Night's Darkest Embrace

  I lowered the gun and spun back around, heading into the bathroom. Maybe I couldn’t kill Rafael, but I could warn people about him. I wasn’t so weak that I couldn’t do that.

  I stared at the barrier to the right. Wherever it opened up to, it was somewhere wet, so I’d better take some deep breaths first.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  I didn’t wait for Lena to put the car in park before I jumped into the passenger seat. My younger half sister gave my sodden clothes a disbelieving look before rubbing her nose.

  “What is that smell?”

  “You don’t want to know,” I replied shortly. Rafael’s portal had indeed opened up somewhere underwater. No wonder the location of the other gateway had remained hidden on this side for so long. What Partial in their right mind would go for an exploratory dive in the waters of a sewage treatment facility to stumble across it?

  “Guess now I know why you told me to bring you a change of clothes. I would’ve brought a bucket of water and some bleach, too, if I’d known how much you’d stink—”

  “Drive,” I cut Lena off in exasperation. “We don’t have much time. You don’t even know the shit that’s about to hit the fan.”

  “You found something out about Gloria?” she asked, losing the mocking tone at once. To my relief, she also hit the gas, lurching the car forward with the carelessness of a teenager who’d only recently learned how to drive.

  “Did you get ahold of Dad?” I replied, not answering that. If I could avoid involving my little sister in this, I would.

  “Left a message, but you know his cell has crappy reception in the Bahamas. Bet that’s why they go there every year for their anniversary, so it’s harder for us to bug them.”

  I agreed with her reasoning. Normally I wouldn’t begrudge my father or my stepmother their private time together, but it was more than an inconvenience now. Of course, his being out of town was why I’d chosen this weekend to break my promise by going back to Nocturna. I knew he’d never even realize I was gone, and Lena was fine staying home alone. She was more mature at sixteen than I’d been at that age.

  “Aunt Nancy and Uncle David?” I asked next.

  Lena shook her head. “At the movies. They’re supposed to go out to eat afterward, too.”

  Damn it! It figured everyone would be unavailable when I had the most important news of my life to relay.

  That left Lena. I gave her a hard look that she didn’t see as she concentrated on the road. More mature than I was at her age, for sure. And I had to tell someone before I went back. Just in case I didn’t return.

  “Rafael’s involved in shuttling Partials out of Nocturna and into the next realm. He has two secret barriers in the bathroom of his castle.”

  Lena swerved, narrowly avoiding another car before easing back into our lane to the tune of angry horns blaring.

  Yeah, guess I should’ve had her pull over before I blurted that out.

  “You’re shitting me!” she exclaimed.

  I didn’t criticize her language, though my father would have, had he heard her use that word.

  “I wish I were,” I said glumly while another tiny, invisible spear jabbed me in the heart.

  “You saw the barriers yourself?” she went on, glancing at me.

  “Maybe we should talk about this when you’re not driving—”

  “I’m fine,” she cut me off, looking back at the road with a clenched jaw. “Go on.”

  “I went through one of them to get here. It opens in the sewage facility a few miles back; that’s why I stink,” I said. “All I know about the other one is that it doesn’t lead to anything on this side, so I give you three guesses as to where it does go.”

  Lena was silent as she absorbed this, getting onto the freeway. We were several cities away from the Bed Bath & Beyond gateway, and it was already afternoon. I had to get back to that gateway before dark or risk giving Rafael a whole day to think up a way to stop me from telling others what I’d discovered. He’d know I’d found the barriers. The puddle of water I’d probably left on his bathroom floor crossing over would be enough to let a smart bastard like him figure it out.

  And if I gave him time, he might decide to come after more than just me. I glanced at Lena again. Maybe it was a good thing my father was out of town. In fact, Lena and my aunt and uncle should all follow suit.

