Black as Midnight

by Mary Martel

  I nodded my head in agreement. Sure, I'd stay right here where he told me to like a good little girl who couldn't take care of herself.

  Not.

  We were wasting time with this crap and who knew what the hell was going on with Dash. I was done wasting time.

  As soon as Damien disappeared into the smoky kitchen, I was off and sprinting two at a time up the stairs. There was still the basement to check, but something told me he'd be upstairs.

  It was eerily quiet up here. The whole house seemed to be silent except for the fire roaring in the kitchen, which was mostly a silent killer.

  I pressed my back to the wall and slid along quietly. Which was just plain stupid on my part because I had stormed up the stairs and if there was someone up here they already knew I had arrived. I reached Dash's open door and peeked inside. Seemingly empty and thankfully not a mess like the downstairs had been.

  I kicked my flip-flops off, something I wished I had done before running up the stairs, and crept inside.

  The bed was nicely made, like he took the time to do every morning when he got up at the crack of dawn. The doggie bed on the rug before his bed that Binx liked to snooze on was empty, no Binx to be seen.

  I dropped to my knees and checked under the bed. The closet was empty as well. No Dash or Binx in here.

  I walked out and headed toward my room, but was brought up short when someone grabbed my bicep and whirled me around.

  Without thought, the hand holding the dagger came up and I slashed it toward my would-be attacker’s face. Rain would have been proud because we hadn't only been working on defensive magic during our training sessions.

  "Jesus, fuck," Damien hissed like an angry cat, before dropping my arm and blocking my attempts to carve him up.

  Immediately, I dropped my arm to my side and stepped back. I put my free hand to my heart that was beating over time, and hissed right back. "You scared the crap out of me."

  "Get downstairs, right now," he growled angrily at me. "I told you to stay there."

  "You don't get to tell me what to do," I argued. I pointed toward the stairs with my dagger. "You go back downstairs and check out the basement. I’m going to check my room real quick before I go down. If the basement’s empty, then we’ll both head outside together and head around back to search for them. There's also a hose back there we should use on the fire. And there's a fire extinguisher in the closet outside of the mud room. Get that too and I’ll meet you downstairs."

  Damien eyed me in a way I wasn't quite sure I liked before jerking his chin up in agreement and heading downstairs.

  "You better not let anything fucking happen to you, Ariel," he grumbled on his way down. I didn't know if he meant for me to hear him but I did. "It'll kill us all, and then they'll all kill me for being whipped and letting you boss me around."

  I didn't stick around to watch him disappear down the rest of the stairs. I turned and ran for my room.

  My room was how I'd left it when I'd gone to work that morning. My bed made, but somehow looking a lot messier than Dash's did. The top of my dresser had a messy array of nail polish, eyeliner, lips gloss, jewelry—given to me by the guys—and a whole plethora of other girlie things I'd never thought to have in my life.

  I turned to leave when something from inside my coffin-sized closet started making an unholy noise and clawing at the door. I raced over to the closet and ripped the door open.

  Binx flew out, all puffed up, tail swishing angrily, hissing like the pissed off, angry cat he was.

  "Binx," I cried as I bent down to pick the hissing beast up. He didn't mind being picked up by me and I was lucky he didn't try to claw me up.

  I cuddled him to my chest with one arm so I could have my dagger hand free in case I needed it.

  I sprinted down the stairs two at a time and raced toward the front door. I got there just as Damien was closing the closet door and hefting out a red fire extinguisher.

  Binx didn't even hiss at Damien as we ran for the front door. I guess it was okay to hurry now that we knew there was no one inside. It seemed ass backwards to me, but I'd already riled Damien up, a fight right now would take time away from what was important here and that was figuring out what happened to Dash.

  The front door was as open as we'd left it. I ran straight to my Rover, which I'd also left the door wide open on. I dropped Binx down onto the driver’s seat and quickly closed the door on him. He yowled angrily as he launched his little body at the window.

