“Does it work all the time like that?”
“What do you mean?”
“When we were in college and Suzy got hit by that car coming home from the bar, did you have tingles then?”
“No.” I looked away. “It only seems to happen when weird stuff is going on.” I cringed, hoping she wouldn’t ask what I meant.
“What do you mean, weird?” She was staring intently at me.
“Just different,” I managed to say.
“You have to explain it.”
“It’s different. Everyday normal bad things don’t make me feel like that. It’s only when something horrible is going to happen. Something even I don’t understand.”
“Maybe something that could kill you?” she continued questioning me.
“No, not really,” I said, trying to dodge the question.
“Are you talking about things from your nightmares, Serena?”
I hid my face in the pillow next to me. “I knew you wouldn’t believe me.”
“I’m not saying I don’t believe you. I’m trying to get the full picture. So something supernatural then?”
“Yes,” I mumbled.
“Now we’re getting somewhere. Start at the beginning of the night. Something happened when I ran out to get coffee, didn’t it? Something supernatural?”
“Maybe,” I said quietly. “Maybe, I’m going crazy.”
“I don’t think you’re crazy. Crazy people don’t ask if they’re going crazy you know.” She laughed and patted my back. “Tell me what happened.”
“There was something in my apartment after you left. When I got out of the shower, there was wet blood on the floor. It was only a couple of drops, but I knew it wasn’t mine, and there was a noise coming from the living room. When you came in, it disappeared.”
“You’re positive something was there?”
“See, you don’t believe me.”
“Relax. I’m just checking. Then we went to the club. What happened there? Things got weird pretty fast, right? With that man?”
“I’m not really sure. He sent that drink for me, which tasted too good to be normal. Then he showed up behind me and said I’m his and that I can never leave him.”
“Oh my god. No wonder you got so upset. What an ass.”
“No. It wasn’t like that. I felt such a strong connection to him. It almost killed me to walk away. It’s like my heart couldn’t take the idea of leaving him behind.” I rubbed a hand over my chest. “It still hurts. It feels like we’re connected to each other.” I took a deep breath and tried to push my anxiety over him away. “Then he asked about my pack, which I didn’t understand.”
“So, you think he’s like you?”
“I’m not sure, but it’s possible. As soon as I got the feeling that something bad was going to happen, he did too. He told me to stay there, and he would be right back, but I couldn’t. I knew we had to leave. Didn’t you notice a bunch of the staff knew something was coming? Even your new friend, Micah, left you at that point. Somehow they knew what was going on. Right before the door closed as we left, I heard screaming.” My eyes filled with tears. “I hope he’s ok.”
“Who, Micah?”
I shook my head.
“Oh. That man. You really did feel something for him, didn’t you? I’ve never seen you cry over a guy before.” She pulled me into her arms, and I sobbed into her chest.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I don’t even know anything about him. I can’t possibly care for him. I still think it was something in that drink.” I sniffled and pulled away from her.
She smiled at me. “Well, if we’re going to believe in the supernatural, then maybe you do have a connection to him. Maybe you’re meant to be together.”
“We won’t ever know. I’m leaving tonight. The danger isn’t over. The monster is still after me, and I don’t want you to be caught up in this. If anything happened to you because of me, I would never forgive myself. I never should have moved this close to you.”
“Has that ever helped before? Running away?”
“It helps. It usually takes a while for it to find me again.”
“But it always finds you doesn’t it?”
“Yes,” I said sadly.
“Then stop running. You have a chance to find out what’s going on. There are people here who care about you. You can go back to the club and ask them what they know. Maybe if you find out, you can start to live a normal life.”
“I don’t know,” I replied, but what Beth said made me want to stay. The thought of a normal life was like a dream. Plus, I could find out what happened to Ian. Maybe they could help me. As I was considering staying, a loud crash rang through the room, and I jumped up.
“What the hell?”
“That came from the hallway outside,” Beth whispered, getting to her feet. “Do you think it’s something bad?” I knew she was talking about the tingling feeling.
“I don’t feel anything, but that doesn’t mean it’s safe,” I answered, thinking about that afternoon when there was no warning of something being in the apartment.
“We need to look.”
“I don’t think we should. What if it’s something bad, and it’s waiting for us.”
“Serena, we need to know. Otherwise, we’re sitting ducks in here.” She headed toward the door.
“Wait,” I said, sprinting into the bedroom and grabbing my gun. I came out quickly and moved to the door. “Stay back. We don’t know what’s out there.” I walked slowly to the peephole, but I couldn’t see anything outside. “I don’t see anything.”
Beth motioned for me to open the door and check. Being as quiet as possible, I slowly unlocked the door and pulled it open an inch but still saw nothing. As I pulled the door farther open, I saw something a few feet down the hall. I couldn’t tell what it was. It looked like a large pile of clothes until it moved. I slammed the door shut.
“There’s something on the floor. It moved.”
“What is it?”
“How the hell am I supposed to know? I don’t want to know.”
Beth pushed past me and reached for the door. “No, Beth,” I whispered, my heart beating with fear. “Don’t.”
