Everdark

  She removed the cigarette from her lips. Her nails were painted the same blue as her eye shadow. “I have to work in an hour,” she said, her voice low, husky from years of smoking. She knew him. And he knew her. He liked her.

  She reached down then, grabbed my hand—his hand, and pulled him into her apartment. Seductively, she leaned into him, locked the door, pulled the chain latch. She let her hand trail down his chest, down his stomach, to his belt where she loosened it and slid her hand down the front of his pants.

  “Oooh,” she crooned, her eyes growing dark with lust. “Cock’s already hard for me, huh baby?” She rubbed her thumb over it, squeezed, then let go. “Wanna show first? Like always?” Crooking her finger, she beckoned him. “This way.”

  She sauntered backward, then turned and moved seductively through the small apartment. He followed, with me, trapped in his filth. The girl leaned over the kitchen counter where she already had a line of coke, snorted it, then rose up, wiping her nose and sniffing. A glass with amber liquid sat nearby. She grabbed it, downed it, and licked her lips. Setting the glass down, she kept her eyes trained on him.

  I fully understood her; the only way she could stand being in Valerian’s presence was to first do a line of coke and down some liquor. Didn’t blame her for that.

  The woman moved toward him, then led him by the hand to an overstuffed chair in the living room. She playfully pushed him into it, then backed away, keeping her eyes on his. She began to sway seductively; her fingers grasping the laces holding her vest together and tugging slowly until her breasts spilled out. Wasted now, she licked her fingers, one by one; groped her breasts; grazed her nipples and moaned.

  His cock stiffened, and nausea swept me as I felt his excitement grow to a fever. He knew I hated this; he did it on purpose to torment me.

  The woman continued her seduction; it worked on him. She moved toward him, slowly lifting her skirt, revealing nothing below, all hair shaven. She touched herself, moaned again, and as she grew close, draped one long, booted leg over one arm of the chair, the other leg over the other arm. She wiggled her bareness into his lap, and his adrenaline pumped hard.

  With haze-filled, high-as-a-kite eyes, she stared into his. Her fingers fumbled in his jeans and freed his hardness. Taking it in her hands, she stroked it, and just when she was about to straddle it, he pushed her back.

  “Suck me,” he instructed.

  With a slow smile, she slid off his lap and knelt between his legs.

  The moment her mouth encased him and she drew him in, he came. He grabbed her by the hair hard and held her mouth in place. At first, she moaned in pleasure. I never wanted to throw up so badly in my entire life. I bucked and writhed inside, and still, I could do nothing. I couldn’t even close my fucking eyes.

  He knew it, too. The sick, sick bastard knew it. I’m pretty sure that turned him on as much as the woman had.

  I knew the exact moment he decided to kill her.

  He thrust once more, yanked her up by her hair, and stared into her eyes for a split second. Her large breasts dangled. She threw a leg over his arm, hoping there’d be more.

  There was, but not what she’d imagined.

  He changed; I saw nothing but the look of terror in her eyes.

  Then, he covered her mouth with his hand and plunged his fangs into her chest, ripped into the cavity, and entered her heart. It pumped for nearly a full minute, warm blood squirting deep into his throat. Before the last beat, he flung her from him. Her body crumpled to the floor, her face turned just enough to stare lifelessly at him.

  At me.

  He rose, belted his pants, lifted his zipper. Without another glance he walked right past her body.

  In the small foyer, he stopped, looked left, and stared directly into a mirror.

  “That was for you, Riley Poe,” he said, his voice making me physically shake inside. “I thought of you while I came.”

  In my dark purgatory, I screamed, kicked, swore, cried.

  He laughed.

  “Dusk, girl. Don’t be late. And don’t goddamn bring anyone with you, or your little friend will die way worse than this one did today.”

  “Riley!”

  My eyes fluttered open, and I stared into the dark brown orbs of Preacher’s worried gaze. “Girl, what you doin’ on the floor? Git up now,” he said, grasping my arm and helping me to stand. He peered at me. “You seen somethin’ bad, right? I could tell on your face, baby. You seen somethin’ bad.”

  I nodded. “I did, Preach.” I hugged him. “I hate this. It’s got to end,” I said, holding back tears.

