Stalked by Death (Touch of Death) (18 page)

Alex’s eyes jerked to his right at something behind me. I assumed it was Lexi, tagging along to watch the show. Alex looked at me one last time before turning and walking away.

“Alex!” I yelled, going after him, but someone grabbed my arm and spun me around. Chase. Before I could react, he pulled me to him, pressing his lips firmly against mine. My body responded to him as if this was normal. As if this was what my body had wanted for days. My lips tingled, and the sensation traveled through me. There was nothing I could do to fight it. The power took over. I gave in. My blood surged in my veins. I felt every drop of blood, and it gave me more pleasure than I ever could have imagined. I kissed Chase back, weaving my fingers in his hair. He lifted me off the ground, and our bodies pressed against each other.

I felt like I was spinning. Or maybe the room was spinning. It was freeing and completely amazing. Then my body temperature rose. I was hot all over, and it wasn’t showing any signs of stopping. I was burning from the inside out. I thought of the pain I had felt when Hades’ eyes burned into me. This heat was similar, but I wasn’t in pain. The heat was rising, and I was aware of it, but it didn’t hurt me. Like I was the fire, not the thing being burned by it.

An electric current rushed through me as Chase kissed me with even more intensity. I couldn’t breathe. My head felt disconnected, and my legs shook. My arms dropped down to my sides. I couldn’t hold them up anymore. I was weak. I hung limp in Chase’s arms, yet he was still kissing me. I tried to say his name, but the word wouldn’t come out.

I heard screams and repeated thumping like things were toppling over. Finally, I turned my head to the side, breaking free from the kiss. Chase raised his head and looked at me. He lowered me to the ground, and we turned toward the screams.

Lexi and Leticia cried out in pain. Leticia had blood running from her eyes and nose. Lexi was choking up blood. It was horrible to watch, yet I was frozen in place, unable to move or look away. They collapsed on the living room floor. Randy was lying lifeless on the couch above them. The toppling noise continued, and my eyes flew to the stairs. Tony was tumbling down them. I gasped as his body reached the bottom, and his head slammed onto the floor.

Tony was dead. And I had a feeling all the other Ophi I’d brought here were dead, too.

Chase looked like he was completely drained and in shock. He wasn’t going to be of any help to me right now. I was weak too, but I forced myself to reach for Medusa. She was my only hope in saving the Ophi. I’d never raised more than one Ophi at a time before. Technically, I’d only raised a total of three since I’d become Ophi. I wasn’t sure this was possible, even without needing to spill my blood to raise them, but I was certain I needed Medusa’s help.

The second my hands met hers, I called out, “Medusa, please! I need you. They’re all dead. All of them. You have to help me bring them back.” I was hysterical. My sobs were uncontrollable, and if I hadn’t been communicating in my mind, I was sure Medusa wouldn’t have understood me. I doubted I could form audible words right now.

“I know, my child. I sensed the shift in energy.” She was in front of me, holding my hands in hers. “Concentrate, Jodi. Reach out with your powers. Feel for their souls. We must trap them before they release. If Hades gets hold of them, he will stop us.”

“But how? Isn’t that against the rules?”

“Hades isn’t playing by the rules anymore.”

“What do you mean?” She knew something. I knew she did. Why was she being so cryptic?

“There’s no time to explain. Close your eyes and reach for their souls.”

I didn’t argue. It wasn’t the time. I had to save the others. I wouldn’t be the girl who led an entire race to its extinction. I mixed my powers with Medusa’s. It was an incredible feeling. Not like the way it felt when Chase and I combined powers, though. That was an entirely different kind of rush. I saw Tony’s soul leaving his body, but I forced it back inside. I didn’t have time to be nice about it. I had to move on to the next one. I could feel Medusa’s power reaching out farther in the house. Most of the new Ophi were in the conference room. I could sense them as Medusa restored life to their bodies. Leticia was next on my list. I pushed her soul back inside of her and commanded her to come back to life. To breathe. On her first inhale, I turned my attention to Randy. His soul was harder to convince. His body was in bad shape still. Every time I put his soul back inside him, it seeped out again.

