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

by Rebecca Hamilton

  Wait. She wouldn't have been behind whatever situation William was in, would she? He shook his head, feeling dizzy. No. That was a crazy thought. She wouldn't do anything to hurt him, at least not on purpose.

  He took a deep breath. His ribs ached, but not too bad. Not compared to his knee, wrist, or his head, anyway. He had to get out of the little room and find Clara. He had to make things right. Nothing was worth losing her.

  William held onto her beautiful face in his mind as he reached for the door. He had to walk away from the dresser to find it. He put as little weight on his bum leg as possible. He prayed that he wouldn't have to run. Hopefully, he could sneak out of the house, or wherever he was, unnoticed.

  He turned the knob and opened the door slowly, hoping it wouldn't squeak. It was nice and quiet, sliding perfectly over the carpet. Light from the hall shone on his face, temporarily blinding him. He closed his eyes, and then blinked several times, trying to adjust. How long had he been in the dark room that his eyes were so unadjusted to light? It burned his retinas.

  Finally, he couldn't take it, and he closed the door. Once his eyes felt better, he opened the door just a crack. Enough to let a little light in, but not enough to hurt his eyes. He opened it a little more until it started to bother him, then he waited until his eyes adjusted. He kept that up until his eyes were fully adjusted.

  Then he looked out into the hall and was sure that he was in a house. He didn't recognize it, but at least he wasn't locked away somewhere. He probably hadn't been abducted.

  As painful as it was, he walked into the hall, keeping his good hand on the wall for balance. Part of him worried that he would hurt himself worse than he already was, but anything he did to himself could be undone at the hospital. He had to get out of the house in case whoever brought him there had been the ones to do this to him.

  He continued to listen for voices in case he needed to turn around and go the other way. He heard nothing. That had to be good news, right?

  Rounding a corner, he found himself face to face with a pretty brunette. She looked familiar, but he couldn't place her. Her eyes lit up. "William. You're up! How do you feel?"

  "Confused."

  "You don't remember what happened, do you?"

  He shook his head.

  "Let's get you off your leg. Here, lean on me."

  What other choice did he have? She seemed genuinely concerned about his wellbeing, so she probably wouldn't try to hurt him further. He leaned against her, and she helped him walk into a living room. She led him to one of the couches, helping him to sit.

  The news was on, and it looked like somewhere had been bombed. The girl grabbed a remote and turned the station. "You don't need to watch that. It's too stressful. Want to watch a movie? We can stream a new release or something."

  He shrugged, looking around the room. Nothing looked familiar, yet the girl acted like him being there was the most natural thing in the world. She sat next to him, so close they were almost touching.

  How much time had William forgotten? They weren't possibly a couple? The thought made him sick, not that she seemed so horrible, but that he wouldn't be with Clara.

  She scrolled through lists of movie titles, finally clicking on one that looked like a romance.

  The dog that he remembered petting in the car strolled in and sat at their feet.

  William had so many questions. He didn't even know where to begin. He sighed, leaning against the couch. Maybe the answers would come on their own. He got the feeling she would be offended that he couldn't remember her. He hoped the fact that she was vaguely familiar didn't mean they had established a relationship.

  A woman about his mom's age walked in. She smiled. "It's good to see you're up, William. We were pretty worried about that bump on your head." She turned to look at the girl. "Why didn't you get him a blanket or something, Nichole?"

  So her name was Nichole. Why did that seem to fit whatever memory he had of her? His stomach sank.

  The woman, he assumed she was Nichole's mom since they had the same eyes and smile, handed him a blanket.

  William thanked her, and then looked down, seeing that he was only wearing boxers and his undershirt. He could feel his face and neck heat up, and he covered up.

  Her mom nodded and she left the room.

  Nichole smiled, patting his leg over the blanket. "Sorry about your clothes. They were covered in blood, so we had to throw them out. We also needed to take them off to take care of that knee."

