Coldhearted (9781311888433)

by Matthews, Melanie

  Edie turned and discovered Rochelle, dressed as a sexy nurse, and Ravenna was right beside her, wearing a hot pink princess dress and tiara atop her head.

  Quinn strode forward and stood protectively in front of Edie. He folded his arms over his chest and appraised the girls. “Hmm, let me think, you’re...bitches…this evening?”

  Ravenna gasped and turned toward Russell. “Mr. B! Write him up!”

  Russell made a what-can-you-do kind of face. “Sorry, I’m on punch duty, making sure no one spikes it. Speaking off…I’d better get back.” He went to the door and held it open for everyone, even Rochelle and Ravenna. “Okay, kids, get inside and behave. And remember: this is a high school dance, not a nightclub.”

  Everyone moved forward. Quinn, Jules, Diana, and Madelyn entered the gym and got caught up with the crowd, disappearing from Edie’s view. Still outside, Edie found herself next to Rochelle. Edie was wondering why Rochelle had been bold enough to make fun of her, considering that she’d been avoiding Edie out of fear all week.

  Edie immediately found her answer: Mason.

  He seemed to appear out of nowhere, dressed in just his normal, everyday clothes, the colors red, orange, and brown being the most prominent. He went to stand next to Rochelle.

  She grinned at Edie, as she wrapped her arm around his. “Where’s your date, freak?” She threw her head back, laughing. “Oh, right, no one worth anything would want to be seen with you.”

  Edie waited for Mason to defend her, but he just stood there, silent, and refused to look at her.

  Russell came to her rescue instead. “One more word out of you, Lafayette, and I’m banning you from the dance, got it?”

  Rochelle swallowed, nervous, and said nothing more. She turned and walked inside the gym, tugging Mason along. Ravenna was just standing still, until she realized that she should be trailing after her friend; she finally moved, running after Rochelle and Mason into the gym, leaving Edie and Russell alone outside.

  Russell went to grab Edie’s hand, just as the door opened. It was Diana, and fortunately she didn’t see Edie jerk her hand away from Russell’s.

  “Edie!” Diana grabbed Edie’s hand, tugging her forward. “C’mon, girl! We’re all dancing, even Quinn! He looks like such a dork!”

  Edie laughed and let Diana pull her along, leaving Russell behind. The music was loud and Edie could barely hear Diana, telling her where their friends were. Diana realized that Edie was deaf and pointed toward the group onto the dance floor. She was right.

  Quinn was dancing like a dork, but Edie suspected that he was doing that on purpose because he was having fun. With a body like that, Edie didn’t think he did anything dorky.

  Edie joined the group, after she and Diana had made their way through the crowd.

  “What’s the cure for a broken heart, doctor?!” Edie asked Diana over the music.

  Diana threw up her hands, and yelled, “Dancing!”

  So Edie danced and loved every minute of it.

  ****

  After she’d danced her feet off, Edie was sitting alone at a table, while the others kept at it, as if they’d entered a dancing competition and couldn’t stop. As she sipped her alcohol-free punch that Russell had personally poured for her, she scanned the gym, taking in the decorations: hanging skeletons; spider webs, spiders, and other creepy crawlies; cackling animatronic witches; a mummy in an open coffin; werewolves; vampires; zombies; and to top it all off, a fog machine that made the atmosphere appear more spooky than it needed to be. The students had no idea that an actual ghost was walking among them, unseen. Tristan hadn’t appeared or spoken to Edie all evening, but she knew that it was only a matter of time before he’d make an appearance on stage.

  Well, before all chaos broke out, she decided to relax, and pulled off her werewolf mask. She fanned her face with it, and then set it down, next to her drink. As she was adjusting her clown nose back on, she noticed Mason was standing, on the other side of the table.

  Immediately, she looked for his date.

  “Where’s Rochelle?” Edie said bitingly. She wished that she’d been wearing the werewolf mask for the full effect.

  He looked embarrassed. “I…well, I don’t know. I told her to get lost. She was getting on my nerves, but I shouldn’t have led her on.”

