The Seven Devils (YA "New Adult" Romance) (26 page)

NO

NO!

NO!!

No one could take me from Neil. No one could take anything from me again! I would not give up, and I would not go down without giving everything I had!

I gathered what little strength I had within me and used it to try one last time to break free. Instead of trying to pry his hands off my neck with my fingers I shot my right arm up over my head and then twisted my body to the left as much as I could and then brought my right arm down, elbow first, straight into his arms. The force was enough for him to lose hold of my neck and I immediately back-handed him across the face as hard as I could. He stumbled back, but I immediately saw my mistake. He stumbled back towards the stairs; he was still blocking my escape. I had only a second before he came back at me, so I darted back into my mother’s room and locked the door behind me.

My throat was in bad shape and I could barely breathe. I couldn’t stop, though, I had to find a way out. I went to the window but the damn thing wouldn’t open. I could break it, but it was a straight drop to the driveway and I knew I would probably at least break a leg on the way down, and that’s if I was lucky.

I turned and looked at the door. I couldn’t hear my father. I would have thought he would be breaking down the door by now. What was he doing out there? I suddenly heard a loud bang from the first floor of the house. I desperately looked around for a weapon and grabbed the metal desk lamp. I crept to the side of the door and waited for my father to break in.

A moment later the door burst off its hinges. I was halfway through my swing with the lamp when I heard, “Ellen, no!” in my head. Only then did I see that it was Neil who had burst into the room. He ducked out of the way as I completely lost hold of the lamp and it flew out into the hallway.

“Neil!” I cried, grabbing onto him.

His eyes were wide and and frightened. “Ellen... Oh, God, Ellen!” he said, touching my face gently. He immediately pulled the pain from my body. I no longer felt the immense pain from my neck, face, or arm. I immediately felt more calm.

“Ellen, where is he? I can’t hear him at all,” Neil said.

I shook my head furiously. “I have no idea. He was in the hall a min-” I broke off with a scream.

My father came into my view behind Neil with one of Austin’s golf clubs raised in his hands. It came down so fast that Neil didn’t have time to even move. It all happened so fast, but I found myself seeing two things at once. As I saw my father bring the golf club down on Neil’s head, and saw Neil’s eyes widen as he saw through my eyes what was about to happen, I saw a vision for a split second. I saw a gun under my mother’s mattress. Neil crumpled to the floor and blood flew from the back of his head. I screamed with all my might and was even more terrified when all of my pain came back to me. Everything that Neil had taken away when he had touched me moments earlier came rushing back to me all at once. He was gone and I was alone with this.

I didn’t have time to think, I had to trust that the vision Neil sent me of the gun was true. I dove backwards towards the bed and flipped the mattress up. for a moment I couldn’t see anything in the dark room, but then I could see the vague outline of a handgun towards the center of the box springs. I grabbed it and turned towards my father.

He stepped over Neil’s body on the floor and hesitated for a moment when he saw the gun. But then he laughed. “You don’t have the guts to shoot me, you little maggot. You’re as spineless as your weasel-faced mother.” He took another step towards me and I didn’t even think. I just pulled the trigger. He immediately staggered backwards with a groan. I fired three more times and he fell to the floor.

Chapter 28

“Oh God, Oh God, Oh God...” I said, and rushed towards Neil on the floor. I couldn’t see a God damn thing so I reached up and turned on the lights. My father was bleeding profusely and didn’t seem to be conscious any longer. It looked like I hit him once in the shoulder and once in the chest. Neil’s head was lying in a small puddle of blood. Tears welled up in my eyes but I couldn’t let myself fall apart. I had to get help. NOW.

I sprinted downstairs to the kitchen to grab my cellphone and I dialed 911. I screamed into the phone on the way back upstairs that I needed an ambulance and gave my address. I then dropped the phone and knelt next to Neil on the floor. I put my hand on his chest, silently thanking God that I could still feel his heart beating and his chest was still rising and falling. I looked at the scene in front of me and completely fell apart.

“Neil,” I cried, shaking his shoulder gently. “Neil, please please wake up. Neil, I don’t know what to do!”

The emergency people would be at the house within a few minutes and what would I say? I just shot a man... was I going to go to jail for this? What was I going to say? What would I do if Neil didn’t wake up again? What if he had brain damage? A million scenarios ran through my mind and I grabbed the phone off the floor. I hit #2 on speed dial and prayed Josh would pick up.

He answered on the second ring. “Ellen!” he cried happily. “I was just thinking about you.”

“Josh,” I croaked, my throat burning like fire. “I need you; I need you right now. You need to come to my house. Neil’s hurt and won’t wake up! And my dad... I shot him. There’s blood everywhere. Josh, please, I need you!”

“What?” he cried and then I heard what sounded like the phone being dropped.

“Josh? Josh??” I cried into the phone, but there was no one there.

I pulled Neil’s head into my lap and applied pressure to his wound, praying that was the right thing to do. I completely started bawling. He looked so helpless and pale. What was I going to do? How could I let this happen?

“Ellen!” I heard Josh call from downstairs.

“Josh!” I screamed, and heard him fly up the stairs. When he reached the doorway to my mother’s room I saw his face completely fall apart. His expression was in stark contrast to the rest of him. He must have been at a show; he was wearing a full tuxedo. He looked completely terrified and panicked, but only for a moment. When his eyes got to me his face became stern.

“Ellen,” he said, squatting down and grasping my shoulder. “Did you call 911?”

I nodded quickly. “Before I called you. They’re on their way.”

Josh nodded. “Good. What did you say on the phone? Did you say who was hurt and how?”

I shook my head. “I didn’t say anything, just that I needed an ambulance.”

