Forbidden, Tempted Series (Book 1)

by Selene Charles

  “I noticed that,” she said, finally releasing Janet’s wrist. “So you’re a kanlunga?”

  Janet laughed. “No, I’m called a kanlungan. Shadow demon.”

  “I’m assuming that means neither you or Rhiannon actually have parents in this circus. Am I right?” she said, lifting a brow. She’d often wondered why in all the times she’d come to the circus, she’d never once bumped into their parents.

  Snorting, Janet shook her head. “Yeah no, that was just our cover with the humans.” She winked.

  “But Abel—”

  She smiled sweetly. “Sees exactly what we want him to see. Kanlungan are born of the eternal darkness. We simply are.”

  Her heart thumped hearing that word again.

  “I’m not going to hurt you, Flint,” Janet said, as if aware of her reaction. “I’m Cain’s familiar.”

  “And what is that exactly?”

  Janet slipped one of the cuffs off her wrist. The moment she did, a trembling took over her arm. It started in her bicep, traveled through her forearm, and when it reached her hand the shaking got so hard that it literally seemed as if her skin ripped apart. A dark, vaporous smoke undulated upward. If Flint looked real hard, she could almost see that the smoke formed into a hand of sorts.

  Janet flexed shadowy fingers and quirked her lips. “Adam snared Rhi and me centuries ago. Because he knows our true names, we’re bound. Me to Cain, Rhi to Abel. Though he doesn’t know it yet.”

  Flint’s eyes widened. “Oh wow.”

  “Yeah.” Janet lifted a shoulder as she wrapped the cuff around the shadow. Like a vacuum, pieces of the shadow drew in tight, and then a rich bronze tone covered that shadow, followed by layers of bone, muscle, and skin.

  It was macabre, but like watching a car wreck, she couldn’t look away.

  “Creepy, huh?” Ja voiced her thoughts.

  Flint gave a half chuckle. “A little. So you’re older than Cain?”

  She nodded, and Flint couldn’t help remembering her first initial impression that Abel wanted to hang out with an older girl just so he could be cool. Little had she known, or him, that Ja and Rhiannon should be mummies by now.

  Janet cocked her head as if she was listening to something. “They’re coming back. Look, real quick. We’re not here to hurt you. I like you. If you trust me, I’d really like to stay friends. And...”

  The knob on the door turned.

  “If you have it in you to talk to Rhiannon, she feels like crap,” Janet finished just as Abel and Rhi reappeared with her Hello Kitty book bag.

  Abel shook it. “There, we got it, lazy bones. And I hope you saved me a slice of pizza,” he grumbled good-naturedly.

  Janet rolled her eyes and it was a déjà vu moment for Flint.

  Rhiannon and Ja both acted no different than she did, talking about hair, what nail colors they’d recently found at the mall, the latest boy bands, and after a while, it was easy to forget they weren’t exactly who they claimed to be.

  “So.” Rhiannon closed the magazine she’d been riffling through. “Homecoming. Who’s going shopping for a dress?”

  “Totally,” Abel shrilled in a high falsetto.

  Flint dug her finger into his side, making him break out in a squeal. He swatted her hand.

  “Well, I’m going.” Ja smiled. “You should come with, Flint.”

  “Yeah.” Rhiannon nodded, hope shining in her eyes.

  “Do you guys even have dates?”

  Rhi elbowed Janet, who actually looked like she was blushing.

  Janet’s almond-shaped eyes gleamed. “I got asked today,” she admitted.

  “Pft.” Rhiannon shook her head. “She makes it sound as if she wasn’t asked by the hottest guy in school. Captain of the football team.”

  Flint giggled. “Gabe asked you? That’s awesome, Ja.”

  Janet shrugged. “He said he’s wearing an orange tie. Thought maybe I’d try to match him.”

  “Well.” Rhiannon pushed the last bite of crust into her mouth and chewed while she talked, glancing at Abel. “You can stop holding your breath. I’m not going with you, dweeb. I’m holding out for Kyle.”

  “Whatever.” Abel flicked a wadded-up piece of paper at her. “You wish. And that’s gross. Cauliflower ears Kyle?” Abel shuddered.

