The girl glanced over her shoulder. She stumbled behind a huge boulder mere feet from where I sat. Leaning back against the rock, she squeezed her eyes closed. Her chest rose and fell rapidly.
Again, I looked through the trees. Nothing was there. “H-hey, are you okay?” I choked on the words as they left my throat.
She didn’t respond or even look my way.
Low voices sounded from somewhere around us. A being, with energy markings around his eyes, bounded toward us.
Before the girl could take a step, he lunged at her.
“Son of a—!” My heart pounded. I jerked my upper body, trying to get up. I couldn’t. I peered frantically through the darkness for Delmari or Aiden—anyone!
The Rygon grabbed the girl and pulled her body flush against his. She screamed and twisted, trying to escape. He held her effortlessly. The black veins around his eyes spread like webs across his face as he drew out her energy. He tilted his head to the sky. His crystal blue eyes grew brighter and brighter, glowing eerily in the darkness.
I screamed to get his attention. I reached out to grab a rock, but I couldn’t pick it up off the ground. Like my legs, it wouldn’t budge. I watched helplessly as the girl thrashed and yelled, but it was too late.
The struggling girl went limp in the Rygon’s arms. I stared in horror. Someone else I couldn’t save.
Low voices sounded from behind me.
“Delmari?” I yelled. “Hurry, you’ve—” I turned and gasped.
Not Delmari. Not Aiden. The Kember.
Behind him walked a dozen more energy-sucking beings. His cloak ruffled as he rushed toward the Rygon. His ocher eyes settled on the girl still clutched in the Rygon’s grasp.
Chapter 7
The Rygon turned toward the Kember and cowered. “S-sir, I’m sorry. I—I don’t know what came over me. I didn’t mean to…”
Letting out a hair-raising yell, the cloaked man drew out a red titanium knife and slit the Rygon’s throat. The two bodies dropped to the ground. He kicked the Rygon aside and knelt next to the lifeless young woman. Very carefully, he smoothed a few dark strands of black hair from her face, his hand lingering on her cheek. After a moment of staring at her, he stood. Fire built in his palms until they completely engulfed his fists. The Kember touched a nearby tree and within seconds, every treetop burst into flame. The dozen other Rygons followed the Kember, single file, as he walked away.
Body frozen, my mind spun in a whirl of angry colors, and the world around me turned black.
“Delmari!” I jolted to a sitting position, strands of damp hair stuck to my forehead. My fists released the death grip they held on the comforter beneath me. Full on, heart thumping panic seized me. “Delmari!” I screamed again. Jumping from bed, I staggered toward the door, vaguely realizing I could move again.
Aiden jumped up from the floor and held his hands out in front of me. “It’s okay. Calm down.”
“D-Delmari. Where is he?”
His eyes widened a little. “Delmari’s dead.” The words were slow—careful, like he had to remind me.
“No. He’s not. I—the rain. I felt it. It was him.”
“The rain?” Now he looked even more concerned. Great.
“Yeah, you know, the wet shit that falls from the sky.”
For the first time, I examined my clothes. They should’ve been scorched—and wet. I only saw dirt. I gripped the hair at the back of my head. Dry. “What the heck?” I whispered.
I stumbled backward and collapsed onto the bed.
The roar of flames, the pain of my flesh burning and the girl…How could that have been a dream? No, not possible. How else had I ended up in bed? It’s not like Aiden would’ve carried me back from the woods.
“Are you all right?” Aiden sat back down, leaned forward and rested his forearms on his knees.
I averted my gaze to the red glowing numbers on my alarm clock. Three o’clock in the morning. I’d been out for a while. Unless the whole thing was a dream: Mr. Sorenson, Aiden pissing me off, the girl…My thoughts swirled in confusion.
I slid the comforter down and crawled beneath it. I was so confused, I didn’t know if I was really awake. “Golden.”
“You collapsed in the middle of the woods, screaming about something burning you.”
Not a dream then. My hand clutched the comforter so tight, my fingers hurt.
