Tall, Dark and Paranormal: 10 Thrilling Tales of Sexy Alpha Bad Boys

by Opal Carew

  Her mother, Katherine, called them the Dark Ones and warned Kai they would come if Kai wasn’t careful about the kind of mystical practices she dabbled in. According to her mother’s stories, the Dark Ones were capable of stealing a person’s light—essentially they were soul- stealers. Her mother said that a Dark One could suck the soul out of a regular person, but that it was even more dangerous for people who saw auras or light the way that Kai did.

  Kai shuddered but quickly shook it off. She knew her mother was being overly cautious or perhaps just flat out made up these scary stories to keep her from using her powers too freely.

  Kai scoffed as she continued to fight with the lock on the attic door. The idea of a person without an aura was ludicrous because it would mean they didn’t have a soul. Kai had never met anyone without light. Some people had auras that were darker or murkier than others, but everyone had a glow of some kind because everyone has a soul. Even animals have auras.

  Kai let out a short laugh as she adjusted her grip on the iron key. Right now, she’d give just about anything for one of her mother’s lectures on the mystic realm... and one of her hugs. The hole in Kai’s heart grew smaller with time but there were moments the sadness and grief would surge and threaten to overwhelm her.

  Not today. Today she would reclaim this house in her mother’s memory and in honor of the twenty-five loving years her parents had shared. Kai had come out here with the intention of clearing the place out and selling it, but once she set foot on the property, something inside of her, that swirling unsettled energy that constantly battled to be let out... stilled.

  With a growl of frustration, Kai swiped sweaty strands of blond hair from her forehead.

  “Old man,” she muttered through clenched teeth as she tried to force the lock. “This door is as stubborn as you were.”

  Holding her breath, the key slippery in her sweaty hands, Kai leaned her shoulder against the white painted door and in one final effort, the lock gave way with a satisfying thunk. Kai let out a sound of relief and gave Zephyr a thumbs up, while, in typical feline fashion she sat in the hallway giving Kai a bored look.

  “Well, you could at least give me a small meow or something.” Kai said between heavy breaths. “I almost had a stroke trying to get this door open.”

  Zephyr let out a short mewling sound and promptly began licking her front paw, clearly unimpressed.

  “Nice.” Kai laughed as she wiped sweat from her brow and tightened her ponytail. “Some help you are. It’s just the two of us out here in the middle of nowhere so you better behave yourself or I might let the coyotes get you.”

  Zephyr meowed loudly and flounced over, rubbing her furred body up against Kai’s bare calf.

  “Oh, I’m just kidding.” Kai scratched the cat’s head and brushed the layer of cat hair off her skin as Zephyr trotted down the hall. “Shit, you are shedding like crazy. I can’t blame you. It’s hotter than Hades in here but something tells me it will feel downright balmy compared to the attic.”

  As if answering her prayers, a cool breeze from the open window at the end of the hallway wafted over her, providing momentary relief. Kai closed her eyes and reveled in the breeze but as soon as she tugged the attic door open she got a face full of thick, stale humid air.

  Kai flipped the light switch on the wall as she tried not to breathe in the stifling air. To her great relief, the bulb dangling at the top of the steps still worked, so at least she wouldn’t be stumbling around in the dark. Steeling herself, Kai climbed the creaky wooden steps with a combination of excitement and trepidation.

  On one hand, she loved the idea of investigating what hidden treasures might be up there, but on the other, was the irrational fear that the bogeyman was in a dark corner waiting for her.

  As Kai gripped the weathered railing, she coughed as dusty air filled her lungs, and reminded herself that the Dark Ones weren’t hiding in attic corners. Darkness, true evil, lived in the hidden parts of people’s hearts and minds, and that was more terrifying than any bogeyman.

  As one Converse-clad foot hit the landing she looked around in awe. The attic was a cavernous space that ran the entire width of the house and it was filled with years worth of stuff. Dust-filled rays of sunlight streamed in from two oval windows, one at either end of the room, and Kai let out an exhausted sigh as she walked around the box-littered floor.

