Burdened (A Burdened Novel)

by Peiri Ann

  I look away as they hit with a hard thud. I don’t want to see the way their bodies land.

  The snake of fire comes to my side. I desire the lights on. It quickly slithers away, and whatever the fire did to shut off the lights, turns them back on, and returns to my side.

  Acknowledging my surroundings, Taylor is pinned against a wall by a desk that I never heard move. Nathan Sr. is smiling, and Rose is standing in front of the desk. I care for neither of them and the father will be the first to go.

  “You have no idea what you have just done, Dad.” His look falters slightly. “You’ve fucked with the wrong bitch’s mate.” I sprint towards him, making it to him quicker than I should have. My hands heat up and I jump, taking him by the neck. He cringes under the heat of my hands, and I catch the scent of burning flesh.

  Rose comes behind me, taking me by my waist, and throws me a good three feet back. I land next to Nathan’s stiff body. I turn, refusing to look at him. Getting back up, I meet Rose at full charge. Rose is the least of my concerns right now, with her dad standing there, smiling, like he’s watching his first fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

  I flip her behind me and sic the snake of fire on her. It catches her around the neck and welcomes itself into her mouth, going down her throat.

  Oookay…

  I turn from the scene, looking back at Daddy. I have never had to kill anyone and I know it’s not right. But it doesn’t feel wrong, not with him, not with this feeling, not with this hurt that he has caused. It’s right, if only for right now.

  “Very nice, Tracey. I’ve never seen anything like it. But there is no defeating me.”

  “I will destroy you. Tonight!”

  He laughs a manly chuckle, not taking me serious. “There is no way, Tracey. I am burdened and hybrid. There is no defeat.” Impossible! Then why would he want his burdened children dead?

  He is supposed to be only full-blooded Sephlem. Show no emotions, Tracey. “I don’t care if you were the devil himself. I will defeat you or I will die defeating you. But you will fall and hard.”

  His expression turns hard. “Just take note: I have tried and, it looks like, succeeded in killing my own children. Do not think that I will take it easy on you.”

  “There is a difference between me and your children.”

  His head cocks sideways. “And what’s that?” as if he is interested.

  “They loved you. I don’t.” I shoot forward, again making it to him quicker than I anticipated. Instead of grabbing him, I leap over him, jumping higher than I knew I could, and land on my feet behind him. I desire the warp of fire to come from my hand and through his back. It does, but it has no effect on his body, only burns his shirt away.

  He turns around, laughing at me, angering me more. “Aww, Tracey. Nice efforts.”

  I hesitate and he reaches out for me, grabbing me by my neck. His grip is extremely tight, cutting off my breath. I can’t move my head.

  He lifts me from the floor, my feet dangling as I gasp for the air that I’m not receiving. The room shades dark. I feel a film cover my eyes. Looking at me, his eyes widen, and his grip loosens enough for me to kick him. The kick sends him to the floor—hard. I land on the floor, buckling over to catch my breath.

  He wastes no time in getting back to his feet. I stand up straight, preparing myself for another attack, stretching out my neck and warming my hands. I don’t know how I am going to defeat him, but it is going to happen.

  “Dad!” Rose screams out. We both look in her direction. Her body is lit up, like the inside of a candle. Every inch of her is turning red. Her eyes turn cold with worry and fear, and within the next second, she explodes. The snake of fire forms on the floor and slithers over to me.

  Whoa. I smile at it as it enters back into my palm. Very good, I mentally praise it.

  Nathan’s father becomes even more enraged. “Don’t be upset, Daddy. I really wanted you to go first. Too bad!” I say, with a smile that makes the shit hit the fan.

  His eyes bulge and everything in the room suddenly comes flying towards me. I dodge them and run over to him. Since he’s sending things my way, he’s going to get hit by them too.

  At my approach, he delivers a quick blow to my stomach. I buckle over, sliding back on my feet. A metal chain hits me in the back of the head, dazing me, and my sight fills with flashing spots. Another hits me in my back, dropping me to my knees.

  Nathan Sr. walks over to me, grabbing me by the back of my neck. He drags me to where Nathan lays. I look away, not wanting to see him like this.

