Paranormal After Dark: 20 Paranormal Tales of Demons, Shifters, Werewolves, Vampires, Fae, Witches, Magics, Ghosts and More

by Rebecca Hamilton

  “You and Cross are up to something. I want you to tell me what. I want you to tell me exactly what you told him.”

  Panic washed over him. As loving and gentle Tanya could be, she could be just as cruel and hard. He had the scars to prove it. “No,” he shook his head.

  She looked disappointed at the answer. “Kale,” she purred, as her fingers weaved through his hair. “We both know that’s a word you are never to say to me. We both understand the consequences of that word. But I can forgive the indiscretion this once, if you’ll do something for me. It’s what you want anyway. I want you to contact Cross, for me, Kale.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him deeply, her body moving against his.

  He was in hell. He was in heaven.

  He turned with her in his arms and pushed her down on the small bed. She let him, but as he started to work the buttons on her blouse she placed a hand over his.

  “Will you do that for me, Kale? I am concerned about Cross. He’s lost—we need your help to assured that he is well. Isn’t that what we both want?

  “No tricks, I will allow you to break the rules this one time. Will you do that for me?” Her breath was sweet and warm on his skin. Maybe this time, she meant it. The concern in her eyes seemed genuine, as did her desire for him.

  God, he wanted it to be real. He needed it to be real. His heart beat wildly against his chest, his need for her nearly overwhelming all else. He had to concentrate just to get the words out.

  “Anything, I’ll do anything.” he said as his tongue tasted her neck. He straddled her as she undid the button of his jeans. She shoved his pants down past his thighs and then he sucked in a breath as her hand glided over him. Her hand gripped him too tightly, hurting him, but he didn’t object. The pain was penance for his giving into her. He embraced the pain.

  “Hell,” he grunted, as his body took over and gave her what she demanded of him.

  They had played at this game for far too long for him to object to it now. Tanya always got what she wanted from him and Kale – Kale got what he craved. He wanted to be stronger than he was, but the truth was he never would be and Tanya knew that.

  “Find your brother for me, Kale. Can you do that?”

  “I tried,” His shaking hand slid up her thigh, pushing her skirt with it. “I can’t find him.” He stopped and suddenly realized what she was saying. “Wait. Are you telling me Cross got out?”

  She stared up at him. “We need him back. He has been deceived. He’s vulnerable right now and we know how to help him. He may have been drugged. He’d be helpless. You wouldn’t want your brother helpless, would you?”

  Cross needed to be safe.

  She arched her body against him and images of his brother vanished. All that existed was the woman beneath him.

  His hands found her naked breasts. Then his mouth.

  “Would it be difficult if he was drugged?” Tanya breathed in his ear.

  “Yes, his energy would be dampened.” His heard his own voice husked with desire.

  Tanya clasped his face in both her hands and his attention was suddenly riveted on her words, not her body. “Then you will look for him again? You’ll tell me where he is? I don’t want to hurt him, I only want to help him understand what is happening to him. You could be together again. Wouldn’t you like that, to be with Cross again after all these years?”

  Kale’s head cleared a little. He could be with Cross again? “Yes,” he whispered. “Yes I would like that.”

  “Then you will help me find him, won’t you?”

  “Yes. I’ll help Cross.”

  I promise.

  Tanya smiled and Kale took what she gave him. She helped him shed the rest of her clothes and wrapped her legs around his waist.

  Kale knew what she was doing, but he was so alone.

  He hated Tanya and he loved her. The woman had manipulated him on every possible level and it sickened him. She isolated him, made him need her, she made him love her. He was lost. This was hell and Tanya Santiago was his devil.

  Chapter 14

  SHADOWS AND LIGHT. That’s all Cross saw as he opened his eyes. Nothing new. He put a hand to his head to try and stop the pounding there and sat up. In that instance he remembered. His attack on Bernard, his panicked run, his confusion. And then the woman on the street. Before the uncertainty could build into fear and the fear into panic, a quiet voice startled him.

