Aconite (The Elektita Series Book 1) (8 page)

"I did."
My voice was small and hard. Memories of the Inn flooded through me. I felt
like crying but no tears would come. Just plain anger poured through me,
blocking any normal reaction one would have when they learned some horrible
fact about themselves.

"Then start
it back up!" I hissed.

"I
can't." His two word responses were beginning to grate on my nerves.

"What do you
mean you can't?" Instead of responding he pulled out his phone and
furiously started punching buttons.

"Stay
here!" he commanded, stepping out of the car. I watched him pace in front
of the car while waiting for whoever to answer the phone. I reached over and
turned the key but nothing happened. The damn thing didn't even turn over. I
slammed my fist into the dash. Damn it!

Whoever he was
trying to call must have picked up because his pacing had picked up speed and
his lips moved far too rapidly for lip reading to be possible. His voice had
risen letting me hear a muffled version of the conversation. Still, it received
no answers. The language didn't even sound English. I reached over to let
myself out, ignoring his direct order. I didn't take orders from my boss so why
would I take orders from him. But the continuous clicking of the locks pelted
into my skull until he made it back to the car.

"Really, now
you’re holding me captive?"

His hazel eyes
bored into mine, absent of all the humor and light that they had carried so
far.

"Who did you
call?" Maybe now he'd like to answer some questions. Answers equaled
solutions and I could really use some solutions right about now.

"Sebastian
said if you are powerful enough to stop the car then you have enough power to
start it." His face echoed my sentiment. There wasn't a chance in hell
that I could do that. I still didn't want to believe that I was the reason we were
stranded out here to begin with.

"I am not a
witch!" I said in protest.

"We'll
see." Okay we were back to the two word responses.

"You all
think I'm a witch?" My life as this point felt much like this car. It was
on a road going nowhere.

"Look. I.
Cannot. Tell. You. Anything. Else." His words were slow and loud like he
was beginning to think I was deaf and dumb.

"Just start
the damn car." He sounded tired almost as if he was just as sick of all
this as I was.

"How?"
Now I was pleading. How could I fix something when I had no clue how it had
happened to begin with? If he would just give a little I could grasp onto it
and figure things out without him breaking whatever code of silence he was
bound to.

"If I knew
that I would have already done it."

"So all Sebastian
said was that I knew how to fix this?" He lifted his arms up in the
universal sign for isn't that what I just said and left it at that. I wracked
my brain, digging around trying to find the answer to a question that I didn't
know only to come up empty. So I did what any girl would do and dug out my
cell. I was supposed to call Jonathon back in an hour so what better time than
now. But Richland was quicker. In a blink he had my phone in his hand.

"No, Jonathon
cannot help you."

"Nobody can
help me! At least nobody wants to help me!" I reached to grab my phone but
his reflexes were far too quick. Pity reared its ugly head once more in
Richland's features. The only two options I had left were to tap into the anger
that was building and attempt to retrieve my phone or try to start the car with
my mind. The latter sounded a bit crazy. Another option sounded even better.
Use this to my advantage

"If you
answer some of my questions, honestly, then I will try to fix your car."

He laid his head
against the steering wheel. I didn't like the silence one bit. It felt too
harsh against the craziness within.

"One
question, one answer." His reluctance rang clear in his words.

"Who am
I?"

That was the
million dollar question. Everything that had happened brought me back to this
very point. Richland sat staring into the darkened expanse of woods that
surrounded his car. The minutes ticked by. The weight of my question was
becoming heavier and heavier. If he thought his silence would derail me from
the answer he was mistaken. I didn't like secrets; especially the ones about
me. He turned to face me, slow and deliberate. A single tear tracked down his
solemn face. My heart sank and my chest felt as though a brick took up all the
space. Was it that bad to cause a stranger to suffer so much?

"You are my
sister," he whispered. Surely I had heard him wrong. Maybe I reminded him
of his sister. The confession pulled at that part of me that had fought to stay
away. Keep itself unknown. I began to suffocate. I grabbed at my own throat
trying to rip it open to let the air in. Even the cool breeze that came steady
through Richland's open window was unable to push air into my lungs. Fire
burned up my skin as the moonlight dimmed in and out. I could hear Richland's
voice as it moved in and out. He sounded like a grown up from a Peanuts
cartoon. I tried to grasp on to what little I could see and hear but my hold on
my consciousness was diminishing far too quickly. Finally the world faded away
to nothingness.

The wet, hard feel
of the wood helped me remain awake as searing pain sliced across my naked back.
Tears streamed from my eyes into a pool of blood that slid down my body onto
the stone floor. Though my vision was blurred, I could still see the audience
that has gathered to watch my public lashing. Soon their growing numbers would
only be known to me through sound. My battered knees stung from the shards of
rock that had purposely been laid out as an additive to my punishment. I
scanned the crowd through swollen lids to find my family. In the very front
stood my mother and sister; shame and disbelief consumed their features that
are so much like mine. But my mother stood cold and disconnected; nothing of
how she felt could be read on her face. She had told me once that she would
love me no
matter what I decided and I held that knowledge close. She would still love me
even when the town had cast me out.

