Blood Moon's Servant: A Paranormal Thriller Page 20

  Anger rippled in Susan’s chest. “What’s wrong with you? We can’t go along with this. That’s exactly what Alex wants us to do. It’s a more interesting show if we turn on each other.”

  Caleb raised his hand from a lonely corner of the room. “What if you’re exempt?”

  Alex’s brow creased in a frown. “You’re still exempt. You have to decide which of your classmates should die, but no one will be allowed to vote for you. Is anyone else here exempt?”

  “I am.” Rebecca Zabka, a quiet girl with frosted blond pigtails, raised her hand. Ryan reluctantly raised his, as well.

  Alex checked their nametags. “No one is allowed to vote for Rebecca Zabka, Ryan Rivera, or Caleb Maxwell. You guys have twenty minutes to make your decision. I suggest you begin persuading your neighbors to keep you around before someone literally stabs you in the back.”

  Kids scrambled into clusters of twos and threes. The room buzzed with frantic whispers. Fingers of dread closed around Susan’s heart and twisted it like a Pringle.

  “I say we pick that kid.” Ryan pointed out a short, nerdy boy with glasses.

  “Why?” José eyed him curiously.

  “I don’t know! We have to pick someone.” Ryan’s words were taut and frayed.

  Chris shook his head. “Vincent helped me with all my book reports last year. He’s a good guy. Plus, he looks like my brother’s best friend.”

  “What about her?” Jake nodded to a lost-looking chubby girl with silky brown hair.

  “No!” Chris said. “That’s Elaine Reynolds. Her dad’s in the military, and her mom just got diagnosed with cancer.”

  “How the hell do you know everyone!” Jake covered his mouth with his hands and let out a muffled shriek.

  “You aren’t okay with this, are you?” Susan shot Sam an imploring look. She alone had stayed silent.

  Sam shook her head. “Guys. What happens if we refuse to vote?”

  “He’ll kill us!” Jake cried. “Going against anything Alex says is suicide.”

  Susan tossed her hair. “He can’t kill all of us.”

  “No, but he can kill one of us,” Chris said.

  “You think it will be me?” Her insides squirmed like she had swallowed a bucket of worms.

  Ryan nodded, a frown creasing his brow. “He already hates you, and he doesn’t know who Daniel is. You’re his number one target.”

  Chris gaped. “Dude! How do you know who I am?”

  Jake held up a hand. “We’re wasting time. Let’s pick someone and get it over with.”

  Susan glanced around the classroom. Everyone else had clustered together into one large faction. They were speaking in hushed voices and shooting uneasy looks at Susan and her friends.

  She nudged Chris in the ribs. He followed her gaze and furrowed his brow. “Looks like the decision may have already been made.”

  Sam squeaked in alarm and covered her eyes. “Can you tell who they’re looking at?” She peeked at them through her hands.

  José stared across the room with his lips set in a grim frown. “It’s either you or Susan.” He squeezed her arm. “We won’t let anything happen.”

  Chris marched to the murmuring group and sat cross-legged between Elaine and Rebecca. Both girls turned to whisper to him.

  Ryan’s eyes sparked with anger. “Did he just ditch us?”

  “Don’t be stupid. He would never do that.” Susan clenched her fists and glanced at her watch. They were down to eight minutes.

  Chris crossed back to them two minutes later. “It’s Sam.” His words vibrated with tension. Susan stared at him and struggled to absorb their meaning. Chris gazed back at her with a blank look of fear. Her insides curdled at the weight of the death sentence, and her heart thumped fast in her chest as if ticking away the last moments of Sam’s life.

  José scooted closer to Sam and tugged her hand away from her face. “It’s going to be okay.” He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze. She stared blankly at the rival group, the classmates and friends who had condemned her to death.

  “Why Sam?” Ryan speared Chris with a narrow-eyed look.

  “Hey.” Chris held up his palms. “It wasn’t my idea. I tried to talk them out of it. They’re saying that her calling the police on Alex makes her dangerous because she doesn’t follow his rules.”

  Susan made a disgusted noise. “It’s like he’s starting a cult.” She glanced back to Sam. The other girl wore a tightlipped smile. Her face was chalky white. Susan gritted her teeth and swallowed her fear. “This is not happening.” She rose to confront the opposing group.

  “Hey, Sue.” Rebecca waved a hand in greeting. Her forehead was beaded with sweat.

