Darkness Brutal (The Dark Cycle Book 1) (23 page)

“But the tattoos on your arms . . . ?”

He lifts his hands, showing me his colorful forearms. “I had these images of dragons and vines and bones inked over the ones I carried with me from the past. What you saw a second ago was my state of being as I came through the tear in time.”

“Can you see souls like I can?” I’ve been wondering this since the moment I met him.

He gives me a sad smile. “Once I could. But the longer I’ve been here, the more my sight has failed me. What little connection I had to the spirits is now waning. It’s a consequence of my having stayed longer than I was meant to. There are many rules to this time game.”

I shake my head. “I have no idea how to absorb all this.”

“Ask me anything. I can help.”

“I don’t know.” I don’t know anything for sure anymore.

“I can help you and your sister,” he says, like he’s bargaining. “Think of your sister, Aidan. She won’t fare well on the streets.”

He has no idea how true that statement is, but not for the reasons he’s thinking.

“I have a warm bed for her at the house,” he says. “Food and shelter. I can keep you both safe.” He comes closer. “I won’t harm you, I swear. Look in my eyes and see I’m telling the truth. I won’t do anything to harm you as long as you remain here.”

There’s no red spark of a lie in his eyes, but something in me can’t quite give in until I’m sure. Maybe it’s the dark gravity of the doorway behind me. Maybe it’s because I’m totally exhausted, but I pull my knife out of my pocket. “Hold out your hand.”

He steps back and blinks at me for a second. But then he holds out his hand to me.

Before he can figure out what I’m doing, I take it in mine and slide the edge of the blade hard against his palm, opening up the skin.

He hisses in pain and pulls away, cradling his fist against his chest. Blood seeps through his clenched fingers, running along his knuckles in shiny red lines.

I grip the sharp blade in my left hand and slice my own palm open. It stings like a fire, but I grit my teeth and hold the wound out to him in offering. “An oath in this place of power. You will never raise a finger to work against me or mine. If you do, everything you’ve worked for will be turned to ash.”

He only hesitates for a second before reaching out to grip my bleeding hand with his own. “I swear it. I’ll never raise a finger to work against you.”

“Or mine,” I say.

“Or yours.”

I release his hand and back away a little. My body tingles from exertion, and my lungs burn, like I finished sprinting up a hill.

“So you’ll stay with us,” he says like he’s checking.

I don’t answer. I pull the amulet from my pocket and toss it at his feet, not wanting anything from him now. Then I turn and walk back toward the car.

THIRTY-TWO

I knew the truth of where I came from would be . . . unusual. But how do you prepare yourself to find out you’re a cosmic error in the space-time continuum, the son of some long-dead biblical prophet, and marked for death?

As unreal as it all sounds, though, the pieces fit: my different gifts; the robed men in my vision when I touched that strange tablet in the shed; the way Sid acts around me; the demon’s claim that I have no father here . . .

I don’t, because he’s been dead for more than two thousand years.

God, that’s just . . .

Fuck.

The ache in me grows. I cover my face with my hands, fighting the emotions threatening to consume me.

Someone knocks on the door, but I can’t move.

“Aidan,” whispers Rebecca’s voice through the wood. “Are you okay?”

I should probably answer her, open the door or something, make sure she’s okay, but I can’t bring myself to face anyone right now. To face anything.

After a minute of my silence she walks away, and I breathe a little easier.

Darkness falls eventually. Ava comes into the room, plops her bag down, and crawls into her bed.

“Rebecca’s worried about you,” she says. “Everybody knows you’re in freak-out mode, and they want to know why.”

I stare at the ceiling, seeing the house of cards that is my life ready to fall. I make myself breathe deep.

“I didn’t think you’d want them knowing it’s my fault,” she says. “But I know it is. I’m sorry about taking off.”

The beach . . . God, that seems so long ago. I should still be angry—furious, really—but I’m too tired.

“I thought you’d left,” I say. “For good.”

She’s quiet, like she didn’t expect that. “I really am sorry, Aidan. I just . . . I’d been inside for way too long.”

But that’s not the whole reason. Why is she lying?

I look across the room at her. “What was the note about, Ava?”

“I told you, I freaked out.”

“You said you knew how to fix things.”

She rolls over and faces the wall. “I had an idea, but it didn’t work.”

“What idea?”

“It doesn’t matter anymore, Aidan.” She sounds disappointed.

“Why won’t you tell me what you did?”

She doesn’t answer.

“I wish you knew how much this is killing me,” I say. But I don’t want to argue with her anymore. And I feel like I have something new in my arsenal, something I didn’t have before, with this knowledge about my origin. If I really am as big a deal as Sid says, then maybe that can help me protect Ava. Somehow.

“I love you, Aidan.” But I can hear tears in her voice. “Everything’s gonna be fine.”

I want to shake the answers out of her, to force her to tell me everything she’s been hiding. But I just listen to her breathe and pray that this new revelation will give me a way to save her. A way to be free from this life. A way to be free from the lies and the pain.

