Return to Darkness

by Rebecca Royce

  Chills erupted under my fingertips as I dragged them around his waist to his back. He sucked in a breath, pulling away from me sharply.

  Another hand gripped my chin. Thorn had joined us on the bed. His face was so close, as if he’d been waiting for his opportunity to appear.

  As Aaron moved down my body, Thorn claimed my mouth. With some part of my brain, I registered the cool air on my hips and thighs. I thought I might have even helped Aaron, kicking free of my jeans and then underwear when they got to my ankles.

  But then he did what I asked and got me out of my head. He went to my core and I arched off the bed, gasping into Thorn’s mouth. He pushed my bra aside to palm my breast and pinch my nipple. Holy hell.

  What demon? What strange fae blood? All there was in this entire world was Aaron’s clever tongue circling my clit and Thorn stealing my breath.

  Aaron was relentless. He kissed my clit, once and then again before he sucked on it. With a moan, he sucked harder. I was so wet. What was the best part of it? The pleasure was fantastic, that was for sure, but the fact that he was so turned on doing this. He jerked against the bed, again and again. Aaron might come in his pants, and I hadn’t even touched him yet.

  Thorn palmed my breast. “That’s right, Lacey.” His voice was basically a whisper. “You’re ours. And this might be unconventional, this might not be how other people do things, but we are going to make you so happy. Fuck normal. You’re ours.” His smile was adoring as his gaze stroked over my face. “Feel what Aaron does to you? Feel how we both fucking want you all of the time? That’s not new. That’s a decade’s worth of knowing we’d have you back.”

  I’d never heard him talk quite like this before, never imagined that he would. This was a new side of Thorn. And I loved it.

  “You’re so pink, so flush, so turned on right now.”

  Aaron found a spot. I seized, my whole body jolting as colors passed before my eyes. I grabbed on to the back of Thorn’s neck, dragging his mouth back down to mine as I orgasmed, searching for anything to anchor me to the world before I floated away in the pleasure that was as all-consuming as it was perfect.

  Thorn smiled along my lips. I half-expected Aaron to stop, but he was relentless. And evidently not done.

  I’d reached that point where it was too much, where it bordered on painful, but still his swift tongue drove circles over my most sensitive spot. I gasped, shaking my head back and forth. How was I to survive this sweet torture?

  “Again,” Thorn whispered. “Yes, you can.” He answered my unspoken plea that it was too much. “Be a good girl, Lacey, and come for us again. We’ll make it worth your while.”

  Like it was wrenched from my soul, I came again, exploding in Aaron’s mouth. Finally, he slowed, lifting his gaze to look at me from the bottom of the bed. “I think she liked that, Thorn.”

  “I think she did.” He nodded at Aaron. “My turn.”

  I wasn’t sure I could breathe or even think. “More?”

  Aaron scooted off the bed to kiss my lips. I could taste myself on him, and it was disconcerting to say the least. But also sexy in a this-is-all-really-dirty-and-we-all-fucking-love-it kind of a way. “More.”

  Thorn tugged down his pants. “But different.”

  “Wouldn’t want to be boring,” I said. My bra was still on, though tucked beneath my breasts, and I moved to take it off.

  “Leave it,” Aaron told me. He pushed my breasts together before burying his face between them. He breathed in, and his eyes shut. Kissing his way to my neck, he dragged his tongue along my skin.

  His kisses were so soft, like a breeze, they almost tickled. They made me forget about everything, just like I asked.

  I skimmed my hand down his chest, registering with some part of my brain that he was naked, too. I didn’t know when he managed to do that, but I was glad for it.

  Thorn grabbed my ankles, tugging my knees apart as Aaron reached my lips. With one swift thrust, Thorn was inside me, and I moaned.

  I could taste Aaron’s smile as he caught the sound. Oh? Did I amuse him? It was time to give back a little of the pleasure they’d given me.

  Wrapping my hand around his length, I pushed my hand to his base and then back up. That made his smile disappear. It was his turn to groan.

  We kissed as Thorn rammed himself into me. Someone’s thumb touched my clit, rubbing hard tight circles over the swollen nub. Maybe it was Aaron. Or Thorn. It didn’t matter. All it did was ratchet up my arousal.

