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

by Rebecca Hamilton

  Waking up. Confusion, darkness. Understanding what they planned to do to him, and being helpless to stop it.

  Cross squeezed his eyes closed at that revelation- he remembered being awake and blind, and listening to them discuss what they were about to do to him. My God, how he had fought them. He had tried to refuse Gabriel access to his mind, but he was too weak. Gabriel was too strong.

  They took his memories. They took who he was and made him into what they wanted him to be.

  Anger, shame and guilt overwhelmed him. Cross opened his eyes and found only the white nothingness once more. Where was he? What had they done to him? He didn’t like this anymore, he wanted out. But more than that, he wanted to hurt someone, lash out at the injustice, at the rape of his youth, of his mind. But that rage had been at the core of the boy who had murdered twelve people without a second thought.

  My God!

  “Cross?”

  He whirled toward the voice and found Maizey standing there. What was she doing there? He needed to hurt someone, he needed to let the anger out. God how he needed to let the anger out, but not at her. He gulped air but couldn’t get enough in his lungs. Sweat ran down his face, everything spun around him.

  Falling.

  A hand under his arm steadied him.

  “Let me take you home.” An angel’s voice with an Irish lilt. His blue-eyed angel with the red hair.

  “Home,” Cross considered the word. “I don’t have one anymore.”

  Maizey smiled and his anger melted. “Yes you do, love. Come back with me.”

  Cross took her hand and the white nothingness faded into shadow and light.

  Cross opened his eyes, the anger only a memory. The guilt very much alive. He took a breath and felt Maizey’s hand still in his. “Did you see it too?”

  “Aye, I did.”

  “I killed those people.”

  “I know. Not that they didn’t deserve it.”

  “They were only trying to stop us and I killed them.”

  “And if they had managed to stop you, Tanya would have had them kill you and your brother when you were no longer of any use to her. I could see that. Don’t you feel any guilt over their deaths, they weren’t worth it. That is Tanya manipulating you again.”

  “Maybe I do belong inside a glass-walled room,” Cross said.

  “If I thought that was true for one minute I would never had brought you back here.”

  “I remember. I remember everything.” He sat on the edge of the bed and waited until Maizey sat next to him. “All these years, Kale has stayed there to protect me, hasn’t he?”

  “Yes.”

  The voice that answered him wasn’t Maizey’s, and it wasn’t Charlie. Cross recognized it easily enough, but that didn’t explain why he was hearing it here. “Vic?”

  “Surprise.”

  “You? You’re the inside guy?”

  “Imagine that. I pulled one over on a psychic,” Vic rumbled out a laugh.

  “How? I would’ve known.”

  “But you didn’t, now did you?” Charlie said. “You promised Vic and Finn you wouldn’t look in their heads. If there was one thing we were certain of, Cross, it was when you made a promise you kept it. You had no reason not to trust Vic, so why would you go back on your word?”

  “Finn?” Cross felt like he was looking at his life from a completely different angle. Like a prism moving in the light, it showed you something different depending on how you look at it.

  “He doesn’t know. But you have to understand something, Cross, he fought for you.”

  “Sure right up to the moment he turned me in.”

  “He never turned you in. You did that all by yourself. He played along to keep an eye out for you. Right now he’s suspended. Tanya pulled him from your case. He called me, wanted me to help find out anything I could about you. He wanted to help you, regardless of what it cost him. I just thought you should know that.”

  Cross considered that, but he wasn’t ready to deal with his feelings toward Finn yet. Another thought pulled him to his feet. “I have to get Kale out of there. He’s protected me all this time, and now it’s my turn. I don’t care what happens to me, but I have to get Kale out of there.”

  “Do you even realize where ‘there’ is?” Vic said. “Tanya has that boy’s head so royally messed up, I don’t even know if he wants out. No one sees him but her. No one talks to him but her. She has him so totally dependent on her, he doesn’t know how to think for himself anymore.”

