Escaped the Night (27 page)

I’d
make thi
ng
s right with Jayce
, even if it ended up being
the last thing I ever did. He
’d
shown me how to live
and
love without being afraid. He’d taken the time
to teach
me what
love
truly
meant.
Things
beca
me clear
;
I was in
this so-called battle
to be
the middleman. I
t was
coming
down to a battle of good versus evil. I’d seen both sides and knew the leaders
each had one major weakness
—
m
e.

Looking
around
at
the
concerned
expressions of the
people
surrounding
me,
helped me
quickly figure
out
that
I’d
already
inadvertently
started the battle amongst the immortals
.
I hadn’t mea
nt to nor had I’d known
,
until
it was
too
late.
There
wasn’t any
turning back
. I
t
seemed
Daray would
have to be destroyed;
it
’d
be
the
only way
for
some kind of resolution. His destruction
would
set
things right
,
and
I felt deep down in my bones,
it would be the only way he’
d
ever
leave me
alone.
A
s long as Daray
was around
, there’d always be
chaos
and I’d live in fear
.

Plan in Motion

~ Chapter Six ~

Another
brilliant
morning shone vibrantly upon
us. Hours had passed as we
pitched
ideas on how to beat Daray and the rest of the nightwalkers. After all points were considere
d
,
everyone finally agreed
a confrontation was going to be inevitable. No
t
one
person believed Daray would simply
walk away and let this go.

I looked around the circle waiting to see which se
ts of eyes would look at me. A
confrontation was inevitabl
e
at this point
because of my stupidity and
selfishness.
Surprisingly
,
no one within the group looked
to place blame and
I felt a smidgen
guiltier for assuming
they would have.
Kaleb shifted over closer to me. I was thankful for his support. His thoughtful gesture made me feel a bit more at peace with myself.

As we stood there
, I couldn’t help
but
look across at Jay
ce. I felt so badly for how I’
d treated him. I tried
being inconspicuous,
eyeing every little detail of his beautiful face.
Sadly, h
is features seemed harder
now. The cuts on his face from o
ur first encounter that night at
the cave were almost healed
.
He’d tried
so hard to keep me safe
,
virtually facing
the
nightwalkers
on his own, a
ll for me.

I remembered back to what he’
d said to Layla
about
Daray
being right.
How h
e wasn’t a keeper because h
e couldn’t
keep the most important person in his life. Thinking a
bout those
words felt like knives
cutting through my soul; a
horrible sensation
that
I wished I’d never have to
face
again.

Jayce still had me whethe
r he believed it or not. He’d come around again.
I needed him. My life wasn’t the same without him
in it
.
He’d become the most important part.
I told myself over and over
that
he just needed more time.

I tried
focus
ing
on
what the group
was
saying. There wasn’t any point i
n dwelling o
n
Jayce right now. He was clearly l
ess than interested in me. He never
once looked over in my direction
,
instead he attentively listened
to the ideas the others
were
pitching.

The group continued making their
game plan for taking out the nightwalkers. I didn’t
bother
look
ing
up when someone suggested attacking during the day even though it would
certainly
be easier consi
dering how outnumbered we were. Fighting l
ike that was stooping lower tha
n their level.
I
felt
hurt when another suggested I
should
move
away for a while.

“She won’t be moving anywhere, so
forget
about
it!”
Garrison
’s deep voice forba
d
e
.

I was pretty sure the comment came from Aiden
, but
I
let
it
go in one ear and right out the other. His rude re
marks couldn’t make me feel
worse than I already did.
My attention drifted elsewhere
. I could hear what was being said
, but it was more
background noise
at this point
.
The
first comment about attacking during the daylight hours brought
back
a
lost
memory.

I thought it was important and
wanted t
o share
it
with the group, so I spoke up. “I don’t think we’r
e
really
that outnumbered.”

Everyone stopped talking,
all eyes focused on me.

I
chose my words carefully and
spoke with all the authority I could muster
.
I needed them to hear what I had to say.
“When I went to the house with Daray, he took
me downstairs.”

I
caught
Aiden roll
ing
his
eyes.

“They keep the doomahorns and werewolves as prisoners
. They’
ve
got
a dungeon down
stairs
in the
house. Maybe there’s some
way we c
ould convert them? Show them there’
s a better way to live rather than
being held captive. Perhaps
then
we w
ould have the extra power
needed
in order to defeat Daray.”
I felt
Jayce lock
his stare directly on me.
I looked over
and met his gaze. My face flushed red.

He sm
iled his perfect smile and announced
, “She may
be
onto something. If we could somehow contact
or
show them
that
they don’t have to be prisoners
,
maybe… they just might help us.”
He
gave
me
a
wink
of approval
and m
y heart skipped a beat. I had to focus back on
the group
to stop myself from running over
,
wrapping
my arms around him and never let
ting
go.
I listened
as everyon
e began discussing tactics
. This time
,
the conversation was
directed towards
getting us
into the dungeon.

