| |
ONE OF ETHAN’S MEN slammed Julie into the wall.
“Julie!”
With a loud moan, she crumbled to the ground.
“Take Julie to the dungeon,” Ethan snapped. “We will transfer Mariah first.”
Ethan’s intense gaze fixed on my face. He grabbed me roughly by my arms.
I tried to use a few self-defense moves Jesse had taught me, but they were useless. I thrashed and kicked as he dragged me down the hall, scraping my feet across the stone floor. “Ethan, please don’t do this!” I shouted, to no avail. I looked up and couldn’t believe Jesse’s beautiful, strong arms were harassing me. His formerly gorgeous, dreamy face was contorted into an angry nightmare, and that made everything even more upsetting.
Ethan stopped and kicked me in the gut. “You’re pathetic. Shut up!”
I couldn’t breathe from the pain exploding across my midsection. He scooped me up and hauled me to his awful lab. He strapped me on a table like some kind of victim in a Frankenstein movie. Just like last time, I struggled in my bindings, but it was of no use.
Rivers of sweat ran down my spine, drenching my shirt. My throat felt coarse and dry. When I glanced over to the right, I saw a very deteriorated woman next to me. Her hair was long, black, and stringy, and her skin was loose, as if it was falling off her face. “Mariah,” I said pleadingly, “don’t let him do this.”
“Merci de votre cadeau,” she said.
She was speaking French. It meant thank you for your gift. And I definitely wasn’t giving her my body as a gift.
“I’m not giving you my body willingly,” I said. “Ethan is stealing it from me.”
She opened her eyes and spoke English. “He has his body, and he has promised me yours.”
“But it’s not right,” I said.
“I do not wish to die,” she whispered in a French accent.
“I don’t either.”
“I will take very good care of your body.”
Ethan walked over and kissed her wrinkled, decaying forehead. “I swear my undying love to you. We will be together forever now. I love you so much, Mariah.”
“And I you, Ethan,” she said, gasping between every word, as if every breath was a struggle.
“Your mother is anxiously waiting to see you and Rachel in your revived forms. Let us hurry.”
She smiled weakly, then closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.
My heart sank in my chest, and a numb feeling invaded my body. Is this the end, the capstone of all this chaos? I knew it was, but I didn’t want to face it.
A troupe of priests suddenly surrounded me. They placed their hands on me and Mariah, and others stepped in to light the room with candles.
“Stop!” I screamed. “Leave me alone!”
“Please calm down, Taylor. We must activate the magic inside of you,” Ethan said.
“It will kill me!”
“Silly girl. If we activate the magic, your body will be strengthened. Your headaches, dizziness, and fainting spells will cease. Your magic hates being kept dormant so it acts out. You certainly won’t die.”
“But you said I would.”
“Of course I told you that, my dear. We could not have you thinking there would be a way to defend yourself if you left the castle. We needed you to remain here.”
“I can’t believe you lied to me like this.”
“I couldn’t let you have your magic. If you had it right now, you’d already have thrown me out the window.”
“I would’ve done worse! I would’ve summoned lightning and...”
He cut me off. “Now, once Mariah possesses your body, I’ll activate the magic brewing inside her. Can you imagine how powerful my lover will be? We’ll able to protect Northwood Fortress forever. I will live for eternity in Jesse’s body, and Mariah will forever occupy yours.”
“You’re crazy. Have you forgotten that I’m only human? She will be limited.”
“Not if we turn her. Many vampires here would consider it an honor to turn her into their kind.”
“No! You can’t have my body,” I shouted.
He pushed my hair out of my face. “I already have it, Taylor, and I can’t wait to hold that beautiful body in my arms and kiss you like you deserve to be kissed.”
I struggled in my bindings. “No! No way!”
“Every small girl dreams of being a princess. Surely you want to live happily ever after in a castle, and I will be your prince charming. This is a fairytale, and you should appreciate it.”
I spat at him. “Fairytale? This is a nightmare!”
“Mariah will love your body,” he said, roaming his hands in places I did not want him to touch. “You and Jesse coming here was like fate. You have given us a second chance at life, and we don’t know how to thank you.”
“Give Jesse his body back,” I said. “He’s your son, Ethan. You were so happy to see him.”
