Kissed by the Dark

by Donna Augustine

  “They have no idea how loud they are,” I said to Kane, before turning to walk farther into the cemetery.

  Leon was falling in step on my other side, but Flip shoved him out of the way so that she could walk beside me. Kane was generously allowed to remain on my left.

  Harg wasn’t here yet, but I knew he’d gotten the message. If he didn’t show, he’d be condemned as guilty by all. If he did, I didn’t know where we’d go from here.

  I stopped walking and crossed my arms, looking for any sign. “You think he’s going to show?”

  Kane stopped beside me. “Yes.” There was no question in his tone.

  “Well, when he eventually does get here, you give me the signal and I’ll smoke his ass,” Flip said, bouncing along beside me.

  “You’re going to kill him?” I asked, trying to sound confident for her, even though there was no known way to kill crawlers.

  “Yes,” she barked, like a five-foot ball of dynamite.

  “I’ll help her,” Zee added from right behind us, her heavy steps a stark comparison.

  Kane shot me a look as if to say, Yes, this was a splendid idea you had.

  I didn’t have a chance to shoot him back a response before the sound of tires on gravel had us all spinning around.

  “Oh look, it’s Frederickson and there’s his puppy Vincent, coming to sniff after you like a dog in heat,” Kane said, dryer than a hundred-year-old skeleton.

  We all stopped, watching as the car continued to speed until it screeched to a halt.

  “Harg isn’t here yet. Should we tell them to get lost?” Butch asked.

  Kane shrugged. “No. They won’t make a difference either way, but I want to know what roads they’ve got spies set up on for the future. These unscheduled meetings are becoming tedious.”

  As we watched Frederickson and Vincent get out of the car and approach, a four-seater pick-up truck pulled into the lot behind them. Collin was driving and had three men with him.

  The cursing in my head was drowned out by groaning around me.

  Frederickson was out of his door and then in front of us in a blur. “We’re supposed to be called for matters like this.” Collin was still getting out of his truck with his crew.

  Well, at least the leprechauns weren’t—

  Another engine revved in the distance. The lights were visible next before it turned in the drive.

  “Ah shit,” Leon said, as Rudy, everyone’s favorite leprechaun, pulled up with a few of his men along.

  “Why wasn’t I informed of a meeting?” Rudy asked, as he came closer. His perusal of me made it clear he thought I’d somehow maneuvered things.

  “It was last minute,” Kane answered, bringing the attention that had landed on me straight to him.

  “I didn’t hear my phone ring,” Collin said, probably having heard everything with those damn dog ears of his.

  “You would’ve been caught up to speed,” Kane said.

  “Except—”

  Kane didn’t give Rudy a chance to finish. “You’re here now. Keep your distance or you’ll get booted.” Kane turned, giving them his back as he waved me along.

  I walked with him, wondering how I’d made more enemies than Kane. Or had I?

  “One of these days, things are going to be different,” Collin said, reinforcing my fear that Kane had angered everyone.

  “Let me know when that day comes,” Kane replied. “Until then, shut up.” After that, no one spoke.

  We made our way deeper into the cemetery, keeping an eye out for trouble. Kane and I seemed to decide to stop at the same time, as if in tune with each other. Still no Harg, but an abundance of other crawlers, only half in this world.

  I said, “Maybe I should call one of them over and see if…”

  I wasn’t going to have to call one at all. One was coming right to me, which was now an oddity, especially with Kane near.

  It was about the size of a small deer, with none of the cutesy charm. It stopped directly in front of me, as if it knew why I was there. It turned and took several steps away, before turning back to me, waiting.

  Kane stepped forward with me. The creature looked at him and shook his head.

  “Harg wants to speak to me alone,” I said. As if Harg had been waiting, he stepped into view fifty feet or so away. Beside him was a rippling glimmer in the air.

  Kane walked forward anyway.

  “I have to talk to him alone,” I said, putting a hand on Kane’s arm to stop him.

