Seraphina: Initiation (10 page)

“
You
may have been, but I am not. I
think it’s best if you stay away from this Jack, this doesn’t
concern you. You’re only going to get in our way.” I state shoving
my feelings down and putting my high school drama classes to good
use, “Thanks for the information Jack, we’ll be taking it from
here.” I state hopping off the counter, reaching down to link my
fingers with Nate’s as we walk towards the door. I don’t know what
possesses me to do it, maybe I’m just a masochist, but I glance
back to see the hurt plastered all over Jack’s face as he watches
me leave him in his destroyed store arm in arm with the man I chose
over him. Maybe I am evil.

I refuse to let Nate open the car door for
me. I make sure I beat him there and slump down into the car
wishing I could disappear. Nate climbs in puts his key in the
ignition, but before he puts the car into drive he states, “I’m
sorry, I know how hard that was for you.”

Something so simple, yet it was all I needed
to hear. I sigh turning to glance out the window at the scenery of
my old town blurring past me as Nate heads back towards our home.
Only as I continue to stare, something doesn’t feel right. This
town is different from the one I had left only a few days ago, this
town is an imposter.

“STOP!” I suddenly scream, surprising Nate
to screech to a halt as I jump out into the middle of the street. I
dash across the sidewalk towards Mr. Green’s supermarket, where I
thought I saw something, although I’m not sure if it was with my
eyes or my senses. Nate is on me before I even reach the parking
lot.

“Sera what are you doing? What is going on?”
grabbing my shoulders trying to stop me from continuing
forward.

“Nate, look…” I point ahead to the broken
front window of the supermarket. He’s silent. “They were here…” I
think out loud as a crack of lightning sounds and thunder rumbles
close behind in dramatic irony. I slowly approach the
glass-shattered sidewalk inspecting the damage. All that seems to
be missing is food. Shelves and shelves of food spewed all over the
floor, like a pack of wild ravenous dogs just invaded.

“Hey there, Red.” I whip around so fast at
the disgusting nickname that sickens my stomach. Only this time my
eyes are met with different ones. They lock with the black alien
eyes of Gabe sitting atop a rack of carts. I can see his huge
muscles even through the dark, but it’s the missing arm at the
elbow that makes my breath catch in my throat. “Fancy meeting you
here,” he tries his hand at sarcasm as lighting strikes across the
sky behind him.

“Yeah, you know, just out for a late night
ride just trying to scope out how I’m going to die and all,” his
sarcasm is still no match for mine.

“I take it this is Mr. Account,” he mocks my
attempt at turning him off at work. Nate tenses at my side. I may
have forgot to tell him about Gabe.

“Yup, my account, in the flesh,” I wrap my
arm around Nate’s partly to prove my point, but mainly to keep him
from full on attacking. I want to try and get more information out
of this guy before the inevitable.

“Hungry are we?” I joke pointing to the
remnants of a store behind me.

“Yea you know, I like to indulge after I
shed my human flesh,” he states licking his lips while he stares at
me. It’s not his eyes that bother me. It’s the snake like tongue
that hisses while he does it that makes my insides crawl inside
themselves.

“Well, this new skin suits you,” repulsion
dripping off my every word.

“You know we could have made a great account
together,” finally hopping off of the cart rack and coming towards
us, “It’s too bad…” the sentence drifts off because we both know
what he means.

Before my eyes have time to keep up Nate has
disappeared from my side and I whip around to see that Gabe is
missing too. Behind me there is a boom that shakes the ground I’m
standing on. My immediate thought is the thunder, but I turn around
to see Gabe and Nate through the dust of fallen aisles locked in an
epic battle.
Oh crap
. I break into a run, hop through the
shattered window, and dash towards them. Nate must sense me coming
for him because he never looks in my direction, but raises his hand
to me as if saying stop and I go flying. He pushed me back out of
the store with his mind, I fly back through the window and land on
my back in the parking lot on a bed of air. Furious, I climb back
to my feet as the pelting rain begins to fall and try again. I
notice my hands are starting to glow with power that can only be
coming from sheer anger. That’s when Gabe comes hopping through the
window in one leap. Pausing directly in front of me eyeing my
glowing hands as the rain soaks into his dark clothes. All I can
think of is Nate. What has he done to him?!

