“Not that Daes don’t deserve some of the blame,” Eli added.
“Eli,” Cole warned again.
“What is your problem with Daes? Why do you hate us so much? Because you do, right? This isn’t something I’m imagining.”
Eli’s face grew tight. “Yes, I hate Daes.”
“Why?”
“This is a waste of time. You can learn this stuff later. Right now we need to concentrate on how to handle the situation.” The air around us became tense and thick. Our gazes locked firmly on each other, and I could feel him purposely seal his emotions and thoughts away from me. I couldn’t read his eyes except for the anger glaring from them. He turned away.
“I want to know all this stuff so I can understand what is going on,” I exclaimed. “If you don’t like it leave. No one is making you stay in here.”
“I’ll break it down for you then. A Demon, a tyrannical Queen, and cannibal Strighoul—”
“What?” I cut him off. “Walk into a bar?”
Eli’s face turned red as blood boiled under his skin. His look was full of every swear word there was. Only my pride kept me from slinking under the bed to hide.
“Relax, Eli.” Cole touched his shoulder.
“No. She doesn’t get it,” Eli yelled. “This is not pretend, Ember. These guys aren’t going to stop hunting you. This world is no longer the same. The Pacific Northwest is in shambles and overrun with Dark and Light Fae. Most are here looking for you. Don’t think someone like Drauk is going to stop searching. They will figure out who your friends are and go after them. The Strighoul will tear them apart, while the leaders will be dining on you. Do you get that, Ember?”
The intensity with which he was yelling at me made tears burn in my eyes. My automatic response was to yell back. “You don’t think I understand it?” I screamed. “That I don’t realize I’ve lost everything? That I have destroyed and killed people? My powers have burned down homes, killed men, women and children. I have turned this area of the country into a version of the Wild West with automatic guns. People are killing each other over cans of food.” I flew at him, my hands shoving into his chest. “Everything I love has been ripped from me. My father is being tortured somewhere in the Otherworld! So don’t tell me I don’t get it. I get it. I feel the burden of what I’ve done every single second of every single day.” My curled fingers banged into Eli’s chest. He stepped up closer to me, his arms still pinned to his sides. His hands balled into fists by his legs. “I destroyed lives!” I continued to pound into him.
Cooper came up to me and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me back. I continued to barrel forward into Eli, my arms and hands thrashing against him. “Calm down,” Cooper said. I struggled against his hold, until his murmuring voice penetrated my ear, making me crumple. Cooper gripped me tighter and held me up. Leaning into him, wet splotches soaked his t-shirt. I hadn’t even known I was crying. “Shhhh—it’s okay,” he mumbled.
I let the sobs heave out of me, my body gave out and I collapsed to the floor. Cooper picked me up like a baby. A slight zing ran up my tattoo as he held me, but it wasn’t something my thoughts stayed on. My brain was starting to shut down, closing itself to the pain and agony. Cooper set me back on the bed, tucking the covers in around me.
“Eli, I think you should go,” Cole's calm voice was steady.
“No.”
“Eli,” Cole’s voice contained a warning.
“No,” Eli roared.
“LEAVE NOW!” It was the first time I had heard Cole’s voice raise in anger against Eli. It sent shockwaves through the tiny cabin, making even me quiver under its force.
Eli let out a strangled noise, turned stiffly toward the door and walked out, slamming the door so hard it shook the tiny cabin.
Cole sighed deeply and turned around, then walked over to the bed. “The last time he caused me this much of a headache was during what humans call the pubescent years. What are you doing to my Second, Ember?” I knew the question was rhetorical so I continued to watch him silently as he pulled a chair up to my bed. “I think you need to rest, but I promise you tomorrow I will explain anything you want to know.”
“Anything?” I asked, my eyebrows rising up.
“Anything except about us.”
Damn . . . he knew what I was angling at.
“You are eventually going to tell me some things, right?”
Cole only shook his head as he stood up. “You really are relentless.”
“It’s part of my charm.”
