The Chosen: A Resurrected Series Novel

by S. M. Schmitz

  “Your nightmares,” I whispered. “That was my nightmare but your memory.”

  Mason was quiet for a long time as I sat on that floor and tried to calm myself down. Maybe he knew there was nothing he could say to take away the horrors of knowing what they’d done to him. Ultimately, there really wasn’t anything he could say. There was only something I could do.

  I lifted my head and leaned it back against the mattress behind me. “I’m going to find them,” I said. “I’m going to find each one of those sadistic bastards, Mason. They’ll atone for their sins.”

  Oh, Bella. Only if you still have the CIA helping you. We can’t let this happen to you.

  I shook my head slowly. “I’ll take the risk.”

  No, you won’t.

  The voice in my head even sounded more authoritative but it was just a voice. Like he’d warned me with Aiden, there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He was dead.

  I pulled myself to my feet and my knees buckled under my weight. I gripped the edge of the mattress until I thought I could walk then, for the second night in a row, leaned against the wall to support myself as I stumbled toward Aiden’s room.

  I thought I heard Mason sighing again.

  What do you think you’re doing?

  I ignored him.

  Besides, it seemed pretty obvious what I was doing.

  I spilled into the hallway and my palm found Aiden’s door and slapped it.

  Are you going to drag him out of bed every time you have a bad dream?

  “Snark doesn’t suit you,” I mumbled.

  Was just a question, he mumbled back.

  Aiden pulled the door open, mid-yawn and his other hand mid-eye-rub. “If you have another ghost haunting you now, I’m calling those guys on Ghost Hunters. This is out my league.”

  “Still only one. But apparently, I get to relive his memories now when I dream and I don’t recommend being tortured.”

  Aiden yawned again and stepped aside. “Come on,” he said, swinging his arm toward the inside of his room. I hurriedly walked toward the bed I’d tried to fall asleep in the last time I showed up at three in the morning complaining about my dead husband and nightmares.

  The same bed where you were making out with each other this afternoon.

  “Shut up, Mason,” I hissed.

  “Are you going to be doing this all night?” Aiden sighed.

  “No,” I insisted. “Because he’s going to finally listen to me and keep his opinions to himself.”

  Don’t count on it.

  If you’ve never been haunted by a dead spouse, here’s my opinion: I don’t recommend it.

  “You want to talk about this nightmare?”

  I shook my head quickly and crawled underneath the blankets. I never wanted to think about that nightmare again, but I already suspected I’d never be able to forget it.

  “Ok, we don’t have to, but Bella… if this keeps up, I think you’ll have to talk to someone. You can’t keep reliving that every night. You look…”

  I glanced up at him and almost smiled. “Like shit?”

  “I was not going to say that,” Aiden insisted. He sat on the edge of his bed and exhaled slowly then ran his fingers through his hair. Damn, I wanted to smooth it down again.

  Damn, if I had a stomach, I’d want to throw up.

  Terrific. I not only had to deal with Mason’s trauma and being haunted, but my dead husband’s constant jealousy.

  I’m not jealous. He’s just not good enough for you.

  I scoffed aloud even though I hadn’t meant to. Aiden arched an eyebrow at me and I just shook my head at him.

  “You do look you’ve been through Hell,” Aiden finally said. “Ordinary nightmares don’t cause that. I’ve heard of something else… night terrors, I think. We can Google it.”

  “There’s only one way to get rid of this,” I said. “I have to find the men who did this to him. We both need retribution. That has to be why he’s here, right? But it’s also more than that, Aiden. It’s for the countless others they’ve done this to and the others they could do this to if they escape Lottie’s insurrection.”

  “You dreamed about them. Do you have descriptions? We can work with that.”

  I cringed as I had to recall details from that room and the sights and smells and feelings inundated me again. Aiden got off his bed and sat beside me, and it wasn’t until he lifted my hand and held it between his own that I understood why: I’d begun to shake.

