Dark Secrets: A Paranormal Romance Anthology

by Colleen Gleason

  I could hear her talking to someone on her way out. “You won’t get any trouble out of her for the rest of the night. She should be out for a few hours.”

  Thrumming in my ears drowned out the other person’s response. My eyes felt like they weighed a thousand pounds each. Fog rolled into my mind bringing a sense of weightlessness, and I couldn’t feel the crappy mattress underneath me anymore.

  A small, nagging thought told me I should be panicking right now, but couldn’t remember why. Why didn’t I want to sleep again? Something told me to stay awake and not to fall asleep, but I was so tired. My arms and legs refused to move. Gravity changed again, and I went from floating to feeling heavy, as if I were sinking into the mattress. Without the strength to fight off the black fog, I gave in.

  Letting go was peaceful for a while, probably thanks to the drugs. After a few minutes in the blackness, I forgot about everything and everyone. There was nothing; I was nothing. Brick by mental brick, I watched my shields dismantle themselves. I didn’t care. My subconscious, my energy, flowed up and over the rubble that was once a solid wall inside my mind. Like a bathtub being drained and filled at the same time, except it was energy instead of water.

  Still, there was a voice; a voice so tiny I almost didn’t hear it in the back of my mind, telling me to wake up. There it was again, louder this time, screaming at me to wake up. It was my voice, what was left of my mind, telling me to wake the fuck up.

  “I tried to make it peaceful for you, Maurin, but you insist on fighting me. So, if it is pain you want, then pain you shall have.” Lachadiel raged against the reawakening of my subconscious.

  My body must have been metabolizing the drugs faster than that bitch doctor had expected. With each second that passed, more sensation returned. The connection with Oberon sparked to life. It was weak, barely there, but I could still feel it.

  Suddenly, every nerve ending in my body felt like it was on fire. Aware of everything that was happening to me but unable to stop it; I couldn’t move my arms and legs. The weight that was pushing me down through the mattress was Lachadiel. He was there in the cell on top of me, draining my energy and, through me, Oberon’s as well. That’s why the connection was so weak. Oberon had nothing left to give.

  The fire inside my body increased until it finally erupted. It felt as if all of my blood vessels had exploded. A scream broke free as my vocal chords found their purpose again. I reached for Oberon, but this time, I couldn’t find him, couldn’t feel him. The connection was gone. He was gone.

  A new kind of pain, one I wasn’t familiar with, racked my body. My chest hurt—and not from the weight of Lachadiel. My heart felt as if it would shatter into a million pieces.

  Something inside me died too. The part that was good, that learned to laugh and love was gone. I was learning how to let someone love me with Oberon, and Lachadiel had taken that away from me. Screamed ripped free of my mouth again, but not from physical pain. Fury had a voice, and it was mine.

  I tried to buck Lachadiel off of me. The more I fought, the more he pressed his weight onto me. Hypersensitive, my skin felt like he could peel the flesh from my bones as he tightened his grip on my arms. Mobility slowly returned to my arms and legs, but I still didn’t have the strength to get him off of me.

  How long had he been draining me? Long enough for me to drain Oberon, killing him through our connection.

  There were other voices now, people running and shouting. Masarelli and someone else—was it Aidan?

  “I will finish this. I will regain my full form and have my revenge on those that enslaved me. And it is your energy that will give me the power to do it. I tried with the witches, but it wasn’t enough. You, on the other hand, hold more energy than the three of them together. Like the blood flowing through your veins, your energy is constantly cycling through your body. It seems to be an endless supply.” Lacahdiel’s voice was deeper and richer than the last time he had spoken to me. He was filling out before me, his eyes were becoming less hollow, and his skin was slightly less transparent. He was getting stronger.

  Aidan and Masarelli were at the cell door. The sound of officers running down the hallway, their boots pounding the cement floor, reached my ears and I knew the cavalry wasn’t far behind.

  Lachadiel leaned in close to my ear. “Your friends can’t guard you all of the time.” He laughed. Some of his weight lifted when he moved, and I was able to free one arm.

