this moment. But there is something else lurking in her eyes.

  Manipulation, speculation, fear.

  The little girl reaches a chubby hand forward and grazes it across Elijah’s wing as the they all turn and begin walking through the woods. Elijah shudders at the touch and his eyes dart back to her sweet face. “Yeah, get a good feel now, little girl. I have a feeling I won’t have them much longer,” he whispers, and suddenly he steps back and away from the group for a brief moment. Amelia and Nathanial stop and turn to watch him as he lifts his wings and spreads them wide behind his back in one majestic motion.

  The little girl giggles and Elijah laughs as he watches her, so he does it again. Pulling them together and then spreading them wide as she becomes enthralled with his wings. She’s laughing hysterically now, and her little arms wrap around Elijah’s neck.

  “What are their names?” Nathanial asks as he quietly watches the smallest baby in Amelia’s arms. She offers the baby to him, but he steps back and shakes his head, a wary expression crossing his face.

  “This one is Stella,” Amelia says as she glances up to watch Nathanial’s reaction curiously. Then she nods back to Elijah and the little one he’s holding. “That one is Luna.”

  “Luna,” Elijah whispers as he resumes walking with the other two. “Why do I feel like I’m going to see you again?”

  “Enough.” Amelia’s sharp voice echoes behind my head and the vision shatters like glass around us. “Get off of her Camden and take her to the fucking tree like I told you too.”

  Camden launches off of me and grabs my shoulders, yanking me upright as he turns us to move back towards where we came from. My mind is too busy racing through everything I just witnessed as if it were my sister and I in the vision. Was that true? Had the three of them saved Stella and I when we were abandoned?

  All I knew about our past was that we were dropped off at Safe Haven. I have never wanted to know the details behind our births, not until recently when I learned about the blood in our veins. Even then, I wasn’t necessarily concerned about the facts. They rejected us, didn’t want us. And left us to learn about our true identities alone without any help or support. They didn’t seem like people I wanted to know.

  We make our way back towards the tree in silence and Amelia shifts to stand in front of me while Camden lifts my arms above my head and secures them tightly to a branch. I can see the blood that’s spilled from his mouth and dried against his face. It gives me a small swell of satisfaction, knowing I hurt him. I’m stretched upwards so roughly that my toes barely touch the ground and I struggle as the pull on my shoulders becomes grossly painful.

  “I think I may have underestimated you, little Luna,” Amelia starts as she steps forward and brushes a single finger down the length of my cheek.

  “You definitely underestimated me,” I spit out while I meet her icy eyes with my own.

  She smiles sympathetically, like she’s breaking the bad news to me, “I won’t do it again. I can promise you that.” She bends slightly, keeping her eyes locked on mine as she pulls her familiar black blade from her thigh and places the tip against the thin skin under my jaw. She drags it downward, not piercing my flesh but threatening to do so.

  “Your little trick back there was impressive. I doubt you even know what you’re capable of. Something I’m thankful for because you’re actually quite powerful. And seeing as you won’t be alive after tonight, I’m not afraid to share that with you.” She drops the blade to my thigh as she speaks, and slices straight through my latex dress, burying the blade in my skin as I cry out. “I’ve been keeping an eye on you and your sister since the three of us found you both in the woods that day. See, your mother was an Angel and your father was a Demon. They were the first of their opposing kinds to come out as a Fated pairing.”

  I stay silent as she continues speaking, absorbing the new information she’s offering. The pain in my thigh is insurmountable and I have a feeling that things are about to get worse. But I bite my inner cheek and force the tears back as I continue meeting her stare in defiance.

  I refuse to die tonight, but I’ll play along with her games until I can escape.

  “You don’t know what that is though do you? The Fated of our kind.” She drags the blade to my other leg and repeats the same motion, slicing through my skin and muscle as the scream rips painfully from my throat. “No, Elijah wouldn’t share that with you. Because at the end of all this, he knows he shouldn’t want you. He knows you won’t be together because you shouldn’t exist in the first place.” Her voice becomes tight with anger and resentment as she slices my dress down the center, exposing my body to her completely. She places the blade in the center my stomach, trailing it to the right and towards my hip until she’s only inches above my pelvis. In one quick motion, she buries the tip until it’s fully penetrated through me.

  My heart hammers in my chest as I try to maintain the energy I need to survive being tortured. But already in the mere minutes I’ve been strung up, I’m beginning to lose hope. I try to focus on her words, absorb what she’s telling me but the agony ripping through my body is a heady distraction.

  “A Demon and an Angel will never be together. It’s an utter disgrace to our kind, to accept someone so tainted and possessed as a partner. But your parents fought that truth to be together, effectively muddying up our genetics and creating abominations like you and your sister.”

  Amelia skulks in closer to me, bringing her sadistic smile to my face as she whispers the words against my skin. I close my eyes at her declaration, slowly letting my head fall backwards before I pull the strength I need to shoot it forward and smash it clear against her nose. She rears back in pain as blood sp
ills across her lips and I muster the energy to actually laugh at her reaction. At least I got one good fucking hit in.

  Amelia’s hand flies back and crashes against my face, whipping me to the side as I taste my own blood flowing into my mouth. I savor it though, because it’s her weakened response to my rebellion. I feed off it, thrive off of her anger towards me. I get to her and as I die by her hand, I relish in the absolute truth that my presence affects her.

  “Elijah could never love you. He could never give you everything you’d want from him. Even if you are Fated. Do you know why, sweet Luna? Have I made it clear enough to you?” She grips my jaw tightly in her small hand and breathes the words into my ear. Her blade enters on the other side of my stomach, as she twists the blade and digs it into my flesh.

  I cry out, the scream scorching my throat on the way out. For an instant, I feel the flicker of the bond and suddenly it’s more painful than any physical agony I’m enduring. Because it feels like it’s severing. As my life and strength flow from my body through blood, the tie feels like it’s crumbling between us.

  And it’s for that reason, that pain alone that the tears fall from my eyes and down my face. “Do you feel it? The blood bond falling apart in your frail body? It’s beautiful. The destruction of something so pure, so powerful between two people.” Her blade moves to my back as it pierces me again, but my body is quickly becoming numb to the outside pain as everything inside me begins collapsing and failing.

  Elijah.

  I try to reach out again, I’m aching to feel anything from him in this moment. I need him to know that I’m here. That I’m fucking trying. That I love him. But God, it’s hard. I’m losing the fight and I don’t know how to fix this.

  “Does he tell you how beautiful you are?” She stabs again, another wound to my back that I hardly feel.