Red Moon Secrets (Deadly Beauties #3) Page 16

  I think the air has gotten too thick to breathe. Kane is like me. Just like me—

  "It's about Kane," I whisper, tearing up as relief and angst fill me at once.

  "What's about Kane?" Chaz asks, bemused.

  "The prophecy. It was never about Gage. Everyone is so fucking stupid. It even said I'd be drawn to my dark lover—that I'd gravitate toward him until at last we met. I never gravitated toward Gage. He found me. Kane and I ran into each other. I was drawn to Pine Shore. I moved there after he did. It's about Kane."

  I whimper, sob, and hiccup all at once, as uncontrollable tears of pain, joy, and madness drip without mercy. She seems unaffected by my laughter that mingles with sobs as I celebrate and panic at the same time.

  "This," she says, leaning over and taking my wrist in her hand, motioning to Castine's faded locator mark. My hysteria simmers down as I stare at it. "It won't work for her again. Once you killed the spirit, your power grew too strong for Castine to contend with. You opened yourself up that night by giving in to the power you truly held. Now this mark will only work if you're very, very close to her. She'll never find you otherwise."

  I breathe out in relief.

  "Why did you mention the dark user?" Chaz asks.

  "Because," she says, smiling sadly, "he destroys their love in my vision. He's tied her to a spell, one which is powerful—"

  "Been there, made it through, now I have to go save Kane. How do I break into the prison?"

  Chapter 18

  Kane

  "How do you know this?" I ask the child who has literally knocked the air out of me with so much realization.

  "You should lie down and play like you're asleep again. They come to take me now. I'll be taken to the woman in white," she says, sounding so fucking tragic. I have to get us out of here.

  I look around, wishing Dray would wake up. I need his help, damn it. These charms are too strong for me alone, but the two of us—we might stand a chance.

  "Who's the woman in white?" I ask, refusing to be cowardly enough to pretend as though I'm still asleep.

  "She keeps me here because it's the safest place to hide me. The council are unaware. This is hers. That's why you're here. Our world has gone too lax and now she runs it from the shadows."

  "Who is she?" I repeat, feeling the urgency she seems to lack.

  She ignores me.

  "You need to find the girl with black and blond hair and changing eyes. She'll come for you soon. Keep her safe, or we'll all be lost souls like the ones they keep," she whispers, scaring the fuck out of me.

  "How do you—"

  "Sleep," she whispers, making it a command.

  Black specks of darkness steal my vision before I have the chance to argue, and my words are stolen by silence as I drop to the ground, slowly losing consciousness as the world swallows me up.

  ***

  Alyssa

  I've been pacing the halls, thinking of every way possible to break past the fucking valkyries that are said to guard the walls of the prison. I wish I knew how to summon my creature goddess. I wish I knew how to control it. It does no good to be powerful if you never have control, idling in the darkness of the mind that has forsaken you.

  I wish I could ask Gage what to do right now, but considering he's hell-bent on him being the one I'm destined for, that would be pointless. If he was desperate enough to use a damn love spell on me, then he'll never take it well when I tell him I know it's really Kane.

  Prophecies, destiny, fated lovers—it all just pisses me off. Once upon a time, I was an oblivious light witch who really, truly thought she could live the rest of her mortal time as a normal girl. Now—damn, my life got complicated real quick.

  "Any plans?" Chaz asks, looking to me as he struts through the hallway.

  "Slap me, piss me off, punch me in the face—I don't know. It seems like my crazy bitch only comes out when I'm panicked or pissed. Sort of like the incredible hulk."

  He laughs lightly while shaking his head.

  "You saying you want to turn into a green monster?"

  "I turn into plenty of other monsters. What's one more?" I mumble, slumping down.

  He frowns as he comes to join me. "Even if you could call out your crazy bitch side, it doesn't mean you'd go after Kane. You went after a rapist and a woman who was abusing children. I've been reading. Some of the creatures were thought to have just gone crazy and killed at random—turns out, they did things similar to what you've done. It wasn't random. They were killing the vicious to save the innocent."

