Eva stared at Annabel’s bloody mess for a moment and then turned and glanced at Arielle’s shocked face. She sent her a reassuring smile and started to say something when she noticed Arielle’s eyes widening with fear and she shot her an anxious glance. Out of the corner of her eye, Eva showed Annabel already on her feet standing right behind her. She knew she should have kept her eyes on Annabel but it was too late. Her head whipped around but before she could react, Annabel clamped her steel hands around Eva’s neck and her nails bit into her flesh like hot nails. Her eyes flashed with loathing and the promise of death. Her hands tightened and Eva started to lose consciousness. Eva went down on her knees and collapsed on the grass.
Arielle wasn’t thinking clearly because if she had, she wouldn’t have sprinted up and thrown her full weight against Annabel. Annabel was startled and let go of Eva. What in bloody hell was Arielle thinking? Her body collided with Annabel’s and it was as if she was hit by a fierce tornado, knocking the wind out of her. Arielle groaned upon impact, pain tearing through her as her back collided with the ground. Tears blinded her, and she was sure that she tore up her knees and her elbows sliding across the concrete. She gritted her teeth trying to hold back a scream as she felt her skin burning. She sat up, and looked back through the haze. Her stupid decision was not so stupid. She had averted Annabel’s attention and had given time to Eva to get on her feet, grinding her teeth in sheer rage.
Eva leaped forward and landed a hard blow in the middle of Annabel’s face that sent her flying across the parking lot, landing face down on the concrete. She was screaming in agony, cursing and trying to understand what was happening to her. She stood up, coughing blood, wheezing and gasping as she tried to get some air in her lungs. Annabel’s eyes were full of revulsion as she paused for a short moment glaring between Eva and Arielle.
Annabel didn’t hesitate; she bolted again with frightening speed, knocking both Eva and Arielle to the ground. Eva was up on her feet, instantly blocking Annabel’s way to Arielle. Arielle struggled to get to her feet once again; this time, still dazed, she bit her lower lip so hard she tasted blood. Looking up, she blinked in horror as she noticed that Annabel was now holding a knife. Arielle screamed, and she could feel the blood rushing through her veins. Her nerves were already strained to the breaking point with fretfulness.
“Eva, watch out!” she screamed. “She has a knife!” She was horrified. Annabel was already lashing at Eva with her immortal speed. Arielle’s breath held in her throat, and her heart started to hammer her chest uncontrollably.
“I am going to tear your heart out,” Annabel screamed. Reaching out, Eva gripped Annabel’s armed hand, twisting it upward forcefully, and her forearm jammed into Annabel’s throat. Pain exploded in her body.
Annabel’s wrist snapped with a sound that made her flesh crawl. She saw the knife on the ground. She wanted to run and pick it up, but she was frozen in place. Eva landed another hard blow on Annabel’s chest, sending her flying across the parking lot to land on the hard concrete one more time. She screamed in agony as she tried to get up. Her right arm was hanging awkwardly, but it wouldn’t take long before she was healed again.
Eva bent down, her fingers closing around the hilt of the knife. Raising to her full height, she looked livid. Her eyes were wild, and she was focused on Annabel.
“You bloody bitch!” she hissed. “Lets finish this right now. I’m ready to remind you what it feels like to knock on death’s door.” She darted forward and caught Annabel across the face with the blade. Annabel shrieked as blood splattered, blinding her. Eva positioned herself on top of her and plunged the knife into Annabel’s chest. Blood seeped through her shirt, and she looked wild. Her breath was coming out in harsh gasps. She wheezed and squealed in pain, struck by how resilient Eva was. Eva lifted the knife one more time and slammed it into Annabel’s chest, ripping into her guts.
Her shriek this time was so guttural that it stunned Eva to an abrupt stop. That was long enough for Annabel to crawl out of the knife’s path in supersonic speed. She jumped up, pushed her hair out of her bloody face, and shoved Eva backward. Then, she turned around and vanished in the distance. Eva stood shocked and disgusted, holding the bloody knife in her hand, unable to believe that Annabel had gotten away once again. She felt pretty disappointed. She wanted to finish Annabel for good.
