Gathering Darkness: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Anna Zaires

  She was standing in a shower stall drying herself off when she felt the familiar rush of her menstrual cycle. She cheered inwardly and pretended she didn’t notice the blood running down her leg. It was only when the nurse began to throw a fit that Aspen took notice.

  “Oh, it’s no big deal, it’s just my period,” she said demurely.

  “Do not move! Stay right where you are. I need to have a chair brought in here to take you back to the exam room.”

  “What for?” Aspen asked innocently. “It’s just my monthly cycle.”

  Within minutes, Aspen was pushed into a wheel chair and carted back to her room where she was lifted onto the gurney and given a through inspection.

  “Damn, it didn’t take,” the doctor said to the room as he rolled his chair back.

  “Should we try again?” the nurse asked.

  The doctor shook his head. “No. It’s too costly to keep retrying. We’re done with this one.”

  “Should I prep her for release then?” the nurse asked making Aspen’s heart beat furiously in her chest.

  Could this be the end of her journey? Was she really to be set free? And what of Berend? Would they turn him loose now too?

  “Yes.”

  “What about Berend?” she asked, unable to hold her tongue. If she were to be set free, surely they’d release Berend too.

  For the first time since she’d arrived, the doctor actually turned and looked straight at her. His eyes were cold and heartless, “We still have a need for him, but you have become quite useless.”

  A deep and heavy feeling of dread settled in her stomach as the doctor walked out the door.

  ***

  It had been twenty-four hours since Aspen had been dismissed by the doctor. She’d had no contact with anyone except for the nurse who would occasionally bring her food. All of the medical exams had stopped – which she was grateful for – but the lack of attention still made her nervous.

  Since it was almost time for the evening meal, she wasn’t surprised when the door to her room popped open and the nurse came in. She dropped a bag by the door and moved over to open Aspen’s cage. Aspen stayed seated on her cot until the nurse was gone.

  Staring at the plate of food, Aspen was very confused. Normally her meals consisted of healthy portions from all four food groups, but tonight she was given a bowl of broth and a large chunk of bread. Frowning, she looked up and noticed that the nurse had failed to lock her cage, and the door rested gently against the frame.

  Ignoring the food, Aspen rose to her feet. Keeping her blanket wrapped securely around her body, she approached the door to her cage. She nudged it gently with her foot and jumped when it swung open.

  She shook her head and laughed softly, “Damn girl, what were you expecting? For the thing to electrocute you or maybe set off an alarm that would shake the walls of the building?”

  Taking a deep breath, she stepped out of the cage. Again, she was expecting the worst, and when nothing happened, she released her breath. Her entire body relaxed.

  She moved to the bag that the nurse had dropped by the door and rummaged inside surprised to find clothing. There was a pair of shorts, a tank top and a pair of no-name tennis shoes, but no socks. Instantly dropping the sorry excuse for a blanket, Aspen grabbed the clothes and slipped them on. They weren’t exactly the right size, but she’d take anything at this point. She was tired of being naked… and poked and prodded and treated like some mad scientist’s latest experiment.

  Feeling normal for the first time in weeks, she reached for the door, “Now, what are the chances that she forgot to lock this door too?” She twisted the knob on the door and nearly shouted for joy when it opened.

  She stuck her head out and glanced down the hallway. As far as she could tell, there was no one around.

  The hallway was just as sterile as the room where she’d been held. There were no windows to speak of, only three other doors, and they all looked like the one to her room. She wondered if Berend was in one of those rooms, and whether or not she’d be able to help him. So, taking one last look down the hall to make sure no one was about to sneak up on her, she stepped into the hallway in search of Berend the bear shifter.

  She approached the first door and tried the handle. It turned without resistance allowing her to stick her head in the room. It was empty. The second room was exactly the same… sterile and empty. She came upon the last door and opened it. She wasn’t sure what she would do if Berend wasn’t inside, but luckily, she didn’t have to think about it because he was there.

