Death's Echo (The Complex Book 0)

by Rachel M Raithby

  “It doesn’t matter.” Yet he made no move to close the distance between them.

  “It matters to me. I’m sorry.”

  He smiled softly, his thumbs drawing patterns on her skin. “We still can’t. There are rules.”

  Her smile turned wicked. “Screw the rules.” Taking hold of his uniform, Aqulla dragged him forward and closed her mouth over his. Jaylon didn’t take much convincing. It took him only a second to shake the shock and entwine his arms around her, returning the kiss.

  Walking backward, her butt hit the bed. She hopped up, opening her legs to allow him closer, not once breaking the kiss. Her skin was on fire, her senses sizzling with desire. She wasn’t sure when or if they would have stopped if the door behind the curtain hadn’t opened.

  Breaking apart, Aqulla had only just lain back and dragged the blanket over herself when the curtain pulled back revealing a nurse.

  “Oh good, you’re awake.” Her eyes lingered on Jaylon. “Are you all right, sir?”

  “What? Oh yes.” Jaylon coughed.

  “Well, perhaps you can wait outside while I check Miss Dayshon over?”

  “Right, yes. I’ll do that.”

  Aqulla hid her smile behind her hand, focusing her attention on the nurse. “I feel fine.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” she answered as she began to check her over.

  Twenty minutes later, Aqulla was dressed in a clean set of standard issue clothes, and heading out the door of the medical center. Jaylon turned when she exited, his face briefly lighting up before he gained control of his features.

  “All cleared?”

  “Yep. Take me to the victims.”

  “Right now? There’s no rush. Rest some more.”

  “Jaylon, stop babying me. I’ve rested enough.”

  “I’d just rather not repeat what happened when you saw them before.”

  “I’ll keep control this time.”

  “Will you?” he asked, glancing at her but moving on.

  “I have to. When I get out of this place, I need to be able to control myself. Otherwise, Grandmother will put me down.”

  “Your grandmother?” he gasped.

  “She’s the head of our family coven. Her job is to protect the rest of my kind. I’m in here because of her. This is more than just a ticket out of jail for me. It’s a test.”

  “For what?”

  “To see if I can stay under the radar. If I, a sensitive, can live for years surrounded by so many killers, so much death, without losing control of the Banshee inside and wreaking vengeance. If I can function in here, then maybe I’ll be allowed to live.”

  Grim determination filled his features, though he said nothing. Silently, he led her through the complex into territory she wouldn’t normally have been allowed to enter.

  “We’re here,” he said, pausing outside a nondescript door. “Are you ready?”

  Aqulla could feel them already, the faint pull that the death had on her drawing her forward. “Ready.” Pushing the door, she walked into the chilled room and stopped at the first body bag.

  “Do you need to see inside?”

  “No,” she whispered. Gritting her teeth, she fought to unwind the echoes in her mind and grasp just one.

  They all had the same “taste” to them, as if the killer had the same signature, as if just one person had left his mark on them. Yet if that were the case, then why had the scenes looked like murder-suicides? The suicides were hard to read, their pain and anguish overwhelming. The echoes were scrambled, swirling, twisting chaos she had no hope of deciphering. But she had to try. Slowly unzipping the bag, Aqulla didn’t take in the dead body already showing signs of decay. She saw nothing, felt nothing but the echo of the dead.

  Lifting a trembling hand, Aqulla touched the victim’s forehead. The air knocked out of her lungs, and she wasn’t consciously aware of Jaylon holding her up. Furrowed lines of discomfort appeared on her forehead, teeth grinding together, but nothing made sense. It was as though the echo was fractured. No matter how hard she tried, Aqulla couldn’t get a clear read on the man’s death.

  Breaking the contact, Aqulla turned her head into Jaylon’s chest, slumping against him. “Get me out of here,” she whispered.

  Jaylon half carried her from the room, her slight body trembling, her breaths shallow and weak. The further he took her away from the bodies, the stronger she became. By the time they reached the public areas of the complex, she had managed to hold herself up enough to not draw attention.

