Bleeding Misery (Threatening Souls Book 2)

by N. M. Lambert

  Rebekah stared at Holly, the news feeling like a slap in the face. “How do you know?”

  “Rebekah, Jeffery is exhibiting the same behavior Jake had before you two started going out,” said Holly. “Apparently, you still haven’t learned from the last time.”

  Rebekah shivered at the mention of Jake’s name. Though he had no recollection of what he was forced to do to her, she couldn’t stop thinking about his cold hands on her as he grinded on top of her despite her protests.

  Holly seemed to sense a change in Rebekah’s demeanor because her expression softened, and she said, “What happened?”

  Rebekah opened her mouth to speak but instantly closed it, because how could she tell one of her best friends that a malicious spirit took control of Jake’s body and forced him to try to rape her? Instead, she said the first thing that came to mind to get Holly off her back. “In Roseway, Jamie wrote to me. She wrote that Jamie saw Jake and Mandy at a party at Teri’s place and that they kissed.”

  Holly pondered this for a moment before saying, “Is that why you were avoiding Jake?”

  No! Rebekah internally screamed, because even though what happened wasn’t Jake’s fault, she couldn’t stomach looking at him and remembering that night. “Yes,” she lied, even though it pained her to lie to Holly.

  “Jamie lies, Rebekah. I thought you knew that,” Holly said. “Jamie was infatuated with Jake even before you two started going out. It was why she wanted to befriend you so badly, so she could find a way to sabotage your relationship.”

  “What?” Rebekah said, at first thinking she didn’t hear Holly correctly.

  “You’re naïve when it comes to some things, and Jamie figured she could exploit that,” said Holly, shrugging. “I’m sorry. I would have told you, but with everything else that was going on at the time, I couldn’t find the right time.”

  Rebekah knew she should have been shocked by this revelation, but she wasn’t. Naivety or no, she always suspected there was something off about Jamie’s friendship, and even though she led Holly to believe otherwise, she hadn’t believed a word in Jamie’s note.

  “Teri would never invite Mandy to a party, Rebekah,” Holly continued. “And I can’t see anyone else who would attend inviting her either. Jamie lied so you would break up with him, not caring if she destroyed your friendship with Mandy in the process.”

  A few tears began to blur Rebekah’s vision. “I’m sorry,” she said in a small voice. “Holly, I’m so sorry.”

  Holly opened her mouth to speak, but before she had a chance to respond, a piercing scream was heard in the hallway just outside the Eternal Division room, followed by a loud crash. Then, silence.

  Holly got up suddenly, and Rebekah watched the two chaperones exit the bedroom, followed by Mandy.

  “What happened?” Courtney questioned, directing her question at Holly and Rebekah.

  “I don’t know,” Holly said. “It wasn’t us. It came from the hallway.”

  “Shit,” Courtney swore to herself before turning towards Andre. “Has Henri found us?”

  “I doubt it,” Andre answered, moving towards the front door, “but whatever it is, we need to check it out.”

  “Stay here,” Courtney ordered to everyone except Andre. Turning around, she followed Andre out of the room and into the hallway.

  “I suggest we follow them,” said Holly. “If there’s a threat, we need to know what we’re up against.”

  Rebekah watched Holly move towards the door, followed by—surprisingly—Mandy. Instead of staying in the room alone with the people who secretly hated her, Rebekah followed them, stepping quietly into the hallway. The three of them clung to the corner, peering around. Rebekah twisted her head to the right, her eyes landing on the chaperones and the Italian clique, who were crowding around something. Why are they allowed out of their room and not us?

  Then, the crowd parted to the side, and Rebekah instantly knew why the Italian clique was there. In the center of their crowd was Bianca Moretti with her skin pale and her chest torn open. Her hair was greased in blood, and more of the substance ran down the sides of her clothing. In the center of her torn chest were broken bones and muscles that looked as if they had been ripped apart.

  But there was no heart.

