Bleeding Misery (Threatening Souls Book 2) Read online

  She stepped out of security and went to reclaim her stuff, suddenly feeling a sense of nausea, and then…

  “I’ve been watching over you,” the girl with the same appearance said as she approached Rebekah. “The demons have been trying to steal you from me.”

  To Rebekah, her countenance was fraught with genuine concern. “What do you mean?” Rebekah wondered. “Who are you?”

  “We are not so different from each other, you and I,” the girl continued. “We are like twins, almost…one person.”

  “Who are you?” Rebekah repeated as she started to feel slightly uncomfortable.

  “For years, you’ve been hunted by the same demons that I am trying to shield you from. I figured that if I finally brought you into Roseway, you’d be safe.” The girl paused briefly. “Roseway is my town. Only I can control it, and it is a safe, heavenly place where its citizens become one with their counterparts.”

  “Counterparts?” Rebekah felt rather confused, like she didn’t know if she could completely trust this girl who could very well be her twin.

  “If you let me into your mind, I can protect you,” the girl said in an effort to win Rebekah over. “Yet, your mind still remains closed to foreign presences.”

  “H-how do I open it?” Rebekah asked, feeling herself succumb to the girl’s charming character.

  “You’ll have to figure that out yourself, and I am very patient,” the girl said. “The others will show you our way of life in Roseway, and when you are ready, we will become one.”

  “Rebekah?” a female voice said. “Are you okay?”

  Rebekah suppressed a scream that was fighting for a way out as her flashback disappeared. I’m okay, she thought to herself in order to calm her nerves. Those from Roseway can no longer hurt me.

  “Are you okay?” the voice repeated.

  Rebekah glanced in the direction of the voice and noticed it was Holly. “I’m fine,” she said. “I just had a flashback.”

  “Of course you would,” pointed out Holly, who was oddly cheerful. “Come, we must meet the others at our terminal.”

  As Rebekah took a look around, she realized that she was no longer near security. While she was having the flashback, she had been wandering around aimlessly in the airport, and she had no idea where she was. As she willed the remaining thoughts of the flashback to disappear, she let Holly lead her past the stores.

  “Has Mandy arrived yet?” asked Rebekah.

  Holly nodded, and Rebekah noticed a sudden change in mood. “She’s refusing to speak to me.”

  This caught Rebekah off-guard. “Why?”

  Holly stopped suddenly and turned around to face Rebekah. “I have no idea. She’s been acting strange ever since the lockdown incident at school.”

  “Why has she—”

  “Something’s wrong with her,” Holly said, and Rebekah grimaced. “This is exactly why I was so persistent on us sticking together!”

  Rebekah’s eyes widened. “Wrong like…magic?” Suddenly, Rebekah felt her hysteria rise at the thought of Henri being able to harm her again. Someone who had a close connection with her supposed true soul.

  The thought of her coming into contact with the other Rebecca made her shiver.

  “Everything’s going to be fine,” Holly said as if she were sensing Rebekah’s hysteria. “Jason will keep the ICW facility as secure as possible.”

  “But what’s going to happen after the ICW concludes?” questioned Rebekah.

  Holly shrugged. “I don’t know. I suppose I could try to take you and Mandy to Ivanestible, but it’s generally frowned upon to bring humans there.”

  The conversation concluded when Holly and Rebekah met up with the rest of Eternal Division, including Mandy, who had distanced herself from everybody else. At the sight of Rebekah, her expression brightened, but once she saw Holly, it became sour.

  “Wow, she really isn’t the biggest fan of you right now,” Rebekah noted.

  “I know,” said Holly. “We might want to have Jason examine her while we are in London or Munich.”

  “Not London,” Rebekah said. “Munich would be better because we would have more time. I’m assuming Jason will be too busy in London doing last-minute preparations for the ICW.”

  “Right,” Holly agreed.

