Once in a Blue Moon (Silver Society Book 7)

Chapter Thirteen

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Everything from this point on is new content, with the exception of a few brief snippets I wrote out of order, so the chapters will be getting posted much slower from now on. I finally caught up! I'm convinced I stopped working on this book because that last chapter broke my heart. (RIP Tammy... And Tyson and Pauline, too.) What a place to leave off! But, eleven years later, I finally get to finish this book!

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The cold pierced Chad like a ritual blade to his soul. He knew immediately that it was Tyson. He could feel the bullet like it had hit him instead. He'd been jogging in the Commons, but he dropped to his knees now and let out a scream of anguish. The five nearest trees exploded, reduced to tiny splinters that littered the ground around him.

Several people screamed and fled. Good, he thought. He didn't want them there anyway. Tears welled in his eyes, but he forced them back. He couldn't break down, not here, and not now. Tears would fix nothing. All he had now was the promise of sweet, bloody revenge.

He tried to stand, but he couldn't breathe. The loss consumed him. He was colder than he'd ever been in his life, empty now without the one person who'd given him light. He would make them pay! He'd kill every last one of them and anyone who dared to get in his way.

"Chad?" He barely heard her voice through his madness. "Are you okay?"

What kind of dumbass question was that? He spun toward the voice, ready to smite the person speaking. "Go away!" He screamed at her.

She stepped back at the sight of him and he knew his eyes had turned red. They did that when he gave into his power fully. After a moment, she seemed to change her mind. He could feel a tear on his cheek. One had managed to slip by him.

"Chad..." She shook her head and to his great shock, she knelt beside him and pulled him into her arms. He suddenly registered it was Cierra. The dam broke and he began sobbing, his power flowing back into the ground as he released his pain.

"He's gone," he sobbed into her shoulder.

"Who is?" She asked.

"My..." He struggled to say it aloud. He owed him that much. He should have proclaimed it from the rooftops ages ago. "My boyfriend. They killed him. They... They shot him!"

Cierra looked horrified. "Who did? Chad, I'm so sorry... Who did this?"

He believed her. Cierra genuinely cared that this had happened. "I don't know, but I felt it... He was supposed to be with that idiot jock friend of yours, bringing his girl to meet some of his other friends."

She froze. "Randy? He was with Randy?"

"Yeah, him. I don't know how, but he was shot. He's dead... Oh Gods, he's dead!"

Cierra was trembling as she tried to comfort him. "What is it?" He asked her.

"It's just... Alex was with Randy today." She said nothing else, but she didn't have to.

"Come on," Chad replied, trying to focus. "Let's go find your boyfriend."

"No, Chad, you don't have to-"

"Shut up. I already lost the man I love. I won't let you lose yours, too." He took a deep breath and stood. He could plot revenge later. Right now, he was determined to see someone get some good news.

~*~

     Skip and Susie had arrived quickly after Dylan called them. Their grief at seeing Tammy's corpse was clear. Skip had been hit by the emotions of everyone else, and then he'd started bleeding. Susie kept staring at Tammy, too lost in shock to realize her brother needed help. In the end, Alex had been forced to wrap a shield around Skip to keep him from bleeding to death. They'd had to call in extra help after that. Johnny and Danny were the first to arrive on the scene, followed closely by several teams from the Unit.