Season of Sin (Finding Astrid Book One): Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance

by JL Caid

  It’s scary because I really do have power that I don’t understand.

  I stop walking and watch as Allison approaches Kyran.

  He grabs her hand and kisses it. “You’re walking to me.”

  “I am,” Allison says. “I’m not sure why.”

  “Don’t question anything. Just be here for a moment.”

  Kyran rises up, towering over her. He looks right at me. I smile and nod. I know that I have Kyran now. I know that I have him for a time that will be longer than what he had with Allison. That our love will be different, yet the same. This is his goodbye to the life he had been born into. I’m the forever of the life he was made into.

  Allison touches his face. “This isn’t real, is it?”

  “No,” Kyran says. “I needed to see you again. One last time. To properly say goodbye to you. I’m sorry for what happened. To our house. To you. To our dreams together. It wasn’t supposed to be that way. I was supposed to carry you through the garden until I was too old and weak to do so. Then we were going to sit in the window and watch the garden until our time came.”

  “You always planned things too much,” Allison says. “I told you not to do that. Too much stock in the future is only a let-down.”

  “You always lived in the clouds and were too happy. But you made me happy. My past shouldn’t have cost you your life. Our life.”

  “I’m here now,” Allison says. “I’m here. I’m better. It’s like I stepped out of a bad dream, Kyran. I was in this blackness. And then there was this light. So I stepped into it. Stepped. Then I was here. In the garden.”

  “I know,” Kyran says. “I wanted to see you again.”

  “Again… we’re together now.”

  “Allison, our house…”

  “Look!” Allison cries out.

  Kyran turns and sees that the house is fully built again. It looks nothing like the house he lives in now with his brothers. It’s much smaller, white with black shutters around the windows. It looks like an older country style house. Nothing like the massive brick mansion he lives in now.

  I step forward, not liking where this is going.

  “Our house is fine,” Allison says. “This was all a dream.”

  “Oh, Allison, it’s not that at all,” Kyran says. “I made this happen. So I could see you one last time. Say goodbye. A real goodbye.”

  “Goodbye? Why? Are you leaving me? I can walk now. That means you’ll love me more. We may be able to have children now. If everything is back to normal.”

  Kyran touches her arms. He opens his mouth but doesn’t say a word.

  This is the moment they warned about.

  Kyran could tell Allison the truth. Or he could crack and not want to leave.

  This is why they aren’t supposed to travel back.

  “We’re together,” Allison says. “Our house. Our garden. Everything you’ve done for me.”

  “It’s not that simple,” Kyran says. “Allison, please listen to me.”

  “What?”

  “I’ll never forget you, even if I have to let you go,” he says. “There’s so much more beyond this world than you know. Where you end up, that’s where you belong. You can miss me, but don’t worry about me.”

  “What are you saying?”

  Kyran pulls Allison close. He cups her face. I suddenly have tears in my eyes. I’m not exactly jealous, but I sort of wish I could have known Kyran like this. As the man before the vampire. As the man willing to spend his life carrying his disabled love around a garden he built for her.

  When he kisses her, my body surges with something like anger, but I fight it away.

  I watch as Allison’s knees bend. But not in the way my knees bend when Kyran kisses me.

  “I can’t feel my legs,” Allison whispers.

  “What?” Kyran asks.

  The ground begins to shake. I look around and see all the flowers start to curl up into themselves. They curl tightly together as though they are trying to hide.

  “Allison, no,” Kyran says.

  She’s on the ground now, touching her legs. Kyran starts to scoop her up.

  That’s when I see two men dressed all in black appear on the wide deck where Kyran and Allison are.

  “Kyran!” I cry out.

  He looks back and decides to leave Allison on the ground. He stands and turns as aman flashes a knife. Kyran takes a step toward the man and he throws the knife. It plunges into Kyran’s gut and he slumps forward.

  “No!” I cry out.

  I start to run toward the scene.

  There are four more men now.

  I realize what’s happening.

