by Liliana Hart
“Yeah. I’m just worried what’s going to happen when she’s not here anymore. Mrs. Corrian wants one just like her for her garden.”
I scrunched up my face and blinked over at my brother like he’s gone insane, then looked past him to where Anara was stretched out on the ground. Smooth white hands were tucked under equally smooth white cheeks. Her armor no longer shone silver, but the mellow tones of polished stone.
I pushed Beau out of my way and dropped to my knees beside her, running my fingertips over her perfectly still face. “She alive? How did you do it? The sun was hours away.”
Beau pointed to something I’d forgotten was tucked in our mother’s room. A sun lamp. She’d suffered from melancholy during the winter months and the doctor had subscribed the UV lamp as a way of beating back the blues. An extension cord wound over the grass and up into the house. It was what I’d tripped over earlier.
I tried to see the gash in her side where the witch had blasted her and found only smooth stone. I placed my hot face on her chest and couldn’t help the tears that rushed to my eyes. My whisper was throaty and burned past the sudden tightness I felt. “You’re alive.”
When I pulled away, a single tear slipped down Anara’s smooth stone cheek and I laughed. Wildly. Madly. And completely in love with life again.
Chapter Fifteen
Anara
He stayed.
I was a lump of stone, and he stayed, as if I was more. I wanted to reach out and touch him, to let him know how much I loved him. How much his love meant to me, but the curse held me captive and night felt a million years away.
I listened as Beau and Ryan talked about the coming attack. And it would happen. The vampires knew where we were. They had used others to eliminate us and none of them had been able to. They wouldn’t send anyone else to do their work anymore. We had become an intolerable nuisance. They would personally fetch the girls and see to it the three of us never took another breath.
Beau wandered back inside the house, his shoulders bent, his brow creased in thought. He didn’t want to abandon their home, but there was no other option. A few minutes later, it was clear someone else thought the same thing. Beau brought Ryan a padded manila envelope addressed to Ryan that he’d found on the front porch.
He held it out to his brother. “There’s no return address.”
Ryan shook what was inside the envelope into the palm of his hand. It was a key, rusty and dingy, and it smelled of old metal. He dug out a piece of paper. The only thing written on it was an address and signed with the letter C. Ryan whipped out his smart phone and punched in the address. A smile tipped his mouth and he flipped his phone for his brother to see. “The old warehouse district.”
“I don’t know. Do you trust him?” Beau asked.
Ryan lowered his phone and leveled a serious look at his brother. “He helped us find Sage. He didn’t have to, so yeah. I trust him. Besides, we can’t stay here.”
Beau rubbed his hand along the back of his neck. “I hate surprises.”
“I hate dying more,” Ryan admitted. “I say we go.”
“Fine…for tonight at least. For all we know, that’s all he’s giving us.” He started toward the house, then stopped and turned back to Ryan. “So she’s staying?”
From what I’d seen, he didn’t like anything he couldn’t explain. Trust had to be proven. Loyalty had to be earned. I couldn’t fully explain my existence, but I’d have no problem showing him the other two. If he’d let me.
Ryan cocked his head. “Yeah, she stays. You okay with that?”
“I’m not a fan of…” He nodded to me in my stone cocoon, “…that, but when she’s human, she’s damn handy in a fight. I’d warn you not to get too attached, but…”
“I’d punch you.”
He laughed, taking years off of his usually scowling face. “In your present state, that’s not scaring me.”
When he left, Ryan stared at the key. “I don’t understand why he’s helping us.” He slanted his gaze at me. “Am I a fool to trust him?”
I couldn’t answer him and he didn’t seem to mind. He was more contemplative than wanting an answer.
The day lengthened, cool but bright. Ryan’s movements were stiff, but he still pulled his weight as they loaded the car. He popped in and out of the back yard, never gone long, though his face creased with worry. When the sun went down, he stood waiting.
The moon rose, and its rays flooded the back yard. My stony skin cracked, and within moments I was me again. I stood, and the next second, his arms were around me and his lips were on mine. My heart beat heavy, and warmed me from the inside out. He lifted me, one hand on my bottom, the other on the back of my neck. My fingers tangled in his hair as I slanted my lips against his. I couldn’t get close enough.
“I’ve waited a lifetime for you,” I said between kisses.
His left hand moved to the straps of my armor and started to unbuckle it.
“Are you making a baby?” came a high-pitched voice.
We froze and slowly turned our heads to see the girls leaning on the deck’s banister and staring down at us. I pushed away, urging Ryan to put me down, but he kept a firm hold on me and frowned up at the girls.
Sage rolled her eyes. “Don’t be stupid. They have to be naked and in bed and kissing each other’s necks.” She straightened, a knowing smile on her face. “I watched Dirty Dancing.”
My cheeks were on fire and I bit my lip.
Ryan didn’t seem at all embarrassed. “You’re too young to talk about babies.”
Just then, Beau called the girls inside and Ryan eased me back to my feet and whispered against my ear, “I hate your armor. Seriously. It’s going to freeze my nipples off.”
