“Why are you asking?” he asks me inquisitively.
I decide to be honest. “Curiosity, and the fact that I can’t seem to keep my damn mouth shut.”
His lips tug up to a miniscule smile. “You really want me to tell you how it feels to sink my teeth into another person’s neck?” I start to apologize because I think he’s upset, when he leans forward. “How it feels to suck hot blood out of someone’s vein?” I swallow hard at the animalistic look in his eyes as he dips his head toward my face. “How it feels to hold someone in my arms, knowing I can do anything to them?” His voice purrs across my skin. He puts a hand on each side of me, slants his body and moves closer. “You really want to know, Gemma?” He breathes on my neck and I choke.
“I don’t… I don’t…” I trail off as his lips brush against my skin and my eyelids shut on their own accord.
“What if I told you it was terrible?” he whispers against my neck. “Would you run?”
“I don’t know…” I begin to fall backwards on the stool and grab ahold of the edge of the counter.
“What if I told you it felt mind-numbingly good?” He kisses my neck and my shoulder shudders into him. “Would you let me bite you?”
My mind has melted into wax and air has gotten trapped in my lungs. “Would you bite me, if I said yes?”
“What do you think?” His lips part and I feel his teeth nick my skin. I don’t move because I want to know. I want to stay right here.
As I’m entirely letting go to my curiosity and my body’s need for an answer, his tongue slides out and he licks me like a dog. My eyes snap open as he pulls away and there’s a huge smile on his face.
“I would never bite you, sweetheart,” he says with humor in his eyes. “You’re too innocent and pure and that makes for a bad addiction.” When I pout, he touches his finger to my bottom lip. “And besides, I’d never be able to forgive myself if I bit you.” I let my lip return to its rightful place as he gets up from the stool and makes his way to the window. “And I’m not a fan of feeding. I’ve only done it a few times and it makes me feel guilty afterwards.” He draws back the curtain and lets the sunlight inside. “So, what do you want to do next—”
The window explodes, sending shards of glass through the air, like deadly raindrops. Laylen ducks down as a wave of ice rushes through the broken window and curves down to the floor. It slithers towards my feet and spirals up and attaches to the ceiling, forming thick beams.
“Laylen!” I jump from the stool and it topples over. “Are you okay?”
As I round the corner of the island, he stands up. My brain barely registers his movements as he races over to me at an inhuman speed and grabs my hand. The next thing I know, we’re racing down the hallway and the ice is chasing us.
“What the hell was that?” I pant as I force my legs to take longer strides.
“Death Walkers.” He veers us to the right as one of the rooms’ doors blows from the hinges and flies towards our heads. The rest of the doors follow and he hunkers down, pulling me down with him. He shields my head with his arm and glances up and down the hall. “I have no idea how they fucking found us.”
Ice crawls across the floor, along the ceilings and glazes the walls. Snow whirls in the air as the house begins to crack down the center of the floor. It’s petrifyingly cold and I have flashbacks to the night in the woods, being chased, watching the Death Walkers take out the cabin with their ice.
My heart hammers in my chest as I tuck my head into his shoulder. “What do we do?”
His chin brushes the top of my head as he turns his head from left to right. “Come on. Follow me. And keep your head down.”
He moves his body away from mine and keeps his head low as he gets down on his hands and knees, crawling toward the front door. I follow; the ice on the floor burns against my palms and the wintery cold air crisps my eyelashes. Beams are forming in bulks, creating a jail cell with no way out.
I continue to follow Laylen, sliding from left to right out of the beams, but fog starts to seep through the open doors and windows, filling up the entire house. Before I know it, I can’t see a damn thing.
“Laylen?” I cough against the plunging temperature in the air. “Laylen, where are you?” He doesn’t answer. “Laylen, please.”
The dead silence is terrifying, but I try not to panic. I crawl on my hands and knees until I find my way into a room that’s clear from the murky fog. I jump to my feet and remove the knife from my back pocket; noting the blue tint of my skin and the tremble and tightness of my frozen limbs. The fog is getting to me and I need to move fast before I get hypothermia.
“What the hell should I do?” There are no windows in the room, just a few empty shelves and a door. I quickly run over to it, but it comes crashing down and flies straight at my head. I drop to the floor, flat on my stomach, and the blade of the knife grazes my hand and slices my palm open. With my uninjured hand, I begin to push myself up when something steps up in front of my face. Black fabric circles its feet and ice cracks out from under it.
I kneel up and tip my chin up to the Death Walker standing in front of me. It’s sickening to look at up close; dry peeling skin and blood oozing from the visible muscles. Its eyes are hidden underneath the hood, but the glow is blinding.