  A relieved breath rushed out of her as he opened the door to her quarters, yet still, she couldn’t stand without support. He wanted to tell her she shouldn’t have gone. He wanted to shout at her for hurting herself for strangers, but he held his tongue, well aware the irrational emotions inside of him would not help her.

  The door clicked shut behind them, closing Jaylon into a room that smelt of her, leaving him alone with a woman who did things to him that would get them both into trouble. He stared at her drawings on the wall, her reminders of the brightness in a world of death. Yet when she looked up at him, he knew it wasn’t enough. They may have left the bodies behind, they may be miles away from the echo’s call, but they haunted her still. There was no spark in her eyes, the color dull, lifeless. She was a shadow of the woman who’d drawn his eye in a line of hundreds. Her rebellious spark gone, the light of the living shrouded by darkness.

  Her voice was a bare whisper, a desperate plea. “Make it stop…. Please, make it stop.”

  Jaylon hesitated for only a second before crushing his lips to hers. Running his hands down the curves of her body, he cupped her ass and lifted her from the floor. Carrying her to the bed, Jaylon laid Aqulla down, standing above her he stripped himself of the top half of his uniform before coming down on top of her. She gripped at him, her nails leaving the marks of her urgency. He kissed her mouth, her jaw, her neck, his mouth demanding and rough, his pace relentless, and when the light finally returned to her eyes, when the noises she made turned from desperation to pleasure, Jaylon slowed his pace, devouring her body with controlled hunger.

  She’d not known what she’d wanted when she’d pleaded for Jaylon to make it stop. Her mind had been so full of death she’d felt as if she were losing her grip on the living. The world around her had faded, becoming sepia tones of nothingness. The drawings on her wall had held no meaning, the detailed sketch of a flower holding no beauty. Aqulla had been slowly wondering why she’d bothered fighting to live. Why she’d not just let her grandmother end her life the second they’d learned she was a sensitive. Then Jaylon had kissed her.

  The heat from his lips seeped into her, spreading slowly through her veins and turning her core molten. He removed his top, his bare skin golden, muscles tight enough to sink her nails into. She wanted him, wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anyone, and right then, he was the only thing keeping her connected to the world.

  He kissed away the echoes clawing at her mind, chased the demons crushing her soul. His pace slowed, savoring every touch. Jaylon removed her clothes, kissing each newly exposed bit of skin as he went. Aqulla was unable to lie still. Her skin prickled with need, her body demanding more than just the touch of his mouth.

  By the feel of hard length pressing through his pants, Jaylon wanted her just as much as she him. Yet he carried on at an agonizing pace, his lips grazing her with a lazy hunger.

  All thoughts of the six victims had left her mind. She was nothing but lust, the ache within her heated desire. Losing patience, the wildness that lived inside surged forward. Aqulla flipped Jaylon over. Pinning his hands above his head, she sucked his bottom lip into her mouth and bit. His responding gasp had liquid heat pooling at her core. Tangling her tongue with his, she kissed Jaylon until he was breathless, then whispered roughly in his ear, “No more playing.”

  He smiled, the glint in his eye not one she’d seen there before. “But I wasn’t finished.”

  Pulling free, Jaylon had her beneath hi
m with surprising ease. He clasped both her wrists in one hand and ran the other over her neck, across her collarbone, and stopped on her breast. When he squeezed, Aqulla arched up into his touch, her breaths becoming rapid. He circled her nipple with a finger, his smile one of satisfaction at her responding groan.

  “Jay,” she whispered.

  He continued his torment, circling both nipples, never quite touching where she needed most. The sounds of her need filled the room, between her legs growing wet, wanting attention.

  “Jay!”

  Jaylon leaned down, his mouth closing over one nipple as he pinched the other. Aqulla cried out, and he quickly swallowed the sound with a kiss, while his fingers pinched and pulled on the tiny buds of nerves, sending slivers of pleasure throughout her body.

  Aqulla protested weakly when he climbed off the bed, but she made no move to drag him back, her limbs were too heavy, her mind a hazy fog. Jaylon was back as quickly as he’d left. His pants were missing, and there was nothing keeping her from touching all of his skin.