  He pulled away and looked at me for several seconds. “It’s goin’ to, baby girl,” he said. “I promise you dat. But you gonna have to pull some strength from down there,” he said, tapping my heart. “I talked to Gilles. I know dat Valerian monster has Nyx.” He stared hard at me. “Dem Duprés, and dat Noah—dey on dere way now. You watch yourself till dey git here, dat’s right. Now I gotta go back to your grandmodder. I don wanna leave her alone wit all dis goin’ on today. Might take her to da Dupré House.”

  I hugged Preacher again—maybe for the last time. “You go take her there. I’ll keep my cell on me, and I’ll call Gilles if anything goes on. Promise.”

  “Okay, baby,” he said. “I trust you, and I know you been trained good. Be careful.” And with a final glance, he left my apartment.

  With a silent prayer, I begged whomever to keep my surrogate grandparents alive and well.

  For a second, I could do nothing more than stand in the center of my apartment and try to think. Not an easy task when your best friend was being held hostage. But I had to clear my mind. Quickly, I strapped on my sheaths and blades. Then, I sat, but for only a few minutes. I put my head down on my kitchen table, my mind a jumble of wires. Then I found myself at the top of a castle wall walk, peering over into the trees and forest beyond. My palms gripped cool stone, and, as I looked down, I noticed the dragons winding around both of my arms. I wore a bejeweled shift; if I didn’t know better, I’d think it some sort of a medieval wedding gown. It was the first piece of clothing from my dreams that wasn’t sexual. Amazing.

  Why would I be wearing a medieval wedding gown?

  “Ah,” Victorian’s voice said, softly, sexily, “because it is what you secretly dream of. Marriage”—he leaned over my shoulder, brushing his mouth against my ear—“with me.”

  “No, I do not,” I insisted. “Why am I here?” I asked. “This is not the time for one of our visits. What is this, your home? In Romania?”

  He now stood beside me, looking out over the landscape. “Yes, it is. Beautiful, isn’t it?” He was silent for a few moments, scouring the land before us. “As beautiful as you, I imagine.”

  “Victorian,” I began, “don’t.”

  “Don’t what, love?” he asked, then chuckled lightly. “Don’t for a second think I’ll give up my pursuit of you, Riley Poe. Never have I wanted another so fiercely. And I am used to getting everything I want.”

  Now I chuckled. “Yeah well, you can’t always have everything you want, Vick.”

  “Why not?”

  With a heavy sigh, I turned to him. “Because you just can’t. That’s why.” The present returned to me, and I looked hard at him. “Why can’t you help me? You know what sort of trouble Nyx is into now, and yet you’ve made yourself scarce at the most crucial of times. Why is that?”

  He looked down at me, his dark, liquid eyes troubled. “I am in transit; it is difficult for me to connect. I am sorry.”

  I nodded and rubbed a rough patch of stone beneath my fingertip. “Everything is fucked up. Valerian recognizes me. He has even seen me in a storefront reflection, and in a mirror. He’s captured Nyx and is tormenting me, threatening to kill her. I can’t stand another second of it. If anything were to happen to her—” I sobbed. I hadn’t meant to, but it escaped.

  “Christ, Riley. Don’t weep. Please,” he said, and grazed my wet cheek with his knuckle. “I am trying
my best to get to you. Please, hold on just a little longer.” He leaned close to me and sniffed my hair. “What else has my brother said to you?”

  “He wants me to meet him at dusk, at this club,” I answered. “I’m pretty sure he wants to trade Nyx for me. I’ll do it; he has no idea what sort of a fight I can put up.”

  “Do the others know?” he asked, worry lines etched deep into his face. “Are they aware of matters?”

  I shrugged. “Probably by now they are. I’ve turned my phone off to rejuv myself before the big fight tonight.

  “That comforts me little.” He put his hands on my shoulders and turned me around to face him. “Don’t do anything foolish, Riley. I’ll be there, and I’ll make it better. Do you understand?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yes, Vick, I understand. Seriously. I got this.”

