Midnight Surrender: A Paranormal Romance Anthology

by Abel, Charlotte

  “About time,” she croaked. “I was beginning to think you’d forgotten me.”

  I pushed the door open all the way and slipped inside. “I’m sorry.”

  She waved a dismissive hand. “I heard you were out all night.”

  Heat pooled in my cheeks. I looked down.

  “What’s his name?” she teased with a grin.

  There was no stopping the beaming smile that stretched my face. “Kieran, and he’s amazing.”

  Grandma Lou smiled. “Well, come over here and tell me.”

  I did. I told her everything, except about his abilities. That was something I didn’t think he’d want me to share without his permission. By the time I finished, the smile on my face had begun to hurt, but I couldn’t stop. I was overflowing with happiness.

  “He sounds lovely,” she said. “I’m so happy you found someone that makes you float on air. You know I want to meet him, don’t you?”

  “You will.” Soon, I added to myself.

  I waited until three in the afternoon before finding the courage to pick up the phone and dial Kieran’s number. I paced the kitchen, nibbling on my lip as I waited for him to pick up.

  The line clicked and a sharp, female voice punctured the silence. “What?”

  “Hello!” I said, hoping I didn’t sound as intimidated as I felt. “Is Kieran there? It’s Tessa.”

  A moment of silence, then a deep inhale.

  “You’re the girl he was with yesterday.” It sounded like an accusation. “You’re the one that called the other night too. The one he went to ‘help’.”

  I didn’t know what to say, so I just said, “Is he there?”

  “He might be,” she said cryptically. “Tell me, Tessa,” she said my name as if it were an insult, “do you like my brother?”

  “Yes,” I said without hesitation, although it was none of her business and I wanted to tell her so. “Very much.”

  “Then maybe you should leave him alone before you kill him! You have no idea what this bullshit does to him. If you did you wouldn’t ask him to put his life in jeopardy for your stupid problems. So, if you really care about him, you’ll fu—”

  “Kali!” The voice was male. It was sharp, but hollow, like the person was just in too much pain to formulate words properly.

  “What the hell are you doing out of bed?” Kali snarled directly into the phone.

  There was a shuffle. “Who’s that?”

  “No one! Wrong number.” The line went dead.

  I stared at the receiver in my hand, Kali’s words echoing in my ear. The light, happy feeling in my chest deflated. The buzz faded, and I was crashing from the ultimate high, to an all time low in seconds. But no sooner had I put the phone down and taken a step back, when it rang.

  I hesitated, but picked it up.

  “Hello?”

  “Tessa?”

  My chest clenched at the sound of his strained voice. He was breathing hard as if the effort cost him. “What’s wrong?”

  He made a choking sound. It might have been a chuckle. “Nothing. I’m fine.”

  “Kieran!”

  I heard a sigh. “The neighbor’s kid fell out of his tree house this morning.”

  My heart seized. “Oh no!”

  “He’s okay. He—he…” he wheezed, struggling to catch his breath.

  “Kieran?” I gripped the phone tighter to my ear.

  “I’m okay.” But he didn’t sound okay. He sounded like he couldn’t breathe, like an elephant was sitting on his chest, crushing out all his oxygen.

  “You don’t sound okay!” I argued. “What happened, Kieran?”

  “It’s fine,” he said. “This is normal.”

  I sat down hard in a chair. “What’s normal?”

  I heard him gasping. There was a rustle, then Kali was on the phone again.

  “Why won’t you go away!” she growled at me.

  Kieran rasped something I couldn’t hear.

  “What’s wrong with him?” I demanded, ignoring her tone.

  “What’s wrong with him is his stupid need to always help people. Do you honestly think that what he does comes without a price? Where do you think that pain, that cancer… that broken leg goes when he takes it from you? He takes it inside himself! Into his own body. He saves you, but he spends the next week in bed, vomiting blood.”

  Kieran was shouting in the background. I couldn’t make out what he was saying, but I guessed he was telling Kali to stop.

  “I didn’t know,” I choked, feeling a chunk of ice break inside me, releasing splinters into my bloodstream.

