Bleeding Misery (Threatening Souls Book 2)

by N. M. Lambert

  There was neither Jamie nor Mandy. And seeing that she was not there, Rebekah asked, “Did Mandy invite anybody?” Her eyes scanned the crowd

  Holly shook her head. “Mandy’s been acting stranger and stranger. At least she’s talking to me again, but still…the things she says.”

  “What’s she saying?”

  “She’s just asking the most absurd questions I don’t know the answer to,” Holly explained, “and most of them involve the Speirs family.”

  “Interesting,” Rebekah commented right as she spotted Jake. “Holly—I see him!”

  Before Holly said anything further, Rebekah ran towards Jake and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. “I’m so sorry,” she cooed. “I’m so, so sorry.”

  “It’s fine,” Jake said. “You were going through a lot. I understand.”

  Rebekah didn’t say anything more after that as she let herself melt into him.

  ~~~

  Holly: Munich, Germany

  Holly watched Rebekah tear away from her and run towards Jake, not feeling the least bit hurt that she had been, in a way, ditched. She knew if the situation were reversed, she would have done the same thing, and watching them sparked old memories. Memories before Roseway back when everything was normal.

  Holly soon felt a sudden spell of dizziness, which made her nearly collapse to the ground. As quickly as she had gotten it, she felt normal again, but she knew she needed to get back to the Eternal Division room.

  Turning away from Rebekah and Jake, she started to head back towards her bedroom. They wouldn’t notice that she was gone; they were too wrapped up with each other, and Holly deemed they needed some time alone in order to catch up. And she needed to rest.

  Her head soon exploded into a massive headache as she reached the Eternal Division room and stumbled into her bedroom. No one was there at the moment. Not Jamie or Mandy or the chaperones.

  She crawled into bed and stayed like that for several hours.

  ~~~

  Rebekah: Munich, Germany

  A few hours later, Rebekah said good-bye to Jake as he went to the rooms where the guests were permitted to stay for the two weeks they would be there. Then, she made her way back to the Eternal Division room, saddened their time together had ended.

  They were now officially together again as each one forgave the other. This put Rebekah in high spirits as she returned to her bedroom.

  Only Holly was there, who was lying in her bed.

  “Holly,” Rebekah said happily, “you wouldn’t believe it! We’re back together now!”

  But Holly didn’t answer her.

  Rebekah looked curiously at Holly. “Are you mad at me for ditching you? I’m sorry, but…” she couldn’t continue when she realized that not once did Holly move a muscle. She approached Holly’s bedside and started to shake her in an attempt to wake her.

  What met her was a pair of wide, soulless eyes.

  Rebekah had to do all she could to not belt out a scream. Violently, she tried to shake Holly awake, but Holly wouldn’t budge. Each minute felt like an hour, and she continuously swore under her breath.

  Through the closed bedroom door, Rebekah heard the front door slam shut and voices talking in hushed tones. Breathing rapidly, she let go of Holly’s shoulders and dashed out of the bedroom into the living room to get help from whoever entered the room, which happened to be the two chaperones.

  “But that doesn’t make any…” Courtney started to whisper, her voice trailing off at the sight of Rebekah. “I didn’t realize anyone was here. Why aren’t you with your guest?”

  Rebekah didn’t respond right away. She looked at the two of them, mute, not knowing how to bring up Holly’s current state. Looking at Courtney, she could tell Courtney didn’t sense that anything was wrong.

  But Andre did.

  “Rebekah, what happened?” Andre demanded, earning her a confused stare from Courtney.

  Rebekah forced herself to look into the eyes of Holly’s cousin, and the words flew out of her mouth before she could stop them. “Holly won’t wake,” she said. “She must have collapsed onto her bed while we were away, and now—”

  Andre didn’t wait to hear the rest of what Rebekah had to say. With Courtney on her trail, she dashed towards the bedroom and flung the door open. Rebekah followed them, feeling tears sting her eyes. Yet, when she peeked into the room, she barely caught a glimpse of someone sitting upright on Holly’s bed.

