Electric (12 page)

Taking a deep breath, I put my hand in my jean pocket and gripped the small pebble from the pond. “Niviane,” I whispered.

Merlin’s eyes widened, as he must’ve heard the name I’d spoken. It was that small hesitation that allowed me an opportunity to get up and run.  He swiveled around in pursuit. He raised his hand toward me. Electricity shot out from his palm like spears.

I closed my eyes, readying for the impact. Preparing to feel the jolt of searing pain and eventual death. But it didn’t come as I expected.

Slowly I opened my eyes to see Niviane standing in front of me, blocking me from the attack. Her body lit up like a blue-white light bulb. Electric tendrils sizzled around her like eels. But her face was calm and serene. It didn’t look like she was in any kind of pain whatsoever.

The last of the electricity wound around her knees, then ankles, and then fizzled out like the tail end of a birthday sparkler. Merlin stared at her, lowering his hand, in what looked like surrender to me.

“Niviane.” He said her name like a prayer.

“Hello my love,” she said.

“How are you here?”

“You called me, remember? When you woke.”

He shook his head, as if to clear it. “You betrayed me. You locked me away forever.”

“No my darling not forever. You are here now. As am I.”

“Get up.”

Her voice was like a punch to my brain. I jolted to my feet.

Niviane reached out a hand toward Merlin.  “Come to me. We can finally be together. Have the sons and daughters you’ve always wanted.”

That made me shudder. Was that what he’d been doing all this time? Making sons to keep him company.

Dropping the sword, he walked toward her and took her hand.  He looked completely entranced by her.

“The sword, Salem.”

I saw it on the ground, close to where Merlin stood with Niviane. I walked around them, watching to see if he would notice me. He didn’t. His gaze was on Niviane. Completely. Utterly.  I picked it up and held it tight in my hand.

But I couldn’t use it. He was too close to Niviane.

“I loved you,” Merlin said to her. “I would have destroyed the world for you.”

“I know.” She placed her hand on his cheek. “That was why I did what I did.”

“Do it Salem!” I looked over to see Trevor waving at me.  “Kill him!”

I lifted the sword, getting ready to swing it. But I paused. I didn’t want to hurt Niviane. And I would, if I swung. I would likely kill her as well.

She looked at me over Merlin’s shoulder. Her eyes pleading with me. Then she smiled, and wrapped her arms around the Druid cambion, pulling him tight to her body. His fingertips sparked and lit up.  Electricity sizzled out of his hands, and enveloped them both as they embraced.

“Do it!”

Her voice screamed in my head. It rattled my teeth, and blood gushed from my nose.

“Kill us!”

I lifted the sword, tip out, and ran toward Merlin. I felt it pierce his back, and I pushed with all the strength I had inside me. The blade impaled him, then ran through Niviane, until it protruded grotesquely between her shoulder bones.

I let go of the sword, and ran to Trevor and Chloe. Seth and Quinn were on their knees, watching Merlin and Niviane.  They both had bloodied lips and noses, and cuts and bruises on their faces. They’d gotten just as much as they’d given Trevor.

“You killed us all,” Seth mumbled.

“What?” I asked.

He shook his head. “You killed us all.”

I looked at Trevor in panic.  “Did I? Are we all going to die?”

He grabbed me and hugged me tight.  I reached behind me and took Chloe’s hand and pulled her to us. If we were going to go, we’d go together.

The ground shook beneath our feet. The air filled with the smell of ozone and blood and burnt flesh. I buried my face in Trevor’s shoulder, too afraid to look at what I’d done. He covered my head with an arm and crushed me hard.

“I love you,” he said.

Then there was an explosion of light and sound. A blast of heat shot over us. I thought we were going to melt into fleshy piles of goo.  Squeezing my eyes tight, I screamed. So did Chloe.

Then it was all gone.

Slowly I opened my eyes. I blinked several times unsure of what I was seeing was truly real.

My mom rushed to me. “Oh God, Salem.” She pulled me out of Trevor’s arms and into hers.

We were all in my living room. Safe. Not dead. Alive and almost unscathed.

“What happened?” she asked. “Are you okay? Is it over?”

She bombarded me with more questions, but I wasn’t listening. I was looking around, making sure that this was real.  I grabbed Trevor’s hand.  “It’s over, isn’t it?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

“I feel strange,” I said. Frowning, I tried to sense the darkness inside and couldn’t.  “I feel like...like me. The real me. The human me.”

“So do I.”

“Do you think that’s what Seth meant? That killing us, meant killing the cambion inside?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know, but something definitely has changed.”

I smiled and hugged my mom again, then Chloe, then Jamie.  There was a lightness inside me that hadn’t been there before. Not even before the event.  Before I had been changed into a cambion. It was a strange sensation and one I hoped I would get used to.