  His room looked nothing like hers. It was smaller than her room was, but Berend wasn’t being held in a cage. There was actually no cage at all in this room. He had the same cot she did, a toilet and a small sink. The man himself was sitting on his cot Indian style with his head back against the wall, eyes closed.

  “Berend!” she whispered loudly.

  Berend’s eyes popped open at the sound of Aspen’s voice, “Aspen! What are you doing here? How did you get out of your room?”

  Aspen grinned, “Who cares? I’m free and I’m not leaving without you.”

  Berend grinned, “Let’s go then.”

  He moved with the grace of an animal towards the door. He stopped, lifted his head and sniffed the air. When he could sense no one in the immediate area, he gave her the nod to go ahead.

  Hugging the wall, Aspen reached back to grab Berend’s hand. He accepted and gave her a gentle squeeze of reassurance. They reached the end of the hall and stopped. Berend, once again, sniffed the air for enemies, and this time, when he smelt none, he took the lead pulling Aspen behind him.

  Berend stopped at the first door they came to. He sniffed, shook his head and continued down the hall. He did this several times until he came to a door that caused a smile to break across his face. He turned back to look at her, “I smell fresh air.”

  She squeezed his hand, “Then let’s get the hell out of here!”

  With a nod, he pushed open the door. He was instantly bathed in the day’s remaining sunlight. The warm breeze caressed his skin like a long lost lover. His bear wanted out, but he wouldn’t let that happen till they were out of this place. A human could slip through undetected, but a bear could not.

  “Stay close,” he instructed. “This is going to happen very quickly.”

  Aspen nodded her understanding. “I’m ready when you are.”

  Berend tightened his grip around Aspen’s hand and ran.

  CHAPTER 5

  Aspen had never run so hard or so fast in her life. Freedom was within reach. They’d finally gotten to the edge of their prison, the chain link fence only feet from them, when a loud gunshot rang out and Berend fell hard.

  “No!” She cried. “Berend!”

  Berend’s head swam. The motherfuckers had shot him with a tranq dart… again. He lifted his head. The fence, the door to his freedom, was right there if only he could get up and keep going.

  “Berend, please get up. We have to do this together,” Aspen cried, trying to drag him by his arm. “I don’t think I can make it out of here without you.”

  “Tranq…” he growled.

  Aspen knelt down searching for the dart and found it just behind his knee. She pulled it out and tossed it away. “What can I do, Berend? I won’t leave you here.”

  Berend rolled over, his arms flopping to the ground like heavy logs, “You need to go, Aspen.”

  “But what about you?”

  He swallowed and blinked his eyes slowly, “Hop the fence and head north…” He paused, trying to fight off the sleep that wanted to claim him. “Find a man named Torben. He will help…you.”

  Aspen shook him, “Berend! Don’t leave me yet. Where’s north? And who’s Torben?”

  He threw his arm up over his head, “North.”

  Aspen nodded her head as tears began to form, “We’ll come back for you, Berend, I swear it.”

  He closed his eyes, “Safe… Aspen.”

  She leaned down and k
issed him on the forehead, “I promise I’ll be back for you.”

  She rose, spared one last glance at the man on the ground and ran for the fence. She was surprised when no other shots rang out.

  Grabbing the fence, she hauled herself up and over, ignoring the scratches she was receiving on the sides of her thighs. She landed none too gracefully and ran.

  She’d made it about fifty feet when another shot rang out and the bark on the tree next to her exploded. She screamed as she covered her face, but she didn’t stop running. She couldn’t because they weren’t trying to tranq her; they were trying to kill her.

  Adrenaline surged, she spared one last look back over her shoulder at Berend. He was motionless on the ground with medical teams moving in to take him back. She shook her head in disgust. She wished there was more she could have done for him, but sadly, there wasn’t. He was too large for her to carry unassisted. Even so, the guilt assailed her. It didn’t matter that Berend told her to run; she had left a fallen man behind.

