Darkness Shifting: Tides of Darkness Book One

by Sarah Blair

  He rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forward, took her hands in his. “Are you all right?”

  “Can we pull over for a second?”

  “Malcolm,” Dimitrius said.

  The car slowed and stopped. With the park closed, the road was completely desolate. Sidney tumbled out onto the ground, gravel digging into her hands and knees. She heaved, but there was nothing in her stomach to come up.

  Dimitrius pulled her hair away from her face, and curled his arm across her chest, supporting her weight while she coughed and gagged in the weeds. She shuddered and sucked in a few deep breaths to get her body under control. He pulled her back against him, and cradled her there in his arms, under the gleaming lights of the New York City skyline.

  “I don’t want to go back,” she whispered, resting her head back against his shoulder. “Can we just stay right here forever?”

  Dimitrius sighed into her hair. “If I could, I would make it happen for you.”

  “What am I supposed to say to him?” The lights blurred together in her vision creating a smear of brightness in front of her. “How do I tell him I failed?”

  “Tell him you love him,” he said. “That’s all he needs to hear.”

  “Thank you for going with me. For letting me try.”

  He pressed his cheek to her temple, wetting his face with her tears. The intensity she’d felt in the club melted into something different. It eased her worry and left her feeling stronger.

  “What happens now?” she asked.

  “We go take care of our friend.”

  Thirty-Eight

  “How is he doing?” Sidney asked. From the way Williams’ hair stood out from his head in tangled tufts, she was pretty sure she knew the answer.

  “He’ll be great now that you’re back.” Williams stopped in front of her and gave her an expectant shrug. “Where’s the cure?”

  Dimitrius slipped past her into Mitch’s room, leaving her in the hallway with Williams.

  She sighed. “There wasn’t one. It doesn’t exist.”

  “But I thought—” Williams tugged on his hair again. “What happened?”

  Sidney let her hands fall loosely at her sides. “I don’t even know where to start.”

  “Well you have to start somewhere. What do we do for the chief? What are our options?”

  She shook her head helplessly.

  “We have to do something. What can we do?” Williams paced across the plush carpet. “You’re the key. Did you find out what that meant? Maybe you have magical spit or something.”

  “Apparently I’m the only person who’s been bitten but didn’t change. My grandfather was behind this the whole time, knew everything from the beginning. The army wanted him to create a super-soldier. He wanted to create a cure-all for every disease in the world. He was going to keep me, and Dimitrius, and the others to experiment on us.”

  Williams stared at her, not even bothering to keep his jaw from hanging wide open. “Dude.”

  “He lied to me about what happened to my parents. He lied to me my whole life.”

  “Dude.”

  She straightened her shoulders, steeling her gaze. “He’s not going to be lying to anyone anymore.”

  Williams stared at her, his mouth working, but for once he was at a loss for words.

  Banks joined them in the hall. “Mitch is resting. Dimitrius brought me up to speed. I have him on something to keep him comfortable for now, but he’s going downhill pretty fast. It would be best to discuss options now so we have a plan.”

  Sidney leaned back against the wall. “Is he in pain?”

  “It comes and goes. Similar to what you went through in the hospital. You were sedated for most of it, so you probably don’t remember much. I can do the same for him.”

  She nodded. “So we keep him comfortable. We keep him safe.”

  “We let him do his furry thing and then at the full moon or whatever he’s back to himself.” They both stared at Williams. “I mean, he will change back at some point, right? He can’t stay a wolf forever. And in the meantime, Banks, you work on figuring out whatever it is that made Lake immune to changing and then make that for the chief. It’ll be like it never even happened.”

  “Yeah, but what about what the chief wants?” Sidney asked.

  “What do you mean? He wants to live. He won’t give up. Not that easy. I know him. He won’t,” her partner insisted.

  Even as the words came out of his mouth, she could see he doubted them.

  “If there’s any possibility he could hurt anyone, or something worse. What would you choose if it was you?”

