Dark Reality 7-Book Boxed Set

by Jennifer and Christopher Martucci

  Chapter 16

  Light poured through windows like liquid gold, adorning everything in its wake. Desmond had spent much of the night making love to Arianna; an experience he had only ever imagined, and never dreamed would come to pass. But it had. And now, he lay on his side facing her. Her olive skin was kissed by gilded rays as she breathed evenly, each breath a gift from heaven as far as he was concerned. Lengths of raven hair shimmered in the early-morning glow. He wanted to wake her, to look upon her eyes, a luscious shade of dark-chocolate, but decided against it. She looked too peaceful to rouse. Instead, he slipped from the bed. He wanted to shower and make himself presentable before making breakfast for her. After all, it was the least he could do for her. She had suffered for so long now. Her belief that he had been dead had only added to that suffering.

  He glanced around her bedroom in search of his underwear when broken glass caught his attention. Tiny slivers of pale glass littered her nightstand. He scanned the room for a wastebasket to sweep it into and found one overflowing with tissues on the other side of the bed. The sight of it gave him a pang of profound sadness tinged with guilt. She had cried over his presumed death. He had caused her pain. Not intentionally, of course, but he had been responsible to some degree, even if for no other reason than his family tree.

  Agnon. His father’s name chilled him to his core. The man whose very blood ran in his veins had ordered his death. It seemed unconscionable. But it was not. It had happened. And he had lived to bear its burden.

  Arianna rolled over and what began as a small tick between her brows quickly grew to a full-blown expression of anguish masking her features. She was having a dream, and likely a bad one. He wanted to wake her, to protect her from whatever boogeymen haunted her sleep, but knew she needed to rest. Many challenges awaited them, challenges that would tax her powers as never before. So he resisted the urge to kiss both her eyelids until they flutter awake, and reminded himself that her well-being took precedence over all else.

  He set about cleaning odd heaps of glass he found throughout the house. It wasn’t until he tried the light switch in the bathroom that he realized the slivers of glass were lightbulb shards. He searched for spare bulbs in a pantry closet in the hallway and found several. After replacing each bulb, he showered and dressed. As he was leaving the bathroom in the bedroom, he was greeted by a face so lovely he had to remind himself to breathe.

  “Hey there,” Arianna said. “How long did you let me sleep?” she asked groggily.

  He glanced at the alarm clock on the nightstand. “About an hour longer than I did,” he replied. “Did you sleep well?”

  She hesitated a moment and her features clouded. He wondered whether she was recalling a bad dream, the one he guessed she’d been having when she’d winced in her sleep.

  “Yeah, I guess,” she said and lowered her eyes to her lap. She looked up and met his eyes. He smiled at her and she brightened. “How about you?” she asked. “Did you sleep well?”

  “Best night of sleep I ever had,” he said and smiled warmly. Truth be told, he had never slept well. For as long as he could remember, he’d been plagued by visions, visions of violence, of destruction, but not last night. Last night was the first night he’d ever drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep. He credited her for that. Lying with her in his arms, he’d felt whole.

  “I was going to make breakfast, is that all right with you?” he asked.

  “Yeah, sure, that would be great. Thanks.”

  Sadness laced her words and he did not know why. Was it the nightmare? He wondered. Regardless, he refused to allow her to be sad in his presence if he could help it. He moved to the side of the bed, to where she still laid, and kissed her tenderly before wrapping his arms around her. “Good morning, my love,” he said into her hair and felt her body relax. “I forgot to say that to you. How rude of me,” he quipped. “And by the way, last night was the best night of my life,” he breathed.

  “Mine, too,” she said and he felt relief sweep through him.

  He pulled away from her to glance at the clock. “Oh, it’s six-thirty,” he said and remembered it was a weekday. She had school.

  “Six-thirty? So? You have a hot date or something?” she teased.

  He smiled and wanted nothing more than to climb back into bed with her and stay there all day. But he knew that was not an option.

  “No, no date today. I’m hoping for later, though,” he said and winked at her.

  “Oh, you don’t have to hope,” she flirted and he felt his pulse quicken. He knew that beneath the covers, she was naked and had to focus on forcing that fact to the back of his mind. “What’s on the agenda for today?” she asked him and then sat up. Her bare shoulders were exposed, as well as the skin above her luscious mounds. “Hey,” she called to him. “Eyes up here, big guy,” she pointed to her face.

