Avalon

by Shiloh Walker

  Even though he wanted to hurl it. If he did that, and smashed it, then he was fucked. If he had to, then he’d get Eddie. Eddie could fix anything. But first—

  “Seth.”

  He felt her touch his mind and thought he’d sob with relief. But right after he felt her touch, he felt her pain. He stumbled and went down onto the ivory carpet in her living room, and saw the room through her eyes, where she was. “Sorry. I can’t focus well,” she said as he seemed to flood her mind—nothing kept them apart now and he had to wonder if the only thing that had kept them apart before was Erin.

  Red rage blossomed in his mind as he took inventory. The injuries were minor, for now. “He’s gone. He doesn’t think I’ll wake up for a little while,” she told him silently as he counted each bruise. So far, all of them had been acquired during her abduction. Bruises from the long ride there in the trunk, abrasions on her wrists from the rope, a slap across her face when she had turned to face him in the kitchen of her apartment that morning. She had glimpsed his face, had felt his mind.

  “Who in the fuck is it?” he demanded.

  He jerked when his lips actually moved and was startled to realize he was actually alone in the room. The link was so complete he had forgotten, for a brief moment, she wasn’t there with him.

  “Colton. It’s Colton. And it’s not me he’s focused on. It’s my mother…he’s been kidnapping my mother. He was obsessed with her.”

  “Be quiet,” he said gruffly. “Where are you?”

  “I don’t know. But I think I can bring you to me. Just follow me.” He felt the shadow of a smile on her face, the pain it caused to arc through her head, and he cursed furiously. “I’ll be your compass. We’re bound together. That’s why I felt so safe when you came back and I just now figured it out. You’ll find me. We don’t need the transmitter or anything else. Just each other. Find me, Seth.”

  His car was still in the shop. So he did the practical thing. He stole the first car he came upon.

  His mama had an iron fist, but he had slipped out of it from time to time, and had run wild in the streets. Hotwiring a car was child’s play. Following that odd lingering feel in the air that was Erin was even easier. He hit the highway and headed east to the lake.

  She was strapped to the floor, each wrist to a ring chained to the floor. A drain was positioned right by her side and she shuddered as she eyed it. Each ankle was strapped down as well by leather cuffs strapped to heavy metal links and locked to more rings. Such a familiar picture.

  The drain was to wash her blood away.

  He’d pour bleach down it. And sulphuric acid. Nothing ever truly dissolved human blood but it was enough to wash away her DNA and keep them from linking her disappearance to him. Assuming anybody linked him to the crimes.

  He wasn’t bargaining on Seth.

  Of course, he wasn’t going to leave here alive.

  But he was finished, either way.

  “You’re awake.”

  The voice wasn’t the low menacing one it had been for the others. She rolled her head to the side and said, “Decide to stop playacting, Chief?” Her arms were stretched so tightly overhead it hurt, but she refused to show she was even uncomfortable. She had managed to lose the earring in the trunk, as Seth had told her, just by rubbing her head on her shoulder. Both of them were in there now. She hadn’t been able to locate either one by feel, so had been relieved when she had been able to reach out and touch Seth’s mind so completely.

  “You’re so like your mother, Erin. Ever the lady,” Colton said, moving out of the shadows. “It was playacting. All to pique your curiosity, this time around, at least. I had intended to take her, but your dumbfuck father killed her.”

  “And for that I will thank him every day for the rest of my life,” Erin said with heartfelt sincerity. That heartbreaking accident that had taken her parents had been a gift, and she had just now realized it. “And if I die today, or tomorrow, or the next day, my first stop is going to be to thank God for the car crash, for keeping her from you. I’ve always known things happen for a reason, and this is the reason she died when she did, to be kept away from something as awful as you.”

  “She should have been mine,” Colton hissed, moving closer, his small eyes ugly, angry and enraged. “Your slobbering, blue-collar father didn’t deserve her. She was a Vincent, one of the blue bloods. Her family is as old as mine and—”

  “And her first dog was better looking than you?” Erin supplied helpfully.