  Williams nodded and tugged his hair again.

  Banks sighed deeply. “One option is to gradually up his dosage of Morphine. It’ll make him sleep. He’ll stop breathing, slip away. It would be peaceful.”

  “You mean euthanize him,” Sidney said. “Like you’d put down a dog?”

  “I didn’t mean it like that at all.”

  “I know. I’m sorry. This just—”

  “Sucks.” Williams sniffed and cleared his throat. “It really fucking sucks.”

  “It’s getting late. Maybe you guys could take a break for a little while? Go get some food or some coffee or something? Dimitrius and I can stay with him.”

  Williams nodded and pressed his lips together. He met Sidney’s eyes as his own spilled over with tears. “If you think you’ll be okay for a while, I um—I need to go home and hug my girls.”

  “Do what you need to do.” She nodded her chin toward the elevator. “Give Megan an extra squeeze for me?”

  “Sure thing.” He gave her a brave but watery smile, and a peck on the cheek before he headed out.

  “You gonna be all right?” Banks asked.

  She smiled and shook her head. “No.”

  “How can I help make this easier for you?”

  “You can’t.” She crossed her arms and gave a small shrug. “Unless you use your necromancer voodoo and bring him back.”

  “Aw, honey. We all saw how that turned out downstairs.”

  “Yeah. I know.” Sidney fought back a wave of nausea as the reality of it all began to sink in.

  “Y’all really care about him, don’t you?” Banks asked.

  She gave him a sad smile as she tried to form the right words. “He’s everything.”

  “Yeah, I get it. I really do.” He squeezed her elbow. “If you need anything just holler. I’ll be right upstairs.”

  “Thanks.”

  The hallway was deserted except for Sidney, but she couldn’t bring herself to step inside the room to face Mitch. If walking through that door meant saying goodbye, then she wasn’t ready. Dimitrius had experience with this. He’d probably attended thousands of deathbeds, not to mention all the lives he’d ended on the battlefield. She wondered if that made it any easier or if it made it harder.

  She sank down against the wall and sat next to the door. It was open a crack. Now that she was alone and it was quiet, she could hear Mitch and Dimitrius talking.

  “It’ll be hardest on her.” Mitch’s voice was different, but she could still tell it was him. “She’ll blame herself no matter what you tell her otherwise.”

  “She possesses a great deal of determination.”

  “I think you mean she’s damn stubborn.”

  Sidney smiled.

  “I wish you could have seen her this evening. She was incredible.”

  “She’s brave and strong. Stronger than she knows. But you’ll have to help her through this. Losing her parents so early took something out of her. She doesn’t trust easily. She questions her feelings on everything. You have to be patient. Love her hard.”

  “I will. This I vow to you.” Dimitrius cleared his throat.

  Sidney stifled a sob with the edge of her sleeve.

  “I’m so very sorry it turned out this way, my friend,” Dimitrius continued.

  “You’re absolutely sure it’s eradicated this time?” Mitch asked.
r />   “Any trace of the virus was destroyed in the explosion.”

  “Then it ends with me.”

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  “You should try to rest. I’ll send for more ice.”

  “Dimitrius?”

  The door opened a few inches then stopped.

  “Love her.”

  “I already do.”

  Dimitrius emerged and shut the door behind him. He stepped into the middle of the hallway and pinched the bridge of his nose at the same place Sidney had broken it a few days ago. “Sulis, watch over him.”

  Sidney covered her mouth with both hands, but couldn’t stop the sound as she gasped between sobs. He turned, startled, then relaxed when he saw it was her.

  “How much did you hear?” he asked.

  The tears streaming down her face was enough of an answer.

  “Sidney.” He kneeled in front of her, took her hands and peeled them away from her face, then used his thumb to dry her tears. “Go to him.”

  “I’m not ready for this.”

  Dimitrius gave her a pained look. “If I knew the secret to stop time, I would have done it long ago. But then I never would have known you.”

