Death's Dilemma (DHAD #2) (19 page)

The only favor I’d granted that bitch was giving her a few final moments with Trevor holding her in his arms again. That was why she did this. That was what she had wanted, right? To have him hold her in his arms once again? That had to be why she did this, because of what she saw yesterday. One should always be careful what they wish for.

“She did this because of us, Trevor. You know that, right? I saw her break the wards to let them all in.” This, in no way made up for Dave, but nothing would. I walked away. Heal her? Was he fucking kidding?

Chapter Thirty-Two

So This is What That Feels Like?

“I finally understand why humans hate us so much,” I said to Trevor as he entered my room in the morning.

“Cendall,” Trevor said as he tried to wrap his arm around me, but I pulled away.

“It doesn’t make me regret,” I paused as my voice cracked, “…but I finally understand why humans got so angry and thought we were so evil. What would his parents think? Because of me they’ve lost their only son.” Would they blame me? “At least he might be able to find peace whereas Lacie.” I began to sob. “The one thing she’d asked me to do, I failed. ‘Don’t let him take me,’” I quoted her as my chest felt tight, and I began to hyperventilate. “This is all MY FAULT. If we never, this would have never…FUCKKKK!!” I screamed as I stood up as my mind gave me the mental picture of Catherine stabbing me, and Mobrolantis
electrocuting me with my own power.
“I’m going to kill them all,” I muttered to myself. “I have to kill them or this was all for NOTHING.”

“Cendall, you have to calm down. Please, you’re becoming hysterical. We’re going to get her back. I promise.”

“FUCK THAT FUCKING WORD!” I screamed at him. “THAT WORD IS NOTHING BUT A LIE!” He grabbed onto me and held me in a death grip as I screamed. “LET ME GO NOW.” I continued, but he didn’t let go.

“Cendall, please, you’re losing it. Come back to me,” he whispered in my ear.

“NO.”.

“Cendall please. We’re going to have to more to another location soon, and I need you stable for that.”

“Why bother moving, they won’t come again. THEY HAVE HER ALREADY TREVOR,” I began to wheeze as the tears flowed from my eyes before the blackness took me

***

“You’re back,” Trevor said as my eyes opened and met his. A tear left my eye as I looked up at him.

“Not until we get her back.” I took a deep breath and sat up.

“And we will. I swear.” I cringed. I was close enough to the edge that if I’d heard that “promise” word I would have lost it again. “Look, the council is meeting right now, and as soon as they discuss it all, we will have a meeting with them and find her together.”

“I don’t want to go to a freaking meeting, Trevor. Lacie has been captured. My best friend is dead, and I don’t even know if any of this was worth it. I’ve lost and betrayed too many people I’ve loved in the past month because of this. I need to go find her now,” I snapped.

“We can right after this, I prom—... um... swear. We’ll figure this all out together. Things will get better.” How the hell was he going to make this better? Could he go get Lacie back? No.

“THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE. I’m not going to any meeting. If I’m doing anything, it’s going to finish the job I started on your ex. I will kill her,” I said calmly.

“Cendall, I know it’s hard but be rational, please,” he asked.

“Excuse me? Oh, wait, I forgot you’re the one who stopped me from killing her in the first place. It was her fault he knew we were even there. All to get back at me for screwing you. She deserves to die for Dave, but Dave was a Reaper so why would you care or be upset by any of this.”

“I lost several of my men out there. That was an extremely low blow, Cendall. You know I care.”

“The low blow was to Dave’s neck when the Demon’s blade went through it before he separated his body into two pieces. What I said to you is a guarantee of what will be coming. You will not stop me this time,” I said in a breathless tone I wasn’t familiar with.

“Cendall, you know you can’t kill her. She’ll have her day in court. You’re verging on crazy again. You need to rest. I’m going to go talk to Alicia. She’s here in our house now.” Great, and I was supposed to care why? She’d shown up late like always. She hadn’t talked to me in months, and I was supposed to be happy that she was here?

“Why would I care if she is here or not?”

“She may have some insight on where they might have taken Lacie. Or something about your mom.”

“I don’t care about learning my heritage at the moment. Screw your meeting. We need to go find her NOW.”

