Stalked by Death (Touch of Death) (20 page)

“Weird. He never missed a meal back at Serpentarius. I forgot what a great cook Arianna is. The food’s gone downhill since she left.”

McKenzie kept talking, but I wasn’t listening. I couldn’t help wondering where Chase was. For some reason, I didn’t like not knowing.

After breakfast, Mason, Carol, Thayer, Carson, and Asher said they wanted to meet with Tony and Arianna to discuss the situation some more, so they all headed to the conference room for some adult Ophi conversation, while the rest of us went outside. I split the group up into training teams as soon as we got to the row of graves that still had bodies in them.

“Okay, those of you with more experience will come with me. We’ll work on commanding multiple souls at once. That will be Jared, Lexi—” I looked at the others, realizing I had more newbies than anything else. Plus, I really didn’t want to spend the morning with Lexi. “On second thought. I’ll take the less experienced ones, Leticia, McKenzie, and Lucas. We’ll work on maintaining control over souls once they’re raised.”

“What about us?” Lexi said. “Do we watch the youngsters screw up, or do we actually get to have a little fun?”

“Raising souls isn’t fun,” I snapped.

“Then you’re not doing it right.” Lexi whipped a nail file out of her back pocket. I thought she was going to mock me further by giving herself a manicure in the middle of my lesson, but instead she pricked Jared’s finger.

“Ow!” he said. “What was that for?”

“I can’t wear a Band-Aid on my finger for the rest of the day,” she said. “I just did my nails.” She flicked his finger, getting drops of his blood on one of the graves.

“Lexi, how do you expect to control that soul if you didn’t raise it?” I could do it, but I knew she couldn’t. She wasn’t that far along in her training.

“I don’t. I want to see how Jared does.” She smiled at him.

“Thanks a lot. I wasn’t even ready for this.” Jared looked about twenty-one, but like most Serpentarius Ophi he wasn’t used to using his powers.

Lexi laughed and turned to me. “He gets stage fright sometimes.”

“Shut up. I do not. I just need time to get my blood to do what I want it to.”

“Well, then you better hurry.” Lexi pointed to the hand coming up out of the grave. “Your zombie slave is here.”

“Crap!” Jared closed his eyes and threw his head back. I wondered who’d taught him that technique. He looked possessed.

The zombie was almost completely out of the grave, and Jared still wasn’t ready. Images of Randy getting bitten by the zombie flew into my head. That was not going to happen again.

“Stop!” I commanded the soul. “Turn to me. I’m in charge here.”

The zombie turned and faced me.

“Hey,” Jared complained. “I was almost ready.”

Lexi laughed. “Ready to what? Run away when that thing attacked you?”

Jared looked at me. His eyes were full of hate. I didn’t care if he was mad at me. I was doing what I had to.

“I lost a friend to a zombie because he wasn’t ready. I’m not taking any chances.”

“So, how exactly do you expect us to train?” Jared asked.

“When you’re ready to take over, I’ll be more than happy to hand this guy to you.” I stared at Jared. “What do you say? Now that you’re ready and not being ambushed by Lexi, do you want to give it a try?”

Jared nodded and closed his eyes again.

“Stop,” I said. “Closing your eyes when a zombie is coming for you is a sure way to get yourself killed. Never take your eyes off them. Use your mind’s eye to focus yourself and get control of your powers.”

Jared shrugged. “Guess that makes sense.”

“Good. Now focus on this guy and nothing else. Reach out to him with the power of your blood.”

Jared fell silent, concentrating as hard as he could. “Got it.”

“It’s him you want,” I said to the zombie, releasing him from my control. The corpse turned to Jared again and reached for him.

“Stay where you are.” Jared’s voice shook.

“You have the control, Jared. Don’t let him think otherwise,” I said.

Jared focused on the soul, staring him in the eyes. “Lower your arm.”

The zombie lowered his arm but kept advancing.

“Stop!” Jared’s voice was strong, confident.

The zombie stopped short.

