Dwellers of Darkness (20 page)

“I will be okay.” Ryan gave Mark another squeeze.

“I know you will, but it doesn’t mean I won’t worry about you.” It was small gesture, and I wondered if Ryan had even felt it, but I saw Mark lightly kiss the top of Ryan’s head. Tears spilled down my cheeks, which I knew were flowing from my real body back on Earth.

Ryan and Mark pulled away, both clearing their throats. “So what do you think Ember would say about me being a Fairy?”

“Oh, probably something sarcastic.” Mark laughed.

“I always knew you had it in you,” I replied to myself, wanting to be part of their conversation. The happiness I felt being with them, laughing and joking, filled my chest.

“Yeah, probably something like, ‘I always knew you had it in you.’” Ryan chuckled.

Damn, that boy knew me too well.

It was time, but leaving them was so hard to do. I wanted to be there with them, hugging and touching them. I felt better knowing Ryan was aware of his condition. I think when reality really set in, it wouldn’t be so simple. But if Castien were by his side, it might take the sting out a little.

Next, I needed to
dreamwalk to see how West was doing so my concentration turned to him. He was difficult to visit. The fact I couldn’t do anything but watch him in pain, not able to help, went against my nature.

The raven also worried me.

When I opened my lids, the dark, dank row of cells lined the walls. West leaned against the bars, his eyes shut. He appeared even more gaunt and sickly than he did last time. His eyes were sunken, and he had lost more weight. My legs bowed taking me to the stone floor next to him. I reached out and touched his face. He shivered, and his lips flittered open, then closed again.

There were no words I could express. He was deteriorating rapidly. Death was striding up the walk way. “Please don’t lose hope. Be the normal, pain-in-the-ass, stubborn Dark Dweller I know you are,” I whispered.

“Death comes.” A voice spoke out of the darkness. I reeled and saw the dwarf sound asleep in the corner chair; the raven stood on his shoulder. “Death will come.”

“No.” I said at the same time West mumbled, “Can you tell him to hurry? I am really bored here.”

“I know you can see me, raven.” I stood.

“Fire. I can see,” the raven replied.

“You know who I am?”

“Yes. I know.” Its wings fluttered. “Helped fire escape.”

It took me a minute before the words registered. “Wait. Do you mean you helped get my mom and me out of here?” My thoughts went back to my recent jail break.

“Only baby escape.”

My forehead lined with confusion. “Baby?”

“Shut up, bird. Your voice is grating my nerves.” West huffed, his eyes still closed.

“Not speaking to you,” the raven replied.

“My wish has been granted then.” West mistook the bird’s meaning. He repositioned his head, the chains rattling.

“What do you mean by baby?” I asked the raven.

“Help my baby,
Grimmel,” the bird sounded like a recording of a voice.

“Okay, let’s start slow.” Frustration begun to strain my patience. “
Grimmel is your name?”

“
Grimmel I am.” It hopped down on the dwarf’s knee. The dwarf stirred, but his snores only deepened.

Okay, it was a start. “
Grimmel, who is this baby you speak of?”

“You.”
Grimmel cocked its head at me. Then it hit me. It wasn’t the recent escape from jail it was talking about. The raven was referring to when I was a baby, and my mom and I fled Aneira. Were we held in the dungeon here before Brycin helped us get through the door to Arizona? Was he a part of that?

“I thought you were not going to talk,” West grumbled.

“Not to you.”

Ignoring West, I pressed on. “Did you help my mom and me get away from Aneira?”

“Help only baby.” The bird fluttered his wings again. “Baby must live. She asked. I do. Help get baby out. Slinking like fox.”

Holy crap! It had been there and had helped get us away from the Queen. The raven was not the easiest to talk with, but there were so many questions I wanted to ask. My mouth opened, but
Grimmel flew off the dwarf’s lap, landing next to me on the bars of the cage.

“Helped her. Baby should not have lived. Baby destroys.” Its black eyes dug into me.

I stepped back from the intensity of its gaze and words. “I don’t want to destroy.”

“Follow in footsteps.”

“Whose? My mother’s?”

“Yes.” The raven nodded its head. “Go. Others find you. She seeks to kill.”

“But...” I looked down at West. He appeared like he no longer had the energy to lift his head.

“Cannot help. He is lost.”

“No. Don’t say that. He will not die. Especially not here.” Fear, sadness, and frustration strangled my throat.

“Hurry, Dae. Dark knight falls.”

I felt a shove and a spinning before my lids popped open. I was back on Earth.

I stayed awake for the rest of the night. Eventually, the morning light pushed through the gaps in the blinds. Eli rolled onto his side, facing me. “What were you dreaming about last night? You kept whimpering and crying in your sleep.”

Blowing out a breath, I hesitated to tell him. But we decided to be fully honest with each other. “I saw West.” I bit my lip, waiting for the outrage I knew would follow. “In my dreamwalk.”

“West? What? How long have you been visiting him?” Eli sat up. “Why didn’t you tell me? How is he?”

“Not good.” I knotted my hands. “The neck device is killing him. When he swallows, the rods dig deeper into his muscles. He’s lost a lot of weight...” I trailed off.

Eli’s eyes flashed red, then went back to green.

“He’s still being his West-self, though,” I snickered. Even when West couldn’t lift his head, he still could come out with some derisive comments. “You sure you two aren’t brothers?”