  “Hey, you’re awake.”

  The voice came from the corner of the room off to his left, it was female and Cross didn’t recognize it. “Where am I? Who are you?” He turned toward its source and tried for intimidation.

  “My name is Maizey and you are safe Cross Delancey.” Ireland sang in every syllable of her words. She didn’t sound very intimidated.

  Cross rubbed the back of his neck, the source of the pain. “You’ll forgive me if I choose not to believe just your word.”

  “You don’t really have to now, do you?” Maizey moved from where she had been sitting and came closer.

  He tensed slightly until he heard liquid being poured.

  “Here,” she placed a glass in his hand. “For the headache.”

  Cross eyed her suspiciously.

  “It’s just water, love,” she laughed. “The sedative leaves you dehydrated. Come on, drink up. I have someone who has been waiting to meet you.”

  “And what if I want to stay right where I’m at?”

  “Then I guess I’ll have to bring him to you. I understand the nerves, but believe me, you have never been anywhere safer in your entire life. Go ahead, have a peek. I know you want to.”

  Cross understood what Maizey was saying. She was inviting him to have look inside her head. If she was trying to hide something from him, he would be able to tell. He hesitated only a moment before sending psychic energy in her direction.

  He had never entered a more open mind. Most people have walls around their psyches. It was purely instinctive, not something done on a conscious level. Cross normally had to pick his way through several layers of protection before he found the truth of who a person was.

  Maizey had no layers. No walls. She was refreshingly and candidly open. She had a vibrant aura about her.

  Cross found the experience a bit unsettling. He had never met anyone who seemed so alive. The first thing he learned was that she had told him the truth. He was safe here, where ever here was. Not the Department, of that he was at least sure. He felt no threat from her or from the people he sensed around him.

  The second thing he learned was the kicker. He pulled the seeking energy back inside and canted his head in her direction. He wasn’t worried over his safety now, but he was, without a doubt, intrigued.

  She let out a hearty chuckle. “Weren’t expecting that, now were you? Come on, love, let’s go meet Charlie.” Maizey took Cross by one arm and gently guided him out of the room. He sensed the space he walked through was closed in.

  “We’re underground,” he said. It wasn’t a question, he knew it to be a fact.

  “Safer that way. We have tunnels under every part of this island and most of the other boroughs. But our main division is here in Manhattan.”

  “Why?” he said.

  “Why is it safer, or why underground?”

  “Both.”

  “We are safe here,” a deep voice filled with rich baritones and a pronounced Irish brogue answered Cross. He swiveled his head to the left and waited for the man to speak again. “From your Department of Paranormal Research. This place is a safe haven for people like us.”

  “Charlie?” Cross assumed.

  “Indeed. And it is my pleasure to meet you at last, Cross Delancey.”

  Cross detected no threat from these people, and he sensed a lot of lives in the small area surrounding him. If Maizey was to be believed these people had saved him from Tanya, and wasn’t that just ironic. Just a few days ago these people had been his job, his quarry. “And you definitely have me at a disadvantage. It was you that to
ok me off the streets before Tanya could?”

  “Not me specifically, but yes we made sure the Department did not get you back under its thumb.”

  “Let’s start with why and work up from there.”

  “I have waited for this day for over twenty years,” Charlie said. “Now that it’s here, I find myself uncharacteristically at a loss for words.”

  “Okay, how about I start with some questions.” Without waiting Cross turned to where Maizey still stood. “When I read you, I found that you’re like me. You’re a psychic.”

  “You flatter me. I am nowhere nearly as talented as you, but yes, I have the ability. I’m also telekinetic to a small degree, but mostly I can make people see whatever I want them to see, or whatever I don’t want them to see.”

  “That was you. You made them lose me in that crowd.” Cross thought he was beginning to understand now.

  “Well I had to do something, love. You were like a lost little lamb out there. Ten seconds more and they would’ve been the ones to jab you with a needle. I can guarantee you wouldn’t have woken up in as pleasant surroundings.”