Finally she turned around with a deep frown on her face. She walked back slowly, cursing out loud. “Bloody bitch! You were lucky this time,” she snapped. Bending down, she cleaned the blade on the grass and put the knife in her book bag. She gave Arielle a hug as if nothing took place in the last few minutes. Arielle was trembling in total shock unable to believe her eyes.
“I’m sorry, Arielle; she got away again,” Eva spit out, clearly frustrated.
“Eva!” Arielle exclaimed, “You were fantastic! You were amazing! Honestly, you were!”
“Let’s go home,” Eva said with a frown but completely unruffled. “Ian is going to be worried about us.”
Arielle gasped in astonishment. This wasn’t the Eva she knew. This was a totally fascinating immortal in action. She got into the car and sank into the passenger seat. She was in pain, but she took a deep breath and started to inspect the damage.
“Here,” Eva said, reaching in the back seat and handing her a box of tissues.
“Clean up the bloody mess from your elbows and knees, you insignificant human!” she said mirroring Annabel’s words. A slight grin grazed her lips. Arielle accepted the tissues and stared into her eyes.
“Seriously, Eva, you were magnificent!” Arielle carefully began wiping the blood off her elbows.
“Filthy bitch!” Eva murmured fuming. “Insignificant humans! Really? Who does she think she is?” She stopped to draw a deep breath, and finally she burst into laughter.
“W— what?” Arielle asked, staring at her.
“Arielle, I’d give everything to know Annabel’s thoughts right now,” Eva said and snorted.
“She was pretty beat up,” Arielle laughed with her.
“Did you see her face when she left?” Eva asked still laughing.
“No— not really,” she replied. “I couldn’t see her face. There was so much blood gushing out, it was impossible to see her disgusting face.” Eva was laughing so hard, she was doubled over the wheel. A few minutes passed, and silence fell between them.
She heard Eva take a deep breath and let out a soft chuckle. Her immortal friend cleared her throat, turned over the engine, and gunned it out of the parking lot. She checked her watch and speed-dialed Ian. Arielle was busy checking her scratches and cleaning the blood from her elbows. She was pretty upset as she noticed fresh blood seeping through her torn jeans.
“She ruined my favorite jeans,” Arielle said. Her thoughts turned back to the earlier events, and she bit her lip. “That sick bitch…” she murmured, staring out of the windshield. She shifted in her seat as the pain from the scrapes stung.
“What’s the matter, Arielle?” Eva was already off the phone and was staring at her.
“Oh, nothing, really. I was just thinking about Annabel,” she said humorously.
Eva was flying through the streets of Brighton, and they were pulling into the driveway in no time at all. She saw Sebastian and Ian standing in front of the garage, engaged in a conversation. They both turned and watched them as Eva pulled up to the house.
Arielle’s eyes focused on Sebastian. He was holding an amazing smile on his stunning immortal lips. The warmth of his gaze filled her with thrill and delight. She hurried to pick up all the bloody tissues from the floor and shoved them in her book bag. By the time she threw her purse over her shoulder, he was already standing there, holding the door open for her. He grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her up into his embrace. Their lips met, and everything faded away from her thoughts.
“I missed you,” he murmured through the kiss.
“What took you so long?” Ian questioned anxiously in the background.
It didn’t escape Sebastian as he held her at arms’ length with curiosity. Suddenly, his face went pale. “Arielle!” he gasped, his eyes moving from her face to her bloody arms and then to her torn jeans. “What happened to you?” He glanced between her and Eva, his eyes narrowed to slits with obvious concern.
“Annabel— that crazy bitch— showed up,” Eva calmly explained. Both Ian and Sebastian gasped, and she saw a flash of unease cloud their faces.
“She is still at it?” Ian asked.
