Secret Worlds (395 page)

“Yeah.”

Two steaming mugs of coffee prepared, I relax and sit with Finn. Mostly relax, I’m alert for someone else coming home, or whether he has a secret agenda to kill me like crazy Alek told me.

“So, what happened last night? Why did you disappear? I don’t understand why Alek was with you,” asks Finn.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

Finn sighs and sits back in his seat. “I’m not used to girls disappearing on me when I go on a date.”

I swallow the warm coffee in my mouth. “Date?”

Finn dips his head. “Sorry, that came out wrong.”

Alek’s face appears in my mind; his harsh kiss and the buzz it gave me. The blonde-haired guy in front of me could never do those things to me.

“I’m not looking for a boyfriend,” I say quietly.

“Fair enough.” Finn shifts his look to somewhere else in the room behind me. God, I hope I haven’t just isolated myself from my only friend by refusing him.

He rubs the back of his neck. “You really don’t want to stay in the house, huh?”

“The occupants are…weird.”

“Yeah, I noticed. That Alek guy is seriously unhinged.”

Unhinged is an interesting way of putting it.

Finn’s shivering isn’t stopping, and goose bumps grow on his arms. “Let’s go into the lounge room; I’ll put the fire on and get you a proper towel,” I say.

Finn stands. “Please. Your house is bloody cold.”

When I return with the towel, Finn is standing in front of the warming gas fire. His hair is darker blonde with the wet, and he turns to me with an unreadable expression in his eyes.

“I can tell why you don’t like this place. I get a really bad vibe. Is it haunted?”

I shudder. “Maybe.”

He takes a deep breath and sighs. “I feel these things,” he says quietly. “There’s people stuck here.”

Oh, shit; not him, as well. I bump my rear onto the sofa. “Yeah?”

He doesn’t respond and stares into the fire. An awkward silence follows and I half-expect one of the ghostly residents to appear.

“I’ve seen one,” I tell him and I’ve no idea why.

“Oh?”

“She attacked me.” I decide not to mention the girl at the pub and her attack.

“How can she attack you if she’s a ghost? Like a poltergeist who threw something at you?”

“I don’t know,” I mumble, fighting tears, increasingly convinced I’m the deranged one here.

Finn moves from the fire to sit next to me on the sofa. Not too close, thank God. I hope the whole date issue is dealt with. I need a friend, not another lover. I shake my head. Lover? Alek’s barely touched me.

“You’re different today. Brighter. Not as pale,” he says.

I look at my hands, perturbed by the way he scrutinises me, ending by looking at my mouth.
Okay, I don’t think the date issue is dealt with.

“I’m so sorry,” he says softly.

“For what?”

Finn leans back on the sofa. “For how you are.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I mean I’m sorry you have to go through this, not that I’m responsible.”

“Why would you say that? Why would I think you’re responsible?” I push myself to my feet and edge away. Either everyone in my life is deranged or it’s time I start to process and accept everything happening to me. “I think I’m going to get changed; I got wet, too.”

“Wait.”

Finn stands and grabs my arm, curling his hand around my wrist. The familiar painful chill spreads up my arm; as the numbing travels up my neck, he drops his hand. I step back, rubbing my sleeve, staring back at a wide-eyed Finn.

As if on cue, the front door opens and slams shut. Alek halts, an initial wide-eyed look of surprise replaced by narrowed eyes and him shooting across the room toward us.

Alek shoves Finn in the chest. “Get the fuck away from her!”

I freeze, unsure what he’s going to say or do—to Finn or me.

“You should go,” I say to Finn and step between him and Alek.

Finn laughs softly to himself, and I shift my look to him. He has his arms crossed over his chest. “Why should I? You asked me in.”

Oh, crap. I hoped he’d be intimidated like last time, not hold his ground. I don’t want to be part of whatever is about to happen.

The dizziness creeps across my head as the pain in my arm spreads from where Finn touched me and into my chest, constricting my lungs. I back to the sofa and put my head on my knees, fighting the fog.
As soon as I get my breath, I’m out of here
.

“Calm down, man,” says Finn, “No wonder she’s leaving.”

“What?” He turns to me. “You’re leaving? Why? After everything I told you…?”

“
Because
of everything you told me.”

He pushes a hand through his scruffy hair. “You didn’t believe me?”

