Burdened (A Burdened Novel) (22 page)

It’s dark now, and
Ealander’s eyes start to glow. Creepy! “On the contrary,” his voice takes on a dark tone, “my kind is well under-control and not in debt to the universe. We do not owe for deaths.”

“No, you just cause them.” Scott interrupts, with a voice I’ve never heard him use before.

“As have you,” the guy standing next to him with the dirty-blond hair follows. “Do not stand here like you all are the innocent ones. Your names are at the top of the list for a reason. We are not here for nothing, and it’s time you pay up—” He looks over at me. “—with your lives or theirs.” What!?

Nathan turns to him, full-bodied.
“Corieen.” He shakes his head and says, “
That
is a dark road you do not want to go down.”

“You are not supposed to have this. The two of you know you are forbidden against this—the same goes for your sister.” His voice grows louder.
“All three of you, born to
your
family. We are right to be here and we are right to handle this now.”

“I advise you to lower your voice,
prat,” Scott says from Nathan’s side.

Corieen
stares at him, then back at Nathan. “You will speak now—or die.” What!?

Nathan says nothing, and Scott turns his back to Nathan’s so that he is facing the third guy.
“You too Josen? Scott asks him. Josen, simply nods with a frown to his smooth face and piercing eyes. That’s it. The shit’s about to hit the fan.

“Nathan, do not do this. It will not end well for you.
That
is not a threat,” Ealander warns.

“It’s not my ending that you should be worrying about.” I look over to Glen and see that she’s
laying down. I quickly look back to the guys. “What was it exactly that you came here to discuss?”

“Nothing!”
Josen spits, quickly reaching out for Scott, grabbing him by his neck.

I gasp, and remind myself not to move. I don’t do well with watching other people fight, especially people I care about. It’s three on two, and that isn’t fair.

Nathan sends a quick punch to Corieen, sending him back a few steps and grabbing his face.

Ealander
starts shaking—vibrating. The air around him starts to buzz.

Nathan backs up, taking him in. Not knowing what
Ealander is going to do, he kicks him in the chest. Ealander flies back and a gust of blazing air erupts from him.

Nathan moves quickly, avoiding the blast, but backing up into Scott, who has just been dropped by
Josen. His hands are still around Scott’s neck, but Scott is kneeling in the sand, cuffing the guy’s arms. Scott pulls the guy’s hands from his neck as he turns around to look at Nathan.

Corieen
is walking towards Nathan, making it to him in seconds, sending the same kind of kick to Nathan that he had delivered to Ealander—hitting him and sending him into Scott.

Ealander
is back on his feet, rushing over to Nathan and Scott as they get up from the ground.

Corieen
starts walking towards me. I’m about to scream out to Nathan, but hold it in, remembering what he had said.

Nathan
! I yell internally.

It’s hard for me to keep still and not to speak. I don’t know why he doesn’t want me to speak, but I’m not willing to risk it.

Josen is now on his feet. Nathan looks at Scott, who nods. Leaving Scott’s side, Nathan ends up next to Corieen. He grabs him by his neck, turning him around.

Corieen
fights back, issuing Nathan a few blows to the head. Nathan’s eyes turn night-blue, with a faint light in the back of them, making them easy to see in the dark. He grabs Corieen’s hand that’s hitting him and makes deep eye-contact with him.

Corieen
he has electric currents flaring from the fingertips of his free hand. Slowly, Corieen’s hand starts rising to his own chest and he reaches inside him. My mouth falls open as I watch it. This has to be the most sickening shit I’ve ever seen.

I can hear the flesh burning and separating. Seconds later, he pulls his hand out, with his own heart held in his palm. It bubbles and sizzles until it turns into ash.
Corieen’s body goes limp and Nathan drops him in the sand. He concentrates on the body for less than a second and it erupts into sand, joining the sand on the beach.

I remove my hands from the sand, eyes still on Nathan.

“Nathan!” Scott yells, and we both look in his direction. Ealander and Josen are hovered around Scott. Ealander is behind him, struggling to hold him down, while Josen has the electric current flowing from his fingers—pressing firmly against Scotts face, but not penetrating it.

Nathan rushes over, grabbing
Ealander by the sides of his head, wasting no time as Ealander yells out. Nathan crushes his skull in seconds. Concentrating on the limp body, it also joins the sand. Josen is left to Scott.

Scott pushes him and he flies backwards into the air. He lands in the sand on his feet. Scott meets him the moment he lifts his head.

Tracey, look at me
! Nathan yells in my head.

I look at him, but quickly turn back to Scott.

Tracey, look at me
! he says again, harshly.

I turn to him, but can’t help turning back to Scott. Scott is closing the distance, his jaw looking animal-like.

Nathan appears in front of me, on his knees, blocking my sight, with his chest at eyelevel. I hear a cold, manly shriek. It must be coming from Josen, or else Nathan would be helping.

What is going on? I want to see what’s happening! There is another shriek, but it is cut off by a gurgle sound that fills me with a sickening feeling. I hear flesh hit the ground. Nathan doesn’t move.

He lets go of an angry breath as he lowers his head to look at me. His eyes are swirling from the color of night to brown. “I’m sorry.”

I look at him. Scott walks by and kneels down beside me. “I’m sorry too.” Nathan turns quickly as Scott grabs my attention, but when I look back at him, he’s looking back at me.

“Thanks,” he says to Scott, still looking at me.

Scott stands. “No thanks needed.” He walks away, back towards Glen, who is still lying down.

Nathan only stares at me. “Can I touch you?” he asks, after minutes have passed.

Why is he asking?

“I didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable if I did.” It did freak me out seeing what he is capable of—the whole mind-possession, the strength to crush skulls, then the turning dead bodies into sand—but he is still my Nathan, right? He wouldn’t do those things to me, right? “No, I wouldn’t, Tracey.”