  Cross’s hand went to the tender spot at the back of his neck again. “Thank you, I think. So this place… All of you here…”

  “Have some ability or another that would greatly interest that Department you worked for.” Charlie said. “Most of us have hidden the truth of who we are our entire lives. Here we don’t have to do that. Here we can be as free as anyone can be.”

  “How do you know me?” Cross said. “How did you know where I was, or where I would be?”

  Charlie let out a sad heavy sigh. “We knew where you were because we have inside information.”

  “What? You mean you have a mole in the Department?” Cross considered that and then dismissed it. “No. No way. I would have known. That was my job. To figure out who deviated from the norm, who had aberrancies. I would have sensed it.”

  “But you didn’t. That’s how good my guy is,” Charlie said. “Trust me, he was instrumental in giving you the time you needed to escape. But to answer your second question. I have known about both you and your brother since the moment you were born.” Charlie sounded almost wistful when he spoke again. “You both look very much like my Maria.”

  Cross’s breath caught in his chest. “Your Maria.”

  “My daughter, Cross. Maria Clarey, your mother, was my daughter.”

  Chapter 15

  THIS ONE WAS going to be tricky, but Kale was reasonably sure he could pull it off. Tanya wanted him to find Cross. He knew he couldn’t simply stick with the ‘“I can’t find him”’ line. There was no way she would buy it.

  He had felt Cross in his head for days now, but he hadn’t contacted him. Mostly because Tanya wanted him to. Just the fact that Kale knew his brother was alive sent relief surging through him.

  Tanya was furious that her team had lost him. It took a great deal of effort just for Kale to keep from smiling about that. Cross always could take care of himself better than anyone Kale had ever known.

  When she entered his room followed by Gabriel, Kale was shocked. He was seldom allowed to see or talk to anyone save Tanya. His isolation had been strictly enforced. If they needed to move him, he was always sedated first. Tanya always had him experiment with his powers through the walls of his room, never face to face. Not for years. For her to actually bring Gabriel to him, told Kale one thing. She was desperate. She wanted Cross back and no one was going to stop her.

  Kale wasn’t sure he could stop her. He only knew he had to try, because there was no way he was leading Tanya to Cross. No way in hell. Kale would pay for that disobedience. The price would be high, probably messy and undoubtedly painful.

  “I assume you recognize your father,” Tanya said.

  Kale snorted. “My father. Yeah, whatever.”

  Gabriel looked older than Kale remembered him. Deep lines were etched around his eyes and mouth, but he still wore the same smug expression. Kale hated that expression. He understood Gabriel’s psychic powers were strong. Big fucking deal. Kale was stronger, but he wasn’t going to let Gabriel—or Tanya know it. Neither Tanya nor Gabriel understood exactly what Kale was capable of. He was counting on that.

  “This is what’s going to happen,” Gabriel said. It was clear he wasn’t pleased with being told what to do any more than Kale. At the end of the day Tanya owned him as much as she owned Kale. “I am going to link with you and you are going to find Cross.”

  Kale turned to Tanya. “I’m crushed. Don’t you trust me, darling?”

  Tanya stroked Kale’s cheek with a crimson nail. “Not even a little. Gabriel will basically piggy-back your psychic energy. You are not to alert Cross to his presence, and don’t tell me you can’t keep his presence hidden. I know you can. I want you to find out who has him, where they have him, and I want you to tell me. Do you understand, Kale?”

  “And if I say, no? If I just say screw you and decide not to help you find him, what then? What are you going to do to me? Hurt my brother?” Kale shook his head. He had been thinking about it since she left him spent, but with a clearer head. She didn’t care what she did to him.

  “Cross is, for the first time in his life, out of your control. He’s safe. So if you can’t hurt him, then who? Me? Are you going to beat me, torture me? Kill me?” Kale put a fist under his chin and pretended to ponder. “Do what you want to me. I really don’t care anymore.” That wasn’t entirely true, but Kale was proud of his bravado.

