Taken (Breaking the Darkness) (19 page)

They now rolled around on the ground, holding each other and attempting as many short jabs as they could get in on one another.

Anton wrapped his talon-like fingers around Graven’s neck and raised his other arm. Smoke puffed out around his face. He opened his mouth wide enough for me to see his now pointy little teeth. His stomach moved inward and his chest puffed up. He released his diaphragm down and blew out an orange flame straight into Graven’s face.

Before the flame rescinded, he was spewing the flammable stream all around the room. The fire licked up the walls; smoke began to shrink the room and obstruct my view of what was going on.

I caught a glimpse of Graven’s face as Anton’s thrusting arm parted the smoke. As it was about to strike him possibly one last time, I shouted out to him.

“His eyes!”

In an instant, Graven blocked his blow and slammed the dagger into Anton’s orange-and-green glowing eye. The strike of the blow was so hard that I could see the blade escaping the back of his skull.

Everything about Anton came to an abrupt halt. His body fell back into the flames that were ripping and roaring around them. Graven stood and watched Anton’s body enveloped by the blaze.

He reached over and grabbed the blade from the skull and tucked it back into his belt.

THERE WAS A pounding at the door. With the inferno of noise coming from club and the fighting, there was no way to tell how long someone was out there trying to get in. The frantic banging sounded as if generated by more than one set of fists.

Graven looked at me with a bit of sorrow. I knew it wasn’t for Anton. My eyes felt like they’d expanded to their widest capacity; shock was at the forefront of all the emotions bursting inside me.

“We need to talk.” He reached down and found the remains of his T-shirt. As he lifted it to his face, the muscles all over his body relaxed and his features softened. Hair now took the place of his horns. It was good to see him resembling a human again. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you.”

He went to the door, but prior to opening it, he placed the shirt over his mouth to feign protection from the smoke. He unlocked the door and it swung open so fast it nearly knocked him down again.

Three boys rushed in spraying fire extinguishers all over the room.

Maritza carefully sprinted into the room, screaming, “Sir Fromarian! Graven?” She rushed over to him and smothered him with herself. A wave of jealousy rushed over me. Her arms laced around him and she pulled back for a second to look at him to make sure he was okay. “What happened?”

Before he could answer, a voice came from behind.

“Great question. Let’s get this place shut down for the night.” He forced his orders over the commotion. “Get everyone out of here.”

Graven approached the man in uniform. “Thank you for coming. I really don’t know what happened.

“My associate and I were having a meeting, sipping some whiskey. I think some kind of electrical fire started. I was scrambling to get the door unlocked and the booze spilled all over the floor. Anton fell and hit his head. The whiskey went ablaze. The fire grew so fast there was nothing I could do.”

“We’ll take it from here. Go get checked out by the paramedics.” With a wave of his hand, he ordered, “Let’s get this room cooled down and secured.

“Don’t go far. I will need a detailed statement from you. After you get checked out, you can schedule an appointment with Detective Ryan O’Malley. We can meet here in the morning to discuss what happened.”

Graven nodded and shook the man’s hand. He turned to walk down the stairs and Ryan followed behind. Before he turned the corner, he looked at me, his eyes pleading me to stay.

I could hear Maritza babbling something to the emergency workers in the background. It seemed like she was second in command; she effortlessly took charge. I wondered if she knew what these people were. Maybe she wasn’t human either.

I mindlessly stood and watched as emergency personnel shuffled in and out of the room. Firemen in full gear addressed what was left of the fire. The detectives dictated directions to the uniformed cops scurrying around to make sure all the patrons exited the building. Last but not least, some emergency medical people came in and tended to Anton’s corpse. I watched as they lifted him on a gurney and wheeled him out in a black body bag.

Part of me wished I could have seen his dead, worthless body, but they’d covered him in the coroner’s bag so quickly. The workers looked around often as they backed him out. Maybe they were nervous about managing to get him down the stairs.

It was all just too much for me to take in. I didn’t know how much more of this I could take. I couldn’t stand to smell the smoldering ash for another second. I might not ever be able to enjoy a fire the same way again.

Lost in my own misery, I knew I couldn’t stay there any longer. Going to the club was all a mistake. It had provided me with a great sense of relief that Anton wouldn’t be visiting me again, but I should have felt more elated about his death. I just didn’t feel much of anything.

Graven was a monster like the rest of them. How could I trust him with my life? Why would he help me? Without any remorse, he just killed his associate. Thankfully he had enough foresight to keep a blade on him to defend himself. Or maybe murder was his intent in the first place. Do these people just go around torturing and killing people all the time?

Maybe I just needed to get back to my body. I needed rest. I had a lot of healing to do. I wasn’t sure if my body was in enough of a state of rest when I projected to heal itself. I was avoiding the pain that resided in my true form, but it couldn’t last forever. Could it?

THE JOLT BACK into my flesh was like the shock of jumping into ice-cold water. The sting covered the surface of my skin and my bones. My muscles ached everywhere. The slashes across my back still throbbed. I slowly sank on the bed into the fetal position and kept my eyes closed.

Even though my mind flooded with images of what just happened, I kept pushing them off to the side. I didn’t want to bear any more of this reality, at least not without some rest. I drifted off to sleep much faster than I expected.

