Bound by Sin: The Beginning of a Prophecy (Prophecy #3) (8 page)

His face was still untouched with the slightest amount of
concern at the situation. “Miles from here.” Studying the worry on my face, he leaned back against the wall and drew my back against him. “Now,” he whispered down into my ear, “do you really think a woman that has been prophesized about for thousands of years will die at the hands of Mother Nature?”

My body spun around to face him and I found him smiling. He a
rched his eyebrows and shrugged. “Well, do you? Wouldn’t that defeat whatever purpose you have here?”

The lights flickered, which
coerced cries from a few women in the room. My mouth became dry as fear ripped through me. A loud boom of thunder erupted through the hotel, shaking the plates that had already been set for breakfast. The lights flickered once again and then went out. Shrill screams filled the air, and I felt Gavin’s arms wrap tightly around me. “Love,” his voice was a hushed lull and his warm breath rushed over my neck, “no need to be afraid. Calm down.”

I closed my eyes and prayed. Moments later
, the emergency lights flipped on and a man in the crowd reported that the storm had passed by us. I looked over my shoulder at Gavin and the corners of his mouth flipped up. “I do have some idea of what I’m talking about,” he laughed, and we made our way back up to our hotel room, where I laid for hours, still unable to process the world I’d been tossed into.

Constance

Chapter Ten

September 18, 2014

Jared’s hand tightened around my waist and he stopped me outside the doorway. “You gonna be okay, doll?”

I watched Colton run his hand down his face, then down to his tie
, loosening the silk material. He looked at the floor and shook his head before shoving his hands into his pants pockets.

Blowing out
a long and heavy sigh, I glanced up at the name on the board over the door. “Ms. Brooklyn Sydney Davis.” I tried to regulate my breathing, closing my eyes to try to make the tears disappear. My head was spinning and my chest was on fire. Tension throbbed in my temples, and my inner voice kept telling my damn feet to move, to just go ahead and get it over with, but it was almost like they had been cemented in place. Honestly, I was terrified to step into that room.

Colton walked in and disappeared into the crowd of suits and black dresses.

There was a table beside the door with complimentary tissues. Trudging past it, I grabbed a handful of the cheap, stiff paper and wadded it up in my hand. I held my breath to delay the smell of flowers as I stepped inside. I hated that smell. It was such a distinct smell, and all it did was remind me of death. My eyes remained focused on the floor and my heart banged around in my chest like a captured animal trying to free itself from a cage.

Fucking get it over with. You know it’s there, you know she’s gone. Just look up and realize it.

I forced myself to glance up at the front of the room. The casket was closed. It was white and trimmed in a light pink: a metal box with my friend inside. I thought having the casket closed would make it easier, but nothing could have eased the pain of saying goodbye to my best friend. I couldn’t believe she was really gone; in a way, I needed to see her lying lifelessly in that casket to make myself accept the fact that she was really dead, but instead there was just a blanket of deep pink roses.

Making my way through the
swarm of relatives and friends, I approached her casket. With each step, an emptiness radiated through my chest. I could hear my own breath echoing in my ears. Colton stood at the head of her casket, his hand resting on top of the sleek metal. He turned toward me, wiping the tears from his eyes, and quickly made his way into the hallway. It was too much for him; Ashley’s funeral had been the day before. Brooke was like another sister to him, and the sense of loss was just too much to handle. Neither of us knew what to do. It still didn’t seem possible. This couldn’t be real. She couldn’t be gone.

Next to the
casket was a wooden table covered with pictures of Brooke. I quickly scanned over them. Baby pictures, high school and college graduation pictures, several of her and Melissa. In every picture of me and Brooke we were laughing like idiots. The last picture was one of her and Gavin. They were sitting on the pier, and I guessed her mother had taken it a few weeks before when they’d gone to visit.

As I stared at the pictures
, I heard some man in the crowd talking to someone. “The police said they’d been murdered, shot in the back of the head.”

A woman’s voice whispered, “Her boyfriend. They found them together, right?”

My fingers gripped the sides of my skirt. I wanted nothing more than to turn around and tell them to have some decency. To not stand there behind people who loved her and discuss the gruesome details of how she’d died.

