All Hallows Night (Night Series)

by Hall, Marie

  Turning back to her slowly, I narrowed my eyes.

  Her rosebud lips quivered and then she was laughing uproariously like I’d just given her the best punch line in the world. “You look awful!”

  I hadn’t looked in a mirror since coming back to the trailer because I hadn’t wanted to see my face. I figured if the rest of me was this mangled, I shouldn’t look; I’d spare myself a few bad dreams.

  “What exactly do you want, Vyx? ’Cause we both know you wouldn’t be here unless you really wanted to be. Luc’s never had that type of control over you.”

  Her jade-green eyes swirled with fury. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

  With anyone else I would have sworn that’d sounded an awful lot like her coming to his defense. But I couldn’t believe it, not with her.

  “Oh really?” I snorted. “Yeah, you’re a regular girl scout.”

  In a flash her face was inches from mine, and there was a menacing vibration snarling from her throat. “You never got him. Never understood him. You just took and took and took, trying to fashion him in your own damn image. Don’t you dare talk to me about Luc.”

  Now I was hot, and I finally felt the stir of the demon inside me, not Lust, but Pestilence. He loved a good catfight. My nails elongated—one wrong word and I’d be dragging them down the kitten’s face.

  “What, you think screwing him for a week or two suddenly means he’ll be sending you a box of roses? Wake up! Luc’s not built that way, so if that’s your dream, then tough break, sister, it ain’t happening.”

  Her lips spread into a wide, satisfied smile. “Is that what he told you, a week or two? Try two years.”

  “What?” I shot up in bed, almost screaming when my wounds scraped against the sheets. Sweat peppered my brow. “You’re lying,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

  Shaking her head, disgust etched into every line of her face, she rolled her eyes. “Now who needs to wake up? I let him play with you because he always came crawling back to me. You know what the best part about all of this was, Dora?”

  I couldn’t even speak—my head was a shamble of pain, hurt, and white-hot rage.

  Obviously taking my silence to mean she was cleared to continue twisting the blade, she smiled. “That you didn’t know. That he didn’t love you enough,” she spat out, “to ever tell you about me.” Almond-shaped eyes narrowed to thin slits. “I’ve been screwing his brains out for years, and every time he comes, he screams my name.” She tapped her chest.

  My stomach was churning again, but this time it had nothing to do with bites and everything to do with Luc.

  For so long I’d always felt partly responsible for the way our relationship had soured. But obviously I’d been the only one to ever actually consider it a relationship. Truth of the matter was, Luc and I had been having problems for much longer than two years—try a thousand, if not more.

  But always in the back of my mind was the possibility that one day he’d open himself to me. So even though our demons demanded we take sex from others, I’d always done it knowing the partner with me meant nothing. I’d never had sex with the same male twice because my heart had always yearned for Luc to set things right.

  To know he’d shacked up with Vyxen... Not only was she my biggest rival in this whole stupid place, she was freaking VYXEN! If he’d wanted to hurt me, or get back at me, that would be the way to do it.

  “It just kills you, doesn’t it?” I whispered so low no mortal would have heard it.

  “What?” Her nose curled as she slowly straightened.

  As much as I wanted to rise above it, to not let her words cut me, I could only take so much nasty.

  “That you’re not me.”

  When the bands in her eyes swirled hard, I knew I’d gotten to her, so I dug in deeper. “It must suck, always wanting what you can’t have. Luc didn’t keep you secret to hurt me.” I laughed, the sound full of dripping contempt. “He kept you secret because you aren’t me.”

  Nostrils flaring, her fingers curled into fists and I was drunk on that pain. Lust was loving this. Finally the whore was waking up and I laughed.

  “You think I give a fuck who he screws? Luc means nothing to me, you hear me? Nothing. Screw him all you want, make him shout your name...” My fingers began to radiate with the warmth of Pestilence’s energy.

  The demon was feeding off my pain, sick bastard. Both my demons were awake and some small yet sane part of me realized this was probably not going to end well for either Vyxen or myself. But I just couldn’t keep from digging the knife in deeper. For years Vyxen had gotten off on hurting me, and now it was my turn.

