Time moved in strange, jerking increments. Some of those pieces of time went totally missing all together, fragmenting and spraying off and away from me like scintillating star-bursts. I wasn't sure how long I had been lying there like that, but when arms collected me and lifted me from the ground, I saw light in the sky through some naked branches above me and I vaguely realized that it must have been dawn's early light.
It made no sense to me when I next blinked, opened my eyes and found myself in my bedroom, curled in a fetal position on my bed. But it didn't matter.
Nothing did.
And nothing ever would again, because I was not in the midst of angels anymore. At least, not the ones that were adored by the heavens above.
Days and nights sort of melded together. But eventually the swirling of my days began to slow.
It was dark in my room when I heard the rapping of knuckles on my bedroom door.
"Luna," Sean's voice cut through the pieces of my broken heart like a razor blade. "Your time for mourning is over. Your mother wishes for you to come out of your room now. I do believe she is right. It is time to face a brand new day. Time to face reality."
It was the sound of Sean's voice that kick-started my heart. Adrenaline seared through my veins like hot pulses of lightning. The man who murdered my angel was now standing on the other side of my bedroom door.
"Luna?" Addy's voice crackled with worry.
And he was standing next to my mother.
"Are you all right? I'm so sorry about your friend, but you have to come out of your room, Luna," Addy said.
Something came over me. And it came over me so fast that I didn't even see it coming. I shot up off the bed and stormed across the room. A demon of my own suddenly unleashed itself inside me. I swung the door open, swinging my fist, landing it in Sean's jaw with a power and strength that could not have been my own. Then I shoved him hard, causing him to step back and pin Addy up against the wall behind him. Then I punched him again, this time in the chin. In the back of my mind I was bothered by the fact that he was so close to Addy, but I knew he would not harm her. It was me he was after.
But he would not have me. He would not catch me.
The punch distracted Sean, causing his head to turn away from me and his hand to raise so that his fingers could touch the fresh blood that was beginning to trickle from one of his nostrils.
I ran.
Not because I was afraid, but because I just couldn't vent. The punches only made me angrier. The rage in me was only growing stronger. Everything that had ever ticked me off, was now all wadding-up together to form a giant ball of pure, unadulterated rage. This rage swallowed every other emotion, until I felt nothing but rage. And I was nothing more than a savage, brutal animal inside.
I ran out the front door and flew across the yard to the metal shed, pushing the door open hard. It was dark. The moon offered none of her light for me to see, but I knew my bike by heart. I straddled the Harley, kicked away her stand and then kicked her into life. She roared as if growling out for me, as if she was already trying to help me find release. I cranked the gas, and she rumbled between my legs, eager to please me, eager to have a part in my venting.
Sean stepped into the center of the yard.
Addy ran down the steps of the porch. "Do not ride that thing while you are so upset! Luna! You obey your mother. Get off that motorcycle, this very instant!" She was screaming and I barely even heard her.
I tore out of the shed, nearly clipping my rear tire on the door frame on my way out, and I flew passed Sean and his failed attempt to catch me. I flipped on the head light and pealed out onto the gravel road, leaving Sean and Addy and the whole entire rest of the freaking world in a plume of dust.
And it could stay there and float away, for all I cared.
Except for Dammon.
I took him with me. Not even the wild rush of wind could carry him away. Dammon would always be with me. Forever in my heart, he would be.
And so would the guilt. Forever in my heart, it would be. I would take it with me. The guilt belonged to me.
I had earned it.
****
Chapter Twenty-Six
Bane