Paranormal After Dark: 20 Paranormal Tales of Demons, Shifters, Werewolves, Vampires, Fae, Witches, Magics, Ghosts and More

by Rebecca Hamilton

She felt so tiny in his arms, yet so full of life and warm against his chest. He stared down at her little fists, now clenched around the collar of his shirt, holding fast to this life and to her future.

  “Bad man!” The little human girl growled and he stared into the dark spot inside her blue iris, her spirit fierce and vibrant. His heart felt as though it twisted, pain flared although he was not injured. Her innocence washed over him. She reminded Grimm of one of his kind.

  The man snatched her from Grimm’s arms. He didn’t have to see the man’s face, he reeked of fear. “Sorry… I… ah… we were playing.”

  Grimm’s lip pulled back in a sneer. “I wasn’t going to hurt her.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  But it was too late. The damage was done. Just go, Grimm snarled inwardly. The second boarding announcement came over the speaker and the human disappeared with the child.

  The vamp, Jinx, walked toward him. He stood out from everyone else around him. Black spiky hair and dark, lined eyes caused a scene and as usual the humans around them turned to stare at him. He wasn’t as tall as Grimm, or as muscular. But he was as deadly, just not in a rip-your-throat-out-and-drink-your-blood kind of way. Most vampires these days were no more than a sub-species, consisting of any blood-crazed idiot strong enough not to kill their victim and instead turn them. Jinx was different.

  “Find anything?”

  Grimm shook his head. “You ready for this?”

  Jinx raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, why?”

  “Nothing. It’s... ah fuck, I dunno. I need to get this done. I feel like the walls are closing in on me, man.”

  “Nothin’s gonna go wrong. This is just another mission. We’ll go in, kill these fuckers, and get out of here.”

  Grimm wished it was that easy. Maybe it would be. Maybe he was blowing this shit way out of proportion. He brushed his hair back once more. If he kept this up, he’d be fucking bald by the end of the trip.

  Kali walked toward them with a frantic swish of black fabric. “Anything?”

  “Nope and nope.” Jinx, answered for him.

  She nodded and then moved to line up amongst the chaotic humans. Kids laughed, cried, and screamed while frustrated parents either ignored them, or gripped them mercilessly. Jinx and Grimm followed and he inhaled, whispering a prayer. Please don’t sit them next to me. Jinx pulled out his ticket at the last moment. Grimm waited behind them, ready to board once Kali and Jinx were seen to. The male attendant ignored Jinx and instead reached for Grimm's ticket. The female attendant shouldered the male out of the way. There was a shuffle, blood was almost spilled. The female won and snatched Grimm’s boarding pass. She smiled at him. Grimm felt his wolf react.

  His animal growled in eagerness, ready to be devoured by her pink-frosted lips. No matter how hard he tried, Grimm couldn't stop the vibration. The sound escaped. He tried to cover it with a cough, but his effort seemed pointless. The male attendant blanched and stepped back, eager now to process Jinx's ticket instead and move them along. But the female was another matter. Grimm could hear her pulse rocket. His nose filled with the scent of her desire, which only enticed his wolf. Fuck.

  She handed back his ticket and grabbed his hand. “There’s still another fifteen minutes before your flight leaves.”

  The statement was obvious, and so help him, he was fucking tempted. Like a pathetic child, he fumbled, lost for a response that didn't start and end with yes.

  “He's with me, so back off.”

  The attendant’s gaze shot toward the voice, as did Grimm's. At first he froze, and then all he wanted to do was laugh. Jinx stepped closer to Grimm and glared at the airline employee.

  Her mouth dropped open. Like Grimm, she was lost for words. “Sorry… I didn't know.”

  Jinx’s tone was cold. “And now you do.”

  They moved off together, and once Grimm was sure they were out of earshot he clapped Jinx on the arm. “Thanks, man.” Grimm enjoyed this moment for a whole fucking second until the realization hit and the laughter turned cold and hard inside his chest. Either Jinx was one hell of a fucking actor, or…. He’s really in love with me.

