by Jemma Grey
“What are you talking about?” Zane snapped at her.
“Oh, haven’t anyone told you, my father wants your head.”
“Your father?” he asked, seeming genuinely surprised.
“The list goes on and it’s solely made up of the power players of Thirdworld… There is no way you can go back home.”
“You know, Katalin,” he swallowed, “you should probably ask yourself who was it that ordered the hit on Jen’s life in the first place…”
“I already know,” she chimed smiling as a brown cloth bag suddenly appeared in her hands. “I’ve brought you something.” She shoved her hand in the bag and pulled out a round blurry shape, and before I could see what it was, she sent it spiraling towards Zane’s head.
Zane caught the object just inches from his face, and when my eyes finally caught up with their lightening fast movements and I saw what he was holding bile rose in my throat. I was horrified and disgusted, yet I couldn’t bring myself to look aw ay. The thing that Zane was holding – it wasn’t a thing at all, it was Avril. Zane was holding Avril’s head in his hands as if it was a basketball. “Avril?”
Katalin let out an annoyed sigh, tilting her head to the side with impatience. “Here is a hint: typical humans don’t have such strong urges that only spells can bring on. You know, like needing to go for a midnight walk when you’re wanted dead… or having a mental breakdown over a picture you’ve seen about a million times...” she grinned facing me now.
“You think Avril’s the mastermind?” he frowned as he dropped Avril’s head to his foot, kicking it towards a corner of the room. I felt my stomach turn.
“Either way, she disobeyed me and as for your fate…” Katalin mused, “it seems I’ve a need to make a statement to Thirdworld; you should’ve never harmed what’s mine, Zane, and now all of Thirdworld is going to know exactly that.”
Almost as if on cue, just about half of Zane’s frozen men came alive around us, throwing back the hoods of the black cloaks, as they pulled out small knives and daggers from under their clothes, slashing each other’s throat. Within seconds a quarter of Zane’s pack crumpled to the floor just as a loud, thunderous explosion echoed through the room and the wall behind Zane crumbled, coating the room in a mess of dust and shouts as more people flooded the room like a giant wave, slaughtering everything in its path.
It only took a moment for everyone around me to absorb what was happening and move into action. Suddenly the room went from still and tense to complete chaos and madness. The remaining of Zane’s pack broke apart, going straight for the swarm of what could only be Dean and his pack still coming through the hole they’d busted into the wall. And then, in the time it took me to blink, the scene changed again and I wasn’t surrounded by humans anymore.
Instead of people, it was animals, each one vicious and deadly. Snarls and angry growls filled the air around me as they tore at each other. It all looked like a disorganized dance routine. They were all graceful and sure of their movements which seemed to blur in and out of existence.
Suddenly, I found myself standing in the middle of a war – one side fighting and killing to protect me, and the other doing everything it could to end my life. Only this war was filled with monsters and creatures that made my worst nightmare seem like a good dream… and all I could do was stand there, frozen as chaos raged on all around me.
I was still frozen when a fighting pair slammed into my body, sending me flying back. My head and back connected to something hard, sending a sharp, piercing pain through my body. I could feel the pain travelling down my spine, straight down to my toes. My mind fogged up almost instantly as my eyes rolled to the back of my head and my entire body went numb. The last thing I saw before the darkness swarmed through my head and took me completely, was Zane’s grin as he stood over me, looking down as if he was staring at a bug he was about to step on.
19
There were two things I was absolutely certain about; the rest was a mess inside my head. I knew I was in pain. I could feel my head throbbing. My back hurt, as if my spine was changing into a hot, metal rod, and I felt every agonizing second of the transformation. The second thing I was sure of was the noise around me. Even in dizziness, I could hear the threatening growls, the crashes and slams, even the scary snarls tearing through the air as though the sounds were something physical. It was all around me, coming from every side and angle. Other than that, I didn’t know anything else, not where I was or what was happening.
