Chapter 71 #2
The night fell as swift as the blade of a Viking’s axe.
The world around me was a cavity of darkness and streaking rain, the blackness seemingly an empty void.
I’d never felt so alone, and yet the shrieking wind made me feel like I was anything but alone, and it was terrifying.
I told myself to remain calm, that nothing that could harm me would be out tonight, in this weather, in the middle of the mountains.
Only a fool would be out tonight. I was that fucking fool.
The ground was hard and cold. Rocks jutted into my body.
I shuffled around trying to find a comfortable position.
Each time I moved the roll of the ground dug into another place.
In the end I gave up moving and put up with the rock face pressing into my thigh, hip and ribs.
The rain ran down the strands of hair stuck to the side of my face like streams. With a trembling hand I tucked them behind my ears.
My teeth clattered like jackhammers. The cold seemed to sink into the marrow of my bones.
I was so cold it was painful. I pulled my knees in as tight as I could to my chest and wrapped my arms around them.
How long could I survive like this? Five hours, eight hours, it would be at least ten hours before light hit.
Even if Ethan came home and discovered me missing now, vampires, like dogs, couldn’t track scents in the rain.
They wouldn’t find me until morning. Morning would be too late.
I closed my eyes and thought of Karson. His face flashed before me in all his forms. Tender, gentle, serene, angry, indifferent.
My love for him was deep and profound. I loved him, brutality and all, for to love him was to love all parts of him.
It seemed insanely cruel that a love so deep was not returned.
The tears didn’t come. Perhaps it was the brutal cold which kept them at bay.
Perhaps I was too damn tired, too damn sick of crying.
He'd told me that once vampire’s bond it was exceptionally hard to break. He cared, I was certain of that.
He cared. But not enough to stay.
I thought about my life up to that point.
All those years dragged from one terrible home to another.
Always feeling so alone, empty and unworthy of love.
Then finally when my parents took me in, I found the missing pieces—love, safety, security.
Then, my mother died. My father kicked me out.
Tom cheated. Kelly betrayed me. Karson left me.
I was a witch, I had a purpose at least. I should have found some comfort in that.
I was broken. Cold. And as alone as I’d ever been.
And I might die up here that way.
I closed my eyes to shut out the pain. Mercifully, I drifted in and out of sleep.
A jet’s roar thrust me from sleep. I woke bone cold, disorientated and confused for a moment before reality set in.
It was not a jet, but the wind screaming.
The rain pounded on the hard forest floor like a marching army of relentless feet.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d lain there for, I stopped looking at my watch after it hit midnight.
Each minute, ravaged by the agony of the brutal cold, felt like an hour.
Wolf got up and moved closer, as if he sensed I needed his warmth, I tucked into his back, but his fur was sodden and it did little to warm me.
Sometimes I thought I heard a voice calling out, my heart would lift in hope, but each time it turned out to be the tormented cries of the storm.
A shudder rocked my whole body relentlessly, so hard my bones felt like they were snapping.
The pain was almost unbearable. I felt like I needed to urinate but I didn’t know if I could get to my feet.
I’d read somewhere that brutal cold would make you feel like that, right before your body shut down, and I wondered how much more I could take before that happened.
I closed my eyes. Then I heard it. A deep growl. My eyes tore open.
Wolf growled so deep it rattled my bones.
His head rose. He stood. To my dismay he jumped up and then disappeared into the night.
I tried to sit. Everything ached and was so numb, I only managed a few shaking inches and I dropped back down.
I thought I heard a faint cry but when I turned to listen the only sound was the whining air pitted against the forest pines.
I tried to call out, but my throat was seized by cold and what little sound did come out the wind tore from my lips.
Frustrated and encased in misery, I cried. Tears sailed down my cheeks, the heat burned over the cold. I couldn’t stop them, I didn’t have the energy to stop them.
“Amelia,” Karson’s voice arose from the wind.
I lifted my head, opened my mouth to call out but all that came out was a whisper of wordless air.
I listened. The wailing wind seemed to get louder and louder, like sirens nearing.
No voice. No Karson. Of course he wouldn’t come looking for me, he stared through my pain like I ment nothing to him at all.
I dropped my head back down and cried harder.