  “He doesn’t make the terms.” Kane’s eyes were set on Harg.

  “I think I should hear him out.” The Glass Monster, whatever it was, was here. Maybe it was here to give me answers, or maybe not, but it had saved me before. Why would it kill me now? Why would it even be here? It had never accompanied Harg before. What if it had my answers?

  Kane’s gaze shifted to me. “They tried to blow you up.”

  “And you said yourself, we don’t know if it was him. Kane, I think I’ve got to do this.” My hand still on his arm, I gripped him as if I might never touch him again before asking, “Are you going to trust me?”

  “It’s not about trusting you.”

  “But it is.” If he couldn’t let me make my own choices and trust that I had the best intentions for all of us, then whatever we were would never have a future.

  I could see the battle he was having within himself, and I really needed trust to come out the winner. If he fought me on this, would I turn him away next time he showed up in my bedroom? No. Not the next time or the time after that, but I would eventually. Because if he couldn’t give me trust, our relationship would be fitting of the paper doll tag I’d been given. Eventually we’d get torn and worn out until what we’d thought we were wouldn’t be recognizable anymore.

  He nodded, his movement strained, as if his body was rebelling over what he’d decided. It was as if he’d handed me the sun in the sky; that was how deep the feeling burned in me.

  He turned around and stepped a few feet back, as if not trusting himself to be near and allow me to continue on alone.

  “What are you doing?” Frederickson asked.

  “She’s going to talk to him,” Kane said, as if he’d backed this play from the beginning.

  “Alone?” Collin asked, and I could hear the fear in his tone. He thought I’d screw this up.

  Actually, I might. But the crawlers wanted to talk to me, and me they’d get.

  “She’s just a—”

  “She’s a lot more than just anything,” Kane said, cutting off Frederickson.

  I heard more grumblings, but I ignored them as I stepped forward, following the twisted-looking deer until it swerved off right before Harg.

  I didn’t hesitate once I was in front of him. “You broke the deal.”

  I resisted the urge to rant and rave like a lunatic. Kane wasn’t the only angry one. As the relief that he had trusted me faded, the fear that had shaken me during the blast returned and turned to rage. If Harg had been behind it…

  His chin tilted up. “No.”

  “Then what was the explosion?”

  “Not one of ours.”

  “Really? Well, that’s awfully convenient.” I wanted to roll my eyes when I realized I’d stolen Kane’s line again.

  “I’ll get rid of him.” He grunted and pounded on his chest.

  “You’ll get rid of the crawler that did the explosion? How am I supposed to believe that?”

  His eyes skimmed over my entourage, seeming to stop on someone before landing back on me. I turned, wondering what he’d seen that had caught his attention. They stood as a group, Kane clearly in front to stop anybody from coming forward.

  I turned back to Harg. “Why should I trust you? You could be lying. I could walk out of here and have another explosion tomorrow.”

  “Not do to Shadow Walker. Not to Abandinus.”

  Abandinus? What was that word? That was the second time I’d heard it. The first time was from Kane’s mouth. What did it m
ean?

  “What is Abandinus?”

  “You know,” Harg said, his eyes flicking back to my group.

  I didn’t know, but it was clear he definitely thought I should. My embarrassment over my ignorance kept me from asking anything else on that matter. The crawler knew more about what Kane had said than I did.

  “How can I be sure? Can you at least answer my questions?” I stared straight at where the air was glimmering. “Who is this?” I would’ve pointed, but I didn’t want everyone staring in our direction to know it wasn’t just me and Harg.

  “Not now.”

  “Yes, now. I need answers, unless you want your world torched.” What the hell was this monster not comprehending? I’d passed on the message. He knew what loomed.

  He beat his chest once. “Give you something.”

  Before I could ask what, there was a mouth outlined in the glimmer, and then a wave of heat flowed over me. Panic raced through me. I felt the magic but forced myself to stay calm. If I screamed bloody murder, that was exactly what I’d get. I didn’t know who would be the victor, Harg or Kane. I was still standing and breathing, still alive. My gut had said to trust this creature, and that was what I would do.

