It? I sighed and left the med wing. The chapel was dark and empty except for a few streams of light coming through the windows.
A pale figure stepped out of the shadows. White, waist -length hair, moonlight-pale skin. Pointed ear tips… Fae. Silver eyes met mine. He bowed his head. “I have a message for the gargoyles from the Shadow Court.”
I met him halfway down the aisle. “Why? We haven’t had contact with the Fae for centuries.”
His face was serene. “Your people haven’t. Evelyn has.”
Evelyn? Of course, she’d have contact with the Fae. Who didn’t the female have contact with? “What’s the message?”
“Something is waking up,” he stated. “Something ancient.”
“That’s it?” I asked, frustration eating at my throat. “Something old is waking up? You can’t be any clearer than that?”
“It’s in your world, not ours. I’m bringing this message as a courtesy to Evelyn.” He blinked slowly. “How is she?”
I cursed under my breath. “Declining. I haven’t been able to figure out what’s been making her worse.”
“I suggest that you do.” He frowned. “Evelyn is the center of a great many circles.”
“I’m starting to realize that,” I muttered dryly.
“Just pass the message along.” He turned and disappeared into the shadows. I rubbed my temples. What the hell was going on around here?
9
Rina
I was in the woods with a salty ocean breeze dancing through the trees. It was familiar… Oh no… I closed my eyes and groaned. “Damn it!”
A deep chuckle echoed from somewhere.
I shook my head as my face burned. “I’m sorry, Falk.”
“I was wondering if you remembered.” He stepped out onto the trail through the grass.
My face caught fire. “Yeah, it just hit me.”
“It’s all right,” he said. “I don’t mind the company.”
The way he was looking at me…made my heart beat harder. To distract myself, I looked around at the woods. Tall, rich, green grass stretched out before me. Sprinkled throughout were tulips of every color imaginable. “Wow. It’s beautiful.”
Falk looked at all the flowers. “This is new.”
I bent down to touch the petals of a flared, bright-red tulip. “What do you mean?”
“These kinds of tulips don’t really grow on the island.”
I straightened and turned to him, beaming. “Not in the real world; but they do in your head.”
He eyed me. “Maybe.”
“What else is here?” I made my way through the grass towards him.
The corner of his lips lifted into a half-grin. He held out his hand to me. “I think I know something you’ll enjoy.”
Without hesitation, I took his hand and started walking where he led. His fingers were warm and calloused in mine. His grip light. The scent of ozone reached me, though here, there was a touch of cedar. It was a peaceful walk, with the birds chirping and the waves crashing. The sounds of the ocean grew louder. The grass changed to white sand under my bare feet. Falk led me out onto a large stretch of incredibly pristine white beach.
“Holy crap!” I let go of his hand and ran for the ocean’s edge.
His deep chuckle followed me as my feet were surrounded by icy saltwater. Smiling, I reached down and felt it flow through my fingers. It was so real… “Your mind is incredible!” I turned to him. “Most of the time, people only have memories that are fuzzy and out of focus. Yours aren’t.”
He sighed as he watched the waves. “This is where I was the happiest, I think.”
I turned back to him as the water surged around our feet again. “How long did you live here?”
We started walking down the beach. “Almost ninety years.”
I kicked at the waves as they hit my feet again. “Why’d you leave?”
With unfocused eyes, he moved between me and a surging wave that reached my knees.
I splashed as we continued down the sand.
“If this was your mind, where would we be?” His voice was a rough rasp.
I thought about it. “I guess we’d be in my parents’ basement playing video games or working on my computer.” It wasn’t nearly as pretty as the beach, but that was the closest thing to a happy place I had.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw his gaze move over my face as the corners of his lips turned down. “Why is that your happy place?”
I looked down at the sand and shoved my hands into my pockets. “It’s where I was happiest in high school.”
“Why is that?”