  It was hard for me to concentrate on pleasuring Aaron when they consumed me like this, but I tried. A few times, I lost my rhythm, and once I lifted my palm to my mouth, licking it swiftly before I went back to his cock.

  Aaron’s breathing changed. It came more rapidly and with little moans that suggested he was getting closer.

  I dug the fingers of one hand into Thorn’s thigh muscle, trying to find a way to keep all my pieces from flying apart. He held my hips, keeping me in place, pounding into me harder and harder. It must have been Aaron’s thumb on me, and he slowed those circles, keeping me from coming as fast as I would.

  Smart man, but cruel. I’d almost been at the precipice, but he’d dropped me back, only to build me up slower, and hotter.

  This orgasm was going to be different than the first ones. This one felt deeper, harder. I was watching a tidal wave approach the shore and locked my knees against the waves, ready to absorb it.

  When it finally hit, it lifted me up in the air and then dragged me under. Who needed to breathe? Just when I thought I couldn’t take it anymore, when I thought I’d die from it, I sucked in a breath, and the relief was just as pleasurable as water.

  Thorn held himself inside me, while Aaron held my fist to keep me from stroking him anymore. My hand was sticky, but I didn’t care. And I didn’t care when Thorn rolled to my side and warmth trickled out of me and along my thighs.

  Eyes closed, I smiled as two of the men I loved curled next to me and wrapped their arms around my waist. We fell asleep, just like that, sweaty and sticky. And it was perfect.

  I walked through the desert. In the distance, Mr. Chee stood over an open grave. He looked at me as I approached, and I stared down at the grave, now just a hole, with no body inside of it. I turned to him.

  “What happened here?”

  His mouth fell open. “Can you see me?”

  “You’re standing next to me. Of course, I can see you.” Seemed a really odd question. Above my head, crows cawed into the night. Truth was, it sounded more like a rattle. There were four of them, and they buzzed overhead, swooping down like they wanted my attention. One got too close, and I waved my hand to keep it away.

  That seemed really unusual behavior. But I ignored them and turned to Mr. Chee instead. “What happened here?” I asked again.

  “You can’t always see me.”

  I sighed. We were going round and round on this. I asked a question, he talked about seeing him. “I think we’ve determined this already.”

  He pointed at the hole. “I was trying to change what happened, to undo. There are things that control time. I thought I could put it back, I thought I could be the one to kill Erdirg and then you could have a normal life. The boys wouldn’t hate me. They’d stay around. Everyone’s future would be better if I could just be the one to take care of Erdirg. And now this has happened.”

  I rubbed my eyes. “You can’t change time. It moves from start to finish. That’s what it does.”

  “Oh, Lacey. That’s not true. You should know about Brahmaloka. Or how about Einstein’s Theory of Relativity? The Einstein-Rosen Bridge? Ask Oliver to tell you about it. Tell him that if he can’t save me from this, to take care of his mother. Tell Aaron that—”

  I jolted upward, my heart racing. The room was quiet around me except for the sounds of Thorn’s snores. They were loud. Not that they bothered me. I liked the sound, but that was it. Aaron’s inhalations were easy in my ear, quiet. His hand pressed into my stomach. Thorn practically p
inned me to the bed with his leg.

  What had that been about? Weird dream. Mara was gone. I wasn’t being tortured with nightmares. But what had that meant? What was Brahmaloka? And Einstein?

  I shook Aaron gently, and he opened his eyes, groaning a little bit. “It’s not me. It’s Thorn. Shake him.”

  I might have laughed if I weren’t so confused at the moment. “I had a dream about your dad.”

  He lifted his head, clarity coming into his gaze. “And you’re worried it wasn’t just a dream.” He rubbed his eyes. “Is he dead, Lacey?”

  “No… what is Brahmaloka?”

  He sat all the way up. “Fuck me.”

  “What’s wrong?” Thorn came awake instantly. “What’s going on?”

  I took his hand. “I had a dream of Mr. Chee. And he used a word that’s upsetting Aaron. He said to ask. What is Brahmaloka?” My voice rose louder and louder, increasing with my worry.

