Dressed in a ragged, worn flowered smock and a threadbare wool coat, she was a tiny wisp of a thing. She appeared even smaller by the way her curved back hunched. Though she couldn’t have been even five feet tall, Brendan stumbled away from her as if she were a giant, fierce beast. His heart thudded against his ribs.
He held his hands out in front of him, trying to hold her back. “What do you want with me, old woman?”
She cackled. The wretched sound broke off into a series of harsh coughs. “Don’t you recognize where you are, Fish?”
“I don’t have to play your games.” He backed further away from her. The broken little boy inside him cried out. “You hold no power over me anymore.”
Her beady, black eyes pierced him. “Look where you are, Fish,” she demanded. Though she was human, she, like Stone, had the power to control others with her voice. It was a power Brendan remembered from his short-lived childhood. It had made him feel helpless.
Nothing had changed.
Instead of running or fighting her like he wanted to do, he blinked and looked around the dark, narrow alleyway. At one end, a faded wooden sign waved in the wind. “Lady Czarina’s Mystical Curios,” he mouthed the words as he read them.
This was where he’d been found as a baby and had spent the first three years of his life. It was also the same alleyway where he’d met Dallas.
“Everything leads back to here.” Her voice scratched against his ears. “Have you taken the time to wonder why?”
He hadn’t.
“Well?” she pressed.
“I began life here,” he guessed.
“You haven’t changed since you were three, Fish. You still don’t stop to think things through!” Leaning heavily on a wooden cane, she hobbled toward him. The cane clomped against the broken asphalt at a slow, steady beat. “Don’t you see? You started here because everything ends here.”
She grabbed his hand. Her fingers dug into his skin like sharp talons. He tried to pull away, but she sunk her nails in deeper.
“I’m a seer. Damien had thought me a joke since I was just a human, but he was wrong. I have the sight, Fish. And I saw your future.”
“Let go of me.” He didn’t want to hear anything she might say. He didn’t want anything to do with this witch. “You’ve done enough harm to last a lifetime.”
She refused to release him. “I did it for you. Oh, I knew Damien would destroy me for it. But I couldn’t let you stay. Don’t you understand? I thought sending you halfway across the country would be far enough to save you.”
“Do you know where you sent me?” His voice strained from the raw pain that would never fade. “Do you know what they did to me?”
She looked away. “Yes.”
She knew and she’d sent him anyway?
“Damn you, old woman.” He ripped away from her. Her long nails slashed the skin across the back of his hand.
“The darkness hungers for you, Fish. There aren’t many of your kind born under the same star sign. It makes you more sensitive than most. Among other interesting traits, you possess a strong sense of empathy.” She paused and gave him a meaningful look. “Perhaps, too strong. If you don’t leave now, the darkness will get what it’s been craving all along. You are fated to be devoured by it. Tonight.”
“You lie.”
“Then why am I here? Why are you here?” She shook her head, sending her shaggy head of hair scattering from its haphazard styling. The silvery strands looked as if they’d taken a life of their own as she gave Brendan a piercing glare and pointed her craggy finger down the deserted alleyway.
“Why is she here?”
* * * * *
Dallas had curled up in a tight ball in the middle of her bed and cried and cried and cried some more over Brendan’s rejection. She had trusted him. She had thought she’d finally found someone who could love her. But like everyone else in her life, he didn’t love her. He’d just wanted to use her. She beat her fist against her pillow. Why? Why had he used her so...so...thoroughly? Was the story he’d told her about his sad childhood another one of his lies? Had he pretended to open up her so she’d cling to him?
He had never needed to lie. Not to her. Not when she was falling so hopelessly in love with him. The memory of what he’d done to her body and how he’d made her feel had seared itself into her soul. She could still feel where his hands had caressed her body. Still could taste his—
The handle to her bedroom rattled. She stilled and listened to the faint rustle someone walking around in her living room.
He’d followed her.
Dallas slipped out of bed. “If you think you can break into my house and charm your way back into my good graces—” she shouted as she flung open the bedroom door.
Her living room was empty.
“Great, just great. Now I’m hearing things and wishing he’d come running back to me.” Hot tears started to stream down her cheeks again.
Run! A voice in her head shouted with a laugh.
It was that sticky voice that had lived with her in her mind for as long as she could remember.
Run, Dallas, run!
The hot breath belonging to the monster that had chased her through her childhood nightmares tickled her neck. “I’m not dreaming,” she whispered. And then she ran, taking the stairs two at a time.
The steady stomp of the monster’s footsteps followed her.
Her tears dried all sticky and cold on her cheeks as she burst out of her apartment building and onto the street. She picked up her speed, weaving around the people crowding the sidewalks. The haunting footsteps had remained right on her heels.
“You’d better run faster. I’m going to get you,” the sticky voice whispered in her ear.
It was getting closer. Dallas darted down the darkened alleyway, praying she would find a place to hide. She’d run for what felt like hours. Her body was aching and her lungs were on fire. And there was nowhere else to go. She had to hide. She prayed there would be a Dumpster or perhaps a discarded box she could crawl into. The thought of sharing a space with mice or rats didn’t bother her. Not at all. She would take vermin over whatever horror was coming after her.