Kaleb came up with
the most
reasonable
conclusion
,
which
encompass
ed
all of the
necessary time restraints. It was extremely tricky and only one kind of immortal could do it
—
t
he shape shifter.

The
plan sounded do-able, a really
good idea.
However
, one part of the
concept
left a lot to be desired
and couldn’t
be ignored. It
came
up in the different scenarios more than once. What if the beasts didn’t accept or want our help? What i
f they attacked? The lone
shifter would surely perish.
There wasn’
t any plausible w
ay for anyone,
shifter or not,
to beat
those kinds of odds alone. It was a suicide mission.

No way I’d let anyone go, there was absolutely no way!
I glanced
around the circle. Everyone wore
concerned or frustrated expressions on their faces. Layla caught my att
ention. She didn’t seem to be
as
irritated
or disappointed
as the others.

She stepped back from our circle and turned to face the opposite direction. Then, without warning she let out a loud screeching sound. Everyone immediately stopped talking and turned to s
ee what all
the noise was about.
She
c
almly turned herself around and
nonchalantly came back over
to join
the group.

“Now, that I have your attention, I want you to know
that
t
he other shifters have been called
. It’s only a matter of time
before they come.”

“The others?” I asked
.

“Yes, there are only about twenty known shifters left
in the entire world,” s
he said, “Devlin
was the shape shifter that perished tryin
g to save your family
,
Shanntal. H
e was my brother.”

“Oh Layla, I’m sorry.” I felt like I’d just been kicked in the gut. Why did death and destruction follow me?

“Shifters have always been around to help protect
the other immortals from
the
nightwalkers.” She s
poke to me as she always had, as
my friend. She did
n’t seem cold or resentful
in any way.

“Oh, Layla. I’m truly
sorry. I hon
estly never knew. The police told me my pet cat
died that night
, but I thought they’d been mistaken
because we never had a cat
, or
a stray
wa
ndered in.
”
A big pit
of guilt arose in my stomach
,
making me feel
even worse. I never imagined it
c
o
uld be possible to feel any lower
. I stood
silent
ly as I
thought about how ever
yone had been so good to me. What did I do to thank
any of them? I hung my head
in shame, stepped out of the circle and
walk
ed
away.

Garrison
and Kaleb followed
and this time
I let them
.
After
walking a little way
s
from the rest of the group
,
I looked up at my protectors.
I never said anything aloud as thoughts and questions raced through
my min
d. What
had
I
cost them? Wh
o had they lost trying to pr
otect me? Why did they bother?
No matter how hard I tried
,
I couldn’t spit the words out.
The way they both looked back at me
, I knew they
understood my pain. As I looked deeper into their eyes, I swear
,
all I
could see was
my
worthlessness staring me in the face
.

Garrison
stuck his hand out.

“What?”

“Don’t leave home without this. Technology makes life
much easier.” He handed
me my cell.

“Yeah, thanks
.” I shoved it in my pocket
.

Kaleb
came closer, placing
h
is large hand under my chin,
he tilted my head
so I
looked
him in the face.
“Don’t doubt your worth
,
Shann
tal
. You are everything to us and
you
mean so
mething to everyone here
. You’re the change t
hat we’ve been waiting for and i
t’s why we stand by you and why we’
d die to defend you. We’ve all ma
de and will continue making
sacrifices so
you live
. We need you here with us.”

I felt his sincerity.
“Thank you Kale
b, it means a lot knowing
you think so highly of me. I’m grateful to have
someone
so loyal and true
in my life
.” I smiled
at his large mass.

I considered Kale
b
the older brother I’d always wanted. He was nurturing and caring
, e
verything
I imagined an older brother would be. He always looked out for my best interests.
Garrison
felt more
like a younger brother that
always tagged a
long
. We loved each other
,
but weren’t able to speak about our feelings as openly.
I
loved having him around, though
I secretly preferred the co
nversation and company
Kale
b provided
.

Garrison
grabbed K
al
eb by his sleeve and the two re
joined the other
s.
I figured
they were
giving me some time to process everything.
I swirled my feet in the sand drawing broken
hearts with the tip of my shoe, thinking abou
t all the people tha
t had been hurt because of me and a
ll the sacrifices
they
’d
made
. Why did they do it? What was so special about me? Tea
rs were beginning
to
swell in my eyes
and
I was really gettin
g tired of crying all the time.
Ever since I
’d
lost my family it was all I ever seemed t
o do.
I let out a sigh;
e
ven they
died because of me. I was
much more troubl
e tha
n I was worth. Maybe everyo
ne would be better off if I
just
disappeared.