Darkness & Lies: A Brotherhood Novel (#1)

by Brandi Salazar

  “I’m sorry, lady, but you leave me with no other choice.”

  Cheyenne leapt to her feet, and using the last of her strength, bolted into the bathroom and slammed the door shut just as the man’s large frame came into view. No sooner had she flipped the lock; he slammed his fist into it.

  Using her own body, Cheyenne blocked the door, wedging her feet against the sink cabinets in front of her. If he really wanted to get in there wasn’t much she could do to stop him. The man was massive and the sheer strength a person with his build must have seriously outweighed anything she did. Karate lessons be damned.

  After a long while of turning the knob and pushing against the door, Erias briefly entertained the idea of busting it down, but knowing the layout of the bathroom and the fact that she had obviously wedged herself between the door and the sink, he didn’t want to break her legs or anything trying.

  The easiest thing he could think to do would be to flash himself inside and take her by force, but then how would he gain her trust after seeing something like that?

  The human mind didn’t usually take kindly to the unnatural and unexplained, and there was no way in hell he was going to explain what he was to a woman who lived her life around discovering the wonders of the world. There was no doubt in his mind that five minutes after confessing, the men in the white coats would descend upon him and start cutting him apart to find out all his secrets.

  Secrets like his couldn’t be solved by science, and so he would have to go about extracting her the hard way. “Count to ten, Erias. This is just a female. Give it to her sweet and you’ll have her eating out of the palm of your hand in no time.” Taking a large breath to calm his self, Erias placed his hands on either side of the door and spoke to her.

  Cheyenne’s heart was pounding so hard she could hear it thundering in her ears. Her vision was clouded by unspent tears, and she felt sick from whatever that was that had blown her across the room. She was fighting to remain conscious and scared out of her mind of what kind of situation she would wake up to find herself in if she allowed herself to succumb.

  It wasn’t until she heard his rich, masculine voice rumble through the thick wooden door that she realized he had stopped trying to force his way in.

  “I’m not very good with this sort of thing, but I’m sorry for frightening you. All I wanted to do was talk, I swear it.”

  Cheyenne couldn’t breathe. She didn’t know what to make of his sudden apology, and she couldn’t tell if this was a trick. Surveying the small room, she noted that there wasn’t a single way out of there except the way she came in. She was trapped.

  “I don’t blame you for not believing me. I know I can come off a little…”

  “Scary,” she provided.

  “Yes, scary.” Erias smiled a little at hearing her voice. At least she was willing to talk to him. Resting his head against the door, he decided it best to take a different approach. “I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Erias.”

  Cheyenne recognized the olive branch he was offering, and though it warmed her a bit to finally be able to put a name to the face that had plagued her every thought since she had laid eyes on him; she wasn’t about to let down her guard.

  “Erias…?” she prompted, urging him on.

  “Erias Caspriscopious.”

  She laughed. “Where the hell are you from that you have a name like that?” At his silence, she cursed to herself. She hadn’t meant to offend him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean…Look, sometimes I have this bad habit of putting my foot in my mouth and… Wait, what the hell am I apologizing to you for? You’re the one holding me captive and trying to tie me up like some sort of psychopath.”

  “I am not a psychopath,” Erias gritted, barely holding his temper in check. “Look, why don’t you tell me your name, so I don’t have to keep calling you lady and woman and all that?”

  “Why don’t you shove it up your ass!”

  “Damn it, woman, you are a pain in my ass!” Erias yelled through the door. “Fine, have it your way. Stay in there until you rot for all I care. It makes my job easier.”

  He couldn’t believe that she was so hard–headed that she couldn’t even give him her name without first giving him an attitude. Here he was trying to be amicable, make amends for any misunderstanding that may have occurred since they met, and yet she couldn’t even put aside her petty, child–like behavior for one minute and meet him half way.

  It was like talking to himself!

  Now he understood why Behr was so annoyed with him all the time. The woman was a carbon copy of him, and he couldn’t stand to be in the same room with her for more than a few minutes without feeling like he needed to run his fist through the wall. The only thing she had going for her was the fact that he wanted to touch her almost as much as he wanted to touch himself.

  If she was so much like him, though, then he knew exactly what tactic to use to get her out of the bathroom without having to harm one pretty little hair on her head.

  Picking up the phone, Erias smiled to himself while he dialed room service.

  Chapter 10

  Through a muddled haze, Cheyenne heard the hotel room door open and Erias’s deep baritone speaking to someone. From what she could tell it was another man, and the muffled sounds of their laughter set her blood to boiling, but she hadn’t the strength to do much more than listen and consider what her actions would be if she could just lift an arm to bang on the door or move her mouth to scream.

  At least then someone would know she was there. As it was, she had become some psychopath’s dirty little secret.

  What had he done to her?

  The nearest she could figure was that Erias had erected some sort of invisible electric fence like the one her mother had installed in the yard for her little Yorkshire. She had always thought it humorous whenever the ten-pound pup would race toward the sidewalk and then yelp as a small electrical jolt made him think twice.

  Yeah, well, whatever system he had wired that door with packed one hell of a wallop. Her head was still throbbing from her impact with the wall, and her fingers were a mass of pinpricks like when she slept on her arm wrong.