“You know we have to. We can’t stay here forever.” She opened the door and peeked out. I heard a moan from down the hall.
“It’s a person, Serena. They’re hurt. We have to help them.”
It found me
The thought of going out there was caused my legs to lock up in fear. What if it was a trap?
“Serena?” I knew that voice. Even though I had only heard it at the club, Ian’s voice was as familiar to me as Beth’s.
“Ian!” I yelled and ran down the hall, my fear forgotten momentarily. I dropped to my knees next to him, trying to see what was wrong.
“Serena, you have to get out of here,” he whispered. “It’s coming.”
I shook with fear. “First, we have to help you.” I couldn’t leave him like this. “Beth, quick. Help me get him into the apartment.” Beth ran to me, and with a lot of tugging and pulling, we finally got him into the apartment and onto the couch.
“Get me some water,” I said to Beth, looking at Ian’s swollen face. Something had knocked him around pretty badly. As she went to get a glass of water, I slid Ian’s jacket off. His whole body looked as bad as his face. “Who did this to you, Ian?” I asked, gently rubbing a towel over his eyebrow where blood was still running out of a gash.
“You don’t want to know.”
“What are we going to do?”
“We need to get out of here as quickly as possible and get you as far away as we can.”
I felt chills cross my spine and stiffened. It was coming. Ian met my eyes. He knew it was getting closer too. He tried to get to his feet.
“Ian, you can’t walk.”
“We have no choice. Help me up. I’ll be fine in a few hours.”
“We should take you to the hospital. You’re hurt pretty badly
,” Beth said.
“No hospitals. I promise, I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse than this. Let’s get out of here before we end up trapped.”
Not knowing what else to do, I helped him slowly get to his feet. He put his arm around me to support himself, but I could feel his muscles trembling.
“Ian, I don’t think we’re going to make it. You can barely stand up. I think Beth’s right. You need a hospital.”
Ian tried to take a step toward the door. “We can do this, Serena. We really need to leave. I know you feel it. It’s not far away.”
I looked up at him. “How do you know what I feel?”
“Because I can feel it too. I know you have a weird feeling all over your body right now. And we both know that means it isn’t gone. It’s going to get worse as it gets closer. We need to go now.”
I didn’t know what the hell was going on, but he was right. We needed to get out of here. We helped Ian take painful steps through the hall. We hadn’t made it far when screeching tires caused me to stop and stare fearfully down the hallway.
“It’s here. There’s no way out,” I whispered to Ian.
“No, it’s not here yet. The tingling hasn’t increased. It’s something else.” The door to the building opened before we could say any more.
“Ian, where the fuck are you? I know you’re hurt,” someone yelled.
“Micah,” Ian called out. “I’m here.”
Micah rounded the corner at a run and barely stopped before running into us. “What are you doing? You had me worried. It was chasing you, and I wasn’t sure if you would be able to fight it off. I’m glad to see you did.”
“I didn’t. It wounded me and then took off once it realized I wasn’t what it was looking for.” He glanced at me.
“Oh shit, it was after your mate?”
“Yeah, it came after me because it could smell her scent on me. It’s close by too. We need to get her out of here and fast.”
“Alright, let’s go.” Micah grabbed Ian, and they made their way out of the building. “You too, ladies. Before it shows back up.”
I looked at Beth and saw the same hesitation I was feeling. Without knowing what else to do and wanting to make sure Ian would be ok, I followed Micah. He was helping Ian into the back of a large SUV. Beth got in the front passenger seat. I looked up and down the street before getting in, but I didn’t see anything coming toward us. I could feel the danger getting closer though.
I sat next to Ian as Micah jumped into the driver’s seat. I couldn’t stop myself from reaching over to touch Ian. I needed to make sure he was ok even though I didn’t know him. I didn’t like the way he made me feel. My emotions were completely out of control when he was near me.
He reached over and captured my hand before I could pull away. “It’s ok, Serena. We’ll find a way to fight this.”
I wasn’t so sure. I had been trying to stay away from whatever was following me for a long time. It always caught up to me, and this time Beth was involved. I had to find a way to get her out of this. With everything she learned tonight, she wouldn’t leave easily. She wasn’t the type to back down from a fight if a friend was in trouble.
Maybe I could get Micah to look out for her for a while. He seemed like a decent guy. I looked at Beth. She was terrified but holding it together better than I was. She glanced over at me and grimaced.
“I’m sorry you got dragged into this, Beth,” I said, trying to apologize.
“Don’t be. At least now I know why you’re always running away. No running this time,” she said, glaring at me.
I didn’t want to let her down, but no one understood how bad it was going to get. I tried not to run after it found me once before. It destroyed part of the city looking for me, and a lot of people got hurt. I couldn’t let that happen again.
Micah pulled onto the road and started driving, trying to get away from the danger we were in, but the chills along my spine didn’t go away.
“We need to hurry,” I told Micah.
He looked in the mirror at me, and I could see the worry in his eyes. “I’m trying.”
