Chapter 3
ARIANNA
Pulling my thick black coat into my body, I zip it up, watching as Mekhi gives a cute guy with red hair his phone number. He has these adorable little cards printed out that he calls ‘treat vouchers.’ I swear that man is a force all on his own.
Mekhi struts toward me and winks. “Hottie got some pretty eyes, getting me some of that fine beast later.” He links arms with me and pulls me out of the club before I can make a comment.
Tonight was meant to be about just us, two best friends, drinking and dancing.
What it turned into was me yawning most of the night from lack of sleep, and Mekhi being hit on by every other guy who saw him. My best friend is good-looking with his deep chocolate eyes and pouty lips. They ate him up.
Most nights, my sleep is restless. Even more so lately, always filled with dreams of a man with the most intense blue eyes and a perfect smile; hands that feel so real half the time, I wonder if I am dreaming.
I wake up most mornings with an ache in my body that has me reaching for my vibrator, but it’s never enough.
Since I’ve been dreaming about him, nothing is ever enough.
“Want to talk about it?” Mekhi asks me as he bumps my shoulder, the concern in his voice making me laugh lightly. He won’t like what I am about to say.
“No? Yes? I don’t know.” How do I tell my overly cautious best friend, who is scared to death of all supernaturals, that I feel like something bad is coming; that every time I close my eyes, when I’m not dreaming about him, I’m thrust into another darker world, one that leaves me feeling broken and worried.
“The dreams have gotten worse,” I say quietly, not sure what else I can say that won’t freak him out.
My eyes connect with his, and I can see that he has been more worried about me than he is letting on.
“You tried to get out the house again last night Hitch. That bell worked but fuck me, you were a feisty lady.” He laughs, and I know he is trying to lighten the mood. “What are you going to do about the dreams? Therapy?”
Fighting the urge to roll my eyes, I purse my lips thoughtfully. Whatever is going on, talking to someone about my feelings isn’t going to help much.
When they ask me what’s wrong, my answer is just going to be that I’m feeling horny and scared. What help is there for that?
“It will be fine. I’m sure it’s just stress.” I give him a watery smile.
A loud crack of lightning startles us, followed by a rumble of thunder that vibrates under my feet.
Mekhi huddles closer to me and picks up his pace, dragging me with him as we speed towards our house.
“Let’s hurry, Hitch, that sounds like a nightmare heading right for us.
I’m not interested in becoming someone’s snack.
I’m too pretty to die.” He’s joking, but I can hear the slight wobble of fear in his voice.
We head down the empty street, the houses on either side of the road all in darkness, their occupants already in their beds asleep, unaware of the storm that is brewing in the distance.
A tingle picks along my skin as the houses give way to open green space, my steps slowing as I pull my hand from Mekhi’s arm and turn towards the park.
My mind races with the feeling that I’ve forgotten something, as if some important details have slipped my mind. “Hitch?” I hear Mekhi call. I try to answer him, but the words get stuck in my throat when lightning blasts across the sky, casting a bright light into the park.
The shadows of the playground equipment growing and darkness—consuming any light by its eerie appearance. The wet grass on the ground looks like it's decorated with due covered spider webs, and for a moment everything feels as if it’s coming alive—haunting me.
A light mist raises up into the air like steam from a hot coffee mug, making the park look like a terrifying scene in a horror movie, just before a killer stalk out from the shadows and kills everyone.
The light fades, blanketing the area in darkness once more.
My eyes searching in the darkness, squinting trying follow the bumps and dip in the earth until they land on the only light in the darkness, a shape of something curled in a ball. Unmoving.
“Did you see that?”
“See what? Hitch, you are freaking me the fuck out.” Mekhi whisper-shouts at me, his voice full of panic.
My feet continue to move, not paying him any attention. I feel like I’m in a dream, being guided by some unknown force.
Walking further into the park, I’m aware of movement in the background. I lift my hand on instinct and a spark flies out, a thud following immediately after.
“Fuck, Hitch… What the fuck was that?”
I turn to him. When I speak, my voice is different, like hundreds of voices all talking at once, and it shocks us both. “Leave me alone…”
I shudder, my cloudy head clearing sharply. I turn, knowing what to expect. Lightning hits the ground in front of me, making me stumble backwards. My dream. This was my dream.
“Rain,” I whisper, glancing up. It begins to fall in sheets, making it hard to see anything.
“Lightning,” I mumble.
Lightning strikes and I scream a little, my body shaking. I can see her lying on the ground, her blonde hair glowing despite the rain. I take a step towards her, and Mekhi grips my shoulder.
“Hitch, you’re cold, and this is shit ass crazy. Let’s get back home before we both die. Come on,” he begs me.
I shake my head at him. “I found her.”
“You found who? Fuck sake, Hitch, not this shit again. Let’s go. Come on.” Infuriated, he pulls on my arm again.
