***
The next morning Wesley was still sleeping when my eyes opened. His face was pale and there were dark circles under his eyes. He looked like he did when we first met. I sat up and scooted to the end of the bed, hoping that the squeak of the mattress would not wake him.
I got up and wandered into the kitchen where my mother was sitting at the table. She had her signature coffee mug in front of her and a downcast look on her face. I wondered if she had been up all night. By the look on her face I guessed she hadn’t slept a wink.
“He’s still sleeping,” I said, gesturing toward my bedroom.
She nodded at me in understanding and motioned for me to sit down. “I have been up all night going over protection spells. Sadly, I have the wrong powers to cast them.” She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “I wish I knew what was attacking him, honey.”
“I know, Mom,” I said, frowning. I had been hoping that she would have the whole thing worked out.
“It takes immense power to hide something like that, to have an open line on one end and a closed one on the other. This girl is something else.” She took a sip of her tea and made a sour face. “I let it sit too long.”
I sighed and put my hands to my face. This whole thing was turning out to be far more complicated than expected. My mother should have been able to see what was going on in Wesley’s head. Instead it seemed she was able to see into mine but not his.
I groaned. “So we are no farther than we were yesterday?”
“No, I would say we are much farther than yesterday. We didn’t know anything then. Now we know who it is, just not why she’s doing it.”
I put my head on the table. “She said I stole him from her.”
“Oh. Well, that’s not good,” she said softly.
“What does that mean?” I asked with an edge to my voice.
“You pissed off the wrong girl, it looks like.”
“Of course I did.” I smacked my forehead on the table.
My mother laid a comforting hand on my head. “It just means we have a bit of a bumpy ride ahead of us. But we’ll get through it.”
“I’m glad you are so optimistic about it,” I moaned.
“I’m just a bystander. I have faith that you will make the right choices in the months to come.”
“Great. So this all falls on me.” I smacked my head on the table one more time.
“I can’t fight your battles for you. You love the boy and you will find a way to make her disappear,” she said amiably.
“What if I can’t?” My head was starting to hurt.
“I have faith that you will, one way or another.”
I had a feeling that she was smiling.
Chapter Eighteen: Innocence Lost
My mother spent a lot of time at the church trying to figure out what was going on in our heads. She even tried a few more times to pull images from us as we slept. All she got was more darkness.
Time seemed to fly by rather quickly. Before I knew it we were in December and the holidays were right around the corner. We were on Christmas break when Wesley came up with the idea that we should go to a concert in town. A local band that he had recently discovered was playing a gig at a club four days before Christmas. I had never seen the boy so excited. I agreed to go along thinking that he deserved it with the Hell he was going through.
Adam and his girlfriend, Nadine, were going to go with us on a double date. Adam and I came up with the idea so that if anything happened with Wesley I would have someone there to help me get him home. I’ll admit Adam and I had become quite close by then. He even tried to keep Wesley entertained in the afternoons while I slept. I had told him about Wesley’s nightmares one day when I couldn’t keep my eyes open in class, and how they were keeping me awake at night. Thankfully, he had then come round and the two of them had fallen into the habit of playing video games after school to “release tension.” I would fall asleep to the two of them yelling at the TV and accusing each other of cheating.
***
On the day of the concert I stood in my room with a towel wrapped round me trying to figure out what I would wear. Wesley had said they were a hard rock band. I was sure that I had heard them but, honestly, he listened to so much I couldn’t have told you what was mainstream and what was local. However, I could get away with my normal attire if I wanted to and not look like a total outcast.
After a moment of reflection, and a cold draft through the window making my body tingle, I opted for a black ankle-length dress and my combat boots. The dress wasn’t low cut; in fact, it showed no cleavage at all. I was pretty much covered from neck to toe. It cinched at the waist and tightened at the back with a single red ribbon. The sleeves were my favorite part—cinching at the elbow and free falling past my wrists.
I let my hair down, fluffing it with my fingers to make the waves stand out. Then I leaned toward the mirror and applied my black eyeliner and some black eyeshadow. I smiled at myself. I had to admit I didn’t look too bad, all things considered.
They were supposed to pick me up at six o’clock so that we could get to the show by seven. I was still in my room when I heard the familiar steps of my boyfriend approaching.
“Hey, babe.”
His arms wrapped around me and his face appeared in the mirror over my left shoulder. I smiled and turned to look at him. He looked rested, like he had actually had a chance to get some sleep. Surprising since I knew he couldn’t even take an afternoon nap without screaming.
How could he possibly be refreshed?
My mom was working nonstop to find out what was after Wesley. Maybe she had made a breakthrough at last. Maybe extreme tiredness had actually helped him get enough shuteye so that he could be ready and alert.
“You ready to go?” He kissed the tip of my nose.
I nodded just as Adam appeared in the doorway with Nadine at his heels.
