Protected (Book 1 in the Ariya Adams trilogy) (27 page)

“Ariya,” James didn’t hesitate. “Ariya, stay with me. I need you to g
et the key.” I looked up again.

Devon had fallen out of reach of James. He was too far from the
bars for James to grab. I tried taking deep breaths.

I had done it.

I had survived. I just needed to get out of this cage now. My body was in a massive amount of pain. I could feel blood coming out of the wounds on my face and on my head. My body was cold. That was all I had to do. There wasn’t anything else. Shivering and shaking had now taken over my body. Was it from fear or from the pain? I couldn’t have lost so much blood that I was getting cold, could I? I could taste it in my mouth, and my leg was still throbbing.

“Ariya, please.
I can’t get to you from here. Can you hear me? I need you to get the key in Devon’s pocket. I need you to help me get to you. Don’t leave me yet.” He was so sad.
Come on, Ariya. Move to make him happy. Anything to make him happy, come on.

I started crawling over to Devon to get into his pocket.
It was a struggle to move, and it was much more like dragging my body than crawling. His head was close and I had to reach over it to get to his jeans. I could feel blood rolling off my cheek onto him, but I didn’t care. It’s not like Devon would feel anything; he was dead. He didn’t deserve being worried about. He was a monster. He and Emma both deserved what was coming to them.

It was cruel to think death was the answer for them
, but to cause so much pain to innocent people, that was atrocious. The key was finally in my hand. I had to lean over Devon to get it to James. It was the quickest way to James, and my legs were heavy. I had to drag the one that Devon had twisted twice behind me.

The adrenaline was wearing off and pain was coming over me in waves. Part of me didn’t think I would even make it to the bars right in front of me. I tried to look at James. He looked like a monster
, too, at the moment. His teeth had grown into longer fangs. His face was distorted. I still felt that twinge in my gut looking at him, as if being a monster meant nothing to me. He was still perfect. He could do anything and he’d always be perfect to me. Maybe that was the blood loss talking.

I had just about handed James the key when something wrapped around my waist. I was flying through the air and hit the back wall of concrete. I slammed into it hard and was truly amazed that my eyes would open after it occurred.

I felt numb at this point, and this blow might just put me over the edge.

When
I could open my eyes, I was looking into Devon’s face. Devon who was just dead on the floor? I didn’t understand. His eyes were glowing and he moved his hand to my throat.

How was he alive?

“I’m as surprised as you, but I will finish this, Ariya.”

I was
fading, black was starting to surround my vision. Devon was jerked away suddenly and I crumpled to the floor. My eyes were heavy. I heard a growl and then a whimper. James must have come in with the key.

It was all okay now.
James was here. I was sure he was killing Devon. There were ripping noises and I was glad I couldn’t open my eyes any longer to see. It sounded even more violent than the original death moments before. I had seen enough blood to last me quite awhile. The gruesome noises were sending me into a gagging fit, but just as before when Devon socked me in the stomach, nothing was coming out.

My body was flat on the floor with my head to the side. My legs were completely numb.
My body was getting colder. What was happening to me? I was sleepy. I just wanted to rest for a moment.

James
started calling my name, and as much as I wanted to answer, I couldn’t reply. He sounded scared. I wanted to tell him it was okay. I think I was breathing, so he must know I’m not dead. Was I dead? I tried to focus on if I was breathing or not. It still felt like I was.

Everything was hurting less now
, but I could taste the blood in my mouth every so often. My breathing was slow, but it must be still happening. I heard James yelling at someone, Caroline.

“What do you mean you won’t make it
, Caroline? You have to come now and help her. Caroline, she’s dying. I can’t do it! What if something happens to her?”

I heard a shattering noise and figured James must have thrown the phone. I assumed it was the phone because
he was no longer talking. His feet were pacing around. Maybe that wasn’t him and someone else had arrived. I heard him saying my name again.

“Ariya
, please,” he was begging. I wanted to respond because the sound of him upset was more than I could handle. “You can’t leave. Please, keep fighting.”

Sleep, that’s what I needed. If I was just allowed to sleep
, I could respond. Everything would be fine. James and Caroline were safe. They were okay and I’m sure they would figure out a way to wake me up again. I felt so cold, though, and tired. I had given everything I had to stay alive. It would be enough.

I felt I was almost asleep when I felt a rush of liquid flow down my throat.

It tasted funny, almost like the blood that had been in my mouth earlier, just in larger amounts. How strange. The last bit of blackness was surrounding me and I let it take me over, having my last thought be of the mysterious liquid that was making the warm flowing sensation travel down my throat.

A black comforter surrounded me in a strange bed. The bed was quite soft, but I’d never seen it before. It was heavenly, come to think of it. Where was I? Dead?

No, please!
I had tried so hard. Pitch black had surrounded my vision and I remembered just wanting to sleep. I didn’t hurt at all now, which had to be a good sign that Caroline had in fact made it in time to save me. I reached my hand up to my head. No blood, it didn’t even feel like there was a mark. My eyes weren’t swollen and I moved my hand over to my cheek. No swelling and no mark there, either. My leg wasn’t in pain. Everything was fine.