I push him away from me. “You go. I can’t leave her.” My chest tightens, and soon I won’t be able to breathe. He pulls at me again. “Mekhi just go, if you’re not going to help.”
I run towards her, dropping to my knees in the mud. “You’re okay now. I’m going to get us help.” I reach out and run my fingers over her soft, wet cheek. Her face is angelic, even with mud and… is that blood? Is she hurt
“Hitch! Leave her. You know who sleeps in fields? Tramps, drug users, and dead people.” I can feel him pacing behind me.
“We could be standing at a crime scene,” he panics.
“Is she alive, Hitch? She looks like she’s dead, and if she is, they will be knocking on our damn door!
Hitch, let’s just leave and let her sleep it off or be found by someone else…
who is not us! My ass would not do well in prison, and I sure as hell refuse to become someone’s bitch! ”
I roll my eyes at him. “I’m not leaving her,” I say, not hiding my irritation. “And will you stop pacing… you’re making me nervous.”
The mystery woman looks so peaceful, despite her shredded clothing and the muck covering her body.
“We must take her with us. I don’t know how to explain but…” I lift my head to look up at him my eyes pleading. “We can’t leave her. Please, Mekhi. I need to make sure she’s safe.”
I brush some of the damp hair from her face. I know that when she opens her eyes, they will be a clear blue.
Pulling in a breath, I whisper, “How can I feel like I know you… and not remember knowing you?”
“Because you don’t know her, Hitch! Because she is just some random blonde chick who happens to be lying in this freezing ass park… by herself! That to me screams trouble… I won’t have us risking our lives for a woman we don’t even know!”
I look up at him, begging with my eyes. If we don’t get her out of this field, something bad is going to happen, I can just feel it.
“Come on, Mekhi. Help me. Just carry her into the house with me and then you can leave us.”
He shakes his head and starts pacing again. “Don’t look at me with those eyes, and sure as hell don’t ask me to do that. If she is a killer, we are dead, and I like my fine self-alive. Thank you very fucking much. Now come on or I’m leaving your ass here.”
I scowl at him, standing up fast as angry tears fall down my cheeks. The need to take her home with us stabs into my heart, and I hate that he can’t feel it. That he can’t feel how my blood is on fire.
I fist my hands and scream, “Fine! Leave us. I’m not following you. She needs help. You’re such a cock sometimes, and a real bitch the rest.”
He lifts his head in a huff, turns, and runs out of the park. I let out a gasp and flop down to the ground, sobbing lightly. I didn’t mean to say that to him, but he is so stubborn sometimes and not willing to help anyone.
Sniffing hard I look over at the blonde woman. “If you wake up by yourself, I could take you back to the house more easily.” I sigh, knowing that wish will never happen, but I throw it out there in the hopes that it will come true anyway.
I stand, slowly assessing the situation when a deadly growl echoes over the field. Dread creeps through me. “Mekhi?” I whisper, hoping he hasn’t left me after all.
I hear nothing.
Spinning around on the spot, I try to peer through the rain; it’s still coming down heavily, sounding like a thousand pins dropping onto glass. But it’s not loud enough to block out the evil sound of another growl, one that makes my body tremble with fear.
Pulling in a breath, I bend down towards the woman. “Okay, it’s time to go.”
I try to pick her up, but with the rain and her weight, she is slipping out of my grasp.
I work out, but I’m no bodybuilder—I can hardly lift my own body weight.
Trying again, I pause at the sound of another growl.
It sounds like some kind of beast, one big enough to make a meal out of the both of us and think nothing of it.
I stand up straight, narrowing my eyes as I call out, “Please, she is badly hurt, and I need to get her help. Just let us go.”
I hear nothing for a moment, only the sound of my breathing, pairing with the rain like some sick song at the end of a scary movie.
A whipping sound has me frantically looking around.
I see a flash of something out of the corner of my eye and feel a pull within me, an awareness, and I just go with it.
A dagger comes towards my chest. My eyes see it in slow motion, spinning closer to me.
My powers pull me, and I jump out of the way and roll hard on the ground; if it had hit me, this would have all been for nothing.
I close my eyes tight and pray hard to whoever might be listening that this will be over soon.
“Come on Ari, you are made of more than this.” Opening my eyes, I crawl through the soaking wet mud, my hands and feet sliding as I move as fast as I can over to the woman, covering her with my body.
I whisper in her ear, “I hope that whoever it is that wants me to find you will save us right now, or we are both going to die.”
Footsteps squish through the mud, getting closer.
My body shakes so hard now that I’m sure whoever is walking towards us can see it.
I look up, and the pair of red eyes I see sends a shock through me from head to toe.
Those eyes are not human, nor are they kind.
They look like the kind of eyes that belong to a killer.
The kind that makes you want to crawl into a hole and hope that you will never have to look at them again.
But something in his expression makes me pause. He isn’t looking at me like he wants to kill me. He isn’t looking at me at all. He stares at the blonde like he wants to devour her. I frown down at her and whisper, “Who are you?”