Escaped the Night (33 page)

Auntie Ste
ph nudged me the entire
way
, a
cting
like a schoolgirl who
’d
just found out
who
her friend had a crush
on
.
Jayce clearly loved
the attention
. Jayce
and
Auntie Steph
sat chatting
, giving Uncle Dane and I
som
e
time to talk.

“
I’m happy you decided to
come. I
wanted to apologize for how I behaved earlier. I
now
understand
that
you were
only
trying to help, b
ut it
felt
like
I owed Daray
a chance to show me his side of the story.”

“I could never be mad at you for being fair. You are just so trusting. You
tend to
give people credit when they don’t necessarily deserve it.
”
He spoke low so we didn’t disturb Jayce and Auntie Steph. “
He’s not the sa
me man you once knew.”

“I know. He’s nothing like
the person I was
remembering. The Daray I knew
is
no
longer there.
I thought I saw
a glimpse of him
and then he locked me in
a
room
.” I thought
about the fear I
felt
around him and
especially
the others. I also remembered the frustration and anger t
hat replaced the fear when he
turned me into a prisoner.

Jayce entered my head.
‘
Not to
worry; you’ll never have to go through that again. I won’t
ever
let
you go without a fight
.
’

Without saying a word, I turned and smiled at Jayce. I kne
w he was telling me the truth because h
e needed me as m
uch as I needed him. We were
a couple a
nd there was no way around it
. S
plitting us up would
be a challenge that
I didn’t think anyone could overcome.

We spe
nt the entire afternoon
talking, laughing and visiting
.
The sun was
beginning to
dip down
when
Uncle Dane checked
his watch. “Oh Steph,
the time.
We really should get
back.
It’s getting late.
”

“W
e have to leave
,
already
?
” m
oaned Auntie Steph. “Really?”

“You can come back
anytime
you want
. You’re always welcomed
.
But, Dane’s right, it’s probably best to get going before it gets too dark.
” Jayce
tried
to help
relieve the burden of a
long good
-
bye.

Uncle Dane
hurried Auntie Steph
along and they were
out the door before the sun
totally set. A few minutes later
, everyone
began
arriving
back at the house.

Kael walked in the li
ving room where everyone was
re-grouping. “Tonight
may be the night.” He
punched
his fists together
,
looking
like a boxer trying to psych out his opponent.
“Bring on the beasts.”

Garrison
and Kaleb
followed
close
ly
behind Kael. They’
d
bonded nicely and
turned into
quite the t
rio
;
a very larg
e, muscular t
rio
. I’
d n
ever want
to
go up against them in a fight;
t
heir size alone was
intimidation enough
.

The sun
had
completely
set
before
I
asked,
“Where’s Meriel?”

Everyone began looking
.
There was no sign of her.
I glanced over at Jayce.

“I’ve found her,” he said. “S
he’s still do
wn by the beach. She knows she should’
ve come home sooner
,
but
was visiting with the
mermaids. She’s on her way
now.”

An hour went by and
Meriel had
still
not
returned
.
I looked ou
t the window,
t
he stars
lit up
the night sky.

“Jayce,
I’m getting worried. Shouldn’t she be home by now?” I leaned in closer
so no one could overhear me
. “Should we be concerned?”

“
I’ll check on her.
”
He closed his eyes to help his concentration
.
He spoke quite loudly
when he connected
.
“I
can barely see her. It’s dark.
S
he’s in the forest
.”
So mu
ch for keeping this under wraps. E
veryone
over
heard him and
stopped talking so they could listen
closely
as he
began describing
what he saw.
“Bushes are
surr
ounding her. She’s not alone. S
omeone else
is
near. She’s hiding.”

People let
out gasps of fear. It was dark and Meriel was alone in the woods. We had to get to her quickly. Kael transformed into a giant black wolf w
ith purple eyes. He shot out of the living room
,
quick like a bullet.
Garrison
looked over at Ka
leb who
gave a nod
and
Garrison
ran out after Kael. The others remained behind
,
in case the house was ambushed.

When Jayce connected to the elements it had a different effe
ct on him. He was trance-like, a
lmost as if he was sleep
walki
ng. He didn’t act like this
while
connected to me
. He was always coherent and could still
carry on a conversation.

I want
ed to know who was near her. Could
he see who it was? Before I
was able to ask
, he started talking. “It’s
Lakylee
,
she’s alone. She knows Meriel’
s there
and she’s looking for her.”

My heart
pounded
so hard it almost broke through my chest.
Lakylee
was
unstable, her mood
fierce and vicious. She didn’t have the same temperament as the other vampires. She was wild.
What did
she
want with Meriel?