  Grimm couldn’t help but stare, open-mouthed, at the vampire now. He replayed every interaction they had in the last one hundred years, searching for anything that would give weight to the suspicion. All those claps on the back… were they really hugs? Jesus, they’d even bunked together once… “Jinx.”

  The vampire turned, shifting his bag from one shoulder to the other. “Yeah?”

  “You don't... I mean... that's cool and all... but you gotta know I don't swing like that.” Fuck, he sounded pathetic. I mean what the fuck had just happened in the last five seconds?

  “Don't flatter yourself, lycan. Even if I was that way inclined, you wouldn't be my type.”

  Relief flooded through Grimm. “Jesus that's good, that's real fucking good.”

  “Just get your head in the game, okay?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, sure.” Although getting his act together was easier said than done, he sighed and headed toward the plane.

  He’d thought by flying sixteen hours and escaping the full moon in Australia, the distance would’ve settled his wolf. But for some reason it hadn’t. If anything he was more unsettled. He had a bad feeling about this trip. There was something he couldn’t put his finger on.

  Get my head in the game…. Yeah right.

  Jinx stepped into the plane. Instead of heading left toward first class, where they usually flew, he turned right and headed toward the overcrowded and almost frenetic-feeling economy. Their seats were forty-seven E through to G, in the middle of the plane—right in the thick of things.

  The plane was already more than half full. Crying babies and yelling parents set the bar for what was going to be one awesome fucking experience.

  “Can I stow your bag for you?”

  Grimm shook his head, but kept his eyes locked like lasers on the overhead compartment while he stowed his luggage. He tried not to breathe. Not fill his lungs with her scent. But no matter how hard he tried, her smell wormed its way inside. The scent was delicious. He wanted to rub himself on her, coating his fur, until he smelled like her. He groaned and leaned against the compartment. The power of her scent hit him between the eyes and between his thighs, his cock stirred. He knew more about this human woman than he wanted to know. She was ovulating.

  “Sir, are you okay?”

  “Mmhmm.” He moaned and nodded, knowing he was acting weird. He couldn’t avoid her any longer. Hell, knowing his luck, she’d think he was a terrorist and he’d be thrown off the bloody plane.

  “He's okay, just ate something bad.” Kali came to his rescue. He took a deep breath and turned toward the attendant. She was plain, eyes dull and lifeless, with only a hint of make-up. Her brown hair was tied back in a pony-tail. His wolf didn't care though, the fucking beast was ready to lie down and rut with anything that moved. Fuck, even the leather seats were bound to feel good.

  “Sorry, I’ve been sick all day.” He shoved his bag into the compartment his mind focused. Feigning nausea, he crossed the aisle and crammed his body into the narrow row of seats to get to the center. He was exhausted and snarly by the time he squeezed his thighs into the seat.

  She watched him, the seconds feeling like hours under her scrutiny. “There’s an air-sickness bag in the pocket, in front of you. If you need another, let me know.”

  Then she moved on to hassle the next lot of boarders.

  “Fuck, dude, you look like shit. You okay?”

  Grimm nodded, but he was struggling to understand what was going on. The full moon's call had never hit him this bad before, and never during the day. The day belonged to the Master. It was his respite from the Mistress’ demands. This felt like the Call, but it had been so long since he felt it, he couldn’t be sure. And besides, there were no female lycans left.

  Female wolves of his kind released a scent that overrode all others when they were ready to be mated. This compulsion w
as named the Call. Every male lycan in a forty-mile radius either ran toward the female, or hid in fear of betraying his mate. But the call was too strong for many to resist. So they ended up trying to fight their way through the wall of snarling, snapping males that always surrounding any female in heat.

  The need slammed into him like a freighter. He tried to breathe through the rapid spiral of desire, but inhaling deeply only made his suffering worse. Instead, he gripped the arm rests and heard steel snap. Grimm hadn't felt the Call for the last two hundred years. But as the scent grew stronger, his memories returned, and with one long soulful whine, Grimm knew one thing.

  He sure as fuck felt it now.

  Chapter 17

  Eve

  “OKAY, EVE, I want you to tell me everything you remember.”

