Seethe: First Draft

Seethe: Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Or maybe I can't wash anything away. Despite the events taking place today, it's sunny and beautiful out. Completely contradictory to the decaying body staring up at me. I'd been running around the border with Wyatt and Cam when we'd found it. The three of us stared down at it now, none of us saying a word as we tried to ignore the way the smell seemed to settle in the back of our throats.

I'm sure one of them had sent out a mental call to Xavier, but I was more concerned with the markings I could see so clearly. Normally, a Siren left a nearly invisible mark on their feed victims,if they left any, but staring down at the body in front of me, it looks like someone took a knife and carved the markings into the person. My hands start to shake as I try to decipher the markings and I realize that I'm terrified.

Arms wrap around me just as I realize that I'm hyperventilating. I turn in the person's arms, realizing it's Cam as I bury my face in his shoulder. I'm not sure why I'm suddenly crying. Maybe it's the fear, or maybe it's the dead body staring up at me. Either way, it feels like sadness has suddenly opened up a pit in the ground to come up and envelop me.

I hear footsteps approaching and force myself to pull away from the comfort of Cam's arms. He's watching me with open concern and doesn't seem like he wants to let me pull away but he does. I force in a shaky breath as I turn back to the body.

The body. Just hearing me mentally regard the once-person in front of me as something so cold sends a shiver down my spine. The woman staring endlessly up into the cloudless blue sky was pretty. Even in death, she's pretty. But I can tell that she must've shone as bright as the sun is today. I swallow around the lump in my throat, trying to force in air despite my throat trying to close off.

The tears have dried on my cheeks and I'm thankful that they have when I feel Xavier's distinct presence beside me. He doesn't speak and I'm glad that he doesn't.

My hands stop shaking as I pull my Siren side to the surface. That part of me looks down at the body in front of us with new eyes. The carved markings seem to almost glow, like the person that maliciously carved them into her skin channeled power into them as they did.

My breathing is still shaky as I kneel beside her, my fingers hovering over the markings. She's clothed, but I'm willing to bet that the markings extend beneath the fabric. Not that I'm keen to get a look at those ones.

I don't realize that I've started crying again until a tear splatters on the back of my hand. I gasp, jumping back slightly from the shock of realizing I'm crying. More tears escape, some landing on the bare skin of the body. As more settle on her skin, she seems to take a gasping breath, one that sends shivers of terror down my spine.

I'm already starting to back away when the body seems to shoot upwards. I don't notice that I'm screaming until she's on top of me. My shrieking almost drowns out what she's groaning. I try to push her off of me, but my muscles won't seem to cooperate.

"Kill the bitch. Kill the bitch. Kill the bitch."

Her head tilts to the side as she suddenly goes quiet, her tongue limply falling out of her mouth as her lifeless eyes seem to bore into mine. My screams have died down to whimpers as her clawlike grip on my shirt keeps her glued to me.

Suddenly that terrible, decaying face smiles down at me. "She's seen you now."

As quickly as she'd come to life, she slackens and collapses on top of me. I panic, trying to shove her off of me with no luck. Finally, someone pushes her off of me before hoisting me up off the ground.

I'm shaking and gasping for breath as I realize that Cam has wrapped me in his arms again. My hands are drawn up to my chest, trapped between us both. One arm is wrapped around my waist while the other rubs my back. He's whispering soothing words that I can't quite seem to make sense of.