Shivers Box Set: Darkening Around Me\Legacy of Darkness\The Devil's Eye\Black Rose (33 page)

He may have convinced Eleri to leave Brynn be, but who was to say she wouldn’t be back through the night?

Let her try. If she did make another appearance, he’d be waiting.

The stink of rot wafted to Brynn’s nostrils, pulling her from sleep. She wrinkled her nose, but didn’t open her eyes.
What was that?

As she came further awake, small bites of realization wriggled into her conscience. First, she was still dressed. Her pants clung to her legs like a hot, ill-fitting second skin. Second, her mouth tasted like ass. A foul fuzz coated her teeth and tongue. And lastly, her brain was trying to make a desperate escape by bursting through her skull.

With a soft moan, she squeezed her eyes tight and wrapped her arms around her throbbing head. The stench in the room intensified, turning her already-swirling stomach.

Oh God, she should not be feeling this badly. Not from two measly drinks. Her mind replayed the previous evening, the images blurred and disjointed especially when she’d returned to the house. She vaguely remembered Reece hauling her up the stairs, but her memories grew more fragmented like a dream on waking. The harder she concentrated, the worse the shrill throb behind her eyes.

She let out a low whimper and tried to pull the covers over her head, but they wouldn’t go any higher than her shoulder.

What did it matter whether she remembered every little detail about last night? Of two things she could be absolutely certain. She’d managed to get drunk off her ass and make an absolute fool of herself in the process—

Small, whispered voices cut into her thoughts. Brynn’s eyes popped open, and she sat up. Big mistake. Pain burst in her forehead like a spike hammered through her skull. The lamp glowing softly next to her bed might as well have been a spotlight glaring in her face. She squinted, reached out a trembling hand and turned the switch.

The unintelligible whispering had stopped. Maybe she’d imagined it. Something leftover from a dream. Still, the stink remained.

Carefully, Brynn twisted her head and scanned the room. Thin shafts of daylight seeped through narrow gaps between the drapes on either side of the hearth, and with the lamp off, the space was dull and shadowy.

Movement flickered at the edge of her vision. She jerked her head to the side and winced, but any thought of pain vanished. Small human-shaped shadows, about five of them, scurried along the wall. The whispering returned.

Brynn’s heart slammed against her chest. What were those things?

She jumped from the bed, staggered to the window and whipped open the drape. Brilliant sunlight flooded the room and a blinding flash streaked through her skull. She shut her eyes, gripping her head as if to physically keep it from splitting wide, and waited for the agony to pass.

“For the love of God.” Reece’s surly groan made her jump. She whirled to face him, her brain swaying in one direction, her stomach another.
Oh God, no more whirling
.
Better yet, no more moving at all
.

Reece lay stretched out on the couch before the fireplace, his long frame too big for the small settee. His head was propped on the armrest, neck bent at an angle he’d definitely feel later. One leg rested on the floor while the other hung loosely over the far armrest.

He pushed himself up on his elbows and stretched his neck to one side then the other. “Next time, why not just shine a light directly in my face to wake me?”

She glanced at the far wall. Those moving shadows had vanished, the whispering stopped. Even that mossy stink was dissipating quickly.

“So you’ve come around at last, then,” Reece said, sitting up. “You even look somewhat coherent—a little like death, but coherent.”

Why was Reece sleeping in her room? Had she really been such a mess he’d stayed?

Humiliation tingled in her cheeks, and she had to fight the urge to jump back into bed and pull the covers over her head. “Thank you for helping me last night. I’m sorry I was so out of it.”

He shrugged and stood. “I should go. Eleri will sack me if she finds me in here.”

“Right, of course.” She’d put his job at risk? She wished the floor would open and swallow her.

He grabbed his jacket off the chair opposite the couch and dug out the pill vial she’d seen him with before. After shaking two blue-and-white capsules into his hand, he held them out to her.

“What are they?” she asked, as he dropped them into her palm.

“Fiorinal, for migraines. But they’ll help with the headache you undoubtedly have.”

