“Imogen.” I gasp, clutching her tighter.
She is rigid in my arms, stiff like a board. She looks around confused, before looking at me, her hands go to my face as if to see if I’m real. Then, her hands clutch onto her belly, her hands clawing at her shirt as she pulls it up. She suddenly starts thrashing in my arms, screaming, forcing me to drop her. She lands on the ground with a thud but springs to her feet faster than I can imagine.
“Where is he?” She says, looking around frantically.
“Tobias?” I ask.
Her eyes dart to mine. I take a step back from her, her eyes are blazing with something I can’t decipher. I have never seen eyes like hers before, never seen that expression on her face. I know every one of her expressions, and made mental notes of all of them. Yet, this look I have never seen before.
“My baby, where is he, Theo?” I shake my head, not knowing how to answer when I don’t know. She suddenly takes off, up the path back towards the cottage. She runs so fast I can’t keep up with her. I make it back to the house to see her barge through the door. I hear Tobias barrel up behind me before digging his claws into the earth and sliding into me.
He looks at me with his black obsidian eyes, with a hopeful look on his face, wondering if he feels it right. The bond is surging alive with Imogen’s anger. He shifts, and we both chase after her. We hear doors opening and closing upstairs before she races past us, screaming for the last name we thought we would hear come from her lips.
“Bianca, Bianca!” She comes running back out and stops next to us before looking down.
I watch as she sniffs the air before dropping to the floor, her hands running over all the blood on the floor. She wipes at it with her hands, clawing at the floor, digging through it looking for something.
“Where is he? Where is my baby?” She asks, peering up at us with a look of pure fear and desperation on her face. Tears run down her cheeks.
I look at Tobias, he looks just as shocked as I feel at seeing her.
“We aren’t sure, we got here too late” I whisper.
Her face crumples up and my guilt hits me saying it. She starts wailing and screaming loudly at my words, rocking back and forth, her hands becoming drenched in her blood that is congealing on the floor. The bracelet on her wrist glows brighter and brighter, flashing like a beacon.
When she lets out the most heartbreaking guttural scream I have ever heard, the noise seems to burst straight from her chest. Light consumes everything as her bracelet explodes blindingly, and so does she. Her emotions knock me through the bond, before I see darkness as I am thrown backwards.
I hit the ground with a thud, having the air knocked right out of me. I roll to my side, trying to get to my hands and feet.
Tobias groans loudly, making me look in his direction, but all I see is dust and dirt. I jump to my feet and gasp at the sight before me. Imogen is still in the same position, cradling her belly and rocking back and forth, sobbing. But that isn’t what shocks me, it is the house; or the lack thereof.
It is gone, blown to smithereens like it never existed. I look around at all the flattened trees, creating an enormous circle like a crater. Nothing is left standing. My mind is jumbled as I try to figure out what she just did and how she did it.
“Did she do that?” Tobias whispers, coming through the dust towards me, his body covered in dust and dirt.
I don’t know what to say, I can’t explain what I just witnessed. The dense forest literally has a huge part of it blown away, leaving nothing but debris everywhere. I walk over to Imogen, who is on the ground. I touch her back, and she flinches, turning her head to look up at me. What is she?
“She took him, she took him,” she repeats.
Her eyes blaze with fury and sadness, and that same strange look I can’t decipher. She blinks slowly, like she is understanding what she said. Her face transforms into hatred and darkness as her fangs protrude, making me jump back. She looks like an angel of death. The feelings through the bond are dark and cold, a hatred so cold I would hate for it to be directed at me. I shudder, realizing the darkness she is surrounding herself with. The only thing I can work out is that she is a vampire, but vampires don’t possess power like she just showed. She looks crazed and her eyes shine brightly with a hunger I have never seen, in a color that is out of this world and ours.
“Who took him?” Tobias asks, holding his hands out like he is trying to catch a wild animal. Her eyes flick to his. I watch as he too takes a step back from her. I can feel her anger coming through the bond, but this isn’t like any anger I have felt. This is burning hot, threatening to boil the blood in my veins, anger that is all consuming and rabid. Looking down at her, I think how she used to be so pure, so innocent. Now, though, she looks lethal and murderous. I don’t like this look on her, it scares me, makes me wonder what she has become.
“My sister,” she spits.
I can feel her hunger as her anger takes over, the darkest parts of her taking over and she isn’t even fighting against it, instead embracing it, letting it wash over her and take control. Stepping towards her, her head cocks to the side, her eyes snap to mine, watching me like a predator. I can feel Tobias’ confusion through the bond, matching my own. Imogen is an only child, who is she talking about?
“Bianca,” she says, answering both our thoughts. “I’m going to fucking kill her!” She spits so vehemently I flinch at her words, because I know she means them. I stare at her, something is off about her. I would hate to be Bianca when she finds her. And I have no doubt she eventually will, nothing but determination and anger washes through our bond, her emotions overriding everything we feel.