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A
fter Chloe and Jamie went home and my mom had stopped fussing over us, Trevor and I escaped to my room for some peace and quiet and rest. An empty large pizza box sat on the end of the bed near our feet. We’d eaten it between us. And I was still hungry.

“Man, I’ve never been so hungry. It’s weird. It’s not like before, you know?”

He nodded, and then winced. “I know. It’s like eating for the first time after being starved to death in some prison.”

My mom had patched Trevor up with some hydrogen peroxide and some bandages. He looked worse than he probably felt. At least, I hoped so.  Because he looked pretty bad.  I traced my finger over his cut lip. He sucked in a breath.

“Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s okay.”

“I can’t believe it’s really over.” I cuddled into the crook of his arm. “Like over over. Not just we killed Thane and Devon over.”

“I know, I feel it too.”

I splayed my hand across his chest. I could feel his heart beating beneath my palm. I nuzzled in closer to him, and the beat thumped a little faster and a little harder.  I looked up at his face. His beautiful, wonderful face, even if it was a bit banged up.

“How can we be sure that we’re human again?”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. Wait and see, I guess.”

I shuffled up a little so I was face to face with him. “Or, we could ah, kiss. To you know test the waters.”

His smile came slowly, but damn, it was worth the wait. My heart did a little double dutch inside my chest, and my belly clenched hard.

“Oh you think so, do you?”

I nodded enthusiastically.  “We owe it to society to make sure that we are definitely human again. It would be negligent if we didn’t.  Besides I’ve never kissed you fully human before.”

His gaze locked on mine, he cupped a hand behind my neck and held me still. Slowly, he leaned into me. He tilted his head ever so slightly, and then gently covered my mouth. My head instantly began to spin, and I felt a zing all the way down to my toes.

He nibbled a little on my bottom lip, and then he deepened the kiss, his tongue sweeping over mine. I sighed into him, fisting his t-shirt in my hand.  We kissed until we were both breathless. And not for one second did I feel the beast gnawing inside me to get out and feed off him. At least not the cambion beast. There was indeed something else there churning inside but it was just good old fashioned lust.

We broke apart, and I rested my forehead to his.  I could barely breathe and it was wonderful. And normal.

“So, did you feel anything?”

“Ah, yes.” He chuckled.  “The usual things.”

“Me too.”

I traced my finger over his face. I loved looking at him. He never failed to make my heart beat a little faster, and a little harder. He made me feel safe and secure.

I kissed him again unafraid of going too far and accidentally sucking the life out of him. Now we could make out like any other normal teenage couple. Snog our brains out, until the parental knocked on the bedroom door and told us to cut it out.

Life was good again.  And although I knew I could take care of myself no matter what life threw at me, I didn’t want to face it alone.  For now, I wanted Trevor to be there with me, beside me, fighting to the bitter end.

Or in our case, for a new beginning.

If you liked ELECTRIC, you might like Tawny’s newest series,
CARNIVAL WORLD

Come along for the ride of your life....

For six teens and one young boy, an innocent ride at a summer carnival becomes a harrowing trip into another dimension where everything they've ever known has been destroyed and everyone they’ve ever loved are gone. Now they have to travel a road through a harsh and unreal world where mutated creatures hunt them and a mysterious man with an ugly scar dogs their every move. Guided by the Barker in their dreams, they each must face their past enabling them to perform a task in the present that will help them find a way home. Every game played is a piece closer to solving the puzzle.

For Darien, the Strong Man, Nicole, the Tightrope Walker, Maddie and Justin, the Siamese Twins, Summer, the Escape Artist, and little Sam, the Fortune Teller, dreams are lost, nightmares are real and Carnival World is the place they need to survive if they want to make it back home.

A cross between “Flight 29 Down” and “RL Stine's Goosebumps”, “Carnival World” is an action packed spooky thrill ride for tweens and teens alike.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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T
awny Stokes has always been a writer.  From an early age, she’d spin tales of serial killers in love, vampires taking over the world, and sometimes about fluffy bunnies turned bunnicidal maniacs.  An honour student in high school, with a penchant for math and English, you’d never know it by the foot high blue Mohawk and Doc Martens, which often got her into trouble.  No longer a Mohawk wearer, Tawny still enjoys old school punk rock, trance, zombie movies, teen horror films, and fluffy bunnies.  She lives in Canada with her fantastical daughter, two cats, and spends most of her time creating new stories for teens.

Tawny also writes adult paranormal/urban fantasy fiction under the name Vivi Anna, and is a screenwriter and TV writer.

Website:
http://www.tawnystokes.com

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O
THER WORKS BY THE AUTHOR:

Static

Demons of the Rich and Famous

Dating After Dark (With Clowns)

Carnival World, episode 1

Carnival World, episode 2

Carnival World, episode 3 – coming September 15, 2013