  “Who’s that?” Flint asked.

  Rhiannon’s full red lips tipped up. “Captain of the varsity wrestling squad with thighs like tree trunks and arms like pythons.”

  “She likes ’em big.” Janet giggled.

  Rhiannon thinned her lips, shooting daggers at Janet. “I’m thinking that might be the night.”

  Abel choked on a cough. “You what? Let him pop your cherry? Rhiannon, I swear, your standards lower every year.”

  She laughed and stretched out her pink-stockinged legs, propping her feet on Abel’s lap. As much as they fought, it was obvious the two cared for each other.

  “So, you coming or what?” Rhiannon looked at Flint with the slightest hint of doubt in her smile.

  Rhi acted tough, but Flint thought she was nothing but a big softie on the inside.

  “I don’t have a date. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I’d be going, but I’ll go with you guys.”

  “Of course you’re going!” Janet swatted her arm. “We’re only young once, right?”

  Did she honestly expect Flint to answer that? In response, she lifted a brow. Rhiannon snorted and then chuckled beneath her breath.

  “Whatever.” Abel rolled his eyes, gathered up the empty box, and walked to the door. “Too much estrogen in here for me. I’m gonna throw this box away.” He held it out to them. “When I come back, I expect to hear you talking about guys, guns, and blood.”

  The second he left, Rhiannon turned to Flint. “Flint, about the other night...”

  “Rhi.” Flint grabbed her friend’s hand and gave it a quick squeeze. “Look, I’m not going to lie and say this isn’t weird, but... it’s water under the bridge. And...” She looked at the floor. “Something happened to me when that hive,” she whispered, feeling weird saying the word, “guard attacked me.”

  Janet clapped her hands. “Okay, now that that’s out of the way, heads up, but I’m pretty sure Abel’s planning to ask you to homecoming.”

  “What?” Flint frowned. “Who told you that?”

  But before she could answer, Abel returned.

  He peered at them, cocking his head at the thick silence that had suddenly descended like fog, and said, “Who died?”

  Cheeks flaming, Flint shook her chem book at him. “I’m about to if I don’t get some studying done. Gah, it’s past one and I’m not even sleepy. I really need to finish my homework.”

  “Ugh,” Ja whined. “Me too. How ’bout Rhiannon and I go get us some super industrial-sized coffee and we do this thing? We help you, you help us?”

  Flint laughed. “Not sure how much help I’ll be. But yeah, sure, whatever.”

  They left, taking their scent of smoke with them. It was awkward with Abel. Flint expected him to ask her any moment.

  He sat down and took the book from her lap. “Seriously, Flint, what’s so hard about this? Just a bunch of letters and numbers.”

  “So says the geek.” She dug her finger into his ribs.

  He grabbed her finger, gave it a quick squeeze, then grabbed a pencil. “I know it’s tempting to see these muscles and pretty face and think that’s all I am.” He grinned, giving her the huge dimpled smile that never failed to elicit a response from her. “But I’ve got mad skills.”

  And just like that, the nerves were gone.

  ***

  There was too much.

  Too much buzzing.

  Too much anger.

  Too much Flint.

  Cain needed it to stop. The constant thinking, worrying... After the attack, when he’d seen that thing fly at her, the hands wrapped around her slender neck, something beastly inside him had snapped.

  The sensory overload of the circus grated on his n
erves tonight, the kids screaming, the adults looking weary but morbidly fascinated... He needed to get away.

  Not to mention that her scent lingered on him. He’d taken three showers earlier, trying to get it off. But the smell clung like a parasite, infecting his brain, his mood.

  What he needed to do was kill something.

  He clenched his jaw, flexing the fingers tucked into his pockets.

  Maybe having her come here hadn’t been the best idea. Seeing his mother take her to Abel’s trailer had filled him with a cold anger that’d spread its icy claws through his blood, his body.

  He needed time away from all this.

  Maleficent—the bearded, tattooed lady—slinked up to him in her usual black catsuit costume. She was smoking a cigarette and stretching her limbs, getting ready for her fire-breathing act.

