MONTH FOUR
ELENA
EVERYONE WAS RUNNING down the hallway. It was dark and a faint light briefly showed the way.
Annie was in front of me.
When the scream came, chaos broke out. Doors opened, and staff ran down the halls toward it. It had Seymour written all over it. He loved chaos and it was easy to inflict it here in this place.
More screams came from the staff’s courtyard, those who didn’t reside, like Annie and Terrance, in the house. Terrance, a butler, wrapped his arms tight around Marcell, one of the maids, who screamed.
Annie and I reached the door and found James hanging on a metal cross. I cupped my face as the blood dripped from him and pooled at the floor. He was cut everywhere, and parts of his skin had been completely ripped off.
Muscle and bone showed.
Annie doubled over and threw up, as the courtyard smelled of blood.
Clive entered the courtyard from another direction and I could see on his face the agony that was going on in his heart.
Our eyes met and I shook my head. Seymour. This is what I’d warned you about. Your son is a psychopath.
“Hello, Father.” Seymour appeared from behind another wall, close to James’s corpse. “You still recognize him, or should I turn him around?”
Gasps rose in the courtyard, and I closed my eyes.
“I don’t know what you are talking about. How could you do this to another human being?” Clive said through gritted teeth.
“No, this doesn’t please you? I wonder what the wyvern king would say about that?”
“Please me?” Clive asked. “This is fucking disturbing, Seymour.”
“Oh now, don’t be so dramatic. He was just a servant, Father.”
Clive shook his head.
“Elle is your mistress, right?”
Everyone was staring at them. My heart was racing. I’d never told anybody, not even Annie.
“What the hell is he talking about?” Annie asked.
“Shhh,” I quieted her as Clive just stared at his son with tears for his lover in his eyes.
“There is something seriously wrong with you, Seymour. I should’ve listened when Elle tried to warn me.”
“Elle warned you.” Seymour started to laugh. “It looks like the little bird loves to sing.”
“Stop calling her that.”
“Come now, Father. It’s not so bad.”
“This is not pleasing me at all. In fact I feel sorry for you.”
Seymour pulled out his sword. “You don’t care a thing about Elle. Give her to me and all this will go away.”
What!
“You killed one of my servants because of one of my mistresses.”
“I want Elle, Father. Now.”
“You are not even capable of taking care of yourself; you are not ready to take care of someone like Elle. Go before I lose my temper with you, boy.” Clive turned around and was ready to leave when an arrow coming from the roof struck him in the back.
We all gasped, some even screamed. My entire body went ice cold as Clive turned around and more arrows struck him in his torso.
“Run, Elle,” Annie said, and I ran as fast as I could to my room. I had to get away from here, and not knowing where James’s secret tunnels led to, I had to give them a shot. I was sure Seymour didn’t know about them.
I almost made Clive’s room when an arm grabbed me around the waist and pulled me hard into the wall.
It wasn’t Seymour. It was Patrick, his sadistic buddy.
“Oh, what a delicious meal you are going to be, bird.”
“Meal, I’ll give you a meal,” I said and kicked as hard as I could with my knee into his groin. My elbow connected hard with his jaw and another kick pushed him away from me.
I ran into Clive’s room, shut the door and locked it. Then ran into mine and closed the door too.
I felt for a latch, to let me out of this place, but nothing I tried wanted to open that stupid door.
I closed my eyes and used an incantation. It opened the door and I found a dark staircase. I shut the door behind me just as Clive’s door was smashed into tiny pieces.
The staircase was slippery, it was cold, and I wore only my nightgown. I had no shoes on.
I could hear their voices in my room. Seymour screamed. I couldn’t believe he’d killed his father just for me, but something told me this was fueled by years and years of oppression from Clive’s side. I couldn’t imagine that he’d become either of their children’s favorite when he’d killed Mark.
A faint light showed an opening and I found myself back in the staff courtyard, but a different part.
It was empty when I opened the door that divided the staff quarters from the courtyard and ran with everything I had.
Clive’s body lay still and some staff kneeled over him as I passed. I had no choice but to leave, and ran through the courtyard. I smacked into someone in the third hallway and was relieved it was Billy.
