Dark Horizons (The Red Sector Chronicles)

by Krystle Jones

  “Sloane?”

  A shiver rolled over my skin at hearing my name in Aden’s husky voice; he had said it so tenderly, like a prayer.

  “Something’s not right,” Aden said. He bent over me, his light blond eyebrows steeped in concentration as he scrutinized my face. “Did something happen?”

  I was going to tell him about Orion; the “O” had already formed along my tongue, but then I got a good, solid look him.

  My heart nearly dropped into my stomach. Aden’s skin was ashen, and dark circles hung beneath his bloodshot eyes. He looked thinner, not lean in a toned, athletic way, but rather like something was eating him from the inside out.

  I scrambled to my feet in a heartbeat – and was nearly leveled by the tsunami of dizziness that rolled over me.

  Aden quickly rose, clutching my arms so I wouldn’t fall. When I steadied, his hands slid up to my cheeks, encasing my face. “What happened? Are you hurt?”

  A tremor settled in my skin, though I wasn’t cold. It was like fear, real and sentient, had taken over, drilling into my heart and poisoning my blood. “I –” I started to say, then cleared my throat and swallowed. Why was I so breathless? It wasn’t the good kind of breathless that came from almost-kisses and tantalizing touches. This was triggered by something more sinister – raw, all-consuming fear.

  Up close, Aden’s blue irises looked dull compared to the vivid network of red veins spiderwebbed over the whites of his eyes.

  It started as a hitch in my breath, a slow, painful twisting of my heart as I realized the stone-cold, bitter truth.

  “You’re dying, aren’t you?” I whispered, unable to blink. I was afraid if I closed my eyes for even a fraction of a second, he would disappear.

  His eyes turned grim, and his mouth pressed into a hard line. His fingers dug into my arms as he began shaking while tears pooled in his eyes.

  I did what came natural. I hugged him, clinging to him like if I squeezed hard enough, he would never leave me. “You’re not going anywhere, you hear me?” I said, my voice choked on emotion. “I’m on Orion’s trail. I know I am. I just saw him –”

  Aden immediately pulled back, looking at me shrewdly. “You saw Orion?”

  I nodded. “Yesterday.” I reached up, stroking his cheekbone with my thumb. “Please, try to hang in there until I can…”

  My voice trailed away as I saw the bright red smudge across Aden’s face. I pulled my hand back, examining my palm. It was covered in what appeared to be red paint. My eyes trailed down the front of Aden’s white shirt. He followed my gaze, touching the wet fabric and smelling it.

  It dawned on us at the same time what the substance was.

  “Blood,” I breathed.

  Aden looked back at me and his eyes widened. “Sloane!”

  Sensing his fear, I looked down. Blood completely covered the white dress I had on, nearly soaking it through to the point that it was almost solid red. “What the – oh, my God, Aden!”

  “What?” he said, then reached up to his chest. A hole had appeared there, gushing a waterfall of blood down his body.

  I froze, my mouth dropped open in horror. With my gaze locked on Aden, I hadn’t noticed how dark it had gotten.

  The sky was nearly black, writhing with deep gray clouds. Lightning crackled in the distance, and I turned as a sudden gale ripped through the meadow, bringing with it an icy chill as snarls and clucking sounds took to the air.

  I squinted. Something was moving toward us, an enormous herd of silhouetted bodies and red demonic eyes.

  I gasped, grabbing Aden by the arm. “Rogues! Aden, run!”

  Blood spurted from his mouth as he keeled over, falling limp in my arms.

  Tears ran down my face as I screamed his name over and over again, shaking him.

  A red blob lay in the grass beside him. Confused and trembling, I reached out and grasped it.

  My mind went numb with shock.

  It was his heart – still pulsing in my hand, which had started to run red with blood. With sinking dread, I turned back to the hole in his chest.

  Did I do this?

  My reflection stared back at me from within the glassy depths of his dead eyes. It was a mirror image at first, and then it began to shift.

  I squinted.

  The reflection’s eyes were red.

  And she was smiling.

  ***

  “Aden!” I screamed, flying upright.

