Red Rain: Book 4, Night Series

by RS Black

  Though the sun was out, the blinds were drawn so tight that the room was thick with darkness.

  Shadows danced along the scared contours of his lean and muscular body. He had a hand draped over his face, and his mouth was open. He was sleeping, but fitfully. Every so often a whimper would sound, or his foot would kick out.

  “Why can’t I shake you?”

  My whispered words must have sounded like an explosion in his ears. He sat up with a jerk, brown eyes suddenly alight with flame as the shadows danced and coiled tightly around him.

  It took him less than a second to realize I was alone in his room.

  “Pandora?” There was a wealth of meaning in that one word.

  I heard bitterness. Anger. Hope. And yes, even love. The thread was thin, and it was frayed, but it still lived.

  I didn’t move from where I stood at the foot of his bed. “I’m not a whore, Asher.”

  I could literally hear my heart bleed to say it, but I was so beyond caring what others thought of me. To love was a weakness. And yes, it was. To an extent. When you loved more than the other, when your world revolved solely around them, when you could do nothing, be no one, without them in it, then yes, love was a great flaw.

  But Asher had been more to me than that. He’d been my compass. My humanity. Asher had made me believe in myself when I couldn’t otherwise.

  His lashes fluttered shut. “I was wrong to say it. Pandora, I—”

  “You’ve given up on me.”

  “No!” His eyes snapped open. “No. God, no. I’m tired, Pandora. I’m tired, and I’m hurting because none of this makes sense. I see you with me and I think I can just snatch you away, I can save you, but I can’t fucking save you. I’m helpless. And I can’t...I don’t—” He swallowed thickly and turned his face to the side, but not before I saw the flash of wetness glittering in his eyes.

  I hated him for what he’d said to me. But I’d never stop loving him.

  Rushing to his side, I wrapped my arms around his neck and dragged his head to my breasts, rubbing my fingers through his soft hair, my own eyes prickling with tears.

  His fingers dug into my hipbones so hard I felt the bruises forming. But we’d not had a second since my abduction to truly give in to the truth of what we meant to each other.

  I’d never love anyone else again.

  Never.

  It’s not that I couldn’t.

  It was that I simply wouldn’t.

  “Do you hate me, Pandora?” His question was so soft and my heart ached.

  He’d hurt me. I’d hurt him back.

  “Oh God, Ash.” I dropped onto the surface of the bed. They heard everything. They knew everything. But I just couldn’t do this anymore. I couldn’t pretend. I couldn’t survive this without him.

  My days were short; they were numbered.

  I wouldn’t survive what was coming. It was a simple fact. But I’d never forgive myself if he lived on believing the lie I’d uttered.

  Crawling on top of his body, I was ready to do an all-out battle with him if he tried to push me off. But his hunger was as great as my own.

  With a groan of longing, he rolled me over, his hands ripping at my clothes. Asher wasn’t delicate, but I didn’t need him to be. I didn’t want him to be.

  I wanted to have sex. Wild, crazy, passionate sex. The type that killed, that consumed, that obliterated all rhyme or reason, that was visceral and real.

  I needed real.

  No more spy games. No more facades. Just real.

  Latching my lips to his, I kissed, I sucked, I bit down to the point of bleeding him. But he didn’t ask me to stop. He didn’t tell me to slow it down.

  This wasn’t like what happened at the club, either. This wasn’t angry—this was profound. This was words in motion.

  The poetry of bodies.

  Ripping out of my hold, he grabbed my breast, bringing my nipple to his hungry mouth, and I groaned it was so damn good.

  Fully exposed to him, I impaled myself upon his rigid sex and we moved as one. Like a tide sweeping back into harbor, our movements were precise and in unison. When he thrust I rolled, when I thrust, he rolled. I clawed his chest, his arms, his face.

  I cried tears into his mouth. My sweat mingled with his, our bodies speaking a language no man, or beast, could ever comprehend.

  I would never betray you, I said.

  Nor I you, he said.

  Loyal till the end, I said.

  I’ll love you until there is no more breath left, he said.

