Taurus: Book 3 in a Young Adult Paranormal Romance Series (The Zodiac Twin Flame Series) (16 page)

‘What’s that?’

She frowned at me. ‘You know, the false twin.’

My eyebrows rose. ‘The what…?’

Not another bloody label. We were supposed to be some kind of warriors. I hadn’t quite got my head around it…but we were getting sucked into the normal human perception.

‘The person that makes you face yourself. So you can see the wounds from childhood and past lives.’

I gripped my hands together. The pulse of anger that shot through me didn’t go unnoticed. Cancer took a step back. I breathed deeply to calm myself down. There was no need to get uptight about the rubbish that she was spouting.

‘That person forces you to heal, so that your real twin can come in. Like it has with you.’

I released my fists. My fingers returned to normal colour. I dragged my gaze to her and cleared my face. ‘What do you mean?’

Her throat moved. She tucked her hair behind her ear again. I fought the urge to tell her to put it up. She was timid. Her gaze darted around the room instead of looking at me. She knew me well. She was expecting a tirade of disbelief.

‘Well, Sophie came in and helped you to come out of your shell enough to meet Kerry. Sophie had to go for whatever reason and now Kerry has come in properly.’

My tut made her spin away from me and reach for the door.

‘Wait!’

She froze with her hand on the handle.

‘I’m sorry. You might actually be right.’ The memory of the kiss I had shared with Kerry was too powerful to deny. It wasn’t the same as with Sophie. It had been more intense.

Cancer spun back to me, her mouth open in disbelief. ‘Did you just admit that I was right?’

‘Yeah, yeah—’

‘No! I’m serious. This is a breakthrough. You’ve—’

‘Shut up!’ I whinged, laughing when she opened my door and yelled at the others.

Aries, Scorpio and Gemini rushed to the room. They crowded in, waiting for Cancer to say what she needed to say.

‘Everyone! Taurus has just admitted that I was right.’

Aries started to clap. Scorpio looked bored as he glanced around the room. Gemini jumped on me and pretend punched my side. My head couldn’t really take it, but I didn’t complain.

‘I want to hear you say it,’ Gemini said.

I thrust him away from me, but he came back for more. He wasn’t usually touchy feely with me. I put my hand on his head, holding him off. He tried to reach me but couldn’t.

‘You stink, mate,’ he said.

The others laughed. Aries started a commentary. ‘And Gemini goes in for the kill, but Taurus manages to hold him off by trapping his opponent’s head in his meaty hand. The pair grapple on the bed, but I’m unsure what’s happening now. Are they wrestling for the title or merely trying to pin each other down to decide who’s going to take it up the—’

‘Aries!’ Cancer shouted.

‘And it’s over to Scorpio for his point of view,’ Aries finished, holding an invisible microphone in front of Scorpio’s face.

Gemini managed to connect a fist to my side. I grunted as he swiped at my arm, knocking my hand away from his head. He fell on me but quickly jumped back up when I let out a huge fart.

‘Taurus has won by farting,’ Scorpio announced. His voice was so deadpan, everyone in the room laughed.

‘Why do you smell so bad?’ Gemini asked as he stood beside the bed.

‘He’s detoxing,’ Virgo announced, coming in the room.

She was small framed. Her training as a nurse brought her into contact with many ex addicts.

‘It shows that he’s actually doing what he said he would. Although, you could do with cleaning this room. And opening a window.’ She waved her hand in front of her face.

‘All right, leave me alone to get cleaned up. Aries…’ I called as they started out the room, ‘I need you to get the whole team together tonight. I have some things to tell you all.’

He nodded before escorting the others out.

Admitting that Cancer was right was hard. I had been so adamant that none of what we had been taught was true. I wasn’t going to change my spots that much, but instead of doubting what we had been told, I was going to find out the truth about it. For that, I needed to speak to Mother and Father.

That would come later, though. Before I could find out the truth about our mission, I had to confront Nick. There was something I wanted to pay him back for. And I needed my siblings to help me.

Chapter Nineteen

‘You got high with Nick?’

Sagi screeched so loud I had to cradle my head.

The noise rose as they started to talk at once. Twelve siblings in one small living area was enough to drive anyone to drugs.

‘Okay, quiet down!’ Aries called.

They listened to him as usual. He was in charge for a reason. I hated following orders, but we had come to a mutual agreement. He didn’t try to boss me too much, so I got on with my life.

‘There’s a reason I turned to drugs.’

