Shattered Skies - Night Waves (16 page)

The believers
may live in a safe state of denial but I didn’t care, they were no threat to me at all. The real monsters were the Dominus. These beings were nothing more the rabid animals. They were the bad guys and I needed to hang on tight to that thought, before the Hunt whistle blew and I found myself teetering on the line, confused as to where my loyalties lay, with human or monster.

  
It didn’t take much for me to remember why I hated the Dominus. The hard part was trying to remember why I thought Akia was somehow different. I mean, didn’t he have the power to protest the Hunt? It wouldn’t do any good, since this was an event for the Vampires too, but he could have tried; he could have avoided the Hunt himself. But no, instead he was here somewhere, just as excited as the rest of them to get started. I was so tempted to take the ring off my finger, just to feel him one last time and if it wasn’t for the fact that I was still hoping that he would never find me again, I would have tossed the ring aside.

Death would be nothing compared to the thought of the look on his faced when he realized I was a stupid ro
dent as he always called my species. But I wasn’t stupid. My main concern at this point was achieving a clear mind and so I brushed away the thoughts of removing the piece of metal from my finger and I let stubbornness fuel my will to survive.

What I had to do next was going to be one of the most difficult things that I have ever done in my life. I had to open my eyes and I had to look around and let every detail of the situation I was in sink in, even though I knew that sights around me would burn a terrible memory, and leave a hideous
mark in my mind. But I knew as a soldier that acknowledging how bad it really was might be the key difference between living and dying.

I had never led a sheltered life and I was a stronger person for it. I needed once and for all to accept the fact that nearly all the people sharing this space with me were going to be dead and lost very soon. That was the cruel plain fact and if that wasn’t enough to scare me into fighting for my life, then maybe I would be better off
closing my eyes and laying down now.

It wasn't enough for the Vampires or the Dominus to just kill the humans, it was more important for them to play mind games, to crush them and destroy them
mentally. They wanted to find the ones that were the hardest; the ones couldn’t be broken quickly. The unbreakable people would be among the first ones they looked for. It wouldn’t be much of a power trip for the Vamps if they were reduced to ripping apart people that had already lain down to die.

The Vampires
stormed through the crowd and focused on the prey, searching through the tragic masses, looking for the ones that they saw as the best sport. These were the ones that they would come back to later. It would have done no good to try to physically hurt them in an attempt to break their will, instead the focused on the strong one’s families. They laughed in the faces of their crying children, whispered to them promises of pain and slow death. I watched a baby ripped from the arms of its mother and torn in half by two Vampires, just so they could taunt the young mother, watching as she crumbled to the ground a screaming crying crawling mess, uselessly gathering bloody bits and pieces of her of her butchered child.

That was one of the less cruel acts that I witnessed. What kind of monster could do the things they were doing to these children? If there were no children close by to hurt, then they chose the elderly. Nothing stops a self-proclaimed bad-ass human quicker than being forced to watch his or her parents being beaten to death or stripped of their clothing and defiled by the Vampires. It was all about mental terror with these beasts and they were well practiced at their art.

I decided soon after the blood of another torn apart infant splattered on my cheeks, that I had to retreat to the place where I went cold. I had seen all that I needed to see to make this real and right now, I needed to get to the place where I go numb and where nothing could get to me because if any of this became any more real, it might break me.

I had given myself just enough of a shock to fully comprehend how serious and brutal this was and now it was time to change tactics. It was time to take a cue from Jace and pretend that this was nothing more than a movie on a screen. If I didn’t, I would be on the ground crying with the young girl whose child’s warm blood was still dripping down my cheeks.

   If the images of death and the sounds of what was happening around me weren’t enough to make me lose my mind, than the fact that I was using every ounce of strength I had to stop myself from licking the baby’s splattered blood from my lips should have been. It smelled so sweet, so forbidden, and I would have given just about anything to allow myself just one quick little lick. The urge to taste the dead child’s blood was all consuming.  As my hungry tongue hovered at the corner of my mouth, I wondered what I was and what I was becoming.

