Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
APRIL
My whole body hurts.
When that lightning energy, or whatever it was, pierced through my chest, every muscle in me contracted painfully. I’m not sure if that haunting scream I heard was real, or if I imagined it as a result of the pain.
My thoughts are scattered, fleeting from one thing to the next so fast I feel dizzy even though I think I’m lying down. Stopping mid-turn, since I was trying to roll on my back, I freeze.
I’m lying on something so soft, it might as well be a cloud. Afraid to open my eyes from what I might see, my hands glide slightly over the thin fabric. Am I dead?
Like that was an open invitation, pain sears through me again.
Would I hurt if I was dead? I thought everything disappeared in death.
Maybe that’s the case if you end up in Heaven. Perhaps I was in Hell? It’s not like I’ve been a good person until my death. I’ve stolen and manipulated, all to be able to stay alive.
I haven’t killed.
That must count for something, right? Another excruciating pain courses through my body.
Yup! This is Hell all right. I don’t think God, or any angel, will allow me to suffer like this.
Or so I think anyway. My fingers keep moving slowly over the soft fabric while I breathe through the pain with my eyes tightly squeezed shut.
It’ll pass, it’ll pass, I keep chanting in my mind.
Voices float to my ears, pushing the lingering pain away. My eyes pop open, and I jerk my body up. I look around wildly for a monster that is ready to pounce, and it takes me a moment to realize where I am. Sitting in the middle of a very large bed, I take in my surroundings.
The bedroom is as big as a house. Thick drapes are pulled tightly over what I’m guessing is a window.
Dark, wooden furniture is placed along the walls.
The bed I’m sitting on has four posters holding up a square piece of wood above my head.
Blood red sheets cover it, and my fingers are twisting in them, holding on for dear life.
There are three doors. One is close to the headboard of the bed, on the right.
Another is on the opposite side of the window.
The third is right in front of my eyes, and the voices are coming from there.
Swallowing thickly, it takes me a few tries to unfreeze myself so I can move.
My throat feels raw, like someone tried to strangle me but failed.
Every bone and muscle hurt, but I push through it and gingerly slide my feet on the floor.
I still have my boots on, and that makes me happy.
They sink an inch into the thick carpet covering the floor.
Blues, creams, and reds create patterns on it.
I would’ve marveled at its beauty if I wasn’t freaked out of my mind.
What the hell happened? And where are the monsters that brought me here?
Creeping slowly towards the door on my tiptoes, I try to hold my breath. My heart is jackhammering erratically in my chest, leaving me gasping silently so I don’t faint.
Fear is useless, April. Stop it and think! Internally screaming at myself helps calm me a little.
The closer I get to the door, the louder the voices become. Pressing both my palms to the cool wood, I lean in and plaster my ear and face on it. Whoever is talking, although louder, it seems like they are not too close to this door. That helps my brain to stop freaking out.
“…and he decided to investigate out of the goodness of his heart?” I’d recognize Marcus anywhere with his deep, rumbling voice.
“I don’t like this.” Andrei’s musical, lilting words calm me down even more.
“We don’t have to like it. We knew this was bound to happen.
” The baritone of the one they call Sire resonates like a drumbeat in my chest, even from this much distance.
My hands tremble, regardless of the fact that they are firmly pressed on the wooden door.
“I didn’t expect things to move this fast, but we adjust and keep with the plan.
We just need to be more cautious. Nothing changes. ”
“Niklas saw her! Everything changes.” Marcus’s outburst makes me jump a foot off the floor.
“Calm down,” the Sire guy says so softly I can barely hear him. What I listen to, however, is the clear threat in his voice. Sweat trickles down my back. “Nothing changes. He saw a human that he thinks is my feeder. That is all.”
“What did he do to her?” Andrei stops any further comments from Marcus. I press my ear harder to the door. “Her reaction was like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
“He did nothing,” Sire says, and even I can hear that he is not telling them everything.