In the logic of the outside world brought on by the daytime, his stories are fairy tales. Finding myself trapped behind invisible barriers in a claustrophobic house isn’t logical, though. “Maybe a little of it. But I don’t understand why you told me Finn is dangerous.”

Finn chokes. “What the fuck?”

“Oh, don’t play so innocent. I know what you are!” snaps Alek

Now Finn steps away from Alek, palms held outward in a gesture of surrender. “Umm. Okay. Sure. What’s that?”

Alek runs his tongue along his teeth. “Fine, play games. You know what I am.”

“A seriously messed-up guy?”

I suppress a laugh which is instantly interrupted by Alek pushing Finn against the wall near me. Finn makes a noise as his breath is knocked from him.

“You’re not funny,” he growls, leaving his hand on Finn’s chest.

“Alek, stop being such a dick,” I retort.

“Yeah,
Alek
.”

Alek looks between the two of us, tensed. “He just touched you. What did it feel like?”

“Okay...” He looks at me. “Is this a jealousy thing? Have you guys got together?”

The red creeping across my face answers his question. “No. Not really.”

A moment in time halts as Alek’s deep-brown eyes fix on mine in a way that delves into my soul. “We just kissed.” He tips his head at Finn. “What do you think about that?”

“Whatever, kiss who you like. She’s not my girlfriend.” Finn grabs Alek’s wrist and pulls his arm away from his chest. “You have some major issues. I’m not surprised she wants to get away.”

“What does it feel like when Finn touches you, Rose? Cold? Numb?” His attention remains fixed on Finn. “Are you dizzy now?”

“I’m not listening to this!” I place my hands over my ears and close my eyes, focusing on pushing away the fog. Disconnected voices filter thorough my fingers, and I open an eye to see them practically nose to nose.

“Get out of my fucking house,” he says in a low voice.

“Not without Rose.”

Alek grabs Finn around the throat and I drop my hands from my head, wondering if I should intervene. “Get your hands off me, demon,” growls Finn, “Or I’ll end you.”

Demon?

“End me?” Alek squeezes Finn’s throat. “See! He’s a Reaper. He wants to kill you, and then he’ll try to kill me! I think he’s killing other people, too, at the hospital.”

“What do you mean?” I yell at Alek, “What’s a Reaper?”

Finn claws at Alek’s hand, trying to free himself. His wide eyes meet mine and he shakes his head, unable to speak.

“Alek! Let him go!” I yell. My vision greys; I feel like I’m watching through fog.

Alek considers for a moment, and then drops his hand.

Finn shoves Alek with both hands and steps away. “Forget it. I’m not fighting you. It’s pointless anyway. But I don’t want to kill her any more than you do you,” says Finn. “And I am not killing people, you lunatic.”

Their voices grow distant, alerting me to my incoming faint. My stupid, useless body collapses to the floor.

“Rose? Are you okay?” I struggle to open my eyes as Finn’s words travel through the fog. His voice and the presence hit the subconscious part of my mind, where the night of the accident lives. This is him. Finn was the one who let me live. How can that be true? Nothing makes sense.

“I think she’s unconscious; we need to help her,” says Finn.

“Get the fuck away from her!” shouts Alek, grabbing his arm again.

I open an eye and watch as Finn stands back, hands held out in self-defence. “Alek. There is something going on at the hospital. There are people dying, but it’s nothing to do with me. Your housemate is involved.”

“Bullshit,” snaps back Alek. “You’re the fucking Reaper; it’s your job, of course it’s you.”

“I’m here because of Rose. That’s it.”

“You’re lying! Lizzie is with me, here. She’s helped me for years and she’ll help Rose. “

“Rose knows then?” I snap my eyes shut so they don’t know I’m listening.

“Some of it.”

“Then you need to tell her everything. You also need to be prepared to move on, and without Lizzie, because I’ve seen her with demons at the hospital.”

Alek freezes. “Here? Why are they here?”

“You know why, and I know you’re hiding from them. I’m trying to protect Rose, and her staying with you isn’t safe. You need to let her leave.”

Their conversation sounds as if I’m listening from the bottom of a swimming pool, words making less sense than usual. Again, the confusion over whether this is reality or a dream crawls across my mind.

“I don’t believe you. Just go,” snarls Alek.

“You can’t fight this on your own. You’ve run for too long. They know where you are now.”

“Go,” repeats Alek.

