Evan Elemental (The Evan Elemental Series) (23 page)

I breathe
in deeply. Clinging to the last shred of my resolve, I take a step forward and
turn so that I'm facing him, an equal, not a captive.

"What
did you do to me?" I spit.

The
corner of Ezra's lips quirk up into an arrogant smirk.
He reminds me of a spoiled prince
and I hold onto that image because it diminishes him.

"I
haven't done anything yet, love. But I can, if you'd like," he answers,
taking a step closer.

"
Ew
. You know what, it doesn't matter. Just leave me
alone," I say with as much disdain as I can manage. I do not want to even
to try to analyze the feelings I'm experiencing right now. So, I don't. Without
giving Ezra another second of my time, I turn and march toward the church. I'm
not even hungry anymore, but I'm fairly certain that Ezra would burst into
flames if he went inside a
church,
especially the
Price Church of All That is Good and Holy.

I
expect him to call out something ominous as I walk away, but he doesn't. His
silence is more unnerving than anything he could possibly have said. Whatever.
Maybe he's finally learned his lesson and is actually going to leave me alone.
Miracles happen sometimes, right?

I
politely step around a group of people and make my way toward the building's
side door. The instant my hand makes contact with the doorknob, a
blood-curdling scream rips through the air and stills my heart. There is a
moment of absolute dead silence before all hell breaks loose.

People
start running toward the main doors of the church where the horrible scream
came from. More screaming follows, this time by the first wave of people to
make it inside the building. I push through a group of teenage girls sobbing
violently in the doorway. Inside, a few more people are sobbing, but most are
just standing there, frozen, tears silently streaming down their faces.

My eyes
travel from the faces of people, whose names I don't know, to the walls.
Something is off about them. It takes a second before my brain recognizes the
change: blood. Blood is everywhere. It's splattered on the walls like a bad
Pollack painting and it's smeared across the two-hundred-year-old stained glass
windows. It's dripping from the simply, elegantly carved pews and it's soaked
into the fine, delicate paper of the hymnals and the bibles. My gaze drops to
the floor where a thick, dark, shining river of blood streams around my shoes
on its way to the door.

I'm
sickened and enthralled by the sight of it. I step forward into the mess that
everyone is slowly inching back away from. I'm functioning on pure adrenaline,
my mind shut off to the reality of what's happening. I take measured, automatic
steps toward the source of the chaos. The blood is coming from the altar and
the two bodies that lay limply on it.

As I
near, their slack, empty faces come into focus. The body closest to me is unrecognizable.
It's an older woman, probably mid-forties, with a tiny delicate frame and dark
hair shaped in a pixy cut. She's wearing a blood-soaked gray linen skirt and a
silk top that looks like it used to be white. My eyes stray to the deep slashes
across her neck and wrists where the blood is beginning to congeal.

I tear
my attention away from the woman and set it on the other lifeless body. The
sight of it cuts through the numbness and rips away the last shred of sanity it
was protecting. This body belongs to another girl, one my age. Her
bleach-blonde hair is pink from the blood that's soaked into it. She's clothed
in a simple white shift dress and her feet are bare. Her wrists are slashed,
too, but her neck, though caked in dried blood, is otherwise unharmed. I drop
to my knees at Jessie's side and reach for her limp hand.

The
skin on the back of my neck and arms prickles and I freeze with my arm still
outstretched. Slowly, I turn toward the source of the sensation and lock eyes
with a strangely familiar dark-haired, sad-eyed woman. One I've only seen in my
dreams. I glance around frantically to see if anyone else notices her when I
see Mattie standing near the doorway. She has a horrified look on her face, but
it's not because of the blood or the bodies. Her gaze is fixed on the same
strange woman that I'm seeing.

From
what I can tell, we're the only ones who can see her. Mattie jerks her head
toward me. Her eyes widen slightly when she comes to the same realization. I
look away from her and back to the strange woman. I want to get up and go to
her, but I'm rooted from the shock of everything that's going on. The moment
seems to stretch on eternally. I'm starting to think that we're all just going
to stay frozen in time forever when the silence shifts and becomes charged with
electricity.

I blink
and then she's standing there in front of me, her dark endless eyes swallowing
me up and consuming me. When she speaks, her voice is barely more than a
whisper but it rings and carries on from our tiny point on earth to the
farthest reaches of the universe. "It's here."

Chaos
erupts again. Someone starts to pull me up from the floor, but I jerk away from
them
and stumble towards the door. I need to get the
hell out of this place before I find out what that creepy lady means. People
are shouting to each other to call an ambulance and the police; some are even
shouting to me. I don't slow or stop to find out what they're saying.

I trip
over the threshold and
stumble blindly down
the steps
onto the front lawn of the church. I can't think anymore because there are
sirens everywhere clogging my mind and there is blood on my knees that doesn't
belong to me. I heave myself off the ground and break into a sprint.

I have
no idea where I'm going; I just need to go. My mind begins to clear as I weave
around dressed-up picnic tables and make my way toward the circle of ancient
trees in the middle of the town square. Once I'm inside the paltry refuge of
those trees I collapse onto the pine needle strewn ground.

My
breath comes in painful, choking gasps. Every part of me hurts, from my skin to
my very soul. I am coming apart one cell at a time. I wrap my arms around body,
trying to keep it together, but it's not enough. I am going to dissolve into
the air and no one will notice. Why should they? Wherever I go, darkness will
follow. That's clear to me now. The trees around me break out into a frenzied
whisper, but I ignore them. Whatever they're trying to tell me they can save
for the next girl. I'm done.

I hear
footsteps approach and the whispering stops. Whoever it is doesn't say
anything. I will them to leave but they only come closer. I sense them drop
down behind me. Before I can yell at
whoever
it is to
go away, they wrap their arms around me and pull me tight against them.

The
relief is instant.
Lex
. It has to be
Lex
. I sink into his warm embrace, a soft sigh escaping my
lips. He reaches up and brushes my hair aside, exposing my neck to his hot,
quick breath, and trails kisses up my neck and along my jaw. Instead of the
familiar electricity, I feel a pulsing, liquid blackness roll over my skin and
sink into my pores, filling me with unending ache and desire.

I've
realized too late that it's wrong
;
the wrong person
with the wrong arms and the wrong lips. "Ezra?" I whisper, confused.

I turn
my head to look into his hooded, gold-streaked eyes. Ezra reaches up and
presses a finger to my lips, silencing my scream. His triumphant smile is the
last thing that I see before the whole world goes black and I drop into
absolute nothingness.

Crystal
Groszek is the author Evan Elemental, the first book in a new paranormal
romance series. Crystal began thinking about and plotting Evan Elemental while
attending Utica College where she earned her bachelor's degree in English
Literature. She currently lives in Little Falls, NY with her fiancé, Patrick,
and her lovably insane puppy,
Lenni
. You can find
more information about Crystal and the Evan Elemental series by visiting her at
www.evanelemental.com. You can also reach Crystal on twitter at
www.twitter.com/crystalgroszek and on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/crystalgroszek.