What Lies Beneath (12 page)

The entire room was full of girls, ranging in various ages, and all of their eyes were placed on Dylan. “You have taken everything away from us and it’s only fair that you get everything taken from you in return.” Caroline took a step forward through a group of girls and Dylan began pleading for his life. “Blair, do it now.”

              I took in all of the girls in the room, some I had seen in the mirrors. He had taken their lives and because of him they were suffering, even in death. I inhaled and fixed my jaw as I slit my index finger open and hissed at the sight of blood. I got down on my knees in front of the circle and reached my finger down to the wood paneled ground.

              “Goodbye Dylan,” I whispered to him.

              “Blair, don’t. Wait!” he cried.

              “Thank you for listening to us Blair. We can move on now, all you have to do is complete the spell,” Caroline said.

I looked up at her, my eyes filled with tears. I nodded and felt as if the entire moment was suddenly set in slow motion. I drew the line with the three slashes and looked up into Dylan’s eyes. Something was different about his eyes now. It was as if he somehow felt remorse for what he had done.

He opened his mouth to say something, but a gigantic gust of freezing wind tore through the windows of the room, left over glass flying everywhere. He crumpled to dust right before me and swirled into the air like a tiny twister. All of the girls began to flicker like candles and soon they were all disappearing one by one.

The room began to rumble as if an earthquake had taken over and I turned away from the circle and ran into the closet. I forced Max to his feet and walked him out of the room and down the stairs. The roof was collapsing and the candles had tipped over and created a fire in the bedroom.

We finally made it outside and I tore the tape off of Max’s mouth and released him from the rope. Half of the house crashed to the ground, smoke and flames eating through the night air.

Hopefully someone would see the fire and send an officer. I collapsed next to Max and gave him a hug, tighter than ever. It was all over now. Everything would be alright again.

“What the hell just happened?” Max said, coughing from the smoke that was mixing with the air.

“We’ll talk about it tomorrow. I’m so tired right now, I can’t even stand. I’m just glad we’re okay,” I said as I leaned into Max’s chest and relaxed.

“Come on, let’s get away from the smoke.” Max helped me to my feet and walked me to the shore. Dylan was no longer a part of my life and I had to deal with that now. I could live a long and happy life thanks to Pearl, Caroline and the rest of the girls. I smiled and turned to face Max. I was glad he was okay, I could never lose him.

I looked up from Max’s chest into his eyes and my smile began to fall from my face. My pulse quickened and fresh tears stung my eyes.
No
. This could not be happening. He grinned down at me with a familiar smile and with all of his strength he seized me by my throat and shoved me backward into the cold black water.

As the ice water sliced down my throat, I stared into his eyes. His stunning green eyes were no longer there. His eyes were now dark and hollow, vacant of emotion. Someone had taken over my best friend’s body… and this time I knew it was Dylan. He’d won. The spell had failed me. He was too strong.

I was his, now and forever. He pushed me under and under until black film filtered over my eyes and my lungs filled with the water of the lake.

I truly did belong to him.

THE

END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Richard Denney
lives in El Paso, Texas. He

loves
reading, writing, ghost hunting, &

watching
his favorite television series

"The Vampire Diaries".