Dwellers of Darkness (24 page)

“You think?” I grinned, baring my teeth. “Eli, she thinks she can handle me. Why don’t you step aside, and I’ll show her what she thinks she can handle?”

“Oh, hell, no.” His hold became tighter. “Brycin, she’s not worth it.”

Those words only pissed off dear Natasha more. She flew at us. Before she could reach me, Eli let me go and grabbed her wrists, holding her back.

“What the hell is going on?” Bobby demanded as he, E.J., and Cooper came around the SUV. “Natasha, I only allowed you to come because you said you wanted to be a part of this transaction.”

She held Eli’s gaze one more moment before stepping back, pulling free. “You’re right, Father. Those are the only goods I’m interested in.” She headed for the SUV.

As much as I wanted to despise her, I saw sadness building a strong wall around her for protection, making her more hardhearted. In this life style, she had to have thick skin. I should sympathize... but, nah... I hated her.

Eli’s attention returned to me, and his hands were back on my upper arms. “Breathe.”

Sucking in a deep breath, I blew it out roughly. “I am so gonna kill you.”

“I look forward to it.” He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

My eyes looked deep into his beautiful green ones. “If you
ever
cheat on me—”

“Right,” he scoffed, cutting off my words. “Remember, I like my beast-parts intact.”

I grinned impishly. “And I could render them crispy fried bits and balls.”

He shuddered, covering my mouth with his hand. “
Shhh... they can hear you.” He looked down at his pants. “Don’t scare them like that. It’s okay boys she didn’t mean it.”

“Oh, I did.” I gave him a withering look. He chuckled, kissed my forehead, and herded me toward the others.

As we were walking, I felt tingling, a tugging in my gut. Panic tore through my veins.
No, not right now, Lars.
I hadn’t felt anything all night and hoped Sinnie had just slipped up, not able to help herself from making the bed. That it hadn’t been a signal from Lars. My hope was dashed, and now I was being yanked in the direction of the Unseelie King. It wasn’t painful yet. “Yet” was the key word here. I swallowed, trying to ignore it and nervously continued to walk with Eli.

We had just rounded the back of car when we heard the others talking. “Looks good. They should be easy to sell on the street.” Bobby examined the merchandise. “E.J., grab the case. The amount we decided on—”

Bobby’s words were cut off by an outbreak of red and blue lights flooding the area with a glow an instant before sirens began to wail.

“Shit, the cops!” Cooper ran toward us.

Two police cars skidded to where we were parked, enveloping us in dirt.

“What the hell is this, Eli?” Natasha screamed. “You set us up?”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“Well, someone did.” The accusation was directed at me.

“Freeze!” A voice boomed over a speaker. I recognized the voice immediately.

Weiss.

E.J. and Bobby darted for the trees. “I said, ‘Freeze,’” another cop yelled as he got out of the car.

We all scattered. Everything turned chaotic and frenzied. I quickly lost Eli and searched for him through the throng of retreating bikers. Right then my stomach gripped in pain, doubling me over. The desire to run in the same direction where the cops were standing burned in my muscles. “
Noooo, Lars.” I gritted my teeth and fought the notion to act.

“Brycin?” I could hear Eli’s voice dimly through the wail of the siren and yelling people.

A dry heave pushed up my throat. “Eli,” I replied, but it barely came out a whisper. With everything I had, I willed myself to run. I moved closer to where I had heard his voice.

A fist collided with my gut and ripped breath from my lungs, taking me to the ground. As I landed, a pointy woman’s boot slammed into my stomach. “That’s for you, bitch,” Natasha jeered before kicking me once more. “And that is for you asshole boyfriend.”

I writhed in pain from both ignoring Lars’ call and the kicks to my stomach. All my control intended to keep humans safe from me dissolved. Anger and pain expelled in wave after wave out of me.

It was in the same instant when I felt myself being yanked to my feet that a spark of my energy lit the vapors from the gas tank and ignited the car’s engine. The gun powder and thousands of bullets boxed in the back of the SUV exploded.

BOOM!

The force propelled me off the ground, past the cop cars, and skid me into the dirt. Skin tore against the gravel, and my head slammed back onto the ground with a hard thump.

All went black.

There was a dull ringing in my ears, and my brain and reactions moved groggily through the haze of the dust and debris still settling to the ground. The first sensation I had was of my arms being pulled behind me and metal enclosing them. This type of metal did nothing to me and under normal circumstances I could have broken free.

