Stalked by Death (Touch of Death) (21 page)

“Hush,” Chase said. “I’ll make you feel all better.” He brushed the tear from my cheek and transferred his power to me. My body tingled, making me forget the pain I was feeling. Making me want nothing more than to be with Chase, to feel this power we could create together.

After a few minutes, I felt the power subside. It slowly went away, leaving me feeling content. I knew I had run away, that I had wanted to get away from Chase, but now I had a hard time remembering why.

“Better?” He kissed me gently on the lips.

I nodded.

“Ready to go back now?” He stood up and extended his hand to me. I took it and let him help me up. He held onto me, and we started walking back toward the school. “That was your mom’s car back there?”

“Yeah.” I didn’t want to talk about it. I wasn’t sure if I was glad she hadn’t seen me or if I wanted to be in the car with her right now.

“It wouldn’t have ended well if she had stopped.”

Was he threatening her? “Would you have hurt her?” I stopped walking and stared at him. I tried to take my hand back, but he squeezed it, sending a burst of power, getting me under his control again.

“You don’t have to be afraid of me, Jodi. We were meant to be together. I won’t hurt you. Why can’t you see that?” He pulled me along, so we were walking again.

“If you hurt my mom, it would destroy me.”

He didn’t respond.

“And you made Alex leave. That hurt me. You made me torture that corpse, and that hurt me, too. If you really don’t want to hurt me, you wouldn’t try to control me like this. Using your power to get what you want is cruel.” I should’ve been yelling at him, but with him still sending little surges of power my way, a gentle voice whispering the truth was the best I could do.

“I didn’t make Alex leave. He left because he wasn’t really in love with you. You weren’t in love with him either.”

I stopped. “Yes, I was.” I tried to take my hand away again, but Chase hit me with another dose of his power, but this time it was the poison. I crumbled to the ground, and he caught me before my head hit a fallen tree branch.

“Please,” I whispered. “You have to stop. I can’t handle much more. You’re going to kill me.”

He looked down at me like he was considering what I said. “I won’t let you die, Jodi.”

“Stop controlling me. Please.”

“I will once you admit the truth to yourself.” He leaned down and kissed me again. “You love me. You’ve loved me since before me met. You felt it, too. The attraction between us. Alex left because of you, Jodi. Because you love me.”

No. I wanted to yell, scream, and spit in his face. He was doing this to me. He was controlling me like a puppet. But I knew if I said what I really felt, he’d just dose me with poison again. It really was killing me, whether he wanted to admit it or not. If I was going to survive, I was going to have to play along. Pretend what he’d said was true.

“Say it, Jodi. Say you love me.”

He stroked my face, sending just the slightest bit of poison through his touch. He had no idea how much he was hurting me. I had to make it stop.

“I love you.” I didn’t say his name, and I pictured Alex’s face in my mind while I said it.

Chase wrapped me into a hug and kissed me. It physically pained me to kiss him back. I hated him. I wanted to claw his eyes out. But I had to play along or he’d kill me and leave me for the wild animals. Chase’s hands were all over me, and I instinctively pushed him away.

“Need a little more?” I knew he was talking about his power.

“No! Please, Chase. I’m really in bad shape. I need to lie down. I don’t even know if I’m strong enough to make it back to the school.” A plan was forming in my mind. “Do you think you could go get your car and come back for me?” I laced my fingers through his, trying to play the part of the loving girlfriend.

“No need,” he said. “I’ll carry you.”

“Don’t be silly. It’s way too far for you to carry me.”

“Jodi, sweetie.” He kissed my cheek. “How dumb do you think I am?”

My eyes widened. My acting skills weren’t cutting it.

“I know, if I leave you here, the second I’m gone you’ll run for the road again.”

Maybe not run. My energy level was seriously depleted.

“I won’t. I’m not strong enough to anyway.”