“Elle, are you okay?”
“No, Seymour has lost his mind. He killed his father.”
“What?” Pure shock was evident on Billy’s face.
He reached out for my hand. “We need to get you away from here fast.”
“If he knows, he will kill you.”
“It doesn’t matter. Something tells me he will do worse with you.”
I followed him. He was fast too and I thanked heaven he was here in his truck and not on Penelope’s back.
He opened the door for me and I climbed in. Two seconds later, his door opened, he jumped in, and he closed it. The truck roared to life and he spun away.
“Thanks Billy. Any idea where Seymour won’t find me?”
“A couple, but you have to trust me, okay?”
“Okay.”
I felt better as we put some distance between the house and us.
I could breathe again. Then Billy’s phone rang. It wasn’t like the Cammys. Phones here reminded me of what phones used to be like behind the wall.
He grunted as he saw who it was. “Is it him?”
“No, my mom.”
“It’s fine, just take it.”
“Hey, Mom.”
A laugh came over the line, it didn’t belong to a woman. It was Seymour’s.
“Bull’s eye, Billy boy, when that first arrow hit him. Didn’t know you had it in you.”
I became cold.
“She really bought it?” Seymour asked.
“Yes.” Billy still sounded alarmed. Playing his part. I should’ve listened to Annie. “Okay. I’ll get you some bread and milk. Look, I’ll speak to you later.”
“Sure, my boy,” Seymour joked as I closed my eyes. “We’re waiting in the forest. Bring my little bird to me.”
“Just give me a few, okay,” Billy said. He was such an idiot, and had no idea I had enhanced hearing at all.
We were on a dirt road, close to the trees. The doors were not locked yet as he still believed I trusted him. If I wanted to escape, this was it.
“You are an asshole Billy,” I said, opened the door and jumped out.
“Elle, wait!”
I rolled and rolled until I couldn’t roll anymore, and then I got up and made a run for it toward the trees. I hoped it wasn’t the trees where Seymour and his gang were waiting for me. I found a hiding spot and hid immediately behind a big oak. I was a freaking Dragonian with many abilities. Okay, scratch the ability part, but I knew magic.
I could hear voices, Zack, one of the idiots that always followed Seymour and Derick, his buddy. They were close by.
Then Billy’s truck neared. It stopped with screeching tires.
“What the hell happened?” Derick asked.
Billy answered. “I have no fucking idea. She trusted me. I could see it in her eyes.”
Zack laughed. “You are losing your charm, Billy Boy.”
“No, I’m not. It was as if she heard that conversation between me and Seymour.”
“Bullshit, nobody could, unless she is a dragon.”
“She’s not a dragon. I grew up with dragons. I know.”
“Then how?”
“She kicked the living crap out of Patrick an hour ago,” Derick said.
“You think‒
“C’mon Billy. Riders, here? They are all shit scared. No, she’s just feisty.”
“If she is one, it means she has an ability, and one we don’t even know about.” Billy sounded scared.
“Have you seen a mark?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t one.”
They carried on walking, and I could hear something big connecting with a dull sound on the floor. Penelope.
Billy spoke to her in Wyvic. I heard her sniffing like a huge dog.
Shit, she was busy sniffing me out.
Screw this hiding place. I got up from behind the tree and ran as fast as I could away from them.
“We have her,” Derick yelled, and more footsteps started chasing me.
Penelope landed right in front of me, out of nowhere. Billy always kept her at a safe distance from humans, and if she had a human form, I’d never seen it.
She spoke in Wyvic and I could make out some sort of destination and my name. Where I was going?
I retreated as she came nearer. Why was she helping him? Oh, I forgot, she was a wyvern, and it was in their nature to be sadistic and evil.
Zack’s arms folded around me. “Great job, Penny.” There was laughter in his voice and my head collided hard with his nose.
I’m a fucking Dragonian! If they didn’t know what that was, well they were about to find out right now.
Blood poured from his nose as he released me, and I kicked him in his gut, away from me as hard as I could. If I had my twins with me, this defeat would’ve been so much easier.
Fire erupted close to me.