“If you have some sort of medical condition, I need to be aware. Nothing was mentioned in your file.”
What the— “Medical condition? I don’t have a medical condition!”
He cocked his head. “Has this happened before?”
“No, of course not.”
Aiden hesitated. “Maybe you should see a doctor.”
“Nothing’s wrong with me. If you want the truth, I don’t know what happened.”
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing. Never mind.” I threw back the comforter and stood. Marching to the closet, I grabbed my green hoodie and yanked it over my head. I had to go back—I had to see if the girl was there.
Aiden stood, an impenetrable barricade, in front of my exit. “Where’re you going?”
“Where does it look like?” I tried to move around him, but he sidestepped, nearly forcing me into the wall.
“Sit.” He pointed to the bed. “Please.”
“No. I’ve gotta see if that girl is still there. Move.” I reached out to grab his arm and physically remove him. As I did, I realized the foolishness behind my rash behavior a moment too late.
He grabbed my hand midair. Jerking away from him, I tripped over my own feet and failed to regain my footing. Everything around me blurred, except for the corner of the dresser coming closer and closer to my face. I squeezed my eyes shut.
Aiden caught my arm right before my head connected and pulled me back toward him. I blinked, dizzy from all the quick movements. After a moment, he carefully released my arm but kept his hand outstretched. “Are you all right?”
Adrenaline pumping, heart racing, my gaze wandered over the thick muscle covering his body. Slowly, common sense returned. Not even Houdini could get past Aiden.
I shoved his hand away, ignoring the question. “I need to go back. I have to see—”
“What?” He lowered his head, looking at me levelly. “There’s nothing to see.”
Stepping back, I figured my chances of sneaking out the window. Yeah right. Mr. Freak-senses would be outside by the time I slid the glass up. Unwilling to lose the little dignity I had left, I gritted my teeth. “Fine.”
Once I sat on the bed, he moved from the door and crouched down a few feet in front of me. “You were in physical pain when I picked you up. I felt it…” His gaze fell to his hands. “What happened?”
I took a deep breath. No sense in arguing over something his ability picked up. He’d tell Ian either way. Do they already have my room reserved at the psych ward? “I-I think I saw…something.”
“You’ll have to be a bit more specific.”
My hair fell forward, shielding half of my face, and I quickly tucked it behind my ear. “The forest—the same forest we were in…it was on fire.” I expected skepticism in his features. His green eyes were attentive instead. “This girl was being chased by a Rygon, and he—he killed her.” An aching pain shot through my chest. “The Kember—he was there...” I went on and told him the whole thing, exactly how I saw it.
His brow furrowed and his mouth opened a few seconds before he found his words. “You’ve been through a lot. I’m sure it’s just some—”
“It wasn’t a dream.”
“Well, I don’t think so, either, but—”
“I’m not crazy or delusional, either. The fire burned me. I heard everything, smelled the smoke…”
Aiden’s eyes skimmed over me, as if trying to decide what to think. “Did you know the girl?”
“No. Never seen her.”
“You’re sure Rygons were there?”
“Yes. They had the markings
around their creepy blue eyes.” Some of the Rygons’ marks spread and covered more than just their cheek bones, but I didn’t need to elaborate. The more energy a Rygon siphoned, the bigger their mark became. Some Rygons had their whole faces and even parts of their necks covered in black vein-like markings. That much energy made them a bitch to kill.
“There was a whole group of them, and I think they all took orders from the Kember.” Rage swelled in my chest. I inhaled, reminding myself to keep breathing. The Kember had been right there. If I could’ve gotten to him—if I could’ve moved… “We need to find out who that girl was. We have to go back to the forest.”
“Slow down.” He ran a hand through his thick hair. “Kembers and Rygons don’t work together. Is it possible you’re overreacting?”
“No!” The way the Rygon attacked her, she had to have been a Drea. What if, through her, I could find the rogue Kember? “If it wasn’t a dream or some off-the-wall hallucination, what was it?”