There are things the mind isn't supposed to see, and your body knows this. It knows that there are things that can completely break you, destroying you from the inside out. That is why your body shuts itself down; to save you from what happens when you experience things like I was seeing. I felt the switch flip. I wasn’t there anymore. I wasn’t standing so close to the screaming woman that was crawling and begging that I could feel her breath on my legs, instead I was outside myself completely. She wasn’t real and I didn’t care a thing about her.
Her pleads and her tears meant nothing now, because this mother was nothing more than a well-rehearsed actress on a screen playing out her part.

When the crawling mother failed to obey the Vampire’s orders and stop screaming, her life was ended. For a brief second I was glad when one of the Dominus finally
slew her. She had been starting to irritate the cold part of me with her incessant screams for help.

  
“Nothing like a little pre-hunt appetizer,” a burly Vamp said. A primal part of me felt a smirk of agreement fighting to cross my lips.

I had never felt emptier in my life. I felt wild, untamed and unrecognizable. I could kill right now and I would relish it. It was surreal.  I knew I was standing there; the ground was hard beneath my feet. I could feel the warmth of Jace's hand in mine but other than that, I was completely and totally detached from the situation
at hand.

It was
detachment that sustained me. I needed to feel separate and separated from the world around me if there was going to be any chance of getting out of this alive. I was used to being both the hunted and the hunter, something that hardly any of these people had ever experienced. It was not me that was going to lie down and die.

The adrenaline was already pumping through my veins. I knew the feeling all too well. It was the same adrenaline high that I get when I am flirting with one of the demons. It’s what makes me work harder to earn the pure rush I experience when I get them to follow me to bed, just before I take their lives
forever.  An adrenaline rush is enough to fuel anything.

The fire burning inside of me was a fitting compliment to my cold detachment. For a second I stood ready to attack them. I was ready to play their little game, I didn’t care; I wanted to die trying to hurt them. If I died trying, at least they would remember me.

Then I heard it, the wretched low-pitched sound, the steady whistle that meant the Hunt was starting. My every thought shattered and dissolved and fell by the wayside. It was hunt and be hunted time and I realized that my instincts were taking over. My body got into in motion. I knew what it was like to fight to live. It’s what I’d done my entire life. The other humans were lost. They were not prepared for battle.

Most didn't move, most didn’t
even struggle, most just gave up. A few strained to cover their children to prevent them from seeing what was coming. Others just sat down, so beaten, so broken or so scared, whatever the reason, they just sat down and waited to be ripped apart, praying for the nightmare to be over. It crossed my mind that maybe the seated ones were the true believers. Maybe they were the ones that believed that through their immanent death they would pay for their sins and be welcomed into the open arms of the God that loved them.

I wanted to scream at them to move. I wanted to make them see that there was a small chance that they could get away. I wanted to tell them to fight for this life because they knew it. As bad as this world was, it was my home and I knew my way through it. Death on th
e other hand was unknown to me and it frightened me. I would take the horribly known over the no way of being sure unknown any day. I wanted to make these humans move, I wanted to wake them up, but I didn't have the time or the power to break them free from whatever wretched trance held them transfixed awaiting their slaughter.

             
I tore myself away and made a mental note to forget about these fools, and threw myself back into cold mode. My eyes scanned frantically for anything, anything that might help me escape. It was night, pitch black. It had to be night so the Vampires could enjoy the Hunt, but there were stars in the sky and a few street lights burning which made it possible for the spectators to see what was going on. Somehow there had to be a way to get lost among the 25,000 souls that were about to be butchered. I knew for a fact that we would be chased into woods that were easily five miles across; five long miles before the first sign of civilization appeared again, too much of a distance to hold out much hope. But maybe, there was a chance. Maybe somewhere in those five miles there would be one little place where we could hide unnoticed. All I had to do was find that one little place. Easy, right?

