Escaped the Night (55 page)

Chapter Thirteen

~ Lights ~

I was a
bout
thirty
feet from the house as
l
ight
ning
lit
up the darkened sky. A couple
seconds passed
before
the thun
der rumbled. The rhythmic storm
had
moved
in
rapidly
. T
he wind blew hard
er
with a chill that
wasn’t there moments before. Another
sound
came
from the thr
eatening sky
,
causing me jump. It seemed louder as it
amplified in my ears.
I glanced around
.
Gabriel
la
still
wasn’t anywhere to be seen;
c
ome t
o speak of it, no one was
. They’d all been healed and headed off into the house.

I watched
as
three streaks of light
nin
g split off in all directions. Th
is
was my
cue
to head
inside
.
It
was going to be
nasty
once it hit. I looked around one
more
time for Gabriella
,
only to
end up with
the same luck as before, n
o sign of her.

Something seemed off. My h
air stood on end. I wasn’t sure what was happening
,
but
I
was
ready and
alert. Then, I remembered this
feeling because
I’d had it once before.
I looked over to my
right and watched as the light
ning lit up the sky again.
Nothing moved. I looked
to the left and waited for the next strike.
R
ain erupted out of nowhere
pouring
down hard,
soaking everything in
sheer
seconds. I shivered as the cool
downpour
soaked through my clothes
,
but
I wasn’t giving up
and
remained in place. I neede
d
to know if someone was there because I
couldn’t ignore t
his feeling
. The next light
ning strike
came
and
I scanned the tree
-
line
,
looking to see if
anything
moved.
On the left
,
where the trees thinned out
,
I
looked just
as a black silhouette
stepped
back into hiding
and
the thunder rolled
again
.

I blinked the rain away.
Had I
really just seen someone or
was I just
being paran
oid?
It was too
dark and the rain was so heavy
,
making it nearly impossible to see.
Yet, t
he more
I thought about it
, the more it seemed likely
. I knew I saw someone;
shiver tremor
s confirmed my doubts as they
rolled over my body.
Every
hair
felt like it
stood on e
nd and
the
harsh
s
hivers
continued to ripple
over
me
. The rain was cold
,
but not enough to
cause
this
type
of reaction.
This was it,
time to fight
and
make some big changes
happen
.

I wanted to be sure
who it was
before I warned everyone
.
I waited rathe
r impatiently for more light
ning to strike. I tapped my foot as if it wou
ld make things
happen faster. I needed light. I needed to see who was in the trees.
I felt fired up and ready. Come
on, bring on the fireworks!

BOOM! The thunder smashed and
I jumped about two feet off the ground.
I wanted light
ning, not thunder. Sheesh! Yeah
,
I w
as ready, for anything exce
pt a loud sound. I shook it off
. I was as ready as I was ever going to be.

A few seconds later,
light
ning
once again illuminated the
dark
ened
sky.
I squinted
,
trying t
o reduce the rain in my eyes as I
looked over to the place
where I thought I
spotted someone
moments before.
Sure enough
,
movement
.
T
his time j
ust down from where I looked
the
first
time
. I quickly wiped the rain
out of
my
eyes
and focused
in
. The
individual
no longer hid
amongst the trees; he used
the
opportunity to rev
eal himself. Our eyes connected
and without a doubt
,
I knew
it was Donovan.

My heart pounded
louder and harder than ever before
.
I waited for him to lunge
at me
just as he di
d that night in the gardens.
Disappoint
ment. H
e never mad
e any attempt to come forward
as he
lurked
around the trees
,
continuing to pace
back and forth. His pal
e sunken face, dark eyes and
bloody mouth
looked
the same as they
had in my dr
eam. He squared himself off,
locked his icy stare with mine
and
opened his mouth
,
reveal
ing
his fangs
with an eerie smile. The light
ning passed and the sky went dark.

I spun
around to go back
inside
so I could
warn everyone he was here. I opened my mouth to yell out for help
,
but
something within made me stop.
I didn’t want anyone else
get
ting
hurt because o
f me. This
fight
was between
us
. W
e could use this opportunity
, right here, right now
, to
settle this
once and for all
. The last one standing would have the world the way they wanted it.

Instead of walking towar
ds the house
I went against my better judgment
and
chose to trust
my instincts
. I turned and walked towards the
trees.
My shoes splashed
with each step
in the
slippery
wet grass and I
felt
my socks getting
soaked
as
the rain
chilled me right to the bone.

As I approached I thought about how the wet ground could actually help me
out
. It could benefit me should I need to try
to
escape. I
could slip and fall down easily, then I could
camo
uflage myself in mud and disappear
,
which would
enable me to
easily crawl away.

Nonsense! I fought the cowardly thoughts from my head. I was going to stand and figh
t. The
time had
co
me for someone to fight back;
I wasn’t run
ning
anymore.

Sopping wet
and fired up, I
finally
made it to
the trees. I looked around
and wiped
the
rain from my face, but
couldn’t see him
anywhere. He was toying with me, a
lway
s playing
these
ridiculous games
,
and
I was growing very tired of the
s
e
antics.
“Donovan, you big coward. I
’m here! I’m the one you want. Now show yourself!” I shouted w
ith my arms out, spinning
around trying to catch a glimpse of him. He
never
appear
ed
,
which fueled m
y anger
. The
rage
inside
hit a boiling point. Adrenaline pumped rapidly through my veins. I was ready
to
fight. I’d never been more ready for anything in my life. I clenched my
fists together. “Where are you?”
I ranted. “You wanted this,
now you hide? A
re you s
c
ared? N
ot used to someone who
’ll
fight back?”
I spun around again and this time our eyes locked.

He crept out from behind the large tree a few feet
away from
where I stood
.
I grinded m
y teeth, balled
my fists and
firmed up my stance
. He
moved
right in front of me and
I did the first thing that came into my mind. I lunged at him
,
knocking him to the gro
und, punching and kicking
as hard as I possibly could. Every blow I sent connected
,
but he
just
laughed at me. H
e was ruthless, playing with me, p
rovoking me to do worse than I already was.
I had to think fast.
I
rolled over,
got myself up off the ground
and
kicked
him in the ribs once
as
I
struggled to keep my footing
. He curled up from the blow,
but never stopped laughing.

His laughing made me livid
,
and h
e
just
wouldn’t
quit
. Why was he laughing
?
H
e
remained on
the ground lookin
g up
towards me
and I felt the urge to lose it
. I moved in
to kick him again
,
hoping
this time it would silence his laughte
r. I lifted my leg back
gathering
my momentum
, swung forward and
with a swift movement of his arm
, he
hit the back of my planted knee sending me
spill
ing down on top on him.

“Now, this is much better. A little more up c
lose and personal.
” He
licked
his bloody tongue down the side of my face.

Disgusted
,
I
dug my elbows in
and scurried
away
as I attempted
to get back on my feet.
The g
ames were over. H
e wasn’t playing around anymore.
I’d gotten his attention.
I
regained
most of
my balance and
almost
made it all the way up when he simply reached over
,
t
ook
hold of me
in an
effortless
motion and
flung me backwards through the air. I
flew so far and
landed
hard
on my back
,
knocking the wind out of me
. I choked for air
and
rolled around in pain
.