  It’s the hunters.

  The ones who came to burn the house down and kill Kyran for his blood.

  Kyran drops to one knee as the two hunters run toward him. The other ones kick open the door and rush inside. Allison just lays there on the deck, staring up at the sky. As I run by her, I look down at her, but she doesn’t look at me.

  When I get to Kyran he shows me his hands. They’re covered in blood.

  “Astrid… what’s happening…”

  “You’re dying again,” I say. “Fuck.”

  There is no changing him for a second time. And if he dies here, then the bond can never happen with the rest.

  I see one of the hunters produce a gun. I stand and throw a fist, punching him in the face. I’ve never punched someone like that before. The hunter goes sailing through the air like a toy. I turn and lift my elbow, hitting the other hunter in the jaw, knocking him out.

  I grab Kyran’s arm and pull. “We have to go, right now.”

  He struggles to get to his feet. There’s a knife stuck in his stomach. I think about pulling it out but decide against it, thinking it may make him bleed out. And if he dies…

  “Shit, shit, shit,” I whisper.

  There are more hunters now. They storm the deck in a massive group.

  “Allison,” Kyran says.

  “She’s right…”

  I look to the spot where she had been on the deck, but she’s gone now. All that remains is the outline of her body and that slowly begins to seep into the wood.

  There’s the smashing of glass and a sudden woosh sound.

  I look back and see flames shooting out of the upstairs windows.

  I know that Allison is up there. And I know what’s going to happen to her. There’s nothing I can do to change it though. We were able to step back into a memory and mess with some elements, but time is far too powerful to mess with.

  Kyran stutter steps as he walks with me.

  There are gunshots and I feel a stinging pain in my back. I’m being shot. But the bullets aren’t hurting me. Kyran suddenly jumps forward and falls to his knees again. There’s a black hole on the right side of his back.

  He’s been shot.

  I look back and see the group of hunters charging at us.

  With no other choice, I put my hand out. I quickly close it tightly and grit my teeth. I envision the bones of their legs becoming white ash. At the exact same time, they all crumble to the ground.

  I turn back to Kyran and fall to my knees. “We have to get back.”

  “No,” he says. “I’m going to die here. With her.”

  “No you’re not, Kyran. What about the bond? What about your brothers?”

  He lifts his head and his green eyes burn at me. “I wanted to give you everything, Astrid. I’m sorry I did this.”

  “There is no sorry. You saw what you wanted to see. You touched her one last time. You know the truth can’t be changed. Destiny is what time leaves behind, Kyran. And right now, my destiny is you. Your brothers. Your destiny is me. We have to go so we can save you.”

  “I can’t be saved,” Kyran says. “I’m dying. I know what it feels like, Astrid.”

  I swing my hand and slap him across the face. He’s been stabbed, shot… and now slapped.

  His eyes go wide and he opens his mouth. I see his teeth. Perfect teeth. No f
angs. It’s a strange sight.

  “You feel it,” I whisper. “Now stand up and hurry.”

  I help Kyran to his feet.

  Behind him the house is ablaze. The giant flames reach out of the shattered windows and hug the house, determined to bring it down.

  Another group of hunters spots us and someone makes the command to kill Kyran for good.

  I slip my hands to his shoulders. I want to hug him, but there’s a knife still protruding from his stomach. I ease my left hand to his face while my right hand dances down his muscles until I find the knife.

  “Kiss me,” I whisper.

  Kyran lowers down and presses his lips to mine.

  We kiss. His tongue flirts with mine. His lavender sadness blankets me as I take a firm grip around the end of the knife.

  I pull the knife from him, drop it to the ground, and quickly press my body to his. I feel the warmth of his blood against my naked body. The hunters are closing in. Guns firing. More popping and shattering from the burning house.

  I jump up and force Kyran to catch me.

  He groans in pain and steps back, messing up his footing, and he falls.

  But I fall with him, in his arms.

  Together, we fall into darkness.