“She was in shock, trembling while I was carrying her here. Being open like that left her subconscious in charge of her surroundings. If my research and findings are correct, she reacted instinctively, recognizing one of the beings responsible for her curse—rebirth after rebirth, unnoticed by the world. Her spirit reacted in recognition to one of her killers.”
“It was quite a violent reaction.” I can barely hear Andrei’s words.
“That does not matter. We have the girl now. None of them will get anywhere near enough to be able to hurt her again. Marcus, we need to know everything that’s been happening in the Council Towers. Talk to your contacts, find out who went in and out. Even gossip. I need to know every word spoken.”
“On it.” Thumping footsteps are followed by the opening and closing of a door.
“I think I should try talking to her,” Sire says, and my heart lodges in my throat.
“She was out cold when I left her in the bedroom. Maybe it’s better if she rests a bit before we start telling her everything. I have a feeling she will need that rest.” Andrei sounds like he is pleading for my life.
That is enough to make me swivel my head around in search of anything I can use to protect myself.
Nothing I see looks like a weapon. The blood rushing through my head and the heartbeat thundering in my ears are not helping.
After the third time my gaze sweeps past the heavy drapes, I do a double take.
Rushing to them, I grab both sides in my fists and yank them apart.
Blinking lights of the city greet me, and excitement finally pushes through the panic. I’m getting the hell out of here.
My hand slides from the latch of the window twice because of the nervous sweat covering it before I manage to pull it off.
Wrapping my fingers around the edge, I wrench the window open halfway.
That might not be much for some, but it’s enough that I can squeeze through it.
Fresh air blasts my face, smelling of concrete, metal, and freedom.
Sounds of cars passing and horns blaring are like music to my ears.
It’s not creepy silent anymore. Sticking my head out, I almost stumble back and fall on my ass.
I never knew I was scared of heights, but the dizziness that hits me when looking down at the tiny specs passing on the street suggests otherwise.
Taking a deep breath and summoning as much courage as I can muster, I stick my head out again.
This time I don’t look down straight away.
First, I look straight ahead at the building across the street.
I have no idea what kind of a building it is, my fear making everything appear blurry.
The air ruffles the short hairs around my face, and I breathe the city in.
You can do this. My mind encourages me, and slowly, I peer down the window.
Ignoring the street below, I eye the narrow ledge circling the building.
There is no railing or fire escape here.
No. Just a foot-wide brick ledge that screams of death.
Images of me falling through the air and hitting the street, my head splitting open and all bones breaking, flash through my mind, but I push them away.
In the background, I can still hear the voices, I still have time to escape.
Instead of thinking about dying, I think of Sara and Eddie. They need my help. I must try for them.
The voices in the background go quiet, and I panic.
Grabbing the drapes, I pull them closed behind me and scramble to push my body out the window.
Gripping the windowsill with white knuckles, I flail my legs around until the tip of my boot scrapes the brick ledge.
Gingerly pressing my body as close to the building as I can, I finally manage to have both feet on the ridge.
With that taken care of, I grab the window and pull as hard as I can.
It closes easier than it opened, and my fingers are crushed.
Biting my tongue hard so I don’t scream, tears trickle down my face from the pain.
Unable to pull them out, I push my shoulder on the glass, opening it enough that I can remove my now-purple fingers.
Ignoring the pain, I pull it back as best I can a moment before the door opens on the inside.
My heart stops for a second before trying to beat out of my chest.
“Andrei!” The angry roar through the glass propels me into moving.
With shaking, numb, purple fingers, I grip the red bricks of the hotel, inching away from the window.
I don’t manage to get even a foot away from it.
The drapes are ripped open, and for a long, frozen moment, I lock gazes with my death.
His hand reaches up, grabbing and yanking the window open.
My eyes widen when my fingers slip from the bricks, and his expression matches mine a second before gravity pulls me and I drop like a rock.