Hidden (Her Immortal Guardians Book 1)

by Bella Edwards

  Hidden

  Her Immortal Guardians

  Bella Edwards

  Copyright © 2019 by Bella Edwards

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Part I

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Part II

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  About the Author

  Part One

  Chapter One

  The noise and heat hit Lorelei moments before the wall of sound pounded into her head. People thronged together as they tried to hold conversations, others dancing together in an impenetrable mass. On a Thursday night, she'd expect to find a half a dozen tables filled at the Gasworks. Currently, the club was standing room only.

  How was she supposed to find her friends in here?

  The lights hanging from the old gas pipes flashed across the floor, fleetingly picking out faces, never long enough for Lorelei to see if any were her friends. A loud crash startled her, and she spun round to see two men assembling a drum kit and another plugging in a mic. Their T-shirts displayed the name of the local band playing that night. The name sounded vaguely familiar to Lorelei and judging by the crowds their popularity was growing.

  The unfamiliar faces around her looked older than the regular crowd, including high schoolers like her who’d recently turned eighteen and were now legally allowed inside. A man pushed past her, dressed in a long black leather coat with a variety of piercings and a hairstyle she’d never seen on any Grangeton resident. She stumbled as he knocked into her. If it got much busier, she'd never find Jamie and Scarlet.

  Lorelei scanned the room and her gaze doubled-back to a man half-hidden by the crowds. The light stroked his face flicking away again as fast. The hubbub around Lorelei faded as she strained her eyes to see him through the dark. It couldn't be.

  The hair on her neck prickled from half-formed memories she held secret as she waited for the light to strobe by again. It flashed across the man's face, illuminating his dark blond hair and picking out his strong jaw. She’d no clear picture of him in her mind to compare this man to. But she knew him. And she was sure he looked at her.

  "Lolly!" yelled a voice from above her. "Up here!"

  The sound of her name yanked Lorelei back to reality. She craned her neck upwards. Jamie was standing on the mezzanine floor, waving his arms at her. He leaned over the edge of the balcony, his orange and yellow Hawaiian shirt standing out against the black canvas of people around him.

  "No room down there!" he shouted again. "Up here!"

  The man at the bar no longer looked her way. She rubbed her eyes; her recent lack of sleep was making her paranoid. She manoeuvred her way towards Jamie who greeted her with a bear hug before pulling her towards a table in a darkened corner, dragging her straight through the middle of a group of disgruntled people. "Sorry," she muttered to one of them, a girl with spiky black hair and black cherry lips. The girl ignored her.

  Lorelei slid into the seat next to Scarlet who gave her an enthusiastic hug. Scarlet's black strappy top and dark jeans fitted the venue better than Jamie's garb.

  Her hair... Lorelei pointed at Scarlet's short, bobbed hair, open-mouthed "Scarlet is Scarlet again?"

  "I thought a celebration was in order now that school's finished—no more hassle over how I choose to look."

  Lorelei shook her head in bemusement. End of school meant the end of Grangeton and the beginning of new life at uni she'd planned for years. Maybe not accompanied by an extreme change of hair colour, although the look on her parents faces if she dyed her long blonde hair bright red would be priceless.

  The band’s roadies tuned up and as they turned up, the microphone and amplifiers screeched and drowned out the background music playing in the venue.

  Lorelei gestured at the ever-growing crowds of strange-looking people. “So, who's this band, and why didn't anyone tell me we were going to be invaded?”

  "Welcome to the Annual Goth and General Weirdos Conference," said Jamie, his loud statement earning them uncomfortable stares.

  Scarlet snorted. "All you know about Goths you learnt from watching crap TV. They’re called Maverick, and if you didn't spend all your time sitting in front of your Xbox, you might have heard of them. They're excellent—and pretty hot too...”

  “Oh sure, if you like men who wear more make-up than you do,” muttered Jamie and sipped his coke.

  Scarlet choked on her drink then smacked him across the top of the head. Jamie laughed at her.

  “Well I haven't heard anything by them either,” said Lorelei.

  "They'll start playing soon, I've been looking forward to this," Scarlet said.

  Lorelei sniffed Scarlet’s drink. “Do you have vodka in that?”

  She grinned. “I’m old enough now.”

  Jamie held up his glass. “Only coke in here.”

  Yes, she was old enough to drink in pubs and clubs, but Lorelei came with them for a rare night out to have fun, not get drunk. Just spending time visiting a place she wasn’t allowed until recently made the night exciting enough. Even though she hated the crowds.

  Lorelei glanced around, ignoring her friends who were now bickering and throwing beer mats at each other in jest. The man downstairs disconcerted her and gave her first night of freedom an unnerving edge. The half-image of his face rested somewhere in her memory.

