by S D Hegyes
“Am I dying?” she managed to ask.
“No.” Abaddon’s growl rippled through her, and she shuddered at the power in his words.
No. She wasn’t dying. He’d keep her safe. Always keep her safe.
With that knowledge, she sighed, allowing herself to fall to the tide threatening to pull her under.
“Thanks.”
She slept.
22
Sorsha groaned as she blinked the sleep from her eyes, reaching for her head as pain ricocheted through her skull. Where was she? How’d she get there? Wherever there was.
“Ugh! Why does my head hurt so much?”
“Sorsha!” Someone pounced on her, wrapping their arms around her neck and squeezing her until she couldn’t breathe.
“Charlotte?” What was Charlotte doing there?
The other woman pulled away and looked down at Sorsha, sitting on the edge of the bed. Sorsha’s gaze darted around the room, taking in the hotel’s furnishings. Her own personal items were on the dresser next to the television: wallet, cell phone, the key to the post office box Abaddon had opened for her. Her gaze settled on Charlotte once more.
“You’re awake! I was starting to get worried.” The woman leaned forward and brushed her hand over Sorsha’s forehead. “I’d told myself that if you didn’t wake up today, I was going to run you to the hospital, no matter what Abaddon said.”
“Abaddon?” Sorsha shook her head. There was just too much going on at one time. She couldn’t wrap her head around any of it. “I don’t understand. Why am I here?”
Charlotte frowned at her. “That I couldn’t tell you. All I know is that I got a phone call Saturday morning before my shift. It was Abaddon telling me to make sure I checked in on you every once in a while.” She smiled. “He booked you into the hotel sometime Friday night. You’re a guest as long as you want to be.”
Sorsha shook her head and ran her hands through her hair, trying to make sense of everything. There was something Charlotte wasn’t telling her. “What happened?”
At that, Charlotte shook her head. “I don’t know. I was hoping you’d be able to tell me when you were awake actually.”
Sorsha looked around again, and this time she saw the small Dixie cup filled with water and two pills sitting beside it. She reached for it and hesitated a moment. She was thirsty, but she didn’t trust it. Why?
“It’s just some pain meds and water. I promise,” Charlotte told her.
She glanced at her before sitting up and grabbing the items. She swallowed the pills and chased them with water, draining the small cup.
“How long have I been here?” Sorsha asked, rather than answering her questions. She didn’t know the answer at the moment anyway. She probably wouldn’t until the headache went away and she could concentrate long enough to piece together her memories.
“Well, Abaddon checked you in Friday, and today’s Tuesday.”
“Tuesday?” Sorsha couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice even though it hurt her head to yell.
Charlotte’s expression softened. “Do you remember anything, Sorsha? Anything at all? Even I admit I have no idea why you’re here. Abaddon wouldn’t talk about it, and now I can’t get through to the number he called me from.”
What? Charlotte couldn’t get up with Abaddon? Her gaze flickered to her cell phone and she wondered if she should try to contact the man herself. Maybe he’d answer her call.
“Sorsha?” Charlotte seemed worried.
“Right,” Sorsha said and clutched her head again, concentrating. “The last thing I remember, I. . .” Her words trailed off, and she scrambled out from under the blanket. She yanked up her shirt sleeve—where had the plaid button-up shirt come from?—and stared at her right arm.
The last thing she remembered was Preston cutting her, some of the wounds deeper than she’d realized. She remembered her power flaring up and shoving everyone off their feet or—in her father’s case—across the room. She remembered stumbling through the snow toward the cemetery. It still bothered her that it had snowed so early in the year. She’d passed out before she’d reached the Indian Monument. She remembered that much.
She stared at her arm, running her hands over her skin. It was unharmed. She could have sworn she’d been held down and her skin sliced open, but there was no evidence of such occurring.
“Whoa,” she said.
“What is it?”
“It’s. . . It’s. . .” She didn’t know what to say. “I guess it was a nightmare.” She clutched at her head and rolled her sleeves back down. “Had a dream that someone cut up my arm. Wanted it to look like I’d done it myself.”
Charlotte frowned and sat back with her arms crossed over her chest. “Some dream.” She said nothing else as she watched Sorsha think about everything she’d said.
“Did Abaddon say anything else?” Sorsha looked up at her, hopeful.
The other woman shook her head. “Nothing. Didn’t tell me why you were here or anything. Just to check up on you every now and again. I swear, you scared me. You were asleep every time I came in, which was quite often. I don’t know what happened, but I get the feeling it was bad.”
“Can you hand me my phone?” Sorsha asked. A sinking feeling filled the pit of her stomach. What was going on exactly?
Charlotte tossed it her way and Sorsha scrolled through her contacts. Where was Abaddon’s number?
It wasn’t there. Neither were the messages or calls she’d had with him. It was as if he’d never existed.