  Binx was having a bad night. First, he was locked in the closet, now my SUV. It was for his own good so he could just get right over it.

  Damien was suddenly at my side. "Get in the Rover and go to Quinton's," he urged.

  Not this shit again.

  I shook my head stubbornly as I ran around him and raced toward the backyard. It was a lot easier to run barefoot than it was to run in flip-flops, I learned as I sprinted across the side yard toward the back of the house.

  I skidded around the back of the house and came to an abrupt halt as I stared up at the back of the cottage in horror. Here, the fire could be seen through the sliding glass door and the window above the sink. My heart plummeted down somewhere in my stomach.

  I shoved the stupid dagger into the back pocket of my skirt as I raced for the hose that was underneath the back porch. I cranked the water on as I dragged the hose out.

  Something moved in the dark out of the corner of my eye and I dropped the hose. I turned and faced the dark backyard, seeking out what it was I thought I'd seen.

  Toward the far corner, where the light from the kitchen didn't reach it, I caught movement.

  "Damien," I shouted carelessly as I dropped the hose and ran for the dark corner.

  There was a black hooded figure with a creepy black mask covering their face stooped over, with a crumpled body at their feet. They put their hands in Dash's armpits and attempted to heft him up.

  The hair around my head started rising with static as I was suddenly filled with a blinding rage. My magic welled up inside of me and this time I felt zero guilt whatsoever for flinging it out at someone else defensively.

  I stumbled, tripping over my own feet as the most amount of magic I've ever thrown at anything before felt like it was ripped right out of me. Heat blasted out of my body and raced toward the hooded figure who held Dash aloft.

  Dash's hair singed a little on top of his head as my magic hit the hooded figure and blasted right through him, leaving him entirely unscathed. It hit the tree line behind them and several of the trees immediately burst into flames.

  Oh, shit, shit, shit.

  My magic hadn't even touched this creep. What was I supposed to do now?

  "Let him go!" I screamed as I charged right at him.

  The figure dropped Dash to the grass in a heap that had my heart stuttering in my chest as I watched in horror as he face-planted into the grass.

  If he'd done any permanent damage to my roomie I was going to do something really unfortunate to that creep, something he'd be sorry for the rest of his miserable days.

  "Ariel," Damien screamed from behind me. "Fucking stop right now. Get back here."

  I could hear him flat out running from behind me, trying to catch me. I had stumbled when the magic had been ripped out of me but it hadn't slowed me down, and I was once again flat out running.

  I crashed into them. They grunted painfully as the air was sucked out of my lungs and we both tumbled into the grass in a heap.

  Dash didn't even twitch and it scared the piss out of me.

  "Stupid bitch," the figure snarled angrily in a masculine voice, letting me know it was male.

  We started to grapple, wrestling around on the grass for the upper hand. He flipped me over onto my back and the air left my lungs again in a rush, my head slamming hard into the ground.

  "Get off me," I spat at him, as I clawed at the mask covering his face, trying to rip it off. I don't know why, but it seemed like it would be easier and a lot less t
errifying to fend off someone when you could see their face as opposed to a blank mask with holes for eyes.

  I ripped away the mask and let out a small cry of victory, which quickly changed to a muffled cry of pain as he reared back and punched me in the face. His fist landed brutally on the side of my cheek right above my scar. Pain exploded in my head and my vision clouded with dark spots. I shook my head, trying to shake the spots out of my vision, and blinked rapidly.

  Lucky for me I'd been down this road before and pain and I were old friends.

  He sat back on his haunches, looking down at me with the smug face of a handsome devil. He was far too pretty to be such a mega asshole who went around punching girls in the face.

  I resisted the urge to punch him back, knowing all I'd do is likely injure my hand. And my goddamn magic didn't work against him.

  I did the only thing, the smart thing really, a girl could do in this situation. I shifted my hips beneath him, getting the angle just right so I could reach where I needed to.

  He looked down at my wiggling hips, his face a mask of sneered disgust.

