Voices in the Darkness

by Rebecca Royce

“About why demons and hags and other creatures I could have gone my whole life without knowing about are preoccupied with me, and how I can make it stop?”

  Colton winced. “About that if you want. Sure. Yes, I have some thoughts on that.”

  My phone dinged. It was Rick. “We’ll go see the clients tomorrow. On a date. Talk later.”

  I gaped. On a date? I could count on one hand how many times that happened for Rick. I thought he was still in love with his late wife. Of course, he was human, and crazier things had happened.

  Aaron smiled at me. “Will do.”

  Should I mention that the hag had touched him, too? Should I not? There was so much to figure out.

  Hell, I’d wait. Sitting down on the couch, I caught the sound of the car starting in the driveway and my clock ticking in my kitchen.

  Lacey Madison. Always alone. Even in a crowd. Even when I had hags in my head and demons in my past. I was sleeping with more than one guy. I had Rick. And yet, this creature had effectively isolated me.

  Once again.

  Were some people just born to be alone? Was that my path?

  Ugh. I guessed the one thing about being alone was that you learned to count on yourself. If I was bored, I only had myself to blame.

  I needed to figure some shit out—like the guys were clearly not built for Anchorage. This wasn’t a place I could stay with them.

  I glanced around my snug little house and thought about leaving. It would hurt to do that. I’d scrimped and saved for this place. And Rick counted on me.

  But he was on a date, which was weird. The more I thought about him on a date, the more it bothered me.

  I picked up my phone, staring at the message. This wasn’t right. Before I could think too much about it, I called him.

  It rang. And kept on ringing. Just as I was about to give up, it connected. I thought it would be voicemail, but Rick’s deep, rough voice came through the line. “Lacey.”

  In the background were voices and music.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  “Yes. I told you, I’m on a date.” His tone was short and a little annoyed. Alarm bells went off in my head.

  “Where?” I asked.

  “The Whistling Pig. Why?”

  The Whistling Pig was a coffee bar near his house.

  My throat was still hurting. Maybe a drink would help. Decision made, I got up from the couch and went to the front door. I shoved my feet into my boots and my arms into my winter coat.

  Hat.

  Gloves.

  Keys.

  I was ready to go.

  A blast of arctic wind hit me square in the face when I opened the door. Yeah. This was hard to get used to when you came from the desert. Colton’s car was gone, and Thorn and Oliver were nowhere to be seen.

  I was guessing they went for a walk, or else they were in my tiny unattached garage. My car was still in the driveway, but I poked my head into the garage first.

  “Guys?”

  No one answered. Okay. Maybe they all went off together.

  That was fine. A little rude. But fine. I went to my car, started it, and pulled out of the driveway before it was warmed up.

  Shit. I should have left a note. My phone sat in my cupholder, but a fresh cover of snow made me nervous to text while I drove. When I got to the bar, I’d tell them where I was. They might be fine going on adventures without letting me know about it, but I wasn’t.

  I swallowed hard as I drove through town toward the bar. My throat ached, and my head pounded. If Oliver did what he threatened and called his father, I wanted a magical armor that kept the supernatural from sniffing me out.

  Snorting, I turned onto one of the main streets. The traffic was a little busier, so I needed to pay close attention, especially when huge log trucks hauled by me in the left lane.

  I shook my head. I hated the way people drove like there was no consequence to their actions. Still, I managed to make it to the bar without incident. Parking the car, I enjoyed the heat for one more second as I shot the guys a text message, telling them where I was. Then I turned off the car, said goodbye to the heat, and sighed.

  No matter how fast I walked through this my cheeks were going to burn by the time I got inside.

  I did it as quickly as I could, and sure enough… yeah… burning cheeks. I shook my head as I scanned the room.

  There was Rick, sitting at a table across from a woman. In front of him was what looked like an iced tea and across the table was an older woman with dark hair and bright green eyes. She was probably about Rick’s age, with a round face and a kind smile.