  “Hey, Becca. Come sit with me and my friends for a minute.” Susan took her arm and pulled her a few steps away from the others.

  Brett blocked her path. “She stays put.”

  Susan shot him a furious scowl. “What, is she your prisoner?” She moved to step around him.

  Brett grabbed Rebecca’s wrist. “She’s made her decision. You’re not going to change her mind.”

  Rebecca’s eyes rounded in alarm. “I haven’t decided anything.”

  “No one should have to decide!” Susan released her and faced the rest of the group. “Do you guys want to be like Alex? Because condemning someone to die for no reason at all is exactly like him. He wants you all scared. He wants you all to turn on your friends. He wants to make you monsters. Don’t become what he wants. Don’t play his stupid, sick little games. Refuse to choose a victim. You know none of us deserve to die!”

  Someone grabbed her from behind. Alex punched her once, twice. Stars exploded behind her eyes. “That was a nice speech, very empowering.” He dragged her toward the supply closet. “Since you’re feeling so brave, you won’t mind forgoing your right to vote.”

  “Don’t become what he wants!” Susan said, desperation clawing at her insides. She had to convince them. She had to change their minds.

  Alex tossed her into the closet and slammed the door on her screams. The click of the lock was unbearably loud in the confined space. She clutched her head and sank to the floor with a million swirling terrors battering her mind. She had been the final nail in Sam’s coffin. With only five votes, they hadn’t a hope of saving her life. Sam would die, just like Sarah. Her stomach heaved, but she had nothing to throw up. Her strength crumbled into quiet, defeated tears.

  Alex let her out to watch the vote. She stumbled from the closet and sank to the floor alongside her friends. She threw her arms around Sam and sobbed into her shoulder. Why hadn’t she listened to Ryan? She should have picked someone else. Guilt saturated her heart and threatened to drown her in grief.

  Brett curled his lip. “Cut the crap, Susan. We’re not gonna fall for your drama. Your tight little clique is going down.”

  Alex chuckled appreciatively. “Let’s begin, shall we? Daniel Abbot, who do you think should die?”

  “No one.” Chris’s voice was calm but firm. Susan glowed with pride in her best friend and wiped tears from her eyes with a trembling hand.

  Alex scowled but moved on. “Jake Andrews?”

  Jake glanced at Susan. “No one.” His voice came out in a wobbly squeak, but he spoke up, nonetheless.

  Alex shot Jake a look of purest venom. Jake shrank back and pressed his colorless lips together as if holding in a name.

  Both Brett Armstrong and Alecia Foster picked Sam. Susan buried her face in her arms with waves of grief-stricken horror rocking her fragile world.

  “José Garcia.” Alex was yelling their names now.

  “I choose no one.” José met Alex’s dead eyes with a strength and bravery the likes of which Susan had never seen. He clutched Sam’s hand to his chest. Sam raised her misty gaze and looked into his face. Her eyes were filled with tears, but she gave him a small, sweet smile.

  “Caleb Maxwell,” Alex spat.

  “Samantha Williams,” Caleb said. “Sorry, Sam.” He flicked a glance toward her and
averted his guilty gaze.

  Ryan and Sam refused to vote, but Vincent Tavares and Elaine Reynolds picked Sam. It was five on five, and Rebecca was the tiebreaker. An airbag of hope ballooned in Susan’s belly. She clung to it and held her breath. If Rebecca refused to choose, Alex’s own game would be disqualified. Five out of eleven votes was not a majority.

  Rebecca hesitated for a drawn-out moment. Susan clenched her jaw and willed her to make the right choice. Rebecca’s lips moved soundlessly. She raised a trembling hand and pointed at Sam. Her group expelled a collective breath.

  The release of tension in the room was short lived. Alex grabbed Sam and pried her away from José. José looked on with tears shining in his deep brown eyes. Alex dragged her to Mr. Zellner’s desk and duct taped her to the flat surface.

  Fear unfurled within Susan like a flag in strong wind. “We have to stop this!” she said and charged Alex without a plan.

  Ryan caught her by her shirt and dragged her back across the floor. “You can’t stop this. You’ll only make it worse. Don’t watch.” He turned her around in his arms. She buried her face in his shirt and shook with grief-stricken shock.

  “Okay, class. Who wants to stab her first?” Alex’s jubilant whoop intensified the horror.