  He rose and pulled her to her feet. “Go.”

  Sidney cleared her face, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

  Mitch lay in the bed, his back propped up with pillows. The dark lines moved all the way across his chest now, snaking down his arms, marring his perfect abdomen.

  She stopped at the end of the bed and stared. He held his hand out and she took it without hesitation.

  Sidney squeezed his hand in both of hers, but something felt different. His bones felt more pronounced somehow. Usually, her hand fit perfectly in his, but now it didn’t. It looked the same as it usually did, but she wasn’t sure if there had been that much hair on the back of it before. And his fingernails were much longer. He always kept them so short. Maybe she was looking too hard, trying to see something that wasn’t there.

  “Is there anything you want to say?” he asked.

  Sidney traced the deep purplish black lines up his arm with her eyes. What could she say to someone who already knew everything about her? What could she say that she hadn’t already said at one time or another under the covers late at night, over countless cups of coffee, or in the car stuck in traffic?

  “I’m going to miss you.” She stared up at him then and his features blurred.

  He pulled her to him. She stretched out on the bed, rested her cheek on his chest. His skin burned like fire compared to the ice packs tucked up against his side. Mitch tilted his head back and let out a groan.

  Sidney lifted her head, but he pulled her back down.

  “I’m fine.” He spoke through his teeth, as his heart pounded against her ear. “This wasn’t an easy decision. I want you to know that.”

  She wet his skin with her tears. “Mitch—”

  “Sidney, let me say this. I need to. Please,” he said, as he brushed his hand over her hair. “I don’t want to leave you. But the idea of waking up one morning and finding you spread out across the room, knowing that it would be my fault—I can’t take that risk. We can’t let what happened to your parents happen to us.”

  He squeezed his hand around her arm and held his breath while his body shuddered against her. It hurt, but she didn’t let him know.

  “I spoke with Dimitrius. Your grandfather’s labs were all destroyed. This all ends here with me. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “I understand, but I don’t have to like it, do I?” Sidney traced her finger across his chest. His body relaxed, but his chest rose and fell fast under her touch.

  “Of course you don’t have to like it. I hate it. I hate the idea of leaving you, of not being there when you need me.” Mitch gritted his teeth together and fought back another groan. “But I also know you’ll survive. I know you’ll keep going. And we’ll be together again. I promise.” He nudged her up and touched the silver cross at her neck. “Your mom and dad, all of us.”

  “Give them a hug for me? Tell them I miss them.” Her tears dripped down the back of his hand. “I’ll be there before you know it.”

  He dug his fingernails into her hand. It hurt. Sidney checked, and they were definitely longer, sharper, than they had been a few seconds ago. He tried to say something but his back arched and twisted in a spasm that drew a roar from somewhere deep inside him. She’d never heard him make a sound like that before. It wasn’t even human.

  “Mitch?” The way he gripped her hand made her scream out too, but there was no way she would let go.

  Dimitrius rushed in, she felt him at her side.

  “Not yet. Please, not yet.” Sidney didn’t know who or what she was pleading with, she just wanted this to stop.

  “I’ll get Banks.” Dimitrius left.

  “I love you,” Mitch gasped.

  Sidney cleared away her tears so she could look into his eyes. The color was faded to a pale blue. So unlike his own. But she could still see something left of him in there, deep down, begging her to put an end to this.

  The muscles in his arms pulled tight, drawing his fingers into a fist that locked around her hand. There was a crack in each one of his ribs, one right after the other. Hard claws pulled at her skin.

  Banks came in and grabbed a vial and a syringe from the bedside table.

  “Hurry,” she yelled at Banks.

  Mitch convulsed so hard his back twisted and arched up off the bed.

  “Step back over here.” Banks directed her out of the way. He got the needle into his arm and pushed down the plunger.

  Something cold and hard pressed into her palm. Dimitrius stood at her back. He wrapped her hand around the weapon and fortified her strength with the look he gave her.

