In The Dark

by Sarah K. Jensen

  When he started to object, she rushed on, “I know you probably think I’m crazy since I was shot, but if I stay here…”

  What?

  She couldn’t tell him she healed too fast and doctors would then want to study her. Or that a demon had made Shane shoot her.

  Laif sat back, crossed his arms over his chest, and waited, a smile playing on his lips. His luscious, full lips. Kissable lips. Stop it! she yelled in her mind. Focus, Memphis.

  “You see… um… when I was shot, the circumstances weren’t normal. Um… my friend, that’s to say, someone…”

  Laif cocked his head to the right and condescendingly raised his brows. “So, you egged him into shooting you with your smart mouth?”

  Angry heat sprung up on Memphis’s face and a red haze blurred her vision. A few curses came to her mind and she bit her tongue to keep from calling Laif any of them. Reminding herself, as she did Callan anytime he swore, that it was a show of weakness to resort to such language.

  She took a deep breath. Why was she letting him get to her? Calmly, well as calmly as she could muster, she said, “I’m sorry I can’t explain to you what happened.”

  While she felt something for Laif, though not sure exactly what, she wouldn’t trust him with her son.

  Laif lifted his eyes to the ceiling as if asking for divine help. “You don’t have to explain anything. And Shane’s out on bail. It was the least we could do, under the circumstances.”

  “Circumstances? What circumstances? You’re going to accept that he didn’t shoot me? Just like that?”

  Laif smiled faintly. A smile that did not reach his eyes. “Oh, he shot you all right. It just wasn’t all his fault.”

  Memphis couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “I don’t understand.”

  “Well, I have a fairly good idea of what happened.”

  “You do?” she whispered. How could he? What did he think he knew?

  “Kyrell was here.”

  Everything inside her stilled.

  “And from the look on your face, you know who he is, or should I say—what he is.” Laif sat forward, resting his forearms on his thighs.

  “Memphis, Kyrell was responsible for your shooting, but that doesn’t mean Shane Evans isn’t somewhat accountable. And it doesn’t mean that you can leave here until you are better. You’ve healed fast, and the doctor that is working with you, well she understands. She knows about the Guardians. I’ve only met her once, but my mom is mostly the one taking care of you.”

  Memphis didn’t know how to respond. He knew about her. He knew. “How?”

  “I’m a Caomhnóirí na Oíche.” Then he stood, pulled the dark green tee out of his faded blue jeans, and as he turned to the side, lifted his shirt up over his head. Laif dropped his hands to his side to reveal a black, red, and gold dragon. The dragon started on his right shoulder blade and seemed to crawl over his shoulder, when he turned back around the head stopped just above his left pectoral.

  His chest had a scattering of black hair that veed off and tapered down to a thin line that disappeared into his jeans. The effect the Mark of the Guardian and his body had on her was devastating. She could not let herself get swept up in him.

  “Please,” she whispered, “put your shirt back on.”

  He did without hesitation. When he sat again, he said, “We thought we knew all the Guardians in the area. Truthfully, we thought we knew every Guardian in the U.S.”

  He knew.

  She still couldn’t get over that. She’d been so alone for so long. She thought she and Callan were the last ones, though she hadn’t understood how Callan could see them.

  From what she’d been told and read in her grandmothers’ journals passed down for hundreds of years, only the daughters of Síofra could see the Oíche Scáthanna.

  Yet Laif Craig saw them. By the look of his dragon, he fought them and had killed many.

  “I thought I was the only one,” she said after a long silence. She would not bring her son into this until she was sure she could trust this man.

  Laif sat forward, took her hand in his, and interlaced their fingers. “You’re not alone anymore,” he said. “My dad and brothers are Guardians and there are others. You never have to be alone again.”

  He spoke with conviction. With… what was that? Protectiveness? Possession? No matter. She had questions, but first, she needed to make sure Shane was alright. That he was safe.

  “I need time to take this all in,” she told him. “In the meantime, I need to go find Shane, make sure he’s okay. He’s got to be sick about what happened.”

