Illusions (Night Roamers) Book Four

by Kristen Middleton

  Where was Duncan?

  My heart stopped and all of the blood rushed to my head as I twisted around, catching sight of him.

  “Duncan?” I whispered hoarsely.

  He was alone and lying face-down. The snow around him was red.

  I couldn’t breathe and my eyes filled with tears. Time seemed to stand still, as I stood up, ignoring everything else happening around me. I walked over to Duncan, kneeled down, and carefully turned him over, my hands trembling.

  When I saw the gaping cavity in the center of his chest, and his beautiful, lifeless eyes, staring back at me, I threw my head back and screamed.

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Nikki

  My mother appeared at my side, kneeling next to us. “Oh, no,” she whispered, touching his cheek. “Not him…”

  Tears streamed down my cheeks as I fought to catch my breath. “He’ll be okay,” I insisted, wiping them with the back of my hand. “I’ve seen worse.”

  She looked at me, her face pinched. “But –”

  Victor yelped as Ethan slammed him against a tree. I watched as he grabbed Victor by the throat and prepared to impale him with his fangs. Two other lycan attacked from behind, however, and Ethan was knocked sideways and into the snow.

  “I need to kill Victor,” I said, my voice hollow. Instead, of moving, however, I looked down at Duncan and closed his eyelids with my fingers. “Sleep, Duncan. You’ll be better soon.”

  “Nikki,” said my mother, as she watched Martin tear out another lycan’s throat. “We have to go. We have to find Nathan. He took off after one of those things a little while ago, and we need to make sure he’s okay.”

  I clutched onto Duncan, holding his head on my lap. “I can’t, mom. I’m not leaving him,” I said, sobbing. “We… we have to find his heart.”

  She touched my head. “I think it’s gone, honey.”

  “No,” I protested loudly. “Victor took it! If we put it back, he might live.”

  She stood up but didn’t say anything. I don’t think she knew what to say.

  I heard a howl and saw that Celeste had joined Martin and Ethan. They were now circling the last lycan still standing – Victor.

  Mom searched through the woods and bit her lower lip. “I’m going to go and look for Nathan. Make sure he’s okay. Stay here.”

  I watched her leap into the sky and then turned back toward Victor, hoping that they’d just rip his throat out already. I needed the others to help me find Duncan’s heart.

  “Ethan,” said Martin, glaring at Victor. “Celeste and I will take care of this piece of shit. Go help Anne find Nathan.”

  “You sure?” he asked.

  “Yes,” replied Celeste, hissing at Victor. “We’re going to make him pay for what he did to our father.”

  Ethan walked over to me and knelt down. “Are you okay?”

  I forced a smile. “He’s going to be okay, right?”

  Ethan’s face was grim. “Nikki, Victor tore out his heart.”

  I licked my lips. “I know. But, if we put it back in, he’ll be fine. He’ll mend. Right? Like you did?”

  He touched my cheek. “Nikki,” he whispered, his eyes filling with tears. “Victor… he… he ate it. The bastard ate Duncan’s heart. I’m so... so sorry.”

  I stared at him in horror. “What?”

  He nodded.

  I looked over at Victor in stunned silence. Although he was still in his lycan form, his lips pulled back into a garish smile.

  He was gloating! The asshole had ripped out Duncan’s heart, and mine as well.

  Shaking with rage, I laid Duncan’s head onto the snow, stood up, and walked over to the tree where they had Victor cornered. Before anyone had a chance to react, I thrust my fist into Victor’s chest with every ounce of strength that I could muster, and returned the favor. Only, he disgusted me so much that I didn’t put my lips anywhere near his heart. Instead, I crushed it with both of my hands, and dropped it at his feet.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Nikki

  Celeste, Martin, Ethan, and I went in search of my mom and brother. We split up and scoured the woods, but couldn’t find a trace of them.

  “They couldn’t have just disappeared,” I said when we returned to the cabin, thirty minutes later.

  “You said that Anne thought he’d gone after another lycan?” asked Martin. “I don’t think we’re missing any of them.”

