Bound to the Fallen (Prophecy #2) (57 page)

“Don’t look at them,” Gavin said sternly.

Continuing to walk down the hallway, I kept my eyes locked onto the heels of his boots, making sure I didn’t look at any of the creatures at the end of the hallway. We turned to exit the building and Gavin’s steps halted.

I saw Raven’s high heels in front of Gavin’s feet. My eyes wandered up no further than her waist. Her arms were crossed in front of her
, her fingers tapping nervously across her skin. I shot my gaze back down to the floor, fearing to look any further.

Raven let out a short sigh. “You know you can’t let anyone know where you go.”

“I know. We have no allies in this,” Gavin said.

She held the door open
. “If anyone can stop this. It would be you. You’re the one who started it. You can end it,” she said as we walked out into the night.

Gavin’s car was parked in front of the building.
We quickly walked over to it and he opened his trunk. He shoved the bags inside and came back to the passenger side of the car. He held the door open and I immediately climbed inside. Glancing out the window, I saw his gaze lock onto something across the street. He ran to the driver’s side of the car and jumped in. His keys instantly found the ignition.

“Put your seat
belt on.”

Before I had a chance to reach for the strap
Gavin had floored the accelerator and the car fishtailed. I fumbled to pull the strap and secure it in the holder.

We approached a red light and Gavin slow
ed down but then punched the accelerator, passing through the light. My eyes shut and I heard tires screeching as a car swerved to miss us. My adrenaline kicked in. Opening my mouth to ask him questions, I quickly shut it because I had no idea where to begin.

The only noise was the
purr of his engine and the hum of his tires pounding against the pavement. He pulled onto the ramp leading to the interstate. After he merged he pushed the accelerator even harder. My body jerked from side to side as Gavin weaved in and out of traffic. I heard horns blaring loudly as we passed cars. The loud noise from his tires flying over the reflectors on the side of the road caused my fingers to dig into my leg. I kept my eyes focused in my lap because I knew I would scream if I looked out the window and saw how fast we were going and how close we were to ramming into another car.

The tires of his car screamed as he sharply turned the wheel, barreling across all
five lanes to make the exit. Looking out the window, I saw the sign for the airport fly by.

The silence was broken by the sound of Gavin’s voice. “You will most likely never see this place again. You cannot have contact with anyone aside from me. No one can know where you are.”

My mind hadn’t had time to process half of what had occurred over the past two hours. I most certainly hadn’t had time to think about how my disappearance was going to be explained. “My parents?”

“No. No one!” Gavin snapped back at me. “I told you not to question anything I said.”

“I wasn’t questioning. I – I just.” My voice became strained as I fought to hold back tears.

“I’m sorry, Brooke. We can’t trust anyone.” He pulled into the airport parking deck
, shoving the gear into park. “They must believe your dead.”

“Dead? What? Gavin
, that will— my mother?”

Cutting
me off again, he growled, “You don’t understand the seriousness of this, Brooke.”

Gavin released his trunk and c
limbed out of the car. The trunk slammed and then my door opened. Reaching down, he grabbed onto my hand, clutching it tightly in his sweaty palm as he pulled me from the car.

He peered down at me.
“You look at the floor. Do not look at anyone, do not make eye contact with anyone, do not speak to anyone. I will speak for you. Understood, aye?”

I shook my head. Gavin leaned down and kissed my forehead gently. “Come on, then.”

“Where are we going?”

He drew in a deep breath, glancing down at me as he said,
“I’m not exactly sure yet.”

Fallen

Angel Wings and serpent tongue,

The allure of evil to the young.

Pale shown skin and tranquil eyes,

Conceal the creature he is inside.

The ambience smoothed by the devil’s touch

Initiated the fall, caused her conscious to rust.

Halo dimmed and grace succumb; she trembles as she wakes.

She’s drowned within the brimstone and forced inside hell’s iron gates.

Desolation, a dark desert of fear

The rapture of death took her here.

She sees a movement, swift and light,

A flash of teeth and crooked smile.

Sulphurous laughter and he hisses her name,

A rush of stale air and the brush of his fang.

He scales a rock and waits nearby,

Close enough to hear her muffled cry.

