Chapter Thirty Two - word count 2482 - Dowload PDF
32.
      Darius stood up and stretched.  The chair in the infirmary wasn’t the most comfortable place to sit for hours at a time, but he was on guard duty, and had been since the girl had been handed over to them.  Well that wasn’t completely accurate, Ross and Fenn had been helping him out.  Though Fenn admitted he was more than a little creeped out by the woman and her persistent sleep.  
      Jesse assured them that she was not in a coma just in a really deep sleep.  It didn’t make Darius feel any better, he wanted her to wake up.  He needed to find out what her story was, watching her all the time was killing him inch by painful inch.  She was creeping into every corner of his mind.  It had gotten so bad that he couldn’t sleep without dreaming about smiling blue eyes.  Ridiculous since he didn’t even know if her eyes were blue.  He tried to tell himself that the reason he’d started obsessing over the dragon woman was simply because he’d been spending so much time watching over her.  Not because he was growing increasingly more attracted to the sleeping woman.  That thought made him curse under his breath and move over to look out the window.  
      He stared blankly at the garden of the compound and called himself an idiot.  
      He’d been through this with a dragon female before, he wasn’t going to go there again and especially not since she was special project of Kane’s.  That would be ten kinds of stupid.  
      A soft gasp behind him and a rustle of bedding made him turn back towards her.  
      She’d pulled herself up into a sitting position and she watched him, her eyes wide.
      “Who are you?  Where am I?  What do you want?”
      He held his hands out to the side to show her he wasn’t a threat.  
      “Hey now,”  He smiled reassuringly.  “don’t stress Aurora, I’ll answer your questions in a minute – ”
      “Who?”
      Darius looked at her blankly for a moment not getting what she was saying then realized that she hadn’t recognized her own name.  
      “Aurora – you are Aurora.”
      “I Am?”  Panic was creeping into her voice.  
      “If you aren’t Aurora, who are you?”
      Her eyes darted as a frown creased her brow.  
      “I don’t know.”  She raised large blue eyes swimming with tears – the same blue eyes Darius had envisioned.  He felt his heart clench.  She looked so helpless and scared.  He knew then he’d gladly face an army of demons to keep that look off her face.  He bit out a curse then repeated it when she looked even more frightened.
      “I’m sorry that wasn’t aimed at you, it was aimed at me, for being a stupid idiot who doesn’t learn from my own mistakes.  Look I’m going to send Jesse in, he’ll be able to explain this all to you.”  
      “Won’t you explain it please?”  
      He almost gave in, he turned towards the chair to sit down and tell her about how Kane had left Aurora in their care, then changed directions and walked out the door.
      Jesse could handle this.  Darius was not getting any more caught up than he already was.  
      
      Fenn felt the hair on the nape of his neck rise and shuddered.  He reached up, the pick he’d been using on the strings of the guitar still between his thumb and index finger and ran his hand across the back of his neck.  
      “What the…?”
      He stood, lifting the guitar that rested on his knee by its neck and placing it on the stand near him.  A frown creased his brow as the hairs on his neck rose again.
      “That’s freaky.”  He looked around the room wondering what was causing his heebies.    Everything was as it should be, he moved over to the window.  The greenhouse worth of potted plants all around his room moved their foliage with him seeming to turn in his direction.  
      “You feel it too don’t you my friends.”  He whispered softly.  
      The race of annoying goose bumps flowed across his body again this time much stronger.  Fenn shuddered and rubbed his hands along his arms then looked down at his sweaty palms.  These extreme reactions from nowhere could mean only one thing.  Someone was discussing a forbidden place.  That was not good.  Fenn absently  dried his palms on the denim covering his thighs and turned towards the door.  He’d follow the feeling till he found who was talking about a forbidden place then tell them to shut the hell up.  
      He moved through the corridors of the compound as the shivers racing across his skin multiplied, escalating until his body trembled from them.  Fenn found himself in front of the debriefing room door.  He shook his head and sighed.  “Yeah I should have known.”
       He turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.  Crimson turned in his chair to see who’d come as Gabriel spoke.
      “Hey Fenn, what’s up?”  
