Legends of the Damned: A Collection of Edgy Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels

by Lindsey R. Loucks

  I couldn’t think about it. Now was a time for survival, not wallowing in self pity. I had to forget about it, be stronger than I had ever been before. The alternative was shattering into a million pieces and crumbling to the floor. I wasn’t ready to give up, not yet. And not while I still had Oliver to lean on for support.

  Not while Faith was still out there somewhere.

  Alone.

  Oliver was sitting on the floor when I joined him. “You should eat something.”

  “So should you,” I pointed out.

  “I ate before I found you. Go ahead, eat. I’ll feel better when you have.”

  My stomach grumbled just thinking about food. I reached up to the table and pulled down a few cookies. I forced myself to eat them slowly, savoring every bite. The last thing I wanted was for my stomach to reject the food.

  “Thank you for saving me today,” I started. I had no idea how to thank him for doing everything he did. Risking his life to save mine was madness.

  And brave.

  Unbearably brave.

  “No thanks needed,” he replied with a weary smile. “I did it for selfish reasons, really. I would have missed you if you weren’t around.”

  I wanted to swat Oliver’s arm or chest for the cheeky comment, but we weren’t exactly the touchy-feely type of friends. Not since we had become teenagers, anyway. The minute puberty hit, it was all hands off in case we stepped over a line somewhere.

  I yawned as sleepiness threatened to overtake me. I had an urge to rest my head on Oliver’s shoulder and curl into his arms, but again, I refrained from doing so. Even the Event couldn’t break the boundaries we had set so long ago.

  “You’re tired, you should sleep,” Oliver urged. It was a suggestion too good to refuse.

  “You need to sleep too,” I pointed out. Because I wasn’t the only one who’d had a big day. He had run just as far as I did.

  “I will, but I need to settle down a bit first. You go to sleep and I’ll make sure we’re locked up tight in here.” I held his gaze for a few moments, trying to work out if he was lying to me. It would have been just like him to think he needed to protect me and stay up all night making sure I was safe. I had no intention of letting that happen.

  “Do you promise me you’ll sleep?” I asked. I needed to hear the words because a promise should not be broken. And Oliver knew that better than anyone.

  He moved his hand so it rested over his heart. “I promise.”

  With Oliver here, I knew I was safe.

  Satisfied, I made a pillow out of the crook of my arm and lay down on the hard floor. I closed my eyes and was dead to the world before I could even begin to process everything that had happened since I last slept soundly.

  My dreams were nightmares, filled with images of the boys – especially Taz – as they beat and tortured me. On more than one occasion I awoke with a start and had to keep telling myself it was just a dream and not really happening to me. It was the only way I could slow my heartbeat.

  When I awoke the last time, just as Taz was about to throw a fatal blow, it was daylight. Oliver’s concerned face peered down at me, his brow wrinkled with worry. “Are you okay?”

  I sat up, stretching my stiff and sore limbs. “Just a bad dream. Is it morning?” He nodded a yes. “Please tell me you slept.”

  “I slept,” he replied, deadpan. I chose to believe him because he did look rested, at least. “There is still some food left. I ate when I woke up but I made sure to leave you enough.”

  I peered over the table, my eyes level with it. It looked like Oliver had barely eaten anything judging by the amount still left over. I took a cookie and left the rest, two could play at that game. “Do you think it will be safe to return home today?”

  He shrugged. “I was hoping you would decide to stay in the city.”

  “Oliver, you know I can’t. We’ve discussed this a hundred times. I can’t do the magic here you seem to think I am capable of.”

  “But-”

  I held up a hand to stop him. “No. I’m not staying. I’m going home and I’m not returning until I’m absolutely desperate. After what happened, I’m even more determined to live alone for the rest of my life.”

  The crestfallen look on his face made my heart leap into my throat and choke me. I felt that look deep in my chest, in the place my heart used to be.

  He started nodding slowly, ever so slowly. “If that’s what you really want.”