Aiden rose, walked to my window and drew open the curtain. He gazed out into the darkness before turning back toward me. “I’m not sure.”
“The Kember is real and so are Rygons. Why not her?”
He leaned against the window ledge and studied me. “This isn’t about her, is it? This is about finding the Kember and avenging Delmari.”
The taste of blood filled my mouth as I bit the inside of my lip. I never thought of myself as transparent. I didn’t like that he read me so easily.
Aiden’s voice lowered. “The Authority will find out who he is.”
“What if they don’t? We’re going to let someone else die? Do you not have feelings at all?”
He didn’t say anything right away. He stayed completely emotionless. “What do you expect me to do? If she’s a Drea, she has a Kember.”
My frustration finally hit a breaking point. I leapt from the bed. “Something could happen to her. Won’t you feel like crap knowing you knew but didn’t do anything about it because you were too stubborn? We’ve gotta find out if she exists.”
Aiden adjusted his footing, his voice calm, despite my lash out. “You don’t even know who she is, or where she lives.”
“I’ll figure it out. She has to be around here if she was running through our forest. Why do you think they killed her?” Him, I wanted to say. Why would that psycho pyro kill Delmari? Would he really go through all that trouble to get to me?
“From what you’ve told me, I don’t think the intent was to kill her.” I thought back to the memory and agreed. He seemed pissed she was killed. A Drea’s energy was our ability and our ability was connected to our life force. We couldn’t live without it. Something about the mental energy in a Drea’s body allowed Rygons to take it; it acted as a drug. They could never get enough and they’d never stop.
I paced the room while chewing on my thumbnail. The Kember disappeared at the funeral and while fighting Delmari. Twice now he’d lit a forest on fire. I didn’t dare bring up the multiple abilities again to Aiden. It’d be one more thing he’d make me tell the stupid shrink. “I’ve gotta get back there.”
Aiden stepped in front of me, intercepting my path again. “It’s late. We’re not going back tonight. I promise you, there’s nothing out there.”
“I’ve gotta see for myself.”
“Then wait until morning. You can’t see anything in the dark, anyway.”
He was right, and I hated it. I turned on my heel and walked back to my bed. The second the sun peaked above the mountains, I’d leave with or without him.
Aiden, obviously satisfied I wouldn’t be trudging through the darkness, strode toward the door.
“Hey…” I pulled a pillow onto my lap and fidgeted with the corner. “Are you going to tell Ian? You know, about tonight?”
He stopped in the doorway and hesitated a moment before turning back toward me. “No.”
I let out a sigh of relief. “I-I thought…”
Aiden grabbed hold of the door and began to close it. “Get some rest. If you need to see the forest, we’ll go in the morning.”
*****
The second the sun cast a pale pink haze through my curtains, I snapped my sketchbook closed and bolted from bed. I still only had two outfits, but for once I didn’t care. I slipped into my clean jeans and orange tank top and headed for the small bathroom.
When I finished showering, I smoothed my bangs to the side of my forehead and grimaced. The girl looking back couldn’t be me. Her sapphire eyes appeared grey and dull, like the life and light had left. As far as I was concerned, they had. Discolored circles had formed under them, as if she hadn’t slept in weeks. Pathetic. There was no other way to describe her.
Biting my lip, I turned away. No wonder Aiden didn’t talk to me more than he had to. People weren’t fond of the walking dead. I ran a brush through my blow-dried hair and then shuffled into the kitchen.
Aiden sat at the table, his mouth fixed in a line of concentration as he stared at a laptop screen. Like every morning, the curl on the ends of his hair was damp and the smell of aftershave lingered in the air. I stopped in front of the table and rested my hands on the back of a wooden chair. “Let’s go.”
Without looking up, he motioned to the fridge. “You should eat something first.” He slid his iPhone across the table. “Then call Skyler. He called four times last night. I’m not supposed to stop bothering you until you call him back.”
