Bound to My Step-brother

Chapter four

Lila's POV

By the time we left, the sky had gone fully dark. No moon. Just the campus lamps, small and far apart, throwing little islands of light along the path.

I said goodnight to Ryker at the edge of campus. we share a quick kiss that made smile like a fool. Then I turned toward the hostel alone.

I hadn't gone ten steps before I heard it.

Footsteps. Heavy. Fast. Matching my pace no matter how quick I walked. I looked back. Nothing. Just empty path and long black shadows.

But the footsteps kept coming.

I ran.

God, I ran. My lungs burned in seconds. My legs pumped harder than they ever had. The hostel gates was far away. The footsteps still stayed right behind me the whole time. Like it didn't even need to hurry. Like it already knew I couldn't get away.

Five minutes later, I burst through the hostel door and slammed it shut. Chest heaving. Shirt stuck to my back with sweat.

Nadia looked up first. "Lila? What happened to you?"

"Someone was chasing me. I didn't see a face. Just footsteps. The whole way."

Talia was already on her feet. "Did you see anything? A shape?"

"Nothing." I dropped onto my bed. My hands wouldn't stop shaking. "It matched my speed. Exact. The whole time."

We sat there throwing out names. Rival packs. Jealous students. Maybe Victor's enforcers, sent to them to scare me. None of it fit. None of it explained footsteps that never sped up and never slowed down.

Then the air changed.

Pressure dropped over the room. The temperature fell so fast I saw my own breath. Nadia's words died mid sentence. Talia's mouth was open and nothing came out.

Something was in the room. I couldn't see it. But it took the air straight out of my lungs.

I clawed at my own throat. Gasping. Nothing came. Black spots crept into the edges of my sight. Beside me, Nadia and Talia grabbed at their own throats too. Eyes went huge, mouths working with no sound.

This is it. This is how I die.

Then something in my chest tore open.

My eyes flew open on their own. Light poured out of them. White, blinding light flooded the whole room. A shield burst off my skin and wrapped around all three of us. It pushed back. Hard. Whatever wanted to crush us couldn't go past it. The pressure snapped away all at once. We all sucked in air like we'd been underwater.

For a second none of us moved.

The light flickered. Then it was gone.

That thing was gone too.

Nadia found her voice first. It shook. "What was that? You? Or it? Either one."

"I don't know." My hands were still shaking. "I didn't decide to do that. It just happened."

Talia stared at me like she'd never seen me before in her life. "Your eyes were white, Lila. Not glowing. White. All the way white."

"I felt like I was dying," I whispered.

"So did I," Nadia said.

We sat pressed together for a long time after that. None of us wanted to be the first to move. Eventually, Talia asked the question we were all thinking.

"How did you do that?"

I shook my head. My throat was tight. "I don't know what I am anymore."

***

The next evening, the hostel was quiet. I was alone. Talia and Nadia had already left for the restaurant, promising to save me a seat. My favourite romance novel was in my grip. I just wanted ten more pages. Ten pages before I had to face the noise of the world again. Reading helped. It kept my mind off whatever was hunting me. I'd told Ryker about the chase and the thing that stole my air. He said he'd come by the hostel that evening.

Ten minutes later, I was on the fifth page.

The s*x scene was so captivating, I didn't hear the door open.

I felt it first. A drop in temperature that raised the hair on my arms. When I looked up, something stood in the doorway and every thought in my head went white with terror.

It had been a person once. I could tell from the shape of it. Ruined shoulders. A spine you could almost count through skin gone grey and thin as paper.

Stretched too tight in some places, sagging loose in others, like the flesh had just given up. Its eyes were empty sockets, no color at all. When its jaw dropped open, the sound that came out was wet rope dragging over stone.

It was dead. Meant to be in the graveyard. And it was looking right at me. Still alive somehow.

I screamed. I didn't decide to. My body did it for me before my brain even caught up.

"Help me!" My voice cracked apart in the empty hall. "Somebody, please, help!"

Nobody came. The building had already emptied out. My voice just bounced off the walls and died there.

The dead thing tilted its head to its bony shoulder.

Fuck, That's an angle no living neck could ever manage.

It watched me like it already knew I had nowhere to go.

Then it lifted one bony hand, and fire bloomed out of nothing. A ball of orange and black flame, sitting in its palm like it weighed nothing at all.

"No. No, please, no." I scrambled back and knocked my chair over. I shoved a desk between us. I knew it wouldn't matter. I did it anyway.

It threw the fire. I dropped flat on instinct, and the flame sailed over my head. It hit the far wall. Sparks sprayed everywhere. The curtains burnt. Fire rolled up the wallpapers.

Another fireball came. Then another. The thing moved through the room. Slow. Flame after flame bounced on the wall beside me.

I crawled to the door, already coughing as the smoke thickened. The creature got there first. It didn't come at me. It turned to the door. He turned the key thrice, and pulled off the keys. Gasps escaped my mouth. His eye sockets looked at me.

My heart pounded in my chest. My eyes widened with horror. It opened its rotted jaw wide, and swallowed the key. Metal and all. I heard it scrape all the way down its throat.

"No. No, no, open it, please, open the f*****g door!"

The creature disappeared.

The lock held. I pulled the door handle. "Somebody help me."

Shit. s**t, s**t, s**t.

Smoke poured thicker now. It rolled along the ceiling, stinging my eyes until tears ran down my face. Behind me, a shelf of books caught fully. Flames climbed high enough to lick the ceiling tiles.

My shoes caught the fire.