  Laif’s hand on hers tightened. His face hardened. “He’ll be fine. He knows you’re safe. And you aren’t in any condition to leave on your own yet.”

  That may be, she thought, but she wanted to see Shane for herself. Tell him that it wasn’t his fault. Let him know that she still loved him. “I still need to see him. Besides, he can stay with me for a few days if I need it.”

  The change in Laif caused a twinge of fear in Memphis. He looked almost as if he could murder someone. “You are not staying with him,” he bit out after a hard oath.

  Anger replaced the thread of fear at his dictate. “Excuse me?” She sat up a little more, despite the discomfort in her abdomen, yanking her hand free from his. “Listen, Slick, I realize that things might not make sense to you, but I stopped being told what to do a long time ago, and I stopped listening before that. I’ll stay where I want, with whoever I want.”

  His nostrils flared and his high cheekbones colored a dark red. With a clenched jaw, he growled, “He’d been drinking when he shot you. He’s been possessed once already. I have no intention of letting him hurt you again. I don’t care how sorry he is.” He pounded a thigh with his fist. “Don’t make this an issue, Memphis. You won’t win this one.”

  She sucked in a painful breath. He was right. Her shoulders slumped and she sank deeper into the bed. Honestly, Shane helping her was out. He didn’t drink. Hadn’t since she’d known him, so something was wrong, and she needed to find out what. But she couldn’t take the chance of staying with him and she knew it. Still, she had no intention of letting Laif Craig, whom she’d just met, dictate her life to her.

  “Okay. You’re right about my safety. I will agree not to stay with him because it’s smart. But you have no rights here. None,” she added with force when he opened his mouth. “I am grateful for what you’ve done, but now I’d like you to leave.”

  He didn’t move. In fact, he seemed to transform into a statue right before her eyes. For a long, drawn-out moment, he just sat there. Not moving. Not talking. When the door opened and a tall blond man stuck his head in, he smiled at Memphis.

  “So, Sleeping Beauty has decided to wake up?”

  Laif didn’t look over at the man. Memphis didn’t know what to say, so she just gave him a polite smile and said, “I guess so.”

  The man stared at Laif for a long second, then a smile that could light up a room broke across his handsome face. He said to Memphis, “Don’t let him bully you.” Then to Laif, he added, “I’m heading to the cafeteria for a quick bite. Dad should be here soon.”

  When Laif still didn’t respond, the handsome man, who was obviously Laif’s brother, continued, “Don’t act like an idiot. Let her catch up.” With that, he shook his head and left. Memphis heard him laughing as the door closed.

  Laif shook his head as if to clear it, and then, with obvious effort, said, “Okay. I forgot myself for a minute. Sorry about that.”

  He shoved his fingers through his hair, mussing it up more. “I’ve been here for over four days with little sleep and only hospital food. I’ve been watching you sleep, suffer nightmares, and hurt. I’ve had days to be with you. You haven’t had that time.”

  He took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, then exhaled harshly. “You need time. I get that. But I’m not going anywhere. You’re going to have to take that time with me around.”

  Memphis now noticed
the circles under Laif’s dark blue eyes. Eyes with storms swirling in them. His olive skin seemed pale. Four days he’d been by her side? She’d been here for four days.

  “Why?” she asked gently, letting his command go.

  He wiped his hands on his jeans before taking her hand again. “When I went to meet you, you came stumbling out of an alley off Brazos and almost got hit by a car. There was so much blood.” He swore, “Memphis, I thought I was going to lose you.”

  There was such stark fear in his eyes that Memphis felt herself soften to him, despite her better judgment.

  At that moment, the door opened, and a stunning nurse walked in and to the bed. She smiled sweetly at Laif and for a brief second, Memphis was jealous of the attention she gave him. Then she recognized her as Laif’s mom and wanted to shake herself for even allowing the petty emotion.

  “Bryson said you were awake.” Mrs. Craig turned that brilliant smile on Memphis. “How’s our girl? You gave us all quite a scare.” She brushed Memphis’s hair out of her face. “Your color is much better. How are you feeling?”