She frowned down at the phone. It was paid up to a year. As was the PO box.
“How long do I have the room for?” she asked, wondering if it was going to be the same as the other two.
“That’s the strangest thing. It’s paid in full for a year.” Charlotte scratched her head. “My boss didn’t get it. Abaddon paid in cash apparently.”
Sorsha ducked her chin so Charlotte wouldn’t see her smile. That was like Abaddon. She admitted she didn’t know him well, but she knew him well enough.
“He helped me.”
“I’ll say!” Charlotte whistled. “Please tell me you hit that at least once before he left.”
With a chuckle, Sorsha shook her head. “No. I didn’t.”
“You wanted to though, didn’t you?” Charlotte gave her a knowing grin.
“Of course I did. Did you see the man?” She whistled. “He was hot. Smokin’ hot.”
The pair looked at one another before bursting into a fit of laughter. It only stopped when Sorsha’s head began to throb once more and she started coughing.
As she tried to collect herself, she slid out of bed. There was a pair of boots her size next to the door and a thick jacket warm enough to handle the cold lay across the table in the corner near the door.
Curiosity filled her and she checked the drawers. There, she found a whole wardrobe of clothing similar to what she’d worn around Abaddon. He’d helped her in more ways than one, she could tell.
As she flipped through the clothing, she found a folded piece of paper tucked between two pairs of leggings. Part of her wanted to pull it out and read it then, but a glance at Charlotte warned her not to. She wanted to be alone when she read the message Abaddon left her.
“Are you sure you’re alright?” Charlotte asked, and Sorsha paused in her search of the drawers, turning to the woman and studying her. The amount of worry in her voice had Sorsha worried. Then she remembered she’d been asleep for the past three days, so maybe that’s all it was.
“I’m as fine as I can be. I wouldn’t mind a shower though.” She grinned. “I can’t imagine I smell too good if I’ve been out for three days.”
Charlotte nodded and glanced at her phone for the time. “I should get back to work anyway. I’ll be back by later to check on you. Sound good?”
“Sounds good.” Sorsha nodded. The faster Charlotte left her alone, the faster she could read the note Abaddon left for her.
The woman pulled her toward her for ano
ther embrace. “I was worried about you, Sorsha. Don’t scare me like that again. Alright?”
Sorsha nodded and pulled away, grasping Charlotte’s arms so they only stood a foot or so apart. “I promise I’ll try not to scare you again. I can’t promise anything more than that.”
“Good enough for me. I’ll be back later.” She dipped out of the room before Sorsha could say anything else, playfully wrinkling her nose as she did so.
“I get it. I’ll take a shower.”
“See that you do. Bye for now.”
“Bye.” Sorsha waited until the door shut before she returned to the dresser. She pulled out a clean set of clothes as well as the folded piece of paper between the pairs of leggings.
She carried her items to the bathroom and started the shower, waiting for it to warm while she read her letter. It was a fairly short letter. Why she’d thought it would be anything else, she didn’t know.
“Dear Sorsha,” she read aloud. “By the time you get this letter, I’ll be long gone. I’m sorry it couldn’t be any other way. I’ll have erased all contact information too. I wasn’t lying when I said my cousins and I were running away. It’s safer if we no longer talk.”
She sneered at that. She still was of the opinion that it would do more harm than good to hide whatever he was hiding from her.
“That being said, I wanted to give you the same chance I got when I came here. You now have a place to stay while you get your life in order, a cell phone for all contacts, and I suggest you check your post office box the next time you’re in Hardin. You might like what you find in there.”
That wasn’t cryptic at all. Still, it couldn’t hurt.
Shrugging, Sorsha folded the letter and left it on the counter while she took her shower.
By the time she got out of the shower and dressed again, Charlotte had returned.
“How did you get in?” Sorsha asked as she left the bathroom to find Charlotte waiting at the small table, her back to the bathroom.
Charlotte laughed. “I have the master key, remember? I can get into all the rooms.”
Sorsha had forgotten. “Everything going alright?”
The other woman nodded. “I’m about to make a run into Hardin for some supplies. Figured I’d ask if you wanted to ride along.”
The contents of Abaddon’s letter crossed her mind. “Think you could drive me to the post office?”
“Of course!” Charlotte said, grinning. “We’ll pick up some food too. My treat.”
She couldn’t thank her enough. With a full belly, Sorsha turned the key to her post office box, wondering what was inside that Abaddon seemed to think she needed. She hadn’t had anything sent to it that she knew of.
There was a package inside. Sorsha blinked at it before she reached in and pulled it out. It was addressed to her: Sorsha Phantom.
She blinked at seeing the name on the package and blinked again when she saw who had sent it. Andrew Barr? Preston’s father? Why would Andrew send her a package?
