Shady Oaks Series: Out of Darkness

by Michelle Areaux

  Wearing a short, black and white plaid skirt and a black tank top, I was finally happy to show off my legs again. I had selected a cute pair of black boots to wear too since I was tired of wearing running shoes and jeans to hide my bracelet. Sensing me, Liam turned as I walked up behind the bench.

  “Hi,” I waved as I reached him. Sitting down next to him, the air around me grew heavy with the sparks flying between us.

  Smiling at me, Liam caused my heart to race and he laughed a little to himself.

  “What?” I asked, as he tried to hide his amusement.

  “Nothing, I just can feel how happy you are to see me. It’s nice,” he finished as his eyes watched me carefully.

  “What do you mean, you can feel how happy I am?” I asked, completely jumping over the fact that he knew that I was feeling something for him.

  Looking down, Liam stared deeply at his hands folded in his lap. “I told you, I have powers, sort of like strong senses. It’s a gift and a curse.”

  “I still don’t understand,” I urged, begging him to explain himself further.

  “Since the day I met you, I have always been in tune with your thoughts and feelings and needs. When you hurt, I feel it. When you are happy, I am happy. When you are in danger, my adrenaline spikes.”

  “Wow,” I breathed. I wasn’t sure just how to comprehend that information, but something deep inside of me told me that my connection to Liam was something magical and special.

  “Tell me about it,” he mused. “You,” he said, pointing at me with a hint of a smile, “keep my adrenaline on high alert. I have never seen anyone in my life who craves danger the way you do.”

  I should have been mad at his statement, but I wasn’t. It was true. I did crave danger. It was the only thing that had made me feel alive until I had met him.

  “Liam, you shared a very important truth about yourself with me and I guess it’s my turn to do the same,” I began, as I looked around the park to make sure no one else heard our conversation. “The night of my mom’s death, you saved me. But, maybe you shouldn’t have. I have never appreciated my life the way I should. When she died, I felt like a piece of me did too. No one believed me when I tried to explain seeing you. Everyone acted like I was crazy and I started to believe them too. After a while, I stopped telling people about the beautiful boy with blue eyes who saved my life. Instead, I began searching for that feeling again. The feeling of being alive. Of feeling happy and content. The only time I ever feel alive is when adrenaline kicks in. Every time I thought about you and your eyes, those piercing and mesmerizing blue eyes, I felt alive. I began doing dangerous things to stop the growing numbness inside of me. I prayed each time I hurt myself that you would show up and save me again. But you never did. Well, that was until this last time. You showed up and I suddenly felt alive again.”

  I stopped talking and allowed my words to register with Liam. For some odd reason, I felt like he already knew this information.

  “I’ve always been watching you, hiding in the distance and in the shadows. I wanted to show up several times, just so you could see me. But I couldn’t. If you saw me, I would want to talk to you. To hold you and touch you. To keep you with me forever,” he finished. Those beautiful blue eyes danced as they took me in and I couldn’t help myself. I reached for his hand and held it in mine. I needed contact with him, even if it was just holding his hand.

  “Why couldn’t you let me see you? Liam, I would have said yes to being yours without having to think twice,” I stated, as I found myself wanting him to know in case he didn’t know already, how I felt about him.

  “I told you,” he began with a pained look in his eyes, “I am not supposed to be with you. My job was to take you after you died to heaven, but I couldn’t. My punishment is to take the dead souls to the afterlife and… to stay away from you.”

  His words hit me like a bullet. My breath faltered as I realized Liam wasn’t supposed to be with me. There was something far greater than both of us that wanted us apart. Liam had stopped my own destiny. He had defied death and given up so much.

  For me.

  But why?

  I wasn’t special. I wasn’t worth risking eternity for.

  “If that is true, then why are you here with me now?” I asked, my voice shaking.

  Squeezing my hand, Liam scooted closer to me. “I told you, I can’t stay away from you. I don’t care what punishment they throw at me again. It is too hard staying away from you and only being able to watch you at a distance. I also am here to protect you,” he finished.