  “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” Kai murmured.

  Zephyr rubbed against her leg again before trotting off and disappearing into the sea of clutter.

  “If you find any mice, please don’t behead them and drop them at my feet.” Kai stepped over an old, steamer trunk. “It’s gross and I’m already convinced of your bad-ass ninja like fighting skills. I don’t need any more proof.”

  Making her way through what looked like a path amid the clutter, Kai opened both windows, which made the space bearable. Between the open windows and the door at the bottom of the steps, a gentle breeze now flowed through the musty room.

  Kai glanced over and saw Zephyr lying on top of a box in front of one of the windows, settling in for yet another nap.

  “Your mouse hunting skills are rivaled only by your ability to sleep, but I guess that’s why they call them cat naps,” she laughed. “Don’t mind me. I’m just jealous. But as soon as I get through this mess, I’m taking a nap of my own.”

  Several hours later, Kai had managed to dig through almost every box and pile in the stuffy attic. Most of it was comprised of old clothes, blankets, books and records. There didn’t appear to be anything of any real value monetarily or emotionally, and it became abundantly clear she was going to need to have all of it hauled away. Little of it was even in good enough shape to donate.

  She’d hoped that there would be pictures of her mom as a little girl, old photo albums or something, but no such luck. Kai chalked it up to the fact that Jacob, clearly hadn’t bothered with sentiment.

  Her grandmother had died soon after Kai’s mother was born and Jacob was so distraught he removed all images of his wife from the home. Kai shook her head as she stood up and brushed dust from the back of her shorts. “Charming.”

  A sudden gust of wind rattled the window and slammed it shut with a nerve-shattering crack. The sound had Kai jump about a foot in the air and sent Zephyr running for cover beneath a stack of framed prints that were leaning against the beamed wall.

  “Holy crap,” she said with a laugh. Kai’s hand rested on her chest as her heart thundered rapidly. “That scared the bejezzus out of me.”

  Kai stepped over a few boxes and went to inspect the window, convinced the glass must have cracked from the force of the blow. To her relief the only thing that had come off was a bunch of old white paint chips that were scattered over the blanket where Zephyr had been sleeping.

  “Looks like your bed got dirty,” Kai said, as she brushed away the flakes of white. She peered over her shoulder at the cat, currently hissing at Kai from her hiding spot. “Don’t be pissed at me. I didn’t make the wind blow.”

  Kai turned back and noticed a blanket was covering a small crate. She pulled it off, coughing from a mouth full of dust. Beneath it was a weathered wooden box with faded symbols she couldn’t quite make out. The top was nailed shut, which only piqued her curiosity further.

  “Leave it to you,” she said to Zephyr. “To find the most interesting-looking thing in the whole place. I’m gonna need a crow bar or something to open this one. Come on, girl. Let’s get it downstairs.”

  Kai picked up the box and while it clearly had something inside, it wasn’t as heavy as she thought it would be. With Zephyr at her heels, Kai made her way down the steps and breathed a sigh of relief when she hit the much cooler air of the second floor.

  Mystery box in hand, Kai trotted down the main staircase, which led to the front entry hall of the old colonial. She passed through the massive formal dining room that looked like it hadn’t been used in a century and took her treasure into the sunny country kitchen.


  She put the crate on the weathered, butcher-block kitchen table, but as she headed for the mudroom, the sound of a car pulling up the driveway caught her attention. With Zephyr at her heels, Kai went to the front hall and peered through the screen door to see a familiar black Lexus pulling to a stop in the semi-circular dirt drive.

  Smiling, Kai pushed open the creaky door and stepped out onto the covered porch to greet Mr. Flaherty. She held the door for Zephyr but the petulant feline stuck her tail in the air and went back inside, clearly uninterested in their visitor. Kai brushed her hands off and trotted down the steps to greet her grandfather’s attorney.

  Ben Flaherty stepped out of the car and looked even more out of place in this rural setting than his car did. His dark suit and crisp white shirt stood out in stark contrast to the rolling, green fields and red, weathered barn. He was tall, handsome, wealthy and educated. The kind of man she would never in a million years attempt to date because the man was slick from head to toe.