  “They almost killed me, Olly. They almost did a lot of things to me. I don’t want to be in a situation that could allow that to happen again. Being in this city is not safe.”

  “You could help make it safe.”

  “I can’t. I’m just a kid like everyone else here. There is nothing I can do to help anyone.”

  “I disagree.” His eyes drilled into mine as we held the gaze for longer than necessary, neither willing to be the first one to look away. He burned with intensity, flames threatening to ignite in those eyes. I had rarely seen him so passionate about something.

  About someone.

  Me.

  I shook my head to get rid of the thought. It was useless and meaningless. I was going home and Oliver would remain in the city. Those were the facts, there was nothing else to entertain.

  “You know that kind of thing, the thing that happened to you, it happens all the time here now,” Oliver said.

  “I didn’t know that, no.”

  “It’s not just them, there are plenty of… predators around. Nobody is protecting those that need it most.”

  “Well I can hardly change that, can I?” I asked sarcastically. Oliver was delusional if he thought anything I could do would be enough to change the conditions in the city. It had all been destroyed along with our lives. Nothing could bring back the kind of life we had before the Event.

  Nothing.

  Especially not me.

  “You can help,” Oliver replied quietly. He knew he was losing the argument. He also knew how stubborn I could be. It was not my place to save the world, and I certainly was not equipped to.

  I gave up trying to convince him, we were only wasting time and energy – something neither of us had much of anymore. “I’m going home. You don’t have to follow me if you don’t want to.”

  I left the safe house, almost running into the spirit who had helped us find the place the previous day. A cold shiver ran down my spine. I thanked her for watching out for us before stomping down the road.

  It didn’t take long for Oliver’s soft footsteps to come up behind me and fall into sync at my side.

  “I thought you weren’t coming,” I mumbled.

  Except I didn’t mean it.

  Oliver would always follow me.

  Friends did that for one another. I knew I wasn’t a good friend for my refusal to do the same for him. I had stopped following Oliver without question shortly after the Event. Before then was another matter.

  “I can’t let you get kidnapped again,” Oliver replied. When my gaze flicked to him, I saw the cheeky grin on his face. It was a rare sight nowadays. I could at least return it.

  After we had walked all morning, I recognized the area we were approaching. It was our old neighborhood, we were close to our old schools.

  Finally.

  Food. I still needed food considering mine had been donated to the boys who took me. It was probably long gone now and there was no way I was going to go back and check.

  “We need to go past the school hall so I can get supplies again,” I pointed out. Oliver nodded silently at my side. We altered our course to veer toward the hall. I had no desire to return to all the chaos and pain but I didn’t have much choice. I needed to eat.

  The noise from the hall assaulted my ears before it did my eyes. We rounded a corner and disease and tears spilled from every pore and crevice of the building. My instincts were to run in the opposite direction but I managed to coax my legs forward.

  “The kitchen is through here,” Oliver said, pointin
g toward a closed door.

  I swung it open and we entered. The kind volunteers running the kitchen were too busy with their duties to notice us. We barely made it into the fold of the chaos before I found some supplies. I swept up some packets of rice and soup, enough to sustain me for a few weeks if I rationed it carefully.

  Placing the items in a discarded bag, I slung it over my shoulder. I wasn’t going to lose them this time. I would take the food back to my house on the hill and I wouldn’t emerge again until I absolutely had to.

  As I made my way through the twisting streets away from the hall, I looked at every face I passed. At first I didn’t realize what I was doing. Then it hit me.

  I was looking for Lilia.

  The little girl that reminded me so much of my sister was nowhere to be seen. I worried about her. If what had happened to me was happening to other kids, it could happen to her, too. The delicate, sweet little girl that was so proud of being able to look after herself.

  She wouldn’t have been able to protect herself from those monsters. If I couldn’t, neither could she. I had a sudden, overwhelming need to know she was alright. Once I saw her face, I would be able to forget about her, reassure myself there was nothing I could do for her.

