Shipwrecked & Horny: A What Could Possibly Go Wrong Bad Boy Romance (Bad Boys After Dark Book 10)

by Gabi Moore

  “Please,” Ramona murmured to no one; no one was paying attention to her. “Please… just wait. Just wait a little…”

  Ian and Aurora’s hands touched.

  There was no sound; Aurora felt like she’d suddenly been sucked underwater into a vacuum. The room was the same, and she was still staring into Ian’s greenish hazel eyes. But when she took his hand, the air crackled with energy.

  She knew, now, that his plan was the same as hers. They weren’t going to fight. They were each going to simply try and drain the other. The world narrowed into a slit, just him and her, and as Aurora clutched his hand—she couldn’t have let go if she wanted, like grabbing an electric fence—she felt her own life start to slip away into him.

  Panicked, she pulled back. His eyes widened in surprise. Not at her actions—no, Aurora knew Ian suspected her intentions from the minute she walked in. He was no fool. But he’d counted on being able to overpower her. Unfortunately, his power had chosen a new master.

  Aurora dragged on the line between them, and the light motes blew her way easily. Ian’s hand was crushing hers. He couldn’t let go either.

  Ramona’s voice was somewhere outside their small world, but close. Perhaps even closer than she realized. Was that her mother’s hand on her other arm? Trying to stop her?

  Pain welled up in Aurora, but it was too late to stop for anyone. She didn’t have to hear what Ramona was saying to know what she wanted; her own mother wanted her to stop, to spare Ian. After all, she had been waiting so long for him to come back to her.

  Overhead, a shadow lurked. It was Kemandry, and she was part of their little world, too. Aurora tried to ignore her as she crawled upside down over the ceiling. Just above them, she stopped, considering.

  In this gray world of power—their shared power—Aurora knew Ian was trying to tell Kemandry to attack. He was looking up at her desperately, even mouthing the words. He was ordering her to kill Aurora, just as she’d been sent to do at Witching Hour, at her own home. But Kemandry just watched curiously, and Aurora realized that she no longer knew who her master was. Too much of Ian’s power was in Aurora, now.

  Terrified and thrilled, Aurora bore on, beckoning. Ian’s life force seemed to extend forever, like pulling a chain from the ocean, but it lifted from his body easily. He was trying to fight; if anything, his struggles only seemed to hurry the process. This was the natural order of things. She was younger, and stronger, and meant to take his place. She was his daughter.

  The end was in sight, and Aurora fell out of her magical vision, and looked at Ian with her own eyes. He looked half-mummified, with wide, staring eyes. Horror was plain on his face, and Aurora realized that he was looking at her with all that horror. She had come here uncertain, and she would leave a killer, a killer of her own father.

  With an audible snap, it was over. Aurora dropped Ian’s limp hand, and he fell back into the throne. He was dead.

  And at his feet lay Ramona.

  There was another crash behind her, but Aurora didn’t notice. She was brimming with magic. She felt like a burning star, better than her best day, as if she was full of possibility and promise. But all the magic in the world couldn’t un-break her heart. Aurora dropped to the ground with a cry and pulled Ramona into her arms. All the magic in the world couldn’t undo what she’d done.

  Like Ian, Ramona was sucked dry of her life. The pieces fell together as Aurora held her mother and cried, as Kemandry bolted into action, unnoticed. Ramona had tried to stop Aurora from killing Ian. Perhaps she had really wanted them all to live together. Maybe she had believed Ian’s promises. That mattered little; she’d still gripped on to Aurora at the wrong time, and her life, too, had been drained.

  There was a snarling growl, and many of Kemandry’s terrible sounds, rushing and crashing together behind her.

  “Stop it, Kemandry!” Aurora sobbed. “Stop!”

  Miraculously, she did. Aurora looked over her shoulder; Kem was just behind her, tilted her oblong head, snuffling.

