Darkness Falls

by Trista Ann Michaels

  “Alana, get out of here, now!” he shouted.

  He couldn’t think about anything other than making sure she was safe. In such a short time, she’d come to mean everything to him. If she left him and Aiden—if she died—it would be as if a piece of his soul was ripped from him.

  She climbed slowly to her feet and staggered to Lisa’s side. Bending, she tried to lift her, but without Lisa’s help, the body was too heavy for her. John appeared from what seemed like nowhere and lifted Lisa in his arms and headed quickly toward the spiral staircase in the far corner that led to the barn.

  Help had finally arrived, so he could take his mind off Alana and focus on this man who he believed was his father. Noah stiffened as the man climbed slowly to his feet. What the hell was he supposed to do? If it were anyone else, he’d arrest them or look for a way to shoot the son of a bitch. Who did this to women? And how many had he done it to?

  This monster couldn’t be his father. He couldn’t.

  The man raised his face and glared at him in rage. His eyes seemed to glow with an inhuman light and hunger that made Noah cringe. Drool slid from the corner of his mouth, and Noah watched as he lifted the back of his hand and wiped it away.

  “I should’ve killed you years ago,” the man snarled. “But he was weak. He couldn’t go through with it.”

  “Noah?” Aiden murmured as he slowly crept toward them.

  Noah held up his hand, stopping him. “Who are you?”

  The man’s lips twisted. “You know who I am.”

  Noah shook his head. “No. You may have his body, but you’re not him.”

  Alana slowed as she reached the top of the stairs. Lisa was safe with John, so she paused and held tight to the railing as she watched the dirt floor below. Noah stood against the wall; the murdering monster crouched a few feet away like some animal ready to strike. Aiden was close by, watching everything with a cautious and confused eye. Behind him was another cop she didn’t recognize, his gun poised and ready, his aim on the man stalking Noah. Behind him stood a pale-faced Tray; his ever-present camera raised and recording the whole event.

  She sank slowly to the step and watched everything through the iron railing. Her fingers gripped the cold metal so tightly, her knuckles began to ache. She couldn’t leave the spot. She had to see what happened.

  She swallowed as emotions of fear, disbelief, and staggering hurt shook her entire body. They were coming from Noah. They were so strong she could almost believe they were her own.

  “Noah,” she whispered.

  As though he’d heard her, he glanced up briefly. He would be pissed she’d stayed behind, but she couldn’t leave.

  The suspect snarled like an animal, then shouted something in a language she didn’t understand before screaming and hurling himself toward Noah. The officer fired, sending the attacker staggering sideways before falling to the ground, lifeless.

  “No!” Noah yelled, startling everyone.

  A vibration shook the ground, and Alana gasped as the stairs creaked beneath her. On the floor, a black smoky image began to lift from the bloody body lying on the floor. It swirled as it lifted upward, towering over everyone. A low growl sounded from all around them, and Alana sank lower, hoping to remain unnoticed.

  Noah backed against the wall, Aiden next to him as the black mist moved closer to the brothers, and the sounds grew louder and more menacing.

  From nowhere a young woman appeared. Her body of clear white mist moved between the brothers and the black smoke as though to protect them. The scent of jasmine filled the room as the mist separated and surrounded the shadowy black form.

  Alana watched as they circled each other before mingling with a loud cry of pain that made her cringe before disappearing from sight. The room was as silent as death as they all stared toward the empty center.

  Noah sank to the floor, sick regret showing clearly on his face. Alana wanted to run to him, to comfort him somehow, but she couldn’t move. She was too afraid and confused to move. Something terrible had just happened, and it appeared Noah was the only one who understood it all. She didn’t know how, but she knew that was it. She could feel it.

  She glanced toward Tray, who slowly let the camera fall to his side. His eyes were wide, his face pale.

  “Holy shit,” he said.

  “What the fuck just happened?” Aiden snapped, breaking the stunned silence.