  “Why do we have to stab her?” Brett was as whiny as ever.

  “You all chose to kill her. Now you will do it.”

  “We thought you were going to kill her.” Becca covered her eyes as if hiding Sam from view would make it all go away.

  “Everyone’s watching this.” Caleb’s blue eyes were round with shock. “You can’t make us murderers for your entertainment.”

  “Are you saying you’d be happy to kill Sam if nobody was watching you?” Alex was outright laughing now. “Nova, turn off the camera. Let’s give Caleb here a little privacy.

  Caleb blanched. “That’s not what I meant! I’m not doing this! I’m not killing her.”

  The rest of Caleb’s group murmured in agreement.

  Susan clung to Ryan and peeked at Sam over his shoulder. Tears streamed down her friend’s ashen face. Susan’s heart struggled to beat through her pain. How awful must it be to lie there listening while people argued over how you should die and who ought to kill you? Susan longed to comfort her, but Sam might as well be a million miles away. Her thoughts spun out on a cyclone of despair. Sam was beyond her help. Susan was powerless, again.

  “Are you saying none of you will kill her?” Alex asked. Her classmates offered hesitant murmurs of assent. “Excellent.” Alex plucked a knife with a long, wicked blade from his selection of weapons. “I hope you understand what that means. You won’t kill Sam, but someone has to die.”

  Alex spun on his heal and plunged the knife into José’s stomach. José staggered backward, his face the picture of shock. Chris just managed to catch him before he hit the floor.

  Ryan let go of Susan and launched himself at Alex. Alex swiped at him and missed. Ryan faked left and punched him in the gut. Alex doubled over. Shocked, excited whispers rippled around the room. Alex pressed a hand to his stomach and slashed Ryan’s arm. Ryan spun aside in the nick of time. Alex charged after him at a speed far faster than what ought to be possible. Susan stood frozen in confusion and struggled to breathe. Ryan sprang aside but skidded on the linoleum floor and fell to his knees. He leapt up a second before Alex reached him and narrowly avoided a vicious stab to his shoulder. He gritted his teeth and kicked Alex in the knee, quickly following up with a blow to his knife arm. The knife clattered to the floor, but Alex floored him with a brutal uppercut to the jaw. Ryan sprawled on his back at Alex’s feet. Alex kicked him in the face as he stooped to retrieve his knife.

  Susan screamed a warning as Alex descended upon José and Chris. Her vision split into still snapshots. José shoving Chris out of the way. Alex stabbing José in the chest. Chris and Ryan fighting to get between them. Susan was blinded by tears of rage. José whimpered softly and struggled to crawl beneath a desk. Alex’s knife was everywhere at once, stabbing and slicing at its victim with demonic brutality. José collapsed into a pool of his own blood.

  A gunshot silenced the room. José went still. Brett stood a few feet away with Alex’s .45 clutched to his chest. He dropped the gun to the floor. It clattered against the tile and slid toward Alex as if drawn to a magnet. “Stop!” Brett gasped for air like someone in the grips of an asthma attack. “Stop, stop. He’s dead. I killed him. He’s dead.” Brett fell to his knees and sobbed like he was four years old.

  Thirty-two

  DAMIEN SQUARED HIS shoulders and plodded into his English classroom with a tangled mess of nerves in the pit of his stomach. He set his jaw and willed them away. University was going to be different from high school. Here, people came to learn, not to make his life a living hell. He chose a seat near the back and anxiously surveyed his classmates. He only recognized Charles, the mage who hated his guts. Damien frowned at the floor. Charles was sitting two rows in front of him. He would have appreciated a bit more distance.

  Charles glanced over his shoulder and gaped in horror at the sight of him. Damien hid a smile. The petrified mage was convinced that he, Damien, was out to get him and his human friends. In reality, he had been registered in this class for months without any knowledge of Charles’s existence. Damien gave him a friendly nod in an effort to calm him down. Charles wrenched his gaze away the moment they made eye contact. Damien fought the urge to laugh. Charles’s aversion to him was comical. His obsession with mining the secrets of his life, not so much. At least he had agreed to keep his mouth shut. Damien shuttered at the alternative.

