Bound by Sin: The Beginning of a Prophecy (Prophecy #3) (3 page)

Brooke

Chapter Two

My head throbbed. My heart was skipping in my chest from fear
, and yet his touch somehow still stirred a sense of belonging, a sense of calm within me that made absolutely no sense. I mourned for the lies that had deceived me, for the mess my heart had lead me into, and for the life I had been forced to leave behind me. I had never been so terrified in my life.

I managed to collect myself and
force my tears back. Wiping the wetness away from my face, I lifted my head. I sucked in a deep breath that caught in the back of my throat and looked out of the corner of my eyes at Gavin. One of his knees was drawn up against his chest; the other was stretched out into the spacious area between the seats. His arm was propped up on his leg and his head was bent down. His thumb was slowly rubbing back and forth over his temple. At that moment I hated that I’d ever met him, but at the same time I needed him almost as much as I needed breath. My gaze shifted to my left and out the window. Blackness. Complete and utter darkness was all I could see. Staring out the window, I wondered how my mother would react when she was told I was dead. I thought of how unfair the entire situation was to my family. My eyes slowly moved over to Gavin, who was still in the same worried posturing. Despite it all, I loved him, whatever he was. There were no words to describe the way I loved him. It was deeper than just an emotion, more than an obsession; it was absolutely a possession that had woven itself into every last cell in my body. Some part deep inside of me depended on him, and if he were ever taken away from me I was certain I’d give myself over to death.

The question I was about to ask him felt morbid. “So. How are they
gonna make people think I’m dead? And… what about you? Are you supposed to be dead too?”

“You’ve no
idea how many immortals work alongside humans. There are plenty of them in law enforcement. The cop that interviewed you when Scott attacked you, that was a vampire.”

I felt my facial muscles go limp.

Gavin nodded. “As I said, you’ve no idea the darkness that surrounds you.” Arching one brow, he continued, “They’ll just make it appear to be a murder. You… me… and Ashley.”

My mind immediately went to all the
Cold Case Files
I’d watched obsessively. “But what about the forensics?”

Gavin laughed loudly and covered his mouth with his hand to stop himself. “Sorry, love. You really think that something as tedious as forensics couldn’t be taken care of by creatures who’ve be
en alive for thousands of years? Tsk, tsk, love. We are
all
masters at deception.”

“And that. Faking our deaths. That will keep us safe?”

Shaking his head, his smile faded. “No. By no means. But it does buy us some time.”

Within a day or so, as far as anyone else knew, I would be dead.
That thought made me absolutely sick. This man beside me was all I had.

My head found Gavin’s
shoulder and he reached over to move the armrest back. I fell into him and placed my head on his chest. He relaxed and pulled me in tightly, safely in to his chest. His fingers combed through my hair and I felt his chin rest on the crown of my head. The only noise I heard was the lull of the engines and the sound of his heart. For the first time I noticed the slight difference in his heartbeat. As many times as I’d lain against his chest and fallen asleep to the rhythm of his heart, this was the first time the stagnant sound of his pulse registered with me.

Gavin’s gr
ip on me tightened. Brushing the hair away from my face, he leaned down to me. “Can you ever forgive me?” he said.

I closed my eyes and opened
them to find his stare still fixated on me.

“Brooke, can you ever forgive me for the wrong I’ve done?”

I was tired, angry, confused, and horrified at the situation I’d found myself immersed in. My gaze narrowed and the green of his eyes penetrated me to my core. The sincerity in his voice, the way that I
knew
he loved me – there was no way I couldn’t forgive him. I leaned toward him, stopping when I felt his cheek against mine. “I don’t really have a choice but to forgive you.” My lips brushed over his as I spoke. “I could die happily just knowing I had your love.”

Gavin
gripped the back of my head and pulled my mouth to his. Those lips, the velvet feel against mine was undeniably the most satisfying feeling I’d ever experienced. His tongue parted my lips and lashed into my mouth with a sensuality indescribable to anyone who’d never experienced a kiss like that. The taste of him invaded me and I once again felt whole. Angel, demon, damned – I didn’t care anymore. All I cared was that I knew whatever cross he bore I now bore, and I had unfaltering faith that he would keep me safe. How could I feel safer than I did with someone who death couldn’t even touch? Trying to understand that it really was just he and I – from now until the end – just the two of us, alone and completely dependent upon one another, I drifted off into a deep sleep.

Constance

Chapter Three

September 15, 2014

The shrill ring from my cell phone woke me up. I fumbled around on the makeshift nightstand by my bed until I felt my phone. Glancing at the screen, I saw that it was Colton. I had no idea why he was calling me at nine in the morning on a Saturday. He knew better than to disturb me before noon.

