She was hunted and she
knew it. She had no money, no family, no job, and nowhere
to go. Both the Realm of Light and the Sons of Darkness wanted
her. She couldn’t run, and if she did, where to, and
for what reason? Her life was in Dalton’s hands, at
least for now. She had questions and needed answers. Like
why Dalton brought her here, why wasn’t she dead? Did
the Realm of Light have something to do with this, or did
he do this on his own? And if so…why? What did he want?
Too many questions—the
sheer volume of them exhausted her. It was easier to block
them all out—like she’d been blocking everything
else out for the past two weeks—not think about them.
Not yet, anyway.
She remembered feeling so powerful
not so long ago. Where had all her vigor gone? The Sons of
Darkness had promised her…
They’d promised her a
lot. And then they’d abandoned her. She was completely
human again, no traces of the power she’d wielded a
short time ago. Just like so many other times in her life,
she felt used and discarded. She bit back a laugh. How gullible
was she, anyway? Was it stamped in big neon letters across
her forehead? Hey, everyone, victimize me!
“Isabelle.”
She jerked her head up at the
sound of Dalton’s voice. “What?”
“Let’s go.”
She nodded and followed him
out the door, sucking in huge breaths of hot, humid air. She
glanced up at the palm fronds adjacent to the big house. They
weren’t flapping. No breeze at all. The smell of the
swamp made her wrinkle her nose. They walked down the front
steps and Dalton led her around the side of the big white
house, along a well-worn path of dirt and flagstones, then
across the lawn.
“Where are we going?”
“There’s a
cabin separate from the house. We’ll stay there. It’s
quieter, more remote. It’ll give us more privacy.”
“It’s great
that we have a place to stay.”
“It’s not
exactly the Ritz Carlton, but I think you’ll like it.
And it’s quiet.”
Whatever. The last thing she
needed was more time alone with her thoughts. Or her nightmares.
A big house filled with people would have been a nice distraction.
And how far were they going
to walk, anyway? The path seemed to wind on forever, skirting
near the edge of the swamp. There were probably alligators
lurking just under the surface of the murky water, sizing
her up for their next meal. Low hanging moss whapped her in
the face as they traversed the narrow trail, the trees seeming
alive and reaching for her. Her skin prickled like she was
being watched, though she didn’t see anyone on the porches
of the few cabins they passed by, nor was anyone outside.
She felt like Alice, only this was no Wonderland. It was just
freakin’ creepy.
Yeah, and maybe she needed to
start sleeping at night, before her delusions started hitting
daylight. Though her demons weren’t really delusional,
were they? They were real.
Dalton finally led her down
a gravel path toward a small, one story cabin near the water’s
edge. Cute, if a bit rustic looking. All dark wood like a
log cabin, tall trees surrounded the place and there were
some bushes along the porch and a few hanging pots with flowers
and greenery spilling over. Still, it was small. Really small.
“We’re both
staying here?” she asked as they stepped up onto the
porch.
“Yeah.” He
turned the knob and pushed open the door.
Not locked. That made her feel
oh so secure. Dalton flipped on the light, then stood out
of the way while she walked in.
Okay, so it wasn’t so
bad. All warm polished wood with area rugs, rustic furniture,
a fireplace, a tiny kitchen and two small bedrooms with a
connecting bath. Even a claw foot tub that sat underneath
a shuttered window. It was cozy and quaint. Maybe she could
relax here. Her suitcase sat on top of a quilt covered bed.
“Unpack, then I’ll
show you around.”
She jumped at the sound of Dalton’s
voice, his breath sliding over the back of her neck. She whipped
around to face him.
“Jesus! How do you
do that?” she asked, tilting her head back to look into
his face.
“Do what?”
“Sneak up on me.
I didn’t even hear you.” She looked down at his
feet. He wore those thick boots, and on hardwood floor it
wasn’t like they were stealthy. Did he float on air
or something?
One side of his mouth lifted,
as if he found scaring her amusing. Dickhead.
“It’s my job
to walk without noise. Sorry. I’ll stomp in the future.”
“You do that.”
She waited, but he didn’t move. “Is there something
else?”
His gaze was intense as he studied
her face. The tiny bedroom suddenly got smaller, her breathing
grew shorter, and her senses decided at the wrong damn moment
to come alive. She had way more on her mind, crises to deal
with, and sexual attraction was going to have to go to the
bottom of the list. Or even better, completely off the list.
Now tell that to her body, which
suddenly decided to warm and moisten in all the most inappropriate
places. Dammit.
“Well?” she
asked, hoping her surly attitude would get rid of him before
she did something really stupid like kiss him. Body contact,
passion, to touch and be touched…it all sounded really
good at the moment. And totally catastrophic at the same time.
“No.” He pivoted
and walked the short distance from her room to his and closed
the door behind him.
Isabelle exhaled, sat on the
bed and rubbed her temples, trying to massage away the dull
pain that seemed to seethe constantly in her head.
She was tired. So damn tired
she wanted to cry. It made thinking so much harder, and she
knew she needed to start engaging her brain if she was ever
going to drag herself out of this mess.
She missed Angelique, needed
her sister’s counsel, her warmth, more than ever. But
she could no longer turn to Angie, could no longer count on
her sister to help her.
She slid onto the bed, turned
to face the window, watched the bend and sway of tree limbs
as a breeze picked up. So giving, so flexible, so adaptable.
She’d never been able
to do that, had been rigid in her goals and what she’d
gone after. Like an unyielding tree branch, she’d snapped.
It had destroyed her.
Her eyelids were so heavy. She
yawned, fought sleep, knew what waited for her there. But
maybe she could take five, ten minutes. If she was lucky,
the dreams wouldn’t come.
Maybe the demons would stay
away. She thought of all the wonderful things in her life,
thought of her mother and how sweet she’d been when
Isabelle and Angelique were children. She thought of Angie,
her sister’s smile, how they’d played together
as kids. She thought of every single positive thing she could,
hoping it would help keep the monsters away as she slept.
She’d no more drifted
off than they came for her.