  The only thing that fueled her forward movement was Berend’s instruction to go north and find a man named Torben. She had no idea who Torben was, but prayed he would help her come back and save Berend.

  The woods surrounding their prison were dense. The further in she went, the darker it became. Not that it mattered. With night falling over her part of the world, the darkness would soon be all encompassing.

  Aspen ran until her side cramped. Then she slowed to a fast walk keeping her eyes peeled for anyone that might have followed her.

  Now that her panic was ceasing to be an issue, Aspen began to notice the pang in her stomach, “Damn it to hell, I should have taken the damn bread with me.”

  The sound of a branch being broken beneath someone’s foot brought her to a dead stop. She held her breath, waited and her heart thumped furiously in her chest.

  She spun slowly in a tight circle peering into the darkness but seeing nothing. However, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she was being watched… or hunted. She gasped at the thought. Did they really see her as an animal to be hunted in the woods? Is that why they’d turned her into a bear shifter? Her head spun with the thought as she sought a place of refuge for the night.

  She waited several more seconds before darting off further into the woods. She came upon a low hanging branch and started to climb.

  It had been years since she’d climbed an actual tree. She’d been fifteen and her grandmother’s cat had been stuck, and she’d volunteered to climb up the tree and rescue it. What she hadn’t expected was for the cat to freak out on her and jump from her arms when they were only halfway down the tree. Cats may land on their feet, but it was still way too far of a jump for Mr. Snuffles, and he broke his right front paw. Despite the fact that her grandmother had assured her it hadn’t been her fault, she’d felt so bad about it she’d decided to become a veterinarian and devote the rest of her life to saving animals. Unfortunately, she couldn’t stomach some of the requirements of veterinary school, so she became a vet technician instead.

  Yes, she still worked in the service of animals, but she wasn’t the one to actually heal them or save them. She simply assisted when necessary.

  She reached the highest point on the tree she could without being completely blinded by the dark or branches and fearing for her life. She sat with her back against the tree trunk and straddled the branch she sat on. It wasn’t the best sleeping accommodations, but it was the best she could do at the moment. Since she wasn’t sure whether anyone had followed her, she’d hate to wake up with a gun pointed at her face because she’d stayed at ground level where she’d be easier to see.

  She sat quietly for several minutes. Then she heard it; the distinct sound of men talking below her.

  “Where the fuck did she go?”

  “I don’t know, man. If I did, we wouldn’t still be hunting her,” came the clipped reply.

  Aspen’s heart seized. They were actually hunting her. The question now was how did she get away?

  “Maybe she found a hole and crawled into it for the night.”

  “Why the hell would you think that?”

  “Isn’t that what bears do? They sleep in caves and shit right?”

  “There are no caves around here, dumb ass. Let’s see if we can scare her out of her hiding place.”

  Aspen held tightly to the branch she was sitting on. She heard the pump action sound of a shotgun seconds before the gun exploded filling the once quiet night with the sound of violence. She was proud that she did nothing more than jump slightly.

  After several minutes, they spoke again, “Let’s go make camp for the night. We’ll get up at first light and finish this.”

  “I know she’s here somewhere though. We just saw her, she couldn’t have gotten away from us that quickly.”

  “I’m guessing she really did settle in for the night. Besides, I doubt she can see any better than we can in the dark.”

  There was a deep sigh, “Fine, but as soon as the sun rises, so do we.”

  ***

  Aspen woke as the sky began to lighten to a pale shade of pink. She was thoroughly surprised that she hadn’t fallen out of the tree, and even more so to find that it was actually the best sleep she’d had in weeks. Stretching leisurely, she took a moment to savor the quiet of a new day then focused her gaze on the ground below her. There were no signs of her trackers yet, but that wasn’t to say that they weren’t already up and about.