I turn to the window and stare out at the night sky. It’s a dark midnight-blue dome shimmering with the glow of city lights on the horizon. Only a handful of stars are visible; the rest hide behind the shroud of modern progress. You have to leave the city, go into the mountains, to see the actual sky. Here, in this glow of humanity, all that’s discernible are remnants of the truth.

I watch Mom from the doorway across the room. She rocks back and forth in the rocking chair, eyes gazing off into another world. The sun comes in from the window beside her, shining on her pale skin and making her golden hair look like she’s bathing in liquid light.

She rubs her rounded belly and turns, spotting me.

“Come here, Aidan.” She waves me closer.

I cross the room, feeling odd, like I’m not quite walking on solid ground. “Does it hurt?” I ask, amazed at her swollen belly.

She smiles and shakes her head. “Of course not. It’s the loveliest feeling on earth.” She takes my hand in hers and brings it to her side. “Feel.”

My palm lies flat while she presses it tight to her skin.

A few seconds pass, and something moves under my fingers, making Mom giggle. “See? She’s saying hello.” Tears fill her eyes, and she presses my hand closer.

“She?” I ask.

“Your little sister.”

A shiver of excitement works over me. “Really?”

Mom nods, and tears spill out. They’re happy tears that sparkle and shimmer on her cheeks like glass. She’s happy—I’m not sure she’s ever been happy before. I want to hug her and hug her until we both disappear into the warmth. Until my heart bursts into a million pieces.

“You’re a big brother, Aidan.”

I nod, my throat starting to hurt.

“Soon she’ll belong to you, and you’ll get to care for her and watch over her. You’ll keep her warm, and you’ll keep her safe from all the darkness, won’t you?”

I nod again. “I’ll always watch over her.”

“Yes,” she says, sounding tired. She kisses my head, wetting my brow with her tears. “You’ll keep her hidden from all the lions.”

THIRTY-THREE

I open my eyes, a weight instantly settling on me.

I turn to Ava’s bed.

She’s not there. Her bag’s gone, too.

I sit up and rub the sleep from my eyes.

Something cold slides against my chest.

I look down, blinking at a gold medallion on my sternum. The other amulet Sid gave me—the one I threw at his feet yesterday afternoon. It’s on a chain. Around my neck. I can’t stop staring at it. I sit there for a long minute, my mind totally blank.

Then I notice a square of paper on my lap. I pick it up, unfold it, and read in Ava’s handwriting:
Don’t be mad
. I know immediately what it means: she did a spell to bind the amulet to me.

I don’t bother getting pants on. I jump up, open the door, and yell over the banister, “Ava!”

Lester peeks into the entry from the kitchen. “Oh, shit, did she not tell you again?”

“Where did she go?”

He looks back into the kitchen like he’s considering his escape route, then says, “She went to the grocery store with Rebecca and Holly to get dinner supplies. I can call them.”

I curse under my breath and go back into my room. Ava’s a missing person, technically kidnapped. What’s Holly thinking? The ice cream shop and the grocery store?

If that’s even what they’re doing . . .

I look down at the amulet now dangling from my neck. It’s so small. Looks like a useless trinket you might find in a Cracker Jack box. Did Ava really bind it to me? Could I actually be invisible to demons now?

I touch it with my finger. There’s only one way to find out.

Someone knocks. I put my jeans on and grab a shirt and my phone before I open the door. It’s Lester, a worried look on his face. I walk past him into the hall, shoving my phone into my pocket.

“Do you need anything?” he asks.

“Yeah, a tracking device for my sister,” I say, starting down the stairs.

He follows me. “Where you going?”

“To find her.”

“But . . .”

Jax comes out from the kitchen as I open the front door. “Sid wants to download with you, man.”

“Where’s the grocery store? The one Holly goes to?”

Connor comes into the entry behind Jax. “Gelson’s, off Franklin. But that’s quite a walk from here. I can give you a lift.”

“I can handle it.” A walk will help me clear my head so I won’t strangle Ava when I find her. I can always grab a bus if I need to.

As I make my way to Franklin, I watch the shadows for creepers, looking for the Boss Demon that’s been following Rebecca, but I see nothing—not one single otherworldly thing. No ghosts. No time slips. No demons. Just dilapidated yards and miles of cracked sidewalk.

Of course, now that I’m looking, I won’t find anything.

I’m out of the neighborhood and in the shadow of some taller apartment buildings when Kara’s Camaro pulls up beside me. “Get in,” she says. When I ignore her and keep walking, she speeds up, turning in to a parking garage. I consider crossing the street and going down an alleyway to try and lose her, but before I get a chance, she comes running out of the garage. “Aidan, wait. Please.”

I walk for half a block as she follows me before I turn, and she nearly collides with my chest.

“
Now
you want to talk?” I bark, sending her stumbling back. “It’s a little late.”