With the label missing from the container, she had no idea whether he was telling the truth or not. But even if he’d been handing out cyanide capsules, she wouldn’t have cared provided they stopped the ache gripping her skull.

“Thanks.”

He shrugged, tossed his jacket over his shoulder and went to the door, but hesitated before opening it. “Are you going to stay here after everything you learned yesterday?”

She shook her head. “It’s best if I go.” A strange sense of disappointment weighed down on her, but she did her best to ignore it. “I should never have come.”

He nodded, opened the door a crack and peeked into the hall. He glanced back at her. “Good luck, Brynn.”

Then he slipped out, closing the door behind him.

Brynn let out a slow breath. Unease slithered through her now that she was alone. With sunshine spilling through her window, any trace of the shadows had gone. Even that horrible smell had disappeared.

They had to be the remnant of some alcohol-fuelled dream. If Reece had seen or smelled anything unusual, he would have said something.

It didn’t matter what they were. If everything went to plan today, this would be the last morning she woke in this room. Step one of said plan—a shower and fresh clothes.

Once in the bathroom, she tossed back the pills Reece had given her and ran the tap, scooping water with her palm to wash them down.

Let them work fast
.

After shutting off the water, she shuffled to the tub and turned on the spray for the shower. She was still dressed in her clothes from yesterday. Probably because she was such a drunken mess, she couldn’t even change. Her feet were bare, though.

Vaguely, she remembered Reece taking of her sneakers and damp socks, rubbing her cold feet between his warm, calloused hands. Something fluttered low inside her.

She gave herself a mental shake. The man had helped her while she’d been too drunk to take care of herself; she should be grateful, nothing more. She tugged her T-shirt over her head and frowned.

An image of Reece’s long, deft fingers gripping her elbow to help her sit up popped into her head, but the memory was fuzzy like a television station that wouldn’t quite come into focus. She remembered his hand against her cheek, his palm cool against her skin, his eyes like the sea. Her gaze had shifted to his mouth, and she’d thought how nicely shaped it was. How much she liked the straight sweep of his lips.

And then she’d…

Her breath caught and her stomach dropped.

Holy shit, she’d kissed him!

No. No way
. She couldn’t have. That particular fragmented memory had to be the result of some bizarre dream—like those shadows.

She pressed her hands to her lips, tingling with the memory. What if she hadn’t stopped with a kiss? What if they’d had sex?

Okay, not likely. She woke up completely dressed, alone in bed with him sleeping on the couch. Brynn closed her eyes and tried to remember past the kiss, but her mind stretched out like a black void.

She had to know what happened. If she’d said or done something even more embarrassing than kiss him.

She opened her eyes and grabbed the doorknob, but—catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror behind the sink—froze before pulling it open. Dressed only in her jeans and bra, her hair matted like a squirrel’s nest on one side of her head, makeup smeared around her eyes, she looked like she’d been dragged through a bush backward as her grandmother used to say.

New plan. Shower, clean herself up, then find out just how big a fool she’d made of herself.

By the time Brynn put her plan into action, Reece’s magic pills had killed the pounding in her skull.

She hurried downstairs, slipped out the front door hoping to avoid bumping into her sister, or anyone else for that matter. She still had no idea what to say to Eleri—besides
goodbye
.

When she reached the coach house’s side door, she let herself in, climbed up the stairs to Reece’s apartment and knocked loudly. No answer. She tried again and waited. Still, no answer.

“Damn it.” Maybe he’d already gone to work. A quick peek inside would tell her one way or the other.

She turned the knob, pushed open the door and stepped inside. Empty. He must have already gone to work.

A door on the far side of the room clicked and opened and Reece emerged wearing only a towel. Her breath caught, and her gaze slid from his messy black hair, to his broad shoulders, down the defined contours of his chest and stomach to the towel draped low on his narrow hips.

He quirked a brow. “Did you want something?”

Now, there was a loaded question if Brynn had ever heard one. She forced her gaze to remain on Reece’s impassive face—instead of letting her eyes wander down that perfectly sculpted body the way they wanted to.