She needed to find someplace, anyplace to hide. It was her only hope for surviving whatever was coming after her. She ran blindly into the shadowy alley.
“Brendan—”
The sight of him standing like an avenging angel at the end of the alleyway…glaring at her…stopped her dead in her tracks.
And suddenly she felt the need to run back the way she’d come...back toward the monster chasing her. It couldn’t be worse than the danger Brendan posed to both her heart and soul.
* * * * *
Despite the rage tearing up inside him, Brendan’s breath caught in his throat at the sight of her. He wanted to grab onto Dallas and bury himself in her hot, curvy body. It was as if Dallas brightened this corner of Chicago like a crisp, spring morning. And for a fleeting moment, he grabbed onto a morsel of hope.
Her round lips had called out his name. Unlike any woman he’d ever known, she had crawled into his heart. He didn’t just want to protect her—he wanted to have a future with her.
Which was impossible. He had learned time and again that life wasn’t like that. Whenever anything good came to him, he simply needed to hold onto it for as long as it lasted. And not hope for a lifetime.
Dallas wasn’t any different. She wasn’t his to keep…or to love. She’d shown him that only too painfully well this afternoon. She’d run away from him. Keeping her close would lead to not only his destruction, but hers as well.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he demanded.
She stood in the middle of the alleyway. She was probably too frightened to come closer and too damned stubborn to run away. It was that stubborn streak that made him want to scream at her.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t realize the trouble I’d cause earlier when I carried you to your water world. I was trying to…trying to
…” A delicate blush kissed her cheeks. She sighed. “I was trying to get your attention.”
“You’ve got it now. Here I am.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “What do you plan to do with it?”
“Your voice is as hard as a wall,” she sobbed.
“Leave her to suffer her fate, Fish,” Lady Czarina urged. “She’s just another bitch in heat.”
“Fish?” Dallas choked. Her gaze bounced from Lady Czarina’s deeply lined, slightly gray face to Brendan. “You’re the fish?”
“It’s not a name I gladly answer to.” His chest ached from the anger he had wrapped against his heart. “I’ll thank you not to use it.”
“You!” She pointed at the old crone. “You’re the gypsy witch who took my money. What’s going on here? You told me to not fall in love with the fish. Why? What’s going on?”
“That’s not what I said.” Lady Czarina’s voice cracked. “Get out of here, Fish. There’s still time.”
“Time for what?” Dallas asked.
“For me to not get involved with you,” he bit off. “You’re a disaster. A fucking, walking disaster.”
A thundering boom-boom, sounding like a giant’s steady footsteps shook the ground. Terror flashed in Dallas’s eyes. “It’s coming.”
“What’s coming?” He couldn’t stop himself from asking, though he knew he should turn around and leave her to her fate.
“I don’t know.”
“Yes, you do.” The darkness was growing by leaps and bounds. Brendan could feel it swirling all around them. Whenever Dallas’s fear spiked, its strength flared.
“Fight it, Dallas. Don’t let the darkness push through you like this,” Brendan warned. “It’s playing with your fears.”
“How do I stop it?”
“Leave her,” Lady Czarina shouted. “She’s doomed.”
No, he wouldn’t leave Dallas, not when she needed him. Not when he—
Dallas pressed her fists to her ears and screamed. The darkness leapt with joy. It was winning and taking Dallas into its own personal hell.
“Stop it,” Brendan said, putting the full force of his power in his words. He hoped he could use his powers to chase the darkness away. Nothing happened. His powers weren’t nearly strong enough to battle the all-consuming invisible monster.
It licked at Brendan, teasing him and whispering promises in his ear, vowing to take him next.
“No!” he shouted as Dallas crumpled to the ground. Her chest was pressing in on itself. Her breaths turned short and erratic. The darkness was taking her apart from the inside out.
Brendan rushed forward to help her. Lady Czarina’s nails dug into his hands. “Save yourself. She’s not worth your life.”
Maybe not, but dammit, he couldn’t let Dallas die like this. He wouldn’t.
He loved her.
He pushed the old crone away and went down on one knee. Opening his arms, his heart overflowed with the emotions he’d fought so hard to keep at bay. Dallas deserved to live. Even if it meant sacrificing himself, at least he would die knowing that she’d finally be safe from the suffocating darkness that had lived with her nearly all her life. She deserved to experience some peace in her life.
“I love you, Dallas.” And she deserved a chance to live.
Drawing in a deep breath, he lowered all his mental and physic shields, opening himself wide open. The darkness whooshed into him, slamming through his chest with the force of a leaden fist.
What he had done was going to kill him, and it still wasn’t enough to stop the darkness from devouring the woman he loved. He reached out with his mind and pulled the full power of the evil monster that hid in the shadows and under children’s bed into his soul. It was the ultimate sacrifice—he was giving up his soul to save Dallas’s.
His past roared to life. He toppled over and huddled in on himself. All the ugly games and pain he had endured over the years rushed back to him. The loneliness. The tearing pain of rejection. The past tortured him with fresh anguish until he couldn’t make out the difference between the present and memories.
