47. Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Seven
Beau Drewitt
I’m Going To Kill This Chick
Ibarely have time to brace before she moves.
No time to go after Elowen. No time to explain.
Kalevala lunges before I can consider any other options.
Her fist shoots toward my jaw. I lean back and feel her knuckles graze my skin.
She follows with a kick aimed at my ribs, which connects.
Breath punches out of me in a sharp bark.
How strong is she? She presses forward, relentless, like someone who’s been holding everything in for months and finally has found a place to spill it.
Shattering the glass of the balcony door into smaller shards, just for show.
She knew Elowen was here. She wanted to scare her.
I catch her wrist and try to redirect her momentum.
When she twists free with a snarl that echoes off the brick, her hair whips across her face, revealing her bright, burning eyes.
She comes at me again, faster this time.
Her knee drives toward my stomach. I block with my forearm and shove her back.
The movement slides her across the floor, boots scraping, but she doesn’t lose her footing.
If anything, she looks stronger for it. She charges, and her shoulder slams into my chest, driving me into the wall hard enough to crack it and rattle the canvases on the other side.
Pain flares down my spine, as she grabs the front of my shirt and tries to pin me. I push off the wall and throw my weight forward. We collide so hard it knocks the momentum from both of us. Her long talons claw at my arm, slicing my skin wide open. Blood pours out of the wound.
Kalevala swings again and I block her. A lucky block.
Her sharp knuckles crack against my hand causing me to retaliate.
Enough of this bullshit. I refuse to let her attack me like this and keep the upper hand.
She’s the cause for all of my sorrow now.
Only her. The only way to solve this is to take care of her the same way I did Benny.
I have to kill Kalevala. I’m weighing the difference between two evils in my head.
My fist buries into her side. She folds slightly, teeth bared, but she refuses to give ground.
A continuous stream of blood trickles from the corner of her mouth and she smiles.
The nightmare of a woman before me answers with a sharp elbow to my ribs, and heat explodes along the bone.
My vision stutters. Trying to regain my balance, but avoid her connecting again, I swing.
This time I am able to connect to her shoulder.
For a beat, she pauses. Chest heaving with deep breaths, her eyes dance wildly as if she’s really enjoying this.
Everything in her posture says she’s made of nothing but instinct and rage.
Both of us are left bloodied without enough time to feed and regenerate.
She lunges again, causing her body to collide with mine like a wave breaking against rock.
We crash to the ground, rolling across the narrow space in the living room.
Kalevala winds up on top of me and drives a fist into my cheek.
My head smacks the floor beneath, leaving stars to burst behind my eyes.
I grab her waist, twist with every ounce of strength I have, and manage to flip us.
The impact jars through my knees and shoulders.
I pin her arms to the ground for half a second before she bucks upward, almost throwing me off.
She’s stronger than she looks. Stronger than anyone like us should be.
“Kalevala, you’re making a big mistake by picking a fight with me.
” I say through staggered breathing. We scramble to our feet at the same time.
I can feel my legs start to ache and my clothes are destroyed.
She lands the first blow. A quick, vicious hit to my collarbone.
Pain shoots through my shoulder. I snap a punch to her jaw.
Her head jerks to the side, as she spits blood and comes back harder.
We jump and kick, her foot slamming into my thigh with enough force to make my leg buckle.
I stumble, incidentally leaving her room to pounce again.
What is happening? “Had enough yet, pretty boy?” She smiles, blood pooling down from her gums. Her hands grab my shoulders and slam me into the ground again.
My skull rings when she tries to pin my arms, but I drive my knee upward, knocking her balance off.
She topples forward instead of holding me down, and I use the opening to roll out from under her.
We rise once more, hopefully her last. Blood is now covering my face.
Every move hurts. I need a blood bag. The room feels too small, like the walls are closing in to trap us in the violence.
I won’t back down. I have to end this here.
She comes at me with blistering speed, throwing a barrage of hits that force me back, step by step.
I block the first two. The third slips past and cracks into my ribs.
I answer with an uppercut that snaps her chin upward.
She stumbles, only for a moment, then launches herself again.
She has the clear stamina advantage. Her palm slams into my sternum.
I feel something in my chest shift, protesting the impact, but kept advancing.
Reflex takes over before I can debate my next choice.
I grab her arm, pivot, and throw her over my hip.
She hits the ground hard and rolls, landing in a crouch like a feral thing.
I somehow have managed to gash her side, allowing her blood to paint the floor.
