Into the Fading Twilight (Starlight Grove, #2) (116)

Icy dread swept over me. Something was wrong. Deadly wrong.

The dispatcher on the other end was asking if I was there. “Kol? Are you all right?”

I was already running. “Send everyone you have. Send them to my house.”

But terror had ahold of me now, my demons. Because it could already be too late.





CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE


Nova




IWATCHED KOL THROUGH THE DARKNESS, HIS FLASHLIGHT moving over the ground in a nonsensical pattern. But I realized it was only a mystery to me. Kol read the ground like it was one of Orion’s maps. His flashlight beam swept over the gravel again, and then he was jogging toward the trees.

About halfway to the tree line, his light cut out altogether. I tried not to let anxiety win as a wave of dizziness overtook me. “Alive. Breathing.” I whispered the touchstones to myself as I forced my feet to move, away from the door, away from Kol.

Cora needed me. I had to call the sheriff’s department and Dex. He’d tell the rest of the brothers.

I moved through the entryway back to Cora, who was now sitting up, the towel pressed to her wound. Her face was more than a little pale, adrenaline likely being replaced by shock.

“It’s going to be okay,” I assured her. “Kol will find him, and I’m going to get help.”

I reached for my phone, but Cora’s hand snaked out and grabbed my arm. Her fingernails digging in. “Don’t.”

My brows pulled together, confusion washing over me. “I need to call the sheriff’s department, get you some EMTs.”

“You don’t, actually.” She moved faster than I’d ever seen her before, shooting to her feet, the towel slipping away. And then something else was in her hand.

A knife.

The blade glinted in the light of the living room, sparking another memory.

“You need to bleed.” The man’s voice cut through the dark, and then the light flashed on. The brightness hurt as I scrambled back toward the wall, pressing my back against the cold cinder blocks.

He hauled me up by my hair. The knife sliced across my ribs, and a scream tore from my throat as white-hot agony ripped through me. Then the blade jerked along my other side, and I doubled over, the movement ripping my hair from his grip.

So much pain. Everywhere.

“Better?” Travis asked.

The question was for someone else, I realized. Someone I couldn’t see.

The responder’s voice was garbled, or maybe I was too close to passing out to hear them exactly. “For now. She needs to suffer.”

And then the blackness claimed me.

I blinked against the memory. A little grainy like film that had been left out in the sun. But so damn real.

Cora surged forward, gripping my hair in a vicious tug, pointing the knife to the underside of my chin. “It’s time for you to finally pay, bitch. Because you cost me everything.”

My breaths came quicker now as my gaze darted around the room. I needed a weapon. A phone. Something to get me out.

There was a fireplace poker if I could get to it, a good dozen feet away. My phone was only a couple of feet away, too, but Cora was blocking the way and wielding a knife. Another wave of dizziness hit me.

I tried to fight it back. Breathe. I pictured Kol in my mind. I’d been learning about countless tools to help me in moments like these. But it was Kol who was truly my grounding stone. I conjured him now, leaning on the endless memories we were creating, the life we were building.

“Cora,” I croaked. “Whatever happened, we can deal with it together.”

“Oh, we can?” she mocked. “Can you bring the love of my life back from the dead?”

Another memory slammed into me.

The room was pitch-black. Water dripped from the only source in the room. My stomach cramped from lack of food. How long had it been since the man had given me something to eat?

I sat upon the thin mattress, hugging my knees to my chest. I missed Brae. Owen. How long had it been since I’d seen them? A month? Two? The passage of time had gotten so confusing.

Something rustled. Clothing? An animal?

I froze, panic digging in as a shape emerged from the shadows. But it wasn’t the one I was used to seeing. This figure was smaller. Feminine?

My breaths came in short, quick pants.

“You’re nothing,” the voice growled.

A woman. But one who had rage flowing through her veins.

“You’re stupid. Ugly. Fat. Not going to let you into the kitchen again. You’re worthless.”

An open palm connected with my cheek just as I saw a flash of someone. They wore some kind of goggles. Something that allowed them to see in the dark? The thought was gone in an instant as my head snapped back in a vicious crack.

It connected with the hard wall, and I fell to the mattress. Everything sounded like it was underwater then.

“Disgusting little slut. Fat whore. You’ll pay.”

Spit hit my cheek. But the world was swirling. And the darkness claimed me again.

I blinked rapidly, trying to blend the past with the present, trying to finally see. “You,” I rasped. “You were there.”

Cora started laughing. Like she was so damn amused with herself. “You know, I kept waiting for them to come for me after you were found. Don’t get me wrong, I knew your brain was fucked up, but I had no idea you remembered nothing.”