I didn’t know if telling them was the right thing to do, but Kerry had encouraged me to speak my truth, as she had put it. I had wanted her to be at the meeting, but it wasn’t possible. She would learn more when, or if, something developed between us. Until then, I didn’t want to scare her off with my family troubles.

‘Go on,’ Pisces said gently.

She smiled at me kindly. I nodded back, noticing how she brushed Antony off when he tried to pull her to him. He winked at me. Was there a problem between them already?

‘She’s a bit funny about being too intimate in front of everyone,’ he said when I didn’t say anymore.

My head shook as the others chuckled. For the first few months of them being together, they couldn’t take their hands off each other.

‘Antony! Why are you telling them our business?’

She slapped him playfully on the arm. He caught her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it before placing it on his lap.

‘The honeymoon period is almost over,’ Aries said, resting his arm over Natalie’s shoulder.

She poked him in the side. He pretended to frown at her. The rest of us watched them. Some were envious, while others were happy for our siblings. Most of us just felt sick.

‘Cancer, I need a puke bucket,’ I said.

She laughed and slapped me on the back. We were both on the sofa. The two baddies of the group united in our hour of judgement.

‘When I was younger, I took out a knife one night. I was going to kill you all.’

The room fell completely silent. Not one of them had something to say about my confession.

‘I was so angry when you threatened to tell my tutor everything, I wanted to get rid of you all. I have this problem with people telling me what to do—’

‘You don’t say?’ Capricorn said.

Her comment elicited a few laughs, but it died away quickly. They were morbidly curious about my murderous mind.

‘Since that day, I’ve felt nothing but guilt. I also worry what I could be capable of. I was only eighteen, but I could’ve done you harm that night.’

I rubbed my hand over my shaved head. Gemini had clipped it for me before the meeting. It was a grade three, so the dark bristles were still there. They scratched the skin of my palm.

‘What stopped you?’ Aries asked.

Cancer took hold of my arm and pulled my hand away from my head.

‘You were awake,’ I answered, looking at Aries. ‘It snapped me out of it. It doesn’t matter that nothing happened. It just matters that I felt like killing you all, full stop.’

‘I don’t agree,’ Leo said.

I glanced over at him. He was cradling his guitar in his arms, like he always did. His latest tattoo was covered with a piece of cling film. The reddened welt held a new ink picture of a robin. The bird’s chest was bright red. It blended well with Leo’s tattooed sleeve.

‘I can tell you right now that I’ve wanted to kill every single one of you loads of times. In fact, I want to kill Scorpio right now for nicking that gorgeous girl from me last night!’

I fought the smile that came to my lips.

‘Can’t help it if the woman has taste,’ Scorpio replied, sitting back in his chair with a smug grin on his face.

‘Leo is right, we’ve all thought about murdering each other. When I shared a room with Cancer, she drove me insane,’ Pisces said.

She glared when Cancer stuck her tongue out at her.

‘But I actually got a knife…’

Aries shrugged when I looked at him. ‘It’s in the past. You’ve not killed us yet, so move on. If that’s what’s been holding you back, you’ve got to let that go.’

I clamped my mouth closed on the retort that sprung to my brain. Aries could tell me what to do in this instance. It was his way of forgiving me.

‘Please explain how you ended up getting high with Nick,’ Virgo said. ‘I can’t guess how you got into that situation.’

They listened intently for the first time in my life. They focused completely on me as I told them about Matt and Cancer.

‘I knew you were still hiding something,’ Aries said to her.

She avoided eye contact with him by fixating on her hands. I reached out and squeezed one.

‘So Matt instigated a meeting that went wrong. You and Kerry were trapped together for twenty four hours. Nick’s men brought Sophie as bait to get you out. You went and Sophie was killed. We knew about Sophie, but we didn’t know Cancer had something to do with it.’ Aries glared at her bent head as he spoke.

‘Nick’s men took me to a house. He offered me drugs and answers,’ I said to take the heat off Cancer.

‘Answers?’ Leo asked.

I licked my lips. They would never understand my need for the truth.

‘I wanted to prove our parents wrong. I didn’t believe that all this...’ I gestured around at us. ‘Was true. Nick knew that about me. Don’t ask me how. So, he offered me a way to see the truth.’

Even Cancer stared at me. I hadn’t told her about Nick. Our friendship wasn’t that strong.

‘You took the drugs. Then what happened?’ Aries said, cracking his knuckles.

As I told them about the trippy journeys, Aries paid complete attention. They could have been memories from the past, but I couldn’t be sure.