Cole scoffed, but his smile couldn’t be hidden. He only shook his head again and left the cabin. Owen checked on Jared one last time before motioning for Cooper and Gabby to follow.
“Gabbs are you coming?” Cooper turned back looking at his sister.
“Give me a minute,” she replied. She sat in the chair like she had been watching TV this entire time. In a way she had been when watching us—with our crying, screaming, and fighting. It was like a bad reality show.
Cooper looked a little worried, glancing between Gabby and me. He finally gave her a nod and left. Gabby moved to the chair closest to me. I didn’t have enough strength to do much, but I tensed as she came closer to me. Pulling out a pack of cigarettes from her coat, she tilted the pack, offering me one. I shook my head profusely in refusal.
“I know it’s a disgusting habit . . . blah, blah.” She lit up and took a drag. She propped her feet on the bed. “Smoking is one of the human traits I’ve picked up while living here, and since I won’t ever die from human diseases like lung cancer . . . I say why the fuck not.”
“You may not die, but it still causes you to stink, yellows your teeth, and gives you awful breath,” I countered.
Gabby’s head fell back and she laughed. “Yeah, you’re probably right. But, the guys I date don’t seem to care. They smoke like chimneys, too.”
Smiling thinly at her I wondered why she was here. She doesn't even like me. What does she want?
The silence between us grew thicker before she spoke. “So, that was quite a show.”
“I’m sure you can catch a repeat performance tomorrow evening—if I don’t kill him first.”
Gabby blew out a glob of smoke with a snicker.
“What?”
“Oh, it’s just the more a girl says she wants to kill him the more I know she actually wants to screw him.” Gabby’s blunt words made me inhale.
“What? No, I actually want to kill him. No screwing. Purely killing.”
“Right.” She scoffed as she settled deeper into the chair. “I’ve known Eli for a very, very long time. He’s like a brother to me and whatever realm it is, whatever species . . . it is always the same. He has an unbelievable, raw, sexual magnetism. He can drive most women crazy. And I mean it in every sense of the word.” She smiled. “I’ve also known him long enough to have never seen him lose his cool like this about a girl. He’s never irrational. I can count on one hand the times he’s completely lost it and those were understandable. In all the years, I’ve never seen him like this.”
She took another drag from her cigarette. “Is he infuriating? Yes. Domineering? Absolutely. Also pig-headed, dangerous, scary as hell, and at times cruel. But, to a select few, he is also fiercely loyal, honest, and will protect you with his life.”
“To you guys, maybe.”
“To whom he considers family,” she said. “We may not be a lot of good things, but we are fiercely loyal to each other. We have to be for our survival. But, Eli’s always taken this more seriously than most. He was considered different by our clan, not possessing the usual dominant traits of our kind. Cole’s the same way. This made them the perfect First and Second even though the Second technically should have gone to Lorcan, who's older. Eli won the fight. A natural leader. I don’t think Lorcan’s ever forgiven or let it go. Lorcan is a Dark Dweller through and through. But with Cole and Eli in charge, most of us have seen there’s more to us—more than merely being killers.” Gabby looked off in the
distance, her mind a million miles from there, probably in a different realm. I didn’t move, not wanting to even breathe. This was the most information I had been given about them, about Eli, and I didn’t want her to stop.
She turned back to me with a small smile. “Did you know Cole raised Eli, Lorcan, Cooper, and me? He really wasn’t much older than us, but he took us on like his own. He had to take care of four teenagers in a new realm. Talk about one crazy bastard.” She giggled. The deep love and respect she felt for Cole was obvious. She looked down, clearing her throat. “You think we don’t have compassion for your situation and maybe it appears that way, but we are all orphans here, too. We know how it feels to lose someone you love because of what you are.” Her gaze locked with mine. “We have lost everything, also—our families, our homes. What would you do to get Mark back?”
I knew the answer to that—anything.
“We might not be able to get our families back, but there is hope we could get our home back.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because you are different from the others.” She paused. “We have a pack mentality—like wolves. And like it or not, I can sense Eli claiming you. He's making you part of the clan.”
