Awakening

The morgue was located in the basement of her town’s one and only hospital. Even as a child, Sophie had stayed as far away from there as she could. For an empath, the emotions and pain of the patients and family members could be overwhelming. It could override sanity and take over a person’s mind.

Sophie knew she was crazy for coming, but she couldn’t let Akeldama win. If her brother had been tortured, the least she could do was find out the truth.

The most she could do was avenge him.

The elevator stopped at the ground floor. Sheriff Calhoun used his body to block the exit.

Tristan tensed.

“Are you absolutely sure this is what you want, Sophie? It’s bad. Real bad.” Calhoun frowned again.

The smell of formaldehyde reached Sophie’s nose. The raw chemical made her stomach churn.

The eerily lit hallways, white at one time, had yellowed over the years. A pair of army green doors stood at the end of the hall. Behind those doors was the truth.

She ducked underneath Calhoun’s arm and marched toward them. The closer she got, the sicker she felt. Chills ran up and down her spine. Her head swam.

Tristan walked closely beside her. She concentrated on their connection. He was the only way she was going to make it through this.

Calhoun pushed the doors open. They swung wide, revealing the morgue behind. He walked in first, forcing Sophie and Tristan to follow him in.

Sophie noticed first the wide sink on the opposite side of the room. Then, the large metal rows on the wall that looked like filing cabinets.

The medical examiner, who looked as if he should have retired ten years ago, was snoring with his feet propped up on his desk.

Calhoun crossed to him.

Tristan and Sophie stood there, looking around. Two bodies lay on the steel tables, one uncovered, the other under a pristine white sheet.

Sophie’s gaze landed on the uncovered one. Her heart skipped a beat when she noticed it wasn’t Todd. He was under the sheet.

She couldn’t tear her gaze away from the whiteness.

The visions threatened to surface again. She swallowed against the sob lodged in her throat.

She could do this.

She had to do this.

Calhoun slammed his palm down on the rickety desk.

The M.E. jumped. His newspaper slipped out of his fingers and fluttered to the floor.

The old man placed a hand over his racing heart and coughed a few times. “Sorry, Sheriff.” He patted down his wild hair and stood.

Sophie watched him walk over to the covered body, feeling surreal. Her heart cried that it couldn’t be real, that it was all just a bad dream, but her mind knew that she was about to have a sudden shot of reality.

“You’re here to see the boy?”

Calhoun looked at Sophie, giving her one last chance to change her mind.

She lifted her chin and walked over to the steel table.

Tristan moved next to her. His fingers intertwined with hers, and she was thankful for the contact. She let his essence flow into hers and strengthen her. Gratefulness that he was there and anguish over Todd warred for supremacy in her soul. If she wasn’t careful, she was going to lose her mind.

The M.E. pulled the sheet, and the white whispered over her brother’s body.

“Oh!” Sophie covered her mouth with her other hand.

Out of respect for her, Dr. Tolben kept the lower half of his body under the sheet.

She paled. It was worse than her nightmares had suggested. Cuts covered his upper torso. Burns scarred strange symbols into his skin. His fingers and arms were broken in several places, leaving them askew.

Sophie’s hands shook. They had tortured him. His face was tainted blue with death. His aura had dissipated completely, leaving his body an empty shell. That emptiness made grief claw at her insides. Tears formed and leaked from her eyes as she reached a hand to touch his cheek.

“Miss Sophie, I don’t think you should be touching him,” Dr. Tolben said.

Tristan turned his head and glared at the M.E. and sheriff. The full force of the animals inside him hardened the look. “Maybe you should just give her a minute.”

Calhoun bristled at the command in the boy’s tone, but relinquished his anger at the tears on Sophie’s cheeks. “Let’s give them a moment to say goodbye.”

Sophie didn’t move until they left the room. The shock of Todd’s icy skin jolted her when she stroked his forehead. A coldness lingered inside him. Death had yet to completely leave his body. It reached out to her.

Her eyes abruptly darkened, and her pupils expanded.

Sophie rose, blinking at the shift. The cold steel and white sheets vanished. She stood in a moonlit forest. It took her a moment to realize it was the one behind the high school.

Through the darkness, she could see flickering lights and hear a group of men chanting. For a second, she listened to the words. Once she realized she couldn’t understand what they were saying, she pushed through the forest toward the sound.

She grew cold the closer she came. It was like an invisible ice hurricane was centered around the flickering lights. The eye, a clearing that was normally not there, was encircled with seven-foot torches. In the middle sat a stone slab surrounded by men in black hooded cloaks.

She paused at the edge of the clearing. The frigid temperature reached past her skin and into her soul. She recognized it now as death. Nothing would warm her while she was there.

She concentrated again on the cloaked figures as they moved in a counter-clockwise motion around the center. Pain and hatred tainted their auras.

Todd’s wrists and ankles were chained to the slab.

Her vision shifted until she looked up at the hooded men swaying over her. She felt Todd’s fear and confusion.

The men stopped chanting, and the silence that followed reverberated around them. Todd’s fear intoxicated Sophie, and it heightened when the men parted.

Akeldama came into her view. Her demonic form destroyed all pretense of beauty.

Sophie’s heart twisted when she was hit by Todd’s horror at the sight of the one who killed him. It overtook his senses, and he cried out in panic.

“Todd, darling, do you know why I’ve brought you here?” She traced a talon down the side of his cheek. A red line followed.

Todd frantically shook his head. “Please, let me go.”

“I’m after your baby sister.” She leaned over his naked body, now strewn with cuts and bruises.

