Mason - Archaic #4 (Sample of Published Book)

Chapter 2 - Part 1

It was ridiculous that Jared was worried about my safety. He needed to worry about what I was still capable of. There were times I feared that I was still the evil person I had been before. I wanted to believe the repercussions of my decisions would keep my evil at bay but there were no guarantees.

Emotion from me attached to the people around me. With each day it grew stronger. The need to protect the ones I cared about, especially Ava and Catherine, grew too.

I wasn't convinced the emotions now free in me brought light to my dark soul. There would always be a part of me that remained evil and would revel in the pain of others, which was held at bay by the new emotions I was feeling. I wanted to be a different person, but was I capable of it?

What if the emotions swirling inside me were just temporary? Would they disappear over time and I would go back to being the ruthless Hue I'd been before? Hue feelings were limited to only some negative emotions, nothing like I was able to feel now.

If good and evil were balanced on a scale inside me, the emotions tipped the scale toward good; but if the emotions disappeared, would the scale tip back?

Only time would tell. I pushed the thoughts from my mind and concentrated on the task at hand. I was on a mission to find a stray Archaic.

I'd been driving for about fifteen minutes before I turned the car onto the street where Neve's tracker indicated she was.

Why on earth was she out in the middle of the night? She'd better have a good explanation for this. I was glad to have a valid reason to get out of the house, but she was still putting herself in danger if the Hue found her. Honestly there was no excuse that justified the risk she was taking.

I drove along the dark road, scanning the dimly lit street for any sign of Neve, but the street was empty. The homes on my left had lights on in various parts of the houses. I could hear faint noises from TVs flowing through my open window. On the other side of the street was the edge of the forest, its tall dark trees tightly packed together.

I slowed the car down as I glanced at my phone. The app I'd developed, which displayed the trackers, was open on my phone and I was staring at a map, watching the flashing pink circle moving away from my pale blue flashing circle. According to the map she should be a few feet ahead of me, but I couldn't see her.

I pulled the car over to the side of the road and killed the engine. I scanned the neighborhood. I was a few blocks from Neve's house, and from the speed of the tracker on the screen she wasn't moving very fast, which meant she was walking.

Her blatant disregard for her safety began to anger me. I couldn't believe she was being this irresponsible. Granted I didn't know her very well, but she didn't seem to be the type to blatantly disobey rules.

There were a few cars parked on the street but I couldn't see any activity. If she wasn't in the street it meant she was in the forest. It would be easier to find her on foot. I reached for my phone and got out of my car. I checked my phone again. The pink light had stopped moving. I glanced around but still couldn't see anyone.

What in the hell was she doing out in the middle of the night walking in the forest? I began to feel uneasy and wondered if my decision to come and find her had been the right one.

If she was in danger and the Hue had her, I'd wasted valuable time in getting to her. I should have called Tyler.

With a foreboding feeling burning in the pit of my stomach, I began to walk down the side of the road, searching for Neve in the outskirts of the dark forest. An uneasy feeling of fear, which I hadn't felt since seeing Ava captured, began to seep into me. My searching that had started off calm and thorough began to get more frantic and random as my fear began to build.

Crap. I couldn't find her.

Raking my hand through my hair I checked my phone again. She had to be here, the tracker couldn't be wrong.

Then I heard a rustle. Rooted to the spot I listened again, not sure I'd heard correctly. Nothing—there was silence.

Then I heard a distinctive sound of a struggle. Panic shot through me. She was in trouble. Fear gripped me and my heart began to pound in my chest. I felt the tidal wave hit me as I tried to breathe. Trying to suffocate the emotions in the dangerous situation I was in was a lot harder.

My eyes scanned the area around me again. I hated how the emotions made me feel weaker.

Would there ever be a time when my emotions wouldn't feel so overwhelming? With a deep breath I tried to pull myself together and ignore the feelings building up inside me. I needed to keep myself together; otherwise, I was useless to Neve.

My eyes swung in the direction of the faint noise. Slight streaks of light from the moon filtered from the tops of the trees so I could see some things illuminated inside the darkness of the forest.

Still no Neve. I stepped forward quietly. I didn't make a sound while I crept slowly toward the noise.

I needed the element of surprise if I was outnumbered. The Hue rarely traveled alone and most of the time we'd moved around in groups of three and above. The bigger the number, the better the odds.

"Let me go," I heard Neve command. There was no mistaking it. She was in trouble.

A protective urge shot through me. It made me to want to run to her and pull her attacker off and away from her and beat him to a bloody pulp. I smothered it. If I went in blindly and I was outnumbered, we would both pay for it, possibly with our lives.

I was a Hue. I knew how their minds worked and how ruthless they could be. If they didn't have a need for us they would get rid of us ruthlessly and without hesitation. I began to prepare for a fight. I felt my energy come to life inside as I flexed my hands. As a Hue Descendant, I was powerful, but if there were too many of them it wouldn't matter.

I remained quiet as I crept closer to the source of the voice, keeping my body hidden against the tall trees. My eyes searched for any sign of Neve or her attackers. Then I saw a faint outline of what looked like two people standing next to a tree a few feet to my right.

A few steps closer and I could make out the feminine figure of Neve who was being held by the arms against the trunk of a tree by a figure who was bigger than she was. It was a guy.

I scanned the area once more and confirmed my first observation. It was one guy, and his features didn't resemble the Hue. Relief flooded through me.

It was a human guy who held a very angry Neve against the tree. I'd never seen her this mad before. On the few occasions I'd seen her, she'd always seemed so quiet and shy, so reserved.

She was dressed in jeans with a pale pink button-up jersey. Even her attire placed her firmly in the quiet, shy, librarian type. All that was missing were glasses resting on the bridge of her nose.

Even being held forcefully I could see the fierce glint in her eye and the determined set of her jaw. Her eyes narrowed and she glared at her attacker. Her thin lips thinned in a line as she struggled to get free. She looked anything but quiet and shy. She looked more like a firecracker about to go off.