I skitter backward on my knees, poising the knife out in front of me. Without warning, it charges, sending ice dispersing from the walls and ceiling. The shards are as sharp as glass and each piece that hits me rips at my skin. I manage to swing the knife at the monster, knowing it won’t kill it, but hoping it will wound it. I only slice the fabric of its cloak, though, and seem to piss it off. I dodge to the side and try to get my feet steady beneath me, but it floats over my head and lands behind me. I whirl and aim the knife at it again, but I’m way off goal and I stab at the air.
My feet slip against the slick floor as I try to spin back around to run, but it grabs ahold of my arm and lifts me up until my legs are dangling below me. I open my mouth to scream, but a dense cloud puffs from its fleshless lips. Cold air enters my throat and steals the sound away.
Bits of ice and frost crackle across the inside of my mouth and down my airway. The Death Walker tips its head back, lets out a blood curdling scream and countless shrieks echo throughout the house. Its fingers leave my arm and I crumple to the floor, clutching my neck as I roll onto my back. The Death Walker cries out again as my body stops falling, each limb dying. The ice spreads down into my lungs, wrapping around each bone, contracting them and I can feel the skin shriveling from the pressure. I listen to my heart still as the Death Walker leans over me. As it opens its mouth again, my heart goes silent. Then everything goes black.
Chapter 17
“Sometimes I think it’d be better if I were dead,” I say to Alex as I walk around the trees and head further into the forest.
He catches me by the arm, jerks me back and twirls me around to look at him. “Why would you ever say that?”
I stare at the lake that’s peeking through the brim of the forest. “Because then, I wouldn’t have to feel the pain anymore.”
He hooks his finger under my chin and makes me look at him. His green eyes glisten in the sunlight that is flickering through the branches of the trees. It looks like he’s about to cry and I don’t understand why. “If you couldn’t feel the pain anymore, then you wouldn’t be able to feel how great it feels when it leaves you. Without pain, everything else wouldn’t matter to you. It would all be the same.”
“Sometimes I think that’d be better.”
“Better than love?”
I swallow hard as tears puddle the corners of my eyes. “I don’t know if I know what that is and I’m not sure I ever will.”
He embraces my cheek with his hand and grazes his thumb just below my eyes. “Yes, you will. You’ll know because for a moment, that pain will be gone.”
“Gemma, can you hear me?” Alex whispers. “Gemma, wake up.”
I feel myself being lifted and then arms coddle me closer to a tepid chest. Electricity webs through me and the ice in my body shrinks and melts. I’m no longer cold, but feverish. I tuck my head in and let the heat take me over as light gleams around me.
“Whatever you do, don’t go to sleep,” he says. “Keep your eyes open.”
I’m trying, but it’s hard. I can’t… Suddenly I can’t feel the pain anymore.
I wake up confused and with an earsplitting headache. My hand is bandaged up, I’m lying in a log bed, and there’s a blanket over me and a pillow under my head. The walls are made of the same logs as the bed and so is the nightstand and the dresser. There’s an antique vanity in the corner and a window next to it, which shows the extensive scenery of mountains that are submerged in snow.
I clutch my head as I sit up and blink my eyes, trying to piece everything together, but my memories are a bit foggy. “Am I back in Wyoming? Holy fuck, have I been dreaming the entire time?”
“Depends on where you think the dream started from?” Alex’s voice wraps around my body and makes me remember the dream I’d been having. It also makes me remember all the things Laylen and I talked about.
He’s by the doorway, looking comfortable as he leans against the doorframe with his arms folded. He’s wearing a black t-shirt, faded jeans with a tear in the thigh area, different from the clothes I saw him in last time, and his dark brown hair is damp.
I lower my hand from my head. “How long have I been out?”
“A little over six hours,” he answers simply. “You were pretty out of it.”
“Six hours?” I start to get up, but the soreness in my head sends me straight back to the bed. “What happened? Because the last thing I can remember is the Death Walker breathing on me, then it felt like I was dying.”
He uncrosses his arms, walks across the room and sits down at the foot of the bed. “You should have been dead. The Death Walker breathed the Chill of Death on you and it’s lethal, but somehow… somehow you’re alive.”
I check over my arms, which have fingernail-size cuts all over them. “How did I survive?”
He shakes his head and the muscles in his arms go stiff. “I have no idea. All I can figure is it has to do with the star being inside you.”
The star. I wish he’d stop reminding me. I throw the blankets off me and move my legs over the edge of the bed. “Where are Aislin and Laylen?”
He rubs his hand down his face and sighs. “Aislin couldn’t transport all four of us out of the house at the same time, so she had to make two trips. When she transported back to get Laylen, she never came back.”
“What!” I exclaim and begin to put weight on my feet, despite my wobbly knees. “Well, we have to go back there and get them. I mean, the Death Walkers were there and they—”
He grabs my arm and gently steers me to the side so I fall onto his lap. “Calm down, my father called not too long after and said they were fine. That Aislin’s crystal had shattered, but they were able to make it to the car and drive to the city.”