  If I hadn’t already been feeling like crap and in so much pain, I would never have done this, but the demons were awake and my anger was making this pain go away, and I was to drunk on it to care. I grinned at her blank, empty stare.

  “And when you touch him, make sure to drag those claws of yours down his back until he bleeds, ‘cause that’s how he really likes it—a little dirty and a whole lot raunchy.”

  “You bitch,” she snarled and my body buzzed like a living tuning rod, the gathering energy of Pestilence’s power was building like a sealed steam valve, even Lust was joining in on this, her heat throbbing through my pores.

  The pheromones Lust gave off that caused anything living to notice me forced Vyxen’s eyes to stay glued to mine. Her breathing was ragged and heavy and I could sense that she was completely enthralled. My entire body began to glow green, just like it had when the zombies attacked.

  “What the hell is happening to you?” Her eyes widened in shock.

  “Power, Vyxen—raw, visceral power. You don’t know who you’re screwing with, little girl, so don’t even try.”

  Her eyes no longer glowed, they sparked, and I knew the second her crazy mind decided to take what was mine.

  “Vyxen, don’t!” I screamed the instant she clamped her hands to my arms, sucking my energy dry.

  But it was too late, and the only thing to do now was to ride out the aftermath.

  Like an invisible hammer had plowed into her midsection, Vyxen was thrown back against the bathroom wall with so much force she punched right through it, leaving a giant gaping hole in her wake.

  I shot up from the bed, running to her without a moment’s hesitation. I hated her, but now that the fog of demon energy had extinguished itself, I knew I should never have allowed myself to get as worked up as I had. Hate her or not, Vyxen was part of my family.

  She was sprawled in my tub, legs dangling over the edge as she stared up at the ceiling with a dazed expression.

  “Vyx, talk to me.” I grabbed her by the shoulders and slapped her cheeks a couple of times before she finally was able to focus her gaze on me.

  “What just happened?”

  “I had a power surge and you took a direct hit.”

  Gone was the uptight snob; Vyxen was visibly shaking and clearly still a little perplexed by how she’d wound up in my bathtub with bits of plaster and slivers of wood all over her and the floor.

  “Why’d you touch me?” I asked her.

  “Because I want what you have,” she said softly, and this time there was no malice or hate behind it. She was stating a simple truth. “I’ve always wanted what you have.”

  “Why do you hate me so much?”

  Her dark brows gathered, that ugly blue wig she’d worn had fallen off her head, revealing the nut-brown elfin cut that actually made her long face look ten times more striking.

  “Who said I hate you?” There was such a stark honesty in her gaze that the shame of what I’d done hit me like a ten-ton weight smack in the chest.

  A loudly clearing throat made me turn on my heel. Luc was in the doorway, eyes wide and peering around the bathroom that looked as if it’d just been nuked.

  “What happened?” he asked, but then the moment his eyes landed on me, he stuttered, “Dora... What...? You’re healed.”

  “What?” Standing, heart
throbbing so hard in my chest I could taste it beating on the back of my tongue, I walked over to the mirror and couldn’t believe it. Just seconds before Vyxen had grabbed me, I’d been a bubonic-plague poster child. I ran my hands over my throat and then shoved the sweater up. My breasts, stomach, nothing... All smooth, perfect skin met my gaze. Twisting around, I gaped at my bottom.

  Brushing my fingers across it, I shook my head. “I don’t know what just happened.”

  Luc was helping a still-shaky Vyxen from the tub. She clung to him like a wet, helpless kitten.

  “She glowed green.” Vyxen pointed at me.

  “Glowed green?” Luc had his arm wrapped around her waist, helping her to regain her equilibrium.

  Then I remembered I was royally pissed with him. My jaw jutted out. “What are you doing here?”

  His nostrils flared. “I heard the explosion and came as fast as I could. Why were you glowing green, does it have something to do with the bite?”