The second thing I noticed was I no longer felt Lars’ pull. Did the explosion break the connection? Or did he stop it? I wasn’t given much time to consider either option.

“So you’re still alive, Ms. Brycin. Hiding for the last three years, and you come out to commit a crime? Not at all surprised.” Sheriff Weiss’ words hissed into my ear. “You are under arrest. You have the right to remain silent...” He went through the mandated Miranda rights before adding his own. “And this time you won’t ever leave. I finally have you like I said I would. I knew it was only a matter of time and you’d screw up.” He tugged me to my feet while my vision tried to cut through the cloud of dirt whirling around the area.

Eli?
I sent out my thoughts. I knew he couldn’t hear me, but he could feel me. He would follow.

“You were always trouble, but being with Mr.
Dragen has compounded your misdemeanors into felonies. Tampering with lights is child’s play compared to black market trafficking.”

My mouth stayed shut, and my eyes continued to search for Eli as Sheriff Weiss hauled me to his patrol car. I was still dizzy and confused from being thrown across the ground, kicked in the stomach, and summoned by a Demon. Weiss shoved my head down as he pushed me into the cruiser. The moment he did, I knew I was in trouble. Iron laced the generic metal dividing the front and back of the police car. It wasn’t a lot, but it was enough to cause my body react. I sunk back and pressed my pinned arms uncomfortably against the seat.

Weiss grasped his police radio from his belt. “Lambert, copy.”

It took a few moments before a voice came back over the speaker. “Copy, this is Lambert. I have
Dragen in custody. The others got away.”

My lids squeezed together.
Shit.
There was little doubt Eli could have gotten away, but he had probably been looking for me. Knowing him, he’d do something stupid like letting himself be arrested if he knew I had been caught.

“Dammit, Eli,” I mumbled. Now through the dark I felt him near. I looked out the window and saw the green eyes first. Glowing and furious.

My own narrowed in on his.
Are you stupid?

I wasn’t the one who blew everything up and then got caught,
he retorted.

I was about to curse him further, but Lambert escorted him into the back of the other police cruiser, blocking our eyes from communicating.

There was a part of me, a sick part, that thought,
Oh, how romantic. He got arrested for me.
Our romantic gestures consisted of getting felony charges on our records for each other. The Bonnie and Clyde of the Fae world.

This is not what I had in mind when I think of Eli and me and handcuffs.

Sheriff Weiss slipped into the front seat, turning on his siren. This was not some minor charge we could walk away from with only a slap on the wrist. I really needed my powers so I could get out of this mess, but the iron incapacitated me just enough.

Sheriff Weiss drove from the abandoned warehouses and turned toward downtown Olympia.

“Don’t think you are some bad-ass. Do you know how many girls I’ve seen like you? They all think life with the bad boy is fun and exciting. Until it gets serious, and they find themselves doing twenty to life or worse.” He looked at me through the rearview mirror. “If it takes a scare like this for you to get off this path and see the truth before it’s too late, then I will be happy.”

I shifted to the side so the ache in my arms wasn’t so constant. “You’ve been after me from the beginning. You’ve probably dreamed about this. So what do you care if I get on the right course or not?”

“You’re right. I’ve never liked you and knew you were a bad seed. There was something about you I never trusted, but you also reminded me of someone. Someone I gave up on.”

There was something in the way he said it that I knew it was personal.

“Who?”

His hands gripped the steering wheel harder. “A daughter,” he said finally.

This made me uncomfortable. The evil Sheriff Weiss was becoming a person. Someone who experienced pain and love. He and I always had a wall of unreserved judgment and hatred for each other. I didn’t like him becoming... human.

“You remind me of her. Same stubbornness, same lack of consideration for others. All you think of is yourself, and you give little thought to right and wrong.”

I had no idea of his daughter’s story or what became of her, but his bitterness was clear. When I first met Weiss, I had a feeling I was being punished for more than just my actions.

“What happened to her?”

“She ran away and got involved with a guy and his gang. She was shot and killed by a cop when she tried to flee a drug bust.” Weiss’ words were sharp and full of venom. “She made the wrong choices and got what she deserved. The law is the law. She broke the rules and had to take the consequences for her actions.”

Wow
...