The man lowered his voice a little more as he responded, “Yes. Whoever killed them wanted to make it hard to identify them. They said all their teeth had been pulled out of them. The police couldn’t
even use dental records to ID them, and if that wasn’t enough they put them in his car and set it on fire. Burnt beyond recognition.”

The woman gasped. “Oh, God! That’s terrible. It’s just so sad. So young. She had her entire life ahead of her. Such a sweet girl. Poor James and Claire. I just can’t imagine losing your baby. Especially not like this.”

“I know. It makes no sense to me. Some people are just beyond evil. Satan himself had to have had something to do with this.” The man bumped into me as he tried to move away from the casket. “Excuse me,” he said, barely acknowledging the pictures strewn across the table I was standing in front of.

I said nothing. I was fuming. How dare he stand there and talk about them like that. There was no emotion to what he was saying. To him
, Brooke was just the daughter of someone he knew. Fuck him for his insensitivity. Satan? Really? How about it was just a fucking sick piece of shit that did this to them? I was still convinced that it had something to do with that damn club Ashley had taken us to. Something about that place just wasn’t right.

Jared picked up the frame with Brooke and Gavin’s picture in it. “God, I’m so sorry, Constance. She was beautiful. Looked so happy.”

Just then I felt a hand tap my shoulder lightly. “Constance.”

Turning around, I saw Ms. Davis. The skin underneath her eyes was swollen and dark. Her cheeks looked sunken in and her eyes were drowning behind tears. Immediately, I broke down and fell into her arms. She hugged me tightly, rubbing her hand over my back.

I pulled away from her, sucking back my tears. “I’m so sorry.”

She placed her hands on each side of my face. “I know. I know how much she meant to you. Brooke loved you like a sister. You were always such a good friend to her. I just don’t understand… why me? Why
my
baby?” Her breath caught and she glanced over to the casket. “She didn’t deserve this – and that poor boy too.” She let out a few pitiful sobs before regaining her composure. “He was so nice, so in love with her. I can’t find any of his family to pay my respects to. I don’t even know what his arrangements are. This is just such a mess.” She stared down at the tissue in her hand, her fingers feeling along its edges.

I had no idea what to say to her. Just as I opened my mouth to try to say
something
to her, a look of shock pulsed open her eyes. Her skin paled, her jaw trembled, and her eyes focused on something behind me. I couldn’t help but spin around to see what had evoked such a reaction from her. When I turned, my face almost brushed against the man standing behind me, the one that she’d been staring at. His presence was commanding, and without being aware that I was even moving, I stepped to the side. Staring at him, I couldn’t help but think he looked familiar. I couldn’t pin where I’d seen him, but somehow… I knew him.

“Claire,” the man said. He had a thick and soothing accent I couldn’t identify.

Ms. Davis stood, still frozen, just staring at him as though she’d seen God Himself.

“Claire?” He grabbed her hand, bending down closer to her face. “I’m – I’m so sorry.”

“How did you…” her voice stalled and he pulled her against him, holding her tightly.

He whispered to her, “I should’ve stayed. I shouldn’t have left the way I did. I just… thought it best.”
His eyes darted up to Brooke’s casket before he continued. “I had to come, to see for myself. Not a day’s gone by I haven’t thought of you – the two of you.”

Ms. Davis collapsed into his chest
, her cries muffled by his suit jacket. That entire encounter was odd.

“Doll,” Jared grabbed my shoulder. “You want to go sit down or
somethin’? You look kinda weak.” He gently pulled me in the direction of the doorway.

“Yeah – y
eah, sure.” Just as I was tearing my stare away from Ms. Davis, the man looked over her shoulder, glaring at Jared. “Do you know him?” I asked Jared.

“Who?”

“That man. The tall one. The one that was in front of me.”

Jared took a
quick look. “Uh-uh,” he said, and shoved me toward the parlor.

We s
at in the parlor, watching as visitors came and went. Jared had to leave to get ready for work, so soon it was just me and Colton left in the lobby.

“We should probably go, Con
,” Colton said as he rose from the bench.