A low groan escaped my lips as I tried opening my eyes. At first, it seemed almost impossible; my eyelids were too heavy, seemingly to weigh tons. Eventually though, as the dizziness clouding my brain began to fade so did the weight, and I opened my eyes, groaning as I reached out to my head, where the pain was the most intense. The second my fingers touched the sore spot warmth and wetness coated my fingers as the pain worsened, threatening to knock me out again. I yanked my hand back at once, only to find the white glove I wore was now red.
Next, I forced myself to sit up, and staring at the messy scene around me everything came rushing back like a physical slap. My eyes instantly began searching for Eric, desperate not to find him lying among the broken bodies scattered throughout the room. I needed to know that he was okay.
I found Jason and Emily first, and at the sight my heart warmed a little. At the very least, I hadn’t caused them their lives. When I did find Eric, my heart went into overdrive, beating so hard and fast in my chest that it was almost painful. Relief flooded me as I took in every part of him visible from the distance. He was okay. There wasn’t a scratch on him.
He was at the other end of the room, beating the crap out of someone that was sprawled out on the floor. His eyes were literally glowing blue with rage and power, and blood smeared his hands and face. Everything controlled about him was gone, now replaced by total abandon. It was like he wasn’t Eric anymore, or at least not my Eric. This Eric was just as dark and dangerous as every other monster fighting inside this room.
The guy he was punching looked completely disfigured and dead. Each punch that Eric sent crashing into his face made his upper body sink into the floor a little more, and the cracks running through the ground from the man’s body, growing bigger.
Behind them, Zoryiaa was running up to him, something small and silver glinting in her hand whenever it caught the light. It took me a moment to realize it was a knife. It was the same one she’d used on Brandon, and not thinking I opened my mouth to scream – to warn Eric, to do something – but nothing came out. My words were locked in my throat and I could only sit by and watch as she kept closing the distant between them.
Eric straightened then, his bloody fingers clenched around the throat of the man, pulling him into a sitting position and out of the hole they’d made in the floor and I realized it was Zane. Eric then raised his free hand, sent it towards Zane’s face again, this time so fast, and with so much force that to me it looked as if Zane vanished and then reappeared edged into the wall at the opposite end of the room, now cracked with bits of cement dropping to the floor. After a moment Zane’s body ungraciously slid to the floor in a crumpled mess as Eric spun around just in time to catch Zoryiaa’s throat.
His fingers tightened as he lifted her off the floor until only the tip of her toes were touching the ground. Zoryiaa’s hand moved then, and Eric reacted. All I saw were the blurred movements – one second Eric was choking her and then the next, she’d brought the hand she was holding a knife with up, about to plunge it into Eric’s neck. In the same moment, Eric grabbed her wrist with his free hand, forcing her arm towards her own face. The knife was just inches away, just about to pierce the side of her face when she literally exploded into a giant, black wolf. At the exact moment the knife clattered to the floor, so did her four paws.
At the back of them Zane sat up, shaking his head vigorously as if trying to collect himself. Blood stained every inch of his face, though his wounds were healing already. His eyes scanned the fightin
g bodies and then settled on Eric as Zoryiaa slowly circled him. He raised himself off the floor, tilting his head to the side as a wide triumphant smile pierced his face. The next thing I knew was Eric vanished from where he was standing only to reappear seconds later slammed into the opposite end of the hall. Zane was now standing where he’d been just moments ago, a smug look on his face with Zoryiaa at his side, and I saw red.
It shattered everything I knew about myself; the control I had; the fear that was keeping me from making a sound and rooting me to the floor, it all vanished. Anger made my eyes burn and then I could suddenly see the world around me with clarity, like a curtain had been lifted from covering my eyes, and it revealed a world where details weren’t hidden and illusions melted away.