“Alex may have been an idiot, but I’m not.” He scooped me into his arms and started walking. “Hmm, you may be right about one thing. It’s definitely too far to carry you like this.” Chase stopped and looked around. His gaze fell on Melodie’s car, and he walked over to it.

“It’s totaled,” I said.

“A little burned, but not totaled.”

“The whole thing was up in flames. You can’t drive it.”

He smiled, and I followed his eyes. He wasn’t looking at the car. He was looking at the body next to it.

“No! You can’t be thinking of raising him. Chase, that’s going too far.”

“Don’t worry, sweetie. I wouldn’t think of raising him without your help. In fact, I’d prefer if you did it. You know, as a way to show me you’re going to be on my side from now on.” He put me down right next to the corpse.

“I can’t. I won’t do that. He was only trying to help me. I would’ve died if he hadn’t freed me from the car.”

“Well, then you wouldn’t want his death to be in vain.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “What are you talking about?”

“You’re either with me or against me, Jodi. Believe me, you don’t want to be against me.” His expression softened, and he cupped my face in his hands. “I really don’t want to hurt you. We’d make such a great team.” He lowered his hands to right above my heart. “But I will hurt you if I have to.”

I looked at his hands, poised and ready to send a burst of poison straight to my heart. A burst I was sure would kill me.

“Why are you doing this?” I asked.

“Because I need you to see that you and I aren’t like the others. We’re better. I deserve the best, and that’s you. If I can’t have you, I
will
kill you. So, you better start proving that you want to be with me.”

My eyes stung with the realization that I was defenseless against him. Part of me wanted to let him kill me, to end it so I didn’t have to become the monster he wanted me to be. But if I died, that would be the end of the Ophi. I was sure of it. My death would mark the end of my deal with Hades. He’d go after the others, until there were no Ophi left.

I stared Chase in the eyes. “If you want me to love you, then you need to be someone I could love. Not a monster.”

“I’m powerful. That doesn’t make me a monster. You fighting me is making me a monster. If you would’ve just come back with me, none of this would’ve happened.”

“Fine,” I said. “I’ll go back with you.”

“No.” He crossed his arms like a bratty child. “Now you need to prove yourself to me.” He nodded at the corpse. “Raise that soul and make him carry you back to the school.”

He was crazy, and I was crazy for not fighting him.

“Jodi, you have five seconds before I dose you with more poison than you can stand.”

I squeezed my fists, feeling my blood already mixing in response to my emotions. I glared at Chase. “Fine, but understand I will hate you for making me do this.”

“No, you won’t. You will love me, Jodi, or I will kill you.” He motioned to the body.

I stepped around him, careful not to make contact. I didn’t need any of his power. I reached out for the soul, muttering an apology at the same time. He recognized me instantly, and when he realized I was forcing him back into his charred body, he screamed in agony. I cried, but I continued to control him, to hurt him more than he’d ever been hurt. I watched the corpse rise and come toward me.

“Good girl,” Chase said. “Now, make him carry you.”

My mouth didn’t want to move. It killed me to say the words. “Carry me to my home. Follow Chase.”

Chase smiled as the corpse reached for me and picked me up. His burned body was wet and bloody in some places where his flesh had melted away. I struggled to keep from throwing up. Chase laughed.

“See, it would be so much easier if you decide to love me.” He walked with a smile the entire way back.

The corpse struggled under my weight, but no matter how much he hurt, he couldn’t stop. He was powerless against me. We reached the school grounds, and I saw Tony was in the cemetery teaching the others. He’d taken over the lesson for me, but he stopped the second he saw us. His eyes went back and forth between me and the corpse. “My God, Jodi. What on earth have you done?”

“She’s a ruthless one,” Chase said. “But man are her powers awesome.” He looked at me and smiled. “Come on, sweetie, don’t you think the poor guy’s had enough? You can walk the rest of the way, can’t you?”

He was pinning this all on me. Making me look like the bad guy. I wanted to punch him in the face. To tell everyone the truth about what had happened. Instead, I commanded the soul to put me down. His flesh stuck to me in several places, and the tearing sound it made was sickening. He stared down at his arms in obvious pain.

