The Beast Within (The Elite Series) - By Jonathan Yanez Page 0,29

could have been ruined so completely in less than twenty-four hours. Chunks of grass had been ripped out, holes had sporadically appeared over the landscape, and long gashes that looked like claw marks were everywhere.

The lack of vehicles in front of the house was unusual. Stopping his truck at the front door, he didn’t bother knocking and tried the handle. It opened without hesitation. Looking closer, Connor realized it was broken.

Katie’s huge house opened into a foyer with twin staircases on either side that led to the second floor. The staircases were shaped like half circles, and made of the same material as the entry room floor, white marble. To his right and left there were doorways leading to the labyrinth that was Katie’s house, and in front of him, between the staircases, were two large wooden doors.

“Katie! Katie!” he yelled.

There was no response, nothing at all. Taking the stairs two at a time, he raced to her room. The walls down the hallway were covered in family photos. Her mom was tall, blonde, and blue-eyed; her dad strong looking with perfectly cut hair and a politician’s smile. The pictures showed them on trips, at graduations, and other family outings. It wasn’t the scenery in the pictures that caught his eye, but the bloodstains smeared across the white walls.

Reaching her room, he burst through and found her lying on her bed. She was on her back, eyes closed, almost peaceful.

“Katie?” Connor kneeled by her side. “Katie, wake up. I’m here.”

Her eyes flickered open, bluer than he remembered. Her skin was pale. Her hair, normally well-groomed and styled, was a tangled mess, and on the left side of her neck, a large bite mark tore through her skin. Connor wasn’t sure if the bleeding had stopped. There was a large crimson pool by her neck, staining her white sheets.

“Connor?” she ever so slightly turned her head to him and gave a faint smile. “Connor, it is you. I was having a nightmare, then I heard your voice and woke up.”

“I’m here, Kat, it’s me.” Looking around the room, he grabbed one of her white undershirts from the floor. He carefully sat next to her on the bed and pressed the piece of clothing to her wound.

“You’re going to be okay, Kat. I’m going to take you to a hospital and you’re going to be great.”

Katie looked at him, “Connor, I feel strange. I feel like I should be in a lot more pain, but I’m not.”

“You’re probably just in shock.”

“Connor, my mom, my dad—they’re gone.” Tears formed in her eyes.

“Shhhhh.” He gently picked her up. She felt like a lamb in his arms. She was helpless but he was here now and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

Walking down the hall, he carried her down the stairs and out to his truck. She was rambling now from the blood loss and shock.

“They aren’t human, Connor, they’re not human.”

“I know.” Connor placed her in the passenger side of his truck with all the care an antique collector would use when handling his most valuable possession.

Closing her door, he ran to the driver’s side, turned his truck around, and headed to the town hospital. The entire drive, Katie kept rambling., Her eyes would flutter open, then closed, but in whispers, Connor could pick out words and phrases.

“Black eyes… Not human… No! Get away…”

Connor was usually a very cautious driver, obeying traffic signs and road rules, but today as Katie sat next to him, dying, for all he knew, he gave himself a pass. Barreling through stop signs and red lights, he honked his horn at other drivers, warning them he didn’t plan to stop. Angry horns replied back as he maneuvered through the mid-day traffic.

A light sprinkle started, adorning his windshield in a pattern of raindrops and forcing him to use his wipers. Katie leaned against the window, the makeshift bandage Connor applied to her neck starting to come undone. She was wearing a beige tank top, the left side of which was drenched with blood, and jeans that looked so clean they had to be new. She was missing her shoes, and her perfectly manicured toes were bare against Connor’s truck floor.

The thought that someone would injure something so perfect and innocent enraged him. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He would make sure Katie got to the hospital and that she would be all right, then he would go and find whoever had done this to