  “When you drop me off at the mall, I want you to go straight to tell Aunt Nancy and Uncle David what’s going on. I’ll tell everyone I can over in Nocturna. Maybe Jack’ll believe me, he’s a friend. Billy . . . I don’t know, but I’ll try. But even if not everyone believes me, I should be able to get enough of them riled up to demand to see that bathroom for themselves. Once they do, Rafael’s finished.”

  Damn the little needles of pain those words caused me. What was the matter with me, still getting upset over the well-deserved fate of a murderer?

  “Are you going to be all right?” Lena asked softly. “I know you’ve always had a thing for Rafael. . . .”

  “I’m fine,” I said briskly, echoing her words from before. I didn’t want to talk about it, let alone think about it. “Got any paper towels in here?” I went on, changing the subject.

  She pointed to the glove box. I opened it, relieved to see a travel pack of tissues and a tiny bottle of hand sanitizer. I should have just squirted the entire bottle all over me, but even that wouldn’t have been enough. Instead, I dabbed some on a tissue and flipped the vanity mirror down, determined to get the nasty grime off my face and hands, at least.

  But one good look at my reflection made a scream escape me. Lena didn’t swerve again, though she yelled, “What the hell!” at the top of her lungs.

  Words failed me. I squeezed my eyes shut, sending a fervent prayer to any god listening that I hadn’t seen what I had. Then, very slowly, I opened my eyes.

  The five pinpoints of light around my pupils were still there, taunting me. I’d seen them before in other Partials’ eyes, such as my father’s when my real mother was alive. These weren’t the temporary flickers of illumination that happened during the heat of the moment. They were the mark of claiming for my kind, more intimate than a wedding ring and far harder to get rid of.

  Despite my suspicions before, and what I’d found out afterward, at some point when I’d been in Rafael’s arms, the demon in me had decided I was his—and marked my eyes so everyone else would know it, too.

  • • •

  The lot’s exterior lights, set to switch on at the same time every evening, lit up right as Lena pulled into the Bed Bath & Beyond shopping complex. As if we needed reminding that we were almost out of time. She hit the gas as she swung the car around to the back and headed toward the Dumpster. My fingers had been drumming impatiently on the dashboard for the past ten minutes, but now I yanked the straps of my new backpack tighter on my shoulders. It had cost me a couple extra hours to fill it with the necessary contents, but no way was I going back into Nocturna unprepared.

  Once Lena screeched to a stop by the Dumpster, I gave her a last, tight smile.

  “Go straight to Aunt Nancy and Uncle David’s,” I reminded her.

  “I will.” She grabbed me in a fierce, one-armed hug. “You come back, Mara,” she said, low and vehemently.

  I nodded as I jumped out of the car. “I intend to.”

  Then I ran at the Dumpster, seeing the faint shimmer around it grow dimmer. Adrenaline made my legs pump faster as I closed the scant distance. I’m going to make it, I’m going to make it! I chanted, as if willpower could force that gateway open for a few seconds longer. Then I leapt for the shimmer that surrounded the metal container right as it disappeared, bracing myself for the probable impact of slamming into it instead of Nocturna.

  But in the next instant, my body hit soft earth instead of hard metal. Out of habit, I rolled to lessen the impact, feeling a split second of over
whelming relief that I hadn’t been too late. Then my survival instincts kicked in and I came up from my roll with both guns pointed.

  No one right in front of me waiting to pounce, good. That didn’t mean I was off the hook for long. I heard multiple sets of hoofbeats, and they weren’t far from my location. I scrambled for a bush—the nearest cover I could find—and crouched there while I swiftly unhooked the backpack from my shoulders and dug through it. Two Glocks went into my gun belt, two more went into the homemade straps I’d fashioned at thigh level on my black jeans, and several extra clips of ammunition were tucked into my pockets. In addition to that—and in homage to Rafael—I put away several knives into homemade sheaths on the vest I wore over my fitted black shirt. Too bad I hadn’t been able to risk bringing grenades over, but I’d heard stories about the gateway activating the pins, which had never ended well for the carrier.