She blinks up at me and opens her mouth, then shuts it again.

“What?” I ask. “No biting comeback this time? No snark left?”

“Don’t just run off,” she says, her voice a little shaky. “It’s not safe.”

“Didn’t you hear? I’m The One—the Bringer of Fire, in the flesh. Whatever the hell that means!”

“Aidan, please.”

“Please, what? Don’t you want to make fun of the insanity that has become my life?”

“I just need to talk to you.”

I turn to yell at the passing cars. “At last! She wishes to speak, folks! It’ll all be cleared up now!”

A homeless man cheers from the alley across the street.

Kara points behind her, growling, “Just get in the freaking car and stop being a bitch about everything!”

I bite back a laugh and study her for a second: her squinting eyes, her tense neck muscles, and the smell of exasperation spilling off her skin. She’s caught up in this as much as I am. And as infuriating as my life is right now, she’s living her own drama.

“Answer me one question,” I say. “Just one explanation, and then I’ll get in your car and go wherever you want.”

She frowns at me. “What?”

“What is it you’re supposed to do to me, Kara?”

She shakes her head. “You’re an ass.”

“Don’t I have a right to know?”

Her keys suddenly seem very interesting to her. “I was going to explain everything to you.”

“Well, here I am. I’m all ears. Talk to me.”

She glances around. “The car’s double-parked.”

“Kara, stop avoiding.”

“It’s one of my many talents.”

“I’ve seen your talents at work.”

Her nostrils flare.

“I’m not under any illusions anymore that you like me,” I say. “Obviously you were playing a part: make the sucker think I’m attracted to him. Make him think I want him. Like a game. I just don’t understand fully why you went along with it.”

Her chest rises and falls, like she’s running out of breath. “This isn’t a game.”

“Not a game? Okay, a con, then. Sounds like the apple doesn’t fall—”

She socks me in the stomach, sending every ounce of oxygen whooshing from my lungs.

I hunch over, holding my palm up before she uses her knee on a second target. “Okay, okay.” I cough, trying to find air again. I may have deserved that.

“I wish I’d never met you in that club.”

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that about . . .” I look at her, not wanting to say the words. I can’t seem to stop hurting her. “I shouldn’t open my fat-ass mouth when I’m pissed.”

“Can we just go?”

I shake my head. “I came out here to find my sister, and on the way I planned to check something.”

She gives me a doubtful look.

“This.” I pull the amulet from the neck of my shirt.

She squints at it. “You let Sid bind it to you?”

“It wasn’t Sid,” I say. “I’m not letting it go to waste, though. If there’s some chance I’m finally hidden from the demons, it may solve a myriad of problems.”

“Fine, I’ll help you. First we check on your sister and then we test it,” she says.

I glance back at the parking garage. “I thought you were double-parked.”

“I lied.” She smirks at me. “But it’s gonna cost me twenty bucks to park in there, so you owe me.”

“I think you trying to control my brain with your sex powers should keep me in the up column of our relationship for a while.”

Her teeth clench. “I told you, I never used my abilities on you.”

“Of course not. And you never lie to me.”

“I thought you could tell when people lie. Are you getting rusty with me, freshman?”

I look her over, wondering, and mumble, “Maybe.”

She seems to consider this for a second and then says, “I can prove it. Right here. Now.”

“Prove what?”

She moves a little closer. “That I wasn’t lying; I never used my powers on you.”

My heart speeds up. “And how do you plan on doing that?”

“Like this,” she whispers, moving closer, her breath warm against my lips.

The air around me shifts, her energy suddenly filling every atom, her eyes sparking to life like the sun reflecting off the ice. I reach out my hand as if it could ward her off and try to step back, but as I blink, my body goes suddenly still, mind blank . . .

Where am I?

She’s pulling away, her hand sliding down my arm, back to the steering wheel.

Steering wheel?

I’m in the passenger seat of her car, The Carpenters spilling from the speakers as we drive down what looks like Franklin Avenue.

“You back?” she asks, giving me a tired look.

My head spins as I try to grab hold of a memory of how I got in the car and what she might have said, done, to me. I study my mark, trying to see if it’s grown, looking for some sign of what happened.

“Don’t worry,” she says. “I didn’t rape you or make you rob a bank or anything. I just suggested we take a drive. Oh, and you may cluck like a chicken for no apparent reason at some random moment in the near future.” Her lips curl into a smirk.

“You . . .” I try to gather my thoughts. “That was your hypnotic thing? Like you did to the teacher at the school.”

“Do you believe me now? My ‘sex power,’ as you call it, isn’t something I enjoy using. Ever.”

My pulse slows a little as I study her. She looks worn down and sad, and the usual sweetness of her energy’s turned dull, now smelling more like the city after the rain. “I believe you.”

She clears her throat like my eyes on her are making her uncomfortable. “So now that we have that settled, let’s go get your sister and find a way to test that amulet.”