Chapter 32 #2
I drive a little further into the park, scanning the area, trying to find any evidence of where he might be.
The wind picks up, scattering random pieces of litter across the parking lot into the path of my car.
My eyes jerk at movement to my left, but it’s just the swings moving back and forth in the wind.
I almost tell Brent that I need to hang up and call Cory when I finally spot his car, but I don’t see him.
“You find him?” Brent’s deep voice sounds a little too loud over my car speakers, and I jump. I must have squeaked or made some sort of undignified sound because he chuckles.
“I found his car, but I’m not sure if he’s still in it. I’ll be right back, Brent.”
Leaving the car running, I hop out before he can object, but I’m pretty sure he said to keep my ass in the car. Which just makes me smirk.
My smile fades as I get up to Cory’s car and find he isn’t in it.
Where is he?
The wind whips my hair around as I search the vacant park for any sign of him. Did Trina pick him up, and I missed his call? Maybe he ran to the bathroom. The creaking of the swings makes the hairs on the back of my neck rise. He said he would be here.
“Cory!”
Maybe he isn’t too far away.
I call out louder, but I still don’t hear a response, just that incessant squeaking as the playground equipment moves with the breeze.
I really dislike that sound, it grates on my nerves and makes me think of all kinds of creepy shit.
I’m going to give Cory an earful when I find him.
I should go back to the car and wait, make sure I don’t have a missed call from him or Trina.
A pit settles into my stomach. I’m getting a bad feeling.
Lately my bad feelings happen for a reason, but then I hear him call out to me.
I turn back, away from my waiting vehicle and search for where I hear his voice.
He is just coming out of the tree line. A sigh of relief leaves my lungs. Why was he way out there?
I walk towards him but still remain within the light of a street lamp. “Cory, what are you doing over there? I was getting scared something happened to you.”
“Oh Kinley, something did happen to me.” His voice is all wrong and alarm bells begin ringing.
I don’t even get a chance to question him before a foul smell of decay mixed with sulfur assaults my nose. Holding back a gag, I cover my nose and mouth. Holy fuck. Don’t get sick. Don’t get sick.
“Cory, what is that smell? Are you ok?”
I’m so fucking stupid. Brent is going to kill me, and then Don will take a turn.
As he draws near, the smell grows, the howling wind blowing it directly into my face. But that isn’t enough to distract from the way he’s walking at a disjointed, erratic pace, which quickens the closer he gets to me. What is going on?
“Oh my god, Cory, did someone attack you?”
There’s a small part of me that wants to go closer to him and help, but a voice inside me demands I not go any further. In fact, it gets louder in its demands that I flee. It’s my beast, roaring for me to run, but I’m frozen in place as she pushes and pushes, trying to break free.
If only she were able to.
A menacing snarl snares my attention straight to Cory’s face, and I gasp. Black fluid oozes from his nose and eyes, and his teeth are stained black. He sneers at me, mocking my horrified expression.
“Don’t you like my new look? I did this all for you, so we could finally be together.”
Oh fuck, is he my stalker? Shit! Fuck!
No longer rooted in place by my beast, I start slowly backing away. I have to get to my car.
“Cory, what have you done?”
“I can’t let them take you from me, my little doe. I gladly sacrificed myself, opened myself to the great God, and now it’s time for you to join me. Like it was always meant to be.”
This is madness, could a poison do this? Did he take drugs? What is wrong with him? Wait, the great God?
He has gone completely insane.
Just keep him talking. I have to get to my phone and get him an ambulance, I have to tell Brent. Just keep him calm.
I continue to slowly back away.
“Cory, did you take something? You look really sick. I’m going to get you help, ok.”
“Oh, my sweet doe, I don’t need help. I just need you. You have everything I need.”
Dark energy leaches out of him. It swirls around him menacingly. That swirling dark energy triggers the fleetest of memories.
I have seen that before; I know I have. Where have I seen that before?