My dreams were a scattered mess until I found myself plopped on an oversized fluffy couch. My awareness was all about the couch. I rubbed my hands across the fabric, enjoying the texture, then fluffed up the pile of pillows and plunged my head down on the mound.

It was a strange sensation to have my eyes closed in my dream. I could feel someone’s fingers stroking my head. The crinkling sound of the soothing caress parting my hair on my scalp reminded me of the ocean. The strokes were in even, rhythmic strides like waves crashing on the shore. The room around me was warm and cozy.

“It is nice to see you relaxing.” Kaden’s smooth and sexy voice never disappointed.

I smiled and maybe moaned in agreement for a moment. I was enjoying the head rub way too much to start talking.

His hands made magic in my hair. He began his strokes lower around my ears and the back of my neck. The tension was melting away.

He caressed my neck from my shoulders all the way up to the crown of my head. His touch sent signals of pleasure to all parts of my body. I wanted more; I wanted his hands to rub all the way down to my toes.

He didn’t stop touching me for a second. “What is on your mind, darling?”

I let out a sigh. “Oh, just about everything, but I’m trying to work hard at having nothing on my mind at the moment. This feels so good.”

“You enjoy my touch?” he purred softly.

“Can’t you see the smile plastered across my face?”

“Indeed, you are looking more loosened up. I enjoy giving you pleasure.”

Everything about him screamed pleasure—pleasure me, pleasure you, pleasure, pleasure, pleasure. I laughed to myself.

“Let me ease your mind. You will feel better after you talk about what is bothering you. Is it your grandmother again?”

“Not exactly. I’m still upset with her for not telling me about who I really am.”

“What do you mean who you really are? Were you adopted or something?”

“No. I wasn’t adopted, although my grandmother was my guardian most of my life. That wasn’t a secret. Apparently I’m the secret.”

He stopped rubbing me for a second. “You sure are a secret worth keeping.” He laughed a little. “Seriously, though, what is so secret about you?”

“Kaden, I wish I knew. I feel as normal as the next person. All these crazy people might just want me to be something I’m not. I don’t know what’s worse—me being as special as they hope and they’ll never let me go; or if there’s nothing about me worth keeping, then they’ll probably just kill me.”

“You don’t really think anyone wants to kill you, do you?” He continued to stroke my hair.

I opened my eyes and looked up into his forest-green irises. “I do, and I’m scared.”

I nudged myself closer to him, crawling halfway up his lap like a cat and curling up. He put an arm around me and rubbed my arm. It was one of the first times his touch felt caring instead of sensual.

I couldn’t quite get comfortable and started to squirm in his lap. The pain in my ribs was relentless. The agony that coursed through me woke me from my slumber.

I hoped I slept longer than it felt. I really was enjoying snuggling up to Kaden. I wished someone were really rubbing me, at least my hair. It might have been the only thing that didn’t hurt.

Sleeping was a joke. I decided to get out of there for a while and hoped I felt better when I got back. I had nothing to lose except time and pain.

I just wanted to be somewhere that made me feel good. I closed my eyes and in an instant, I was inside one my favorite buildings. Never a religious person, I’d been to churches on occasion, but this church was unlike any other.

The Holy Cross Church was nestled at the top of a red rock formation in Sedona. I loved the view of the red rocks that surrounded the building. They towered behind and you could look out across the desert to see many famous rock formations.

I took as much of a seat as I could on one of the benches. I just loved the way the sun cast streams of light and shadows across the room. The warm glow of the red prayer candles gave me a sense of comfort.

Being permitted in the church, I could only guess I wasn’t evil. Unless that was just something they made up for the movies.

I enjoyed just sitting there watching the tourists come and go. I relished the look in their eyes, the amazement as they gazed through the wall of glass that shaped the cross. The views were spectacular. Some of the tourists were there in memory or prayers for a loved one. They made certain almost all the red votive candles were lit. Many of the patrons came up from the gift shop proud of their purchases, whispering to loved ones about what they bought.

I remembered when life was just that simple. Or at least I thought it was. Maybe all those years, Gram carried around the awful burden of truth. Thinking about it, I was amazed that she was able to smile through all the lies. It must have been hard to go through life knowing all those creatures walked among us.

I say “us,” but that joke might be on me. It was unclear what group of “us” I belonged to anymore. Since my bloodline was unlike the rest of humanity, I was supposed to be transforming into something that had powers. I wished I had someone who could tell me more about the implications my blood could have. I wondered if there were others like me out there.

My mother was the only person who knew my father, and I could only hope he was human. I wondered if he knew about me. My mother and grandmother never mentioned anything about him. He was never a part of our lives. But I never thought much of the fact that we didn’t have a big family. I had so much love from Gram; I didn’t need to question where else I might receive attention.

I always kept to myself, even in school. We moved often enough that I didn’t bother to build lasting relationships with other kids. I didn’t care who liked me or thought I was cool. I knew they would forget me soon enough.

I tried not to think about it, but I wondered if my mom thought about me. How could she have left me? Gram always said she was in a dark place. I hoped her dark place was nothing like the dark place I was stuck in. She probably just got hooked on some life-wasting drugs. For all I knew, she was dead.