Experiment in Terror 06.5 And With Madness Comes the Light (13 page)

My eyes widened. “What other place?”

He shook his head and took a step forward.
“We can’t reach her in the physical anymore. Bird, I need you to
continue.”

Bird snapped to life and brought the drums
to him, sitting beside me as I sat back on my knees. The drumming
began, rhythmic and powerful. Roman raised his arms wide and
started chanting again, yelling and sputtering, sounding less
confident by the minute. Ada remained by the wall, shaking like a
leaf, crying her eyes out. I wanted to comfort her but there was
nothing to say. I needed comfort too.

“What other place?” I repeated.

Roman went on, shouting louder and louder at
the bright and terrible light. Sweat fell off him in rivets. He was
losing it and losing the battle.

“Roman!” I screamed. “What other place?”

“The Thin Veil,” he snapped, his cool
demeanor shot. “Where the spirits wait. She’s there now. I don’t
think we can get her back.”

“You don’t think?” I asked in horror. “You
don’t have a choice. You said you could fix her!”

“Actually I said I couldn’t!” he yelled
back. “I can’t reach her. It won’t let me in.”

“But it’ll let me in!” I found myself
saying.

He gave me an odd look, half his face
whited-out by Perry’s never-ending glow.

I went on, feeling I finally knew something,
that I could do the thing I set out to do. Save her. “It wants me,
it practically said so. Let me reach her. Put me in a trance, do
whatever you need to do to send me to her. It will let me in. Let
me help. You can reach her through me. Use me.”

This time Bird spoke up. “You can’t risk it.
The pathway doesn’t work like that. If you find her and free her,
it may take you instead.”

“Then it’s worth it,” I said
determinedly.

“There will be many times you may have to
lay your life on the line for her. You must choose your battles
wisely, Dex. You can only give up your life once.”

“Let him do it,” Roman said quietly. “If
this is his wish, I can use him to find her. I can bring her out. I
can keep both of them safe.”

“No you can’t,” Bird said.

“Dex is right,” Roman argued. “There is no
other way.”

He turned away from Perry and stood above
me.

“Are you sure you want to do this Dex?” he
asked. He looked a million years old, a million years defeated.

I nodded. “I’ve never been so sure of
anything in my whole life.”

“Then may your conviction help you find
her,” he said. He placed his hand on my forehead and my eyes
immediately closed from the heat of his palm.

“Think of her and only her. Call for her.
Look for her. Make her come back,” he said. I could feel waves of
energy flowing from him to me. He moved away slightly and I knew he
was grabbing Perry’s hand as she hung in the air.

The light in my head flashed white and
faded.

“Find her,” Roman’s voice echoed and then
was gone.

I opened my eyes. It was completely black. I
couldn’t see a thing but maybe there was nothing to see.

I looked down, unsure if I had a body,
unsure if I could feel. Could I move?

“Perry,” I called out, trying to focus my
thoughts on her, trying to will her into my new existence. I
thought about moving forward and cold wind rushed past. The black
opened up to grey. My body began to take shape below me. I was
translucent, like a ghost.

“Perry,” I called out again. I needed to
find her. Where was she?

I wandered in the grey nothingness for who
knows how long. Minutes? An eternity?

But, finally, I heard her. I felt her.

“Dex,” she said, like the sweetest word on
earth.

I turned around and saw her right behind
me.

She glowed like an angel, her face a radiant
alabaster, her lips red and full, her eyes so vivid that they
seized me, holding me breathless. My smile nearly broke my face in
two.

I reached out for her hand, to bring her to
me, to take her back. But it only passed through her. I really was
the ghost here. Only she was solid.

“I don’t understand,” I said, shaking my
head. “Why can’t I touch you?”

I went for her shoulder but the same thing
happened. My hand disintegrated as it passed through her. She was
there but I was not. I couldn’t feel her at all. Why couldn’t I
feel her? How could I save her now?

