Page 87 of The Invite (The Massacre Ball #1)

Nessa

A pounding in my skull wakes me up.

Desperate to lessen the pain, I lift my hand. It doesn’t budge.

The biting pressure around my wrists jerks me awake and I see a tight rope wrapped around them, tying me to the arms of a chair.

“No. No. No.” This isn’t real. I pull at them again. “I’m having a nightmare.”

A low tsking noise floats to my ears. “Oh, love.”

The mocking voice draws my attention to a figure sitting on my bed. “Mom?”

A cruel smile curls her lips.

The memories return in a flash and I gulp in a composing breath. I’m not the same girl anymore. I’m going to fight her tooth and nail. “What do you want?”

“You. In a grave.”

“Because you failed so terribly all those years ago? Then again last time?” I taunt. “It must eat at you that a little girl got the better of you. Do you miss Dad—

Crack!

My face whips to the side. Pain ricochets in my left ear, traveling to my cheek and numbing it for long seconds.

Gripping my hair at the roots, she yanks my head back and backhands me again until my lips split. I swallow the metallic taste in my mouth.

“Mark my words, little girl, you will plead to me for mercy tonight.”

“No,” I growl, spitting the saliva and blood in her face. “I’ll never give you the satisfaction.”

“Never say never, love,” she sings.

Something razor sharp pierces my thigh, making my back arch and toes curl in blinding agony. “Ahhh… oohhh!”

The scream melts into a loud cry.

My arms tug and jerk against my binds and I heave uncontrollably, allowing oxygen into my lungs. Through blurry eyes, I make out the shape of a wooden handle plunged into my right thigh. Blood trickling out of the sides in a river.

She stabbed me!

I look around, finding myself alone in an empty room.

She… She wouldn’t leave me here? Where did she go?

Intense pain shoots up my spine as I unclench my toes. Every time I move, it hurts worse. Until my vision tunnels in and out. The room goes in and out of focus. I feel myself losing grip of reality.

Stay awake, Nessa!

Inhaling and exhaling in a steady rhythm, I start counting to stay alert. However, the exertion of the entire night slowly catches up to me. Lightheadedness makes my eyelids heavy.

Ma-maybe a small nap won’t hu—

“Ness… Nessa!”

I bolt upright and blink at a black figure hurtling toward me at rapid speed. A woodsy scent fills into my nostrils, awakening my senses. I choke out, “August?”

“Oh, honey.” A notable tremor laces his hoarse voice as he inspects my state with teary eyes. Not sinister. Dark. Or stormy. Just abject misery. Unsteady hands cup my cheeks, brushing over my lips, and I hiss. “Stay with me, Ness. Please. I’ll get you out of here. Please stay awake.”

“No! Yo-you have to g-go,” I whimper as he tugs at the knot at my wrists. “She… She’s here.”

His jaw hardens. “Not without you.”

“You’re not listening. She’s dangerous. Please go.

” I beg him with words. With my eyes. His fingers keep working at the knot, pulling one undone.

I seize his hand, halting him. “I lied to you. About everything. My name. My past.” He stills under my fingertips.

I keep going, wanting to get it off my chest. In case it’s the last hour of my life. “It wasn’t burglars… it was—”

“Your parents,” he finishes, shocking me to the bone. “I know everything and it doesn’t make you any less mine. You’ll only ever be my Nessa , not Tyra.”

His raw and possessive profession spreads a rush of warmth, eclipsing the pain. I burst into fresh tears. “I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I was going to tell you.”

“I know.”

“Forgive me.”

“Then live for me. Fight for me. For us.” His fingers move to my other hand.

I plead to him again, “Don’t destroy your life for me, Augustus. Go before she comes back. She’s planning something. I can feel it. Please leave. She’ll hurt you.”

“Let her!”

A shadow appears behind his hunched form and I shout a warning, “August!”

My mother knocks him over with an ornament sitting on my shelf. Augustus smacks into my chair and swiftly turns around to fight her, but she’s too fast and stabs something into his neck.

The end of a syringe widens my eyes in terror.

A second later, I watch its effect take over on Augustus’s body and he passes out on the floor.

“No! August!”

“Oh, he’s a handsome hunk,” coos my mother, standing over him with her hands on her hips. Waving the empty syringe at me, she teases, “Too bad drugs are more powerful. Time for the real fun to begin. Don’t worry, I won’t ask you to kill him like we did with Johnny.”

Bending, her hands curl under his armpits and she drags him across the floor with great effort due to his size.

“Don’t hurt him.”

Her head tilts my way and the corners of her eyes tug down in fake sadness. “Aww, begging already?”

In her bid to pull Augustus to another chair, she doesn’t notice that one of my arms is free.

Since he’s heavy, the task steals her entire focus.

While she’s distracted, I pull and twist at the rope on my other wrist. My right leg has gone numb from the blood loss.

I pay it no mind. I don’t even care if I lose function in it.

Tonight won’t be a repeat of the night from ten years ago.

I will not be a victim.

She hasn’t made it far when I look up after my other wrist is freed. Pulling out the knife buried in my thigh, I lunge after her, taking us both down.

Her strength is weak as she grapples against me. Both of us are at a disadvantage as she scratches her nails down my face and presses on my open wound. However, my protective instincts over Augustus surge adrenaline through me, giving me an upper hand.

“Don’t you dare touch him!” I stab her in the stomach after I wrestle her underneath me.

She cries out, mouth opening wide.

Withdrawing the knife, I ram it in next to the first wound. Her back bows and I slam her down on the ground. With a roar, I slash her chest, her throat, her arm. Everywhere I can reach until blood and cuts paint every inch of her.

“I’m going to kill you!”

Years of suppressed rage powers through me.

I smile as she coughs and thrashes, crying like a little bitch.

“Who’s pleading for mercy now, you evil cunt?”

Grabbing her throat, I raise my arm and plunge the blade straight into her eyeball and twist. Her fingers go lax around my chest, where she was pushing me backward.

Ripping out the knife, I wipe the mess on her cheek.

Snaking my hand to rest between her breasts, I stare into her uninjured eye, slowly draining of life. Bringing the blade, I drag it horizontally across her throat and slash it open. The vein pops and the stream of blood, her essence, her spirit, splashes into my face and neck.

With every drop that drips out, I become exorcised of the scars she inflicted on my soul. The torment I carried around in my heart. The justice for every life she stole.

And I feel pure.

Throwing the knife, I crawl down from her corpse.

Frantic, I look for Augustus and I exhale in a rush, finding him lying unharmed. Dragging myself to him, I cup his serene face and push his hair back from his temple. His pulse is steady in his throat. But I’m scared of the drug she’s given him.

On the verge of passing out myself, I use the last of my strength and search his pockets for his phone. Feeling it, I pull it out. I find the contact info I’m looking for and dial, pressing the screen to my ear.

It picks up on the first ring.

“Help!” I whisper as the first aftershock jolts my body. The phone slides from my grip to the floor.

I curl my arm around Augustus’s torso and let the darkness pull me under.

Fear is nowhere in sight.

I won.

I saved my devil.