CHAPTER SIX
After the second poorly produced film Dee called it a night and curled into her bed.
Lyla on the other hand felt restless.
Her mind was running back and forth. Seeing her worst nightmares manifest in her waking state was wearing on her mental health.
Sure it was just a twisted trick of her imagination, but it was one that ripped off the scars of her barely healed soul, creating new fresh wounds.
She drug her hands down her face and puffed her cheeks out.
She thought perhaps a late night stroll would settle her raging thoughts.
Maybe some fresh air would flush the freshly painted images out of her system.
She sat on the antique bench that faced the boys facility. She stared at the building for so long she was almost positive she could draw each detail of it to perfection.
Even though her drawing talent never progressed beyond the famous stick man figures.
She sucked in a gulp of air.
The night was crisp with dew and fog.
The sound of the gentle breeze kissing the leaves of tree's nearby soothed her and the smell of damp earth made her tightened muscles loosen.
For a moment she allowed herself visualized a day at the beach with her mother.
She kept the pleasant mental image she had conjured at the forefront of her mind and closed her eyes.
She tipped her head back and listened to the rushing water spill over the tiers of the water fountain.
She'd never wondered around at night before. There was something about the darkness that instilled caution inside of her.
Maybe it was the mystery that ly in the shadows, the secrets that hid from the light.
A potential hiding place for sinister souls to prowl.
She took another breath and her lungs spasmed, heaving viciously to expel the toxin infused air.
An unpleasant smell made her eyes flicker open.
A scent so rancid it burned the hair in her nose.
It was a mixture of decay, rotten eggs and sulfur. A heavy aroma made nausea prickle her stomach as if her insides had been jabbed with the pointed edges of a dozen pens.
Lyla's eyes darted around the campus. She would have liked to assume that a raccoon had possibly stumbled into the garbage can and found a feast for itself to dine on, but that was the part of her brain that longed to be naive.
In the pit of her stomach she knew there was something wrong, but there was no origin of the sickening aroma.
She hopped off of the bench and started back toward the dormitory with her pulse throbbing in her throat. A wave of panic showered over her, sending cold shivers down her back.
If her mind hadn't been so alert she probably wouldn't have caught the subtle movement in the corner of her eye.
She wasn't a hundred percent sure, but It looked like a figure had slipped behind the building.
She cursed at herself. Her inquisitive nature was sure to be the death of her one day.
She crept along the side of the building, stopping barely an inch away from the corner of the exterior wall.
Her mouth dried like she had swallowed a glass of vinegar, and a gasp of horror leaked out of her throat.
Maybe fifty feet ahead of her, was a creature that was so horrifying her blood turned cold flowering in to frost.
It's disfigured body was covered in a sickly greenish-gray membrane of mucous. Sharp black bones protruded from it's back ripping through it's thin layer of skin. It's torso was dripping a thick dark substance from a large gash that ran across it's rib cage. it's flesh gaped open displaying it's withering bones.
A scream rose in her throat. She slammed her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound. It was a feeble attempt.
The creature's head jerked in her direction.
She thought for a moment that it had black eyes, but when her eyes adjusted to the darkness she realized there were no eyes. Just endless hollowed out pits of black.
She could hear the creature's breath hissing in and out like steam being evicted from a kettle's spout.
She lunged forward in the opposite direction but there was another creature twice as large and twice as ugly in her path, stopping her dead in her tracks.
It looked nearly the same as the other, but this one seemed to have spikes instead of bones sticking out of it's rotting flesh.
Unlike the black blood that spilled from it's companions torso, this one was leaking thick blood tinged mucous out of it's throat that had been slashed open.
A sick gurgling sound escaped it's mouth each time it inhaled and exhaled.
Lyla's stomach felt like it had been filled with rocks, weighing her down in a paralyzing shock.
Her mind screamed at her to run, to distance herself from the danger, but her body refused to act.
Both creatures sluggishly moved around her. They circled her like a vulture cornering a dead carcass.
Their mouths opened, revealing sharp needle like teeth that dripped streams of drool.
She felt suddenly exhausted. Like her mind had been slammed into overdrive, frying her internal circuit board.
She slid her hand to her forehead and closed her eyes.
Everything turned hazed and shapeless, molding together like smudges of different colors. Her hands began to tremble and her body screamed for relief.
Out of nowhere, a bright blinding light lit up the area like a manufactured blue tinted sun.
It was filled with a vibrant swirling electricity.
Angry blue dust like particles clung to her silhouette. They looked like flickering bits of static electricity that was pulsing like microscopic beating hearts. It was as if they were alive as they swirled in a constant motion around her body.