  "You couldn't get me to the hospital?"

  "They're only taking life-threatening injuries, and a sprained knee won't get you in."

  "What's going on? Why is the hospital only taking—?"

  "Because they don't even have enough space for the dying. It didn't help that the ER wing was hit."

  "Hit?"

  "By the bombs. Don't you remember any of it?"

  William shook his head, again rubbing his bump.

  Nichole's face filled with pity, which William resented. He wasn't pathetic or an invalid. He didn't need anyone's pity. "What do you remember?" she asked, using a tone that one would use with a toddler.

  "Your dog."

  Her eyes widened. "You don't remember running into me at the lake this morning? Or having coffee with me after?"

  William's shoulders relaxed. He hadn't forgotten a huge chunk of time. The lake was only that morning.

  Nichole scooted closer, pulling some of the blanket over herself. He could feel her soft legs against his. He moved away, but she moved even closer than before. She put her hand on his leg.

  "Uh, Nichole…."

  She batted her eyelashes. "Calm down. I'm only going to massage your knee. My mom showed me how. Grams was a nurse, so my mom knows a lot about taking care of people when they're hurt. That's why you're wrapped up so well."

  William's pulse was beating in his ears. He nodded, and then looked at the TV, trying to focus on the movie. When he couldn't, he thought of Clara. Her beautiful eyes, which made him feel like the luckiest man alive when she looked at him adoringly. He thought of her kisses and caresses.

  She was probably out there somewhere, worried about him. He turned to Nichole. "Do you have a phone I can use?"

  "Sorry. All the lines are down. No one has cell phones or landlines. Luckily we have generators and can watch TV and get online. I don't know what I would do if I couldn't do any of that."

  "I need to call—"

  "I talked with Kathryn on Facebook. She and your mom are stuck at the country club and your dad's at his office. The elevators aren't working and they can't use the stairs, but he says he's good."

  William nodded. "Thanks." It was a relief to hear they were safe, but what about Clara? "Wait. You talked with Kathryn?"

  "Right."

  Oh. That was why Nichole was so familiar. Now he recognized her as one of Kathryn's friends from school. She was all grown up now, not the little four-eyed, brace-face middle schooler he remembered.

  "How's that?"

  "What?"

  "Your knee, silly." She rolled her eyes.

  "Oh, right. It feels better, thanks."

  She snuggled closer. William looked on the other side of him and realized that he had no more room to move away from her.

  "Has anyone heard from Clara?"

  "You mean that girl you had a tiff with before we had coffee?"

  William's heart sunk again. If it sank any further, it would be on the other side of the planet before long. What had they been arguing about? Why was he having such a hard time remembering anything from that morning? The bump didn't feel that bad.

  He sighed, trying to ignore how close Nichole was. How was he going to get out so he could find Clara? He would rather be anywhere with her other than sitting in an unfamiliar house with a limp, a bum wrist, and a sore head.

  Chapter 27

  CLARA LOOKED OVER at Natalie, who was sleeping on the couch soundly after eating a big lunch. She would probably need a lot of sleep to recover
from everything, but mostly from the emotional trauma.

  She grabbed the remote and flipped through the stations, not wanting to watch anymore news. They kept repeating the same information, only showing different images. She got it—mass destruction all along the edges of the country. It wasn't that she didn't care, but she was going to start going crazy if she didn't get her mind off it all. There weren't many channels working. She mostly found either static or a black screen, except for the occasional newscast she ran into.

  Wars happened, and she had seen enough of them to know that they would pass and life would go on, for those who survived, at any rate. It didn't matter if it was a human or vampire war, once there had been enough bloodshed for a winner to be declared, everything would stop, and once the pieces had been picked up, life would simply carry on.

  More than anything, she wanted to know if William was okay. She had already seen enough dead humans to know that if he had been in the wrong place…Clara cleared her throat. She couldn't think like that. He was alive somewhere, hopefully in this very neighborhood, where she could find him.