I blinked, unsure of what to say and he laughed. “Just promise me when we do start making babies, you won’t wear it.”
“I…no. I won’t. That would be highly irregular.”
“And uncomfortable.” He took my hand and started toward the house.
“I’m sure.”
“And inconvenient. It covers parts of you I kinda enjoy.”
Chapter Sixteen
Ryan
Boston’s ancient warehouse district was as grimy as the day it was built on a mixture of dirt and fish bones from the bay. The building itself was a combination of red brick, old wood and scratched window panes no one would give a second glance. No self-respecting vamp would be caught dead here. It was perfect.
We gathered in front of the door where a neatly folded piece of paper had been nailed. I snatched it down.
“What’s it say?” Sage asked.
I flashed the note at them. “Third Floor. Home, sweet, home.”
“I gotta go pee,” Baby whined, jumping from one foot to the other.
Beau’s gaze traveled the street. Always watching. Always on guard. “Open it up.”
I slipped the key in the lock and metal on metal grated until the lock clicked open. Anara turned the knob and pushed. The door swung wide to reveal a narrow passageway, empty with disuse. Beau pushed past me and we all entered behind him. The bottom floor was dirty with a strong scent of tobacco.
An old freight elevator sat lopsided, clearly broken. Beau stuck his head in. “Clear.”
We took the flight of stairs at the end of the hall, all of us on edge. The place echoed and the stairs creaked. When we got to the third floor, I pushed open the only door in sight.
“No lock?” Beau remarked as we entered.
The space was massive. Pillars sectioned off the cavernous front room. A crude desk had been shoved in the corner. Five sleeping bags had been tossed on the ground. Baby immediately searched for the toilet and came back with the report of not only a toilet, but a shower.
“It needs cleaning,” Anara said as she squatted next to an old manual typewriter someone had left on the floor. The ribbon was frayed and some of the keys were missing.
“How long has this place been abandoned?” I wondered aloud.
“Decades,” Beau said. “Someone bought up the land years ago, but no one’s done much with it.”
I stood in the middle of the space and turned to Beau. “What do you think?”
“It’s rough, but so are we.”
“We can fix it up.”
“With what money?”
Sage held out another envelope. “This. I found it on the desk.”
Beau took the envelope and started counting. Halfway through counting, he whistled and glanced up at me. “That guy, what was his name?”
I knew Beau. If I told him, he’d scour the city and when he realized Alden Caldwell worked for the vamps, he’d reject everything the guy was trying to do for us. I looked my brother straight in the eye and lied. “I don’t remember.”
His eyebrows shot up. “You don’t remember?”
“I burned his card like he told me to,” I shot back. Couldn’t he just accept a good thing? “What does it matter?”
“It matters. A favor this big usually comes with strings attached.”
“The note said he wants to do a good deed.”
“It’s a pretty expensive one that usually points to a sizable bit of guilt.”
I looked at Anara, straining on her tiptoes to look out the dirty windows that covered the bulk of one wall. “Everyone has a past.” I looked back at my brother. “Even you.”
My phone rang. The caller ID said it was from Caldwell Investments. My gaze snapped to Beau who was looking around, assessing that area, and I answered it. “Hello?”
“You found the warehouse okay?”
I wandered away from Beau, lowering my voice. “Yeah. It’s not what I expected.”
“It’s a place to hide. For now. Listen, I’m going to give you some advice. I doubt you’ll take it, but I have to say it. Leave Boston. Take those girls and get the hell out.”
“Yeah…” I looked at my brother, knew his roots were so deep, if I tried to rip him out of Boston, he’d die from the shock. “That would be smart, but it’s not going to happen.”
“I figured it wouldn’t. Did you find the money?”
“Very generous. Thank you.”
“It’s a onetime gift. If they knew, we’d all be dead, so don’t waste it.”
“Got it. We don’t know you; you don’t know us.”
A soft laugh rumbled against my ear. “You guys tore that place to shreds. You’re some sort of crazy. I wish you luck. You’re going to need it. You’re officially on their search and destroy list.”
“We’ve been doing this a while now. We know the risks.”
“And the girls?”
“They’re better off with us than anywhere else. We’re some of the few people who know exactly what’s out there. That makes us a step ahead of everyone else. We’ll protect them, as well as any other children we find out there.”
“You know what? I think you’re right, but I still say you should leave. Protect what’s yours.”
“This city is ours.”
“Then you’ve got a big job ahead of you. Like I said, good luck…and God bless you.”
“You too.” We hung up and I lowered the phone, staring at it for a second, thinking about what I’d just said. The three of us fought a host of evil that no one believed existed, and we were crazy enough to believe we’d win. I pocketed my phone and returned to my brother. “So… what do you want to do?”
Beau sighed and scrubbed his hands along the top of his head, then looked at me. “You want me to trust someone we don’t know?”
I slowly nodded my head and smiled. “Yeah. You’re going to have to trust me on this. He’s not going to be a problem.”
