She stared at me for a moment, considering my proposal. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead of words she once again giggled maniacally, sounding crazier with each passing moment, her thoughts erratic and bold. Finally she stilled under me and smiled lazily. “He asked me to give you this,” she said, forcing her way into my mind, the way he had done, implanting a perfect image of Olivia and Caleb in the room she had last seen them in. In seconds I counted the metal boxes on the walls, and read the letters on the small plaque near the door that was thick and glossy silver.
"Which one?" I asked, clenching my hand around her throat.
"Elm Street," she barked, her eyes widening at her admission. Her upper lip curved into the most evil smirk. "She's been in Asheville all along."
I released my grip slightly, glancing at Miles to determine what to do next. Before I could move, Penelope laughed again and said, "Caleb will have a field day when you show up reeking of your human's scent all over your body. Bedding a human, Grant… how shocking. Although, you'd better hope you get there before she does."
In a flash, both of my hands twisted against her throat. She looked at me devilishly. "Why would she get there before me?" I asked, my head cocked in question as ice-cold terror filled my veins.
Penelope struggled against the weight of my hands. I was blocking her windpipe—her ability to speak. I loosened my grip. "He sent you a message, which I'm assuming you didn't receive or you wouldn't be here. Maybe she got it instead?”
"I have no idea what you are referring to," I sneered, placing my faith in Adam to keep Amelia safe. "What kind of message?"
"He's ready for this to end. He wants you to know where he is and how to find him. He would make you work for it, of course, but that's of no consequence now, is it?" She muttered the last part under her breath, aware there were no secrets left in this crazy game.
I shifted infinitesimally, squelching the horror that consumed my mind and dipped my chin at Ryan who nodded in return. He released his grip on Elijah as I slowly removed my weight off of Penelope’s body. Elijah flew from under Miles's grasp, and the only thing I felt was the breeze of his speed as he rushed past me, careening full force into her body. Her expression turned from insane amusement to understanding before shifting to acceptance quicker than I could've expected. I turned my back as Elijah pounced on the passive, laughing demon behind me.
I attempted to ignore the sounds as I walked away—the shouts to calm Elijah, the collection of wood, and the familiar noises of starting a fire. There was the distinct thump of still-moving body parts landing on the soft, grassy field. Elijah's pain was deafening, filling my soul with heartache and grief. The only sound that overshadowed it was the ripping of flesh and squealing laughter from the demented.
Genevieve and Miles approached me, their questions cutting through the emotional haze of my mind. They asked for Olivia's location and what exactly did Penelope mean by her comments of domination. They worried about Amelia, but most of all they watched me, my image reflected in their eyes. My face was constricted. Hair standing on end, disheveled almost beyond recognition. My pale arms were exposed, having lost my shirt earlier. I was now covered with dirt and scars from the fight. All of these things shocked me, including the way my fists balled by my side and the obvious tension in my shoulders.
I looked as crazy as Penelope felt.
Running a hand in my tangled hair, I found I couldn't respond to their questions verbally. I was too blinded by rage and fury, too distracted by the aching pain of loss, as I thought of Olivia imprisoned by that monster, the same one who threatened my Amelia, the keeper of my soul.
Stopping at the edge of the forest, I said into the smoky night air, "She's in town—held in the Asheville First National Bank."
Without another word, I slipped away from my family and into the absolute darkness of the forest. Positioning myself in the direction towards Asheville, I began reviewing the information I had. Penelope and Caleb’s fighters were dead. I knew where Olivia was being held. I had to trust that Amelia was safe with the Shifter. This situation was coming to an end, cumulating to just Caleb and I, as it should have been all along. Picking up my pace, I thrust myself though the woods, determined to finish this once and for all.
Chapter 11
Amelia
"He won't pick up," I said, throwing the phone onto the couch. It bounced off the cushion and hit Adam on the leg. "Why doesn't he pick up?"