  “Only one,” I whispered. “The others I couldn’t see clearly. I could only see the thin man who ordered the big one to torture me again…” I closed my eyes and inhaled slowly. “Sorry. Mason. I was so convinced it was happening to me though.”

  “Bella,” Aiden said softly. He let go of my hand and wiped the fresh tears from my cheeks. I may have stopped breathing as that same sensation from the prior afternoon that made my skin feel alive for the first time in my life reminded me that there was something extraordinary about this man or the way I reacted to him, but whatever it was, there was more than pheromones at work here.

  But Aiden must have quickly remembered our conversation from just hours before when I’d sheepishly explained that with Mason constantly in my head, physical intimacy was out of the question. Of course, I’d emphasized, “Until he gets out of my head,” but even Mason didn’t know how long that would be. Despite Mason’s warnings, I already knew I was going to risk having my heart broken. I couldn’t not risk it.

  “Describe this guy,” Aiden said. “We might find out he’s already on our radar.”

  “On your radar?” I repeated. “Is that spy lingo for on my hit list?”

  Aiden just shrugged. “Depends.”

  I opened my mouth and was horrified when the only thing that came out was a small squeak. I closed it and tried again. “On what?”

  “On if he’s someone we plan to question or not.”

  “Aren’t you going to kill him anyway?”

  Aiden just shrugged at me again as if he were afraid to tell me the truth now after I accused him of being a monster for beating the shit out of Noah Miller. Not that I blamed him.

  I shuddered as I pulled up the image of the thin man. Mason’s revulsion made me nauseated.

  I heard his voice sighing again before he said, I can describe each of them. But I can’t extricate myself from you now, Bella. This won’t be easy for you.

  I shook my head quickly and whispered, “I don’t care. Tell us.”

  Aiden gave me a strange look and I made a mental note to practice conversing with the voice in my head only in my head.

  They never addressed each other by name. But the thin man was in charge. He has gray and brown hair with a quickly receding hairline and usually wore gold glasses.

  I relayed the description to Aiden exactly as Mason described him. Mason added a few more details, like a scar on his forearm, but Aiden had already grabbed his laptop and my information was greeted by the clicking of keys. When I stopped, he glanced up at me and gestured toward his computer.

  “It’s a database. I’m just entering the keywords you’re giving me. He sounded American?”

  “Yes,” I answered. I didn’t need Mason to verify that. I could easily remember his voice, so emotionless as he stood in front of me… in front of Mason… and ordered his torture to begin again.

  Aiden’s fingers stopped dancing across the keys of his laptop and he turned it around so the monitor faced me. “Him?” he asked.

  “Oh, my God,” I whispered.

  James Barker. Such an innocuous sounding name, yet it filled me with a sickening horror because I knew the dangers of judging a book by its cover.

  And James Barker was a man with an innocent cover over thousands of sadistic pages.

  Aiden turned the computer around again and resumed his clicking on the keys. He nodded and glanced up at me again. “He used to work for Abram Mirowski in New York. Believe me: that asshole is definitely dead. I had the pleasure of… ba
bysitting him once Dietrich and Eric left town.”

  I winced again but I recognized his name, this time from Dietrich’s story about discovering his fiancée was still alive. A little different but alive. And he’d emphasized that Lottie was still so much herself, the same girl he’d fallen in love with at a party when they were only seventeen, and yet, she wasn’t exactly the same. He’d quickly fallen in love with her all over again, but neither of them had a chance to explore what a new relationship would mean for either of them because Lydia, her best friend, had tipped off Dr. Jackson Garrett that something seemed tragically wrong with the woman she loved more than herself.

  And their race for survival had begun.

  But at 3:30 in the morning, I was having a difficult time placing Abram Mirowski and where he fit into their story so I reminded Aiden how new all of these names and people were to me. Aiden clicked a few keys then turned the monitor toward me again.

