Free Destroyed by Kimberly Loth Page A

have to. Naomi can take care of it.” He seemed awfully sure I’d do this. “Come on, Naomi, let me show you why we are here.”
    My dad grabbed my hand. “Don’t go in there.”
    “I have to see. I can handle it.” I gently freed my hand and followed after Kai as he entered the barn through a side door. The smell of decay grew stronger.
    We walked along a dark pathway that eventually opened up into a large room. The walls were lined with cages, big and small. In every cage was an animal. I approached the first cage and found a rabbit. Or what was left of it, anyway. All of its legs were missing. I thought it was dead, but then it blinked at me. The skin where its legs should’ve been was red and raw, but not bloody. I covered my mouth and moved to the next cage, unable to force myself to look away from the horror.
    This cage was larger and inside was a cat, I think. Its fur had all been burned off, leaving angry blisters covering its body. It, too, opened its eyes when I walked past, blinking at me. When I moved closer to the cage, it opened its mouth and meowed.
    I gasped and took a couple of steps back, nauseous. I turned to Kai. “Heal it. Heal them all.”
    “My healing powers only work on humans.”
    I turned back to the cages. They were all filled with mutilated animals. All alive, but disfigured. Some had missing limbs, some had missing eyes or ears, or red scars puckering their bodies where they’d been cut. It was all I could do not to vomit.
    “This is what this man has been doing? Why? What does it have to do with his power?”
    “He feeds off of the pain he inflicts. It increases his power.”
    “This is sick.”
    I strode quickly to the door. Once out in the open air, I could see the wretched man and my dad standing in front of him yelling unintelligible words.
    I took my time weighing my options. I could feel my mother stirring beneath my skin. She’d been dormant since I got rid of Dwayne. Her power reared and yearned for the high that came from drawing out another’s power. She wanted it and so, by default, I wanted it. I couldn’t let this man continue to torture animals. I had to rid him of his gift.
    I tapped my dad on his shoulder. He jerked and looked at me. I could see relief in his eyes.
    “Let me take care of him,” I said.
    He nodded and backed away.
    “Let go of him.”
    Jason complied right away, but the cop did not.
    “He’ll run.”
    Jason spoke before I could. “No, he won’t. Trust me, you don’t want to hang onto him when Naomi does her thing.”
    The cop complied and I gripped the foul man’s hands. He sneered. “Like that, do you? I’ve got a few other things you can hang onto.”
    I ignored him and listened to my mother’s voice in my veins. Pull. I drew on his power and immediately the sneer fell from his face. “What the hell are you doing, bitch?”
    I continued to pull his dark and foul energy into my hands. After a minute he went limp and fell to the ground, but I did not break my grip. I was almost done, only a few more seconds.
    The connection severed and I fell backwards into the grass. I sat with my head between my knees, too worn out to even stand up. Kai put his hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
    I shook my head. The Destroyer’s creepy power snaked through my body and I could hear thousands of screaming animals in my head.
    “Kai,” I whispered. He knelt down in front of me. “I need you to kiss me. I need you to push these horrible feelings away.”
    He leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Don’t tempt me. What you want is a Guardian’s kiss and I can’t give you that or my secret will be out. Can you wait a few minutes?”
    I nodded, even though I wanted to scream. I could still smell death and the animal cries in my head would not go away.
    Kai stood.
    The cop was mortified. “What did she do to him?”
    “He’s no longer a Destroyer.”
    “How the hell did she do that? Is she a Guardian?”
    “No, she’s actually a Shade.