  She was horrible thing. Just to look at her was frightening. The way she moved, the way she sounded. What she was capable of. But Aurora was her master now, and she didn’t the heart to yell at the creature, not for simply being what she was.

  “Go away, for now, Kem,” Aurora said hoarsely. “Just go for a while.”

  And Kemandry was gone, just like that. Like a shadow when the lights are turned on.

  Still Aurora held her mother, thin and frail and dead, sobbing.

  A low growl echoed behind her. This time, Aurora turned her whole body so she could look, bringing Ramona with her. It was a wolf, a large black one. It was closer to the size of a bear; Aurora doubted any wolf in this millennium had ever grown so big. Blood dripped from its fur, and its eyes were wide and dark as they looked at her.

  “L-Lucien?” Aurora hiccupped.

  The wolf shambled closer and sniffed her face, as Kemandry had done. In this form, Lucien looked bigger than a car, and yet he was still there, behind those wolf eyes. Aurora couldn’t even be afraid, not after what she’d done. She looked down at Ramona.

  “I killed her, too,” Aurora whispered. “She was holding on to me, and I didn’t even feel it… She’s gone…”

  Aurora leaned over her mother’s body and wept. A part of her had known all along, Ramona was only missing, not dead. But now that part was dark and silent, like her mother’s lifeless eyes. Sorrow and loss were twisting Aurora’s insides, wringing her out like a rag.

  A hand—a human hand—rested on her shoulder. “Just go ahead and cry,” Lucien told her softly. “I know it hurts, don’t try to fight it. Just let it go.”

  Aurora looked up at him. He knelt beside her, naked, of course, but at the moment nothing could have seemed less important to Aurora. His face was bruised and bleeding. In fact, most of him was bruised and bleeding. But his eyes were kind, and he left his hand resting on her shoulder. In the wrecked wall behind him, Milo stood, watching from a distance.

  “Thank you, Aurora.”

  Aurora froze and spun toward the other door. When Ian died, his spells had snapped, and now Ylessa stood in the doorway, rubbing her eyes like a sleepy child.

  Her wings furled and unfurled gently, as if she was testing their strength, but the fairy picked her way across the floor on foot until she stood over Ramona. Hope fluttered in Aurora’s chest.

  “Can you…?” Aurora couldn’t even bear to finish the question. Ylessa was already shaking her head.

  “Call her back to this form? No. Your mother has already moved on to new life, to a better life. One where she isn’t waiting, endlessly, for the likes of Ian to return to her.”

  It was all Aurora had expected, but still, disappointment was almost worse than the loss itself. She looked around, and there was Lucien, there was Milo, there was Mr. Cheng and Lester through the broken wall, all watching her. This was going to be her new life, her new family.

  She looked down at Ramona Potier in her arms, lifeless, but finally at peace. No more waiting, no more worrying. No more long nights at the kitchen table, staring out the same window.

  Aurora settled her mother gently on the floor and cried.

  Her voice echoed against the walls of the townhouse; Aurora had never been in such an expensive house.

  “Madame Moreau lived here all alone?” she asked, incredulous.

  Lester nodded. “Yeah. She deeded everything to me when she passed away, but my family doesn’t know about… well, all this. The magic and stuff.”

  It had been a week since Ian and Ramona had died. Mr. Cheng and Milo were taking care of that entire mess; there were police to deal with (“Right up my alley,” Milo announced cheerfully), and the funerals to plan. And Moreau’s will to settle, which, as it turns out, was not such a big problem.

  “Who’s going to run her company?” Aurora asked anxiously. “Did she have a plan for that?”

  “Don’t worry about that,” Lester waved her off as they strolled through yet anot
her huge and empty room, furnished expensively for no one. “She had an army of people taking care of the business side of things. We all thought she wasn’t preparing, but, well…” Lester trailed off with a sigh and a sniffle.

  Aurora wrapped her arm around his shoulder protectively. “I know.”

