The Haunted - Jessica Verday [126]
They both fell to the floor.
Vincent seemed shocked to see him, and in that brief moment Caspian reared back and slammed his fist into Vincent’s eye. He managed to get in another blow, this one to his jaw, and I heard the snap as Vincent’s head whipped back.
Then, just as suddenly, Caspian went flying.
Vincent’s hands were outstretched, like all he’d done was simply extend them, and Caspian landed against the fireplace mantel. The force he hit with was so strong that immediately a crack ran up against the wall beside him.
“Caspian!” I yelled. He looked stunned for a second, and then his head slumped forward.
Vincent got to his feet and came to me, grabbing my arm again. He pulled roughly, trying to yank me over to the window, but I couldn’t get my balance. My knees went sliding across the floor, and I screamed as glass shards ripped through my skin.
He stopped, looking down at the bloody trail I was leaving behind. “Messy. Messy. Messy.
So damn messy.” A brief look of distaste crossed his face, and then he scooped me up into his arms. “Try not to get any blood on the suit,” he said.
I struggled. As much as I could struggle with knees and legs that were torn and bloody, and him squeezing me tighter. It felt like bands of steel were wrapping themselves around my lungs, and I took a gasping breath. “Can’t… breathe…” Instantly he loosened his grip. But didn’t let me go.
My tears came then. I was so completely broken down and overwhelmed that I stopped struggling and just cried. My whole body shook, and Vincent held me out away from him.
“Just kill me,” I hiccupped. “Just do it already.”
I felt an awkward pat on my head. “Why would I want to kill you, Abbey?”
“Isn’t that what you’re here for? Didn’t you… Didn’t you kill Kristen?” I tried to slow my sobs. “You said you were there… the night she died, and now I know about it.”
“Of course I was. And I guess you could say that since I let her fall in, I’m responsible.” He shrugged elegantly. “But don’t you see, Abbey? It was my bad. I had the wrong girl. I thought she was Caspian’s other half. I’ve really wanted you all along.”
“Me? You wanted me?” A pain so intense and so searing that it felt like my heart was physically being ripped in two filled me, and I would have doubled over if I could. “You mean,” I choked, “that I’m the reason Kristen’s dead?”
“Yes.” Vincent smiled down at me. “Yes, that’s right.” An anguished moan escaped me, more wild emotion than intelligible speech, and I grabbed at my head. The pain was there. In there. And it was killing me.
“Now that he’s found you, I can’t kill you,” Vincent continued. “Or else you two will be completed, and that would just ruin everything. No, I’ve got to make sure you stay perfectly…
alive.”
Suddenly feet came pounding up the stairs, and angry voices echoed in the hall.
“They’re coming,” Vincent said. “But they can’t do anything yet. I’ve made sure of that.” Then he whispered in my ear, “Don’t even think about doing anything stupid. Stay. Alive.” Uri, Cacey, Sophie, and Kame burst into the room, and Vincent dropped me without a second’s hesitation.
Sophie shot me a worried glance. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“Three’s a party, but seven is a crowd,” I heard Vincent say. “That means it’s time for me to leave.”
There was the sound of someone rushing past me, and then Kame shouted, “Vincent, wait!”
I looked up just in time to see Vincent run to the window and leap out of it. Uri and Cacey followed, but they stopped short.
“He must be protected,” Cacey said. “He disappeared.” Uri’s face was furious—he looked like he wanted to leap right out the window and chase after Vincent—but Cacey put a hand on his arm. She shook her head once. “Wait,” she said.
“There is still time to find out what he’s after.”
In the blink of an eye, all four of them were standing over me and reaching down. I had an absurd urge to laugh at what they were wearing. They were coming to collect me in matching khakis.
“It’s okay, Abbey,” Kame said. “We’re here for you. Just trust us.” His voice was soft and beautiful, and I glanced at him,