Stalked by Death

Chapter 16

Chase looked like he was completely drained and in shock. He wasn’t going to be of any help to me right now. I was weak too, but I forced myself to reach for Medusa. She was my only hope in saving the Ophi. I’d never raised more than one Ophi at a time before. Technically, I’d only raised a total of three since I’d become Ophi. I wasn’t sure this was possible, even without needing to spill my blood to raise them, but I was certain I needed Medusa’s help.

The second my hands met hers, I called out, “Medusa, please! I need you. They’re all dead. All of them. You have to help me bring them back.” I was hysterical. My sobs were uncontrollable, and if I hadn’t been communicating in my mind, I was sure Medusa wouldn’t have understood me. I doubted I could form audible words right now.

“I know, my child. I sensed the shift in energy.” She was in front of me, holding my hands in hers. “Concentrate, Jodi. Reach out with your powers. Feel for their souls. We must trap them before they release. If Hades gets hold of them, he will stop us.”

“But how? Isn’t that against the rules?”

“Hades isn’t playing by the rules anymore.”

“What do you mean?” She knew something. I knew she did. Why was she being so cryptic?

“There’s no time to explain. Close your eyes and reach for their souls.”

I didn’t argue. It wasn’t the time. I had to save the others. I wouldn’t be the girl who led an entire race to its extinction. I mixed my powers with Medusa’s. It was an incredible feeling. Not like the way it felt when Chase and I combined powers, though. That was an entirely different kind of rush. I saw Tony’s soul leaving his body, but I forced it back inside. I didn’t have time to be nice about it. I had to move on to the next one. I could feel Medusa’s power reaching out farther in the house. Most of the new Ophi were in the conference room. I could sense them as Medusa restored life to their bodies. Leticia was next on my list. I pushed her soul back inside of her and commanded her to come back to life. To breathe. On her first inhale, I turned my attention to Randy. His soul was harder to convince. His body was in bad shape still. Every time I put his soul back inside him, it seeped out again.

Medusa finished with the others, including Lexi, who I’d conveniently skipped over. I continued to struggle with Randy. Why wouldn’t he listen to me? Medusa reached her powers out to him, but she didn’t have any better luck.

“He’s too weak, Jodi. His body was already dying when this happened. Every time we put his soul back, he dies all over again.”

“Are you saying we’re torturing him?” I fought the soul as it found another way out of Randy.

“Yes, my child. I’m afraid so. There’s nothing we can do for him.” She squeezed my hands, trying to console me.

“Keep trying. Don’t let go of his soul. I’ll get Carson. He’ll heal Randy, and then his soul will stay inside him.”

“Jodi, I understand you don’t want to let him go, but Carson has already done all he could for Randy.”

“How do you know that?” I was screaming now. No longer speaking only through my mind. “I can’t let him die. Hades will take him and keep him from me.”

“It’s not Hades keeping him from you, Jodi. It’s his body. You know the rules. When you raise someone, they return exactly as they were before they died. Randy was dying. He can’t be saved.” I felt her ease her powers. She wasn’t helping me anymore.

“No!” I struggled, squeezing her hands, trying to take her powers whether she wanted me to or not. But it didn’t work. I fell to my knees.

“I’m sorry, my child,” Medusa said, as my hands slipped from hers.

Leticia screamed, and I scrambled to my feet. I rushed to Randy, examining him. His shoulder was still bleeding. The couch was soaked with his blood. That’s how the soul kept escaping, through the gaping hole where his shoulder used to be. I pressed my hand to his blood-soaked bandages, applying pressure. Then I willed my blood to mix. I didn’t have much energy left, but I had to try.

“Get Carson!” I yelled to anyone who would listen. Chase finally snapped out of his trance and went for Carson. I tuned out the room and focused on Randy’s soul. I reached out for it. But this time, instead of forcing it back inside Randy’s dying body, I faced it head on and pleaded. “Don’t go, Randy. Please. I’m getting help. Stay with me while Carson finds a way to stop the bleeding. Please!” I felt warm blood drip from my nose and ears. Holding Randy’s soul was killing me.

Hands were on my shoulders, pulling me away from Randy. I figured it was Carson, trying to move me so he could save Randy. I reached for Randy’s hands, not wanting to break the connection and lose his soul, but the person holding my shoulders continued to pull me back. Randy’s soul slipped away from me. I couldn’t hold on, not with someone tugging me away from him.

“Stop!” I yelled, commanding both the soul and the person pulling me away. Neither listened. Blood spilled down my cheeks as I fought against them, and then I felt an arm around my neck. Someone yanked me back, and Randy’s hands were torn from mine. His soul drifted away from me. He was gone. Dead. And I couldn’t bring him back.

Leticia was crying next to me. I couldn’t see her through all the blood blurring my vision, but I recognized her sobs. Arianna was shushing her, saying, “He’s at peace now, honey. He’s at peace.”