  * * *

  Noah sat on the exam table, letting the doctor stitch the small cut on his shoulder. It had apparently happened when he’d hit the wall, but at the time he hadn’t noticed it. All he could remember was the look on Alana’s face as she’d stared down at him. The pain and anguish in his father’s eyes.

  He still struggled with the idea that this man was his father. What had happened to him? What would make a man attack his own child? And what the hell was that thing that had come out of him in the end?

  The only thing he was sure of was the white mist was his mother, his and Aiden’s.

  She’d saved them just like she’d saved him all those years ago in the barn when he’d first run into this monster that was supposedly his father. She’d done something to him; something she said would help protect him.

  He knew now what this connection between him and Aiden was. It was him. He was a sender as well as a receiver. He could send out his emotions and needs to those he was closest to, but he could also receive their needs as well. Which explained his connection to Alana.

  He was in love with her, so it made sense he would connect with her. The fact that the connection happened so quickly only led him to believe she was the right one for him and his brother.

  But how did she feel? He hadn’t seen her since the house. She was with Lisa.

  He glanced over his shoulder at the doctor. “Any word on Lisa?” he asked.

  “Last I heard they took her for a CAT scan. She took a pretty hard blow to the head. Other than that, I haven’t heard anything.”

  Noah nodded, satisfied with that for the moment.

  A knock sounded at the door, and the doctor paused briefly to reply, “Come in.”

  Alana stuck her head inside, and Noah’s heart gave a little jump but instantly sank the second he felt her distance. She stepped inside hesitantly and handed him a small journal.

  “They found this in that room and thought you might want to see it before it’s cataloged as evidence.”

  He took the small leather journal. “Thank you. Are you okay?”

  She nodded but for some reason wouldn’t look at him.

  “Alana,” he began, watching her closely. “Are you afraid of me?”

  Her startled gaze met his. “No. Never of you. I’m just… I just need a little bit to digest all this. I still don’t understand what happened down there or what’s happened between…” She glanced at the doctor as her words trailed off.

  “Can you give us a sec?” Noah asked, and the doctor nodded.

  “I’ll give you about a minute, then I need to finish this whether you’re finished or not.”

  Noah nodded as the doctor left the room and shut the door softly behind him.

  “Talk to me, Alana,” he said.

  She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I don’t know what to say, Noah. This has all just been so…so strange and overwhelming. It scares me. Whenever I’m close to you physically, I feel as though I’m being bombarded with emotions that aren’t mine. It’s unnatural and freaky and just plain…scary.”

  “I get it,” he said. “I do. But don’t walk away from this.”

  “I need to, Noah. For a while, for my own sanity. Please understand.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t understand.”

  “We’re going to be here for a while longer. Our producer has put his foot down and is making us stay for the Halloween thing,” she murmured. “Plus Lisa will be here for a couple more days for observation.”

  “How is she?” he asked.

  Alana nodded and tilted her head. “She’s strug
gling. They found a small bleed in her head, and they’re watching it, but other than that, she’s fine physically. Emotionally is another story. John and Tray are with her right now. I think John might be a little smitten.”

  Noah sighed. “Alana—”

  “Don’t.” She put her palms up. “Just give me the space I need, Noah, then we’ll go from there. Okay?”

  Noah pursed his lips. “Fine.”

  With a nod, Alana turned and left the room, taking what felt like his soul with her.

  Chapter Twenty-four

  “Have you lost your mind?” Tray demanded.

  Alana rolled over in her bed and stared at him as he glared down at her.

  “Not only is it almost noon—and Lisa is worried sick about you, by the way,” Tray said as he climbed onto the bed and settled on his side facing her. “But you’ve pushed Noah and Aiden away. Those two are the catch of a lifetime, and you’re pushing them away.”

  “I talked to her on the phone this morning. John’s with her. She really likes him.”