  Without all of Lacahdiel’s weight on my chest, I could finally take a deep breath. Air filled my lungs. Like wind blowing into an empty cave, I felt hollow inside. But somewhere deep down in the pit that my insides had become, something was stirring. I let the rage and anger fill the void Oberon had left behind.

  I grabbed Lachadiel’s left arm, trying to pry it from my right when an image of his true form flashed in my mind. Afrit. He was what the Inquisitors had been looking for? What the hell had they unleashed?

  “I’m going to kill you.” The deadly calm I’d submerged myself in felt good. “And I’m going to enjoy it.” And I meant it. Every word. I wouldn’t stop until he was dead.

  The cell door was ripped from its hinges. Aidan rushed in through a cloud of dust and pieces of cinder block. He grabbed the Afrit, pulling him off me.

  I tumbled to the floor.

  The Afrit struck back at Aidan, throwing him into the wall. Bits of mortar and concrete went flying from the impact.

  I pushed myself up and jumped on the Afrit’s back. My heels dug into its ribs, as I locked my hands under its chin and leaned back with all my weight. Bones not fully mended, my arm disagreed with the plan, but I ignored the pain and leaned back some more in an attempt to rip the beast’s head clean off of its neck.

  The Afrit reached behind him, grabbed a hold of the top of my head, and grasped a fistful of hair. He slung me over his shoulder and through what was left of the cell door.

  I flew out across the hall and into the metal bars of another cell, hitting the floor with an audible thud. The wind knocked out of me, I fell back down as soon as I tried to get up.

  Masarelli slithered like a snake on his belly over to me. He had managed to stay out of the way so far.

  “Who the hell is that?” He had to scream over the sounds of Aidan and the Afrit fighting.

  The officers took up position in front of the cell, and there was an explosion of gunfire. Aidan was still in there, and I wasn’t sure if they knew he wasn’t a bad guy. Crawling across the hallway I tried to see inside the cell.

  Masarelli grabbed my ankle. “What are you doing? Don’t go back in there!”

  “Get off of me.”

  “What the hell is going on? What is that?” I could hear the fear in his voice.

  “Well, look who’s suddenly interested in the truth. That is what killed the witches. That is what killed the Inquisitors. That is what killed—” I stopped, unable to say his name out loud.

  It would have been a lie. I was the one who had killed Oberon. The one who couldn’t keep the Afrit out, couldn’t stop pulling energy through the link we shared. Graive had been right about me.

  “I can’t let you go back in there.” Masarelli looked at me, wide-eyed and uncertain. Staying out was the only thing he knew how to do.

  “Last warning—get off me!”

  He wouldn’t let go of my ankle, so I shook him off. When Masarelli grabbed for me again, I kicked with my other foot and heard the distinct crunch of his nose breaking. He let go of my ankle that time, grunting as he covered his face.

  “You broke my nose. You fucking bitch! You broke my nose.” Blood sprayed off his lips as he spoke.

  “I told you to let go.”

  Bullets were still flying as I crawled closer to my cell. Aidan had moved to the side, pressing himself against the wall. The Afrit’s body jumped and jerked as each bullet hit him. His body was riddled with holes, but there was no blood.

  The bullets slowed as the officers stopped, one by one, to reload their guns.

>   The Afrit roared, throwing his arms out at his sides.

  Aidan charged, trying to take out the Afrit before it took out the officers. He managed to grab a hold of its shirt, yanking it back and off of its feet, but before he could take the Afrit down it disappeared. It happened so fast the officers didn’t see it. With their guns reloaded, they started firing into the cell again.

  “Stop! Masarelli, tell them to stop shooting!”

  He was useless, lying there holding his face as if that would somehow fix his nose. Scrambling to my feet, I yelled for them to stop and rushed over, knocking two officers out of the way to get into the cell. One of them was yelling, ‘cease fire, cease fire!’ as I ran in, finally realizing Aidan was the only one left in the cell. The bullets might have stopped, but they hadn’t lowered their guns yet. They just stood there, guns aimed at the cell, in case the Afrit reappeared.