  Kali scoffed. “Of course you didn’t know! He won’t tell you that part. Now do you see why you need to leave him alone?”

  I hung up. I set the receiver down on the counter and stepped away from it, shaking with fury. My sneakers made a loud, rude noise as I spun on my heel and ran into the sitting room. I snatched up the phonebook from beneath the coffee table and flipped it open. In a matter of minutes, I had Kieran’s address, the car keys and a head full of steam as I bowled out of the house. The drive to his place went by in a blur. I had no idea I’d arrived until I found myself charging up his driveway.

  A girl, maybe twenty, threw open the door. Eyes the blue of the Arctic Ocean narrowed at the sight of me. Her lips pursed. “What are you doing here?”

  “Where is he? I want to talk to him.”

  She flicked back a coil of ebony off her shoulder and folded her arms. “Well, he’s resting.”

  I opened my mouth when the door behind her opened all the way and Kieran staggered into view, clutching one arm across his chest. His hair was in disarray, hanging in damp clumps over his sweaty brow. With his pale eyes and his ashen complexion, he looked almost corpse-like.

  “You’re supposed to be in bed!” Kali snapped at him.

  “I’m fine!” he panted through his teeth. “Stop taking it out on Tessa. She didn’t do this.”

  “No, but she wants you to do something equally stupid, doesn’t she?”

  “She didn’t know!”

  Kali didn’t seem to care one way or another.

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” I cut in. “Why didn’t you say something! I would never have asked you to…” I shoved my hands back through my hair.

  He edged a little closer, wincing with every step and I wondered just what was wrong with him. He kept an arm pressed into his chest as if keeping his ribs from falling apart.

  “What happened to you?” I demanded.

  “The kid caved his stupid chest in,” Kali supplied, ignoring Kieran’s scowl. “Idiot here jumped the fence and rushed over there, healed him before his parents came running into the yard.”

  “He’s a five-year-old kid, Kay!” Kieran said.

  “I don’t care if he’s a five-month-old kid! People die, Kieran. It’s a fact of life. You can’t always swoop in and save them.”

  People die. It’s a fact of life. She sounded so much like Grandmother Lou I almost flinched.

  “Are you going to be okay?” I asked, anxiety eating at me. “Should you be at the hospital?”

  He shook his head. “It only lasts a few days. I’ll be fine.”

  “What are you doing here anyway?” Kali asked me.

  “I came to yell at you,” I told Kieran. “I was going to tell you that you’re a jerk for not telling me that what you do does hurt you. I was going to tell you that no matter how much I love my grandma, I would never have allowed you to put yourself at risk because of me, because I’m selfish.”

  “You’re not selfish,” he croaked, wincing and grabbing a fistful of his shirt front with a white-knuckled grip. “You wanted to help your grandma.”

  I shook my head. “But she doesn’t want the help. I didn’t want to listen when she asked me to let her go.”

  “You love her.”

  A weak chuckle escaped me. “Yeah, I do. She’s the only person I have left.” I stared down at my sneakers, biding my time until the burn behind my eyes sub
dued and I could face him again without bursting into tears. “Our deal is off. I don’t want your help anymore.”

  His eyes widened. “Tessa…”

  I shook my head, taking several steps back. “I’m not going to let you hurt yourself for me. There isn’t enough money or dates in the world to… no.” I turned away, starting down his driveway. I paused at the end, glanced back over my shoulder and gave him a small smile. “You still owe me a second date by the way.”

  ****

  Ten months later…

  Claudette shook me awake the night of my eighteenth birthday to tell me Grandma Lou was asking for me. The alarm clock read a little after three in the morning, and I knew, even before I untangled myself from the sheets and from the arm and leg Kieran had thrown around me in his sleep, that this was it. My heart was in ribbons before I was even fully awake.

  Kieran came awake as I was dragging my robe on. “Tessa?”

  I didn’t glance back at him as I ran to the door. “Grams,” was all I said. I heard him lunge to his feet, hurriedly dragging on his clothes and scrambling after me.