  Moving as quietly as she could, she made her way back down the tree. When her feet hit the ground, she hunched low and waited. When nothing stirred, she stood up and bolted through the trees like the wind.

  She’d never noticed before how many scents there were in the woods, from the varying types of trees and plant life to the animals. Being a bear must have heightened her sense of smell because never in her life had she been so aware of everything.

  After about two miles of straight running, she decided to stop and rest. Her side was cramping, as were her legs, and her stomach was cramping from hunger. She really wanted a cool drink of water. Looking around, she honestly wasn’t sure what she could eat and what she couldn’t. Since she’d never been an avid camper, she’d never felt it necessary to learn about the varying wilderness berries and what was edible versus what was poisonous.

  She stretched out her legs, back and arms, “Maybe I’ll find a town or something soon.”

  “Found her!”

  Aspen spun as one of her trackers took aim and fired. The tree next to her exploded; bark cutting into her face. She ran as another shot shattered the quiet of the morning and felt a slight burning sensation race across her thigh. She didn’t think she’d actually been hit because she was still up and running, but she was pretty sure the bullet had grazed her leg.

  Weaving in and out of the trees, she did her best to stay out of their line of fire. She thought she was doing fairly well until another shot rang out and slammed right into her side. She went down hard as fire coursed through her side making it very hard to breathe.

  “Damn, I think I got the little bitch!” One of the men yelled.

  Aspen was afraid. She was more afraid now than she was when she woke up in the cage. Death had a nasty habit of doing that to you.

  Rising on shaky legs, she continued to run even though what she really wanted to do was sit down and rest, shut her eyes for just a moment or maybe just take a little nap. Her body was sore, she was exhausted and the bullet wound seeping blood down the side of her body wasn’t helping.

  Needing a place to stop so she could try to clean herself up, she scoured the land as she ran. She thought to climb a tree but was afraid that the blood would leave a visible trail for them to find her, which gave her the idea of marking several trees as she passed. Maybe if they thought she was dying they’d go back to whatever hell they came from.

  When there had been no activity for at least a good hour, she decided it was safe to stop as she happened upon a small stream. Using shaky hands,
she lifted the clear, cool water to her mouth and drank her fill before tending her wound.

  She ripped off the bottom half of her shirt and dipped it in the stream. Once it was good and wet, she used it to clean the bullet wound and determine just how deep the shit was she was in.

  She felt around the wound and across her back, wincing and hissing as she poked and prodded herself. Unfortunately, the bullet was still there, and she was in no way prepared to try to remove it even if it was just under the skin, much less in the right mind set to dig into her muscle. So instead, she settled for wrapping her midsection with the strip of cloth from her shirt. The cool water helped, but the damn thing still hurt like a son of bitch.

  “Well, well, well, lookie what we got here.”

  Aspen froze, her heart jumping right into her throat. Moving slowly, she grabbed a jagged-edged rock from the bank of the stream as she rose in a slow spin to meet her tracker.

  They guy gave new meaning to the word scary. He wasn’t tall or buff by any means, but if looks could kill, Aspen would have keeled over dead in one second flat. His hair was high and tight; a typical military style haircut. His eyes were dark and deep set, and his jaw was rigid in its appearance. Truth be told, he scared the crap out of her.

  Swallowing, Aspen spoke, “Why are you trying to kill me? I’ve never done anything to anyone.”

  “You’re an animal, and some animals need to be put down,” he replied, sneering.

  “I’m not an animal! I’m a woman, and I had a really good life before I was kidnapped by you monsters.”

  He raised his gun to her face and said, “Any last words?”

  “Yeah,” she replied, taking a step forward. She didn’t know if this was going to work, but she was damned sure going to try. “Fuck you!” she screamed swinging her rock around until it connected with his temple.

  To Aspen’s utter shock, he grunted and went down. She stared in shock for another half a second before reaching for his gun, but before she could grab it, another gunshot rang out hitting her in the arm. Since her life was far more important than the gun… she ran.