 I weakly pulled
at the ropes that bound me to the pole. It was no use. I was far too weak to
break ropes that had been created especially for me. The villagers’ screams
hurt far worse than any physical punishment. Men, women, and even children
declared me a sinner and a whore. My family remained silent, leaving me what
little respect they could. My mind pushed aside the pain, numbing the areas
that had pulled tears down my bloodied face. A result of his punishment that
had taken place behind closed doors.

I could feel them
just beyond the town's gates but knew they couldn't pass. The wards were far
too strong. The wolves' mournful bays pierced my heart causing much deeper
wounds than the lashing against my back. I couldn't beg for forgiveness because
for them what I have done is unforgivable. My body went slack against the pole;
my breath no longer came at regular intervals.

"How could
you do this to your own daughter?" I tried to ask him but small moans had
replaced the words that I so desperately wanted to speak.

Rays of sunlight
that shone between the blinds woke me. I knew immediately that I was lying in
my bed at the Inn. Pulsing pain shot through me like a rocket bringing to life
the flower on my chest. I ran my hands down my body. Pain from nonexistent
wounds ghosted along my back. Blinking away the lingering sleep, realization
slammed into me. I was lying atop of my bed still in my clothes from the day
before. The events from yesterday tumbled through me followed by more powerful
questions. My whole body shook with the assault on my emotions. Coming here was
supposed to be my escape from the mundane. I was supposed to find answers to
what I wanted to do with my life. Instead I stepped into a myriad of problems
well beyond the norm.

Images from my
dream mixed in with reality causing the pain in my chest to border
excruciating; the mural that I painted with no artistic ability what so ever,
stopping the world on command, and the possibility that Richland was my
brother. The last part was absurd. I knew my parents and the love they had for
me; they would never conceal the fact that I had a brother out there somewhere.
Adoption was off the table as well. There is a birth video boxed away in the
hall closet that my mother insisted on gifting me for my tenth birthday. I had
yet to watch it and I didn’t think I ever would.

I really wanted to
hide away in my bed until all the scary stuff was over but I came here to
become an adult and hiding wasn't what they did. Instead I pulled myself out of
bed and tried to blanket myself with as much confidence as possible. Maybe Jo
would be able to give me an explanation to what my brain refused to process. I
wanted something easy. Yet Jo was another issue that I couldn't work out. Why
was she so adamant that we avoid Sebastian and his shop? Richland didn't seem
too thrilled about Jo's presence in the shop either.

Richland. Even thinking
his name conjured something much stronger within. I took a few desperate
breaths to try to clear the weight of it all before it crushed me. With
mechanical precision I stripped out of my clothes. A warm shower sounded
perfect right about now. I gave the alarm clock a passing glance; the time
stopped me dead in my tracks. Work; I had been so caught up in my own issues
that work was far from my mind. I scrounged around in my bag for my cell phone.
I was sure that I had a million missed calls by now. Maybe I would get lucky
and get fired via voicemail and wouldn't even have to go in.

"Huh, no
missed calls," I voiced out loud. I toyed with the idea of not calling
Jonathon but guilt won out. After all, he did let me have a phone the least I
could do was try to explain why I completely skipped out on work. Without even
thinking of a proper excuse I tapped call under his name. As the phone rang
against my ear a soft knock preceded the swiping sound that a key card makes
just before the door swung open.

The phone still
rang against my ear while I watched as Jonathon let himself in. I was sent to
his voicemail just as my door clicked shut. His soft, mechanical voice against
my ear pounded at my shock. I slowly sat the phone on the night stand, never
taking my eyes off my silent guest. He was dressed unlike himself in loose
fitting jeans that still seemed to hug all the right places and a white t-shirt
that left just enough room to glide my hands up his chest and explore every
inch.

"I thought I
told you an hour." His anger filled eyes roamed my half naked body. I felt
my nipples respond to his angry lust. My dream of him smacked me with its full
force. He kept his eyes locked on me even as he gave me a wide berth, edging
around the room. He came to a stop at my bag, kindly depositing my key card
back into the side pocket. Even though his path was the farthest from direct he
had still wound up not two feet from me. If I didn't know any better I would
think he was scared. His hair pulled back into a silver clip was the only thing
that remained in perfect form. His rich lips pressed together into a thin line
as he waited for an answer to a question that I had almost forgotten.

"How did you
find me?" Evading worked as I thought of anything but the unwanted lust
that Jonathon brought out in me. His dry laugh helped extinguish those flames
even faster.