  The other members of the clique sobbed quietly, creating room for the chaperones to examine the body. A thought instantly came to Rebekah’s mind, one that recalled a dream she had in Roseway. In her mind, she conjured up an image of the brown-haired girl with long, clawed fingernails and black eyes. She recalled what that person did in her dream, and she remembered that the victim of the girl in that dream ended up the same way as Bianca Moretti. But what was that thing called?

  “The blood has venom in it,” Rebekah heard Kat note, and instantly, she began to feel uncomfortable.

  “What makes you think that?” Courtney asked.

  “Just a hunch,” Kat said, flashing Courtney a smile. “Oh, and Andre, you might want to take a look inside her chest.”

  Andre glared at Kat. “I already know the heart is missing,” she growled. “Why are you asking—”

  “Holly’s old enough to know about the Bewitched, isn’t she?” continued Kat.

  Rebekah heard Holly gasp next to her.

  “Don’t bring Holly into this,” growled Andre. “What are you getting at?”

  “Perhaps the Bewitched have breached this facility.” Kat paused. “Maybe Holly could flush them out for us.”

  Rebekah listened to the conversation, expecting Andre to lash out. But she didn’t do that. Instead, she left the group, making her way towards where Rebekah, Holly, and Mandy stood.

  “Maybe we should go back to the room,” Holly suggested, but it was too late. Andre had already rounded the corner, freezing when she saw them.

  “What are you doing out of the room?” she demanded, her voice shaking.

  “We—” Holly started to say but was instantly cut off.