She looked to the side of her and saw a figure in the shadows. Electric blue light was blazing out of his hands like sparklers. She felt herself become immersed in the webbing of varying shades of blue. It was enchanting.
She squinted, trying to see who her mysterious savior was, but the figure was concealed in the shadows of the building.
Each creature let out a nasty blood curling scream. A sound of pain and torture and death.
Lyla's head jerked back in their direction just in time to see their paper thin skin bubble up with fluid filled lesions, plaguing their flesh like measles.
She slung her hands over her ears and knelt down, crouching in a fetal position.
A sound like a gigantic water balloon bursting against it's target made her grit her teeth.
Black blood and chunks of slimy pieces of each creature fell like hail around her. The blue electrical currents molded to her body, acting like a shield, bouncing the debris away from her.
Lyla felt sick to her stomach when she saw the ground sizzling where the toxic remains of the monsters' had fallen. She couldn't imagine the damage it would have done if any of it had touched her.
She was almost certain she was on the brink of losing the cheddar flavored potatoes chips her and Dee had snacked on for their movie night.
The blue hue that surrounded her slowly disappeared, leaving her quivering with an empty coldness. A numb feeling sprouted like roots through her chest.
A part of her was dying to know who was capable of something so miraculous, but she couldn't raise her head to look. Not even if she wanted to.
A blistering hot hand slid behind her back, and the other slipped beneath her knee's. She was cradled against a sturdy chest of flesh that felt feverish against her skin.
She breathed in the smell of lavender mangled with black pepper. A purely masculine and seductive scent. It filled her senses like a destabilizing drug, filling her limbs with concrete.
She felt so heavy.
"I'm not going to hurt you. I'm just taking you to your room." The voice whispered gently against her hair.
She knew exactly who that voice belonged to. The same young man that made her mind snap back and forth like a yo-yo.
"Jesse... I don't.."
Jesse cut her off mid-sentence, pressing her head into his hard chest.
His skin felt like a heating pad covered with a sheet of silk. Her eyes fluttered closed, and she listened to the wild thrumming of his heart.
She dug her head further into his chest with a slight increase of pressure and his breath hitched.
He squeezed her tighter, holding her closer to him as if he were daring someone to try and pry her from his arms.
And then she woke up.
Pure undiluted emotion welled in her throat. She felt the sting of tears pinch her eyes and she clenched her jaw, biting back the sound of muffled sob.
Her heart was obliterating into a million pieces, all because it was a dream.
She sunk back into her bed, she had only been asleep for an hour. There was no sense in wasting a good night's sleep.
Jesse stood outside of Lyla's door for what felt like hours. Listening until he could hear her breath deepened and even out.
There was no way he could take back his actions. Catching Lyla when Stacy tripped her was a gigantic failure on his end. But now, there was no point in keeping his distance from her.
His chest felt hollow.
There was going to be more blood shed, there was going to be more danger.
What the hell did he do?
But when he thought back to that moment when their skin corresponded, he knew he would choose the same thing all over again.
The thought of her falling in his presence made him sick, even if all she would have a suffered was a small bruise.
His first instinct was to protect her, there was no fighting an instinct that was as natural to him as breathing.
He walked down the hallway, his feet felt heavy. Like each foot had been molded out of lead.
Before he could even knock on Regina's door she opened it.
All it took was one look and she immediately knew what happened.
"You've made skin to skin contact." The word came out as a raspy breath.
All Jesse could do was nod.
"When did this happen?" Her somber expression matched the dread filling his lungs with tainted air.
"After the field trip."
She pursed her lips. He could see the different emotions running through her head like gears grinding against each other.
"You still have a few months before the bond is completely sealed."
She said, sliding her petite hand onto his shoulder.
"I don't know if we have even a month. The attacks are becoming more frequent. Just tonight she was attacked by Shaitan Demons."
He chewed in his lower lip until the metal taste of copper filled his mouth.
Regina pursed her lips. They've seen more varieties of demons than they have in centuries in just a matter of days. This was going to get ugly and it won't stop. Not until their either dead or the age old prophecy miraculously comes true.
He wanted to roll his eyes at the thought. A prophecy where he's suppose to put an end to all the madness. Something he didn't believe he could ever be capable of.
"How is she?"
"She's fine. I made her think it was a dream."
Regina frowned with disapproval. A creased appeared in-between her brows.
"There is no stopping the bond now. You need to make her aware of the situation."
Jesse sighed a long over-taxed sigh.
"I know." He murmured.