  Something sharp cracked against my forehead and someone swore.

  “Jesus, Sloane,” Rook said, wincing as he clasped his nose.

  I blinked several times, panting hard as I frantically looked around. It took a few seconds because my mind was still trapped inside the nightmare, but then it slowly dawned on me as my eyes roved over dirty clothes and rusty washing machines that I was back at the Laundromat.

  “I – Aden – that is –” I said, my tongue stumbling over the words. My brain wouldn’t slow down long enough for me to form a coherent sentence.

  Rook was in front of me in an instant, gripping my shoulders. “Breathe. Just take a few deep breaths and close your eyes.”

  Doing as he said, I forced myself to inhale slowly, closing my eyes. The devil version of me flashed before my eyes, her bloodstained white dress lit up against the inky darkness. She smiled at me, blood dripping from her fangs.

  My eyes flew open with a gasp.

  “What is it? Did you have a nightmare?” Rook asked.

  I thought about it. Did I? Aden had felt so real.

  So did the blood.

  I didn’t know what worried me more: if I was dream-sharing with Aden and he really was dying, or if my overactive imagination kicked into overdrive and dropped me right in the middle of a horror movie. Blinking several times to clear the demon girl from my mind, I swallowed against the knot in my throat and said, “Sort of.”

  I couldn’t bring myself to say anymore, to tell Rook I had been meeting up with Aden in our hidden dream world.

  Rook searched my eyes, his features tense with worry.

  Feeling guilty, I smirked and said, “Sorry to wake you up. I’m surprised you could get away from Deyzre long enough to come check on me.”

  He cringed, but my casual remark seemed to relax him. “Yeah, well, it’s easy to just brush past her when I’m a good foot taller.”

  Knowing there was no way I could go back to sleep now, I stood and stretched my arms above my head. My muscles were sore, but not as bad as I expected them to be. “Where are the others?” I asked, looking around. Bright white light shone from behind the boards, meaning it must still be daytime.

  “Dezyre said Arika and Leo went to go check out the lead on the lab,” Rook said, placing his hands on his hips. “Dezyre’s probably freaking out that I’m up and moving around. It’s weird. I don’t know why she’s so worried about it. I mean, I know she’s a doctor and all, and it’s kind of her job, but still. She needs to calm down.”

  I carefully masked my expression, not letting on that I knew more than I should. “Well, you know Dezyre. Queen of the drama queens.”

  He chuckled, then winced.

  “How are you feeling?” I asked, glancing at his chest. The skin was still raw, but it looked a hell of a lot better than when I left him.

  “Sore as hell, but I’ll manage,” he said, smiling.

  “There you are.”

  We both turned. Deyzre stood a few feet away. Her arms were crossed, and she had her hip cocked to one side, giving Rook a pointed glare. “And just what exactly are you doing here, when I gave you explicit instructions to stay lying down?”

  The twinkle in his eyes sparked as he met her glare head-on. “I didn’t listen to you back at the base when I got nicked up. Why should that be any different here?”

  “You also never had a gigantic hole in your chest back at the base, either,” she said, walking up to him. She looked tired. Her eyes had a droopy look to them, and her hair was actually somewhat out of place.

  Rook r
olled his eyes as she began examining his chest. “Lay off it already. I’m fine.”

  “You should rest,” she muttered, crossing her arms with a pout.

  “What time is it?” I said, trying to change the subject to alleviate the growing tension in the room.

  “A little after 3 p.m.,” Rook said. “Why?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t know. Just curious.” A trickle of worry turned my stomach. “When do you think Arika and Leo will be back?” Provided they don’t get caught by the S.I.A., the Scarlet Guard, or the Black Cross Guild.

  “Probably before nightfall,” Rook said. “Leo seemed to be pretty confident he could locate the other lab so we could infiltrate it tonight.”

  My pulse quickened at that proposition, and a thought crossed my mind. “Hey, if you’re up for it, would you like to go over some defensive moves? I’m sure that lab will be crawling with guards, especially since the last one went up in flames.”

  I caught the excited gleam in Rook’s eyes before he could hide it. “Sure.”