  Soon, the private plane was ready to be boarded, and they did just that. Throughout the entire plane ride, Rebekah willed herself to not have any flashbacks.

  ~~~

  Andre: London, England

  The chaperones weren’t due to receive their assignments until a few hours before the cliques were due to arrive in London, something Andre found to be quite ridiculous. Even though she already knew her assignment, she understood the others didn’t and therefore would have liked a little more time to prepare after their assignments were given to them.

  Urgently, she had to teleport to London from Marywood upon receiving notification about this. A week ago, Reilly had left Marywood in order to return to the Ivanestible castle, leaving Andre alone with Holly until Holly had to go to the airport. Once Holly was dropped off, Andre made an immediate trip to London in order to meet with Jason and the other fifteen chaperones.

  She hated being in London even more than she hated being in Seattle, for Greenwich was only about a half-hour drive from London. Greenwich was where the Dark Rulers and Dark Guard had made their permanent residence. Andre never understood why the ICW meeting was chosen to take place here, since she knew that Jason knew about Greenwich as well, and if Henri planned to strike at the ICW, he could very well do so in London.

  Both of the ICW meetings, the chaperone one and the clique one, were chosen to be held in one of the backrooms of the lobby in a fancy hotel. Andre found that hotel without any problems, and she made her way to the back room.

  Arizona was there, waiting for her, and so, she eyed her as she walked over to her.

  “I didn’t realize you also applied to be a chaperone,” Andre said gleefully. Perhaps if they both got the same assignment, their duty wouldn’t be so bad.

  “Yeah, I did,” Arizona replied excitedly as she led Andre to two open seats. “I knew how important this was for you, so I figured I would be a part of it too.”

  Andre just shook her head, bemused, as her eyes landed on the royal family as they entered.

  Jeffery was with them, much to Andre’s amazement.

  “Thank you all for being here,” Jason smiled. “I know that you all would have liked to know your assignments beforehand, but unfortunately, I was very busy up until this point. Now, I would first like to point out that Jeffery had just recently escaped from Henri’s grasp and returned to me. A huge thank you to Katherine Reid for rescuing him.”

  Andre tensed when she heard Kat’s name, recalling what Kat had done to her many years ago. She eyed Jeffery, noticing that he was staring at something.

  Or rather, someone, as Andre followed his gaze and saw whom he was staring at.

  Katherine Reid. She was somehow here.

  Someone whom Andre knew for a fact was immortal but was good at hiding who she truly was. She apparently was a chaperone, and Andre knew Henri must have had a hand in that.

  As she stared at Kat after years of not seeing the immortal witch, Andre felt old feelings of sadness and anger resurface as she recalled what Kat and her brother, Jerauld, did to her.

  “How did Kat become a chaperone?” questioned Arizona as if she sensed whom Andre was staring at. “Isn’t she immortal?”

  “She’s good at hiding it,” Andre commented, forcing herself to tear her eyes away from Kat. “You remember that, don’t you?” And maybe Jason doesn’t know.

  Arizona nodded.

  “Now, I will give you all your assignments,” continued Jason. “Bailey Brown and Grace Nelson, your assignment is the Italian clique.”

  Andre watched the three Brown sisters as they looked saddened by this assignment. Like her and Arizona, she suspected the Brown sisters hoped they would be assigned the same
clique, even though there were three of them.

  “Joanne Waters and Roxy Brown, your assignment is the Estonian clique,” said Jason. “Dylan Brown and Monica Wilkins, your assignment is the Japanese clique.”

