Nightshade: Kiss of Death (Book #1)

I was pulled abruptly from my dream by the sound of a car horn blaring from the window to my left, and sat up with a jolt. I looked at the time on my phone and groaned. Oh come on. Swinging my legs over the side of my bed I angrily rushed to open up the window.

"It's seven in the morning. On a Saturday! What are you doing here this early?"

Of course Mads would show up at this unforgiving hour on a weekend, he gets up at the crack of dawn practically everyday. I see him lean onto the drivers side of the car and wiggle his finders in greeting.

"We have a lot to do today Ms. Carson, so hurry up and get your lazy ass out here!" He yells back.

Letting out an annoyed huff I turned from my window after flipping him the bird.

"Love you too sweetheart!" He called out in response, making me cringe at the stupid pet name.

I quickly threw on a pair of black skinny jeans, black Vans, and a random top from my closet before brushing my hair and teeth in the bathroom. Then I applied some light eyeliner and mascara before grabbing my bag and heading out the door. Mads always complained about me wearing makeup, which always led to the same argument everyday.

"I still don't understand why you wear that crap," he'd say while pulling a face.

Then I'd spend the next fifteen or so minutes repeating, "Because I like it," or "Because I want to." Eventually he'd give in and ignore me for a good few minutes before he cracked and had to tell me about something that happened during practice of which ever sport he was playing at that time.

I opened the passenger door and threw my messenger bag at Mads' head before climbing in myself afterward. "Do you know how early it is? I mean honestly Mads the least you could do was call or text me before you decided to wake up the whole neighborhood with your car."

"Uh, I did call you. Like three times. And I texted you last night when I got home," He gave me a curious glance.

I quickly pulled out my phone and sighed. Three missed calls and two text messages filled the top left corner of the screen. I turned to him and gave an apologetic look. He held up his hand before any words could make their way out of my mouth and grinned.

"I know, I know. You've been tired, and cranky, and melodramatic lately," he paused at my expression gone annoyed. "But luckily for you, your best buddy Mads is going to buy you a hot chocolate and breakfast at the Lumberjack before we look for ghost girl's boyfriend."

I smiled at his offer before rolling my eyes and looking at the passing houses. I've never liked coffee so anytime we go to our favorite dinner he buys me a hot chocolate with extra whipped cream. At first he kept badgering me about what kind of human doesn't like/ need coffee (apparently coffee is a necessity in order to function properly). Of course I would give the appropriate, "A dead one." Not that being a Nightshade had anything to do with my dislike of coffee. The smell was fine, even pleasant actually. The taste however made me want to throw up. Repeatedly.

"You know the way to my heart White, I'll give you that"

He laughed and put the car in the next gear, "Always have, always will Viv."

***

I played with the silver wear that was rolled up in a napkin as Mads finished ordering his Lumberjack Special (not before shooting a flirty wink at the waitress). The lumberjack was a small dinner just on the outskirts of the town with dark blue walls and gold trim around the windows. Booths lined three of the walls and a bar sat right smack in the middle of it all with a wooden sign that said "Welcome to the House of the Best Burgers in all of the U.S".

I rudely cleared my throat as the strawberry blond waitress stood their twirling a lock of shiny hair around her pen while batting her lashes at Mads. "Excuse me, but uh we're kind of in a hurry. Would you mind actually giving our orders to the cook before shamefully flirting with my friend here? Thanks."

Mads laughed but quickly tried to cover it up with a string of coughs as the girl shot me a glare then strutted off to the other side of the building. I kicked him under the table then reached over and smacked his head.

"Ah! God why are you so violent? I mean honestly I get less bruises on the field," he pouted and rubbed his knee.

"You're the one who said that we have a busy day and I highly doubt that flirting with our waitress is on the agenda."

He leaned to the side and peered over my shoulder as the girl started wiping down other tables, "I don't know, I mean I could squeeze her in somewh-"

He clamped his mouth closed at my glare and leaned back with a sigh, "Alright, alright. Buzzkill. I found a couple of hospitals that he could be at. One's downtown, the others are on the north side. I say that after we're done here we go check the one closest first."

I thought about it while nodding. Downtown was St. Clair's Hospital which means that it'll take about twenty minutes to get there. The question is, what do I do if I find him and he's alive. Maybe ghost girl is keeping tabs on him for good measure. Hopefully finding her will be easier than I thought.

"Torva messor vivit, Vivian."

I jumped at the whisper and frantically looked behind me for the source. I sucked in a raged breath when the other three booths came up empty. Mads cocked an eyebrow when I faced him and sunk deeper into the plush seating of the bench. Giving a weak smile I shook my head and gazed out the window. Our food came shortly after, along with a complimentary show of our waitress' bra as she overly leaned down to place our plates and drinks across the table. "Will that be all then?"

I rolled my eyes and smacked on my 'I-swear-to-all-that-is-good-in-this-world-if-you-don't-shut-up-I'll-hit-you' smile, "Yes, it is. Now, bye!"