  The Triad might own my body, but they will never own my soul. It is yours, Asher, all yours. Always yours.

  Pandora, I am helpless to you. Always have been. Always will be.

  It’s just us against the world, we said.

  Do you trust me, I said.

  Yes. God help me, yes, he said.

  Then trust me now, Asher. Trust me, even when you don’t think you should. Believe in me as I believe in you.

  Yes, he said. Yes, my little demon, I will.

  Our orgasm came swift and violently. We shuddered into each other and as he shuddered beneath me, as he gave me all he had to give, I did what I had to do.

  I’d hidden a pair of spelled cuffs in my shirt before I’d come. There wasn’t a spell on Earth that could get these off. And since I had the key back at the compound, he’d never be able to take them off.

  Kissing him one final time, whispering a goodbye beneath my breath, I slapped one end on his wrist and the other on the bedpost.

  Shocked, he jerked his arm and looked at me in horror. “Pandora, what have you done?”

  Rubbing the tears out of my eyes, I shook my head. “You’ll just follow me, Asher. You’ll watch me become the monster of legend and I can’t have that. I can’t let you see that. I won’t be me anymore and that can’t be your last memory of me. It just can’t be.”

  “Don’t do this, little demon, don’t do this!” He jerked so violently the bed shuddered beneath him, but I knew the cuffs would hold true. I’d been chained in them before.

  “Remember your promise, Ash. Believe in me, even when you don’t think you should.” Kissing my fingertips, I laid them on his brow.

  He jerked, his body flailing on the bed as he attempted to get to me. “I won’t leave you. You’re not going to go through this on your own!”

  Giving him a sad, wistful smile, I shrugged. “You don’t have a choice, lover. This is how it was always supposed to be. This is who I am now, and I want you to remember her.” Then, speaking to him in sign language, I told him the three words I couldn’t say out loud. “I love you, Asher. I’ll always love you.”

  My clothes were ruined. But thankfully he’d never gotten rid of my stuff from the trailer.

  I picked out dark pants, a cream crop top, and teal boots. He’d always liked me in color. Then I left him behind, with his screams of rage beating at my back.

  I had maybe ten minutes with Luc before the rest of the carnival became aware of my presence thanks to Asher’s yelling. Not much time. But this could work now. I knew in my heart this could work.

  Grace had given me a final gift. The freedom from guilt.

  With determined strides, I walked into his trailer and into his room. Luc was as virile looking as he’d ever been—thankfully being in a forced coma didn’t cause our bodies to atrophy as it did to humans, but it was heart-rending to see the light gone from his eyes. His mouth hung open and his hands were laid over his chest in a dead man’s pose. Beside him lay the stuporous body of Keltse.

  She was still just as emaciated and skeletal as I remembered her being once before. Her hair was in tangled knots around her head, and her skin was so pale that every vein in her face stood out in bold relief.

  I knew she sensed my presence. I could feel the flicker of her demon stirring. But she was wedged deep in Luc’s head and it would take some time to extricate herself completely.

  It was time enough for me to get done what needed getting done.
/>   Barricading as much junk in front of the door as possible.

  Thankfully, Luc had warded his room centuries ago so that no one could trace inside. One of the perks of being the boss man. Well, that perk was going to come in handy for me now.

  Blockading done, I turned my attention to the second distraction.

  Keltse.

  I wanted to end her.

  Wanted to rip my claws through her sternum and suck out her soul. The bitch was going to pay for what she’d done to him, to me, to all of them.

  But she wasn’t my kill.

  She was Luc’s.

  So I did the next best thing. Closing my eyes, I commanded Sloth to heed my call.

  He rose inside me, his power blasting through me. With a smile, I whispered to him. “Take her, demon. Take her and drown her.”

  Sloth shot like an arrow out of my body, bolting straight into her soul and dragging her deep into the primordial abyss of the dreaming. It would take her hours to extract herself from that grip.

  But I’d need only minutes.

  “Luc,” I whispered to him the moment I felt Keltse’s grip gone.