I continued to focus on my feet moving over the sand. “I know people liked the way I look.” My face burned. “I hate how that sounds, but…”
“You’re beautiful.” His matter-of-fact tone had me stopping and lifting my head. For the first time in years, I liked that a man thought that.
“People think so, yeah.” Somehow, when he said it that way, it was just easier. “But I wasn’t always. I didn’t get that way until before my senior year in high school. I was a happy, normal girl who had just gotten my first gaming system.” I shrugged. “Then I grew four inches, my skin cleared up, and”—I gestured at my breasts—“my curves kicked in. It felt like, overnight, I wasn’t invisible anymore.” I turned away from him and started walking down the beach again.
“Everything changed.”
“Suddenly, everyone wanted to know who I was; they wanted to be my friend and I didn’t understand why.” Another wave washed over my toes. “Then my friends started to change.”
His fingers wrapped around my arm and pulled me to a stop. “How?”
I shrugged. “My girlfriends started talking about me behind my back. The guys started flirting, and the girls seemed to disappear. My hearing was getting worse. I didn’t know who to trust.” I shrugged. “I started staying home most of the time, gaming online or learning how to program.”
“You started avoiding people.”
I trailed my toes through the water. “Online, no one knows what you look like. They don’t care. Not as long as you don’t act like a jerk.” Needing to change the subject, I bent down and picked up a tiny seashell. I held it up to him. “Nifty.”
His fingers squeezed mine gently as we started moving again. We spent some time combing the beach for shells and talking about nothing important. When my hands were full of tiny shells, he held them for me so I could keep collecting. I made horrible jokes, hoping to get a laugh. He was entirely too serious for where we were.
We had just come across a tide pool when he finally cracked. He chuckled that deep laugh and smiled. All it took was being a little silly. I smiled up at him before looking back down at the tide pool. I knelt on the rock as I ran my fingers over a starfish.
“Your memory really is amazing.” I could feel every bump on the starfish.
“Having an excellent memory is part of my job.”
My smile dimmed as my hair blew in the wind and I got to my feet. “Do you like it?”
His eyes snapped to mine. “Killing people?”
I nodded, my heart sinking.
When he said nothing, my need to know doubled.
“I love life, Falk.” I needed him to understand this about me for some reason. “I can’t imagine what ending one would be like. You don’t even have to answer…”
He looked out at the water over my shoulder. “No. I don’t like it.”
I gathered my hair in my hand and kept it out of my face. “You didn’t want to talk about it when we were awake.”
His eyes were shadowed as he watched the waves. “I didn’t want to see your face when you realized what I am. Here, I can’t seem to keep my mouth shut.”
I tilted my head to the side. “What do you mean?”
He turned back to me with a somber face. “I’m a monster, Rina. It doesn’t bother me to kill like it does others.”
I tilted my head back to look up at him. “How so?”
He shook his head and gave me a sad smile. “The lives I’ve taken don’t haunt me. I don’t regret one of them. My own people don’t even want to be around me because of it.”
That just made me mad. “They avoid you?”
“Mothers grab their children and hurry them across the street when I walk down the sidewalk. They use my name to get them to eat their vegetables.” His voice was emotionless but his eyes…they held the pain of centuries.
“Who do you kill?” I hated to ask, but I needed to know it all.
“Anyone who has committed a crime that was handed down a death sentence.” He kept his gaze on the ocean.
“Murderers?”
“And worse.”
Something about him finally clicked. “You do the job no one else wants.”
He grew still. “It doesn’t bother me.”
I reached up and forced him to look down at me. “But it would bother them.”
His eyes met mine.
“You do the job because it doesn’t bother you. So they can go home at night and not have ghosts running around in their heads.” It was amazing. He had taken a fault of his and used it to prevent others from having to… He was incredible. What he gave to his people. “And they leave you alone because of it.” Yeah, that irritated the hell out of me. “You’re not a monster, Falk.”
