Tormented (Evolution Series Book 2) (21 page)

The lights flicked on, and Aiden stood clutching the doorframe.

The look in his eyes sent chills down my spine, but I didn’t understand why. It was just a small knock on the head, which would probably heal itself in a few minutes. A second later, my mind registered that my clothing was saturated. I slowly began to pull myself up into a sitting position. Aiden grabbed me and transported us back into his bedroom. The moment our feet touched the floor, he backed away from me.

“What?” I asked nervously. I had never seen Aiden act like that. He looked as though the sight of me repulsed him, but at the same time, I could tell he was aching to reach out and hold me.

I lifted my hands in front of me and froze at the sight of the blood that covered them. I looked down and twisted my leg. Blood covered the back of it, too. I turned my head so that I could see my back in the mirror. The entire back half of my body was covered in red.

I had to see for myself where all the blood had come from and why Aiden had ripped me away before I could look. I transported back to the bathroom doorway. Bile rose in my throat when I saw what had turned Aiden’s tanned skin white.

A pool of blood covered the floor where I had slipped, and a message was scrawled in blood on the wall.

The blood of your friend is on your hands.

You better think
quick
or it’ll happen again.

DD

CHAPTER 20

I
realised
that the blood that soaked my clothes was not mine and wondered if DD had
meant
“The blood of your friend is on your hands” figuratively or literally.

Anna and Dave came rushing to my side, stopping dead in their tracks when they saw the scene before them.

“Oh, my God,” Anna whispered, putting her hand over her mouth.

At the same time, Dave cursed under his breath. He walked slowly into the bathroom to inspect the writing on the wall. He moved his face closer to the wall and breathed in deeply. “It’s definitely blood.”

I was about to bury my head in my hands, but stopped short at the sight of the blood coating them.

Anna opened her mouth to say something, but no words came out. I looked over at Aiden, who was still standing back, too afraid to come anywhere near me. I didn’t blame him. I wanted to crawl out of my skin and get as far away from me as possible too.

The blood felt as if it were slowly seeping into my skin. I had to get it off. And the fastest way I could think to do that was to drench myself in a pool of water.

Unable to look at myself anymore, I closed my eyes and transported outside their house and into the lake. The ice-cold water pierced my skin, washing away all traces of what had happened upstairs. When I looked around, the water had turned
a crimson
red, and I felt as though I was right back to square one, except the blood was all over me. Diluted yes, but still all over me.

I swam back towards the pier, trying to escape the bloodied water that surrounded me. By the time I had reached the metal ladder up to the pier, I was sure that I had escaped the blood. I climbed up the ladder and stepped onto the wooden planks.

Aiden was standing in front of me, holding a towel outstretched in his arms. “You know you could’ve just used another shower. We have fifteen of them.”

I stepped into the towel, and Aiden wrapped it around my body. “I don’t know. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

Brushing a strand of my hair away from my eyes, he gave me a half-hearted smile, before his face was once again sullen. “I’m sorry about before. There’s no excuse for how I acted. It’s just…”

“I know. It’s like your whole dog-slobber-phobia thing,” I said, trying to make light of the situation.

His eyes relaxed, and a small smile crept across his face that didn’t appear to be as forced. “Something
like
that.” He put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me into his embrace.

I rested my head against his chest. “I can’t go back into your room.”

“That room officially no longer exists. You can choose our next room if you want.”

I thought about it for a moment, but I didn’t know what to do. I knew Aiden had meant that I could choose another room in his castle, but the truth was, I didn’t feel safe anywhere. The “puppet master” was everywhere. He had been to my home back in Australia. He had followed us to the beach. He may have been responsible for the almost-massacre in Thailand. And he had redecorated Aiden’s bathroom without anyone noticing he was there. It felt as though he was walking amongst us, undetected, able to do and get away with anything he wanted.

The only place that he hadn’t attacked was Aiden’s house in Australia. But how long that place would remain free from his touch was anyone’s guess. However, at that moment, it was the only place that I could think of that
was
free from his touch. “I want to go back to your other house.”

Aiden mulled over what I had said. “Okay,” he finally agreed.

I smiled. “Thanks.”

“But first, let’s get you an actual shower to clean yourself up properly.”

***

After washing my hair and viciously scrubbing my skin so hard that I probably took off the top three layers, I changed into a pair of leggings and a long-sleeved shirt. I transported myself to Aiden and ended up in the sitting room. Dave, Anna, and Kai were all talking about what happened back on the Gold Coast and up in Aiden’s bathroom.

“That was quick,” I said to Kai. “I thought you’d be sleeping for at least another few hours.”

“Not me. I sleep on my own time,” Kai said with a laugh.