  Every inch of her body was covered in a magnificent blue-and-red tribal marking, except for her face, which she claimed she’d never touch, otherwise it would be too hard to see the tuft of fur she called a beard on her chin. Usually she wore nothing but a bikini when she was in the freak tent, but tonight she was standing in for Liam, their usual fire act, who’d called in sick at the last moment.

  “What’s up, hottie?” she called in her raspy voice, human-colored blue eyes gazing back at him.

  “You seen Eli and Seth?”

  She coughed and then tossed the butt of her cigarette on the ground, grinding out the ember beneath her thigh-high booted heels. “Yup”—she pointed over her shoulder—“saw them on the east side of the gate.”

  Cain turned to go.

  “Cain,” she said, making him turn back around, “saw that pretty little thing you rode with today. Crew’s talking.” Her red-lipsticked smile curved dangerously high. “Does my boy finally got himself a girl?”

  Jerking his head away before the blood rushing to his eyes gave him away, he snorted. “Nah, you know my heart’s with you.”

  She laughed, a deep, exotic sound that filled the night, even above the din of so much noise. “You couldn’t handle this heat, Cain.” Her amused voice disappeared behind the tent flap.

  Cain jogged to the east side of the gate. Eli and Seth were getting ready to start another roundabout.

  “Come with me,” he said.

  The twins looked at him, their eyes looking full of silver dust in the moonlight. “What’s up?” they said in unison.

  “We’re going hunting.”

  Their grins were lecherous and greedy.

  “You found a lead?” Seth asked, brushing a blond lock out of his eyes once they were in the car.

  Cain’s Corvette kicked up gravel as he pulled out of the lot. “No.”

  He felt Eli’s hard stare. “Then what are we doing? Leads have all dried up, and I don’t know about you, but I’m getting tired of just standing around like a moron, waiting for one of them to just magically appear.”

  Growling, Cain glowered at Eli in the rearview mirror. “I was at the shelter—one of them was there.”

  Seth sat forward. “You said you didn’t have a lead. Did you catch it?”

  Trees shot by in a blur as his speedometer crept up past a hundred.

  “No,” he ground out, shifting gears, shoving down harder on the gas and letting her fly.

  “Then?” the twins mumbled at the same time.

  “Flint smelled it,” Cain reluctantly admitted.

  “Where, in the shelter?” Seth asked.

  “Dude, wait, you mean to say your girl smelled one of ’em?” Eli countered.

  “She’s not my girl.” Cain shook his head.

  The speedometer crept past a hundred and fifty.

  “Look whatever, not important.” Eli cut him off. “Don’t you understand what that means?”

  Cain wasn’t an idiot, he’d already thought of it. He’d seen what she’d done in the forest. Flint could potentially be an asset. She was nimble, fast, and could scent them out. Maybe.

  Seth snorted. “Our own bloodhound. That could work, man.”

  “No,” Cain bit out. “Look, we don’t know how stable these new powers are. How long they’ll last. She’s a human. A fragile human. That’s the last thing I need to worry about while out hunting.”

  Seth cocked his head. “And running around blind is better? Have you asked her? You should ask her.”

  Cain shot a nasty look at him. “I said no. Now drop it.”

  They were at the turnoff, and reluctantly, he let up on the gas. Turning onto the dirt road, Cain scanned the trees, seeking any sign of movement. Parking in the same spot he’d been earlier, he got out.

  The night was cooler than before, the moon a deeper, misty blue. Cain scented the breeze, dragging in the air like a junkie on ice, trying to find any trace of what she’d smelled earlier.

  He hadn’t smelled it then.

  He couldn’t smell it now.

  All he smelled was trees, dirt, and her.

  “Well, where do we look?” Eli clapped him on the back.

  Seth stood to the side of his brother, a dubious look on his face.

  Cain gripped the sides of his head, frustration welling up inside him.

  They came around whenever she was near. In school, the hive made sure to stay close to humans, knowing if they went to a more secluded area, he’d corner and torture them for the truth.

  They were smart, cunning, and up to something, and it pissed him off that he couldn’t figure out what that something was.