  Rick’s eyes widened when he spotted me, which took only seconds, considering we’d both been trained to spot people when they approached.

  “Lacey? What are you doing here?”

  Suddenly, I wasn’t certain what I was doing here at all. The music was loud, and Rick’s date furrowed her brow, looking between us.

  I cleared my throat. “Rick. Ah, hi. I came to…” To what? What was I thinking was going to happen? “Check on you.” It wasn’t a question, but my voice did raise at the end of the sentence.

  His cheeks went pink, and he glared a little. I had the distinct impression I’d be hearing about this later. “Lacey. This is Hope. My date I told you about. Twice.”

  Hope put out her hand. “Hi, Lacey. I’ve heard all about you. It’s lovely to meet you.”

  I shook her hand. “Hi.”

  He rose. “Come with me.”

  I followed him toward the door, stopping just close enough that we’d feel the gust every time it opened. “Lacey? What are you doing?”

  “You usually tell me everything. I’ve never known you to date. And some weird shit went down today. I thought… I thought something was wrong.”

  He sighed. “Lacey, you’re right, I usually don’t date. But I am right now.” He slung an arm around my shoulders, squeezing a little. I got the impression he did it to soften whatever he was about to say next. “With those four guys in your life, I realized something. One reason I haven’t been dating is because I’ve been worrying about you. Yet there you are, with guys in your house, and I thought that was a pretty big sign from the universe that you were fine. So I listened, and figured that it was time for me to get a life. I’ve known Hope for years. She was my kid’s principal in elementary school.”

  Oh.

  Suddenly, all my worries that there might have been something evil behind him not calling me back disappeared. I bit my lip, and Rick went on, “I’m fine, kid. Appreciate your caring, but I got this.”

  I wasn’t sure if it was possible to melt into the floor and die of embarrassment. If that could happen right now, that would be fine with me. “I’m sorry.”

  “I know. I get it—you worried. But I’ll ask for help if I need it. Go home. You’ve got supernatural problems and new boyfriends. Leave me to me. I’m just having coffee.”

  I nodded once to him and then waved to Hope. I needed to get out of here.

  I’d only been inside a short period of time, but the car was freezing. Turning it on, I waited for it to heat up again.

  Why the hell had I done this? I needed to get my head together.

  My phone dinged. It was Oliver. “You shouldn’t have left without us. We followed what turned out to be deer tracks around the side of your neighbors’ house. Whoops.”

  I guessed all of us were making whoops right now. Hot air started to blast into my face, and I pulled on my seatbelt. Placing my foot on the brake, I let out a breath and realized I was happy for Rick.

  It had been a decade since his family had died, and he’d mourned them. I knew he still did. His wife and daughter’s pictures sat on his desk, and more than once, I’d seen him lost in thought, staring at their faces.

  If he found a bit of happiness, then good for him.

  I ended up behind a plow, so it took three times as long as it should have. When I got home, all the lights were on, and I smiled. Four guys waited for me inside, and
even though I’d only been gone an hour, I couldn’t wait to see them.

  9

  We spent the rest of the day and into the evening doing research. Aaron and Thorn had their heads bent over their computers while Colton and Oliver were deep in discussion.

  I was doing my own research.

  I had been thinking about being frozen in my sleep, or right before the demon or hag or whatever it was reached out to me. So I put it in a search engine, and it led me to something else—sleep paralysis. From there, it was just a hop, skip, and a jump to a site that had proven to be very useful in the past.

  Reddit.

  It was there, following a thread about sleep paralysis, that a name jumped out at me. Mara. I whispered it. “Mara.”

  “What?” Aaron’s voice made me startle. “What did you say?”

  I couldn’t help giving Thorn and Colton a little smile before I started. “I think I found something…” I trailed off and said the next part quietly. “On Reddit.”

  Colton and Thorn exchanged a glance and smiled back at me. “What did you find?” Thorn asked.