  A sound from the doorway caught my attention. It was Oliver. He took a bite of an apple. “It means many things in Buddhism and Hinduism. But this is my father. He’s not concerned with religion. He likes to talk about it in terms of time travel. One of the first mythos to deal with that. The story follows a king, his daughter, and how they went about finding the perfect suitor.”

  “Dad liked to talk about how much it had in common with Einstein’s Theory of Relativity,” Aaron said. It took a second for his words to penetrate my discombobulation. Aaron had pulled the sheet to cover us, but I was pretty aware of how this looked. Me, naked in bed with Oliver’s brother and Thorn. But when he spoke those final words, I jolted.

  “Einstein-Rosen Bridge.” I whispered the words I’d heard. The dream came back with a rush, and I forgot all about my current state of undress. “Your dad said…” I tried hard to remember every detail. The empty grave. Mr. Chee’s surprise at me seeing him. His message. “He tried to kill Erdirg so you didn’t have to. So you’d stay close to home.” I swallowed hard, thinking about how he wanted me to tell his boys to take care of their mom. “It was just a dream. Right?”

  Oliver stood in the door, but all of his casualness had faded. He stood upright and tense, staring hard at his brother. He didn’t even glance toward me when he asked, “What else did he say?”

  “He was surprised I could see him. And then there was more talk about time that I didn’t understand. I have only a basic understanding of physics, so all your name-dropping isn’t quite landing the way you might expect it would.”

  “Guardians.” Thorn jumped from the bed and tugged on his jeans. “Pouque are guardians of time. Their dad is going on about time and killing Erdirg. I have a feeling that wasn’t a dream, Lace. I think that was a visit to another dimension.”

  “Shut the fuck up.” Sure, my brain was fried from all those orgasms, but this was crazy.

  “After jumping through inter-dimensional portals, you’re surprised about this?” Thorn asked, zipping his pants. The muscles in his arms rippled as he grabbed his shirt from the floor.

  “Fair enough.” It wasn’t that I was floored by it. I had just been hoping for something a little less demon related. Which I knew was a stupid hope. This was Mr. Chee we were talking about. And my hometown. Of course there was going to be something paranormally fucked up about the whole situation. But was it too much to ask that Mr. Chee was having a mid-life crisis and had joined some hippie commune in the desert?

  I tucked my knees up, making sure the sheet didn’t fall from my chest. No. I didn’t think that was too much to ask. “For a little while, I forgot this was a working vacation.”

  Oliver gave one bitter laugh and shook his head. “Leave it to the old man to insert himself into everything. Always angling for the spotlight.”

  That hadn’t been the Mr. Chee I’d seen. The one who’d blinked at me in surprise had seemed frightened, actually. And full of regrets.

  “Whatever he was trying to do, now or in the past, Oliver, we’re still going to find him.” Aaron’s voice was hard. “He’s our father.”

  Oliver took a hard bite of the apple. “Obviously. We left Alaska and dragged Lacey from the life she loved and the only father figure she’s ever had to go save ours. So yes, we’re going to do that.”

  I held up my hand. “Sorry, I’m confused. Does he think he can mess with time? Like, instead of me, he could actually kill Erdirg, or put him to sleep, and then we have a different future?”

  Oliver continued to chew. “Yep. I think that’s what he thinks. Lacey, I think that you should show us exactly where you faced the demon. It will be the best possible place to start. We’ll figure out how my father, moving at a different speed in time, went to another dimension. And then we’ll figure out if there’s anything left of him to save.”

  Aaron rose slowly, seemingly unconcerned that all of his private parts were now on display. It was just his brother. Maybe he didn’t have to be embarrassed. Come to think of it, Oliver had seen me naked, too. Maybe I didn’t have to be embarrassed. But there was a line and me naked pressed against his brother was going to take a little bit of time to get used to.

  “If that’s moving at a different rate, how did he expect to elicit change here? In this timeline?”

  Thorn groaned. “He must have had a way. I’m going to become an expert on this. Give me a little time. I’m texting Colton to meet you at the site. He’ll need one of you to tell him where to go.”