  Edie did a quick survey of the gym and found Rochelle. She’d rebounded with a vampire, letting him bite her neck, while Ravenna, bored and alone, kept filling up on fruit punch and snack sandwiches.

  “Led her on?” Edie repeated, confused.

  He sighed. “I only asked her to go with me because…well, because I thought if you saw us together, you’d…”—he grunted—“dammit, Edie! I thought you’d wake up and realize that Tristan is going to do whatever the hell he wants, and you shouldn’t give in to him because that only emboldens him. I was trying to make you jealous…with Rochelle. I wanted you to fall into my arms, and tell me that you love me, and that you didn’t give a damn what Tristan said, or what he threatened, or what he might do. I wanted…I want you. I want you back so badly. I haven’t slept all week, barely eaten. It’s been torture being so close to you and not being able to touch you, to talk to you. My heart hurts, Edie.” He advanced and crouched in front of her. “Edie, I love you and it’s killing me that we’re being forced apart.” He clasped her hand with a gentle, warm embrace. “Edie, baby, it doesn’t have to be this way. We’re not slaves to his will. He’s not all powerful. He can be overcome, but you can’t do it alone. He gets in your head, I know it. He messes with you. If you won’t take me back, at least let me help you. Edie, I’d do anything for you. I’d die for you.”

  She was speechless, crying. Mason, despite the danger that he was in, settled down into a chair next to her. He pulled her close, holding her, while his hand massaged her back.

  Instead of being comforted, she felt a cold hand grab her neck, threatening her.

  She pushed Mason away. “No,” she said, finding her voice. “I love you, but we can’t be together, not even as friends.” She wiped her tears away. “He won’t allow it.”

  Mason removed his hand from her back and cupped her cheek. “Edie, I don’t care. I love you. Love conquers all, right?”

  Now he was crying. Edie brushed his tears away with gentle thumb strokes. Despite having a seer’s knowledge, despite knowing the repercussions of her actions, she acted like a damn fool and kissed Mason’s warm lips. She realized in that moment how much she’d missed his mouth on hers.

  Mason didn’t ask any questions, didn’t want to talk, and returned her kiss with the passionate fervor that he’d displayed when they’d made love. Then, as now, it was as if they were the only two people in the world. Ever since their forced separation, she’d been feeling dead inside, but Mason’s lips on hers was like the breath of life.

  She felt born again, reunited with Mason, their souls intertwined, so strong in love and dedication, and no man or spirit could ever destroy what they had. Theirs was an eternal bond. She knew that to be a fact, just as she knew the sun rose in the east, and set in the west. It was indisputable and unchangeable.

  When they finally pulled apart, she said in agreement, “Love conquers all.”

  She could see Mason’s lips move, but she couldn’t hear him. He was being drowned out by the loud growl in her ear, and then Tristan yelled, “WE’LL SEE ABOUT THAT!”

  And then all hell broke loose.

  Chapter 27

  First, the lights went out, and then the music abruptly shut off, but the fog remained.

  A chorus of whiny “aahs” echoed all around the gym with a few curses. The students thought that the power had gone out. Edie knew better, watching her breath escape into a misty white trail.

  “Power outage,” Mason said, oblivious as the rest, finding Edie’s hand in the dark.

  “No.” Her voice was barely a whisper. “I’m sorry,” she told Mason, raising her voice just a little, scared to death. “I’m sorry, Mason. I don’t know wha
t to do.”

  Mason squeezed her hand, and Edie found his eyes, as the dim emergency lights came on inside the gym. He was staring into her eyes, confused. “Edie, what’re you sorry for? The power’s just gone out.”

  “Then why is the fog machine still working?” she pointed out.

  “I, uh, I don’t know. Wait.” He squeezed her hand again. “It’s him, isn’t?”

  She turned away and nodded, unable to look at Mason, to look at what she’d done.

  I’ve just signed his death warrant.

  “Is that all he’s going to do?” Mason asked, sounding unimpressed. “Cut the power?”

  Suddenly, a girl screamed, somewhere in the dark. As Edie and Mason stood to find out what’d happened, the main lights came back on, followed by the music, but it wasn’t the pop song that’d been playing earlier. It was Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor; a classical piece that’d been used in horror films for years. If Bach were alive, Edie wondered what he’d say.