“W-What?” I sat up straighter.
She looked at me and shook her head. “Never mind. I’m babbling. I’m gonna go.” She abruptly stood up and headed for the door. “Forget everything I said, okay?”
She didn’t wait for my response, just walked out of the room, shutting the door behind her.
NINE
Sleep did not come, instead there were tormenting images of the Strighoul tearing into my flesh, watching them rip into my friends, slurping down their intestines like spaghetti. My mind and body strained under all the stress. My growling stomach finally got me up in search of food, though I didn’t think I could eat spaghetti anytime soon. Tiptoeing into the main house, I headed straight for the kitchen. As I reached for the jar of Eli’s beloved peanut butter, the one I was determined to finish for the extreme pleasure of pissing him off, murmurs floated to me from the office, freezing me in my tracks.
“Were you able to find anything?” Cole’s calm voice was instantly recognizable.
“No. I didn’t have much time to really look,” Eli’s deep voice rumbled. My inquisitive nature took over and I inched closer to the office door.
“I am certain she found it. It would only make sense she would have disclosed its location to Lily or hid something with Ember.” Frustration salted Cole’s tone. “I was sure there would be something at the house.”
Lily? They were talking about my mom. So their willingness to let me get my stuff had nothing to do with me. They wanted something . . .
“Well, if there was, she obscured it well. I couldn’t feel any magic spells or hexes. Could it be back in their old house?”
“No. She would have made sure, if something happened to her, it would go with Ember.”
What would go with me? What were they talking about? My mom didn’t leave me anything except memories, some photo albums, and a fake birth certificate. Was there something I missed? Could she have hidden something important among my baby books? What could she have left me they'd want?
“I can look again. We can’t give up.”
“No, we’ll keep searching,” Cole exhaled. There was a moment before he spoke again. “I still want to discuss the dreamscaping with you.”
“Cole, I’ve told you I just learned about it, too. Believe me I’m not happy about it. I want it to stop more than you do.”
Wounded, my hurt feelings tightened uncomfortably in my stomach. I didn’t mean to bring him in. It simply happened. Embarrassment sloshed around in my chest.
“We have to get her to stop,” Cole said. “But, you’re right, we’ll talk about it tomorrow. Get some sleep. I’ll take first run right now and double check that everything is solid and no spells have been tampered with. I’ve got a feeling our days are only going to get longer from now on.” The shifting of chairs signaled me to move behind the kitchen island.
“I think you’re right,” Eli agreed. “Guess I’m on the morning run. I'm gonna sweep a little farther out. See if I smell or sense anything.”
“Good idea,” Cole replied. “But, if you wake me up at four a.m. on your way out, I will kill you.” Eli chuckled in response and they said their goodnights.
I tucked myself tighter into a ball, blocking all my thoughts and feelings from Eli. It would be pointless to hide if he could sense me. Fortunately, other things were ruling his mind so he walked through the kitchen and down the hall without even a pause. Breathing a sigh of relief, I made my escape as well and was glad to reach the safety of my room in the infirmary.
I didn’t know exactly what they were talking about, but it was clear they were keeping things from me. More lies. More untold truths. This development clashed with the information Gabby had recently confided to me. Earlier, I had a slight shift in my anger, believing I could start to trust Eli . . . or at least I was beginning to understand him and some of his actions better. Was I wrong?
Between my thoughts and Jared tossing, turning, and mumbling in his sleep, I skimmed the surface of sleep. They had decided to keep him in the infirmary bed instead of moving him to his room and my roommate was not a quiet sleeper. The moment the sun came up, I fell into slumber. Naturally, that was the moment the door flew open and Eli sauntered into the room. “Meet me in the workout room in ten minutes,” he snapped and walked back out.
O-kay . . . someone’s cranky today.