  “You’re not coming?” Thorn didn’t usually like to be left out as far as I could tell, but he did seem happy as long as he was researching.

  “I’ll meet you guys out there as soon as I have something. Better Wi-Fi here than in the desert. Go. I’ll meet you there. Text me where you are, too. I’ll find you.”

  The only person not hurrying was Oliver. I took a quick shower and then pulled on some clothes and stepped in front of him. “You okay?”

  “Yep.” Another slow bite. “Pissed as hell at him. But fine.”

  “I think he wanted to help. Wanted to make it so you guys didn’t hate him. Wanted us to have normal lives.”

  He suddenly slammed his hand against the door. “That’s not for him to decide. He can’t sweep in and decide he’s the great solver of the universe, and he’s just going to fuck with the timeline for all of existence so that I’ll feel like eating at his house on Sundays. If he wanted something like that, he should have done better the first time.” When Oliver reached out to touch the side of my face, it was gentle. “You killed Erdirg, and what happened, happened. That’s your story. He doesn’t get to touch it.”

  I swallowed. “I put him to sleep. I didn’t kill him. And his grave—or sleeping chamber, whatever—it was empty.”

  Oliver winced. “Of course it was.” Sarcasm dripped from his every word. “Thanks a lot, Dad. Let’s fight a monster we’ve already battled. Again. Sounds like fun.”

  My stomach turned. If this was true, Erdirg was awake. And I was here to face him.

  Chapter 5

  Colton was going to meet us in the desert. Oliver drove silently. Aaron was in back, and the whole car was filled with heaviness. Aaron didn’t have the same outward anger as Oliver, but when I turned around to see him, it was clear he was tense. He smiled grimly and then went back to watching the scenery pass by.

  Oliver, on the other hand. Yikes. He was barely-coiled rage. He white-knuckled his way through traffic, muttering under his breath at lights, stop signs, and other drivers, until he just went completely silent.

  I rolled down the window, even though it just let in warm air. I needed something to help me breathe, because every minute that passed was a minute closer to home.

  Ha.

  I knew that home was gone. I’d gone back when we were fighting Erdirg the first time, and all the homes in that park were gone. Maybe I was lucky not to have so many memories from that place. Neither my mother nor my father had been what anyone would call… caring. The impressions I had of them were two miserable people who were always angry at me.
/>   So, yay! Homecoming!

  “What are you sighing and rolling your eyes about?” Aaron asked me. He slid to the middle seat and leaned over my shoulder. “You practically fell backward with that last eye roll.”

  “Ha. Ha. I was thinking about my parents.”

  “Those thoughts cause me to do the same thing,” Oliver offered.

  “Aw.” I took his hand where it rested on his thigh. “We have so much in common.”

  He snickered, turning his hand so he could link his fingers with mine. “What are you thinking about?”

  “Looking back on it as an adult, I realize how unhappy they were. But when I was a child, they were two looming shadows. Huge dark masses I tiptoed around because I was afraid. I don’t have a lot of memories of them, but the ones I do have…” Shit. I could remember those overwhelming forms screaming and crying. I could remember being hungry and them not waking to feed me. “I’m not looking forward to seeing my old stomping grounds. And the place where I fought Erdirg.” Part of me wondered if I’d left some of my darkness in the desert, and what would happen when I returned.

  “It’s going to be okay.” Oliver squeezed my hand before bringing it to his lips.

  Aaron darted forward, landing a quick kiss on my cheek before sliding back and buckling his belt. “We blew up portals. Fought a demon. We can handle the specter of our parents’ failures.”

  I was glad he was confident about that, because I sure as shit wasn’t.

  Cinderblocks scattered at the end of what could barely be called a road were the only things that proved a neighborhood had once been in this spot. The wind blew fast and hot, kicking up dust and sand, and I covered my mouth as I got out of the car.

  “This is it?” Aaron asked.

  “Yeah.” The wind carried my voice away. I tried to orient myself. Shutting my eyes, I did my best to pull up those buried memories. The memory of finding Erdirg’s vessel in the riverbed was relatively new, but the ones before that time were hazier.