But he wasn’t. He was with Hades. I knew it. Hades didn’t let Ophi souls rest in peace. They had too much power. Power he wanted. I sat myself up, wobbling in the process.

“Take it easy,” Chase said. I was in his lap. He was the one who’d pulled me away from Randy.

“You? You stopped me?” I blinked the blood from my eyes and turned to face him. He looked horrified, and I realized it was because I was bleeding from all parts of my face.

“You need to lie down.” He reached out like he was going to carry me to my room.

“No!” I swatted at him and stumbled backward into the couch. I used it to help me to my feet.

“Jodi,” Arianna said. “Chase is only trying to help you.”

“Is everyone okay in here?” Tony came toward us, rubbing his head. No doubt because he had a massive headache from his tumble.

“Are you okay?” I asked. “I saw you fall down the stairs.”

“I’m not exactly up for a few rounds in the ring, but I’ll live. Thanks to you and Medusa.”

I swallowed hard. How did I tell him—and everyone else—I thought it was my powers that had killed them in the first place? I couldn’t. They’d hate me. They’d turn me over to Hades before I could wash the blood from my face.

“Randy,” I choked out, changing the subject. “I couldn’t—his soul wouldn’t hold on.”

Arianna let go of Leticia and came to me. “Carson did everything he could, but the corpse…his bite was too big to repair.”

Carson stepped closer to me. “One of Randy’s smaller arteries was severed. I didn’t have the medical equipment needed to save him.”

“Then get it!” Leticia yelled.

“It wouldn’t matter now,” Chase said, and it was the first time I saw him look sympathetic toward anyone here besides me.

“Why not? We can get the equipment Carson needs and bring Randy back,” Leticia said. “Jodi can do it, can’t she?” She sobbed when Carson shook his head.

I didn’t want to break down and cry like a baby in front of everyone. I was supposed to be the leader. The strong one. But the look on Leticia’s face when she realized I couldn’t help Randy was too much.

“Leticia, I—”

She turned and ran upstairs. I knew in that moment she hated me. I was the one who had gotten Randy hurt. If I had stopped that zombie, Randy wouldn’t have been bitten. This was all my fault.

Tony went over to the couch. “Chase, will you help me move Randy? We can bury him in the mausoleum. There are some empty caskets in there.”

“Sure, but can I help Jodi first? I’d like to take her to her room and help her get cleaned up.”

“No,” I said. “Randy should be our top priority. I’ll help you both.”

“No way, Jodi.” Chase grabbed me by my shoulders. “You need rest. You drained a lot of your powers.”

“Chase is right,” Arianna said. “Why don’t you go upstairs and take a nice warm bath? We can take care of Randy.”

“A warm bath sounds like Heaven right about now,” Lexi said. I’d forgotten she was even here.

“Your bathroom doesn’t have a tub,” I said to her.

“Yours does, and I’m sure my fearless leader would be more than happy to accommodate me.” She gave me a wicked smile and started to walk away, but Arianna grabbed her roughly by the arm.

“Lexi, you’re fine. Jodi is the one who needs the hot bath, so I suggest you go to your own room for the time being. I’ll be up to check on Jodi shortly, and if I find you anywhere near her bathroom, taking what she needs, I’ll have you back at Serpentarius before sundown.”

Lexi glared at Arianna and shook her arm free. “Whatever you say, Mother.”

My heart stopped. Mother? No way. Lexi couldn’t be Arianna’s daughter. That would mean Abby was Arianna’s daughter, too.

Lexi stomped upstairs as I stared at Arianna, waiting for her to tell me it wasn’t true. She looked at me and sighed.

“Not all Ophi are good, Jodi. Sometime we fall for the wrong ones.”

So Arianna had fallen for a bad Ophi? An evil guy who passed his evil qualities down to their twin daughters? I grabbed my head, putting my hands over my ears. My palms stuck to the partially dried blood trailing down the sides of my face. “You sent Abby away. It nearly killed her—made her evil.”

Arianna sighed. “She was obsessed with power and proving herself. I thought sending her to Troy and Victoria might scare her out of it. But when her letters arrived and all she talked about was how great it was not to hold back her power, I knew I’d lost her.”

“So, you stopped reading the letters and returned them unopened.” I remembered the drawer full of letters Abby had kept.

“I thought if she knew how upset I was…maybe she’d come home.” Arianna nodded to Chase, unable to continue talking about Abby. “On second thought, you take Jodi upstairs. Run her a bath and then wait for her in her room. Keep Lexi away from her.”

“Sure thing.” Chase took my arm, but this time my blood didn’t react. I stared at his hand on me, wondering why his touch was different now. He leaned down and whispered, “Don’t worry. I’m not using my powers.”

He’d been doing that on purpose?! I thought it was the way our blood naturally reacted to each other, but it had been Chase doing it all along.