  “We need to make another detour,” I stated. Oliver gave me a curious look but didn’t argue.

  I centered myself with the hall to remember where the little girl was living. She had turned left and then right, and then two lefts again. It was a grey building two blocks away, one that was significantly damaged but apparently still livable.

  “Do I want to know where we’re going?” Oliver asked.

  “There’s a girl I need to check on.”

  “Someone you knew before?”

  I shook my head. There was no-one I wanted to see that I knew before the Event. I probably wouldn’t recognize my friends. They certainly wouldn’t be my friends anymore.

  I found the door and knocked, not sure what I was expecting. Lilia wouldn’t answer the door, she would be too frightened. People didn’t make house calls these days.

  Giving the handle a try, it moved. It was unlocked – unsurprisingly. Lilia wouldn’t have a key that fit the mechanism.

  “Lilia,” I called out several times but received no response. She was probably out, collecting food or water. That was probably part of her daily routine, the one that kept her sane through all the lonely days.

  We walked in, Oliver followed as close behind as he dared. I headed straight for the one room I knew Lilia occupied. That door was closed too. I knocked and waited for any kind of response.

  There was none.

  I turned the handle and pushed it open, getting no resistance. The moment there was a sliver of a gap between the door, the smell hit me.

  It was the smell of death.

  Chapter Seven

  I thought I must be mistaken. When I had last seen Lilia she was so happy and determined. It couldn’t be her death that was trapped in my nose. It just couldn’t be.

  Her little face still swum in front of my eyes.

  She wasn’t moving.

  My head was screaming just one word: no. It took a while to realize it was also coming from my mouth. I ran to her body. Little Lilia, the innocent child that reminded me so much of my sister.

  Dead.

  Lifeless.

  Gone. She was gone and she was alone. There was nobody to comfort her, whisper sweet lies of reassurance as she slipped from her body. Lilia had died alone in the place she was so proud of.

  The smell no longer registered, only the lifeless gaze of Lilia’s still-open eyes. I knew she could no longer hear or see me, but it didn’t stop me taking her in my arms. I whispered repeatedly to her, “I’m so sorry”, “I should have been there for you”, “Who did this to you?”

  Oliver waited a very long time, sitting on the floor beside us, letting me grieve for the child I didn’t really know. She had survived for so long on her own, why had she left now?

  Nothing was making sense. Crying was a useless emotion, all the tears had long left my body. Yet sitting there with the dead girl in my arms, they managed to find their way back to me again.

  Tears welled in my eyes, blurring my vision. If I concentrated enough, I could imagine her waking up and laughing about how she had tricked me. I wanted that to be true and real more than I had wanted anything for a very long time.

  “Ev,” Oliver started softly. He was speaking to me like I was a wild horse, ready to bolt or attack at any time. “We have to go. We can’t stay here all day. She’s gone.”

  His words didn’t register in my brain. I didn’t want to leave. I couldn’t leave her. Not again. She was even more defenseless now than she was before.

  I had made the mistake of leaving Lilia once, I wouldn’t do it again. She was so small and frail, there was nobody to protect her. I should have done it earlier, I should never have left her alone when she was so young.

  Her death was on my hands.

  I continued to cradle her as the tears fell from my cheeks to hers. They streaked a trail down her delicate face and disappeared into her red hair. They didn’t magically awaken her like in a fairytale. She was gone.

  For good.

  “We can bury her if you like,” Oliver said. “We don’t have to leave her here.”

  I could bury her. I could give her the final act of compassion that she was denied before her death. At least then she would be safe for good. Nobody would be able to hurt her again. Not if she was buried deep within the earth.

  I nodded and wiped at my tears. I could do this for her. I could get through it. But I needed to do something first. “I have to wash her. She’s covered in dirt.”