“I don’t know,” she said, her eyes widening
in panic. “What’s happening to you, how are you here?”

“Roman has got a hold on both of us. I just
thought of you until I...until I saw you. Here. Wherever this is.”
I looked around at the limitless grey. “But I don’t think I’m here
enough.”

I reached for her face, trying to make my
fingers solid, trying so desperately to touch her. Was I not
enough? Would I fail in the end, leaving Perry here alone? It
couldn’t end this way. It wouldn’t. It wouldn’t.

I searched her eyes, trying to connect,
trying to bring us together, trying to make us real. I needed to
save her. I needed to save us.

But my fingers still passed through her, as
hers went through me. In the distance, wherever the distance was,
something rumbled, low and evil.

“I think it’s coming,” I whispered. It saw
us. It knew I was here. The monster that had her body but did not
yet have her soul. I closed my eyes. “I need to take you back with
me. I can’t leave you here.”

“I know,” she said. “Concentrate.”

“I am.” The desperation was ripping apart my
heart. I put every thought directed toward her. I thought about the
first time I saw her in the lighthouse, how I saw that fire inside
of her, how it took my breath away, how I wanted her. I thought
about our first slow dance to Billy Joel in Red Fox, thinking,
knowing, needing her to be mine. I thought about the taste of her
as we kissed in that tent on D’Arcy Island, the feel of her body. I
thought about the first time I realized I loved her, the first time
I made love to her, feeling her from the inside. I thought about
breaking her heart and breaking my own and needing her more than
I’ve ever needed anyone. I thought about all this darkness and how
she’d always be my light.

“You have to get out of here,” she
whispered. “Go back.”

“Not without you,” I told her.

“We both can’t stay here,” she pleaded. “You
must go.”

“Roman is growing weaker,” I said.
He
wouldn’t be able to get you back
, is what I was too afraid to
say.

“So, please go!” she cried.

But I wouldn’t. I’d gladly die there with
her. Always with her.

I tried to put my hand on her face. “Will
you forgive me?”

She was startled. “What?”

“For all the things I’ve done to you. Will
you forgive me?” It was all I needed to find peace in myself. To
have the mercy in her.

“Of course,” she whispered.

I smiled as a breeze whirled around us. My
soul felt like it had wings.

I kissed her, as much as I could.

Our hearts are magnets
, I heard her
voice come into my head, a voice she never spoke. I heard her
thoughts, pure and powerful.

And with that, I felt
everything
. Her
soft lips under mine, her tongue, her warmth. Everything that was
Perry. I grabbed onto her as hard as I could, vowing to never ever
let go and she returned the favor, wrapping her arms around my
waist. Suddenly, we were flying back through the air, like we were
pulled by a chord. But we were together, wherever we were
going.

Then it stopped. The darkness melted into
light. I felt Perry fall from my arms and Roman’s hand fall from my
head. I was back in my body, back in the world.

And Perry was right beside me, kneeling on
the carpet, alive but well, Roman connecting the two of us.

“Your soul is yours,” Roman said to both of
us, his voice dropping with exhaustion.

We both slumped to the floor in peace.

***

There’s nothing like going to another
dimension to make you tired as fuck. When I woke up from the
aftermath a few hours later, I felt like every bone in my body had
been broken and my head had been presented with the world’s largest
hangover. It was worse than the time I drank a bottle of Baja Rosa
and a liter of wine (hey, it was college).

Perry was still under, snoring away, which
was a good sign. Her little nose was cute when she did that. It was
a reminder that she was herself again. Roman said she’d be sleeping
for a day but when she came to, most of her injuries from the
ceremony would be healed. He said because they’d happened in
another world, at least from a being from another world, that she’d
be okay. She’d certainly seen better days but at least she was
whole again.