  I might not have had time to wash the stink off me, but I’d managed to gather up as many weapons as I could carry. That was more important than smelling nice.

  Once I emptied the backpack, I dug a shallow hole with my hands and covered it up with dirt. I had no use for the backpack anymore, and it would be unwieldy during a fight, but I didn’t want to leave an obvious sign of my presence. Then I waited for the space of a few heartbeats before easing out from behind the bush, my gaze darting around for the first sign of attack.

  Those hoofbeats sounded closer, but I couldn’t see anyone yet. Of course, that meant they couldn’t see me, either. One good thing about Nocturna’s perpetual darkness and lack of electricity and batteries meant that hiding was a lot more efficient. Torchlight only went so far, after all.

  Though if Rafael was out here, he might be able to see me in the dark. I still wasn’t sure if his increased vision meant he was a Pureblood himself, or if he just offered those gateways in his bathroom to Purebloods for profit. Didn’t really matter; either way, he was a murderer, and soon all of me would accept that and those damned lights in my eyes would go away. Until then, I’d treat them as a reminder of what happened when I ignored my suspicions about a man.

  “Checking the south side again,” I heard a familiar voice call out, then the sound of hooves headed in my direction.

  My heart leapt. Jack. Could I get him to listen to me before he sounded the alarm to the rest of the guards? We were friends, but he’d been employed by Rafael a lot longer than he’d known me.

  I ran into a thicker part of the woods, weighing the decision. From the amount of extra hoofbeats, I could surmise that Rafael had woken up. He’d obviously sent more guards to watch the barrier, but not so many as to draw undue attention. Once again, he was being crafty. The only thing I had in my favor was the fact that the gateway spit people out anywhere along a ten-mile stretch on this side. Otherwise, I probably would have tumbled right into a steel cage with Rafael dangling the key just out of my reach.

  Rafael. I cursed him as I continued to dart between the trees. How amused he must have been to see those five points of light in my eyes. He must’ve thought I was the most gullible Partial in the world. Well, I’d shown him when I’d dropped him like a stone with that tranquilizer, though oddly enough, the memory of the look on his face didn’t bring the satisfaction it should have. Only hollowness and echoes of pain.

  You’ll get over it, I reminded myself bleakly. If I lived long enough, that was.

  About fifty yards away, I heard Jack’s horse clamber through a patch of bushes. He was close to the same place I’d crouched in upon entering Nocturna. Jack always did have a knack for being the first to find people who’d crossed over. Maybe I could use that to my advantage now.

  Or I’d have to shoot him and take his horse before he recovered, which I really didn’t want to do.

  I went further ahead toward a denser part of the woods that would slow his horse down, deliberately cracking a twig or two along the way. It wasn’t long before Jack took the bait, changing course. He rode in a roundabout path, not spurring on his horse or charging straight for those sounds but pursuing me subtly. If I hadn’t been paying close attention—and stringing him along with those occasional twig snaps—I might not have been aware that he was onto me.

  Best of Rafael’s guards by far. Had to hope he was the smartest, too, and that he believed me.

  Once he was close enough that his torch would soon reveal me to his sharp eyes, I quietly climbed up a tree, sitting myself in a crook of branches. The leaves provided better camouflage than the tree trunks would. Then, keeping my gun trained on him, I waited for Jack to draw nearer.

  After he passed directly beneath me, so close I could almost count the strands of the wide silver streak in his dark hair, I cocked the gun. The sound made Jack spin his horse around, pointing his own gun, though not high enough to be a danger.

  I aimed very carefully, the light from his torch helping me. Then I pulled the trigger.

  Jack’s gun blasted out of his hand with little more sound than a sharp cough. Silencers were a great invention, if you asked me. His horse reared, but Jack got it under control, wisely not reaching for one of his other weapons. Once his mount was still, he stared at his empty hand. Blood seeped out from some superficial cuts, but otherwise, he wasn’t hurt.

  “That you, Mara?” he asked with a grunt.