  Sadly, the sisters continued to exchange glances, even though Andre suspected that Jason intentionally separated them. She hoped he wouldn’t do the same with her and Arizona.

  “Tia Walker and Katrina Winston, your assignment is the German clique,” Jason said. “Arizona Bleu and Katherine Reid, your assignment is the Russian clique.”

  At that moment, Andre was shocked, but not because she didn’t get paired with Arizona. Since Jason hadn’t paired anyone from the same mortal group together so far, she knew that was to be expected. What she didn’t like was the fact that Arizona had been paired with Kat.

  “Don’t worry; I’ll be careful,” Arizona said. “And who knows? If she is spying for Henri, perhaps I will be able to catch her.”

  Andre felt herself smile when Arizona said this.

  “Tiana Jeffers and Kellie Marshal, your assignment is the Spanish clique,” continued Jason. “Olivia O’Connor and Aspyn Roberts, your assignment is the French clique.”

  Andre liked Olivia, for she was the only member of the Solar Coven who wasn’t a part of either Andre’s or Arizona’s family. As for Aspyn and Tiana, Andre knew those two were the only female members of the Royal Guard, aside from Courtney Case.

  And Courtney was the last one to get an assignment as well as Andre.

  “Courtney Case and Andre Robinson, your assignment is the American clique.”

  Andre let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She was glad to be paired with someone who was from the Royal Guard, for that will give her a chance to possibly get an invitation to join that group. She would have no problem leaving the Solar Coven behind if joining the Royal Guard meant that she would have a steady career for the rest of her life.

  “You may now converse with your partners,” Jason concluded.

  Andre and Arizona parted ways, and Andre went over to where Courtney was. Courtney glanced up at her with a smile spread over her lips.

  “I guess we’re partners,” said Courtney, who left her seat. “To be honest, I kind of figured that would happen before this meeting, since I had specifically requested this assignment.”

  “Why would you request this assignment?” questioned Andre, confused. “You have no ties with any of this clique’s members.”

  “It’s the most difficult assignment, Andre,” Courtney explained. “Within this clique, you have the two people that Henri is in the process of hunting down due to Roseway, the Innocent and your cousin. Also, I heard there’s a Foreseer in this clique who indirectly helped with Roseway.”

  To Andre, it was evident that Courtney didn’t shy away from tough assignments, hence why she was a part of the Royal Guard.

  “There’s more than you realize,” said Andre. “Holly told me before I left there’s something off about the Foreseer.”

  Instead of shuddering like most people, Courtney’s smile grew. “That will make this more interesting,” she said. “When we pick up our assignment from the airport, how about I take three of them, and you take the rest?”

  Andre suddenly grew cold “As long as I’m the escort for Holly and her friends,” she muttered, her eyes narrowing at Courtney. She knew the reason Courtney only wanted to take three of them was because she wanted to be the one to escort the three hardest assignments.

  “Why?” questioned Courtney. “I was actually thinking about taking them. Don’t you think it would be safer if she was with me? I mean, Henri wouldn’t be expecting it.”

  “No,” Andre immediately declared. “It would be better if I take them. After all, I know for a fact the Innocent gets nervous around magic users she doesn’t know, and therefore, it would be a bad idea if you escorted her.”

  “Okay,” Courtney finally agreed, but she didn’t sound too happy. “Perhaps we should start to make our way to the airport. After all, I believe Eternal Division’s flight will be landing soon.”