  “What the hell’s going on?” a familiar voice asked.

  Edie turned to see Quinn with Jules, Diana, and Madelyn. All the other students were making their way toward the exits. They were thinking that the party was over.

  They were wrong. It’d just begun.

  “It’s Tristan,” Edie told her friends. “He-he’s doing this because of me. It’s my fault.”

  Jules threw off her bed sheet and advanced toward Edie. “Don’t say that. None of this is your fault.” She, along with Diana, Madelyn, and Quinn, observed Edie and Mason, holding hands. “Don’t let go of each other,” Jules told Edie and Mason. To Edie, she said, “Don’t give in to him,” indicating Tristan.

  “Yeah,” Diana said, throwing her stethoscope aside, along with her bloody lab coat. “But if we have to fight, we’ll do it together, yeah? He can’t take us all on, can he?”

  “Yeah,” Madelyn agreed, pushing the bonnet off her head. “We’ll band together.” She came and stood in front of Edie. “He’ll have to go through me,” she said, displaying her loyalty.

  Now Quinn came and stood behind Diana and Madelyn, placing an arm around each of their shoulders. “Me too,” he said, joining the quickly-forming defensive league. “I ain’t afraid of no ghost,” he quipped.

  Edie giggled, despite the perilous situation that they were all in.

  Mason reached over and playfully pinched her nose. She realized that she still had the clown nose on, took it off, and placed it securely inside her pocket to return to Uncle Landon. If she ever saw her uncle again; she wasn’t too sure about that. Of course she wasn’t too sure about a lot of things. So far, Tristan had been quite mild in his vengeance. She’d been waiting for the ceiling to drop, literally.

  “You kids okay?”

  They all turned and Edie saw Russell, walking fast toward them. He came to an abrupt halt next to her and grabbed her hand.

  “Edie, are you all right?” he asked, concerned.

  “She’s fine,” Mason growled at him, and then pulled Edie closer to his side, causing her hand to tear away from Russell’s.

  Russell appraised her other occupied hand glued to Mason’s. “I see you’ve reconciled.” He didn’t sound too happy.

  “Yeah, and I’d like to have some time alone with my girl,” Mason continued in that aggressive tone. When he turned toward Edie, his face softened, just a little. “Let’s get out of here, Edie. Tristan’s just playing games. He wants us to be scared. Let’s show him that we’re not and leave. I haven’t been with you in so long...”

  She was sure what Mason had in mind, and she was definitely sure that Tristan would never allow that to happen, ever again. Yet she allowed Mason to drag her toward the exits.

  A large crowd of people were already there, not moving, murmuring to each other.

  “Hey, what the hell’s going on?” Quinn demanded, muscling his way through.

  “Door’s locked,” a guy said.

  “We can’t get out,” a girl added.

  Suddenly, they were plunged into darkness again—total darkness. The emergency lights were dead and Bach was silenced. The fog machine was making funny noises like it was overworked, and then sparks flew from it, zapping wildly. An electrical show of blue zigzagged lines illuminated the pitch black darkness, and then the machine exploded with a loud bang, sending shrapnel across the gym.

  Several students cursed around Edie and she joined in, exclaiming her fear. She sensed it from the others, as well. They were all very, very afraid. And Tristan had yet to really come out and play. The lights went off again, then back on, and then off, until they settled in to an eerie flickering motion, flashing everyone in a fluorescent glow. Students were banging their fists against the locked exit doors, trying to escape, but failing.

  Russell left the group, being pulled away by the other teachers, trying to find out what was happening and restore calm; they were failing. The students, because they couldn’t get out, felt confined, despite the super-sized gym. They were panicking, pushing people aside, and flipping over tables full of food and drink. Students slipped and fell on the waxed floor, while other students trampled over them, not caring, just trying to flee.

  There was one lone girl, hiding in a corner. She looked young, maybe fourteen or fifteen. Edie assumed that this young girl had been the first one to scream, but she didn’t know why until she approached. The girl was sitting paralyzed, as a skeleton’s hand held her ankle in its grasp. Edie tore it away and told the girl to find her friends. When she didn’t move, Quinn helped her up, soothed her with whispered words, found her friends, and then came back toward the group.