“Do something,” he heard Dallas cry as he stumbled to the asphalt. “Save him!”
“There’s nothing that can be done,” Stone said.
Brendan shook his head with fury. Stone wasn’t supposed to find Dallas. Stone would be forced to take her back to the council. She’d have to stand trial for pulling him out of his body. And she would be destroyed.
“Get her away from here,” Brendan managed to grind out before the pain and rage consumed him. He swelled with hatred. Murderous impulses screamed through his thoughts.
It was done.
Destroy.
The lonely thought pushed to the forefront. Destruction was a task the darkness relished. And if Brendan wanted to destroy himself, he felt confident the darkness would help him do the deed. Soon, the all-consuming rage and loathing was chewing at his soul. Devouring him.
With his last ounce of strength, he raised all his mental and physic shields that he’d once used to keep the darkness out. The monster immediately sensed the trap. It bucked against the barriers. Barriers that once had kept it from stealing Brendan’s soul were now holding it inside a doomed body.
Brendan knew at that moment that he’d won. Though his soul was going to be obliterated into nothingness, the monster that had been hunting him all his life was good and trapped. With his destruction, the darkness would also be destroyed.
* * * * *
Blood trickled from the corner of Brendan’s mouth. Dallas stuffed her fist in her mouth to hold back a scream. She had to get to him. She had to do whatever she could to help him, but Frank Stone had wrapped his arms around her waist and was pulling her away.
“It’s too late,” Stone was saying. “Too late.” She shook her head, not wanting to listen. Not wanting to believe.
In her heart though, she feared Stone spoke the truth. Brendan’s eyes had turned as dark as ink. Even the whites of his eyes were as black as the monster who was devouring him. His face twisted with pain as he stared sightlessly at the sky. He’d curled himself into a fetal position, hugging his legs to his chest as if struggling to keep from blowing apart.
He’d taken the darkness from her. She felt lighter.
“I didn’t want this,” she whispered. “The cost is too high.”
She wanted Brendan, not this. Her heart was being torn to pieces as she lost the only man she’d ever let herself love.
“I love you, dammit! Don’t you dare die! Do you hear me? I won’t let you die!”
“It’s too late,” Stone said again. His arms slipped away from her waist and she flung herself to Brendan’s side.
She brushed her hand over his cheek. The skin under her fingers felt cold. He wasn’t struggling anymore.
It was too late.
Brendan was dead.
Dallas screamed at him to wake up.
Brendan didn’t respond. She closed her eyes and reached out into the universe, hoping to find some remnant of his spirit, a lingering sliver of his soul, but there was nothing to be found. The bond between them had been severed. Like Stone had said—it was too late. Brendan was gone.
Forever.
Chapter Seven
Dallas curled up on Brendan’s bed and breathed in the faint scent of him that was already fading from his rumpled sheets. Brendan was dead. Gone. Two days had passed since his death, and yet it all still felt like a bad dream. She kept expecting him to come through the door wearing nothing more than a wicked grin and dangling a blindfold from his fingers.
Everything since his death in the alleyway had moved in a blur. It was as if time was flowing around her, but she was no longer part of the timeline.
Time! That’s it. She could turn back the clock and save his life. She could let the darkness take her instead. She could be the one who died. No, no, no. She couldn’t do that...even if she could figure out how to control that power, she wouldn’t throw Brendan’s gift back in his face. He’d wan
ted Dallas to live.
But there must be some way...
Just yesterday she had coolly faced down the council. The crusty old men and women who presided over her hearing were scarier than the nun’s at the orphanage. They’d scolded her for breaking their laws. “What you’ve done—taking a soul from a body without their permission—carries a steep price,” a silver-haired woman had leaned forward in her seat as she spoke. The council had convened in the Oblique Café. Twelve chairs set up in a semi-circle around where Dallas had been directed to stand. Stone stood with her. He flinched when the elder woman’s voice crackled in the air, “You must pay for your crime with your life.”
A small man in the corner started to sharpen a blade.
Dallas shrugged. Their threats couldn’t penetrate the numbing grief that had filled her all the way down to her toes. All she wanted to do was to find a place where she could be alone with her memories of Brendan.
Stone held up his hands. His voice boomed with power as he defended Dallas’s actions. “She was under the power of the darkness. One of our best men sacrificed his life to pull the evil monster from her mind. Look at her now. She is as pure as a newborn. No trace of the cloying black cloud remains within her.” He gazed thoughtfully at the council. “Can anyone of you make the same claim?”
Thanks to Stone’s arguments on her behalf, the council had ultimately decided to blame her actions on the darkness that had infected her. Since she was no longer tainted, they overruled the mandatory death penalty. For Brendan’s sake, Dallas was pleased. He had given up his life to save hers.
No one had ever loved her so thoroughly. That was why she had gone to Brendan’s apartment as soon as she was able to get away from the café and was there now. She’d gone searching desperately for a piece of him that she could cling to, something that might make living bearable. For Brendan, Dallas vowed to move on with her life. She would live, even if every hour that passed without him felt like a lifetime in hell. She owed Brendan that much.
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