“She is never going to go away,” Arielle said purposely, taking time to enunciate each and every word. “She’ll remain my horrid nightmare until one of us is dead.” She pursed her lips and Sebastian moved closer, tracing his finger down the length of her cheek. She took a deep breath and looked up at him. “Unfortunately for Annabel—Eva, the insignificant human, messed up her plans. She had no idea that Eva’s powers were evenly matched with hers.” She choked back a laugh. “Eva’s first blow broke Annabel’s arm, the second blow made her face an absolute bloody mess.” The vision of Annabel bloody and miserable, running away in agony, was enough to send her into hysterical laughter, the force of it causing tears to blur her vision.
“What in the world happened?” Ian asked again, nudging Eva for more information.
“Well—she was a bit surprised to say the least,” Eva said. A vindictive smile lingered on her face, but when she looked at Arielle, she burst into a hard laugh. “That arrogant bitch. She looked pretty ridiculous running away with a broken arm and a bloody face, didn’t she?”
“Your clothes look a bit messy,” Ian observed, pulling Eva into his arms and locking them into an intense kiss.
“I ruined my favorite jeans,” Arielle murmured, looking down at herself.
“They were too tight anyway,” Sebastian said jokingly.
“I did think about you and what you said this morning,” Arielle murmured. “I know you didn’t like them; however, they were my favorite jeans.”
“I never said that I don’t like them. I said I didn’t want you to wear them when I was not with you.”
“Same thing,” she replied stubbornly.
“I don’t think so,” Sebastian said and drew her closer. “How did you ruin them?”
“Annabel knocked Eva down, and I threw myself on Annabel. I’m not sure what I was thinking, but I didn’t want her to hurt Eva. God! It was like hitting a moving bus. I flew back, lost my balance, and slid against the concrete, scraping myself to a bloody mess.” He snaked his arms around her waist, and she stepped into him. Sebastian bent down and pressed his lips against hers hungrily.
“Arielle, you can’t be fighting immortals,” he murmured. “What were you thinking?”
“I wasn’t thinking; that’s the problem,” she said, pursing her lips. She heard Ian and Eva laughing; turning, she saw them getting into their car.
“We are going home,” Ian announced, unnecessarily.
“Thank you, Eva,” Arielle and Sebastian called out simultaneously. She smiled and waved as they pulled away. Sebastian’s arm slipped around her, and they walked in the house.
“Let’s go take care of those scrapes,” he said and smiled softly.
“I’ll do that,” she said. “Can you please make me a sandwich?” He nodded, letting go of her. When she walked into the bedroom, she winced as she carefully pilled off her jeans. The pain was agonizing but the need to wash the dirt from the scraped areas of her body was the only thing she could think about. She stepped into the shower and turned on the water and waited until if felt lukewarm to the touch. Under moderate pressure she let it run over the scrapes for a few minutes as pain shot right through every nerve in her body. She took a washcloth and mild soap, and she tried to clean the dirt from the bleeding areas. The pain was unbearable, it made her flesh crawl, and she cried out. Tears were running down her face and she finally succumbed to hard sobbing. She could never remember this kind of pain before.
Sebastian heard the sobbing, and in a flash, he was standing in front of Arielle in the shower, not bothering to remove his clothes. His eyes widened in horror when he saw the amount of scrapes on her naked body. “Oh, baby, please don’t cry, let me help you with that.” He put his finger under her chin and lifting her head up he locked his gaze with hers. Using his immortal power, he willed Arielle’s pain away and waited for a few seconds. “How do you feel?” he asked.
“I feel fine,” she replied a bit confused. “I suddenly feel no pain.”
“Arielle, I know you don’t like me to use my willpower on you, but I think this should be an exception. I must clean your scrapes; they are covered with debris.”
As much as she didn’t like being willed to do anything, she was thankful about this. The pain had been so severe she thought she was going to die. “Thank you.” It was all she could say.
Sebastian smiled gently. He took the washcloth from her hands and bending down, he pressed a soft kiss on her lips. Falling on his knees, he started to clean the scraped areas until all the dirt and debris were gone.
He then took a bath towel, wrapped her lovingly and lifted her into his arms he carried her to the bed. He walked into the bathroom and came back with an ointment tube. He covered all the areas and made sure she was comfortable. She was feeling absolutely no pain and that is what he wanted for her at the moment.
