Darlings of Paranormal Romance (Anthology) (206 page)

“
I’m not going anywhere.” I
sat, crossing one of my legs over the other. “Not until Delmari
comes.”

Ian ignored me. “No school and no
contact with people in Meridian. Not until the culprit’s
caught.”

I jumped from the couch and shoved a
vase of flowers off the table. It hit the wall and shattered in a
million pieces.

Cindy jumped, letting out a horrified
gasp.

“
Are you deaf? I’m not
leaving.”

Ian spoke, his voice calm. “You’ll do
what you’ve been instructed.”

“
I don’t want—”

“
At this
point, what you want isn’t practical. Delmari’s not coming back.”
He pointed a finger in my direction. “You will do
exactly
what Aiden tells
you, and you’ll do it without causing problems. Do you
understand?”

My whole body quivered as I fought
back all the inappropriate names I wanted to hurl at him. “I
should’ve let him take me, too.”

Aiden’s and Ian’s gazes never wavered
from my direction. I kept a straight face, hopefully hiding how
much they intimidated me. My comment was completely uncalled for.
Even I knew it.

Cindy shook her head, her mouth
hanging open. She jotted notes in her binder. Lucky for her, two
Kembers were here to keep me from shoving the paper down her
throat.

“
Delmari died protecting
you. That should tell you how important you are. Can you imagine if
a Rygon depleted your energy and stole your gift?”

“
I’d be dead. Not much to
imagine.”

“
Yes, and they’d be
wreaking more havoc than they already are. Your gift is rare and
powerful. They could do anything they wanted if they had it. I
don’t need to remind you in the last few months they’ve been
extremely interested in you.”

“
Maybe before you start
making assumptions, you should read what your little chick,”— I
motioned to Cindy—“wrote about the attack.”

Ian leaned back in his chair, giving
me his full attention.

“
It wasn’t a Rygon.
Whatever this guy was, he was pyrokinetic. That’s a physical
ability.” My satisfaction rose as the color drained from their
faces.

Aiden spoke, his voice hard.
“Impossible. Rygons can’t have physical abilities, and a Kember
wouldn’t do that.”

I gritted my teeth. “Well, guess what?
This Kember did.”

They glanced at each other. Ian turned
toward me. “You’re certain this man wasn’t a Rygon?”

“
Unless Rygons are somehow
getting spider-vein treatment, I’m pretty freakin’ positive.” The
black energy marks webbed across their faces made them impossible
to miss. Like food and water, Rygons needed energy to survive—hence
their creepy marks. They collected it from everyone and everything,
even by merely walking past them. To actually drain someone, they
had to touch them.

“
You’re sure this man
controlled the fire?” Ian asked.

“
Yes. The
trees looked like giant tiki torches and fire exploded from his
palms.” The way he disappeared and reappeared, flashed in my mind.
I lowered my voice, becoming serious. “There’s something else. One
minute the Kember was standing across the flames and the next,
he
appeared
and
slammed Delmari to the ground. He came out of
nowhere.”

Ian shook his head. “I’m sure it was
the fire. It can make you see things.” His attention shifted to
Cindy and like that, he dropped the issue. “Inform Authority
Collins and Authority Dansk immediately. Get them a list of every
Kember who is pyrokinetic.” He paced the room, hands folded behind
his back. “I want every one of them in here and interviewed
personally.”

She nodded and rushed out of the
room.

“
You don’t understand.” I
flung my arms. “No Kember could take Delmari. Hell, an army of
Rygons couldn’t. There was something different about this guy, and
I wasn’t seeing things.”

Ian stopped pacing. “You know Kembers
don’t have both abilities. It’s impossible. Sometimes, when we lose
the people closest to us, our mind generates events or occurrences
to help us cope.”

“
No,
that’s not it.” I gripped my long thick hair at the scalp. “Quit
acting like I’m crazy. I know what I saw, and only someone
like
that
could—”

“
Delmari was an excellent
Kember, but by no means was he invincible.” He turned to Aiden.
“Maybe this Kember held a grudge against him.”

“
Possibly.”
Aiden adjusted his footing
and leaned against the wall.
“There’s no
other explanation.”

Another Kember—or whatever the hell he
was—attacked Delmari and they were acting casual about it. The only
thing worse than a Kember killing another Kember was one who took
the life of a Drea. This was ridiculous. “That makes it better?” I
spat.

Ian shook his head. “No. There’s no
excuse for his actions. I promise we’ll find him, and he’ll be
punished accordingly.”

“
So you’ll choke him and
light him on fire?”

“
No.” Ian looked me evenly
in the eyes. “He’ll be brought to justice.”

Justice? That wasn’t good enough for
me. This so-called Kember deserved the worst.

“
Can you think of any
Kember Delmari didn’t get along with?”

Stupid question, but a good way to
distract my anger. “No one hated him. You know that.”

“
You know what they say:
keep your friends close and your enemies closer.” Aiden stepped
away from the wall, raking his hand through his hair. “Obviously,
someone had a problem with him.”

Ian sighed and waved his hand in a
dismissive gesture. “No matter. We’ll find out who did this.” He
motioned to my new protector. “Aiden‘s perfect for your
circumstances. I’m confident you’ll be safe.”

He directed his gaze at Aiden, who
nodded in confirmation.

“
S
afe
?” My
voice sounded so cold I barely recognized it. “What makes you think
this idiot,” I gestured my hand toward Aiden, “can do half as good
a job as Delmari?”

“
You’re out of line.” Ian
stepped forward and crouched down until we stared face to face.
Aside from his eyes, his features remained stoic. They burned into
me.

Did he plan on kicking my ass or
lecturing me?