‘That happened to me! When I was kidnapped, Nick drugged my water to get me to see visions of the past,’ Pisces blurted.

‘I had the same thing when I was drugged up after losing my leg,’ Aries countered.

Did the drugs really reveal the truth? Or did they make up something that was never there?

‘I always have dreams like that,’ Leo chimed in. ‘Even when I’m sober. I think the drugs just unlock a part of your memory.’

I had to agree. The scenes that had played out in my mind when I was high with Nick were too vivid not to be real. They had to be real.

‘So we know that Nick became the way he is because of his own mind, not because of some dark mysterious power?’ Aries said.

‘I think the dark power is in him. When people are so negative and a little crazy, it can consume them.’

The look in Nick’s eyes when he died as an old man had betrayed his darkness.

‘What do we do about it?’

Aries was asking me. For the first time in our lives, Aries wanted me to lead the way. I sat up straight and let go of Cancer’s hand. It was time to take action against him. We needed to show him that we weren’t going to take what he threw at us lying down.

‘Nick’s men are very good at what they do. When they first took me, they knew that you almost found me. I’ll go back to the house with the intent on getting high again, then I’ll attack him from the inside.’

Cancer stood up. ‘You can’t do that, Nick’s men will kill you!’

The thought hadn’t even entered my head. I didn’t care if they killed me. I had to let Nick know that murdering Sophie was not acceptable. So far, he had got away with it. That had to change. The whole war had to change.

‘I think it’s a good idea,’ Aries said. ‘However, we can’t just leave you to do it alone.’

My eyes widened. He admitted that I had a good idea. It was a first. Maybe I could be a better person. Maybe the others would respect me if I got my life together. Not that I cared what they thought, but it would be nice to be included.

‘You can and you will. This is my own personal fight.’

‘Yeah, you’re going to have to resist the drugs,’ Virgo chimed in. She was becoming more vocal, which was unusual for her.

My siblings’ faces changed when they realised my dilemma. I had only been off drugs for a little while.

‘We can’t kill Nick. He can’t kill us. So…let me scare him a bit.’

Aries shrugged when they looked at him. ‘Okay, but don’t mess it up,’ he said, standing.

I stayed where I was. My knees were too weak to hold me up for long. My head still pounded, but at least I was moving forward. I was taking my life back. Nick would go down before he took my world from me.

Chapter Twenty

‘I’m going into battle,’ I said as I picked up my old bong.

The glass was stained, which was disgusting. I hadn’t taken anything for two weeks. For the first time in years, I was clear headed and ready for the fight.

‘What do you mean?’

Kerry smiled when I placed my old smoking paraphernalia in a plastic bag, ready to be thrown out. She hovered by the open bedroom door.

‘I can’t really explain but wish me luck.’

She stomped her foot. I stopped what I was doing and turned to her. She had been a regular visitor as I recovered, but I wanted to distance myself. She was like my rehab nurse. Not that she’d officially been my carer, but I was seeing her in a new light. I didn’t want her to see me as a recovering addict.

‘What’s the matter?’ I stepped over to her; coming so close she had to bend her head back to look at me.

Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. I reached out and stroked the soft skin covering her oesophagus. Her eyes widened when I looked into the blue of her iris. No words needed to be spoken. I couldn’t look away. Her hair fell away from her face. It tickled my arm as I laid my hand on her back.

‘Taurus…’ She breathed my name.

‘Taurus!’ Aries shouted from the kitchen. I smiled as I pulled away from Kerry. I had to sort Nick out before I spoke to her. I wasn’t sure if she wanted me, but it didn’t matter. I would let her know—

‘Come on!’ Aries was his usual patient self.

I laughed when Kerry rolled her eyes and gestured with her head to go.

‘Can we talk later?’ I asked.

She rubbed her lips together as a smile curved the corners of her mouth. ‘Yes,’ she said, stepping to one side, allowing me to pass.

‘Taurus?’ she called.

I turned back to her. She held out the plastic bag that contained the drug stuff. I took it from her, nodding my thanks and winking as I left her to it.

‘What’s that?’ Aries asked as I joined him on the top step outside the front door.

‘My old life,’ I said, jogging down and throwing the bag in the bin.

Aries’ eyebrows rose as he watched me. ‘I’m impressed.’

‘I’m ready,’ I announced.

Aries slapped my back as I went to walk away from him.

‘I don’t like that you’re doing this alone,’ he said.