When I screwed up my face in confusion, Dave explained, “Kai here likes to travel a lot. He never stays in one time zone long enough for his body to adjust to the sleeping habits of whatever country he’s in.”

“So I just sleep when I feel tired,” Kai added.

“Oh.” I sat beside Aiden on the sofa. “That’s pretty much what we’ve been doing the last few days with jumping between England and Australia. But that will hopefully change when we move back.”

“Sorry, what?” Anna asked, her face growing uneasy.

I pulled my legs up and hugged my knees against my chest. “Um, I thought Aiden would’ve told you.”

Aiden bit his lower lip. “I haven’t exactly brought that one up yet.”

Anna sat up in her seat. “You’re actually planning on moving back to Australia? Why?”

“Ah…” I shifted my eyes up to the ceiling, in the direction of where I was pretty sure Aiden’s bedroom resided.

Aiden put his arm around my shoulders, drawing me closer. “She doesn’t feel comfortable in here after what happened this morning.”

“I’d like to know how this asshole managed to get all that blood, and then come here without anyone noticing,” Kai said, saving Aiden and me from the awkward conversation about us moving back home. Although I wasn’t sure I liked his topic any better.

“For the hundredth time, we were sleeping,”
Dave
said, sounding exasperated. Obviously, they had gone over the very same stuff before I had come into the room.

“Okay, okay,”
Kai
said, holding up his hands. “But if it was me that was sleeping, I would’ve woken up."

“Argh,” Dave said, shaking his head.

“I’m just saying,” Kai said. I was glad he was there. Somehow, he would always lighten the mood, exactly what we all needed.

Dave narrowed his eyes at Kai. “Well, maybe you should stay with these two back in Australia.” Kai’s eyes bugged out. “You know, to make sure nothing happens to them while they’re sleeping.

Kai sat there speechless.

I went to his rescue. “Don’t worry about it, Kai. We’ll be fine on our own. Won’t we, Aiden?”

“Of course we will,” Aiden agreed.

Kai let out the breath of air he had been holding.

“Actually, it might be a good idea if you did go with them,” Anna said, making Kai suck in another lungful of air. I got the impression that Kai liked to do his own thing, and looking after us two was a little too much commitment for him.

“We’ll be fine,” I assured them all again. Anna didn’t look as if she was going to leave it at that, so I added, “Maybe you could pop in now and again to check on us?”

“That, I can do,” Kai agreed.
“I owe you one,”
he said to me only.

“Nah, you can just take it off the ten things I owe you.”
He had done so many things for me since I had come to England, it was the least I could do for him. Besides, I didn’t want to force him to do something he clearly didn’t want to do.

Anna tucked her legs up onto the sofa. “When are you planning on going back?”

“Pretty soon. I promised Chelsea I would come back to her in an hour or so after I left her, and then I was thinking of going to your house after that. Is that okay with you?” I asked Aiden.

“Yeah. I’ll stay here until you’ve finished up at Chelsea’s, and then I’ll head on over.”

“Is there anything I need to know before I head back to Chelsea’s?”

“
Ahh
,” Dave said rubbing his chin. “Just that Kai will see if he can get a trace on the number that the text message was sent from. We’ll let you know if we find anything. Other than that, just stay safe.”

“Planning on it,” I assured him, then turned to Aiden. “I’ll let you know when I’ve finished over Chelsea’s.”

“Okay.” He kissed my lips softly. “See you soon.”

“See you.”

CHAPTER 21

Streaks of orange and pink filled the sky when I arrived outside Chelsea’s house. I had transported myself into the bushes to the side of her townhouse. Thankfully, she only had an adjoining wall with one
neighbour
. On the other side was a grass walkway with a few bushes and trees bracketing it. I ran my hands through my hair and picked out a couple of twigs that had become entangled before I walked around the corner and up onto her porch.

No lights were on, but the glow from the T.V. flickered through the window. I knocked on the door and waited. A few months ago, I would’ve just walked in, but after the reception I had gotten from her mum the last time, I didn’t think that was such a good idea.

The doorknob turned, and the door swung open. “Hi, sweetie,” Marie said, holding the door open for me. I definitely wasn’t expecting such a turnaround towards me so soon.

“Hi, Marie.” I stepped into the house. I quickly peered around the corner into the lounge room to see if Chelsea was there. She wasn’t. “How’s she doing?”

Marie closed the door and put her hands on her hips. “She’s been up in her room since you dropped her home. She doesn’t want anything to eat or drink, and she doesn’t want to talk to me about it.” She sounded hurt. “Maybe you can do better.”

“Maybe.” If I couldn’t, I knew someone who could. I turned around to head for the stairs.