“Amelia.” This time the voice was stronger. I blinked into the rain, a black void glared back. He wasn’t there. I squeezed my eyes shut. I was having some kind of hallucination. Maybe I was losing my mind.
Then from out of the tombstone black a panicked voice said, “Oh sweetheart. You’re freezing.”
“Karson.” My voice was whisper thin and seemed to burn up my throat.
He lifted me up into a seated position and pulled at my wet clothes, ripping them from my skin. My eyes rolled back in my head. “No,” I whispered. Desperately hugging my arms into my body. “Please . . . cold. It hurts.”
“We have to get your wet clothes off to get you warm.”
He yanked my clothes off, pulled my naked back against his bare chest, wrapped his jacket around my stomach, turning his own back to the weather, he cradled my back into his warm chest.
“Ethan!” he roared over his shoulder into the dark.
“No, Karson, it’s too c-c-cold, you will get cold. P-please, I just want to go home,” I stuttered.
“Shhh it’s okay, Sweetheart. It’s okay. You’re too cold to leave yet, I need to warm you up a little first.” His voice was soothing amongst the sounds of my chattering teeth.
I’m not sure how long we sat there for. It felt like hours but was probably only minutes.
My body shuddered, my knees were pulled into my chest, his legs wrapped against the sides of mine, his arms wrapped around my body.
Gradually the heat of his chest began to warm my back.
My shudders slowed to incessant trembling.
“I’m so sorry, forgive me,” he whispered into the damp of my hair. “Please, Amelia, forgive me.”
I didn’t answer, my mind was so numb with cold I was unsure if I could bring the words to my lips, or even if I could what I might say in response.
But the simple utterance of that word—sorry—brought a warm glow to my heart.
Was it possible the man I knew to be so strong, indestructible, unyielding, may yet hold a similar desperation?
A fear for what he’d done, for what he might lose, somewhere in the shadowy fabric of his mind?
“I’m not a possession,” I murmured, “I’m not.”
“I know, I know.” He kissed the side of my head and cradled me tight to his body.
Ethan found us not too long after.
“Jesus, Amy.” He peered down. “In my whole entire long life, I’ve never met a girl with such an uncanny ability to get herself into so much trouble. I swear you’re not leaving home ever again. You hear me?”
“I guess I could stay home and cook for you?” My words came out broken and raw.
“No, on second thought, go out all you like.” He smiled, his white teeth flashing against the darkness of the night.
Then he looked at Karson, and his smile dropped, his words come out like a snarl. “Give her to me. You’ve done enough damage.”
I felt Karson flinch like he’d stabbed him.
I tried to stand but my legs were numb. They staggered and wobbled under my weight. Ethan placed his hands around my waist and lifted me to my feet. He wrapped a silver thermal blanket around my back and in one fluid swoop he had me cradled in his arms.
“Let’s get you home.” His breath warmed my ear. Home had never sounded so good. I leaned into the warmth of his chest and buried my face against his neck. “You scared me,” he whispered.
Ethan carried me down the mountain side at a fast, easy lope, long smooth strides landing with precision in the pitch-black dark of the night.
By the time we reached the bottom the savagery of the storm had given way to a steady pounding.
Much to my despair a large team of searchers waited outside.
Flashlights shone against my eyes. I held my hand up, blocking their blinding beams, trying to hide my face.
Everyone was sheltering under the carport, they wore waterproof raincoats, some had hats, rain streaking off them like decrepit veins.
A couple had hot drinks. Some were drying off with towels. All of them stared in awkward concern. I noticed Matt along with a couple more officers, and BJ, and Sarah. I didn’t scan the rest of the faces, embarrassed I tucked my head back into Ethan’s neck.
“Can you take me straight inside?” I rasped.
Ethan nodded and strode straight through the door.
He lowered me to my feet in front of the crackling fire.
Streams of rain ran from my hair down my back and across my forehead.
Quivering, I clutched the blanket around my half naked body.
I didn’t dare move. I could stand but I was unsure if I could walk.
Ethan held my arm and wiped a stream of water away from my forehead.
Matt came in, followed by Sarah and BJ.
“I’ll run you a bath,” Karson said, striding up the stairs. We didn’t have a bath.
“We don’t—”
Ethan interrupted, “It’s in my room.”