  Banks saw the gun in her hand. “What are you doing?”

  “Get out of the way,” Dimitrius said.

  The idea of what she was about to do washed over her. When this was over, she could never kiss Mitch again. Never hold his hand. Never hear him say goodnight, or lay awake and listen to him snore. Never make love to him again.

  Mitch roared. His back cracked and he shredded the sheets with his claws. “Sidney, please!”

  She went to him and rested her forehead against his. He closed his eyes and his body eased down on the mattress.

  “You know I love you, right?” she told him. “More than anything.”

  “I love you too.” He lifted his head and kissed her. “You’re the best thing that ever happened to me. I will always, always be with you.”

  Sidney gave him one last lingering kiss, then clicked the safety off.

  She pressed the barrel to his forehead, turned her face away and squeezed the trigger. Then put another two shots into the center of his chest.

  His body went limp.

  He shrank back into himself. His hands became the hands she was so familiar with, the ones that had touched her in the most wonderful ways, taken care of her, and dried her tears. His eyes thawed back into gray, but the spark of life was no longer there.

  The gun slipped from Sidney’s fingers and landed on the floor with a dull thud. She sank to her knees, pressing her cheek against the edge of the mattress. His arm draped lifeless off the side of the bed. She took his hand in her own and kissed it.

  It was still warm.

  Thirty-Nine

  “It is unfortunate the world has lost such a good man.” The priest shuffled his notes at the lectern. “A man who dedicated his life to the benefit of others. A selfless, God-fearing man who used his life and his wealth to make this planet we live on a little bit better, a bit easier for those who needed it most.”

  The cloying scent of Easter lilies made it hard to take in a breath. The white flowers covered the front altar of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, spilling across the top of an elegant, shining black casket. There was nothing left to put inside. It was all for show, just like the rest of her grandfather’s life.


  “Alexander Lake will be missed by many, but we need not mourn his death. Merely, celebrate a long and wonderful life. For he will live on forever in all of the many, many lives he has touched.” The priest gave Sidney a reassuring nod before he stepped away.

  A man in a black suit with a Bluetooth headset attached to his ear came over and crouched in front of Sidney. “Ms. Lake, when you’re ready, we’ll let you out first. The car is waiting. Again, I’m terribly sorry for your loss.”

  Sidney knew she should respond, but nothing came out. She hadn’t been able to say much of anything at all the past week. A numbness had overcome her that she couldn’t seem to shake. She went through the motions, first Tom’s funeral, now this one.

  They were holding a wake for Mitch at the Cowgirl Sea-Horse that night.

  It was like walking through a dream. She was there, but she wasn’t.

  “Thank you,” Dimitrius offered on her behalf. He stood and buttoned his suit coat. Tyran, Argus, and Malcolm followed the same motions beside him. Dimitrius held out his hand for Sidney and spoke under his breath. “One more minute. Then it’s over with.”

  Sidney put her hand in his and stood. The magic bond between them flared. Over two-thousand pairs of eyes focused on her. She glanced over at Williams and Megan who were seated in the second row. Peters was there with his wife and daughter as well.

  Dimitrius kept his hand firmly in place at the small of her back as whispers and furtive glances followed them like a wave out into the open. Yelling and bright camera flashes erupted when they stepped outside. Sidney only caught snippets of words here and there.

  “Ms. Lake!” A blonde woman shoved a microphone under Sidney’s nose. “How does it feel to suddenly be worth an estimated $43 billion?”

  She stopped and stared at the woman. Argus, Malcolm and Tyran pushed back the urgent reporters and paparazzi, so eager for a sound bite.

  “The man I loved most in this world is dead.” Sidney was surprised at how calm her voice sounded. “I’d give every dime of that money to have one more minute with him.”

  The reporter blinked, seemingly stunned by such honesty, but she recovered quickly. “So the reports that you and your grandfather weren’t speaking at the time of his death are unfounded?”