  “Tracey, look at your lifeless mate.” I refuse. “Look at him, Tracey. Look at my achievement.” I still don’t look. “I have been trying to kill him for ninety-three years—his sister, Taylor, for longer.” He grabs my neck tighter. “I had to wait for him to fall in love, in order for him to become vulnerable, to start letting his guard down, to not think so much.” He lifts my head, pulling my hair. “Look at him!” He laughs. “Thank you, Tracey, for choosing my son. You really don’t know how much it means to me.” Amusement and sarcasm bleeds from his voice.

  I finally look at Nathan, realizing how close I am to him. I reach out to touch him, but his father pulls me away. I was only an inch away.

  I stare at him as I am being pulled away—my heart staying there, in the place I was pulled from. I have no ache, feeling myself getting pulled farther from him.

  Mindlessly, I reach for the hand behind me. My hand is on fire. I smell burning flesh and his hand lets go, hurriedly. I race back to Nathan as tears fill my eyes, blurring my vision. I place a kiss against his swollen forehead.

  In my last goodbye, I say, “I’ll die killing your dad, because I can’t live without you.” I kiss him again. “If I don’t see you in heaven, I’ll know where to find you.” I touch my hand to his slashed cheek, then I kiss his swollen lips. “I love you.”

  I lay my forehead against his as tears flow from my eyes, onto his beaten and swollen face. I place my hand to his chest, not feeling a beat but wanting there to be one, putting all the feeling I have into that touch.

  I turn around to his father’s approach. He either does not have the ability of speed or he knows he is about to kill me. I let the snake of fire leave me, to help me fight. Nathan Sr. smiles at it. I’m glad I have a weapon.

  I jump to my feet and he delivers a rib-crushing kick to me, sending me sliding on my back into Rose’s juices. Black fluid is all over me. Disgusting!

  A few of my ribs are definitely broken, but I stand against the pain. Nothing is left in me to fight and I am just ready to blow this guy’s fucking head back.

  I race to him, jump on him, and deliver face-burning punches. I don’t stop—I can’t stop. After the seventh punch, I realize they’re doing nothing. He grabs me by my middle, squeezing my cracked ribs and throws me against the floor with all his might.

  My shoulder blade shatters under the pressure and it’s hard for me to breathe. I’m done. I can’t move.

  My snake of fire creeps up behind him. He catches it, blowing an ice-like breeze, minimizing any affect my new friend had.

  He smiles at me. “Tracey, Tracey, Tracey. I told you. You—” He grabs his neck. Then his chest caves in. My eyes widen at the sound of his bones cracking.

  I’m still on the floor, unable to move. I watch him drop to his knees and they crack under the fall. All of the sounds are sickening, yet it’s satisfying to see him falling.

  “I told you—” I close my eyes at his voice. “If you even try to kill her, there will be no words.”

  Nathan Sr. stumbles and stammers over his words—going back and forth between a “broken son” and a “true Nathan”—as he gasps for air.

  I hear footsteps approaching. I don’t need to see him for confirmation. I know his voice. I know his sound. I feel his presence. He’s alive!

  Nathan’s dad is wide-eyed, barely breathing. Hands touch my shoulders. All of my pain goes away in a matter of seconds. He sits me up, but doesn’t turn
me to look at him.

  “Go pull that desk from Taylor so she can save Justin. He is better off than I was.”

  I do as he asks, choosing the route that walks past his father.

  “Tracey, I—” There are no words. I punch him as hard as I can in the face, sending his head turning left. He turns his head back before I walk away.

  Behind me, I hear low gasps, flesh hitting flesh, shattering bones, and then, a final breath being pushed out. I make it to Taylor, pulling the desk from her. She collapses to the floor.

  I pick her up. “Taylor, get up. Please?”

  Moments pass with me shaking her and patting her face, before her eyes flutter. Once she realizes she’s awake, she leaves me, racing over to Justin.

  I turn to them, seeing a pile of ash resting where Nathan Sr. once knelt.