  Still, she would rather be locked safely in a bathroom where she could plot her escape than bound and gagged and at the mercy of a lunatic.

  Her stomach grumbled, echoing through the small space. God, she was so hungry. Her head swam in a wave of lightheadedness. She really needed to eat, but she’d be damned if she asked her captor to feed her. She’d just have to tough it out. People could live for twelve days without food she’d heard once. Or was that water? Whatever, she’d survive. Hopefully.

  Blinking against the dark grey blotches invading her vision, she fought to remain conscious. She had to figure a way out of here.

  And she would.

  If it was the last thing she did, she was going to come out of this alive. To sleep was to die, and she would not die. Cheyenne Oppenello was a fighter to the very end.

  Just before she lost consciousness, the most delicious aroma she had smelled since before arriving in Iceland, assaulted her senses. Whimpering against the grumbling pain caused by her empty stomach, she closed her eyes and slipped off into darkness.

  “Any more bright ideas, E?” Behr leaned back in his chair and gave him a derisive smirk before taking another sip of his beer.

  “Yeah, just one, but it involves taking a chunk out of your hide, so I’m thinking you won’t like it much.”

  Taking the final bite of his burger, Erias had to wrestle the urge not to look at the bathroom door. With every minute that more silenced passed, and she didn’t come out; he grew tenser. The last thing he would do is admit to Behr or anyone else, including himself, how much the female had wormed her way into his heart.

  He couldn’t even figure why. She was irritating, stubborn and she obviously didn’t feel too fondly for him either, but it wasn’t hard to miss that she held some sort of attraction for him. A gift from Persephone herself, no wom
an could resist the allure of his potent masculinity.

  He found her fairly attractive as well, and that’s what he told himself was the reason for his preoccupation with her. Since his wife had passed, he wasn’t interested in any woman beyond a quick roll in the sack, and that’s how he intended to keep it until the day he could be with her again.

  Wishing one of his gods given powers had been x-ray vision, Erias glanced at the door willing the female to emerge, then quickly back to his plate before Behr noticed.

  “Maybe we should turn a fan on or something,” Behr suggested, reaching across the table to snatch a fry from the plate of food that was quickly growing cold.

  Erias shot his hand out and slapped him away. “That food isn’t meant for you, dog. If you’re still hungry go scrounge something up, but don’t touch anything that belongs to the female again unless you want to lose that paw.”

  Behr growled low in his throat at the derogatory name. No one called him a dog and lived to tell about it. If he and E weren’t so tight, he might have to kill the man.

  “I’m going to let that one slide this time since I know how testy old men like yourself tend to get, but consider yourself warned—don’t ever use that tone with me again.” Rising to his full height, Behr kicked the chair out behind him and flashed from the room back to the mountain.

  The oppressive darkness of the hall was nothing compared to the inky void dwelling inside of him. What E had called him had really struck a nerve and had him grinding his teeth to the point of pain in order to avoid the memory that one careless comment had triggered.

  He thought he had buried the past in the past, but he could never hide from it for long. There was always something, a misspoken word, a funny look cast his way that always managed to bring the shame of what he was and wished he’d never been, back to the forefront of his mind.

  With his mind, Behr willed light into the dark, cavernous hall and tried to ignore the hulking reflection of him as he made his way back to The Gate.

  He absolutely hated looking in a mirror. It held too many memories. It reminded him too much of a time best left forgotten, but he also hated the dark, and so he would deal.

  Pulling his phone from the inside pocket of his leather duster, Behr dialed the one person that always seemed to ease his mind.

  “Hey, baby.” An instant grin split across his face when Sasha answered. “What are you wearing?”

  Unable to stand it any longer, Erias flashed himself into the bathroom, consequences be damned. He had to find out why the woman refused to come out, and if he had to scare the shit out of her to get some answers, then so be it.

  He wasn’t prepared for what he found.

  And it left him with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  He thought back to the electric jolt he’d delivered “Oh shit,” he breathed. How much juice had he put in that thing?

  He wasn’t used to fighting women. Well, not this kind anyway. Usually, they were more robust. Generally reaching his height or larger, they had as much muscle as he did and made The Hulk look like a fairy princess.

  Kneeling down in front of her, Erias checked her pulse before scooping her into his arms and flashing them back into the bedroom. Placing her on the bed, he pulled the blankets over her and sent a mental call out for the only person he knew that might be able to help him.

  Erias was standing at the head of the bed quietly watching over the woman when Alastair appeared with a blinding flash at the foot of the bed. The peeved expression he wore told Erias just what bad timing he had, but then, he’d always had a knack for interrupting.

  “Sorry, but I didn’t know who else to call,” he apologized.

  Alastair, a member of the Golden Sun–a group of ancient warriors bound to the service of Persephone–had been a healer in his time and, under his contract, had powers that made Erias’s look like a child’s magic show.

  Standing at an even seven foot tall, he wore a Grateful Dead t-shirt and black jeans tucked into a pair of heavy black boots that rose halfway up to his shins and covered in thick silver buckles. His purple hair fell to his shoulders, and he wore a long black trench coat which shielded the leather vambraces, armored belt, and several daggers from public view.

