Damn. This was so not going according to plan.
I flattened myself against a tree and held my breath. There was a rustling of leaves, and I could hear him breathing behind me. If I moved one itty-bitty bit he would hear me, but on the other hand, I could attempt to shove my blade into his gut. The knife trembled in my grasp as I waited. In the end, I never moved, and he bolted back to the car after a scream of frustration rippled through the night. It sounded like a very aggravated Angel.
It looked like I owed Chase’s demon lover a word of thanks.
Yeah, not in this lifetime.
She might have saved me, but it wasn’t going to save her from me.
Laying my head back against the tree, I debated how much I wanted to push my luck. If I snuck back to listen to their conversation, Chase would hear me.
Curse their demon abilities.
I was smart enough to know when to retreat, though I flirted with the idea of revealing myself just to see the look on that cocky face of his. God, that would have been a sight. But I knew that I needed to buy my time to get the job done right the first time, so I trekked through the woods.
The facility would be checking any day for a report on my status. Joy. Can’t say that I was looking forward to it. They might very well accuse me of dragging my feet.
They might not be far off base. I knew that they had given me this assignment to test my loyalty and dedication.
Chapter 7
Walking up the cobblestone path to my home, I couldn’t help but think it was another night just like all the other nights. The house I used to love and that had been a sanctuary for me was almost as much of a prison as the facility had been. Maybe there weren’t locked doors at night, and maybe I wasn’t ushered out of my room like cattle day in and day out, but there was still something suffocating about the walls of this house.
Alone in my room, I plugged in the earbuds to my old iPod. It had been lying on my bed with a note.
I thought maybe you could use these.
Love,
Mom
Short and simple. What wasn’t written in the lines of the pink paper was how she was hoping that by giving me something I used to love, I would somehow find my way back to the daughter I used to be.
It was a nice sentiment, but no amount of music was going to cure what ailed me. It was hardly that easy. What I had done, the things I had seen, didn’t just vanish with the sounds of music.
The nights had been the hardest since I’d been home. I thought I had moved past the nightmares that used to plague my dreams behind the walls of the facility, but I guess I had been wrong. Night after night, the screams, the begging cries, and the blood tortured my sleep. I don’t know why they had returned. Why I ever thought that I had put those horrors behind me was beyond me. The stamp Hell left on you never disappeared, regardless of whether you were inhuman or not.
I awoke that night covered in a sheen of sweat, heart pounding wildly and a scream stuck in my throat. It was not exactly enjoyable. My eyes madly scanned my surroundings before the realization seeped in that I was in my bedroom, not boxed into a white cell. Pushing the strands of strawberry hair off my face, I took five deep breaths and stared at the ceiling.
I needed therapy.
Sleep was pointless, so I did what calmed me the most. I sharpened the tips of my arrows—so far from the graceful movements of dance that a year ago would have been my only escape from madness.
***
He angled his body in front of hers, hiding her from my line of vision and my arrow.
Slick move, lover boy.
It was obvious from the way Chase stiffened that he knew something was amiss. I watched as his eyes tinged with a glow of amber, skimming the parking lot. He might have sensed trouble, but he hadn’t pinpointed me. Yet.
Score one for me.
The darkness and the crowd gave me the perfect cover. A video game release at midnight, were these people insane? I didn’t know squat about gaming, but this was some extreme shit, and the fact that Chase was among them…well, let’s just say I wouldn’t have believed it, had I not seen it.