  If it were him, she'd not seen him for years. Lorelei shook her head. He wasn't going to spoil her night with her friends. She only had a few weeks left in Grangeton and then she wouldn't see most of them again. A guitar strummed loudly as the band downstairs began their set.

  “Shall we?” asked Jamie of his two companions, standing up and bowing with mock chivalry. Always there to make her smile and one of her oldest friends, she would miss Jamie when she left Grangeton. The three friends headed downstairs to join the crowd on the dance-floor.

  Lorelei battled her way through the crowds as she made her way back upstairs to the bar for the third time that evening. Perspiration dripped down her back from dancing and her clothes stuck to her clammy skin. She needed water. Pulling back hair from her face, she held it in a pile on her head, wishing she’d tied it back.

  The band attracted a bigger crowd than usually frequented the Gasworks on a Thursday night; the long wooden bar wasn't even visible with the number of people crowded around. Lorelei grimaced as she squeezed herself into a gap between two men with sweat-soaked backs. Using her height to an advantage, Lorelei pushed forward trying to catch the eye of one of the hot and hassled bartenders.

  “Can I b
uy you a drink, Lorelei?”

  A man leant against the bar, and the downlight picked out his dark hair which fell casually across his forehead. He carried the confident air of someone well aware of his appeal to the opposite sex. There was an unusually perfect symmetry to his features, dark curls framing his face. A smile she'd pulled up one corner of his full mouth. Lorelei found it fascinating that people attract others by having such an arrogant belief in their charms.

  The man's dark eyes looked at her intently, with her unwillingly locked in his gaze. Her neck prickled. Something was odd about him.

  “I'm Caleb,” he said and as he extended a hand to shake, his shirt sleeve riding up his arm revealing an expensive looking watch.

  Lorelei looked at his hand curiously for a moment, unused to shaking hands with people, then she hesitantly placed her hand in his. The moment his fingers curled around her palm, she stumbled forwards, as if something hit her on the back of the head and jolts like electric shocks coursed up her arm.

  Darkness clouded her vision, and her ears whined, and she couldn't see or hear where she was anymore. Images cascaded into her mind—outside the nightclub, in the car park...somewhere, she couldn't keep up with the speed they flashed behind her eyes. She heard herself scream inside the darkness.

  Her vision still clouded, and she snatched her hand away from his. His grip on her hand loosened reluctantly. The electrical sensations in her body slowed to a prickling unease, replaced with a fear spreading through her as the images faded.

  Blinking and trying to get her vision to return to normal, her eyes focused on the man standing in front of her.

  “Are you okay?” he asked, his dark eyes concerned.

  His eyes. She couldn't turn her face away, no longer surprised that he attracted so much attention; he exuded tangible sexuality, something Lorelei had never come across before. It drew her in, making her want to stay and talk to him, but inside her pounding head, something screamed at her to run. Something she didn't understand tugged at the edges of her mind, increasing her fear.

  For a minute she continued to stare at him, trying to focus her mind out of the dream-like state, overwhelmed by her heart pulsing with the mixture of fear and attraction.

  “Maybe you should sit down? You don't look well.” A smile played at the corner of his mouth. He knew the effect he was having on her.

  Lorelei dragged her eyes away from him, finding herself aware of where she was again. “No, it's okay.” She took a step backwards, her inner voice shouting over her foolish physical self to get away from him.

  "Can we talk?" He took a step towards her as she started to back off.

  Someone moved into space at the bar between them, blocking her from Caleb’s view. Lorelei didn't hesitate, she turned and ran downstairs to her friends before he could touch her again.

  Chapter Two

  Tucked away in a corner dark enough for her to hide in safety, Lorelei sat with Scarlet, relieved she finally took a break from dancing to join. Taking a drink from her bottle of beer, Scarlet looked at Lorelei who gripped a bottle of water, still trying to stop shaking.

  “What exactly did this guy do?” asked Scarlet.

  “Nothing. He said hello and shook my hand."

  It was twenty minutes since Caleb touched her and her head still pounded. Since then her mind caused her to imagine things in the shadows of the nightclub. Nothing tangible, dark shapes seen in the corner of her eye that her hyper-vigilant imagination turned into threatening presences.

  “How rude!” said Scarlet, laughing.

  Lorelei shot her an annoyed look. “There's something about him...I felt it.”

  “How could you feel something? You only spoke to him for a minute.” Scarlet looked around the room, distracted. "Did you see where Jamie went?"

  “How did he know my name? I've never seen him before,” she pressed, frowning at her friend—she didn't seem to be listening.

  “Well, a few people here know you—he'd probably noticed you and heard someone else mention you, makes it easier to hit on you if he knows your name.” Scarlet gave up looking for Jamie and turned back to Lorelei, raising an eyebrow.

