Autumn Storm (20 page)

“You have about five seconds until you’re
mine,” he warned her.

Her eyes flared with desire but also
awareness. Autumn lowered her hands from his face and took a step
back. Her body was trembling, as much from exertion as his
magick.

At once, the cacophony of voices and spirits
of others flooded his mind. For a long moment, he wasn’t able to
focus beyond it. He struggled to conquer the insanity in his mind.
Bartholomew was one of the voices yelling, but his words were too
loud to make out. Decker drew a deep breath and forced his
attention outward. It was growing harder to exist in the outside
world.

Autumn’s concerned blue eyes arrested him,
tugging him out of his mind.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t be,” he replied. He studied her,
unable to determine how she’d accessed the depth of magick she’d
need to block him.

She deceives you,
Bartholomew told
him, his words piercing through the noise.
Did I not warn
you?

There was no deception or malice in Autumn’s
gaze. Then again, Decker wasn’t able to see the rest of her mind.
He’d never been able to read her soul, and he was suddenly wary of
the girl who withheld so much and had such control over him with
her touch.

That was Bartholomew’s thought, he told
himself. He knew how sweet the girl before him was. If he had
another chance, it’d be with her. He hadn’t been joking, and she’d
made a deal with him without understanding it’d cost her everything
– mind, body, soul – if he did take that step.

You betray Summer and endanger Autumn if
you do,
Bartholomew reminded him.

Guilt swept through Decker. He’d already
promised himself to Summer and now, to Darkness. There was no room
for Autumn, and he’d never do anything to place her in danger.

“Thank you for walking with me,” she said at
the long silence. “I’m not sure I would’ve made it otherwise.” The
words were hard for her to say, and her gaze dropped to his chest
as she said them.

“Yes, you would’ve,” he disagreed. “I know
that the same way I know you’ll run again one day, too.”

She cleared her throat and looked at her
feet. He saw the smile on her face. He hadn’t seen this unguarded
expression before. She was happy.

He almost felt good.

The Darkness didn’t like it. It was at the
edge of his mind, ready to claim him. Dusk had fallen as they stood
talking. It was time for him to prepare for his nightly hunt
anyway. More souls went bad in the middle of the night than any
other time.

“I’ve gotta go,” he said, moving towards the
forest.

“Good night, Decker,” she called after
him.

He didn’t respond. The minute he set foot in
the forest, Bartholomew began railing on him for talking to her at
all. Decker gripped his head. He made it back to his dorm room
before the Darkness took over.

This time, it kept his body for the longest
time yet. He sank into the comfortable nothingness of his mind,
unaware of time or emotions or pain.

When it released him, he was in his bed
sometime the next afternoon. His phone was ringing. He heard it
without knowing where it was. Darkness released memories into his
mind, gleefully sharing with him the slaughter from the night.

He pushed himself up, half-interested in how
many had been killed. He grabbed at the clothing slung across the
bottom of his bed to find the phone.

Fifteen souls, all Dark.

Decker paused. It was more than he expected,
but not yet enough, or he wouldn’t have left the safe place in his
mind. Another day, another chance he saw Autumn again, even when he
wasn’t sure he wanted to. The guilt of wanting to see her made him
feel worse than anything he’d done.

Soon it will claim you,
Bartholomew
promised.

His phone started ringing again. Decker dug
through his jacket and pulled it free. Beck was calling. Decker
rejected it. His twin had called half a dozen times and also sent a
text.

You were supposed to back off my
“blondie”
said the text.

Decker suspected his brother hadn’t left her
unguarded while running off to screw his latest blond girlfriend.
Someone dimed him out. He wanted to tell Beck to go to hell, that
he’d claim Autumn if he wanted.

Some part of him knew he’d made the deal
with Beck for the same reason he’d agreed to walk away from Autumn
after their kiss. He was bad news for her. What happened if the
Darkness finally consumed him when he was around her?

As long as Beck wasn’t after her, Decker was
able to compromise with his own desire. After all, he didn’t have
much longer. When he was gone, Beck could have her. He just
couldn’t live with seeing her with Beck now.

Won’t happen again.
He texted back to
his twin.

Beck’s response was quick.
Don’t come
Thursday or our deal is off, and she’s mine.

He made the decision easy for Decker. Pissed
and determined to put Beck in his place Thursday, Decker tossed the
phone onto his jacket and strode to the bathroom. He smelled of sex
and didn’t like it.

The shower wasn’t able to drown out the
voices. The slap of another soul going bad hit him as he shut off
the water. Infuriated at the thought of Beck and Autumn, Decker
wrenched open the door to his dorm room. His eyes went to the bed,
where Alexa and another girl with blond hair were. His gaze went
appreciatively over the model-like body of the blond before
realized Alexa was going through his phone.

“What’re you doing?” he demanded, going to
his closet.

Startled, Alexa dropped his phone and rolled
away.

“Nothing,” she mumbled. “Are you leaving
again?”

“Yeah.” Blowing out a sigh, he concentrated
on dressing instead of the hammering in his head.

He didn’t deserve Autumn any more than he
did Summer. His movements grew more deliberate. He knew Beck was
right.

“About what I told you last night,” Alexa
said.

Unaccustomed to any of the girls he slept
with actually talking to him, Decker paused.

“You’re really okay with it?” she asked. “I
know I apologized, but … you know.”

Decker sifted through the memories the
Darkness shared with him. He saw the hours of sex and almost cursed
aloud. Alexa had brought a friend this time: Dawn. He didn’t think
Beck would care, but the girl was worse news than Alexa.

“If I was last night, I am this morning,” he
snapped, wanting out of there.

