Irresistible Fear (34 page)

Emily stood there, watching Sasha walk away from her, feeling her heart become heavier and heavier. This was absolutely ridiculous! Emily yelled at herself. What was that expression? No man was an island. But here she was floating on her own in the middle of an unending ocean. What few friends she had, namely Sasha and Jeremy, had very little to do with her. Her work colleagues barely spoke to her anymore, mostly because she barely spoke to them. And she was completely ignoring her mother, who was actually trying to create a relationship with her.

As she wallowed in her misery, she felt the craving to be with Tavin. She needed to see him, to feel that connection that told her she wasn’t floundering around all by herself. Without allowing time to talk herself out of it she made her way to the end of the hallway and stealthily left the building.

The sky was overcast and snow drifted down from the sky. It was cold, unusually so. Forecasters had said it was the coldest December in fifty years. Emily crammed her hands in her pocket and kept her head down as she walked quickly down the street, leaving the school behind her.

Her breath created visible clouds in front of her and she quickened her pace as the cold seeped into her limbs. Her coat wasn’t the best for the weather and her sneakers did nothing to keep out the frigid air.

She had to get home, had to see him. Tavin’s face danced in front of her as she made her way towards her house. Emily felt her heart beat quicken as she thought of seeing him.

She wasn’t paying attention to anything else and that was stupid. Because she didn’t hear the crack of the tree branch until it was too late. She was walking underneath a large Maple tree when her foot got stuck on a broken piece of pavement. Her foot caught the edge of the concrete and she fell forward. Emily threw her hands out to stop her fall and scraped her palms in the process.

Emily was focused on the sting of her skin when the branch fell. She vaguely remembered hearing the crunch as it separated from the tree and the whooshing as gravity pulled it towards her. Emily looked up a split second before it made contact with her body.

Acting quickly, realizing that she was about to be flattened by the huge limb, she rolled out of the way. The edge of the branch snagged her jeans and she was pinned by the massive piece of wood. Emily’s leg was held immobile by the branch and she was flat on her back.

She struggled to sit up, pushing herself up on her elbows. The branch was huge. She looked up at the tree, seeing where it fell from. Emily squinted, trying to make sense of what just happened. She could swear there was smoke billowing from the trunk where the branch had been attached.

Emily smelled something then. Something that smelled strongly of rotten meat. A nauseating smell that made her stomach flip over. She struggled to free her leg but she couldn’t move it. Emily then heard another cracking and looked up to see another branch separating from the tree. The smell became stronger and she felt sick to her stomach.

The tree seemed to be falling apart, and she was trapped unmoving beneath it. Emily began to pull wildly at her leg, pushing at the wood that held her there. The second branch fell, directly on top of the one that pinned her. A slice of pain shot up her leg and she began to panic.

Another crack and Emily could see smoke curling out of the trunk. Something seemed to be cutting the limbs from the tree. Emily knew with absolute certainty that if she didn't somehow get out from under this tree, it would bury her alive. Her adrenaline kicked into high gear and she pushed the branch with all of her strength.

It gave a little, moving the slightest inch. A whooshing noise and the third branch landed a foot from her head. The entire tree began to sway as if it were alive. Emily began to yell then, loud, hysterical yelling. “Help! Please! Someone help me!” She yelled over and over. Pleading for someone to hear her. The tree rained branches and bark down around her. She moved this way and that, narrowly avoiding being flattened.

Finally she heard footsteps running towards her. “Oh my god Emily! What is going on?” A man’s voice yelled from behind her. Then suddenly a pair of hands began to lift the branches from her body, freeing her. Emily didn’t recognize the voice and barely registered that he had used her name.

“Move your leg if you can.” The voice directed her. Emily had yet to see her savior; she simply complied with the request. She pulled her leg in and attempted to stand up. The leg immediately buckled under her and she fell to the ground again.

Another crack and the entire tree began to sag toward her. It seemed as if it were about to fall over. Those merciful hands lifted her up and carried her quickly away from the tree just as it fell over, crashing to the sidewalk. Emily closed her eyes as she was carried away from what would have been her death.

