Total pages in book: 134
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 126030 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 630(@200wpm)___ 504(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
More tears slipped down. Jasper lost the fight to keep his body in a straight line and fell between the tables, distracting the others. John moved to help.
“There was so much blood.” Her eyes held a haunted look. She cried softly. “So much blood. It was everywhere. All over the place. And then Jala had a vision.” More tears fell. “There was no point in resisting her visions. You did what she saw or else it would happen the hard way but still end up the same.” She cried harder. “We framed the neighbor. He would’ve gone to jail anyway. He had a warrant, I guess. We lived in a really bad place. We framed him to get us off. Me off. And then Sabby and Jala essentially hid in my house until we could steal enough to all run away. And that’s what my life has become.” Her cheeks glistened. “Killing and killing. Torturing. Stealing. Killing some more. And it’s all my fault. It all started with me.” She hiccupped. “Whatever I might say, I have no one else to blame b-but myself.”
John passed by again, but he didn’t take his seat. He faced the rest of the bar, his back to Tristan and Natasha, giving them a moment.
“You did what you had to do to save your family,” he said gently, his heart aching for her. He tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “You’re doing that still. We all are. I have so much darkness within me, little angel, it would make you weep. It would scare you. You wouldn’t want to share a bed with me or even stand this close. I have traveled the darkest parts of a world that isn’t supposed to merge with this one. A plane of existence so vile, it is a wonder I didn’t come out coated in evil. Or maybe I did.”
“Tell me,” she whispered, pleading. Wanting her own demons to get out of the way or maybe just have company.
He glanced at the bar where Niamh was sitting. “Another time. But I will, I promise, okay? I will trust you where I haven’t trusted anyone else. Not now. Not when it could be used against me, or when you might not remember it anyway.”
He wiped away the wetness on her cheeks.
“But you are wrong about one thing, Natasha,” he said. “You did have a choice, back in the day. And you have a choice now. You have always had a choice. And you chose, and choose, to be a hero. You choose to do the dirty work and save the lives of the people you love. Not everyone has that ability. Not everyone has the courage.
“The point is, Natasha, the darkness doesn’t define us. It doesn’t erase the good parts of us. We are the best heroes, you and I, because we don’t need to walk in the light to enact justice. We do it through any means possible. Jessie needs people like us. Like Niamh. Like Austin. She needs people who aren’t afraid of the night. Who else will battle the creatures that exist there, but us?”
He ran his thumb along her jaw, and in a moment of absolute weakness, said words he’d never uttered to another living soul.
“I love you,” he whispered, and realized with a jolt that they were true. Almost immediately, he wanted to take them back. To hide the truth. But they were out in the world, now. They no longer belonged to just him. Now they belonged to her as well.
Her eyes softened and filled with tears again. She leaned her forehead against his.
“I’m scared,” she breathed, and he knew she was afraid to feel strongly for someone who wasn’t family. Someone who could let you down and leave you, hurt you. A sentiment, until right this moment, he’d shared.
“I know,” he replied. “Think nothing more of it. Say your goodbyes and then I’ll fly you home.”
She let out a shaky breath, nodded, and gingerly stepped away.
Ulric held out his hands, his drink on the table in front of him. “Brah. Where have you been? Jasper fell on his head.”
She blinked at him stupidly for a moment, then at Jasper still laughing on the floor, and started laughing herself. Just like that, her sunshine rushed back in. This time, it wasn’t feigned.
John sat down next to Tristan and clasped his fingers together.
“I don’t have to tell you that whatever you heard doesn’t need to be repeated,” Tristan growled. He might not win, but to protect her truth, he’d take on the beast next to him.
“I certainly know something about darkness and killing those who are trying to hurt your family,” John murmured. “I came to it young, too. It scars you, and those scars never go away. I’ve got no interest in meddling with anyone else’s affairs. I got plenty of shit on my own plate.”