“You didn’t seem like you last night.”

The Darkness had talked to her. Interesting.
Normally, the Darkness just acted.

“Decker, I really want for us to be together
again.”

“As long as you realize you’re one of a few
hundred,” he replied. “I’m interested in you for the same reason I
am every other girl.”

She was quiet for a moment. “I’m okay with
that. I think you’ll change your mind, though. I mean, we were
really good together. Maybe you just need to remember that.”

Months ago, Decker fooled around with Alexa
to try to shake the draw he felt towards Summer. Dark and known for
sleeping around, Alexa was the opposite of the innocent girl meant
to be his mate. When he couldn’t fight the truth that his fate was
with Summer, he’d left Alexa. He’d been Summer’s first kiss, the
only guy ever to touch her.

Summer is gone. You are not.
Grandpa
Louis had told him.

Decker rubbed his aching head. He’d never be
able to let her go or live down how much he’d failed, betrayed her.
He deserved someone like Alexa.

With his back to her, he sat at his desk to
pull on his boots. His shadows crept to her in an effort to figure
out what she’d told him last night. The image in her head was of
Tarzan, the deer Summer had nursed back from near-death. The fawn
was seated on the rock in the clearing near Miner’s Drop, its leg
in a cast. It was night time. Bothered by the image, Decker waited
to see what the memory showed him.

Four Dark witchlings and three Light,
Bartholomew-the-Terrible’s voice broke Decker’s concentration.
Not sure if it’s enough for the Darkness, but you must claim
them all.

Decker rose to obey. He crossed to the bed
and swung on his jacket, tucking the phone into his pocket. Alexa
was smiling at him hopefully.

“Do you still miss her?” she asked.

“Who?” he hedged.

“Summer.”

“That’s none of your business,” he said in a
low, lethal voice. “In fact, you will never say her name again
around me.”

The light in Alexa’s eyes faded with her
smile. “She broke Dark Laws, Decker. Even I haven’t done that.”

He knew this. He still didn’t understand why
she’d done it. Alarms went off in his head when someone broke the
Laws, but he didn’t know how, unless he peered into their minds
when he confronted them. He’d been too horrified to read her crimes
when he discovered she was the one who broke both Light and Dark
Laws. And then he’d shoved her off a cliff.

The circumstances around Summer’s death had
been declared forbidden for the students to talk about, under
threat of expulsion. Decker had left the issue alone, unable to
bear the thought of his Summer doing something atrocious. She was
an angel in his eyes. He never wanted to think differently of her.
If he decided to, he’d uncover what happened that night from the
mind of Biji, who was present when he arrived to claim Summer’s
soul. For someone who’d broken no Laws, it took effort or touch for
him to filter through their thoughts.

“It’s good you haven’t,” he said calmly. “I
don’t believe in second chances.”

“I know.” This was a scared whisper. “That’s
why I wanted to tell you last night.”

It didn’t matter what she told him. The
Darkness was going to claim him soon.

He grabbed his knife, his thoughts
involuntarily going to Autumn. Of all the girls he’d taken to his
bed the past few weeks, why couldn’t she have been one of them? He
almost wished he hadn’t tried to behave himself around her. One
night with her … the futile wish of a man on his deathbed.

She deserved better than him. The Darkness
would save him from making the same mistake with her that he made
with Summer.

Autumn’s second full day of school passed
quickly. The half-day Wednesday was painless, as the school
dismissed earlier than noon so students leaving for the holiday
were able to make their flights before a snowstorm rolled in. After
lunch, she found herself in the forest when the large flakes
started falling, seeking the mysterious monster named Sam.

“Sam!” she called.

With brambles, downed logs, snow, tree roots
and many other hazards, she needed her cane in the woods. She’d
done well without it for a good six hours a day the past few
days.

“Fine,” she muttered. “No one else is
talking to me either.” She sat on a tree stump and watched the
snow. She’d seen Beck at breakfast two days in a row. Aside from a
friendly smile, he’d ignored her and been completely enamored with
Tanya. Even Adam and Jenna were too absorbed with one another to
talk to her, and Biji left the day before. Decker she hadn’t seen
since their walk Monday.

She’d heard the rumors, though, the ones
that said he’d started slaughtering Light Witchlings. Troubled,
Autumn sought to figure out what she was missing, why she felt the
way she did about him when he was doing things everyone agreed were
very, very wrong.

“I’m not leaving until I find you, Sam!” she
shouted into the forest.

Very well, child.
His voice entered
her mind.

Autumn looked around, waiting for him to
appear. Instead, the trees bent away from the path he wanted her to
take. It led deeper into the forest. She limped along the trail
until it led her to a massive tree stump perched against a hill.
Air swept away the snow from the dark entrance of the stump.

With some anxiety, Autumn stepped into the
stump, surprised to find it held a cozy dwelling. Sam sat near a
small fire, two mugs of steaming liquid beside him. She sat near
him, and he handed her a mug. Sighing at its warmth, she sipped the
cider within.

“I can’t see you going to the grocery
store,” she said, peering into the cup.

The Turners bring us treats.

“What do you normally eat? Like,
plants?”

Sam grinned. She cringed at the look.
We
eat what we can catch and cook.

“Animals, small children?”

He shook his head, amused.

“Can I bring you a plate of turkey tomorrow?
It’s a holiday for us.”

If you wish it.

“Okay.” She studied her cider. “I’ve been
working with my magick every day. It’s getting easier. Air is a
little hard to work with sometimes. It wants to do its own
thing.”

It’s the most independent of them. When
harnessed, it’s very powerful.