The man sat her down on a bench across the street. “I’m calling 911. Don’t move. You need to have that leg looked at.” Emily looked at the man then. He was middle aged with thinning red hair. He was a rugged sort of person, with a camouflage jacket and worn Wrangler jeans. He looked like the stereotypical trucker type.

He spoke quickly into his phone, giving directions and telling the dispatcher where they were. When he was finished, he folded the phone and put it in his pocket. He turned to look at her and she saw his eyes. Emily wasn't the least bit surprised that they were a familiar blue.

He had saved her again. Tavin reached out and folded her in arms that were currently well muscled and smelling faintly of wood smoke. Emily felt strange being held by him while he looked like this. But she sagged against him and felt his heat penetrate the cold of her body.

“Emily.” He whispered over and over in that rough and unfamiliar voice thick with emotion. Emily barely heard the sirens as they came closer and closer. While the paramedics checked her over, she watched him as he spoke to the police officers.

Tavin had saved her. He had taken over another body to do it. Emily knew that this was hard for him to do even when he was at full strength. The love that filled her heart threatened to burst out of her. But a dread sliced through it, chilling her as she was wrapped in the thick medical blanket.

Tavin being here confirmed that she had been targeted, and she knew who had done it. Lying on the stretcher as she was loaded into the back of the ambulance, Emily could have sworn she heard laughter ringing in her ears.

********************

“Tavin!” She screamed. Where was he? Emily had immediately gone to sleep when she had gotten home from the hospital. She had been lucky in that she had only sprained her knee and had a few cuts and bruises. The doctor had commented on how she was fortunate that Mr. Wallace had been so close. It turned out that Tavin’s borrowed body was that of a town maintenance man, who was apparently home for lunch when she began screaming for help.

Of course Mr. Wallace had no memory of helping Emily. Tavin had ridden in the ambulance with Emily but when they had arrived at the hospital the man had been overcome by a tremendous coughing fit. And just like the boy in the caverns and Chris a week ago, Mr. Wallace had come to without a clue as to why he was in an ambulance with a strange girl. The doctor chalked it up to shock, or adrenaline overload.

Emily’s mom came to the hospital immediately and fretted about her daughter’s condition. Emily had to tell her mother at least a hundred times in the car that she was fine and just wanted to go home and sleep. The amazing thing was no one had thought to ask why she was leaving school at that time. Because the reality was she had been cutting class. Oh, well, Emily didn’t want to look a gift horse in the mouth and so didn’t mention it.

When Emily and her mother had gotten home, she went straight to her room, ignoring her mother’s efforts to fuss over her. She had locked the dead bolt and changed into her favorite pjs. She was exhausted and knew that sleep would come quickly. But just to be on the safe side, she took two whole sleeping pills and crawled into bed.

She was asleep not long after her head hit the pillow. She came to in a wooded clearing. Emily recognized it as the Bluestone national forest, not far from a place she had camped with Sasha’s family last year. The sun shone through the trees and there was a slight breeze that stirred the leaves.

Emily was aware of the deafening silence. No birds, no animals, nothing. It was a little creepy. But that wasn’t what really bothered her. It was the fact that he wasn’t waiting for her. She was alone.

Emily made her way through the trees, looking everywhere, breathing deeply, desperate to catch the tell-tale scent of cinnamon. But there was nothing. The only sound was the crunching of dead leaves under her feet. “Tavin!” She yelled.

Still nothing. Emily felt the reality set in. He wasn’t there and she knew he wasn’t coming. Something deep inside her knew this was true. Emily finally stopped her endless searching and sat down on a tree stump. Her breathing was quick and ragged and she was filled with a sorrow that was deep and painful. He was gone, really gone. Emily had dreaded this day, feared it even as she knew it would happen eventually.

For once Emily couldn't cry. She only felt numb. Tavin was gone. She would never see him again. The truth crashed into her with startling clarity.

