Sweet Desire, Wicked Fate Page 27

  Kneeling, Jaden shook his half-dead body. When he didn’t respond, her hands curled into tight fists. Striking his arms, his chest, the tops of his thighs—she didn’t stop until he stirred.

  She cupped his face in her hands, tipped his head up, and pressed her lips against his until his mouth opened.

  He tasted like poison.

  Like her.

  Moments later Briz’s lips responded. His breathing grew louder as he kissed her back. Gasping as if he’d been underwater for too long, he coughed out two words.

  “You’re real.”

  Jaden cut his wrists free and helped him stand. Lifting a leg over the edge of the crate, Briz fell against her. Bracing him, she helped him move the other leg. She closed the lid and lowered him on top of it. They sat leaning into each other, dripping with sweat and tears.

  “I have to go back,” Jaden said quietly. “If I’m not there when the Mal Rous return, they’ll know something’s up. Stay here.”

  She helped Briz prop himself up against the wall. Edging away, Jaden started to stand. He took her hand and pulled her back to him until their lips touched.

  This kiss wasn’t passionate. It was desperate.

  At the top of the stairs Jaden closed the cellar door behind her. Tasting the salt from Briz’s lips on hers, she knew this nightmare had to end.

  CHAPTER 47

  Jaden was aware that the Mal Rous would sense her intention to obliterate them. Even she could smell the predatory pheromones escaping from her skin—another reminder that Datura had transformed her. Opening the door at the side of the garage, Jaden paused.

  In the distance, beyond the layer of cloud and mist, soft shades of blue filled the sky. Her gaze drifted down and rested on Ivan, his coppery skin glistening with moisture.

  And her mother, kowtowing to him.

  His talons squeezed Brooke’s wrists and his tongue spiraled over her arm, leaving a trail of poison ivy.

  A few yards behind them, Ava crouched before Tig, rendered helpless by the feelers pawing her face and the fangs grazing her neck.

  Ivan lifted his head. Like a satisfied snake he hissed, “Look what we found wanderin’ out in the field.”

  Jaden’s mother and sister looked scared to death. Or perhaps by now they thought death would be a welcome form of escape. Jaden was surprised that seeing them this way didn’t make her want to cry.

  It made her mad as hell.

  She quickly glanced around the yard. Where was Datura?

  Hiding. No doubt waiting for the perfect moment to appear—fangs exposed, claws extended.

  Holding Briz’s knife behind her back, Jaden took a step forward. Then she stopped. She labored to get air into her lungs, feeling her heart pounding in her chest, her pulse pumping through her damp T-shirt.

  Ivan cocked his head to see what she was trying to conceal.

  Her sweaty hands held the knife tighter. As she took another step, her foot slipped on the moist ground, sending her to her knees. She stood back up. Her mind sputtered like an old jalopy, slipping in and out of gear. She failed to mask her vulnerability.

  “Hah! I thought ya’d be a worthy opponent. Worthless is more like it.” Ivan nodded toward the garage. “What was ya doin’ down there?”

  Jaden didn’t answer. It was obvious that he already knew.

  “Ya has double-crossed us.”

  She wanted to say that she hadn’t meant to be a traitor. But no words came out. No snide comments. No lies. Right now, everyone she cared about was in danger.

  Including the Mal Rous.

  Jaden stood there, her emotions locked in uncertainty. She was filled with hatred of the Mal Rous. At the same time she felt compassion for these lonely, malformed beings that her grandfather never should have created. No matter how much she’d bonded with them, she never wanted to become like them, nor like her grandfather. She wanted to be human. All human. With normal emotions of passion, love, even anger.

  She knew that she might be able to suppress their traits, but she couldn’t change the fact that she carried Datura’s DNA.

  Jaden made her decision.

  “Cat got yer tongue?” Ivan laughed.

  Jaden glanced at the large trunks of the oak and magnolia trees, then at the house, sensing that Datura was nearby, watching. Her attention shifted back to Ivan and Tig, who were excitedly waiting for a sign from their leader, once she’d decided Jaden’s fate. What would cause Jaden the most pain and misery? Ending the lives of her family and Briz, or just mutilating them? Making her participate as they maimed them would be a nice reminder to Jaden that she had made the wrong choice. That her loved ones’ miseries were all her fault.