“
I
understand you’re
upset
. None of us are happy about this.” He motioned between Aiden
and himself. “That’s no reason to act disrespectful. Do you hear
me?”

I stared back. “Delmari is the best
part of my life, so don’t sit there and act like you ‘understand’
anything.” Images of me as a child curled up on Delmari’s lap
flashed through my mind. When I woke up scared, he was the one
sleeping across the hall. Every skill, everything I had was because
of him.

Ian inhaled and stood, addressing
Aiden. “I’ll be in touch. Cindy will have Taylee’s file ready for
you.” He turned to me one last time with severe eyes. “Be
good.”

I scoffed.

Aiden
simply nodded, and Ian walked out after holding my gaze a second
longer. We were left in the little office alone. I squeezed my eyes
closed, hoping I’d wake up from this nightmare. Nope. Maybe Delmari
would burst through the doors and prove everyone wrong if I sat
here for a while longer.
Please,
Del.

Aiden glanced at my small bag. “Is
that it?”

“
Disappointed?” I looked at
him without blinking, wishing he’d disappear. He didn’t. This was,
by far, the most horrible moment in my life, and sharing it with
him made it that much worse.

He grabbed my backpack off the couch
and said, “Let’s go.”

Chapter 4

How could the world still function?
Cars were moving. People interacted. At least the damned sun had
the decency to keep its light behind the dark, menacing clouds. It
seemed everything should be at a standstill—or maybe because that’s
how I felt: frozen.

Against my will, life continued to
move forward. For the first time ever, the situation couldn’t be
altered by mind control or lies. I was falling. Fast. No amount of
cussing or punching could fight against the rushing air. There was
nothing to grab hold of to slow my descent. Was I really diving
head first toward a life without Delmari?

I honestly didn’t know, or maybe I
just didn’t want to.

I had
nowhere else to go; I followed Aiden out of the Authority building
and into the parking lot.
I pulled my hood
up, shoved my hands in the pouch of my hoodie and stomped through
puddles of water, soaking the bottoms of my
jeans.

Maybe they screwed up and found
someone else’s body. Delmari could be on his way to get me right
now. He’d show up at the Authority building, find out where I was
and then get me the heck out of here. Everything would be fine. No
need to panic.

Aiden stopped in front of a sleek
Nissan Titan. The big black truck had about a three inch lift and
tinted windows. Any other day, I would’ve been the first person to
jump inside, saying how it was the sweetest truck known to mankind.
Not today.

I jerked
the door open and climbed in.
I slumped
down in the seat and crossed my arms, casting my glare out the
passenger window. Once we pulled onto the highway, the truck gained
speed until everything blurred and stretched by in a haze of
color.

He’s not
dead. Just delayed. He’s on his way.
My
eyes burned, and my head hurt from trying not to cry. I’d always
been good at blocking out the unpleasant—sometimes too good. This
time the nagging voice that whispered
nothing will ever be okay again
wouldn’t shut up.

I patted the pocket of my jeans, where
I usually stashed my iPod, quickly remembering how I shoved it
under my pillow. I swore and swallowed back the lump in my throat.
Of all days to leave it. Desperate to distract myself, I opened the
jockey box looking for some sort of magazine—anything to divert my
thoughts. Nothing. Unless I wanted to learn about the vehicle’s
inner workings. I slammed the compartment closed. No
thanks.

Aiden shot me a sidelong glance but
said nothing.

Shocker. He hadn’t spoken a single
word since we left. Not that I expected him to have an actual
personality. Most Kembers didn’t. His rigid posture and deadpan
expression were typical and worn by ninety percent of Kembers
guarding across the world. For all I cared, he could keep staring
straight ahead, tapping his freakin’ fingers on the
wheel.

We continued our ride in silence, and
every minute passed seemed like an eternity spent in
purgatory.

Aiden cleared his throat and hesitated
a moment. “Delmari was a highly regarded Kember…He’ll be
missed.”

I snorted, wondering if he’d been
thinking of that line the entire time or just wanted to start a
conversation. Although, he didn’t seem verbose, by any means. I
ignored him and continued to stare vacantly out the
window.

“
Did you really try to
fight that Kember?”

Maybe I heard wrong. He sounded the
teeniest bit impressed.

I cringed, feeling the hole in my
stomach burrow deeper and deeper, but I didn’t have the control to
ignore that question. “You expected me to stand by and
watch?”

“
No…I expected you to run
like any other Drea.”

I turned
and looked at him steadily. “That’s because ninety percent of Dreas
are
pathetic
. At
least if you die, you go with some dignity.”

Any Drea who willingly let a Rygon
kill them, by taking their energy away, got labeled mental. Aside
from murdering someone, it stood as the worst offense a Drea could
commit. I had a feeling being slaughtered by a psycho Kember
wouldn’t be much better. Most Dreas avoided confrontation. The
cowards spent their time so freaked out they locked themselves in
their houses. Not me. I had a life to live.

“
I agree.” His gaze slid
over me in all my haggardness. “Only you’re no match for a Kember.
No Drea is. You could’ve been killed.”

Dreas could learn to fight if given
the chance, but all that seemed stupid now. I didn’t even care
anymore. Hell, I’d let Aiden off me if he volunteered. Maybe by the
end of the day, he would.

“
It’s not like he would’ve
stolen my gift. Which is the only thing you should be worried
about, right?”

He didn’t say anything.

If you ask me—which no one ever
had—Kembers were more concerned about Rygons taking our gifts than
killing us. If they drained us of our energy, they gained our
gifts. Too many mental abilities made a Rygon more powerful than a
Kember. Too many powerful Rygons would overthrow the
Authority.

Yeah,
they gave up their lives
just
to keep us safe from their mortal enemies. I
called BS on that one.