“Great!” I said. Jared had real potential. He was already an adult Ophi, so he’d be a quick learner. “Think you can release him?”

Chase came up behind me. “Why not have a little fun first?”

“Where have you been?” I asked.

“Why? Did you miss me?” He brushed his hand against my back, and chills ran through me. “I bet these guys would love another demonstration of our combined powers.”

Lexi’s eyes widened. “See, now here’s a guy who knows how to have fun.” She batted her eyes at Chase, and I tensed up.

Chase leaned down and whispered in my ear, “Don’t worry. She’s not my type. No need to be jealous.”

Oh, God. I
was
jealous. What was happening to me?

“So, what would you all like to see us do?” Chase sounded like the ringleader of a circus, only he and I were the main attraction.

“Can you really make them do anything you want?” Lucas asked.

“Let’s find out,” Chase said. “Think of something really tough.”

“Chase, don’t.” I reached for his arm, but he put his hand over mine, letting his power flow to me. He was playing dirty. He knew I couldn’t resist him when he did that.

“Can you make him stab himself?” Lexi suggested.

In my mind I was screaming “No!” Out loud, I made more of whimper. I was lost in the power. Chase was controlling me. He turned to me and smiled. “What do you say, Jodi? Should we give it a try?”

“No, no, no!” Why couldn’t I say that out loud? I had to get through to him. I had to make him stop. He was squeezing my hand so tightly. It hurt and felt amazingly good at the same time. He turned toward me, taking both my hands. He was really going to do this. He was going to torture this corpse, and he was going to force me to help him. I had to snap him out of it. The power was going to his head. I didn’t know what else to do to shock him, so I reached up on my toes and kissed him.

He kissed me back, and the power shot through us. This was a bad idea. I hadn’t shocked him at all. All I’d managed to do was fuel his power. Intensify it. I tried to pull away, but I couldn’t. My blood was responding to his against my will. I wasn’t in control at all. I heard screams and finally Chase turned to see what we’d done. With the connection broken, I staggered back, my eyes falling on the body.

The corpse was lying in a heap on the ground. Lexi’s nail file was jammed into his neck. Leticia and McKenzie stared at me in horror. Like they were looking at a monster. The monster I’d become.

I couldn’t take my eyes off the corpse. His soul was still inside him. I could feel it, and it was in agony. Leticia and McKenzie backed away in fear, and they had every right to. What I’d done was awful, unforgiveable. This wasn’t what being Ophi was about. It couldn’t be.

“Well, Jodi, I have to hand it to you,” Lexi said. “You’re darker than I thought. I didn’t think you’d actually go through with it. Maybe there’s hope for you yet.”

Leticia glared at me with puffy, red eyes. “You’re no better than they were.” She didn’t need to clarify who
they
were. I knew. She thought I was as bad as Victoria and Troy. Just as heartless. Maybe I was. Leticia grabbed McKenzie’s arm, and they walked off toward the school. Lucas didn’t say a word, but he followed them. I stared after them, realizing that, to everyone else, it looked that I had done all this. They had no idea that Chase could use his power to control me.

The soul was screaming to me. No one else could hear or feel the souls the way I could. If they could, they wouldn’t do these awful things. I walked over to the body and mixed my blood. “Go back to where you came from. I release your soul.” I felt the soul leave; as it did, it reached out toward me. I felt like a strong wind was blowing me back. That had never happened before. The souls weren’t supposed to be able to touch us.

“What was that?” Chase asked, steadying me.

“He pushed me.” I stared at the corpse. “When the soul released, it pushed me.”

“Souls can do that?” Jared asked. He didn’t look happy with me either, but at least he wasn’t running away.

I nodded. “I didn’t think they could, but it definitely happened.”

“What, he was pissed off and decided to try to fight back?” Chase smirked. “I say we bring him back and teach him a thing or two.”

I whipped around to face him. “What is wrong with you?” My blood started to boil. “I didn’t want to hurt that guy. You made me do it.”

“I should’ve known you were too weak to do it on your own.” Lexi walked off.

