Black as Midnight

by Mary Martel

  He drew in a deep, shuddering breath and my heart hurt for him and those girls he was talking about. I was lucky to have been found by my coven when I was, because the Council could no longer get their greedy hands on me. They'd have to go through my entire coven in order to get me.

  "The only way I know to be able to help my people is by joining the Council and trying to make some sort of a difference from the inside. In a way, it's the only way I can see to actually make an attempt at a successful stand against them. But, if you can't get on board and be okay with it, then I want you to be honest with me and I won't do it."

  I pulled on my hands and this time he let me go. He sat back in his side of the booth and his eyes grew guarded. He was worried I was going to wrongfully judge him and thought this was going to be the turning point in our relationship where things went badly for us. It's what he didn't want me to see behind that guard he'd put up.

  I took a drink of my pop and tried to calm myself down while I did it. It hurt me to know that he thought I would ever try to stop him from doing something he felt so strongly about. When he went to move away and I wanted him to stay with me so badly, I never said a word to him about him staying because I knew how important it was to him for him to go at the time. I had my moments like any other teenager out there where I could be selfish, that was just life. But I'd never been selfish where Marcus was concerned and I didn't appreciate that he thought I was capable of being so with him now.

  I set my pop down on the table and sat back in my booth. I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him.

  His guard fell away and he grinned at me.

  "What do you have to smile about?" I grumbled.

  "It's good to see you," he said, "to finally see who you really are when you're not having to hide from everybody around you. You've got quite the personality and, if I must say, attitude. It looks good on you. I wish you had felt safe enough in my home for it to have come out when you lived with me, but I understand why you had to keep yourself hidden away."

  I looked down at the tabletop to avoid having to meet his eyes at the moment. There was too much emotion there and it was making me feel uncomfortable.

  "Thanks," I muttered ungraciously. Not that what he'd said about having an attitude really warranted receiving a thank you from me. "Of course I’ll support you in this. I'd support anything you decided to do because you're a good person, Marcus. I know you're not capable of doing something that would hurt others. I actually think that it's a really good idea, but not something I think I could ever stomach doing myself. I don't think I'd be able to spend that much time around them without my true feelings coming out and ruining the whole thing."

  Marcus relaxed, and at seeing it, I knew how much it meant to him to have my support. I knew in that moment I was going to have a seriously uncomfortable conversation with Rain, because I wasn't going to allow him to threaten Marcus in any way anymore, he meant too much to me, and if Rain did anything to him it would ruin our relationship forever. I didn't want to be the person to tell Rain what he could and couldn't do, that didn't sound like it would be fun for me and I knew he wouldn't take it well. Maybe it would be something I could try and pawn off on Quinton.

  Yeah. That sounded better to me.

  "You have to be careful with the Council, Marcus," I warned him. "You have to promise me you'll be careful. I can't lose you and those assholes are scary, they won't hesitate to do something horrible to you if they find out what you're doing. And they are incredibly powerful witches. The most powerful out there, I think."

  "I'll be careful," he promised me in a gruff voice.

  A thought struck me and I leaned forward over the table again. "What about magic?" I asked him in a hushed voice. His eyebrows rose in question and confusion. "You no longer practice magic, remember? I imagine the Council isn't going to allow you to continue abstaining once you join them."

  As far as I knew, Marcus hadn't used his magic in a very, very long time. It was sad really. I couldn't imagine not using my magic now that I knew I had it inside me. It's what made me special and I never wanted to give it up. Now that I thought about it, there were a lot of things about Marcus that made me really sad.

  He cleared his throat. "I started practicing again," he quietly admitted. "I had forgotten how much I loved being a witch, how much I loved using my magic. I won't have any problems on that front."

  I was happy to hear it.

  "The boys, I'm sure, will figure it out on their own once they hear that I've joined ranks with the Council. Still, I would rather we kept this conversation between the two of us, if that's alright with you. I'm not asking you to lie to them, but I would ask—"

  I cut him off mid-sentence. "My lips are sealed, Marcus, you can count on me."

  He sighed in relief. "Good. I may need your help from time to time as well."

  I nodded my head. I could help him, sure. If he wanted Quinton to kick his ass, that is. Rain as well. Maybe even Julian, he seemed like the sweet type but I knew underneath the surface lurked a vindictive psychopath just waiting to come out and play with the rest of us. He only hid it better. Maybe even Dash would get in on kicking his ass as well. Heck, they would all probably want in on it at this point.

  "Let’s eat our food, sweetheart," he said. "That's enough discussion for today."

  I looked down at my plate and sighed. It was probably cold now, but I would eat all of it anyways. I didn't like being wasteful. Not when I knew what it felt like to go hungry.

  Chapter Three

  I sat in my Range Rover parked in front of Fortune's for the Unfortunate as I debated whether or not I really wanted to go inside to confront Rain. Marcus had dropped me off and had long since gone, but for whatever reason I couldn't bring myself to go inside yet.

