Darker (22 page)

He was gone, just like that. The horrible sound faded away, but the strange sensations continued to overwhelm me. My head felt like it might pop. It was a floaty, light-headed feeling accompanied by the overwhelming pressure of foreign energy. I tried to channel it back out, into the earth, the building, anything. It was no use. Falon’s strange power roiled around inside me like a tornado on a path of destruction.

“
Alexa?” Jez was at my side, lifting my chin so she could peer into my eyes. What she saw made her own grow wide in terror. “Willow, what the hell did he do to her?”

Willow pulled me to my feet and looked me over. “He purposely dosed her.”

“
What does that mean?” I squeezed my eyes shut as the room began to spin.

“
He used your bloodlust against you, knowing you’d take power as well as blood. You can’t handle immortal power like ours. He could have killed you, but since Shya won’t let him, he let you take enough to really knock you on your ass for a while.”

“
I don’t understand.” I shook my head, and the room spun faster. It was hard to focus on either one of them.

“
My God, Alexa, your eyes are silver,” Jez breathed, a hand over her mouth.

“
In basic human speak, he got you stoned off your ass,” Willow explained. “Your power is life and death. What Falon and I are, it has never been human. It’s beyond life and death. You can’t control it. It will run rampant through you. You’ll have facets of Falon’s power. They will likely overwhelm you. It won’t kill you, but it might feel like it.”

I pulled out my phone, using the camera on the front so I could see my reflection. I gasped and dropped the phone, unable to take a closer look. My eyes were indeed the same pale silver as Falon’s. The pupils were dilated, a wide and drowning black. Blood stained my lips.

A soft murmur of what sounded like a hundred voices all talking at once began inside my head. It steadily grew louder until it was just a cacophony of noise, each voice seeking to be the loudest. With my hands on each side of my head, I gave a frustrated cry. The power shifted inside me, and the voices fell silent.

My hands shook, and I had to sit down on the end of the bed. “Should be fine? What exactly does that mean?”

Willow looked from me to Jez and back again. With an awkward shrug, he said, “Either you manage to ride it out, or it drives you absolutely crazy.”

Chapter Fourteen

Crazy was putting it lightly. It all hit me at once. The shaky unease gave way to a resurgence of stamina and strength that made me feel like I could scale a mountain. My awareness of every creature in the building, both human and supernatural, was heightened.

“
It feels like everyone in the city is inside my head. I can hear them. Ugh.”

“
You can hear the freely given thoughts. The more attention you pay them, the worse it gets. I know it’s hard, but try not to listen.” Willow put a hand on my arm. He looked worried. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have let you go into the circle.”

“
No, it’s my fault. I underestimated him.” I took a deep breath and tried to silence the voices again. “This isn’t going to stop me from finding Lilah.”

“
Let me get this straight,” Jez thoughtfully chewed a long fingernail. “He forced his power into you. So, can’t you use it for your own purpose as long as you have it?”

Willow nodded. “In theory, yes. If it can be controlled.”

“
So why not just go into the club and pick through the thoughts of the vampires in there? Someone will know where she is.”

Jez had a good point. I was glad one of us was still able to think straight. After locking up Harley’s room, we headed for the heart of the club. My feet touched the floor, but if I didn’t know better, I’d have thought I walked on air.

I shoved open the door that divided the club from the back hall, and it burst into flames. I shrieked and panicked. Willow waved a hand, and the fire went out.

“
Careful,” he warned. “Fire is just one of many things we can manipulate.”

I ducked into the bathroom to clean up quickly. Jez hovered close, a watchful eye always upon me. I avoided looking at myself in the mirror. It was impossible to get used to the force trapped inside me. It felt foreign, immense and frightening.

Falon’s blood might have easily been wiped from my face, but it was running hot through my veins. I wouldn’t forget the taste for a very long time, if ever. Even as his power drove my wolf nuts and held me prisoner in my own body, I wanted to taste him again.

Returning to the club, I kept my hands close to my body as I walked through the crowd. As I passed each vampire present, an onslaught of thoughts and feelings swarmed me. They were all thinking about blood and sex, some more than others. I searched for Lilah in each of them. I found nothing until I passed a lone vampire standing near the door watching the rest of us.

Lilah was strong in his mind. She’d sent him to watch the place. Where was she? I turned my silver gaze on him and pinned him with a deadly stare.

I was suddenly there before him with no recollection of having moved. Before he could react, I placed both hands on his head and saw everything so clearly. Lilah was staying in a heavily guarded house on the south side of the city. It was a ritzy neighborhood in a private area. Both vampires and demons patrolled the premises. However, they weren’t watching for Shya or me.

The vampire reached to throw me off. The power went out from me, and his head exploded into flames. I jerked my hands back in time to be covered with the ash and dust of his corpse.

Everyone around me stopped dancing, grinding and drinking. A few shrieks rang out from the human patrons. The vampires watched, waiting to see if I’d come for one of them next.

“
Alexa, did you get anything?” Jez asked, watching me with uncertainty.

“
I know where she is. We have to go in just before sunrise. She has too many guards.”

The voices started up again, all fighting to be the loudest. The pressure swelled in my head, and blood dripped from my nose. I turned to leave, and the candle burning on the nearest table burst into a giant flame.

I frantically looked around for Willow who was at the bar with an upended bottle in hand. He came to my rescue without spilling a drop. Jez pressed a tissue into my hand. I dabbed my nose and swore. I couldn’t take much more of this.

“
How long is this going to last?” I clutched Willow’s arm with more force than intended. My claws drew blood, and I jerked back, gushing a series of apologies.

“
It’s hard to say for sure. Either until you burn it off, or it burns you out.” Willow swigged from the bottle of scotch.