  She saw the confusion in his eyes, then the rage. She watched as he raised his hand and then she closed her eyes and willed herself not to feel it. She wasn’t going to fight him yet. He had loved it when they fought back, and she wasn’t going to give that to him yet. She blanked her mind and then she felt Seth reaching for her.

  And she had to block him as well when the first blow fell open-handed across her face.

  Seth felt her cut him off and he wanted to howl.

  He sped down the gravel road, following her. It felt as though there was a thread drawing him closer and closer, and the closer he got, the tighter the thread became.

  “Erin,” he growled, reaching for her. “Erin, damn it, let me in.”

  “No. Not now. You’re close, I can feel it. I’ll be okay until then.”

  And then she was gone again.

  She opened her eyes, licked the blood away from her mouth and glared up at Colton. Then she narrowed her eyes as he started to jerk his clothes open and away. “Big mistake, Chief. As long I didn’t figure you were ready to start with the rape, I could handle the beating,” she drawled, focusing her mind.

  He had just turned his small pig-like eyes back to her, opening his mouth to hiss at her again when she struck. His scream bounced off the walls, echoing as she struck again.

  He drew his knife, one hand held to his head, hardly able to see beyond the pain. The knife was flashing down, just like she had seen. She felt it slash her thigh and she lashed out again with her mind, harder and stronger. In his rage, he was able to strike back, even though she ripped something open inside his brain, causing him to bleed.

  This time he moved higher and had better aim, striking her belly, cutting her shallowly, but enough to make her bleed. If Seth didn’t get here soon—she pushed the thought aside, shoved the pain aside, and struck out. The knife was descending and she didn’t even realize how different this was from her visions. The rape hadn’t happened, she knew help was coming.

  The door banged open, a howl filled the air, and Erin felt the terror leave her and she sagged back against the floor. She decided then it was fairly safe to pass out, and she conceded to the beckoning black waves with gratitude. She’d be sorry later—she hadn’t lost that much blood. But enough that the fear made oblivion seem fairly sweet.

  Seth took Colton to the ground, snapping his arm. Blood was pouring from his eyes, ears, nose and even his mouth. Massive brain hemorrhage, Seth was figuring, but the fury and insanity there were masking the pain. Seth’s own insanity more than made them an even pair though, as Seth held him down and Colton fought to get back to killing Erin.

  “That’s my woman you marked,” he breathed into Colton’s ear, drawing his gun, pressing the cold metal to Colton’s neck. One arm broken, the other shoved high and twisted behind his back, he could only fight so hard, and the injury inside his head was slowly killing him. “My woman you tried to kill. I’d see you dead for it, but she’s already started the job. It’d be my pleasure to stay and watch it finished, but I’ve a need to see her to the hospital now.”

  “Mine…” Colton hissed.

  “Mine,” Seth said. “Know why she was just now available for you to grab? Were you able to hear inside her apartment? No? I’ve been with her, every night, loving that long sweet, body.”

  “Mine…” the voice was weaker. But he glared at Seth with furious, hate-filled eyes as Seth got up and stood over him, his lip curled in disgust as Colton tried to climb to his feet. But he was already to
o weak. Too unfocused.

  Slowly, he backed away and went to Erin. The heavily padlocked leather cuffs held her chained like something less than an animal. The bleeding mess of a man lying on the floor, breathing in shallow pants, hadn’t paid enough. But Erin bled as well, from numerous thin slices that marred her pale, lovely body.

  Her eyes remained closed as he checked frantically for a pulse. It pounded steadily, and her skin was warm and smooth, her chest moving steadily up and down.

  A harsh gurgling noise came from Colton’s mouth as Seth pulled his lock picks from his pocket. Sliding him a glance, Seth started working the locks. “She’ll die with…me. I made…sure of…it,” Colton hissed.