“Yes, and I have missed him. It ripped my heart in two when Loraine took my children away from me, and not just because I needed a cure. I love Jesse, but I love life more. If life had been different, perhaps we could have been one big, happy family, but this is simply not so. I want to love him like a son, but I have to set that aside for my own wellbeing.”
“Loraine was smart to leave. The radiation killed the man she loved, just like she wrote in her diary. You were going to jump into Sam, but she fled before you could, and she had good reason for hiding your sons and your daughter from you. She went into hiding so you couldn’t hurt her kids. She couldn’t bear to tell Jesse what a monster you are, that their own father wanted to take over his son’s body. She kept Jesse out of the public eye so you would never find them again. She left to escape you.”
He smiled wickedly. “Yes, and I hunted for her. She disappeared into the woodwork, obviously with immortal help. Not even my best assassins and trackers could find her. I can’t wait to pay her a visit and let her know I finished what I started. She deserves a nice, slow death for the betrayal she heaped upon me.”
“Betrayal? You left her for another woman and tried to use her sons as vessels! Just leave her alone. You got what you wanted.”
Ignoring me, he continued, “I cannot believe my vessel ultimately sought me out, right before I passed into eternity.”
“Into Hell, where monsters belong!”
Still ignoring me, he went on, “Loraine thought she could hide out long enough for me to die, so she would be free of me. She has no idea how wrong she was.”
“Your son came here because he loves you and has missed you. You used his emotions for your own agenda, to manipulate and deceive him.”
He tapped his chin, smiling. “Yes, the boy fell quite easily for my hugs and encouragement, didn’t he? Of course, some were genuine, but for the most part, I just needed him to trust me.”
I glared at him angrily. “You don’t deserve anyone’s trust or love. You have performed crude experiments on innocent people for your own gain. You’ve infiltrated your son’s body, casting him aside for the sake of your own existence. You’ve even let your filthy desire capture me in the dark, deluding me into thinking it was your son, whom I love dearly!”
“I had to make sure I was sufficiently attracted to your body. I did not want to house my Mariah in an ugly, repulsive—”
“The only ugly, repulsive thing in here is you! You might be inside Jesse’s beautiful body, but you are the most disgusting thing I have ever laid eyes on! Besides, you didn’t have much of a choice. It had to be me or Julie.”
“Mariah would’ve been delighted to have golden locks, in exchange for her ebony tresses. I kissed your friend to try her out, but her lips are not as sweet as yours. It is no wonder my son was so attracted to you. I cannot wait to make you mine, and when I do, you will delight in my passionate touch. I didn’t think I would ever be able to save my Mariah, because she can’t align with any ordinary body with her gargoyle genes, but your magic is so powerful. The transformation will be miraculous. Without that kind of magic to generate the power we need, it wouldn’t have been possible, but fate delivered you into my hands for a reason. Together, we will rule our kingdom and stop our enemies in their tracks.”
I looked away.
He cupped my face. “Do you have any last words?”
“Were we ever together in an intimate way?” I asked. “Did we do more than kissing?”
“No. I wanted my first time to be with my one true love. Not you half-awake in some spell.”
I let out a long sigh of relief.
“I can’t wait to marry Mariah. I will bed her in this new body after marriage, the way it should be.”
I tuned him out as he continued to yap away about their new lives together.
I let out a horrified gasp as Ethan tapped a syringe with his fingers. My mind raced as I stared at the long needle. “No!” I screamed. “Nooooo!”
“There is no use trying to fight it,” he said in a calm voice. “I do love your spirit though. That, and those nice curves of yours.”
I couldn’t believe I was going to reach my end in that dark, dank room, on a mad scientist’s table. I had always been dreadfully afraid of being alone at the end, of being separated from my loved ones at the moment of my death. I felt like I was suffocating, and I knew no one was going to come to rescue me. “I-I’m so scared,” I admitted tearfully.
The lines in Ethan’s face softened, and compassion flickered in his blue eyes. He held my hand, and for a second, it was like my Jesse was right there with me. A tear streamed down my cheek as my voice choked with emotion. He even said a few sweet words of encouragement for the afterlife. I knew it wasn’t Jesse, but I pretended it was because I didn’t want to die alone.