  Eleven bodies, including Victor’s. All of them, except Duncan, had died as lycan, and then changed back into their human forms after a short time. We’d slaughtered them but to me, I felt like we’d lost the battle, now that Duncan was dead. Plus, it didn’t help that my mom and brother were missing.

  “There were probably more of them watching in the woods,” said Ethan, dragging two more dead bodies toward the house. The plan was still to burn the cabin with all of the dead lycan inside.

  “I’m sure they’re fine,” said Celeste. “I mean, we didn’t find anything. Maybe they came back here, and then when we were looking for them, they went back into town?”

  “Nathan’s car is still hidden in the woods,” I said. “I know he wouldn’t have left without it.”

  Ethan walked back out of the house. “I’ll help you search for them again, Nikki.”

  “Thanks.”

  I had to admit, I was surprised that he was being so helpful. He had done a complete turnaround, which meant that A – he was really and truly demented, B – he was still playing me, or, C – he’d been telling the truth about Faye. In any case, I wasn’t sure if it would change things. The man I loved was dead and any feelings that I may have had for Ethan in the past were overshadowed by grief.

  Pushing it from my mind, I stared at Ethan’s bloodstained shirt. “Ethan, what happened to Faye?”

  He frowned. “We fought and she got away. She was bleeding pretty badly when she left, although she also clawed the hell out of my stomach.” He raised his shirt, exposing his abdomen, which had healed completely. He sighed, obviously trying to be sensitive to my pain. “Uh, it’s already healed.”

  “That’s good,” I whispered as my eyes moved to Duncan’s pale face. I had to bite my lip to keep from crying. The emptiness inside was overwhelming. All I could think about was Duncan – I wanted his arms around me, I wanted to hear him talk about marriage, and I wanted him to remind me, once again, how we’d have eternity together. But that would never happen and I needed to pull myself together. My brother and mother were still missing.

  I swallowed the lump in my throat and looked at Ethan. “It’s just too bad you couldn’t have killed the bitch.”

  “I’m not giving up,” he replied evenly. “I also have a lot of unfinished business with her.”

  I felt like being snarky again, but changed my mind. I just didn’t have the energy. “Do you think she could have hurt my mother or brother?”

  “Faye left,” interrupted Celeste.

  My eyes widened. “How do you know?”

  She avoided Martin’s eyes. “Because, I followed her.”

  “I wish you’d stay away from that woman,” snapped Martin. “She’s going to kill you one of these days.”

  “No, she would never harm me,” insisted Celeste. “I’ve told you that before.”

  He shook his head and mumbled something.

  “If you followed her, why did you come back here?” I asked, still having a hard time trusting Celeste. Just because we fought on the same side this time didn’t mean squat. Not after the past we had together.

  “Because, I wanted to watch Martin kill Victor. He deserved to die and I wanted to make sure it really happened.”

  “Faye may have returned, though,” said Ethan, looking up into the trees. “Just like you, Celeste.”

  “Do shape-shifters heal quickly?” I asked.

  “Not like us,” he replied. “But, she has so much hate in her, that pain might not be a deterrent.”

  “Great,” I replied, now a little more worri
ed about my brother and mom. “Let’s go look for them again.”

  “What do you want to do with Duncan?” asked Martin.

  “Hold on,” I said and then ran into the garage. I grabbed a plastic bag that was sitting on the workbench, and pulled out the blanket inside. My mother had purchased it for my car and I’d forgotten all about it. It was an emergency blanket.

  “Nikki? We need to take care of him.”

  I covered Duncan with the blanket. “What do you mean – take care of him?”

  “He’s gone, Nikki. He can’t recover from this kind of injury. He’s missing his heart,” said Martin.

  “Don’t you think I realize that?” I snapped. “I’m not stupid.”

  Instead of getting angry at my rudeness, he put a hand on my shoulder. “Of course. I’m sorry. We’re just worried about you.”

