Page 49 of Awakened Gifts
Rex floors it, sending Mel squealing as the acceleration kicks her back in her seat. It shouldn’t take us long to get to Sherlan, but she wasn’t there when she projected that message. I know it for certain now, given the fact where that newsfeed was streaming from.
Sherlan is nothing more than a deserted old compound that hasn’t had anyone living in it for centuries. At least we don’t have to worry about someone freaking out when they see her.
“If she was in the middle of that…” Rex’s voice trails off, and I force myself not to read his mind.
“Then we don’t have to worry about her being ready to tear us apart,” I mumble, still wincing from the hellacious after effects that the mind projection is still having on my body.
“Up there,” Mel says, moving back between the seats so she can point.
I look just as a whirl of… something starts spinning, and my heart kicks up in my throat. Before our eyes, Aria’s body materializes from thin air, and my mouth falls open as I watch in disbelief.
The small fragments spin, slowly completing the form of the girl I love. No one is breathing as Rex slams on the brakes, and we all just watch until Aria is whole, her body limply lying in tattered form on the ground. Blood is oozing from her, and I start to worry that not all of her body has come back.
“Don’t,” Mel hisses when I go to get out of the car.
“She’s fucking bleeding to death,” I growl, ripping free from her hold, and rushing toward the girl I keep failing.
No more. I’ll never fail her again. I know what I have to do, and even though it kills me, I’ll release her to save her life.
“Aria!” I yell, biting back a grimace when her head barely raises.
I drop to my knees when I reach her, and her black eyes look up to meet mine, proving my girl is still lost. But I can’t stop myself from cradling her in my arms. “Come on, baby. You need blood.”
She gives me a weak smile, but it falls quickly when she starts coughing.
“I wasn’t… strong… enough… either,” she says through labored, painful breaths. She looks up at me, her eyes slowly fading back to violet, and a small tug forms in the center of my heart. “She needs… a counter.”
I can’t focus on the pain I feel at her words. She’s more important than I am. Her breaths stall as she falls back in a languid motion, forcing me to hold her up on my own, and I lift her up from the ground to rush her back toward the car. I pray we have enough damn blood.
“What’s going on?” Rex yells as I run through the collapsed gates of the abandoned compound that rests off to the side.
“Grab the blood! And then call in reinforcements. We’re going to need everyone here.”
Chapter 16
ARIA
I’ve had a long life, one that has been full of demanding obstacles and a rollercoaster of emotions. I’ve faced death more times than I can count, especially this past year. It’s not easy to be the target for everyone, and it’s sure as hell not easy to keep feeling as though I have no control over my own life.
Fate, destiny, savages… It’s all a giant cluster of madness that I can’t seem to get a handle on. Everything keeps spiraling out of control, and I keep getting lost in the middle, doing what I can just to hang on for some semblance of hope. But hope only continues to evade me, and reality keeps making me its bitch. I’m sick of being a damn pawn in my own skin, and that savage lunatic better not ever come back again.
A wave of nausea hits when I think back to the blood I had to watch be shed, and the way my psychotic half thrived off the pain she inflicted. I was two parts of a person in one body, feeling as though I was lost inside my own flesh. But now… Now I can’t even open my eyes.
The wounds feel as though they’re healed, but my body feels constricted, unmoving. My eyes are so heavy, and it’s almost as though I could go to sleep and stay that way for centuries. For all I know, I already have.
With a harsh push, my lids open just barely to see a blurry, dim room. The dank atmosphere tells me I’m below ground, but no clear imagery is easy to find. But my sense of smell works just fine, and my heart thunders in my chest when the sex and candy scent hits me.
Jase.
“Aria?” His soft voice is so soothing, even though I can’t see him.
It’s me.
I hear a breath of relief, and then suddenly a shadowy figure looms before me. It forces me to find the strength to lift my eyes open fully, and though my vision is still somewhat unfocused, I see him.
A half laugh, half cry comes out of me, and I try to reach for him, only to be rejected when chains rattle around my hands. It’s then I realize why my body is so constricted; I’m chained from head to toe. My entire body is strapped down to a table, and panic seizes me.
“Shh,” Jase soothes, stroking my hair affectionately. He bends as though he’s about to kiss me, and my eyes water, making my vision all the more disrupted. But then he stops, reluctance coursing through the air as he seems to fight some inner war. When he withdraws without pressing his lips to mine, my heart sinks.