“I release you. Please, return to where you were. I’m so sorry,” I choked out. Tears filled my eyes.

Chase came over and put his arm around me. He sent waves of power through me. Not enough to consume me. I was sure he didn’t want anyone else to know what he was doing. “Aw, hon, I know you feel bad about making him do that.” He took my face in his hands and said, “I forgive you.” He kissed me, and I truly wanted to die.

When he pulled away, everyone stared at me in horror, and there was nothing I could do to convince them of the truth.

I was in serious trouble. Suddenly everyone was looking at Chase like he was the good guy. I was the girl who was out of control with power. Only I didn’t want the power. I wasn’t trying to use it. It was all Chase, but no one else could see that. Even Jared, who I’d hoped had seen a glimpse of Chase’s true colors, was looking at me like I was no better than him. I needed help. I needed Alex. But since Alex wasn’t here, I had to hope Medusa would be enough.

“I’m really drained. I need to go visit Medusa before lunch.” I tried not to sound as disgusted with Chase as I actually was.

“Sure, babe. No problem. I’ll go with you.” He didn’t let go of me. He clearly didn’t trust me and was only acting sweet to keep up appearances with the others.

“No, you missed training this morning. Stay. Finish up with the group. I’ll be fine.”

I looked to Tony for help, hoping he’d back me up the way he usually did. He clearly seemed upset and confused by my behavior, but he nodded. “I could use your help, Chase.”

Chase wrapped me in a hug and whispered in my ear. “Don’t do anything foolish, Jodi. I’ll find out if you do. I promise you that.” He kissed me, dosing me again with his power. He was seriously going to kill me.

I wobbled back, still feeling the effects of his touch. Why couldn’t anyone else see what he was doing to me? If Alex were here, he’d notice it. He’d put an end to it. I swallowed hard, fighting back the tears that came with thinking about Alex. I turned toward the school and walked inside. I hurried to Medusa and squeezed her hands.

“My child, what’s happened to you, now? Your power is all off balance.” Her expression was one of worry. “You need to release my left hand. You have too much poison in your blood right now. You need the blood from my right side.”

“But if I let go I won’t be able to talk to you, and I need to talk to you.”

“I can still appear to you. Go on and release my left hand.”

I did as she said, and the life-restoring power flowed through me, replenishing my energy. I sighed, relief washing over me. “Thank you. I needed that.”

“Now, tell me what’s happened.”

“Chase. He’s evil, Medusa. He’s trying to kill me. He keeps sending me waves of power, but somehow he’s only sending me power from the left side of his body.”

“I can tell. You are filled with it. Jodi, I must warn you that, if you allow this to continue, you will turn evil. You’ll become like Victoria and Troy. Only worse.”

“Worse?” I was practically screaming in my mind. “How is that possible? They were awful.”

“You must stay away from Chase.”

“How? He drove Alex away—or I did because my stupid blood was attracted to Chase’s power.” Attracted to his power. Did that mean I
was
evil? If I was craving the evil in Chase, that had to mean I was evil, too.

“No, Jodi,” Medusa said, reading my mind. “There is more going on here.”

Again she was keeping something from me. “What do you know? I keep getting the feeling that you’re hiding something. What aren’t you telling me, Medusa?”

She shook her head. “I see more than you think, but I’m bound to the deal the Ophi made with Hades when they rescued my spirit. I cannot reveal to you what’s truly happening. If I do, the deal will be broken, and Hades will claim my soul once more.”

I couldn’t let that happen, but if she knew what was happening to me, there had to be a way for me to find out. “Can you give me a clue? Anything?”

“All I can say is this:
That which has the power to save, has the power to destroy
.” She shook her head again. “I’ve said too much already, and you’ve had enough of my power for one evening. Be careful, my child, and good luck.” She vanished, and I let go of her hand.