  That was it. She had to find him. Sitting there in front of the television wasn't doing her any good. When Natalie was awake, Clara could help her, but now that she was sleeping, Clara needed to find William. Even if he was still mad at her, at least she would know he was safe. They could talk about her being a vampire later.

  Clara got up and put her blanket over Natalie, who only stirred slightly. She turned off the TV and turned on the radio. She found a station playing soft, relaxing music. That's what Natalie needed to listen to while sleeping.

  She went back to the front door and found her shoes. Uncle John came out of the kitchen. "I thought I heard someone. Are you leaving?"

  "Yeah. Thanks so much for the lunch. I can't tell you how much it helped. I feel much better."

  "Certainly. I can't thank you enough for bringing Natalie here. Braydon will be so glad to see her when he wakes up. She was really shaken up—I can't imagine what would have happened if she would have had to drive. Speaking of that, how are you getting home?"

  "I've got a friend who lives at the other side of the neighborhood, so I'm going to check on him."

  Uncle John nodded. "If you need to come back here, don't hesitate. You're welcome here as long as you need a place to stay. It's going to be challenging to get around town."

  Clara nodded. "That it will. Thanks for the offer. I may just be back. Tell Natalie I'll be in touch. Have you heard from her parents? I hope Jack and Janet are okay."

  "I sent them an email after you two arrived. They're safe at home and very glad to hear you two are safe. They said not to worry about getting back home. They don't want you two to risk driving on the roads unless it's an emergency."

  She nodded. "I'm glad to hear they're safe too."

  "Take care, Clara."

  She gave a slight wave before exiting. Once outside, she looked around to get her bearings. She had never gone to William's house from this part of the immense neighborhood. She thought it was to the East, closer to the lake. Hadn't she been able to see the lake from their house?

  Pretty sure she was right, she headed in that direction. She kept her ears alert to anyone nearby. The last thing she needed was to run into more cops who thought it was their job to keep non-residents away from the wealthy of Delphic Cove.

  After walking a few blocks, she heard another explosion in the distance. The ground vibrated beneath her, but it wasn't enough to even slow her down.

  She had to find William. Clara looked around, and once she was sure no one was watching, she burst into a run. No human would be able to see her at that speed. It felt good to move that fast, there was something freeing about it. It was even more so after everything she had been through that day.

  To think that when she started the day, her biggest worry had been whether or not William was upset with her. She heard another explosion in the distance. She was running so fast that she couldn't tell if the ground underneath was affected.

  Finally, William's house came into sight. She looked around, again making sure no eyes were on her, and she slowed down. If anyone saw her reduce her speed, it would look like she appeared out of thin air.

  She walked to William's driveway, up the front steps, and rang the doorbell. After a few moments, their cook, Sally, opened the door.

  "Oh, Clara. William isn't here."

  "Have you heard from him?"

  She shook her head. "The phones have been down. Are you hungry? Would you like to come in?"

  "No, thank you. I ate a big meal not too long ago. If you see or hear from William, can you tell him that I'm trying to find him?"

  "Of course, dear. And if you see him first, have him check in too. I would like to know that the entire family is safe and sound."

  "Will do." Clara turned around, and heard the door close behind her.

  Now what? Where was she supposed to go? To the lake? He wouldn't have still been there when the blasts started. It had been a while. Where would he have gone? To his dad's office? She had never even been there, and she wouldn't know where to start looking. The internet on her phone wasn't working.

  She sighed. She relied too much on human technology. What about her old fashioned vampire senses? She should be able to pick up his scent miles away if she had to. Since she had drunk his blood, she was even more finely tuned to him.

  Not wanting to stand on his porch any longer, she began walking, thinking about his scent until she was more aware of it than anything around her. Her nose tingled.