  
There were also spectators to the slaughter and they were human. These were the humans that were lucky enough not to have to be the prey this time around. The ones lucky enough to be safe on the other side of the fence; of course that meant being lucky enough to watch people that they loved die a horrible death. This was more mind torture from the Vampires. The sobbing and wailing from those watching just added to the monster’s joy and excitement. 

“We have to move now Cat.” I had forgotten that handsome Jace was still with me, standing at my side with ragged breath, barely maintaining his self-control.

“Let’s go!” I said and I pulled him into the darkness.

He didn’t question me at all; he just followed my lead, letting me take charge. It was a complete 180 from the night before. I trusted him and he trusted me, we made a true team. I ran with him hand in hand for what felt like forever. The screams were drifting further and further away,
the horrid shrieks were ebbing. I made myself believe that it was because we were getting away and not because so many people were dying and their screaming turned to silence.

“Quick, in here!” Jace whispered, and he jerked me so hard in the opposite direction from where I was going that I stumbled and fell.

I didn’t have time to think about standing up because before I regained my balance, he had hoisted me over his shoulder and carried me to the mouth of a tiny little cave he had somehow spotted. He was stronger than I thought, and he moved effortlessly with me on top of his shoulders. He pushed me toward the opening and we both crawled in and huddled close.

“If we stay in here, maybe they will forget us.” There was hope in his voice again.

“Yeah but if they don’t forget us then we are cornered and we will never get out.”

“Cat, why do you always have to think about the negative things?”

He had a point but I wasn’t trying to be negative. I was trying to help him understand that just maybe this cave wasn’t the best idea, that if we just looked harder, that maybe we could find somewhere better to hide.

“Look at me Kitty Cat. Now!” Wow, there was that demanding tone again, th
e tone that made me want to obey him.

How did he do that with just his
voice? It was hard to understand. It made me feel ashamed of myself. My mind hated him but my body was a traitor and I answered his demanding call each time it beckoned. I looked up without hesitation, meeting his gaze.

“If we die here, we die with pride. Do you understand Catalina?” I shook my head yes, just like he wanted me to.

I had lost so much perspective that the danger outside the mouth of the cave felt like nothing compared to the dangerous affect this man had on my sanity. I didn’t even feel him move closer. His one hand grabbed both of mine, and he squeezed them together. A soft moan slipped from my lips, just the promise that his hands in mine brought was enough to make me damp.

“If I have to die, I want to die feeling your lips against mine. I hope that is ok with you baby girl.” His words melted my fears, completely washing away the nightmare that was just outside the cave. His mouth on mine was the only thing that mattered now.

The more I moaned the quieter I tried to be and the deeper he kissed me, which aroused more moaning. He used his mouth and tongue to hush the moans I was making which made each kiss and caress of his tongue against mine more urgent and needy than the one before.  We were so hopelessly lost in the lust of the moment that we never realized that we weren’t alone in the cave until it was too late.

At first, the fact that my hair was being pulled so hard didn’t even register. I just thought it was Jace getting into the moment. In fact, the hair pull turned me on even more, making me pant. It wasn’t until my head was pulled back far enough to see the fear registering on Jace’s face, that I realized that this was the end. This was the moment I was going to die. I screamed for Jace to run, but he refused to let go of me

“Get the hell out of here Jace! Now!” were the last words that would ever leave my mouth. I stopped struggling when the fangs sank into me; I knew that struggling made it even worse. I went stock still. The only movement I felt was coming from the beast attached to my neck wound. The beast was biting and sucking hard; drinking me, draining and killing me, and even though it was so pathetic, and so sordid, I was enjoying every sensation that each second of draining held. My skin was electrified. Every nerve ending was filling with the pheromone that the Dominus emitted into humans when they were excited and feeding. It got to the point that the only part of my body that I was aware of was the arm that Jace was feverishly tugging. I was almost certain that he was going to pull my arm from its socket. What in the hell was he doing? He had to know that he couldn’t get me away from the Dominus that had me.