  His mind was a fractured miasma of colors and broken shards, memories that floated past me. Shattered beyond recognition.

  She hadn’t been healing him at all.

  Keltse had been breaking him.

  How dare she.

  I felt the scrabble of his mind to find his way to me. Felt the pulse of his consciousness flutter against my own.

  “Can you hear me, sweetheart?”

  “Dora.” His voice was weak and thin, but it was still there.

  I trembled to hear it.

  “I can hear you, love. I can hear you.”

  “I can’t see you, Dora. I’m not sure I can ever make my way out of here. She’s trapped me again.”

  “I know, sweetie. I know. I’ve taken care of her for now. And I’m going to train you to protect your mind against her. But I won’t be able to be here for much longer. They’re coming for me.”

  “Who?”

  I chuckled. “Our family. They think I’m a traitor to them.”

  “I know. But you’re not alone.”

  His words were a balm.

  I wasn’t alone. Not anymore. Our chances were slim. But there was a chance, where before I’d been so sure there’d been none.

  “I don’t have time to talk it all out, Luc. But I can dump the information into your head. You’ll need time to sort through it. But you need to be strong too. You need to learn quick. I’m also going to have to hurt you. Hurt you badly. Can you handle it?”

  I felt the brush of his hesitation, but then the resolute nod of his conviction. “But I thought you didn’t want me to do this, Dora. Because I’d have to kill—”

  “Everything’s changed, Luc. Grace discovered Triad moles among us. I didn’t think I could kill my family, but—”

  “Moles aren’t family,” he growled.

  “No, they’re not. There are at least three here, possibly four. Adam’s dealing with his own problem down South. So for now, it’s just you and I that know this. Can you handle this?”

  “I can do it, Dora. I can save you.”

  “You can give me peace?” I whispered, half-afraid to hope it would be true. “I can’t be the bridge for them, Luc. I can’t open those Gates. Without you, I will be.”

  “What is Dean doing to stop this?”

  “I don’t know and I don’t care. He’s got his own plans, one of which seems to be deciphering what my plan is, which up until now I wasn’t even sure I had one. I don’t know if he’s trying to stop me, or what. But I don’t trust him. So this right here, it has to stay right here. If I become that bridge to Hell he’ll kill me anyway. I’m still not sure this will work, but it’s our only—”

  “We can make this work, Dora. This plan is sound. I know it is.”

  “Well, it’s all we got, and all I can hope for now is a miracle.”

  Suddenly I could hear the muttering of voices outside.

  “I’m running out of time, Luc. We have to do this now. Now calm your mind and get ready for the transference.”

  Ready or not, I rushed to him. There was no time to make this easy for him. Being infected by demons had been unbelievably excruciating for me, and I’d been doped up on God only knows what. Luc would have none of that. There was a good chance he’d not survive the transference and then I really would be up shit creek without a paddle.

  “I love you, my friend. Never forget that,” I told him one final time.

  His consciousness fluttered against me, a sign that he understood. Opening my eyes, I saw the door behind me shudder as Bubba’s voice, then Vyxen’s, Cash’s, and so many others I recognized cried out to me.

  Closing my eyes, just so that I could focus, I shut out all the noise and then opened the floodgates. Thoughts poured from me into him and his body began to spasm violently upon the bed.

  But that wasn’t even the worst part. The worst part was what I was about to do next.

  With a scream, I sank my claws through his heart and pricked him with one of my deadly nails.

  Luc’s body was still in a catatonic state, but even seemingly brain-dead, he screamed as I pumped one deadly sin after another into him.

  Not too many. Unlike me, I wouldn’t give him hundreds. He only needed one of each. He had Lust. I added Greed. Gluttony. Wrath. And Envy to the mix. The last two would be gotten the hard and deadly way.

  When the last soul slipped into him, his spasms ceased, and his mind flooded open to me. Less fractured. Less distracted.

  “That hurt like a motherfucker,” Luc drawled in my head a second later and I had to laugh to hear it. “Pandora?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I can see you now. But I need to feel you. Can you come to me? Just for a second?”

