Beyond The Mask (The Beyond Book 1)

by Hunter, Aubrianna

  For some inexplicable reason, seeing the man she loved behaving like a common asshole infuriated her. Probably didn't help matters that she was jealous as hell, despite the logical side of her brain pointing out how little sense that made.

  She had been dead three lousy days and he brought home some whore for a quick tumble. The anger that had only bubbled up to this point raged through her like molten lava. In an instant it boiled over, spewing angry heat out of the volcano that was her soul.

  She was furious. Furious that she was dead... one little mistake and she never had a chance. Furious at herself... not only was she a class A idiot, but she couldn't even figure out how to successfully haunt the man that had killed her, let alone exact any revenge. Furious at Derek... he supposedly loved her yet he had held a part of himself back, hiding his true desires.

  She stood and began pacing, that anger driving her to move. She didn't even notice the magazine's swirling on the coffee table, or the curtains swaying against the window. Not until her coffee cup shattered on the kitchen counter.

  Startled, she looked to the kitchen, expecting Derek to have knocked it off. Instead, he was standing against the wall beside the couch. He didn't look scared exactly, just nervous.

  That just seemed to annoy her more. Rushing to the kitchen, she found a plate sitting on the counter. She knocked it to the floor, the sound of it shattering creating another rush.

  So she kept going. She lashed out at anything she could find, shoving dishes, knocking over chairs, pushing the table against the wall with a wonderfully satisfying thud.

  She ran past Derek, seeing his hair shift with the wind from her movement. She ran to the bedroom and began tearing clothes off the hangers. The same clothes she hadn't been able to touch a couple days ago began flying across the bedroom. She rushed into the bathroom swinging open the cabinets and knocking everything that belonged to her onto the floor: makeup, hairspray, perfume... all of it cracked and broken by her feet.

  With the burning rage hot on her heels, she ran out the front room and glanced at Derek still stuck against the wall in absolute shock. Laughing, a somewhat menacing sound, she grabbed the door handle and flung it wide, slamming it against the wall hard enough that it caught and held, the knob breaking through the drywall on the other side.

  Only too happy to get out of there, Jade ran down the stairs, rushing out onto the street. Seemed she ought to put all this emotion to good use.

  She felt the need for a little payback. Time to go see Nik.

  Chapter Seventeen

  He had finished with her, an eruption of both pain and pleasure. He had been thrusting into her so hard he knew she tore, but it mattered little. Again and again he struck her ass, leaving raised handprints to mottle her flesh. She would remember this every time she sat down for a week or more. Derek tried to imagine the bruises that would darken in the hours to come, her ass turning a rainbow of greens, blues, purples, and black. A final ripple coursed up his spine.

  Pulling out from her sopping wet pussy, he removed the condom with a tug as he crossed the room. Tossing it into the trash near the kitchen island, he reached down and snatched up her dress and discarded undergarments from the floor before returning to her and shoving them into her arms. With a jerk of his head, he motioned towards the door.

  Though he expected in the very least for her to retaliate verbally or slap him for the offense, she instead smiled at him wickedly as she eyed his body like it were a piece of candy. Without a word she strutted naked from the apartment, leaving Derek more than a bit puzzled. Already his head was throbbing.

  Exhaling loudly, as if to clear the actions from his still tingling body, he stretched and caught movement out of the corner of his eye. No more had he realized that the magazines upon the coffee table had begun to spin violently, then something glass shattered in the kitchen. Derek stepped back to lean heavily into the wall.

  Around him the room sagged inward, the edges of his vision darkening. Another shatter and then another, the room began to tilt at an odd angle. Pictures on the wall began to vibrate as pillows and cushions were torn from the couch by unseen hands. Derek dared not breathe.

  Light seemed to be swept out of the room as a whoosh of air blasted past him and sounds of destruction began anew in the bedroom and bathroom. The apartment had become a living hell. With shadows crawling down the walls and objects being flung to break against walls, Derek felt a scream rising when with another whoosh the door ripped open upon its hinges and all was still once more.

  For many long minutes, he clung to the wall, daring not to move lest the apartment reanimate once again. The characters in his head even looked about nervously, but only just for a moment. Looking around he eyed the damage, his body shaking nearly uncontrollably.

  “Jade?” He called out.

  As he expected there was no reply but seeing what had been broken, the attack on the apartment had an obvious target. Though common belongings had been strewn about, the only things broken had belonged to her. The only woman he had ever loved. The only one to ever understand him. Kneeling as he sobbed, he began to pick up the pieces of the life they had shared together, knowing he had betrayed her.

  At first he moved slowly, uncertain of what it was he was doing. As time passed though, he moved with more and more purpose. Subconsciously he was driven to something that most would find more than odd, but collecting pieces of furniture from around the house he began to build.

  Stacking the various tables and stands along with the couch, he erected a tiered pyramid of parallel level surfaces. As he meticulously cleaned the apartment, he collected her things, careful not to damage them further. With the care of a father, he carefully placed the things she had flung onto his creation, lowering each like a newborn babe to its bed.