“Well, this has been fun Angel, but I have
bigger plans for you,” he snickers with a strange creepy smile
sprawled all over his face and humor behind his eyes. “I’ll see you
soon,” he leaves me with that promise before blowing me a kiss and
taking off into the trees next to the store and leaving me to stare
at the shattered window debating whether I can handle this or
not.

Thankfully, I don’t have to debate long
because Nate comes leaping over the window just in time to prevent
my melt down. He looks pissed, I don’t know what happened in there
but it Nate is out for blood. I don’t care. Lighting cracks across
the sky again clicking my mind into action as I run to him through
the pouring rain. I pull his dirty soaked shirt to me as I hop on
my tippy toes and my lips touch his. I feel his body relax into me
as the anger fades from the front of his mind. His strong arms wrap
around me pulling me closer to him. Feeling the warmth of his body
against mine makes my hands release his shirt and reach for his
face deepening our kiss. His protectiveness has its downfalls, but
it’s times like this that it’s so hot. The rain feels like it’s
penetrating my skin by now, but I don’t seem to mind. I promised
myself to live in the moment more –and this moment I needed
Nate.

Something happened. I can feel it, the evil.
My senses are overwhelming right now as I dash out of the shop. I
don’t care what Sera said, I can’t just let her blow me off like
that. I love her. I wish I didn’t, I wish it was someone else. But
unfortunately, Sera is all my mind can think about day and night.
I’m running down the street in this pouring rain, but I’m
determined to figure out what is going on around here. She must
care about me! She came to
me
! I know on some level she has
feelings for me too. Maybe if she can see how much I will go
through to protect her, if she can only see what I would do for
her, then she will realize she made the wrong choice. I’m getting
closer I can feel it, the evil all over this place. Well, that’s
different –it’s Mr. Green’s Supermarket. I pause before rounding
the corner to the entrance, I hope whatever was here is gone. If
having the sight has taught me anything it is not to be afraid of
the unknown. I just hope whatever it is will see me as one of them
and causes me no harm. It’s my one hope as I turn around the
corner. Correction, it
was
my one hope. Looking at the sight
in front of me all my hopes and endless dreams have just been
washed down the sewer with the rain.

She’s standing there her arms wrapped around
him
with her hands on his face kissing
him
like I’ve
always dreamed about. I think I’m in shock, I can’t move. I think
maybe I’m a masochist because I continue to stare at them flat out
making out like a corny movie right here in the supermarket parking
lot. How could she do this to me? Right here? Flaunt her choice
right here out in the open for all to see? I feel the anger grow
inside of me. This ignites something in me, I feel it spreading its
way through my veins and envelope my entire body. My heart turns
cold as stone, before I finally turn away and walk back towards my
store. She will regret this—she will see she made the wrong choice.
I want her to feel like I do right now in this very moment. Yet,
there is something inside me that doesn’t want to give up on her. I
will still do anything to have her, anything. I think it’s time to
place a call I’ve been avoiding. I think it’s time I have her.

I
’
m walking along a wheat field at dusk. I notice
I’m alone as I begin to feel the wind sway the wheat against my
bare legs. I extend my arm down and run my hand through the stalks
of wheat. I find it kind of tickles as I pick up my pace.
I
’
m skipping through
the field now humming a song I don
’
t think I’ve ever heard before. I begin to hear
the crowing of birds in the background and I freeze in my tracks.
Without warning, I begin to see eyes through the stalks of corn.
Red eyes. They seem to multiply and they are growing larger and
larger as they approach. Coming to my senses, I break into a run,
but I already know it
’
s too late. I’m running as fast as I can, heart
pounding, fists pumping so fast, I almost run straight into one. He
seems to sprout up from the ground and block my path. He looks
like, yea—it’s Gabe again. Demon-Gabe—tall with big muscles
rippling from his tan skin and those eyes, dark and soulless. He
turns his head to the side slightly like a creepy animal before
letting out a sound I can only compare to an evil growl.
I
’
m being surrounded
on all sides as I spin around looking for a way out when they come
at me hard and fast. All I can see is a blur of red eyes and flesh.
I can feel their hot breath against my skin as I begin to try and
shield myself. I try and fend them off with my newfound strength
and speed, but there are just too many. They are all over me,
pulling me down. I feel my back hit the dirt hard and they are all
grabbing for me at the same time. It
’
s as if they multiplied in a matter of seconds.
I can count hundreds piling on top, trying to get a piece of me. I
can
’
t breathe. I feel
them pulling my hair, as they claw at me. They’
re scratching, peeling my skin off
it’s as if they all want a piece of me. I can feel them
penetrate my skin and I scream as loud as I can. I
’
m still kicking and putting up a
fight, but the more I fight, the harder they scratch and claw
at me. I
’
m kicking and screaming trying to push them
off me when I
’
m being
shaken again and again as I scream so loud it echoes in my
ears…