  Taylor is hovering over Justin, breathing from her mouth, over his face. After minutes of this, he opens his eyes and is healed back to his good-looking self. They are happy.

  Warm arms wrap around me and I let out a breath that I had been holding since I got home from the race track.

  “How about you heal me back to my good-looking self?” I start to turn towards him. “Don’t look. Just put your hand over my face.”

  I do as he asks, not wanting to fight right now. I can feel his face changing under my hands.

  “Thank you. You can get to the rest of me later.” I look him over. He is still covered in that black fluid, but it doesn’t matter. He is alive, and standing in front of me.

  “You came back!” I’m breathless. Looking at him—better and alive—literally takes my breath away. Butterflies form in my stomach and I can feel my heart losing control in my chest. “Can I hug you?”

  “You have to ask?” He grabs me in his arms, lifting me to him. I wrap my body around him.

  I soak him up like a dry sponge in water as he presses his head inside my neck and I rest my chin on his head.

  “Tracey, I love you.”

  “I love you, Nathan.” He hugs me tighter. “I would also like to be a part of your family.” He lowers me a little and looks at me. “And I’m sorry about your sister.” He looks at Taylor. I shake my head and look in the directions of the black fluid on the floor.

  He gives me a quizzical look. “You did that?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “You could say that.”

  There are loud footsteps coming hurriedly in our direction. “Are we going to have to fight some more?” I ask, not wanting to.

  “No, but we are going to have to comfort, and hear a lot of crying.” He lets me down as Taylor and Justin walk over to us. She hugs her brother long and hard. “Thank you,” he says to her.

  “As usual, you save me, I save you.” She punches him lightly in the chest. “Later, you tell your side, and I’ll tell you my side. Then you tell me about you and Tracey being bound, and why in the hell she has night-vision, fire snakes, and match hands.”

  Nathan looks at me. “We have a lot to talk about,” I tell him with a half-smile.

  “Right.” He nods at me, then looks back at his sister. “How about we talk with our mates first? Then we’ll talk as a group.”

  She nods as people start pouring into the room, taking in the scene.

  I know that, because two are dead, that really means three are, and Nathan’s mother has to be in distress now that her husband is gone. A part of me starts to feel bad for her. Although, no regret builds in me. What’s done is done, and it needed to be done.

  21: Revolution

  His family comes in: Roseland first, followed by his wife, and Little Nathan, followed by his mother. Depression wipes over me. The cousins follow, and all of their faces take in the scene: the black liquid that rests against the concrete floor; the broken, glistening chains hanging from the ceiling, swinging in the windless air; and the pools of mixed-colored liquid, below where Nathan and Justin had hung.

  I cringe at the thought of remembering Nathan’s body hanging there and, what seemed like, lifeless. Nathan pulls me closer, rubbing my shoulder, trying to comfort me. I accept it.

  Roseland starts walking forward, then the others follow. They stop three feet away from us, when Roseland notices the pile of dust, which is two feet from where we stand.

  He looks at Nathan, and Nathan squares his shoulders, ready to take on the attack. I assume there might be one.

  Nathan’s mother pushes through the crowd, stepping beside Roseland, on the opposite side of his wife. She drops to her knees and starts to sob uncontrollably.

  No one moves, and only I look at her. I feel bad for her pain, but not about our actions.

  “What happened?” Roseland is calm and quiet. His voice holds disbelief and astonishment.

  Taylor steps forward, cutting off Nathan’s open mouth, and Justin flanks her. “Justin and Nathan were missing. Rose, Tracey, and I left to find them. We arrived here to find them on the brink of death—Nathan worse off than Justin.” Her voice cracks. “They were hanging from chains that were once a part of those.” She points to the broken chains, still attached to the ceiling. She pauses—as if she is trying to figure out which parts to tell and which to leave out. We didn’t want anyone to know about the bond, considering how his mother had reacted. She looks at Nathan.

  He steps forward, having no other choice but to tell. “I am not sure of the extent of what happened, but I can confirm, when I came to—thanks to Tracey—Taylor was pinned against the wall, behind a desk, half-unconscious. Tracey was near-death, on the ground, with shattered bones all over her body. Our father was standing over her, preparing to kill her. I did that to him.” He nods towards the dust. “For trying to kill Taylor, Justin, and me, but mostly Tracey.”