Adam sighed in annoyance, rubbing his hand through his hair. "I don't know Amelia, because he's fighting vampires and maybe doesn't have time to take a call from his girlfriend?"
I shot him a dirty look and began pacing across the glossy hardwood floors that spanned the Palmers’ foyer. I'd finally gotten myself together and stopped crying over the terrifying video, becoming almost numb after watching it countless times. Adam had a theory that Olivia was being held in an old bank, near the center of town, in the vault. The safety deposit boxes on the wall and a small plaque by the door tipped him off to the location. Not being able to reach Grant by phone was infuriating.
I looked at Adam, who appeared unfazed by the whole thing, and asked, "What should we do? You know how to find Caleb, I can't reach Grant, and Olivia needs our help."
"I know one thing," he said, glancing up from the computer screen where he was watching the video Caleb had sent again. "There’s nothing you can do to help in this situation so you may as well relax for a while. And I hate to break it to you, but I’m not getting involved with saving one vampire from another vampire.”
I groaned in exasperation, dropping into the cushy arm chair across from him and sighing. He was completely right. There was nothing I could do, and asking him to get involved with finding Olivia was probably out of line. Grant would kill me if I stuck one toe outside this door without him. Plus, I had no interest in coming face to face with Caleb in real life after my earlier evil vampire encounters. Twice was enough. Sasha and Joe were terrifying, but the video had shown me that Caleb was a whole other level of psycho.
Picking up one of the magazines from the end table, I began flipping through it, restlessly skimming the pages of kitchens, expanded attics, and period-style bathrooms. Not interested in This Perfectly Perfect Old House I tossed it back, scattering the organized pile of similar magazines across the table.
"You better put those back," Adam warned, his deep voice bouncing off the vaulted ceiling. "Things in this house are very 'in place’. I wouldn't want to be the one who messed it up."
I scowled but began methodically arranging the magazines as they were before I knocked them askew. My heart almost broke when I realized they were in chronological order by month and it reminded me of Grant and his ridiculous obsessive-compulsive tendencies. "Well, at least he's not the only one," I muttered under my breath.
"Not the only one what?" Adam asked from the couch. Didn't he need to use the bathroom or go outside to check on David?
I raised an eyebrow in his direction as I moved across the room and began looking though the row of books lining the shelves near the fireplace to distract myself. "Great. You have super hearing, too." Irritated suddenly at my apparent lack of super powers, and feeling increasingly stressed at the fact my phone hadn't rung, I decided to change the subject. "What are the other animals doing now?"
Adam stretched his legs out in front of him and placed his hands behind his head. "They're out there in the woods, merged completely with the forest. Birds, squirrels, coyotes, fox. Take your pick. Your demons were following a specific trail north. The Shifters are patrolling between Asheville and Lost Cove, because our job is to keep our community safe,” he explained. "We only expanded our territory to include you."
Feeling ungrateful, I offered him an appreciative smile in return and quietly said, "Thanks. I guess I would’ve heard from them if something—"
I never finished my sentence because Adam sprang out of the seat, the couch itself slamming back against the wall forcefully.
“Holy shit!” I cried. In mere seconds Adam was no longer Adam, but had transformed-mid-air-into his cat. The animal, larger than I remembered him, leapt across the room with a screeching growl before crashing through the solid glass front door.
My hands moved to my ears as the sound of cascading glass showered over the hard floors. After the glass settled it was—for a moment—eerily quiet, the only sound in the room was my heavy breathing and the gentle breeze in the trees that flittered through the now open doorway.
“How?” I said. How did he move so fast? How did he break through the door? Why didn’t I realize how powerful he was?
I stood up slowly and edged around the sharp pieces of glass that littered the floor, walking towards the window. I occasionally heard the hard crunch under my shoes as the glass ground into the home’s pristine floors. When I reached the window, I tentatively lifted the curtain, pushing it to the side to gain a better view of the yard. There was nothing there but dark and silence. I dropped the gauzy white fabric and touched my pocket.
