Another wave of pain hit me and I shot off of the bed. What now? I cried out as more pain took over my body. I knew I was going to die. This was it and I was going to accept it. The syringe hadn’t had a sedative in it, it had something that was going to kill me slowly. I knew it.
“I’m so sorry,” I managed to get out.
“For what?” Tracey asked as she came in from the bathroom. She pressed a cool cloth against my forehead and I felt myself relax slightly.
“For being a jerk to you,” My back shot off of the bed again as the pain came back even worse.
“That’s the last thing I’m worried about.” She continued to wash my face even as I thrashed on the bed.
Another cry escaped my lips. “Please, tell my parents that I love them.”
“You aren’t dying, Jade.” Tracey’s voice was stern. There was no arguing with her right now.
I could have sworn I heard her say, “Your first change is always the hardest.” But that was the least of my worries as darkness overtook me.
Chapter 15
Jade Rivers
A night I couldn’t remember and a splitting headache. Too bad I knew that the two weren’t from a good time. Bits and pieces of the night before filtered through my head as I blinked my eyes open. Then I immediately closed them tightly. Something bad had happened. My room was trashed and Tracey was curled up at the foot of my bed. She had a cut along her cheek and blood on her shirt.
“You have to face the music eventually,” Tracey grumbled.
“I’m still sleeping,” I replied back tiredly.
Tracey shifted at my feet and jostled the bed. Aches and pains rolled through my joints. There was soreness in places I didn’t know I could be sore in. I peeked my eyes back open and Tracey stared at me from the end of the bed.
“How’d you sleep?” Her eyes were no longer glowing but the cut on her cheek was making me nervous.
I looked around at my destroyed bedroom. “What happened here?”
Tracey pushed her wild hair from her eyes and winced. “I don’t know if I’m the right person to talk to about all of this.”
“What does that mean?” I crossed my arms over my chest and realized I was bleeding too. There were claw marks up and down my arms. I shoved the blankets from my legs and stood up. My clothes were shredded on the floor. “What did you do to me?’
Tracey’s lips pressed together in a thin line. “You did this to me.” She held her hand up and touched the tender spot on her face.
I reared back as if I had been slapped. “I didn’t do that to you.”
Tracey rolled her eyes and pulled her bag from the floor. “Yes, you did. You probably remember nothing from last night but I can tell you that it was rough. Hell, just look under your rug.”
She grabbed her bag and went into the bathroom. A few seconds later the shower cranked on and steam rolled under the door. I sighed and rolled the rug out of the way. Sure enough, there were deep gouges in the floor next to the bed. It looked like an animal had gone insane in here. There were claw marks everywhere. I raked my fingers through my hair but stopped short as discomfort ran through my fingertips.
The tips of my fingers were raw and bloody. Some of the nails were even cracked or broken off. I rubbed my hands down the shirt covering myself. The hem of it hit my knees and the collar was stretched and hanging down off of my shoulder.
The water stopped in the bathroom and after a few minutes, Tracey emerged with a towel around her head. The gash on her cheek wasn’t as ugly but it definitely needed stitches. How had I managed to do that to her? She threw herself down onto the bed and watched me curiously.
“Last night shouldn’t have happened the way it did.” She buried her face in her hands. “If I had known, I would have brought you to my parents.”
My head was spinning. “Talk after I get out of the shower.”
* * *
Tracey refused to talk about anything until we got to her parent’s house. Which I wasn’t too excited about, to begin with. But if it would get me answers, I wouldn’t turn the opportunity down. I had never met her parents, mainly because she lived in a dorm on campus. She spoke of her grandmother often and I knew she lived nearby. But when we drove into the woods that backed up to my house I could feel my anxiety skyrocket. The little dirt road brought us to a massive iron gate that had the Crimson Crest stamped into it. I had figured Rafe and Tracey’s parents were neighbors in aneighborhood,not living on a commune in the middle of the woods. This was an awful idea. I clutched the door handle, ready to bolt if I needed to.
I pushed my wet hair from my face and sat up straighter. Even though the movement made my back ache, I stayed that straight until a house popped up in the distance. It was a work of art. It had to be at least five thousand square feet. It was an old farmhouse that looked like it had been remodeled. The full wrap around porch almost had me drooling. The white paint was shiny in the sunlight as we pulled up in front of it. There were various cars parked around it. I refused to acknowledge all of the expensive cars around us.
I forced my mouth closed and looked at Tracey with a shocked expression. “Everyone lives here?”
