He could remember their past, their
other lives, their —
“
I’ll be gone for just a
bit,” he informed his friend, grabbing his jacket. The call he had
to make wasn’t for others’ ears, and he had no intention to let
anyone else hear what he was about to say.
“
Alright, but hurry up.
You’re missing the commercials!” The complaint was accented with a
drink of beer, the TV glaring with the M&M’s in the back. The
Super Bowl commercials weren’t something that anyone wanted to
miss, and Talon was just as ready to get back to watching them as
the next guy was.
He nodded and closed the
door, reaching for his phone. Searching through his contacts, he
found Luc’s number and hit the “send” button, listening to Linkin
Park’s
Numb
.
“
Y’ello.” The sound of his
old friends twang and bluntness had a smile on Talon’s
face.
“
How’s it going?” he
asked, leaning against the rail and crossing his arms over his
chest, pressing the phone to his face. The air was brisk, Autumn
following the heels of Spring. Flowers were already drying out, and
the trees were turning a deep red and orange. It was an appealing
site, but it wasn’t for Talon. The scenery was too peaceful — kill
a man for liking a busy setting, or at least something other than
serene.
“
It’s going good. Levi and
I are going over some papers that the advertisement company we
signed with sent us. Did you get the email that Jorel sent you? I
tell that boy every day...”
“
Nah, don’t worry about
it,” he said, thinking of the flooded email he had waited to be
answered. The droll look that came into his eyes was unseen by
Lucian, who gave a sigh into the phone.
“
You comin into work
early?”
“
That woman from corporate
is going to be in. I have a conference that I need to attend, so
yeah I’ll be —”
Bam
.
Talon wasn’t prepared for
the hit that came at him. It was like a gust of wind, but so much
more stronger. The malicious stench that came from it wasn’t much
better. He slammed against the wall in a burst of pain. “Fuck,” he
grunted, bracing his hands against the wall. “The
hell...”
A black loafer came into
his view. A surprisingly strong kick was dealt to his ribs as the
men above him talked in hushed whispers. Talon reached for his
phone slowly, an emotion that he rarely felt boiling in his gut —
fury.
“
You think you can escape
us, after all of these years? Fool,” one of them spat. “You are
sadly mistaken.”
“
I don’t know what you
mean,” he said growling, surging to his feet. He felt his body
pulse with strength, adrenaline coursing through him.
“
You have wronged us,
Talon,” the voice hissed, the sound of gravel crunching as he bent
down to press his face to Talon’s. He stared up at him, momentarily
shocked into silence. Crimson eyes flashed in the dim light of the
porch, streetlights barely conveying how much hate was within
them.
Another voice from above
said in a sneer, “Take him from his palace of aptitude.”
That was the last thing
before he saw a flash of silver, red and the undeniable pain that
stilled his every movement. There was no time to jump away, no time
to attack — before he knew it, everything was black.
He gasped, letting out a breath of
air. It felt like he had been drowning. Memories rushed through
him, pain accenting the pounding of his heart. Lucian — where was
he? Did he know what had happened? The annual Super Bowl from last
year had been set for the tenth of...shit...He started cursing,
barely stopping himself from shouting with his anger. That long...
He had missed the conference, Lucian had been left with to deal
with the company alone —
Fuck. Just
fuck
.
Now he knew why Auro and Lyne had
wanted him, why he shouldn’t have had sex with Jamie.
Why he should have just
killed the twins in the very beginning. He groaned, feeling another
onslaught of
something
. His head started to pound —
Darkness — pain — ragged
groans. Surging, pulsing. Hitting, tearing — shredding. Back
bowing, a woman wakening beside him. Glaring white light hitting
him — redness. So red, crimson like seeping blood. More convulsing,
shudders. Helpless female begging —
Agony — like sharp ice —
burning crystals of pure torture — Ragged screams. Frozen, gaping
mouth — Pulsing light, flashing. A darkness, a hole. The ending —
so much pain, so much torment — fear.
What
was happening?
Death — when? The wait —
how much?
It felt — like death.
Light — turning dark. The woman — fading into the background. So
much torture. The end — near.
Chapter 11
Jamie woke to being thrown off the
bed. First, she thought they were going to die and then she
realized that Talon...was in pain. He was screaming, shouting,
clawing at the bed with corded hands. She jumped to her feet,
forgetting about the sheet that had been thrown to the floor with
her.
“
Talon!” she said, grabbing
onto his shoulders. He jerked, and a lengthening claw reached out.
It caught on her shoulder, almost knocking her away, but the pain
was muted with her fear. When his feet shot out, a ragged shout
cutting through the room with a snap, jarring her.
She froze.
Talon was
glowing
. Like a light.
Pulsing through the room, from the center of his body, he seemed to
rise from the sheets like a ghost. Her ears rang from how loud he
was. Desperate, her hands curled into his leg, jerking. He tried
kicking her, but she held tight.
“
Wake up, damnit!” she
screamed, taking a blow to her shoulder with his knee. An inhuman
sound roared through the room and then she was thrown away from
him. Her back, for maybe the hundredth time, slammed against the
wall. Crumpling, gasping in pain, she braced her hands on her knees
and started, fighting the helplessness that she was now
feeling.
What could she do? The light wasn’t as
bright but the sound he was making sounded... tortuous. Her heart
stopped at the sound. His body was still naked, but it was graced
with a sheen of sweat that glistened in the lights. His jaw was
clenched so tight that it seemed as if every muscle in his neck had
popped and he was so tightly strung that he didn’t even move as he
shouted and became... demonic.