  “Thanks,” Edie told him. “She was terrified.”

  “Still is, unfortunately. They all are,” he said, and then looked around. “We have to find a way out.”

  “Why don’t we split up?” Mason suggested. “And we’ll call each other if we find a way out.”

  “No, no way,” Jules disagreed. “We can’t split up. Bad things happen when the group splits up.”

  “This isn’t a movie,” Mason said, ticked off.

  “No,” Edie agreed, and then gave him a kiss on his cheek. “This is real life, Mason, and it is way scarier.”

  Mason sighed, and then nodded. “All right, we’ll stay together.”

  And they did, moving along as one, as they checked on the injured, while trying to find a way out of the gym. It was like the doors had been magically sealed. Only a blowtorch would set them free and Edie doubted anyone had that on them. Mason and Quinn, in all their manly strength, tried to beat and kick the doors down, but they gave up when they wouldn’t budge, and then limped along with hurt limbs, as the group moved around the gym.

  Edie’s friends were looking for hope. She was looking for Tristan.

  He had yet to appear. But he made his unseen presence known when the hanging skeletons started walking among the students; the zombies made chomping movements with their rotten yellow teeth; spiders, roaches, worms, and other bugs fell from the ceiling, crawling down the walls, terrorizing girls’ hairdos; the animatronic witch came alive, stirring her cauldron of brew, as it bubbled and smoked, reciting lines from Macbeth: “double, double, toil and trouble...”

  If the students were panicking before, they were hysterical now. So were the teachers. They were supposed to be calm and rational, but they were shrieking and screaming, as they pushed their pupils aside and banged their fists against the doors. Edie looked for Russell, but didn’t see him with the teachers, or with the students. She feared something had happened to him, until he appeared out of nowhere, standing in front of her.

  He lunged and grabbed her arms. “Edie!” he pleaded not in his voice, but one very familiar to her.

  “Adrian?!” She gripped his elbows. “What are you doing here? How’d you get here?”

  “I felt you in pain and sought out my descendent. I managed the distance from Lockhart Manor, but I don’t know how long I can possess him. Edie, please, you have to stop Tristan. You kno
w what you have to do!”

  “I can’t leave! We can’t leave! He’s preventing us!”

  Russell/Adrian shook his head. “No, no! While there’s still time, hold onto me, and I’ll guide you out, but just you! I can’t rescue the others, I’m sorry.”

  Edie heard a growl, then Mason’s hand shot out, and grabbed Russell’s arm, intending to cause pain. “Let go of her!” he demanded, then turned toward Edie, and in a softer tone, said, “Edie, what’s going on? Who’s Adrian?”

  “My brother,” a deep voice replied in scorn.

  Russell/Adrian’s eyes went wide, and then he swayed, as if he’d become weak. Edie held onto Adrian, as he pleaded for her to stop Tristan before it was too late, and then he was gone. Russell had control over his body and voice again. But, as before, the strain of being possessed by Adrian was too much, and Russell almost collapsed on the floor. He was saved, as Edie kept him in a tight hug, making sure he could stand on his own two feet, before she let him go.

  Her efforts were in vain, as a hand flew out and swatted Russell away from her, causing him to crash hard on the floor. She feared that he was dead, but as Diana and the others checked over him, he was found to be alive. He was slightly shaking, and his eyes were wide and terrified, staring at something (or someone) over her shoulder. She knew who was behind her, but she didn’t want to believe it. So she kept her back to him.

  “Tristan,” she said in a calm tone, despite what his manifestation meant.

  “My love,” he greeted from behind, and then placed a solid, cold hand over hers. He intertwined their fingers and forced her to turn around. She saw with absolute horror what Arianna had feared: Tristan, fully corporeal. “How do I look?” he asked with a conceited smile.

  He was wearing jeans and Russell’s “Keep Calm and Carry On” red T-shirt. His face was how she’d remembered: tan skin and lapis lazuli eyes. His dark, brown hair was wild and unkempt but in a sexy way.

  All in all, he looked gorgeous.

  “Hideous,” she lied.