  I could feel his grasp on my hand tightening and I swear it seemed like he was afraid. My beautiful angel was nervous and unsure and that thought terrified me. “Protect me from what?” I asked, as I stared at him, my eyes never leaving his face. I wanted to see every reaction and expression he had. I wanted to study and learn every movement of his features, to memorize them to my mind.

  “I can sense when you are in danger,” he said, his voice full of edge. “I came back here because I knew someone was after you,” he finished.

  My hands were trembling and my legs were shaking so violently that if I had been standing I would have fallen straight to the grass below. “What are you talking about?” I asked, my voice shaking as much as my body.

  “I don’t know for sure, but I believe there is a demon, the black death anger, after you. You were supposed to die in that wreck with your mom. Remember the men in black I told you about?” he asked.

  Nodding my head yes, I couldn’t seem to form any words to respond. “Someone wants you dead like you were supposed to be,” he finished, and I could see his eyes growing with moisture. The fear penetrating from him made my heart drop and my stomach clench tight.

  Shaking my head, I refused to believe what he was saying. We were not trapped inside some weird science fiction movie. This was real life and people just don’t sense things like that. Demons don’t haunt girls that lived instead of died. Black death angels were only fairy tales, not reality. Boys weren’t supposed to be condemned to be fallen angels. This was all some tragic, epic nightmare that I couldn’t seem to escape from.

  “I don’t believe you,” I spit out. I jumped off the bench and decided I should walk back to my car and forget this conversation ever took place. I had been a fool to think that he could be real, someone who I could fall for. Liam was messing with me, he had to be. Yelling, I could hear Liam running after me. I spun on my heels, ready to turn around and yell at him, but he caught me instead by my arm and twirled me back around so that I was forced to look at him.

  “I know you, Nora. You do believe me. You know that what I am saying is correct. You feel it, I can sense it in you. I know how terrifying this might seem. Trust me, this has been my life for years and I understand it is a lot to take in and accept, but you know what I am saying is true. I need you to follow my instructions and do as I say. I won’t let you get hurt. I won’t let anyone take you from me; ever.”

  My body wanted to react as the fight or flight adrenaline pumped through my veins. As much as I wanted to argue with him and forget about the ideas of angels and demons, I couldn’t. Liam wouldn’t lie to me. I knew I could trust him. The war waging inside of me was allowing Liam to win and I just couldn’t fight it any longer. He was my home and my safe place now.

  Stopping, I let my shoulders fall and my body slump. Sighing, I took a step toward Liam and watched as he carefully examined my movements. Walking into his embrace, I allowed Liam to engulf me in a hug. Rubbing my back, he soothed me as I began to sob into his chest. I hadn’t cried in years since the night my mom died, but now I couldn’t hold back any longer. This was all too much to handle and I just needed to release my sadness to Liam.

  Liam took a step away from me as he struggled to find the right words to say. Holding me at arm’s length, Liam’s eyes scanned my face. “I am here for you and I will never leave you again,” Liam began. “You just have to place your trust in me. People will ask you questi
ons about me and we need to have answers for them. I need for you to have answers too.”

  “Okay, so this isn’t just a fight for our lives,” I asked, already knowing the answer.

  “No,” Liam sighed. “I’m afraid this is much bigger than just our lives. This is also a battle of good versus evil. A fight for Shady Oaks and everything it stands for.”

  “This is a lot to take in,” I admitted, as I struggled to understand what my life was becoming. Throughout the onslaught of information, he was sharing, I felt myself growing dizzy.

  “I understand that,” Liam began. “I have had a very, very long time to comprehend and accept how strange and crazy this all seems. Angels and demons sound like something out of a fantasy novel, not our real lives. It is true though. I just need you to trust that I will do whatever it takes to protect you and find a way to save us.”

  “But…” I began, but my own apprehension stopped me from asking my question.