  I really shouldn’t. God, it was stupid to still be here.

  Now the voices were screaming at me to leave Luc alone. My heart bled thinking of what I’d done to Asher in our trailer. How I’d left him. Judging by the voices they were out for my blood.

  “Pandora,” Bubba roared, “don’t do this. I will kill you if you touch him. Sister or no, I will end you!”

  I closed myself off to him, to them, my focus solely on Luc. “Yes, Luc, I’ll come.”

  My golden Adonis.

  His eyes were closed, his breathing even.

  For weeks I’d been communicating with him across time and distance, but there were limits to what could be done with us apart.

  He looked so peaceful, so serene.

  I smiled and crawled onto the mattress with him. The moment our bodies touched I released my soul, pierced through the veil of his mind, and entered into the dreaming.

  In the world of nocturne I found my Luc.

  His body was strong and lean. He sat upon a water fountain, completely nude. Splashes of sunlight danced upon his flesh, sun-kissed a burnished hue; he appeared to be the godlike creation I’d always told him he was.

  Spine stiffening, he suddenly twirled on me. His electrifying lavender eyes held me enthralled.

  “Luc,” I said with a smile in my voice.

  Jumping to his feet, he looked at me. Simply looked at me, but with an intensity that could only rival that of the sun.

  “I can’t believe you’re really here with me.”

  “I am.” I walked up to him, framing his jaw with my hand. “I’m here, Luc.”

  Nodding, his fingers flexed by his side. “I’ve heard your cries, Dora, they killed me. And now I’m glad I know the truth. And selfish though it is, I’m glad it’s just you and me again.”

  I smiled.

  “It is the only way,” he said.

  It was my turn to nod in agreement. “Yes. I love Asher with all my soul, but his Greed for me is too powerful. He could never be strong enough to do what must be done. In the end it was always going to be you and me.”

  “As it should be,” he murmured, stepping closer.


  His delicious scent of warmth and familiarity cradled me. It was good to be back in Luc’s company again, without all the baggage weighing us down.

  “This is what we should have always been.” His voice cracked as he said it. “I was a fool, Pandora, and it cost me everything. But I see the truth now.”

  “No, Luc, your past didn’t cost you everything. But following me now, that will. It will cost you your soul. Are you ready to pay that price?”

  Here we stood in the middle of the dreaming, with only the gentle sound of a water fountain trickling behind him. Open and honest with one another for the first time in our long lives.

  A loud banging shook the ground beneath us.

  “They’re almost through the door,” I whispered, glancing over my shoulder and seeing nothing but the mirage of a golden, sunlit world. “I don’t have much time.” I turned back to him, the immediacy of the moment gripping me by the throat. “Can you do this, Luc? Can I trust you?”

  He wrapped me up in his powerful arms and for just a moment I sank into his touch. No one else in all the world had caused me the type of pain he had, but no one else in all the world was capable of doing what I was asking of him now.

  Luc could either be my savior or my destruction. The ball was entirely in his court.

  His fingers were gentle as they traced the length of my cheek. “I will do this, for you. For me. For us.”

  I gripped his hand. “You understand what I have to do now? What you’ll have to do then? If you falter, I am lost forever.”

  “I won’t fail you again, Dora. Never again.”

  He leaned in to kiss me and I let him. I let myself be swept away into his touch. We were now what we should have always been. Allies. My strength his, and his mine.

  I needed Asher for me to be a better person, but I needed Luc to be the strength I no longer had.

  When the kiss ended, I placed my forehead gently against his.

  “Goodbye, Luc,” I whispered as a tear rolled down my cheek. “I have to go now.”

  “I understand. Rest easy, Dora, you’re in safe hands now.”

  “I know.” I smiled.

  I had seconds before Bubba ripped the door down. It was a physical rending to tear myself from out of Luc’s head as quickly as I did. I gasped as the fiery heat of Sloth’s magic slingshotted from Luc back into me. Lethargy gripped me by the throat, but there was work to be done and very little time in which to do it.