“Can she use your bathroom?” asked Adam. “Apparently, she didn’t think she needed to go before we left the house.” I knew Adam was making fun of her, but at the same time there was a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Nadine and Adam had hit it off on their first date. It had turned out they had matching personalities. Both of them were also terrified that they would botch the date. After a very awkward dinner they had spent the rest of the night sitting at the lake just talking. They were smitten with each other almost instantly.
Nadine was taller than me, standing at about five eight and weighing around one hundred and twenty pounds, with blonde hair and green eyes. I’ll admit I’m short, standing only five four. However, with heels on I can extend my height to five eight or five nine (on a good day).
She was the sweetest thing I had ever met and Adam meant the world to her. The problem, according to her, was that while she was head over heels for him, he had yet to feel the same way about her. She had told me the other day that he treated their relationship more like a friendship with the benefit of holding hands.
To be honest, that didn’t shock me. Adam always came across as the good boy who could do no wrong. I had spent a lot of time with him and discovered the worst thing he was capable of was the occasional curse.
I glared at Adam. “Of course she can use the bathroom.”
I pointed the way for Nadine and she danced off with a big smile on her ruby red lips. I looked back at Adam. “You need to be nice. Us girls have bladders the size of acorns, don’t you know?”
He just threw his head back and laughed.
***
We got to the club at six thirty, just as the first band was setting up on stage. We procured a table near the front and ordered drinks. Nothing alcoholic, just a few sodas. The waitress was paying more attention to Wesley than to any of the rest of us and I was instantly annoyed. He didn’t seem to notice, which I found shocking. She was drop-dead gorgeous, but his eyes never left my face as he made his drink order.
The band hit the stage at seven.
Their scream-o style was rough but it sounded alright, that is if you enjoy the kind of music that makes you want to go out and cut your wrists.
It quickly got hot as the place filled up with so many people pressed close to the stage. I had to get some air. It was stifling and my choice of attire was proving just a bit too much in the heat.
“I’m going to step out and get some air,” I said, pressing my lips to Wesley’s ear. He shot me a look of concern.
“You want me to go with you?” he mouthed.
I shook my head and made my way toward the front door. The bouncer gave me a smile as I showed him the backs of my hands and the two black Xs that revealed I was a minor. He nodded and let me go outside.
The wind hit me hard, but it felt wonderful. I stood still for a moment, sucking in the cold air and watching people enter the club. After about ten minutes I figured I was cool enough to go back to our table.
As I turned to go a shiver suddenly ran up my spine and I shot back around. I could smell sulfur in the air, though there was no clue as to where it was coming from. I shrugged and set off once more for the door. That was when a cold hand clamped itself on my mouth. I felt another hand gripping my waist.
“Hey there, princess, we need to talk.”
The voice was male and full of evil. Before I could pull the fire to my hands the world went dark.
***
I came to in an alleyway behind the club. My hands were bound above my head and were tied securely to something sturdy. My skirt had been torn at the thigh and there was dried blood on my knees. I tried to focus on the alley but I couldn’t make out much, other than it was dark and the closest light was a good hundred yards away. It was cold and I could feel goosebumps forming on my exposed skin.
I heard the music pumping out from inside the club, the fans screaming and singing along. I struggled but couldn’t get my hands loose. I willed the fire to burn but nothing came. Then I tried for the icy prickle, but still got no response. My own powers were defying me; I was stuck. Fear enveloped me and tears streamed down my cheeks.
I saw movement in the shadows to my right and snapped my head in the direction of the silhouette I detected there. Suddenly I heard an evil laugh and a boy appeared. He had short, spiky black hair and his eyes were as black as night. He was pale, over six feet, and around one hundred and seventy pounds. His appearance didn’t frighten me, but the evil in his eyes sent me into a panic. This was the boy I had seen in the park with Wesley the night of our first date.
“See you soon, princess.”
I had seen that look before in the eyes of my father the day he had told me his little secret. I remembered the fear that radiated through me then and it was intensified now. I struggled again, willing my power as hard as I could, but the fear in me kept the tingle from forming. The boy bent down over me and smiled cruelly, his eyes locked on mine.
“So, my beautiful princess, you are a hard one to find.” His lips curled in a vicious smile. “I have been searching for you for eighteen years. I’m not sure how you eluded me for so long. What shocks me even more is that we met before. Remember how I told you that you would see me again?”
He ripped the fabric at my throat and I screamed. He flinched, but it didn’t stop him from slowly tearing the seam down the front of my dress.
“So you are the little progeny of Damien Weathers?”
The top of my dress was now split down to the top of my bra. I looked at him through tears.
How did he know my father?
“You see,” he continued as he hiked my skirt up to my hips and grabbed my right leg, “your daddy took my life over a stupid girl. And the funny thing is, he actually thought that Hell could hold me.” He snickered as if he had told the greatest joke ever.
“What?” I managed to get out, my voice cracking.
“Well, I’m going to send a little message to your father. Funnily enough, it’s the same message I want to send to your boyfriend, too,” he said softly before his fist collided with my face.
