Into the Darkness (15 page)

Thank the gods the marking hadn’t com
pleted, or she’d be chained to someone that preyed on the weak.

*****

I watched in confusion as Stefan’s face and body language shut down. He looked pissed. At me?

“You okay?” I
ventured.

“Great.” His jaw tightened as his shoulders hunched. “Look, I’ll cut to the chase. You’re in danger. The enemy, E.T., now have an interest in you. You demonstrated magic in front of them. They’ll return for you—“

“Wait.” I held up my hand in disbelief. “Did you just say
ET
?”

Stefan
’s eyebrows made a flat line over his eyes. “Yes…”

“As in
ET phone home…?
” I felt like crap, my heart hurt, Stefan had a stronger tug than normal, nearly rising me out of my chair to connect my body with his, but suddenly none of that mattered in the spotlight of this absurdity.

Or maybe I needed something to focus on that
didn’t
matter.

Stefan
shook his head, his gaze flicking to Charles. Knitting needles stilled as Charles tilted his head.

“Don’t you guys ever watch movies?” I asked.

Their eyebrows looked like sheets billowing in the wind. They had no idea what I was talking about.

“Right.
Anyway. Continue.” I waved Stefan on diplomatically. Charles rolled his eyes.

“Anyway, the Easter
n Territory has an interest. They won’t stop trying to acquire you until that interest is extinguished, whether by them kidnapping you, killing you, or killing us all.”

“Lovely. You should know
, they’ve been trying to take me with them since that first monster-thing talked to me.”

Charles dropped his knitting in surprise, but
Stefan just nodded, as if now he knew why. “What did it say?”

“Well, basically that I should join it—them—for vast rewards and what not.”

Stefan nodded uncomfortably as Charles gawked.

“So…I’m a freak, then?” I looked back and forth between the two, my heart sinking. “I’m still a freak, even with you guys?”

It was Stefan that recovered first. “No. Extremely valuable, though I don’t have the expertise to know what exactly that means.” His leadership mask clicked on. “No matter. You will need protection. You will live here, in this room, using this area for your—“

“No.” I crossed my arms.

Stefan’s stare hardened. “I don’t hear the term ‘no’ often…”

“It isn’t a term, it’s a word.
And…no.”

Charles started to fidget.

Stefan flexed from head to toe. Each powerful muscle on his giant frame snapped to attention. I gasped, my sexy systems swelling, the ache in those sexy systems more pronounced. I suddenly needed him inside me with a ferocity that both terrified and excited me. My cheeks flushed and my head beaded in sweat. My body and soul both seemed to be screaming
destiny!
The pain from losing Jared was still so acute, but when presented with Stefan…I couldn’t explain it. My being didn’t want anyone else. I only wanted him.

Charles groaned in the corner.

“You will live here. End of story.” Stefan’s jaw clenched again, as did his fists. The pupils in those dark eyes, barely definable, got larger.

I wanted to get up and walk to him. Drape myself across him. Feel his arms tighten around me and
make everything okay.
Destiny!

“Boss, I might need to step outside…” Charles groaned through tight vocal chords.

Stefan looked like he was wrestling with something. Probably the memory of that stupid, although gorgeous, woman that had a claim on him. He shook his head in two jerks. “We’re almost done.”

His eyes honed in on me. “You leave here, you die. Even if you manage to fight back with magic, the fever that follows will kill you if someone powerful isn’t around to…help you…”
Lust flashed before a scowl reformed. “You will die. Which means you stay. You stay, you learn to use your power, and you advance. If you can reach the end of the lessons without killing yourself, you are free to go. That good?”

“Well…let me think…
.” I was poking the bear in the nose with a stick, yes, but defiance was my go-to defense mechanism. Besides, I didn’t feel in control of my life anymore. It was worrying. “I’ve survived this long. I’ll take my chances a little longer. So, thank you, but still no.”

“Or, you will go home, find a few
monsters,
as you call them, and get captured. Trek has no shortage of creations to send your way.”

“I’ll keep her here, Boss,” Charles said with bravado.

He
so
wouldn’t.

Stefan
’s eyes still delved into mine as he said, “You will be attending school with her. You will eat and breathe each other—“

He
cut off. His eyes closed, as if pain lanced his body. He sucked in a deep breath. A moment later he relaxed. “You two will go to school together, live here together, and come out better for it.”

“But, I’ve already been to school,” Charles whined.

“You have learning to do, and I have a feeling Sasha will push you to greater heights.”

By the shake in Charles’ head, he didn’t have the same ideas.

Stefan got up to leave. I wanted to stop him. I wanted to talk to him about these feelings—even though it was a little awkward with Charles in the room. Before he left, though, he said, “Oh, and Sasha, your apartment had a forced entry. A fire started shortly thereafter. Jared is leaving, so you say. Where will you go, if not here?”

All the thoughts fell out of my head.
The click of the latch as he left was surprisingly loud.

My gaze slowly traveled the walls, taking my time in disbelief, landing on a cringing Charles. “You forced entry. What is this about a fire?”

Charles tried to sink into himself, an impossible feat for a muscular man over six-and-a-half feet tall. “I
may
have, accidentally, left a candle burning.”

“When we left there were no candles lit…”

“I
may
have lit one so I could see.”

“I have electricity, Charles. Why would you need to light a candle?”

“Lights are so bright!”

I started to
hyperventilate. Everything I owned was in that apartment. All my memories, all my knick-knacks, all the things I had collected throughout my life, sat on my shelves or in my cubbies. I didn’t have a whole lot, but now I had nothing.

“How much of the apartment burned?” I asked quietly.

Charles slouched lower. “About three-fourths.”

Three-fourths of my whole life, gone.
Just like that.

It wasn’t
the happy-go-lucky Destiny at all, at least not in this. Destiny’s cousin, the mean and often brutal, Fate had left me no way out. 

All my life I’d seen the shadow men roaming the darkness.
I’d seen human shaped silhouettes where everyone else had seen nothing at all. I’d always wondered, about them and about my sanity. And when it came right down to it, I knew I belonged here like I’d never belonged anywhere else before. I knew that my secret box would be largely understood within this new fold of people. I wouldn’t have to hide, anymore. I wouldn’t have to worry about people locking me up.

I sighed and looked around at my new life. Clean surfaces and empty shelves stared back. It was bare bones, like I was brand new. Basically, I was starting from scratch.

But at least I had something to work from. Stefan saw something in me. He would’ve given his life to protect me. That had to be something. His faith didn’t seem easily bestowed. If I truly did have magic, then I could truly fit in. Right now I was a freak human, sure; but if I could prove myself an asset, I could be a cool foreigner. Maybe I could finally be good at something. I could finally let myself trust and form real friendships, or meet a guy I didn’t have to hide half myself from.

My mind flashed to
Stefan—to the dream of him. I felt him moving away from me, leaving the area and going about his business. I still had no idea how.

Glass barely half full, I lay d
own, my head starting to pound.

“Can you make me forget?” I asked Charles quietly.

“That doesn’t work on you.”

“It works long enough to help me go to sleep.”

“I’ll try. Usually you have to be strung out and not anticipating me. But I’ll try.”

I closed my eyes and let blackness consume me, closing the chapter on my old life. I’d found my shadow men, and they’d changed me forever.

THE END