  Gram’s room was dark, lit solely by the lamp next to her bed. All the curtains were drawn, blocking out the full moon outside. I had known this day was coming for a few weeks, ever since grams began cutting out all light from filling her room, when she stopped speaking, when she started sleeping more and eating less. I knew.

  “Grams?” I whispered.

  The light shone over the clear oxygen tube pressed under her nose as she rolled her head towards the sound of my voice.

  She looked frail. Yet she smiled when she saw me. “Come closer. It’s not time yet.”

  I edged as close as I dared.

  “Closer!” she rasped.

  I moved until I sat beside her. She raised the hand closest to me and I grabbed it, careful not to press too hard.

  “I’m sorry.”

  The band in my chest tightened. “No—!”

  She shook her head. “I didn’t want it to be tonight. Not tonight. Not on your birthday, but it doesn’t seem like I have much of a choice.”

  “It’s okay.” I shattered like glass.

  Her fingers flexed in mine. “There are things I need to tell you.” When she was certain I wouldn’t interrupt, she continued. “The car, the house and everything in it, is yours—”

  “Grams, don’t—”

  “Quiet!” she scolded, shaking my hand. “I don’t have much time. In the study, in my writing desk, I have a notebook. Your mother’s number and address is inside. Make peace with her, Tessa girl. You owe it to yourself.”

  “I will.” I would have agreed to anything.

  “My bank accounts have already been transferred to your name. There isn’t much in there, but you’ll be okay for a little while.” Her gaze became intense. “I need to ask you to do something for me, Tessa.”

  “Anything!”

  “Don’t bury me. I know I have a spot next to grandpa, but I don’t want to be in the dark for the rest of eternity. Can you cremate me?”

  The ringing between my ears was deafening. My entire body convulsed with every sob I tried to contain. But I nodded. I clutched her paper-thin hand to my lips and nodded as tears poured down my face.

  “Take care of her. I’ll know if you don’t.”

  A gentle hand rested on my trembling shoulder and I knew Kieran had come up behind me. I couldn’t look at him.

  “I will. I promise.”

  Grams turned her gaze back to me. “Take care of yourself, do you hear? Just because I’m not here doesn’t mean I won’t box your ears from the other side.” She offered me a small smile. “I love you.”

  “Tessa…” Kieran pulled me away, pulled me to my feet, and broke my connection with grams just as her fingers went slack in my grasp. His arms banded around me, forcing me into his chest, into his heat and comfort. His hand cupped the back of my head, pushing my face into his shoulder, refusing me the chance to look back.

  I beat against him, only vaguely conscious of my wails muffling the sharp blare of machines as everything flat lined. I thrashed and begged for her to come back, but he held me. His warm breath tickled the hairs at my temple.

  “I’m sorry, Tessa. I am so sorry.”

  Then I was just clinging to him, my last lifeline; the only thing holding me together. He guided me from the room. I let him. Claudette hurried in as we left. Kieran took me downstairs. He set me down at the kitchen table and started to pull away.

  “Stay,” I whispered grabbing his hand.

  “Let me make you some tea first.”

  I shook my head, pulling him back to me. “Just… stay with me. Please?”

  He gathered me back up into his arms, resting his chin on the top of my head. “Always,” he promised.

  I closed my eyes as the house I grew up in shifted around me, humming with its own grief. A heavy blanket of sorrow soaked the air. The only peace was right there, in Kieran’s embrace. He was my rock, had been for months. He had been unwavering in his support and in his affections. He made me laugh when the world had felt bleak and cold. He held me, loved me, trusted me to keep his secret. And I knew I would never have made it through that night without him.

  “I love you,” I whispered into the soft material of his shirt, speaking the words for the first time.

  He tipped my face up, smoothed away my tears with the pad of his thumb and peered adoringly into my eyes. “Love you, too, Tessa.”

  And I knew I would never be alone again.

  Learn more about Airicka Phoenix and The Touch Series at http://airickaphoenix.com/Author/?cat=10.

