Bloodborne Awakened (Borne of Blood Book 1) Page 3

  A full moon hung high in the clear sky, shining its light brightly down upon the ground around me. Only my shadow and the depths under the trees were darkened—void without light. In some ways, the moment felt surreal and a bit eerie. It reminded me of a scene from a horror movie where a vampire would suddenly appear, or silvery eyes would peek out from between the trees.

  The solitude gave me time to ponder over what happened at school that day. It happened two weeks before the summer break. Two weeks had gone by, and I hadn’t had enough time to process what happened. Yes, it was frightful because I didn’t see what it was that threw the girl across the bathroom. Nor did I see when she was attacked, or why I was covered in blood. The evidence stacked a very incriminating file against me. The authorities couldn’t really do anything against me, because the girl stood by the truth—that I didn’t harm her.

  The paranormal possibilities could be endless in this situation, and I wasn’t some Nancy Drew teen detective. I laughed for even considering what the Great Sherlock Holmes would say in this case—“Watson, the game is on!”

  From that point, my tender-overactive imagination took over as I listened to the frog’s musical composition rising to a crescendo. My favorite movies were thrillers, horrors with some mystery element—except zombies. Oh yes, and I loved Sci-Fi Fantasy. Keeping those in mind, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to compare the school event to the movie events. Could I find a similar clue that matched what I’d witnessed in real life? Based on that knowledge, my conclusion resulted in a theory that the invisible force was either a Predator or caused by a witch or a demon. Those were my top three choices, and they sounded pretty good to me. The next question wasn’t so easy to answer—how to prove the theory? There was no lab to do bloodwork, so analyzing samples wouldn’t work. The school was over a thousand miles away so the crime scene couldn’t be investigated. So what was next?

  I released a long sigh, then closed my eyes and tried to remember the moments before my blackout. The chill factor in the air, nausea, and oh—the wavy, almost watery-like motion in the air. Like I had been dropped into a pool of water with my eyes opened. Without any thought, I slipped my hand in my back pocket and felt a small rope. Ah yes, I was wearing the same shorts from yesterday—those were the ones I grabbed instead of clean clothes.

  I pulled out the necklace and held it in my hand. Of course, the night made it difficult to see the charm clearly, but the moonlight was enough to shine on the little dragon’s red eye. I wanted to believe that I imagined the eye had glowed—but it wasn’t just imagination or a trick of the light.

  The focus session on the necklace broke when I heard what sounded like a branch cracking in the woods that surrounded me. No fear here—my confidence relied on the fact that I knew there were small animals in the woods. An owl hooted several times, and that seemed to provide some comfort to my hidden anxiety. The frogs continued their song, and I sat down near the edge of the lake, keeping a reasonable distance from the dark wooded area.

  Darkness can play tricks on your eyes—like when you’re in the dark and see a black blur seemingly moving in front of you. Well, that just happened to me. I caught a glimpse of a dark image from the corner of my eye, in the grassy field between the lake and the forest’s edge. I blinked and thought this image had been created by a blur in my eyes—that had happened before. Instead of it moving or disappearing, it remained the same—a set of wavy blurs.

  The dark blur looked tall and big. Judging from the distance and my limited sight, I’d have thought it looked like a grizzly standing upright. For a long moment, I watched carefully and swore I wouldn’t let my imagination run wild with me.

  That was a joke.

  My heart drummed so loud that I couldn’t think. The blood pounded against my veins, so hard and loud in my ears, it nearly deafened me. An icy chill crept up my spine straight to the top of my skull, leaving behind a plethora of prickled hairs in its wake. I found myself in a precarious situation as I watched the dark, eerie figure move.

  My stomach twisted, followed by the sweetly soured bile that crept into the back of my throat. I feared the worst would happen next. I didn’t want to black out here by the lake, or worse yet, by those dark woods. There it was again, that cold tingling sensation that slinked up my spine and caused me to shiver. No way. Not again.

