Stalked by Death

Chapter 26

I let go of Medusa and faced the group of Ophi staring at me, waiting for confirmation. I couldn’t say the words out loud, couldn’t admit the truth. Alex saw the answer on my face and said, “It’s true.”

I ran back upstairs and locked myself in my room. Alex knocked on the door, begging me to let him in.

“Just go, Alex. I can’t face you right now.”

“Jodi, either open this door or I’ll break it down. Either way, I’m getting into this room.”

I wiped my eyes and went to the door. The second the lock clicked, Alex pushed the door open and wrapped me in a hug.

“We’ll find a way around it. I promise.”

“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”

He let go of me. “So what, you’re giving up? You’re willingly going to Chase?”

“I don’t know, but I can’t hurt you like this. I want to be with you. More than anything. But if that’s impossible, then you shouldn’t waste your time on me.”

He grabbed my face in his hands and kissed me. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me off the floor. Quicker than I’d thought possible, we were on my bed. I felt the full weight of his body on mine, and it made my head spin. I kissed him like there was no tomorrow, because I wasn’t sure there was one for us. My blood boiled, and I was afraid I’d end up raising more souls. I made the quick decision to transfer my power to Alex. He moaned in response. He kissed me harder, and his hands ran along both sides of my body. I knew what he was feeling because I’d felt it with Chase. Chase. The thought of him created a shift in my blood. Alex pulled away from me, choking.

“Oh, God! I’m so sorry.” I squirmed out from under him. I quickly willed my blood to mix again and reached for Alex, but he backed up. “It’s okay. I’ll heal you. I promise.”

He stopped, and I touched his cheek. Instantly he stopped choking. Then he was kissing me again, as if he hadn’t just been on the brink of death. He pulled away from me long enough to take his shirt off and toss it on the floor. Then he was back on top of me, his fingers inching up my shirt.

“What the hell?” Chase yelled.

I let go of Alex, but he continued to paw at me. I calmed my blood so the effect would wear off him. He looked dazed for a second before he turned to Chase and reality set in.

“Get out,” Alex said. “This doesn’t concern you.”

“Really?” Chase said. “‘Cause it looked like you were about to hop into bed with my girlfriend.”

“I’m not your girlfriend, Chase.” Wow, it felt good to say that.

Chase cocked his head to the side. “The prophecy says differently, Jodi. And as your future husband, I forbid you to see Alex anymore.”

“Forbid me?” My voice went up an octave. “You can’t forbid me from doing anything.”

“I can make you do whatever I want. Don’t forget that. I’m trying to be nice. I thought, once you knew the truth, you might give in and start to be the person you’re meant to be. But you always have to fight, don’t you?”

Alex was on his feet and in Chase’s face in seconds. “Get out before I put you out.”

Chase laughed. “The last time you tried that, you ended up with a concussion. I can promise I won’t go as easy on you this time.”

“Stop!” I said. Didn’t anyone care what I had to say? “Look, this stupid prophecy is about me, so I’m deciding what’s going to happen. Got that?” I looked back and forth between Chase and Alex.

Chase shook his head. “Sorry, Jodi, but you’re not the only one in the prophecy. I get a say in this, too.”

“Fine. Then the two of us will work this out. Find a way around the part about us ending up together.”

“I’m not leaving you two alone to talk.” Alex turned his back on Chase and looked me in the eyes. “I’m not giving him a chance to hurt you again.”

“Alex, we can’t talk with you here. You’ll be a distraction.”

“Too bad.”

“Screw this.” Chase touched Alex’s shoulder. Alex’s face twisted in pain as Chase dosed him with poison.

“Stop it!” I reached for Alex and pulled him away from Chase. I mixed my blood and transferred enough power to heal Alex, careful not to make him start throwing himself at me again. That would only anger Chase more. Alex breathed normally, and I turned to Chase.

“If you ever do that again, we’re finished. Do you understand me? I’ll personally hand you over to Hades.” I stepped closer to him, letting him know I wasn’t afraid anymore.

“Then get him under control. I’m not kidding, Jodi. I won’t let him come between us. You had your fun with him, but now it’s time to move on. He’s your past. I’m your future.”

“Yeah, well, last time I checked it’s the present, so I’m deciding who I want to be with. I’m choosing Alex.”

Chase clenched his jaw, holding back the urge to lash out at me.

“Listen, I’m willing to talk this through with you, so why don’t you take a seat at my desk, and we’ll figure this out.”