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  Wanting By Airicka Phoenix

  She played coy, with her golden eyes hidden behind dark lashes. In the pale shower of moonlight, her sun-kissed body glowed, a Goddess amongst mortals, and I was brought to my knees with images of hot flesh on silk sheets; her body tangled with mine, my teeth replacing hers on her bottom lip. Our gazes locked and the beast in me growled at the rose petals darkening her cheeks. I put no leash on my smirk. I let it claim the moment, exposing the predator prowling inside, and the promise that I would have her before the pregnant moon fell into the horizon and the sky blushed with dawn. She let her lashes drop, splaying like thick fans over high cheekbones. Her chocolate-brown curls curtained between us, hiding her from me. My teeth bared in triumph.

  Good.

  I wasn’t there to make her comfortable. She had come to me, to my woods, to my home. She had broken my solitude, had stolen my anger, and she may not have known it then, but she had sealed her own fate.

  Flames leapt in the pit, bobbing and weaving with the night. It painted sunsets over bared skin. It swayed slow and alluring in the gleaming eyes watching the dance. But I watched her. I didn’t take my eyes off her.

  It’s All Hallows' Eve, little luv, I wanted to tell her, taunt her and toy with her. And you’ll be my treat!

  Around us, in a stridency of riotous laughter, chatter and merriment, others danced; they drank and celebrated unaware of just how close they’d come to annihilation. They’d summoned me away from my brooding prowl through the woods by the sound of drunken chaos, by the garbage they so carelessly let carpet my grounds, by the tangled mess of bodies pressed into my trees. It had been enough to paint my world red, to pour gas on my blood and set me on fire. I’d had every intention of using that fire to melt the skin off their bones… then I’d seen her, and my blood had burned for another purpose entirely.

  My gaze flickered to her again, taking in everything from the unbound mane cascading down her slender spine to the simple, white gown cinched in the middle with a thick band of gold to the tiny flats on her feet. No wings. No haloes. No glitters or gems. She stood alone, a beautiful angel in the dark, yet every male eye within throwing distance was drawn to her alluring beauty, undressing her, touching her with their thoughts. My teeth tightened. I threw a warning glower at a boy who looked just about ready to make his move.


  “I wouldn’t,” I said when he blinked in surprise. “I’ll kill ya before you even get to her and bury your body in the woods.” It was not a threat, but a promise. “There’s a smart lad. Run along,” I muttered when he blanched and scurried away, a pup with his tail between his legs.

  The others eyed me. They eyed her, no doubt weighing their chances. But I didn’t wait for them to grow a backbone; I broke away from the fire separating me from what was mine and I went to her.

  I knew the moment she realized my intentions. Her eyes widened. They darkened. Her lips parted. Her cheeks flushed, and I knew, I knew like I knew my own name — she was mine.

  ****

  From across the fire, dressed in power, shielded by danger, his eyes burned through me. I felt every penetrating sweep like hands pulling at me, caressing me, taking without permission and I floundered in my flesh, begging for a place to hide from the dark things he promised without words.

  He moved a beautiful masterpiece of sinewy limbs, slender muscles and hair the shade of stolen midnight. It gleamed with hints of blue, falling in a sleek waterfall to the small of his back. Wisps darkened his brow, his eyes. Leather shone where it encased his limber legs. The waistline fell strategically to tapered hips, teasing onlookers with a naked torso skinned in gold. Thick bands of black clasped his wrists and a leather cord holding a silver medallion hung from his neck, falling to the center of beautifully carved breastplates. The fire glinted off the sphere, drawing eyes and keeping them there.

  God.

  He’s coming!

  The little voice in my head had no reason to point out the obvious. Every girl within viewing distance could see he was coming. He was walking, moving air, time… space with every dominating stride. A whip of flames lashed through me. Time froze. The noise vanished. My heart was a cacophony of panic. I wanted to run. I wanted to hide. Then he was standing there, watching me with fire in his eyes and I was frozen. I was melting.

  “’ello, luv.” Voice harboring the seductive lilt of Ireland poured through the air like melted caramel, sweet, thick and smooth.

  I wasn’t the only girl to sigh her heart away.