Deadly to Love Read online

  Table of Contents

  Deadly to Love (Elemental Killers)

  THE ELEMENTALS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  About the Author

  Other Books

  The Sheol

  PREFACE

  CHAPTER ONE

  The Flawless

  Deadly to Love

  (Elemental Killers)

  MIA HODDELL

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  This book is a work of fiction.

  The names, characters, places and incidents

  are the creation of the writer’s imagination or

  have been used fictitiously and are not to be

  construed as real. Any resemblance to persons,

  living or dead, actual events, locale or

  organisations is entirely coincidental.

  Deadly to Love (Elemental Killers) © 2012 by Mia Hoddell

  Edited by Roco

  All Rights Are Reserved. No part of this

  book may be used or reproduced in

  any manner whatsoever without

  written permission, except in the case

  of brief quotations embodied in critical

  articles and reviews.

  THE ELEMENTALS

  The Elementals - Beautiful, Majestic and Deadly...

  Fire – A raging inferno annihilating and consuming. Once set free it is a fearsome force; destructive, passionate and always hungry. Yet when given direction it's infinitely worse.

  Water – A peaceful state of tranquillity that calms and soothes. Yet once disturbed it is an unpredictable tempest; impulsive, merciless and erratic with a judgement that cannot be moved.

  Air – An impassive, wild force that cannot be contained. Once let loose it delights in the mayhem. Chaotic, frantic and cruel it creates a substantial power when enraged.

  Earth – A reasonable and rational mind but has eternal strength and endurance. When agitated it creates a superior force; loathsome, devastating and unruly, with carefully considered strikes that do most harm.

  The world cannot survive without these creatures but what happens when the world can no longer survive with them either?

  PROLOGUE

  They surround me.

  The flames, the air, the water and the earth.

  I never believed that our world could be alive. That these creatures could exist. I was just a normal college student, living my life with all the drama of break ups and exams but that all changed the moment I met Kai. He's the one who opened my eyes to this new world, this murderous world and now I can feel their heat, their anger and their need for vengeance while they draw ever closer to me. The all consuming power they radiate terrorizing me as I continue my role in the plan.

  The role I have to continue or else we'll fail.

  I try to blank out the once beautiful faces that are now contorted into raging fury but like the fire that is burning everything around me I can't see anything else. Their anger is imprinted in my mind.

  The glow of colours encompasses my face, blocking out everyone but them, muting every sound but their twisted screeches of anger. I stand routed to the spot, unable to even flinch as I press on in my bid for revenge.

  Every part of my being is screaming at me to stop, to make them disappear but I can't. Something more powerful than any of us is controlling me and as I continue the creatures draw closer to me, seeking my death and a way to end their torture. I'm petrified for my life but a single thought crosses my mind, over powering everything as I stand there, its force providing the motivation to continue... We have to survive.

  CHAPTER ONE

  6 Months Earlier

  “Babe please...” he begged as he held onto my wrist to stop me from walking the rest of the way down his garden path. I had caught him making out with another girl through his window and when they finally broke apart Ian’s eyes had instantly found mine. This had resulted with the other girl being dumped unceremoniously on the floor and Ian rushing out the door towards me. I had already begun to walk back down the path when he called after me. Knowing he would shout out anything in an attempt to get me back, I kept walking. I heard heavy footsteps behind me as he jogged up to me, panting as he spoke.

  “Don’t do this Rea. Please let me explain, it’s not what it looked like.”

  The usual collection of scripted lies spilled from his mouth continuously, infuriating me so that my anger covered my breaking heart.

  “Not what it looked like! What the hell was it then because unless that was a weird form of CPR I have never been taught I’m pretty sure it was exactly what it looked like.” I screamed as he looked around guiltily at the audience we were attracting.

  “Babe c’mon lets talk about this in the house, we are causing a scene.”

  He gave a slight tug on my wrist, trying to pull me in the direction of his front door but when I saw his other girl in the doorway watching us, I stood my ground, not moving an inch.

  “Why? Are you worried about tarnishing your precious reputation? About everybody finding out what an ass you really are?” I sneered at him, ignoring the growing crowd behind me.

  Ian sighed, hanging his head in shame.

  “Please don’t do this Rea, we can work this out...” he whispered while looking up through his eyelashes.

  I was unsure as to what he thought we could 'figure out' as in my eyes we were already over. As a couple we ended the moment I saw him with his tongue down the other girl’s throat.

  “How long?” I said through gritted teeth, not certain as to whether or not I wanted to hear the answer. I saw his shoulders heave with a heavy sigh, warning me that my gut feeling about not wanting to know was right.