“Only if he waits outside.” Chase nodded toward Alex.

I sighed. “Please, Alex. I’ll be fine. I just want to end this.”

He shook his head, but instead of refusing he said, “The door stays open.”

“Deal,” I said, before Chase could object. Alex kissed me and glared at Chase before grabbing his shirt off the floor and leaving.

I leaned against my dresser, the farthest point in the room from Chase. “Okay, so the prophecy says we’re destined, but I don’t think that means we have to end up together.”

“What the hell else could it mean?”

“That we’re supposed to work together. Use our powers to do something great. Maybe to finally get Hades off our back.”

Chase sat up straighter in the desk chair. “You want to attack Hades?”

“No. We’d never be able to defeat him. He’s a god. I think we could use our powers to force him into an agreement, though. Show him that fighting us is using too much of his time and energy. That it’s not worth it.”

Chase nodded. “And you expect me to go along with this plan that could get us both killed, and gets me nothing in return? And on top of it, I have to watch you with Alex?”

I thought about what Medusa had said about Ophi going bad. “Chase, what happened to you?”

“What do you mean?”

“You weren’t always like this. I know you weren’t. Medusa knows you weren’t.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” He crossed his arms, guarding himself from my question.

I walked over to the bed and sat down, closing the distance between us. “Every once in a while, I see a different side of you. You’re nice. Medusa seems to think that’s the way you used to be, but something bad happened that made you lose control of your emotions. Now, your anger fuels your power. It makes you act crazy, mean.”

He laughed. “So, I’m some loony Ophi who couldn’t handle life and turned evil?” He was mocking me.

“I’m trying to understand you, to work with you, but if you’re going to laugh in my face I’ll stop. We can part ways and never speak again. I’m fine with that.”

“Are you threatening me now?” He sat forward and reached for my hand, but I pulled it away. “Looks like I’m not the only one whose anger is getting the best of them.”

He was right. I was changing. I had been since he’d arrived. That was why I had to figure out what had happened to him. I had to try to make him go back to the way he used to be. Before his anger destroyed both of us.

“I’m not playing games, Chase. Tell me what happened. Or you and your dad can leave.” His dad. Of course! Why hadn’t I put it together sooner? Chase was here with his dad. They’d both lied to us, and for what? There had to be a goal. I didn’t know what it was, but I had an idea why they were doing it. “It was your mom, wasn’t it? The awful thing that happened, it happened to her.”

“Don’t try to psychoanalyze me, Jodi.” He tried to dismiss it, but I could tell by the pain on his face that I was right.

“What happened to her?” I wasn’t letting this go.

“Why do you care? You don’t want to be with me. You chose Alex, so why bother trying to make me get in touch with my feelings and be good like you seem so sure I used to be?”

“Because you weren’t wrong about us.” I lowered my voice, hoping Alex wouldn’t hear me. I caught a glimpse of him leaning against the wall by the open door. I knew he was trying to listen in, but I couldn’t give up on Chase. Not when my future, and the future of the Ophi, depended on it. “I am drawn to you, Chase. There’s a part of me that does want to be with you. But I can’t be with a monster, and right now that’s what you are.”

He leaned closer to me again. “Is this the portion of the conversation where you try to lie to me and tell me that you really do care? That you only want to help me so we can have a future together?” He laughed. “I thought you said you weren’t playing games.”

“I’m not. I love Alex. I’m not going to deny that. But that doesn’t mean I don’t feel something for you. That I don’t see what the prophecy is saying about us.” I reached for his hand. “Please, tell me what happened to your mom.”

“She’s dead. End of story.” He pulled his hand away and laced his fingers behind his head. He wasn’t making this easy. I could tell he was hurting, but he insisted on putting up this wall.

“Do you love me? Or am I a game to you? A prize you win if you can get me away from Alex?”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Jodi. I’m here because of the prophecy. Together, we can be the most powerful beings on this planet. That’s what I want.”

Finally, some honesty.

“Of course, you’re nice to look at, so there are other perks. Like all those times you couldn’t keep your hands off me.”

I caught a glimpse of Alex’s black shirt. He was coming into the room. I put my hand up to stop him. “Not yet.” I glanced at him briefly.

He was majorly pissed. I hadn’t exactly come clean about the number of times Chase and I had made out. Alex punched my open door, which slammed back into the wall. I jumped. Alex went back into the hallway, but this time he leaned on the doorframe, staying in complete view.

Chase laughed, and I smacked him. “Knock it off. Can’t you act somewhat human?”