“Are you okay?” I ask quietly, my hands still shaking as my nerves try to calm themselves.

He nods, sitting next to me. “So can I touch you?”

“Yes, Nathan. There is nothing you can do to make me not want you.”

He pulls me to him, wrapping me in his arms. “Thank you, baby.” He kisses my temple. Everything eases—my nerves and the sickening feeling I had.

Sitting out here no longer settles well with me. I want to leave. “You ready to go?”

“Yes,” he answers, without thinking about it.

I get
up, throwing everything in the bag it came out of, pissed that I didn’t get to enjoy any of it. He grabs the blankets and we head towards the house. “Are you going to tell Scott we’re going in?”

“Yeah.”
He pauses. “Just did. They are going to sit out here for a little while longer. Then they’re going to stay overnight here. You okay with that?”

“If I wasn’t, would you make them leave?”

“Yes,” he answers without hesitation.

I laugh. “No, I’m okay with it. Your house is big enough. They can have the basement and we can have your room.”

He looks down at me. “Right. We could have popcorn and watch a movie,” he suggests.

I like the sound of that. “Good idea,” I say, smiling.

We take the long walk back to the house and thoughts from earlier make their way back into my head. Nathan is talking about all the movies they have that I can choose from.

“Nathan?” He looks at me, but doesn’t answer. I quickly continue, before he reads my thoughts. “Why don’t you wake up with me?”

He hardens. “What are you getting at, Tracey?” he says, looking away from me.

“I’m just asking a question.”

“But that’s not the question you’re trying to ask.” His voice is smooth, no tone in it. It is hard to read him.

“Nathan, just answer the question. You kill me with your beating around the bush.” He looks at me with a slight squint in his eyes. If I didn’t know him well enough, I wouldn’t have noticed. “And get out of my head.” I give him a warning look.

“We’ll talk when we get in the house.” We always have to wait. I don’t understand that.

I stay quiet for the remainder of the walk that is taking forever. We finally walk into the house, and he throws the blankets down what looks like a laundry chute. He reaches out to grab the bag of snacks from me, and I hand it to him in a way so he can’t touch me.

He notices and tenses up, clenching his jaw. The sexiest shit I ever saw. He turns from me, placing the bag on the island, not bothering to put anything away. I hold myself together, wanting to go over to him.

Without speaking, he goes to a cabinet, grabs a bag of popcorn kernels, and puts it in a microwave that sits near the fridge. He turns it on, pressing the popcorn button, then grabs a two-liter of orange soda from the fridge and places it on the counter.

Everything he does, he does forcefully, ending with a thud or a slam. I hold back my amusement. He opens another cabinet, grabbing two glasses. Going into the cabinet next to it, he grabs two plastic bowls. He looks back at me, catching me watching him. Turning back around, he shakes his head.

I continue watching him as he goes to the freezer side of the fridge and fills one of the plastic bowls with ice. The microwave goes off and he gets the other bowl, takes out the popcorn, and empties the bag into it.

He throws the empty bag in the trash and walks over to me. Handing me the two-liter and the bowl of ice, he grabs the popcorn and glasses.

“Come on,” he says to me coldly, and starts walking ahead of me. Aww, I made him mad.

Taking the journey to his room, he stops by what looks like a den and grabs two movies. I can’t see what they are as he walks back to me. We climb the rounded staircase and finally make it. Gosh, that’s a lot to go through just to get to your comfort zone!

I walk in first and he follows, closing the door behind him. I set the pop and ice on his desk, and start taking off my shoes. He walks by me, doing the same, standing closer than he needs to.

“Umm, can I get some space?” I ask jokingly.

“Umm, can you stop acting like you can’t touch me?”

“I will, after you answer my questions. Touching you will make me forget.”

“If I wanted you to forget your questions, I wouldn’t have to touch you.”

“I don’t know where you’re going with this, but you better not.” I cover my head with my arms to protect it.

He laughs at me. “What are you doing?”

“Protecting my head from you infiltrating it and making me forget—or whatever you’re going to do.”

“Oh yeah, you covering your head is definitely going to stop me.” He pulls my arms down and pulls me to him. “I wouldn’t do that to you anyway. Go sit down while I set up the movies and popcorn.”

I sit on the king-sized bed, which is very comfortable. I didn’t notice how comfortable it is, yesterday. I could definitely get used to this room.

“What are you saying, Tracey?”

“Get out of my head, Nathan.” I change my own subject and watch him do everything. I’m ready to change my jeans into something more comfortable. I really want a shower.

“Go get in the shower.
There’s some clothes for you in the top drawer of the dresser that’s next to you.”

Did he really fill a drawer with clothes for me?

“Yes.”

I let go of an irritated breath. He is doing that on purpose. Leaving my mind blank, I grab the clothes and go to the shower.
Extremely blank as I get in the shower. I like that the bathroom is attached to his room so I don’t have to risk running into anyone. I feel uncomfortable about taking a shower in someone else’s house.

I finish up, dry off, and put on the clothes I had grabbed. I took a pair of his drawstring shorts from the drawer. I also noticed he had put some panties, bras, tanks, socks, jeans, and a few shirts in his drawer for me as well. I smiled when I saw everything. I grabbed a pair of panties, a bra, and a tank.

This time, in his bathroom are a comb and a brush, sitting on the sink, still in the packaging. I open them and brush my hair heavily from my scalp to the ends. It feels so good, considering I had not brushed it all day or last night. I pull it back into a ponytail, letting it hang. I brush my teeth and rewash my face. I feel so much better. Watching Nathan fight, and feeling him get angry, really took a lot out of me.