  Hours later, minutes before the sun rose, he stood within his newly cleaned apartment with tears streaming down his face. Before him stood the shrine he had erected in her honor, adorned with pictures, belongings, trinkets, and love. Falling to his knees before it, he sobbed loudly, a pounding in his head growing with each passing second.

  Without time to spare, he looked fondly upon her things once more before rising to seek his computer. They needed him now. They needed him to record their stories.

  Flipping open his laptop, he entered the needed passwords and within seconds Derek was washed away. As his fingers pounded the keys furiously, the voices moved and talked, allowing him to record their deeds. Though hours passed, only seconds seemed to span the time he spent with them. Just as suddenly as they had called to him, however, without warning they quickly retreated, leaving him once again to the solemn darkness that was his life.

  Derek eyed the screen hazily. He could not seem to focus. The words he had just written stood upon a white backdrop, yet he could not make them out. He scrolled up, and though it was all blurry, he had written more than a dozen pages. Already their contents were lost to him.

  From memory he clicked save and closed his laptop before rising. His eyes burned. His head ached. Yet still he could feel the warm alcohol in his blood trying to sooth him. Looking across the room, he grinned slightly at the shrine he made in her honor.

  Exhausted mentally, physically, and emotionally, Derek turned to head to bed, daylight streaming through the windows of the apartment. Before he left the room, however, he turned again to the shrine.

  “Good night my love, I miss you.”

  As the day reached its apex, he fell into bed heavily and almost instantly he was lost to the world as darkness and shadow swallowed him whole.

  * * * * *

  Jade was running full tilt, surprised by just how quickly she was progressing. She couldn't be bothered to slow and wait for a bus, the need for action was pushing her forward.

  She dimly realized that she was traveling miles in mere minutes, moving in leaps and bounds. Her subconscious made note of the oddity, though she couldn't be bothered to examine it too closely right now.

  In less ti
me than it used to take her to travel to work, she reached the mansion. Her initial impulse was to simply storm in flinging doors and wreaking havoc. Though it was only a matter of minutes, her rush to the mansion had burned off some of her fury.

  When she reached the heavy wooden doors, she pushed them wide, surprised to see even the immense wooden beasts fly open as she entered. Without waiting to see if her disturbance brought anyone forward, she continued on her path to find her killer.

  She sped through the house, still moving faster than she could really comprehend, and poked through the rooms she now knew Nik favored. No surprise, she found him in his office, talking to Alex.

  Just as she moved forward, intending to scatter the papers he was currently looking over, to give him notice of her presence, she heard what they were discussing, causing her to freeze in place.

  "The funeral is this afternoon then, is that correct?" Nik asked, although his tone sounded more certain than questioning.

  "Yes, sir. At three."

  "We will need to be there this evening, as soon as darkness falls. Although I am not entirely certain of the success of this venture."

  "You don't think it worked?"

  "Haven't you felt her? I can, even now. She's been here, creating a tiny bit of havoc."

  "Havoc?"

  Nik laughed. "Yes, havoc. She knocked over a vase when the cops were here, right after you left the room. And yesterday the chit left me a threatening note on my laptop." He clicked a few buttons on the computer before swinging it around to show Alex.

  Alex laughed too, before he grimaced a little. "Hmmm, maybe she wasn't as susceptible as we thought. It's possible she seemed a little more... off because of her relationship with the human. He is definitely not someone I would call sane. Maybe we misread her."

  Nik nodded, rubbing his chin almost thoughtfully. "Possible. It would be a first though. In over four hundred years I have only made one error in judgment in this regard. So, we shall be there tonight to see if she rises."

  Jade knew they were talking about her, although most of what they were saying made no sense at all. What the hell did he mean she would rise?

  Setting aside the confusion, she focused in on the anger. They had laughed, laughed, over her death. They had laughed over her demand that he confess his crimes.

  As the anger rose up, she felt swirls of energy beginning to pulse around her. Without direction, those little pulses started to cause little bursts of wind, knocking loose the papers lying on his desk.

  Both men, eyes darting around the room, began looking for the unseen threat. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jade tossed a book, aiming directly at Nik's head.

  A little smile of delight crossed her lips when it struck him square on the jaw, knocking him backward in his seat.

  In a movement so quick it defied all sense of logic, Nik was out of the chair, standing against the wall. How had he moved so quickly?

  She glanced at Alex... he too had been involved in the cover up of her murder, lying to the police, helping Nik to get away with it. There was a large bronze figurine on the Nik's desk, sitting very near Alex. With a little sweep of her hand, it went flying as well, pegging Alex in the temple.

  His movements were still too fast, though slower than Nik's. At least she could see his movement.

  Suddenly, Nik began laughing again. This sound was deep and rich, rolling out of his belly, even as he rubbed his jaw, punching it from the other angle to knock it back into place.

  Working his jaw up and down a few times, he turned to Alex, his entire face alight with humor. "I did mention she was causing havoc, didn't I?"

  Alex rubbed his temple, his own smile seeming a little forced. "Yes, sir, you certainly did."

  Turning and scanning the room at large, Nik said, "Hello, Jade. I was wondering when I would hear from you again. Welcome back."