  Even his aura was extra bright. Most healthy people had brightly colored auras but his was an almost blinding yellow. She’d never met anyone with an aura that bright other than her own mother. The familiar feel of his aura was probably why she’d felt comfortable with him right off the bat.

  His clothes were never wrinkled and so far she’d seen no evidence that he perspired, and at the moment Kai was sweating like a pig.

  Mr. Flaherty flashed a big pearly, white grin as he crossed around the front of the car and extended his hand to Kai.

  “What brings you all the way out here, Mr. Flaherty?” Kai asked as she shook his well- manicured hand.

  “I thought I told you to call me Ben,” he said as his aura shifted from yellow to a reddish hue. “Mr. Flaherty was my father.”

  Kai blushed as his hand held hers a bit longer than a typical handshake.

  “Right,” Kai said, removing her hand from his. That color change in his aura was a sure fire sign that he was attracted to her and she had to admit, he was cute. “I thought we took care of everything the other day in your office.”

  “We did,” he said as he took off his sunglasses and peered at her with warm, brown eyes. “But since you don’t know anyone in the area and you’re living out here all alone, I thought I’d pop in and check on you. You look like you’ve been working hard,” he said as his eyes wandered over her.

  “You could say that,” Kai said, as she self-consciously brushed off her dusty tank top. “I managed to get through most of the house and today I finally tackled the attic.”

  “Really?” His gaze flicked to the open attic windows and his eyebrows rose. “In this heat? You’re a brave soul, Kai Kelly. Find anything of interest?”

  “Not really. Mostly old clothes and stuff.” Silence stretched out for a moment as he continued to study her. Feeling awkward, Kai jutted her thumb toward the house and squinted against the setting sun. “Would you like to come in for a glass of lemonade?”

  “I’d love to but I have to get back into Gooding for a dinner meeting.” Ben glanced at his watch and then locked eyes with Kai. His voice dropped to a softer tone. “I’ll do you one better, though. How about if you let me take you out for dinner tomorrow night?”

  “Uh, sure,” she said with a smile. Kai stuck her hands in the pockets of her shorts and instantly felt even more self-conscious than she did before. She didn’t own a single item of clothing that would be appropriate for any restaurant Ben would want to go to.

  “Did you have any place in particular in mind because I saw a neat looking place in town and I wanted to try it,” she said. “Angels and Outlaws. Have you heard of it?”

  “Well, sure.” Ben let out a short laugh. “But I was hoping for our first date to be somewhere more fitting of a lady. But I want you to be comfortable. So Angels and Outlaws it is.”

  First date? Kai swallowed the lump in her throat and wrestled with her conflicting emotions. Ben was hot and rich and she’d be crazy not to go out with him. So why was she feeling hesitant?

  “Well,” Kai began slowly as she tried not to notice the ripples of red in his aura. “I’m a simple girl and if you tried to take me to one of the fancy places you probably had in mind, I’d use the wrong fork or something. A burger joint is fine with me. How about if we meet there tomorrow night around seven?”

  “Sounds good to me,” Ben said as a smile cracked his face. He slipped his sunglasses back on and walked back to the driver’s side of his car. “I’ll see you at seven tomorrow and by the way... something tells me you’re anything but a simple girl.”

  Before Kai could respond Ben was in his car and driving down the driveway. As the cloud of dust settled and his taillights disappeared from view, a smile played at Kai’s lips. Maybe Bliss wasn’t going to be so boring after all?

  Kai made her way back into the house and started rooting around in a box of tools that were in the mudroom adjacent to the kitchen. Crow bar in hand, she came back into the kitchen and found Zephyr sitting on top of the box again.

  “What’s your story?” Kai asked with narrowed eyes as she pointed the crow bar at her companion. “I’ll make you a deal. You can have the box but I get whatever’s inside.”

  Zephyr, seemingly satisfied with the arrangement, hopped off the crate and onto one of the chairs. Her large blue eyes stared intently at the box, her curiosity matching Kai’s. That phrase curiosity killed the cat ran through Kai’s mind.