"You need not worry. We'll handle." She smiled.
"Hey!" Miles said, for third time in the past hour.
Lyla was so exhausted, she felt like a rag that had been rung out several times and scraped against butter knives. Peeling her insides raw with tiredness.
"Sorry.. I didn't sleep well last night."
She ran her hands down her face and blew out a mouth full of air.
"Are you okay?" His brows furrowed with concern.
Absent-minded, she raked her fingers through her auburn waves and let them cascade down her lower back like a waterfall.
It took a minute for her to realize that she hadn't answered him yet.
She nodded quickly in response, hoping to ward off further probing.
He tilted his head to the side as if he could find the truth in her face from a different angle.
"I'm honestly fine. I'm just tired. That's all." She offered him a friendly smile, hoping her acting skills were up to par.
"OK. You just look like you had a fight with the exorcist or something." He shrugged.
To her surprised she giggled.
The chime of it sounded foreign, like it didn't belong to her own voice.
Miles looking pleased with himself smiled and took her reaction as a positive sign to move forward in their conversation.
They bantered back and forth, passing the time of the thirty minute break each lesson had after wards.
At lunch time it was even more taxing to keep her eyes open. Her eyelids grew heavier by the second like they had weights sewn into them.
But then a thought crept into her mind. In the next class she would be seated by Jesse.
Butterflies stormed through her stomach like a nest of angry bee's.
Flashes of the previous night rolled around in her head. She knew it was only a dream, but it seemed so real.
Like she could feel the warmth of his arms around her, like she could hear the way his breath hitched in his throat when she pressed her face into his chest... Like she could taste the bitter scent of decay in her mouth.
She shuddered at the last thought.
Her legs felt like they had been sculpted from iron. Each time she took a step she could feel her self wobble.
By the time she made it to Ms. Montez's class her skin had lost the warmth of energy. She felt deflated, stiff and nearly immovable.
She slung herself down in her seat and rested her head on her arms.
"What's wrong princess? Rough night?" Jesse said in mock concern.
She slitted her eyes at him but felt her resolve dissipate. His glowing silver eyes looked like trapped strikes of lightening, burrowing into her heart and spreading warmth through her chest.
She made herself look away.
It was too easy to get lost in him. Looking at him was like breathing for the first time in your life, like fresh rain pouring on your face, like the feel of the sand caressing your feet.
She had to get him out of her system. She barely knew him and he had already taken center stage in her life.
A few minutes into the lesson, Lyla's wrist on her left hand was attacked with an exasperating itch.
She began rubbing it against her jeans, hoping the friction of the sturdy material would relieve it.
It didn't work.
If anything the irritation took its vengeance, it started feeling like she had been bitten by a swarm of mosquitoes, little prickles of annoyance dowsing her skin.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Jesse said in a tense voice.
Lyla rewarded him with a sideways glance, warmth simmering in her chest.
His face was hard like a marble statue, his black hair cast shadows in the hollow of his cheek, making his jaw look more triangular.
But it only instilled more annoyance in her. What right did he have to suggest anything? Half the time he hated her, the other half he mocked her.
"It's none of your business what happens to me."
"You would think that. But it seems to me that I have been charged with the duty of being your guardian angel. I know I'm attractive, but putting yourself in danger to get my attention hardly seems the way to earn my time."
His lip curled with amusement and Lyla felt her blood festering into a sizzling boil.
She locked her ankle's around the legs of her chair and scooted away from him. Swearing to ignore the evidence of his existence.
"Come on princess. Can't you take a joke?"
Even though he was steadily teasing her, she couldn't help but feel a joyous vibration rattle in her her chest. Though she would never admit it, when he called her princess her heart skipped a beat and her pulse fluttered rebelliously.
Dee waited for Lyla outside of her class. She was grinning like a Cheshire cat with a mischievous plan.
Lyla's shoulders slumped as she trudged toward her. She wasn't sure how much more excitement she could take at this point.
"Well, hello to you too sunshine." Dee said lacing her arm around Lyla's and drug her forward.
"What is that evil little mind of yours conjuring up?" Lyla said, poking Dee in the center of her forehead.
"Well.." She clasped her hands behind her back and rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet.
"Jay and some friends are hanging around the track field. I thought you might want to come!"
"Fine." Lyla muttered. Her voice sounded tired and like she had just run a marathon.
When Dee said a few friends would be there it was a complete lie.
Half of the students that attended Wickerland was present.
Including Stacy.
She was in the arms of a young man with black wavy hair and a square jaw that didn't quite match his features.
