Gathering Darkness: A Paranormal Romance Collection

by Anna Zaires

  Within seconds she was dead. Faster than I could focus on, the Hound had dragged her ghost out of her lifeless body and fled, quickly followed by the second Hound.

  Caleb dragged himself over to her almost unrecognisable body. He appeared to be in shock. With shaky hands, he withdrew a jar and a large hunting knife from his thick fur coat.

  When he located her heart by pressing on her breastbone, my heart dropped.

  He was going to cut her heart out.

  And that’s exactly what he did. With trembling hands, he brushed away a single tear from his cheek and then cut into the dead flesh of his lover. After an agonizing and brutal surgery on Talitha’s corpse, he held her heart in his hands. He placed the heart in the jar and replaced the lid, then retrieved a small square of paper from his pocket. There were several Latin words written on it, which he said quietly over and over again.

  At first I was transfixed by his face, by the way he was saying the words, until I heard a thumpthumpthump coming from the jar.

  He smiled sadly. His spell had worked. Although she was dead and had been dragged off to Hell by a couple of Hounds, Talitha’s heart continued to beat.

  THIRTY-TWO

  Suddenly, we were back in the car.

  “No more visions,” I said, pushing his hand away from my cheek. “I’m exhausted.” I felt sick. How many deaths had I just witnessed from the comfort of leather seats and air–conditioning?

  Ryan nodded in agreement.

  Neither of us made any attempt to get out of the car. I guessed he was waiting for questions. Really, what he had shown me hadn’t answered anything. It had just confused me even more.

  “I know it’s a lot,” he said.

  “A lot?” I echoed. “Watching all three Lord of the Rings movies in one sitting is a lot. That was like taking an acid trip and then getting onto a time–traveling spaceship to Narnia or something.” I rubbed my eyes.

  “I’m sick of you speaking in riddles, Ryan! Just tell me. What does it mean? The heart. The girl that looks just like me.”

  Ryan shrugged. “I think Caleb wants to use you to bring Talitha back.”

  “Back from where?”

  He looked at me like I was an idiot. “From Hell.”

  “They were in love,” I said quietly, still shocked that two such cruel creatures could be driven by such a human emotion.

  “Yes,” Ryan said. “You saw the way she looked at him before she died, such love for someone who was pure evil. She loved him, and he loved her just as much. He’s wanted to bring her back from the dead the entire time I’ve known him.”

  “How?” I pressed.

  “I don’t know!” Ryan exploded, slamming the dash with his fist so hard that it cracked. I raised my eyebrows.

  Nice one. Isn’t this a totally rare car or something?

  Ryan sighed audibly and slumped back in his seat. “You have to believe me,” he said. “If Caleb has both of you, I don’t know what will happen. That’s why I took you from Mexico. That’s why both you and the heart need to stay here, with me.”

  THIRTY-THREE

  I was bone tired after our expedition to Clair’s apartment and the visions I’d been subjected to. I called it a night and was surprised when I woke up the next morning in the exact position in which I’d fallen into bed. The energy required to concentrate on receiving psychic information was exhausting.

  I was reading through my class schedule, armed with a strong black coffee, when Evie called.

  “Hi,” I said into the phone, dumping the stack of UCLA papers on the coffee table and wandering into the kitchen.

  “Hey,” Evie replied. “Whatcha doing?”

  “Nothing exciting. You?”

  “Just packing a bag,” Evie replied, and I heard the excitement in her voice. “I need a lift tonight. I get into LAX at seven.”

  I felt the blood drain from my face as Ryan entered the room. So he had heard what she said from wherever he had been lurking. Typical.

  “You’re coming here?” I said finally. “Now? Today?”

  I was angry. I was ashamed. I didn’t want her to see me like that – a vampire.

  “Yep,” she replied. “Can you pick me up? Or should I catch a cab?”

  Ryan caught my eye and shook his head.

  “No,” I said quickly. “I’ll come get you.”

  “Can’t wait to see you!” she said happily.

  After promising her I’d be there, I ended the call and looked at Ryan. He must have seen the sheer panic on my face.