Jamie covered her face with her hands,
terrified. What could she do? Nothing? Her mind rebelled — she had
to help him.
Suddenly, the room filled with a
booming. Like thunder, but on-going.
And then it was dark.
No lights. No sounds. Nothing except
her own ragged breathing.
Slowly, her hands dropped
from her face. There was no sun light, not even from the outside.
It was as if the world, along with the electricity, had shut down.
Her eyes struggled to see through the darkness. It was impossible,
with how utterly
dark
it was. A scent filled her nose. It was as if a fog were
seeping through the air, and she could
smell
it.
Her stomach churned. Bile rose in her
throat.
It was the scent of death.
When she had turned twenty, her life had changed.
She knew the scent.
Things had become different. Her view on the world had turned
around completely, and she had been witness to things that no human
being ever should be. Chris had been her distraction, even if that
sliver of her life had been almost non-existent, and barely
memorable.
“
Talon? Hey, where are
you?” she asked thinly into the dark, heart thundering in her
chest. She put her hands on the floor and tried to search her way
through the dark fog, ears straining. She couldn’t hear anything
except her own heart. The silence in the room was unsettling,
unnatural. Not only had the world paused, but it had stopped
completely.
She almost screamed when something
latched onto her shoulder -- gently.
“
Jamie.” The demonic voice
rasped against shoulder with a breath of hot air. A hand clamped
over her mouth to stop the scream, but the touch was familiar.
Gentle. Hot.
Dark.
She started to jerk away
from him, hating that his touch, even when he was close to going
insane and probably about to rape her, was hot enough to set her
skin on fire. They were both naked, Talon covered in sweet and
Jamie trying to understand. “What...
happened
?”
Her voice came out choked, strained,
and not only because his hand was on her mouth.. Chills covered her
body at his touch, but this time it wasn’t because of her desire
for him. Something in her stomach curled, telling her that he was
different. His voice, when he had said her name, had not been his
normal facade of emotionless. No, it had sounded of power and
confidence, despite the drastic change. His hands, tightening on
her arms and jaw, only loosened when she gasped at the lack of
breath.
“
We need to leave. Now. I
have to call Lucian,” he told her, sounding as if he didn’t care if
she listened or not. His hands left her body completely, and his
body, which had been pressed against hers so closely, pulled back
and in the now-light room, she saw his skin glistening.
Her shoulder burned. Jamie didn’t move
from her place in the middle of the wall. She was frozen in place,
trying to understand what had happened. Talon hadn’t answered her
question, and it didn’t seem like he was planning on it. He was now
standing near the window, pushing the curtains aside and letting
out the black smoke. It was so calmly done, so weirdly serene, that
it sent her emotions swirling.
“
Tell me what happened,”
she said unsteadily, rising to her feet. She covered her hands with
her body, freezing. The sheet that had been wrapped around them was
on the other side of the room, the side that he was on.
He looked at her, and she
gasped.
His eyes.... were silvery. Black.
Surrounded with an almost godly ring of gold. Jamie felt the blood
in her veins freeze, turning to ice. She knew that he sure as hell
wasn’t human. Jamie jerked back, scrambling to the back of the
wall. The danger that radiated from him was chilling, the evil and
calculating look in his eyes turning her soul to ash.
Talon looked as if he were
going to kill her. She had no idea what to think as she stared at
him. He was leaning so casually against the wall, and yet she could
feel the malice from several feet away.
Was
he going to kill her? she thought
desperately, grabbing the closest thing next to her. It was a shirt
-- his shirt. She put it on quickly, feeling stupid and in
danger.
“
Talon
,” she snapped, trying to get a reply.
He merely raised a brow at her.
“What.”
“
Tell me...what
happened
. I don’t know
what to think, to say....was it because of what we...did? Why are
you staring at me like that...” His eyes burned into her. Her chest
heaved as they stared at each other, her panic rising even greater
than before. Her hands reached for something else as lights turned
on gradually in the room.
They came in contact with
the soft material of her sweat pants. She pulled them on, flipping
her hair over her shoulder because it was getting in her way. Jamie
could
feel
Talon’s
eyes on her, could
feel
the heat searing her.
She stood up to her full height and
looked for her jacket, but stopped dead when he said, “Want your
bra?”
When she looked at him, her bra
dangled from his finger and he had a smirk on his face. Except, it
wasn’t a playful smirk. Nothing about him had ever been playful,
and he certainly wasn’t going to change now. She marched over and
grabbed it from him, giving him the worst look of her
life.
“
Take off my shirt so I can
get dressed. Shower and then we are leaving. I’ll have my squire
pay for the room and the transaction will be transferred back to
your card. I’ll be on the phone, so don’t interrupt me when you get
out.” With that being said, he turned his back on her and faced the
window, dismissing her.
For some
odd reason
, angry tears
burned her eyes. She turned on her heel, forcing herself to walk
with steady legs to the bathroom. “I should have known,” she
whispered, a thin hand reaching to her face. She wiped at the tear
and started to get undressed again, turning on the water. Her
shoulder stung, but not as much as her wounded heart
did.
Hopefully, the rush of the faucets
would drown out her sobs.
Talon moved away from the window,
closing the curtains. It was time to call Lucian and get a plane
sent for them. By the look of the weather outside, it had been
close to six months or so and winter was just ending. So much was
supposed to be done, and now he had to worry about Auro coming
after them.