I froze. I didn’t turn to look at him. I couldn’t. My throat tightened at his concern. He hadn’t shown this much interest in me, ever. The fact that he was concerned was…touching. Which was not a word I often used in my vocabulary.

‘I’ll be fine. Just be on standby and keep Kerry safe.’

‘Kerry? Taurus, is she—?’

He fell quiet when I glanced over my shoulder at him. His eyes widened as he slowly nodded. I couldn’t help the goofy grin that came to my face.

‘Good luck,’ he called when I sprinted off.

The house where I met Nick was a bus drive away. I didn’t want to walk across London, so I hopped on a bus as soon as I could find one. The doors whooshed shut behind me as I found a seat near the front.

‘It’s been awhile,’ a voice said into my ear.

I turned my head to see one of Nick’s men sitting behind me. How had I not seen him?

‘I’ve not been well,’ I lied, ignoring the glare of the old man beside me. ‘It’s convenient that you’re on the bus when I got on.’

The burly man smirked. ‘I’m afraid it is purely coincidence. Are you on your way to see Nick?’

My body shuddered involuntary. The man was talking to me as if I was on good terms with him. He trusted that my drug habits would keep me in line with Nick and his men. How had Nick brainwashed them into being part of his group?

‘Yes,’ I replied, not wanting to get too comfortable talking to the man.

‘He is in residence today. He’s been waiting for you to return.’

‘What is he, the bloody queen?’ I replied, chuckling.

The man barked a laugh, which made me laugh harder. He was only human after all. His persona gave me the impression that Nick had messed with their heads, but maybe they actually believed in his cause.

‘How did you start working for Nick?’ I asked him.

The old man next to me grunted. He creaked to a stand as he got ready to get off the bus. My new friend swung from the seat behind and landed in the seat next to me.

‘My father was in the group. He met Nick a long time ago. He taught me that you were terrorists. We can’t have people like you around. Although, you seem all right.’

I blinked rapidly. Terrorists? Nick brainwashed them into believing we were terrorists? How incredibly stupid could they be to believe him?

‘The Zodiacs are well known by the Dysfunctionals. You seem to think you’re all we care about, though. You’re not the only people in the world with a mission.’

Interesting words. The man could tell me everything I needed to know about Nick. Our stop wasn’t far ahead, so I asked the one question that had been bugging me since I had last seen his leader.

‘What is so wrong with falling in love with a soulmate?’

I wanted to know why he believed it was wrong. Not why Nick did.

‘How would souls expand if everything was love and light? We get stronger when we are faced with tough lessons.’

I couldn’t tell whether his words were rehearsed.

‘But surely we wouldn’t expand if we didn’t fall in love?’

He tutted and shook his head as the bus came to a stop. We climbed off and walked towards the street that held my enemy.

‘Falling in love is okay. As long as it’s not with your twin flame.’

The man was taller than me, but he was roughly the same age. Most of Nick’s men were younger for some reason. Were they easier to persuade? Did he bribe them?

‘Why?’

He chuckled as we entered the street we needed. ‘Because when twin flames unite, nothing can separate them. They live long happy lives together and have children that make a difference in the world.’ His face screwed up as he spoke.

It would explain why Nick left Aries and Pisces alone and focused his efforts on those of us that hadn’t united with our soulmate. Negativity breeds negativity. It was like most wars in history. One person believed something so strongly that their conviction persuaded others to believe them. Religion had created many wars. Men wanted power. They craved it because they felt the need to control their environment. Even women were taking on that masculine role.

‘The world would be a much better place if people like Nick weren’t determined to bring everyone down. Just because he lost someone a long time ago, doesn’t mean that everyone shouldn’t experience love.’

I stayed calm. Heat pulsed through my veins as I thought about the pain and suffering Nick and his men wanted to cause. All because some woman had hurt him.

‘If you think that’s the only reason he does what he does, you’re even more naive than I thought,’ he said, falling back and allowing me to go first as we reached the door.

No matter how hard I tried to find the answers, more questions cropped up. Life was a school for learning. That’s what Kerry had said once over the last two weeks. I hadn’t listened at the time, but maybe she was right.

‘Taurus! It’s good to see you,’ Nick greeted as I was led into the kitchen.

The table was laid ready for a trip down memory lane. My hands clenched into fists at the slight temptation. The pull was subtle, but it was there. I lowered myself into a seat, making sure to avoid looking at the open bag in front of me.

‘Where have you been?’

Nick’s grey eyes were bright. He was happy that I was there. The man seemed lonely. As I sat and watched him take out a baggie and start to cut out a line with a credit card, I felt sorry for him. His life was consumed with hatred for people he didn’t even know.