“Of course not.” Ignoring the phone, I walked to the fridge and grabbed a yogurt.
“He’s worried about you. He hasn’t talked to you since the—”
“I know!” My stomach twisted, and I took a deep breath. Dropping my gaze, I traced a finger around the foil lid before putting the yogurt back. “I’ll call him later.”
Aiden typed for a few moments. “I found something.” He rotated his laptop, showing me the screen.
I scooted a chair out and sat down across from him, throwing a skeptical look in his direction. “A map? You helping me break out of here?”
“Of the area we live in. There’re two houses within fifteen miles. If that girl exists, she lives in one of them.”
I clenched my jaw to keep it from dropping. Unknowingly, I slid forward in my chair. Maybe he didn’t think I needed to be locked up. “Seriously?”
“She’s a Drea. Maybe her gift is communicating through dreams or visions…”
At this point, anything that convinced him thrilled me. “So say we do happen to find her. What do we tell her? I saw she was going to be sucked dry?”
Aiden nodded and shut his laptop. “With a bit more tact than that.” He stood. “Ready?”
She had to know who the Kember was. I jumped up from my chair, nearly knocking it over. “Hell, yeah. Let’s do this.”
Chapter 8
I hadn’t realized how deep into the forest I actually walked yesterday. As I followed the same path, it was hard to believe. I kept thinking we’d passed it, but apparently Aiden had a GPS installed in his brain and knew exactly where we were going.
The sun shone through the trees, peeking through the branches, casting its warm beams on the frost-covered plant life. With every step I took, leaves and twigs crackled beneath my feet. They littered the ground, congregating around fallen tree trunks and surrounding foliage, camouflaging the land in orange and yellow. Back when I actually liked the woods, I would’ve thought it pretty. Today, all I saw were dead, withering leaves.
Aiden weaved through the trees about ten yards away. He took long strides, his features masked in the hard warrior face he wore twenty-four seven, while his eyes constantly swept the area. Did he ever smile? Not like I cared, but still, I was curious. I bet the guy didn’t have a fun bone in his body.
Not that I’d know. The only things I knew about him were his gift, he liked to read and he was some sort of badass ninja who had no problem protecting me.
Still, the silence was killing me. “Okay, so, if I start screaming and throwing myself into the dirt like a crazy mofo,
what then?” I flinched when my voice disturbed our quiet surroundings, sending a flurry of birds in the air.
Aiden pushed back a tree branch and ducked under it. “Then we try again tomorrow.” He stopped and gestured around the section of the forest. “This is it.”
I took in the tall, skeletal trees. This couldn’t be. The forest looked completely different. The tree had been full of green leaves, maybe even a bit taller. I stepped over a fallen log and weaved through the dead vegetation. The boulder the girl stood against came into view. I picked up my pace, practically stumbling as I went, and crouched in front of it. Aiden was right. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. I smoothed my hand over the rock that stood easily as tall as Aiden and breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe we still had a chance to find the girl and figure out who the Kember was.
When I turned to face him, the same girl with dark eyes and black hair flashed in my mind, making me wince. She smiled. All traces of her panicked and fearful expression were gone. My heart thudded in my chest. What was wrong with me? I squeezed my eyes closed, trying to rid her from my mind, but everything except her disappeared. I started to lose my balance.
Aiden grabbed my arms before I collapsed and held me in place. “What’s going on?”
I blinked until the picture cleared, allowing me to see him.
“Can you hear me?” He looked straight into my eyes, as if trying to see what I saw. I stared back at him, hypnotized by two of the most dazzling emeralds. My chest tightened. I’d never noticed how green they were.
Immediately, Aiden released me and I stumbled back a few steps. He glanced at his hands, hardness masking any of the earlier concern. “What happened?”
I drew in a deep breath and shook my head, snapping myself out of…whatever the hell that was. “I saw her,” I whispered. “It’s like she took over my entire vision. I couldn’t see anything else.” It scared me, too, but I didn’t want to tell him that.
Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) Page 142