  Rain would question me, this I was certain of, and I feared Marcus's secrets would be there in my eyes for him to see and he'd up his game with the questions. Then I'd have to lie to him and he'd know when I was lying. He had the uncanny ability to always tell when I was lying. And I wasn't quite ready to confront him just yet.

  So going in there with him wasn't really the best option for me at the moment. The problem was, I didn't see anyone else's cars parked out front and, unless someone had been dropped off while I'd been gone, that meant Rain was the only person available to potential customers. And that could be a truly terrifying thing, because after a certain amount of time running the store, he started to seriously suck at customer service. It's like he had a timer running that only he could see and when the time was up, that was it for him being Mr. Friendly. He'd actually had several people run for the front door in an attempt to get away from him because he'd scared the crap out of them so badly.

  Oddly enough, none of the guys seemed to give a crap about this. Half of them found it amusing and I think the other half were too afraid of him to say anything about it.

  I worried though, because it was Tyson's business and I didn't want to see it tank because my bio dad scared away all the business, and I was the only reason he had a job there in the first place. I felt responsible for Rain, and even though he was the parent and I was the child in this situation, I took it upon myself to look out for him. But I also needed to look out for my guys too, so I was a little torn here on what to do.

  I wanted to leave, but for Tyson's sake and the sake of the shop, I felt like I needed to go inside and finish out what was left of my shift.

  My phone inside the front pocket of my hoodie started to vibrate. I pulled it out and read the text message on the screen.

  Rain: I can see you, ya know.

  I groaned as I dropped my phone into my lap. It landed face up so I was able to read the next text as it came in.

  Rain: Get your skinny ass in here. Right now.

  I rolled my eyes at the order. He was bossier than Quinton and that was downright scary.

  I plucked my phone out of my lap and shot off a quick reply, letting him know I wouldn't be coming inside and was
done for the day. Before he had the chance to reply, I pulled up a conversation with someone else and sent off another text message.

  Part of my conversation with Marcus at the restaurant was running through my head, and I couldn't seem to forget about it or let it go. It was time and I thought I was ready. I needed to get this over and done with so I could move past my squeamishness and not let anything hold me back anymore.

  I put my key in the ignition and fired up my Rover.

  I saw Rain as he stepped out of the shop in my rearview mirror as I pulled away from the curb. He had his angry face on that promised a long lecture later on when he finally caught up with me.

  I snickered as I pressed the gas pedal to the floor and sped away.

  If I were anybody else but his daughter, then I might actually be worried about that look on his face.

  When I pulled up to the Alexander house, I'm surprised to see the driveway empty except for the silver Escalade that's parked in front of the open garage. An empty garage, I might add. Though I had my very own bedroom here at the big house, I didn't think I had actually been here when someone who lived in the house wasn't home. They were my family, but it still seemed weird to me to be inside their homes when they weren't actually there. Except for Dash's cottage because that was my home too, even though I would, in all likelihood, never refer to it as anything other than Dash's cottage.

  At least there was someone here though, so it didn't feel too weird being here.

  After my conversation with Quinton, I figured he was either on his way to the shop so he could yell at me or at Dash's cottage waiting for me to come home after work so he could yell at me. I'd bet money on one or the other. And here I was at his house. Ha ha.

  I parked my Rover farther back in the driveway so the guys who actually did live here would be able to get into the garage, and nobody would need to move their car later to let me out when I wanted to go home.

  The front door was unsurprisingly unlocked and had me rolling my eyes when I walked in without having to use my key. If I lived here, I knew that it would be stressed that the door remain locked at all times. Jerks.

  "Julian," I called out as I shut the door behind me. There was no answer so I moved through the first level, checking in the rooms. I started with the kitchen because that seemed to be where everyone hung out all together when they were here. Probably because the dining room and family room had been opened up to one big room, and instead of having a table of any kind, they had a giant television and comfy leather couches. If you didn't want to eat in front of the television or standing up, then you could sit down on one of the stools pushed up to the breakfast bar at the center island. The room was spotless and didn't look like a place you'd expect four guys to live in. And, much to my delight, someone had put up curtains for the sliding glass doors that took up the whole back wall of the living room area. If I had to guess I'd say it was Damien's handy work. The thought of anyone else picking out curtains and hanging them up in here was laughable.

  The rest of the ground level was empty. I'll admit that when I peeked in on Quinton's office, I had a really hard time not opening up drawers and snooping around in there. I did, however, spot a black picture frame on his desk that had a picture of me in it. I was in profile with my face turned to the side and laughing. The picture was black and white, and my hair had been pulled up into a crazy messy bun on top of my head. The good side of my face was on display and from what I could make of the picture, it had been taken at the shop. I couldn't remember Quinton having taken pictures of me while I was working, but I honestly wasn't surprised to see it. It sat beside a framed picture of a man who looked a whole lot like what I imagined Ty would look like if he cut off all of his hair and aged twenty years. It was the first time I'd seen what Tyson's dad and Quinton's older brother had looked like. He'd been handsome and clearly aged well. This probably meant good things for both Ty and Quint.