My eyes were still closed as I mumbled out, "What
the fuck?"

There was silence on the other end
, and then I heard Colton breathing heavily into the phone.

"Colton? What's wrong?" Fear forced me up in my bed
. I always jumped to the worst possible scenario.

"I – I…
" he was unable to finish his sentence before he broke down.

My heart pounded
up into my throat. I knew whatever it was had to be terrible because my brother
never
cried.

My feet hit
the carpeted floor of my bedroom and I paced, waiting on him to tell me what was wrong.

"Colton!"
I growled into the phone.

"I found Ashley…
" he broke down again into fits of crying.

"What do you mean,
you
found
Ashley? You found her where?" My thoughts went straight to that freaky club she’d taken me and Brooke to. If Colton found out about that I doubted that he would be happy about it.

"She's dea
d, someone killed her!"

"What?
” Shaking my head, I fussed at him, “Colton, stop fuckin’ around. That’s not funny, you ass hat.” He had to be joking with me. How could he be serious? How could something like that have happened?

His breath kept catching
and I heard him trying to choke back tears.

“Colton?”

"She never came over last night and I couldn't get her on the phone. I came over after we finished playing and her door was opened." He stopped and I heard him mumbling to himself. I heard the rustling of the receiver moving back toward his face. "There was blood everywhere…oh, God, Constance – it was every-fucking-where!"

“What?” I screamed into the phone.
Covering my mouth with my hand and realizing he was serious, I found a wall to lean against. "Where are you?"

"At the police station
. Downtown. Just come get me, Con.”

I grabbed a pair of gym shorts and pulled them up over my hips. “I’ll be there in just a minute.”

I parked in the lot beside the station and jumped out of the car. I wanted to throw up. I was trembling and hadn’t been able to regulate my breathing since getting off the phone with him. I took several steps before running toward the entrance of the building, stopping as soon as I rounded the trimmed hedges. Colton was sitting on the concrete steps, his head bowed and his fingers tapping together. He looked up and saw me. Shaking his head, he pulled in his lips as his eyes watered. I glanced down at his legs and saw blood all over the knee of his jeans. I couldn’t peel my eyes away from those dark red stains. I was dizzy and wanted to pass out just from the sight of it, but I couldn’t let myself. I took in several quick breaths and forced myself to look up at Colton’s face.

His chest
rose in quick spurts, and then he straightened up. He scowled and quickly wiped the tears from his face.

"I swear to God…
" he couldn't finish his sentence. He was shaking and just stared at me.

I had no idea what to say.
I was at a complete loss for words – still in shock.

"You want to go?" I asked.

Colton shook his head and we walked down the sidewalk to the lot.

"I think they thought I did it at first," he said.

"What? Why in the hell…?"

"I don't know. I freaked out when I walked in and saw her. I had her blood all over me. I
pulled her up into my lap and was trying to see if I could get her to breathe again…but I couldn't."

Colton
opened the door to my car and stood there staring off. He snapped himself out of it. His eyes focused and he looked at me. "She was so cold, Constance. And stiff."

My insides shivered
and I felt my stomach flip. I couldn't even begin to process what had happened as I pulled out onto the highway. "Do they have any idea who could have done it?"

Cotton shrugged
and buckled himself in. "I don't know. When they took me in, the forensic team had come in. I mean, who would want to do something like that to somebody? I don't know how many times they stabbed her – I don't think she could’ve had any blood left in her body."

My mind
was fighting to wrap itself around how in the hell this could have happened, and I remembered the note that had been left on Ashley's door a few weeks ago. I thought about Brooke telling me how Dr. Knight had gone nuts and attacked her, and my heart flopped like a fish out of water in my chest.

"Oh –
my – God!" I yelled. "Dr. Knight!"

Colton squinted.
"The guy from her work?"

"Yea
h, the one who came after Brooke."

Reaching
over to the console, I grabbed my phone and immediately dialed Brooke's number. A horn blared and I realized I had swerved over into oncoming traffic.

Colton jerked the wheel
and we skidded across the road. "Constance! What the fuck?"

Brooke's phone went to voice
mail and my stomach knotted up. "Oh shit – oh shit! Answer your damn phone!" I pleaded, hitting redial. I waited and after only three rings the phone went to voicemail again. "She's not answering!" I cried out hysterically.

I took a sharp
left down a side street to backtrack to Brooke's apartment.

