by Ana Calin
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
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including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the author except in the case of brief quotations
embodied in reviews.
Publisher’s Note:
This is a work of fiction,
the work of the author’s imagination.
Any resemblance to real persons or events is
coincidental.
Copyright October 2019 – Ana Calin
Table of Contents
Copyright Page
CHAPTER I
CHAPTER II
CHAPTER III
CHAPTER IV
CHAPTER V
CHAPTER VI
CHAPTER VII
CHAPTER VIII
TO BE CONTINUED
CHAPTER I
Lucy
I down another drink as I watch campus golden boy Chase—acclaimed quarterback and my wet dream—flirt with a blonde beauty. Dressed as a vampire with net stockings and a leather corset, she lights up Chase’s fantasies.
Jealousy pounds in my ears along with the music, twisting my heart like an evil claw. Look at her with her shiny hair, long legs, wasp waist and perfectly tight buttocks. Half the guys here are drooling after her. I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes high with Chase, and I should have gone for the Morticia Addams outfit tonight. That way I would at least still have my dignity. I look like a prostitute under a red light in this frayed witch dress, wearing dark red lipstick and wild red hair. Well, at least the hair is natural.
“You should have told me the outfit was too much,” I grunt in Sadie’s ear, who is a devil tonight, and my bff the rest of the year. “I look desperate.”
“You look sexy af.” She sips her drink. “Don’t you see how the other guys check you out?”
They do, with dirty lust in their eyes.
“They stare like they would take me to a bathroom stall for a quickie.” My eyes pan over to Chase and the blonde again. “Not the way he stares at her. Like he would take her on a bed of roses.”
“You should tell him,” Sadie says. “You’re friends, you’ve been friends for years. Grab him, say you need to talk. Make it clear you’re into him. That means making the first move, which kinda sucks, but at least you’ll know where you stand with him. The torture will be over.”
Sadie returns her full attention to the search for her own straying crush, while I down this glass—how many have I even had? I keep my eyes on Chase and the blonde. He brushes her hair behind her naked shoulder now, slowly, tenderly, in all the ways he never touched me.
Sadie is right, it’s now or never. I wipe my mouth on my sleeve, and scramble off the barstool. My head is spinning, and I’m wobbly on my feet, but I manage to close the distance between Chase and me in a straight line. My heart beats like crazy as I grab his arm.
I don’t hear my own words as I say them to him, or even my thoughts over the pounding from the blood rushing to my head. It’s like my entire body wants to warn me off, screaming at me not to do it, but it’s too late. Chase stares down at me stricken. Apparently I’ve done more than just tell him I’d like us to talk, I just told him how I feel.
The blonde raises an eyebrow as if she can’t believe my audacity, and then she bursts into loud, hysterical laughter. It’s only when I glance around, confused, that I catch my own reflection against the mirrored bar wall, and realize that my lipstick is smeared all over my mouth. Crap, I forgot I wiped it on my sleeve!
Hot blood fills my cheeks. I wish the earth would split and swallow me. What the hell have I been thinking? I scurry away, the music pounding behind me.
I push the swinging doors open and run out into the chilly October night right when the church tower clock strikes midnight. A chilling sensation creeps up my back.
“Luce!” It’s Sadie, running after me. I walk faster, crossing my arms over my chest.
“I want to be alone, Sadie, please.” My breath turns to mist in the cool air.
“No, what happened?”
“Didn’t you see what happened?” I snarl over my shoulder, boiling with frustration. It stops Sadie in her tracks.
I run as fast as I can, putting distance between us, not even caring that I’m heading towards the park. It’s a dangerous place at night, but it’s the one place I know neither Sadie nor Chase will follow me. It borders on the Thorny Forest east of Silverdale, a place so thick and tangled that no one ever dares venture into it.
A red full moon hangs low in the sky, casting a creepy light over the park. Twigs crunch under my feet as I bend down to avoid scratching myself on the low jagged branches, bracing myself against the chill. The strange sensation from before returns, the skin rising on the back of my neck up to my scalp.
“Well, well, well, what do we have here?”
I freeze in my tracks. It’s four of the Campus Goons, the ‘bad boy’ club every prick on campus dreams to be on. I don’t even want to think about what they’re doing here at this hour. I recognize the leader, a dealer and an addict, despite the skull make-up on his face. There’s no mistaking his long oily hair, his Frankenstein-like frame with the big shoulders and short legs, not to mention his stench.
“Leave me alone, Blade,” I hiss at him, giving him the baddest look I’m capable of.
He drains his can of beer, crushing it in his fist, then tossing it away. A grin cracks his painted skull lips.
“So that’s what you’re really about, Lucy Pussy? All highbrow all year, and then boom. Dirty witch comes on to quarterback at the Halloween party, lipstick smeared all over her mouth, probably from a blowjob.”
Whattt?
“I’m a virgin, you dirt bag,” I growl, looking daggers at him. His breath touches my face as he leans to me, smelling of beer and vomit. I step away, but he grabs my hair and forces me in place. I hiss at the pain.