  “Never mind that,” said Andre. “Let’s go back to the room.”

  ~~~

  “What are the Bewitched?” Rebekah questioned, soon overrun by fear. “Will someone please explain them to me?”

  “Also called the Cursed, they’re the product of the only curse a spirit is capable of performing,” Holly explained. “Basically during the day, you can look at one and never know that they have been cursed. However, at night, their eyes become coal-black, and their nails lengthen and turn into long, venomous claws.”

  Rebekah felt her pulse quicken. “Why did Kat bring them up?” she asked, fearing the answer that was obvious to her.

  “The Bewitched might be what we’re dealing with,” said Andre.

  “Which means we have to be careful,” Holly added. “Especially at night.”

  Fixated on the dream of the Bewitched that she had in Roseway, Rebekah barely noticed Mandy slip into her bedroom. Within a few seconds, Mandy reemerged into the living room, carrying her copy of Bleeding Misery.

  Mandy shoved the novel into Andre’s hands, taking a step backwards afterwards.

  “What is this?” Andre questioned. “You wrote this?”

  “Read the back cover,” Mandy demanded, her voice cold.

  Andre did just that, skimming over the description on the back. Then, she looked up at Mandy, shocked. “Was this vision recent?”

  “I had that dream about two years ago,” Mandy explained, “and I took that dream and turned it into that novel.”

  Andre flipped through it. “Did you include witchcraft in here?”

  Mandy shook her head. “Only the clawed vampires.”

  Rebekah shuddered at the human term that was used for the Bewitched. Up until now, she hadn’t made the connection between the Bewitched and the clawed vampires, even though she probably should have. The myth of the clawed vampires had been around for generations, but it wasn’t until now when she realized they may not be as mythical as she originally thought. “Is that for sure what we’re dealing with?”
she questioned, fearing the answer. “The Bewitched?”

  “I think so. That girl showed all of the usual wounds,” said Andre, nodding slowly. “I’m going to flip through this and show it to Courtney later.”

  CHAPTER

  TWELVE

  Rebekah: Munich, Germany

  O

  n Friday, signs were posted throughout the ICW facility, informing the participants that the time for inviting guests to the next couple of competitions had arrived. Participants were limited to one guest per person, and applications could be found in Jason’s office. Throughout the hallways, buzz was in the air as everyone thought about who they wanted to invite.

  Rebekah was sitting alone on a bench in the ICW courtyard, her thumb hovering over Jake’s phone number. Every muscle in her body shook with anticipation as to how Jake would react to her calling him after having avoided him since she got back, and she hoped he had not changed his number since they last had a decent conversation.

  That was before Rebekah had moved to Roseway.

  Rebekah knew she hadn’t been fair to Jake. After all, he had no recollection of what he was forced to do to her, and she hoped she would be able to put what happened behind her and move on. Jake didn’t know, and Rebekah planned to keep it that way lest the knowledge of what he was forced to do destroy him.

  She took a deep breath and exhaled in an attempt to calm her beating heart. Finally building up enough courage to go through with her invite, she began her call and pressed the phone to her ear.

  Surprisingly, Jake picked up after the third ring, and Rebekah never realized until now how good it was to hear his voice.

  Even if it sounded as harsh as it did.

  “So, now you’re finally talking to me,” came Jake’s voice at the other end, “after weeks of saying nothing to me?”

  Rebekah opened her mouth to speak, and yet, nothing came out. Though it felt good to hear his normal voice again, not the one the possessed Jake had, Rebekah still froze, not knowing what to say. Soon, those unfavorable memories began to take hold of her again. No! Rebekah scolded herself. Stop!

  “Rebekah?” Jake said, his voice softer this time.

  And then, she burst into tears. “I’m so sorry,” she sniffed into the phone, and she could only imagine what Jake was thinking.

  “Rebekah,” Jake tried again, “what happened?”

  Rebekah dried her tears on the sleeve of her blouse. “Sometimes, I feel like everything is falling apart around me.” It was perhaps the most honest statement she would ever be able to give Jake.

  On the other end, Jake sighed. “Whatever you’re feeling, you don’t have to deal with it alone.”

  His words almost made Rebekah cry harder, because if he knew what he was forced to do, she knew he wouldn’t be saying those words.

  “Come to Munich,” Rebekah said, her words barely above a whisper. “I need to see you in person.” And she did, as if to determine whether or not she would be able to put the past behind her.

  For a moment, Jake said nothing. “How would I manage that?” he questioned. “I know you may have forgotten, since you’ve been temporarily excused, but some of us still have school.”

  “Get your parents to pull some strings or something. I don’t know.” Rebekah paused. “I need to see you, Jake, and the time has come for the participants to invite their guests, so please…just come.”

  For a brief moment, there was nothing but silence.

  “All right,” Jake conceded before chuckling. “It’s not like my parents will say no anyway.”

  “Like I said before,” Rebekah said. “New. Set. Of. Parents.”

  “I’ll see you soon, Rebekah,” Jake replied, still chuckling. And then, he hung up.

  For the first time today, Rebekah was beaming. Quickly, she left her bench and dashed into the ICW facility in pursuit of Jason’s office.

  Yet, she had no idea where that was.

  Aimlessly, Rebekah wandered around the facility before deciding to head back to the Eternal Division room and ask for assistance.

  As she barged into the room, she noticed that the four current members of Eternal Division were on their phones, each trying to invite someone to the ICW. Quietly, Rebekah made her way to where the bedrooms were right as Courtney emerged from one of them.

  “Rebekah,” Courtney said in surprise, “what are you doing here? I thought you were trying to find someone to invite.”

  “I did,” Rebekah replied confidently. Over the course of three weeks, she had gotten rather used to Courtney being around to the point where Courtney no longer made her feel uncomfortable, “but I don’t know where Jason’s office is.”

  “I’ll show you,” Courtney offered as she started to make her way to the door. “It’s better if you’re with me, anyway, than alone at the moment.”

  But I was just alone, thought Rebekah, not wanting to get into an argument. Quickly, she followed Courtney out of the room and through the hallways. Overall, the journey was rather silent.

  “Here we are,” Courtney said as they approached a huge wooden door. “I’ll be outside this room, waiting for you.”

  Rebekah approached the door and knocked twice. It was Jason who answered the door, and a tiny amount of fear began to course through her veins.

  “Can I help you?” Jason asked her in a friendly tone.

  At first, Rebekah couldn’t speak. Gulping, she finally managed to let out what she wanted to say: “Can I have a visitor’s application, please?”

  “Of course.” Jason smiled at her. “Come in.”

  Hesitantly, Rebekah did so, nerved by the fact that she was now in an area with three unfamiliar magic users.

  “I will get you an application, but I would rather have you fill it out here, if that’s alright with you,” said Jason.

  Rebekah nodded. “That’s fine,” she said in a small voice as she watched him disappear into another room in order to retrieve her application. She continued to stand in what she presumed was the living room of the office, and she guessed the other branching doorways led into the bedrooms.

  Jeffery was sitting on one of the couches, glancing at her. “Rebekah,” he said as he patted the seat next to him.

  Seeing no other option, Rebekah went to sit next to him, grabbing one of the pens off the table that was in front of the couch.

  “I wanted to apologize for leaving your room abruptly the other day,” Jeffery said.

  Rebekah shrugged in response as Jason reentered the room, handing her an application. Then, he left as he went back into the other room.

  “Who are you inviting?” Jeffery asked curiously.

  Rebekah glanced in his direction as she began to jot Jake’s name down. “A…friend.”

  As she was filling out the application, she knew that Jeffery was looking at what she was writing. “A boyfriend?” he questioned upon seeing the name.

  “You could say that,” Rebekah responded as she continued to fill the application out. How many parts does this application have?

  “I see.”

  Rebekah could hear the disappointment in his voice as he said those two words, and her fear was replaced with curiosity. Maybe Holly was right, she thought. Maybe Jeffery is interested in me.

  “I’m…sorry,” Rebekah said out of habit than anything else.

  “For what?” Jeffery sounded surprised.

  This time, Rebekah was surprised. “I…have to go,” she said, putting her finished application and the pen on the table.

  “I’ll give your application to my father,” Jeffery offered.

  “Really?”

  Jeffery nodded as he swiped it off the table. “It was nice seeing you again.”

  “You too,” Rebekah forced herself to say before bolting out of the office, where Courtney could take her back to the Eternal Division room.