Eli expression was deadly. “He
is
my brother.” I knew what he meant. He was Eli’s family, blood or not.

“He doesn’t have much time. We need to get him out.”

Eli bolted out of bed. “Don’t you think I know that?” He began to pace the room. Rage came quickly to the surface with him. “I hate I’m sitting on my ass while one of my brothers is being tortured to death. Don’t think for a moment his suffering isn’t going through my mind every minute.” He took a breath. “Tell me everything.”

I filled Eli in on my last two
dreamwalks.

“So this raven claims to have helped you escape? You trust him?” Eli leaned against his dresser. He was still extremely tense and riled. I knew he’d want to know about West, but there was nothing he could do for him right now. Eli didn’t handle helplessness well.

“Yeah, I do. I know he won’t go to Aneira. He doesn’t seem to like her.”

“Get in line.” Eli shook his head. There was a beat before he screamed. “Dammit!” His fist slammed into the dresser, and a string of Gaelic swear words erupted. He banged the dresser into the wall again, leaving a huge dent. Eli leaned down, breathing heavily.

I gave him a moment before patting the bed. “Come here.”

“No.” His chest muscles flexed. His hands clawed the dresser, and his nails gouged deep into the wood grain.

“Eli.” I knew what would calm him. With a Dark Dweller, it was either this or kill something. He grunted. He would be turning soon.

I got off the bed and went behind him. My fingers hooked the waistband of his boxers and slowly slid them down. My heart picked up pace as I felt the monster in him so close to the surface. I wasn’t afraid. I shifted his body to face me and lowered myself to the floor. We watched each other. I broke eye contact when I leaned in kissing his inner thigh. He sucked in a sharp breath when I moved up, my tongue running along him. A deep guttural moan came out when my warm mouth took him in, moving slowly. A rumble emitted from him, and his breath became quicker.

He groaned, grabbing onto the dresser as I picked up the intensity. His hand came to the back of my head, holding it tight, moving with me. “I want to burrow myself so deep in you. I want you screaming in mercy.” He grabbed me, pulling me up and pressed me back into the dresser. His body was hard against mine.

“Then my job is done.”

“This was your strategy to try to keep me in man form?” His voice was thick.

“You’re not a man, remember?”

“That’s right.” His eyes flashed, and his knee went between mine, urging my legs apart. “I’m not.”

It wasn’t until afternoon when he “calmed” enough to venture past the threshold of his bedroom. The house was still, absent of Dark Dwellers and ex-Fae Knights.

“They’re probably out with Kennedy,” I replied as I stuffed some raw venison pieces into my mouth. If it didn’t taste so good, I would have been completely grossed out. I was starving, and my Dark Dweller side was calling the shots.

“Wow, not even bothering to take the tray out of the refrigerator?” Eli grinned, watching me.

I stood with the fridge door open and shrugged. “Too much effort.”

He laughed and sauntered to me. “You know, watching you tear into flesh is a turn on for me.”

“Not surprising. You’re twisted.”

“And you like it.” He stood over me.

“I think that makes me even sicker in the head than you.”

“Yup.” He leaned in, closing the gap between us. His lips drew close to my neck, grazing the skin all the way down to the curve of my shoulder. My breath wedged in my throat. He continued along my arm and then abruptly grabbed a skewer from the plate. “I want one, too.” He stood up, wiggling his stick at me.

I frowned, which only made him laugh. “You can’t seem to stop waving your meat stick in my face, can you?”

The side of his mouth curled up. “Good one. Clever sexual pun. Well played.”

From early in our relationship, we always tried to outwit the other. “Thank you.” I bowed my head.

He smiled and bent down, his lips nipping at my neck again. “Thank you for earlier. Certainly helped. The experience was definitely a first for me.” He leered at me as my eyebrows arched. “Not that part. Last night... the no sex part. I’ve never had a girl lie next to me, and we only slept.”

I didn’t want to think about the others who had lain next to him. “Actually second. We’ve
slept together one other time without having sex.”

“That’s what you think.” His cheeky grin made me laugh.

“Wow, not sure I would brag about it since I didn’t even wake up.”

“See, you are the one constantly trying to make me prove my manhood here.” He grabbed the back of my head. “If you want to screw me relentlessly, Brycin, all you have to do is ask.” He winked. “But I want to hear a pretty please.”

“Ugh!” I shoved at his chest. “Your ego needs to feel the harsh reality of not getting any.”

“Good thing it doesn’t look like such a thing’s going to happen any time soon.”

He had me there. There was no way I could stop any more than he could.

Looking over his shoulder. The window opened to the beautiful, blue sky. Another hot day. “Should we head out to find everyone?”

He followed my gaze, then suddenly blurted. “Aw, shit! I forgot I was supposed to do a pick up for the club this morning.” He shook his head, rubbing a hand over his head. The pen markings were still faintly there, but they were blending more and more into the growth of his hair. “That’s where they are. Cooper must have taken my bike and gone in my place.”

A blush dotted my cheeks. This meant they all had known he was too “occupied” to go. In the moment, I had forgotten the walls were not soundproof.

Seeing me blush, Eli laughed. “I enjoy you getting embarrassed about that.”

“Them hearing us have sex? Yes, sorry, it does make me uncomfortable.”

“You don’t think I haven’t heard all of them one time or another having sex in this house? Even though we had a rule to not bring anyone back here, it still was constant when Dax, Dominic, Lorcan, and Sam lived here.”