The Unmaking (The Rayne Whitmore Series Book 1) (8 page)

            Relief flows through her as
she finally tells her secret.  I believe her. I see the truth in her words. Even
if I didn’t believe her, the ball of light she’s now forming in her hand would
be enough to convince me.

            I also caught something
she said. “What do you mean was? What is Sergio now?” I ask curiously, for a
second, forgetting about my own issues.

            She puts out her light
ball and says, “Now, he’s dead. I couldn’t tell you this before Rayne, but
there’s another reason I understood your father. After Sergio raped me, I told
you that I had escaped on my own. I did, I escaped only because I killed him.
No, that’s not true. I could probably have escaped without killing him, but I
just didn’t want to at the time. How he made me feel, what he did to me, I had
to make him pay. I needed revenge and I delivered it to him myself. He drugged
me so that my chi flow was disrupted, like the flu for a magic user, but my
body burned the poison out much faster than he’d imagined. That mistake cost
him his life.”

            I pause at that thought.
Revenge. It comes full circle to me now. My dad’s researchers were taken and
tortured, he got revenge on that man, that man who had a look in his eyes that
was evil and wrong. I was afraid of him because I knew immediately that he
wasn’t normal. He had to be ‘other,’ maybe not Demon and maybe not like Selene,
but he was something. I can feel it now and I become more fearful as the truth
finds me on its own. No, not on its own, my eyes were forced open.

            Revenge. This is all a
destructive cycle that must have begun to moment my father built his reputation
by doing the unthinkable. My father tortured and killed that man and then
whoever he worked for sent that Devourer to our home to murder my family. Daddy
had to know about witches and demons, certainly Damien did and that’s what he
was hinting to Selene about. That’s what he wanted to tell me. When my dad said
to the man something about ‘his kind’ I didn’t know what he was referring to,
but now I know. That man wanted something of my father’s that he wasn’t willing
to give up and now they were all dead because of it. I would be just as dead if
I had been home, if I wasn’t so angry with my father that I stayed the entire
day hiding out at Selene’s. I shudder at the thought, not necessarily thankful
because I would switch places with Jasmine in a second if I could.

            I barely lean over in time
to vomit in the trash can on the side of my bed as I picture Jazzy lying dead
on the floor with her throat slashed, that thing, that Devourer coming back to
feed on her flesh. The way my mom’s broken body had hung out the window, neck
broken sends chills through me.  How many times had I vomited in the past few
days? I start to hyperventilate and I want to run away and hope that I can
outrun my pain. Before Selene can come to my side, I fling the cover off of me
and try to stand up, completely forgetting that my ankle is broken.

            Immediately, I fall to the
ground and let out a scream similar to the one last night when I felt my ankle
being crushed.

            Selene lets out a curse
and then lifts me up, back on the bed. Next, she empties the now full trash can
in another room before coming back to sit beside me, upset. “That damn healer
told me that you shouldn’t be in pain like that anymore. I’ve been giving you
the damn herbs everyday like he said!”

            “What do you mean every
day?” I ask accusingly, panting as Selene tries to make me comfortable. Then
she reaches for the drink she gave me earlier. This time, I drink it without
spitting it out even though it tastes like dirt.

            “Baby, it’s been almost
two weeks now.”

Chapter Seven

           
I
’m not sure that I hear her, so I blink a few times and
let the words sink in before I say, “Huh.” I am more lost than ever.

            “You don’t remember
anything do you?” she asks in return, reaching for me again with a look full of
pity. It’s a look you’d give a stray puppy you’ve stared at in the pound.

            “How could I? After I
passed out at the house, I woke up here, just now. Just now Selene! Now is the
next day, not two fucking weeks after my family and employees were murdered.
Two weeks is fourteen fucking days. Two weeks is a lot to miss out on!” I want
to scream at the top of my lungs, I want to break everything in this room, but
instead I look at Selene with all the hate I have inside me. Something again
shatters within me.

            She flinches under my gaze
and then looks away. I wish I knew what was running through her mind right now.
What has she had to go through to get me here, keep me safe? She doesn’t
deserve to be the punching bag for my pain, but she’s the only one here and I’m
giving out the only emotion my heart is allowing me to feel right now. Maybe
later I would feel bad about this, but as I’m feeling, maybe later, I’d be
dead. After all, I’m only human and I’m sure a human heart can take only so
much pain.

            “Rayne, when you passed
out, I carried you to the car and drove to meet up with Damien. I told him what
happened and he sent men to the scene and they handled the police. They even
had to change the scene some to look like humans had done it. It was terrible.
They found your dad,” Selene hesitates.

            “Tell me,” I demand.       

            “You don’t need to know
baby. It won’t bring him back.”

            “I need to know! Did he
fight back, was he protecting anyone? My dad wouldn’t have just given up. Where
was he?”

            “He was found tied to a
chair; his heart was ripped out, Rayne. But I don’t think that the Demon
tortured him. I think it was whoever summoned the Demon. They saved him for
last,” Selene tells me even though I thought she’d lie.

            All I feel is numbness at
her words. I unwisely play the scene in my head. Someone tied my dad up first
and made him see and hear the screams of everyone. Then, after there was no
hope, after torturing him physically and emotionally, that person murdered my
father and gave the Demon his heart to feast on. It took the piece of him that
was giving and loving and kind. I know I will have nightmares for the rest of
my days. How could anyone heal from this?

            “What else?” I manage to
whisper.

            “Baby, it can wait. Please.”

            “No!” I yell, then talk in
a less loud tone. “No. You already said it’s been nearly two weeks. I need to
know.”

