Surface Below: Dark Secrets (The Surface Below Book 1)

by Leeah Taylor

  “Miranda!” Markus’ shirt dropped from his fingers and he ran to her. “What is it? Miranda? What is it?”

  The blinding light somehow got brighter, and murmuring filled her ears. She cupped her hands over her ears trying to drown it all out. Miranda could feel the heat of Markus’ hands against her cheek but his voice was distant.

  Images danced on her eye lids. Pictures. She saw Becca and William. The truck on its side in the yard of the farmhouse. The voices got louder but she couldn’t make them out. Someone was entering the house. A man.

  “Miranda please, talk to me,” Markus begged her. “What are you seeing?”

  The man turned and she got a glimpse of who it was. Her eyes shot open in disbelief. She took in a sharp breath and her hands reached up and gripped to Markus. Her vision returned and the voices stopped.

  “We have to get back to the farmhouse,” she insisted, already getting up. Markus grabbed her by the shoulders and twisted her to look at him.

  “What did you see?”

  “Viktor is coming for Becca.” Her eyes filled with fear.

  “What? When?”

  “Now, Markus, we have to go,” she told him, already walking away from him.

  “Fucking little cockroach,” Markus growled, grabbing his shirt from the ground.

  Chapter 25

  “Can’t you go faster?” Miranda whined, sitting at the edge of her seat. The image started to play more vividly in her mind.

  “My foot is to the floor, Miranda.”

  Markus was pushing the limits of the truck, the transmission whining and protesting. He took the turn too hard and the truck’s wheels struggled to find a grip in the smooth dirt driveway, and it fishtailed.

  “He’s almost there, Markus.” This statement made him look over at her now. Her eyes squeezed tightly and she was straining to focus.

  “You can see him?” He looked back to the road and then back to her. She didn’t say anything though. “Miranda?”

  “I can see what he’s seeing,” she revealed. “Hurry Markus, he’s almost past the barn.”

  He could see the road open up now, the yard of the farmhouse in clear view. Viktor walked confidently across the yard of the property. Turning now, his hand shot up towards the truck.

  Miranda’s eyes shot open and she screamed, “Stop the truck Markus. Stop it now!”

  The image of the truck overturned in the yard came back to the front of her mind. She hadn’t stopped to think that it would be Markus and her inside it.

  Before Markus could react, though, Viktor gave a flick of his wrist and the truck came to a skidding halt. It flipped one full circulation as it went backwards and collided with a tree. Glass shattered and the sound of metal crushing filled the air.

  Viktor stood in the yard with a proud look on his face. Drinking from Becca had given him an unprecedented amount of power. He felt it coursing through his veins like a wildfire begging to be used. Convinced if he drained them all he could harness that power for himself, he’d set out to do just that. Anticipating Miranda seeing it all in her unique mind was just the icing on the cake.

  Lights started to go on in the house, and murmuring filled the air. Viktor smiled wide. “Right on time, Miranda.”

  Approaching the first step of the house, he brought his hand up again and pointed it at the door. He thrust his hand back violently behind him and the door flew off its hinges. Again his lips grew into an evil grin. The power he had absorbed from Becca was intoxicating.

  Several balls of energy, reds and greens and blues, came out of the house at him. Putting both hands up, though, he redirected them around him and they went in different directions, hitting trees and wood. A surge of electricity filled the air. More energy came out of the doorway from the parents and uncles. Each time, Viktor managed to send them away or right back at them.

  “William! Get out of here now!” Merrick yelled to them at the top of the stairs. William was already halfway down the stairs when he heard the warning. A power ball came soaring through the air and William was forced to duck. “I said get the hell out of here!”

  “What about Markus and Miranda?” William stayed low towards the steps.

  “We will take care of them, just get yourself down to Boggs Territory,” his father demanded of him as he returned the attack.

  William raced back up the stairs, putting a protective arm around Becca. “Okay we gotta go.”

  “Where do we go exactly?” Z shrugged, looking around them. William didn’t answer him though; he was staring at the stairs. “What are you looking at?”

  “It’s not what I’m looking at…listen,” he told them. They all grew quiet. “It’s quiet.”

  Slowly he inched towards the top of the stairs, peering around the corner. Tobias and Merrick were on one side of the foyer. Sarah and Caroline ducked down behind either side of the kitchen entrance across from the men. Danny and Craeden on either side of the front door. No return fire came in at them now. It was just quiet.

  “William?” Becca whispered. He put his hand up and motioned for them to be quiet.

  “Shh.”

  Nikki, Z and Becca huddled close, peering down behind William. Parts of the stairs were smoldering from energy hits. Chunks of the wall were covered in black soot.

  “Where is he?” Tobias whispered, looking back at Merrick and over to both Craeden and Danny. They all shrugged at each other.

  Danny peeked out the door and his eyes widened at what he saw.

  “Shit, go go go! Get away from the door.”

  Just as the words left his mouth, the old rusted tractor from the barn came flying into the house. It hit with a devastating blow, with more force than a twister could ever muster. The metal twisted some as it traveled through the house, making it shake from its foundation. Colliding with the stairs, it forced them to collapse and break away from the second floor.

  William pushed Becca and the others out of the way as debris flew up at them.

  “Son of a bitch,” he muttered, bringing his arm down now, shielding his eyes from the splintering wood. “You guys okay?”

  “Yeah,” They answered, pushing up from the ground, brushing remnants from their clothes.

  William looked down at the second floor, where their parents were scattered throughout the destruction. “We’ve got to get down there and help them.” He was already looking for a way down. Parts of the stairs were still clinging to the wall. Taking care to step just right, he let his foot come down on a small chunk of step. It buckled under his weight though, and crumbled. Z grabbed his brother’s arm, yanking him back.

  “We can’t go that way, William.”

  William looked around, trying to find an alternative. An odor, though, caught his attention. He searched for the source; it was strong and offensive. When he realized what it was he twisted around.

  “Run!”

  “What?” Becca protested.

  “Just do it. Run for the bedroom.” He pushed them to hurry.

  A ball of fire and light flew into the house and it met with the source of the smell. A puddle of gasoline had been forming beneath the twisted metal. It ignited on contact and exploded, sending ravenous flames up into the second floor.

  The four barely made it into the bedroom at the end of the hall as flames shot through the open door. William wrapped himself around Becca on the floor, Z doing the same to Nikki. The temperature rose violently, the flames grew huge and then dissipated.

  The four coughed and gagged against the thick smoke surrounding them.

  “You both okay?” William coughed and squinted over at his brother and Nikki.

  “Yeah, I think so.” Nikki nodded. “What the hell?”

  A figure was coming at them now in the smokiness. They couldn’t make out who it was. William slowly stood, trying to see who it was. An invisible force hit him hard in the chest and forced him back into the far corner of the room. The same energy hit Nikki and Z, and both took flight, landing hard against the dresser
on the wall.

  Becca’s eyes locked with the person and she pushed backwards, the bed stopping her.

  “Viktor.”

  His hand came down and grabbed hold of her hair. She grabbed at it but couldn’t match his strength.

  “Miss me darling?” Viktor jerked her up to his face.

  “You let go of her,” William demanded, trying to get up, but Viktor held him in place with his free hand.

  “Say goodbye, Becca.” Viktor twisted her around so William could see her. He smiled, wrapped both arms around Becca tightly, and they vanished.

  “What the fuck just happened?” Z still coughed.

  “Viktor,” was all William could say as the reality of what had just happened set in. “He has Becca.”