“Yeah. I guess. I
t just feels weird, you know. I don’t want to leave her here.” I said, staring into the near-empty room.

Col
ton put his hand on my shoulder, his eyes narrowing sympathetically at me. “That’s not her. She’s not in there. She’s gone. These things are for the living anyway.” He grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet.

“
I’m gonna go say goodbye to her parents.” I made my way back to the doorway, my stomach turning with each step. That damn smell hit me again and the nausea rose in my throat.

Ms. Davis was sitting
in one of the chairs, her head on Melissa’s shoulder. Mr. Davis stood at the foot of the casket, his fingers rubbing the petals of the roses and his tramp standing next to him. I could barely make out the little bump hiding behind her loose dress. I was tempted to go give them both a piece of my mind, for Brooke, but I refrained. The only other person in the room was that strange man. He was standing in front of the table, holding the picture of Brooke and Gavin.

Taking one last glance at the unusually broad man, I turned to Ms. Davis.
“I’m gonna go. If there’s anything you need me to help with –” I stopped in an effort to keep myself from breaking down into a sobbing heap again.

Ms. Davis turned to face me. “Thank you, honey. I just – I’m not even sure what to do.”

I nodded and leaned over to give both her and Melissa a hug. Hugging Melissa was the hardest because she wore the same perfume as Brooke, and breathing that scent in was like twisting a jagged piece of glass into my chest.

I sat in the passenger seat of Colton’s car, tearing the tissue in my hand to shreds,
watching the pieces float down to the floorboard. I felt so lost. Staring out the window, I just wanted to curse the sun for deciding to shine on this day. I hated every person we passed that was laughing or singing in their car, completely oblivious to the fact that my life had been ruined, that it would never be the same. I just thought about how badly I wished I could bring her back, how much my life was gonna suck without her. How unfair this was. I’d never actually realized until the past week that death was so final, that we all would die eventually – and that thought made me sick.

The car slowed, stopping at a traffic light. Looking out the window, I saw a man walk out into the middle of the road. He looked absolutely creepy as he made his way between the cars. All I could think about was how damn huge he was as he leaned down, peering into each car he passed.

My skin crawled just watching him. I pushed the lock on my door and sunk down into my seat, my knees bumping against the glove compartment.

Colton lowered his head to glance out of the windshield. “What the hell’s that guy doing?”

I shrugged, scooting further down into my seat until my face was behind the strap of my seatbelt. “Can you just go?” I said loudly.

“Where? The light
’s red. We’re in the middle of rush hour traffic. He’s just some crazy guy. Don’t worry ‘bout him. I mean what’s he gon– shit!”

The sound of glass shattering burst through the air, followed shortly by screams. The man had just busted out the window of a car
up ahead with his bare fist.

“Go! Fuckin’ go. Go!
Damn it,” I yelled, swatting at Colton as I watched the man yank a woman from the car.

Colton’s jaw hung open. “What the hell.” He reached for the handle and I grabbed his dress shirt, gripping it as tightly as I could.

“You are
not
going to help,” I insisted. “Don’t leave me.”

Keeping my hold on Colton, I turned to look back out the window. The man grabbed the woman by the throat and quickly twisted it to the side with strength I’d never witnessed before in my life except in movies.
I could have sworn I actually heard her spine crack. Her head fell to the side, her dark hair covering her face. The man dropped her limp body to the ground and straddled her. He carelessly flipped her over on the pavement and ripped her shirt from her chest. His fists clenched down by his sides as he rose from her still body. Taking the toe of his shoe, he pushed her to the side.

Colton slammed his hand d
own over the lock. “What the…” His eyes widened and he gripped the steering wheel.

Two men came running between
the cars. When they reached the man, they tackled him. The man didn’t budge. He grabbed one man, snapping his neck to the side. Releasing his hold, the man’s body crumpled to the ground. The murderer reached around to his back and swatted the other man loose. The would-be hero fell to the ground, only to have the crazed man’s foot rest on his throat. I watched in horror as the man’s boot pressed into the other man’s throat. He struggled, his legs and arms flailing, trying to free himself. It was only moments before his movements stopped and he lay lifeless on the ground.