The pale shown skin she once caressed now gleams with sharpened scales,

The tranquil waters of his eyes grew torrid and blazed with the flames of hell.

“Child, oh my love, why do you now fear my wanton hands?

Why are you in hiding, why won’t you come near? I just don’t understand.

I showed you all you wanted with my pale shown skin and eyes of placid hue,

Can I not make good with my scaly back these advancements I give to you?

When I had the allure of grace and seemed a prince of men,

You ravaged me with sultry words and came lovingly within my den.

You desired to be adored by me; you begged for me to caress your face,

You bore your soul, you caged your heart; you plummeted from grace.

Does my scaly skin, my precious lies not tempt your velvet lips?

Do my claws not feel the same as they grasp your fragile hips?

Let you learn you’re too soon to trust, too easy to deceive, oh, these things that let me in.

The disguise of evil, scaly skin; my love, you too quickly gave into sin.”

~ I’ve been captured by the Hunter… Brooklyn Sydney Davis

A sneak peek of what is to come
:

Reaching up, Gavin jumped, his hands catching hold of the wrought iron railing of the balcony above us. He pulled us both up and over onto the concrete patio. Through the window I saw a woman staring out at us. The color fled from her face and she gripped the curtains hanging to the side of the French door just before she collapsed onto the floor.

Leaping again, Gavin pulled us up onto the second balcony. He continued to effortlessly scale the balconies until we’d reached the roof. Sitting down, he scooted us both back from the edge of the building. The wind howled around the corner and the screams from the crowd below were almost silenced by it. Staring down, I finally saw what the people were running from.

There were several very large, statuesque men combing through the crowd. They selectively yanked up people fleeing past them. They’d pull them close to their face, almost as if they were inhaling and savoring the delicate fragrance of a rose. Moments later they’d snap their necks to the side and, if that violent motion hadn’t stilled them, these men would bite them, sucking all life from them. The scream from the person trapped in their grip would rise shrilly above the hundreds of other panicked cries. Their body would flail, twitching, trying to free themselves from the hold of these demons. These men were moving with a swiftness that made me certain whoever they were searching for would never be able to escape them. Inhuman speed; a speed that seemed to almost pause the movement of everything else around them. The same speed Gavin had been moving with.

“Stop watching them!” Gavin demanded.

Unable to tear my gaze away from the mayhem unfolding below us, I realized that every person they were grabbing was a woman. A dark-haired woman.

I fell back, my feet pushing against the roof to get me away from the edge. My mouth was dry. Trying to form words, my tongue whipped around the inside of my mouth to wet it. I could feel the blood draining out of my face, my fingers tingled, and I fought to catch my breath. “Me.” I managed to whisper. “They’re looking for me… aren’t they?” My stare was frozen to the edge of the roof, the despairing cries from below ringing in my ears. “That’s what they’re going to do to me… that’s me…
my
fate. Me.” Without being aware of it, I had stood up and was screaming.

Gavin grabbed me, jerking me back down. My head slammed against the cold concrete and he pushed his entire body on top of me. His chest heaving, his warm breath flowing over my face as he pressed his forehead to mine. His hands had pinned my arms above my head, his legs straddling my pelvis, keeping me from leaping back to my feet as panic pulsed through me.

His eyes narrowed as he stared at me. “Shhh! You’ve got to be quite. They can hear things…” his voice lowered to a whisper. “They can hear your damned heart beating. You’ve
got
to be silent.”

Coming summer of 2014

Stevie J. Cole has written macabre poetry for the past seventeen years and published her debut novel,
Bound to the Fallen,
in February of 2014.
Bound by
Sin was written after several people had asked about how Gavin came to be what he is. The second novel in the Prophecy series,
Bound by Prophecy,
is anticipated to be released in the summer of 2014.

Stevie has a love for sloths, the color pink, hoards empty wine bottles, and adores post-grunge a
lternative music. She also has slight obsessions with mythology and vampires, and is absolutely terrified of the imminent threat of the zombie apocalypse. She hopes to one day own a water fortress, because we all know zombies can’t swim.

To learn more about Stevie, or just to talk with her, you can follow her on Facebook at:

https://www.facebook.com/authorsteviejcole

Stevie’s also on Twitter: @steviejcole