  “H-Holly?” she asked tentatively. A strange coldness began to envelope her.

  “Pour l'Innocent, j'ai un message,” a male voice said from the mouth of Holly.

  “Who is that?” asked Rebekah. “Where’s Holly?”

  But no one answered her. Behind her, Courtney closed the bedroom door.

  What’s going on? Rebekah wanted to ask but knew that no one would answer her. With how the other two were acting, she secretly knew who had taken control of Holly on the bed, for it wasn’t Holly that had woken up from her unconscious state.

  It was Henri.

  CHAPTER

  THIRTEEN

  Rebekah: Munich, Germany

  O

  r rather, it was Henri’s voice in Holly’s body, and Rebekah inched closer, noticing the dilated pupils of Holly that weren’t there before. She wanted to get closer and closer, but after a certain distance, Andre held her back.

  “The one who sees the future can no longer. As I grow stronger, I assert my dominance over her—and she does what I ask of her,” Henri started to say in English.

  Mandy, Rebekah quickly realized.

  “However, she’s revealed little to me, and I am growing impatient. She continues to frolic with the ones who had taken her visions away—and so have you,” Henri continued. “Soon, I will reach out to you in a dream, and I will explain how the mortals are the true enemies.” Then, his presence had vanished from Holly’s body, and Holly lay limply on the bed.

  “What was that?” Courtney questioned. “Did he say we blocked the Foreseer’s visions?”

  “I think he told her that. No wonder she’s been acting strange around us!” Andre said angrily, glancing at Rebekah. “And now, he’s trying to do the same to you.”

  But something else stuck out to Rebekah. “Mandy’s visions have been blocked?”

  “Apparently so,” Andre said as she glanced at Courtney. “This is news to us as well.”

  “That explains her aura,” Courtney elaborated. “But something doesn’t seem right.”

  “Mandy wouldn’t blindly follow him, not with how loyal she and Holly are to each other,” Andre said flatly. “My guess is the spell Jason mentioned has something to do with her strange behavior.”

  “But what would he want with Mandy?” Rebekah questioned.

  “She’s a Foreseer,” Andre explained. “In case you haven’t noticed, there aren’t many of those currently in existence.”

  “What about me?” a voice said from the doorway—the door Rebekah didn’t notice had been opened again.

  Rebekah turned around, seeing Mandy, who was pulled inside the room by Courtney before the door was slammed shut again.

  “What’s going on?” Mandy demanded.

  “Has Henri been contacting you?” asked Courtney.

  “No, why would he—”

  “Don’t lie to me!” Courtney said, her voice shaking. “We—Andre and I—know he has!”

  “Why does it matter if he’s contacting me or not?” Mandy said defensively. “He’s helping me get back the visions you blocked!”

  “Henri is the one who blocked your visions!” Courtney shouted before she could control herself. “He’s manipulative, and he won’t help you in the way you think!”