  With a nod from Ivan, Tig coiled her feelers around Ava’s wrist like bracelets, ready to send her into shock. Ivan shoved Brooke flat against the ground, his fangs near her throat, threatening to inject her with venom and paralyze her breathing muscles.

  A high-pitched whistle came from the upstairs window. Jaden turned toward the sound, then spun back around as her mother screamed. Ivan’s teeth were sinking into Brooke’s throat.

  “Leave my mom alone, you—” Ava yelled at Ivan. Tig’s feelers broke through Ava’s skin, silencing her.

  Jaden sprinted toward her mother.

  She looked over at her sister as Ava twisted onto her side and kicked Tig. Kicking out again, Ava caught the side of her head, knocking Tig onto her back.

  “Run, Ava!” Jaden called out to her sister.

  Scrambling to her feet, Ava slid on the wet grass. She regained her balance and took another step, then sank back to the ground as Tig latched onto her ankle, her tendrils gouging into her legs. “Let me go!”

  Tig pulled the bark from Ava’s foot and dug her claws into the raw flesh on her heel. Jaden’s eyes met her sister’s as Ava screamed in pain. Right now Jaden couldn’t help her.

  She stood over Ivan, her bare feet pressed firmly on the ground, her legs steady. She sucked in a sharp breath as he moaned with pleasure, releasing a steady flow of snake venom into her mother.

  “Let me help you, Ivan,” Jaden said affectionately.

  He looked up at her with smiling eyes, glad she’d come to her senses and chosen the Mal Rous over her human family.

  Jaden smiled back.

  Then she drove the gut hook knife into his ear, twisting and scraping the insides apart. Ivan swung his arms, scratching her legs, trying to stick his claws into her. She wedged the knife deeper into his ear until his jaw released Brooke’s limp body. Holding his shoulder, Jaden tightened her grip on the knife as Ivan turned his head and spit on her. The familiar sensation of poison ivy bubbled up on her skin.

  She pushed the blade in far as it would go. Bracing Ivan’s head, Jaden slowly turned the knife as she glanced at her sister.

  Even as Tig’s feelers pumped poisons into Ava, causing her to convulse, Ava kept fighting. Jaden admired her tenacity. Ava was a survivor. And her cruelty had forced Jaden to be a survivor, too.

  Ivan tried to jerk his head free.

  “I can do this all day, Ivan … or not.” Jaden wrenched his head back. Tugging the knife out of his ear, she held it against his throat.

  “Go ahead. DO IT. Ya can’t kill me.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Esere died. You can, too.”

  When Jaden had awakened in the mansion that morning, she’d felt as if she were on the verge of becoming her sweet, kind self again. That girl was gone. With one swift movement she sliced Ivan’s throat. She let his twitching carcass fall, blood pouring from the gash and draining from his soulless body.

  Tig looked at Ivan’s dismembered form sprawled on the ground. Screaming profanities at Jaden, she pushed her feelers deeper into Ava.

  “Eat this, you little mother!” Ava raised her free arm and crammed Jaden’s pocketknife into Tig’s wide-open mouth. Tig’s tendrils recoiled, but her claws dug deeper into Ava’s heel, stopping her from crawling to safety.

  “I thought ya was one ‘a us.”<
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  Jaden winced at the sound of Datura’s voice. She turned toward the house as the Mal Rou stepped off the back porch. “But ya ain’t.”

  Jaden walked toward her, putting as much distance as she could between Datura and her family, stopping when she reached the oak tree near the house.

  Datura’s nose bulged as she inhaled the fragrance of Jaden’s betrayal, studied her emotions, and savored her fear, anticipating what Jaden would do even before she herself knew. Shimmering like glitter in the lightly falling rain, Datura looked over at the garage.

  Jaden followed her gaze and saw Briz staggering out like a drunken lunatic, waving the rusty machete, his skin and clothes drenched with sweat. His heavy-lidded eyes passed over the yard, not seeing Jaden where she stood by the tree, settling on Brooke and Ava. Datura watched calmly as he approached Tig and swung the machete, forcing the pocketknife further into Tig’s mouth, striking the knife again and again, ramming it until Tig fell back, her claws releasing their grip on Ava’s heel.

  His body swayed and he dropped to his knees.