  He knew I was pissed. Luc knew me. It didn’t matter how long he’d been screwing Vyx, in many ways he was a soul mate to me. We’d grown up together, seen the world together; he was the other half of me.

  Yeah, smug prick was always hot and bothered about the secrets I kept. Well this was a doozy he’d been keeping from me. Raw and upset, I blurted it out.

  “No, it’s from when I went to Hell. I was possessed by Pestilence. That’s what you sucked into yourself, Vyxen.”

  “Pestilence?” His voice went low and he had the nerve to look upset that I hadn’t told him.

  I swatted at a cloud of plaster that floated past my nose. Dammit, I was going to have my hands full cleaning this trailer. I’d so wanted to preserve it exactly as Kemen had left it, but that was next to impossible now. Freaking Vyxen and her need to always take.

  Lifting a brow, I crossed my arms, breathing a sigh when it didn’t hurt. “What do you want me to say, Luc, huh?”

  “You never told me about Pestilence. Is that why you’ve been so...” His eyes shot almost guiltily to Vyxen before his words drifted off.

  “Don’t worry, Vyxy gave me all the gory details. Your secret’s out. Hope you two have a great life. Don’t forget to send me a wedding invitation.”

  It really didn’t matter to me that Vyxen was currently in his arms, and that neither one of us was even taking her into consideration. The cat would live, which was a lot more than I could say for my relationship with Luc. Far as I was concerned, we were officially over.

  “Don’t do this here. Not right now,” he said, the thick burr in his voice a clear warning. “We have to talk you and me. But in private.”

  His hand tightened on her waist and all I felt in that moment was a giant wave of disgust. “No, we don’t. Far as I’m concerned, who you screw is your business and who I screw is mine. You and me, we aren’t.” Tossing my hands up, I shook my head. Wow, it’d been so much easier to say than I thought it would be.

  He flinched. The rough-and-tumble exterior cracked for just a split second, and from the corner of my eye I saw Vyxen’s hand creep up his chest, patting it like she had a right to. Like it would help him, heal him. Stop him from tearing the roof off my trailer because I knew that’s what he wanted to do.

  “You need to go, Luc, right now. And take your kitten with you.”

  His eyes shivered with threads of Lust and I quickly turned my face to the floor. Never again. Not from him. Ever.

  “I’ll be back.” His voice was full of grit and gravel.

  “Don’t bother.” I stood there, a towering presence of rage and righteous fury, until they traced, until I knew I was alone, and then I collapsed onto the edge of the bed as the truth began to finally sink its way into my brain.

  I gripped the edge of the bed and visions played in my mind, memories of him and me. And looking back, I couldn’t even try to pinpoint when it’d all gone to hell. Luc and I made me think of the analogy where if you sit a frog in lukewarm pot of water and slowly crank the stove up, it would never realize that all it needed to do was jump out to prevent itself from getting killed. Because the change happened so gradually, it never even saw it coming until it was much too late to do anything about it.

  My life, who I was, and everything I did, I did for the sake of the only family I knew. For the Neph that I loved.

  I sniffed, fighting the betraying heat welling behind my eyelids. But as much as I loved my band, I wasn’t sure any of them felt a tenth for me of what I felt for them. Kemen, maybe. And he’d been the only one. Bubba was the next closest, but we weren’t all that close and after what I’d done to him tonight, probably not at all anymore. The only thing I knew about the Norseman was that he loved to listen to country music cranked up as high as he could get it on his days off while he glugged beer after beer, shooting at rusted-out tin cans.

  Who he really was, why he’d adopted such an unusual Southern drawl for a Neph who’d been born during the day of the Vikings, was a complete and total mystery to me. Lilith, Kane, Stryker, even Vyxen—I didn’t really know any of them.

  The only one I’d ever known fully was Luc.

  Or so I’d thought.

  How could he keep her a secret from me?

  I grabbed my stomach.

  Thinking about them, about Luc, was no good for my sanity. I wasn’t wasting another minute of my life on him. Determined, I stood and went in search of a broom and dustpan.

