Jessica Sorensen - Unbroken

“Alex, please untie me.” She lifts her head up and leans into me, pressing her chest against mine. Her lips are just inches away from me and the compulsion of the sparks causes me to do something stupid. I lean closer to her—just within reach—wanting her so badly that I can’t take it.

Need. Want. Need.

“Untie me,” she entices, her warm breath touching my lips, smothering me, making any rational thoughts go hazy. “And I’ll let you do whatever you want to me,” she whispers before sealing her lips to mine. Sparks zap at my lips, hot and fiery, as her tongue slips deeply into my mouth, devouring me even as it begs me to take over and have my way with her. It’s like she can read my mind, see my thoughts, and feel how much I want to take control of her.

A thousand thoughts flood my mind; leaving the ropes on her, ripping her clothes off, thrusting inside her over and over again until she screams out my name and bites at my flesh. I want it more than anything, but the sheer fact that she’s saying she’ll give it to me, lets me know this isn’t Gemma. Gemma is always nervous. Cautious. Innocent. She doesn’t trust me enough to own her like that.

So as much as it kills me, I pull back and break the kiss. As soon as my mouth leaves hers, she lets out a growl. “Did you really think I wouldn’t know?” I stand up from the bed and walk around to the foot of the bed, gripping the bars. “That it’s not her in there?”

“What do you mean?” she asks, still trying to play innocent, wiggling her arms and legs. “Alex, please let me go! You’re starting to scare me!” she cries, thrusting her legs with so much force the ties start to unravel.

My eyes stay on her as I get up on the bed and crawl over her, sitting on her legs to immobilize them. “I know you’re still possessed, so quit with the innocent act.”

“Alex, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Hot tears spill down her cheeks. “Please, these ropes are hurting me.”

I shake my head, even though the sight of tears in her eyes makes my heart ache. “That’s not going to work on me, so you can keep crying, but it’s just a waste of time.”

She instantly stops crying, the emotion draining from her face. “Well, aren’t you clever?”

“And there you are.” I lean over her body, sweeping my fingers across her tear stained cheek. “Don’t worry, I’m going to get that mark off of you.”

She starts to laugh. “You can’t win this one, Alex Avery. This mark has more power than you can even comprehend.”

I want to ask her a thousand questions about the mark’s power and what she knows about it. Right now she probably has an insight into my father’s thoughts in a way and probably knows more than I do. The problem is, because of the mark, I’m certain she can’t say anything.

The longer I remain silent, the bigger her smirk grows on her face as she stares up at me. “Not so cocky now,” she says with irresistible arrogance in her demeanor.

I’m about to climb off of her… or kiss her… I’m not sure which, when the door creaks open. Aislin enters with a syringe in her hand, her cheeks flushed, and her hair burnt and two or three inches shorter than when she left about a half an hour ago.

“Jesus, that’s a hard spell to pull off,” she says, fanning her hand in front of her face as I climb off Gemma and get up.

“Why’s she here?” Gemma growls, exposing her teeth like she’s a savage vampire as she glares at Aislin. “And what the hell does she have in her hand.

“Ever heard of an emotional exorcism?” Aislin raises the syringe with a proud smile on her face.

Gemma snickers. “I’m not a demon or a spirit. You’re going to have to do better than that.” She lifts her hips and starts nipping her teeth in my direction.

Aislin’s eyes widen as she looks at me in horror. “Wow. She’s really mean.”

“She’s not Gemma,” I remind her, and then stick out my hand, noting my palms are a little bit damp with sweat. I’m nervous, another emotion I’m not accustom to.

Aislin is reluctant to hand over the syringe, eyeballing it with hesitancy as she holds it in her hand. “Are you absolutely sure about this?” she asks.

“I have to do it,” I say because it’s all I can say. No, I don’t want to do it, but sometimes that’s how life works.

Tears fall from Aislin’s eyes as she hands the syringe over. “I might not be able to bring you back… If you completely go through with it and if I can’t... then you’ll be… you’ll be…”

“Dead,” I finish for her, my fingers wrapping around the syringe. “I understand the consequences, let’s just hope it doesn’t go that far.”

Still crying, Aislin backs into the corner, hugging her arms around herself as tears stream down her cheeks. Aislin has always been a little overly dramatic in my opinion; too weepy and emotionally attached to people. I’ve never really understood it until now; why some people can affect you more than others.