“I’m sorry,” she muttered, her cheeks hot. “I should go, give you your privacy.”

He snorted, strolled across the room and dropped onto the couch. “Why bother? You let yourself into my flat. I doubt my privacy is any
real
concern to you.”

Her face burned hotter. First, she gets drunk and throws herself at him, now she walks in on him practically naked.

“I’m…I shouldn’t have let myself in. I’m sorry. I’ll go.” She backed toward the door, but he rolled his eyes and lifted his hand to stop her.

“You’re here now, what do you want?”

Nerves tangled her insides. The sight of his hard sculpted chest wasn’t making this any easier. “I…just…well…there’s a few details about last night I’m fuzzy on.”

He snorted. “I’m sure there are.”

God, she wished he’d put on his clothes. “I can wait if you’d be more comfortable dressed.”

His smirk stretched wider. “Would
you
be more comfortable if I was dressed?”

“I don’t care one way or the other.” She waved a hand, feigning indifference, but no doubt the fact that her face was so hot she was surprised it hadn’t burst into flames gave her away.

Get to the point before you make an even bigger fool of yourself
. “Did I kiss you last night?”

“You did.” His gaze didn’t waver. “You were all bloody hands, groping and grabbing. I had to practically beat you off with a stick.”

Her eyes widened and her stomach knotted. “Oh God, really?”

“No, not really.” He shook his head and a genuine smile replaced the smirk. “You kissed me, called me Zack and passed out.”

A heady mix of relief and annoyance washed over her. She sagged against the door frame and folded her arms over her chest. “Why would you say something like that if it wasn’t true?”

“Because you called me
Zack
.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re a jerk.”

He chuckled and a little of that dull warmth rekindled inside her.

“Fair enough. Who’s Zack?” Despite his light tone, something glinted in his pale eyes.

“He was my fiancé.”

“
Was
not
is?
”

“That’s right.” She didn’t want to talk about Zack. Not now, and not with Reece.

“Why isn’t Zack your fiancé anymore?”

Because I bored him
. “He met someone else.”

Even that barest admission was like picking the scab off a festering wound.

Reece stood from the couch, faded towel slipping precariously low. Brynn’s gaze darted to the groove just under his hip. If that towel dipped just a little further… Fluttering tickled low in her belly.

“Do you still love him?” Reece asked, his voice little more than a low rumble.

Him? Him who?
She shook her head. “No.”

And that was the truth. Zack’s betrayal had killed her love for him, but it still hurt like hell, especially the embarrassment of friends and coworkers knowing he’d wanted someone else, people speculating on her inadequacies that had driven him into the arms of another woman.

“You still think about him?” Reece took another step toward her, but she barely registered the question, her attention fixed on the shift of his stomach muscles beneath his tight skin.

She swallowed hard, would have backed up a step if she weren’t already pressed against the door. “Look, I’m really sorry I kissed you last night.”

His teasing grin hardened. “I’m sure you are.”

Perfect
. She’d managed to offend him while trying to apologize. “I meant I appreciate your help, and you didn’t deserve to have me attack you for the effort.”

“Is that what you meant?” He was so close, broad expanse of chest just inches away, body heat radiating from his skin. The clean, pine scent of his soap teased her nose. Her hands itched to run over his chest, his stomach, to feel his smooth skin and crisp black hair under her palms.

“I’ve…” Her voice rasped. She cleared her throat and tried again. “I’ve obviously said something to offend you.”

He shook his head. “I’m not offended.”

“Okay. Good.” She reached her hand behind her and felt blindly for the doorknob. If she didn’t get out of there soon, she’d wind up making a fool of herself again, but without the convenience of booze as an excuse. “I really should go.”

“Not yet.” Reece pressed the palms of both hands against the door, caging her between his arms. Her breath quickened and a rapid pulse beat deep in her core.

He leaned closer, mouth hovering over hers. All she had to do was push up on her toes and she’d close the short distance between them, her lips against his. He saved her the trouble, dipping his head and catching her mouth in a slow, deep kiss.