  I knelt beside Aidan. He was in bad shape. His shirt was soaked. The black fabric hid the color of it, but I knew the shirt was saturated in blood. Bullet holes covered his body.

  “Aidan? Aidan, look at me!”

  He wouldn’t die no matter how many times they shot him, not with regular bullets, but he needed to replace the blood he had lost. Too weak to hunt, there was only one way to help him recover.

  I had lost so much energy already; I wondered whether it was safe to let him feed from me. No one else would help him. He would heal his wounds and regain enough strength to hunt eventually, but it would be a long and painful process. And I needed him on his feet. I’d already lost Oberon. Could I just sit by and watch him suffer? Not when there was still blood in my veins I could give him.

  Lifting his head, I slid my legs underneath him and cradled his upper body in my lap as I pressed my right wrist against his lips.

  I could hear the others talking. Some were asking what I was doing. One of them said I was crazy for letting him drink from me.

  “Are you going to do it? I don’t see anyone else volunteering!” My voice was hoarse, my throat tight from holding back tears.

  “Aidan, you need to feed.”

  He opened his beautiful, hazel eyes and looked up at me. “I came to rescue you, but now you are the one rescuing me.”

  I couldn’t hold back the tears anymore. A deluge of emotion, for Oberon, for everything.

  Aidan cupped my cheek, brushing some of the tears away with his thumb. “Shhh. Let me take away some of the pain, Maurin. If only for a little while.”

  He stopped caressing my cheek and took my wrist, pressing it closer to his mouth, razor sharp fangs sinking into my wrist.

  My heart raced with anticipation. I gasped as they pierced the thin skin, expecting it to hurt. I braced for the pain, but it never came. Cool tranquility washed over me, and my body returned to its regular rhythm.

  Aidan’s power felt like a deep pool of water, and I was swimming in it. A memory of Oberon holding me flashed in my head; the agony trying to work its way back inside my mind. Part of me didn’t want to let go of the hurt or him, even for a few minutes. Power came over me again like waves lapping on the shore. Relenting, I let it pull me down into the cool, dark water that was Aidan. He took the pain away with each pull on my wrist. I could feel it leave me like sand under my feet as the tide went out.

  I was so lost in Aidan; I didn’t even realize he had switched positions. My head was in his lap, and he was cradling me with all the tenderness you would have a child. Gently licking the holes he had made to stop the bleeding, he kissed my wrist and then laid my arm across my chest.

  “You don’t have to stop. You can take more if you need it.”

  I didn’t want it to be over, didn’t want to face the reality of losing Oberon. Peace eluded me for such a long time; I wanted to stay wrapped up in the serenity he had created.

  “If I take any more, I could kill you. You weren’t exactly in an ideal state for donating.”

  My head spun a little as I tried to sit up. I eased back down, letting Aidan hold me a little longer.

  “Easy, go slow. I’m sorry, Maurin, you trusted me enough to let me feed, and I took too much.” Aidan brushed a few stray strands of hair away from my face.

  “Don’t apologize; I’d do it again. Does it always feel like that?” My voice sounded dreamy, the effects from the feeding not fully gone.

  “You don’t mean that I was your first? I’m honored.” He laughed.

  I gave him an elbow to the ribs.

  “Sorry” Still chuckling, it was clear his apology wasn’t entirely genuine.

  “I thought it would hurt.” Having never been someone’s dinner before, I thought that was a safe assumption.

  “No, it’s not always like this. I can make it feel, make you feel, however I want. It can be excruciating, or it can be ecstasy.” His Irish accent was heavy, and his finger was trailing up and down my arm.

  “How long will it last?” I asked, willing him to tell me forever, that he really did drink away the pain and emptiness.

  “Not long enough, I’m afraid.”

  Tears welled up in my eyes when he gave the answer I feared he would. I took a deep breath to keep them from falling. The void Aidan had filled inside me was already half empty.

  “It will stop hurting, Maurin. You will fill the emptiness with your own power, not someone else’s.”His fingers stilled, stopped tracing lazy lines along my arm, allowing the seriousness of what he said sink in.