  His cock nudged gently at her entrance and Aqulla wrapped her legs around him, urging him forward. She moaned as he filled her, stretching every pleasure swollen muscle and giving her what she’d craved.

  He lost control quickly, his slow, steady pace increasing until he was pounding into her, sending molten shockwaves through her, bringing her closer to the edge. He kissed her with hunger, drove into her with a maddening need, yet his hands explored her with a tender touch. He was there with her as she fell over the edge, ecstasy cascading through her blood, driving out every echo within the Complex. Then he fell too, collapsing with a pleasured yell, his breath as ragged as hers.

  Jaylon woke with a start, his heart beating frantically in his chest. The images of a past he’d tried to leave behind chased him from sleep to waking. He dreamed of his partner, his friend, often. They’d met while training and become fast friends. Colten had been brilliant at his job, and they’d made an unstoppable team. Jaylon’s steady presence and Colten’s wild spirit had been a good match. That was until the day they’d both been captured. Colten had been shot as they’d fought to escape. The wound hadn’t initially been life-threatening but when their captors showed no signs of patching him up, they’d both known he wasn’t going to last long. For four days Jaylon had watched his friend suffer, watched them torture him for intel. Colton had never said the actual words but Jaylon had seen it in his expression. Colten couldn’t take anymore. He’d wanted the pain to be over. It hadn’t been a planned act. Jaylon had simply seen the window of opportunity and taken it. Relief had filled Colten’s gaze before life had left his eyes forever, and Jaylon had lived with his decision ever since. Lived with regret and guilt. Logic told him Colten wouldn’t have survived the next two weeks of captivity. Jaylon himself had been severely injured and near-death by the time he’d been rescued. But logic didn’t have any control over emotion, no matter how much he wished it did. That was why he’d signed up for the Complex, for a program he didn’t quite believe would work. It was his penance for taking his friend’s life.

  He looked down at Aqulla’s sleeping form, her face one of peaceful innocence. She looked her age, twenty years old, young, too young to be in a place like the Complex. An experiment doomed to fail. Didn’t they know caged animals became feral? He worried about her. She had the same reckless wild streak he’d seen in Colten, and Jaylon was determined her light wouldn’t go out as his had.

  Sighing, Jaylon settled back, intending to live in the dream he’d stumbled upon just a little while longer, ignore the problems he had no answers to. He read the digital reading on the far wall. It was late, past midnight, past time he was due on shift.

  Shit! Shit, shit. Climbing from her bed, Jaylon pulled his clothes on as fast and quietly as possible, his heart beating in panic. He’d allowed his feelings for Aqulla to not only endanger his job but Aqulla herself. If the Ama Seldova found out they were involved, he wasn’t sure of the consequences, but they wouldn’t be lax.

  “Jay?” she mumbled sleepily.

  “Shush, go back to sleep.”

  “Where are you going?” she asked quietly, rolling over to face him.

  “I’m late for my shift. I’ll be back when I can.”

  Her eyes widened, sleep clearing from their depths. “Will you?”

  Vulnerable, she was so vulnerable. It was still there, the haunted shadows of death clouding her silver gaze. His protective instincts kicked in. He wanted nothing more than to wrap her in his arms and shield her from the world, from every echo that called for her touch. But he had to remember she wasn’t weak. There was a steel strength to her core, a strength that had carried her this far. She didn’t need protecting. She had teeth and claws to protect herself. Yet it was the part of her that looked for beauty to sketch on the walls. That walked into hell with her head held high. That was the part that Jaylon wanted to protect, the unrelenting will to live in the light and not the dark.

  Walking to her, Jaylon ran his hand softly over her cheek. “Go back to sleep, Aqulla. I’ll be back. I promise.”

  She smiled sadly, her lids sliding shut. She didn’t say it but he was aware she knew; his promise to return wasn’t the easiest to keep. Someone would notice eventually if he was suddenly spending all his time inside a housing dome.

  Aqulla had intended to walk part of the way to the Main City before taking transport the rest of the way. She wanted to use the time to clear her head and try to unravel the main thoughts in her mind, but on her way out of the housing dome, she was stopped by several Intra.

  “Aqulla Dayshon?”