  “Go on,” Liam urged. “You need answers and I am now willing to share them.”

  Pausing, I bit my lip with worry before beginning. Liam had been so afraid to tell me his truth and now that he was opening up, he had me paranoid too that someone might be listening to us. “Well, it’s just that I am curious how you have managed to remain unnoticed all these years. What about your family and friends?”

  “Nora, it was difficult to walk away from everyone, but I had no other choice. I grew up in a small town much like Shady Oaks, but vastly different too. When I was given my new identity, I had to leave. I found Shady Oaks about a year after my transformation. It was the perfect place to hide out and feel like I also belonged. People here are...different. It just worked, but every few years, I would have to leave when humans noticed I wasn’t aging. I always came back though,” he said, a sad look taking over his eyes.

  There was a question weighing heavily on my mind and I had to ask. “Throughout the years, did you ever fall in love? Find someone else to share your time with? There had to have been other girls.”

  Liam gazed at me carefully. “Sure I met others. And, there were girls too that I spent time with, but non compared to you. Nora,” he said my name softly as his fingers brushed the side of my cheek. “It’s always been you. No matter where I went or how hard I tried to forget about you— to let you go and live your life, I just couldn’t. It’s like your soul cried out to me, luring me in with its magnetic pull. My soul searched for you, deepening this madness that makes me love you and willingly forsake all others for you.”

  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Liam was beautiful, charismatic, and perfect beyond belief. He could have been with anyone he wanted. Gone anywhere he chose. Yet, he fell for me. I wasn’t anything special. I shouldn’t be allowed to have someone as magnificent as him love and adore me, but I couldn’t push him away either.

  “Liam,” I breathed. Closing my eyes I feared when they opened again he would be gone and this all would have been a dream. Instead, as my eyes opened, they were met with eyes bluer than the sky. “I don’t deserve you, but I can’t let you go now, either.”

  Smiling, Liam placed a sweet kiss to my lips. We continued to talk as my heart danced in my chest, rejoicing at the feeling of being alive again.

  As I sat and listened to him talk, I was enthralled in his story, his life. Liam had explained to me that over the years, he had found others like himself who were condemned to walk the earth for centuries as punishment for not following their orders. Everyone he encountered had all made different mistakes, for Liam it was not completing his first job and taking me to the afterlife. Because of that one mistake, he was forced to remain on Earth.

  With his connections with the others, he had obtained several different forms of identification and his last name had changed several times over the years. He had remained on the move, living in different states in homes that he had found that didn’t require too much upfront. Because of this, he lived in almost deplorable conditions or way out in the country, hidden away from everyone in society. Except for a few others like him. Even though his life may have sucked for most people, I couldn’t imagine how wonderful it would be to travel around the world as you made a new life for yourself with each town you came too. He would enroll in school every few years, pretending to be a senior in high school after just moving with his family to a new town. Sometimes, he told me, he would just wander into a new town and take odd jobs here and there and wait for his next assignment to be given. He always remained alone, though. If he didn’t feel like going to school, he wouldn’t enroll. It was only when he was truly lonely, he would find a town with a school, just so he could have interactions with other people. When he felt his time was up, he would wander to the next place in search of what was to come. I could tell Liam was growing tired of this life, but that is what brought him back to me. With that idea in my heart, I fell asleep that night dreaming only of baby blue eyes.

  CHAPTER 10

  I awoke the next morning to the bright sun shining through my bedroom window. I yawned and stretched my arms above my head as I allowed a smile to spread across my face. I had thought about Liam all night and had wonderful dreams of what our lives could be like together, if only we could find a way out of the mess we were in. I was in a very good mood, something that rarely happened to me, when I saw my phone lighting up beside my bed.

  Leaning over, I noticed I had several missed calls and texts from Liam, Ronnie, and Teddy. There was even a call from my dad. Something big must have happened if my dad bothered to call me.