Sophie wasn’t aware of when or how they’d gotten there.

“I bet you didn’t know who she really is, did you?” the seductive voice taunted.

“Leave my sister alone! She is nothing to you!” He fought against the chains on his body.

Akeldama laughed low. “Oh, I’m going to hurt her. Her and her little Guardian friends. They won’t be able to stop me from what I’m truly here to do. And you are going to be my warning to them.” Akeldama leaned closer, her breasts brushing his arm.

Sophie’s spirit cringed away from her.

“Your little sister is delicate, isn’t she? Nothing like she used to be as the Oracle. Back then she was strong and resilient. Now she is weak. Your death will destroy her, and then her little band of Guardians will be useless.”

Todd spit in Akeldama’s face.

Akeldama’s smile froze, and her gaze hardened. “That wasn’t very polite.” She gripped his arm and turned it, waiting for the satisfying snap of his bones. “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

Sophie snapped back to reality on a gasp. She sucked in a lungful of air and choked on a sob.

Tristan gathered her close to him, letting his heat and strength permeate through her shaking. “Shh. It’s okay. You’re back with me now. It’s okay.” He rubbed soothing circles on her back. Sophie squeezed her eyes shut and concentrated on the sound of his heartbeat. Her equilibrium slowly returned. “It was her, Tristan. She did this. To warn us to stay away from her. She tortured him, and he was alone. It’s all my fault.”

“No.” Tristan tilted her chin up so he looked into her teary eyes. “It is not your fault. Akeldama is a demon, one born from the worst betrayal. She killed your brother.”

“I should have stopped it!” Sophie whispered, narrowing her eyes. “I am supposed to be a Guardian. To save people. Look at how badly I failed! I couldn’t even save my own brother!”

“She did this, Soph.” Tristan pulled her closer. “I know nothing I say or do will ever help dim the pain you’re going through, but we’ll get her back for it. I promise. But for now, let’s get you out of here. I know this place is hard on you.”

Sophie couldn’t take her gaze off her brother’s body. The steel table kept shifting to the stone slab and then back again. She allowed Tristan to steer her out of the morgue and then toward Calhoun’s truck.

On the way back to her parent’s house, the trio stayed silent. That was good for Sophie, since she wanted to concentrate on what she’d seen. Obviously Akeldama saw them as a threat or she wouldn’t have used Todd as a warning. Or she was as evil-hearted as they all assumed and would’ve done it either way. Just to satisfy her malignant cravings.

Darkness shrouded the porch as they pulled up. No one had thought to turn on the light in their hurry to leave.

“You don’t have to walk us to the door,” Sophie told Calhoun when he went to open his door. “We’re fine.” She hopped out and headed inside, trying to run from the pain that was engulfing her.

It was faster than she was.

When she walked into the front door of the house, it was like she ran into a wall of suffering. The house’s atmosphere had completely shriveled in the time that she’d been gone. Like the shadows had finally managed to creep inside and take root in the good memories she had there.

Tristan saw the grief on her face and grabbed her hand. He led her through the still and silent house and up the staircase to her room. Sophie immediately collapsed on her bed. Her eyes stared unseeing at the ceiling.

Tristan stopped inside the doorway and shoved his hands into his pockets. “Do you want to be alone?”

It took a few moments before she answered. “No.”

He was by her in an instant. The bed dipped down beside her.

The pain ebbed and flowed through her body like the tides. It would dim and then return more forceful than before, hammering away at what strength she had left.

Tristan leaned forward and rested his forehead on hers.

She lifted her face to his neck and nuzzled there, touching her lips to his skin. She tasted the saltiness of his sweat.

His breath hitched.

The pain dimmed a little more as their souls wove together, creating a barrier.

His arms tightened around her and he kissed her. Hard.

Her heart skipped a beat and then resumed, fast and furious. She tunneled her fingers through his hair, anchoring him close.

Warmth and desire engulfed them, pushing the pain and visions of torture out.

He growled, low in his chest, and a thrill ran through her. She pressed closer.

He groaned, tearing his lips from hers, and pushed her back softly.

Sophie tried to catch her breath and watched him with a feeling of dread.

He sat on the edge of the bed and ran a hand through his mussed hair. His eyes had changed to predatory green. They slowly changed back to their ashen color, and his chest rose and fell in heavy breaths as he tried to regain his self-control. “Jesus, Sophie.”

She shrunk back against the headboard, heat rising to her face. She raised a shaking hand to her lips. Words danced behind them, but she couldn’t force them out.

“What the hell were you thinking?” He shot up from the bed. His lips turned down while he paced. “I could feel your emotions when we kissed. I am not a distraction. You can’t decide to use me to feel better, to block out the pain. Not that way.”

Shame and guilt grew roots in her heart. What was she thinking? She hadn’t intended to use Tristan that way. It was just that when he touched her, all the pain and anger melted away, and she focused on the feel of him. “I’m so sorry.” She looked at him and felt more shame as tears welled in her eyes.

Tristan stalked toward the door. “Yeah, me too.”

Sophie trembled and watched him walk away. The soft click of the door sounded like cannon fire, and she closed her eyes against it.

This time she couldn’t hold back the tears. They rolled down her cheeks and splashed onto her sheets. Sobs heaved up through her chest so hard pain stabbed in her ribs.

Todd was gone. Nothing was going to change that. She knew mourning her heart out wasn’t going to bring him back. That didn’t change the fact that the pain shot through a massive black hole in her soul.

Her tears soaked the pillowcase, but she didn’t feel the wetness as she curled up to it. She only felt the pain.