  Her heart raced, pumping fear through her body. The memory of that night hovered under the surface, looking for a way in. She took a deep breath, trying to still her racing heart. “Everything?”

  “I know this is hard for you. And I promise, I’ll explain later, but please trust me when I say there’s more to this than the attack on you. A lot more.”

  She began her story driving out of one town, and finished as they approached another, over a hundred kilometers away. There were things she left out, the scan at the hospital, and stealing money from the café. Those things Eve kept secret. But everything else was as she remembered it, every last terrifying detail. And as she relived her nightmare, her heart sped and her voice strained, growing higher and louder until she froze. The silence that followed her final word felt like shell-shock.

  “Jesus,” he whispered. He looked at her and she saw her own shock and confusion mirrored in his brown eyes. “It’s a miracle you survived.”

  “The entire time I kept thinking, this is a mistake, it can’t be happening. They’ve got the wrong apartment. They’ve got the wrong person. But there was no mistake, was there?”

  “No, there wasn’t. You fit his profile.”

  He turned to her and his gaze softened. It was the first time she felt him not look at her like she was trouble. Eve’s stomach fluttered. It’s just the baby… but she knew deep down, her child reacted to Adley’s voice. The effect wasn’t just felt by her. She dropped her gaze and shifted in her seat, staring at the road ahead.

  Towns blurred as they sped from one town to another, turning away from the Outback to head toward the clear blue Queensland coastline. And as they drove, Adley told her about the files. How he captured Edric after he abducted his godson, and the murder of his partner on their way to deliver Edric to prison. She took it all in, even when the horror was too much. She listened to every word, absorbed every painful memory he shared.

  Somewhere between the ticking odometer and the emotion in his voice, Eve fell in love.

  It wasn’t the heroic images his words brought to life affecting her, but what he didn’t say. His silent sacrifice had gone unnoticed by everyone, including his friends on the force. Not to her. To her, his words said one thing while his body said another. His tone became quieter at the mention of his friend and the way they’d drifted apart. He was okay, he said. He didn’t hold a grudge against the police force either, when they asked him to retire. But his white knuckles on the steering wheel told a different story.

  They stopped at a service station on the outer edge of yet another town. While Adley refueled, Eve left to use the restroom. She hurried along the aisles, heading for the women’s toilet. Spray-painted images covered the door in a crude illustration of the female anatomy, complete with breasts and a hollow between their legs. She flinched, recoiling from the sight, and headed for the toilet stall. Her own feelings of sexuality were not lost on Eve. The father of her child materialized in her mind, like a dream. She wished she could remember something about him, something other than dark eyes and a powerful presence. But he was lost to her.

  Sharp, internal jabs made her inhale sharply, bringing her back to reality in a rush. She exhaled, sliding her hands under her T-shirt to caress her swollen stomach. Her skin stretched tight, expanding outwards further than she thought possible. The outline of a tiny foot pressed through her stomach.

  It seemed she wasn't the only one affected by the surfacing images of her child's father. He’d been her first. The stranger who’d saved her in the alley, her first and probably her last. She tried to envision what it’d been like, picturing a fantasy of desire which rode the waves of adrenaline, ending with mind-blowing sex. But the reality was denial first and then shame.

  Eve finished up, left the stall and washed her hands. She averted her eyes from the door as she made her way to the counter. A pimply guy reclined on a stool, picking his nose and reading a men’s magazine, probably filled with half-naked women, oblivious to her. He looked older than her, his smugness looked well-worn. It was probably him who’d drawn on the walls in the bathroom. Eve pictured him laughing with his mates.

  Eve grabbed chips and a chocolate bar and plonked them hard onto the counter to get his attention. He reached over to the till and rang up her items without moving from the tilted chair. “Six-fifty.”

  She handed him the money, trying her best to hold back her anger. She grabbed the items from the counter, turned and stopped. “That picture on the door is disgusting. You should be ashamed of yourself.”

  His gaze narrowed on her, turning cruel. “I should be ashamed? I just fucking work here and deal with bitches like you, who think you’re somehow better than the rest of us. How old are you, anyway? You can’t be any more than eighteen. Just another teenage slut and you shoot your mouth off at me for a drawing on a toilet door?”