  He laughed and returned his gaze to her eyes. “Sorry,” he said sheepishly. “It’s hard not to stare.”

  “I know, I know, you already told me you’re with me for my body,” she grinned wickedly and he had to stop himself from diving on her.

  “I did say that, didn’t I?”

  “Yep, you did. Now, where are we headed today?”

  “You are headed to school,” he said and cringed inwardly.

  “What?” she asked in disbelief. “You’re kidding, right?”

  “No, I’m not,” he admitted and cringed, afraid of what her reaction would be.

  “Are you crazy? Did you see what happened with Jess and Josh last night? You were there last I checked. And had you not been, they would have killed me without batting an eyelash.”

  “You have nothing to worry about Arianna,” he started but she cut him off.

  “I have a lot to worry about! They’re crazy! They use human beings as their own personal Punch and Judy puppets! And that’s when they’re not planning something awful for their fellow classmates. Then there’s the fact that you and I killed two of their coven last night, you think they don’t know about that?”

  “Wait a minute, go back to the part about the plan they have for their classmates. What are you talking about?” he asked and felt the fine hairs on his body stand at attention like quills.

  “Last night, after I met with your father and he told me you’d been killed,” she began and he saw pain wilt her features at the mere mention of the news she’d received. “I took off, got the hell out of the house as fast as I could. I was so upset,” her voice quivered and he felt as if he’d been punched in the gut. “I don’t even remember how I got here. I cried and cried then must have dozed. When I woke up, Jess’s voice was in my head. I couldn’t shake it.” She closed her eyes and shook her head slowly. “It was like I was being led to her. I focused on her with what little energy I had and accidentally sifted to the truck of her car.”

  His heart skipped a beat. She’d sifted already! And she’d ended up in the trunk of a car. Teleportation was dangerous to those who had been trained properly in its nuances, but for the novice, it could be downright deadly.

  “What happened? How did you end up in the trunk of a car? Whose car was it?” he panicked.

  Arianna blushed deeply. “I was focusing on Jess, really concentrating, and things were going well. Then you popped into my mind and I fell apart,” she lowered her gaze again.

  He hooked his finger under her chin and tipped it toward him, forcing her to look into his eyes. “I am so sorry for everything, for my father, for the pain you felt, everything.”

  She blinked rapidly, trying to hide her tears from him. Her tears only fueled the hatred he felt for his father.

  “Anyway,” she continued in a shaky voice. “I lost my focus completely and came to in the trunk of Jess’s car.”

  Despite losing her focus, she’d still managed to arrive at her destination. Such an occurrence was unheard of. He realized her powers would
surpass any and all prophetic writings, both past and present.

  “Unbelievable,” he marveled aloud.

  “I sifted from the trunk and saw that I was at my new high school. I followed her and Josh inside and overhead them saying they would chain all exits shut and that Chris, another guy in their coven, would get anyone who manages to escape through a window.”

  Desmond’s blood crystallized. His insides froze. The coven she’d been drawn to, the one his father had linked himself to, was plotting a large-scale attack on their high school.

  “Desmond?” Arianna pulled him from his icy distraction. Her eyes were dark pools of molten chocolate.

  “Yes.”

  “There’s something I don’t understand,” she started as she bunched and twisted the comforter in her lap. “Why did your father tell me you were dead?”

  He watched as she took her lower lip between her teeth. She shifted uncomfortably and he regretted that she had to be a part of his father’s sordidness.

  “He told you that because he believes I am,” Desmond admitted solemnly.

  “Your own father,” Arianna spat and he could see that her nervousness had seeped from her, could see her anger brimming, feel the hum of its current thrum through him. “How did he, I mean, who did he send? Was it someone you knew?”

  “He sent Thanatos,” Desmond told her and felt ice race through his veins.

  “Thanatos?” Arianna asked, horror in her tone, as if she knew the beast well.

  “Yes, my father released his monster to hunt me. He had me, too, had me in his death-grip with his jaw unhinged, ready to tear my head from my shoulders.”