  Victorian then leaned his head close to me, and brushed his lips against mine—not kissing, just very, very close. “No, Riley,” he whispered, “I do not think you do. But I will make sure you obey my every command this night. “ ’Tis the only way.”

  I jerked awake. Immediately, I glanced at the clock.

  An hour before dusk.

  Hurriedly, I got ready.

  This time, the hunt, the evil, would end.

  Part Ten

  TORMENTED

  “No man knows till he experiences it, what it is like to feel his own life-blood drawn away into the woman he loves.”

  —Bram Stoker, Dracula

  “I never thought it’d end this way. Oh my

  God! I didn’t. Inside, my heart feels like it’s

  being ripped out, just like one of the monster’s victims. The pain is so great I can barely

  breathe, and I feel like it hardly even beats

  anymore. I don’t know how things are going

  to turn out, or if I’ll ever see the ones I love

  again, but I will never, ever give up. I know

  I’m rough around the edges, I’ve got a sailor

  mouth, but when I love, I love, you know? I

  took a fucking beating as a kid; I deserve hap-

  piness as an adult. I’ve worked hard for it. My

  loved ones deserve happiness. I used to want

  nothing more than to have my mother back. I

  miss her! But she’s in a good place—a place

  only angels like her go to. What I want now

  are my live loved ones. I want Nyx. I want

  Seth. I want Eli. My grandparents. I want

  them all. But I’m not sure I’ll get what I want

  after all, in the end. You can bet your sweet ass

  I’ll die trying, though.”

  —Riley Poe

  I’d ignored all calls from all acquaintances. It didn’t matter what they knew or where they could go. I knew whom Nyx was with, and he wanted me. I knew that now. I figured Eli and the others would talk to his parents and they’d all head this way. I’d told Elise and Gilles exactly where I’d be going, and what time. For now, though, it was he and I—Monster vs. Bitch. No more newling puppets.

  I prayed I would win.

  I didn’t change clothes; I didn’t need to. I had eleven silver blades tucked away beneath my skirt, and if it took every single one to take Valerian down, I’d do it. For spite, I wanted to plunge one of my silver blades into each of his eyes, just for making me watch the filth and horrors of his desires.

  The streets were busy for a Thursday night; the humidity heavy; the brine heavier. As I pulled into the parking area for Tunnel 9, the scent of stale urine assaulted me. I choked back a gag, slipped out, and looked around. Several cars filled the parking lot; heavy metal thumped against the walls from inside, and I could hear people pissing in the toilets near the back of the buildings. I’d turned on all my senses and wasn’t about to go unarmed. My best friend was in there. My worst enemy held her against her will. He had the ability to rip her heart out.

  I’d rip his out first.

  I filed in behind a group of people walking in; young twenties, dressed to the hilt, completely unaware of what sort of monsters really exist. I know most people don’t believe in monsters; I didn’t for a while. I damn sure as hell believed now. I believed in a lot of things now.

  Inside, smoke filled the room; smoking was against the law, but somehow, places still got away with it. The place, newly opened, reminded me a lot of the Panic Room. As the crowd jumped and moved to the music, I weaved in and out, keeping a low pro, and inching my way to a place that seemed all-too familiar. I was drawn to the back, just like at the Panic Room.

  Riley! Please help me!

  I heard Nyx’s voice and glanced frantically around. “Where are you?” I shouted.

  The couple next to me glanced at me as if I were nuts.

  In the back! Please! I’m so scared!

  I wanted to run—I couldn’t. People were crammed into the club like friggin’ sardines. I pushed my way to the back, elbowing, squeezing, and just when I thought I would cut through to the back, I felt a vision creeping up on me. Oh God! No! Please don’t let it be, please don’t let it be . . .

  Near the back wall, I sank to the floor, shadows filled my eyes, and I saw nothing. Then, slowly, light filtered in. Dead silence surrounded me. A familiar scent rose to my nostrils—Downy fabric softener. I glanced around. I was standing inside my old apartment, in the foyer, by the front door.

  It was the apartment Seth and I had shared with Mom.