  “Here goes nothing,” she murmured.

  Finding the seam along the top, Kai wedged the tip of the crowbar into the crack and with one big push the top popped open. She did the same thing along two other edges, and when she finally pulled the top off, what she found inside left her stunned.

  A stack of old black and white photographs sat inside, and the hauntingly, familiar face of a young woman stared up at Kai through a pair of large dark eyes. Eyes that were just like hers. With shaking fingers, Kai reached in and pulled out the pile of weathered photographs.

  She flipped through the stack one at a time and found that every picture was of the same woman. Based on the fifties style clothing and striking resemblance to both Kai and her mother, Kai could only assume this was her grandmother, Kristine.

  All the photos showed a smiling, young woman full of life, but it was the last picture that gave her pause.

  It was an image of her grandmother with a baby in her arms and Kai was certain it was her mother, when she was an infant. Tears fell freely down Kai’s cheeks as she ran one finger over the faded image. Sniffling, she flipped the picture over to see if there was a date and while there was something written, it wasn’t what she expected.

  My sweet, Katherine. The next Custodian.

  “Custodian?” Kai said, confused. Her grandmother was a custodian? “Do we come from some long line of school janitors or something?”

  As Kai swiped at her damp cheek with the back of her hand, she spotted a small black bag that had been hidden beneath the photos. She placed the stack of photos on the table and picked up the heavy, worn, cotton bag and felt a lump inside. Kai loosened the drawstring and turned the bag over, emptying the contents into her hand.

  A heavy ring made of iron, tumbled into her palm and the metal felt cool against her damp skin. Holding it between her fingers, Kai squinted and went to the light by the kitchen window to try and make out the unusual design on the round face

  There were a series of four circles with some kind of lettering evenly spaced between the rings. It was so tiny and worn away by time that she’d need a magnifying glass to get a clue as to what it said. At the center of the smallest circle was what looked like a star and it had some kind of crystal in the middle.

  “Why wouldn’t Jacob have given this to my mom?” she murmured.

  It was beautiful. Not in a traditionally gorgeous and sparkling kind of way, but beautiful none-the-less and it was definitely old. She had no idea just how old but it really didn’t matter. This ring obviously belonged to her grandmother and th
at’s what made it valuable.

  “Priceless.”

  Smiling through her tears, Kai slipped the precious ring onto the middle finger of her right hand and found that it fit perfectly. As she held her hand up to inspect her newfound prize, a howling gust of wind ripped through the house and slammed the front door shut.

  Kai yelped and spun around to see the pile of pictures blow around the room and flutter to the kitchen floor. Her hands gripped the edge of the counter behind her as she fought to still her racing heartbeat. Zephyr was nowhere to be seen and the only sound was the old, cuckoo clock that ticked loudly on the wall.

  She squatted down to pick up the scattered photos and as she placed them back on top of the table, her attention was captured by something written on the side of the crate. As her gaze slid over the words, the little hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. Custodians of the Light.

  ***

  The disturbance in the air had been subtle, a quiet rumbling that, at first, Asmodeus mistook for the usual notification of new arrivals. Every day when a new batch of tormented souls arrived, there was a shift in the atmosphere. As one of the seven Princes of Hell and the Demon of Lust, he was responsible for the pathetic individuals who earned their ticket to hell by reveling in lust and desire.

  Lust or lusting for someone wasn’t evil but, when humans allowed themselves to be corrupted by it that was when the scales tipped to damnation. The souls that landed in his little corner of hell were the worst of the worst.

  Rapists, murderers, pedophiles. The humans, who in Asmodeus’ opinion, gave lust a bad name and he was more than happy to escort them into an eternity of hell and damnation.

  But he could do without the paperwork.

  Asmodeus had been overseeing tortured souls in Hell for several millennia and he was growing weary of it. He watched mortals, on many occasions, and envied the life, the freedoms they were given. So when they abused that freedom, there was something gratifying about implementing their punishment.