  None of them second-guessed or called me to task for having followed a thread on an internet site. “It’s just—I started looking up threads about sleep paralysis, and I found this folktale that sounds like what we’re dealing with. A creature whose name is actually the origin of the word ‘nightmare.’ It’s female, which is the sense I get each time I hear its voice, and this creature is old. Proto-Indo-European, whatever that means.” I glanced up from my computer to study them. “What do you think?”

  Thorn was already busy on his computer. He was quiet as he read, and then sat back. “Yeah. Mara certainly fits the bill.”

  “Something ancient, wrapped up in sleep and nightmares. I think you found it, Lace.” Aaron smiled at me, but it quickly left his lips.

  “This isn’t like Erdirg,” Oliver said quietly. “It’s not something that was asleep and woke up when Lacey accidentally activated it or whatever. This thing has existed alongside humans.”

  I sighed. “And yet it wants me. Specifically. Why is that?”

  Oliver leaned over to kiss my lips. “I have some theories on that, but we’re not going to discuss them right now, okay?”

  I hated being out of the loop when it came to me, and yet, it made sense. They couldn’t tell me things they didn’t want the hag to know, and I couldn’t let her hear me discuss what I didn’t want her to know I was telling them. What was the answer here?

  Oliver banged his hand down on the table which caught me by surprise. The water next to him spilled, and I gasped. As I jumped up, he stopped me to whisper in my ear. “She can die, Lacey.”

  I blinked. He’d done that on purpose, created a distraction. A human annoyance—spilled water—that the hag wouldn’t care about. How had he known to do that? What had they talked about while I was chasing down Rick and sitting in my car? Were they all just going to do that whenever they needed to relay information to me now?

  What kinds of things qualified?

  I was tired. Bone weary and a little bit sad. Rick had moved on because he thought I had, and he was right, to an extent. But in some ways, I was right back to where I had been a decade earlier, in the midst of a paranormal mess that I couldn’t do anything about.

  “Lacey, come here.” Colton crooked his finger. “If you wouldn’t mind.”

  He motioned toward the back of the house, and I followed him. Heading toward the stairs, I wondered if he was going to tell me to take a nap. I wouldn’t say no actually. And if he wanted to tuck me in and tell me a bedtime story, I’d take that, too.

  Instead, he pushed me against the wall, kissing me hard. I sucked in my breath. This worked too. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on as he lifted me so that my legs were off the floor.

  He tasted of mint and overwhelmed my senses. I decided right then and there that I didn’t give a shit if a hag was watching. Let her. He was mine. They all were. And if I was going to be overwhelmed by some paranormal bitch that wanted to steal me for whatever reason, then I was going to enjoy every living second I had before that. I wanted Colton between my legs, in my body. I wanted to suck on his cock until I forgot my fucking name.

  He bit down on my lip, and I cried out. God, I wanted him. Somehow, he’d known that the little bit of pain he’d given me had been just what I needed.

  When I’d been younger, Colton had experience and I’d had none. He’d given me my first taste of how things could be between us, but we’d never gotten to the rest of it before I’d taken off.

  Tonight, I wasn’t going anywhere.

  He drew back to meet my gaze. I thought he was going to say something, but he didn’t. He dove back in, kissing me until my lips ached and then dragged his teeth and tongue down my neck. “Upstairs.” He grabbed my hand, dragging me behind him. Once we were inside my room, he slammed the door.

  “Fucking cold,” he said, pulling at the turtleneck sweater I’d put on earlier. He had me against the wall, so I did the work for him. In one smooth movement that had me impressed with myself, I tugged the sweater over my head along with my sports bra.

  He leaned back, his gaze zeroed in on my chest. “Fuck.” The sound was long, released on a breath and paired with a long roll of his hips against my core.

  I knew what that hardness promised, and I let my head fall back against the wall.

  His shoulders were strong, and I dug my fingers into his skin as he thrust again and again. I could come just like this, but it would be better if he was in me the first time I did. That was what I wanted. Utter and complete oneness.