  "Stop moving, bitch," he hissed at me before reaching for my hips.

  With his focus finally lowered, I had the opening I needed to do what I had to do.

  I sat forward, cocked my arm back, and punched him right in the crotch.

  A man's precious polished jewels. Rain had taught me well, when in doubt, go for the man meat every time.

  The pretty creep crouched on top of me, immediately cupped his privates, as his body careened to the side. He dropped to the grass, curling up into a very unmasculine ball, all the while making sad, pathetic little noises in the back of his throat.

  I didn’t feel sorry for him in the least. For a brief, psychotic moment, I thought about taking out my cell phone and snapping a picture of him real quick for Rain, knowing he'd be super proud of my actions.

  Then I came back to reality and realized I was acting like a complete, idiotic moron when Damien dropped down to his knees in the grass beside me, panting heavily.

  "You goddamned crazy girl," he huffs out between breaths.

  Ignoring both him and the man still curled up in a ball crying about his man parts, I turned and crawled on hands and knees toward Dash's prone figure.

  There were loud crashing noises coming from the forest as people came in similar black hoods and masks as the creeps came pouring out of the trees. They were dressed head to toe in black, their faces covered in those ridiculously blank-faced masks. Unlike the one I'd punched in the junk, these bad mothers were holding vicious looking curved swords in their hands.

  I whipped around toward Dash again, reaching for his neck. I ran my fingers along, searching for a pulse. His chest moved up and down shallowly but that wasn't good enough for me, I needed more. My fingers tripped over his pulse. It was faint but it was there. That was all that mattered. I sagged against him for one second, allowing myself to feel absolute relief at knowing he was still alive.

  A hand fisted in my hair and I was jerked viciously backward. I screamed in pain as part of my hair was ripped out of my scalp as I was dragged farther away. I reached back for the hand in my hair, attempting to pry it off of me as my free hand went around to the back pocket of the skirt that was riding up the tops of my thighs, threatening to expose my panties.

  I finally pulled the dagger free as my skirt rode up around my hips.

  "You're going to pay for that punch to the balls, bitch," he growled darkly and there was zero doubt in my mind that given the chance, he'd make good on that promise.

  I wasn't going to sit here while he dragged me off into the woods to get a chance.

  I twisted at the waist while dragging my heels into the slippery grass. I sunk the dagger deep into his thigh, pulled it out quickly, and stuck him again, this time higher up.

  I pulled the blade out again after the second time, but didn't get the chance to immediately stick him again because he let go of his hold on my hair, seemingly forgetting about me entirely as he focused on his injured leg.

  His leg buckled under his weight, entirely useless now, and he fell back heavily on his butt on the grass.

  A grunt had me whipping my head to the side in time to see Damien narrowly avoid missing the swipe of one of those sharp, curved blades.

  We were so screwed with it being just the two of us against at least five attackers, each one with blades and the only weapon we had between the two of us was the dagger he'd given me. A dagger that had looked a whole lot bigger earlier before I'd seen those swords being waved around.

  None of the other attackers even looked at me as they held their blades high and edged toward Damien. Figured they'd find the male to be a bigger threat than the only female. Dicks. If I thought I had enough energy in me to waste, I would throw some of my magic their way in the form of a fireball to the face or two. Given that it hadn't done jack last time except given Dash a haircut, I figured it wasn't worth it to waste the effort. If I blew out that kind of magic, the chances of passing out and falling flat on my face were high, and who knew what the hell these creeps would do to me if I fell unconscious. I sure didn't want to find out.

  Even though my head screamed in agony from being punched in the face and then having chunks of my hair ripped out, I still had it in me to jump to my feet and run toward Damien in order to help him fight off his attackers.

  I took two steps toward him before a cold hand wrapped around my ankle. Fingers dug into my flesh, nails breaking the skin. I cried out in pain as I bent over at the waist to peel his hand off my leg. I latched onto his arm just as his free hand grabbed on and squeezed my forearm painfully. With a yank and a startled cry from me, he jerked me forward. I landed ungracefully in the grass at his side, my elbow and chin smacking harshly against the ground.