  Warmth swept through Memphis causing a longing she’d never fully outgrown. Longing for a mother. For family. For home. Callan was her family, yes, but she’d never really had a mother of her own, at least not after Gary Fellows came into their lives. She fought tears and smiled. “I feel pretty good. Stomach’s a little tight, but other than that, I’m okay.”

  Mrs. Craig nodded. “You heal fast. Good thing too, or you’d be laid up for weeks with that—” she glanced at Memphis’s stomach. “Though, I do wonder about the scars I saw on your side. My children heal too fast to scar. Why is it you have some?”

  Memphis shifted uneasily at the question of her scars. She’d never told anyone about the things she’d experienced. Not even Joan. But these people were a part of the world she tried to hide. Just maybe she could trust them with some of her past.

  “I was injured by a powerful demon when I was very young. The wound took a long time to heal and I almost died. My mother told me it would have been fatal to anyone else. Said that my father healed me. I don’t remember it. But there are ways to wound us that will leave marks. It just doesn’t happen often. Thank heaven.”

  Lydia nodded, as if in understanding.

  “Well, Dr. Begay has kept you sedated so that your healing wouldn’t be too noticeable by the other staff. Not an easy feat, because your blood work is abnormal.”

  Being drugged explained the nightmares she hadn’t had in years. Pain meds always had a negative effect on her. But her blood? Why would her blood be any different from, say, any other Guardian?

  “Abnormal how?” Laif asked, his body tensing again.

  Mrs. Craig shook her head. “We’re not sure what it means, but there seems to be an extra DNA strand that we can’t explain. We’ve never seen it before, and Dr. Begay doesn’t want Memphis to become a pin cushion for the scientific community, so she has been changing her blood with mine so that the staff won’t notice. We’ve checked yours ourselves and other than the abnormality, everything looks fine.”

  That explained why the doctors hadn’t wheeled her off into a lab because of her healing abilities, Memphis thought, but it didn’t explain who Dr. Begay was or why her blood showed an extra strand of DNA. She had never been in a hospital, so she didn’t know what it meant. At the moment, it was too much for her to process.

  Deciding to let it go, Memphis wouldn’t question it. Her being healthy was the only important thing anyway. As for who Dr. Begay was? “Laif said this doc knew some about us. How?”

  Mrs. Craig smiled. “She is related to our medicine man.”

  Laif’s head jerked up. “What?”

  Mrs. Craig grinned. “There are things you and your brothers don’t know. But I’m not going to go into any of it now. I’ll go call Tiegan.”

  She fiddled with Memphis’s IV bag before looking her over and continued, “He’s my son-in-law and a detective for the police. I’ll let him know that you’ve woken up. If you’re up for it, we’ll have a little family meeting to discuss what to do about your friend Shane, and what happens when you leave here. I think it’s safe to say that you’d like to get rid of Kyrell as much as we would, and if we all work together, we may just accomplish that task.”

  Memphis nodded. She wasn’t sure how she felt about the idea of working with another Caomhnóirí na Oíche, especially one as bossy as Laif, and since she was honest with herself, one she was very aware of on so many levels.

  “I’m up for the meeting, Mrs. Craig.” Memphis said.

  “Call me Lydia.” She smiled, disregarding her son’s hard stare. “I can have most of the family here in an hour or less. Bryson just finished his watch on the room and—”

  “Wait,” Memphis said, holding up her hand. “Your brother was here to guard me? Why?”

  Laif sighed, taking her hand in his once again. “One of the nurses on staff was possessed and came into your room early this morning and tried to kill you. I was asleep and if I hadn’t woken up, she might have succeeded.”

  The self-disgust in his voice softened her towards him even more. He really did feel something for her.

  Memphis touched his cheek with her free hand before she thought better of it. “It’s not your fault. Kyrell’s been after me for years.” When he opened his mouth to say something, she repeated, “It’s not your fault. The important thing is you caught her.” She looked at Lydia. “What happened to the woman?”

  Lydia smiled. “She’s getting help for her sleeping medicine problem and won’t be at risk anymore.”