“Kael
is getting close
. So
is
Garrison
, though
h
e’s
c
oming in on a different angle. Looks like t
hey
’re trying to cover as much area as possible.”
Jayce
gave us the play-by-play.
“They’re plan
ning on keeping her contained until they
can
find out
exactly
what she wants.”

It was so tense standing
there,
waiting to see what was going to happen next. Why was
Lakylee
alone? Where were the others? Was this a trap? My mind wouldn’t stop racing.

Jayce placed
his hand on my shoulder. “
Lakylee
is
getting very close to Meriel
. Sh
e’
s only ab
out a hundred yards from her
. The guys aren’t close enough yet.
She’s going to
beat them to her.” He
pulled his hand away as he
clenched his fists together. “Meriel, be still. She’s
too close
,
” Jayce
whispered
.

He didn’t say
or do
anyt
hing for a few minutes. He stood as
still as a statue.
S
uddenly
, he
cried out,
“No…
please
…
don’t!
”

We all knew what that meant.
Lakylee
had reached Meriel first.

“
What’s
happening?” Aiden asked
,
visibly shaken
.

“
Lakylee
is talking to her.” He seemed confused as he described what was happening. “
She isn’t aware
the others are coming.
She’s let her guard down and
is
just talking to Meriel.”

“Talking?
” Terran asked. “About wha
t?” She held her hands together,
trying to stop them
from shaking.

“Do something! Why don’t
you do something?
” I pleaded to the elements. “
Buy her some time. Help her like you did
when I needed help.”

“We can’t,
” Terran said. “
We
need
to be together for our powers to
work like that. We
function
as a whole because i
t’s too much of a power struggl
e
working
alone and
,
sadly,
i
t separates us.
Also
, t
he more we use our power
s, the weaker we become. It’s not safe for us
to be vulnerable;
it can be devastating for us
—
well,
f
or everyone
actually
.”

Jayce continued
onward.
“
Lakylee
is asking Meriel about Shanntal. She wants to know why
she
left.” He paused. “Daray’
s been causing them grief. He’s accusing them of slaughtering Shanntal’s family. The coven denies it
, but he won’t accept it. Now, t
hey’re
s
plitting up and going on their own, but n
o one wants
Lakylee
. She doesn’t fit
properly
with the other vampires.”

I started
feel
ing
bad for
her
. It was true; she didn’t fit in with the vampires or the werewolves
,
for that matter. She was a lone walker. I wondered what Daray was up to
now. Why
was
he
bothering with my family?
Was this a
nother one of his ploys?

Jayce put up his hands
to def
end his face and neck. He leaned back until he almost fell over. My heart stopped as I watched him in horror. He
w
as fighting something off and
was
still
connected to Meriel
while doing so
.

Please don’t let her get hurt, please don’t.
I thought to myself.

Jayce let out a curdling scream.

Mak
an punched the wall. Tears poured
down his face. “
Meriel!” h
e
cried out,
in an agonizing voice.

Jayce
tumbled to
the ground. Then
,
he
slowly turned himself over and got to
his knees.
A minute passed and
Jayce
quickly leaped to his feet
. “Meet you
r
match, beast!”

Kael and
Garrison
must have gotten
there
. Jayce remained in his
trance as he watched the
ir
battle unfold. He
stopped filling
us
in on any details
. About a minute later, Jayce let out a growl
,
putting everyone
more on edge. He was still in the trance
,
but
he looked
like
he was going to attack everyone
in the room. He let out a painful yell and
fell to the floor.

I waited a few seconds to see what he was going to do next. He didn’t mo
ve
,
he just lay on the ground looking
dead.

“Oh my,” I gasped. “Jay
ce, who are you connect
ed
to? Jayce, who is it
?” I repeated. “What’s going on? Tell me now!
Jayce
,
wake up!
” I
yelled.
I dropped to my knees and
grabbed onto his shirt
,
shaking
him
frantically
.
He slowly awoke
, glancing around the room
until hi
s eyes focused on me
.

I
let out a heartbroken whimper
.
I knew whom he meant;
he didn’t
need
to say because
I felt the emptiness.

He reached his arms out
to me
.
“I’m sorry
.”

Aiden lo
oked down at us. “Who was it?” h
e demanded.

“
Garrison
.” His voice broke. “
I’m sorry Kaleb
, Shanntal. H
e
couldn’t fight
Lakylee
off.
He was helping Meriel escape, but s
he caught him from behind. He neve
r stood a chance. It happened
too
fast
,
even Kael couldn’t help
.”