The Doorknob Society (The Doorknob Society Saga) (34 page)

“It’s simple, you need it.”

“Liar, there’s more to it. Tell me.”

“I realized that I met Darker before and I don’t mean when he came after us in Philly.” He looked off for a moment as if a memory had drawn him away.

“Are you sure?”

“I wasn’t until the tavern, I thought the energy was familiar in Philly but then I was hurt, the situation chaotic and I thought maybe I was wrong. But after what Darker said,” —he shook his head— “I knew it was him.

“What happened?”

Nightshade turned to me and choked out the words. “He killed a friend of mine.”

“I’m sorry.” The words seemed inadequate.

“Yeah, I heard that a lot. Everyone was sorry but no one ever caught him. He was never brought to justice, never made to pay for what he did. Emory promised me he would get him and yet here we are.”

“Who did he kill?”

Nightshade reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. He tapped it to life and stared at the screen, his lip curling slightly, as if the verge of a smile though it never quite made it. He handed me the phone.

The face of the girl I had seen in all the pictures in Nightshade’s room stared back at me. She beamed with happiness. I looked from the picture to Nightshade, his eyes filled with sadness.

“Lauren Harkness, she was my girlfriend.”

“I didn’t know.” I couldn’t imagine the pain he had suffered. It had to have been horrific. “What happened?”

“Lauren was great, smart, funny, beautiful,” —a faint smile caught his lips as he spoke— “and always getting us into some sort of trouble, mostly because she loved to explore places that were usually off limits. She also loved to research. She would spend weekends in the library at Paladin Academy reading old books. Whenever she found some interesting information or an old map with old routes we would go exploring. She was so eager to make a new discovery.” He glanced out the window lost in his memories.

He talked about her with such tenderness, caring, admiration... love.

“Last year she was picked to help do research for the council, she was so excited. I remember her running down the hall at school and jumping into my arms when she told me she had been selected. She worked on the project late at night and weekends for two months. But we always made time to meet up no matter what. She called me and told me something was up that they had found something important and she wanted to celebrate. When I got to the academy the guy in charge, Bill was arguing with some official and Lauren seemed nervous. I asked her what was going on and she told me that their research had been confiscated and that Bill was demanding that they had no right to take it.” He clenched his hands his knuckles turning white.

“Darker came out of nowhere, though I didn’t know it was him. He was shrouded in black and I never saw his face. He was quick and strong and took out half her research team in the initial attack. Lauren and I got separated, I tried desperately to find her in the chaos, but knowing her, her first instinct would have been to help her team. She was under attack from Darker when I finally found her. She was brave, her abilities strong, but she was no match for him. He was breaking through her defenses and so I rushed in throwing all my energy at him. I’ve never in my life focused my skills as intently as I did that day. All I could think about was saving her. I couldn’t let anything happen to her. I had to save her.”

He laughed harshly and shook his head. “I unleashed all my power and still he brushed me aside as if I was nothing more than an annoying gnat. I got the wind knocked out of me and broke a few ribs. Lauren screamed my name and rushed toward me. She was scared, I could see it in her eyes and feel it in my heart, but she still came for me. Darker saw she was distracted and attacked. She didn’t have a chance... he hit her full blast.

“I saw her go down in a bloody mess and I lost it and went at him again. But I had nothing left; I was drained from my first attack. He toyed with me like a cat that plays with a captured mouse until he grows tied of the game and then destroys it. He opened two portals on either side of me, both of which tugged at me. He finished collecting what he had come for and then with a laugh left me there to be torn apart by the competing portals. I couldn’t focus, I couldn’t do anything. I was dying and I knew it. If I had my Skeleton Key I could have used it to close one of them and escaped.

“Suddenly, one of the portals slammed shut. I hit the ground, my body shuddered and I turned to see that Lauren had used the last bit of her strength to close the portal and save me. She could have used it to get herself out of there, she could have saved herself... instead she saved me. I managed to crawl to her and she smiled that perfect smile of hers that always made me feel so damn good and so damn lucky to have her

“I kissed her and held her close,” —he choked— “she died in my arms.”