"Adam? David?” I called quietly while trying to calm my shaking hands. I quickly walked back to the living room to grab my phone and call Grant once again. My stomach was twisted with unease.
Just before I reached the couch a haunting, "Amelia…" echoed through the empty house.
My feet froze mid-step.
"Amelia…" I heard again, this time louder and closer. I looked around discretely and saw nothing, so I lunged toward the couch for my phone. In a blink, someone was there, swiping the slim metal object out from under my hand. I began backing away before I even looked up and when I did, I forced back the bile that was rising in my throat. I was staring down the devil himself.
Caleb stood before me, dirty and raw. His dirt-streaked hair was messily tied at his neck, his clothes the same tattered and worn ones from the video. I realized now that he only had one arm. The jacket he was wearing was knotted at the top where it should have been. He was akin to my Grant, I could see it in his pale, smooth skin, and the lean, taut and strong muscles, but the similarities ended there. His eyes were onyx black—like Sasha’s and Joe’s—and the smirk on this face was pure evil.
"Leave me alone," I sputtered lamely, his intent clear on his face. He was here for me.
He only sneered in response and in that moment, I remembered Grant's final instructions to me about the hiding spot in the basement. I glanced in that direction, the hallway seeming miles away and the door at the end even further, but I had to try.
I swallowed heavily, taking a step backwards, and began to speak. "What use am I to you? You have Olivia. She's the one you’ve been searching for."
He cocked his head slightly and smiled. "You underestimate yourself, dear Amelia. You're precious to me and a very integral part of my game. I admit I began all those years ago looking for Sarah Olivia, and there were times when it seemed so futile. Then I stumbled upon the myth of Grant Palmer. So noble, so brave. Helping the common man, sacrificing his own needs for that of humans." He stopped and sighed mockingly, resting his remaining hand on his chest. "It was so heartwarming. I found him and then he found you, and it was like all the pieces of the most perfect game showed up on the board, waiting to be manipulated." He smiled wickedly, confident he would be the winner.
I only listened partially to the ramblings of this maniac as I took another half step backwards. "How am I part of your game?" I stalled.
He shrugged, as though I was questioning the obvious. "You're important to him, as is she. I want him to choose. Which one survives and which one doesn't? The human or the girl who has loved and supported him for decades? Or does he attempt something even more glorious, like play the martyr and sacrifice himself? It can be any of the three, or frankly none. I don't really care. I'm just curious who he will choose." He leaned toward me and inhaled deeply, flaring his disgusting nostrils. "Although from the smell of you, I now have a better knowledge of his possible choice. He has made his loyalties abundantly clear."
I suppressed the urge to smell my skin, looking for the odor Adam and Caleb continuously spoke about. Caleb shook his head in disgust before he turned and walked over to the window, disregarding the glass under his bare feet. I peeked over my shoulder at the hallway and took another step back when he turned his face towards me and frowned. "I wouldn't do that Amelia—" but the words halted in his throat as he was thrown across the room by the oversized fox that flew through the busted door. My heart lunged to my throat as David pounced on Caleb before he had the opportunity to regain his footing. The animal looked in my direction, with soulful, begging blue eyes and I knew he was giving me the opportunity to run.
I spun on my feet running around the arched wall separating the living room from the hallway, while listening to the sound of Caleb's rage and the fox’s cries. Another animal joined the fray, dashing past me sleek and gray, and I knew Adam had joined in, giving me a better chance. A crash echoed behind me as my feet slapped on the wood, but I never stopped. I never looked back. I skidded on a rug as I came to a stop in front of the basement door. I heard a loud hiss and Caleb’s unmistakable rage from the living room as I turned the knob, revealing the short stairway that led under the house. I spared a glance behind me, shocked to see the fox flying through the air, across the span of the hallway and crashing into unseen objects in the adjoining room. Caleb rounded the corner and I bolted, taking one step after the other in the dark stairwell, frantically feeling along the wall for the camping gear Grant had described.