  I got the heck out of there before I started rifling through Quinton's things. The urge was strong, but I fought it like a boss and won because I knew he'd get some kind of sick joy out of knowing I'd gone through his things. He'd get off on it because he was like that.

  I yelled for Julian up the stairs and wasn't surprised when I got no response.

  I knew what that meant, where he was, and my heart rate sped up.

  This hadn't been my idea, but his, and I'd gone along with it because I knew it was well past time for me to suck it up and move past this. I wanted to be able to stay here and not be freaked out that Vivian's dead and rotting body was going to dig itself out of the grave she'd been buried in, in the basement, and climb both sets of stairs so she could rip my flesh apart while I was sleeping.

  I shivered as I made my way down the stairs that would take me to the basement.

  I had only been down here the one time and I'd been a hysterical mess, but I still knew where I was going. I stopped outside of the door that would open up into the plant room with the dirt floor and sucked in what was supposed to be a calming breath. It came out shaky, so I sucked in another one. And another one. I kept going until my breathing evened out and grew steady.

  I might have looked calm on the outside, but I was a jumbled up wreck on the inside. Fake it till you make it, that was my new game plan here, and it was one that would hopefully keep Julian from looking at me with pity in his eyes and worrying needlessly about me.

  I opened the door without knocking and stepped inside.

  Chapter Four

  The air in here was cool and I was thankful for having worn my trusty hoodie over my tank top. I thought it was odd that in a room where plants were stored underneath heat lamps that the room would be cool instead of warm, but what did I know? I didn't want to ask why, not with this room, because I feared the answer would more than likely scare the shit right out of me.

  Julian had his back to me and was hunched over the big table in the middle of the room.

  I walked across the dirt floor on silent feet without him seeming to notice I'd even entered the room. I stopped about a foot behind him and held my breath, waiting for him to realize I was there. When a full minute went by without him acknowledging my presence, I couldn't take it anymore.

  I lifted my hand and gently trailed my fingertips down the center of his back, along his spine.

  He jumped and whirled around on me with his fist raised as if he was ready to fend off an attacker. I jumped back and held my hands up in surrender. His eyes flashed with heat, and I couldn't help but be mesmerized by the danger in them, almost as if I was drawn to the darkness there.

  He dropped his hands as soon as he noticed it was me and the light fled from his eyes. Stupidly, I missed it as soon as it was gone.

  He ran his hand through his hair while his shoulders slumped. "Damn it, Ariel, you scared the shit out of me."

  "I'm so sorry, Jules," I hurriedly apologized. "I didn't mean to scare you like that. I honestly don't know what the heck I was doing. I knew you didn't know I was in here and should have announced my arrival. I just... I'm sorry."

  He smiled at me kindly before lowering his hand and gesturing at the table behind him.

  "Not your fault," he assured me. "Sometimes I get so sucked into my work that I often forget where I am and lose myself in what I'm working on. Hours and hours will go by and I won't notice anything that's happening around me, because I'm solely focused on what's in front of me.”

  I could completely understand that. It happened to me all the time while reading and lately when I was working with Rain, learning to practice my craft.

  "You looked like you were about to punch me, maybe I should call you slugger from now on," I joked with him.

  He scowled at me as I moved up next to him to stand at his side in front of the table.

  "You are not going to call me slugger," he said in a serious voice. "Can you imagine what Quint or Rain would do to me if they heard you were calling me slugger because I looked like I was going to punch you?" He shuddered in h
orror. "They'd cut off my balls and I'd probably be forced to choke to death on them. Oh, the indignity of it all."

  Despite the fact my face heated up in embarrassment at the mention of his private man parts, I couldn't stop the giggle that escaped me at the image his words conjured in my head.

  "Rain would make Quinton hold you down so he could do the dirty work himself," I teased, sharing my thoughts with him. "I think he enjoys getting his hands dirty, and he'd also love knowing that Quinton would want to do it himself and it would give him joy to take that away from him. And Quinton will let him, because he loves me and knows that if he tries to boss Rain around it's going to piss him off, and then most likely upset me and we can't have that, now can we?"

  Julian's mouth dropped open, and he gaped at me while his eyes widened in shock.

  "That's some imagination you've got there," he told me. "Do you often think of people holding me down so that they can torture me?" I opened my mouth to tell him he was crazy, but he shook his head before I could and continued, "You know what, never mind. I don't think that's what's important with what you just said. I think we should focus on the fact that you seem to get some type of sick pleasure out of the fact that your father enjoys playing games with the other members of your coven, and you're totally fine with him doing it. Tsk, tsk, Ariel. I never took you for the naughty type."

  The gleam in his eyes told me he was enjoying this, but I was confused. Since when was violence considered that kind of naughty? He clearly thought it fit the mark. I realized in that moment that I really didn't know Julian as well as I knew most of the others, and what I did know about him was really confusing because he could be super sweet then seriously scary. He was a bit of a mystery to me and one I was working really hard to figure out by spending more time with him. I hadn't gotten very far as of yet, though.