“Hey, wait a minute,” Chase said. “You kissed me, remember? You combined our powers. I have to say, I didn’t hate your method. In fact, I’d like to try it again.” He stepped toward me, but I backed up.

“Don’t. Don’t touch me.” I waved him off. “Whatever this is between us, it’s over. I’m done. I don’t want your powers. I don’t want your help. I don’t want you.”

He advanced on me, and I shivered. He was scaring me.

“I bet one little touch and you’d be saying different.” He reached for my face.

“No!” I backed away farther. “I mean it. Stay away from me, Chase.”

Jared put his hand on Chase’s chest, holding him back. “That’s enough, man.”

Chase laughed, which only freaked me out more. This guy was seriously crazy. He was using me to get to my powers, and the truly frightening part was that, if he touched me again, I was going to give in. I couldn’t fight him, couldn’t resist his touch. I did the only thing I could. I ran. Ran from Chase. Ran from the school. I was hurting everyone. I wasn’t a leader. I was a liability.

I sprinted behind the school, glancing back to see Chase following. His running was almost effortless. Nothing at all like mine. I struggled to breathe as I forced my legs to go so fast they were out of control. I ran into the woods and kept going, weaving in and out of the trees. There was nowhere to hide. I had to keep running. If I could reach the road, maybe I could flag down a car, the way I’d flagged down Melodie. Melodie. Her image invaded my mind. Could I really risk running into her after what I had done? She’d probably run me over if she saw me. Oh wait—she didn’t have a car anymore, thanks to me.

“Come on, Jodi, you can’t outrun me.” Chase was closing in on me. I had to do something.

I cut off to the right, remembering the road was closer to the school on that side. As much as I didn’t want to remember what had happened to Melodie’s car or the hiker who’d tried to save me, I wished I’d come across the remains of the fire soon. At least then I’d know I was close to the road. Close to help.

“Why are you resisting me, Jodi?” Chase yelled. “You know you want me as much as I want you. Give in to it. Stop fighting. It’s not like Alex is here to get in the way anymore.”

I was struggling to breathe, yet Chase was having no trouble at all yelling to me while he ran. He was in much better shape than I was, which meant this wasn’t going to end well for me. I knew he’d use his powers on me the second he reached me, and then it would be all over. I’d give in, and he’d have control.

I pushed my legs off the ground as hard as I could, forcing myself to go faster. I wasn’t giving up. No matter how much it hurt. I saw something big and black out of the corner of my eye. Melodie’s car! I headed toward it, squinting through the trees, trying to make out the road. I was still too far away.

“Does it really have to go down like this?” Chase yelled. I turned slightly and saw he was making a beeline for the car. He thought that was what I was running toward. He was going to cut me off. I quickly changed directions, knowing it would take me longer to reach the road this way.

“Clever!” Chase laughed. “Hey, did I mention I’m a runner? I could compete professionally if it weren’t for the whole sweating thing.” He laughed. “I’d kill my competition in more ways than one.”

Crap, crap, crap! I turned to see how much ground he’d gained on me when I saw him hurdle a fallen tree. He cleared it with ease and even smiled at me as he landed. I couldn’t look at him. He was psyching me out. I focused up ahead again and saw the road. I grunted and forced my body into a sprint. I poured everything into it. All my energy was focused on making it to the road. I heard a car coming. If I could get out of the woods, make myself visible, I’d have a chance. I’d throw myself onto the car’s hood if I had to. Anything to get away from Chase.

I stepped out from the trees and waved my arms. The car was getting closer. One foot hit the asphalt, and then I was hit from behind. Chase was on top of me, pinning me to the shoulder of the road. The car drove past, not even noticing us. But I noticed it. The license plate read, MOM1208. Mom. My grandparents had gotten her the custom license plate after I was born. Even though she was only 16 at the time, she was so happy to be a mom. She never regretted having me, even after my dad left. She never regretted the life we had. No matter how much she had to work or how much she hated her boss.

“Mom,” I cried.