  “It’ll be fine,” he said.

  I shook my head. “I don’t want her to see you,” I replied. “She won’t like you.”

  “I probably won’t like her either,” Ryan reminded me. “Vampires and witches generally don’t get along.”

  I raised my eyebrows in disbelief.

  “Except the badass ones,” he added. “Like Ivy.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “So – airport?” Ryan prompted me.

  “Oh, yeah,” I said, my stomach coming up into my mouth. “You don’t need to come. Can I borrow one of the cars?”

  Ryan looked at me like I was an idiot. “I do need to come,” he said. “You could be driving into a trap, remember?”

  I thought of the beating heart in the jar. “Okay,” I agreed reluctantly. “But prepare to have shreds ripped off you. Evie is…unique.”

  “Most witches are,” Ryan answered. “I’m going out for a few hours. You need anything?”

  “Where are you going?” I asked, immediately suspicious. He hardly ever left me alone in the house, so it had to be something important.

  “To see our pretty little friend, Clair. I was up all night thinking about how I could possibly know her.”

  “And?” I pressed.

  “I have an idea,” he mused. “But I could be wrong. I won’t be long.”

  “Wait!” I said. “What am I supposed to do all day?”

  Ryan shrugged. “Order school supplies online. Do something with that rats-nest you call hair. How the hell should I know?”

  I ended up nervously pacing the house most of the day. I made lunch, drank some blood–infused soda, and tried not to bite all my nails off. I couldn’t comprehend the fact that, in a way, I was meeting my best friend for the first time. The first time as a vampire.

  It was a waste of a day. My nerves wouldn’t leave me and I kept zoning out whenever I tried to concentrate on reading the UCLA handbook, so eventually I gave up and watched daytime soaps until Ryan got back.

  He was in a chipper mood when he returned.

  “Did you kill her?” I asked dismally. Maybe that explained his stupid grin.

  “What?” Ryan asked, as he added a dash of bourbon to his blood on the rocks. “No. I visited. We talked. Turns out she isn’t a threat after all.”

  He didn’t offer any more. “Aren’t you going to tell me why she isn’t a threat?” I asked.

  “I wasn’t going to,” he replied, draining his glass. “But since you asked: I knew her father, a long time ago. She needs a favor, is all.”

  “Oh,” I said, the news not bringing me any relief. “Well, there you go.”

  “It’s almost six–thirty,” Ryan mentioned. “You want to go now?”

  The airport. Damn. I had forgotten about Evie’s imminent arrival for just a few moments. “Crap,” I said. “We’ll be late.”

  Ryan grabbed a set of keys from the kitchen bench and started off towards the garage. I hurried after him, grabbing my bag on the way out.

  Evie. My best friend in the whole world. I hadn’t seen her in almost two months.

  Would she even want to be my friend once she saw what I had become?

  THIRTY-FOUR

  We made it to LAX with lightning speed. My mind was still reeling from the visions of Talitha and Caleb that I’d seen the night before, not to mention the date between Clair and Ryan where I had been a psychic third wheel. But as soon as we arrived at the airport, I forgot about eve
rything. My nerves were on edge and I replayed potential meetings in my head. Would Evie cry? Would I? Would she be afraid of me? Would she try to stake me through the heart? I sure hoped not.

  The airport was busy. We parked and went into the domestic arrivals section, Ryan trailing behind me at my insistence. I didn’t want Evie to see him until I’d explained him to her properly. I don’t know why I cared what she thought about him. Maybe it was because he was all I really had to fall back on if she decided she didn’t like Vampire Me. Or maybe it was because I was a vampire like him, and I was linked to him through our bond, and I stupidly cared about him despite everything he had done.

  I smelled cheap coffee and sweaty bodies as I got closer to the arrivals gate. Being a vampire, my senses were so much more acute, which wasn’t always pleasant. I tried to focus on finding Evie. I scanned the arrivals board, seeing that a flight from Newark had landed and baggage was available. I started towards the baggage carousels, hoping I would find Evie waiting for her suitcase there.