She didn't even spare me a glance as she lightly touched Mads' shoulder. "Are you absolutely sure? I'm sure I've got something for you in the back somewhere."

I gagged on my hot chocolate as the taste turned bitter and narrowed my eyes a little. It wasn't that I was jealous, I mean who Mads does in his spare time is his business. Key words are in his spare time. This was supposed to be the nice beginning of a very long, stressful day and Ditsy Doo Dah over here just ruined it.

Mads shot me a glance while trying to hide his growing smile. He's enjoying this, that bastard. I practically slammed my mug down, making the light brown mixture slosh over one of the sides. The girl gave a huff and turned towards me expectantly as if I had just interrupted something important.

So help me God if she does not leave us alone I'm going to snap. I felt my shadow pulse as my annoyance grew along with it. The smoky tendrils wound themselves down my right arm as my hand clenched into a fist and unclenched.

Mads suddenly cleared his throat and lightly touched her wrist, "Look I appreciate the err, offer. Unfortunately I'm going to have to decline."

The girl pouted as a perplexed look crossed her face. Almost like she was contemplating why he had rejected her. That, or the fact that she had been rejected in the first place. Perhaps both, who knows?

"Oh well, sorry hun but I think you should just move along now- we have some things to discuss." I couldn't help but let the condescending tone slip through my voice.

Giving one last final huff- she seemed to do that a lot- the bothersome waitress strutted away, putting a little too much swing into her steps. I curled my lips and cocked an amused eyebrow at the thought of her tripping and possibly breaking a hip.

"You're brutal, you do know that right?"

Mads let out a low whistle before picking up his mug of coffee and taking a sip. I opened my mouth to make a snarky comment back but was cut short as a splitting headache slammed against my brain. one of my hands gripped the table as the other reached for my head. I made a low whimper at the back of my throat before standing up and apologizing as I quickly walked to the bathroom.

I locked the door and took in a deep breath. Turning on one of the faucets I braced myself against the sink and looked up into the mirror. A small shriek escaped me as my reflection stared back. I could have sworn that my eyes just turned...white? Wait, no that doesn't sound right. It was like my irises turned into a pale gray color. Almost the color of moonlight. Shaking my head I urgently splashed water onto my face before looking back up and sighing in relief. Hazel eyes, wide with slight fear, bore into me. After shaking my head and cleaning myself up I headed back out to find Mads already done with his meal and sipping on his coffee.

He stood up and grabbed my shoulders, "Are you alright? I thought I heard a scream."

"Yeah totally fine. Um, some girl was in one of the stalls and just discovered one of the joys of being a woman. If you catch my drift." I lied through my slightly crooked teeth.

He narrowed his eyes and glanced behind me towards the bathroom door before focusing back on me. "Uh huh, Right. Well If you're done we can head to the hospital and see what's up there."

"Oh, yeah. I'm done. Wasn't all that hungry after all." Well at least now I wasn't. I reached down to grab my jacket and saw that my shadow was still wrapped around both of my arms. It was normal to see a Nightshade's shadow react with their emotions, but it usually settled down when they did.

* * *

"I'm sorry but there's nobody here under that name. You could try Pine Street Hospital, I'm sure he'll be there. Wish I could help more sweetie."

Mads and I thanked the elderly nurse and let out frustrated groans. That was the reply that we've gotten for the past couple of hours. After driving around for what seemed like ever and asking locals if they knew the kid we decided to try one of our last hopes only to be disappointed again.

"Well we've got one more place to try and if he's not there, it's back to square one."

I nodded in agreement as he started his car and pulled out of the hospital parking lot. The girl's second day was almost up as the skies above us turned into a endless sea of purples and pinks. Signaling the fast approaching night. It was only about six o'clock in the evening but with it being mid-autumn that gave us a limited amount of daylight to work with. By the time we reached our final destination the pinks had faded and were replaced with dark blues and a small splatter of stars.

We climbed out of the car and quickly headed inside to the front desk. The nurse was quite young and seemed to be over stressed and tired as a woman tried to quiet down her screaming four year old son. For once I was thankful for Mads' good looks and charm being there when we needed them because she did not look like she wanted to deal with anyone's shit right now.

As Mads started charming his way into getting info I saw a shape slide behind two double doors that opened as a man in a lab coat walked leisurely out of them. Pale blond hair slightly matted with blood on one side was all it took to make me take off down the hall, barely making it just as the doors swung closed. Ignoring the peeved calls of the lady I quickly turned the corner where I saw the hair disappear behind. As if being pulled by some invisible force I headed towards the elevator and pressed the up button. It dinged a couple of seconds later letting me know that it had arrived. After waiting a few precious minutes the doors dinged and opened once again as a red three blinked above them. That's weird, I don't remember pressing a floor number. The hallway was well lit as I made my way down the left side looking at room cards. I swiveled around as a muffled sob sounded from a room two doors down on the left. Quietly making my way to the door way I peeked inside and gasped.