He glanced toward the sleeping bags where Anara was settling the girls in for the night. “Then I guess we do what we’ve always done, take it one day at a time.” His strong hand clasped my shoulder and squeezed. “By the way, I still think she’s weird, and you know how I feel about weird, but I like her. She’s okay.”
“Yeah. I like her too. A lot.” I caught Anara’s eye and nodded toward a darkened corner. She came to me, and I slipped my arms around her waist as she put her arms around my neck. I nuzzled her neck, breathing in her one of a kind scent and said, “What do you think? Home, sweet, home?”
“It’ll be perfect.” She pointed to various sections of the room and described how she envisioned the place. Her excitement had the ability to make any doubt I still held disappear. If she could have faith in tomorrow, so could I. She turned to me, cuddled close and asked, “What do you think?”
“I don’t care what else is here, just so long you are,” I said in a husky voice. I captured her lips with mine, and she gave into the kiss, promising me a lifetime of love. No one was as sweet or as fierce or as giving as Anara. I broke away and sighed, more content than I’d ever been.
Tears gathered in her eyes. “I can’t believe I found my heart again.”
I touched my forehead to hers and said on a ragged whisper, “I never thought I’d give mine away.”
She smiled through her tears. “Love makes a person do crazy things.”
I pulled my thumb over her wet cheek. “How’s this for crazy. I was in love with you the first moment I saw you.”
“And I’ll love you until my last breath.”
That implied far more than she even meant, and a lump entered my chest. “You’re immortal. Forever is a long time.”
“With you,” she said as her lips drew closer to mine, “forever isn’t long enough.” She kissed me, and my heart nearly burst from my chest I was so happy.
“Gross,” Baby’s voice echoed across the empty room.
“Are they going to do that all the time now?” Sage asked, showing her disgust.
Beau grunted, and a tolerant smile settled on his face. “Apparently forever.”
Dear Readers,
Dark Secrets: Stone Cold Dead is the first in the Dark Secrets paranormal series by Shea Berkley. The next book in the series, Dark Secrets: Edge of Evil, is coming to online bookstores the fall of 2014.
You can find me online at www.sheaberkley.com and Facebook.
Books by Shea Berkley
Young Adult Fantasy
The Keepers of Life Trilogy:
The Marked Son
The Fallen Prince
The Rising King
Once Upon a Time: The Villains
Once Upon a Time: Queen of all & Enemy Inside
Once Upon a Time: Candy Lane & Sliver of a Soul
Once Upon a Time: Hag & Giant’s Way
Adult Paranormal
The Dark Secrets series
Dark Secrets: Stone Cold Dead
Dark Secrets: Edge of Evil
WITCHED AT BIRTH
Dakota Cassidy
Copyright © 2014
Dear readers,
Please note, I’ve taken license with the lovely town of Paris, Texas, because it worked so perfectly for my witch Winnie and her journey. First, I turned the town into a paranormal-palooza—dripping with witches and magic.
Second, I’ve fictionalized it to a degree, creating street names to suit me and places I’m certain don’t exist, but I kept the amazing Eiffel Tower with the red cowboy hat on top—because it’s just too awesome a structure to ignore.
That said, to anyone who reads this and lives in Paris, no disrespect intended. I lived in Plano, Texas, for nine years and I love Texans. Y’all are some of the best folks on the planet!
Dakota Cassidy xxoo
Chapter One
“I’m warning you, Winnifred Foster. If you say or do anything today that sends our asses back to the pokey, I’ll zap you bald and give you a cold sore that makes you look like you have three lips,” her best friend Zelda groused as she futilely tried to snatch a pair of scissors from Winnie’s hand to prevent her from giving herself bangs.
Winnie hopped on the sagging mattress of her cot, looking down at her partner in crimes of abusive witch magic and current cellmate in witch jail with an accusatory glance.
&n
bsp; She held the scissors up in the air. “I’m sorry, me? As in moi? If I say anything? Er, wasn’t it you who told Baba Blah-Blah she was wearing the wrong color leg warmers for that wart on her nose? Or was I just imagining things?”
Zelda swiped for the scissors again. “It’s Baba Yaga,” she corrected, reminding Winnie she’d purposely twisted their jailor’s name out of spite, and it was one of the reasons they were in magic jail to begin with. “You’d better get that right at Council so we appear respectful.”
“Call her whatever you like, Z, but you insulted her, not me. I love you, and while I totally agreed with your fashion assessment, and she did look hideous, I bet pointing out Baba DooDah’s flaws aren’t going to win us favor at Council today. She’s an elephant, my friend. She remembers everything.”
She hopped back off the cot when Zelda stopped trying to make a grab for the scissors. She was worried. They were up for review for parole today and she didn’t want anything screwing that up. She wanted out of this rank-smelling cell with its gray concrete walls and equally gray sheets.
She wanted to go to parties and laugh and drink champagne like they used to.
Drown herself in luxury and forget Ben…
Their cell was barren of any modern conveniences, especially those they could perform magic with—like mirrors. Locked up in Salem, Massachusetts, like serial killers in an old hotel built in the early 1900s that had been converted to a jail for witches.