  Memphis nodded. “Good. That’s good.” She hated to see so many lives ruined because of weaknesses.

  “Now.” Lydia went on. “Reagan is already on his way, and I’ll talk to Dr. Begay about what we need to do to get you out of here. I’ll be back soon.”

  Memphis liked Laif’s mom—felt she could trust her. Realized she had an ally. She needed one if she wanted to talk to her son since she didn’t seem to have any of her belongings. For some reason, she didn’t think Laif would retrieve her cell phone, or if it wasn’t around, let her use his without a lot of questions she wasn’t ready to answer.

  Callan must be going crazy not knowing how she was. They hadn’t gone more than twenty-four hours without talking, ever. Did Joan know that she’d been hurt? If Shane hadn’t gotten hold of her, then after a day, Joan knew to leave her sister’s LA apartment and go to the safe house Memphis owned outside of San Antonio.

  “Mrs. Cr—” With a stern look from Lydia, Memphis corrected herself, “Lydia, I was wondering if my purse was here. I’d like to make a call. In private,” she added for Laif’s benefit.

  “Your purse was found at the crime scene and I believe the police still have it. But you are welcome to use my cell. We’d be happy to wait for you in the hall,” she added when Laif leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest again.

  Obviously, this was his stubborn, I’m-the-boss-of-you pose. Lydia passed Memphis her cell phone and thumped Laif on the ear. When he stood, grumbling under his breath, Lydia tugged his arm and led him out.

  Memphis didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He was going to overwhelm her. He was overwhelming her. And she didn’t think she’d even seen half of it.

  Pushing all that out of her head, she dialed Joan’s cell phone. After the standard leave your name and number and I’ll call you back message, Memphis said, “It’s me. Where are you? Did you hear what happened? I need you to call me right back at this number. Call me. Now.”

  Memphis disconnected and waited. Within a minute, the cell rang. “Where are you?” Memphis asked as soon as the phone was to her ear.

  “We’re still at my sister’s. I talked to Shane and he said that you got hurt but were fine. He said that you wanted us to stay and have fun and not to worry Callan. So, I just told him that you were after the bad guys and would call as soon as you could. He’s been uneasy. Said he knew something had happened and
wants to come home. Are you okay? What happened?”

  Memphis didn’t know whether to be relieved or not. Why had Shane told her to stay put? Did Kyrell find out about Callan and want them separated? No. If he had, he’d have gone after her son.

  Shane didn’t know where Joan’s sister lived, just that it was in LA and that they’d gone to Disneyland almost every day. So, Callan should be safe.

  Besides, Joan, even though she couldn’t see the Oíche Scáthanna, knew of their existence. And Callan could see them. They would keep their eyes open to anyone acting weird, plus Joan was a third-degree black belt in Karate. She could take care of herself and those in her charge. That was one of the main reasons Memphis had let her son go off with her in the first place.

  “I don’t want to get into it over the phone, but I am okay. You haven’t noticed anything odd, have you?”

  “Nothing. And you know I’ve watched. Callan really wants to talk to you.”

  Memphis smiled. “I want to talk to him too. Put him on.”

  “Mom!” His voice sounded so good it brought tears to her eyes. Oh, how she loved and missed him.

  “What happened? Why haven’t you called me? Are you okay? I wanted to come home, but Aunt Joan said you’d be fine and that I should just enjoy myself.”

  He took a breath and continued his quick monologue. “We went to the beach and saw baby sharks in the shallows, but Joan wouldn’t let me get in the water with them. She said I have too much of you in me. So, what happened? Why didn’t you call me for the last few days?”

  Memphis smiled through her tears. “Oh, Callan, baby. I’ve missed you so much. I’ve been really busy and couldn’t call. You know how much I love you and missed you and would’ve called if I could have.” Her voice came out husky and she shook her head to dispel the tears so he wouldn’t hear them.

  Callan.

  He’d heard the name before. Knots twisted in Laif’s gut. His fists clenched and unclenched as he tried to calm himself and not rip someone’s head off. He’d like to grab hold of this Callan guy’s neck and twist.