  A crinkling, crackling growl swept around me, like a stiff breeze before a storm. But there was no wind, the air was perfectly still around me. Immediately, I stood and scanned the area, only to find nothing. I glanced back across the lake, and the dark image had gone. For reasons I couldn’t explain, I knew that wasn’t good. I drew in my bottom lip and held it with my teeth as I nervously looked around again. Nothing.

  My breath turned ragged, not to mention my head felt like it would explode any minute from the stress and probably high blood pressure. Perhaps if I would let go of the air I’d sucked in, I wouldn’t pass out from lack of oxygen to the brain. But just as I released the stale air in my lungs and inhaled a ragged breath, I felt a sharp cut on my arm. I gasped at the pain and brought my arm up to see a long gash. Without thought, I slapped my hand over the wound on my arm and held it tight. Horror gnawed its way into my heart as I watched the blood seep through my fingers, then drop silently to the ground.

  “Oh God,” I whispered as I stepped back.

  A loud thump drummed the ground from behind and caught my attention, and I spun around, almost losing my balance in the process. Half-shocked, half-disoriented—no one would believe the creature that stood before me. The monstrous being was a creature that you would want to see in horror movies, never dreams or real life. It was tall, like very tall—standing at maybe seven or eight feet. It had big, thick, bulky-looking muscles along its arms and shoulders. Its scaly skin appeared to be black and ashy, as if burnt by fire. For hands, it had long, bony fingers with talons and claw-like nails on its feet. It had the head of a dragon, like those you’d see in movies and old books. My best guess was it may have been a dragon—but it didn’t appear to have wings, but its eyes were blood red.

  I believed that if I ran, my futile efforts would have been met with a slash to the back, resulting in instant death. Despite that thought, I turned and bolted. I was outta here.

  The creature screeched out behind me, its voice sounding like metal scraping against metal. Heavy footsteps thundered against the ground as they neared behind me. For whatever reason, I felt as though I was running in quicksand—each step felt heavy and weighted down. Before I had realized it, the creature grabbed my arms with both its claw-like hands and picked me up from the ground. At this point, I had opened my mouth to scream, but no sound came. No voice to call for help. Nothing escaped me except the gurgle of air as I felt the sensation of a thousand of tiny sharp pins suddenly stabbing into the base of my neck.

  At first, I thought the fear had immobilized me, but it wasn’t until I felt this hint of euphoria that I realized I might be drugged. I remembered when I was little and had a bad cold, the doctor had prescribed me this cough syrup medication. It had made me feel light-headed, very calm, and like I was floating.

  The next thing that happened made me wish I had died. An enormous amount of pain wielded her sword from where I had been bitten, and swept slowly through my body. I had never experienced such pain and agony before in my life. Every nerve in my body came alive and stabbed me repeatedly with a series of hot and cold pulses.

  Just when I thought it couldn’t get worse—the creature released its hold on me, and I hit the ground with a hard thud. It hurt so bad, tears welled in my eyes and fell silently down my face. I tried to close them, but even they denied hiding my eyes from the horror of my soon-to-be death.

  I lay motionless on the ground and waited in agonizing pain for the creature to kill me or eat me alive—I didn’t care which. Was this the same creature that attacked the girl in my high school? It couldn’t be—but the pieces of the puzzle came together. The girl never screamed. She never moved. She just l
ay there, tears streaming down her eyes as blood poured from deep gashes in her arms.

  I heard a pop, like a light bulb blowing out, then a slicing sound, and finally a loud crunching noise. Maybe the creature had set up a picnic table behind me and prepared to chow down—I didn’t know. I just knew that I was on the menu to die.

  Or not. The next thing I remembered was the creature’s big head dropped to the ground—right in front of my face. There I was on the ground, face-to-face with something that looked like it came out of an Alien meets Mid-evil monster movie. Precisely who was going to hear me scream? Wait—that was right, I couldn’t scream. I couldn’t even move. My life, what little of it that was left—sucked!

  “Another one,” said a male voice from somewhere behind me.

  “Guys, let’s go,” said a female voice.

  WAIT! DON’T GO! I screamed in my head.