  “Before you yell for the others or do anything else,” I said rapidly, “just listen. I could’ve shot you five times in the past ten minutes if I wanted to, so that ought to prove I’m not your enemy. But Rafael is. He may or may not be a Pureblood himself, but he’s definitely in collusion with them. I know it sounds crazy, but I have proof.”

  In the flickering torchlight, I saw that Jack’s mouth was hanging open. “Proof?” he asked at last. “What proof?”

  “A set of secret gateways in his castle, one leading to my world, the other to a Pureblood realm,” I replied, jumping down from my perch in a show of good faith. “I saw them. I went through one. It’s true.”

  Before replying, Jack sent his dark blue gaze raking over me, taking in the various weapons I had strapped on. “You were in his castle?” He sounded doubtful.

  I nodded. “Last night . . . er, or it would’ve been last night, if you had day and night here. Some people from Bonecrushers saw us leave together, and we didn’t go to his hotel room, which you can confirm. I think Rafael brought me home because he intended to use that gateway to get rid of me permanently once he was done having fun with me.”

  “And you stopped him? Managed to get away from him?”

  He still sounded doubtful, but at least he was listening instead of yelling for the other guards. “I tranqued him when he wasn’t paying attention. He never even saw the needle coming.”

  To my surprise, Jack began to laugh, though he kept it from being loud enough to draw attention to us. “You got the drop on Rafael?” he said at last, quieting his chuckles. “He must be beyond pissed at you.”

  “I have no doubt,” I replied dryly. “But that’s not important. What is important is telling as many people here as we can so he’s stopped. You have to help me, Jack. He’s killing our kind, either directly or indirectly.”

  “Where are these gateways in the castle?”

  I took it as a good sign that he was asking about their location instead of questioning their existence. “In the bathroom attached to his bedroom. I’ve never seen two barriers so close together before, but they’re there. Trust me.”

  Jack seemed to mull this over, the lines of his face deepening as he frowned. I waited, hoping that all the time we’d spent together before would serve me well now.

  “It’s worth checking out,” he said at last. “We need to avoid the other guards, though. Rafael’s got a DOS out on you. If one of them sees you, he might take you back to Rafael no matter what you’d tell him.”

  DOS, detain on sight. I had no doubt that the other guards would be less likely to hear me ou
t, let alone believe me, since I didn’t know most of them.

  “Get me to Bonecrushers. The more people who hear about this at the same time, the better. Not even Rafael can stand against a mob of pissed-off Partials.”

  “Climb up,” Jack said, holding out his hand.

  Despite the years I’d known him, I hesitated. What if Jack didn’t believe me and was just pretending so I’d be in the vulnerable position of having my back to him? He could shoot me, pistol-whip the back of my head, or even stab me, and there wouldn’t be much I could do about it.

  “I’ll get on behind you,” I said, my hard tone letting him know that wasn’t negotiable.

  He let out another grunt. “Suit yourself, Mara.”

  Jack didn’t seem at all uneasy about giving me that kind of advantage. I shook my head, feeling ashamed. Being duped by Rafael made me give everyone a suspicious eye now, even people who didn’t deserve it.

  “Sorry,” I murmured as I accepted his hand and climbed up behind him.

  Jack spurred his horse once I was settled, dropping his torch into the first brook we came across with a muttered “Don’t need them seein’ you up here with me.” Instead of following close to the torch-strewn path that led into town, Jack went into the thicker part of the woods. After he gave up our only source of illumination and headed away from the path, the woods soon returned to their normal, almost impenetrable darkness. Jack seemed okay with it, though. He steered his horse confidently through the trees, making me wonder how many years he’d patrolled this particular section to get so familiar with it.

  Very familiar with it, in fact, because he spurred his horse again even though I now couldn’t see more than a dozen feet in front of me.

  “Should you be going so fast?” I called out, stretching to be closer to his ear so he’d hear me.

  “Aren’t we in a hurry?” he countered, the words whistling by me as he kicked the horse to increase its pace even more.