  * * * * *

  Nik had been expecting Jade, figuring the only reason she had left yesterday was to follow her human home. He'd known she would be back. A spirit wouldn't bother leaving vague threats only to change her mind and run off.

  Clearly, she was gaining a little better control of her abilities if she could successfully aim at a target now.

  He was even more impressed with her next display. A whirl of wind so fast it made even his head spin sent books flying off shelves, lamps falling off tables, and even moving larger pieces of furniture.

  She was powerful in such a short time.

  "Do you have a little pent up anger, my dear? It would seem so by this rather impressive display."

  "This is Jade causing all of this?" Alex asked.

  "Yes, it is. It would seem that Jade is a tad displeased with the results of our first meeting." Turning away from Alex and back to face the room at large, he asked, "Would it make any difference if I told you this state you're in had not been my intention?"

  A painting flew off the wall, traveling with quite a bit of speed across the room, before crashing into the other wall and falling to the floor, the frame twisted and broken.

  "Obviously not," Nik said wryly.

  A gust of wind blew by Nik, flinging open the office door, banging it with enough force to leave a hole in the wall behind it.

  Another little chuckle escaped him as he followed quickly behind her, leaving Alex standing in the office, mouth agape.

  He followed in Jade's wake which was easy enough as she was leaving a trail of damage throughout his house.

  He found himself struggling to contain his joy. He truly hoped she rose tonight. It had been decades since he'd been excited by the prospect of anything, yet the thought of taming this wild beauty was enough to speed even his ancient heart.

  "Jade, darling... is all of this really necessary?"

  A swirl of heat pulsed by him, leaving a cool breeze following in its wake.

  "Apparently, yes... it is necessary. I'm sorry I asked."

  A large statue tipped off its stand, crashing to the floor, smashing into tiny little shards.

  Nik sighed. "I really liked that piece. Since the artist is long dead, there's really no way to replace it either."

  One of the larger pieces came flying toward his head, aiming straight at his eye.

  Moving with great haste, even for him, he dove out of the way. He shouldn't be amused by this. In fact, he should actually be angry with her childish behavior. Yet another laugh bubbled in his chest.

  She was spectacular.

  Another whirl of wind and Jade had moved on to the ballroom. On another sigh, Nik followed. Clearly she was intent on destroying his entire house.

  She flew through the ballroom, merely knocking over a few small knick-knacks here and there, her motion never even slowing.

  He tracked her by her path of destruction, eventually ending it his weapons room. He had everything here that he had ever used or collected from kills on the battle field: axes, scythes, maces, suits of armor. You name it, and he probably owned one.

  He laughed again... Satan help him, but he had made a good choice in her. She had zeroed in on the room of weaponry. This amused him far more than it probably should.

  Right up until he felt the blade of a sword hovering between his legs.

  * * * * *

  "Jade, darling... don't be foolish and do something you'll regret."

  She lifted the blade higher, pressing it between his legs, watching his expression change from amusement to... mild anger.

  Still no fear?

  What kind of man felt no fear when a blade was pressed against his dick?

  Squinting her eyes, she stared at him, trying to puzzle this out. She understood now what Gunny had meant about focus and intent. It seemed that with enough intent, she could manage to inflict some serious pain.

  As she pressed a fraction higher, Nik sucked in a breath, hissing it out between his teeth. "Are you so certain then, that you have no wish to make use of that... weapon again? You seemed to enjoy it enough the first time."

  Arrogant b
astard!

  Turning the blade, she quickly pulled it between his legs, slicing open his slacks on either side of his testicles. Unless she missed her guess, she had managed to catch at least a little skin. This blade looked sharp enough to literally split hairs, so odds were good that had hurt him.

  Smiling, her only thought was “Good.” He deserved it. He deserved more than pain simply for the reminder of how she'd died. The reminder of what came before.

  Even as her anger surged, spilling over into little gusts of wind behind her, she still felt the remembered rush of desire. If she were honest, she knew the anger was mostly directed at herself. Even standing here with a sword to his cock, she remembered tingles of the pleasure he'd provided.

  She could kill him. She could accomplish this much, freeing Derek from his quest for vengeance and hopefully helping him to quiet his demons.

  At the thought of Derek, she couldn't help the picture of a bleached blonde that rushed into her mind. A bleached blonde bent over her sofa, screaming out her release as Derek fucked her.

  The sword clattered to the floor and Nik leapt away, almost appearing to fly through the air, his movements were so fast. How did he do that? Once he was clear of her, clear across the room in fact, he started smiling again.

  Only this grin was different. Edgier, angrier... and he had fangs.

  Fangs...

  With a rush of memory Jade recalled her last moments with vivid clarity. He had thrust inside her, harder and faster than she'd thought possible. As her body exploded in an orgasm greater than any she'd ever known, his fangs... those fangs had sank into her neck, bringing with it another wave of pleasure rather than the expected pain. That was it... after that everything faded to black.

  Jade shook her head to clear it, surprised to find objects floating in the air around her. Not whirling, or even really moving at all, simply hovering there.

  As soon as she noticed, they all clattered to the floor, the sound of metal against marble startling even her.