  “I know,” Tray whispered as he brushed her hair from her brow. “What are you doing, honey? It’s not like you to hide out like this.”

  “I feel like I need to hide. I feel like I need to cover myself so they can’t see into my heart. It sounds crazy, I know, but…” A single tear slipped free to dangle from the edge of her nose. “I don’t want them to know how confused I am and how much I miss them.”

  “Ah, honey,” Tray cooed as he gathered her in his arms.

  “They scare me,” she murmured, her face buried against his chest.

  “Why? What about them scares you?”

  “That…that connection thing.”

  Tray snorted. “That? Seriously?”

  Alana rose onto her elbow and looked down at him. She scowled at his amused expression. “This isn’t the least bit funny.”

  “I’m not laughing,” he replied. “Alana, you’ve driven the two of them to beg for my help. Aiden I could maybe see doing it, but Noah? Noah actually came to me for help getting through to you. They love you. It’s all over them, it’s so obvious.”

  “Yeah, but there’s something really odd between them, between the three of us.”

  “Odd? Are you nuts? Do you have any idea how lucky you are? Do you have any idea how many women complain that their husbands or boyfriends don’t have a clue? Not only do these guys have a clue, but they adore you. I swear, if you walk away from this, I’ll wring your neck.”

  “It’s not that simple.”

  “It is that simple. Do you care for them?”

  She nodded.

  “Do you think you might love them?”

  After a brief moment, she whispered, “Yes.”

  “Then what the hell are you still doing in bed? Go tell them.”

  “I don’t know,” she sighed.

  “Oh, for the love of God.” He climbed from the bed and grasped her hand, pulling her to her feet. “Come on.”

  “Where are we going?” she asked.

  “To shower.”

  Tray pulled her into the bathroom and began to unbutton her pajama top. She slapped at his hand, making him chuckle. “Oh, come on. It’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before.”

  She frowned and rebuttoned the top. “That’s not the point.”

  Tray snorted. “That is the point.” He once again reached for the shirt, slipping the button free. “You’re going to get in the shower, then go see them. If you want, I can even get you all turned on so when they see you, they’ll sense it and be all over you like white on rice.”

  “What the hell does that mean anyway?” she grumbled as she pushed Tray out of the room. “I can shower on my own, thank you, and I definitely don’t need you to turn me on.”

  She shut the door and smiled as his laughter filtered into the room. Tray was right. What the hell was she doing? She had two men any woman would love to have. Why would she turn away from it? Maybe she should talk to them, see if they were open to taking things a little slower for a while.

  With a sigh, she turned back to the shower and almost had second thoughts. She’d been doing this yo-yoing for the last two days. One minute she wanted to run to them, say she was sorry and stupid for being scared. She wasn’t a person who normally got scared, but she’d also never been through anything like this before, either.

  She had a right to a little trepidation, didn’t she?

  “Oh, good grief. Maybe Tray’s right. Of course Tray’s right,” she tried to reason out loud. “Tray’s always right.”

  * * *

  Aiden sat and stared out the window of his office, his mind on everything but the work in front of him. Neither he nor Noah had gotten much sleep. They both missed Alana, and Noah had a few things to work through. Aiden wasn’t sure of all of it, but he was sure his brother would talk sooner or later.

  He struggled with the fact that…thing had been their father. Noah had it worse. That thing had tried to kill him. Not once, but twice.

  A knock sounded at his door, and without turning around, he called, “Come in, Noah.”

  Noah stepped into the room and shut the door behind him. Aiden kept staring out the window, but he could hear his brother’s footsteps as they crossed the room. Something landed on his desk with a loud pop, and he jumped before turning to look at his brother.

  “What did you throw?” he asked.

  He pointed to a book lying on the desk. “That.”

  “What is it?” Aiden asked as he picked up the worn leather and flipped through the yellowed pages.

  “It’s a journal. Our grandmother’s journal. Her friend cast a spell that made me forget that night. That’s why I could never remember it until now.”