  11.

  I wake up and scramble from the bed. I find the robe on the floor and put it on. There’s nobody else in the room but me. I grit my teeth, sick of the games in this house and with the four of them. I tear open the door and look up and down the hallway. I choose right and have no idea why. As I race down the hallway, I call their names.

  Seth! Layre! Darick! Kyran!

  I keep running. The hallway feels like it will never end. It’s just door after door after door. I have the feeling as though I’m in a giant hotel and I just keep running in circles, my mind playing tricks on me that I’m never going to find steps or a way out. Or anything.

  As I start to panic, a door opens and Darick steps out.

  I crash right into his hard body, gasping for air as I lose my breath.

  His arms wrap around me and he turns to get me to stop.

  I have no idea how or why I’m able to breathe, even though I’m dead and I have no heart.

  “Calm down, babe,” Darick says.

  “Where is he? Is he okay? What happened?”

  “Come with me,” Darick says.

  He takes me into a room.

  Seth and Layre are sitting on either side of a large bed with Kyran in it. He’s shirtless and I can see the blood from the second I walk into the room.

  “Did you fix him?” I call out.

  “We can’t change him again,” Layre says.

  “He’s gone?”

  “Barely alive,” Seth says.

  I look at Darick.

  “Someone do something!”

  “Astrid, this was part of the risk,” Layre says. “We all knew this could happen.”

  “He got too lost in it,” Seth says. “We should have realized Allison would have been able to walk again. That’s what got to him. Seeing her walk. Hearing her confusion. We should have been fucking smarter.”

  “We voted and this is the result,” Darick says. “He got what he wanted.”

  “Don’t be an asshole about it,” I say.

  “Where’s our bond now?” Darick asks.

  I shut my mouth and swallow hard.

  “We can figure this out still,” Layre says.

  I stand next to Layre and look down at Kyran. It’s hard to see him like that. Vulnerable. Hurting. Dying.

  “No,” I say. “If you three even consider giving up right now, then fuck you. Fuck you all. You’re not who I thought you were. I’ll walk out of this house and face whatever is waiting. Or better yet, I’ll channel my own memory and I’ll go back to the night I died. And I’ll die again. So my blood is worthless.”

  “That’s impossible,” Seth says. “You can never truly die, Astrid. It’s your curse.”

  Layre touches my hand. “It’s okay, angel. We need to be here for our falling brother.”

  I rip my hand away. “No. You all need to stand here and do something for him.” I look at Darick. “And you… after everything you showed me… told me…”

  Darick takes his sunglasses off and drops them. “You have the power, Astrid. You want us to do something? We can’t change him. We can bite him a million times and it will do nothing but leave wounds. You have the power. Stop focusing on us. Focus on you.” He leans down and whispers to me, “Think about what I gave you…”

  What he gave me?

  I step back and hug myself.

  I slide my hands down and I feel something in the pocket of the robe. I reach into it and pull out something I forgot about.

  The vial of blood. The one Darick gave to me from the wood carving. When that woman hunter killed the vampire. He stole the blood vial from her hand and gave it to me.

  “What the hell is that?” Seth asks.

  Darick grins. “Insurance.”

  “Blood,” I say.

  “Where did you get that?” Layre asks as he stands up.

  “Darick gave it to me,” I say.

  “What is that blood going to do?” Seth asks.

  “It’s the blood from a very wealthy vampire,” Darick says. “A vampire that spent his life healing those who needed it. His touch cured people.”

  “You stole blood from a carving,” Layre says. He moves fast and suddenly has a hand wrapped around Darick’s throat. “Do you not realize the hell you will bring to us?”

  Darick throws Layre out of the way. “I didn’t steal blood from a carving. Astrid did.”

  “What?” Seth asks.

  “I took the vial and gave it to Astrid. She crossed from the carving to here with it. She’s had it in her possession. I’ve never touched it after crossing. Technically, we didn’t steal it.”

  Layre swallows hard.

