He dragged me out of the bathroom into his room, shutting the door quietly behind us.
“Don’t fight me,” he snarled in my ear and I nodded against his palm. He slowly released his hand then turned me around and slapped a line of duct tape over my mouth instead, making my heart falter. He twisted me around again, yanking my hands behind my back and tethering them together with a zip-tie.
He guided me out into the hallway and walked me to the front door as fear collected in my bones. I glanced around, anxious that neither of the other two appeared as he half carried me outside.
Something deep inside me said this was wrong. I didn’t know what he was gonna do, but I was sure if I went with him I’d regret it.
As we made it onto the porch, I slammed my heel down onto his foot as hard as I could. But without a shoe to aid me, he didn’t even flinch. He jerked me against his body once more, not releasing me an inch and my heart thrashed against my ribcage.
“What did I say?” he hissed. “One more move like that and you’ll pay for it, Cinders.”
My breathing became frantic as he led me up the path, the darkness thick around us. When we reached the edge of the woods, he shoved me up a narrow track and released his grip on me, jabbing me in the back.
“Move,” he commanded in a tone that had fear rolling through me.
I marched in front of him, my bare feet pressing to the damp ground as I made a plan in my mind. Every nerve in my body was screaming at me to run. And Dad had always told me to trust my instincts.
The second there was a curve in the path, I fled, racing off into the trees, circling back in the direction we’d come. I knew running to the other Night Keepers was insane, but I was sure this was more than just another way to freak me out. Blake was on a warpath and I was his target.
“Stop!” he barked and a scream ripped through my lungs, unable to get past the duct tape. His heavy footfalls raced after me and panic spread into my limbs as I tore through the trees in the dark. My white nightdress stood out starkly and I knew my only chance was outrunning him and making it back to The Temple.
My heart thundered in my chest as I almost made it to the path.
Blake’s weight collided with me and the full force of his best football tackle took me to the ground. I wheezed beneath his weight, unable to breathe for a second before he dragged me to my feet by the hair. I wished I could scream and claw and bite. But I was at his mercy as he lifted me up and threw me over his shoulder.
I screamed against my gag, tears filling my eyes as terror crawled into my limbs and took me hostage. He strode deeper and deeper into the woods, his breathing growing heavier the further we went until we were so far away from the centre of campus, I was sure even without the gag no one would have heard me scream.
He dropped me onto my back and I winced as my hands were crushed beneath me. The light of the moon spilled over us, giving me just enough light to see by and the shadowy man before me turned my blood to ice.
“I am so fucking sick of looking at you,” he snapped, his voice like a knife slicing through the frigid air. “Get up!”
I pushed my hands into the soft earth, rolling to my knees and standing. Terror ripped into every inch of my body as I found myself gazing down into a six foot deep grave before me.
Blake severed the tie around my wrists then ripped the gag off of my mouth and I yelped in pain.
I swung a fist at him, but he was ready, throwing his palm against my chest so I stumbled backwards. My feet met nothing but air and I screamed as I tumbled down into the hole, landing hard on my back. I spluttered a cough, terror consuming me as I hurried to get to my feet and gazed up at him above me.
“Please don’t do this,” I rasped, my throat raw from swallowed screams.
“Shut the fuck up!” he bellowed and I stilled, trembling from head to toe, wondering how I was ever going to get out of this. Was this where I was going to lay for the rest of time? In some hidden grave in the woods?
“You won’t get away with this,” I blurted. “Everyone on campus knows who-”
“I said – shut the fuck up,” he snarled, reaching for something at his hip and producing a gun. Not just any gun. My dad’s gun. The Glock 19 pistol.
“Blake,” I breathed, my throat closing up as my heart beat harder and harder.
“She’s in a grave like this, you know?” he snarled. “Six fucking feet under because of your filthy fuck of a father.”
“I’m sorry,” I begged as panic seized me. “I know you lost your mom and I’m so, so sorry for that Blake. But you don’t want to do this.”
He laughed hollowly then crouched down, gazing at me with malice in his eyes. “You don’t know what I want,” he said in a deathly quiet tone. “And you don’t know what I’m capable of either.”
I quaked before him, frozen to my core in nothing but my panties and nightdress. “I do know what you want,” I choked out.
Blake blew out a sharp breath through his nose. “And what’s that?”
“You want me hurt,” I whispered. “You want to see me in pain, you want me suffering for what happened to your mom.”
“Maybe I’m done with the suffering,” he growled. “Maybe I want it over with.”
My lower lip trembled and I tentatively reached up to him, my fingers grazing his as I stretched up onto my tip-toes. “You won’t kill me,” I breathed, though I wasn’t sure if my words were true. I just wished they were with all my heart.
He slapped my hand away and I flinched, stepping back.
“She suffered for a week in hospital,” he growled. “She was infectious so they wouldn’t even let us visit her. I had to say goodbye to my mother through fucking FaceTime,” he spat, rising to his feet and kicking the earth so it showered over me.
I backed up against the opposite wall, tears washing over my skin as I stared at this broken boy.
“I’m sorry,” I breathed. “I never had a mom, I can’t even imagine.”
“No, you can’t,” he snarled, his shadowy silhouette blocking out the light of the moon as he glared down at me. The gun hung loosely in his hand, his finger sitting on the trigger and my heart drummed a war beat in my chest. Despite all of my self-defence classes, nothing had prepared me for this. Being helpless. Weak. Unable to fight back.
“She was a good person,” Blake said, a cloud of vapour rising around him in the cold air. “She didn’t deserve to die like that. Alone. With no one there to hold her-” his voice cracked and he turned away from me, starting to pace.
“I know you’re hurting,” I said gently, praying he’d listen to me. “I know what it’s like to lose someone.”
“Fuck you!” he roared, his voice echoing back to us from the mountain. “Don’t lie to me,” he growled and my heart withered as I realised he was never going to listen.
“Please Blake,” I begged. “I’m not your enemy.”
He fell still and I couldn’t see his expression in the dark. I stood, shaky and tiny beneath him, everything I’d ever been and ever would be narrowing in on this moment. He could take it all from me in a single movement. Buy his revenge in blood.
He lifted the gun, aiming it down at me and my heart fractured. It was over. Done. And between the freezing air and the heated tears rolling down my cheeks, I found an inch of calm in it all. Jessica. She felt closer to me then than she had in such a long time, I could almost hear her calling my name on the wind.