  He had been an easy target in prison until, by some stroke of luck, Peter had wound up as his roommate. His silent presence alone had warned away everyone in their cellblock. It was no coincidence that Damien had escaped right before Peter’s release. Peter was the only reason Damien was still breathing. Charles had thought he had been suicidal at fifteen. Damien sadly shook his head. If only he had seen him a few months ago.

  Zack rushed into class and dove into the seat next to Charles. Damien lifted a brow. Zack was awfully jazzed for a morning lecture. He hadn’t pegged him as the studious type. Curiosity nagged him like a mosquito he couldn’t swat. He leaned forward to listen in on their conversation.

  “Aren’t you supposed to be in biology?” Charles said.

  “I got another text. It was a picture.”

  Zack’s chaotic emotions were bordering on a nervous breakdown. What had triggered his spiral? Something to do with Amy? Damien tried to calm him despite Charles’s dire warnings.

  Their professor held up a hand for the class to be silent.

  Zack gripped Charles’s arm. “Come with me.”

  Charles released a longsuffering sigh and swept his books into his pack. He followed Zack from the room, grumbling all the while about missing class and losing credit.

  Damien’s gaze trailed after them. How was he supposed to sit through a lecture while something a million times more important was happening right outside the door? How could he sit by and do nothing if something had happened to Amy?

  Damien was a guardian Dark, a rare breed of super responsible for a select group of people with particularly dangerous lives. Each guardian was given nine lives to preserve and protect. Damien had so far found four out of his nine. Amy, Zack, and two young girls who had already passed away. He would not, could not, lose a third. He, too, shouldered his pack and left the room.

  “Behold, the mass exodus.” A student snickered.

  “What the hell?” Charles said as Damien joined him and Zack in the hall. “Quit following me!”

  Damien looked at Zack, calmly ignoring Charles. “Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear. Do you know something more about Amy?”

  Zack slumped against the wall. “I was texted a half-naked picture of her.”

  Damien clenched his jaw. Boiling hot rage surged through his veins. What the hell was Max thinking? Damien had tracked Amy with darkness th
e moment she had disappeared and been aware of where she was the entire time she had been gone. Max was keeping her prisoner in her own damn house, and Damien was powerless to save her. He was prohibited from telling Zack and the police what he knew because of the damn supernatural code of conduct. Frustration simmered deep in his core.

  A guardian’s role was like an invisible shield. Damien was meant to exist in the background, quietly and faithfully keeping danger at bay. Since Max hadn’t put Amy in life-threatening peril, Damien had had to wait for an opportunity to guide others to her rescue. Luckily, humans were good with mysteries, especially when they had help.

  Damien had influenced Zack to lead the police to Max’s room. There, they had discovered his lengthy absence, making him their prime suspect in Amy’s abduction. But the investigation had grown cold after that with no leads on where they had gone. Max had been flying under the radar until now so why had he turned up the heat by texting Zack that picture? Unsettling questions battered Damien’s mind. Was Alex winding things down in Toronto? Was Max running scared and struggling to get ahold of Zack before Alex came back and found him empty handed?

  Damien pressed his lips together and let his thoughts stray to Amy. The bond he shared with her, compliments of their kiss during an elementary school play, kept him permanently apprised of her mental and physical well-being. If Max had dared hurt her, Damien would be the first to know about it.

  Bonds were created when a Dark kissed a non-Dark. The only way to break this bond was if that same non-Dark was kissed by a second Dark. In other words, a non-Dark was only able to break a bond by establishing a new one. This placed all the control in the hands of the Dark species, a race known for abusing their power. They traditionally used their bonds to enslave their victims and toy with their emotions. It had never been like that for Damien. He had bonded Amy accidentally and had never wished to hurt her. Quite the opposite, in fact.

  Electric pain lanced through him at the memory of kissing Amy. In truth, she had kissed him. The school play had only required a warm hug. But eight-year-old Amy had had a flare for the dramatic, and she had taken it one step further with a kiss on the lips. He had kissed her back on instinct. She had turned her back on him a mere two months later. His soul gave a feeble twinge of pain. Bonded humans usually fell head-over-heels for their Dark. How had Amy found it so easy to betray him? The thought lodged in his heart like a swiftly growing thorn. He tore it aside. Whether Amy loved him or not, the bond still provided him with useful information. Damien knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Amy was physically fine. If she had been hurt, he would have felt her pain as his own. Her emotional torment was greater than usual, but no greater than he would have expected given her place of captivity. Max’s picture had to have been staged.