Sweetheart, your fire means nothing compared to the Rubicon’s. I bared my teeth and hissed at her, as if I was about to change into a dragon too. Derick went for me.
My hand thrust against his jaw and I threw him over my shoulder with a kick in his ribs, showing him that this game wasn’t going to play the way they’d thought it would. Zack went for me again, and this time Billy ran toward me, and punched me in the face, real hard, again and again, but I refused to go down as I knew that my eyes would never open again if I gave up.
“Enough!” Seymour’s voice pierced the night as Billy hit me one more time.
“What the hell happened to you?” he asked Zack and started to laugh.
“She is a fighter. Moves I’ve never seen before in my entire life,” Zack said as Derick pulled me over his shoulder.
Seymour grabbed my hair and lifted up my head. “A fighter, huh? Where did you learn to fight like that, Elle?”
I just glared at him. My lip felt numb, and my head was pulsing.
“Up north,” I said and spat in his face. A red blotch connected hard with his cheek.
His hand collided hard with my cheekbone and this time everything went black.
When I woke I was on the ground. My face pulsed from where they’d punched me. My body ached from their kicks.
Torches glowed a distance from me, above my head.
My heart was hammering.
I didn’t want to die.
“Looks like the little fighter is awake.” Patrick’s voice held so much joy. These boys were evil. They were not men.
Seymour climbed over my torso and sat on my chest with his full weight. His head was inches from mine. “So, you want to show us any more moves, little bird?” He grabbed my chin real hard and laid his head on my chest. I knew it was to hear my heartbeat and nothing I could do slowed it down.
He chuckled as he lifted up his head. “Not so fierce after all.”
I started to scream for help and squirm but his weight was too heavy and I couldn’t get free.
They all started to laugh. The five of them turned into seven. Two of them were in their thirties. I’d seen them once or twice having tea with Clive. Oh man, how long had they been planning this?
“Seymour, get on with it,” one said, as he was busy taking off his jacket and laying it over one of the branches.
I glared at Billy, my eyes wild. How could he have done this?
Billy laughed, staring down at me. He didn’t look anything like Blake now that I’d finally seen his true colors.
Seymour grabbed my chin hard to make me look at him. “It’s time you learned that what you do and say has consequences little bird. We are not up north anymore.”
He got up from me and I used the opportunity. I kicked his legs from under him and pushed myself up from the ground real fast.
I didn’t think and started fighting against all of them. I landed a few punches in and some kicks, but then a kick from the back made me fall onto the floor like a rag doll.
Someone grabbed my hair again and my head got smashed hard into the ground.
When all the fight had left my body they turned me around.
When my eyes opened I saw Billy unbuckling his belt and Seymour already on top of me.
I willed my mind to shut down, knowing I wouldn’t survive this ordeal. Finally, my mind slipped away and I went into a daze.
I FOUND MYSELF high up in a tree, looking down on my body. In a way I was lucky that I was experiencing it like this, but still, every touch to my body was tormenting my soul. I shuddered in disgust as I watched myself being savaged by these monsters.
My body was numb and I was helpless, completely helpless. I had no fighting spirit left in me.
Tears streamed down my face and I squeezed my eyes tightly.
It seemed to go on for hours. Both Seymour and Billy had this need to have me more than once when finally, Seymour was done. I nearly felt relief, but heard him telling Derick to make me disappear when they’d finished with me. I looked down at my body as Seymour bent down toward me. “I told you, I always get my bird.
I was dead. I was certain of it. How could this have happened to me? I closed my eyes, willing the images from down below where my body lay to disappear from my mind. If only Clive had listened to me, then maybe, just maybe, this whole mess could’ve been avoided. But he hadn’t listened and now he was dead. I was sure I was dead, and now Annie would die as well. I forced my eyes open and watched the assault on my body continue over and over again. Every touch from Zack, Derick or one of the other men, was shredding a piece of my soul to pieces. I saw Billy, Seymour and one of the older men leaving in Billy’s truck. Their spirits were on a high and it left me feeling more disgusted, more dirty. The truck’s taillights shone in my face and for a moment it didn’t make much sense. I wasn’t close to the line of lights, I was up in a tree.