  “This morning, I spoke with him when I arrived at the house. Some things happened to Tracey, that you all are not aware of, that involved him. I warned him that if he tried to kill her, there would be no words.” He looks over to his mother. “I’m sorry, mother, but enough was enough. What happened here tonight shouldn’t have.”

  “So what happened to Rose?” Little Nathan steps forward, his face holding no expression or emotion.

  Nathan looks at me, his expression questioning if I want to tell.

  I don’t, but I may as well—start treating them like a family. Right? I step forward, taking Nathan’s hand that he offers to me.

  “That was me.” I don’t speak loud, but high enough for them to hear without the walls echoing. I move the sticky hair from my face, and everyone gasps. I look at my arm and those damn vines have not disappeared.

  My body is still in battle mode. I ignore the vines. “Rose rode here with us—the entire time being a part of a bigger plan than just finding Nathan. Once we arrived in this room, Rose took the side of your father’s. They fought Taylor, while I was trying to save Nathan, who, at the time, seemed to be dead—” Tears well up in my eyes. I shake my head. “Once they had Taylor down, and I had done all I could to help Nathan, I started fighting with your father, and Rose attacked me from behind.” I open my still-black palm, letting the snake of fire slither from me.

  It circles around Nathan and me in a protective manner. “I let it fight Rose for me, while I had a few rounds with your father. The last time I looked at them, it had slithered into her, through her mouth. Minutes later, she glowed red and…” I pause, wanting to get the words right, but nothing comes. “…exploded.” I open my hand, welcoming the fire snake back to me. It comes quickly. “I would apologize,” I say, as I look back up to them. “But I don’t regret it.”

  “None of this is Tracey’s fault, so do not blame her for anything.” Taylor steps up again. “She was trying to save us, and being new to this, she did a damn good job at it. She possesses abilities that are new to her, and she learned to use them quickly.” She looks at me. “Honestly, I’m proud of her, and I thank her for what she has done for us tonight.” I smile at her, and she returns my smile.

  Roseland walks up to Nathan, looking him over. “She heale
d your face, but not the rest of you? Are you not in pain?”

  “I am. I didn’t want Tracey to see me as I was, but we haven’t had the chance for a complete healing session yet.”

  “You’re still bleeding.”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  Justin walks over to them, Taylor glued to his hip. “Nathan is stronger than I thought.” He smiles at Nathan. “I’m glad you pulled through.”

  I look over at their mother, who is being helped up by mild-faced Little Nathan. Her face is red and her eyes are beyond puffy. He leads her over to the nearest chair, not saying anything.

  “So would you all care to tell us what happened before the girls arrived?” Roseland asks with curiosity.

  “Not in front of them.” Nathan looks at me, knowing I am about to protest. “And not right now. Just know that your father was beyond successful in his plan to kill Justin and I—and possibly Taylor—and would have succeeded if it wasn’t for Tracey. I never thought Rose was a part of it, until I saw her cut me herself.”

  “What did she say, if anything?”

  Nathan looks at his mom. “Not now, Roseland. We will talk later. I have something I need to do.”

  Nathan moves and I move with him. He stops midway to his mom. “Can you stop my wounds from bleeding? I don’t want to freak her out.”

  I rub my hands over his moist body, over the flesh-baring wounds that show bone or tissue. The minor scratches I ignore for now.

  I look him over. “Okay.”

  “Thank you,” he says too softly, pulling me to him and kissing my forehead.

  We cover the remaining distance to her. She looks at him and her eyes fill with more tears. Little Nathan steps to my side.

  “Tracey, can you give me one moment?” Nathan asks me.

  I shake my head. I can’t.

  “He’s going to be okay. Everyone is here. She definitely won’t hurt him.” Little Nathan looks at me, reassuring me with his scrunched grin and high eyebrows.

  I slowly let Nathan’s hand go and take a couple of steps back. Little Nathan steps with me.