"The Sacrifice:;The Sacrifice Trilogy"[Book 1.]

2. On The Highway to Hell

Driving in Liv's Chevy is like driving in rusty metal. There's no cushion for my butt, so it literally feels like I'm sitting on wood. To make things worse; the dashboard is almost completely falling apart. Liv's dad, Paul gave her his old car when she was sixteen, and she didn't have the heart to tell him that she hated it. Liv...where did I go wrong? Was I a horrible best friend? Sudden and unstoppable tears welled up at the prospect, and before I knew it, I was sobbing like a damn two-year old. Through my tears I saw a blue SUV head straight for me, almost like it was trying to hit me; I swerved to miss it but as fate would have it, the car collided with me in rapid succession and a series of expletives raged out of me at the same pace. As Liv's car spun out of control, I heard a sinister voice in my head that was not my own. The man was saying: "Darkness is just shadowed light waiting for brightness to shine on its canvas. However, it's also all-consuming and the most disgraceful temptation ever created. On the other hand, the light is pure: loving and inviting like a best friend's hug, like a lover's kiss. You- Savannah Grace Fey- have the blood of both darkness and light; which one you choose," his voice becomes low, "remains to be seen." That's when I'm ejected from the car so hard I crack my skull open and death welcomes me.

 * * *

Darkness consumes me like no other force. I'm not sure how I have an acute knowledge of this fact, but a looming figure stands over me; shaking my shoulders. "Wake up, sweetheart," he coos, his soothing voice is like a blanket on my skin. I open my brown eyes to find the most beautiful, God-like man standing in front of me. His piercing blue eyes match his blue button-down t- shirt and jeans, and his eyes seem to bore into me, confusion written all over his tan face; he quickly covers it with a blank expression. "Who are you? Where the hell am I?! I ask with fear lacing my every word.

He touches my cheek tenderly, and this zing of electricity flows through us, and his shock and mine are quite evident. "You-you're okay," he stammers between words, clearly never having experienced anything like this before. After ruffling his blond hair nervously, he finally answers me, but not in the way I think he's going to. "My name is Jakob Lane, and you're in The underworld. And you, beautiful, are a Soul," he replies with dead seriousness. 

I would've laughed at him if his perfect face didn't look so damn serious and for some reason, he also looked sorrowful. "One more time, I'm where and I'm a what? You can't be serious...no! I'm not dead! I can't be," Protests shoot of my mouth like cannon balls, but no matter how much I want- no, need- to deny this; there's a part of me that can't.  

"Please, tell me you're lying. Please!" I beg relentlessly with no avail. He stares at me with deep sympathy, then he replies; "Look where you are, Savannah." I look around and realize I'm in a field surrounded by flowers- violets, red roses, and sunflowers. I laugh, but it quickly turns to sobbing as I come to the horrifying truth that I am actually and truly dead. "No, please, I want to go home," I say when his arms come around me. 

"I know, sweetheart. I do, too, but we can't." He let me go, wiped a stray tear from my eye, and then leaned so close to my ear that it sent tingles down my spine. "I want to show you something," Jakob says so quietly that I barely hear him when he speaks. "What do you want to show me, Jake? Is it alright if I call you that?" I inquire. He smiles wickedly as he replies, "You can call me anything you want." Dear God, I hope I'm not drooling! "Uh, you wanted to show me something?" I asked again.

He looks confused for a second, and then seems to recollect it. "Ah, yes," he says, and then suddenly, his eyes turn a deep crimson as a blue fireball shoots out of his hands, and heads straight for me. My instincts kicked in and I'm pretty sure my eyes changed to a deep unnatural but beautiful blue. I didn't anticipate my hands to shoot out in a defensive motion, deflect the fireball, and throw it back with such force that it knocked Jake to the ground. "Damn sweetheart, you're strong. I don't think I've seen a newbie Soul do that before!" He praises, clapping his hands profusely. I smile, "Thank you, Jake. I have two questions for you, though: first, how the damn hell did I just do that?! Second, why do you call us "Souls" instead of ghosts?" I ask.

Smiling at my excessive bad language, he replies. "Every Soul has a gift- a power of some sort that helps us defeat the demons trying to destroy us," he says matter-of factly. At that statement, a disbelieving guffaw erupts from my lips, but quickly dies as I look into his serious gaze. "Demons? I don't believe in demons," I protested, but he only winked and said: "You will."

The way he winked at me sent pleasurable tremors up and down my body. I know I should be fearful of the prospect that demons are coming after me, but with Jake, I feel utterly safe. "You said "us," are there more of us?" I asked, hopeful. He smiles, which sends another round of shivers through me; and I relish in them for some reason. "There's four of us- well, five of us including you- Alexander, myself, Noah and Braiden. Alexander's the leader, but we don't trust him. All of us are immortal, we can never die, and the only way we can leave this hell is for someone- or something- to suck out our essence." he shudders visibly, and I do the same. "Why do you not trust him? Did he do something to you?" Rage boils in me with such ferocity at just the possibility of someone hurting Jake, it's staggering

"Yes and no," he admits with anger in his stance. "He's the one who put us here; two-hundred years have passed, and we still don't know why. Either we agree to follow his rules, or he'll take us to The Border and that will kill us," he finished, looking tiresome. "To answer your earlier question, I call us Souls because we are not like ghosts, we can touch each other, but we just can't touch things or people on earth." A somber expression crossed his face, and all I could think was: somebody so beautiful shouldn't be this sad. I touched his cheek and then I took a deep breath and said, "Jakob, look at me," I demanded, and he looked me straight in my eyes, which I believe were now a deep green. "Good. Now repeat after me: we will get out of here." I insisted.

"Savannah..." He trailed off as I put a hand up to stop his protest. I'm not sure how I know this, I mean, there's no possible way I could know this, but I said it anyway. "Jakob Ashton Lane, say it dammit! I growled at him. His face was coated in shock, and yet, he didn't refuse my demand. "We will get out of here," he repeated confidently, though I suspected he was anything but. "You have to have faith, Jake," I said. He smiles and says, "Come on, let's get you home."

"Home?" I asked, confused. Touching my cheek, he only replied with, "You'll see," a mysterious smirk touched his lips. God, I haven't even known him for a solid day, but I already know that this boy- Jakob Ashton Lane- is going to be the death of me.