  Tanya kept the scary grin on her face and circled Kale as if appraising his worth. “Ah, Kale,” she sighed. A disappointed parent trying to teach the wayward child a lesson. “I know you don’t care what happens to you, and you’re right, I can no longer threaten you with your brother’s well-being. So what am to do?” She went to the door and rapped lightly. A girl was pushed through the opening. She couldn’t be more than fifteen and she was clearly terrified as she looked around with wide, tear-filled eyes. Her hands were tied in front of her and Robert held her by one arm.

  Tanya smoothed the girl’s hair away from her face. The girl cringed at her touch.

  “This is Sybil. Cross and his team were supposed to bring her and her brother in a few nights ago. Instead they managed to level an entire cemetery. While her brother is still out there, we did manage to find sweet Sybil.”

  Kale knew Tanya. He didn’t need to sneak a peek in her head to know this was not going to end well. “Okay, I’m sorry.”

  He didn’t want to look in the girl’s eyes. It was as if she understood what was happening as well. “Look, I had to try, okay? Gabriel can go along for the ride if he wants, but I swear I’ll find Cross, and I’ll tell you exactly where he’s at.”

  Tanya seemed disappointed. “Now, why couldn’t I get that level of commitment from you before I had to go and threaten this sweet young thing?” She held a hand out to Robert who handed her his handgun. She held it to the girl’s head.

  Sybil squealed when the barrel touched her temple “Find your brother, Kale and let Gabriel in. If you lie I will kill her.”

  Kale held his hands up as if to stop her. “Okay, okay. Just chill.” He flicked a nervous glance toward Gabriel. “Go, do your thing man, just stay in the background, I’ll cover your presence. He’ll never know you’re there.”

  “He’d better not,” Tanya said.

  Kale felt Gabriel inside his head a moment later. This wasn’t going to be easy. He closed his eyes to concentrate and then focused on Gabriel’s energy inside his own mind.

  Kale pushed Gabriel.

  I’m doing what she wants, I’m looking for Cross.

  It was a delicate thing to accomplish. Gabriel had seen him use his gift. He had been in Kale’s head when he had pushed other people. Kale had no idea if he would see past the trick this time.

  If he did, Kale knew he had killed the girl just as sure as if he’d pulled the trigger. He waited for a moment and pushed Gabriel again, this time a little harder.

&
nbsp; I’m looking, I’m having difficulty tracking him down- too much pressure, I’m looking!

  “He’s looking,” Gabriel told Tanya. “You have him a bit ruffled with the girl, but he’s looking.”

  Kale smiled on the inside. It was working, now if he could just keep it up until he spoke to Cross. It was almost like splitting a piece of himself off and keeping it blind to what the other part was doing.

  Cross! Where ever you are, please, man let me in.

  Kale searched in the dark for Cross’s energy and almost immediately found him. When Kale zeroed in on him, he was a little startled to find his brother had been looking for him. He took the energy offered to him by Cross, combined it with the ambient energy surrounding them, and materialized inside Cross’s mind. That connection was there for him as it always had been.

  But there was something different about Cross. Something that hadn’t been there before, not for a very long time. Kale understood an instant later when Cross opened his mind to him. Kale’s energy materialized in front of his brother. Cross looked good, rested, his mind felt at peace.

  “You’re okay?” The image of Kale sat next to Cross on the narrow cot. His brother was alone, but Kale could sense a lot of people nearby.

  “I’m good, I was worried about you. I wasn’t sure how to go about finding you. You were always the one to come to me.”

  “Where are you Cross? Where is this place?”

  Cross ran a hand through his hair and shrugged. “I’m not really sure. I waited for your move, a distraction. When one didn’t come, I took matters into my own hands and got out.”

  “I know,” Kale looked sideways at Cross. “You pissed a lot of people off.”

  “I didn’t get you in trouble did I? Tanya didn’t hurt you?”

  Kale narrowed his gaze at Cross. “I can handle Tanya.” Kale suddenly understood what was different about his brother. “You know. Don’t you?”