“No Cendall, we go now and we die. Listen, I’m trying to rationalize this with you, but you’re being unreasonable. I feel it, I really do. I want to get her back just as bad, but we have to go in with a plan or we’re all dead, do you understand that?!”

“Screw you and your meeting.”

“I’ll be back in an hour.” He closed the door, and I let out a frustrated scream as I threw my scythe at the door he exited through.

***

“Cendall, Cendall!” Was I having déjà vu? Maybe this all had been a dream. I creaked open my eyes to see Abram looking down at me.

“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know him, but I know he meant a lot to you.”

“Funny how you have so much to say now.”

“Cendall, listen, I...”

“Screw you. Screw this place, and I don’t want to talk about it,” I grumbled at him and rolled out of bed.

“Really, I’m so sorry. I wish I could have been…”

“Stop!” I screamed. Dave’s lifeless eyes flashed in my mind again, and I could see Mobrolantis dragging Lacie’s body out of the fight. .

“Please, can we just talk about it? We’re worried about you,” he pleaded.

“Just STOP” I grabbed a towel off the dresser and went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. I knew one of these Guardians would try to come and talk to me, but I didn’t want to talk about last night. I never wanted to talk about it ever again. I had lost two of my best friends in a matter of hours. Poor Dave, he should have never been there. I shouldn’t have been so stupid. I should have seen that coming. I would stick my scythe in that cold bitch’s heart. I could feel my head starting to spin. If I only would have ignored my feelings for Trevor, none of this would have happened. Dave wouldn’t be dead, and Lacie wouldn’t have been captured. Everything and everyone I cared about and loved around me was now forever damaged. Even my own father was missing because of my actions. No one had heard from him for months. For all I knew, he was dead too. Everything I had known for the past eighteen years of my life was different. Because of the paths I had chosen, I was no longer a Reaper. I’d lost touch with dad, Lacie was captured, and Dave was... UGGGGGGH! I threw up, making only half of my bile to the toilet. I couldn’t even throw up without messing something up.

“Cendall, are you okay?” Abram asked through the door.

“NO, I’m not okay, and I NEVER WILL BE! Dave is dead, and it’s entirely my fault. And Lacie has been captured, just leave me alone!” UGGGG at least this time I made the bile into the bowl. What would I tell Dave’s parents and Chloe?

“Cendall, you should eat something. It might help calm your nerves,” Abram spoke from behind the door.

“No, just please leave me alone,” I begged. I didn’t need someone listening to me puking any longer. “Every time you talk about it, they just flash again before my eyes. Please stop”

“I’m sorry I don’t want to bring you more pain.” I heard him slowly move away from the door, and with a click of what had to be the bedroom door closing, he was gone. What was I going to do? Why couldn’t this all have been just a bad dream? And I wonder how Trevor was handling all of this. Lacie was his assignment too, and he almost died last night, again because of me. If he, I couldn’t even image it.

“UG!” At least that one was a dry heave. I no longer had anything left in me to puke up. I slowly stumbled up and headed for the bedroom door. I could definitely use some more sleep. At least in sleep I could get away from this reality I had created. I looked down at my arms; they had bile and blood from last night’s battle still on them. Blood of that stupid bitch I almost destroyed. I needed to get this off of me immediately. I stripped my clothes, turned the shower all the way to the hot, and stepped in. I grabbed the sponge, put shower gel on it, and started tearing at my skin. Maybe if I scrubbed hard enough, I could get the remains of what happened last night off of me. I could feel my arms beginning to burn; no matter how hard I scrubbed, this wasn’t going to work. I could still feel it all over me. Nothing could ever make my mind dispose of what happened last night. I could feel the tears starting to flow out of my eyes, and not wanting to stand any longer, my body collapsed. I shriveled into a ball. I attempted to move my legs to get back up, but the weight of my thoughts paralyzed my body. All I could feel now was the hot water pouring over my body while the cool tears flowed from my face.

***

“I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU WANT FROM ME!” I screamed as Mobrolantis had his man hit me again. I could feel the blood running down my cheeks.

“You know what I want, dear girl. Are you really going to die for them? They don’t even really know what you are. They just want you because I do. You have no idea of the gifts you have and the change you can bring on this world. You are the one who will finally tip the scale. You’ve seen the horrors humans do when given free will. Imagine a world where they are punished for those actions. You see, I’m not really that bad. I just don’t believe humans should be given that right so freely.

