Fading Into Darkness: The Under Series Book 2

by Dakota Lake

  Jet black hair that was just the right amount of scruffiness, like it had been styled that way, shorter at the sides and perfectly dishevelled on top. Eyes the colour of green grass and a smile that made my own lips curl up thinking about it. It was a smile that made me want to break the rules.

  I heard the distinct rattle of a chain before I'd even opened my eyes. I blinked them open and realised I was laying on the floor. I was back in the dimly lit tunnel, that smelled of earth and smoke. I sat up quickly not wanting to be laying on the dirty floor and shook away any dirt from my hair.

  “Ahem,” someone cleared their throat.

  I looked to my left and saw Mack sitting cross legged next to the floor. Today he was in his holey black jeans and boots and he was shirtless. His wrist was chained the same as before. “I've been waiting ages for you to wake up.” he said half smiling at me.

  “Was I asleep long?” I asked confused. Last time I had come straight here.

  “Well you were laying there for almost a minute but it seemed like forever waiting for you to open your eyes.”

  We talked for well over an hour not that I could be sure, there wasn't exactly a clock on the wall and I didn't have a watch.

  “So let me see if I've got this right. Your name is Jessie McCormack and you're friends with Micah and my brother Seth. Micah's special ability is he has visions of the future, he saw me involved in a car accident and that's why my brother moved me to Heaven's Point, to keep me safe. But Micah also had another vision that if I met you I would somehow get caught up in everything and someone from the fight club would see me and try to kidnap me and that's why he told you to stay away from me.” I said scooting a little closer to him in my cross legged sitting position.

  “Yes but....” he said wanting me to continue to see if I'd remembered everything he had told me correctly.

  “But it wasn't the fallen that was going to kidnap, even though it seemed that way it was Cam all along.”

  “Yep.”

  “So you were supposed to stay away from me?” I asked raising my eyebrow curiously. He hadn't gone into too much detail about it.

  “Yes.”

  “But you didn't instead you changed your name and followed me to school. That's kind of stalkerish.” I smiled. “So we were friends?” I continued.

  “Sort of,” he replied hesitantly watching me with guarded eyes.

  “What does sort of mean? You didn't throw paper airplanes at me and pull my ponytail to get my attention did you?”

  “No. Now keep going, tell me about the other thing we've been talking about.”

  “Okay. So before I turned eighteen I wasn't a fully formed Nephilim so when I tried to look inside a fallen's head I would pass out because it was too much for me to take. But now when I try because I'm a full Nephilim I can get inside a fallen's head and dig around for whatever information I want and we both pass out and they have no idea that I was even in their head. Wow! This is complicated stuff. Okay so I can hear human thoughts easily and read their minds but it doesn't work on anything that isn't human. If I want to know what's going on in their minds (for example a fallen angel) I have to concentrate and look in their eyes and I somehow get swept into their mind. Have I got that right?”

  “Yep. I think that sounds about right. Before when you looked in my head when we were....up there in the real world, you collapsed in front of me and you probably caught a glimpse of a past memory. But now you're stronger you can dig around for the exact memory you're looking for and you take the fallen angel whoever it is with you. They fall asleep while you dig around in their head. Anyway I think that's how it works from everything you've told me and everything I know.” “That explains why Senka and I collapsed on his bed and he can't remember even falling asleep.” “Bed?” Mack asked curiously.

  “Erm...we were watching a movie together. I don't have a TV in my room. But going back a minute, what we're doing now is something completely different all together. Because I can't see you physically, I just imagine what you look like and end up inside your mind and you pass out wherever you are on the spot and we can do this, have a conversation as if we were really together. But what about when we were both asleep?”

  “I think it works both ways, we can visit each other in our sleep but I think it's because of your gift. I've never done that before with anyone else. But it was random and we both had to be asleep for it to work. Now you're stronger neither of us have to be asleep you can visit me whenever you want. I'm never going to be able to get rid of you.” he joked knocking me with his knee. “Don't worry I won't over stay my welcome.”