“I feel nothing, Corrina.” His gaze met mine and held it. “Do you understand what that means?”
I ran my gaze over his face. His face was weary, tired. Permanent frown lines were practically engraved. His lips were in a tense line. But it was the look in his dark eyes that held me. It wasn’t of a man drowning. It was of a man who had drowned a long time ago and had given up on ever finding the surface again. “I think it means that you’ve lost the hope of finding anything else.”
He blinked down at me, surprise sparking on his face. “I’m not some fucking white knight, Rina. I’m the monster under the bed.”
“The monster who sacrifices pieces of himself to spare the people around him.” I held his gaze. “Until there is nothing of himself left.”
He said nothing, but his clenched jaw told me I wasn’t wrong.
“You need people to help you feel again,” I whispered.
“I don’t need people, Rina.” His amber eyes held mine. “Just one person.”
My heart hammered in my chest as the breeze ruffled his hair. “Who?” It was insane. I barely knew him but at the same time…
His eyes moved over my face and rested on my lips. “You.”
My heart pounded in my ears. “Me?”
“You’re my match,” he rasped.
“Match?” Evie had said something like that about Atticus…
He reached out, his fingers stroking the line of my jaw. Heat surged through me; warmth filled my chest. I moved closer; his body heat warmed me. A sense of belonging wrapped around me. Some part of me longed for it. I wanted to press against him and soak it in. His fingers slid down my throat to the back of my neck. My breathing grew faster as he leaned down and brushed his lips against mine. A strange noise caught my attention. I pulled back and looked at him with my brow furrowed. Something slid against a hard surface…
* * *
I woke with a small jerk. What… I took a deep breath; the scent of ozone was close. Falk…but there was something else…musky. I opened my eyes. The room was still dark. But something was there…the scrape of something… I shifted closer toward the ozone scent; his warmth radiated off him. My fingers found his shoulder. “Falk.”
He took a deeper breath but stayed perfectly still. But I knew he was awake…
“Falk—” Something cold and strong wrapped around my ankle and dragged me down the bed. I screamed and scrambled for a grip on the blankets. Before I could, Falk’s hand snapped around my wrist and stopped me from sliding. Heart pounding, I looked up at him. His eyes were glowing bright amber in the dark, his fangs bared as he snarled over me at the bathroom door. Heart pounding, I clung to his hand as whatever had me pulled even more. I cried out as a stinging pain shot up my knee.
With one hard pull, he jerked me free, bringing me up the bed under his crouching body before he leapt over me into the shadow of the bathroom.
A snarl vibrated through the room. My chest tight, I reached over and turned on the light with fumbling fingers. Tile broke, glass shattered in the bathroom. Drywall crumbled. Something big was thrown through the wall and door. I dove off the bed to the floor. Whatever it was hit the wall where I had been with a wet, sickening thud.
I scrambled back across the carpet, gaping slack-jawed at the thing on the bed. Big. Tentacles… holy shit! I was still trying to make sense of it when a hand grabbed my arm. The fear drained from me, leaving me shaking as Falk pulled me to my feet. His shirt was torn, with patches of blood here and there. And a black goop…my stomach rolled. Falk left me by the door before moving around the room, gathering our bags before moving back to me. Everything was a bit fuzzy when he opened the door. His arm wrapped around the back of my legs a heartbeat before he lifted me over his shoulder and ran. I didn’t ask, I didn’t argue. I just held on, grateful to be alive.
We had to be well over a mile away before he stopped in a park and set me carefully down on a bench. He pulled my shoes out of my bag, then handed them to me. Before I could put them on, he squatted down and pulled up the leg of my pajama bottoms. A shadow of a bruise was forming around my ankle but otherwise, I was fine. He ran his fingers over my ankle, then looked up at me with demanding eyes.
My heart stopped pounding and I could finally take a breath. “I’m okay.”
He examined me before letting me put my shoes on. I stuffed my feet in them while he pulled his own on.