Medusa finished with the others, including Lexi, who I’d conveniently skipped over. I continued to struggle with Randy. Why wouldn’t he listen to me? Medusa reached her powers out to him, but she didn’t have any better luck.

“He’s too weak, Jodi. His body was already dying when this happened. Every time we put his soul back, he dies all over again.”

“Are you saying we’re torturing him?” I fought the soul as it found another way out of Randy.

“Yes, my child. I’m afraid so. There’s nothing we can do for him.” She squeezed my hands, trying to console me.

“Keep trying. Don’t let go of his soul. I’ll get Carson. He’ll heal Randy, and then his soul will stay inside him.”

“Jodi, I understand you don’t want to let him go, but Carson has already done all he could for Randy.”

“How do you know that?” I was screaming now. No longer speaking only through my mind. “I can’t let him die. Hades will take him and keep him from me.”

“It’s not Hades keeping him from you, Jodi. It’s his body. You know the rules. When you raise someone, they return exactly as they were before they died. Randy was dying. He can’t be saved.” I felt her ease her powers. She wasn’t helping me anymore.

“No!” I struggled, squeezing her hands, trying to take her powers whether she wanted me to or not. But it didn’t work. I fell to my knees.

“I’m sorry, my child,” Medusa said, as my hands slipped from hers.

Leticia screamed, and I scrambled to my feet. I rushed to Randy, examining him. His shoulder was still bleeding. The couch was soaked with his blood. That’s how the soul kept escaping, through the gaping hole where his shoulder used to be. I pressed my hand to his blood-soaked bandages, applying pressure. Then I willed my blood to mix. I didn’t have much energy left, but I had to try.

“Get Carson!” I yelled to anyone who would listen. Chase finally snapped out of his trance and went for Carson. I tuned out the room and focused on Randy’s soul. I reached out for it. But this time, instead of forcing it back inside Randy’s dying body, I faced it head on and pleaded. “Don’t go, Randy. Please. I’m getting help. Stay with me while Carson finds a way to stop the bleeding. Please!” I felt warm blood drip from my nose and ears. Holding Randy’s soul was killing me.

Hands were on my shoulders, pulling me away from Randy. I figured it was Carson, trying to move me so he could save Randy. I reached for Randy’s hands, not wanting to break the connection and lose his soul, but the person holding my shoulders continued to pull me back. Randy’s soul slipped away from me. I couldn’t hold on, not with someone tugging me away from him.

“Stop!” I yelled, commanding both the soul and the person pulling me away. Neither listened. Blood spilled down my cheeks as I fought against them, and then I felt an arm around my neck. Someone yanked me back, and Randy’s hands were torn from mine. His soul drifted away from me. He was gone. Dead. And I couldn’t bring him back.

Leticia was crying next to me. I couldn’t see her through all the blood blurring my vision, but I recognized her sobs. Arianna was shushing her, saying, “He’s at peace now, honey. He’s at peace.”

But he wasn’t. He was with Hades. I knew it. Hades didn’t let Ophi souls rest in peace. They had too much power. Power he wanted. I sat myself up, wobbling in the process.

“Take it easy,” Chase said. I was in his lap. He was the one who’d pulled me away from Randy.

“You? You stopped me?” I blinked the blood from my eyes and turned to face him. He looked horrified, and I realized it was because I was bleeding from all parts of my face.

“You need to lie down.” He reached out like he was going to carry me to my room.

“No!” I swatted at him and stumbled backward into the couch. I used it to help me to my feet.

“Jodi,” Arianna said. “Chase is only trying to help you.”

“Is everyone okay in here?” Tony came toward us, rubbing his head. No doubt because he had a massive headache from his tumble.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “I saw you fall down the stairs.”

“I’m not exactly up for a few rounds in the ring, but I’ll live. Thanks to you and Medusa.”

I swallowed hard. How did I tell him—and everyone else—I thought it was my powers that had killed them in the first place? I couldn’t. They’d hate me. They’d turn me over to Hades before I could wash the blood from my face.