  Fifteen minutes later, I’d managed to clean up the worst of the damage. Now it was just a giant hole in the wall instead of a hole and a war zone.

  “Pandora?” That warm scratchy inflection washed through me, making my lashes flutter with want and need.

  Twirling, I tackled Asher to the ground. I wrapped my arms around his neck and just breathed him in.

  “Whoa, what’s the matter? I leave for a few hours and come back to find you healed and your home practically destroyed.” His hand glided up and down my spine, making me shudder and lean farther into his touch.

  “I just need you to hold me for a second, Ash,” I murmured against his neck, brushing my lips against his soft skin.

  He sighed and shook his head, then after a bit he widened his legs so that he was cradling me.

  After a few more minutes, he kissed my brow. “The not knowing is killing me. Was this a zombie attack?”

  “No.” I sighed and reluctantly got back to my feet, helping him up too. “Did you know?”

  He gave me a blank stare. “Know what?”

  “About Luc and Vyxen?”

  His face scrunched into a grimace. “What about them, Pandora? I’m walking blind here.”

  It was probably not very cool to ask my new boy toy/boyfriend/sex toy (ugh, labels... I really hate them) about my old flame, but Asher knew he wasn’t gonna get easy when he chose me.

  “That they’ve been screwing like bunnies for the past two years.”

  “Really? You’re asking me that?” He looked seriously insulted and it so wasn’t what I wanted to do. “Do you think I give a shit what those two have been up to?” His lip pulled back and my heartbeat ratcheted up.

  I shouldn’t be so turned on right now, but there was no denying the sudden flashes of heat sizzling through my blood.

  The man made wicked sexy.

  Grabbing his hands before he tried to walk off on me, I tugged him back to my side. “No lies with you. Ever. You hear me? Luc and I screwed us up from the very beginning. I don’t ever want to do that with you.”

  His jaw was still clenched tight and I knew I was pushing all his alpha caveman buttons right now, but we had to clear the air now before the ghost of relationships past killed us.

  “Ash, I like you. More than is sane, more than I probably should. But I’m terrified. Because the last time I trusted my whole heart and soul to someone, they didn’t just break it, they mangled it.”

  Finally I seemed to have gotten through to him. Brushing his thumb across my cheek, he positioned me so that we were directly facing each other.
<
br />   “Little demon...”

  My heart totally melts every time he calls me that, just sayin’...

  “I meant everything I said in that cave today. My feelings for you have only grown through the years and each time I saw your capacity for love and kindness, I knew I was lost. I am lost. Your safety, your heart”—he pressed his palm to my breast—“it means everything to me. Everything.”

  “Stalking shouldn’t be such a turn-on for me. I’m seriously disturbed in the head.” I laughed to break the tension because my stomach was completely flipping over on itself right now.

  No one, and I mean literally no one, had ever shared themselves like this with me before. It was terrifying and highly addictive.

  He chuckled. “It’s not like I was constantly spying on you. In fact, I only saw you naked once and that was an accident.” Then his hand, which had been holding my face, dipped to my breast and his eyes were liquid as he said, “But once was enough to memorize every swell and indentation. The cute mole kissing the nape of your neck. Those rosy tips of your nipples and the graceful lines of your long, athletic legs.”

  I gulped, breath growing heavy from the pressure of his hand on me. Wishing like hell I wasn’t wearing this sweater right now.

  “But I won’t share you. I’m not built that way.”

  “How are you built?”

  “I have found the paradox—that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only love.”

  I smiled. “Mother Teresa.”

  His hand slid across my shoulders and down my arms. “That is how I’m built. There will only ever be one for me. I’ll worship you, I’ll give you all of me, little demon, I’ll even kill for you. But only if you can do the same.”

  The blood was rushing like a tsunami wave through my ear canals, booming so loud I could barely hear my own thoughts.

  “The entire world is stacked against us.” I shook my head. “Your people, the Order, Hell, LCD, Nephilim. If you think Luc was pissed, just wait till you see what’ll happen when I introduce you to my family.”