  Cross shook his head. “No, he’s come to me. All these years I was never sure if he was real or imagined, but he always came to me. He warned me this was going to happen. He has always been watching over me, looking out for me. I refuse to believe Tanya owns him so completely.”

  “What do you mean, he’s come to you?” Vic sounded confused and maybe even concerned. Cross wondered if he had just betrayed his brother, but then decided these people had saved him. For better or worse he had made the decision to trust them.

  “Up here,” Cross tapped the side of his head. “Ever since I woke up blind in the hospital all those years ago. He would appear to me in my mind.” Cross considered that with his new-found truths. “He was trying to look out for me, protect me, all these years.” He turned his head in Vic’s direction. “It’s my fault he is where he is. My fault Tanya has kept him the way she has. What the hell have I done to him?”

  “Don’t put that on yourself,” Vic said. “You did what you had to do and so did Kale.”

  “He’s my brother. I’ll get him out of there if I have to do it on my own.”

  “No one said you had to do it on your own,” Vic said. “I just said it wasn’t going to be easy.”

  The hatred and the anger he remembered from the first time he tried to get them out flared to life inside of Cross. It felt good. He didn’t want to forget how good it felt. He didn’t ever want to forget that again. “Charlie, will you help me?”

  “We’ve waited over ten years to get you back, both of you. I don’t think there’s anyone in these tunnels who wouldn’t help you.”

  Cross had finally finished what he’d started when he was fourteen. He had gotten out. But the price had been too high. His sight and his brother.

  Tanya had kept Kale like a pet. She’d twisted the truth and used him to perform for her. And Kale had let her to keep Cross safe. If Cross had known, he would have killed Tanya years ago. He knew now. “I am bringing Kale home.” The tone of his voice left little to be argued with.

  “We,” Vic corrected. “We, are bringing Kale home.” He clapped Cross lightly across the back. “Welcome to the Underground, Cross. Welcome to being one of the hunted.”

  Chapter 17

  FINN WAS ON his third beer. It was a particularly hoppy IPA that tasted smooth going down. Normally he would have appreciated that, but as he watched the sun set over the harbor, all he could think about was how messed up things were. Finn lived in a renovated 19th century firehouse in Battery Park. It was narrow but the open loft and exquisite views more than made up for the lack of floor space. The original wrought iron spiral staircase and fire pole had been preserved. The top of the front wall sported twenty foot arched windows looking out over the harbor. Finn loved sitting in his loft looking out over the water. He loved this hectic, noisy, dangerous city. This is where he normally found his center, his peace. But the last five days that peace eluded him at every turn, as did sleep.

  Go someplace warm, Tanya had told him.

  Screw that.

  His head buzzed with the effects of the alcohol, but he wasn’t nearly as numb as he wanted to be, or as he intended to be. He could still think coherently and that wouldn’t do. He didn’t want to think tonight, because when he did all he thought about was what a douche he was. He pulled on the beer, leaned back in his chair, planted his feet on the loft railing and thought about Cross. What the hell happened? Just a few days ago life had been good. Now here he was suspended, alone, and cut so far out
of the loop he didn’t know how to get back.

  When Coben and Tanya approached him about a special assignment, Finn had no problems saying yes. Fresh out of the academy and open to the possibilities the secret department offered him, Finn was eager to earn his stripes.

  All the paperwork on Cross Delancey made the guy sound like a slightly less evil version of Hannibal Lector, minus the cannibalism. Between him and his brother, they had killed over a dozen special agents in less than twenty minutes with nothing but the energy of their minds. That was when they were fourteen.

  He remembered the briefing Tanya had made him watch. A short taped session with Kale Delancey shortly after Cross had been shot…

  The film had been in color, but the quality was poor. It showed an obviously upset young boy, maybe thirteen or fourteen years of age. Dark hair worn long and unkempt, bangs nearly hiding the dark eyes beneath. The boy was tall for his age, close to six feet already, but he was thin, all long legs and arms.