I felt much like I had the morning after the hockey game earlier that
year. Had that really been so long ago? Before all of this got so crazy. Caroline had given me her blood that night, I remembered. She must have done it again. I slowly started sitting up, waiting for the pain to come, but it didn’t.

Then I saw him. James was watching me as
if I wasn’t real. Was he real?

Oh no, maybe I was dead. Was he dead
, too? I mean, really dead, not just vampire dead. Blinking, I continued looking around. I was in an unfamiliar bedroom. The walls were a light blue color and there was a large bookshelf filled to the brim with different sized books in the corner. A shut off computer and a desk lamp sat on a nearby desk. There were black curtains shutting out the sun. A dresser stood in another corner of the room, also black.

Whoever it was didn’t have bad taste. Everything was
neat, tucked away, and clean. Where in the world was I? I went back to inspecting myself before realizing I was completely fine. It was like nothing had happened and my body hadn’t been touched. I had to find out where I was now.

Before I could form a
sentence, I heard his perfect voice.

“Ariya?”
It was choked. That wasn’t right.

“James? Are you okay?”

He rushed over to me
, taking me into his arms. Whoa. Was he okay? A sound that almost resembled a sob came out of him. No, No, No, that wasn’t right. James didn’t need to worry. What was wrong?

“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” He pulled me back stroking my hair inspecting me. “Ariya, I thought I lost you.”

The bedroom door opened and Caroline and Nick were standing there. Caroline rushed over to me and
threw her arms around my neck.

“Oh
, Ariya! I knew it would be okay.  See!” she turned to James, and then back to me. “I knew it. How are you feeling? Are you okay?”

“I, yes, I think so? I feel fine. No pain.
Which is better than I was doing…” I trailed off because I had no idea how long ago the cage and Devon had taken place.

“Oh Ariya, we were so worried. James said you had stopped breathing for a minute and the only reason we didn’t think you were dead was because we could hear small breaths coming out of you when he laid you into bed here.”

“Where are we?” I asked.

“I brought you
back to my house,” James said.

That explained why I didn’t recognize it. I don’t think we had ever been in James’ house. It was nice. I did have him pegged as a neat freak and I felt proud to know I was right. Everything was tidy and all
of his things seemed to be good quality from the looks of it. The computer was definitely up-to-date and sleek.

This
train of thought was ridiculous. Thinking about James being neat and tidy was the last thing I should be thinking, but I felt renewed. It didn’t matter what I thought about because I was alive and would be for at least awhile longer. I had time to think about whatever I wanted to think about. I felt my face make a funny twist when I thought about how Emma had been living here. I hoped she hadn’t stayed in his room.
Oh my gosh, Emma!
Suddenly I got scared. Was she here, too?

“Where’s Emma?” My heart rate started speeding up. If she knew I wa
s alive, she would not be happy.

“It’s a long story.” Caroline said
, narrowing her eyes. “You’re going to have a lot of explaining to do. We do need your help with some things, and I’m sorry to rush you into anything. However, it’s important. The sooner we can get things figured out, the sooner we can get you home for winter break. Sound good?”

“I’m okay
, Caroline. I promise. What is it? What can I do?”

“We need you to tell us everything,” James said
as he scooted down, closer next to me.

He brushed hair behind my ear and I was shocked at his continued willingness to be touching me. Even when Caroline had pulled me into the embrace
, he had his hand on me. Normally he was so reserved about that since he was my protector and that was not allowed … blah, blah, blah.

“Everything?”
I repeated.

“Everything that happened when you left
to get candy with Emma.” Caroline was firm. “And don’t leave anything out.”

She was furious. “I’m sorry.” I said look
ing down at my hands in my lap.

I changed my mind. I didn’t want to do this now.
What if she could hear me? Was she alive?

“Is she here?” I asked again
, whispering the question.

“No
, Ariya,” James started softly. “When you didn’t come back and Emma claimed to have been stabbed with werewolf blood, we didn’t know what to do. I called my father immediately because of everything that has happened. I just wanted everyone in on this. We were desperate. With all the threats and Emma having been attacked, we had to act fast so we could find you, if you had been taken. We found werewolves everywhere around the town. They were even near Riley’s house.”

“Riley!” I gasped.

“Is fine. He and Helen didn’t know anything happened as the werewolves that were around them were taken out easily by the Protectors that arrived.” He was speaking in such a reassuring voice, it made me feel like we were having a private conversation.

My stomach fluttered and I reminded myself that was
a feeling that needed to stop.

“The P
rotectors arrived here late that night and rounded up whoever we could find. Caroline and Nick noticed Emma had snuck off and they followed her. They saw her enter, and then come out of the warehouse you were being kept in. They thought it was strange and reported it. However, when Emma came back, she said she thought she knew where you were. We assumed she really had been searching and wanted to help, although we found it strange that she knew where to look after you’d only been missing a short time. She said since we were all searching close to town, she thought she’d look further out.”

“
My father, being the untrusting man he is, ordered her to be taken and held until we found you. With her finding you so quickly, it was suspicious. I just started heading to where you were and that’s where I found you with … with Devon.”