Wet heat gathered between Brynn’s legs. Her knees nearly buckled. She might have slid to the floor if not for Reece’s hard frame pinning her to the door.

His lips moved hungrily over hers, teeth nipping, tongue seeking access. She titled her head and opened her mouth to accommodate him. He tasted of mint and oh-so-good.

She melted against him, finally letting her hands sweep up over his chest, skin smooth and hot under her palms. She traced over solid shoulders, her fingers finally tangling in the damp hair at his nape.

Moaning, she arched into him. Reece pushed tighter, crushing her breasts with his bare chest, the towel tied around his waist pressed against the apex between her legs. The pulse at her core built to a desperate ache.

Oh God, she wanted him—right there against the door. She wanted that towel gone. Her own clothes peeled away. She wanted flesh against flesh.

With a soft growl, Reece tore his mouth from hers. His face brushed her cheek, ragged breath tickling the skin below her ear. She shivered before she could stop herself.

Why had he stopped? Her body ached, screaming for him to pick up where he left off.

Reece lifted his head and eased away. With the heat of his body gone, a chill blew through her. He smirked and all that want humming through her deflated like an old balloon.

“This time,” he said, “you’ll at least know who you were kissing.”

Humiliation tingled into her limbs. She wanted to run, to hide, to find a hole and crawl inside. But she also wanted to haul off and smash his face in. She settled for slamming her hands against his chest and shoving him back a step. “You’re an ass.”

“I’ve been called worse.” He shrugged and turned away.

“I came here to apologize.”

He chuckled, the sound humorless and tinny. “Apology accepted.”

Dull fury smothered her embarrassment. She jerked open the door and stormed downstairs. None of this mattered. Not Reece. Not her serial killer sister. Not her horrible father. She was leaving. By the end of the day, she would either be on a plane or at the very least in a hotel room near the airport, and these people nothing more than an unpleasant memory.

For whatever reason her mother gave her to her grandparents and her grandparents kept Stonecliff from her, she didn’t care. In fact, she should probably be grateful.

Still fuming, Brynn marched into Stonecliff and straight to the study where she’d seen a computer the day before. A visit to the airline’s website and she’d reschedule her flight home, and if she couldn’t get a flight out today, she’d find a hotel for tonight.

She sat in the thronelike leather chair behind the ornately carved desk. The position offered a clear view of the courtyard and line of trees behind the coach house. Reece pushed a wheelbarrow from the garage along the path and disappeared into the woods.

“Jerk,” she muttered, leaning down to switch on the CPU under the desk. A fresh wave of embarrassment washed over her.

She gave herself a mental shake.
Focus
. She opened the web browser, but rather than the airline, she searched
Matthew Langley and Cragera Bay
.

What are you doing?
a small voice in the back of her head demanded, but Brynn ignored it. She was…curious.

A couple of articles popped up with the man’s name, but aside from stating that he’d been found dead and foul play suspected, there were few details.

Nipping her lip, she typed Eleri’s name next and Stonecliff. More than a dozen articles appeared on the screen.

“Holy crap,” she muttered, scrolling through the list. She really should have done this before she’d left Chicago and she wouldn’t be in this mess now.

She opened one article randomly and read, then another and another. With each one, a sick feeling settled over her and intensified. God, the things written about her sister. These articles weren’t merely reports about a woman suspected in a man’s disappearance; they were a smear campaign.

Most were from about two years ago, around the time a man named Daniel Forbes had vanished, and most were written by the same reporter. But the content was so over the top. How could anyone have taken the stories seriously? They ranged from claiming Eleri was the leader of some pagan coven sacrificing the men who vanished to portraying her as a seductress luring men to their demise through sex.

Somehow, Brynn didn’t see her sister as the femme fatale type. The magazine’s website didn’t strike her as the most credible. Besides “The Witch of Stonecliff,” the other articles revolved around unsubstantiated celebrity gossip and unexplained lights in rural skies.

Movement at her peripheral jerked her attention from the computer screen. Through the window, Eleri followed the same path Reece had taken earlier, head bent against the wind, stride purposeful. The forest swallowed her, blocking her from view.