  “Anyway, she has a few properties, all paid off, and they’re mine now,” Lester pushed on. “And I think you should live here. Someone should.”

  Aurora looked around at the hollow space. “All by myself? What about your family?”

  “How am I going to explain why a rich white lady from France left all her money to me without admitting to the magic?”

  He had a point.

  Aurora already knew what her answer was going to be. She couldn’t refuse; there was nowhere else for her to go, anyway. Lucien had told her three days ago that her old apartment was settled, and everything from there that could be salvaged was in storage, waiting for her to find a new home. Only, Aurora didn’t have anywhere else. She had family in Louisiana, but she’d never met them. She doubted her grandparents wanted to see her, anyway. They’d disowned Ramona for leaving with Ian.

  “I guess,” Aurora sighed. “It is a nice house. I don’t know how I’m going to pay the property taxes.”

  “I told you not to worry about that sort of thing.” From the hallway, Lucien strode across the wood floors to join her and Lester. “We’ll take care of it.”

  “So you said,” Aurora rolled her eyes.

  Lucien leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. “You should learn to trust people a little.”

  Aurora smiled, but didn’t answer. A new life was opening up at her feet. The price had been everything she loved most about her old one, but there was no going back. The only direction was forward, with her new friends, into a future that was uncertain and unfamiliar.

  And if Lucien thought that was going to make her more trusting, he had another thing coming.

  - THE END -

  Manipulator of Elements: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy

  Part 1: EARTH

  Chapter 1

  The Fromatius Mall stood at the edge of the parking lot and dominated the countryside around it.

  No one seemed to know where the mall had come from; it just showed up one day in the field and sat there empty until the stores began to open. After six months, the mall’s owners held a “Grand Opening” celebration and employed the local marching band and trade guilds to help in the celebration.

  Since the trades anticipated a profitable relationship with the mall, they were glad to help out. The schools were thrilled to have a place where the high-schoolers could work during the evenings and weekends. It would be a much better place for them to hang out in than the local Drive-In or bowling alley.

  A few people down at the township hall talked among themselves about how quickly the mall had appeared and were stunned it showed up so fast. Although the building plans were submitted and the proper forms filled out, it seemed strange everything went as smoothly as it did when the mall was constructed.

  Some of the local firms were hired to do the finishing work and pour the concrete for the sidewalks around the structure, but no one could recall ever seeing the construction firms who were hired to build the mall in town before. And before any of the trade guilds could complain about a lack of their involvement, it was there. As soon as it was constructed, the other trades were contracted and given lucrative contracts to maintain it.

  Granted, some of the stores in place seemed a little odd for a suburban shopping mall, but there were enough major retailers in it to defer any bad thoughts from the local suburban moms. Besides, it was spring and people were getting ready for the summer. The big auto plant in the nearby town of Scipio was planning to shut down for two weeks of inventory. This would allow them the chance to make certain they had everything they needed for next year’s models and allow the employees to take vacations. Some employees had additional time in based on years of service and could take as much as two more weeks of vacation. Therefore, if your father or mother were one of the lucky ones to have started working there right after the Korean War, you could spend an entire month at some pleasure dome in Florida.

  Lilly Arrad wasn’t one of the lucky ones. Her father ran an insurance company in Fromatius out of their house. Her mother stayed home and took care of her and her older sister when they were coming of age, but now she was looking into a job at the mall. Lilly didn’t want a job at the mall when it opened. She didn’t care for most of the kids she was stuck around all day at her high school and found a job with a catering company. However, most of the jobs her company pulled were at the mall for the various out of town dignitaries who came in to see how their store branches looked and what the sales represented. So, she might as well work at the mall. Perhaps next week’s job would take her somewhere else.

  She sat on the hood of her Pinto and looked at the mall again. These things sprang up everywhere. Was the entire country turning into one big shopping mall? The 70’s surely brought with it a lot of novelties. Right now, she could look forward to attending college in the fall at Cincinnati. She had her future mapped out: international studies, find a diplomat, get married and spend the rest of her life throwing parties for foreign dignitaries.