  “What was that?” I asked, teeth clenched as I waited for the worst.

  “Gift. You’ll see.” He bowed slightly. The glimmer beside him disappeared, and Harg walked away, fading out of sight quickly.

  I walked back toward the group, wondering what bullshit I was going to be able to come up with in the one minute I had. I only moved forward from sheer will because I was panicking inside. What had it done to me? Was I a ticking time bomb or something? I had no answers, and something very strange had just happened that I definitely couldn’t share with present company.

  As soon as I laid my eyes on Kane, warmth spread through me, but that wasn’t alarming. I’d been feeling that for days. It was when Frederickson stepped forward and I could taste my dislike of him, much stronger than it had been, that I knew something was up. My eyes shot to Rudy and coldness spread through me. I looked to my group, Butch and Leon, Zee and Flip, and I wanted to cry for the joy I felt. I wanted to hug each of them. I couldn’t remember my past, but I suddenly remembered the love I’d had for them.

  “What happened?” Kane asked, stepping close.

  The rest of them were all gathering around me and staring, waiting, while I was reeling from feelings that I didn’t understand. What had that creature done to me? How? Whatever it was, I needed to pull it together until I got out of here.

  “Harg didn’t do it,” I said.

  “And?” Rudy asked.

  “He’s going to fix it.” My fists clenched as my heart pounded just from hearing his voice and being near him. Cracking tree branches sounded in the distance as I tried to breathe through my nose. Or should I be breathing in through my mouth and out through my nose?

  There was another loud crack, and this time it was thunder close by. Didn’t matter how I breathed. Neither seemed to be working. Whatever the Glass Monster had shaken loose seemed to have affected my magic too. I couldn’t get a handle on a spell, but I felt the magic coursing through me, chaotic and wild.

  Rain dropped down upon us. I could see Collin and Frederickson taking steps back, widening the divide between our groups.

  “Fix it? How?” Rudy demanded, the only one fixed to his spot.

  “I think we should discuss this another time,” Kane said, sounding diplomatic for once.

  “I said he’d fix it.” The rage I was feeling was off the charts. What had his people done to me? A bolt of lightning, not ten feet from us, finally jarred Rudy out of fighting mode and into flight.

  Hands steered me toward the truck we’d taken while others gave hurried goodbyes. In the truck, surrounded by people I cared about, my pulse calmed, and the rain that had begun to pour let up.

  I couldn’t remember the last time I’d been so happy. Or freaked out, because I had no idea what the monster had done to me or how long it would last, or what might come next.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  I didn’t know if Kane had given them some sort of signal to not ask questions, or they sensed that I was off, but no one said anything on the way back. Maybe they were afraid that I’d bring lightning down on them, too. I didn’t know and I didn’t ask. I sat there quietly on the way back to the Underground, digesting all the feelings that washed over me.

  We got out of the truck, Kane beside me, and he dismissed everyone as the two of us headed directly for the elevator. Kane walked over to his apartment door on the sixth floor, waiting. I went to him, and for the first time since losing my memory, I walked into a room and felt as if I belonged.

  He followed me into the apartment and shut the door behind him, then stood, watching me as I settled onto the couch.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  “I need a drink. Do you have anything to drink in here?” It was stupid question, since I knew he did, but I wasn’t ready for more complicated speech yet.

  He moved to the cabinet and poured me a glass. I took it with a shaking hand and threw it back, without bothering to ask what it was.

  “I asked you to trust me, and you did. Now, I’m going to take a leap of faith and trust you.” I didn’t know if I was telling him, or convincing myself that I should. I was so far in now that I knew this was the best move. Kane hadn’t killed me yet, and I trusted his promise. “The thing that was talking to Harg was there.”

  Kane’s jaw tensed and his eyes narrowed. “Did you know before you decided to talk to Harg alone?”

  This wasn’t a leap so much as it was throwing myself out of a plane, five thousand miles up. “Yes.”