  “Yes you will.”

  “Is that safe, you collapsing on the spot without warning?”

  “It's okay, I'm a quick healer if I do fall and hurt myself. No one noticed last time and I doubt they will this time.”

  “Speaking about healing. I cut myself the other day and Senka wrapped it up for me. Then when I went back to check on it to see how it was healing, it was completely gone. Not even a scratch.” “Full Nephilim heal fast. Scratches take seconds, cuts take minutes, tears and larger wounds take longer. Bones take a few hours usually.”

  “That's insane!”

  “If you're damaged real bad a bit of rest and food should soon sort you out. But obviously if you loose a limb that wont grow back.”

  “How does that work with the ageing process?”

  “It doesn't, you wont age. You'll always look the same as you do now. Forever young.” “Can I die?”

  “Well yeah if you have your head ripped off or your internal organs pulled out or....” “That's gross.” I said cutting him off.

  “But Nephilim bodies are stronger than humans, not as fragile so they can take quite a beating.” “Good to know. What about you?” I asked.

  “What about me?”

  “I'm guessing you're older than you look.”

  “Maybe.”

  “So you don't age either?”

  “Nope. But are bodies are made up of different materials to yours. We have all the same internal organs but we weren't made to be human so our bodies work differently and when we fell the gravity and the earth's atmosphere changed the way our bodies function. We do need to rest but very rarely. And we don't eat food our bodies don't need it to sustain themselves but we do need to keep ourselves hydrated. Energy drinks work well for some reason they keep our bodies going for longer so sleep is a rare activity. That's why I was sleeping more down here, there are no energy drinks on the menu. Just water.”

  “Do you have a heartbeat?” I asked curiously.

  The other morning when Senka was passed out I'd checked his pulse. He didn't have one. “Um sort of, it's really slow though. It's just the way our bodies work. Our heart beats like two times a minute or something like that. We get mistaken for being dead quite a lot.”

  “So how old you?” I asked. I'd been wanting to ask him his age for a while, I was really curious about it.

  “Probably too old for you.” he smirked.

  “And Cam is a death tracker?”

  “From what I remember about him and everything you've told me you've heard. Yes it appears he's a death tracker.”

  “Death tracker,” I repeated. “Saying that out loud sounds like I'm talking about some paranormal TV series not real life. And Kenzie as well and they collect souls and take them to....” “To Hell. They take them to their final destination.” he said finishing my sentence for me. “How do you know about this?” I asked.

  “I don't know much about it. I've heard people talking about trackers before but they're like a myth. I never knew whether they were real or not. I knew there was Hell even before I fell but I didn't know it had caretakers. That's why when I saw Cam I thought there was something strange about him but I didn't even take it into consideration he was a tracker. I saw the mark on his arm which I've seen before on many fallen but I thought it was a private club or something.” “You mean this?” I said holding out my hand to show him.
<
br />   “Yes.”

  “I think it's the mark of Under. I've seen this mark on both death trackers and fallen. Why do I have one?”

  “I don't know?” Ruby,”

  “Hmm,” I replied.

  “You need to get out of there you don't belong down there. You don't belong with Cam.” “I know but it's not as easy as hopping over the garden wall and running away. I don't think I'm even in...in I don't know...I don't think I'm anywhere near this Heaven's Point you told me about. I think I'm in 'Under' if that makes any sense. I can't just stroll out the front gates when I don't even know where I'm going or what's on the other side.”

  “Is there anything....anything you can think of that might be useful, anything you've overheard or someone you can trust that might help?”

  My thoughts went straight to Senka but I didn't want to get him trouble with Cam, same went for Kenzie. Then there was Alex, Alex was probably the one person that didn't like me staying at the manor and from what I'd seen in Senka's memory it made sense why he wasn't thrilled about me being there. But I think I might have found a way of making him talk. I knew there was something he wanted. Maybe he would answer a few of my questions?

