Taken Over (The Ravening #2)(57)
Author: Erica Stevens

He took a step toward me and suddenly I understood where so many horror legends had been born. Vampires, succubae, demons, of course evil aliens, and probably a host of other monsters. They all had gotten their start here, in Cade’s face, in his eyes, in his heritage. Those myths had been created by people who had been terrified to see this same exact visage. Who had witnessed one of these creatures drinking from a human, who had seen the black cloud that Ian had emitted, and the blackness that engulfed Cade. The stories had been twisted; there were no vampire teeth. Succubae were not all women, and demons did not come from the depths of hell. Or at least I didn’t think they did, because I was fairly certain now that they had originated from the sky.

Cade’s face slowly returned to normal, but his eyes remained a solid black. He came back to kneel slowly before me. The white’s of his eyes became apparent again as he clasped hold of me. His hands were on my face once more, stroking, demanding as he tilted my face to his. “How long was he inside of you Bethany?”

I shook my head, biting on my bottom lip. “It seemed like forever, it hurt…” I broke off as his face flooded once more. “I don’t think it was very long,” I blurted quickly in the hopes that it would ease some of the fury radiating from him.

I didn’t dare tell him I had nearly passed out from it; he seemed on the verge of snapping once more. His eyes searched mine intently, he leaned closer to me. “I don’t think he took much.”

I shuddered, not at all liking that statement. I didn’t want to think about Ian taking anything from me. Something passed over Cade’s features, his hands tightened on me. “What if he did, how would I know? What would it do to me?”

He shook his head. “Less of a soul, perhaps a little less human.”

My eyes widened, my hands fisted as terror tore through me. “I’m already less human,” I blurted. “I can’t be any less than that Cade, I simply can’t!”

“I’m sure that you are fine Bethany. I would see the difference already, I would feel it. He would have wanted to draw out the torture, extend it for as long as possible. In order to do so he wouldn’t take much from you.”

“So he said,” I muttered bitterly. “He wanted to punish me, but mostly he wanted to punish you.”

Despair twisted his features. “I promise you that no one will ever touch you like that again.” I tried to find solace in his words, but I was terrified, and I was suddenly very cold. “Let’s get you out of here. You’re freezing.”

He helped me to my feet, but it was not the chilly air that was causing my shivers to increase. It was the icy chill that encompassed my bones, encompassed my soul. Even now there may be something growing inside of me, twisting me, changing me into someone that I may not know. I couldn’t even trust my own body, couldn’t trust myself anymore. I tilted me head back to look up at him, his jaw was locked, his gaze focused ahead as he led me through the forest. He was beautiful, nearly perfect, but that beauty hid something dark, something hard and cold that I had never know resided beneath that magnificent exterior. Something that warmed only to me. Abby had told me once that I was the only one Cade warmed to; I had wanted to tell her she was wrong that he was not as cold as he appeared, but I’d never lied to my sister and I hadn’t then. She’d been right, I’d known it, but I hadn’t truly gotten it until now.

The only thing human about Cade was me.

Without me he was just as harsh, brutal, and volatile as the rest of his kind. A fact that he had proven with his swift and unremorseful slaughter of Ian. The good in him was really good, but the viciousness within him was just as engrained and just as encompassing. I shuddered to think what he would become, what he would do if something ever did happen to me. It would be horrible.

“Can they be defeated?”

He shook his head, sadness crept over him. “I don’t know Bethany. The way we stand now, no. If we could find a larger group of survivors we may be able to put up a bigger fight, but I’m not sure if that’s going to happen. For now, it’s probably best if we lay low; try to survive until we find a safer place to stay. They normally don’t stay in one place too long, they tend to get bored. The other planets they’ve taken over did not possess human intelligence.” He turned to me, his eyes slowly scanning over me. “Or your fierce survival instinct. They’ve known all along humans would be their biggest fight.”

“Good,” I replied forcefully. They may be kicking our asses, but I took pride in the fact that they were also afraid of us. They’d had to decimate our population in order to cripple us as badly as they had. “What are those creatures that are hunting us Cade? Are they like you? Are they pets? What are they?”

He sighed softly, his arm wrapped around my shoulder as he pulled me closer to his side. “They were genetically engineered for another planet, one that my kind could not survive on due to the air being inhospitable for them. They were set loose to collect blood and bring back survivors in order to harvest the souls. It wasn’t until Earth, and the large population it possessed, that the victims were frozen first to keep the resistance down. An ingredient to wake the people was added to the creatures.”

“Why did they do that though? Why do they want them to reawaken?”

“Because they enjoy the suffering.”

“Of course they do,” I muttered bitterly.

“It is only extreme pain that will wake people from The Freezing, only those things. It’s why I never told you about it, why I never tried to have your mother reawakened.”

“I would have lost her either way.”

His hand tightened on my shoulder, he hugged me tighter against him. “I’m sorry Bethany, if there was something I could have done…”

“It’s ok, I know. She’s not in pain now; she never had to know that kind of pain thankfully. Was she aware of her death?” The words choked out of me, I had asked the question but I wasn’t sure I wanted the answer.

“No, they aren’t aware of what is happening to them.” Relief filled me; tears of joy filled my eyes. She hadn’t suffered, she hadn’t known. It was more solace than I’d ever hoped to find in the senseless and malicious death of my mother. “Their brain is immobilized also. I’m sure if there was a way for them to figure out how to shut everything down, and keep the brain running they would, but thankfully they haven’t conquered that bit of cruelty yet.”