  At first he was alone in the room. He couldn’t sit still, he paced back and forth, tried to sit, then jumped up again, obviously agitated. Soon a door opened and a woman entered, a younger Tanya Santiago. The boy went directly to her. “Is Cross okay?” His eyes glimmered with unshed tears, and his voice went up an octave on the last word.

  Tanya put a hand on his shoulder and led him to a chair at the table.

  “Kale, we need to talk, okay?”

  “I need to know how Cross is. He shot him, Gabriel –He shot him.” Shock, tension and exhaustion were evident now as Kale all but fell into the chair.

  “I know, Kale. Right now I need you to calm down and I need you to listen to me. Can you do that?”

  “We just wanted out, can’t you understand that? Cross and me, it’s not right the way you keep us here. We just wanted out.” There was no conviction behind the words. They were empty excuses made by a boy who knew that his punishment was at hand.

  “You and Cross killed over a dozen of my agents. They had families. They were just doing their jobs. And you and Cross killed them because they got in your way.”

  Tears tracked down Kale’s face as he shook his head. “They would have killed us. We felt that.” Then one last shred of bravado made an appearance. “If I killed them, I could kill you too, you know. I want to know how Cross is and I want to see him, now.”

  Tanya smiled, like an indulgent parent considering her misbehaved, but much loved child. “You won’t kill me, because I hold Cross’s life in my hands.”

  “He’s alive?” a small spark of hope flared in the boy’s eyes, the defiance that had been there moments ago now gone.

  “He’s in a coma, but yes he’s alive. If you want me to keep him that way I suggest you put away the attitude, and behave yourself. If Cross lives, you will never see him again. That’s the first thing you need to understand. But his life will very much depend on what you do. If you step just a little out of line, he dies.

  “Do you understand, Kale? If you do not do exactly what I tell you to do, he dies. This ill-conceived escape attempt has cost both of you. It may yet cost Cross his life, it has cost you more than that. I’m through coddling you.”

  “What do you want?” Kale said.

  It had been apparent to Finn the boy was broken, but Tanya was nowhere near finished with him. She stood and rapped once on the locked door. A man was pushed through when it opened. He looked terrified.

  “Who’s that?” Kale said. The man obeyed Tanya’s pointing hand and sat in the chair opposite Kale.

  “It doesn’t matter. I want you to push him. I want you to tell him to do something he wouldn’t normally do.”

  “I won’t hurt him. I already told you I wouldn’t do that.”

  Tanya lovingly patted his face. “Yes you will, because if you don’t, I will have them kill Cross. Right now, before we even know if he will survive the coma, I’ll have them yank the tubes out that are keeping him alive and I will let him die.”

  “No,” the man whimpered.

  “I’m sorry,” Kale said softly, but still loud enough for the microphones in the room to pick it up. His face hardened and stared intently at the man. Kale tilted his head to one side as if he were considering something interesting. “I think you should break your fingers, one by one.”

  The fear left the man’s face as he stared back. “Really?” He spoke it like he wasn’t sure it was the best idea.

  Kale took a deep breath and his voice took on a confident tone that hadn’t been there before. “Yes, definitely. I really think you need to.”

  The man considered the request for a mere moment and then nodded in agreement. “You know, I really think I need to break my fingers.” He took his left index finger in his right hand and bent it back at a severe angle. The snap of his phalanges breaking under the pressure was clearly audible on the video. He didn’t yell with the pain. He simply moved on to his next finger and repeated the process.

  When all four of his fingers had been broken he looked at Kale quizzically. “What about the thumb? Technically it isn’t a finger. Should I break that as well?”

  Kale looked to Tanya begging her with his eyes to stop. She placed her hand on the man’s shoulder, clearly pleased with what Kale had done. “I don’t think that’s necessary.”

  Kale looked relieved as he turned back to the man. “No, you don’t have to do that.”

  “Did I do it right?” the man wanted to know. It was obvious he was concerned that he might have failed the task.