  Jaden was trembling, but Datura seemed unaffected by what had just happened to Tig and Ivan. She seemed to be confident they would survive. Or was she so cold-blooded that she didn’t care? Looking into Datura’s eyes, Jaden saw contempt, along with scorn, and … hurt. She’s hurt that I’ve chosen Briz and my family over them. Angry that I’m not loyal. I’m not the Professor.

  Jaden tried to hide her emotions behind a smug expression and come up with a plan, hoping her agony wasn’t spreading across her face, exposing her heartstrings. She had no doubts that Datura had already made a plan of her own. Datura wasn’t going to let Jaden win. Ever.

  “Ya gonna be all mine now.” With a sadistic grin, Datura began dancing around Jaden, howling with delight. Mumbling and jumping as if she were performing some ancient voodoo ritual, Datura repeatedly punctured her own gums with her sharp claws until blood poured down her chin.

  The heat of summer pressed against Jaden’s skin, but the realization of Datura’s intentions turned her insides bitter cold. Datura wanted a new, improved, more potent Jaden—a Jaden with so much of Datura’s DNA in her that she could never change back. Then she would be like the Professor. Then she wouldn’t have the will to betray them.

  Clutching the hilt of the knife, Jaden swiveled on the balls of her feet. She mirrored Datura’s movements as the Mal Rou circled around her, ready to strike.

  What am I waiting for?

  Jaden lunged.

  Datura sprang effortlessly out of the way.

  Swinging the knife, Jaden rushed toward her again. Datura twirled into the air, propelling her body into Jaden’s. Digging her claws into Jaden’s chest, her tentacles latched onto her forearms, squeezing them like tourniquets, stabbing spiked tips into her skin.

  A loud bellow filled the air as Jaden cried out in pain for herself, her family, for Briz. For their forgiveness. For their sakes, she couldn’t give up. Wrenching her arm upward, she swept the knife across Datura’s tentacles, cutting off as many as she could while they engorged her limbs with poison.

  Datura guffawed as if delighted by the challenge. Thrusting out her foot, she knocked the knife from Jaden’s hand.

  Jaden had never punched anyone. Now seemed the perfect time. Making a fist, she struck Datura in the face.

  Unfazed, Datura kicked Jaden in her belly. Whump. The sound and impact came again and again. Jaden doubled over.

  Staggering backwards, she seized Datura’s leg. Whump. Datura kicked Jaden with her other foot.

  Losing her balance, Jaden fell to the ground with Datura still clinging to her chest.

  Releasing a rank belly laugh, Datura reached up. Jaden felt the fangs pressing against her skin, ready to sink into her neck.

  Suddenly Datura squealed. She yanked her claws out, and she ripped her tentacles free.

  Jaden’s eyes flew open.

  Briz was coming toward them, the machete over his head, roaring like an animal. Jaden braced herself. Briz slammed the machete down onto Datura’s back. The impact flattened Jaden hard against the ground. He hacked the machete into Datura’s spine repeatedly until there was a cracking sound and her spine wrenched open. Her body hung on Jaden like a malignant growth, with the machete sticking out.

  Sprawled on her back, Jaden heard a high-pitched shriek. Briz grabbed his hunting knife from the grass, headed for the middle of the yard, and stopped.

  Moving like a black widow, blood brimming from her eyes, Tig scuttled across the ground on all fours, screaming at Briz. Holding the knife in front of him, he waited as Tig blindly flung herself at him through the air. Her tendrils whipped out, reaching for him as she slammed into his knife. Falling, she slithered around on the ground, unable to strike her enemy.

  When Tig’s body became still, Briz knelt on the grass and pulled the knife from her chest. His body went limp as he stared at his hands.

  Jaden breathed in the metallic smell of blood mixed with the gentle rain and fragrant magnolia blossoms. She began pushing Datura’s corpse off her body, when with an ugly laugh Datura jabbed her blood-covered fangs into Jaden’s throat.

  As the DNA coursed through her, Jaden’s eyes closed, sealing in her defeat and grief.

  Satisfied, Datura pulled out her fangs, stood up, and shook the machete free from her back.

  Jaden limbs jerked uncontrollably, her mind caving in on itself. Forcing her eyes open, she fought to stay alert—and saw Datura, the gouge in her back fleshy and red, her gait unsteady as she walked up behind Briz.