      “A forbidden place.”  Fenn’s face was somber, the compound was going to get involved with something dangerous, not that danger was anything new to them but  Fenn was at home here, outcast from his own and these Mythos were his family, he had to warn them.  
      The confused frown on Gabriel’s face prompted Fenn to speak out.
      “What were you discussing here?”
      “My father, why is that relevant?”  Crimson asked.
      “No, not a person, a place.”  Fenn absently rubbed his hands across the seat of his jeans.
      “The Vale of Shadows.”  Gabriel spoke understanding what Fenn was getting at.  Gabriel watched as Fenn paled and shuddered a tremor racing through him.  
      “What do you know about the Vale— ”
      “Don’t.” Fenn hissed holding up a warning hand.  “Don’t even say the name of that place again, and don’t go near it.”  
      “We have no choice, we have to go in.  Do you know where to find it Fenn?”  
      Fenn debated whether to tell Gabriel, then realized that Gabe would find his way to that cursed place with or without Fenn’s help.  He moved forward and sat down wearily in an armchair.  
      “I know where it is, but I’m telling you now Gabriel, it’s not somewhere we want to go anywhere near.”  
      “I’ve already told you we have no choice.  Raven is hiding out there and she’s becoming a threat we can not ignore.”  
      “She’s pure evil if she can enter that place and not be consumed by it.”  Fenn ran a hand through his dark green hair.  The stories surrounding the Vale were horrendous.  It was a waking nightmare.  If you entered the Vale insanity was the best-case scenario you could hope for, as for worst case – there were worse things than death and they all lived and thrived in the Vale.  
      Gabriel crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Fenn to digest the fact that they had to go in.  Gabe was hoping that Fenn would agree to lead them there.  Crimson sat silently waiting too.  
      “Damn, I’m going to have to take the Omega in there.”  Fenn looked up at Gabriel.  “You know I don’t want to do this right?”
      “Directions are enough Fenn, you don’t have to put yourself in harms way.”  
      Fenn’s bitter laughter caught Gabriel of guard.  Fenn was usually so easy going and chilled that the sound reverberating from the elf’s throat was completely alien.  
      “You think I’m a coward?  Far from it Gabriel, I’m a warrior of note amongst my people.”  Fenn laughed again, laughter that was hollow without any humor.  Then he sobered and spoke.  “If you think you can even find the place without a forest elf you are wrong, and you are going to need every drop of power I have to get you in an out of there alive.”  
      “I never thought you were a coward Fenn.”  Gabriel assured Fenn that he didn’t hold him in such low regard.  “But you aren’t Omega, and I don’t want to put you in unnecessary danger.”  
      “Just murmuring the name of that place puts us all in unnecessary danger Gabriel.  It is a place of pure evil.”  Fenn stood up. “When you are ready I will take the Omega in there and try and get them out again.”  
      “I’m going with.”  Crimson wasn’t about to listen to any arguments.  
      “Crimson it’s a bad idea…” Fenn started to say.
      “The place may be evil Fenn, but I’m bred from pure evil.”  He smiled though the expression never reached his eyes.  
      Fenn nodded and walked out the room, his heart pounding in his chest.  He’d just agreed to take the Omega into a place that he feared more than anything else.  
      
      Sorcha heard a quiet knock at her bedroom door, she was absorbed in the book she was reading so she called out.  “Come in.”  It had to be Selphie bringing the extra bedding that she’d promised to drop off.  
      “So this is where you are hiding.”  Kyle’s deep voice flowed over her skin and Sorcha cursed as she looked up to lock eyes with him.  He leaned against the open door jam his arms folded across his chest and his legs crossed at the ankles.  His stance was very nonchalant but Sorcha could sense the tension that vibrated through his body.  Kyle was seriously pissed off.   
      Sorcha did her best to ignore the fluttering of heat that settled in her stomach at the sight of him and reminded herself that she needed to be strong right now.  For both their sakes.
      “I’m not hiding.”  She shifted position slightly on the bed looked down at her book again as if his presence wasn’t burning into her skin, trying to pretend all was well in the world of Sorcha.  
      “Fuck it Sorcha, don’t just dismiss me as if I’m not here.”  Kyle straightened and stomped into the room slamming the door behind him.
      “Didn’t your mother ever was your mouth out with soap?”  