As for me, well my head still hurt a bit
from the car accident and my favorite jacket was singed to shit,
but I was okay. I mean, yeah there was the whole feeling like shit
thing, but I’d get over that. I felt amazing deep inside, knowing
I’d saved her or at least helped. I didn’t feel like I’d made
anything even between us and I didn’t know if she’d even want to
talk to me despite everything I did, but I didn’t care. She could
spit on my face and kick me in the balls and I would still love it
because she was alive and well. A world without Perry Palomino is
just too fucking boring. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.

Ada was obviously over the moon but the poor
kid was so shell-shocked that it was taking her a while to come
around. I think she was so afraid of the entity coming back, even
though she had no reason to be. It was hard to explain, but I just
knew it was gone and it wouldn’t return. At least not for her.

And I knew Roman felt the same way. He’d
been sleeping on and off, trying to work his way through the
terrible strain he’d been under. But it had to be somewhat
cathartic to know that he’d finally won. Sure, I went in there in
the end like the fucking action hero I always wanted to be, but I
couldn’t have saved her without Roman there. He took a chance on
me, on Perry, and I would be forever in his debt for it.

That night, we put Perry on a small bed in
Roman’s study. Though there was no room for me to lie with her, I
did what I could. I had her back, even in her unconscious state,
and we weren’t going to be apart for a minute, not if I could help
it. If that made me overprotective, so be it. I was going to
protect this woman—my woman—until the day I died.

I stayed up with her as long as I could keep
my eyes open. It was morning when she stirred enough that I knew
she was well. She muttered, “Dex,” once in her sleep, then smiled
to herself and drifted off again. I felt like I was on top of the
fucking world.

Before I settled down into the pillows Roman
had thrown along the side of the bed, my makeshift mattress, I took
Perry’s hand in mine and held it up to my lips, peering over her.
She looked like an angel lying there as dawn broke somewhere on the
horizon, bathing the room in an ethereal glow.

“You’re my light in all this madness,
Perry,” I whispered, knowing she couldn’t hear me. “It all fades
away when I’m with you. Everything fades until it’s just you and
it’s just me. I’m Dex and you’re Perry and I love you. I won’t stop
loving you, even when you won’t love me. I love you more than I can
ever really tell you. I love you until the end.”

I felt myself choking on my tears a bit
while I kissed her hand. I kissed her soft forehead. Then I peeled
back the blanket and gently touched her middle, watching her serene
face as sleep still held her so close.

I smiled though she couldn’t see it and
placed my lips on her stomach. “I would have loved the baby too,
more than you’ll ever know.”

Then I pulled away, and still holding her
hand tightly, lay down on the ground beside her. I held her, even
as the darkness took me away.

The End

Happy Valentine’s Day

Look for Experiment in
Terror #7,
Come Alive
,
coming in June 2013

Considered to be one of the most
supernatural cities in North America, New Orleans has a wealth of
history and dark secrets in its vibrant streets. So when Dex and
Perry are threatened with Experiment in Terror being cancelled,
they must team up with Louisiana boy, Maximus, in a last ditch
effort to keep their show alive. But The Big Easy ain’t so easy for
our hex-hunting duo. Not only do they have to sort through their
developing relationship, but they’ve got to figure out what’s the
bigger danger to them: the Cajun redhead who has always known too
much or the creepy voodoo sect that seems hell-bent on destroying
them all.

This full-length novel is told entirely from
Dex Foray’s POV.

Also coming soon:
On Every Street
, An Artists
Trilogy Prequel, released on March 12
^th
, 2013

When young con artist Ellie Watt decides to
call herself Eden White and go after the drug lord who ruined her
as a child, she never expects to fall for one of his henchmen. But
Javier Bernal is no ordinary man. Subtly dangerous and
overwhelmingly seductive, Eden finds herself passionately in love
with Javier, the very person she's set-up to betray. With her body
and heart in a heated battle against her deep need for revenge, no
one will walk away from this con a winner.
This novella takes place six years before
Sins &
Needles
. You do not need to have read Sins & Needles to
enjoy this and can be read as a stand-alone.