Voices clamour in my head the way they did last time I gave into the fog, voices trying to pull me into a different place. For a few minutes, I focus on pushing them away. No more is said between Alek and Finn, and I hear the door slam. I lie with my cheek against the rough carpet for a few minutes longer until Alek approaches.

He looks down. “Can you get up?”

“You could be a gentleman and help me up, since you seem so bloody keen on being my knight in shining armour.”

He squats down. “Remember what happened when I touched you last night?”

I struggle to sit. “When you kissed me, you mean?”

Alek closes his eyes. I’m too tired and sick for this bullshit. I roll onto my side and push myself onto my hands and knees, head down, trying not to vomit.

“See what he does to you?”

“It’s not him, it’s the after-effects of the accident.”

Alek sits on the floor next to me. Something in his face reflects pain, morphing from the anger I just saw directed at Finn. “No, it isn’t, Rose. He wants your life. Every time you get close to him, you die a little.”

“No. That’s crazy.”

“If he had any guts, he’d just do it. He’s supposed to be fixing his mistake. I don’t know what his game is, and I don’t believe a word he says.”

I push myself into a sitting position, tears annoyingly on their way. “Fixing his mistake?”

“He’s the one who fucked up and let you live. He’s here to send you to the Void, technically killing you. He’s getting rid of the abomination he created.”

“Huh, nice...There’s me, thinking you liked me.”

Alek gives a half-smile. “We’re both mistakes, although some of us don’t see things that way.”

I swallow. “How... how could he...kill me if I’m not alive? Can’t I take his energy?”

“How did you feel when he touched you? The same as when we touch?” he asks. “Did he feel cold?”

“Yeah.”

Alek rubs his face. “He’s not human either, Rose. His energy is very different. He’s powerful. “

“Then if he wants to kill me, he’d have done it by now.”

“I’m not sure; maybe he’s using his extra time to kill a few more people at the hospital. Easy targets.”

“Is that what Reapers do? Like the Grim Reaper? He seems like such a nice guy.”

Alek snorts. “They help people cross over when they die. They choose where to send the souls. So, it’s likely he’s the one killing people, isn’t it?”

“And you? A Reaper did this to you, too?”

“You look ill, Rose; we should talk about this later,” he says evasively.

I curl up and rest my head on my knees. “Why couldn’t I get out of the house? Did you do something?”

“No, what happened?”

“That’s why Finn came; I was stuck, like there was a barrier at the door or something.”

Alek rubs his eyes and the genuine confusion in his face suggests he wasn’t the one trapping me in the house. Lizzie?

“Why didn’t you call me instead of Finn?” he asks

“Because I’m a bit scared of you, Alek,” I admit in a small voice.

Alek shuffles forward. “Don’t be, please. Last night, I gave you my energy to replace the energy the ghost in the street took from you. I took energy from Clarissa, sent her to the Void, and gave it to you. If I hadn’t, you’d have gone.”

“Gone where?”

He shakes his head and breathes deeply, wincing slightly.

“But you gave too much? Is that why you look ill?” I ask.

Alek holds a hand up then squeezes his fingers, as if trying to stop himself touching me. “I never give. Ever. But I had to help you.”

“Why me?”

“Because you’re the first person like me I’ve met for many years.”

Alek touches my face and I jerk at the heat of his touch, his electricity trickling from his fingers across my skin. He awakens every nerve ending in my body, overwhelming me. Embarrassingly, a small gasp escapes my lips and his eyes zone in on my mouth.

“Since last night…I want to touch you again. When I first saw you, I was aware of the strength of the energy inside you and knew exactly how taking that could make me feel.” I shrink away from him and wrap my arms around myself. “No, I don’t want to take. I want to share and feel again what I felt last night. I don’t care how I was afterwards.”

Alek is wet from the rain; the smell of his damp hair and leather surrounds and replaces the supernatural with the human. Now that we’re close again, the only thing my crazy brain wants is for him to kiss me. Talk of reapers, energy, demons, and death is forcibly shoved out by one thought: Alek. I throw myself at him and he tips backward, catching himself on his arms. Winding my arm around his neck, I search his mouth with mine, pulling his bottom lip into my mouth and biting. Crazily, I climb onto his lap, pushing my face into his.

He loosens his arms to take hold of me, and then leans backward so I’m lying on top of him. Alek’s darkened eyes search mine briefly before he grabs my head. “Fuck, Rose…”