  “And you wait to tell me now?”

  “I had good reasons, as you’ve had when you’ve held back information from me.” I wasn’t so sure how strongly I felt about some of his reasons, but he could hardly deny the similarities.

  He tilted his head forward, eyebrows rising, as if he couldn’t wait to hear the rest.

  I looked down at my empty glass. I held it out, silently asking for a refill. “I might need it.”

  He grumbled but took it and poured me another. Then he took out a second glass and looked at me.

  “Might not be a bad idea,” I said.

  He shook his head and brought both our drinks back over with him. He handed me one and then sat, waiting.

  I took a sip instead of downing it. Might need to keep my wits about me. “Whatever it is, it saved me from becoming a vampire. After I got attacked outside the Underground, it was right beside us when Frederickson was giving me his blood.”

  Kane leaned in. “How close, exactly?”

  “Real close. He might’ve been brushing against Frederickson for all I know.”

  Kane’s jaw clenched. I watched as he sipped his own drink.

  “I couldn’t exactly speak at the moment, but as I lay there, I could feel Frederickson’s blood flowing through me, but then the creature sucked it out through the same place I’d been shadow kissed.” I glanced down at the mark right beside my thumb as I remembered how strange it had felt. I finished telling him how it seemed to ask me to not say anything and how I’d thought maybe it had been a near-death hallucination.

  Kane listened, not trying to strangle me once. Finally, after I was done, he asked, “You didn’t feel anything different afterward?”

  “Not that time.” I took a larger sip. “But this time was different. It gave me something. Or technically took something…I think. I have no idea.

  “When I walked back after talking to them, I had these strong feelings associated with everyone. I remembered how I felt, not why, but the emotions flooded me.”

  I put both hands around my glass, sipping and watching Kane over the rim. I waited to see if he’d ask what I’d felt when I saw him. I wasn’t sure whether I should come clean and say I’d already felt so strongly that it hadn’t mattered.

  I was relieved when he asked, “Can you remem
ber anything besides feelings?”

  “No.” It didn’t even matter. I knew how I felt about people. I knew who I loved, and he was sitting right in front of me. I shifted my gaze away from him before I blurted it out.

  “At least now I understand why you almost brought a monsoon down on Rudy.” Kane stood, as if it helped him think. “Why would this creature keep helping you?”

  He stared off as he tried to piece together the puzzle that had been plaguing me for days.

  “I don’t know. But he’s done it twice.” I flopped back on the couch. I watched him try and sort through the mystery, and felt exhausted, overwhelmed, and damn if I didn’t feel like I was in love with him.

  The more I stared at Kane, the more the feelings kept flooding through, much more intense than they had been.

  He came and leaned a hip along the back of the couch, looking down at me. “Maybe it was afraid you’d fall under the influence of Frederickson?”

  I tilted my head back. “Well, at least Harg and that other creature aren’t stupid. But why would one of them try and kill us while another one was trying to help me?”

  He bent forward, leaning his arms on the back of the couch, near my head. “One of the last times you went into the Shadowlands, you said they appeared to be warring amongst themselves. Maybe this is some sort of civil war? We appear to be in Harg’s corner.”

  It would make some of the pieces fit. I closed my eyes, trying to see a path forward. “I should talk to Harg again. I should’ve gotten more answers. I was so rattled I—”

  “No. You did the right thing. You got out of there when you should’ve.”

  “But if this creature could do this, maybe he could restore my full memory?”

  “At what price? Let’s make sure nothing else happens before you have any more interaction with them.”

  I opened my eyes to find him in the same spot, staring down at me. He wasn’t looking at me like I was a monster anymore, though. The way his eyes fixated on me made me feel parched.

  “I think we should try some more of your concoctions from hell.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yes. If whatever happened rattled something loose, which I think it did, maybe it’ll make a difference now.” I sat up, wanting to leave before I was asked to or I threw myself at him. Just because I’d slept with him didn’t mean he’d want me hanging around him every moment.