Colors were brighter. Everything pulsed with life and energy; it was almost glowing and vibrating with warmth. But it wasn’t just my eyesight that had been unveiled, it was everything else. Sounds were harsher and clear-cut as they bounced off the walls. The feeling of the clothes against my skin was warm and smoother. Smells that I didn’t know existed engulfed me, wrapping me up in its soft yet harsh silkiness. My taste buds were like a live wire, going crazy as I inhaled what I knew only as something delicious and intoxicating, something that promised me a high I’d never felt before.
More than those things was something else, and it overpowered everything inside me. It was rage, boiling within my veins. Anger, raw and undiluted pulsed through me, making the throbbing at the back of my head vanish. Adrenaline mixed in with pure hate and fury. I could feel it taking me over, sizzling in my veins, mixing in with my blood, almost completely consuming me. I smelled it in the air, strong and potent as if it was leaking through my pores. I felt my fingernails digging into the fleshy part of my palms with so much force and strength that it broke the skin instantly, leaving each of my palms with four, tiny crescents running down the middle. I wanted blood – no, I wanted Zane’s blood – that was the only thought in my head as I stood up, my eyes scanning the room for him.
Zane, who had caused me so much pain, who killed Daren and Brandon, who was trying to kill Eric right now; Zane, who had broken me. This time was not going to be a repeat of the last. This time I wasn’t going to stand by and watch. This time, I was going to get revenge and protect the people I loved.
The moment my eyes found him, I flashed towards him. I didn’t even have to think about moving, my body obeyed my mind completely. All my movements were precise and free. It was as if all the limitations of my human body had fallen away, leaving me completely unrestricted. The feeling was strange, yet powerful and heady. I felt stronger than ever and in total control, as if I could do anything I wanted. I felt invincible.
Within mere seconds, I found myself standing behind Zane. Gracefully I raised my hand, tapping his shoulder gently. He’d barely turned to face me fully when my hand balled up into a fist and I sent it shooting towards his face. My fist crashed into his jaw and when I heard a low crack a smile pierced my lips knowing this time it wasn’t my hand that was hurt, it was Zane’s face.
He stumbled backwards slightly, but it was more from surprise and shock than the actual hit. Before he could recover, and using lightening fast movements I didn’t know I was capable of, I grabbed his shoulder pulling down his head as I brought my knee up with full force, crashing it into his face. Again I heard another part of his face break and this time blood immediately began gushing out from his nose.
Zane collected himself at once, giving me no time to hit him again. In a single graceful motion, he straig htened, huffing at me angrily. I watched in slow motion as his hand clenched into a tight, deadly fist and he then sent it hurling towards me.
In a flash, I brought my hand up and caught his just in time, inches from my face. Just as I was about to punch him again, I felt his foot crash into my stomach with so much force it sent me sliding across the room and straight into the concrete wall at the other end of the hall. Loud cracks pierced the wall at contact and I could feel the loose splinters digging into the naked part of my back.
For a while, I couldn’t do anything but focus on the pain, now running through every part of my body. I couldn’t breathe; it was like the force had literally knocked the air out of my body and I dropped to the floor, struggling to catch my breath.
The pain didn’t last long. It only took seconds for me to compose myself and just as I was about to stand and find Zane again, he appeared in front of me, grabbed my neck roughly in one hand and slammed me back into the wall, ripping the cracks further.
“Looks like I don’t even have to shift to kill you, you’re that easy,” he grunted, pulling me away from the wall only to slam me back into it hard. His hand then pressed me further into the concrete as his fingers tightened around my throat. “Because deep down, you’re still the same helpless, weak, human girl that let her friends die. You changing into a pureblood, changes nothing; you know it as do I.”
“Yeah?” I asked and copied Zane’s movements from before. I raised my foot and forced it into his stomach with strength I didn’t know I had in me.
His hand was forced away from my throat and he flew back. His back slammed into the opposite wall and I expected him to stop there, like I had, but the wall shattered from the force and Zane landed on the lawn outside the Gym. Without his hand pinning me to the concrete I fell to the floor, landing gracefully on my heels and without missing a beat I began walking across the room.