I didn’t hurry, taking my time as I changed into my sweatpants, tank, and shoes, relishing the happiness of putting on my own clothes. I hadn’t had this luxury in over a month. Twenty minutes passed when I finally headed to the workout room, feeling only a little guilty when I saw Cole and Owen waiting for me as well. It was strange they were there, but I decided to ignore them and focus on kicking Eli’s ass.
“All right, let’s pick up from the same place as yesterday morning.” Eli stepped onto the mat.
So, should I lie down on my back? My eyes taunted him. I was in a mood to provoke him after what I heard last night. It was too early in the morning to play nice.
Eli tried to keep up the barrier between us, but I saw his eyes spark red. He must have had to work hard at not showing me these things before. Now that I knew he wasn’t human, he was letting go of the pretense.
Don’t worry I’ll have you down on your back soon enough, he goaded.
It’s good to have a dream.
Eli smirked and crouched down, preparing to fight.
Quickly, I tried to go through what he had taught me the day before. He gave me no leeway. We slowly circled each other, both of us deciphering the other’s movements. I stepped in close enough to take a shot at his throat. He leaned back, easily avoiding it. “Sloppy. Pay attention,” he criticized.
Irritation scrunched my face as I fixed my thoughts more on him and the fight. He hunkered down; his fist darted up, striking the side of me. Falling back on my rear, I gasped for air. He continued to come after me. Using my position, I rolled into a backward somersault, instantly jumping to a defensive crouch.
He was not playing around. His movements were intense and threatening. He was seriously trying to attack me and my body reacted to the threat. Eyes narrowing in on him, I switched gears. He flew at me. Twisting, I vaulted to the side, out of his way. His arm jutted out, slamming against me. The force threw me off the mat.
Hastily whipping around, making sure to keep him in my sights, I leaped over him. His fist barreled towards me, hitting my hip bone. It stung like crazy but didn’t stop me. We started circling again; our eyes locked on each other. His pupils became narrowed slits of fire; the first clue his Dark Dweller was coming out. I answered his change with one of my own. All thoughts receded into the far depths of my mind and instinct kicked in.
I pounced on Eli, taking us both to the ground. As we fell, he grasped my arms. U
sing the momentum, he flipped me over his head and onto my back as we hit the ground. It took me only an intake of breath before I shot to my feet.
Not seeing him get up or move, Eli was suddenly in front of me. I dropped to the ground, barely missing the swipe from his protruding claws. Holy shit! This was no joke. He’s out to hurt me. I drew back, socking him in the sternum.
“Told you I’d have you on your back eventually.” He stood over me.
I wanted to wipe the cocky smile off his face. My legs flew up and I rammed my feet forcefully into his shins, knocking him onto his butt. “Bite me.” Coughing, my lungs ached as they tried to pull in air. The sharp sound of clapping pulled my attention over my shoulder. Cole walked up to us. I had actually forgotten about him.
“Very impressive, Ember, and with no training. Eli told us about how you fought Vek yesterday.”
I shrugged like it was no big deal. It was, though. Yesterday something had happened to me. My temper had gotten the better of me at times. I had been in a few scuffles in my life, but nothing like the day before. Never having trained, I shouldn’t have been able to take Vek on like that. Usually, I could barely walk into a room without running into a wall or tripping. I shouldn’t be good. Not like that. Especially with my powers restricted. Whatever was taking over, it wasn't my powers. It felt different. It seemed to come from somewhere within me but I didn’t know where.
Eli popped up, giving me a solid glare before turning to Cole. “See?”
“You were right.” Owen shook his head, bewildered. “This is all so astonishing, completely unprecedented. I need to take another sample of her blood and compare it. See if it has changed.”
“Right about what?” I asked. No one responded to me. “What’s going on?” The men continued to talk and stare at me like a specimen, as though they forgot I could hear and respond to them. I scrambled up off the floor. “Wait a minute. You guys need to stop doing this. I am a part of this so include me in whatever you’re talking about. Especially when it’s about me. Now, tell me, what is going on?”
Fire In The Darkness (Darkness Series #2) Page 9