He bit back his tears. His face changing form one of pain to anger. I knew how he felt. At first when my mom left I felt nothing but sadness. But eventually I turned that sadness into anger and maybe that’s why I was broken... just like Nightshade.

“Nightshade, I’m so sorry.”

“Not your fault, Masters.”

I wanted to tell him it wasn’t his either but I knew how I would have felt if someone said that to me. Sometimes you want to hold onto your anger and guilt because it makes you who you are, at least for now.

“I’m here to help you and I’m not going anywhere until I get you and your dad out of here safe. And then I’m going to kill that bastard if it’s the last thing I do.”

And I had no doubt he meant every word of it.

I wish there was more time to talk with him. I had a feeling he needed to talk about Lauren, but we couldn’t spare anymore time. Not here and not now.

“I heard Darker and the other man talking about some woman who is in charge. It sounds as if she may be the leader, the person they answer too. Any ideas who it could be?” I asked.

“No idea, especially with all the groups involved. It really could be anybody.”

“I think we should scope this place out and if my dad isn’t here then we need to stay as close as we can to Caleb.”

“Agreed.”

We went to the door and James opened it a crack and peered out. Once he saw that the hallway was clear, he took my hand and staying close we made our way along the hallway to the stairs. Again we paused and James made certain that the staircase and foyer were clear before we quickly made our way down them and then continued in the direction that I had seen Darker take earlier.

We snuck past a series of rooms until we heard muffled voices coming from one. They grew closer and I realized that the voices were headed in our direction. I turned shoving Nightshade to turn around and head the other way. Instead he grabbed me, yanked a nearby closet door open, and pulled me in closing the door quietly behind us.

It had to be what Gran would have referred to as a broom closet, it was that small. We were crushed against one another in the dark, Nightshade’s arms wrapped snug around me and my face resting on his chest. Neither one of us dared move afraid of making a sound, especially with the voices drawing so close.

It sounded as if they stopped just outside the closet door and when Darker’s familiar voice was the first one heard, James’ arms tightened around me.

“She’s arriving here tonight. We’ll settle this one way or another and if Elijah continues to refuse to help us, we’ll dispose of him and concentrate on his daughter.”

“What should I do with him until then?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

My whole body tensed with the news and James pressed a firm hand to my back reminding me to be silent. I was glad a smile made no noise otherwise it would have sounded like a tower bell going off my smile was so wide. My dad was here, close by and I intended to rescue him.

“Leave him in his cell until she arrives, then bring him to us. And begin the lockdown procedure now, I want no interruptions tonight. Send word that anyone attending must be here before the lockdown takes effect.”

“Yes sir.” Another voice joined in the discussion. Footfalls soon echoed in opposite direction, the guards’ voices drifted down a few feet away.

I brought my mouth close to James’ ear and murmured, “What’s a lockdown?”

“They’re locking out the ability for anyone to be able to portal in and out of the building. You can only get into or out of a lockdown structure by prearranged portals.”

“So we’re trapped?”

“Yup, but at least we know your father is here somewhere.”

“True, maybe this guard can lead us to him and then the three of us can get out of here.”

“Sounds like a plan, but it doesn’t appear that the guard is going anywhere just yet,” His whispered breath tickled my ear.

We both turned quiet listening to the guards laughing and discussing some baseball trade that both seemed to disagree with. It sounded like it wasn’t going to be resolved soon.

“I guess we better get comfortable,” James said and shifted taking me with him. He braced himself against the back wall and tugged me closer against him.

I could have sworn I felt his heart beat against my chest. Was he that worried about our situation? His breathing was steady enough, though there was a slight tenseness to his body. Was there something he wasn’t telling me? His scent, leather and something I couldn’t place tickled my nose. It was so much stronger here in this confined space. Or maybe it was more overpowering because we were plastered against each other.