  “Look over by that tree line.” He pointed to the far right, at the spot Flint had said its smell had disappeared.

  The twins nodded and walked off, their black trench coats flapping behind them in the chilly breeze.

  Cain went toward the bunker. He scanned the ground, looking for any trace or sign that something had been there.

  What he saw was crushed grass, his boot treads marked in mud, and Flint’s smaller print beside his. The drone hadn’t come this way. Keeping his head down, he kept walking, finally entering the left-hand clearing.

  There was a rustle in a bush a few yards ahead, and a tiny mouse scampered out. He eyed the bush, waiting for a telltale shake or wiggle of hiding prey.

  The wind blew through his hair. Then he heard something.

  Soft.

  Like the slide of shoes on damp leaves. Turning slowly, he eyed the drone who’d crept up on him.

  It was a girl, one he actually recognized. The one from school he’d seen eyeing Flint in the cafeteria. She held up her hands, her eyes a deep, solid red. Only a recent feeding could bleed the whites out.

  “My name is Tamara,” she said in her sibilant voice.

  Something about the way she approached him, talked to him first, didn’t sit right with him. She was mollifying him, preventing the anger from bleeding through his bones and filling him with the rage he’d need to make the kill.

  He lifted a brow. “You’ve been following her?”

  Tamara nodded her pixie-shaped head, obviously aware of whom he meant. Her dark hair curled attractively around her face. She wasn’t peeling—in fact, she seemed more human than the rest of them. Though that wasn’t saying much; there was definitely an alien quality about her.

  “Why?”

  “To warn her.” She blinked, revealing that she had a clear membrane over her eyes, much like a shark’s when attacking.

  Cain clenched his jaw. “Warn her how?”

  Her head moved like a charmed cobra. “I cannot say,” she hissed. “We are not your enemy, rager.”

  He curled his lips, feeling the first faint stirrings of anger. “You nearly killed her. Why did the queen send the royal guard?”

  She blinked again. “She did not die. If we wanted her dead, she would be.”

  “Then why send the guard?” he barked as the blood in his body began to stir restlessly.

  “I told you... a warning.”

  A snarl rumbled in his chest. “Then you’ve failed.”

  “Have we?”

  “I killed
her.”

  “It’s just a body, there’re more.”

  Tamara’s cavalier response made his veins throb. “Is she one of you?”

  She stood completely still, looking so like an automaton that for a moment he wondered if the hive weren’t actually some form of cyborg hybrid. “Not yet. Only the queen’s kiss can bestow the blessing.”

  “So what is she?”

  She smiled. “Altered. Faster. Slow to age now.” She blinked.

  Those last few words made him feel like someone had just kneed him in the gut. “Slow to age? How slow?” Like him? Slower?

  So not quite as human as he’d thought. He licked his lips.

  But the Aswang merely cocked her head. “Does it matter?”

  Which told him nothing. “Why do you want her?”

  She pursed her lips and paused, as if listening to something far away. “My queen’s reasons are her own and not mine to share.”

  “Then why are you here?” He heard the guttural tenor sing through his voice, felt his body flex and heave, fill with the monstrous strains of his curse.

  She swayed, like a loose limb in the wind. “Because I know what is to come. And I do not like it. I want you to kill me.”

  His nostrils flared.

  None of this conversation was making any sense. His body thirsted for the change, but his brain knew that when he went berserker, logic fled. Cain desperately wanted to reason through this, understand what was happening. Why it was happening.

  Tamara stepped into him. And even from this close distance, he couldn’t smell her. There was no smell of milk, no smell whatsoever.

  Fearlessness was reflected in her red gaze. “Do it, rager. Spare me.”

  He snarled. “Had you not asked, I might have complied.”

  The first sign of emotion crept like feelers across her face. Anger, disappointment, and then she was a blank canvas again. “Do not say I did not warn you. Flint will die.”

  Fire heated his veins, made him suck in air like a bellows, red descended like a haze over his vision. He was reaching, seconds away from latching on to her neck and squeezing the life out, when she vanished. Literally disappeared.