  “You did fine,” Tanya told him. “Why don’t you go to medical to have your hand taken care of now.” She rapped on the door and ushered the broken man outside. The door closed again and it was just her and Kale alone once more.

  “You’ll take care of Cross?” he said.

  Tanya nodded. “I’m impressed. Tell me, was it difficult to get him to do that? I mean to override his basic sense of self-preservation. How did you do that?”

  “I don’t know how, I just know I can. It’s easy, like breathing.”

  “What else could you have made him do?”

  Kale lowered his head to the table. He seemed exhausted and it was clear he didn’t like what he just made the man do. “I don’t know,” his words were mumbled as he spoke into his arm. “Anything. I could have had him do anything.” He looked up at her again, and his face was impossibly young and innocent.

  The film froze there centered on Kale’s face.

  Finn had never forgotten the anguish in Kale Delancey’s eyes as he was forced to hurt that man. Tanya had easily convinced him then that the boy was one of the most dangerous human beings on the planet.

  Kale had been in custody ever since and, according to Tanya, not a threat. Cross, on the other hand, they assumed was manageable as long as he didn’t remember his past. He had amazing abilities the department wanted to tap into.

  Damaged by the bullet in the shooting, the kid had suffered brain damage resulting in his blindness and global amnesia of the event. The department, or rather Tanya and Gabriel had made the decision to exploit that. They’d wiped Cross’s memories and reprogrammed him with a new life.

  They told Cross who they wanted him to be and how they wanted him to behave. They told him his brother was dead. No brother, no family, the only memories he had were the ones the Department gave to him. His job working at the department was scripted. The post-trauma paranormal abilities he exhibited were for the most part harmless if not fascinating. He was controlled, and Finn had been put into place to keep him that way.

  His babysitter.

  The first time Finn had met Cross, he was disappointed. Where was the terrifying homicidal maniac the Department had brainwashed in order to control?

  Cross was a quiet introvert who preferred to spend an evening home alone with his dog to going out drinking. Dark glasses hid more than just damaged eyes, to Finn they hid a damaged soul, one that Cross tried to hide from the world. At first Cross was hesitant to show the profiling abilities he was su
pposedly hired for. Until one case changed everything between Cross and Finn.

  A kid they had been watching in Harlem. Loner, no friends, stayed out of trouble and off the grid, did everything he could to keep from being noticed, until he made a mistake. He popped a 24/7 gas station.

  His name was Derone, he was sixteen years old and the claim was he could manipulate the elements. Finn had badged his way into the NYPD interrogation room where the cops had him detained.

  One of the Department’s techs had been monitoring the police frequencies. The local police often had run-ins with these kids long before the Department even knew they existed. Finn and Cross had been sent to run interference but the cops already had him in custody.

  In the six months they had been working together, Cross had taken a back seat to Finn in every investigation, spoken only when he had to and never initiated any overtures of friendship. Other than an amazing ability to read people, Finn had yet to see anything remotely terrifying about Cross. But he dutifully wrote his monthly reports to Tanya and Coben.

  Derone didn’t look particularly dangerous to Finn as he sat down at the table and kicked back. “Derone, I know you’re probably scared right now, but I’m not a cop. What I am is maybe a way out for you. These things you can do, they freak you out, right? That’s why you do the drugs, so you don’t have to deal with the things you don’t know how to control.”

  Derone spoke for the first time. “You don’t know dick,”

  “Finn, we need to leave. Now.” Cross, who had been standing next to the door, moved closer to Finn, his attention directly on the boy in front of him. Derone gave a crocodile smile to Cross.

  The hairs on Finn’s arms stood on end. He got that little ping, the feeling when someone had a gun pointed him.

  “See, this boy has some sense to him,” Derone said. He didn’t moved but all his attention was on Cross.

  Finn glanced from the kid shackled to the table to his partner.

  A single bead of sweat ran from Cross’s temple. His partner tilted his head to one side as if listening to something only he could hear. “Finn, get out of here.”