  “Actually....I think there might be someone.”

  “That's good. Who is this person?”

  “His name's Alex he lives in the manor.”

  “And you can trust him?”

  “Definitely not. But I think I can make a deal with him.”

  “You sure you know what you're doing?”

  “No, but it's worth a shot. Otherwise I'm out of options. I don't think anyone else is going to help.” “So you hang out with this Senka a lot?” he asked pulling at a hole in his jeans.

  “How did we go from discussing my escape plan to that?”

  “Sorry. It's just you say his name an awful lot.”

  “Oh do I? I dunno it gets a bit lonely back at the manor and he's nice to me. But he's not going to help me escape as he works too closely with Cam.”

  Mack sat quietly and looked at the floor.

  “Mack I'm going to get you out of here.”

  “Ruby. Don't worry about me, concentrate on finding a way out of where you are.” “I should really get back, there's probably someone looking for me.”

  I stood up and brushed myself down and Mack held onto the chain pulling himself up. “Thanks for talking to me.” I said.

  “I wanted to tell you. I mean before I wanted to tell you, before everything went wrong and you lost your memory and I ended up here. But your brother didn't want you finding out too soon, he wanted to protect you.”

  “I can see why, it's a lot to take in, finding out you're immortal is a pretty huge deal. At least now I know I'm not going crazy. Thank you for being honest.”

  He laughed softly and looked at me from under his dark eyelashes.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I haven't been completely honest with you.”

  “About what?”

  “About us.”

  “Us?” I asked curiously.

  “We weren't just friends. You mean a whole lot more to me and I think you felt the same way.” He was looking at me differently. His eyes looked darker and smouldered with a hunger behind them and I couldn't tear mine away from his. I always felt there was more between us, now it made sense. But I still couldn't remember.

  He stepped forward and my feet became rooted to the floor. I knew what he wanted and suddenly that was all I wanted. I wanted him to kiss me. I couldn't stop my eyes as they drifted down his face to his lips. I had kissed those lips before. He stepped closer and my gaze dropped down to the floor as his boots came toe to toe with my feet. My breathing had sped up and my heart was thudding in my chest. The chain rattled as his hand moved over to mine and his fingers entangled with mine. I looked down at our hands, our skin was the same colour but his was dirty covered in black dirt. I felt something graze along my chin. He gently tilted my chin up and his lips slowly found their way to mine. They felt rough against mine but it didn't make me want them any less. He stopped to look at me, but when I didn't protest he leaned in again deepening the kiss and parting my lips. The sound of my own name being called distracted me.

  I stopped kissing Mack, but didn't pull away.

  “Kenzie.” I groaned. “I have to go.”

  “Don't be gone too long.” He kissed the bridge of my nose and I closed my eyes.

  When I opened them Mack was gone. Kenzie's face now replaced his as he leaned over poking me in the cheek.

  “You can stop that. I'm awake.” I said.

  “You must be a real deep sleeper. I've been calling and prodding you for like ever! I was just about to try the drink in face technique.”

  “Well you can hold off on that.” I said looking at the glass of water in his hand.

  “Also I thought the water would help cool you down. You look a little flustered.” he said smirking. My hand went to my cheek which felt warm.

  “Good dream was it” he asked setting the glass down.

  “Maybe. So is there a reason you're disturbing my afternoon siesta?” I smiled joking. I wasn't cross with Kenzie. I was a little disappointed I'd had to leave Mack. The timing sucked. “I've got a few hours to kill, thought we could take a dip in the pool?”

  “Sounds good but I'll be needing that T-shirt of yours. I can't be bothered to walk all the way back to my room to change. I should really keep a spare swimsuit and change of clothes down here.” “Or you could just go in topless like I do.”

  “Something tells me Cam wouldn't want me swimming around naked for everyone's eyes to see.” I said looking at the full length glass windows that looked out onto the gardens.