  I noticed that even Celeste was staring at me with pity. “I’m fine,” I answered, softening my voice. I forced a smile. “Really.”

  Martin rubbed the back of his neck and nodded toward the ground. “Well, what would you like to do with him? We can’t just leave him out here and I don’t think he should be placed with the others. We could dig a grave?”

  I knelt down and touched Duncan’s head through the blanket. I knew that a small part of me believed he would still wake up. That his immortal body might even produce a new heart. The rational side of me knew that it would never happen, however. He was gone and there was nothing that would change it.

  “I think we should,” I replied. “But, I want him buried in a special place.”

  “Where?” asked Ethan, moving next to me.

  I thought about the very first place Duncan and I had made love – on someone’s private beach in Florida, and decided that more than anything, I wanted him buried there. It was emotionally hard to talk about, however, so I decided not to say anything yet.

  “I’ll tell you later,” I replied. “For now, let’s put him in the garage.”

  Ethan nodded, and then before I could protest, lifted Duncan up and walked toward the garage, cradling him in my arms.

  I swallowed back another lump in my throat and turned away. “Um, so where should we start first, Martin?”

  “Let’s move back toward town, keeping our eyes open. We’ll check Duncan’s place and then the club,” he replied.

  “Okay,” I said as Ethan stepped back out of the garage.

  “We should split up. Ethan – you and Nikki could head east and we’ll head west. We’ll follow the lake around and meet in town.”

  “I’m game,” replied Ethan. He looked at me. “Is that okay?”

  I shrugged. “I don’t care. I just want to find them.”

  “We will,” he replied, his eyes softening.

  “We’ll meet you in town. Come on, Celeste,” said Martin, as he launched into the air.

  She looked at both of us and smirked.

  “What?” I asked, scowling at her.

  “I was just thinking how convenient it is for Ethan, now with Duncan out of the picture.”

  Ethan’s face turned dark. “Fuck you, Celeste.”

  “But, now you can have her all to yourself,” she replied, before leaving us.

  He looked at me. “She’s crazy. Don’t listen to her.”

  I didn’t reply.

  He stepped closer to me. “Nikki, look… I’m not going to lie, I love you. I never stopped. But, what happened to Duncan was tragic and I see now how much you truly loved him. So, I want you to know that I would never use his death as a way to bring you back to me. I just want you to help you find Nathan and Anne. That’s it.”

  He looked so sincere that I wanted to believe him. “Okay,” I replied. “Thank you.”

  Ethan looked past me and sighed in relief. “Hey, here comes your mother.”

  I turned around and my mother landed next to me in the snow. “Mom, where is Nathan? Did you find him?”

  “He’s back at Duncan’s place. I told him I’d come back and let everyone know that he’s okay. Where are Martin and Celeste?”

  “They went looking for you two,” I replied. “We were just going to do the same.”

  Her eyes moved to Ethan and she frowned. “He isn’t giving you any trouble, is he?”

  “No,” I replied.

  She smiled. “Good. Ethan, why don’t you find Martin and Celeste. Let them know that we’re okay. Make it quick so they don’t waste any more energy. They’re probably exhausted from the fighting as it is.”

  “Okay,” he replied, and then looked at me. “Are you going to be okay?”

  “She’s with me,” replied my mother. “She’ll be fine.”

  Something passed through Ethan’s eyes, but he didn’t say anything. Instead, he leaped into the sky and disappeared.

  “He’s a strange one, isn’t he?” she said, shaking her head. “I never know if he’s one of the good guys, or one of the bad guys.”

  I smiled. “I hear you.”

  She looked around. “Where are all the bodies?”

  “We put them in the house.”

  “What about Duncan’s?”

  I sighed. “He’s in the garage. I’m going to see if Martin will help me get him to Florida. To bury him.”

  “You should have him cremated. It will be easier.”

  The thought of burning Duncan’s body made me shudder. “No. Maybe. I don’t know.”

  “Are you sure he’s really dead?” she asked.

  I nodded. “You saw him.”