  “No, you didn’t,” Seth said flatly. “She was smarter than you. Instead of getting pissed and losing her cool like you did, she fought. You fucking coward. Tied down and helpless and she could still fight braver than you could. They are waiting for you in hell.”

  Colton started to laugh as Seth freed the second wrist. “I’m taking her with me,” he insisted, rolling onto his side and lifting his gun.

  A shot filled the room before Seth could even drop the lock pick. Flinging his body across Erin’s, he waited for the pain that would fill him, but it never came.

  “Sorry bastard. They’ll lock the gate behind that one in hell, that’s for sure,” a wry, tired voice muttered.

  Slowly, Seth lifted his eyes and met Eddie’s across the room.

  “You know, it’s a funny thing being a partner. You’re actually expected to notify your partner when you are in need of backup. But you young punks probably have a hard time remembering that,” Eddie said, smirking a bit as he pulled his jacket off and offered it to Seth.

  “I’ll…ah…I’ll remember that.”

  “Good luck, Eddie. His head is harder than a rock,” a soft, muffled voice murmured.

  Slowly, he rose and stared down into dazed, glassy eyes. “Erin,” he rasped, tossing the jacket over her before he caught her under the arms and lifted her up, gently cradling her against him.

  “Careful there, bud. She’s still pinned at the legs,” Eddie murmured. “But you just hold tight. I think she needs that right now.”

  “Yeah,” she whispered. “Hold tight—I do need it.”

  “I need it, too.” Seth pressed his cheek against her hair and rocked her gently as the sound of sirens in the distance grew louder.

  Epilogue

  CHIEF OF POLICE GUILTY OF MURDER?

  DEAD BY MYSTERIOUS MASSIVE BRAIN HEMORRHAGE

  Erin glanced up from her hospital bed where she was reading the newspaper headlines to look at Seth. “Do I really have to read this?”

  He shrugged. “I wasn’t sure if you wanted to or not,” he said. “Did you notice the date?” he asked.

  She lifted a blonde brow. “I do know my own birthday,” she said with a smile.

  “Good.” The door opened and a nurse wheeled in a cake, balloons and flowers. After she had left, Seth lowered himself to the chair and stared at her over the back. “We’re having a party, a big one, after you come home and are feeling up to it. But I wanted this quiet. Because I wanted to give you this.”

  She stared at the dark blue jeweler’s box with misty eyes, hardly able to breathe as he opened it. When he slid the ring on her hand, he said, “You told me you’d say yes, so do I have to ask, or can we just set a date?”

  She laughed through the tears and said, “How does now sound?”

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  The Trouble With Temptation

  Seven days had passed.

  Seven days.

  Brannon almost had the art of telling time down a science, all by the annoying little beep beepbeep that came from the monitor in Hannah’s room.

  He had all but moved into this hospital room.

  Hannah lay still on the bed. Her hair gleamed—he’d spent twenty minutes brushing it that morning, and before he left, he’d do it again.

  Unwittingly, he reached out and laid a hand on her belly.

  She was…

  Clearing his throat, he withdrew his hand. Gideon had been the one to deliver that news, his voice calm and efficient. He’d also been the one to catch Brannon’s arm when he staggered under the news and he’d been the one to force him to sit and listen.

  Hannah was pregnant. But did it even matter?

  The doctors had all been pretty clear.

  They’d been optimistic the first day, even the second.

  But the more time that passed, the less likely it was that she’d wake up. The swelling on the brain that had caused the coma was gone, but she still wasn’t waking up. It wasn’t good.

  Did the baby growing inside her have a chance?

  “Brannon.”

  He lifted his head, but didn’t bother to look at the doorway.

  Neve came in and sat down next to him.

  “Why don’t you go get something to eat?” she said softly.

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “But you need to eat.” She leaned over and nudged her shoulder against his. “You’re not going to help her any if you fall over the minute she wakes up. You’ve already lost weight.”

  He started to argue, but decided it would be easier to grab a sandwich and bring it up here.