  “Absolutely not!” Dezyre said. “He needs to rest!”

  “If I rest, I’ll just get sorer than I already am,” Rook said. “Relax. Sloane and I will go easy. Right?” he added, looking at me.

  I nodded. “Of course. He won’t even break a sweat. I promise.” I winked at Dezyre, and she pursed her lips, weighing this.

  “Fine,” she barked, stalking away. “See if I care when you rip your chest open again.”

  I smiled. They sounded so much like Orion and I had when we were little, constantly picking at each other, but in a way that showed we genuinely cared for one another.

  An unexpected wave of sadness flowed through me, knowing things could never go back to being the way they were between my brother and me.

  “You ready?”

  I looked up, blinking away the memory of my twin, and smiled. “Yeah. Let’s get this rolling.”

  We moved into the front lobby, where it was a little more open. After pushing some of the machines around to clear a circle of floor space, we took up positions across from one another.

  “What should we start with first? Did you have anything in particular in mind?” Rook asked.

  “Uh, how about some basic arm holds?”

  We practiced a few moves, alternating being the attacker and the victim. I was extra careful not to apply too much pressure, since I didn’t want to put him in any more pain than he was already in. Something told me he was hurting a lot more than he was letting on.

  For the most part, we rehearsed our deadly dance, going over pointers and textbook self-defense moves.

  Finally, I decided to ask one of the multitude of questions that had been nagging me at the back of my mind. “Have you or Dezyre, you know, fed since you’ve been up here?”

  Rook didn’t seemed bothered by my question. I still felt weird asking it, but I guess since he’d been a vampire longer than me, it didn’t bother him anymore. “Nah. Neither of us needs to.” He winced, parrying my fake punch and locking up my arm against his chest. “Although it probably wouldn’t hurt me to feed now, since I lost all that blood.”

  My face flushed. That made me feel even guiltier for feeding off Leo.

  I decided to change the subject. “Do vampires get stronger the longer they’re, you know, infected or whatever?”

  “Typically,” Rook said, “though you don’t really notice it until after at least a year.” He looked at me strangely. “Why? You experiencing some super-strength or something?”

  “Well,” I said, my voice hitching as I thought about how I’d lifted Leo’s Rogue dad by the throat with one hand. Chewing on my lip, I finally said, “Watch this.”

  Rook eyed me quizzically as I walked over to a washing machine, placing my feet shoulder width apart as I stood in front of it and let out a slow breath. I had no idea if this would work, but the energy humming in my veins refused to subside. I’d noticed it ever since drinking Leo’s blood, like swallowing electricity. Raising my fist in the air, I brought my arm down as hard as I could. The metal groaned as it bent inward, creating a dent about an inch or two deep.

  Rook whistled as his brows shot up. “Wow. Easy there, She-rah. That washing machine didn’t do anything to deserve that.”

  “Haha,” I said dryly, turning back around to face him. “I haven’t been a vampire for very long. Why do you think I’m getting so much stronger so fast?”

  Rook studied me for a few seconds, thinking. “I don’t know.” His eyes focused on my collarbone. “Maybe it has something to do with your heritage.”

  I followed his gaze to the forget-me-not shaped birthmark on my skin. “I still don’t know what it means, this symbol, my past. Any of it.” And I definitely didn’t know why it was being used as a symbol by a top secret government lab.

  Rook smiled sadly. “You’ll figure it out someday, I’m sure.”

  We stood there for a few moments, each lost in thought. I made a mental note to do some serious genealogy research as soon as this whole ordeal with Orion was over.

  I looked up. Rook’s gaze was distant. And very sad.

  I didn’t need to be psychic to know what he was thinking about, or rather, whom. I couldn’t help the words that spilled out of my mouth. “Do you miss Angel?”

  He blinked, startled, then smiled, though it was just as melancholy as the grief buried in his eyes. “Yeah,” he said softly, staring at the windows. “I was just thinking how much sunlight reminded me of her hair and her smile. Her whole personality kind of lit up a room, you know?”