  “Why would she do that?”

  “Because she didn’t want me to remember that my own father had tried to kill me.”

  “So they knew it was our father?” Aiden asked.

  “Yes. They knew all along.”

  Aiden sighed and squeezed his temples between his thumb and forefinger. “This makes no sense.”

  “Oh, it gets better,” Noah said with sarcasm. “When our mother disappeared, our father tried to use magic to find her. Did you know our parents dabbled in witchcraft? I didn’t. I knew our grandmother did a little but never dreamed our parents dabbled in the stuff as heavily as they did. But apparently dear old Dad didn’t have a clue. He didn’t cast the spells properly, and something went wrong. He became mad…possessed. Possessed! The evil that had its hold on him was so strong and so evil, it deformed him physically. Not only are we dealing with witches and ghosts, we’re dealing with demons too,” Noah said angrily.

  Aiden raised an eyebrow but remained silent as Noah continued his rant.

  “They tried to save him, but whatever it was that had its hold was too strong. He disappeared after that night but apparently returned at some point and took over the tunnels under the house. It looks as though he rerouted some of them too. That’s why we could never find some of the entrances. He’d blocked the damn things off and made new ones. We never knew about what he was doing because he never took women from here…until Lisa.”

  Aiden stared at his brother, shocked at the guilt he could feel eating away at him. “You can’t blame yourself for this, Noah. We’re not responsible for the things that they did. They shouldn’t have tried to help him and turned him in instead, but that was years ago. We were kids then.”

  “How could he have been running around this town and we not see him?”

  “Noah, I’m not sure if he was standing in front of us right now that I would recognize him. We were so young when he disappeared. Not to mention the fact he was covered in burns. He looked nothing like his pictures.”

  Noah sighed and shook his head. “Except the eyes.”

  “So does this mean we’re witches?” Aiden asked. “Since it appears everyone else in our family is.”

  Noah snorted. “I can’t cast magic. Can you?”

  Aiden shrug
ged. “Never tried.”

  Noah narrowed his eyes into angry slits. “Don’t.”

  “Can’t argue with that,” Aiden replied drily. “But what’s with our connection?”

  “It was something our mother did that night. It was a way of protecting us by always having us connected to each other.” Noah waved his hand. “More magic.”

  Aiden scoffed. “But why is Alana drawn in?”

  “Not sure, but I do remember Karen saying something about one day I would find a third, then I would know she was the right one. At the time I didn’t understand it. I think now I do. Karen must’ve known what spell our mother had used.”

  “So what we have is a spell, not something natural?”

  Noah sighed and dropped into the leather chair facing Aiden. “So it would seem.”

  “That’s…interesting.”

  “That’s one way of putting it. If things get any more interesting, I’ll have to be committed.”

  Aiden chuckled. “Now you’re just being ridiculous.”

  “I miss Alana.”

  Aiden blinked. “That was random. Talk about a one-eighty in topic of conversation.”

  “What one-eighty?” Noah asked with a frown. “It makes perfect sense I would go from talking about being committed to talking about Alana. She drives me crazy. This whole ‘space’ thing drives me crazy.”

  Aiden sighed heavily. “Yeah. Me too. We can’t push her, though. She’ll come around.”

  “You’re awfully calm about all this,” Noah said with disgust.

  “I’ve always been the calmer one. Besides, if you weren’t so distracted, you would sense it. I’ve noticed over the last couple of days, this connection has gotten stronger. She’s nervous, hesitant because she can sense it getting stronger too.”

  Noah stared at him in surprise.

  “What?” Aiden asked.

  “She’s here,” Noah replied softly as he held up a finger. “Wait.”

  A knock sounded at the door, and they grinned at each other.

  “Come in,” Aiden called.

  The door opened, and Aiden smiled at Alana as she stuck her head inside. He’d known it was her, but his heart still stopped at the sight of her pretty eyes and adorably curly hair.