  “Three months,” he muttered under his breath so only I was able to hear. His head was still bowed, as I guessed he was trying to avoid all eye contact. It was the final straw and before I knew it had happened my hand collided with his cheek, slapping him hard and forcing him to look at me so I could see the red hand print forming on his left cheek.

  “Stay away from me,” I hissed before I pulled my wrist free and briskly walked the rest of the way down the path and onto the pavement, pushing my way past the crowd of neighbours that had gathered. I didn’t even glance back when he called after me; begging me to hear him out and to not do this. He was just adding to the lies I didn’t want to hear.

  When I got home that evening I threw myself straight onto my bed to bury my head in the mountain of pil
lows that lay on top of the mattress. I had managed to hold back the tears while in front of him, thankfully, but as soon as I got through the front door I turned into a hysterical mess, running to my room as fast as possible. Replaying the past few hours over and over in my head, I sobbed into the duvet, wondering what I had done to deserve or cause this.

  We had been together for two years, Ian and I; and recently we had both moved up from high school and into college together. As a couple we were constantly by each other’s side, so I couldn’t comprehend why I had caught him cheating on me when I had gone to tell him the good news about being able to go on holiday together. It had taken me weeks to get my parents to agree to let him come with us and now they had, all my efforts had been wasted. There was no way in hell I wanted to see Ian again, let alone go on holiday with him.

  The memory of the two of them was burned into my mind as I lay on my bed and I felt humiliated. Not long after I got home the rain had started to fall heavily, and hitting the window with dull thuds it slowly soothed me while I lay staring at the ceiling.

  My thoughts about Ian were interrupted by the low buzzing of my phone as it vibrated against my wooden cabinet. Picking it up I glanced at the screen to see four texts and a missed call from Ian. Quickly I scanned the first message: Babe I can explain, please reply xx I sighed heavily as I read the texts, wanting so much to believe he had a valid explanation for cheating on me, but deep down I knew he was just lying.

  I don’t know why I read through the texts as it just added to the tight pain in my chest but as I got to the last message - Serena please let me explain. I’m sorry OK, it’s you I want :( - another text came through. To no surprise it was once again from Ian but I didn’t read it. Making sure it was switched off I threw my phone to the bottom of my bed, fed up of hearing from him.

  Just at that moment my mum decided to poke her head around my door to let me know she was home. She only took one look at my face when her eyes creased with concern and worry.

  “Serena what’s wrong?” She started to walk into my room, probably looking for a long explanation, as she sat on my bed but I was in no mood to talk.

  “Nothing, just a hard day.” I could tell she knew I was avoiding the question but she didn’t press the issue, instead she just rose up and left the room.

  “I’m here if you want to talk OK?”

  I nodded while I rolled over so my back was facing her and looked out of the window, grunting in response. Dragging myself from my bed I moved to my window to sit on the ledge. Curling my knees tightly to my chest I rested my chin on them and stared out into the city of Rinth.

  The city looked miserable through the rain. No one dared to brave the downpour and I was thankful for that as it meant no one would see me, even though my house was on the outskirts of the city, near the forests. Tears were still slowly falling down my cheek and dropping on my arms, as I picked droplets of water and followed their path down the glass. I had lost track of how long I was sat there when my mum came back into the room.

  “Chloe’s on the phone,” she said covering it with her hand as she asked if I wanted to talk.

  Without saying a word, I held out my hand for the phone and she crossed the small distance to pass it to me.

  “Dinner will be ready in an hour if you want to come down for it.”

  With that she left my room and I pressed the phone to my ear.

  “Hey Chlo,” I said while sniffling, trying to sound happier than I felt.

  “Oh Rea I just heard what Ian did. How you doing?”

  I was stunned as to how she had been able to find out so quickly but Chloe always had ways of getting information first so I didn’t bother to question her.

  “OK I guess.” I said, still following one of the single droplets. Chloe however didn’t buy any of it.

  “Don’t lie Rea, you’re not very good at it.”

  I could hear the smile in her voice as she spoke, she was probably remembering all my other failed attempts at trying to fool her.

  “Fine...” I sighed. “I feel terrible, humiliated and I’m really angry. Is that what you wanted to hear?” Somehow talking to Chloe was making me feel slightly better.

  “You want to talk about it?”

  Even though I didn’t really want to talk about it I knew Chloe was itching to find out all the details so decided I might as well tell her now and save myself the hassle later on.