  That sentiment stung a little; it was exactly how I thought of her. “Yeah,” I said quietly, turning away before he could see the tears brimming in my eyes. “She sure did.”

  Angel was something of a best friend to me. Even when I found out she was the one who turned Orion, she still fought to do the right thing at the end, including saving my life and Aden’s. She was also Orion’s pet experiment for his virus.

  My jaw clenched as I fisted my hands, hearing revenge’s sweet whisper in my ear. “Don’t worry, Rook,” I said, my voice turning deadly. “If it’s the last thing I do, I will bring my brother to justice.”

  He gazed at me. Something changed in his eyes. They were no longer sad.

  They were full of pity.

  We trained for about another hour and a half until it got too dark to see. We opted not to try to turn on any lights, not wanting to draw attention to ourselves.

  Arika and Leo returned right around sunset. “We found it,” Leo proudly announced, striding toward us with excitement on his face.

  I nearly pounced on him, my heart picking up speed. “You did? Where is it?”

  “Close by, actually,” Arika said, her dark eyes glittering. She sounded a little out of breath. Judging from the glossy sheen across her skin and Leo’s, they must have run here.

  “You didn’t run into any trouble, did you?” I asked warily, glancing between the two of them.

  “Don’t worry,” Arika said with a deadly smile. “We didn’t find any trouble – they did.”

  Her thumb stroked the pommel of her sai, and I nodded once. “I bet they did,” I murmured darkly.

  “How are you feeling?” Leo asked Rook, eyeing his chest.

  “Better, actually,” Rook said, playfully nudging me with his elbow. “Sergeant McAllister here made me train all afternoon, which actually helped work out the soreness.”

  Leo’s jaw clenched as his eyes flicked between us, and he cleared his throat. “That’s great, that’s great,” he muttered absently, sounding distracted.

  I raised a brow, catching his gaze with a question in my eyes.

  Leo licked his lips. “Could you excuse us for a minute?” he asked softly, more to Arika than Rook.

  I recognized that voice. It was the one he used to melt hearts and make knees tremble. Rook was immune, but Arika was not. I probably wouldn’t have heard her sharp intake of air at Leo’s request had I not had better hearing than most. Blinkin
g, she glanced to me, as if weighing the decision, before nodding curtly and placing a hand on Leo’s arm. “If you need me, I’ll be close,” she said, her dark eyes flicking to me before she followed Rook out of the room.

  Meaning, “Don’t try anything,” I thought, smirking. She was no pushover, that was for sure.

  Once they were gone, Leo rounded on me. “How are you?”

  I stared at him. “Well, other than being schooled last night by my homicidal brother, I’m doing peachy.”

  “No, I meant –” He sighed. A low growl slipped out. “I meant, do you, er, need anything?”

  More staring. “Some clarity over what you’re trying to ask would be nice.”

  Rolling his eyes, he said, “Are you hungry?”

  It took me a moment to process what kind of hunger he was talking about. Squirming under his gaze, so hopeful, like a puppy hoping for dinner scraps, I crossed my arms and started to back away. “I’m fine,” I said lightly, giving him my devil-may-care smile. “Really, Leo, you don’t have to worry about –”

  The moment I took a step, he cut me off, blocking my exit with the hulk of his body. Though he had lost some weight, he was still two hundred pounds worth of man. My face heated as he brought both arms up on either side of my head, leaning in and whispering next to my ear. “You don’t have to lie to me, Sloane. I’m here for you.”

  It suddenly became incredibly difficult to swallow. “Leo, stop,” I said, pushing against him, and admittedly, holding back. I was afraid if I used my full strength that I’d fling him across the room and hurt him. “Please, I’m all right. Just forget about it.”

  “I can’t,” he said, sounding strained. “You’re all I ever think about.” Pause. “You’re even in my dreams.”

  That last word sent shivers skittering through me. It was so breathy, so lustful.

  So Leo.

  With a pang of guilt and disappointment, I forced myself to meet his gaze. “It’s my bite. It’s done something to you. You need help.”

  He laughed, nuzzling my neck and gently nipping the skin at the curve of my shoulder. “I need you,” he said, his voice coming out in a desperate growl.