Worry etched itself across Colton's face. I could tell he was trying to hide it, but
he was too tired to be successful at covering his emotions. "I'm sure she's fine, Con. She's just asleep. I thought you said she was going to Gavin’s last night? You were bitchin’ about being by yourself, remember? She’s fine.”

I continued to call her phone
, and each time she didn't answer, my heart came up into my throat.

Turning into her apartment complex
, my car fishtailed. The undercarriage rattled as I raced across the set of speed bumps. I slung the car into a parking spot, shoving it into park. I jumped out and ran toward the building. My feet stumbled and I tripped on the concrete steps, my knee slamming down hard onto the stair and peeling the skin back. I clamored to my feet and continued up the flight. Colton's footsteps were racing up the stairs behind me.

I came to her door and
took in a deep breath. My heart was thrashing in my chest and I felt like I may throw up at any minute. I knocked loudly on the door, then twisted the knob to find it unlocked. A sinking feeling caused me to freeze in place as the door swung open. As soon as I stepped inside I screamed. Brooke's apartment had been ransacked. Everything was turned over and a small trail of blood was at the door. My head was spinning and my legs buckled underneath me. Reaching for the wall, I steadied myself.

"Brooke?" My voice shook as I yelled for her.

As soon as I could make my feet move, I ran through the tiny apartment in the direction of her bedroom. The room had been torn to shreds. The mirror was broken and her mattress had been shoved onto the floor. Running back into the living room, I found Colton staring into the kitchen, his jaw gaping and his eyes peeled open. His face turned to a ghastly white.

"
She's not dead, is she?" I covered my eyes with my hands and started to hyperventilate. "She not dead, right? She's not dead?" I screamed as loud as I could for Colton to answer me.

"I don't kn
ow. We've got to call the cops,” he whispered.

Taking one step at a time, I slowly made my way toward the
kitchen and saw a large knife, covered in blood, on the counter. I dropped onto the floor. My chest tightened and my mind jumbled up. Letting out another scream, I laid down on the floor and stared at the blood stain inches away from my face.

I couldn’t believe
I’d just lost my best friend.

The policeman
sat across the table from me, tapping his cheap BIC pen on the table. His eyes fogged over as he recounted the madness that had unfolded. After he finished going over the fact that Ashley had been murdered and that both Brooke and Gavin were missing for the third time, he asked, “Ms. LaRaine, are you sure you don’t have
any
idea who would want to hurt Ms. West or Ms. Davis?”

“No, I’ve told you – th
e only person I can think of is that Dr. Knight guy.” I just wanted to leave. I was sick of listening to him go over the details, asking me the same questions, and staring at me like I was some type of fucking spectacle any time I lost my shit.

The policeman shook his head and leaned back in his chair
. “Dr. Knight’s not in town, he left two days ago.”

Crossing my arms in front of me, I
stared down at the dirty, white tiled floor of the police station. “Then…I don’t know,” I grumbled.

“Mr. Hunter? You don’t think he would do something like this?”

My eyes shifted up and I narrowed them at him. “I told you,
no
! Shit. I don’t fuckin’ know.
Who
knows?”

There was a knock on th
e door and the officer rose from his chair, his keys jingling against his leg. He stepped out in the hall and shut the door. I sat there thinking about everything. My stomach turned and bubbled, and every once in a while I would break down into a fit of tears. One minute I would calmly answer his questions, the next I would start screaming and cursing at him, banging my fists on the table and demanding he let me leave. Brooke was like a sister to me. I just wanted to curl up into the fetal position and scream until all my strength was gone.

The policeman stepped back int
o the room with a perplexed look on his face. His sat down at the table and stared at me, his lips slightly parted and his thick eyebrows furrowed down.

Clearing his throat, he said,
“Mr. Hunter’s car was found on the north side of town. It had been burned and we believe he and Ms. Davis were inside.” He watched me, wanting to see the reaction I’d have to that statement.

I fell
speechless. My jaw hung loosely open and I lowered my head to my chest.

“I think –
” he twisted his pen in his hands. “I think we have all the information we need from you, Ms. LaRaine.” He nodded and rose from his chair.

“Wait!” I curled my feet under the metal legs of the chair and gripped tightly onto the table. “What do you mean you
think
they were inside? How can you
not
know?”

“I can’t discuss that with you, Ms.
LaRaine. I appreciate your cooperation and am terribly sorry for your loss.” He shot a well-practiced, sympathetic smile at me, unable to hide the confusion in his eyes.

“No!” I shouted, slamming my fist down onto the table. “You can’t do this to me. You can’t hold me in here for hours, asking me questions
, and then just let me go without telling me what happened to her! Was it her, or not?”