  On his best day, Alastair was a surly son-of-a-bitch and was as deadly as they came. On his worst, well, Erias felt sorry for the dumb fuck stupid enough to cross his path.

  Even now, a fierce air of power emanated from every inch of him like a tangible force making it clear that he was the type to kill first and ask questions later, making someone as cold and brutal as Erias hold his tongue around him.

  “Tell me what happened,” he commanded, leaning over the unconscious woman and skimming his hands over her body.

  Erias would think he was trying to cop a feel if he hadn’t witnessed Alastair’s unique healing ability for himself.

  “Do you want the full story or the abridged version?”

  Alastair pinned him with his hawk–like gaze. “I’m a busy man, Erias. My virgin ears don’t need to hear about your sordid tales of debauchery. Make it short and sweet.”

  Erias returned a shit-eating grin at Alastair’s off-handed approach at humor. “She is an explorer and I was charged with keeping her off the mountain. She’s a bit harder to handle than I expected and when I brought her here she got a little irate. Apparently, females don’t like it too much when you threaten their freedom. So, when she tried to escape, I shocked her. I guess I added a little more umpf to it than I needed to.” Looking across the bed, Erias met his gaze and gave him a sheepish smile.

  “Well...” Alastair drew in a heavy breath before returning to his feet. Placing his hands on his hips, he narrowed his eyes thoughtfully on the female. “Do you want the good news or the bad news first?”

  Erias passed him a petulant frown. “Surprise me.”

  “Okay, good news is, she’ll live.”

  “What's the bad news?”

  “I think you pretty much fried every cell in her body.” Turning his obsidian eyes to him, their gazes locked. “Does anyone else know she is here with you?”

  He didn’t know where he was going with this line of questioning, but he answered honestly. “No, I just stumbled upon her outside my room a bit ago.”

  “So no one would be able to pin anything on you should she…disappear?”

  “No,” Erias said, dragging the word out to show his growing suspicion. He didn’t like where this was headed. He hazarded a glance down at her sleeping form and felt a slight pang in his chest at the thought of having caused her harm and even more, what harm may be still to come.

  Alastair watched Erias closely. It was obvious from the moment he entered the room that the man was teetering on the edge. Like a love sick puppy, he raked the female with a fiery gaze that held both his guilt and adoration, though he was trying desperately to deny it to even himself.

  Knowing what it was like to live in this world as a bound slave to the hellion Persephone; he was well versed on her possessive streak when it came to her men having a taste for another woman.

  It just wasn’t worth giving your heart to someone only to watch it be ripped from their chest, stomped into the ground, set on fire, and fed to the daemons. He had watched too many good men, too many of his friends, go down like that over the centuries, and he hated to watch any more of them fall to that fate.

  He would do anything in his realm of power to keep them from making the same mistakes he had if he could. Free will was a bitch.

  His expression turned grave. “I’m telling you now, Erias, this is no game. I can see in your eyes where this is going, and take it from me, it’s nowhere good.”

  Hearing the note of agitation in his voice, Erias crossed his arms over his chest and narrowed his eyes on him. “And what is it that you suggest I do?”

  “Kill her and be done with it,” he said simply, coldly. “If she is the one who leads this foolish crusade, then remove her from the equation and watch as
the others fall like dominoes behind her.”

  Not liking the idea, but knowing there wasn’t much he could do about it, Erias led Alistair to the small round table in the corner, the pungent aroma of char broiled meat still hanging heavily in the air.

  With a regretful sigh, he slipped into the chair opposite him. “What do you propose?”

  Glad he had come to his senses; Alastair grinned savagely. “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Chapter 11

  Cheyenne woke up with a vicious headache. Rolling onto her side, she pulled the thick embroidered Afghan up and tucked it under her chin. Never had she felt so sick in her entire life. Every inch of her body pulsed with pain, even her eyes. Groaning, she eked open her lids and peered into the darkened room.

  “Hey, she’s awake.” The sound of Kris’s voice cut through her head like shards of glass. He was at her side the next moment, smoothing her hair back from her forehead. “Would someone turn on a light?”

  “No.” Cheyenne panicked at the thought. Not only did she feel utterly disgusting, like she had been sitting in her own filth for…Well, she wasn’t sure how long, but she could already tell that any form of light, natural or otherwise, would be her mortal enemy right now. “If you value your life, don’t touch that switch,” she groaned, her own gravelly voice thundering in her head.

  Kris poured her a glass of water from a carafe sitting on her bedside table, and brought it to her parched lips. “Drink, sweetheart,” he urged, helping to raise her head from the pillow and tipping the glass for her to drink.

  Sighing at the delectably cool rush of liquid gliding down her sticky throat, Cheyenne rested her head back on the pillow. “Ugh, I feel like poo.”

  “I don’t mean to sound like an ass or anything,” Cheryl said, alerting them that her next words would indeed make her sound like an ass, “but you look like poo, too.”

  Kris hissed his annoyance at her. Cheyenne smiled faintly. “Thanks, Cheryl, you didn’t sound like an ass at all.”