“A virgin, ai? Don’t tell me, sucking cocks so you can keep your pussy fresh for Chase. How about you suck all four of us right here, right now, if you don’t want us to rip the wrapping on that present?” He grins, and for a moment I think I see saliva dripping off his teeth.
Anger twists my stomach as I try to yank myself from his hold, but he wrenches me back, pulling so hard on my hair that I scream. He applies pressure to send me down to my knees, but I resist with all I have. The others draw closer, laughing low and dangerous. The skull makeup on Blade’s face cracks in so many places he’s creepier than any other mask I’ve seen tonight.
“I’m gonna fill your jaws with a big, thick cock,” Blade growls as he twists his fist in my hair, his hand working on his fly. I scream, my heart beating wildly.
“That’s it, scream for me, open that smeared mouth.”
I clench my jaw and screw my eyes shut so tightly they hurt. A vision of flames arises, the stench of charred bodies hitting my nostrils. I can even feel the scorching heat on my skin. My eyes snap open.
Only it isn’t Blade that I see, at least not the way I saw him a moment ago. He’s hanging from a knotty, thorny black tree with swaying branches as if it were alive, his eyes bloody and bulging, his tongue swollen out of his mouth. The sky flares red with fire behind him, roaring in my ears.
My head hits the ground, and I snap out of the vision. I sit up, confused, taking a hand to my head. The four bullies close in, looming over me with an
gry stares. Good, God, what just happened? I try to scramble away from them, but I’m sprawled on the ground, and slip on wet leaves caked with mud.
“What did you say, red bitch?” Blade’s furious. I want to speak, but my voice comes out hoarse, as if I’ve just overly strained my vocal cords. What did I say to him?
He darts down and grabs my jaw, his bony hand like a vise threatening to break my face.
“You wanna see me dangling strangled from a tree, ai? You red whore, I’ll fuck those fantasies out of you.”
He throws me back on the ground. I skid on the mud, the other three bullies hurrying to hold me down while Blade unbuckles his leather belt. I realize what’s going to happen and try to scream with all of my might, but my voice is lost.
“Trick or treat, red bitch,” Blade says with evil hunger.
I struggle desperately in the bullies’ hold, but their hands are like chains, and my strength is nothing compared to theirs. I have no way out, my only option is to will my way out of this somehow, or succumb to reality.
That’s when I feel the air around me thinning, as if the night were falling apart, like disintegrating fabric. Reality itself is fraying. Black hands emerge from the black beyond the night, hands like living tree branches that grab Blade and pull him into a swirling black hole that gapes wider.
His scream rips through the night, like the howl of an animal. His friends cry out and run, leaving me to scramble off the wet ground, but all I can do is crawl away, my eyes fixed on the claws ripping the leather jacket off of Blade. Streaks of blood emerge from under the sharp black nails that seem to be made of tree bark.
I know this is all my doing, but I can’t bring myself to feel guilty about it. Still, once Blade disappears into the blackness, his eyes bloodshot from pain, and fixed on me as if he knows I’m responsible for what’s happening to him, I panic. The rip in the fabric of reality grows larger, darker, dozens of gnarled hands creeping out and reaching for me.
I force myself to my feet and run, kicking the shoes off my feet. I can feel the spinning black hole close behind me, a vortex tugging at my hair and my back. It drives me towards the dark thorny trees, but I can’t plunge into the thicket, I won’t get out of there again. No one ever has.
I turn, facing the vortex, bracing myself to fight the black arms reaching for me. I don’t know where I got the strength from, I just know I won’t go down without a fight. I clench my fists and take a deep breath, but then the air shifts. It blows cold, like ice whipping over my face. A whistling sound rips through my eardrums as a man with flowing golden hair places himself in front of me like a protective shield.
Jesus Christ, he must be an angel. His head shines like a halo, the dozens of demon arms shrieking and flailing as if the mere sight of him causes them unbearable pain. I watch incredulous how the powerful muscles of his back flex through a leather jacket. He moves like he’s wielding weapons but then I glimpse something else in his hands, and I begin to doubt my sanity. Are those fireballs?
Circles of fire spin through the black hole, the arms raging as the fire strikes them. His bolts force the vortex back, making it constrict. He goes after it, his moves fluid like he’s done this a thousand times before. Soon, both the black hole and the man are far enough from me that a coherent thought can form in my head—run.
I sprint in the direction of the dancing hall, screaming Sadie’s name, but just before I emerge into the parking lot, a weight pushes against my back and tackles me to the ground.
“Jesus Christ, no,” I shriek, struggling under my attacker’s body, but when powerful arms turn me around and I see golden hair framing what must be an angel face, I stop. It’s the man who saved me from the shadows.
Only that he’s not a human man. He can’t be. He’s too beautiful, the reality of his face too sharp. I swear he reminds me of an elf from fantasy movies. He pins me on the ground under him, holding my wrists above my head as his face looms over mine. I can’t make a sound, I just stare at him. His skin is icy white, contrasting with his golden eyes like living amber, and his lips, oh God, his lips.
“Calm down,” he says in a fluid baritone made for seduction. I shake my head in an attempt to pull myself back together. No, sexy angels don’t exist.