  One brave soul’s footsteps treaded softly against the grass, closer and closer until their shoes were in my sight. They crouched down on the ground, leaned over, picked up a stick, and poked at the dismembered head.

  “Jacob! Do you always have to poke things? It’s dead already—come on!” a female called out in an agitated tone.

  Jacob? I couldn’t see him—my eyes wouldn’t move. I couldn’t move at all! Please, please help me!

  He stood upright, and his footsteps rustled against the grass as he turned away, apparently heading back to his friends. The painful venom had reached my lungs, and my breath had grown laborious. A loud gurgle erupted from me as water left my opened mouth. Luckily, Jacob must have heard. His feet froze. It took him exactly two steps to reach me, then quickly he turned my seemingly lifeless body over, where I came face to face with him.

  I watched as his overly handsome face grew dark with horror. His dark, evenly groomed brows met into a frown as he looked down into my face. “Jessie?” he whispered.

  Hot tears streamed down my face, one after the other, when he drew me up into his arms. His gaze locked with my totally unresponsive eyes, but it seemed as though he’d seen the agony in my very soul. The look of horror suddenly turned to one that mirrored the pain I experienced at that moment.

  “She’s alive!” he shouted. “Mia, we need to get her to the Sanctuary.”

  Footsteps thumped toward us, then a taller guy with bright blue eyes and short cut white hair hovered over me. He looked a little like Jacob, but different. I couldn’t put my finger on the similarities, nor the differences.

  “Dude—” His expression matched Jacob’s, and my anxieties hit the roof. “MIA! She doesn’t have long!”

  “NOW, MIA!” Jacob shouted angrily.

  “I got her.” The female shuffled in between the two and stood in front of Jacob. I felt her arms slip under me as she took me effortlessly into her grasp. She had the same white hair and bright blue eyes as the unknown guy. After a quick glance to my face, she turned her attention back to Jacob’s. “You know her?” Whether she meant it or not, her tone sounded a bit salty for my taste. I felt as though I was beneath her in some way, like not good enough to know someone like Jacob.

  “No time for that! GO, MIA!” Jacob’s raspy voice commanded.

  “I hope you survive this, sweetheart.” She looked down at me, closed her eyes, and held me tight to her body.

  At first, it appeared the air around me turned into watery waves. Secondly, my lungs tightened, and my body responded with spasmatic convulsions, straining for the sweet breath of life. Pain wretched her vengeance when no air was available to me. The world spun around me in a watery haze, and darkness became my shroud as I left behind the world I had once loved.

  CHAPTER THREE

  ∆

  The worst thing about death, at least in my case, was that I hadn’t had the chance to live my life to the fullest. Experience the American dream—study at my dream college, land the perfect job, and eventually marry some handsome man who was madly in love with me. Yeah—As if.

  No bright lights illuminated the road to Heaven. There were no angels on swift wings that reached out to guide me to the next world. In that cold, dark, and damp recess of my mind, I felt alone. The darkness that surrounded me proved to be void and without light, only a continuous mass that had no beginning nor an end.

  Was this hell?

  If this was hell, then I wondered what I had done so horribly in my life to bring me to that damnation. I felt like my soul had been lost, cast into a sea of unknown regret, and to never kiss the sandy shore. I had believed I was a good person—I had never been in trouble, well, until a few weeks ago. I didn’t know how long it took, but I went through every belief I had and still couldn’t find a reason for my demise.

  Another revelation hit me—I no longer felt the agony of pain, which possibly indicated that I had died. No more pain. No more suffering. Just as I took solace at that moment, a light appeared before me. I didn’t feel my limbs, nor a body for that matter, it was as though I had no shape or form. I existed like a ghost or an unknown entity. The light grew brighter and brighter, the closer it came. For some odd reason, I felt excited, and if I had a body, I would probably be jumping up and down by now.

  I’m outta here! I’m free!

  The beautiful and mesmerizing light grew brighter as it neared. The colorful hues, pink, blues, and reds drew me to it like a moth to a flame. Yup—I suddenly remembered those bug zappers, and that they spared no life when it came to moths. I had no strength to fight, and just like the moths, my death was inevitable. I had once thought death was cold and dreary, perhaps even creepy and gloomy. Like I had said, I watched too many thrillers and horror movies. Death in those movies was always dark and disturbing.