I was almost to the other end when I saw Zoryiaa, lying in a messy heap in the middle of the Hall. She’d shifted back into a human, and even from the distance; I could see the damage done to her body.
Acting on instinct, I made a U-turn, grabbed the small knife she’d dropped and closed the distance between us. I didn’t know what I meant to do until my fingers weaved through her hair and I dragged her along, towards Zane.
The anger inside me was stronger than I ever felt it before. Every part of my body wanted them dead. It literally ached to have them alive. Rage and hate for Zane pounded in my pulse pushing me to kill him now, but doing that would be too easy. I wanted him to know exactly what they did to me, what Brandon had gone through before they killed him. Zane and Zoryiaa weren’t going to have an easy death, they didn’t deserve it.
I dropped the already half-dead Zoryiaa at my feet and stepped over Zane with the knife in my hand. He was barely conscious as his body quickly healed itself but wanting him fully awake, I bent over him, launching my fist into his face with enough force to wake him up. He jerked away at once, spluttering blood at my feet.
Without giving him time to fully come to his senses I pressed the knife into the base of his throat slowly, the inner monster inside me relishing in every inch of the blade that went in. I didn’t want to kill him yet, but I didn’t want him to shift either and he couldn’t shift with a knife sticking out of his throat. It would only rip the gash wider and kill him. Leaving the knife there, I straightened myself, looking down at him.
“I’m going to tell you a few things about myself ,Zane, some things I really really want you to know,” I said nonchalantly. “Firstly I don’t like being threatened!” I snapped, raising my foot, shoving it into his ribcage with so much strength and force that I heard bones cracking loudly under my foot. I was surprised that the thin heel of my shoe didn’t pierce his body like a dagger, or snap off.
“I also don’t like it when my friends are in danger, like you put them all in tonight,” I said and launched my foot into the middle of his chest again. Blood dripped down the side of his mouth and he let out a low groan as the bones in his chest shattered. “I don’t like having to watch my boyfriend die!” I screamed at him, slamming my foot right over his heart. “It killed me to choose between them!”
I was suddenly sitting on his stomach, punching him again, and again, taking out all the rage and frustration I had in me. My eyes filled with tears as that night kept flashing through my head on replay. “And then you made me watch Brandon die! You tortured hi
m!”
I was crying and screaming at him at the same time. I couldn’t stop the tears from spilling over and soaking my face. I couldn’t stop the fury circling my body either. The emotions flowing out of me were overwhelming. For so long I had kept it all bottled up; I had sealed away all those feelings and now that it was free, I could feel it taking me over. My heart ached, and everything felt raw.
I was so angry at everything and everyone. I was pissed at the entire world. I was angry with myself for doing this to Daren and Brandon. I was angry with God for taking them away from me. I hated Zane because he killed them, but mostly I was angry at Daren. He left me alone and broken, and I needed him. I needed my best friend to hold me, to lie to me and say that somehow it was all going to work out.
How could he think that I could survive without him? How could he ever think that I would be okay with him giving up his life for me? He had to know by doing that he was destroying me. Daren destroyed me completely, and I know he didn’t mean to, but he did. How could he think I would ever be okay again?
If it wasn’t for Eric being there for me, and him giving me something to fight against I would’ve died, and not just because Zane would have killed me, but because I would have let him. I had completely given up on life. Daren had to know that that would happen.
And then there were all the other emotions - the sorrow, the grief and above all raw guilt. Daren and Brandon didn’t deserve what happened to them. Daren didn’t deserve to die. Brandon was beaten, tortured and God knowswhat else. It wasn’t fair.
I blinked, staring at Zane under me as I stopped ramming my fist into his face. Blood was soaking through my gloves now, making it look bright crimson from my finger tips to wrist, instead of white. Zane’s face was completely disfigured and blood stained his entire body. He looked worse than Brandon had that night. His eyes were swollen partly shut, his lips were split so many times that I couldn’t count. Huge bruises and gashes covered his face. His eyes closed slightly and I realized that he was about to pass out.