“No,” he said. “Because I’m not, and neither are you.”

Not anymore. “That doesn’t mean we have to act like monsters. Ophi weren’t meant to be monsters.”

“So you say.” Chase leaned back in his chair.

“Tell me about your mom,” I pressed.

“Dump loser boy over there.”

“That’s it!” Alex was in the room faster than I could turn around. He slammed into Chase, tackling him to the floor.

I’d had enough. I didn’t want to do this, but I didn’t have a choice. I summoned the blood on the left side of my body and sent each of them a small dose of poison. They immediately let go of one another and curled into the fetal position on the floor.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “But I’ll do it again if you two don’t stop this. Fighting isn’t helping.”

Alex looked at me in disbelief. “It was one thing when it was an accident, but this…”

“I didn’t know what else to do.” I tried to let him see how sorry I was. I didn’t want to hurt him. I reached out to him. “Here, let me help you.”

He swatted my hand away. “No, I’m fine.” He got up and walked over to my dresser without looking at me.

“Alex—”

Chase got up, too. Except he came over to me and tried to take my hand.

“What are you doing?” I pulled away.

“I’ll take a little power boost. Or was the offer only for Mr. Cheap Shot over there?”

Alex ignored him, which could only mean he was beyond mad.

I glared at Chase. “Believe me, if I give you anything right now, it will be more poison.”

“I doubt that, but I get that you have to hide your feelings seeing as he’s here. Still, I’m proud of you for using your powers on us. That’s what you should do.”

“No, it’s not,” I said. “I was desperate. I’ve had to pull you two off each other enough.”

“So end it. I can’t give up because of the prophecy, but he can.”

“You’re right.” Alex turned around. “I can.”

I stared at him, my eyes wide. “What? Please, tell me you’re not going to.”

“I never thought you’d hurt anyone on purpose. I get that your emotions are out of control and that he does that to you, but this—what you just did, you stooped to his level.”

That hurt. My heart felt like it was being squeezed to death. Alex thought I was like Chase. I couldn’t imagine anything worse.

I walked over to him, and my blood began to mix. Oh God! My body wanted me to use my power on him. I looked down at my arms, watching the blood boil underneath my skin.

“What, are you going to dose me with the good stuff? Make me forgive you?” Alex held his arms out in surrender. “Go ahead, Jodi. Manipulate me the way he manipulates you.”

I covered my face with my hands and started to cry. I was turning into Chase. How could I call him evil when I was doing the same thing to Alex that Chase had done to me? If Chase was evil, so was I.

“How does it feel to be the one in control?” Chase asked.

I looked at him, confused. “What?”

“You’re in control. It’s nice, right? Except he’s fighting you the way you fought me. That part sucks. So, what are you going to do, Jodi? Are you going to make him give in to you? Take what you want? Or are you going to give me what I want?”

Control or be controlled. Those were my options. Both completely sucked. I couldn’t force Alex to accept me like this, but I couldn’t let Chase have power over me. What was left?

“You don’t have to decide,” Alex said. “I’m done. The prophecy is coming true. You’re changing to better suit him. You aren’t the same girl I fell in love with.”

Something in me switched. Instead of feeling sad and confused, I got angry. “I didn’t hear you complaining when you were taking my power. When you were pawing at me and taking off your clothes. We almost—” I couldn’t say it, so I turned to look at the bed.

“But we didn’t. All because of him.” Alex narrowed his eyes at Chase.

“She’ll thank me later,” Chase said.

“Shut up!” My blood was boiling again. I wanted to poison Chase and use my power to make Alex stay. Every ounce of blood inside me was urging me to take control, but what would I become if I did?

“Your blood’s never wrong, Jodi.” Chase pointed to my arms, which rippled like snakes were crawling under my skin. If only he knew what my blood was telling me to do.

Alex shook his head. “I really wish things were different.”

He was done with me. Unless I stopped him. “They can be.” I rushed to him and gave him more power than necessary. He bent under the strength of my blood. Pulling me as close as possible, he kissed me.

“Apparently I was wrong.” Chase ripped me out of Alex’s arms. Alex stared at me, looking confused at first and then his expression changed to disbelief. “You really did it.” He shook his head and looked heartbroken. “I didn’t think you would. I thought I could snap you out of this. Convince you how wrong it was, but you gave in to the power. You chose to control me.”

He looked at Chase. “You can have her. She’s not my Jodi anymore. She’s like you now.” He walked out of the room, leaving me to fall on my knees and cry.