He continues to advance. My own powers, minuscule that they are, pulse in response to the danger. That makes him pause. A look of confusion followed quickly by devastation and then fury crosses his face.
“Did they force you? They could not have done so again. Whose scent is woven into your magic?”
I shake my head and quicken my pace. He isn’t making any sense.
If I can just get to my car…I’m so close.
“Tell me!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Please, Cory, let me help you; you’re sick.”
Panic is nearly taking over my logic. I want Don; I want my mate. I will be safe with him. I need to get to Don. Or Brent.
I turn my head to see how close I am to my car. I’m almost there. When I turn back to face Cory, I instantly regret having turned away. Somehow he moved so quickly and silently that he is now right in front of me.
He moves so fast, I can’t do anything to get away. His hands grab me. Dark power zaps through me, shutting down what little power I’d managed to push forward.
I can’t help the scream that claws up my throat. The pain is immense as it invades my body. Tears leak from my eyes as my body seizes.
I’m beyond helpless. I can’t break free. He is strong—unnaturally strong. I desperately try to reach for my magic, to push him out. Every part of my being struggles to get away from him.
“Whose magic is this! Tell me now!”
My screams continued. I’m going to be sick. The smells, the magic, the fear and pain, everything is too much. Someone, help me, please.
He grabs my face, wrenching it to the side, exposing my neck. His putrid breath fills my nose as he inhales and licks up my neck. My scream becomes blood curdling. My skin. It’s burning. I thrash in his hold. I have to get free. As I struggle, my arm is released.
Riding on instinct, not allowing myself to think, I punch at his face. My only thoughts are to inflict pain and get away. I hear Cory grunt, but he doesn’t release me until my claws find purchase and dig deep into him.
I slash and dig into wherever I can reach, frantic to get away. A lucky strike gets him in the face, and he shoves me away.
Falling to the ground, I push myself through the pain, scrambling to get up so I can run, sobbing when I realize I haven’t been fast enough. Brent! He will help me, I just have to get to my car and then everything will be ok.
Cory is right there, in front of me, blocking my path.
“No!” I sob. I can’t let him grab me again.
He snarls at me, black blood running from the multiple wounds I was able to inflict on him.
The worst runs the length of his face all the way down his neck.
Seeing him like this is hard for my brain to accept.
The guilt of hurting him is strong, but my self preservation is stronger, and I know that Cory isn’t really here anymore.
“No one is coming to save you, my vicious Chosen. Not even your mate.”
He snarls and snaps his teeth at me. Dread pools in my stomach and my beast snarls in fury.
How does he know I have a mate?
He chuckles menacingly, black spittle flying from his lips.
“I left a little present for him, but had I known that he mated you, I would have left him something else.”
A sinister grin spreads across his face. It’s made even more horrifying by the black blood covering him.
“What did you do?”
I pray he didn’t kill anything else, but I get the feeling that isn’t the case.
“Oh, just keeping them all busy with a body.”
A dark chuckle leaves his bloodied lips. My hand comes up to cover my mouth. I’m too terrified to ask whose body he means.
“You see, Allen couldn’t leave well enough alone, and be thankful that I no longer needed his service. So, I used his body for a different purpose, as a distraction. I couldn’t have him getting in my way and ruining everything I have worked so hard for.”
Oh god, he killed Allen? Is he the reason that Allen wouldn’t leave me alone?
“Why are you doing this, Cory? You’re my friend.”
“No, say my real name when you speak to me. Say it like you used to.”
His voice deepens to a growl.
“I don’t know what you want me to say.”
His eyes become crazed and he leans closer, but I still manage to keep just out of reach.
“You know my name. Say it.”
“I don’t know your name. I only know Cory.”
A deep rumble reaching my ears is my only warning before he lunges at me. I barely manage to sidestep him.
I can’t let him get a hold of me again.
I just know if he does, I won’t be strong enough to break free again.