Unease scurried up Brynn’s back like a frigid spider. She stood, snatched her coat off the chair and slipped outside through the French doors. Surely, Eleri using the same trail as Reece was just a coincidence. But Dylis’s stories mingled with the articles she’d just read, and Brynn had to be sure he was all right—even if he was an ass.

She followed the gravel track into the woods. It curved aimlessly through the trees, the stones growing sparse and soon disappearing into little more than a worn footpath in the dirt. Hard sunlight cast long shadows over the forest floor and the woodsy scent of moss and wet leaves filled her nose. The relentless hush of the surf faded, replaced by the creak and rattle of the bare tree branches in the wind, and the intermittent caw of a crow.

An unnerving sense of isolation settled over her. Goose bumps prickled her skin. What the hell had ever possessed her to follow her sister into the woods? If she didn’t make it back, who would look for her?

With her grandparents gone and Zack out of her life, who
would
notice if she just disappeared?

She had friends, sure. And they’d no doubt find it strange if she never came back from her vacation. Hell, Tabitha, her closest friend, might even report her missing. But Tab, like her other friends, had her own life and she’d go on living it. Eventually, Brynn would wind up a mere blip in conversation.

“Remember Brynn James? Whatever happened to her?”

“She went on a trip to Wales and never came back.”

“That’s odd.”

“It sure is. I love those shoes, by the way.”

“Oh, do you? I found them on sale.”

Pretty damn depressing, really.

Brynn stopped walking. Two stone posts with a rusted gate hanging drunkenly from one hinge between them blocked her path. There was no fence on either side of the posts, making it useless; she could easily go around. Instead she drew closer, her gaze falling on a round face carved into the stone on the right post. The eyes, nose and mouth flowed into a cluster of leaves surrounding the bulbous head like a lion’s mane. A flash of déjà vu swept through her, then vanished nearly as quickly as it arrived.

She traced a finger over the cold, damp stone, following the swirling line from leaf to mouth.

“It’s a green man.” Eleri’s voice from out of nowhere made her start. Her heart lodged in her chest and she whirled around to face her sister.

“Holy crap, you scared me.”

“Sorry,” Eleri said, but her voice lacked contrition. Her dark gaze was intent on Brynn’s hand on the stone.

“What does it mean?” Brynn asked.

Eleri shrugged. “Lots of things, but mostly rebirth.”

An image popped into her head. The same stone face, but surrounded by lush, dark green. Insects hummed by her ear. A sweet floral scent tickled her nose and a thin line of sweat dribbled down her back over her already sticky skin.

Brynn jerked her hand back and blinked. Was that… Had she actually remembered something? Her heart beat fast against the inside of her ribs. A strange thrill mixed with faint dread.

“What is it?” Eleri’s eyes were oddly bright in the low light.

“Nothing,” she said. “What are you doing out here?”

A rueful smile played at the corners of her mouth. “Out for a walk, working up the courage to face you and figuring out what I was going to say to you when I did. Reece told me you were pretty angry last night.”

“I don’t understand why you brought me here.”

“I haven’t been fair to you.” Eleri swallowed hard. “I know how all of this must sound, but it’s not true what they say about me.”

“You’re being investigated for murder, and not for the first time.”

“I didn’t kill anyone. People in the village blame me for everything that goes wrong because of Meris.”

Brynn’s temper shot up a notch. “My mother, Meris? Who’s been dead for fifteen years? You think she’s responsible for police questioning you in a murder that occurred weeks ago? Do I have that right?”

Eleri’s eyes flashed. “Your mother was not a kind woman. Before she died, she destroyed any chance I had for a normal life.”

“Is that why you killed her?”

Eleri’s hands fisted at her sides. “She fell. I was nowhere near her when it happened.”

“Then why does everyone think you did?”

“She told people I was dangerous. She’d point to bite marks and scratches to prove it. Of course, she neglected to mention that I gave her those marks while she was trying to shut me down the cellar. There were no lights. I was a child, terrified.”

