Chapter Four
Cherry on top!
As I exited through the double doors of the police station, the wind was suddenly scented with Burberry cologne.
There was a pressure in my chest that instantly crippled me. My stomach contracted, and I felt violently nauseous. My legs went numb, and I fell to my knees.
Seth.
I could feel him all around me. I could taste him on my tongue. “Seth?” I said his name out loud. My heart went into panic mode and thudded against my ribs with painful understanding.
Something had happened to Seth. I could feel his soul wrapping itself around me. Hugging me. His presence was faint, but it was unmistakable.
I fumbled for my keys and got in the car as fast as I could. A mile down the road, my cell phone rang. I hit the button on the steering wheel to answer.
“Jade…” Madam Stella owned a local physic reading shop downtown.
Tears immediately started running down my face. “Something happened to Seth.”
“I know,” she responded. “I dreamt it. Come to me, Jade.” She urged gently.
“On my way!” I hung up and hit the gas pedal.
Something crossed my path, I swerved, slammed my brakes, and screamed as my car reacted accordingly. It fishtailed and started to flip as it barreled out of control toward the side of the road.
I braced myself for impact.
The deafening sound of twisting metal and shattering glass echoed in my ears. I don’t know how many times my car flipped before it came to a stop, but I know my chest hit the steering wheel when the front of my car slammed into something hard enough to stop it on a dime. I felt bones inside snap, and my breath left my body in a gush. No matter how much I tried after that, I couldn’t get it back.
I struggled.
Struggled with battered lungs to pull in a full breath, but I couldn’t. Pieces of glass cut into my face and head. Some grazed me, others lodged into me.
My skull felt like it was on fire.
I knew I was bleeding. I could smell and feel the warm liquid drip down my face and soak my long hair.
Every few seconds, I gave into the darkness that surrounded me. A darkness that swept over my body and offered it freedom.
It was getting harder to breathe. My lungs shriveled inside me. Sharp jabs of searing pain ran through every inch of me when I opened my mouth for air.
I was dying.
I knew it.
“Ma’am?” A man’s voice called out. “The ambulance is on its way. Can you hear me?”
I couldn’t answer. Couldn’t move. I started to feel numb all over.
My body shivered and convulsed. My heart no longer beat with agility. It was weak and faltering.
“Stay with me.” The voice urged. “I’ll stay here with you until they arrive, okay? Can you hear me? Can you talk?”
My lungs were giving way to the abuse they had endured, and I was gasping for air. “C-can’t…b-brea-the.” I choked.
“Stay with me, all right? They’re coming.” The voice was fading.
My eyes gave up the fight against the heaviness that threatened them. I allowed them to close. I let myself fall into that peaceful darkness that promised me sweet silence. I surrendered.
I didn’t want to feel anymore, but the person trying to save me had different ideas. They reached into the car through the shattered window and pulled me out.
I fell into a hard embrace and my power flared to life. I instantly felt an insatiable thirst and hunger beyond human capacity.
“Donnn’t…t-toucchh me.” I cried, but he held me tight. Held me against his massive chest and hushed me.
There on the glistening road, my broken body lay in his arms, and he held me like a lover would.
But he was not my lover. He was a cop.
He moaned. I could feel his agony as he fought for control over whether or not he should eat me.
He wasn’t a vampire, he felt…animal.
Slowly, he started sniffing the air and baring his teeth like there was a threat nearby. He pulled my body closer, and in my weakened state the armor around my clairvoyance snapped altogether, casting me violently into his body.
I gasped.
My breaths were heavy.
The turmoil inside of him was excruciating. He fought so hard for control. For his humanity. But that wasn’t what completely ruined me.
It was the face before me.
Seth’s face.
He was glaring and his lips were curled over bared teeth.
“Mine…” Seth whispered, as his hand suddenly plunged forward into officer’s chest.
Seth, no!
Everything stopped, including the cop’s heart that Seth now had clutched in his fist.
There was nothing in the night but the hum of our breaths.
Flashes of Seth and me together flared to life before my very eyes. Every touch. Every kiss. Every whispered memory.
A few seconds later, Seth vanished and the heart resumed beating. The sound obnoxious. Boom. Boom. Boom.
It beat with purpose, with power, with love for…me.
With the last strength I could muster, I forced my shields back into place and began trembling uncontrollably as I kicked and clawed at the officer’s face.
“Be still, my Jade,” he whispered calmly as his mouth covered mine.
“No!”
That was the last word I could scream aloud before he bit down, and the darkness swallowed me.
I shouldn’t have agreed to take the call, but I was the closest to scene. Most nights, I can control myself without effort, but it’s a full moon tonight. It sings to me and strokes my beast. The air was laced with her blood. The beast sat up and licked his lips as every muscle in my body coiled. He wants out…
I approached the mangled car with caution. I knew she was inside. Her scent was familiar. It was the infuriating beauty from before. I didn’t like the way her heart sounded. It was weak. Too weak.
I reached in and yanked her out, and that was normal until a light surrounded us and I saw his angry face and felt my chest being violated. I felt my heart in my throat and then not at all. I couldn’t hear. Couldn’t feel. Seconds later, when the beats resumed, I was overwhelmed by love. Love for the female dying in my arms. I knew the cinnamon scent of her hair and the taste of her lips. I gasped and wanted to flee, but I couldn’t let her die. She was mine. She was everything! I did the only thing I could think of…I bit her.
Adrian