  “Oh my god,” Arianna breathed as her hands covered her mouth. Her face had paled and her expression was one of shock. “How did Thanatos get you? Does he have powers too?”

  “Not the supernatural kind. Not like us. His advantage over me was purely physical. And with my powers blocked by my father,” he said but Arianna interrupted.

  “Wait, what?” she exclaimed. “Your father is like George? He blocks powers too?”

  “No, not in the same way at least. My father has a force field that surrounds the perimeter of his property. The field blocks the power to teleport of any other supernatural being bold enough to set foot on his soil.”

  “But how? How does he do it?”

  “He is the most powerful of our kind on the planet, for now.”

  “For now?”

  “Yes, for now. His power will only be bested by the Sola, by you, Arianna.”

  He allowed for the gravity of his words to sink in.

  “I still don’t understand why he wanted you dead, why he sent this Thanatos after you,” she said softly and shook her head.

  “I went to see him, after finding out that he had written a chapter in our most scared book, the Tome of Ares. The chapter was about you, and I wanted to confront him about what he’d written, why he’d kept it from me.” Desmond paused to gauge Arianna’s reaction. Her eyes were wide, she looked stunned. He decided to continue. “In this chapter, he claims that you are to unite all witches of the world against humanity.”

  “What?” she gasped.

  “Yes, that is what he wrote. And when I got there and confronted him, he told me it was your destiny to stand against mankind. I told him you’d never do that.”

  “Damn right I won’t! Is he out of his mind?” she railed. “Well, clearly he is. I mean, he did try to have his son killed because he told him I would not off the human species!”

  Color touched her cheeks and neck and her voice had risen.

  “That’s not the reason he tried to have me killed, Arianna,” he said softly.

  “What? You mean there’s more?” she asked incredulously.

  He hesitated, unsure of how she would take what he was about to tell her. The last thing Desmond wanted was for her to feel responsible for his father trying to kill him. “Well,” Desmond stalled. “He asked me if I were in love with you.”

  “And?” Arianna asked impatiently.

  “And I told him yes. I told him that I love you.”

  “And?” she prompted.

  “And that was it.”

  “So what are you saying, he tried to have you killed because you love me?” she asked as tears welled in her eyes.

  Her tears pained him. He’d heard her cries howl through him when he’d nearly succumbed to Thanatos, felt her pain claw at him. He refused to allow her to assume guilt. She had saved him. She, and she alone, had saved him from certain death.

  “Arianna, no, you don’t understand,” he started.

  “No, I think I get it just fine. Because you love me, you were nearly killed by your father’s henchman. I understand. I nearly got you killed.” Tears spilled down her cheeks and she brushed them hurriedly.

  “No! You saved me,” he said and cupped her face in his hands.

  She turned her head and muttered, “Yeah right,” under her breath.

  “Yes! Yes it is right! When Thanatos was about to bite down, his massive jaw hovering over my head, I swear I heard you, heard the sound of your cries, heard you sobbing and saying my name. I felt you, Arianna, felt very beat of your heart. And it was broken.” Now, it was his tears that spilled as he remembered the profoundness of her pain. “I never wanted to see you hurt, never. And I refused to be the reason for it. You are my reason for living. I closed my eyes and concentrated on your face, trying my damnedest to sift, though I knew it was impossible because of the shield. But it happened. A power that was not my own, a familiar one, coursed through my veins like lifeblood and it happened.” He brushed his tears with the back of his hand, but still kept one on her cheek, stroking it gently with his thumb. He lowered it slowly and took both of her hands in his. “Don’t you see, Arianna? You saved me. You somehow shared your power with me so that I could teleport behind Thanatos just before he claimed me, and I slit his vile throat with my daggers.”

  Arianna wept, tears showering down her cheeks. He pulled her hands toward him, drawing her close.

  “We are connected, Arianna. Prophecy or no prophecy, we are connected. I am yours,” he vowed.

  “And I am yours,” she said and his heart swelled in his chest.

  He held her in his arms for several moments then kissed her tenderly. When their kiss ended, she asked, “What did you do after Thanatos was dead?”

  Desmond remembered the beasts colossal body heaped in a puddle of his own gore, remembered incinerating it with power that was not foreign to him, but by no means his own. “I went back to my father’s compound. I went back to kill him.”