  Neve was turning out to be like their mother—unmovable once she set her course. “Okay. I’ll be back soon.”

  A smile flitted across her face. “Wouldn’t expect it any other way.”

  He leaned over the bed and pressed a kiss to Hannah’s brow. “Wake up.” He held still there a moment. “Come back to me.”

  In his head, he relived those last few moments on her houseboat.

  I’m not looking for any sort of relationship. Sex is all well and good, but I don’t want anything else…I get the feeling casual sex isn’t really your speed.

  She just gazed at him. Calm, steady. I’ve been in love with you since high school.

  It had floored him, scared him, scarred him…or so he’d thought. What he hadn’t realized until this very moment was that her love, something she would have so easily given, could have very well saved him.

  What had he done? Thrown it away. Walked away.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered. “I was so fucking wrong. Hannah, for fuck’s sake. Come back to me.”

  It was all he could say at that moment. There was a thousand other things he needed to say, but he couldn’t voice even the first word until she was able to open her eyes and look at him.

  He tugged on Neve’s hair and then headed out, blinking at the overly bright lights in the hallway. He’d kept the lights off for Hannah—when she woke up, they’d seem too bright. But that meant everything was too bright for him.

  Wake up, Hannah. Come back to me. I’m sorry…

  Wake up.

  Come back to me.

  Those words were the only thing that felt real.

  Other people would talk, but nobody seemed to talk to her.

  Wake up.

  Come back to me.

  She was almost there.

  Groaning in frustration—or trying to—she listened for him again.

  But his voice was gone.

  Wake up…wake up…

  “Visiting hours are over, Mr. McKay.”

  He didn’t look up from the book he was reading.

  It was a romance Hannah had been reading—he’d gotten it from her apartment and it had been on her nightstand so he figured she must be enjoying it. He felt stupid as hell reading it out loud to her, but Brannon had done some serious cramming on coma victims and the general consensus was that it didn’t hurt to read to a person in a coma. He took that to mean it helped. And if it helped, he’d read every damned book he could find.

  So he read.

  “Mr. McKay.” The nurs
e’s voice was louder now, and firmer.

  He put in the piece of paper he was using for the bookmark and looked up.

  “As much as we’re enjoying the escapades of that young couple out here at the nurse’s station, it’s time for you to go home.” She arched her eyebrows. “And…” She glanced at the uniformed cop standing just outside the door. “I’m sorry to say this, but I think you’re embarrassing Officer Billings.”

  “Officer Billings has two grown kids,” Brannon said sourly. “He has to know what sex is.”

  The nurse, Ginny, just laughed. “I’m sure he does. He’s just never had to listen to a boy like yourself read about it.” Her voice softened and she came in. “Come on, Bran. Go home. Rest. Be back bright and early…and shock the day shift with your reading material, if you must.”

  After a minute, he just nodded. “Fine.”

  Then, as Ginny gave him a minute, he bent over Hannah’s quiet form.

  “Wake up, Hannah. Please come back to me. I’m sorry…”

  Wake up.

  Come back.

  I’m sorry…

  She wanted to shout at him. Don’t! Don’t be sorry! Be here!

  He was leaving.

  He had to be. He only said the words when he was leaving and once he was gone…

  Frustrated flooded her, filled her until she wanted to shout with fury. The faint light that seemed to edge in was suddenly gone. No!

  “Huh.”

  Ginny Rollings pursed her lips and pushed her glasses up her nose as she leaned in to study the monitor. The readings had changed.

  “Everything okay in here?”

  She looked over her shoulder to smile at Officer Billings. With the dim light it was hard to stay if his color had gone back to normal, but if it had, she’d be sure to take a moment to tease him. Just to get him going again.

  She enjoyed seeing the man flustered. It would always fun to let his wife know how easy to was to get the big, gruff man of hers to blushing.

  “Oh, fine,” she said, looking down at her patient.

  “Well…” She bent closer. I’ll be damned.