  “Let’s just take one more look,” she replied, walking toward the garage. “I mean he is a Roamer, right?”

  I followed her. “Yes. But, nothing will bring him back from this, mom.”

  When we stepped inside, I saw Duncan lying in the middle of the garage. We walked over and she leaned down.

  “Yes. I guess you can’t really recover from that. Looks like someone ripped his heart out.”

  “It was Victor. You were there.”

  She looked at me. “Do you have any idea how painful it is?”

  I frowned. “Yeah, I can imagine.”

  “No, I mean giving your heart to someone, only to have them crush it without any kind of remorse?”

  “Mom, are you talking about Victor?” I answered, looking at her incredulously. “I mean, I thought you were long over him.”

  “No,” she replied sternly. “I’m not talking about him.”

  I looked at her blankly. “Caleb?”

  “I’m talking about him. Ethan. The one you stole from me. The one you just couldn’t live without!” she snapped, her eyes burning with hate.

  My heart skipped a beat. “What?”

  She grabbed my throat and I stared in horror as my mother’s image morphed into Faye’s grotesque reptilian form.

  She grinned evilly. “I always knew you were a little slow.”

  “Please,” I gasped, as her hand tightened. I tried wrenching it free, but it was useless. I’d spent too much of my energy earlier.

  “He doesn’t love you, you know,” she hissed. “He only loves his Miranda.”

  “I don’t care,” I gasped.

  “You think you don’t, but you do.”

  “He… deceived… me.”

  She laughed. “That’s right. He did, didn’t he?”

  I glared at her.

  “I guess I can show you, since you’re going to die anyway. You fell for it, hook, line, and sinker. You are so stupid and so damn gullible.”

  My eyes widened as she turned into Ethan and spoke in his low timbre. “You’re mine. You will always be mine. I don’t care about anything else – Miranda, Victor, helping Celeste. Let’s just get out of here and we’ll start over.”

  “You’re sick,” I said, staring at her in horror. Ethan had said those words to me in Vegas. I’d never forget them.

  “No, you’re sick,” she replied, turning into her normal, human form. “You played both of them and now that poor kid, Duncan, died because of your selfishness.”r />
  “No. It wasn’t my fault,” I answered as she loosened her grasp slightly.

  Grinning sadistically, this time she turned into Duncan. “It was your fault I died. And my dad. You killed him, too. If it wasn’t for your selfish needs, he’d be alive, too.”

  A shadow loomed behind Faye.

  Ethan.

  She must have noticed something in my eyes, because she let me go and turned around, still looking like Duncan.

  Ethan looked down and then smiled wryly at me over her shoulder. “Tell me that Duncan was at least hung better than Faye?”

  Ignoring him, Faye transformed back to her human form. “Ethan,” she said, with a brittle smile. “What are you doing here?”

  “The question is – what are you doing here?” he said, ignoring her nudity.

  “I came looking for you. You were supposed to meet me back at the club. You never showed up.”

  He sighed. “Enough with the games, Faye. What have you done with Nikki’s brother and mom?”

  “Nothing,” she answered. “I have no idea where they are.”

  “So, you just decided to stop by and fuck with my mind?” I snapped.

  “No, actually, I came to kill you.”

  “You’re a sick bitch,” I replied, stepping away from her.

  Ethan pulled me behind him. “Faye, I should kill you for what you’ve done to us. You deserve no less.”

  Her lips trembled. “I… I love you, Ethan. I did it because I wanted us to be together,” she said, grabbing his hands.

  He swatted them away. “I know that you did it for love. Your own kind of twisted sense of it. And, that’s why I’m allowing you live.”

  “Because you love me, too?” she asked, her eyes widening.

  “No, Faye,” he said. “I love Nikki.”

  I closed my eyes. Now that I knew for certain that he hadn’t turned me over to Victor, it gave me a sense of peace. It also made me hate her even more, if that was even possible.

  Her eyes hardened. “Then, I’m going to make sure that you spend eternity together. Kane!” she hollered at the top of her lungs