  A voice called out to me. “Jessie!”

  Oh yes! I’m here!

  “Arise from the ashes, my Phoenix,” a deep male voice commanded.

  Wait! Wait a minute!

  Before I had a chance to ask questions, the light exploded all around me. It wasn’t until a strong surge of electricity sizzled throughout my already worn out pain receptors that I felt the weight of my body. Just when the pain couldn’t get any worse, the current jumped up what felt like a thousand megahertz and surged through me like a fire burning everything in its path. It hurt worse than the venom from the creature’s bite.

  My body, that shell that I had temporarily abandoned, returned, and then one pain was traded for the other. Wave after wave, the strong surge swept through me and dug deep into my muscles, making them flex and twist.

  Another electrical wave hit harder than the first, and this time, my chest felt like a blazing bonfire. My heart burned, and surprisingly slammed hard against my chest, then beat rapidly and sounded like a helicopter ready to take off. Soon after, a cold, icy fire kissed my veins and ran through every inch of my body.

  I had enough and wanted this madness to end, but it didn’t. Shortly after being completely burned from the inside, my skin felt like it burst into scorching flames. The feeling was like after you sit on your foot too long and cut off the circulation, then you move it. Well, that feeling, multiplied by a hundred, happened over my entire body. The severe tingling sensation burned from my toes all the way to the very top of my skull.

  Next, a cold sensation tingled all over as if to let me know some form of circulation had been restored. I tested my theory first by listening to my surroundings. I heard breathing, so at least two people were nearby. One seemed to breathe a bit heavier than the other. So far, so good. I moved my fingers, and that felt good. Next, I moved my toes, and it seemed like everything was in working order.

  The clean, brisk air around me smelled terrific and felt good against my skin. I took careful note that I was no longer by the lake, since there was no hint of a woodsy smell in the air. Curiosity compelled me to open my eyes, but I did too soon and squinted at the bright light I endured.

  “Take it easy, Jessie,” a calm woman spoke softly as her hand touched my arm.

  I finally managed to open my weary eyes to focus on
the first person I saw—Jacob. He sat in a chair beside where I lay, but jumped up as soon as I turned to look at him.

  “Jessie! You made it.” He looked a bit overly excited, but more so relieved.

  I turned to my right side where I noticed a woman in a doctor’s coat smiling sweetly down at me. She appeared to be in her mid-forties, with a medium complexion, white shoulder-length hair, and those unnatural crystal blue eyes that I’d seen before. Quickly I looked from Jacob and back to this woman. She looked like an older version of Mia, perhaps her mother, as they had similar features, but different at the same time.

  The woman cleared her throat. “I’m Dr. Karina Wester, I believe you’ve met my son Jacob?”

  I glanced back to Jacob, then back to Dr. Karina. I opened my mouth and, for some reason, forgot how to talk.

  Dr. Karina’s eyebrows lifted, and she softly touched my hand. “It’s okay.” She gave me a warm smile. “Your voice will come back to you in a few seconds. Most go through the same thing after being Awakened.”

  Awakened?

  “I—” I knew I could do this—my will was strong. “I—died.” Those were the hardest two words to speak, but I had many more to come.

  “Yes, technically, you did. But you are back with us now, and that’s what’s important. It’s going to take a little time to get used to the new you.”

  I frowned, clearly showing my irritation with my slow speech. “Wh-aat new—me?” On the bright side, the body parts had become far more manageable.

  “Mom, maybe I can explain it to her.” Jacob moved to the bed, bringing the chair with him. “Sometimes you get a bit technical.”

  “Okay, well, I guess I’ll leave you two alone. Jessie, I’ll check back on you in a few minutes to answer any ‘technical’ questions you may have.” She gave me a soft pat on the hands, and then turned around and left what looked like a hospital room.

  My attention snapped to Jacob. “Whe-re am I?” The speech had finally come naturally, which was a pleasant surprise.