“You feel so fucking good,” he says, voice hoarse.
Ewan pushes into me again and again, faster and faster, lust darkening his expression, eyes combing every inch of me as he maintains the rhythm. The ebbing pleasure resurges and I wrap my legs around Ewan’s hips, matching his movements. He rocks his hips against me driving us closer to what we both reach out for.
Mouth parted and eyes closed, Ewan gathers pace, reaching for his release too. The lightning trips along my spine again and into my limbs once more, shocking me back to the black behind my eyes.
I knew something would happen once I fell away from myself and into this moment with Ewan. But this is different to the other guys: light doesn't blind us; there's no lightbulb shattering; no channelled emotions. The disease and infection Ewan feared he'd create doesn’t happen.
Yet with Ewan, something greater takes hold.
Ewan stares down at me in concern as I gasp for breath, the orgasm still shaking through but joined by something stronger. A new power courses through my veins, burning across my skin. A stinging sensation coils around my body, beginning in the centre of my chest, and grips me with a pain I resist and relish at the same time.
As my pleasure-blackened senses sharpen and the ache intensifies. I cry out, shaking and the perspiration growing from the pain. The room seems to shrink, and I’m pulled into myself, away from the world, away from Ewan, as the constricting room suffocates me.
I stare upwards into a blurred world, and no longer see Ewan’s face.
“Vee?” Ewan’s voice is distant and not part of my world.
I push him, and he moves away from me. The room shimmers and a void resembling a night sky with no stars, forms in the corner of the room. I shuffle back on the bed, convinced the shadows will swallow me.
“Ewan!”
As I stare into the black, a pinprick of light forms in the centre of the void, growing larger and rushing closer until a huge ball of blinding light breaks through. I scream as the pure energy flies across the room and hits me in the chest.
The pain immediately stops, and my trembling body jerks before a new power rushes in. I close my eyes and images flood into my mind. A darkness covers the sky, the world around me on fire, acrid smoke filling my lungs. I suck in a huge breath as, in my vision, I turn in a slow circle and stare at the eerie silence in the destruction around me. This is a city. Or it was. Buildings no longer stand, people no longer walk by. Everything is lost in a thick smoky haze.
The outline of a dark figure stands nearby, made from the same starless void where the light that hit me came from. He holds a body in his hands and tosses it to one side as if it were a doll and I cry out. The Four Horsemen lie on the ground, at his feet.
I snap my eyes open in terror and grip at Ewan’s hand, who’s speaking but I can’t hear a word. Even holding him doesn’t ground me, I’m in this room but no longer feel as if I’m here.
I shudder at the sense that, somewhere in the world, this evil exists and is ready to unleash. A new impetus to destroy everything inhuman in the world overwhelms and pulls me away from the human, physical love and passion I just shared.
Nothing else can fight through the two thoughts in my head.
I need to leave.
I have to find who I saw and stop the horror he intends to bring.
22
EWAN
Vee pulls away and grabs clothes slung over a nearby chair, almost falling over as she pulls her jeans on. I prop myself up on the bed, and stare in disbelief as she closes me out.
"Vee?"
She ignores me as she pulls on and fastens her bra, then grabs a shirt.
"What's wrong?" I sit. "What happened? Let's talk." I reach out to her, but she shirks away.
I fucking knew this would happen. Nobody listened when I said our union would change her. That giving in to the all-consuming need for sex with Vee, to give my heart and soul to her would transform the girl she is into something else.
The incredible, mind-shattering moment we looked into each other’s eyes, and I saw my love reflected in hers, dropped away as they filled with terror. At first, I thought I’d hurt her, and then she filled me with fear something was in the room with us.
The only thing I could see was the girl I love struggling. Lost. In pain.
And now this.
"I need to go." Her voice is low, different, and when Vee looks around it's as if she sees right through me.
"Go where? Back to the party?"
She reaches for a hairband from the desk and snaps her hair back into a high ponytail. "I need a knife. Where are they?”
"For what? Vee, what the hell is wrong?"
Holding her temples with her forefingers, Vee stares straight ahead. "Actually, it's okay. I don't need one."
I jump from the bed and drag my jeans on too, as Vee opens the room door. "Look, wait for—"
The door slams behind her before I can slip my boots on to follow.
What the hell?
What the fuck have I done?
Is this my worst fears realised?
Jacket half-on, I stagger from the room, boots half-laced, desperate to catch up with her before she does god knows what. I picture her rampaging through the house, singling out anybody she feels is a threat and hurting them.
Because the girl who walked out of this room is not the one who I opened up to and gave myself to.
The opposite door opens and Seth stands wide-eyed, fully clothed.
"What did you do?" he hisses.
I snap my head back. "None of your business, mate."
"Did you argue? I heard you argue. Is that why she walked away?" I stare at his reddening face. "Please tell me that's the reason, and that you didn't—"
"Assault her? Is that what you're about to say?" I step forward, the suggestion I'd ever hurt Vee building anger in my belly. "I would never touch her without consent."
He flicks a gaze over me and narrows his eyes. "Did it happen?"
"Did what happen?"
He lowers his voice. "You and her. Did you screw her?"
Bad move. I grab Seth’s jacket in both hands and drag his face close to mine. His breath stinks of the alcohol that's caused this issue. "Watch your mouth."
"You have!" He tears at my fingers. "Do you know what you've done, you fucking idiot?"
Seth’s face reddens, drunken eyes suddenly switching to a glittering anger, and I drop his collar and stand back as he drags fingernails across my hands.
"Fuck!" Seth yells, his voice echoing along the small hallway. He turns his back and walks away from me hands behind his head, elbows at right angles. "Fuck!"
Yeah, fuck this weirdo; I need to find Vee. Now. I turn away and pick up my pace to leave.
“Don’t you walk away from me!” Seth spits.
I choke a laugh and turn back. “Mate, seriously, you’re lucky I’m not punching you to the ground for what you just said. I need to find Vee. I’ll deal with you later.”