  “Hit on me?”

  “Yeah, you said yourself he looked like a bit of a player. Must have lined you up to be his next victim.”

  Lorelei shivered slightly at Scarlet's turn of phrase. “I’m not exactly his type. Compared to the girls surrounding him.”

  “There you go, underestimating yourself again. You don’t notice how guys look at you, do you?”

  Lorelei rolled her eyes, not this speech again. She'd stopped paying attention to it long ago. Scarlet often made an issue about how Lorelei looked, and she hated it. She'd rather be nondescript than attract people's attention. Her height and slender build made her awkward—being taller than most of the girls and a lot of the boys in her year at school didn't help. People often commented on her curtain of blonde hair too, and people frequently asked if it was her real colour.

  “You don’t even have to try, and guys swarm around you—he’s just the same as the others. Trying to get a bit of the untouchable Lorelei,” teased Scarlet.

  Her reputation wasn't entirely unfounded, but the real truth was that she wasn't interested in anything or anyone that might interrupt her plans. Her plans at school were to study hard, pass her exams and get out. When she left here, she would meet someone who she’d be interested in too — a guy who’d spend time getting to know her.

  Not someone who'd known her since she played with them in kindergarten. And definitely not the immature boys from school who she watched playing games with Scarlet’s heart. They took up too much time and energy. Lorelei helped Scarlet through so many relationship breakups she wasn't sure that she even wanted to go down that path. Besides, she'd never meet the kind of man she wanted in Grangeton.

  Feedback from one of the speakers on stage interrupted their conversation as the lead singer thanked the crowd. They began their encore the crowd called out for. Before she could say anything else, Scarlet grinned at Lorelei, jumped to her feet and disappeared down the stairs to make the most of the end of the evening.

  Lorelei sighed, too hot to dance, even after the bottle of water, she wasn't cooling down. The heat radiated from her face—she felt like she should be lighting up the room.

  Nobody was leaving yet, and the humidity the crowds created now caused condensation to form on some brightly coloured brickwork. The air stifled her.

  Lorelei pulled a face and considered going to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face to bring relief—it might help with the queasy, dizzy feeling from the heat of the nightclub. Besides, standing in line for the bathroom beat sitting on her own. She glanced in the direction of the stairs neck prickling with vulnerability from sitting on her own.

  The venue wasn't built for the numbers present that night, and the line of girls she waited behind waiting the bathrooms didn't seem to get any shorter. The heat of the nightclub wasn't dissipating either. She fanned herself with a hand as the queue inched forward.

  A breeze touched her neck from somewhere close by, and she looked around. A couple of smokers propped open the fire door nearest the bathrooms, huddled together in the doorway, legs outstretched into the alleyway beyond the door. Going outside for a few minutes looked like a quicker option for cooling down.

  Lorelei held her breath and walked through the fog of tobacco smoke. She manoeuvred around the couple sitting in the doorway, and into the cool summer's evening.

  Crisp air hit her senses; her breath no longer stifled. The dampness on her back evaporated and cooled her skin. She pulled at the back of her dress to let more air touch her body.

  The doorway she walked through led to a side alley holding rows of large red crates, some full of empty bottles, piled up against the wall. The breeze blew across the dimly lit car park, into space. The welcoming air touched her bare arms. Leaning against the wall, Lorelei closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, relieved to escape the muggy
nightclub.

  With the fire door open, the music could still be heard in the quiet of the alleyway. Lorelei concentrated on it, blocking her encounter with Caleb from her thoughts. The image of his eyes burnt into her mind and an imprint of his face appeared when she closed them.

  What was it about him that felt familiar? She shook her head, trying to dislodge the images. Whoever he was, he wasn't the sort of person she wanted to be around. It took all her mental strength to focus on something mundane enough to keep the images at bay. With her eyes still closed, she counted the drum beats, focusing on the repetition.

  The music faded slightly as the heavy door closed with a metallic thud.

  "Hello again." Lorelei snapped opened her eyes. Caleb stood in front of her, smiling at her openly. "I don't blame you—it's pretty hot in there tonight." He leaned against the wall next to her.

  Despite his nonchalant stance, there was an edginess to him that unnerved her. She took a deep breath and kept looking straight ahead, saying nothing.

  Caleb shifted his weight and Lorelei startled, heart racing. Caleb inched away from her. "Sorry, I didn't mean to alarm you, I saw you come out here and was wondering if you were okay? You looked a bit unwell before."

  He turned towards her. Lorelei's scalp prickled. What was his motivation?

  "I'm fine. Thank you." She summoned a polite smile.

  Caleb stood back from the wall and looked at her, eyes shining. "That's good because I wanted to talk to you about something. And it's quieter out here."