      “What?”  Kyle was thrown off balance for a second then he realized what she was on about. “What the hell has my language got to do with this?”  
      “What is ‘this’?”  She was pushing it, Sorcha knew exactly what he meant and pretending to be dumb was her way of buying some time so she could get her racing pulse under control.  
      Kyle uttered a sound of pure frustration before stomping right up to her so she had to tilt her head back to look up at him.  “Why did you have Selphie change your room Sorcha.  I know we had a fight but…”  He ran a hand through his hair, frustrated that the words weren’t coming out right. “And what’s with the major tease session in the rec room?”
      Sorcha gasped and closed the book she was reading, she dropped it onto the bed then stood up pushing him back so she could glare at him.  The man had foot-in-mouth disease, that or he didn’t have an off switch between his brain and his damn mouth.  “Tease session?  Are you implying I’m a tease?”  
      “Hell. Fucking. Yeah.” He bit out as he glowered down at her.  “You can’t do that to a man then just sashay off as if you didn’t just give him a hard-on the size of the frigging Eiffel tower.”  
      Sorcha had to suppress a snort, now that was an oxymoron if she’d ever heard one, he was big, but the Eiffel tower? “That wasn’t my intention…”  
      “Yes it was.”  He interrupted. “Why the hell else would you do it?”  
      Sorcha blew the hair out her face and decided to tell him the truth.  “Sin kissed me, I wanted to see…”
      “What?”  He roared.  
      “You heard me.”  Sorcha placed her hands on her hips, bracing for the battle that was now inevitable.  
      “You kissed Sin?”
      “No,”  Sorcha tried for a reasonable tone.  “I said Sin kissed me.”  
      “But you let him? And where the hell were you that Sin could kiss you?  Never mind answer the first question.”  Kyle’s whole body had become still, anger vibrating through him.
      “I only kissed him back because,”  Sorcha frowned down at Kyle’s clenched fists. “I wanted to see if he could make me feel the way you do.”  
      Kyle wanted to break something, preferably that blond Katana wielding freak.  It took him a moment to register what Sorcha had said.  When the words sunk through the rage he realized that he would kill to find out what her conclusion had been.  
      “And?”
      “Why should I tell you?  You came in here looking for a fight and I’m not in the mood to indulge you.”
      “Sorcha, please, I’m on breaking point here, tell me what the kiss made you feel.”  
      “Nothing.”  She spat out with a glare.  
      Kyle blinked and let the word sink in.  “Sin’s kiss made you feel nothing?”  
      Sorcha blew out a breath and decided she better sooth the big lug’s ego.  
      “Yes, absolutely nothing, no racing pulse no pounding heart no heat low in my gut.”  
      With every word Kyle’s mouth curled until he was grinning at her.
      “You don’t have to look so happy about it you big oaf.”  Sorcha grumbled then shrieked as he picked her up and swung her around.  
      “Put me down!”  
      Kyle let Sorcha slide down his body slowly feeling every one of her curves as she was lowered.  
      “I told you already Sorcha, you are mine.  No more kissing strange men.  If you are going to kiss anyone you kiss me.”  
      Sorcha had to swallow her reply, she could feel the hard contours of his body rubbing against her and it was playing havoc on her senses.  She waited for her toes to touch the ground then pushed away from him.  
      “You don’t understand Kyle, the knowledge that Sin’s kiss didn’t move me changes nothing.”  
      The grin was wiped from his face.  “What exactly are you saying Sorcha?”
      “I need time, I need to decide if I want to tie myself to someone I barely know for the rest of my very long existence.”  The words were harsh and Sorcha regretted that she had to say them but she would never allow herself to be forced into something as serious as this.  She needed to figure out if it was what she wanted.  
      Kyle’s face became cold as he stepped further back from her.  
      “I’m not a toy Sorcha, you either care enough to be with me or you don’t.  So as far as I’m concerned you’ve made your choice.  I wont bother you again.”  He turned and walked out of the room.  
      Sorcha stood watching the door and realized she’d just made the biggest mistake of her life.  She’d pushed Kyle away, and she might never get him back again.  
      “Shit, sometimes your are so stupid it’s scary.”  She berated herself as her heart bled for the man she’d lost.
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