Salem's Civil War (Book Five of The Silver Society)

Chapter Twenty-Two

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Still refusing to believe the truth, Jade spun around to see Spencer standing in front of her. Being relatively newly dead, he almost looked alive. He smiled at Jade, but the emotion did not touch his eyes.

"I missed you so much, Jade. And here you are," he said.

"You're not Spencer," she replied.

"Of course I am. Haven't you missed me?"

"Leave me alone..."

"I want to be with you, Jade. We can still be together, like we planned. Just let me kill you. I promise I'll make it quick," he insisted.

Tears gathered in Jade's eyes but she refused to let them fall. "You're not Spencer," she repeated.

"I need you, Jade. I'm so lonely. Death is so cold and empty without you."

"Don't make me hurt your body... Leave this place."

"I can't. I need you."

"Get out of here!" She shouted.

"You couldn't save me, Jade. I saved you, but you couldn't bring me back."

"I tried," she whispered as she started to cry.

"Not hard enough! You just gave up when it didn't work!"

"Aideen said you'd moved on... Once you crossed over, we couldn't fix you..."

"I didn't move on. I was waiting for you, Jade... I waited in limbo for you to find me and rescue me. I love you but you didn't love me enough to save me."

"That's not true! I would have died in your place if I could have!"

"Too little, too late. I'm dead. Oh, but you can make it right, Jade. Just let me kill you, and we can be together again."

"Please stop," she begged him, her heart breaking all over again.

Spencer's body wrapped its arms around Jade's throat and began to choke her. Everything in her begged her to fight, but she couldn't fight him. Even if she knew that he wasn't really Spencer, he was wearing Spencer's skin, and to damage it was unthinkable.

His hold grew stronger. Her air was completely cut off. He kissed her gently on the cheek before tossing her against the wall. Her head slammed against it, just like it had the night Spencer died. Her spine cracked loudly as it hit the floor.

Weak, dizzy, and sore, Jade tried to sit up without much success. Her spine hurt, but the pain was a good sign. It meant she wasn't paralyzed. She struggled to bring her eyes into focus and saw Spencer's body heading toward Cierra, who frantically pulled the trigger of her gun, but nothing happened. Cierra was out of bullets, and Spencer's body was going to kill her.

"No!" Jade screamed as Spencer lunged for Cierra. She flung the most powerful spell she could cast in her current state straight at his head. Spencer's body exploded and vanished in an instant.

"Oh Gods..." Jade whispered as she realized what she'd done. "Oh Gods..." She collapsed into a fetal position and started to cry hysterically.

Suddenly hit with Jade's emotions, Beth lost her warrior Goddess and became an empath once again, weeping along with Jade and hugging her. Cierra sat beside them, unable to believe what had just happened and knowing that she was their only chance of survival now. She took Jade's gun and waited for more zombies to attack, trying to cover Beth and Jade.

When a shadow approached, Cierra immediately pulled the trigger. Shooter cursed. "That hurt," he protested as he came into view.

"Oh Gods, Shooter, I'm so sorry," Cierra said, although she still didn't lower the gun.