My tearful gaze met his. “I love you, Jesse,” I whispered, pretending it was my sweet boyfriend.
He looked at me for a long moment. “I don’t love you, Taylor,” he finally snapped back.
I knew it wasn’t Jesse, but those words spoken out of Jesse’s mouth, in Jesse’s voice, were the worst torture I could have imagined.
Ethan flicked the syringe with his forefinger and stepped forward. A frown perched between his brows. Drops squirted as he tapped air bubbles from the menacing syringe. I screamed as he injected it into my arm, but I was unable to fight back. I felt a burning sensation as he pushed the plunger down, emptying the syringe into my vein.
He cupped my face. “Just go to sleep, and all the pain you have suffered in this world will be gone.”
I hated hearing those words coming out of my beloved’s mouth. Jesse was already gone, and I was next. My eyes felt so heavy, and Ethan stroked my hair, as if trying to put me to sleep. The whole thing sickened me, and I struggled to fight against the tiredness consuming me. Fight! I thought. This is your life! Fight for your life.
As my thoughts began to grow fuzzy, I knew my only shot of surviving was Drake. Even if it was too late for me or Jesse, I hoped he could save Julie, Grant, and Fred. I took some comfort in knowing that my friends might have a shot. I pictured them crying over my headstone, the one that would rest above an empty casket, since Mariah would have my body. A tear rolled down my face as I pictured my parents’ reaction to being told of my death. I couldn’t imagine how upset Jesse’s family had to be; Kierra had told me to keep Jesse safe, but I had failed miserably to do so. All I’ve ever done is hurt the ones I love, I thought.
Some priests walked in, and soft chatter echoed all around me as they discussed the ceremony. When a wave of nausea flooded my stomach, I held my breath and tried not to throw up. Things didn’t look so good for me, but I needed to keep my wits and my cool. I couldn’t let fear consume me. I had to fight till the bitter end.
Ethan straightened his shoulders and peered at me with those familiar blue eyes that pierced me to my very core, making me shiver. His finger trailed down my cheek and stopped on my upper lip. “It’s almost over now.”
I spat at him.
He wiped his face and just laughed.
I closed my eyes and began to torture myself again with thoughts of the red flags I should not have missed. So many times, in the test-jumps, Ethan had kissed me, pretending to be his son. I should have known then that it was not Jesse. Something had felt strange about it, but I had not done enough to question it. Ethan had possessed his own son and dragged me out into the night, into his arms, into the snow, just to make sure he could stand to kiss me since he was about to be stuck with my body for a mate forever. He had begged us, not to leave, pretended to be protecting me and looking out for my welfare, but all along, it was just because he wanted my body to belong to his lover.
Everything was blurry, but I tried to focus. Some women came in and dressed me in a flowing white gown, and someone brushed my hair. The next thing I knew, I was being lifted by one of the priests.
Doors opened, and they carried me into a candlelit room with a huge pentagon on the floor. Everything was happening so fast, and I couldn’t make out what was going on. I only knew it was far too familiar for my taste. No! Not another ceremony.
The stone floor was so cold. A warlock burned ritual incense. The room was dim. Hooded people chanted. Others read from an old ancient book.
I knew I had to get out of there. I couldn’t understand why Drake, Tabby, or Loraine had not shown up; we had called them so long ago. The priest laid me down in the center of the room, and dozens of other cloaked ones lit candles and began to chant in strange words I could not understand. I tried to get up, but my muscles refused to budge.
A few seconds later, I felt something warm on my face, and a salty taste entered the corner of my mouth. I glanced above me and saw, albeit blurry, that someone had cut his wrist and was dripping blood on my face. I blinked but didn’t have the strength to wipe the blood away. The drugs had kicked in. My mouth was numb, the tongue felt swollen, and my throat was dry.
The chanting continued, and somebody put a dab of blood on my forehead. The candles flickered, and the priests surrounded me. One read from a huge, leather-bound book, and then they all passed around a silver goblet. I couldn’t make out his words, but I knew the situation was dire for me. The priests then placed Mariah next to me, so close we were touching.
I didn’t want to die, and I fought to keep my eyes open, but I was not strong enough. My eyelids grew heavy, and I finally let go and fell asleep, knowing it was the end of the road for me. I only hoped my Jesse would be waiting for me on the other side.