  “Yes?”

  “Come with us, please.”

  The three Intra made no move toward her, but their body langue said if she declined, she’d be forced to go with them.

  Take them out; Aqulla physically shook the thought from her mind. One of the men had an echo, and after yesterday, she didn’t much feel like seeing what secrets it held. Even if she could take out the three men, she’d only get into more trouble. There was nowhere to hide in the Complex, and fighting and/or killing meant removal from the program. A program that had given her time to prove to her kind she should be allowed to live.

  “May I ask what this is about?”

  No answer.

  “I’ll take that as a no then. Lead the way.”

  One set off, as the other two indicated for her to go ahead. The predator in Aqulla hated having two men at her back. Curling her fingers as her claws slid out, she didn’t try to calm her body into shifting back. Being as slight and feminine as she was, was sometimes an advantage; many perceived her as weak. But she wanted the Intra to be reminded that she was a Meta, a Banshee. She was anything but weak.

  They escorted her out of the housing dome, then indicated for her to get onto a zipper. The hovercraft had a further two Intras waiting inside it. Her skin prickled with unease, and it took every ounce of will to not bare her teeth and hiss at the men.

  Chill, Aqulla, you’ve done nothing wrong, she reassured herself. Except for sleep with one of their own, her mind reminded her. Human and Meta mingling was encouraged, but Aqulla was pretty certain it didn’t include the Intra and definitely not having sex with them.

  No one could possibly know. Stop worrying. Yet when she reached Climintra North and was led into an office containing two people, one being Jaylon, and by the looks on his face he had no idea why she was here, her mind went on red alert.

  She could almost feel her blood glowing. Her hold on her humanlike features had slipped the moment she’d seen Jaylon. There was no point hiding her claws in balled fists. Every man in the room could see her for who she was, yet the only one who seemed afraid was Jaylon, and he should know she’d not hurt him.

  “Aqulla Dayshon.”

  Dragging her gaze from Jaylon, Aqulla fixed her sights on the man behind the desk. Though, her senses stayed tuned on the two Intra blocking the door.

  “I’ve always wanted to meet a banshee, t
he bringers of death. Fascinating kind. Though I must say, I’d rather hoped you’d not bring death here.”

  Her heart stopped. She could feel Jaylon looking at her but she didn’t dare look his way. Brow scrunching in confusing, she said, “What?”

  “Your scream, it predicts death, correct?”

  “Y-yes.”

  “Don’t looked so shocked, surely you didn’t think no one heard your call? It woke half of the Complex, I’m sure.”

  Aqulla couldn’t predict the way the conversation would go, and the man before her was hard to read. His words were calm, controlled, his expression pleasant as if they weren’t discussing impending doom, yet he had an underlying menace about him. He was human and yet there was a darkness to him that was far different than death.

  “I’m told you passed out after the scream.”

  He wasn’t asking a question, just stating a fact, so Aqulla kept her mouth shut, her eyes unblinking.

  “It was a good job Jaylon was there to help you. Tell me how did you come to be at the scene of the crime?”

  Her eyes swiveled to Jaylon this time. He’d taken her there. He’d asked for her help, but hadn’t he sorted permission first? His gaze gave nothing away. She should tell the truth. She’d done nothing wrong, yet the atmosphere in the room had a lie easily slipping from her tongue.

  “I was drawn there.”

  “Drawn there?”

  “Not consciously.”

  “So it’s true, your kind can do more than predict death.”

  He stood, his hands resting on his desk as he leaned forward, his gaze unnerving. “What did you see?”

  “Death. Death for us all.”

  Aqulla flinched when he straightened and began laughing. He clapped his hands, throwing his head back as his laugh boomed around the quiet room. He stopped suddenly and glared. Her blood ran cold.

  “How very chilling. Tell me, do you actually have anything useful to tell me or do your kind only deliver cryptic horror stories?”

  She had nothing. No details, no real sense of what the future would bring, only a sense of death on the horizon, a lingering darkness that seemed to taint the echoes of the dead. What would he say if she told him the truth? And if she lied and found out she had, then what? She couldn’t afford to be removed from the Complex.