She was so lost in her miserable thoughts that she was unaware of the new presence. She finally felt it, something different. Something…wrong. Emily held herself silent, listening. It was then that she felt the terror. This fear was all too familiar and one that she used to feel every night.

Emily felt hot breath on her cheek and smelled something akin to rotten garbage. A nauseating, sickening smell. One that sent her stomach rolling. Her entire body prickled and she began to tremble. It was happening again. With a quick movement, she jumped up and turned to face the beast that stood behind her. She screamed, this time in mortal dread.

What stood behind her was no monster. It was a demon…
her
demon. It was Tavin. His eyes were gone, gaping black holes in his face. His once beautiful black hair was now bedraggled and coarse around his shoulders. The smell over took her again and she leaned over and her body heaved.

Standing up, Emily began to move away from him. Now her fear was mixed with something else; betrayal. She felt fatigue take over and the deadening of her limbs as all control was taken from her. Emily’s feet felt weighted to the ground beneath her and she tried desperately to move them. Nothing was happening. She looked at his horrible face and felt her heart break all over again. How could he do this to her?

Emily shook her head, refusing to believe what was standing in front of her. He had promised her and she had believed that he could never hurt her again. Emily felt like an idiot. He was a demon. What did she expect to happen?

But as Emily looked at his warped face, she felt something else wedged between her anger and her fear. She felt…uncertainty. Tavin loved her. She knew that, she felt that deep inside her. She couldn’t believe that he would feed from her again.

But that is exactly what the demon was doing…he was feeding. Now that she was aware of what was happening she could isolate the sickening feeling associated with it. It felt like her entire soul was being wrenched out of her body. It wasn’t a slow process, it was violent one.

He began to move towards her and she suddenly found herself able to move. So she ran. Ran as fast as she could. She was petrified and knew with a deep buried instinct that she couldn’t let him catch her. If he did, she was dead.

She heard the heavy footfalls behind her and knew that he ran after her. Emily knew he could have easily caught her but was enjoying the chase. The malicious glee she felt emanating from him was horrible. He was enjoying her fear, delighting in it.

Branches ripped at her skin, scratching her face. Rocks dug into her feet as she ran and ran. She refused to scream, though they were so close to erupting from her lips. Emily saw an outcrop of rocks ahead and quickly dodged and weaved through the trees, hoping to throw him off of her trail. She made her way to the rocks and scrambled over them.

She hid behind them, trying to control the erratic pace of her breathing. She had never felt so scared in her entire life. Again, she berated herself for her foolishness. Tavin was what he was and he lived how he lived. It was destined to end like this. He had marked her; she belonged to him and he had said that it would either end in her death or his.

After all of the months together, she couldn’t understand what had changed for him. After he had just saved her from a certain death, here he was handing death to her personally. It just didn’t seem right. And for the second time she felt a twinge in her gut. Something about this, besides the obvious, just didn’t make sense.

She peered cautiously over the rock and looked into the thick forest. She didn’t see him. Emily breathed deeply, not smelling the decay that was indicative of his demonic form. She sat back down and pressed her back into the rock.

Then the crunch of feet on the undergrowth. “Come out, come out, where ever you are.” Tavin's distorted voice called, moving slowly toward her hiding place. Emily tried to make herself as small as she could, hunching down behind the huge bolder.

“I know you're there Emily. I can smell your fear.” His voice sounded odd. The tone and cadence were all wrong. “I promise not to hurt you...I only want to talk...” The voice changed again and Emily's blood turned to ice. Because it was definitely not Tavin. No, that voice was female.

Emily didn't move. She was frozen in place by this change of events. Part of her was relieved that it wasn't Tavin hunting her. But then this could only be one person...one thing. Lilith.

Tavin had warned her that his mother was after her. But seeing her here, in her dreams, terrified her in a way that meant death. So she stayed where she was. There was no way she could face the demon.

Lilith chuckled. “That's fine, you want to act like a child, so be it. But Tavin is gone little girl. You'll never see him again.” Emily's stomach slammed into her feet. He was gone. Forever. She hadn't even gotten to say goodbye. The numbness took over, the tears gone. Now it was about survival.