He gave the impression he was just a regular guy with a drinking problem. With Falon’s power commanding my senses, I could feel Willow’s power in ways I never had before. It was vast and deep. He was ready to do damage if anyone gave him a reason.

I stared at my hands, willing the wolf to back down. For the first time in years, I couldn’t repress the fangs and claws; too much power was wreaking havoc inside me. Thinking about the wolf made me think about losing it. Grabbing the bottle from Willow’s hand, I downed a few good swallows. It didn’t help.

A cool breeze lifted my hair. I felt Arys before he entered the building. We hadn’t spoken since I left him standing outside Shya’s house. My anger had long since faded. After everything that had taken place since last night, I had no interest in fighting with him.

“
Arys is here.” I glanced anxiously toward the door. “I don’t want him to see me like this.”

“
You two need to talk,” Jez said, giving my arm an affectionate pat. “We’ll go sit down. You talk to Arys, and if you need us, we’ll be right here.”

“
Whatever you do,” Willow added. “Don’t lose your temper. You could burn the whole building down.”

Don’t lose my temper? That was easier said than done as far as Arys was concerned. Willow and Jez left me standing there feeling helpless, though I was far from it. I didn’t want Arys to see me there, amid the partygoers, filled to capacity with power that didn’t belong to me. Drifting into the corner behind the bar, I waited.

He strode into The Wicked Kiss looking like an animal on the prowl. With his perfectly messed black hair and tight black jeans, Arys never ceased to make my knees weak. It seemed the more he drove me nuts, the more I wanted him. I anticipated the moment he would look my way.

Those midnight blue eyes landed upon me lurking in the corner. My stomach clenched when he came my way. Were we destined to always be this way? Growing more desperately in love with one another as the conflict between us also grew.

“
What happened to you, beautiful wolf?” Arys took my face in his hands and gazed into my eyes. “I can feel your wolf’s unrest.”

His mention of my wolf brought forth a sadness I thought I’d buried. I shook my head and searched for the right words.

“
It’s my fault. I underestimated Falon.” I went on to explain my poor attempt to manipulate information out of the fallen angel. I wanted to tell him what I’d learned about my wolf but couldn’t bring myself to put it into words. Not yet.

“
I’m sorry, Alexa.” Arys pressed his lips to mine in a tender kiss. “About Shya. I shouldn’t hide things from you. I just want to protect you.”

“
Look at me, Arys.” I kissed him back, nibbling his bottom lip. “You can’t protect me from everything. You can’t even protect me from yourself.”

He stiffened and pulled away. “I can damn well try.”

Irritation took hold, and I huffed in annoyance. Arys needed to accept that I could handle myself. His insecurities were not my weaknesses. They were his. I grabbed a candle from the closest empty table and blew out the flame. Concentrating on the foreign entity inside me, I waved a hand over the candle, and the wick ignited.

Arys’s eyes widened, and he appeared mildly impressed. I couldn’t be too self-satisfied; that simple use of Falon’s power had my head throbbing.

“
I hate to say it, but I’m kind of glad it was you and not me,” Arys admitted with a grin. “I’ve entertained the thought of sinking fangs into him more than once. How bad does it hurt?”

I had to pull out the tissue Jez had given me and dab the blood from my nose again. “Like a bitch.”

Then, I noticed that I hadn’t detected the slightest thought from him since his arrival. I stared at him, trying to pull something from him. Nothing.

“
I can hear the thoughts of most of the people in here, but I can’t hear yours.”

“
That’s the plan. I keep my thoughts guarded. Many things can read minds, and I take no chances. You should do the same. It’s no different than when you close me out of your mind. Same idea.”

“
Why are we not superheroes with abilities like this?” I joked. “Seems to me, we’d be pretty close to unstoppable.”

Arys dropped his gaze, but not before I saw the worry flash through his eyes. Taking the tissue from me, he gently dabbed the blood that dripped from my nose. Maybe it was a very good thing that I couldn’t hear his thoughts. I didn’t think I wanted to know what was going on in his head right then.

“
Some people think we are just about unstoppable. They may be right.” He pulled me into his arms and kissed my forehead. Reaching to touch me metaphysically, I felt him shudder in response to what he felt thundering inside me. “You smell like wolf, but you feel like him. That fucking useless angel.”

I didn’t need to be inside Arys’s head to know he would never stop blaming himself for condemning me to a future I now dreaded with every part of me. I needed him to know and to understand that it wasn’t his fault. He had to accept it. Until he did, he would forever hold us both hostage to his misery.

A couple sat a few tables away, the only other people in the darkened corner. They were both human. Their hands were clasped across the table. Very clearly, I heard him wonder if she were really in love with the vampire she’d been shacking up with here or if she was under his influence. She stared at their hands and wondered why he had to make this so difficult; couldn’t he just accept her choice?

She was breaking up with him, and I had to listen to her selfish thoughts as she did so. He was human. What could he offer her that would compare to the promise of eternity? Maybe some people were happy to settle for a “normal” life, but she had the chance to discover something extraordinary. Her mind was made up.

“
You’re making a huge mistake,” I whispered beneath my breath. I wanted to grab her, to shake her and tell her she didn’t know what she was getting into.
Get out while you still can
.

Arys followed my gaze to the couple. “Is something wrong?”

The couple’s voices became just two of many as the barrage of thoughts started up again. The pain in my head worsened, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe.

“
I can’t listen to this anymore.” A hand to my head, I squeezed my eyes shut, but it only served to increase the volume. “Can we talk outside?”

“
Of course.”

With a hand on my lower back, he steered me toward the exit. The noise inside my head grew to a deafening crescendo. Sharp knives of pain pierced my skull. A storm of thoughts assaulted me, but one voice stood out above the rest. That one voice I knew well.