  She looked down and sighed.

  Her shoes were still in the mall. She’d forgotten them and walked barefoot all the way to the car. She really needed to get beyond that, it was so childish. Now she would have to walk back in that place and get them.

  Maybe she wouldn’t. She could drive home barefoot and find her spare sandals in the bedroom closet. She had the dance class tonight her sister taught.

  Her sister, Rachel, had learned belly dancing in college and used it to supplement her spending money. Although Rachel married last month and left the house, it still felt as if she was around. With her older sister moved out, Lilly started to feel lonely. She still had a few good friends from the neighborhood, but everyone was headed to different places for college in the fall.

  She wanted to stay close enough to come home on the weekend, but far enough to enjoy the life on campus and socialize with the right kind of people. She would be forced to stay in a dorm the first few years, but afterwards, she would find a better place to live. Somehow, the sorority life didn’t appeal to her, and Lilly doubted she would pledge one. She could see herself sharing an apartment after a year or two. Her friend Cindy started college a year early and wrote her letters about how crazy the college dorm life was in Indiana. It was one of her reasons for attending a school in Cincinnati.

  The hood of her Pinto started to burn into her butt, so Lilly decided to hop off it and go home. It was early enough in the year to walk barefoot across a parking lot, but she had no desire to go back and retrieve the shoes. They were an older pair and she had more at home. She’d look for them tomorrow. The jeans, on the other hand, were precious. She’d spent the weekend fading them to just the right hue in her mother’s washing machine. They matched the light sweater she wore.

  Lilly was small and, at five foot in height, didn’t expect to get much taller. She wasn’t a big eater and kept her weight at a comfortable hundred pounds. She even dieted down to ninety at one point, but didn’t like the way it made her feel. She stayed away from the pot smokers and druggies at her school, although she did enjoy her time on the literary magazine and French Club.

  Lilly decided to forget the shoes and turned to open her car door when she saw something.

  It was the new guy who transferred into school this year. He was sitting on the edge of the fountain at the entrance. He was staring at it and moving his hand over the water in the pool. The fountain was huge and filled up with coins every day from well-wishers who wanted to bring good luck by tossing three coins in it. But he wasn’t dropping coins in the fountain; he was busy with his eyes fixed on the pattern his hand traced through the air.

  Now she was curious.

  She finally remembered his nam
e. It was Dion Bacchus. She remembered it because he was in her homeroom. One of the strange things she noticed one day was how many of her close friends had similar names to her last name. The school was huge. Her senior class had five hundred in its enrollment. Not only did the local auto industry contribute to its size, but the regional air force base added to it as well. It wasn’t unusual for her to call a friend’s house and have a “Colonel Adams” answer the phone.

  Dion started school that year as a transfer student from some place in California that year, but mostly kept to himself. She had said little more than “hello” to him since he started. It was strange to see someone start school in their senior year and he didn’t seem to interact with anyone. Dion’s locker was two sections down from her, but Lilly seldom saw him speak to anyone. He was in her biology class as well, but she couldn’t ever recall him asking a single question.

  This was too bad for Dion because plenty of the girls at school were obsessed with him.

  He stood almost six foot tall, had dark features and black eyes with hair that cascaded down his back to a school-acceptable length. He wore the standard jeans and t-shirt apparel, which dominated in the school, but had an intense look on his face and a tight set of chest muscles that showed through his shirt.

  A few girls approached him one day and, although he was polite, he didn’t speak very long with any of them. A few of the local tough kids who were into drugs and hard rock tried to corner him in the hall one day. He took the hand of one and gently pulled it off him. The kid who placed it there walked away swearing under his breath with a look of pain in his eyes. Lilly remembered the tough one later coming to school with his hand in a cast.