“Are you insane?” Gemma laughs maliciously as she takes in the sight of the syringe in my hand when I turn around and face her. “You think that will kill me?”

I shake my head, grasping the syringe tightly in my hand. “No. I know it won’t kill you because I’m not going to use it on you.” With a deep breath, I bite off the cap on the needle and spit it onto the floor. Then I aim the needle at his chest. “It’s going to kill me.”

Something sparks inside her eyes, like fire, blazing intensely. “You won’t do it. Humans fear death more than anything.”

I inch the needle closer to my chest until the tip is poking the fabric of my shirt. “Not this human, and I think the real Gemma knows me enough to know that’s the truth.”

“The real Gemma is dead,” she snarls. “So this is just a wasted effort.

“Well, if that’s true, then I guess I’m about to find out,” I say, hating that my voice is a little unsteady.

“I’m calling your bluff.” She arches her eyebrows challengingly, but I can see the anxiousness hidden beneath her confidence. “You don’t have it in you to go through with it.”

“You think so, huh?” My hand trembles as I summon another breath, then giving myself no time to back out, I sink the needle into his skin. Blood pools out and my heart hammers in my chest. Just one push of the end and death will be injected into my body. I’m more terrified than I thought I would be, but mainly because I fear I’ll never see Gemma again; that she’ll be left unprotected in the world and something will happen to her.

“Say you care for me,” I demand, getting close to her, wanting to evoke emotion out of her. “Tell me not to do it.”

She shakes her head swiftly. “Never.”

I put my thumb on the end of the syringe, ready to push. “Then I guess this is good-bye.” Shit. I can’t believe I’m about to go through with this, and all I can do is hope that Aislin can bring me back.

“Then do it,” she says as she presses her lips together and waits.

Sparks are going crazy between us, full force, either feeding off my emotions or hers. I’m hoping hers, for the sake of making this sacrifice worth it.

“Get ready, Aislin,” I say with my eyes locked on Gemma. Then, summoning a shaky breath, I push the end of the syringe with my thumb.

Aislin lets out a hysterical weep. “Alex! Stop!”

But it’s too late. The medicine is injected into my body and courses through my veins; potent, liquid fire that burns and boils my blood. I can’t think. Hear. See anything. My breath is leaving me. I can no longer feel my heart beating. I’m about to die. Images flood my head, one’s I’m familiar with, ones I’ve never seen before.

Gemma and I. Our hideout. Violet flowers she used to pick for me all the time. Dancing in a field with her. Kissing her, touching her. Love. Blood Promise. Blood-bonded eternally. Forever.

Someone screams at the top of their lungs. “Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop. It’s me. It’s Gemma. Alex, stop!”

“Gemma…” I wrench the needle out of my heart, blood drizzling through my shirt. I’m panting, skin pale, dying. I heard her voice—I heard Gemma—which means it worked. It had to have worked. And now I’m dying, leaving her. “Damn it…” My breath slips away, and as my heart takes its last beat, I collapse to the floor.

It happens so quickly that I don’t have time to process it. One minute my brain is full of haziness where I can only see one single thought—kill Alex—and then suddenly I’m free, my heart flooding with emotions.

Pain. Longing. Need. Sadness. I see so many things. Alex and I. Our hide out. Violet flowers. Dancing in a field. Blood Promise. Forever.

Everything I’ve ever felt in my past, before my emotions were erased, surges through back to me and jumpstarts my emotions.

I scream at the top of my lungs. “Stop! Stop! Stop! Stop. It’s me. It’s me. Alex, stop!”

But it’s too late. He gags as he pulls the needle out of his heart. Gasping for air, his skin pallid, eyes wide. Seconds later, he crumples to the floor.

A blood-curdling scream rips from my lips. “Aislin! Untie me! Please. He can’t die now!” I did this. This is all my fault. No. Help. Stop. Please. God, it hurts so much.

Aislin buckles over Alex’s body with her head tucked down as she utters a chant under her breath, over and over again. Her hand glows red as she presses it to his heart. I realize she’s doing a spell, hopefully one that will bring him back. However, the longer it goes on, the more my hope crumbles. After a while, Aislin gets quiet, tears still falling from her eyes as she glances up at me.

“He’s dead, Gemma. He’s dead,” she whispers softly as the glow from her hand fades.