  I offer a sad, almost bitter smile. "It doesn't make it right. There are other ways."

  "Not to an animal. Not to a creature of fey. Dealing out a death sentence for wronging their children or the ones they protect is common for most of our kind. Just not in the light circle. Your mind changes to think like the creature you possess. Maybe that's why you black out and lose control. You're so insistent on only seeing things in black and white—using human morals as a guide to right and wrong. Your mind knows better than to let you see what you're doing, because you'll become lost, numb, and forever scarred. We're fey. Not human. No matter how hard you try, you'll never be a human. Stop thinking like one and maybe you can control your fey mind."

  He stands to walk away, but I call to him, making him turn to face me once more.

  "I never thought I'd hear you say something like that," I murmur, seeing a touch of emptiness burdening his eyes.

  "In this world, I've learned life is not a right; it's a gift. If you're only hurting the living by being alive, then what right do you have to live? It didn't take much research for me to learn about the vicious nature of the victims that were killed by creatures like you. I think your kind was meant to govern and save the world from the wicked place it's become. Do you really think I'm the only one who has noticed this? They didn't kill your kind because you were savage, but because there would be a creature who could see the darkness that stained the soul.

  "They killed your kind because they were worried they'd be seen as the monsters they are. Your kind wasn't rabid or savage; they were lost in the power that guided them to eliminate the true threats in the world—the blackened hearts who offered no good. You're not the monster, Alyssa. Never were. Never will be. How many more lies have we been told?"

  He looks as broken as I felt when I started seeing the truth about our world. He's wrong. I don't see it in black and white anymore. Maybe there are some things I struggle with. Killing is wrong—at least, it should be. I don't know. This is all so fucked up.

  "I'm—this is so confusing," I groan.

  "You can hate yourself for what you are, or you can accept it. Think about those women and children you've saved. That woman who sat across from me cried and nearly fell apart as she recounted the events from the night she saw you. She didn't want to tell me what you looked like—even lied about it. She wanted you to go free because you saved her from a life of terror. She couldn't move, so she was stuck in the town with the man who could take her without permission any time he wanted. I had to use my magic on her to get the truth.

  "Those children? They were all dehydrated to the point the youngest needed hospitalization before her kidneys shut down. You can hate the monster, but I promise you they don't. It's hard. The entire world is hard. But the ones you saved love the creature that rescued them from the real monsters out there."

  He vanishes from sight, possibly tired of trying to convince me I'm not as bad as those people were. I keep thinking about what he said. I'm not human. I have to stop thinking like a human. If it'll save Kane, then it's worth it.

  I strain, trying to rip up that arbitrary line that separates right from wrong. Not a damn thing. I look constipated more than I look successful. It'd be nice if Freya had left me a damn how-to guide.

  I stand up, tired of straining, worried I might force a brain aneurism, and I head to the bedroom where I'll stare at the ceiling instead of sleep. Kane needs me, and I'm completely powerless to save
him. If it was me in there, he would have already saved me.

  As I pull the necklace over my head to put it away, a washing sense of something dark and hungry stirs within me, and a twisted grin spreads over my face. It's. About. Time.

  Chapter 19

  A Little Bit Bad

  The ground shakes and quivers beneath me as I make my way toward the hidden prison the humans can't see. They shouldn't have fucked with my night stalker. They shouldn't have fucked with me.

  The wind violently slaps anything that dares to stand up to it, and the weaker things fly through the air, giving up their endeavor to cling to the ground. Screeches ride through the air, letting me know the first wave of attacks are coming in the form of banshees. Foolish.

  Their white hair whips in my winds as they appear and disappear, seeming to fly toward me, releasing their screams of death that would kill most.