  “What are you talking about?” I ask.

  “There are different types of blood,” Seth says. “Some rare. The blood you have there is a healing blood. If we cross over with blood from a different time, it’s poisoned. If we try to use it, death happens. And we are punished.”

  “But you took the blood,” Darick says to me. “So it’s not poisoned.”

  “We don’t know that,” Layre says.

  There’s silence for a few seconds.

  “We have no choice,” Seth says. “We give it to Kyran. If he… dies… well, if we don’t, he’s going to die.”

  I look at the vial of blood. “What do I do?”

  “Pour it into the wound,” Darick says. “We cannot touch it. We’ll ruin it.”

  “This is insane,” Layre says.

  “It’s our only chance,” Darick says.

  “He’s right,” Seth says.

  The three of them back away, leaving me to tend to Kyran on the bed.

  I stand there, looking down at him. With my hands shaking, I pluck the cap off the vial. I see a small pinkish cloud lift out of it. I gently place my right hand on Kyran’s chest.

  “I love you, Kyran,” I whisper.

  I pour the blood into the wound and drop the vial to the bed. I place my other hand to the open wound and hold it there.

  We all wait in silence for something to happen.

  I count ten seconds and stop.

  Then I count twenty and stop.

  I stop counting because it’s making me sick.

  Kyran suddenly opens his eyes and looks at me. The green color fills his eyes completely and he slowly shuts them.

  “No,” I whisper. “No. No. No.”

  “Fuck,” Layre whispers.

  “Brother,” Seth says. “Dark travels to your restless soul…”

  Darick storms the bed on the opposite side and stares down at Kyran. “No. This is impossible.”

  “I tried,” I say. I start to slide my hands from Kyran’s body. “I tried…”

  Kyran’s left hand comes to life and grabs my arm. He lets out a gasp and a
growl and starts to sit up. The noise that comes from his mouth is like a lion or something. His mouth opens and his head falls back, showing off his fangs.

  “Fangs!” I cry out. “He’s back!”

  “Fucking hell,” Layre says. “It worked.”

  Kyran opens his eyes and looks around. “Where am I?”

  “Dead,” Seth says.

  “Good dead or bad dead?”

  “Depends on how you look at it,” Darick says.

  Kyran looks down. We all do. His stab wound is gone. I look at his back and see the gunshot wound is gone too.

  I crash down to the bed and hug him.

  “You’re here,” I whisper.

  “So are you, angel,” Kyran says. “I should have never done that.”

  “But you did,” Darick says.

  “You saved him,” I say, lifting my head from Kyran’s broad shoulder and look at Darick.

  Everyone looks at Darick now.

  “Yeah? So?”

  “You saved me?” Kyran asks.

  “He stole blood for you,” Layre says.

  “Stole? How?” Kyran’s eyes go wide. “You know that it becomes poison.”

  “She took it,” Darick says and nods at me.

  Kyran looks at me. “You… when…”

  “Darick took me into one of the carvings.”

  “You really did save me,” Kyran says. “How did you know, brother?”

  Darick reaches for Kyran’s shoulder and touches it. “You know my past, Kyran. I know my past bothers you and forever will. Same with you all. I can talk about what I did and why, but you’d never truly listen to me. We’re a brotherhood here. We have things to do here. I knew you, Kyran, wouldn’t contain yourself. You were left alone with Astrid and tried to get to Allison. I knew you’d make us vote on a chance to see her one last time. What you didn’t understand was that going into a memory isn’t pleasant. You wouldn’t have listened if I said that. You would have made comments about the hunters and them being my friends. So I had to let you do it. To see what the memory really does to you. It fucks with you. It shows you a glimmer of hope and then crushes you. I knew you’d stand there and get hurt. I wanted to show Astrid some of our lives and explain the power of blood. I saw an opportunity with the wealthy healer and swiped the blood that was taken from him. I gave it to Astrid before we crossed over and she’s the one who did it. So it didn’t become poisoned.”