“Randy,” I choked out, changing the subject. “I couldn’t—his soul wouldn’t hold on.”

Arianna let go of Leticia and came to me. “Carson did everything he could, but the corpse…his bite was too big to repair.”

Carson stepped closer to me. “One of Randy’s smaller arteries was severed. I didn’t have the medical equipment needed to save him.”

“Then get it!” Leticia yelled.

“It wouldn’t matter now,” Chase said, and it was the first time I saw him look sympathetic toward anyone here besides me.

“Why not? We can get the equipment Carson needs and bring Randy back,” Leticia said. “Jodi can do it, can’t she?” She sobbed when Carson shook his head.

I didn’t want to break down and cry like a baby in front of everyone. I was supposed to be the leader. The strong one. But the look on Leticia’s face when she realized I couldn’t help Randy was too much.

“Leticia, I—”

She turned and ran upstairs. I knew in that moment she hated me. I was the one who had gotten Randy hurt. If I had stopped that zombie, Randy wouldn’t have been bitten. This was all my fault.

Tony went over to the couch. “Chase, will you help me move Randy? We can bury him in the mausoleum. There are some empty caskets in there.”

“Sure, but can I help Jodi first? I’d like to take her to her room and help her get cleaned up.”

“No,” I said. “Randy should be our top priority. I’ll help you both.”

“No way, Jodi.” Chase grabbed me by my shoulders. “You need rest. You drained a lot of your powers.”

“Chase is right,” Arianna said. “Why don’t you go upstairs and take a nice warm bath? We can take care of Randy.”

“A warm bath sounds like Heaven right about now,” Lexi said. I’d forgotten she was even here.

“Your bathroom doesn’t have a tub,” I said to her.

“Yours does, and I’m sure my fearless leader would be more than happy to accommodate me.” She gave me a wicked smile and started to walk away, but Arianna grabbed her roughly by the arm.

“Lexi, you’re fine. Jodi is the one who needs the hot bath, so I suggest you go to your own room for the time being. I’ll be up to check on Jodi shortly, and if I find you anywhere near her bathroom, taking what she needs, I’ll have you back at Serpentarius before sundown.”

Lexi glared at Arianna and shook her arm free. “Whatever you say, Mother.”

My heart stopped. Mother? No way. Lexi couldn’t be Arianna’s daughter. That would mean Abby was Arianna’s daughter, too.

Lexi stomped upstairs as I stared at Arianna, waiting for her to tell me it wasn’t true. She looked at me and sighed.

“Not all Ophi are good, Jodi. Sometime we fall for the wrong ones.”

So Arianna had fallen for a bad Ophi? An evil guy who passed his evil qualities down to their twin daughters? I grabbed my head, putting my hands over my ears. My palms stuck to the partially dried blood trailing down the sides of my face. “You sent Abby away. It nearly killed her—made her evil.”

Arianna sighed. “She was obsessed with power and proving herself. I thought sending her to Troy and Victoria might scare her out of it. But when her letters arrived and all she talked about was how great it was not to hold back her power, I knew I’d lost her.”

“So, you stopped reading the letters and returned them unopened.” I remembered the drawer full of letters Abby had kept.

“I thought if she knew how upset I was…maybe she’d come home.” Arianna nodded to Chase, unable to continue talking about Abby. “On second thought, you take Jodi upstairs. Run her a bath and then wait for her in her room. Keep Lexi away from her.”

“Sure thing.” Chase took my arm, but this time my blood didn’t react. I stared at his hand on me, wondering why his touch was different now. He leaned down and whispered, “Don’t worry. I’m not using my powers.”

He’d been doing that on purpose?! I thought it was the way our blood naturally reacted to each other, but it had been Chase doing it all along.

Arianna put her hand on my shoulder as I walked by. “I’ll be up to check on you soon, and then we can talk.”

I knew she wanted to explain about Abby and Lexi. I had a lot of questions for her. Like why she never told me, and why she didn’t hate me for sending Abby to the underworld. I wasn’t sure I could handle that today, though. So much had already happened.

“Maybe our talk can wait until tomorrow? I think I could sleep until morning at this point.”