  I let out a powerful screech of my own, tasting the strength that could pierce the ears of the dead, and I watch as the white-haired women clap to the ground or run in retreat. The howls of wind set the music for the hell I plan to unleash. Only a fool would touch him. They'd better hope he's still alive.

  Flashes of impossibly fast moving beings leave shadows around me as they hide in with the darkness, surrounding me, thinking they're taunting me. I taste the planes to the worlds of the souls opening, meaning these bitches hiding in the shadows of the darkness are valkyries.

  "You can steal my soul," I murmur to the darkness, laughing in amusement when they refuse to answer. "If you can get close enough," I add, hearing their teeth grind when they feel I'm not giving them the respect they deserve.

  Flashes of shadows dive after me in unison, but they collide when I vaporize, leaving nothing for them to pounce on. I look on, staying in a plane that offers a looking glass to the world below.

  Then I descend, lashing out with orbs, webs, and fire. Screams erupt as they're struck with the powerful blasts of power, engulfed by the flames, and encased by the webs. Dodging their every attack, I repeat the cycle, losing my patience as their numbers pile up.

  Two rush me from the sides, and I finally show them who the fuck they're dealing with, letting my eyes fall to their true color as I grasp them both by the necks. They don't gasp for air—they gasp because they just realized they never stood a chance.

  "Freya," one whispers, making me smile in eerie delight.

  "No. I'm stronger than Freya. You're lucky you don't deserve to die," I hiss before cutting their air off until they black out.

  That's all of them. If there are anymore, they're not brave enough to attack—not yet.

  The doors blow open in front of me, creaking in fear as I walk over the threshold. More valkyries appear, but one look at my eyes, and they retreat, screeching and diving into the planes of the souls they keep.

  I sense him, taste the air he breathes into, and I follow his scent as a guide. With each turn, his scent grows stronger. With each step, his presence touches me more. Bars separate me from a corridor where I sense him the most.

  Charmed bars.

  I smile as I press one hand to the bar. That's all it takes. It collapses as though it was never anything more than a few bars of iron instead of impassible charmed holds.

  As I come to the end of the corridor, another set of bars meet me, and behind them rests my night stalker. He sleeps. Peacefully.

  I look around to see them all asleep. They don't move or acknowledge me, so it has to be a spell.

  "Wake," I command, smiling as they all slowly rouse and rise from their sleep, and then freak the hell out when their eyes meet mine.

  The dark-haired lycan glares at me, and I take a step toward her cage, smiling as I beg her heart is as black as her hair. Damn. It's not. It's too light.

  "Alyssa," my night stalker says, drawing my attention back to him.

  With a wave of my hand, all the bars in the room bend and contort to make room for the imprisoned to step out. The glowing blues meet my silvers, and I smile in anticipation as he wraps me up, pulls me to him, and presses those incredible lips against mine.

  He pulls me tighter as the fire ignites from my mouth to his, and his fingers run through my hair as he roughly seizes control of the kiss.

  "We should get out of here before the damn valkyries come," the dark angel says from behind.

  I turn to see a heart so pure it's almost blinding. He's not as pure as my night stalker, but he's close.

  "The valkyries will let us go. They'll die if they don't. I only offered them one chance to live, for they were only doing what they felt was right."

  The dark angel stumbles backwards when he sees my eyes and hears my words. Odd little creature.

  I turn back to see my night stalker smiling, and then he shakes his head in amusement.

  "She finally fucking got it under control."

  Chapter 20

  Gage

  "She has to be somewhere, damn it!" I yell, tossing shit around the room as Dice flinches.

  "Have you checked with Drackus?"

  Drackus. That motherfucker won't be of any damn use. I don't even bother answering Dice's rhetorical question.

  My phone buzzes in my pocket, and I almost rip the damn seam open to pull it out.

  "Yeah?" I rush out, not recognizing the number.

  "Meet me in twenty minutes. I know something you're going to want to know," my mother says, making me hiss and growl in one breath.