She’s breathing raggedly now, movements slowing, strength still there but fraying around the edges.
Her red and black hair clings to her face.
Blood streaks her brow and every crevice in the loft.
Her shoulders tremble. She rushes me again anyway.
A never ending cycle of her getting back up no matter how hard I beat her down.
She just won’t wear out. Our bodies collide with a crack that echoes in the narrow space.
I wrap my arm around her waist, lift, and slam her back into the wall.
The posters and frames shake, making her breath hitch.
Her legs give out for a moment before she forces them to hold.
She shoves me back with the last of her power.
I stagger several steps. She tries to follow, but her knee buckles, and she drops to the ground on both hands, panting.
This should be the moment I back away. It should be the moment I leave her to collect herself, to crawl off in whatever direction her pride will allow.
But she tries to stand again and fails. Her hand slips as she attempts to steady them.
Her body sways. A strangled, frustrated noise tears out of her.
Before she hits the ground fully, I move as fast as my abilities will allow.
I push her by the chest back down and pin her.
She tries to shove me off, but her strength is gone, depleted at the last second when it truly matters.
Her limbs shake with exhaustion and adrenaline.
“Get the fuck out of my house and you better start running. Now. I never want to see you near Elowen or I ever again.” I spit at her.
I need to find Elowen.
I go after her, starting by checking the roads leading out of Darkwater and her house.
All the shops that are definitely closed, but just in case.
Her office. The opposite side of town. Imani’s house.
Kai’s house. Back to the loft. She’s nowhere to be found.
I even ride by the cemetery to see if she is with Lise. I have to find her.
It’s the middle of the night. This is new territory for me, just as much as it is for her.
Except, Kalevala decided to make her aware of what I am far earlier than I could’ve ever wished for.
Even worse, right after we made love. The one thing I was trying to wait for.
I could’ve lost control, but I trusted myself.
I’ll never forgive myself. I would never hurt Elowen Briar.
She’s my soulmate.
My everything.
So, I run my route again. I go by her house again. I drive by Imani’s house again. I circle the cemetery. Every location I’ve already checked is still in order, yet she is nowhere to be found.
I try her phone again. It rings until deciding to go to voicemail so, this time I leave her one, “Elowen. Please,” my voice breaks, choking back tears, “I just need to know you’re okay.
I’ll leave you alone. I’ll disappear. You’ll never see me again.
I fucking promise. I just need to know you’re okay.
I’m sorry that I…” The recording ends abruptly with a click.
The only thing that even smells reminiscent of her are some tire tracks on the road about fifteen miles out from the bookstore.
There’s no car though. She’s disappeared.
I’m scared. Sick to my stomach. She’s gone.
I don’t think she wants to be found, but I can’t shake this feeling like she’s in trouble.
By the time I make it back to my loft, Kalevala is long gone. I clean up the debris and lug the torn futon down the stairs to throw out in the morning. I pull out my phone and call Kai.
He picks up right as it goes to voicemail, “Hey. What time is it? Did I oversleep?”
“No, listen. Something bad happened tonight. Elowen knows.”
“Dude, what? Are you okay? One second.” I hear the covers rustling and the click of his bedside lamp click on. “Sorry, I’m still here. What happened?”
“It’s a long story, but she ran. I don’t know where she went.
Some shit went down with Kalevala. She busted through the fucking balcony door.
Kai, I’m losing my mind here. You know me.
I’m losing my mind. Elowen is nowhere to be found.
I’m scared, okay. I’m really trying not to…
” Kai cuts me off before I can finish my thought.
“Beau. Do not finish that sentence. I’ll be there soon. Let me find some clothes. Twenty minutes max. Don’t do anything. Promise me, man.” He pleads with me.
“I’m not going to do anything stupid. I just need to find Elowen. I have to find Elowen. I need…”
“We will find her, Beau. I promise. We will find her. I’ll be right there. If you’re not back at the shop, get there. Twenty minutes or less.” Kai reassures me.
“I’ll be here.” I go to the restroom back in the loft, to peer at my cuts and gashes littering my body.
I grab a blood bag and head back towards my room.
The last place I touched Elowen. Everything in this room, last touched by her and her presence.
Kalevala really did a number on me, but right now my priority is to find Elowen and make sure she’s okay.
She may hate me for the rest of my life, but I’d rather know she’s alive and hates me, then dead in a ditch somewhere with our last conversation being as it stands.
I can handle the hatred. I can’t handle the heartbreak.
I very well could’ve just ruined the only thing that brings me happiness in one fell swoop.