“I am a human—” I cried out strangely, and he back handed me before I even finished the sentence. I tried to move my neck, but the kink in it let me know he’d hit me hard enough to give me whip lash. So, I just let it fall. Blood began to pool in my mouth, and when I opened it, a piece of one of my teeth hit the floor.

“I’ll have to give it to you. I never thought you’d be this tough to crack, but they all crack in the end. Most of them mentally, but I’ve had to crack a few physically in their refusal. That’s not near as much fun though, no information is given then.” I let out a yelp as he grabbed the bottom of my chin, forcing me to look into his skeletal face. He smiled, exposing the teeth he’d bitten me with yesterday. I’d imagined the bite to resemble what surfers faced in the open waters as his jagged rows of razor sharp daggers were similar those of sharks.

“This just isn’t working. Let’s try something else.” He picked me up and threw me over his shoulder. He smelled of road kill that had been sitting on the side of the highway for days. The only plus side of all of this was he hadn’t made me walk. The nails were still dug deep into my feet from yesterday night’s session. He thought I was strong, but in reality, I had no idea what he wanted from me. If I did, would I have given it up already? Who knows? He walked me past a mirror, and I looked at my blood stained hair. The blonde was gone, replaced with dirt, grime, and dried blood from his beatings. He brought me over to a large glass fish tank. The water was completely clear, allowing me to see that nothing else was inside.

“Ice NOW!” he shouted to one of his minions, and they emptied six buckets into the water.

“Would you like a glass of water?” he asked me, still draped over his shoulder. I hadn’t had one since I got here, but I had a feeling there was no correct answer to this question, so I stayed silent. “Fine.” He threw me into the tank, and the frigid water felt like a bed of needles against my skin. I tried to crawl out, but he pushed me under again.

“Ready to show me what you can do now?”

“I don’t-t-t know what you wann-t-t f-from-m me,” I said as my teeth chattered uncontrollably. My vision begin to flash in and out.

“Lid please,” he said to another minion as he again dunked me under and my body deflated as I looked up and saw he put the lid on top. There was no hanging onto the side again to catch my breath. I swam to the bottom of the tank and with all the strength I had left, I pushed my legs up, and slammed myself onto the top, but it didn’t budge. I then started to scream underwater to no one. Water poured into my mouth and into my lungs.

Chapter Thirty-Three

ASAP

“HELPPPPPPPPPP!” I woke up mid-scream as a cool shiver ran down my spine. I creaked open my eyes to reveal that I was still lying in the bottom of the shower. I must have been in here so long that I drained all the hot water because it felt like hose water pouring all over my body. What the hell had the dream been? It felt so real. It had to be real. It was like I’d taken a step right into Lacie’s body. I saw as the Demon walked past the mirror; it was her, but I was inside. I could feel her pain. I took a deep breath. I could feel she was still alive, but I couldn’t tell where. Maybe since she’d been in my dream whatever spell he’d put on her couldn’t be controlled when I was in a dreaming state because I know that was real. He would kill her soon. She had no information to give, and he seemed more frustrated today.

I quickly got up, turned the water off, and jumped out of the shower. I walked into the bedroom, grabbed some yoga pants that were lying on the floor, and snatched the first t-shirt out of the drawer. I looked at my scythe that stuck out of the door. Light from the cracked blinds reflected against the ruby stone, and my family name shined on the hilt. I took a deep breath and knew what I had to do. I’d had my personal pity party, but Todeslandwirts didn’t ever give up. I would get Lacie back before that son of a bitch could torture her again. No matter how much I wanted to get my revenge on Catherine, priority number one was getting Lacie back. I didn’t even bother with a brush as I rushed to Trevor’s room.

I threw open the door to see him sitting on the bed with his hands over his head. He popped up, and looked at me like I was mad women.

“I saw her. She’s alive.”

“What? Where is she?” he said as he shot up off the bed.

“I don’t know exactly, but listen I just had a dream and it was like I stepped inside of her, like I was here. I could feel him torturing her. He’s going to kill her soon. We have to leave now to find her.”