  “It was horrible, I had finally persuaded my mum to agree to us going away together and was going over to tell him. When I reached his house I could see them through his window, she was sat on his lap... and they were... you know... making out while his hands were under her shirt.” I paused for a second trying to gather my thoughts. “I didn’t know what to do so just stood on the doorstep, and when he noticed me he came rushing out trying to get me to listen. Since then I have had at least four texts and a few phone calls but I’ve switched it off now as I didn’t want to see them anymore.” I sighed remembering the lies he had sent me.

  “What an asshole, how can he treat you like that after two years? It doesn’t matter you don’t need him, you can do way better.” She was almost shouting down the phone, sounding more angry than I was.

  “You want me to come over?”

  It was times like these I was grateful to have a friend as good as Chloe. She had always been there when I needed someone, even when I had got into the most ridiculous situations, but I could tell she didn’t really want to step out in this weather.

  “Nah I wouldn’t want you to ruin your hair in the rain.”

  She laughed down the phone at my dig about her consistent worry about having perfect hair. Asking if I was sure that I would be OK I could tell she was torn between coming over and taking me at her word.

  “Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

  Talking to her had made me feel slightly better and I could hear the relief in her voice as we spoke.

  “OK, I’ll see you tomorrow at school then?”

  Smiling to myself at the image of her running around in the rain getting soaked and squealing about her hair going frizzy, I agreed and ended the call, feeling slightly more normal.

  It had turned out that I didn’t go down for dinner that night; instead I chose to stay in my room alone. The rain continued to fall heavily and I stayed sat in my window until I could no longer see the heart of the city on my right and the damp, dense forest to the back of my house due to the fading light. I hadn’t realised how tired I was so before I knew it I felt myself drifting into a peaceful sleep, in which I could escape reality for a few hours.

  Sadly my peace didn’t last long as it was interrupted by a loud, ear shattering, chiming noise from somewhere near my feet. Squinting through dazed eyes, I tried to focus on my surroundings but the early morning sun that was beaming rays of light into my open window was making it impossible. The chiming continued as I hunted around my bed covers blindly. I don’t know when I had moved or been moved to my bed by someone – probably my dad – but I was thankful that I didn’t have a stiff neck and back from spending the whole night in a window.

  Finally I found the source of the annoying sound and as my eyes adjusted I saw that the alarm on my phone was the cause of the problem. The message “GET READY FOR COLLEGE!” was flashing on my screen like it did every week day. Obviously switching it off had had no effect on my alarm settings, which was unlucky. I had forgotten that it was a Monday with all the chaos and resentfully I dragged myself into the en suite bathroom that was joined onto my bedroom. Hoping a shower would wash away some of the problems I was facing and maybe lift my mood slightly I let the water relax me.

  After spending an hour in the shower I had little time to think about what I was going to wear. Instead I threw on my scruffy denim short shorts, a pale t-shirt and flip flops as I could already feel the heat from outside building, which was weird considering it had been bucketing down with rain yesterday. My hair was still slightly damp from my shower and the sun was drying it into small,
wavy ringlets that were too pretty to be tied up so I decided to leave my hair down and applied some make-up. When I was finally ready I trudged downstairs, preparing myself for the onslaught of questions I presumed I was going to receive from my family but as I entered the kitchen I found nothing odd. Mum was still in her dressing gown, cooking something over the stove and Dad was sat at the island dressed in his usual work attire, while reading the paper.

  They both looked up at me but Dad quickly dropped his head back to his reading after giving me a gruff hello.

  Me and him were so alike, we both hated mornings and the idea of having to be forced to sit around the table eating with Mum drove us both insane.

  “I made pancakes,” Mum’s chirpy voice broke through my thoughts and even though I knew she meant well, I just couldn’t handle sitting with them so early, due to all the problems spinning in my head.

  “Sorry Mum, I’m late. I have to go for the bus now.” Luckily this was true and I was proved right when she checked the oven clock.

  “Oh... well OK, I’ll give them to your dad, have a good day at college.”

  She smiled as I left the kitchen, before heading out the front door, picking up my bag on the way out.

  A light summer breeze that I was grateful for drifted gently across my face, cooling me as I walked to the bus stop. The usual people were already gathered waiting. Furthest away from me was a group of young high school kids, who were giggling about something. Then there were a few adults on their way to work and then nearest me were people from my college. It was obvious from the hushed whispers and frantic glances thrown my way, that they had been talking about me before I arrived. No doubt it was about my recent break up with Ian, but luckily I had never spoken to any of them so no one pushed for answers or comments.

  Even though I wasn’t happy about my personal life being the main source of gossip on a Monday morning – as it would linger for the whole week - I was glad that people were talking amongst themselves instead of questioning me.