‘I’ve been a little…occupied.’

His hand froze in mid-air. His eyes flicked to me as I stared at him. His back went straight when I reached between us and pulled the whole bag of drugs to me.

‘I’ve missed this, though,’ I said, plastering a smile on my face.

His shoulders relaxed as he bent to snort the white powder up his nose. He trusted me for some reason. Maybe he relied on my addiction to make me pliable.

‘I was getting over Sophie. It’s hard.’

He narrowed his eyes, glancing down at my hands when I ripped open a baggie. I poured the powder onto the table, creating a dust cloud to rise. His Adam’s apple moved when I bent down to the table surface.

‘Well…she had to go. You know my mission is important to me. I respect you, but I can’t let you unite with your twin flame.’

His eyelids started to droop. He gestured at the mess in front of me. I sat up straight, leaning away from the drug that wanted to crawl up my nose.

‘How do you know when someone is a twin flame?’

He stretched his eyes open and tried to focus on me. ‘Take the drug. I’ll show you.’

‘Tell me!’ I said as he started to slump towards the table.

His eyes grew wide. He had finally sussed that I wasn’t going to snort the powder. He struggled to push himself up by grabbing the table, but the drug had taken control of him.

‘I…don’t know anymore,’ he admitted as his eyes closed and he passed out on the table.

Nick’s men waited in the hallway. I didn’t have long before they would figure out that something was wrong. Any movement I made had to be silent. I hadn’t expected my plan to work out quite so well.

We couldn’t kill Nick, but we could send a message. We wouldn’t go down without a fight. Nick had chased us through many lifetimes. We didn’t remember them clearly, but we were sick of fighting. Our loved ones had been killed. Our lives had been ruined. Over and over. Nick had lost his love once, hundreds of years ago. We had lost ours hundreds of times. Because of him.

‘I’m sorry, Nick,’ I whispered, reaching into my pocket and taking out a funky looking syringe. ‘But we’re going to put up the biggest fight you’ve ever seen.’

I popped off the lid, revealing the thick sharp silver needle. Father had pulled some sort of favour to come up with the device that would change the war forever. Nick’s head leant on the table surface. His mouth was open and dribble already formed at the corner of his lip. I stood, not having to worry about the scrape of my chair. I had made sure not to tuck it in.

My footsteps were silent on the lino floor as I came around the table. I held the needle against his hand, pulling the skin up, like Father had shown me. Coughing, I pushed the needle in and clicked the plunger. Nick’s body jumped, but he didn’t wake from his drug induced slumber.

I replaced the lid on the needle and put it back in my pocket. The tracking chip was live. The wound in his hand started to bleed, so I took out my penknife. My stomach clenched at the thought of what I was about to do, but it had to be done for two reasons.

I picked up Nick’s hand and pulled the skin tight around the wound. I swallowed hard before lowering the knife to the puncture wound. When the blade sliced into his hand, I had to pause. Mutating someone made my stomach churn.

Sophie popped into my head. Her face reminded me of why I was doing it. I drew the knife down his hand. Blood rose to the surface of the wound and formed a bright red mark on his skin. The puncture wound blended with the cut nicely. He wouldn’t be able to tell that there was a small chip embedded in his hand. Reason one. Tick. As the blood grew thicker, the mark on his hand became clear. S for Sophie. Reason Two. He would never forget who he took from me. Even if she wasn’t my twin flame.

Nick’s men started to talk. I could make out words that were jokey. Their laughter was muffled. It was time to get out of the house. Putting my knife away, I pulled out the note I had written before I came and placed it under his now dripping hand. The wound was deep. His skin was starting to thin with age, so he would scar.

‘Until next time,’ I whispered, treading silently across the kitchen floor.

The window was already open slightly. I waited until the men laughed again and inched it up. The smooth slide made me thank the window fitters for doing a good job. I glanced back as I heaved myself onto the kitchen worktop and swung my legs out of the window.

My note moved gently in the breeze that came in, but it didn’t dislodge. I hadn’t been too harsh in my letter to our enemy.

I lowered myself to the ground, going still when my feet hit the concrete. There was no sound from inside so I rushed up the steps quietly and sprinted away from the house that I would never see again.

When Nick woke up and read the note, he wouldn’t be happy. The words would wrap around him and squeeze him until he couldn’t breathe.

You killed Sophie in vain, yet you will never forget your failure. Three down, nine to go. You will not beat us.