“I made you a sandwich just as you asked,” he said.
Arielle feeling absolutely no pain she got off the bed and threw on one of Sebastian’s t-shirts that came to her knees. Following Sebastian into the kitchen, she closed her eyes and wondered how long would she have to deal with Annabel. The answer irked her. Perhaps because she knew it would be for the rest of her life.
Chapter 22
“WHAT TIME ARE WE SUPPOSED to be at your mother’s?” she asked, remembering that they had to go to Olivia’s this afternoon.
“Not for a couple of hours,” he replied. They walked together to the kitchen.
Sebastian moved over to the other side of the kitchen counter and handed her the sandwich. She sank her teeth into the bread, feeling completely famished. She chewed slowly and swallowed with pleasure.
“Is it good?” he asked with a chuckle.
“Perfect,” she muttered. She opened the fridge and took out a water bottle. She twisted the lid and took a large swig, letting out a sigh of satisfaction. She finished her sandwich, taking the water bottle with her as she walked over to Sebastian. She reached up and pressed her lips softly on his. He pulled her tightly in his arms, and bending down he pressed his lips on hers with passion.
“Thank you, baby. I was really hungry.”
“Mmm…you are very welcome,” he whispered through the kiss. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you from Annabel, but I see that Eva did a great job.”
“Yes, she was unbelievable.”
In the car on the way to the Dillon estate, she asked the question that was burning in her head. “Sebastian, how do you suppose that Annabel knew that today I was going to school alone?”
There was a pause, then he harrumphed. Arielle turned away from the window and stared at him. He looked as if he was searching for a reasonable answer to her question. “I don’t have a good answer,” he finally confessed in a voice filled with male frustration. She nodded silently, and the quietness lingered for a long while.
Arielle had no doubt that Annabel would be coming back, filled with fury and ready to strike harder than any time before. She had suffered a very embarrassing defeat in the presence of what she thought were unimportant humans. That had to be a difficult dish to swallow.
“I think she either has someone spying on us or she has been watching us for a while now,” she added, bitterly. “I do get a creepy feeling about that.” More silence followed her statement. He finally reached over and took her hand. He pulled her closer and pr
essed his lips softly against her forehead.
“Don’t worry, Arielle,” he said, voice filled with emotion. Arielle stared out the window, her mind filled with concern. She inhaled mouthfuls of air and exhaled, trying to keep bile that was crashing against her stomach walls from reaching her throat. He pressed her hand anxiously.
“What is it?” he asked, intertwining their fingers together.
“Sebastian, when she comes back and finds me alone, it’s not going to be an equal fight! You do understand that?”
He stared at her in disbelief. The rage that had been brewing toward Annabel for all these centuries seemed to erupt like a roaring volcano. His face went pale white, and his fingers tightened around Arielle’s in a painful grasp, restricting the blood flow to her hand. Arielle gaped at him and gasped in pain, trying to pull her hand free from his steel grip. Sebastian immediately realized that he was hurting Arielle and released her hand, remorsefully.
“I’m sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to hurt you. I hate her so much!” he hissed.
Arielle stared down at her hand and shook it, trying to get rid of the sensation of pins-and–needles that throbbed through the peripheral nerves. She flexed her fingers until the numbness was gone. She leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, and he grinned.
“I understand,” she said. “You told me before how much you hate her.”
“Oh, did I?” he said, pretending ignorance. “Arielle, I love you more than life. I would never allow anyone to harm you. Your best friends are now very powerful. They would cover for me when I can’t be there for you, just as Eva did this afternoon,” he said, and pinched the tip of his nose. “Please trust me, as I don’t take your safety lightly.”
She thought he was probably right, but the unsettling feeling about Annabel was still making her flesh crawl. She didn’t make any comment. She knew that her uneasiness was mostly because much of her life was unraveling in the pretty bizarre world of immortality. Her visits with her parents, school, and her human relationship with Gabby and Paul were the only points that kept her life a bit normal.
Arielle Immortal Quickening (The Immortal Rapture Series Book 4) Page 21