  “What the hell do you know?” Mandy spat before leaving the bedroom. And for the rest of the day, she didn’t return.

  ~~~

  Henri: Greenwich, England

  At first, reaching out to Innocents and corrupting them had not been a part of Henri’s
plans. From what Kat told him, the Bewitched had already killed their first victim, and the Foreseer Amanda Palmer was as loyal as ever. The truth about Jeffery Speirs was still hidden from everybody aside from Kat, a weapon ready for Henri to utilize.

  But then, Kat told him there was an Innocent in her own assignment, one that was undocumented. She told him the Innocent’s name was Tatiana Andreivich and that her Other Part had been Dimitri, who had been slain by Andre’s hand. And then, Henri thought of the Innocent Rebekah Jensen and beamed at the thought of corrupting her too—at least temporarily, until he decided to kill her.

  And so, he began with Rebekah, reaching out to her through the mortal witch, Holly White. He hoped she had gotten his telepathic message, and he couldn’t wait to visit her in her mind.

  Kiki and Stan White kept dozing in and out of consciousness in the gurneys Henri strapped them to, trying to fight the massive blood loss. Henri watched them, amused, as their skin paled, and their limbs became weights, dangling from their bodies. He walked over to them—predominantly Kiki—and placed his hand over hers, feeling the coldness of her hand transfer into his. A smile played on his lips as he took her arm, lightly stroking where her veins carried her life force.

  With one cut, the witch could bleed out. Such a thought amused Henri, having complete control over another’s life.

  “D-don’t touch her!” Stan stammered on the other side of Kiki, apparently awake.

  Henri let go of Kiki’s arm and went over to stand by Stan. “You’re awake,” he said as if it wasn’t obvious.

  “And s-stay away from my daughter,” Stan continued, choking on his words.

  “And how do you expect to enforce such a threat?” Henri inquired, taking Stan’s hand and twisting it to the right until he heard a snap.

  Stan fought back the urge to squeal as his wrist became dislocated, sending more searing pain throughout his already-throbbing body.

  Henri beamed as Stan fell silent. “Soon,” he promised as he stroked the side of Stan’s face with a single index finger. “The pain will end soon.” Then, he retreated from the gurneys as he watched Stan moan, slowly withering away. He meant what he said. Soon, he would kill them and end their misery, but that time had not yet come. Instead, the time had come for him to reach out to Rebekah.

  In his mind, he envisioned the lowly human girl that he interacted with only once in Roseway. He remembered the fear on her face and the grimace in her eyes as her knee snapped under the force of Henri’s magic. Soon, the shimmering essence of a dream started to come into focus—that of a forest. As the outline of the trees were defined, so was their natural color—and Henri felt himself slam against a barrier, throwing him back into the darkness and into the Greenwich castle. The forest disappeared around him, leaving behind the concrete walls of the castle. Confused as to what went wrong, he tried again but achieved the same result.

  Frustrated, Henri started reaching towards the Foreseer—and this attempt was successful. The forest came into view, and the one standing amongst the trees was none other than Mandy, who ran to him.

  “They tried to corrupt me,” Mandy began in a trembling voice. “They tried to tell me that you blocked my visions.”

  “They did, didn’t they?” said Henri, not amused. How do they know about that?

  “But I escaped them before they could do any harm,” Mandy continued. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the mortals secured Rebekah’s mind.”

  And then, it all began to make sense, why Henri couldn’t breach Rebekah’s mind. Perhaps she wasn’t alone when his message was delivered, and the mortals warded her mind.

  “Courtney and Andre were there when your message got delivered,” Mandy explained, thus confirming Henri’s suspicions.

  “Of course,” said Henri, more to himself than to Mandy.

  “They tried to tell me otherwise, that you were lying to me, but…but…” Mandy soon broke into tears.

  “You will be fine,” Henri reassured her. “I’m assuming Jason has upped his defenses?”

  Mandy nodded, wiping her tears away. “It’s not because of you, though. It’s because the Bewitched have breached the facility.”

  “The Bewitched?” Henri questioned as if he was hearing this information for the first time. Internally, he grinned at how much damage and fear his little band of Bewitched have already caused. And he knew Mandy would have seen them in her visions, which was why he had blocked them.

  “Yeah, they’ve already killed someone,” said Mandy. “One of the Italian participants.”