Eleri had to be lying. The woman who had written those letters wouldn’t do that to a child, any child. Meris had been afraid of this place. She’d sent Brynn away to protect her. Was Eleri the darkness her mother had written about? The evil?

“This is the reason for everything,” Eleri said, closing the distance between them.

Brynn took two quick steps back. Her sister’s mouth thinned, but she didn’t comment, turning her attention to lifting the gate’s latch and pushing it open. The hinge creaked loudly, ominous in the quiet.

Foreboding swept through Brynn, colder than the wind whipping at her hair. Her pulse fluttered in her throat. She did not want to go through that gate.

“Come with me, and I’ll show you why I brought you here.”

No thanks
. “I’m going back to the house.”

“Don’t,” Eleri said. “I promise you, everything will make sense once you see this.”

There’s something waiting…
“What are you going to show me?”

“The reason for everything.” Eleri turned and held her gaze, expression inscrutable. “You’ve come all this way. Do you really want to come this close to understanding what happened when you were a child only to walk away now?”

She knew which buttons to press. Still, Brynn hesitated. She slipped her hand into her coat pocket, wrapped her fingers around her rental car key. He sister was smaller than her. If Eleri tried something, Brynn could hold her own. Of course, there were four men who probably thought the same thing. But the bottom line was she couldn’t come this far and go back. She would always wonder what had been past the gate.

“Fine,” Brynn said, and gestured to the opening. “After you.”

Once through the gate, the trees at the edge of the path closed tighter. Gray branches snagged on Brynn’s coat and hair like bony fingers. A sour stink thickened the air and she wrinkled her nose. “What’s that smell?”

For all she knew, Eleri was leading her to a pile of corpses. Her collection of missing men.

Eleri shrugged. “The bog.”

“You’re taking me to a swamp?” What for? To toss her in? She tightened her grip on her keys.

“Your mother used to spend hours here,” Eleri said, without looking back.

“My mother liked to spend time at a
bog?
”

Eleri smirked over her shoulder. “I know it’s not much of a tourist attraction, but Meris felt a connection to it, to the history. It’s the reason your mother wanted to marry our father. Even the stories about me stem from this place. According to legend, druid priests used the bog in their rituals. There are groves and standing stones all over the island claiming the same distinction. Anglesey used to be theirs, you know, before the Romans.”

Brynn did know, actually, but only on a very superficial level. She’d read something about it in a travel brochure when she’d booked her trip. The Isle of Anglesey in North Wales had been a Druid stronghold. In truth, she hadn’t paid much attention to the history of the island or the village of Cragera Bay.

“The bog gives off energy, power. Didn’t you feel it the minute we passed through the gate?”

Maybe
. A deep foreboding, humming along her skin. Cold dread, curdling her innards. The hair at the back of her neck prickled, and an invisible pressure bore between her shoulder blades as if unseen eyes peered at them from the trees.

Of course, that same sense of unease didn’t need a supernatural explanation. The mere fact that she was traipsing through the woods with a possible serial killer was more than enough reason to inspire a certain amount of apprehension.

“When the Romans invaded,” Eleri continued, “they slaughtered the druids worshipping at the bog. The brutality and spilled blood twisted that power, soured the grounds.”

Was that the reason for the shadows Brynn had seen in the house? The strange noises? She shivered, slipped her hands into her coat pockets and hunched her shoulders. “So this place is haunted?”

Eleri shook her head. “Cursed.”

Considering the things she’d seen and heard over the past two nights, she almost wished the house
was
haunted. After all, the only other explanation was she was losing her mind.

“Whatever energy made the bog sacred remains,” Eleri continued. “Your mother was as fascinated by it as I was repelled. Meris claimed to be related to the family who owned the property before Arthur’s great-uncle bought the land.”

“Another family lived here before ours?”

“The Worthings. Their house was destroyed in a fire. Apparently, one of Jonas Worthing’s daughters was mad and burned the family in their beds while they slept.”

“Lovely.” Goose bumps stippled Brynn’s skin. She glanced at the woods. She couldn’t shake the feeling that someone was watching them.