  Eve shook her head, wondering how this had turned on her. “I’m not a… slut.”

  He nodded toward her hand and then stared out the window. “There’s no ring on your finger and your old man over there looks old enough to be your father. So take your stuck-up, prissy little twat and fuck off.”

  Her mouth went slack; her brain emptied. She wanted to snap back a reply, to hurt him, like he hurt her. Instead, her lips trembled and tears blurred her vision. She turned and ran into a chip stand. Packets spilled across the floor. But she didn’t stop, she didn’t even slow. She wanted out of here.

  Adley looked up as she moved at a waddle, trying her best to run. She held up her hand to shield her eyes, there was no way she was going to cry in front of him. The car blurred, she swallowed a sob and fumbled for the door.

  “Whoa, is everything okay?”

  She didn’t stop, only nodded and clawed at the door handle, unable to hold back the tears any longer. Adley reached for her, stopping her hand gently with his. He lifted her chin and searched her weeping eyes.

  “Tell me.”

  She shook her head. “It's nothing.”

  “It doesn’t look like nothing. What happened in there?”

  “It’s okay, really. I’m… he’s just a pig.” She turned to glare back at the store.

  “What did he say to you?”

  “Please. I just want to go.”

  His hand didn’t move. She could feel him lean in, crowding her. “Talk to me Eve, or you leave me no other choice than to suspect the worst.”

  She couldn’t look at him in the eyes, only stare at his hand on her arm, gentle, yet forceful. She spoke as a tear slid down her cheek to fall and splatter against his hand. “There was a crude image of woman on the wall of the toilet. I told him it was disgusting and he should be ashamed for leaving it there. He said I shouldn’t be offended, because I was giving it away for free, then he called me a slut. But, I don’t want any trouble, Adley. We can’t afford….”

  Adley didn’t seem to be listening, because Adley was no longer there. Eve looked up, catching sight of him as he disappeared through the plastic strips which covered the service station door.

  The silence that followed was deadly and her heartbeat seemed so very slow, waiting for Adley to return. A loud crash came from inside and then the store fell silent. Eve scanned th
e roads, keeping an eye out for other customers until Adley threw the plastic tassels aside and strode out, holding something in his hand.

  “What do you say we get out of here?” His hard tone ended the sentence for him. Now.

  Eve grabbed the car door. She jerked the handle and climbed in. But Adley didn’t start the car straight away. He sat there, looking down at his hand. She could tell there was something he wanted to say. Then he turned, staring at her with a look that was both fierce and protective. Electricity sparked between them like the beginning of a storm. She could feel the pull and she knew he could feel it, too. His chest rose and fell a little faster. His lips parted as though they waited patiently to kiss her. His eyes dropped to her mouth. Eve could almost smell ozone inside the car.

  “Here,” he croaked, holding out a small blue bear. “Something for the baby.”

  Eve took the toy, glancing at his hands. His knuckles were bright red and she followed them as he reached for his seat belt with one hand and started the car with the other. It wasn’t until he drove off, accelerating fast down the highway that she really looked at the bear. Its fur was soft, and the toy had tiny black eyes and a pink smile. A little red heart was embroidered over its chest.

  It was more of gift from a boyfriend than for a baby. But she didn’t care, the gesture and the bear was beautiful. It was the first thing someone had given her without expecting something in return. Did he expect something in return? Her heart sped at the thought. Eve glanced up, finding his intense gaze now directed at the road. He glanced at the rearview, but not at her. Even though the moment between them passed, a restlessness lingered inside her.

  It wasn’t until she turned the bear over that she saw the tiny specks of blood which covered the back. She jerked her head up, scanning his face, his arms, and his hands. “Adley, are you hurt?”

  “No.” He glanced over and caught sight of the splatter. “Ah, shit, sorry.”

  He reached over to wipe away the blood. His face hovered dangerously close to hers, his lips one slight movement away. Eve thought about the sound she’d heard in the service station and she now knew what the crash was. She didn’t feel an ounce of sympathy for the kid. He deserved to be taught a lesson. But Adley’s actions now raised some important questions.