  I was halfway there when somebody grabbed me from behind in a bear grip around my shoulders.

  I stiffened, fighting against the grip immediately. It was a guy, and he was tall. I broke free and whirled around, expecting a vampire.

  Oh my God. My jaw dropped in disbelief.

  It was almost an anti–climax. The moment I'd been wishing for, the one I'd given up hope of ever seeing, was jammed in my face so quickly and violently, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

  I didn't say anything, couldn't form words. I just stared at him.

  “Jared?” I said shakily.

  I still loved him just as much as I always had, and that was a relief, to feel something so light and wonderful amidst the darkness that had all but engulfed me.

  He grinned like an idiot, his sandy blonde hair all messed up and his deep, brown eyes tired and lined with black circles. “Hey, beautiful,” he said affectionately.

  “H–hi,” I managed to croak back. “Hey, you.”

  He launched himself onto me in a second giant bear hug, which I returned tightly. He tensed, and I loosened my grip instantly, remembering my newborn vampire strength could probably suffocate him. I hoped he hadn't noticed. My throat got all tight and my eyes started leaking hot, wet tears that flowed faster as I felt his lips graze my forehead. I breathed him in, remembering all the other times I had held him like this. Under his olive skin, I could smell rich copper and chocolate pulsating through his veins – but it didn't overwhelm me the way the others had warned me it would. For that, I was grateful.

  We parted eventually, and I took the time to drink him in – from his mussed–up hair that he always left forever before getting a haircut; his almond–shaped eyes that turned from chestnut to ebony depending on what he was wearing; his smooth skin, broken by stubble; his broad swimming shoulders that had been a place for my head to lay many a summer’s night; but most of all, the feeling that he was here, and that it felt so right.

  “Don’t cry, Blake.” I smiled as Jared gently wiped my cheeks with his thumb.

  “I’m so happy to see you,” I breathed. “You have no idea how happy I am.”

  Was I dreaming? I wasn't, thankfully. But less than two minutes after Jared's arrival, dread was already settling into my bones like an old friend. The others had warned me about relationships with humans – and although I didn't feel the overwhelming urge to feed from Jared, I could still smell the rich coffee and spice scent of blood through his thin flesh, could still hear the steady thrum of his heart beating inside his chest. Pretty soon I felt myself drawn to him, wanting what was inside of him – I wanted all of him.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, painfully swallowing my thirst.

  “Surprising you,” Jared replied with a smile. Oh God, I could have melted hearing his voice after so long. I spotted Ryan ten feet away, watching everything with guarded concern. His presence suddenly brought everything crashing down inside of me. I wished he hadn’t come. How was I going to explain him to Jared?

  “I just got a text from Evie,” Jared said. “She’s running late, said we should wait in the car for her.”

  Evie. Of course. I had forgotten all about her.

  I gulped. “In the car?” With Ryan?

  He nodded.

  “I caught a cab here,” I lied, knowing that Ryan could hear me.

  You are not coming with us, I told Ryan through our bond. You can follow behind in your car, but you are NOT chaperoning me home.

  I glanced over to see him scanning the airport.

  Jesus, Blake, he replied, mimicking Jared’s nickname for me. Catch a cab. Catch a flying saucer. I’ll drive at a respectable distance.

  I was so relieved at his cooperation, I didn’t berate him for calling me Blake again. Nobody called me that except my friends, and I was sick of him pretending he was one of them.

  “That’s cool,” Jared was saying. He dangled a set of keys in front of me and it took me a minute to realize they were the keys for my car. My Honda Element, the one I’d been walking towards when I was taken by the vampires.

  “You drove here?” I asked incredulously. “From New Jersey?”

  Jared nodded. “ I knew you’d be missing your wheels. There’s some weird little towns between here and there.”

  “I have no doubt,” I replied. “So you drove all this way just to bring me my car?”

  “And to see you,” he replied, swooping in for another leg–tingling kiss that flooded me with warmth.

  “Come on,” he said, taking me by the hand. “Your chariot awaits.”