  “Yeah, you're probably right. Don't want to give Boris a heart attack.” he smiled pulling off his Tshirt and chucking it to me.

  Boris was the head of gardening and usually spent everyday in the garden trimming, pruning and digging and often walked passed the swimming pool windows.

  I looked like a shrivelled prune after spending way too long in the pool with Kenzie, but spending time with Kenzie was worth it, he was one of the few people round here that acted his age and made me feel like a teenager again. Even now after I knew what he was, I wasn't afraid of him or any of the others for that matter. Kenzie was still Kenzie even though he was a death tracker and spent his days collecting wicked souls. He was still the same old Kenzie to me.

  I walked back to my room still wearing Kenzie's T-shirt with a towel wrapped around myself carrying my clothes and sandals. I took a quick shower to warm myself up while going over what I wanted to say to Alex in my head. I headed upstairs hoping for once Senka wasn't up there I needed to catch Alex on his own.

  I came across him in the gym. Weird techno music pumped out the ceiling speakers and the room smelled of feet probably from all the sneakers left at the side. Alex was at the back using the bench press another boy sat chatting to him on the bench next to him. I edged my way over to him, ignoring a few of the strange looks I was getting from some of the others. I casually crept up a little closer to him while pretending to look at the posters on the wall which were mainly instructions on how to use the equipment. The boy sitting next to Alex stopped in mid conversion when he saw me hovering close by and Alex strained his head up to see who the boy was looking at. I saw him shake his head, it was subtle but obvious. He placed the weights back on the bar and sat up and nodded at the other boy to leave. The boy frowned at me, not too pleased he had been told to leave because of me.

  Alex wiped his face with a towel and picked up his energy drink.

  “What do you want?”

  “Nothing I was just checking out the gym.” I said casually running my hand along a piece of equipment.

  “Senka's not here. He's at work.”

  “Well I didn't come up here to talk to Senka. I actually wanted to talk to you.”

  “And what is it you want to talk to me about that you can't talk to Senka about?” “Well I could
talk to him but he'd probably lie to me or pretend he doesn't know what I'm talking about.”

  “And what makes you think I wont do the same?”

  “Because I think I can help you with something.”

  “Help me with what?” he asked laughing.

  “I know there's something you want but you're too frightened to do anything about it. I can help.” “What makes you think you know what I want?”

  “Medium length black hair, brown eyes, cute little nose, beautiful heart shape lips, usually leaves my breakfast every morning and makes my bed for me.”

  “Enough you've made your point.”

  “Why don't you just talk to her? I've seen the way you look at her.”

  “Because she's beautiful and I'm a nobody. Just another worker that spends most of his days working and drinking with not much to show for himself, why would she want to talk to me?” “How do you know she doesn't want to talk to you if you've never spoken to her?” “I have spoken to her. I've said hello and goodbye to her. And then there was this time I asked her if she needed help.”

  “Wow! That's progress.” I said sarcastically.

  “What do you want?” he asked snapping at me.

  “I have questions. I want information about this place. I know there's something else going on.” “Really and what makes you think there's something going on?”

  “Alex, I'm not here to play games.”

  “Why don't you ask Emmett? You talk to him don't you?”

  “Emmett is a little rat anything I say to him goes straight back to Cam. I don't trust him.” “Well that's one thing we have in common at least. Why not ask Mackenzie? You spend enough time with that nut job.”

  “No. I'm not talking to Kenzie about anything.”

  “Why not?” he asked.

  “Kenzie's my friend but he's also very close to Cam.”

  “Yeah. Right up his royal....”

  “Hey, okay I get it you don't like Kenzie. Can I ask why?”

  “I didn't say I didn't like him. He's different that's all and he's usually jacked up on sugar from the amount of soda and sweets he consumes.” It was true Kenzie did have a sweet tooth. “Wait I get it. You thought you'd ask me, cause you don't care if I get into trouble. Is that it?” he asked laughing.