  I blinked; in the very next second I slammed the door behind me. “Mom! Are you even freaking here?” Irritated, I sighed and moved to the kitchen, opened the fridge, and drank from the orange juice carton. When I was finished, I put an empty carton back. “Hey—Mom! Come on, dammit! I need some money!” I waited, my irritation growing at why in hell she wasn’t answering. Angry now, I stomped to the back, pausing long enough in the hall to stare at myself in the mirror. Thick black liner rimmed my eyes and swept outward, like Cleopatra, and grazed my angel wing tattoo. It looked fucking wicked if you asked me. Mom hated it, though. “Hey!” I shouted, angrier. It pulled me away from the mirror, and I stomped to Mom’s room and looked around. The bed was unmade, clothes strewn on the floor, the lamp broken on the floor beside the nightstand. What the hell? “Mom!” I yelled, and noticed the bathroom door ajar. I hurried to it and flung open the door. I froze as my eyes locked on to my mother’s. Hers were unseeing, lifeless. She lay in a half-filled tub of water, naked. My heart leapt to my throat. “Mom!” I hollered, in a totally different tone now. My heart slammed inside me; fear choked me. “Mom, Mom!” I continued to shout. I grabbed her by her shoulders and tried to drag her out of the tub. Her body was cold; wet, and a little stiff. Her body slipped, and she sank back into the water. “No!” I cried, and grabbed her again, this time more tightly, under the arms. I pulled, sank all of my weight onto my heels, and heaved until her body slid, over the rim of the tub, and fully onto me. We both fell back onto the tile floor.

  It was then I noticed the blood.

  The blood, and the rip in her chest where her heart should have been.

  I shook her then, hard. “Mom!” I yelled into her ear. “Mom!”

  Nothing. My mother was dead, already starting to stiffen, cold.

  Sobs wracked my body, and I held her tightly, crying her name, over and over and over. I don’t know how long I lay there, soaked, my mother’s dead body on top of mine, cradled in my arms. It must have been a long time, because my teeth chattered, and my insides shook continuously and uncontrollably until the black-as-night man—my mother’s employer—pulled me away from her. My fingers wrapped around her now-dried skin and refused to let go.

  “She’s in shock,” I heard a slightly accented voice say. “If she’s lucky, she won’t remember any of this, Preacher.”

  “I hope she don remember, dat’s right,” the black man said. “Dat poor baby girl.”

  “Riley! Get up!”

  I heard a faint laugh, somewhere deep, somewhere far,
far away. It was Valerian’s laugh.

  I turned. My eyes widened in shock at the person whose tight grip on my forearms was pulling me off the floor.

  Victorian.

  He pulled me close, his hands on my elbows; he brought his mouth to my ear. “He is here, love,” he said, his breath brushing my skin. “Please, come with me. I swear to you I’ll get your friend to safety.”

  I pulled back and sought Victorian’s eyes.

  “You will come with me, Riley. Now,” he said, his voice alluring, pulling at my mind, into some unfamiliar zone. “Hurry.”

  My mind was a ball of tangled barbed wire. I’d just had a vision of the day when I’d found my mother’s body, and here before me stood a vampire whom I’d known mostly in my dreams. In my heart, I didn’t want to go with him. Somehow, though, he made me—against my will. My actions were no longer mine. I couldn’t help it; I reached out and grazed his jaw with my fingertips, just to see if he was real. He was real, and this was real—not a dream; not a vision. Confusion made my brain ache. “Nyx.”

  “I know,” Victorian urged. “Please. There’s not much time.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “There’s no time,” he insisted.

  Everyone started screaming at once.

  Several newlings swung from the lights, bounded off the counters, the bar, the stools, and descended upon the clubbers in a rabid feast. I moved away from Victorian. My confusion erased, I shook my head of the intoxicating fog and I kicked into action. I knew what needed to be done, and I wouldn’t leave here without my friend; with all these mortals helplessly falling victim to their bloodsucking prey. I blinked, my hand going beneath my skirt before my brain really registered what was happening.

  “Please, Riley,” Victorian begged, moving closer. “Come with me. I promise to get your friend to safety.”

  “Fine!” I yelled, “but you’d better get her now!” I ducked and flipped a blade from my thigh. Just as a newling lunged at me, I plunged it into his heart. He began to jerk. “Get her now, Victorian!” I yelled. “In the back!”