Lyla felt thankful for her attention being directed elsewhere for a change.
As she walked beside Dee, she kept grabbing at the hem of the short baby blue dress Dee had made her wear.
She had never been a fan of dresses, and she liked short ones even less.
"Really Lyla, I don't see the big deal. You have spectacular legs, show them off." Dee said with a promiscuous smile that made the ends of her lashes kiss the top of her cheek.
"This isn't a dress. It's a T-shirt." Lyla muttered.
Dee rolled her eyes and raised her hands in an irritated fashion.
"It is a dress. Your short and tiny, it's longer on you than it is on me." She scowled.
Lyla sighed.
There was no use in arguing with a girl that was clearly all about feminine power and using your assets to get ahead.
Lyla looked around, scanning the faces.
She felt a knot build in her stomach when she saw Jesse. Like she had been slapped with a bag full of bricks and was left with a momentary lapse of memory.
He was sitting on a bleacher with his elbows propped on his knees and his hands clasped.
He hadn't noticed her, he was too busy talking in depth to a tall and lanky boy with greasy hair that reached to the bottom of his earlobe.
She recognized him from the game of football. Dee had said that was Jay, her boyfriend.
There was something fulfilling about watching Jesse when he wasn't aware of it. It was like watching a panther gracefully stealing water from a river at night time with the glimmering stars and soft glow of the moonlight reflecting on it's surface.
The moon reflected on his black hair and cast shadows under his cheekbones, making his features more angular and defined.
"You have it bad." Dee said smiling.
Lyla quickly ripped her eyes away and stared at her.
"I have what bad?"
Dee sighed.
"Your crush on Jesse. Be careful, your playing with fire."
Lyla felt an unwelcome feeling puddle into her chest. A feeling she had never experienced before.
The color of green rushing through her veins like poison, an ugly monster that lived in the hearts of every creature that breathed.
Jealously.
"How do you know so much about him?" Lyla asked, her voice a little sharper than she had meant for it to be.
"You see Jay right?" Dee said pointing her rose red nail at the lanky boy.
Lyla nodded.
"My dear boyfriend has taken it upon himself to befriend him, He says everyone, even Jesse need's a friend." She glowered as if the idea repulsed her.
"Come. I want to introduce you."
Dee wrapped her fingers around lyla's wrist and tugged her forward.
With every step Lyla felt her body tense like a cold bucket of ice had been thrown on her.
When they approached the boys, Lyla saw Jesse's face turn rigid and pale.
She kept her eyes fixed on Jay, hoping that it would ease his tension.
"Hey handsome." Dee said, wrapping a red curl around her finger in a coy manner.
Jay looked up and smiled at her.
It was the kind of look that made you feel like you had stumbled into an intimate moment.
Jay got off of the bleacher and wrapped his arms around his girlfriend's waist. He pecked the top of her head affectionately before stepping away from her.
Lyla felt herself blush. She turned her head away, hoping to hide her rosy cheeks. But the flames inside of her face ignited, she could feel Jesse's icy gaze on her.
"Jay, this is Lyla my room mate." Dee said.
"Nice to meet you." Jay said outstretching his hand.
For a reason aside from the fact that she loathed physical contact, she felt her stomach curl in. There was something in the way that his eyes took her in that made her feel exposed.
Like he knew all of her darkest secrets and he could share them with the world.
However, in the hopes of keeping the only friendship she had ever had, she placed her small hand in his and shook it.
Lyla wanted to disappear. She wanted to melt into the earth like the dew that hydrates the grass.
Just the small act of their hands touching felt horribly wrong. Like she stumbled into a dark forest with shadows trailing behind her, waiting for the right moment to drag her further into the blackness.
Without warning Jay turned Lyla's hand over, exposing a strange oval welt just bellow her palm.
"What's that?" Jay demanded. His muddy colored eyes clinging to the imperfection like it was a life threatening disease.
Lyla jerked her hand back and closed her other hand around the blemish.
"I got bit by something." She lied.
She looked at the bleachers and wasn't surprised that Jesse was no longer there. She was counting on the image of his face, knowing just seeing those silver ice eyes would make her anxiety disappear. But now she had to suffer it without any relief.
Jay rubbed his chin and his brows furrowed. He looked like he was trying to decide if he should drop the matter or press it.
Lyla didn't give him a chance to decide. She refused to make her self more uncomfortable than she already felt.
"It was nice meeting you, but I think I should get started on my homework." her voice was clipped, she made no attempt to hide her hostility.
She didn't wait for a reply. She turned on her heels and made her way back to the campus.