Then the pain surged through me again and suddenly I wasn’t in the tree anymore. I was back in my body on the forest floor.
A jolt rushed up my hand. I had only felt this once, a long time ago – or so it seemed – when Blake was still alive, and then I heard it.
Agonizing screams deafened me.
I turned my head and stared straight into Zack’s face that was inches from me. It wasn’t him.
A pink flame lit up my palm.
How could this be?
“Zack!” the older boy, who had my hand clamped down, yelled and Zack stopped and stared at my flame.
“What the fuck?”
“Meet the Pink Kiss, asshole.” I flicked my palm and a flaming pink bolt smashed into Zack’s face. He tried to shake it off, but it had already spread and was piercing into his skin. He was starting to burn alive.
I pushed myself up on weak legs and staggered slightly to the left.
Derick and the unknown man watched in horror as Zack started to burn slowly.
The screams would drive everyone nuts. So I wielded my shield around him and the sound immediately disappeared.
My eyes landed on Derick when I righted myself and this time the Pink Kiss came fast. He couldn’t even run as the fireball hit him too.
Nameless asshole on the other hand really tried hard to get away and was running for the clearing.
I couldn’t let him escape, and touched the tree. It was as if nature saw what had happened under her beautiful trees and she recharged my entire body with energy.
Roots sprouted out in front of him and one looped around his body and brought him back to where hell was waiting for him. He connected hard a few feet from me.
He tried to get away as I neared, crawling backward with wide eyes.
I screamed again, this time it was out of anger, and both my arms were aflame.
Why hadn’t it all come before this started?
I grabbed his head.
“You still want me?” I grunted and watched his face burning inside both my palms.
The screams coming from Derick were dying out, but this man squealed like a pig getting slaughtered.
When only heaps of ashes were left, I couldn’t think anymore. My mind was a blur and I moved around on one spot like a zombie. I pulled my hair and found myself on my knees. A scream tore from my mouth. It was so loud it didn’t even sound like me. And before I knew it, I was running again.
I had no idea where I was running to, but I had to get away.
I was exhausted and a sense of weakness overwhelmed me. Pain – pain like I had never before experienced – pulsated through my body and I shuddered in agony. The last thing I remember was falling down and not being able to get back
BLAKE
Earlier that night…
“BLAKE, SPEAK TO me, what’s wrong?” Becky begged.
Screams, my screams, agonizing screams of pain filled the cafeteria.
“I’ll get Constance.” I only saw George’s heels as he ran out of the cafeteria.
This wasn’t good. Elena needed me. I felt it before the pain followed. Her heart was beating really fast – super fast. She was scared and she was in grave danger.
But this – this was ten times worse. It was as if whoever tried to keep me from her was doing this deliberately so that I couldn’t get to her.
I screamed again and my core felt as if it was going to explode. The cold floor against my body didn’t help much. My fire was too hot for me this time and I couldn’t calm it down. It was going to kill me.
“Blake!” Constance fell next to me.
“I.” I grunted hard. The pain was excruciating.
“When did this start?” Master Longwei was here as well.
“It happened so fast. He was eating and then went into a panic, saying something is wrong with Elena.” Becky spoke fast. My sister was crying.
“Get her out of here.” I managed to look up at Dean, and he nodded and took Sammy out.
My body went into spasm again, as another scream left me.
“Elena is in danger?” Master Longwei asked.
Becky must have nodded as the fire clawed its way out of my core.
“Release her gifts, Blake,” Master Longwei said. “If you don’t know how, turn into a dragon, now. Elena needs them.”
I didn’t think twice and shifted.
My tail connected hard with the wall and it started crumbling down.
Shrieks filled the cafeteria, and I could breathe again. The pain was gone.
Elena needed her gifts. What was this? She’d never had to ask and I felt disgusted with myself. This was all my fault. She’d had access to her gifts all along but it was doubt; I’d made her believe they were never hers, that she couldn’t access them.
I jolted up but it was as if my energy level dropped and no matter how hard my mind fought to be strong, to go and find her, I couldn’t. I came smashing back to the ground.
Elena, it was the last thing that left my lips before my eyes closed.