“Sera! Sera!” Nate is shaking me awake.
I
’
m looking around in shock trying to
place where I am. It takes me a few minutes to stop screaming and
realize I
’
m safe in my room, still in my
bed.
It was a dream!

“Sera what happened?” Nate asks me as he
reaches over to the night table and turn on the lamp.

“I just had another bad dream,” I state
rubbing my eyes as the light hits me.

I can hear Nate gasp and I pull my hands
away to look at him. Following his eyes down to my skin, I notice
I
’
m covered head to toe in red scratches.
They look like they are from hundreds of hands clawing at me, some
are even so deep they are bleeding. I must be in shock all I can do
is look up at Nate as I feel my eyes welling up with tears. Without
another word, he picks me up and carries me to the bathroom. In his
arms I begin to feel the tears drip down my cheeks. He places me on
the corner of the marble tub as he draws me a bath and pours the
whole bottle of lavender soap into it. He turns back to me to take
my nightgown off, when I finally come to my senses.

“Turn around!” I yell crossing my arms. I
see him eye a bite mark on my arm and make a face, but he listens
and turns to face the opposite wall. I slip the nightgown over my
head before I look down and gasp at how many bites and scratches
mark my body.

“What? Can I see? …Let me see what they did
to you!” He states through gritted teeth.

“No!” I yell defiantly, as I slowly slip
into the bubbles, before he can get a glimpse of me naked. It
stings a little once my open wounds hit the water, but after a few
seconds they feel numb.

Once I
’
m under the
water, Nate automatically turns around and grabs a sponge. He dabs
it across my shoulders and my arms, before he sets his sights on a
large scratch over my eye. I look up at him as he
’
s taking care of me. His face is livid, his eyes
serious and hurt. I can tell he hates this. He hates not knowing
what is happening with me. Mainly because it
’
s out of his control, there isn’t a way he can
defend me from my own subconscious. It hurts him just as much as it
hurts me physically. I want to sit up and kiss him to let him know
I
’
m okay, but as I begin to rise up out
of the water I quickly remember that I
’
m
naked, and I sink back into the bubbles.

“Sera, what was the dream about?” he finally
breaks the silence between us.

“I was in some kind of field and I was being
attacked on all sides. They pushed me down and it was as if they
were all on top of me cutting off my air supply and scratching at
me.” I tell his grave face. I lift my arm to examine the damage and
I notice all the scratches have turned from open sores to only
blotchy skin leaving behind only the horrible memory as a reminder
whoever is invading my mind isn’t going to give up so easily.

We stay like this together in serious
silence until the bubbles start to disappear. I get self-conscious
and begin to wrap my arms around my legs to cover myself. As if
reading my mind, he rises to his feet and grabs a towel from under
the sink. He holds it up for me and looks away. I stand and wrap
myself in the towel. Once securely wrapped, he stands staring at my
blotchy legs, arms and the top of my chest in silent anger. I try
to climb out of the tub myself, but instead Nate picks me up in his
arms and carries me back to bed. He tucks me back into bed, still
wrapped in my towel before sitting in the chair still at the side
of my bed to watch me. Laying on my side watching him he
’
s staring into space,
brooding
over at what had happened to me. Seeing the
hurt and anger behind his eyes, I know he isn’t going to sleep
tonight either.