  “Do you see now why the mortals cannot be trusted?” Henri inquired.

  Mandy nodded. “I’ll keep you posted,” she said before Henri let go of her, feeling himself plummet back to Greenwich.

  CHAPTER

  FOURTEEN

  Rebekah: Munich, Germany

  T

  he days flew by, and soon, the day of the music portion of the ICW dawned on Rebekah—something she was not looking forward to.

  “Do you still remember how to play?” Jake asked her, who was visiting her in the bedroom before the music portion was scheduled to start.

  An hour ago, for the competition, Jeffery came to the room and asked her what she would require, and all she asked for was an acoustic guitar. Reluctantly, he gave it to her, not taking his eyes off Jake—and she instantly started to feel uncomfortable. Yet, Jake didn’t seem to notice the hostility of the situation.

  “I just want to breeze through this,” Rebekah paused, “and forget about it.”

  “You used to love music, though,” Jake said. Then, he leaned in close to her and whispered, “What did they do to you?”

  Instantly, Rebekah froze, her hand stilling on the strings of the guitar. “What do you mean?”

  Jake frowned. “Roseway?” he said. “You know, the place you moved to for ten months?”

  And then, Rebekah started to hyperventilate. First, there was Paige, then Tatiana, and now, Jake, and she had no idea why the false memories didn’t touch either of them. “I…have to go,” she said as she bolted out of the room, leaving a befuddled Jake on her bed. She needed to see Andre or Holly, and she needed to see them now.

  Luckily for her, Andre was just entering the space, and Rebekah nearly ran smack into the half-immortal witch on her way out.

  Instantly, Andre reached out to steady Rebekah as her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. “Is everything okay?” she inquired, and for once, Rebekah wished Andre wasn’t so darn intuitive.

  “The false memories,” Rebekah blurted out, high on adrenaline. “Why aren’t they working?”

  Andre opened her mouth to speak, but before she could utter a single word, Jake raced out of the bedroom, worry and confusion etched into his features. “Rebekah, wait!” he bellowed before coming to a complete stop as his eyes landed on Andre for the first time.

  Andre glanced between the two of them with her mouth still hanging open. Immediately, she closed it as she regained her composure. “Rebekah, it’s time to leave.”

  “No!” Rebekah shook her head as she staggered backward. “You need to fix this!”

  “Fix what?” Jake bellowed. “What are you talking about?”

  Rebekah sighed and threw up her hands. “My family got evicted, Jake! We didn’t move!”

  “Yes, you did!” Jake persisted. “I even went up to visit you! And then…” His words faded away as he looked at each of them with even more confusion. “I…I can’t remember what happened afterward.”

  “Fix! This!” Rebekah seethed. “With Paige, with Tatiana, and especially with him!”

  And then, realization dawned on Jake’s face as he studied Andre. “Wait, I know you! You were there, on the plane from Seattle! And Holly was there, and so was Jamie, and—” He abruptly cut his words off as another thought hit him. “What the hell happened?”

  Instantly, Rebekah curled into herself as fresh tears sprang to her eyes. “We almost died, Jake. You weren’t supposed to remember.”

  “
Couch!” Andre bellowed suddenly, and it seemed she wasn’t pleased. “Now!”

  Immediately, Rebekah and Jake scrambled to the couch, and Andre followed suit. A gulp slithered down Rebekah’s throat.

  “The false memories, Rebekah, were only meant to affect those in Marywood. Paige, from my understanding, wasn’t in town yet, and Tatiana was all the way in Novosibirsk!” Andre snapped, causing Rebekah to flinch. “I don’t know why Jake isn’t affected, but—”

  “I went out of town for a bit with my parents shortly after I got back,” Jake admitted. “They dragged me to Miami for what they called ‘family bonding time’. I think they just wanted to look good and save face, personally.”

  “There you have it,” Andre said. “All three of them weren’t in Marywood at the time of the spell’s casting.”

  Rebekah sagged in her seat, feeling defeated.

  “Wait, spell?” Jake questioned. “False memories? What the absolute hell is going on?”

  Rebekah flinched at Jake’s tone. “You might as well tell him the rest,” she said to Andre. “You already mentioned fricking spells in front of him.”

  Andre shot Rebekah a glare, but still, she complied. “Holly and I are mortal witches, and Roseway, for the longest of time, was controlled by an immortal warlock.”

  Much to Jake’s credit, he stayed silent.

  “For a long time, you were possessed by a spirit in that town, and so were Jamie and Rebekah’s family,” Andre continued. “And that’s why you can’t remember your time there.”