It didn’t make any sense. Shaking her head, Sorsha tested the weight of the package. It wasn’t light. She ripped open the top and peered inside. Her eyes widened at the contents, and she quickly shut it again. She turned to Charlotte, patiently waiting a few feet away.
“I’m good,” Sorsha said. She slammed her box shut and yanked out the key.
“What’s going on? Something wrong?”
She shook her head. “No questions please. Let’s just go.”
Charlotte studied her for a moment, but when she refused to say anything else, she finally nodded and led the way back to her car. They’d already stopped and picked up the items she needed for the hotel.
On the way back, Sorsha felt Charlotte’s eyes on her many times. She ignored the curious glances though, ignored the unspoken questions.
Once inside the hotel room, Sorsha closed the curtains and triple-checked the door was locked.
“Alright,” Charlotte said, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at Sorsha with narrowed eyes. “What’s going on?”
She shook her head before she dumped the contents of the package onto the bed. Two stacks of one-hundred dollar bills fell out of the bag along with another envelope, this one letter-sized.
“Is that—” The woman’s words trailed off as her arms fell to her sides and she inched closer. Then she stopped and looked at Sorsha. “You’re not part of any drug scheme, are you?”
“No. Nothing like that.” Sorsha picked up one stack of bills and counted. “My father sold me. Wanted me to marry another man in the community, but no one wanted me. He paid someone to take me off his hands. Twenty thousand dollars.” She held up the stacks of money. “This is twenty thousand.”
“And what’s that?” She pointed to the other envelope.
Dropping the bills, Sorsha reached out and ripped open the envelope. She cried as she saw the documents fall out. She reached out and touched the edge of the bed, forcing herself to sit down. Social security card, birth certificate. ID. All of it. And strangely enough. All of it had her new name—one she hadn’t even applied for yet: Sorsha Phantom.
She could feel the tears streaming down her face as she looked up at Charlotte.
The other woman shook her head. “From the looks of it, I’d say someone was trying to help you start a new life.”
She nodded, unable to speak. She only knew of one person who could have done that. Someone who’d recently done the same. Abaddon. He’d helped her escape, she was certain, just as he’d escaped.
“Thank you,” she prayed later after Charlotte, assured she was fine and going to continue being fine, was gone. She didn’t know who she was praying to, but she did, just the same. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to start looking at getting out of Shaded Glade if she was smart. She already had a plan in motion she could now focus on without worry.
She already knew Abaddon was gone. It didn’t take a genius to figure that out. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have sent Charlotte. Interesting choice, she realized, but then again, who else had she known who might help her? No one.
As Sorsha closed her eyes that evening, a small smile crossed her lips and she hoped Abaddon found happiness in the next place he stopped. He deserved it after all.
She chuckled to herself as her eyes closed. Abaddon, you called yourself a demon, but I don't think you were at all. You helped me when I needed it most. That makes you an angel to me.
Relief and fatigue warred with each other inside her. In the end, she gave into sleep with a yawn, dreaming of a better tomorrow.
Continued in DAMNED AND DANGEROUS
Acknowledgments
Like many books before it, this one has had a long journey to get to where it is now, and several people helped with that journey.
First, my Write/Life Gals. Thank you for encouraging all my writing madness—including my cover addiction—and celebrating all the wins, both big and small. You’re both amazing.
Epic Beta Readers. You were the ones who let me know the “final” draft didn’t work and encouraged me to re-write this monster with a single POV. Thank you. Stay epic.
Dragonlings, those who support me either through my newsletter, my social media sites, or through my website itself. Stay true. You’re awesome.
And finally, my friends and family, who are always there to support me. On good days and bad. Mostly good. Some bad. Thanks for making me laugh and making sure I eat since I have a tendency to forget important things… You know… like food. I love you.
About the Author
Want to learn more about S.D. Hegyes and her upcoming releases? Sign up for her newsletter to keep up to date on all the latest news.
S.D. Hegyes is a pen name Skye writes and publishes paranormal romance books under. Skye currently resides in North Carolina with her husband, two monster-munchkins, a bearded dragon, a dog, a bird, a cat, and a partridge in a pear tree where she writes about monsters and other creatures that go bump in the night falling in love.
&nbs
p; Also by S.D. Hegyes
DAMNED AND DANGEROUS QUARTET
Damned and Desolate
Damned and Dangerous (Coming Soon!)
Damned and Deadly (Coming Soon!)
Damned and Demonic (Coming Soon!)
SHIFTERS & MAGES
Hunter’s Betrayal (2021)
Puck’s Choice (2021)
Warren’s Rage (2021)
Jenna’s Story (2021)
Mages’ Sacrifice (2021)
STAND ALONES
Dear Satan (November 2020)
Fur, Teeth, and Claws (2021)
Night Rider (2021)
Paw Prints + Broomsticks (2021)