The girl was standing next to the bed where a boy who was hooked up to an excessive amount of tubes and wires. Bandages covered a majority of his face and body. Two of his limbs, one leg and one arm, were wrapped up in plaster. He seemed to be either asleep or unconscious because he didn't stir when she brushed his brown hair back from his face.

"Michaela," she jumped and turned around at the sound of my voice "Michaela, you can't stay here. Look I know that you were worried about Rian, but he's fine. Ok well fine isn't exactly the right word but he's alive."

She lowered her head and let out a small chuckle, "That's just it, he's alive. He's fucking alive!"

My brow creased as her tone turned from gentle to- angry. No, it was furious. She took another step in my direction and continued. "It's not fair. Why did I have to be the one to die? He was nothing!

"He's alive and being looked after, with all of these people worrying about him. While I, was the one who died and was left wandering around convinced that I was still alive! Do you realize how unfair that is? I had so much to live for. A scholarship to Berkley, a new job with amazing pay. I was going to settle down and have kids and then travel around America after I retired. I mean yeah I was dating him, but he had nothing. We were only together for a couple of months. He was attending the community college and barely made minimum wage. I knew it wasn't going to work between us. We were on our way to lunch when the crash happened. I was going to do it then."

Her voice lowered to a hush as she finished. My eyes grew wide with shock. She was so frantic yesterday, not because she was worried about him- she wanted to know if he died too because to her it was unfair that she lost so much. Another chuckle left her as she inclined her head. The shadow surrounding her pulsed and grew as it snaked itself around her body, almost swallowing her whole. I shook my head and started to try and back out of the doorway. Instead of stepping out into the hall, my back hit the wooden door. What? I didn't see or hear it close.

"Where do you think you're going?" a grated voice called out in a hiss.

I looked back to where Michaela was but in her place was a huge, pitch black, snake-like figure that was coiled up around itself. Its body resembled the skeletal structure of a snakes rib cage and was surrounded by black scales. It's head however was dragon like with four horns that popped out of the top of the head and fangs the size of swords. All in all, she turned into a demon snake from hell with three red eyes on each side of it's head that may I add, was larger that half of my body. It's attention turned to Rian as it's tail whipped at the machines surround him. It was then that I noticed a black blade made out of bone at the tip of it's tail. The steady beeping that had once been filling the room turned into a string of the high pitched sound as his chest stopped rising and falling. It had cut off the life support machine. A hissing sound caught my attention as it's jaws opened up, brandishing gleaming black, serrated teeth.

I screamed as it struck at me and tumbled out of the way causing it's head to go through the door. Oh shit! I quickly glanced around the room for another exit option when I was knocked into by a bone crushing force that sent me crashing through a sheet of glass. At least I found another escape route. Cold wind rushed around me as another scream ripped through my throat. Shit. I was falling, three stories, to the hard ground below. My arms crossed themselves in front of me as the grass rapidly approached me. In one final effort to keep myself from dying my shadow engulfed me last minute. The impact knocked the breath from me and my vision went black for a good few seconds. Rolling over, I coughed and tried to open my eyes before quickly shutting them. Visions of falling glass and black smoke danced behind my eyelids. I was done. The demon launched itself out of the window while blasting another whole in the wall along with it. I took in one last deep breath I reached out to the side with my right hand.

"Torva messor vivit, Vivian"

Warmth filled my hand as my eyes flew open with a sudden jolt of energy. Looking to my right I was beyond shocked to see a silvery white light start to take form in my palm. It stretched out and grew into a long handle that resembled a staff. Then at the tip of it, it moved in a slight arc before drawing to a point. It wasn't a staff, it was a scythe. Not even questioning why a scythe made of light was suddenly in my hand I got to my feet and ducked out of the way just as the demon hit the ground where I had been moments before. It hissed again and snapped it's jaws as I swung the blade at it, cutting one of it's three eyes in the process.

"Come on! Is that the best you've got?"

Then taking the chance that it was disorientated and not paying attention I brought the weapon down in one clean swoop. There was a sickening sound of bone being cut and a high pitched screech before silence fell upon the area. It's body went up in black fire before it turned to ash and disappeared. The adrenaline started to fade and my head became clouded with pain. I looked down to find that my ankle was swollen and I had a small gash on my left side that was bleeding through my top. My feet staggered as I tried to regain my balance.

Twigs snapped in the forest behind me which caused my body to jump and brandish my new found weapon. Jade eyes appeared from behind the shadowed trees as a figure stepped forward into the moonlight. Unlike before when they disappeared, after I blinked they were still there. Staring at me with amusement and curiosity. Except this time they weren't just eyes. A head of slightly shaggy, black hair fell into them as the person came more into view. It was a boy. Maybe a year or two older than me. He was dressed in a pair of black jeans with a black long sleeved shirt over them. He was by far attractive. With slightly pointed cheek bones and pale skin. His top lip had a slight cupid's bow and was a bit less full than his bottom one. Still, there was a type of arrogant air around him that made me narrow my eyes at him.

"Hello, Vivian."