Josh squeezed my shoulder gently. “Good. Now listen to me. I have to go. I am in Washington D.C. right now, about to go on stage. I can’t explain how I made it from that concert hall to here in a matter of minutes if anyone sees me.”

My face crumpled. “But...”

Josh shook his head. “Ellen, you can do this. The ambulance will come and you will go in it along with Neil. They will take care of you both. Just do not answer any questions. Don’t say a word, do you understand? Not a single word unless the doctors need to know something to better treat you both. Okay?”

I nodded. I could hear a siren nearby.

“I am going to make some excuse at my show. Tell them a friend is in trouble and needs help, and then I’m going to get you a lawyer and get back here. I’m going to help you out of this, do you understand? I’m not leaving you.”

I looked into his eyes. He looked so strong and so sure. I took a breath and nodded. “Okay, Josh. I won’t say a thing. I’ll wait for you.”

He nodded and put a hand on Neil’s shoulder. The siren was right outside. He leaned forward and kissed me on the forehead and said, “I love you both,” and then disappeared. Seconds later a team of paramedics ran into the house.

“Up here!” I yelled as loud as my throat would let me. It was pandemonium after that. The room was suddenly full of uniformed men and women, bandages, bags of gear, and stretchers. They took Neil from my lap but I would not let him out of my sight. No matter what, I would not leave him.

***

As soon as we arrived at the hospital, they wheeled Neil’s stretcher one way and tried to lead me the other way.

“No!” I yelled, digging in my heels. “I need to stay with Neil!”

Two nurses took my arms and began to pull me away. They tried to explain that they were taking him for testing and I couldn’t follow him.

“No!!” I screamed and tried to turn to follow Neil. I continued to scream and fight to get free from the nurses, but they held me down and another ran up and with a syringe. “No, please,” I whimpered, feeling the pinch on my arm. In moments I was out.

The moment I woke up I knew that Neil had gained consciousness. I could feel him there in my mind.

“Neil!” I cried. My mother sat up quickly. She had been dozing in a chair in my room.

“Ellen,” she said. “What happened? Your father is in critical condition and they say he’s been shot! Then I hear you had to be restrained when you were brought into the hospital. What in the hell did you do? Do you know how much trouble you’re in?”

“Fuck you,” I said, climbing out of the hospital bed.

I was at the door when she said, “Wait!” I looked back at her. She looked like she had just rolled out of bed. She wouldn’t look me in the eyes, and compulsively rubbed har hands together. “Ellen... just make sure you tell the police when they question you that I was just out for the night. They need to know that I was still living at the house.”

I turned and walked out.

“Neil?” I asked in my head. I could feel him there, but he wasn’t responding.

A nurse stopped me in the hall and I convinced her to show me to Neil’s room. He was just a little ways down the hall from me. His head was bandaged and he looked pale, but otherwise he looked alright.

“How is he?” I asked the nurse.

She shook her head slightly. “This boy is a miracle. When he came in here he had lost a good amount of blood and his brain was swelling rapidly. We were afraid we’d have to relieve the pressure by--” She broke off and touched my shoulder softly. “Well, none of that was necessary. The swelling suddenly began to go down. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

I smiled. “So he’s going to be alright?”

She smiled kindly. “He’s going to be just fine. He just needs some rest. He has a lot of healing to do.”

Two police officers found me in Neil’s room not much later. My mother followed them into the room and shut the door. I eyed the officers carefully and tried to stay calm. I tried not to look at the guns clipped to their belts. Were they here to arrest me?

“Ellen, we need to take your statement. You need to tell us exactly what happened last night,” the officer with the goatee said. The other officer pulled a chair up closer to me and whipped out a small pad of paper and a pen.

I shook my head softly. “I’m sorry. I want to cooperate, but I am not supposed to say anything until my lawyer is here.”

The goatee officer lifted an eyebrow.

“What?!” my mother shouted. “Don’t be stupid, Ellen, just answer their questions.”

The officer in the chair told me he would be happy to call a public defender in to meet with me, but I told him that wouldn’t be necessary. “My lawyer is on his way. Or her way. I’m not really sure,” I stammered.

“You called a lawyer? How do you expect me to pay for that?” my mother shouted, getting up into my face. I squeezed Neil’s hand and stood to face her.

“Officers, could you remove my mother, please? I do not feel safe in her company.”

My mother’s face turned almost purple with rage. The officer stood from his seat and asked my mom to accompany him outside. The goatee officer looked me over and said, “We’ll be right outside. Once your lawyer arrives we’ll have our meeting.”

I nodded and he walked out.

We didn’t have to wait much longer. Within the hour Josh and a very smartly dressed woman walked into Neil’s room. I immediately ran to Josh and threw my arms around him.

Josh squeezed me tight and then pulled back to look me in the face. “Ellen, are you alright? They said you and Neil are both in good condition?”

I nodded. “I’m fine, just sore. They say Neil is healing extremely rapidly and he’ll pull through just fine. They say it’s a miracle.” I paused and glanced at the woman Josh came in with and then back to Josh. “You know how he is,” I said quickly.

Josh nodded with a smile. “Good to hear. Ellen, this is your lawyer, Joyce Grey. We don’t have a lot of time before the police will insist on getting their questions answered, so I need you to tell her exactly what happened last night and anything that led up to it that would be pertinent.”

I nodded and we got to work.

I explained the entire situation of the last several months to Mrs. Grey, leaving out only the parts that had anything to do with the things Neil and Josh could do. She said it was a cut and dry case and there should be no problems. She coached me through what to say to the police, and our meeting with them went off without a hitch. The police officers seemed to agree that I acted in self-defense, and it didn’t sound as though I would be charged. After another checkup from my doctor, I was officially released from the hospital, but I refused to leave Neil’s side.

Later that evening Neil woke up.