  I groaned, momentarily curling into myself as I clutched my arm to my chest, holding it at the elbow.

  He wrapped both hands around my ankle and yanked me back, dragging me along the grass. I'd probably have grass stains in some very unfortunate places after this.

  If this creep was smart, he would have grabbed both ankles instead of just the one because it left me free to kick him in the face. Which is exactly what I did. The crunching sound his nose made when my heel connected with it gave me a sick sense of satisfaction.

  He grunted in pain as he released my ankle and cupped his nose. I drew back my leg and kicked him again. This time nailing him in the throat.

  Two blurs of silver flashed beside me, coming to a dead stop.

  "Go," I urged Trenton and Simon. "Help Damien. He needs you more."

  Trenton's silver eyes hurriedly trailed over my features before he nodded his head. The tattoos on his arms flared brightly as a black sword appeared in his hands. He ran off toward Damien and I hoped like hell he actually knew how to use that sword of his, and really had been training and fighting his whole life because we needed a skilled fighter right now.

  Two of them would be even better though.

  "You too," I barked at Simon. "Go with your brother and help Damien."

  "No," he protested, disobeying me with a shake of his head. "I stay with you. Besides, the others have it covered."

  I finally allowed myself to look in Damien's direction again, not having been able to do so earlier because of the creep who'd attacked me.

  Rain was there with him, holding a black sword and fighting off one of the hooded creeps. He wielded his sword like he knew exactly what he was doing with it and I wasn't surprised when he sidestepped a curved sword that was aimed for his head, and thrust his own sword forward into the chest of his opponent.

  I looked away when he jerked it out of the creep’s chest and he collapsed to the grass.

  The twins were there with them, wrestling around on the grass with one of the black clad attackers. I couldn't watch anymore. I didn't want to see them murder someone, even when they probably deserved it. I feared it might change the way I looked at them. It didn't matter with
Rain, I knew what kind of man he was and I respected him for it. The twins were different though, they were my safe space and I didn't want anything to tarnish that for me, or for them. They needed that from me just as much as I needed them to give it to me.

  Simon pulled the dagger out of my hand and I quickly turned on him, then immediately wished I hadn't when I watched in horror as he lunged forward and dragged the blade across the throat of the creep who'd attacked me, slitting it open.

  An unintelligible sound escaped me, sounding far too close to a whimper for my tastes. I had no business being upset about this man's death. He had it coming. I just didn't want to have to see it firsthand.

  I rubbed my poor, abused cheek, looking for something, anything, to take my mind off of what was going on around me. Now that I was relatively safe and didn't need to fight for my life anymore, the aches in my head were returning with a vengeance. I felt the back of my head and when it came away wet and sticky, I held it up in front of my face for inspection.

  "Shit," I groaned. My fingertips were covered in blood. When had that happened? When that prick had ripped chunks of my hair out? I hadn't noticed it hurting so bad at the time. Even now, that part of my scalp felt numb. I didn't think that was good.

  A gentle caress down my arm had me jumping and shaking my head to clear my thoughts. Why was my head so fuzzy?

  I blinked stupidly at Simon as he knelt before me. The dagger was nowhere to be seen and I was glad for it.

  Simon's hands went to the hem of my skirt that I'd forgotten was now embarrassingly up around my hips, exposing my panties for all to see. His eyes never left mine as he pulled on the hem of my skirt, dragging it back into place and covering up my privates. Simon wrapped his arms around my middle and hefted me up to my feet.

  I swayed a little, leaning on him and allowing him to take on most of my weight. I didn't know why I felt so comfortable with him touching me. Normally I wouldn't allow anyone outside of my guys to put their hands on me for any reason. But with Simon touching me right now I felt... absolutely nothing. Almost like I was currently empty on the inside, there was nothing left to me because I'd used up all the emotions I was capable of feeling at the moment, and it had left me empty inside.