That’s when I noticed again that his shirt was covered in blood. “Falk, you’re bleeding.”
He nodded as he tied his last shoe, then straightened. He pulled something out of his pocket and held his hand out to me. My hearing aids.
I couldn’t believe he remembered after… I took them, still eyeing his shirt and the spreading blood stains. “You need to stop the bleeding.” I put the batteries in and slipped them in. The world wasn’t so quiet anymore. A distant rumbling meant thunder was on the way.
Falk put my bag next to me and got to his feet. I need to clean up; come on.
I nodded. There was no way in hell I was going far from him. My ankle throbbed as I got to my feet and picked up my bag. He led me to the men’s room of the park bathroom. He quickly picked the lock and led me in. Surprisingly, it was clean and thankfully, empty. Falk went to the center sink, set his bag on the ground, and pulled out the first aid supplies. Slowly, he peeled his now ruined shirt over his head. My heart dropped. Across his sculpted shoulders, old scars shone in the light of the bathroom. His wings were nothing but a highly detailed tattoo down his back. He dropped the shirt to the cement floor before opening a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Blood sluggishly ran down a large cut across his shoulder blade. He poured the alcohol over the cut on his hip and across his chest. He leaned on the sink, head hanging, taking deep, controlled breaths.
Without a word I moved to his side, took the gauze, and held it to the cut over his Adonis belt. He grew still as my eyes ran over the rest of his chest. Scars were everywhere. Even bite marks, old ones. They looked…like human teeth. His gaze was like a touch on my face as I taped the gauze over his hip. My fingertips brushed the hard, enticing lines of his stomach and hip. I swallowed hard before I did the same for the one on his chest. Then I picked up the alcohol and moved behind him, thankful he couldn’t see my burning face anymore. I cleaned his shoulder. His body grew rigid as he hung his head and took deep breaths.
I hated to say it, but… “This one needs stitches.”
He reached over the sink, picked up a tube, and handed it to me over his shoulder. It was superglue.
“Really?”
He nodded.
Okay… I did as he wanted and closed the wound with superglue. I cringed as
I held the skin together until it could set. When it was done, I wetted several paper towels and cleaned the blood off his back. “What was that?”
Barghest, he signed into the mirror before he reached into his bag and pulled another black shirt out.
“How are they finding me?” I didn’t understand it.
He finished pulling on his shirt before turning to me. The first barghest tagged you.
“What?” Was he serious?
He reached out, took my hand, and brought my wrist up to my view. The light bruise had darkened to a deep purple and black.
I looked up at him. “Falk…”
His thumb moved over my skin gently on the back of my hand, calming my heartbeat before he signed, Nothing is going to happen to you.
I swallowed hard; my throat suddenly dry.
Go change into warmer clothes, it’s going to rain.
I took a deep breath and nodded again as I picked up my bag and headed into the handicapped stall. I changed into a light-blue pair of skinny jeans, a black cami, and a berry sweater that reached mid-thigh. I pulled on my boots and swept my hair back into a ponytail. I slipped my jacket on before I stepped out. By then, Falk had everything put away and was ready to go. I slipped my bag on my shoulder and followed him out of the restroom.
He shortened his stride to keep me beside him as we started out of the park.
“Where are we going?” I wrapped my arms around my stomach.
The bus station. We’re taking the first bus out of town.
I nodded as I watched the shadows around us. Where was the next attack going to come from?
His large, warm hand moved to my lower back, easing the tension in my body. Warmth moved through me. Unconsciously, I moved closer to his heat as I pulled my jacket closed. His touch was familiar, comforting. Something nagged at the back of my mind. Images came to the forefront. Falk. Sand. The last wisps of images slipped through my fingers. “Seashells.”
He glanced down at me, his brow drawn.
I stopped walking. His hand slipped from my back as he stopped with me.
I looked up at him, my chest tight. “Falk, did you have a weird dream?”
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