Arianna put her hand on my shoulder as I walked by. “I’ll be up to check on you soon, and then we can talk.”

I knew she wanted to explain about Abby and Lexi. I had a lot of questions for her. Like why she never told me, and why she didn’t hate me for sending Abby to the underworld. I wasn’t sure I could handle that today, though. So much had already happened.

“Maybe our talk can wait until tomorrow? I think I could sleep until morning at this point.”

She nodded and gave me a weak smile.

Chase walked me upstairs. He kept his arm around my back and was being a gentleman for once. Not forcing his power on me or trying to bully me into choosing him. Now that Alex was gone, he didn’t feel the need to compete anymore. It was the first time I had thought about Alex since he left. Since he walked out on me and my world came crumbling down. This was more proof of how much I needed him. But what was I going to do about Chase?

We’d combined powers twice today, and both times, it had made me feel better than I’d ever felt in my life. My blood craved Chase, but look what I had done when I gave in to that craving. I’d taken out every Ophi under this roof. I knew I was responsible for their deaths. I’d felt my blood doing things it had never done before. It was like the night Leticia was choking in my room. The night she’d died. Chase had been touching me, combining our powers, and Leticia died because of it. I was convinced Chase and I could do both amazing and devastating things together. We were that powerful, and it scared the hell out of me.

Inside my room, Chase left me sitting on the bed while he drew me a bath. I reached up and took the locket from my neck. Nothing good had happened since I’d put it on, and now I wanted it off. I wished I’d never drunk the blood from the bloodstone. I wished I’d never killed the human in me. That I’d never become the leader of the Ophi. I didn’t want any of this anymore. None of it seemed worth it. Not without Alex.

I put the locket back in my dresser drawer before slumping on my bed and crying. My tears washed most of the blood from my face and I wiped the rest away with my sleeves. Chase came back into the room and sat down next to me.

“Oh, Jodi.” He leaned over me and kissed me. I stopped crying, taken aback by his action. He wasn’t my boyfriend. He wasn’t Alex. We’d only kissed once, and that had had terrible consequences. I pulled away.

“Don’t worry. Nothing bad will happen. I promise. I’ll keep my powers under control, and you will too.” He leaned forward and kissed me again. He didn’t let me go, and finally, I gave in, kissing him back. He brushed the hair from my wet cheeks and looked at me.

“What are we doing?” I asked. This was all so confusing. It wasn’t what I wanted, not really. So, why wasn’t I stopping him?

“What we’re supposed to be doing.” He kissed me again, more passionately this time, and he let a tiny bit of his power find its way to me. The tingling spread through my lips and into my chest, filling me with energy. I felt better, more alive. He was on top of me now, and still I was trying to pull him closer.

“Jodi, are you—”

I pulled away from Chase to see Arianna standing in the doorway. Embarrassed, I scrambled out from under Chase and stood up. He leaned back on the bed as if he’d done nothing wrong.

“I came to see if you were finished with your bath,” Arianna said. “But I see you haven’t even started.”

“That reminds me,” Chase said, “I left the water running.” He ran to the bathroom, hopefully before the tub overflowed.

“Um, I was waiting for it to fill?” It came out more like a question than a statement.

Arianna walked over to me and kept her voice low. “Jodi, do you know what you’re doing? Alex left today, and already you’re with Chase?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’m not with him. He kissed me. I was caught off guard. That’s all. With everything that’s happened, I was upset and I guess I wasn’t thinking clearly.”

She sighed. “Honey, that boy is pouncing when he should be giving you time. I don’t like it at all. You be careful around him.”

I nodded, but she didn’t look convinced.

“What if Alex had come back and seen what I saw?”

“Alex doesn’t want to be with me.” The words stung my chest.

“No, what Alex doesn’t want is Chase’s hands all over you.” She shook her head like she was trying to get the image out of her mind. “I’m not telling you what to do, but if I were you, I’d be focusing on trying to get Alex back here. Not trying to replace him.”

Replace Alex? I couldn’t. I was about to tell her that, but Chase came back into the room. “It’s all set.”

“Good,” Arianna said. “Then you can come downstairs and help me with dinner while Jodi takes her bath.”

Chase looked annoyed, but he followed Arianna. He brushed his hand along my arm on his way out, and the tingling sensation of his touch rippled through me. God, how did he do that? It made my common sense go out the window.

I got into the bathtub and lowered myself so that only my head was above the water. The warmth felt incredible, but it was powerless against the events of the day. Seeing Alex walk out of my life, Tony fall to his death, Randy’s soul float away, lost forever—it was all stuck in my mind. But as huge as those things were, they took a back seat to Chase. He was becoming more and more of a mystery to me. Why could one touch from him make me lose control? Why was he so different from all the other Ophi? Then, the biggest question of all popped into my head. Something I should’ve asked myself right away, but I’d been too caught up in the moment to notice.

Why hadn’t Chase died with all the others?