  Whether Oliver understood or not, he gave me space to do what I had to. He guarded the door, looking out toward the corridor while I undressed Lilia.

  The water was cold but she was no longer here to feel the goosebumps. I used an old rag she had in the sink to thoroughly clean her little body. I untied her hair from the ponytail she still wore and let it fall around her face. She was like a little porcelain doll. She didn’t deserve to die.

  I dressed her again in the same clothes, not finding any others in the room. I wrapped her in the blanket she was lying in when we found her. It wasn’t much of a burial shroud, but at least it would protect her somewhat. At least she would be warm.

  “She’s ready,” I said. Oliver went to pick Lilia up but I stopped him. “I’ll carry her. It’s the least I can do.” He didn’t argue as he led me out of the house.

  We had to walk three blocks before we found enough dirt and ground in which to bury her. I didn’t have a shovel, only my hands. The park’s earth was damp from the recent rain. I placed Lilia on the ground and starting pulling at the soil.

  Again, Oliver tried to help but I admonished him. “I have to do it myself. I have to. She deserves that.”

  He argued quite a bit with me about that but I didn’t care. Lilia was my responsibility and I wasn’t going to let her down again. I continued to dig. Dirt caked in my fingernails, so deep I would never be able to get it out.

  Good. It would be a reminder of the girl that had died because of me. I should not have left her alone. She was just a child, more than half my own age. And I had walked away from her, after I waited until she was asleep. Like a coward.

  I dug and dug until I had made a grave for her. It was deep enough that nobody would find her, but not deep enough so I could forget her.

  I picked up her tiny, frail body and gently placed Lilia in the earth. I covered her over with a determined set to my jaw. I wasn’t going to cry any more. It was useless. I was useless when I cried. It was an emotion that had no place in my life.

  When I was done, I found a single dandelion flower and placed it on her grave. It was not the burial she deserved but at least nobody could hurt her anymore.

  “We should go now,” I whispered. I hoped Lilia would forgive me for walking away from her twice. We started moving,
I resisted the urge to run back and beg for her forgiveness.

  “We should take what we can from her apartment,” Oliver said. I stopped, turning to face him with a look of shock etched in my features.

  “I can’t rob her.”

  “It’s not robbing her. It’s taking what you need for survival. She would understand.”

  I shook my head fervently. “I’m not taking anything of hers.”

  “If Lilia was your friend, she would want you to take what you need,” Oliver argued. “If you don’t, someone else will. Would she like that any more?”

  “I am not doing it. It’s robbing the dead.”

  “Everly, will you just do it. Please?”

  “No. I don’t even know how you can suggest something like that. It’s wrong, Oliver.”

  “I’m trying to keep you alive,” he yelled at me. He actually yelled at me. Oliver hadn’t raised his voice to me for years. Not since I accidently broke his favorite toy car when we were nine years old. “Why can’t you see that? We live in a world that is hard. You need to fight back, Ev. You need to survive.”

  I didn’t see what made me so special, why I needed to survive more than anyone else. But I was too speechless to say anything. Oliver never got riled up like that. He was my rock, the one person I could count on to keep me calm.

  He had obviously reached his boiling point. If it was so important to him, then I would do it. Even though the thought made me want to vomit.

  “Fine,” I sighed. “We’ll see what she has.”

  We changed course and returned to Lilia’s apartment. The entire way, I stared at the ground. Lilia was dead, which meant her spirit could pop up at any time. I didn’t want to see her, not so soon.

  I dreaded crossing the threshold into her apartment. When people passed, they tended to linger around things that meant something to them. Normally that was their home because that’s where their loved ones were. Lilia wouldn’t have that connection to her place, but it was probably all she left behind.

  I hesitated on the top step long enough for Oliver to notice. “Are you okay?”

  “Let’s just get this over and done with.” I took the last step and hurried on through, keen for it to be over. There was no point in extending our time here. In and out, that was the plan. And hopefully not see any dead little girls in the meantime.