Destined Demons

Chapter Fifty-Nine | The Storm

ALAINA'S POV

It is kind of scary when you have a nightmare every night for a couple of months, and then one day your nightmare finally comes true. Maybe more than kind of.

My entire body shakes as De Umbra stares at me and it crouches on the table where Carson is standing. The flames still surround me as the rain continues to blind my vision and give me a cold. Moose is nowhere in sight, and with the full moon over my head, I'm more worried about my friends than I am about myself.

Lightning in the sky grasps my attention and I feel my entire body jump from the fear coursing through me. When I look back down, the monster is still staring at me. I feel as though tears may be falling from my eyes, but with the rain of my cheeks, I can't tell. My head aches from my burning eyes and my loss of blood, causing my stomach to tighten even more.

What was the last thing I had to eat besides those gross cookies?

"The rain...It's a delay," I hear Carson state aloud and De Umbra's head tilts towards her. A rush of wind passes by me, mixing with the sound of the river crashing against the boulders and I look away from them both. "We have to start...It'll get worse and I don't know how well I'll perform-"

I turn my gaze down into my lap, my eyes falling on my wrist and I quickly push up my sleeve to reveal my tattoo. My heart pounds violently in my chest as a smile appears on my lips, and a soft sob falls from my lips.

I slowly look back up to find Carson holding up a stone bowl up into the air, allowing the rain to fill it up. She then turns to me and, dramatically might I add, and dumps the water out. My brows furrow as she begins moving towards me and the fire instantly dies down, causing me to crawl backwards to get as far away from her as I can.

"Nec motus," she mutters and my entire body freezes as she steps through the circle. I let out a strangled cry when she crouches down in front of me, and that is when I notice the blade in her other hand.

When I think that she's going to grab my arm and make more cuts on my skin to use my blood, she grabs my hair and wraps it in her fist. My eyes wide at the pain that strikes through, but then the shock hits me.

But I'm too late as I hear the sound of my hair being cut. And I watch as she drops the dark locks into the bowl and her face comes back into view.

She...just cut my hair...

I stare at her with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, and as I do, Gabby's voice appears in my head.

"You have such beautiful hair, Alaina," I remember her saying as she brushed through it one day. "You can't ever cut it, okay? And if anyone, like Liza, tries to make you cut, I'll kill them, okay?" I remember her smile when she said that. It was genuine and goofy.

Carson stares at me, unfazed as if she didn't just take one of the most important things to me. There's a list actually: Noah, Gabby and Ax, Liza and Charlie, pancakes from the diner, and then my hair.

And she just happened to cross it off.

I don't know if my body has this special ability to move on its on, or if I can just break curses, but I don't remember ever grabbing the knife from Carson's hand and I don't remember pushing her onto the ground, crawling on top of her, and pressing the tip of the knife against her neck. I don't remember being a blood thirsty monster, but that's the only way I can see myself right now...

I stare into her eyes, finding the shock and fear in them and for a moment I feel...powerful? Happy? She's scared of me and that makes me feel better than I was feeling a second ago.