  Not who I wanted to speak to.

  "What's this about?"

  "Alyssa. Meet me in twenty minutes at the corner grove behind Pine Shore."

  "I'll be there in five. You be there, too."

  I hang up, and Dice walks over to me, hands on hips like a pissed off woman.

  "If you think you're leaving me behind, you're sadly mistaken."

  I smirk, shrugging a little. "Go to sleep," I mutter, stifling a grin when he falls to the floor, snoring before he claps the ground.

  I grab my keys, and then say to hell with driving. That's not too far. I can vaporize.

  My body dissembles and melds with the particles of the air as I split the planes, traveling too fast to be more than a glimpse of a shadow to the mortal eye. My feet hit the ground, I stand up and straighten my jacket, and then I start looking around for the bitch who had better tell me where my girl is.

  "Looking for someone?" she asks from behind, bringing my attention to her.

  I turn around before saying, "Where is she?"

  She smiles and shrugs. "I was hoping you'd have the answer to that. It seems she stole her night stalker from prison after I worked so hard to put him in there."

  She broke him out? Fuck. They're together? I can't fucking save her if she doesn't stop running from me.

  Wait. What?

  "You're the reason he was found out?" I ask, stunned. This bitch knows too much.

  Her ominous grin quirks up as she plays with a strand of her hair. "It's so sad, really. You had the potential to be something so great. You always were a disappointment. I served her up on a silver platter for you, and yet you still couldn't play your part. Even gave you Aphrodite's spell. Pathetic, really. Only a true fuck-up can fuck up this bad."

  What the hell kind of crazy is she on right now?

  "What—"

  My words are cut off as a bag is jerked over my head, and a spell binds me, turning me as stiff as a board. I can only struggle internally because my body can't move—I'm paralyzed, damn it.

  I try to curse her, say anything, but the spell they've used has muted me. I start chanting inside my head, desperate to break free, but I'm met by darkness before the first line can be said.

  Being chained up and as cold as a human in the winter isn't pleasant, but at least I'm alive.

  "’Bout time you woke up," an impossibly familiar voice says, chilling me to my core.

  I look up, squinting against the darkness. When I finally see him, my breath leaves my lungs in a gasp. I scramble backwards until I slam into
the wall, shaking my head in disbelief, as I stare at the blond-haired ghost.

  I'm dead. Oh fuck. I'm dead and in a different plane.

  "You're not dead," he says, seeming to read my mind as the chains rattle around his wrists. He rests his head back against the cold stone as he licks a drop of blood from his lip. "And neither am I."

  It takes me a second to even attempt to speak, but when I do, it's hoarse and strained. "I saw you. Bound, shredded, and... and... fucking dead! How—-"

  "You saw a changer who looked exactly like me, smelled exactly like me, and even dressed in my clothes. These people are good. They are both genius and stupid. They left behind something as a way to crush all doubt that it might not be me, but it's what they've been looking for."

  He lets out a low chuckle, either delirious or amused—I'm not sure. Quite frankly, I'm questioning my damn sanity right now.

  "Why—"

  "There are things you don't know, Gage. Things about me, about who I am, about what I can do. Ever wonder why I'm so fucking strong? Well, not everyone overlooked it. I should have kept my secret better. Apparently Alyssa and Kane exposed themselves as well. They know everything."

  What does he mean about Kane's secret? "They know about Alyssa? You know about Alyssa?"

  "I do now. I've overheard chatter through the pipes when I strain real damn hard. The ring leader found out several years ago when a night stalker fed from Alyssa's veins. He lived. Her blood gave him so much strength, and the high he was on almost carried him over the edge. It's also how they figured out about Kane. Because he never hit such a high—he was too strong to be driven to that side of madness."

  Kane. Why does he keep mentioning that fucking night stalker?

  "What about Kane?" I finally ask, trying to get him to stop hinting and just blurt out whatever it is he has to say.