The pain that hurtled through me made my body putty for a moment. Then I started fighting, screaming, kicking with my feet, trying to yank my hands from the binding. I could feel my skin ripping and blood running down my arm. His fist came down hard several more times before I heard a click and felt the barrel of a gun under my chin. I went still.
“You can fight me all day and I will not tire. You can scream all night and nobody will hear. However, if you don’t shut the fuck up right now I will put a bullet in your head.” I believed him; he sounded very angry.
My dress was in tatters, my hair was matted to my head, my face stung, and I could feel the blood pouring from my nose and mouth. I willed the power to come one more time. When I got nothing I willed for death to take me instead. I prayed for my mother and cursed my father. This Hell I was living was not supposed to part of any path laid out before me. This fear was not something that I was accustomed to feeling, and what happened next would give me nightmares for the rest of my life.
It was the most painful experience I had ever encountered. I closed my eyes and cried. The gun cocked at my throat did not budge. For an hour I was locked in horror. Fear and agony filled my whole world as the final shred of my innocence was ripped from my body.
All I could do was wish for my life to end. Why had God not just taken me when he had the chance? Was this some sick joke that he was playing on me, allowing this monster to do as he wished to me?
Was this punishment for me taking away Wesley’s innocence?
“Tell your father he has such a pretty little princess,” he whispered in my ear when he had finished with me. He removed the gun, and then punched me in the jaw and again in the ribs. However, it was the final blow to the head that did me in and left me out cold.
***
“Dawn! Dawn! Oh, my God!” A frantic voice pulled me back to consciousness.
I heard footsteps running towards me. My arms went limp as they were finally freed from their bindings. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that it was Adam who was untying the ropes from my bloody wrists.
“Adam.” My body hurt so bad it stung to breathe.
“Don’t speak. You’re pretty battered.” He looked down at my legs and I saw tears in his eyes as he picked me up.
I winced in pain as my body folded to his. Then I heard a short scream and felt another set of hands on my waist. Someone covered me with a jacket.
“Nadine, get Wesley! We need to get her to the hospital.”
I heard her running off. Adam carried me to the car and laid me down in the back seat. He adjusted the jacket to cover my exposed body. As he did so he brushed away the tears that had formed in his eyes.
“What happened to you?”
My only response was to cry.
“What the Hell is going on, Adam?”
Wesley’s sounded alarmed. He hadn’t seen me yet.
“Your girlfriend goes missing for almost the whole show and you don’t stop to think that something might have happened to her? You just stood there and talked to that girl the whole time she was missing!” Adam sounded really pissed.
Nadine had opened the other door and was adjusting my head in her lap as she looked down at me, tears streaming down her face.
What girl was Adam talking about?
“She said she was going out to get some fresh air,” I heard Wesley explaining. “I asked if she wanted me to go with her.”
“Yeah, well, take a look at what that fresh air did to her!” Adam screamed.
He moved out of the way so Wesley could see me properly. Our eyes met and he crumbled.
“Now get in the damn car!” Adam shouted at Wesley. “We have to get her to the ER.”
Adam adjusted my legs and shut the door before storming around the back end of the vehicle and getting in the driver’s seat.
Wesley hesitated for a moment, just staring at me, then got in the passenger seat and we took off.
/> I don’t remember much of the trip to the hospital. I spent most of it drifting in and out of consciousness. My body hurt from the top of my head to the tips of my toes, and there was a sick, queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. I felt like I was on fire and, honestly, I wouldn’t have been shocked if I was. My powers had failed me. Just when I needed them most, they had just fizzled out.
“What were you thinking?” Adam was demanding as he drove.
“I was thinking she had gone out for some air,” Wesley said quietly.
“For two hours?” Adam sounded beyond pissed.
“I didn’t realize it had been that long.”
“You didn’t what? For God’s sake, Wesley, the band changed twice! Wasn’t that enough to make you wonder where she was all that time?”
I heard the angry exchange in the front but all I could do was stare up at Nadine, into her perfect green eyes, and let her rock me to blissful sleep.
***
“Eighteen-year-old female. Name is Dawn Cordelia Weathers. Brought into ER by friends after finding her near dead in an alleyway. Possible assault.”
Who was speaking? Why was I hearing this? Where was I?
I seemed to be floating while unfamiliar voices carried on passing on information about me. I was lifted and then lowered onto a softer mattress. I felt hands on me, checking me over. Fragmentary images crowded my spinning mind.
Deep breath, Dawn. It will all be over soon.
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
“Her heart rate is stable.”
There was a flash of violet eyes, followed by darkness.
Chapter Nineteen: Holiday
I was in a tunnel. It was dark at both ends and I had no clue which direction I was supposed to go in. I could hear Wesley calling me but the acoustics were messing with me so bad I wasn’t sure which end he was calling from.
Then he appeared: the dark demon from the alley, looking just as sinister as he did before. He glared hatefully down at me and then smiled before pushing me against the wall of the tunnel, his hand secured over my mouth.
The Wardens Boxed Set Page 15