  ~~~

  Rebekah: London, England

  Surprisingly, Rebekah was able to keep her Roseway-induced flashbacks at bay throughout the entire plane ride. As the plane landed, the seven clique members slowly rose and began to make their way towards the entrance.

  Soon, Rebekah exited the plane, trailing Holly. Then, she made her way through the terminal, suddenly flooded with nerves.

  As soon as she exited the terminal, she immediately saw Andre as well as someone with straight, brown hair and dark brown skin whom she didn’t recognize. However, she knew that both of them were assigned to Eternal Division.

  Old feelings began to resurface, and Rebekah thought back to the first time she had come into contact with a magic user who was not related to Holly.

  Upon seeing the clique’s arrival, the two chaperones left their seats. Rebekah’s eyes met Andre’s briefly, but the two of them said nothing to each other.

  “I am Courtney Case, and I will be one of your ICW chaperones,” said the one Rebekah didn’t recognize with a huge smile on her face before motioning towards the other one. “This is Andre Robinson, and she will be your other chaperone.”

  Rebekah watched Andre give a small and unenthused wave.

  “Now,” said Courtney as she took out a piece of paper, “will Teri Olson, Sabrina Adams, and Samantha Shea step forward please?”

  Those whose names were called did just that, and Rebekah couldn’t help comparing the entire scene to that of a summer camp.

  “You three are coming with me,” Courtney declared. “The others will be escorted by Andre.”

  Rebekah exhaled a breath she didn’t realize she was holding. As Courtney’s group left in the direction of the baggage claim, the rest of them grouped together, and Rebekah could tell Jamie was not amused.

  At least she doesn’t remember that Andre is Holly’s cousin, Rebekah thought as she glanced at Mandy. Much to her surprise, Mandy wasn’t too enthusiastic about this arrangement, either. What’s gotten into her?

  Andre motioned for them to follow her to the baggage claim and allowed them to claim their luggage before making their way to the entrance of the London airport. Rebekah watched as Holly approached Andre, and they began to talk in hushed tones.

  Rebekah was soon full of curiosity. With Jamie and Mandy trailing lackadaisically behind her, she quickened her pace in order to catch up with the two witches.

  “Who is Courtney?” questioned Rebekah as she approached the two of them, interrupting their conversation.

  The two cousins briefly glanced in her direction.

  “Courtney Case,” Andre finally answered. “She’s in the same group as Reilly, the Royal Guard.”

  “Oh.” Rebekah’s fear lessened a little as she began to form her next question. “What were you guys talking about?”

  Silence was the response.

  “Can we tell her?” questioned Holly after a while.

  The group exited the airport and soon wandered into the parking lot.

  “Holly, would you mind if you sat in the back of the car with the other two? Rebekah, you will sit in the front with me,” insisted Andre, “and I will explain everything.”

  Judging by Andre’s tone, Rebekah figured something must have happened. Andre led them to a maroon 2003 Mazda protégé, and the color made Rebekah think back to the strange eyes of Roseway’s possessed citizens.

  The trunk popped open, and the four clique participants piled their luggage into it before slamming it shut. Then, as Holly, Mandy, and Jamie piled into the backseats, Rebekah took the front passenger’s seat on the left, willing herself to temporarily forget about Roseway.

  Andre turned on the ignition and backed out of the parking lot. “Now,” she said quietly so that only Rebekah could hear her, “you need to promise me that you won’t freak out about this. Do not act the same way you did when you found out about your Other Part.”

>   “I promise,” Rebekah said, suddenly fearing the worst. “What happened.”

  Andre took a deep breath. “Somehow, Henri has found a way to indirectly infiltrate the ICW facility,” she started to say, “and Jason has no idea.”

  “How?” questioned Rebekah.

  “One of the chaperones is an immortal magic user,” said Andre, “who is a master at illusion magic.”

  Rebekah sunk lower into her seat as the car continued to cruise down the empty road. Outside her window, there were no buildings in sight. There were only trees that surrounded the road on both sides. “Who is she, and how do you know about her?”

  “Her name is Katherine Reid, and she and I have a little…history together,” Andre explained. “She is one of the chaperones for the Russian clique.”

  “Okay,” Rebekah said, fighting hard to control her nerves. “Perhaps you should tell Jason about her.”

  “He wouldn’t believe me. I figured I should just keep an eye on her for the time being in order to gather proof against her,” Andre said. “You don’t need to worry, though. I’ll make sure she doesn’t come into contact with any of you.”

  Rebekah finally started to relax. Through her eyes, she noticed the appearance of familiar black smoke in the middle of the road with the silhouette of a man inside. At first, Rebekah was too tired to make anything of it, but then, realization came to her as Andre violently swerved the car to the left off the road and into the forest.

  Henri had found them.

  Through the forest, the car drove, and old memories of Roseway started resurfacing. Within moments, the car plowed into a tree and suddenly stopped.

  “What the hell was that?” Rebekah heard Jamie say from behind.

  Andre didn’t respond to Jamie as she quickly killed the engine. “Is everyone all right?” she questioned.

  When no one responded to the question, Rebekah said in a whisper so that only Andre could hear, “That was Henri, wasn’t it?”