Speechless, I took in Weiss’ story. He was a man who thought in black and white, good and bad, pride and honor. Still the pain of losing his daughter had to eat at him. His overzealousness to “get” me was more about his daughter and trying to fix what he hadn’t been able to with her. It was sad. It didn’t endear him to me, but I understood his actions a little more.

“Shit!” I heard Weiss yell. The police car in front of us, which held Eli, swerved and skidded uncontrollably across the road. Weiss slammed on the brakes, and we slid sideways down the asphalt. Something smashed into us, denting the side of our car, sending it flying through the air.

A sensation of not knowing which way was up wrapped around me. It felt like I had just climbed into the washing machine and put myself on spin cycle. The seatbelt cut into my stomach and shoulder as it held me in place. Both Weiss and I stayed suspended in the air as the car flipped, but the moment the roof made contact with the ground, it crumpled on us with bone-crunching force. My head slammed into the caving roof. Excruciating pain and noise flooded my senses and overwhelmed me. The sound of metal twisting in agony seemed to come from every direction before it abruptly stopped.

Several moments passed as I tried to understand what happened. I blinked and swiveled my head. Hazy moonlight lit the interior enough for me to distinguish the battered and unconscious sheriff. His seat belt held him, but the roof had caved so much his body was huddled against it. I hung upside down, blood seeping from my head. My eyes grew weary, and I wanted to sleep. I craved it like a deep hunger.

Glass shattered and startled me awake, making me retch. A large fist punched through the
side window, grabbing the frame of the car door and ripping it off its hinges. I closed my eyes and turned my head unable to block the piercing squeal of metal. I felt hands fumble with my seatbelt. They grabbed me and pulled me from the mangled car. Pain. I felt pain.

Just close your eyes and go to sleep, Ember. The hurt will go away
.

I tried to force my eyes open when my body was placed on the rough concrete. It was too dark to see my rescuer clearly, but I could sense he was enormous. His outline blocked the moonlight. My arms were released from the tight bonds constraining them. Blood flooded back into them, making them prickle and ache.

“Is she okay?” A voice came from behind the man who silently helped me. I knew that deep, male voice. I just couldn’t place it with a face.

“Yes,” the huge, gruff-sounding man responded. “We need to go now.”

Strong arms curled under my legs and back and picked me up like a baby as I drifted off to a place where I felt no pain.

The soft motion of fingers curling through my hair caused my lids to flutter open. I knew it must be a dream as there was no other way he would be here. But why was I dreaming about him? Didn’t I have enough boy issues?

My head lay comfortably in Nic’s lap. His beautiful, Spanish god-like features beamed down on me. His dark brown eyes fixed hungrily on mine. In a dream, Nic still projected pure, uninhibited sex. He was an Incubus and good at his job. Too good.

I also knew that if I were awake, I would be feeling pain. I felt nothing but a rhythmic vibration making my body rock.

“My little Dae.” Nic’s lips touched my forehead. Seeing him again was comforting. I had missed them all. But words would not come to my lips no matter how much I tried.

“
Shhh...” He kissed me on the lips. “I’ve got you. Sleep, my sweet Dae.” My heavy lids obliged his request. My dreams pulled me deeper into the darkness.

My lashes lifted. A chandelier hung above my bed, glittering in the early morning light. I rolled over and snuggled deeper into the soft blankets.

Shit!
I sat up with a start, stunned. It was a
déjà vu
moment to awake here in my underwear and tank top, but this time I knew exactly where I was.

“Lars,” I bellowed and flung the covers off as I sprang out of bed. The dresser was still filled with my clothes. Three years later and nothing seemed different. I grabbed a pair of jeans from the drawer. My boots were in my closet. I slipped into them and headed for the door.

Walking down the stairs felt like another day at Camp Demon. The smells of sizzling bacon and rich, cheesy eggs drifted up the stairs. Marguerite was cooking. A sob came from my chest, and I was running before I realized it.

“Marguerite,” I wailed like a child as I entered the kitchen.

“
Mi dulce nina
.” Her arms wrapped around me, pulling me down to her short height. My heart burst with warmth as she crushed me to her. Marguerite was like the grandma I never had. She was tough, but her love was unconditional and complete. It was hard to keep the tears back. She made me feel like a little girl, protected and loved. “Oh, we have missed you,
nina
. You must not leave us again.”

Right then I didn’t want to. With both my mother and Torin at the ranch, things had gotten more complicated and tense. I longed to stay right here, wrapped in Marguerite’s love.