  The sensation of people staring at me had me wiping at my eyes out of embarassment. I looked over at Masarelli still slumped on the floor, then at the officers leaning against the wall.

  “Enjoy the show?” It would be all too easy for me to plug the hole I felt inside with anger.

  “Forget about them. Who gave you the tranquilizer?” Aidan steered my thoughts in a different direction.

  “How did you know that they gave me something?”

  “I could taste it.” He shrugged.

  “They sent a doctor down here to check me out. She said it was acetaminophen, so I took it.”

  “Why would you need pain medicine? The hit you took on the head wasn’t that bad.”Skepticism and just a hint of anger laced his words.

  “You were still there—I knew I saw you. Oh, and I did take a bean bag propelled from what might as well be a grenade launcher to the temple, just so we’re clear, but the meds weren’t for my head. They were for my arm.” My explanation was more of a ramble. Guess it was a good thing Aidan stopped when he did after all.

  “What happened to your arm? And where is your amulet?” His fingers brushed my collarbone.

  I looked across the hall to Masarelli.

  Aidan looked at my arm. The bruising was fading away, but his temper was just getting fired up. He slid me off of his lap so he could stand up, and held out a hand to hoist me up off the floor.

  “You did this to her? You injured her arm, and you took her amulet, leaving her vulnerable to Lachadiel? And as if that wasn’t enough, you had her drugged too?” He growled at Masarelli.

  “Don’t look at me. I didn’t send anyone. I may have accidentally slammed the cell door shut on her arm, but I didn’t order the tranquilizer. I didn’t know that she needed the necklace.” Masarelli took his hands away from his face long enough to raise them up in mock surrender.

  Aidan wasn’t buying it. He was looming in front of Masarelli before he had finished lying about what happened to my arm. Aidan grabbed the front of Masarelli’s shirt and hoisted him up into the air, slamming him into the wall.

  “Where is the amulet?” Aidan’s fangs were showing.

  Masarelli reached into his shirt pocket with a shaky hand. He pulled out the amulet and held it up. It slid off the broken chain.

  Aidan dropped Masarelli on his ass and caught the stone before it hit the floor.

  “You’re the only person I know who can get into this much trouble in jail.” Aidan handed me the amulet and silver chain.

  “What? You mean this wasn’t part of your plan?” I
slipped the amulet into my front jeans pocket.

  Aidan took my hand and led me out of the cell past Masarelli and the other officers who were still hanging around watching us with curiosity. We walked down the hall toward the stairs. He opened the door to the stairwell, and we practically fell over a few more guys from the SPTF team. Bent over a body, one checked her pulse, while another called for an ambulance and the forensics team. From the way the officer knelt next to the shriveled corpse was shook his head, the ambulance was a waste of time.

  “Was this the woman who came to see you?” Aidan peered over the officer’s shoulder.

  I looked at the corpse. “Maybe a dead ninety-year-old version of her. What happened to her?”

  “If I had to guess, I’d say that this is what happens when Lachadiel drains a human. They don’t have magic of any kind. The only thing they have is the force that keeps humans alive.” Aidan sounded as disgusted as I was.

  “You mean it sucked the life out of her?” Mortified, I forced myself to look at the shriveled corpse.

  “Yes. That’s exactly what I mean.”

  “After she had given me the pills, she came up here, and I heard her talking to someone. She said that they wouldn’t have any trouble with me for a few hours. I never heard the rest of the conversation, though.” I struggled to recall more, details like the sound of the other person’s voice.

  “I think it’s safe to say that she was talking to Lachadiel.” Aidan looked to me, one brow arched waiting for me to catch up and confirm it.

  “She was working for that thing?” Masarelli exchanged holding his bloody nose for rubbing his ass. I hoped he had broken his tailbone when Aidan dropped him.

  “It would seem so.” Aidan shoved his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels a little.

  “No way. She was part of the department. She wouldn’t help that monster.” Masarelli jammed a stubby finger in the doctor’s direction, arguing despite the evidence to the contrary.