The sucking continued and then I thought wait… electrifying? That isn’t how it’s supposed to feel! I’ve been bitten before and each time it had felt tranquil and calm, kind of like floating, but never, ever, electrifying.

Panic took my mind before I let go and succumbed to the darkness. I felt Jace’s grip break free and then my mind collapsed and broke. Whoever said death was peaceful was full of shit and clearly had never come close to death. Dying was pure panic. Shouldn’t I have been gone by now? How was it possible that I was still this much aware of what was going on around me?  I heard Jace screaming “Drop her now!” and then my knees went out and I hit the floor.

The ground came up fast and I felt the gravely bottom of the cave. If I could feel the stones underneath me then I wasn’t dead yet. Why had the monster listened to Jace? Why had he released me? Had Jace distracted him? Had Jace given himself as a sacrifice in the hope of saving me? I couldn’t let that happen. He could still get away if he would just run. 

I opened my eyes and then I closed them again. This couldn’t be real was the last thought I had before I drifted off again. I was still awake but I knew I was dying. My blood was flowing out of me. I heard hushed voices and I decided that voices were as good as anything to listen to while I slowly bled out. My blood pooled and flowed across the floor of the cave and I waited and I hoped. I hoped that I would see a bright light, a whirling dark tunnel, anything that would indicate that death would become something more thrilling than just lying in congealed blood on a jagged cold floor while the fire within me slowly burned out.

“What the hell is she doing here?” I could see him through my closed eyes, rather I could sense the image of
him, and the image I sensed burned permanently into my mind. His hair was wild. His eyes were glowing and my blood was running down his chin. He was so handsome. I am sure that I smiled lying there dying and sensing him so near. It was Akia! He was here. I felt warmed by his presence and the warmth felt good.

“Cat! Open your eyes now! That is an order! Open them now!” That was Jace, Jace was still alive. How nice of him to stay and wait for death with me.

“Who in the hell are you?” screamed Akia. “Talk to her like that again and I will rip your throat out, do you understand me.” The hate nearly masked the confusion in Akia’s voice.

“Really? Is that what you are going to do? You kill her and now you are going to kill me too? The sick thing is you are more worried about shutting me up than you are about what you’ve done to her. You are a pathetic excuse for half human scum.” Jace clearly wanted to die with me. I felt my lips twitch again, I
had no control.

“Kitten is that you?” said Akia softly.  My mouth wouldn’t move. I couldn’t make
any sounds come out.

“
Arrgghh! Please stop calling me kitten,” I thought, irritated to the last.

“Catalina, it is you! You are supposed to be dead. I felt you die so long ago.” How had he heard me? I was positive that I hadn’t spoken. In fact, I didn’t think that I could have spoken if my life depended on it. The irony in that last thought almost made me want to laugh.

“Oh my God,” I thought, “My ring.” I took a quick inventory, concentrating on my finger. I had to know if the ring was there. Could I be just dreaming; my body’s last ditch effort to make peace with dying? The weight of the ring was gone. Jace must have taken it off earlier when he had tugged at my arm. What in God’s name had he been thinking?

“My ring, please put my ring back.” I knew I
either had thought it or said it, I wasn’t sure which.

“Put her ring back on now!” I heard Akia tell Jace, who clearly had no intention of listening.

“If I put that ring on her finger, you will lose her again, do you understand that you big stupid beast?” Damn it Jace, why are you trying so hard to make him want to destroy you?

I had to think fast before this spiraled out of control. Resting in peace couldn’t be this complicated for anyone else in the world but me.

“Akia make him put it back on. I forgive you. It was an accident. I know that now. Please make him put it back on?”

“Put it on her finger now or I will rip you to shreds!” It wasn’t a request this time, it was a snarling order that came out of
Akia. I didn’t know if it was because Jace was scared, or if he was just tired, but did what he was told.

I felt safe again as soon as the metal slid on my finger. When the ring made solid contact with my skin, I could see the steel door being slammed in Akia’s face. I heard him gasp and I knew that he felt our connection
break too.