            “Ok,” Selene agrees, her
green eyes full of regret for me. “In order to protect you, they burned a
couple bodies to make it look like you were among them but so it was too
unrecognizable to completely i.d. Then, at the morgue they planted some of your
DNA when the testing was done.”

            So, now other families had
to have closed caskets or couldn’t identify their loved ones, all to protect
me.

            “Damien made some calls
and so did I. We were able to get you out of town and here to this safe house.
I called in a healer whom I trusted. You kept fading in and out, screaming,
fighting, and we had to sedate you over and over. When he began to heal your
ankle as best as he could, you passed out and hadn’t woken up for three days.
You had to grow the bone back at a rapid rate, just in case we had to run
again. It took a toll on your body. This is the most alert that you’ve been. I
had to give you different herbs, make sure your arm wasn’t infected, and clean
you. I’ve been scared to death that you would never come back to me, that you
would never be my Rayne again.”

            This time, Selene actually
allows herself to cry, completely as if for the past couple weeks she’s been
trying to be strong for me. I owe her my life and probably more than I will
ever be able to repay. I would never know where to begin, how to truly say
thank you. Still, she’s right about one thing, I don’t think I’ll ever be able
to be the Rayne that she knew before this. She died that night too. I don’t
know who I am now. I try to form the words to say thank you, but they are not
ready to appear.

            “Where is Damien now? And
don’t worry about the explanation about my father and his business. I need to
talk to Damien about that.” I had some serious questions about what was going
on with the business and what did it mean now that I was supposed to be dead.

            “He’s been working around
the clock to keep everything contained while trying to keep himself safe and
the business protected. It’s all over the news. You’re father was a powerful
man.”

            He wasn’t powerful enough
to protect his family. If only he-. No, I wouldn’t do that to myself, play the
“what if” game. In order to be strong, I had to live in the now. “Is he in
danger too?”

            “I really don’t think so.
I think the message was clear enough and that the damage that was done was
enough to make anyone else think twice about crossing that man again.”

            “What man?” I ask. I need
to know the name of the man who ordered the death of my loved ones, the one who
destroyed everything.

            “Damien wouldn’t tell me.
He said that he doesn’t know for sure who to point the finger at, but they are
looking into it. The leads are just making him go around in circles, plus he
has to use some underground channels that may draw dangerous attention to him
which could make him vulnerable to an attack when he has no idea where it might
be coming from. It seems like a lot of hiding behind other people is being done
and I don’t enough about that to tell you anything.”

            “It’s okay, I’ll get that
information from him. I think I’m feeling better now. The pain has stopped,” I
admit. The physical pain at least.

            She smiles. “Good. That
means the drink is working.” Selene looks around the room as if to make sure no
one is around before she asks me, “So, how did you do it Rayne? How did you
find the strength to fight to stay alive long enough for me to build my power?”

            I sit up straighter as I
try to remember what exactly I felt in those moments. I have to fight through
the fogginess of my mind trying to protect myself from the whole ordeal.
Finally, I speak. “I fought to buy you time and also because I didn’t want my final
moments to be full of fear. I couldn’t let that thing steal that from me too.
When it grabbed me by the throat one of its mouths closed and it got frustrated
as I kept staring it down. I didn’t understand it then, but I do now. You said
that the Devourer feeds on fear and I wasn’t feeling any at the time. The only
emotion I was feeling was defiance.”

            Selene shakes her head
quickly as if I slapped her and I look at her sideways. “What?” I ask, confused
as to why, she herself, looked puzzled.

            “You said you stared it
down and it couldn’t kill you?”

            “Yeah,” I say slowly. “I
guess so.”

            Selene stares deeply into
my eyes for a few seconds and I finally turn away feeling uncomfortable.
Finally, she whispers, “It’s you, I know it is.”

            Huh? At this point I am
completely perplexed and also fearful to ask any more questions, but I force
myself to ask anyway. “I am what?”

            Selene mumbles something
to herself and then her entire demeanor becomes perkier, almost scaring me. She
nearly jumps out of her seat as she gets up so fast, hair swinging wildly as
she hurries out of the room, calling behind her. “You will know everything soon
enough. Just relax baby!”

            I stare out at the door
and realize that I have to go to the bathroom. As I glance to the side of me, I
see an empty bedpan and I groan.

Chapter Eight

           
A
fter I stop feeling self-conscious and just use the
stupid bedpan, I feel much better and drift back to sleep. I don’t know how
long I’m out, but when I awaken, I hear Selene plus another voice in one of the
other rooms. The voice is feminine and commanding. I almost wince at the power
behind it from here. Then, I almost become angry as I realize that Selene is
pleading with the other person to come see me.

            “Please… special…she can
be…”

            The voices are muffled as
if they are walking away and Selene is following behind, trying to get this
other person to stay.

            “Diana… Please just see…”

            I’ve had enough of this. I
don’t like to hear Selene beg, especially not on my account. Plus, I have to
find out who this person is that’s too good to apparently even come look at me.
This time, I remember that even though my bones have been spelled to grow back
quickly, my ankle is still in terrible condition. I make sure I get out of the
bed much easier than I did before. I make it to the door without putting hardly
any pressure on the ankle but I still feel slight stabs of pain come and go.
Out in the hallway, I see a light coming from what I assume is the living room
and I see Selene’s head nodding emphatically.

            “I just know it Diana. I
would have never summoned you here without the proper tributes if this wasn’t a
matter of urgency. Please, you don’t have to believe me, but once you see her
you will know the truth. You will know that I’m right,” Selene says to the
mystery woman quickly and passionately.