  As I began to sit up in bed, my bedroom door suddenly opened. Startled, I wasn’t sure if I should scream or curse the intruder. Poking her red head in, my step-mom stepped into my room.

  “Nora, the house phone has been ringing non-stop. I can’t sleep through all of the noise. Apparently, something happened at your school. You need to call your dad,” she stated, before slamming my door shut behind her.

  “Good morning to you too,” I called after her, as I stuck my tongue out at the closed door.

  Jumping out of bed, I quickly dressed and dialed my dad’s number. He answered on the second ring which surprised me more than anything else.

  “Nora?” he asked, like he was surprised I had even called.

  “Yes, dad it’s me. Victoria told me you called. What happened at school?” I asked, leaving out the pleasantries. My dad and I just didn’t have that type of a relationship, at least not anymore.

  I could hear voices behind him and the hint of sirens in the distance. “Nora, there was another murder. This time, it was a teacher. Mr. Hollings was found hanging from a tree located in the front yard of the school,” my dad stated with no emotion.

  A gasp escaped my lips as I couldn’t believe what he was telling me. Our town had already been rocked and devastated by one murder, I didn’t know how the community would react now to learning of a second death. “How? I mean, do we know why?” I fumbled as I tried to form a sentence.

  “At first it appeared to be a suicide, but as the examiner inspected his body, it was clear he struggled with someone or something. His fingernails were gone, seemingly ripped away from his hands. Both Principal Donaldson and now Mr. Hollings both being murdered on school grounds around midnight, now has the police believing we have a murderer in our town.”

  I listened as my dad continued to tell me that school was canceled today, again, and that the town was on a strict lockdown. Everyone was to remain indoors and stay vigilant until the police apprehended a suspect.

  “Nora, I need you to promise me you won’t try and do anything stupid or dangerous,” he said.

  “I promise,” I said as I ended the call.

  I wasn’t sure what was dangerous or stupid anymore, but I had to see Liam.

  Me: Liam, I saw you called. We need to talk.

  Liam: Yes, why didn’t you answer?

  Me: I was sleeping…

  Liam: I would love to see you sleep

  Me: Creeper! Lol

>   Liam: No, just a guy who admires a true beauty

  My heart skipped a beat as I read his words. I could talk to him like this all day, but I knew we had more serious things to discuss, like the new murder and who or what he thought might be after me.

  Me: Okay, so… I guess you heard Mr. Hollings was murdered.

  Liam: Yes, that is why I called. I really need to see you.

  Me: I need to see you too.

  Liam: I will come get you, I don’t want you out by yourself. It’s not safe. You are in danger.

  Again, his words shot through me like a knife. It was crazy that weeks ago, I desired fear to feel alive. Now, with Liam in my life, the thought of danger just frightened me. I didn’t understand the change, but I was smart enough to know that I shouldn’t push this.

  “Me: Okay, I trust you. Be here in an hour.

  ***

  Within the hour, Liam arrived. I was sitting on my front porch steps when I heard the roar of his motorcycle engine. His black helmet and matching leather jacket shielded him from the sun and my roaming eyes. Butterflies fluttered deep in my belly as I waited for him to turn in my driveway. When he appeared, he looked like a sexy and dark James Dean as he rolled up to a stop in front of me. Lifting his helmet off his head, he shook out his coal black hair and I swear I had to remind myself to breathe as I watched him. Never in my life had I witnessed anything more alluring. In that moment, I had to pinch myself to remind myself that I was awake and he was mine.

  Smiling, Liam noticed me staring at him as he walked up to my walkway toward where I stood on the porch. “It’s not safe for you to be out here alone,” he said, as he winked at me. He was totally enjoying my drooling over him.

  “Well, I was waiting for this hot guy to come and rescue me,” I teased, as I walked over to him. I tugged at his leather jacket and pulled him close to me.

  Leaning down, Liam brushed his lips gently against mine in the sweetest kiss that ever existed. “Did you find him?” Liam asked after our lips parted.