Screams of terror spill from my lips as the scorpions sting me with telson releasing its venom into my body.
Oh God.
My mind goes blank at the sound of my father’s cackling. I blank out the sheer agonizing pain from the scorpions.
This is the end for me and there’s no stopping what’s to come.
I don’t know how much time passes, but finally my father kicks the last of the scorpions off my body.
“Do you want me to get her the antidote?” Lawrence asks, I’m assuming to Terry. I don’t bother thinking of this man as my father anymore. He doesn’t deserve the title, never did in the first place. I should have called him my sperm donor.
“Yes, if I decide to allow her to live, don’t need her dying from scorpion venom,” Terry snickers, maliciously.
Why are they doing this to me?
Couldn’t they just move on with their lives.
I give a weak cry at the pinch in my neck.
“My turn now,” Terry announces, his venomous voice coming closer.
I don’t bother opening my eyes to know when he’s directly next to me. “You would have been a beautiful wife to have on my arm,” he states, a finger running along my cheek. “Now if you survive, you’ll be nothing but a breeder for the cause.”
With a hand on both arms, Terry yanks me up off the ground, my eyes open slightly to see where he was taking me. I hadn’t noticed the water when we got here. Then again, I didn’t really get a chance to pay much attention. All I knew was we were in the woods somewhere with a cabin close by.
“Time to drown the sins,” Terry declares, marching directly into the water. I try to sink my feet in to keep him from taking me any further but between my body being weak and his brute strength he dragged me into the water. He pulled me until the water was well over my waist.
“Please don’t do this,” I beg, tears streaming down my cheeks.
“No can do, bitch. The sins must be drowned from your body,” he chuckles and before I have a chance to respond or take a breath, my body is pushed under the water.
Lifting my hands, I try to claw at Terry’s hands as he forces me to stay under the water. My lungs begin to burn as they fill with the murky water, arms become weaker and my mind begins to cloud and everything goes dark as I hear a loud commotion from somewhere not too far away but it’s too late for me.
I only wish I’d gotten to tell Hunter I loved him and give Huntson one last kiss.
Light surrounds me, blinding me.
“Where am I?” I ask aloud.
“You’re where I like to call the in between,” a girl’s voice answers.
Turning quickly in the direction of the voice, I find a beautiful girl who looks remarkably like Hunter. Same eyes and even the quirk in her lip as she smiles at me.
“Who are you?”
“You know who I am, as I know who you are,” the girl states.
“Hailey?” This can’t be right, she died a long time ago. That’s what Hunter said.
“That’s me and I can see you’re confused. I get it, I was the same way when I died, only I didn’t have a choice, you do.”
“What does that mean?” I ask furrowing my brows as I stare at this little girl.
“Means my brother is with you right now. He needs you, more than you’ll ever know,” Hailey murmurs, a tear glistening in her eyes.
“He’s here? I don’t see him. How can he be with me and I not see him?” Confused by all of this, I run a hand through my hair finding it not wet but dry, glancing down I notice I’m not in my wet clothes but a beautiful sundress.
“I know this is all difficult for you Annslee, but as you’re here with me, he’s with your body fighting to get you to come back to him. Question is do you want to go back to him or go to where you’ll have peace?”
“There wouldn’t be peace for me without Hunter or Huntson,” I whisper, closing my eyes shaking my head.
“That’s what I thought. Now you must go back to him, but know the baby you’ve lost, I will take care of and we will be watching over you both, along with my beautiful nephew. Please tell my brother, I’m proud of him for never allowing the demons to take full control of him. Also, that I’m happy he finally found his peace in you. Keep giving that to him. He deserves to feel that for the rest of his life,” Hailey says, smiling sadly.
“But wait, so much is being said, I don’t understand. My baby? I’m not pregnant.”
“You would have found out in another week or so, it was still early. The venom of the scorpions was too much for the baby on top of you drowning,” Hailey whispers quietly stepping up to me, taking my hand in hers. “Right now, it’s all confusing, I know, but please trust me when I say everything will be okay.”
Tears are spilling down my cheeks.
“Can I go back to Hunter now?” I ask.
“It’s your choice, Annslee,” she says nodding and vanishes before I can ask her how to get back to Hunter.
Closing my eyes, I dream up Hunter’s face as I feel my body being jerked and my mind goes blank once again.
Chapter Fourteen
Hunter
Hours passed by as we roared down the highway, making our way toward where Annslee was, for the last hour the dot for her phone had not moved. I’d attached my own phone to a cell holder I had gotten a while back and forgotten until