  In the car, my car, I realized I wasn't just frightened by the prospect of Caleb turning up at the airport – I was genuinely nervous to be around Jared. I could feel myself turning inwards, shy and shameful of the secret that coursed through my veins, the secret that separated us from now on. Or did it? Why did it have to spell the end for us? It didn't seem fair; nothing about the last month of my life had been fair.

  “So, whatcha been up to? You must have done something other than run and miss me.” Jared looked exhausted.

  The air was humid, and I could practically feel the positive charge in the approaching storm. Lightning cracked in the distance and I had a horrible flash of falling, of the way my face smashed into the ground two stories below, of the way I pleaded with Ryan not to inject his vampire blood into my veins. My happiness at seeing Jared was instantly engulfed by the abyss of sorrow inside me. I had died. While he was surfing and swimming and missing me, I had died. And now I was something else – someone else – entirely.

  “I’ve had the worst flu,” I lied, slouching back in my seat. It was eighty odd degrees outside, but I wrapped my hands in my sweater sleeves and tried not to cry. “I’ve been watching a lot of HBO, actually. I'm a lame tourist.”

  “Well, at least you have plenty of time to find your feet. You're here for the long haul, right?”

  “Right,” I answered uneasily. Because I wasn't going home to put my family and friends in danger.

  Jared looked pensive. “Are you…okay?” he asked after a few moments.

  “I’m– fine,” I stumbled. “Why? Do I not seem okay?”

  He furrowed his eyebrows. “You just seem ... different. Your voice – you don't sound like you. You look sad or something.”

  I felt my face fall, and I let out the breath I'd been holding. He was probably planning to stay for the weekend. How was I going to keep it together when I couldn't even look at him for ten seconds without wanting to scream about how fucking unfair my life was?

  “I just really miss you,” I said honestly. “I miss everyone. I miss home. I'm lonely sometimes. This isn't what I thought it would be like, you know? And I'm so glad you're here right now – but I'm already missing you because I know you probably have to leave on Sunday.”

  I looked away from him then, embarrassed at my vulnerability, my nakedness.

  “Mia,” he said gently, taking both of my clammy hands and squeezing
them affectionately. “I miss you already. You're all I think about. All I want to do is quit Ithaca and live illegally in your dorm room.”

  That made me laugh.

  “But,” he continued, “it’s only a few years and we can be together all the time. Wherever you want. We'll get awesome jobs and live on the beach somewhere. It'll be epic.” He rolled his eyes, making a sweeping gesture with one hand as he said the last word. I had a bad habit of describing everything as epic, and he always teased me for it.

  “It just seems like forever,” I said lamely, my voice cracking under the strain of my secret burden. Forever.

  “Give it time,” he replied, kissing my forehead, long and lingering. “If you're still not happy next semester – but you will be – then come home. You can live illegally in my dorm room.”

  Laughter died inside my throat and I gasped as a face appeared in my window. I jumped, shrinking back in horror. We'd been followed. It had to be Caleb. And now poor Jared was going to be dragged into the whole sorry–assed affair that had become my life as a vampire.

  We were so screwed.

  I let my breath out in a whoosh as Evie smiled through the glass back at me. I unlocked my door and got out, wrapping Evie in a bear hug whilst carefully not smooshing her to death. “You scared the shit out of me!” I said happily, relief slamming into me like a freight train. All the nervous adrenalin circling my body had nowhere to go, and I let out another excited squeal as I released my hug and stepped back to study my best friend.

  I don't know how I knew that something was up, but I just knew. Call it my vamp sense, but I felt the smile slip from my face as Evie regarded me with concern.

  “I'll go pay the ticket,” Jared called as he got out of the car and started walking towards a lit up pay station about fifty yards away.

  “Okay,” I said. I turned back to Evie and swallowed nervously. I had no words. I felt utterly exposed. I may as well have had VAMPIRE written across my forehead in a poor college boy’s blood.

  Moments passed.

  “I thought you were dead,” she said finally, in a tight voice that betrayed her fear.