  “If you think of the company hierarchy as having one head honcho, a few important shareholders, and a handful of regional directors, Abram Mirowski was somewhere between a regional director and important shareholder. He was an important shareholder, but not on the same playing field as Judge Willis McGrath. One of the things Dietrich and Lottie and everyone else intimately involved in this insurrection wants to find out is why Lottie threatens them so much. It doesn’t make any sense. Why did Mason? Why do these resurrected people scare the shit out of these guys?”

  I looked at the picture on the screen and even though Mason recognized him, I didn’t sense the same horror and revulsion from him. If he’d ever met Mirowski, he must not have been personally involved in Mason’s imprisonment and torture. “So Barker was taking orders from Mirowski who was killed two years ago. Who’s Barker answering to now?”

  Aiden lifted a shoulder at me and reached over the monitor to click a key. The screen flickered to another image and my stomach turned. This had to be what I hated most about being human. I was pretty sure I could handle just about anything except vomiting.

  But staring back at me from the monitor was the burly man who had tortured my husband.

  Aiden must have noticed this man’s picture had a profound effect on me because he turned the computer around again so I couldn’t see it anymore. I closed my eyes and sank lower on the bed so my head rested on the plump pillows.

  “Who is it?” I asked weakly.

  “Tyson Andrews. That’s kind of a stupid name.”

  “He’s the new Mirowski?” Something wasn’t adding up here. I was certain this man had been taking orders from Barker six years ago, so how had he catapulted over him?

  “Yeah, apparently,” Aiden answered. “How do you recognize him?”

  My stomach rolled again and I pressed my palms against it to see if I could literally hold the contents in. “Mason’s memory… that man was the one who was burning him,” I whispered.

  “God, Bella,” Aiden sighed. He ran his fingers through his hair and pushed his laptop away. “Why is he doing this to you?”

  Asshole.

  Somehow, Mason’s voice even managed to sound like it muttered.

  “You had me under surveillance then approached me to help out in this insurrection,” I pointed out. “Mason didn’t start this.”

  Aiden shook his head and retorted, “Yeah, but I was hoping you’d say no. When you actually agreed, I tried to get you to change your mind, but you’re awfully damn stubborn.”

  “True,” I admitted.

  Aiden took a deep breath and lifted one of my hands from my stomach, squeezing it gently. “Just… if you really still love her, then she doesn’t need to know everything.”

  Mason immediately protested. Tell him I can’t control it! I didn’t even choose to come back and haunt you. I have no idea how I even got here! And what does he know about my love for you? I traveled across the goddamn universe for you!

  But I didn’t give voice to any of Mason’s protests. I watched Aiden instead as he got off the bed and turned the lights back off then lay in his own bed, assuring me he’d begin looking into both men in the morning. And once he cast that net, he’d likely pull in far more fish than just those two men.

  Mason continued to complain but after it became apparent I wasn’t going to give voice to his argument with Aiden, he pouted instead. I wasn’t trying to torment him or anything, I just couldn’t stop thinking about the way Aiden had touched my hand, that deep, shaky breath, the way he’d addressed a ghost he didn’t even believe existed.

  Mason did love me – I knew that just as I knew he was trying to protect me, but even in death, he wasn’t perfect. And I began to wonder how much of his insistence that Aiden was only trying to sleep with me was because of his jealousy rather than believing Aiden would intentionally hurt me.

  I was too afraid to even close my eyes again because I didn’t want to dream. Once I heard Aiden’s breathing slow into the peaceful rhythm of sleep, I practiced talking to Mason silently instead.

  At first, I didn’t know if it wasn’t working or if he was just ignoring me because he was pissed off at me for not delivering his messages to the man I was quickly falling for.

  Mason, stop being a stubborn ass and talk to me. Keep me awake. I can’t have that nightmare again.

  More quiet in my own mind. I began to get angry even though I couldn’t be sure he heard me. I tried again but this time, he interrupted me.

  I’m here, Bella. Why wouldn’t you defend me?

  Why does it matter what Aiden thinks? Besides, I don’t want to be in the middle of your argument. Literally in the middle of it. That’s not a fair position to put me in.