  My skin was hot where his stubble had raked across my skin, but the burn was perfect. The world spun, and I landed hard on the bed, bouncing up only to come right up against his hard chest.

  Blue eyes glittered, he reared up on his knees and began tearing at his clothes. I sat up as soon as the smooth expanses of his chest were revealed. This body. God. A light smattering of dark hair drifted from one nipple to the other. I attached my lips to one, biting the small pebbled surface with my teeth before licking my way to the other.

  “Lace.” The growl that came out of him sounded nothing like the Colton I knew.

  His fingers pushed past the waist of my jeans, right to the heart of me. He hooked a finger and slid it inside, then another, not waiting for me to adjust.

  I cried out. Holy shit. His fingers were thick and rough, but all it took was one thrust and another to have me adjusting.

  “So wet.” He bit my earlobe between his teeth, his breath leaving a chill along my skin.

  My hips pushed toward his, but I couldn’t get what I needed. His fingers weren’t enough. There wasn’t enough skin. Enough teeth.

  I dropped my hands from his chest to his jeans and unbuttoned them. He shifted, just enough to get them down around his thighs, grabbed a condom from his back pocket, and rolled it on. I was tugging at mine as well, so I didn’t get a chance to tell him we didn’t need it. The next second, I didn’t care, because he had thrust inside me.

  Oh shit. Thank god I was wet, because Colton was huge. I had one short moment of regret that I hadn’t gotten to see him, to explore him with my hands and mouth, but it disappeared with the next slam into me.

  My jeans were caught around my ankles, so I wasn’t able to open my legs as wide as I wanted. I shimmied, trying to kick one leg free, but Colton stopped me. “You’re tight like this. Painfully so.”

  I was in the best kind of pain. This pain was anticipation of release. He sped up, pushed a hand between us and circled my clit.

  That was the fastest way to get me where I wanted to go, but then he changed his angle, driving deeper, and that was it.

  I exploded. He bit down on my neck, and I knew it was going to leave a mark. I was spent, but he wasn’t. Minutes passed as jolts of pleasure traveled through me while he got impossibly harder. He spoke words I wasn’t even sure he was conscious of saying.

  “Fuck. Yes. This.” It w
as hot to see him lost like this, powerful to know that I’d done this to him. Finally, he came inside of me. I breathed him in, holding his strong body as he shook against me. He still wasn’t making much sense, but the words he spoke touched me.

  “I think you’re so beautiful, Lacey. Thank you for being found.”

  I kissed his chin. “Thank you for coming back to find me all those years ago, too. You don’t let me down, Colton. Thank you.”

  He shuddered against me. That was evidently the right thing to say. He kissed both my cheeks. “Come lie down with me.”

  I nodded. He pulled out of me, disposing of the condom on his way to my bed. He grabbed his pants and fiddled with them for a second.

  I couldn’t see exactly what he was doing with his back to me.

  “You okay?”

  He nodded, before he turned around. “I’m so glad you trust me, Lacey. I trust you, too. Kiss me.” Before I could give what he said too much thought, he kissed me, hard. I gasped against his lips and tasted something bitter on his tongue.

  He met and held my gaze as I pulled back to stare at him. Okay. Something had just happened. Colton used the word trust. That was what he was asking me to do. The hag was listening, and she’d gotten in my head, so that meant I had to trust him.

  The best thing I could do was focus on the feel of him in my arms and not the slight flavor he’d shared with me.

  He held out his arms. “Come here. Let’s cuddle.”

  It wasn’t in my nature to not know what was happening to me. Or around me. But I could do that. I hated every second of being out of the loop, but they had a plan. If that was how it was going to happen, I was just going to have to deal.

  There was a knock on the door. “Come in!” he called out. We were both naked, but under the blankets. And maybe being nude around each other was something we were all going to have to get used to.

  Oliver closed the door and then climbed in next to me. “A nap sounds great. Kiss?”

  This whole not-being-privy-to-the-endgame was killing me. And there would be a limit to how much I could go with the flow. Still, I leaned over and kissed Oliver.