I silently beg for my beast to show herself. Please help me! Take over my body and shift, please! Don’t let him hurt us anymore! She growls and snaps, lunging to break free of the bonds that still hold her, but she’s not strong enough and neither am I.
We circle each other, and I just manage to keep him in my line of sight, and my body out of reach. It’s a deadly, dangerous dance, and I want no part of it. I try again to plead with him.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know you. I don’t remember. Please, stop this.”
My beast still has yet to fully emerge, and I’m losing hope that I will be able to protect myself if he attacks me again.
“You stink of another male, and now you lie to me!”
His words, along with the barest of brushes along my mate bond distract me enough that I hesitate a moment too long, and with his next lunge I’m in his grasp again.
I fight with everything I have, but his strength is otherworldly. How is he so strong? His foul breath, filled with putrid decay, makes me want to retch. As he leans in close, black saliva drips from his open mouth, burning my skin where it lands. I snarl in pain.
“I will obliterate this bond. You will not be taken from me again. I have the power of the great God now. A mate bond can’t stop me this time.”
Claws burst from his hands and dig in deep to my sides. I cry out and tears glide down my blood speckled cheeks. His face begins to stretch and elongate. The very breath is stolen from my lungs, the pain short circuiting my mind.
It is horrifying, and I’m frozen, unable to break free as his claws rip into the soft flesh of my stomach and back. The pain is unending, but what’s even worse is seeing his jaws open with razor sharp teeth advancing toward my shoulder.
He’s going to bite me!
“No!” A rage filled snarl bursts from me.
I have to protect my mate bond. Don said only dark magic could break it, but Cory oozes darkness.
I can’t let him try to break my connection with my mate.
It’s the one good thing in my life, the one thing that is solely mine.
Don is mine, and I will fight to protect the intricate threads of our souls woven together.
The creature that was once Cory, rips his claws from my side to wrap them around my throat, lifting me off the ground and trying hard to subdue my struggles.
I gasp for air, desperately trying to break his hold. All my training flits away from my mind; I’m completely useless. And still his jaws loom closer. My vision begins to blur, the lack of oxygen making my body sluggish, but I keep struggling.
Where is my magic? Why can’t I get away? Help me!
The imminent threat to the mate bond triggers my beast one more time. Weak snarls burst from me as I feel her try to push through the darkness that is keeping her leashed. If I could just get his hand off my throat.
I continue to put everything into breaking free from him, but even I can’t make my weakening body obey. Not when I’m faced with a lack of oxygen and blood loss.
His burning tongue licks up my skin yet again. I scream in my mind, desperate to reach out to my mate, to tell him how much I love him, but he is too far away. I can’t feel him. I’m all alone. Not even my beast is present enough to save us.
It isn’t supposed to happen like this. I have only just found happiness.
The edges of my vision darken. Anger, despair, and hopelessness cycle through my mind. And then I feel something shatter. Deep in my mind a dam breaks and memories flood my mind, but it’s too late.
The sob that escapes me is filled with monumental regret. I should have told Megan I loved her one last time. I should have hugged Beretta and Indy more. There are so many things I didn’t get to do.
My brain races and Don’s face appears in my mind. If only I could tell him how much light he has brought into my life, how much I wanted to live mine with him. And Brent…I wanted the chance…I wanted to learn what it would be like to let him in.
A lonely tear, filled with all my heartbreak, slides down my cheek as I shut my eyes. If this is my last moment, I don’t want to be faced with evil. I wrap myself in the memories of everyone that I love and let them shield me.
I want to block out this dark entity and save myself, but I can’t, so with the last of my strength, I send out a prayer to the Goddess.
The Goddess that called to me, that assured me that I was on the right path.
I plead to her, begging for her to aid me once more, but it’s not her hauntingly beautiful voice that I hear.
“My sweet Chosen, soon you’ll be mine.” His wretched words whisper into my ear just before his teeth sink deep into my shoulder.
To Be Continued…