  Mason got quiet again then sighed, Ok. I’m sorry. I really do wish I could keep these nightmares away from you though.

  I smiled at the ceiling through the darkness. I missed him so much. Oddly enough, I could tell that even in death, he was the man he’d been here on Earth, this amalgamation of Liam and the boy I’d fallen in love with at home. Whatever they had done to him must be irreversible, even in this existence as… well, I still wasn’t sure what he was.

  What is your happiest memory, Mason? Since your resurrection, I mean. You had happy moments, didn’t you?

  Oh, Bella, of course I did. I had many happy moments. I would catch myself feeling that happiness, though, and that’s when the shame and guilt rushed back in and drowned me.

  I bit my lip and gripped the edge of the blanket, trying to force myself not to cry, but it didn’t work. I didn’t want to wake Aiden and I didn’t want to make Mason feel worse. But you didn’t do this. You didn’t choose to bring Liam back.

  No, Mason answered sadly, but what difference does it make when it hurt you every single day? When you had to live with the reminder of the life I promised you and couldn’t give you?

  Oh, Mason… my internal voice whispered. I wiped the tears from my cheeks as Aiden stirred in the other bed.

  You deserve better than him, Bella. I want you to have the life here I told you about, even if it’s not with me. Honestly, I do. But a guy like this? He’s not that different than the men who tortured and killed me, is he?

  I didn’t know how to answer that.

  You encouraged me to lead our own insurrection, Mason. Some part of you understands that this world is better off without those people who are so willing to abuse and murder others.

  I know. But there’s a difference between killing people to protect the innocent and inflicting pain on someone for any reason.

  “Bella? Are you all right?” Aiden asked.

  I sniffled again and nodded then remembered the room was dark and unlike Mason, Aiden wasn’t in my head. “Yes,” I responded. “Just feeling sorry for myself and for Mason, I guess.”

  That wasn’t really lying since it was at least partly true.

  I heard Aiden roll over so he could face me then he stifled a yawn and asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”

  No, she doesn’t want to talk to you, Mason answered bitterly.
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  I would have slapped him if I could have.

  Instead, I rolled onto my side so I could face him, too. “I know you didn’t want any of this, Aiden. To be stuck with me in the first place and then have the alien woman turn out to be possibly insane or getting there.”

  “You’re not insane, Bella,” Aiden responded. “And I already told you. We all think those of you who aren’t into extortion and murder and shit are really cool.”

  I snickered and hugged my pillow. “If we had stayed home, do you know what would have eventually happened to us?”

  Aiden exhaled slowly and at the end of that long, slow breath, a “no” escaped.

  “He would have been fine. He was male and rich, and life didn’t get better for anyone back home than that. I was poor and female, and life rarely got worse for anyone than that. If his father had found out, I’m the one who would have been killed.”

  Aiden sucked in a quick, hissing breath this time and sat up. “They would have killed you? For loving a rich guy?”

  I blinked at his shadowy figure and swallowed. How shocking my old world must seem to men like him who had grown up believing gender and wealth were statuses tied to an age long past. “Yes,” I answered quietly. “And that’s ultimately why Mason wanted to leave. He had everything, Aiden. He could have had such an easy life. And he gave it all away for me.”

  Aiden ran a hand over his eyes and sighed again. “In a way, he kind of sacrificed himself for you.”

  I’m hating him a little less, Mason teased.

  I smiled even though I didn’t want to encourage him. I wanted him to like Aiden. I couldn’t help wanting Mason’s approval.

  After all, I’d obviously been willing to die for him, at home and on this planet we’d adopted as our own.

  “I guess so,” I said. “He certainly gave up almost everything for me, and once we came here and everything ended up going so wrong, I realized he’d even given up himself.”

  “It’s just… strange. Lottie escaped with Lydia and gave up a good life to save her friend. Maybe not nearly as good as Mason’s considering she was female, but her father is extremely wealthy and powerful. She chose saving her best friend above everything, and she ended up resurrecting Dietrich’s dead fiancée.”