  ~~~

  A few days later, the guests were due to arrive. During those days, Jake texted Rebekah nonstop about the state of their plans and how easy it
was to convince his parents to pull him out of school and send him to Munich. Rebekah beamed at each of his responses, but she still soured at the mention of his neglectful parents.

  Holly offered to go with Rebekah to the lobby of the facility in order to greet Jake when he arrived. Rebekah felt excitement bubble inside of her as she made her way to the lobby that morning with Holly beside her.

  “I’ve been meaning to tell you something,” Rebekah said to Holly in an attempt to make conversation.

  “What is it?” Holly questioned.

  “Jeffery was with me when I was filling out the application yesterday, and you were right,” Rebekah said. “I think Jeffery is interested in me. I could tell he was a little disappointed when he found out I was inviting a possible boyfriend.”

  “I told you,” Holly said, chuckling slightly. “Honestly, I would rather have you be with Jeffery than Jake, since Jeffery actually likes me.”

  Rebekah looked at Holly questioningly. “Jake likes you alright,” she said.

  Holly threw her head back in laughter. “Prove it,” she challenged.

  “And why don’t you mind if I was with Jeffery when you obviously mind if Teri started going out with him?” asked Rebekah.

  “He’s a warlock. Teri doesn’t know that,” Holly said as if the answer was obvious. “You do, and therefore, there aren’t any risks involved if you two started going out.”

  Rebekah shrugged. “So, why didn’t you invite anybody?”

  “Between my parents, who are being held captive by Henri, and my uncle, who’s a Spy, who would I invite?” Holly questioned. “I mean, I suppose I could have invited my friend, Cleo Makris, but she’s a rather…unstable person.”

  “Unstable how?”

  Holly shrugged. “Ultra-paranoid would probably be a better term to describe her.”

  Rebekah didn’t press Holly further as the visitors began to pour into the lobby. Frantically, clique participants and visitors scrambled to find each other. Off in the distance, Rebekah saw Teri greet whom she presumed was Teri’s mother. Sabrina greeted someone who looked almost exactly like her, and Rebekah guessed that she might have had a twin—something Sabrina had never told Rebekah about. Then, there was Sam, who greeted someone who was older than her but too young to be her father. Before she had joined Eternal Division, Rebekah had heard rumors that Sam had an older brother who was in the navy, but she had never seen pictures of him nor met him personally, and she guessed that was him.