But I can’t deny the reality of him, not when I feel his hard body against mine through the open sides of his leather jacket and his flimsy white shirt. The contours of his muscles dig into my flesh, and arousal trickles into my panties. The angel-like man sniffs the air, and looks down between us with a frown. Oh, God, don’t tell me he smelled it.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” he says calmly. “I’ll free your hands now and help you up. But you have to promise that you won’t run away from me.” When he doesn’t get confirmation, he brings his face closer. His scent, it’s surreal; he smells green, fresh, of wild forests. “Remember that I’m the only thing that stands between you and a horde of raging demons.”
My skin crawls at the scene he puts in my head. I nod, which satisfies the angel. He comes to his feet and holds out his hand, helping me up.
“What the hell just happened? Who are you?” I whisper. Gazing up at him I feel so small and vulnerable. He’s tall and broad-shouldered, just like I always imagined a guardian angel would be.
He looks around, scanning the area. “Is there a quiet place where we can talk? This parking lot is already crowding.”
A drunk group emerges form the party, laughing and hanging on each other with drinks in their hands.
I look down at myself, my whole outfit covered in mud, wet leaves sticking to my toes. “Don’t take this as that kind of invitation, but we need to go to my dorm first. I can’t go anywhere else like this, I need to freshen up.”
“We can’t go the dorms. Danger would follow you there. You’d be putting everyone else at risk.”
“Me, putting others at risk?”
“We can’t have this conversation here.” He stares at the approaching group. They’re already quieter, having taken an interest in us, and it obviously worries the angel.
“All right. There’s a diner right off campus. There won’t be many people there at this hour on Halloween, just a waitress who’s seen worse than—” I motion down to myself. “Well, this.”
Lucy
I KEEP STARING AT THIS incredible creature sitting opposite from me, his white shirt molding broad shoulders and an athletic chest. My hands tighten around my mug of hot chocolate, his leather jacket hanging heavy on my small shoulders. Even though we’ve been inside for a good quarter of an hour now, shivers still go through me as I look at him with his golden hair that reaches his shoulders, so smooth he seems an elf from Tolkien’s books. His face, beautiful but masculine at the same time, is out of this world.
“Are you an angel?” I whisper.
“Let’s just say that I’m not entirely human.” He reaches over the table, cupping my hands over the mug with his huge warm palms.
“I will give you answers, Lucia, but first—”
“Lucy,” I correct him, staring lost at his face. “Call me Lucy. Lucia is too, I don’t know, it sounds stern.”
Lucia Reid. One might as well say Cat Lady With A Stick Up Her Ass.
“All right. Lucy. Before I start explaining in such a way that things also make sense to you, I need to know exactly how you summoned those creature tonight. What were you doing in a dark park at midnight on Halloween?”
“If you’re implying that I’m a witch doing some kind of rituals, I must disappoint you.”
“I’m not implying anything. I’m asking because I need to understand how that...” He ponders his choice of words. “Swirling black hole appeared.”
I crease my forehead, focusing and trying to remember the details.
“I remember seeing Chase come on to another other girl at the party. I—” The scene of my grabbing his arm and telling him God knows what rips through my mind. “I ran out, and bumped into four bullies that wanted a piece of me. Next thing I know
, a vision hits me, of the baddest one hanging from a tree, his tongue out, the sky on fire. I probably talked during the vision, because he got mad as hell. Then reality ripped open, or at least that’s how it felt.” I sip my hot chocolate, which does me good, anchoring me back into my body.
“What’s your name?” I whisper at the angel, who keeps watching me. It’s an awkward feeling, a man staring at me like this.
“Silas.”
“Silas.” I say it like a prayer. “You look like a Silas, too.”
He gives me the hint of a smile. I can tell he doesn’t smile much.
“How did you, I mean, you popped out of nowhere. How, how—?” But I can’t even formulate the question coherently, that’s how incredible it seems.
“It’s not easy to answer your questions, Lucy. You need preparation before you’ll be able to embrace these things. And you need to rest, you’re drained.”
“Even if by some absurd chance I could rest, where do you suppose that I do it? At the dorms I’d be endangering everybody. That thing, that—“ I circle my hand in the air, mimicking the swirling movement of the vortex. “Might come looking for me.”
His amber eyes meet mine. “Which is why I need you to come with me to the only safe place there is for people like you.”
“People like me?”
He leans back, his hands falling off of mine.
“Finish your chocolate, and I’ll show you.”
I should know better than to simply go with a stranger, but what choice do I have. The idea alone of that vortex of demons finding me again gives me the chills. I feel deep to my bones that, whatever he is, Silas is the only creature that can keep me safe.
Silas
THE GIRL IS AWFULLY quiet during our ride to the Lord Protector’s mansion. I try to keep my eyes on the road, but I can’t help glancing at her from time to time. She’s made herself small in the passenger’s seat, gathering my jacket tightly around her delicate frame, her hair falling in tangled ringlets of fire down her back and arms.
As much as I try to push it from my head, I can’t help thinking how special Lucia Reid is. Even if I’d met her under different circumstances, I would have guessed at a glance she was a supernatural. There’s something about her, probably the combination of those crystal blue eyes and the fair, freckled skin that compels me to stare. I should be alarmed.