With fumbling fingers, I felt the straps of a back pack and pulled it off the wall, my nails digging into the wood, searching for any kind of latch. I almost cried in relief when my finger connected with a cold metal knob but instead it slipped, forced from the latch. An iron fist smashed into my head, slamming it hard into the wall. My vision dimmed, and I fell to the floor.
“I told you not to run,” he said. I struggled to get up but my body felt like it was being held down by weights. I blinked, head woozy from pain, and the last thing I saw before drifting off was the cold black of Caleb’s demented eyes.
~*~
My mind started working before my eyes opened. I heard the rushing sound of noise, voices, music, and movements speeding through my ears. My body felt the cool, unfamiliar, hard floor beneath me. I clearly remembered the moments before I blacked out.
Caleb.
The Shifters.
My head smashing into the wall.
I didn’t escape. I never contacted Grant. I was alone with a serial killer.
Clamping my eyes tight, I inwardly begged for the comfort of unconsciousness to overtake me again. I sat this way for a while, listening to the absolute silence of the room, feeling the throbbing pain in my temple, until a cool hand covered my own.
I wasn’t alone.
"Hey," a kind voice whispered and I cracked an eye in recognition.
"Olivia?" I rasped in a dry, cracked voice. Olivia kneeled next to me. Her red hair was tied back, giving her face sharp, hard angles. I searched her eyes for hope, but they were worried and tense.
Despite that, she sighed with relief. “Thank goodness you're okay. I was so worried when they brought you in here. I knew you were alive but…” She touched the soft spot on my head and I winced. “That looks bad and I feared for internal bleeding or something. Did he hit you?"
"No… well, I don't really know. I was trying to get to the basement safe room and he got to me first. I just remember slamming into the wall before passing out."
Olivia brushed back my hair and put an arm around my shoulder, the two of us leaning against the hard wall. "I knew he was going for you, I saw that much before he left the building, but once he got to you things were unclear. I haven't been able to see much of anything for the last couple of days.”
"What about Grant?" I asked, frantic for any news.
Olivia nodded and my heart soared. Quickly she told me what she knew. "There was a fight. A pack of fledglings and a stronger vampire, named Penelope—
not as mean as Sasha but just as crazy.”
“Great.”
“He’s coming for us. Right now, in fact. He was able to get our location from Penelope before he handed her over to Elijah. But Amelia… this is where things get complicated."
"What do you mean 'complicated'?" I asked, with a mixture of happiness over Grant coming here and confusion over Olivia's hesitation.
Olivia sighed and looked at me warily. "I mean, Grant is coming here and Caleb is going to make him—"
"Choose between the two of us," I said knowingly. "He told me."
"Amelia, one of the three of us will not make it out of here,” she said with absolute certainty. "Right now, it's unclear which one of us it will be, only because Grant hasn’t been given the choice yet."
“Are you sure we can’t change those odds?”
She shook her head.
I sat, stunned by the information. Nothing had ever made me see more clearly than being told I had anywhere from minutes to hours to live. The one thing that came to my mind was how much I loved Grant and never wanted to lose him.
"Okay then,” I said.
“Okay what?”
“It has to be me.”
She shook her head slowly. "I know it’s one option, but Grant won't let this happen. There is no way he will let you sacrifice yourself for him. And frankly, neither will I. Amelia, we've lived our lives and then some. It not going to happen."
I looked in her deep, green eyes, rimmed now with a dark black from hunger. "Make me like you," I whispered, pleading for her to understand. "For him. I want to be with him forever."
She stared at me in return before she blinked and her eyes glazed a bit, taking her to a different place. Her eyes snapped back quickly, wide and renewed as though she had seen something. But before I could ask what it was, the heavy metal door flung open, banging loudly into the wall behind it. I tensed on impact but Olivia was calm and collected, never removing her arm from around me.
Creature of Habit (Book 3) Page 8