“Turn off this road,” I said, panicking as the tingling turned to sharp pins and needles.
“Relax, Serena.” Ian reached out and grabbed my hand. “Micah will get us away from here. Trust him.”
Micah turned off the main road and sped up, but the pins and needles stayed.
“He knows where she is, Micah. Move faster. He’s too close,” Ian said when the pins and needles increased.
Micah sped down the road, trying to lose whatever was after me. He didn’t slow down as he took a sharp turn, and the wheels lifted off the pavement. I closed my eyes. I might not have to worry about the monster if Micah wasn’t careful. We would all be in the hospital, or worse. Thankfully, Micah kept the vehicle from crashing as we raced through the city.
The tingling started to go away, and I thought we were safe until Micah made a couple of turns heading back to the main road, and the tingling spiked to its highest level yet.
“He’s here,” Micah yelled, slamming on the breaks as the pavement cracked in front of us. Micah threw the car in reverse and sped backward until he could turn off the main road again. Other cars braked and reversed too.
Metal squealed as cars started to plow into each other creating a pileup. Micah managed to miss it by inches. He sped away as more cracks opened in the road. People were running and screaming in every direction.
I hoped no one got hurt in the confusion. I was sure it would be called a natural disaster. No one would believe a monster was causing the road to break.
“It was a trap,” Ian yelled to Micah. “He was waiting on the main road for her.”
“We need to take that road to get away,” Micah replied.
“We can’t. We need to find a different way. He must know that’s the only way in or out of town. He’s been here at least a few days.”
Micah sped up and down side streets until the tingling decreased again. He pulled to the side of the road and opened a map on his phone. He kept zooming in, before grumbling and checking different routes.
“I can’t find any other way out of this mess, Ian. We may have to wait him out.”
“You know we can’t. He’ll find her again if we stay in one place too long. He’s a much higher level than we’ve encountered in a long time.” I didn’t know what they were talking about, and I didn’t think it was a good time to ask. Explanations could wait until we were safe.
“Where are you trying to go?” Beth asked.
“A place right outside of town. It’s past a local bar called The Woodshed,” Micah answered, naming a bar at the edge of town.
“I know a back way to that place. I haven’t used it in years, and the trails were really more for four-wheelers, but if you don’t mind some scratches on your vehicle, it might work. We’ll have to get onto the main road after that though.” Micah consulted his map one more time before turning it off and looking at Beth.
“I need to make a call, and then we’ll try it,” Micah said, stepping out of the car and holding his phone to his ear. He was back in the car within a few minutes. When he was behind the wheel he looked over at Beth, waiting for directions.
Micah followed Beth’s directions until we came to a road that was barely a trail. Trees and bushes scratched along the sides of the car, and we hit far too many bumps for Ian’s bruised body to handle. He looked worse the longer we were in the car, and I yelled to hurry when Ian’s eyes shut. My yell woke him back up, and he brushed his hand across mine.
“I’m fine. Just resting while I have a chance,” he said.
Micah looked back and frowned. He sped through the trees faster than before, so I knew he was worried. We exited the trail behind The Woodshed, and the tingling got worse again.
“What do we do now?” I asked. “Should we risk the main road?”
Micah looked around and smiled. “We’ll trigger the trap if we go on the main road. We’re going throug
h the field over there,” he said, pointing to a cornfield next to The Woodshed.
I looked at the field and then at Beth. My worry was reflected on her face.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
“No, but it’s our best chance. I don’t think the trap will be triggered if we go through the field. You’ll be safe. It won’t know where you went.”
“What about the town?” I asked.
“As long as you don’t trigger the trap, everything will be fine in town. It wasn’t until we drove onto the main road that it started to split. The city will be fine once you’re somewhere safe. We can go back in and destroy the traps later.”
“How?”
“Ian tried to tell you. We have plenty of magi at our disposal. It won’t be a problem to get rid of the traps.” He gripped the wheel tightly. “Everyone, hold on. It’s going to be bumpy.”
Ian grabbed the seat to steady himself, and I did the same, not having a chance to think about what he was telling me or question what a magi was. Micah aimed the car toward the field and hit the gas. It shot into the field faster than I expected. Beth let out a yell and ducked her head as we hit row after row of corn.
Micah didn’t let up on the gas, and the car careened from side to side. I squeezed my eyes shut, praying we would make it. The tingling didn’t increase as we sped through the field. When we emerged on the other side, Micah stopped the car. I could barely feel the tingling, and Micah moved the vehicle slowly forward until the tingling stopped completely.
“I knew the trap had to stop somewhere. We can go back on the main road now.” He smiled triumphantly as he pulled back onto the main road. I held my breath, waiting for the street to crack and split again. When it didn’t, I sighed and unclenched my fists.
“Is everyone ok?” I asked.
“Yes,” Beth answered.
Ian only grunted and opened his eyes to look at me. I felt an irresistible pull to touch him. I wanted to make him better, but I didn’t know how. I didn’t understand these intense emotions. Part of me didn’t trust him because of it.
Demon Hunted Page 3