"When your
hour was up I went to you." His words were matter-of-fact like he didn't
see the major creep factor in them.

"What do you
mean you came to me?" Anger and panic latched on to each word as they flew
out carrying me along for the ride. I came to a stop directly in front of him.
How this man could make me so angry and horny at the same time was beyond me.

I craned my neck
to be able to look into his face. The need in that face had grown and with it
his anger. I forced myself back coming to rest on the corner of the bed. I had
begun to shake from the sudden burst of adrenaline that accompanied the
outburst.

"Your cell
phone has a tracker and when you didn't call I used it to find you." His
fucking nonchalance was grinding on my nerves.

I could only stare
at him as all my feelings grew cold. Here I was thinking Sebastian was the
stalker I should worry about when in fact my own boss was the one I needed to
watch out for. The cell phone that sat on the side table now felt like a bomb
that would go off at any point. I reached over and with all the force I could
muster threw it across the room. It tumbled across the plush carpet as the back
and battery took off in their own directions. Nausea built up inside of me as
Richland's words came back in full force, Jonathon cannot help you. He didn't
realize I never needed to call him in the first place.

"If it is any
consolation the tracker was never active till last night." I knew he meant
his words to be soothing and I could hear the truth in them but it was too late
to slap a bandage on the damage his actions had already caused. He stepped even
closer to me but I put my hand up to stop his advances. I couldn't do this now.

"Just tell me
what happened and then go." My voice was filled with sadness and Jonathon
winced at the recognized tone. I glared at the cell phone that I would no
longer use blinking back tears that had welled behind my eyes. If I wanted
another one I would buy my own and damn Jonathon and his dislike of leaving
messages.

"I found you
and brought you here," he answered without actually answering anything. My
memories after Richland's confession consisted only of my dream, nothing of
Jonathon, or how I got here. Pieces of my life were being stolen from me and I
needed to figure out how to get them back.

"And
Richland?" I prompted. Somehow I didn't think that Richland would so
easily hand me over to Jonathon; especially if he believed me to be his sister.
Anger raged through Jonathon's features but left as quickly as they came. He
was trying to control whatever animosity he had towards Sebastian and his
employee.

"Don't worry
about Richland. He and his car are right back where they should be." The
venom that still laced his tone caused a slight pang of guilt at being the
reason they had to cross paths in the first place.

"Where would
that be?"

He shut his eyes
and took in a deep shuttering breath and exhaled with a soft growl. "Far
from you." His eyes flashed open causing me to jump from what I saw within
them.

"How did you
get his car to start?"

He clenched and
unclenched his fist and turned towards the mini fridge. I think he was through
with the Q&A session.

"Have you
eaten?" The answer was yet again no, but my anger wouldn't let me answer.

When he opened the
fridge the silverware that Sebastian had sent with the desert fell out onto the
floor. I heard him say something under his breath than immediately all the air
in the room felt like it was being sucked out far more quickly than it was able
to get in. I began to cough and gag from my body’s natural reaction to being
deprived of necessary oxygen. Everything around me began to fade in and out.
Not again, I chanted in my head.

"What’s
happening?” I managed to choke out.

As if a switch
flipped, all the oxygen began to flood back into the room filling my lungs
soothing my coughing fits. I put my head between my knees sucking in great
gulps of oxygen. When the world around me had finally ceased its spinning I
opened my eyes. I was staring down at men’s leather shoes that were attached to
the feet that brought them here. I knew if I lifted my head Jonathon would be
there. I took in another soothing breath and without conscious thought I lifted
myself completely off the bed into the line of his body. We stood achingly
close; so close I could feel the ridged tension encircling his frame. The only
thing stopping my hands from roaming just inside his shirt was the constant
reminder that this was my boss; the stalker.

Thankfully he
stepped out of my personal space before I could give into that devilish voice
that wanted me to take him here and now. He clutched the silverware in his
hands. A low angry growl radiated through the room when he saw what I was
focused on.

"Where did you
get these?" His demand was full of heat but nothing like the heat that was
coursing through me. I didn't know what my answer should be; the truth or a
lie. I knew that something had spawned a deep hatred between Sebastian and him
and without its knowledge I wasn't sure where I should go from here.

"Sebastian
left them for me." The truth it would be. I had nothing to hide. I had
done nothing wrong. Whatever this was had nothing to do with me I was just
stuck in the crosshairs. His silence was deceiving. I knew he was raging
inside. You could almost see the fury come to life within the depths of his
black eyes. If I didn't know better flames lapped at his irises.

"Do you know
what these are?" His calm demeanor was unnerving. I knew at any moment he
would unleash something far worse than anything thus far.

"Silverware."
I knew my answer was lame, but that was all I knew. I couldn't answer a
question that I had no answers for. His black eyes flashed red and fear had me
divert my gaze, fixating on the battery that lay against the wall.