“Not a whole lot of room,” Nightshade said

Was he smirking? I couldn’t see if he was but I’d bet on it. I tried to shift my weight, change my position, put some distance, if only an inch, between us. No such luck. I wasn’t able to maneuver enough to do it.

“Here.”

His word was barely a whisper, soft and meant only for me and for some reason it filled me with dread and excitement at the same time. Then Nightshade placed his hands on my waist and my breath caught as he turned me ever so slowly around so as not to make a sound and rested my back against him, offering himself as a support. He wasn’t soft being all muscle but he was warm and in his own way comfortable.

“Um, thanks.” Was all I could managed to say. I folded my arms across my middle and rested the back of my head on his chest. My mind flashed back to him standing in the doorway of his house with his shirt off and suddenly the room got much smaller and hotter. His one hand moved to rest lightly on my hip and he shifted the slightest bit.

Everything seemed surreal at that moment hiding here in a broom closet with Nightshade, his hand resting casually on me as if it was no big deal and yet feeling so intimate. Any other time I would have punched someone for getting that close to me.

What would Slade say if he saw us? I was sure he’d be upset and in a way he’d have a right to be. But what could I do? It wasn’t like we had a whole lot of room. His hand shifted sliding from my hip and trailing across my waist and my breath caught in my throat again. His arm settled tightly around me as his finger hooked onto one of my belt loops.

I released one long, silent sigh and he shifted behind me once again, his other hand brushing against my leg... and I flinched.

“Sorry,” he whispered against my ear. Why had I never noticed how strong his voice was, even when he whispered there was an undeniable strength to it.

“No problem.” I relaxed against him, there was nothing wrong we were hiding that was all, I reasoned we had no other choice. So what if I’m leaning up against a guy in the dark?

I turned my head to the side and his breath faintly brushed my neck raising goose bumps along my arms. He lowered his head down, his lips so close to my neck that I thought for the moment I felt them touch there.

His finger slipped out of my belt loop, slid under the edge of my shirt and across my bare stomach ever so lightly. I bit my lip, my fingers fidgeting thinking I should stop him but my body wouldn’t do what I was thinking. Instead I decided I liked it... a lot. I almost arched my back to better feel his faint touch, but thought better of it. His breath quickened along with mine. His other hand went to my waist and with a sudden spin he turned me, and I fell hard against him. He held me tight and his cheek brushed mine as his lips drifted closer—

“We better move out.”

The guard startled us both he had spoken so loudly.

“That’s our cue,” Nightshade whispered, his lips grazing mine and sending a tingle up my spine that shivered me senseless. I had never felt anything like it. And I had an overwhelming urge to bash the guard’s brains in. I shook my head thinking better of it. He had stopped me from doing something foolish, something I would have regretted, and something that would have been a huge mistake.

“We better follow him.” I stepped back from Nightshade my hands pushing off his chest and for a brief moment I could have sworn I felt his heart racing.

I turned, pressed my ear to the door, and listened. Footfalls faded in the distance. I tried the knob and pushed it open. We stepped into the hall and closed the closet door behind us sneaking off in the direction of the footsteps.

“So what exactly is our plan?” James asked quietly as we turned down another corridor, slowed our pace and hugged the wall when we caught sight of the guard further down the other end.

“The lockdown. You said that only prearranged portals can be used to get in and out?”

“It’s simple; you open a portal to a place and then lock it so that it remains open. Once the lockdown begins only those open portals remain, no new ones in or out will work.”

“That’s our way out then.”

“I don’t follow.”

“Well you said it has to be created from inside the building and we are already inside. I can open the portal and you can lock it, then we have a way out.” I glanced at Nightshade as we crept quietly along; he wore a grin.

“It might be bold enough to work, that is if they aren’t checking every open portal.”

“It’s our only chance; we’ll have to risk it.”

Nightshade swung his arm out in front of me bringing me to a halt. He nodded at the guard who had stopped, unlocked a door and walked through it.