  Jaden slid her hands over the grass until her fingers found the machete. She grabbed it. She wanted to warn Briz. But clenched her teeth and held in his name. Briz. His name steadied her mind. Her feelings for him burned in her stronger than Datura’s blood, building a fire of hatred for the Mal Rous.

  Datura’s stride had become stealthy and confident. Her tentacles slithered through the air like Medusa’s hair. The stumps of pieces Jaden had cut off appeared to be pointing back at her like stubby fingers, shaking back and forth, saying no, no, no.

  Yes, yes, yes! Jaden meant to spring to her feet like a cat, but her legs were like rubber. Weaving toward Datura, Jaden swung the machete to one side, preparing to decapitate the beast.

  “Briz!” Jaden called out his name, as Datura launched herself through the air, digging her claws into Briz’s back. Her bloody teeth were poised at his neck. Her tentacles twitched, preparing to stab his flesh.

  Briz didn’t move.

  “Don’t do it, Datura.” Jaden lowered the machete. “You win. I’ll do whatever you want. Just leave him alone.”

  Datura shifted her head to the side. Eyes, snout, and hair stretching back, she peered at Jaden. “Why should I trust ya?”

  “Look at me.” Jaden’s voice cracked, and her cold body shivered. “You just sent more of your blood into my veins. I am you.”

  Datura’s eyes stayed fixed on Jaden’s, as if she were determining Jaden’s sincerity.

  Raising his arm, Briz plunged his knife into the top of Datura’s head. Stunned, Datura retracted her claws. Her tendrils went limp as blood bubbled up around them. Growling, she pulled the knife from her skull and lashed out at Briz. But he’d already rolled to one side and was laboring to get to his feet.

  Spinning back toward Jaden, Datura sneered. Her eyes were gleaming. She sprang up and thrust the knife into Jaden’s stomach.

  Then stood back and smiled.

  A ruthless grin spread on Jaden’s face as she looked down at Datura. Stepping forward, she jammed the machete into Datura’s heart.

  Datura’s eyes continued to sparkle with life as she fell. Reaching her hand up, she whispered Jaden’s name.

  Jaden pressed down on the machete unrelentingly, forcing it all the way through Datura’s back into the earth, making certain she was dead this time. The sparkle left Datura’s eyes. A whistling sound escaped from the hole in her chest, as if announcing that the fight had ended.

 
Jaden’s eyes glazed over and her mind drifted through a labyrinth of distorted images. Pulling the knife from her belly, she pressed her hand against the wound. Blood, slimy and thick, coated her fingers. She looked at Briz. All color had drained from his face. He took off his shirt and was stumbling toward her with it when she dropped to the ground. Releasing a shallow breath, her body slumped and her eyes closed.

  CHAPTER 48

  Am I hallucinating? Is it the thornapple poison? Datura’s DNA? Jaden tried to hear the beat of her own heart as Briz cradled her in his lap.

  “I’m okay Briz. I’m okay,” she said.

  He didn’t hear her.

  Jaden gazed in awe at the luminescent silver cord tethering her to her body. She floated above Briz, watching him rock her crumpled remains in his arms as he sat on the ground. Tears streamed down his cheeks as he pressed his wadded shirt against her stomach, trying to stop the bleeding.

  Jaden moved closer and placed her palm on his shoulder, but her hand was like air.

  His head lowered to the side as if he felt her and wanted to rub his cheek against her hand. Only nothing was there.

  Jaden glided over to her mother and watched the rising and falling of her chest. Next to her Ivan lay motionless, his head barely connected to his lizard-skinned body. Ava lay curled in a ball, eyes open in a blank stare. Tig’s poisons had done their job. Jaden trusted that Ava would be all right. Her sister would never let a deranged rodent get the best of her.

  A crow cawed. It was calling Jaden’s name as it circled her ghostly form. Gesturing with its head, the crow encouraged her to follow it above the treetops.

  From that height Jaden could see a car racing down the dirt road in the distance.

  Hubs.

  Hubs has come to help. He’s not afraid.

  Jaden watched as his car pulled up to the gate, then drove slowly down the long driveway. He got out, and shut the door ever so quietly. Carrying a pistol he walked toward the front of the house.

  “Hubs, back here. We’re back here.” Jaden called.

  She wasn’t surprised when her words weren’t heard, knowing that her voice, like her body, was invisible in the mist.