  “What happened?” she asked breathlessly, though she knew Agnon lived, that his visit had not gone as planned.

  “He was not there. He was gone. And now I know where he was. He was here, with the coven from your school.”

  “Oh my god,” she whispered. “I can’t believe it.”

  “I know. But you have to go to school, Arianna. Things have to appear normal,” he brought their conversation full-circle.

  “Desmond, things are anything but normal,” she knitted her brows with concern. “And you dad’s deranged groupies are going to be gunning for me. We did kill two of their friends last night?”

  “Jess and Josh are gone. Their car is gone, too. How could they know for sure it was you? I’m dead, remember? So I had nothing to do with it,” he attempted to lighten the mood. But Arianna’s face was etched in stone and she did not even smirk.

  “I will be with you. I will not leave your side, I promise,” he assured her.

  “That’s all well and good, but you’re forgetting one key piece of information. They have George. With George, I am powerless.”

  While the thought of sending Arianna anywhere powerless terrified Desmond, he knew he’d be close by, and that whoever this George was, he felt confident he could get him alone and take him down.

&n
bsp; “I am not going,” she said and he heard the nervous tremor in her voice. “No way.”

  “But if you don’t, they will know it was you who killed their friends.”

  “Didn’t you just say they couldn’t know for sure?”

  “Yes, but I was just trying to lighten the mood. Arianna, they will naturally assume it was you. You’re the only other supernatural being they’ve come across here. They’ll come for you anyway.”

  He did not want to scare her more, but the facts remained. “At least if you show up today with me shadowing you, we will have the element of surprise on our side. We’ll have an advantage. My father thinks I’m dead and they think you’re going to join them and their cause.”

  “I will never join them,” she said and leveled a resolute gaze at him.

  “I never doubted you, Arianna,” he said and meant it. “I just don’t understand why everyone, past and present, believes you will.”

  “Me neither,” she said softly. “But they are just predictions, right? Nothing is finite. I still have free will.”

  Arianna had a point and Desmond wondered whether anyone had ever considered it. Free will, the very ability to make unconstrained choices, was inherent in her as she still retained humanity. She was a hybrid of sorts. She did not unquestioningly yield to the demands of her energy. She used discretion. Every oracle throughout their long history had referred to the Sola as a being enslaved by her power. But Arianna was not. She questioned her powers, questioned her destiny, and even railed against it.

  “Ugh,” she groaned and sagged against her headboard. “The thought of going to school and seeing Scott and the others makes my skin crawl.”

  “I know, and I’m so sorry.”

  “You didn’t see them the other night. You didn’t see the sick joy in their faces as they manipulated these poor people at the party like they were toys for their amusement. It was twisted,” she said and he could feel the turbulent rise of her energy, feel the shift in its flow. “Scott made a girl bludgeon the others to death then slit her own wrists,” she said and wrapped both arms around her waist.

  The actions of Scott and the others made her shudder with disgust, genuine disgust. She was telling the truth, not that he’d ever doubted her. If she’d wanted to join in with them as the prophecy suggested she should have, she would have done it then at the party. But she had not. She had been repulsed by their abuse of power, by the atrocities her fellow brethren had committed against human beings. That much was plain.

  “I will be with you today, watching you always. I won’t let anything happen to you. If you need me, I will be there, a heartbeat away,” he promised her.

  “What if they know that I killed Josh and Jess? What if they just know?”

  “I doubt they do. But if by some slim chance they do know, I will take them out myself.”

  She eyed him for a long while as if weighing the risk.

  “Well then, I guess it’s settled. I’m going to school,” she gave him a quick peck on his lips. “I’d better get ready. We need to keep dear old dad in the dark about his son being alive,” she said and stood.

  The comforter fell away from her and he watched with his mouth partially agape as she passed him, naked, on her way to the bathroom, a smirk playing across her lips.

  “Whoa, hold on a second, maybe school is a bad idea after all,” he reached for her, but she sidestepped him. “We have time. Come back!”

  “Nope, gotta do what I gotta do,” she quipped as she closed the bathroom door. “The Sola’s work is never done.”

  He flopped back onto the bed and heaved a sigh. The day ahead promised to be a challenging one, yet all he could think of was the soft curves of Arianna’s body, and how in love with her he truly was.