Chapter thirty-three
Panicked breath fanned out across the young girl's cheek as her friend clung to her as if her life depended on it. Nadia knew— somehow, she knew— it did.
"Don't let him take me, Dee," the redhead pleaded, clutching tighter and tighter, "Please don't let him take me."
Nadia couldn't speak, didn't have the words to make a promise she knew she couldn't keep, she just clung tighter to her best friend. Her only friend.
Petra was shaking violently to hold back her sobs, refusing to let her fear take over. There was no hope for either of them that day but Petra, dear sweet Petra hadn't quite accepted her fate the way Nadia had.
The words 'don't' and 'please' repeated like some kind of prayer as if the more they were said the more they would wash everything away.
Both girls flinched at the sound of the door opening, light streaming in from the hallway beyond. Nadia clutched Petra even closer, finally allowing herself to feel just that inch of fear. Eyes clenched shut, Nadia could no longer tell if it was her friend or herself now pleading for someone, anyone, to help them.
Hands like vices gripped onto Petra's small waist, hoisting her into the air, away from the relative safety of her friend's arms.
Her eyes shot open, panicked screams reaching her as Vitali dragged the kicking and screaming girl to the door. But it was no longer Petra's face that stared back at her. Another had taken her place, olive skin replacing the pale freckles, thick dark curls taking the place of soft strawberry blonde.
Eyes like raging storms, eyes Nadia somehow knew so well, filled with terror searched her own. Nadia tried to move forwards, tried to reach the girl to help, to do anything, but she couldn't move. Held in place by arms far stronger than her own small frame.
The girls face shifted once more as Vitali dragged her into the room that would forever haunt Nadia. Jade now stared at her, tears streaming down her cheeks as she begged Nadia to help her, to take her place, to stop Vitali as he gripped her chin, holding her delicate frame against his body, her pale throat exposed.
A blade flashed. Ivan now stood before Jade, that sickening grin twisting on his features, dark eyes like death itself. This wasn't how this was supposed to go, this wasn't right.
Nadia tried to scream, tried to break away from whoever held her, tried to stop the blade kissing Jades neck.
No sound left her throat. Her body was not her own as it stood there, still as marble and made no indication to save her friend. Jade screamed and screamed until her voice was raw.
Nadia felt sick. The blade sliced too cleanly through Jade's throat, through Lilianna's throat, through Petra's. Still, her body betrayed her.
Ice cold breath fanned out down her neck and Nadia realised she wasn't alone. Michael stood behind her, snarl permanently etched onto his once beautiful features, transforming him into a beast with no heart.
His grip on her jaw forced her to continue to watch Ivan and Vitali, forcing her to take in the carnage they left in their wake.
"You see this?'' He hissed in her ear, "This is what happens when you don't listen. When you remain selfish."
Her body ran cold right down to her bones.
Hands that once held her with such love wrapped around her throat; one ocean blue eye, one forest green burning, the only thing she could see as the world around her dipped and swayed and faded into nothing.
YOU ARE READING
Dead By Sundown
Romance"Angels and demons often meet in the bodies of mortals." Nadia wasn't one for an easy way out. That wasn't how she had been trained- how she survived. But, one regretful job later, she finds herself in deeper sh!t than usual, with no clear route...