  He was somewhere within her reach. But where? There was a breeze that kept changing directions, making it nearly impossible to figure out what direction to go. That and the ashy smell. The residue was really getting in the way of her senses, nearly blocking out other odors. Had she not been so close to William, she might not have been able to pick up his scent at all.

  Something moved at the edge of her line of sight. Clara turned toward it, ready to spring into action if need be.

  "Clara? Is that you?"

  Looking in the direction of the voice, Clara saw Hanna, one of the girls from the dance the other night. It felt like it had been ages earlier. She was inside a house, talking through an open window.

  "Hanna. Have you heard from William?"

  "Do you have time to come inside?"

  "If you have any idea where he is, yes."

  "Hold on." Hanna slammed the window shut, and then disappeared from sight.

  Clara walked closer toward the house. A minute later, the door opened, and Hanna appeared. She waved Clara in. "Come on in."

  She hurried in, and Hanna closed the door behind her.

  "Take your shoes off and follow me to my room."

  Clara removed her shoes again. Had she known she was going to be taking them on and off so many times, she would have worn slip-ons. She followed Hanna through several hallways, until they went into a bedroom. Clara looked around. The walls were covered with posters of shirtless, tattooed guys. Alternative music played in the background.

  Harvey and Mara were in the room too. Mara was typing on a laptop and Harvey was lounging on the bed. Both of them said hi, and Clara returned the greeting. Hanna sat next to him, nudging him to move over. Clara sat down on the other end of the bed.

  "You guys survived the blasts all right?" Clara asked.

  Mara turned around. "Yeah. We were swimming in Hanna's pool when it happened. I thought it was an earthquake."

  "She's not from around here." Hanna looked like she was holding in a giggle.

  "Whatevs." Mara rolled her eyes. "My next thought was that it was that volcano. What's it called? Saint something?"

  Harvey pulled Hanna closer. "Mount Saint Helens. I actually thought that too. They always say that it's still active."

  "So, you guys know where William is?" Clara couldn't take it any longer. She didn't want to be rude, but she really didn't care what they all thought the bombs were when they first starte
d going off.

  "Yeah." Hanna made a face. "He's with that biotch, Nichole."

  Clara stared at her. "Who's Nichole?"

  Mara put the laptop on the desk. "OMG. I'm not even from around here, and I can tell you how awful she is. That girl is more psycho than a bag full of angry cats."

  "And she's with William?" Clara looked at each one of them. "Why?"

  Harvey grabbed a bag of chips. "She said she rescued him. He wasn't even conscious."

  "Excuse me? Where does this psycho cat lady live? I need to—"

  Hanna put her hands up. "Wait a minute, girlfriend. We need to tell you about Nichole before you go there."

  Clara stared at her. "Okay. Spill it."

  "Well, she was okay when we were kids." Hanna scooted closer to Clara. "Well, it's not like I was friends with her. She's younger. Kathryn was friends with her for a long time. But then, she just…." Hanna paused dramatically, eyes widening. "Lost it. She was dating a quarterback or something and he dumped her for some other chick. Nichole freaked. Like, I can't even explain it."

  Harvey nodded, munching on more chips. "Then she disappeared and no one knew why."

  "Except me." Hanna moved closer to Clara. "My dad is her mom's cousin, so I heard all the dirt. She poisoned a football player. She slipped something into his food. He got sick, and the hospital figured out what it was, and then somehow the police figured out it was Nichole."

  Clara's stomach twisted in knots.

  "So, she confessed. I guess she got a lighter sentence or something." Hanna shrugged. "Anyway, she went to some psych ward—see, I wasn't joking when I said she's nuts—instead of prison. They say she's safe to be in society now, but is she really? She hasn't had a boyfriend since the quarterback, who moved away."

  "You're telling me that this Nichole person tried to kill a guy she couldn't have, and she's with my fiancé?"

  Hanna and Harvey nodded.

  "We've got to get him out of there. How can you guys just sit around here eating chips and listening to music when William is over there? I thought he was your friend!"