“James”, I start
ed slowly. “Where is Emma now?”

“She’s still in custody. We’re just waiting on you to verify she wasn’t involved before we release her.”

“Are you sure Riley and Helen are okay?”

“Yes
, of course,” Caroline answered. “She went back with him for winter break. They left early this morning. Ariya, why aren’t you answering the question?”

Good
, I thought to myself. There was one person I didn’t have to worry about with Emma still alive.

“She is working with someone, Emma is, and she has been training. She can fight, she’ll kill everyone.” I was starting to panic and the emotions were in
control of me before I knew it.

James looked concerned and Caroline looked livid. He reached over to hold my hand
, which brought me back down from the spiral that had threatened to take me into true panic. I was calm again with just one touch.

“Ariya, there is no way she can get out of where she is. She doesn’t know where Caroline, Nick, and I are. She was with them in custody the whole time and we haven’t been back since we got you. She has no idea we have you. Why are you so concerned and what do you mean she has been training?”

I told them everything. As I spoke, I watched their faces go from soft and comforting to stone hard.

“She said she’d stake you all and make me choose who to save if I spoke up. Then we ran into Riley that day we went out together
, and she threatened him, too. I couldn’t risk it. She was holding it over my head and said when the time came, I just had to go with her. I’m so sorry. I was trying to protect you all.”

“That was stupid
, Ariya. You can’t fight them! You’re human. You could have died!” Caroline was angry. She was stomping around the room. “You should have told us. How dare she threaten you right under our noses. Ariya,” she said coming back over to the bed, “your job is to be safe, our job is to do the protecting. We can handle ourselves!”

“Caroline, calm down. What else
, Ariya?” James spoke sternly to Caroline, but turned back to me with a gentle voice.

I could tell he was coaxing me for more information. Maybe that’s why he was letting his loving side
show. It was working, because I was going to spill my guts if he was going to keep it up.

“Nick was right about the werewolves. They are gathering somewhere. Emma told
me that she was instructed to bring me back with her to try and make a werewolf bloodline, but she wanted a different plan instead. I was supposed to be killed in front of James by Devon. He would be upset and turn to her for comfort and I’d be out of the picture for good.”

No
w it was James’ turn for anger.

“I’m going to stake h
er myself.” He said it straightforwardly, like staking someone was done every day and meant nothing.

“Wait! Don’t you want to know who she is working for?” Nick grabbed James’ arm. “Calm down and th
ink about this.” James paused.

“She doesn’t know Ariya is alive. You can
pull this off and get information from her, James. She wants you most of all. Maybe you can say you want revenge on who did this and then you want to go away with her. Something! We should wait a day or so, and play up your mourning for her. Then she might be convinced.”

It sounded pretty clever
, actually. “What day is it?” I asked.

“It’s only Saturday evening.” James
said. He was facing me, his face thoughtful and analytic.

“So I should have been killed this morning? James
, why don’t you go see her tomorrow? Tell her she was right about where I was, but that you couldn’t save me in time. I want to know who is out there helping her. If Emma was telling the truth, we need to know who it is because their plan for me is not much better than Emma’s was. I’d probably have been dead eventually either way.”

“It could work.” James was thinking about what had been said. “There is something else you should know about that night
, Ariya. Something I need the four of us to keep to ourselves for the time being. I’m not really sure what to do with the information, and it could be dangerous for you if it got out.”

I nodded. Caroline was frowning. “What is it
, James?”

“When Ariya was fighting Devon and lured him over to where I was, I broke his neck and Devon died. He collapsed onto the ground
and wasn’t breathing. Ariya was quite beaten up. She was bleeding everywhere. She had a cut on her cheek and a large gash on her head.“ His expression was so pained, describing my injuries to them, that I wanted to reach out and comfort him, but instead clasped my hands together to keep still and just listen.

“Her blood was dripping onto Devon as she was trying to get to the key to give to me to let her out. I didn’t think anything of it at the time; I didn’t think something like this was possible. Ariya passed over Devon’s head to get to the key
, and I think some of her blood got into his mouth. Actually, I know it did. A minute later, Devon was trying to kill her again. I had the key, so I got in and killed him for a second time. The point is, Ariya’s blood healed him. Ariya’s bloodline doesn’t just save staked vampires. It might save any kind of dead creature.”

I was staring at him. I knew he was right
. I had been there. I just hadn’t been able to comprehend it. The timeline had gotten fuzzy, and it wasn’t until James was retelling it that I remembered what really had happened. Could that even be possible? Saving any monster that had died?

“James
, I know he came back to life. I was there, but can that be true? Maybe it was a fluke incident? How would people not know this side of the bloodline? Could it even be possible no one has tried it?”

“They wouldn’t have had a chance to. You’re line has always been protected
, and a human in the bloodline has never fallen into the hands of an enemy that we didn’t know about. I don’t know what it means or how it is possible, but you won’t need to have a werewolf child to give them what they want. They would just need you.”

“Oh …
my …. gosh.” Caroline was standing with her mouth open.