Dateless and Deadly

Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Derek called a meeting of all the bases. People I’d never met were piling into our base by the hundreds. When things started to slow down, there had to be close to a thousand of us there.

I stood near a wall, shocked at the size of our army. I was starting to feel an extreme sense of foreboding. How many of these people would die in the fight? That girl over there who was barely five feet and clearly less than 100 lbs, would she even have a chance?

Sparks of electricity danced up and down her arms as something Derek said made the crowd shout in anger and agreement. Her face contorted in rage and…excitement as she clearly thought about killing someone. Probably Caine. Or maybe one of the pretty boys in his army.

Okay, maybe she had a fighting chance.

I looked away from the girl, not wanting to see such an innocent face distorted by a longing for bloodshed. Everywhere I looked I saw similar expressions. Everyone was well trained and eager to fight but not a single one of them knew what the cost was going to be.

The group of us from our base were all leaning against the same wall near the front of the room. I was standing next to Stephen and Will with Sam on the other side of Will. James was on the stage next to Derek, fielding questions whenever need be. He looked heartbreakingly handsome as he answered everyone’s queries in a businesslike tone. I wanted to grab his hand and run away from there before it was too late.

“You’ve all been trained well,” Derek said in a clear voice, addressing the crowd. “You are all prepared for this fight and I have every confidence that we will win. We have intel that Caine will be launching his attack tomorrow night and when he does, we will be ready for him!” The crowd cheered and I wanted to cover my ears.

A few people’s voices rang out above the crowd. A tall man with a beard yelled, “Caine is going down! Tomorrow is going to be a shit show!”

A thin woman who was average height with spiky black hair shouted, “I’m going to enjoy this!”

A few other people mentioned how “fun” it was going to be when they finally got to fight and I felt my heart beat pick up at their words. Fun? Was it going to be fun?

“What is your problem!” I shouted and suddenly all eyes turned to me. I felt energy crackling along my skin as I stood there, shocked that the words had come out of my mouth.

“Cass,” Sam hissed at me. “What are you doing?”

Um, yeah, I have no idea.

“What did you just say, little girl?” A heavy set woman who was fairly close to me asked, rage in her eyes.

Rage. Oh yeah, that’s what I was feeling right now. Rage that was causing the floodgates of my powers to open up making my hair lift away from my skin.

“I said, what is your problem?” I repeated.

A few people scowled at me but I just took a step closer to the crowd.

“Who the hell are you?” someone asked.

A few people who were more sensitive to my powers actually took a couple steps away from me, fear in their eyes. They were afraid of me? I’m an 18 year old girl. Wait until they met Caine.

“Do you not realize that this is war? This is not a time for fun!” I shouted, feeling my control over my emotions slip. “Some of you, maybe all of you will die! Do you not get that?”

The room was utterly silent. No one really knew what to say to that. I was beyond caring. I moved onto the stage so I could see everyone. A few people whispered my name and I think word got around of who I was. I ignored everything except for the anger churning in my gut.